AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She didn’t realize that I was here with all of you.”
“Well, that’s still odd. I mean why would she assume you weren’t with us?” Zoey asked.
“Maybe because I am so well-behaved,” I said, turning the tables and teasing them. Not something I normally did with them. Even after all these years, I wasn’t still as comfortable as I would have liked to be.Hopefully, this vacation together will help change that.
“Does this mean you’re not going to go and ask Adilyn if she needs help?” Lena asked. “Because some of the younger children had a list of things they wanted to do, but she’s just one person and we don’t want her to feel as though she must cater to their every whim. Goodness knows we don’t.”
Ziva said, “Someone should go and tell her.”
Not a very subtle hint, but it did provide me with the excuse to go and see her. “Fine. I’ll tell her. Any other messages you want me to deliver for you?” I said, playing it off as though this wasn’t my idea.
“Not that we can think of at the moment, but we’ll let you know later,” Morgan said.
I left them sitting there sipping their wine knowing damn well they would be gossiping about me. But for now, I think they bought my explanation. I would rather no one learnt that Adilyn wasn’t a stranger to me.
Even though it was a library and not her room, I still knocked on the door. “Come in,” she called out. When I got inside, I closed the door behind me. “I heard you could use some help.”
She sighed and slumped on the leather couch. “Help? I think a miracle is more like it. You wouldn’t believe all the things your cousins want to do.” Before I could say a word, she sat upright and blurted out. “I’m so sorry. That was unprofessional of me. I wasn't complaining. Just a little overwhelmed for a moment.”
Before she left college, she had told me that the lodge was in financial trouble. From what I saw, the only staff they had was themselves. With all of us Hendersons here now, who wouldn’t be overwhelmed?Damn it. I did this to them. To her.I felt horrible. Coming here was supposed to accomplish two things, first to help them financially without offending her, and second to get an opportunity to talk to her like we used to. I hoped that talking to her would help me clear the clutter in my head.
Right now, my issues would need to wait. I couldn’t add anything more to her plate. Adilyn needed me, not in the way I might want, and I knew she’d never ask, but she still needed me.
I walked over and sat down beside her. “Adilyn, if anyone knows that Hendersons can make someone feel...overwhelmed, it’s me.”
“You? You’re one of them,” she said.
Somehow it sounded more like an acquisition instead of a statement. “I am, but...”How much do I tell her?“But we weren’t close to them, and only connected about fifteen years ago.” There was so much more to tell, like the fact that I never knew I was related to them until I was eight. How my mother hid that from us and even now all these years later, no one will explain to us why
“So, you were eight?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yes. And even after that, we mostly saw them on special occasions, and holidays. They are very busy, and we also have our own lives.”
“Yet you are all here together now. Something must have changed,” she said.
She was right, something did. As we grew older, the cousins found that we had more in common than we thought and were becoming friends, not just family. At least most of them were. I still felt like an outsider no matter how much I tried to feel otherwise. The fact that Christopher was still on the slopes skiing with them and I wasn’t…was evidence enough.
“I think it’s the cousins wanting to spend the time together that made this happen.” I was just the one who pushed to ensure that it did.
“And they just so happened to want to come to Winterberry Lodge?” she asked.
That was the question I was hoping to avoid for a little longer. But I couldn’t bring myself to lie to Adilyn. “No. I suggested it.”
She wasn’t pleased to learn that. Her green eyes darkened. “Why? I mean, you knew this was my family's resort. You knew why I was here instead of at college with you. So why bring your family here?” she asked. “Are they looking at Winterberry as an... investment?”
I didn’t want to insult her, but this wasn’t the type of business they were into. They owned multi-billion-dollar corporations. The only resort they owned was in some foreign country, Tabiq. Even that was a five-star luxury resort on a tropical island. I’d never been, but I'd seen the photos.Sorry, Adilyn. Winterberry is no tropical resort.
Even though I was a Henderson by blood, I wasn’t born into their money. I remember my parents struggling, especially when my dad was in the military. We had been shuffled all over the world following him from one base to another. When he left the service, he joined Homeland Security. That was the first time my parents had bought a home and put down some roots.
I wanted to tell her that I was the same guy she knew in college. My being related to Hendersons hadn’t changed that.
“I don’t talk business with my uncles if that is what you’re asking.”
“Then why here?” she questioned again.
“Because I wanted to talk to you.”
She looked at me as though waiting for me to say it was just a joke, but it wasn’t. I had missed her ever since she left months ago. I never expected to, but I did.
