The quiet on the other end of the phone ate at me, but I stood my ground. This was one area my grandparents had to accept. It was all of us or none of us. Coop’s hand flexed around mine, and I gave him a grateful smile. At this distance, there was no way he could miss what she was saying.
“You’re right,” she said after a long moment. “I’m sorry, Frankie. You’re right. That was very rude of me. I’ve just been a bit…out of sorts.”
Fresh guilt assailed me. I’d just chastised her, and she was clearly worried about my grandfather. “We can head there,” I offered. “If Maddy is bothering you…”
“No, dear. She made her point, and she’s gone again. She doesn’t want anything to do with us and resents that you do. But none of this is your fault. She and your grandfather argued, he knows better than to let her agitate him. As it is, we’ve been in touch with Ted, and we’ve added to our security. We might take a few weeks in the Hamptons. Get away from here. Come see us there when you’re back. You’ll be getting ready to move into the city.”
I chewed my lip. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Now, go enjoy your vacation with Archie, Coop, Ian, and Jake.”
I blinked.
“Thought I hadn’t learned their names, didn’t you?” Patience actually chuckled, and I swore it was the most relaxed I’d ever heard her. “I know we seem a bit cold to you, Frankie. Perhaps guarded and aloof.”
“I wouldn’t call it that.”
“No, because you’re polite if direct. We love you because…you’re you, and at the same time, you look so much like Maddy and so much not.”
I grimaced at the comparison, and it was Coop’s turn to tighten his grip on my hand.
“That probably came out badly,” Patience continued with a sigh. “We want everything for you, Frankie, but we’re also wary of the past repeating itself. Everything with Maddy always seemed to be so much worse with Eddie. As much as we loved Ted… But, for your sake and for Ted’s, we’re going to stop holding up that mirror. If you can be patient with us a bit longer?”
“Grandma,” I said slowly, the fact it had slipped out so easily earlier surprised me. I kind of liked testing the syllables on my tongue. “We’ll figure it out. But is he really okay?” I didn’t know my grandfather as well as my grandmother. He was every bit as aloof as she’d described. She wasn’t. Of the two of them, she’d been the one to reach out time and again, to persuade him to loosen up my trust for me, not that I’d asked. Of the pair, I thought he was the one who really didn’t want me to be like my mother and who feared it the most.
“He is, I promise. The stubborn old goat just has to learn to listen. But do come see us in the Hamptons. It will be good for him.”
We talked for a few more moments, and I promised to come and see them. Our cars were going to be in New York with us, even if we didn’t use them that much in the city itself.
“Is he all right?” Coop asked, and I nodded.
“I’ll call my grandfather,” Archie promised. “Make sure they have everything they need.”
The corners of my mouth tilted up, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but worry. Particularly since Maddy had something to do with it. I’d managed to not think about her for the last couple of weeks. Honestly, I hadn’t missed her.
“Thank you.”
Ian studied me for a moment. “We’ll check on them after we land,” he said. “And if you’re really worried, we’ll cut the trip short.”
The last thing I wanted to do…
“Don’t start, Baby Girl,” Jake informed me. “Family first, and you’re just getting to know them. But I have a feeling Archie’s grandfather is already on it.”
Probably. Grandpa Ted was like that.
“Now would probably be a good time to mention that we have videos of the cats,” Coop teased. Then he held out a hand, and Jake passed him one of our laptops. Fuck, we hadn’t even looked at the laptops in days and I still had…
Jake snorted. “Now she’s worried about school.”
“I can fix that,” Ian teased. “Watch the videos, Angel.”
Coop didn’t give me much choice, and of course, the moment I found Tiddles trotting with Jeremy on his morning walk around Archie’s—our house, that mental amendment would take a while—I started to smile.
Tabby sunned herself in the solarium atop the largest indoor cat tree house I’d ever seen, but Tory took the cake. She gleamed almost pure white like she’d been groomed and sat in another cat tree in the kitchen, eating daintily out of crystal.
The videos had little time-stamps, though someone had cut it all together to give me the last couple of weeks over the course of an hour. By the end of it, I was laughing so hard, I had tears running down my face. I thought my favorites were Jeremy reading in the garden with the cats sprawled out and playing, or when he was having his morning tea and Tiddles sat scolding him because Jeremy refused to feed them until he’d finished his first cup.
It helped.
A lot.
Coop holding my hand while I rested my head on his shoulder helped too. By the time I’d finished the video, Archie assured me his grandfather had it under control and my grandparents were being well looked after.
My guys were the best.
It was a long flight, including two stops—the first in Kuala Lumpur and the second in Dubai to refuel. I pressed up to the windows as we circled to land in both cities. They were stunning. A part of me was that girl still back in Texas, living in that two-bedroom apartment, desperate to get into Harvard just to get away. The rest of me… If I could only
