AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But first…
She glanced down at the clock on the dashboard of his ridiculously small sports car. First she needed to take a stand she wasn’t sure she was strong enough to make, but one that had to be in place first.
Flicking the signal on the left side of the steering wheel up, she headed down the road that led to the house she’d grown up in. Her glass castle, as Dean liked to call it. She threw the car into park in front of the massive stone stairs leading to the front door. Without any of the manners that had been drilled into her since birth, she burst inside and stalked out to the back garden where she was certain her parents were “enjoying a night cap.”
Which loosely translated to getting slightly drunk together because it was one of the few things they still had in common.
“Jillian I’m shocked to see you, but—” Her mother lifted slightly from her chair, but Jillian stopped both her mother’s movement and words with a sharp shake of her head.
She balled her shaking hands into fists that she concealed behind her back. “I’m sorry for barging in on you, but I needed to tell you something.” Jillian took a deep, fortifying breath and said the one thing she probably should have far sooner.
“You need to contact whoever is handling your finances now and see if there is anything to save the house, your very important family legacy, because there is every chance that I won’t be able to fulfill the requirements of grandfather’s will.” She turned to face Edward and dropped her voice to just above a whisper. “And, Father, you need to get help. Professional help.”
Edward Monroe opened his mouth, but Helena got to her feet and spoke first, silencing him. “You only need to give us eighteen months. You and that boy have spent your entire childhood and adolescence doing who knows what who knows where. You would disappear from practically every function rather than behaving as the proper young lady I tried to raise you to be.”
Without giving her brain time to stop her mouth, she scoffed. “You raised me? Mother, you put Frieda and Henry in charge of me the moment you could.” She dug her nails into the palms of her hands and blinked against the anger-laced tears pricking the corners of her eyes. “And you sent me to every etiquette and finishing class you could find within a hundred mile radius.”
Childhood memories flooded her mind, unbidden and unwanted. “You would have happily shipped me off to boarding school if Grandmother and Grandfather hadn’t stopped you.” Her mother’s paling complexion was the fire she most definitely didn’t need to urge her on. “Yes, I heard you fighting with them, telling them I would be better off thousands of miles away from everything I ever knew, everything that was familiar and comforting.”
All the pain and hurt that she’d pushed down since she was little bubbled up and erupted from her mouth like a volcanic explosion. “You put on this façade that your life is devoted to charity, but only as long as it looks good, as long as you don’t get your hands dirty. But when your ownchildcommits her life to going into third world countries and actually helping the people you use in pictures to drum up sympathy and donations, you act like it’s a disgrace. LikeI’ma disgrace.”
She choked on a sob and turned on her heel, fleeing the monstrous building as fast as her feet could carry her. She managed to get down the driveway and a few miles down the main road before she had to pull over and let the decades of repressed emotions wash over her, streams of tears pouring from her eyes.
The only consolation she could find was the faint scent of Dean clinging to the car.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Dean
Present Day
Footsteps coming down the stairs interrupted the speech working from Dean’s brain to his mouth as he and Wyatt took their seats in the living room. An immediate broad grin broke out on his brother’s face as Georgia came into view. Dean bit back a sigh.
He knew what Wyatt and Georgia had gone through to be together. He knew all too well the mistakes his brother had made leading him to very nearly not winning back the woman he loved…and left immediately after their high school graduation. But he still had a pang of jealousy mixed with longing as Georgia leaned down as far as her protruding belly would allow and gave Wyatt a kiss.
She turned to Dean and grinned. “What the hell are you doing here? You’re a newlywed, shouldn’t you be home making goo-goo eyes at your wife?”
Wyatt shot his brother a knowing look and Dean dropped his head to stare at the hands clasped together, dangling between his knees for a second before he swallowed and returned his gaze to Wyatt and a silently fuming Georgia.
Her rapidly darkening glare bounced back and forth between her husband and brother-in-law until she finally let out a string of curses. She folded her arms, resting them on her swollen stomach. “You and Tanner are supposed to make sure the younger two don’t screw up like you.”
Wyatt held his hands up, palms out toward his wife. “Don’t look at me. I told him to tell her he loves her.”
With a deep groan, Dean closed his eyes and dropped his head onto the back of the couch.
“Wait, back up. What the hell are you talking about?” She shook her head before he could even respond. “Never mind, you’re no help.” Georgia turned her attention to Dean. “You. Tell me what the Rhinestone Cowboy is talking about.”
His brother snagged Georgia’s wrist and tugged her down to sit on his lap. “Although the whole avenging angel routine is hot as hell, maybe you could stop hovering over him so he can actually talk?”
Georgia’s stormy expression melted slightly and she laced her fingers through Wyatt’s. “You’re lucky I’m a sucker for that hat.”
“Okay, your over the top mushy gushy happiness is enough to turn my stomach on a normal day, but I’m currently on the verge of losing the dinner I didn’t even eat, so if you could tone it down, that would be great.” Dean glared at Wyatt’s responding laughter.
A plea for mama rang out loudly from the second floor of the house and Georgia groaned as she forced herself to her feet. “I’m going to get Memphis back to sleep, but I require full information later.” She crossed the room and drug Dean to his feet for a firm embrace. “And no matter what you did, I’m certain Tanner and Wyatt can give you lessons on apologizing.”
“Hey, who says I did anything?”
Georgia pulled back and patted his cheeks. “You’re a Carlisle, and two out of three of your brothers managed to screw up their relationships. The odds are on my side.” She tilted her head slightly. “But Jillian loves you, it’s written all over her face. I guarantee you can make it through this.”
