Chapter 31

31

A sheen of sweat covers my brow, and I wipe it away and throw out the paper towels I dried my hands with after scrubbing out. That was undoubtedly my best work yet, and it didn't go unnoticed. I got a round of applause from the OR team as well as from my family up in the gallery.

I saved Willow's bowel.

She had intussusception, which is when a part of the bowel slides into the next, creating a telescoping effect. I was able to fix this and reperfuse the area of her bowel that had been obstructed. And let me tell you, the nurse was right when she said we'd have to work a miracle to make that happen.

I kissed Willow's forehead and then let them wheel her to the PACU, feeling exhaustion deep in my bones but also elation unlike any other. There will be no wiping the smile from my face anytime soon.

With hurried strides, I head for the waiting room, anxious to give them a full update. I have no doubt my uncles went in, but they told me they'd let me be the one to deliver the news to Katy and Bennett. I can hear my family and Katy's people from down the hall as I approach. My fist raps on the doorway and a million heads simultaneously swivel in my direction.

Katy leaps to her feet and races over to me, Bennett hot on her trail. "She's fine." I grab Katy's shoulders and hold her steady because she was about to plow straight into me. "The surgery was very successful, and your best friend is officially a god."

She laughs. Sorta. For about a half second before she breaks down and collapses against me, her forehead in the center of my chest. "Are you sure?"

I wrap my arms around her and hold her against me, kissing the top of her head. She's shaking uncontrollably, and I can't help but get choked up. Katy's tears, like Rory's and Wren's, unravel me.

"I'm positive, Kit-Kat." I throw Bennett a small smile, his hand is on my shoulder, his other rubbing Katy's back. I love that Katy has him. No one deserves happiness more than she does. "I fixed the intussusception and was able to reperfuse the bowel. Her scarring should be minimal to non-existent, because, again, I'm a god. In a few days, it'll be like nothing happened to her."

"I don't even know what to say," she sobs into me. "Thank you doesn't come close."

"We don't do that anyway," I tell her, kissing the top of her head again and holding her closer. "And I did it more for me than you because I love her more than I love you."

Katy snicker-sniffles and smacks my arm. "I love you. Even if you love her more."

Bennett envelopes himself around both of us and holds on tight. "I fucking love you too."

I pat his back. "I'm glad, brother. Just name your next kid after me, and we'll call it even. "

Katy laughs lightly against me before she pulls back. She grabs my face and kisses both cheeks, and then she and Bennett race off toward the PACU.

Just as everyone else comes over to ask questions and give hugs, my shoulder is slammed hard enough to push me into the wall of the hallway. