direction.
“Thanks,” Cameron said. “Napa’s looking good, too.”
The three men had found out years ago that the best way to run their development company was to put each brother in charge of a particular property from start to finish. The Monarch Dunes property had been Cameron’s baby from day one and he’d run the project much as he ran his life: with military precision.
The multifaceted, multileveled Craftsman-style resort, located forty miles south of their home town of Dunsmuir Bay, was already completely booked for the next three seasons and on its way to becoming the premier destination spot along California’s Central Coast.
Cameron had had a hand in every decision along the way, from the expansiveness of the lobby that opened to a spacious terrace overlooking the ocean and cliffs, to the placement of the greens on the state-of-the-art championship golf course that wound around the wide perimeter of the hotel.
“My staff is more than ready to have me move out of here,” Cameron admitted. “They’ve started saluting me when I ask them to do something.”
“When you
Brandon shook his head. “Once a marine, always a marine.”
With a shrug, Cameron said, “Hey, I just prefer to have things done the right way, so let’s get back to business.” He read his notes off a legal pad. “I’ll let my assistant know that the Napa grand opening will be pushed back one week to coincide with the grape harvest and crush. She can coordinate schedules with the Napa staff.”
The Dukes’ Napa property was being built adjacent to the acres of vineyards and the winery they’d purchased years ago. The white wines were already being marketed all over the country and the reds were on the verge of reaching world-class status.
“Good,” Brandon said and walked toward the kitchen. “Hey, what’s this?”
Too late, Cameron realized Brandon had picked up the scrapbook Julia had given him earlier. “It’s nothing. I’ll take it.”
But Brandon was already thumbing through the pages. “Dude, these are baby pictures. It’s a baby album.”
“Who’s the baby?” Adam asked, moving around the table to see what Brandon was looking at.
“I don’t think so,” Brandon said and whipped the book away.
Adam pierced Cameron with a look. “Was there something you wanted to share with us?”
“I’m not playing this game.” Cameron held out his hand and waited calmly until Brandon gave him the thick scrapbook. “Okay, I’ll see you guys later.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Brandon said, both hands fisted on his hips. He turned to Adam. “I saw a shot of a pregnant woman. And an ultrasound photo.”
“So what?” Cameron said. He wasn’t about to let his brothers see anything else in the book before he’d had a chance to thoroughly view every page.
“What’s going on, Cam?” Adam asked quietly.
Feeling cornered but knowing there was no way out, Cameron sat back down at the table. “Fine. I was going to tell you anyway.”
“Well, let’s hear it.” Brandon pulled out his chair and sat.
“I have a son.”
Stunned silence greeted his announcement. Brandon blinked a few times, opened his mouth to speak, but ended up saying nothing.
Adam’s eyes narrowed. “Mind repeating that?”
Brandon folded his arms across his chest. “I knew that was an ultrasound.”
Cameron glared at Brandon. “No, you didn’t.”
“Yeah, I did.” Brandon lifted his shoulders philosophically. “I’m smarter than I look.”
Adam and Cameron both laughed, easing some of the tension in the room.
“I think you owe us some explanation after dropping that bomb,” Adam said.
They’d only torment him until he spilled everything, so he gave them the abbreviated story of Julia and baby Jake.
“You never read the rest of her email messages?” Brandon said incredulously. “Weren’t you curious? I would be.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got more control than you,” Cameron said, his tone slightly defensive. “Control
Adam chuckled. “I think we should check out some of those messages.”
“I told you I erased them all,” Cameron said, not willing to add that he’d also taken steps to recover them. By now, they were probably waiting in his email inbox.
Adam grabbed Cameron’s shoulder and said, “Maybe so, but you’ve got the baby book. Let’s check it out.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Dude, we’re your brothers,” Brandon said. “We can add some objectivity to the situation.”
He had a point. They both did, as much as Cameron hated to admit it. In fact, it seemed fitting that they were there with him, considering that bits of their sacred brotherhood pact were crumbling to dust by the minute.
Against his better judgment, he opened the book. His brothers pulled their chairs up close to look at the photo on the first page. It was of Jake, taken in the hospital within an hour after he was born.
“He looks like a grizzled old man,” Brandon said.
“No, he doesn’t,” Cameron argued.
Adam sat back. “Babies always look like that. You’ve got to consider where they just came from.”
“Oh, man,” Brandon said, flinching. “That’s just rude.”
Cameron chuckled as he turned the page and gazed at a number of early photos of Jake, some with Julia holding him. He wondered who had been operating the camera. He was dismayed to realize that it should’ve been him. But he’d completely ignored Julia. It grated on him more and more as he turned the pages and saw his good- looking little boy growing bigger and bigger.
“Oh, man, he’s in heaven,” Brandon said, as they stared at the shot of Jake enjoying his first barbecued chicken. Julia wrote next to the picture that the chicken had been pureed for Jake and he’d eaten it quickly, but then he’d taken his time enjoying the sauce. Cameron had to laugh. Jake’s little face and hair were smeared with red sauce and he flashed the camera a big, toothless grin.
“Looks just like Cameron when he eats barbecue,” Adam said, and even Cameron had to laugh at that one.
He turned to another set of pictures. Julia had titled them Jake’s First Immunizations and described how the nurse’s assistant had taken the pictures while Julia held and comforted the baby.
“Uh-oh, this is gonna hurt,” Brandon said, wincing. Cameron did the same. The first photo showed the nice doctor holding a small syringe. Several more shots documented Jake’s expressive face as it scrunched up in preparation for something bad to happen. The last picture showed the dam bursting. Jake’s face was purple with rage, his eyes were shut tight and his mouth was wide open. He was obviously screaming in terror and pain.
Cameron could almost hear the screams.
“Man, that’s just cruel,” Adam said, averting his eyes from the book.
“I completely feel his pain,” Brandon agreed, rubbing his arm where the needle would’ve gone in.
The next page showed the look of happy shock on the baby’s face as his mother took him into the ocean for the first time. He stared at Julia frolicking in a brief bikini, looking so lush and sexy he had to stifle the urge to stroke the page.
With a start, he realized his brothers could see her as well, and immediately turned the page.
“Hey, wait, not so fast,” Adam complained.
“Yeah, slow down,” Brandon said. “That photographer is really talented. I want to see more of the ocean.”
“Yeah, right,” Cameron said, shaking his head. He knew what his brothers wanted to see more of and he wasn’t about to give them what they wanted. Nobody was going to look at Julia in a bikini but him. His brothers would have to learn to live with disappointment.
