They found Ryan’s brother in the large, gourmet kitchen, where he sat tilted way back in his custom, powered wheelchair so that he faced the ceiling. It let him take the pressure off his legs and butt to avoid sores, though Ryan knew that wasn’t why he liked it. His long black hair was pulled back to reveal two pierced ears. On his left forearm lay a tattoo of a snake coiled around a knife. Such displays went against their un-cool parents, but they’d always let Daniel get away with certain things due to his injury, a fact his brother took advantage of and resented at the same time. Ryan did, too, because he saw them as signs of his brother’s unhappiness and wanted Daniel to be at peace.
Daniel flashed a grin at Anna while flicking a raisin at Ryan’s head and joked, “I knew it was you from the screeching tires. You should be careful. You don’t want to end up like me.”
Ryan got down on one knee beside him and squeezed a hand. “If I could trade places with you, I would.”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “I know. I should know better than to joke with you about it. How’d RenFest go?”
“Where’s Susan?” Ryan asked, looking around for the live-in nurse and ignoring the attempt at changing the subject.
His brother nodded to another room where a TV could be heard. “Watching the tube.”
“Susan!” Ryan called, rising. “Come in here!”
Daniel shot him a look of annoyance. “She doesn’t have to be with me every second, you know. I told you to stop that. I don’t even need her. Or at least not for that anyway,” he added suggestively.
Ryan squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t get so worked up. I just wanted to talk to her about how you’re doing.”
“Yeah right,” muttered Daniel, using the joystick to reposition the chair upright. While he was a quadriplegic, he had full use of his right arm and hand, but his grip with the left was too weak to do much with. He still had control over his bladder and related areas, but he’d never walk again and really had no need for the 24/7 nurse Ryan had insisted on hiring. He was in no danger of respiratory failure or similar life threatening complications, but Ryan was deaf to guidance on these matters, even from world renowned doctors, for once he’d gotten it into his head that some quadriplegics could die suddenly, he’d never forgotten it. Not all quads were the same, but telling that to Ryan was pointless.
Anna leaned over to kiss Daniel. “Hello. How have you been?”
“As heartbroken as always that you won’t kiss more than my cheek.”
She shot back, “Isn’t that why Ryan got you the nurse?”
While Ryan cocked an eyebrow, Daniel said, “I wish,” and rolled out of the room as the nurse arrived.
Patting Ryan’s arm, Anna said, “I’ll watch him,” and hurried after Daniel, who she found doing donuts in his wheelchair on the hardwood floor. “Don’t run me over, please,” she said.
He stopped and sighed. “Only if you were Ryan.”
“He drives you crazy, doesn’t he? Would you like a long break from him?”
He looked surprised. “Are you kidding? I’d love that. Planning to kidnap him? It’s the only way.”
She laughed but not without concern at the truth of it. She knew Ryan frequently called or texted to check on him and that the well-meaning attention caused tension and arguments. “Me, Matt, and Eric are going on that trip to England that we’ve been planning for forever. Ryan’s been planning, too, but never committing to it.”
“On account of me.”
“Yeah. He doesn’t want to leave you despite all of this.” She gestured at the luxury around them. “Has he ever gone on a trip without you?”
“No. I haven’t gone more than eight hours without seeing him since I was a little kid, so I don’t know how you’ll pull that off.”
She played with the pendant around her neck. “We have an idea, but you might find it intrusive.”
He laughed. “Not more than his hovering. Let’s hear it.”
“We thought to install web cams here in the house. Matt’s a techie and good with that sort of thing. If Ryan can see you in the cameras when he wants, maybe he won’t bug you so much when he’s away. And he might just agree to come with us.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea. He can check on me without me knowing it. And I can randomly give the cameras the finger when I feel like it, just in case he’s watching. And it sorta fits this whole thing.”
Failing to hide a smile, she asked, “How do you mean?”
“It’s a nanny cam, basically, like I’m a frigging baby.” He seemed amused, at least. “That’s how he treats me.”
“We don’t mean it that way, of course.”
He waved that off. “But Ryan would. I’m all for it. Shit, you should’ve done it sooner.”
“No objections from your parents?”
“Nah. I know Matt’s good with security.”
“Do you think Ryan will go for it?”
“Oh, I’m sure he’d love it, too. But as for him going to England with you because of it, I don’t know.”
“Me either.
“Seriously though. It would do him more good than me to find out I’ll be fine without him.”
Anna nodded. “Wish me luck.”
“You’re gonna need it.”
A fortnight later, Ryan, Anna, Matt, and Eric stood in the English countryside, the giant stone monoliths of Stonehenge looming nearby in the dark. The place was deserted. It had closed hours earlier when they’d been here for a private tour that allowed them to walk among the stones, and Anna had lost her pendant in the grass during this tour, or so they surmised. They hadn’t been anywhere else but the big SUV Ryan had rented, and a search of that
