Had to be. Keely tucked a stack of bras into the top drawer, quietly slid it shut—and winced as another downstairs door slammed.
Apparently Daniel had come in before Grace could escape.
Keely felt a stab of guilt. Daniel had made it abundantly clear he intended for his sister to stay home tonight. If Keely had only asked Grace to stick around, the confrontation that had so obviously just occurred downstairs could have been avoided.
But come on. Grace had a right to a little fun with her friends now and then. And Keely really didn’t need her tonight.
The question now: Should she leave bad enough alone and stay out of it?
Yeah, probably.
But what had just happened was partly her fault. At the very least, she could offer Grace a shoulder to cry on.
Still not sure she ought to be sticking her nose in, she tiptoed out into the hall, down the stairs, past the shut door to Daniel’s study and onward to the back of the house, into the hall off the kitchen. She tapped on Grace’s door.
After a minute, a teary voice called, “Go away, Daniel!”
Keely tapped again. “Grace, it’s me.”
Silence. Keely steeled herself to be told to get lost.
But then she heard footsteps in there. Grace opened the door with red-rimmed eyes and a nose to match.
Keely held out a tissue. “I come in peace.”
Grace took the tissue and wiped her nose. “Where is he?”
“Still in his study, I think.”
“Jake and Frannie?”
“Not a peep.”
Grace sniffed again. “Come in.” She stepped back. Keely entered and followed her to the bed where they sat down side by side.
Keely made her apology. “He told me this morning that he expected you to stay in. I should have warned you that he seemed kind of dug in about it.”
“He’s kind of dug in about everything.” Grace stuck out her chin. “You know it’s true.” Keely didn’t argue. Why should she? She agreed with Grace on that. “He treats me like I’m a borderline delinquent. I’m twenty-one years old, getting decent grades in school, doing a perfectly fine job of adulting, thank you so very much. I could just get up, get in my car and go.”
“But you won’t. Because you are sweet and helpful. You love your brother, and you want to get along with him. You know he’s got way too much on his plate, and so you try your best to be patient with him.”
Grace let out a reluctant snort of laughter. “Yeah, right.”
“I want to make a little speech now. It will probably annoy you, but I hope you’ll listen anyway.”
“Go for it.”
“When he was your age, he was married, working, fitting in college classes as best he could and raising you and your brothers and sisters—and probably getting zero nights out with his friends.”
Into the silence that followed, Grace shot her a surprised glance. “That’s it. That’s the speech?”
“That’s all.”
Grace seemed to consider. “I know you’re right. He hasn’t had it easy. But he still drives me crazy. I mean, does he have to be such a hard-ass all the time?”
Keely put her hand over Grace’s and gave it a pat. “I’ll go talk to him.”
Grace scoffed, “Like there aren’t a thousand ways that could go horribly wrong.”
“Trust me.”
“I do. It’s him that I’m worried about.”
* * *
Daniel was still holed up in his study, reluctant to venture out and possibly have to deal with his sister again when the tap came on the door.
Grace? Doubtful. Probably Keely. He didn’t really want to listen to whatever she had to say right at the moment either. Chances were she’d only come to give him a bad time about Grace.
There was another knock.
He gave in and called out, “It’s open.”
Keely pushed the door wide and then hesitated on the threshold. She wore what she’d had on that morning—jeans rolled at the ankles, a black-and-white-striped shirt half-tucked-in and hanging off one shoulder, with high-tops on her feet. Her hair was naturally reddish blond, but she liked to change it up. Today, it fell in fog-frizzed brown waves to her shoulders. Her big, wide-set green eyes assessed him.
He leaned back in his swivel chair and cracked his neck to dispel some of the tension. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”
She braced a shoulder in the doorway, stuck her hands in her pockets and crossed one high-top in front of the other. “I really did tell Grace I didn’t need her, and I urged her to go out and have a little fun.”
Women. They always knew how to gang up on a man. “All right.”
She pushed off the door and straightened her shoulders. “All right, she can go—or all right, you heard what I said and I should get lost?”
He stared at his dead wife’s cousin and reminded himself all over again that he was really grateful she’d come to look after his children, even if she did consider him to blame for all that had gone wrong between him and Lillie.
And maybe he was to blame.
When his parents had died suddenly on a second honeymoon in Thailand, he was eighteen. The most important thing then was to keep what was left of his family together. He’d stepped up to take care of his three surviving brothers and four sisters. Lillie, a year behind him in school, stepped right up with him. He and Lillie had been together—inseparable, really—for two years by then. They’d agreed to get married as soon as Lillie graduated high school.
A born nurturer just like her mother, Lillie was only too happy to take over as a second mom to his big brood of siblings. She always claimed that choosing a life with him and his ready-made family was the perfect solution for her. She could have the kids she longed for and not risk her health.
But as the years passed and his brothers and sisters grew up and moved out, her yearning for babies of their own only got stronger. He didn’t share that yearning. No way. An empty nest. That was what he’d looked forward to. He’d thought they might travel a little, get to know each other all over again...
“Daniel? You all right?” Keely was waiting for him to answer her last question.
He shook himself and put his regrets aside. “Sorry.” Grace. He needed to smooth things over with Grace. “You’re sure you don’t need her?”
“Positive.”
He
