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Leave it to his sister to yank his damned chain from across the freaking Atlantic before he was fully awake, let alone imbibed a drop of coffee. “I’d think that under the circumstances, you’d have enough to worry about without concerning yourself with what’s going on here.”
“You’re taking care of my daughters, asshat.”
“Yet your question never mentioned Emme and Wren,” he countered. “They’re fine, by the way.”
“From the pictures Holly sent me earlier, it looks like they’re having the time of their lives.” She paused after her voice cracked on the last word, and Chace could hear the deep breaths Lyss was taking to control her emotions. He imagined she’d been implementing those exercises a lot lately.
“We’re trying to keep things as normal and busy as possible.”
“I appreciate that.” Lyss sniffled. “More than I can tell you.”
“It’s what families and friends do for each other,” he assured her.
“I know.” He heard her take another few breaths. “I think the best time to video chat with them each day is probably around 4:30 your time. Sean will be settled for the night, and the girls will be home from school. Holly, too. What do you think?”
“Works for me.” He always preferred to have a schedule and figured it would benefit the twins as well. Still, one thing bothered him a little. “What happens when they ask about Sean?”
“As soon as I get a clearer indication of his prognosis, I plan to tell them he was injured. Then, I’ll have more definitive answers to the questions I know they’ll ask. Right now, I don’t know how long he’ll be here, if they’ll transfer him back to the States, or when. But I don’t think it’s fair to tell them anything that will make them worry and wonder unnecessarily.”
Yeah. Chace got that. “But since they think you’re there visiting him, they will expect to see and talk to him.”
“Until I have the answers to give them, he’ll either be asleep or working.”
“Okay.” What else could he say? Especially since he wasn’t exactly looking forward to being on the receiving end of the questions his nieces would pose after hearing the news and they were no longer chatting with their mother.
“It’s the best I can do right now, Chace.”
“I know.” And he did.
“So, about you and Holly.”
“Alyssa,” he sighed rather than spoke her name.
“Dammit, Chace, the two of you belong together.”
No argument from him there. That didn’t mean he expected his sister just to blurt out what his heart already knew, either. “How about you concentrate on your husband and let me handle everything here?”
“Butwillyou?”
Considering the progress he and Holly had made in the last forty-eight hours, especially the night before on the sofa after the twins were in bed, Chace thought he had a pretty damned good handle on things already. Well, with a little help from some mistletoe, of course. But his sister didn’t need all the particulars.
Or any, really. At least not while everything was still in the embryonic stages of development.
“Didn’t you say you saw the pictures from yesterday? Wasn’t that proof of how well I’m handling things?”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“But it’s the only response you’re getting.” He pushed himself off the bed. “Now go find your husband. Tell him we said hello and are praying for his recovery. I’ll set up the call with the twins at 4:30.”
Before she could respond, Chace disconnected the call and headed for the shower in preparation for his first day as a chauffeur and domestic engineer.
Wouldn’t his former special forces teammates and the security specialists at SSI get a kick out of that?
* * *
“You okay?”
Holly glanced up to find her fellow teacher and friend, Taylor Lochran, peeking into her classroom from the doorway. Usually, the two of them ate in Taylor’s room with two other colleagues, but today, Holly couldn’t summon the energy to get up from her desk and walk down the hall to join them.
