“What if she never forgives us?”
It hurt to think that. The thought was so painful; I didn’t want to even entertain it. “No matter what, we’ll love her, and hopefully that will be enough.”
“I want her home,” she said, hugging me tighter. “I feel so damn old, Declan. Look at me, whining about our kids. I feel like those old ladies who still treat their children like infants.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything, but now that you mention it—ahh. Kidding, I’m kidding,” I said when she elbowed me and bowed out of my grasp.
Glaring, she walked toward our bathroom. “Well, don’t mind me. I’m going to take my old self to bathroom and soak these old bones in the bath by myself.”
“Baby,” I tried to follow, but she closed the door right in my face. “I love you!” I shouted through the door.
I waited. Then just like always, she opened it a crack, still glaring at me, but I could see the amusement in her eyes.
“You think the bath could hold two sets of old bones?” I questioned, leaning on the frame, unable to stop myself from smiling as I looked to her.
She didn’t open the door wider. Instead, she leaned on the frame with me. “You are infuriating, you know that?”
“What did I do now?”
“You make me feel like everything is alright, that everything will always be alright, when I want to be panicking about our children. We should be looking for Helen—”
I took my phone out and let her look at the map. “She took a drive to Rock State Park and then a walk before getting groceries and then headed back to her penthouse.”
“You don’t think you should have told me this when you first got in?” she asked, trying to take the phone from me, but I pulled it back, standing up straighter.
“Deny you the chance to vent? Never.” I grinned.
Her eyes narrowed. “Why do I feel like you’re calling me predictable?”
“That’s a very negative way to see it,” I stated as I slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“And how do you see it?” she asked, stepping back slightly, but never looking away from me.
“I see it as the product of thirty years of studying,” I replied, grabbing on to her hips before lifting her up. Her arms instantly wrapped around my neck. “I have a PhD in Coraline.”
“Oh, in that case, Doctor, please—”
My lips were on hers before she could even ask. She found me infuriating? The feeling was mutual. How was it that everywhere she wasn’t, was chaos…I felt as bad as she did when I came in, and yet the moment she began to speak, everything else melted away. How could I not feel like everything is alright, that everything will always be alright…I had her.
And that was all I needed. What I gave up, what I could I have been, what I could have had…none of it held a light to what I had with her.
Peace.
It wasn’t the measure of power that made a man, it was the measure to which he felt loved.
SEVEN
“There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother… Oh, how I hated that little boy. And how I love him too.”
~ Anna Quindlen
WYATT
One week had gone by like it was nothing. So much had happened, and there was still so much more I needed to do…so much I couldn’t do.
“You’ve reached Helen Callahan, please leave a message.”
“Helen, please answer. I need…” Does she give a damn what you need after what you did to her? The thought stopped me mid-sentence. Hanging up the phone and tossing it onto the glass table, I leaned back into the chair, running my hands through my hair and fighting the urge to pull.
“Cain, explain to me why I don’t have access to the family files?” I sighed, closing my eyes.
“Wyatt Callahan, your access had been denied, and I cannot answer your question. Unlock your access.”
“Why?! Why is my access denied if I can get in the fucking room!” I snapped, looking back at the screens, which all had the same password request on them. I was able to look through Ethan’s hard file in his study, but half the damn information was cited in Cain. Which made it only one step above fucking useless.
“Wyatt Callahan, your access had been denied, and I cannot answer your question. Unlock your access.”
“Fuck you,” I muttered, ready to chuck my phone at Cain, the fucking computer was pissing me off.
“Password denied.”
Rolling my eyes and inhaling, I stared. I tried to think, but I didn’t remember setting a password or even being giving one. “Cain, who set the password?”
I waited for Cain to give me the same reply. Instead, it said, “Ethan Callahan.”
Of course, he’d be the one! Even when he wasn’t here, he was being a pain in my ass—wait. “So. I can ask questions about the password.”
“You have three more tries,” Cain replied.
I moved closer to the screen, trying to think…when I remembered what I’d said to my uncle. I’m not the thinker. That’s Ethan. If I knew my brother, he’d thought of this moment…hell, he must have planned it. So this, like everything else he did, was a test…I had three chances to get the right answer…and the purpose of all his tests had always been for one thing… to get me back to where I should have already been. As he had said. He wanted me here. I had access to this room even though I had no access to the data because he wanted me back in the family, and if that was the case and knowing me…he’d give me a hint.
“Cain, my second question is, “What is the hint?” I crossed my arms over my chest, staring at the screen.
“Hint: What you should have said?”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “Cain, the password is…sorry.”
“Password denied.”
Shaking my head, I
