12. Turbulence and Touchdown

12 TURBULENCE AND TOUCHDOWN

Koen

At twenty-five thousand feet in the air, flying at four hundred plus miles an hour while waiting for an update about Mom from Willow, I should not be smiling. Yet I was grinning like a fool. All because of Jade’s responses to the conversation between Jett and the co-pilot about the science behind flying.

“Lift, weight, thrust, drag? Sounds more like what a director would say at a porn shoot.”

The siblings had polar opposite reactions to their first flights. While Jade latched on to my hand as if I’d somehow keep her from falling out of the sky, Jett was utterly fascinated. He perched on the floor, just outside of the cockpit, once we reached an appropriate altitude, peppering the pilots with questions about propulsion and Newton’s third law of motion.

“It’s okay to be scared.” I wiggled my fingers, trying to get some circulation back into them.

“I’m not scared.”

No, she was terrified. Even her snarky comments couldn’t hide the fact. The flight attendant—recognizing her fear—offered to fix her a stiff drink on more than one occasion. My Angel politely declined each time. I did not.

Taking the last sip of scotch from my glass, I sat it down on the table, then resumed running my thumb over the back of her hand. It seemed to have a calming effect on her and me.

“Anything from Willow?”

“Not since her last text. They’re running more tests.”

My sister texted a total of thirty-seven times since her first call. Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful for the updates, but I could tell she was freaking-the-fuck out. For such a fantastic grief counselor, she was total shit at handling anything close to her own heart.

“Do you need anything? Besides the obvious.”

“Just you, Angel.” I kissed the top of her head.

I’d never flown on a private jet before, but I’d hazard a guess this one was as close to top-of-the-line as you could get. There were four separate swivel seats at the front used for takeoff and landing. Behind those, on either side of the cabin, were two long leather sofas. The entire thing screamed comfort and money, both of which I was extremely thankful for at the moment.

The flight would take a little under five hours, so with nothing else to do except worry, I pulled up the video recordings from Jade’s house. More than the fact her mother was wearing an obviously stolen necklace bothered me. Their lawyer, for instance, hadn’t come cheap. Jade mentioned earlier the stuff in the jewelry box had no real monetary value, only sentimental, so how the hell could they afford such a pricey attorney? Even more worrisome, what other bullshit did they have up their sleeves?

Jade’s vise grip on my hand relaxed infinitesimally as I forwarded through hours of footage. Glancing over, I saw why. She’d snuggled against a throw pillow and was fast asleep. It came as no surprise, given the excitement of the day and with how restless she’d been the night before.

Another text flashed across the top of my screen. This time it was Riley. He’d made it to the hospital.

Riley: Hey. We’re waiting for the cardiac surgeon to come in and tell us for sure, but it looks like she’ll need surgery.

Me: Damn. Why?

Riley: Plaque buildup in some of the arteries around her heart. I’ve done some research.

Me: Of course you have. How is she?

Riley: She’s being Mom. Said to tell you since you’re flying all the way here, you better damn sure have your girl and her brother with you.

Mom and Jade had spoken over FaceTime during several of my weekly calls. They’d hit it off immediately. Initially, we kept the finer details of our relationship a secret for the same reason we hadn’t told our friends. Then we decided it wasn’t the kind of news to be shared via phone, so we held off until we could plan a weekend trip. It all seemed ridiculous now though.

Me: Ha! Let her know she didn’t have to go to these extremes to finally meet them.

Riley: Lol. Will do. Are you sure you don’t want one of us to pick you up from the airport?

Me: I’m positive, stay there. We’ll grab an Uber.

Riley: Fly safe, little brother. See you soon.

My head was starting to ache from watching the video. I’d been at it for about an hour when I finally hit pay dirt. The camera pointed at the front door captured Trudy Trumble using a key to enter the house. She left ten minutes later with a backpack slung over her shoulder. The timestamp showed the break-in happened five days after Jett’s birthday, at six thirty in the evening. Thirsty Thursday.

Dammit.

I distinctly remember having a discussion with Jett the next day because we got home from our date and the alarms were off. He’d apologized profusely, stating he forgot to turn it on when he left to go hang with Phoebe. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. Nothing appeared to be missing or disturbed, so I let it go. I should’ve checked the damn feed. Shooting off a text to Keaton with the video link attached, I asked him to have Nelson look into it, then rested back against the seat.

