19. Being Confident

"That was great," Braylon said, leaning back from the chair he was in. He was so stuffed he didn't think he could move. "Don't ever say I said this, but that might have been the best turkey I've ever had. My mother's is normally drier."

Quinn laughed. "I won't say a word. I brine it overnight and that keeps the moisture in."

"I might have to find a way to slip that into a conversation with my mother without her wanting to swat me on the arm."

"I can't believe how many siblings you've got," Lara said. "I thought I had it bad with Davy and then Carson. Jocelyn is cool. We get along when she's not being a brat."

"Hey," Jocelyn said. "Mom says you're just as much of a brat. That you were worse than me."

He looked around the table and saw the smiles and laughter.

"Your mother is right," Max said. "Lara, sorry, darling, but you take the cake. The older you get, the more my blood pressure rises."

"You're just upset because I'm going to get my license in the spring."

Max took a deep breath. "Against my better wishes, but you'll be seventeen. Let's get through this winter. I want to make sure you can handle yourself with one of us in the car with you in the snow."

"I've got it covered," Lara said.

"Lara always says she has it covered," Lilian said. He wanted to call her Lily, but didn't know how she'd react. In his mind, she was more a Lily anyway.

She said those closest to her could, but did she consider him one of those people?

It's not like they'd had much time to talk.

Once they unpacked in the old nanny suite, which he had to admit was fairly big and private. There was a sitting area with a TV, a full bathroom and little mini fridge and microwave against the wall surrounded by what could be considered a tiny galley-type kitchen.

The suite was off the kitchen and everyone else had bedrooms upstairs so they were out of the way.

Even the family room that most sat in at night was at the other end of the kitchen and provided distance that way.

He hadn't been upstairs and didn't need to go, but he, Max, Davy and Carson went downstairs to play video games while the girls baked cookies last night and got food ready for the day.

It reminded him of spending time with his brothers, but he knew damn well this was Max and Davy's way to question him and find out his intentions with Lilian.

Since he knew he and his brothers would do this to any man who was interested in Laken or Talia, he wouldn't say a word.

But Lilian had told him that her family didn't know the truth about how they met. The whole fake engagement ring deal. So he kept that out of the story and just said what he'd told his mother. That he'd seen Lilian at the coffee shop a few times, some guy was hitting on her and he went over to save the day.

Max and Davy had laughed over that and then both nodded their heads.

"There is nothing wrong with being confident," Braylon said. "I can't tell you the number of times I've had to fake it until I made it. West too."

"You wouldn't know that by his career now," Quinn said.

"No," he said. "But you can't get to where you are in life if you show too many weaknesses. At least we always thought so. Boy, the two of us sweated some of those deals in the beginning."

"Lily said that you went to work for West when you graduated?"

"I did," he said. "I had a few job offers. I'll be honest and say I weighed them. I thought maybe I could bring in a steady paycheck to help West and my family out while still working for him, but there weren't enough hours in the day."

"That had to be hard turning down something steady," Max said.

"It was. But the truth is, you just stand with your family when you can. I knew it wasn't going to be easy. But I had something to fall back on. By the time I graduated, West already had invested in three businesses and was looking to raise money for more. He was diversifying and taking out loans to do it. Talk about scary, but he was able to make it work."

Lots of juggling of funds back then. On the outside they'd shown the world they were successful, but back home they were sharing an apartment and budgeting like their mother did food costs.

West spent money when he needed to, but when he didn't, he was tight as could be.

Not anymore. One of those investments in a social media platform took off and West had managed to convince them to sell within two years to a bigger company. It was the first big cash out in West's pocket and it came six months after Braylon graduated.

Over twenty million, his brother had made. He'd taken that money and invested in more and more and though he had some losses over the years, they were few and far between.

"Lily knows what scary is," Lara said. "She told me she was nervous about moving there, but she was used to big city living and wanted to get back to it. Davy and I didn't know what it'd be like here. There isn't much to do like when we lived in Rye."

He looked at Lilian and saw her blush over Lara's comment.

Before he could ask where the big city living was prior, Quinn said, "Lily, why don't you help me clear the table and the guys can go relax and watch some more football before dessert?"

"Sounds good," she said, standing up.

"Let me help," he said. Braylon was hoping to hear some more being said because the two sisters and Lara were giving each other looks he couldn't quite figure out.

"Nope," Quinn said. "You're a guest and Max knows the rules. He can fill you in on them."

"Rules?" he asked, looking at Max.

"Don't fight with Mom on the holidays," Davy said. "I know them too. She has things organized the way she wants and no one can touch anything."

"Oh," he said. "I don't want to get in trouble by breaking the rules."

"It's only for the holidays," Jocelyn said. "During the week we eat at the table off the kitchen and we have to help then."

"As you should," Lilian said. "One person shouldn't do all the work."

"That's right," Max said. "The kids know that. But some little girls don't like to do things like their own laundry even when they try six outfits on a day and throw them on the floor."