“How’s your mom?” Jett spoke quietly as he slid onto the sofa across from us.

“She’s hanging in there. What about you?”

He shrugged. “I’m worried.”

“About your parents?”

“They’re up to something, Koen.”

The way his eyes shifted sent red flags flying in every which direction. There was something more at play. Something he’d been holding back, and I was about to find out what.

Without waking Jade, I slid forward so we were less than a foot apart. “Have they contacted you, Jett?”

Another shift. Bingo!

“When?” I demanded.

“They sent me a few texts a couple of months ago,” he relinquished.

Tipping my head back, I prayed for patience.

“Why the hell didn’t you come to me?”

“I didn’t even know you then. Besides, I ignored them and eventually they stopped. I thought they’d given up.”

“You thought…” Fuck. “They texted again.”

“While I was in my room packing.”

I gritted my teeth. “Goddamnit, Jett. You should’ve told me before we left the house.”

“You were worried about your mom, Koen. I didn’t want to pile more crap on your plate, but I learned my lesson from last time. That’s why I’m telling you now.”

He’d done a lot of growing up since his brush with the law. It was clear whatever they’d texted had shaken him up.

“What did it say?”

“One word. Soon.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Me either. They aren’t going to go away, are they?”

Reaching across the aisle, I patted his knee. “We’ll figure it all out once we get home, kid. I promise. Right now, let’s just focus on other things.”

“Like how to keep you from getting your ass kicked when your family finds out you're married?”

“Yeah, that.” I ran a hand through my hair and slouched back into my seat. “Any ideas? ”

“Pray.”

Jade woke up about twenty minutes before we landed, right in time to experience turbulence and touchdown for the first time. She climbed in my lap, burrowing deep into my chest with every sudden dip in altitude. Her trembling only got worse when she peered out the window.

Landing at San Francisco International Airport was a harrowing experience, even for the well-versed traveler. The runways started practically in the San Francisco Bay, which meant by the time you touched down, the plane was so close to the water you could almost see the great white sturgeon leaping out of it.

Jett didn’t help her panicked state, teasing his sister mercilessly. I shut him up rather quickly though, when I took her mouth in a searing kiss. The distraction worked a little too well. My cock was rock-hard and aching by the end.

During the four-mile drive to the hospital, Riley called rather than texted. The good news was Mom didn’t need major surgery. The bad news, she still had to have a procedure to open up the blocked arteries around her heart and she was refusing any treatment until we arrived.

Stubborn-ass woman.

Thankfully traffic was light—or at least light by San Fran standards—which meant we made the eight-minute trek in twenty minutes flat. The Uber let us out right outside of the Emergency Room entrance, but as I looked up at the old familiar building, a deep wave of sadness washed over me.

Willow, Riley, and myself were all born here. We’d each had various injuries or illnesses through our childhood, which brought us to these same sliding glass doors. But the last time I’d set foot on the campus of Mills-Peninsula Medical Center was the worst day of my life.

“She’s going to be fine, Koen.” Jade met me on the sidewalk, circling an arm around my waist while Jett quickly grabbed our luggage from the trunk.

“The last time I was here was the day my dad was killed.”

“Oh, babe.” She squeezed me a little tighter. “I’m so sorry.”

Her endearment warmed the cold seeping through my veins. Leaning down, I kissed the top of her head, pausing to breathe her in. She had a calming effect on me, settling my nerves with her mere presence. I suspected she always would.

“We should get inside.” I cleared my throat against the emotion threatening to choke me and slipped out of her hold, only to thread my fingers through hers. “You and Jett being here means everything to me.”

“I just hope your family thinks the same after we break the news.”

“They will. Guaranteed. And they’re your family now too, Angel.”

Jade

Rushing down the halls of the emergency room felt like running through an obstacle course. We dodged stretchers being pushed out of rooms, doctors and nurses scrambling between patients, and a group of maintenance workers who’d set up a row of ladders to change out lightbulbs. In short, it was mass chaos—-hospital style .

When we finally reached the main elevator, I thought we’d escaped the mayhem unscathed, until we saw the “out of order” sign on the steel doors.

“What floor is the cardiac unit?” I asked.

“Sixth,” Koen replied while eyeing the pile of luggage he and Jett had unceremoniously dumped on the floor.

We packed light, but it was way too much to try to carry up so many flights of stairs.

“Why didn’t you call when you got here?” A definitively female voice sounded to the left.

“Willow.”

Koen said her name like the whisper of a prayer. Eating up the distance in three long strides, he enveloped her in his arms, lifting her feet clear off the ground.

“Can’t breathe,” she wheezed.

“Sorry, Wills.”

He extended a hand toward me and I took it. “Willow, this is Jade. Jade, meet my big sister and all-around pain-in-the-ass, Willow.”

She was tall, maybe five ten, yet slight with the same shade of emerald eyes and shoulder-length, dirty-blond hair as Koen. From the video chats I’d had with their mom, it was easy to see where they’d gotten the majority of their features. I’d assumed their height came from their dad.

“Jackass.” She landed a punch to his arm before turning all her focus on me, or more specifically, to our hands. Her eyes went wide a second before she grabbed his left one.

Oh shit.

“Koen Andrew Banks. Are you married?” she screeched.

“They sure are. You got a problem with that?”

My eyes rolled as Jett stalked forward in full-on protector mode, stopping next to me with his arms crossed over his chest. Lord, save me. He was acting more and more like Koen every day, which wasn’t a bad thing, per se. Except, for instance, when meeting my new sister-in-law for the first time.

“Who are you?” she asked with a hint of amusement playing across her features.

“Jett.” He said nothing more, just continued to stare her down. I’d have laughed if I wasn’t ready to strangle him.

“Well, Jett.” She winked at me. “To answer your question, I have no problem with my brother getting married. What I do have an issue with is the fact I wasn’t there to witness their happy union.”

“Neither was I. We can commiserate together,” he deadpanned, then cracked a crooked smile. “I can kick his ass for you, if you want.”

“Hey, I thought you were on my side, kid?” Koen ruffled Jett’s hair, earning a scowl from the teenager.

“Good thing Mom already had a heart attack, ’cause she’s bound to have a stroke when she sees those rings.”

“Willow.” He scowled.

She tipped her head to the side. “Too soon?”

“Forever would be too soon.”

“If you can’t joke about death and mortality, then you’re not really living.”

“Jesus Christ. When did you become so morbid?”

“It’s called lightening the mood, Koen,” she responded.

“I hope this isn’t the kind of shit you say during your counseling sessions.”

“Nah. I save the good stuff for my siblings. Speaking of—” She pulled me into her arms. “Welcome to our crazy family.”

Family .

For so long, my parents had sullied the word with painful memories of dark closets and vicious beatings. Now though, my true one was growing by leaps and bounds.

At first it was only Jett and Gran, then Henley and Lanie shouldered their way in. They were the sisters of my soul and we shared a unique bond that was stronger than blood, completely unbreakable, because we’d chosen it.

Then there was Koen. He had my heart long before he gave me his last name. I don’t know if it was fate, the universe, or some other bizarre cosmic connection, but with one look, I was gone for him. Looking back, I never stood a chance of fighting our connection. I don’t even know why I tried.

He was everything I needed, yet never thought I deserved. The kind of man who stood beside you to celebrate the wins, then stepped in front of you to absorb the blows.

Along with him came the rest of our motley crew: Nelson, Noah, Keaton, Duncan, and Waverly. Add in the girls from the diner and we had one helluva family unit which rivaled any other.

“We should head up.” Willow released her hold.

“Is there some place where we can put all our stuff?”

“Bring it with you.”

“I’m not lugging all this crap up a thousand steps,” Jett huffed.

“No need,” Willow chuckled. “One of the perks of having a brother who’s a big shot in the local PD means getting access to the service elevator.”

“Thank you, Baby Jesus.” He tossed his bag over his shoulder while Koen got ours. “Lead the way.”

I didn’t know what to expect when we entered Teresa Banks’s hospital room, but the older woman lying in the bed wearing full makeup and a smile was not it. Despite the wires peeking out from underneath her gown, connecting to a monitor beeping in the background, she appeared exactly as she had on our video call last week, only paler.