"I'm not little, Dad," Lara said.

"That's right. So do your own laundry."

"We had to do our laundry when we turned ten," Braylon said.

"Ten!" Lara said. "There should be child labor laws there."

Everyone laughed. "Well, my father was in the Army and away more than he was home. Unless we lived on a base with him, which happened at times too. Lots of kids and my mother would be doing laundry all day long every day if she was the only one doing it. When you have to do it yourself, you tend not to change or dirty things as much."

"See how easy you've got it, Lara," Lilian said. "Think of it that way. You just started to do your laundry this year, you said."

Lara flipped her hair and giggled. "I know. I love Mom. But she does it better than me."

"Don't suck up, Lara," Quinn said. "Even if I do love it when you do."

He'd also found out that Max's kids not only thought of Quinn as their mother but started to call her that after Max and Quinn had gotten married.

He found that bond special.

What he was trying to figure out though was where Lilian had been before college since she'd said she didn't come live with Quinn until she was eighteen.

There was so much he didn't know about Lilian's background and it was hard to get anything out of her.

He went to the family room with the other boys and watched football while dinner was being cleaned up. Max snuck in quickly and grabbed them each another beer.

"Your brother owns the New York Hawks, right?" Davy asked.

"Not completely," he said. "But he's got majority shares now."

One of those things that was finalized a few months ago. West only invested in the hockey team because their father had enjoyed it. But when the opportunity came to get the majority, West was all in.

"Do you go to a lot of games?" Davy asked. "I love hockey. I played it here."

"I like hockey," Carson said. "I want to play. I asked Santa for skates so I can go on the lake this winter."

"We play on the lake when it freezes," Davy said. "Not too far out though. Dad isn't good on the skates. Says he can't risk breaking a bone and not being able to work."

"That might pose a problem," Braylon said, turning to wink at Max. "I try to go to a few games if I can. West too."

"I'd love to go," Davy said. "It never seems to happen though."

"Well," he said, "if you find yourself in the area during the season, let me know."

"Dad," Davy said. "Can we?"

"Sorry," he said to Max, wincing.

"Don't be. Quinn and I were talking about going to visit my parents for the week of Christmas since the kids are out of school. And with Lily living close by, maybe we can swing it."

"Let me know," he said. "I'll make sure you get tickets."

Max looked at both his sons. "Please, Daddy," Carson said.

"I might not have a choice now," Max said, laughing. "Lily said you normally go to North Carolina for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Since you're here now, I'm assuming you'll travel for Christmas."

"My mother wants to meet Lilian. I'm hoping I can talk her into going down. It's the middle of the week, but we'll take West's jet with the rest of the family. Probably only be two or three days tops."

"Then we'll be able to see her when you're back," Max said.

"I haven't brought it up yet," he said. "Hoping I could convince her to meet my mother."

Max grinned. "I can help you out there."

"Don't get me in trouble," he said, laughing.

"I doubt that could happen."

Twenty minutes later the kitchen was quiet and everyone was sitting in the family room watching TV.

"Braylon is going to get us hockey tickets to see a game the week of Christmas," Davy said.

"Sweet," Lara said. "We've been wanting to see a game."

"That's nice of you," Lilian said.

"You and I will have to go to a game before that if you want," he said.

"That will be fun," she said.

He'd make sure they went when they returned. Normally she didn't seem too keen on doing things like that.

"Since Braylon gave up time with his family to come meet yours for this holiday," Max said. "Are you returning the favor and meeting the rest of his family for Christmas?"

He didn't expect Max to just drop it like that in the room.

"Being obvious again, Braylon," she said, laughing.

"What are we missing?" Quinn asked.

He just laughed with her.

"As you know, I put off asking Braylon to come here because I knew he normally went home. He finally brought it up a month ago and said he'd like to spend it with me. Since he knew I bought my ticket, that was his way of inviting himself."

"Hey," he said. "You can't fault a guy for putting it out there, right?"

"Not if you want it enough," Quinn said. "I might know a man like that in my life who had to make more moves than me."

"It looks like I'm being ganged up on. Is this your way of asking me to go to North Carolina with you?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. "I'm not sure if Abby will go or not. She went there for Thanksgiving. It's just her father, and her sister is getting married on Saturday. Liz's husband, Christian, has a big family, so Liz tends to spend most holidays with her in-laws. Abby's father is included there too. But Laken and Foster will be there and you know them."

"I like Braylon's sister a lot," she said.

"Sounds like it's a done deal," Quinn said. "We'll see you while we are in New York if you're around."

"I will be," she said. "I took the week off."

"Oh," Braylon said. "When were you going to tell me?"

She laughed. "Soon," she said. "When you asked me to go with you. I figured it was coming and put in to use it for the rest of my vacation. We get Tuesday and Wednesday off anyway. I've got three days left and will use it for that."

Guess he didn't need help after all. All he had to do was ask.