With her still blond hair streaked with shiny silvery strands and green eyes, it was clear whose genes dominated the Banks family tree.

“Really, Mom?” Koen bent over to kiss her cheek. “The doctors aren’t going to care what you look like.”

“Oh hush.” She playfully swatted his arm. “You know darn well I didn’t get all fixed up for them. Now scooch out of the way so I can officially meet my daughter-in-law.”

Willow, who’d just taken a sip of her drink, spewed the liquid all over the floor then started coughing violently. I wasn’t far behind, having choked on my own saliva.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Riley, I assumed, began pounding on Willow’s back. His hair was several shades darker than his siblings, and when he flicked a confused glance between his sister and brother, I noticed brilliant blue eyes instead of the green I anticipated. “Shit, Wills. Pull yourself together. I refuse to do the Heimlich in a building full of medical professionals.”

“When did you figure it out?” Koen ignored his brother’s grumbling and lowered himself to the edge of her bed, clasping her pale hand in his.

“A mother knows these things, my boy.” He raised a disbelieving brow. “Fine. I caught a glimpse of your rings on our last call.”

“I’m sorry we didn’t tell you,” I blurted, nervously stepping forward and curling my fingers around the hard plastic footboard. Jett followed, practically gluing himself to my side.

“I’m sure you had your reasons and we will discuss those later, but right now, the only thing I need is a hug from you.”

“And heart surgery.”

“Jett!”

While I loved my brother dearly, there were times I wished teenagers came with a mute button. My cheeks flamed with embarrassment. Willow snorted, Koen sputtered an exasperated, “Christ,” and Riley? He cracked an ear-to-ear grin.

“What? Am I wrong?”

“I like this kid. It’s almost like he’s family.” Riley flicked his head in Jett’s direction, then spun around, sucker punching Koen in the biceps. “Oh wait. He is.”

“That’s your one free shot, Brother.”

Rolling my eyes at the sudden rise of testosterone in the room, I skirted around the two glaring idiots and embraced Teresa gently, not wanting to disturb any of the wires attached to her chest.

“It’s nice to finally meet you in person. I’m just sorry about the circumstances. How are you feeling?”

“Better now, sweets.” Her voice cracked a little when she said, “Thank you for loving my son.”

“It’s not a hardship,” I teased, stepping back to make room for Jett.

“Hey, Miss T.”

She smiled at the nickname he’d stuck her with a few weeks ago. Stiff at first, he planted one hand on the mattress, then carefully lowered himself into her waiting arms.

“Hey back, kiddo. You're much taller than you look on my computer. ”

As I’d just learned, Teresa gave the best hugs. They were the kind you’d expect to receive from a loved one. The kind Jett—up until then—had only experienced from Gran and me. I knew the second he felt it because he melted into her touch.

The moment was broken when the door to the room swung open and an attractive older woman dressed in teal scrubs, with a matching cap on her head, waltzed in.

“It’s time, Mrs. Banks.”

She motioned to the group behind her, who immediately filtered into the already crowded room. They began the process of hooking up Teresa to an IV and transferring the wires from the overhead monitor to a portable one they placed at the foot of her bed. The half dozen medical staff moved with the precision of a well-oiled machine.

To the rest of us––well, all except Riley, who she purposefully ignored––the doctor introduced herself. “I’m Dr. Cara Bolton, the interventional cardiologist who’ll be performing the balloon angioplasty.”

“A balloon what?” Koen questioned.

“Balloon angioplasty. Basically, I’ll insert a small catheter into the blocked vessel, inflate a balloon to restore blood flow, then place a small mesh tube, or stent, to keep it open.”

“How long will this procedure take?” Willow spoke up.

“Thirty to forty-five minutes, but she’ll be in recovery for an additional hour or two. One of the nurses will show you to the surgical waiting room. When we’re done, I’ll come there to update you all.”

Things moved very quickly after the doctor’s explanation. Teresa was transferred to a stretcher, where each of her children gave her a kiss, hug, and said I love you. Then she was wheeled out of the room with the five of us trailing closely behind.

Please bring her back to us.

Praying wasn’t something I did often, but my lack of practice didn’t stop me from sending out the silent request to the universe.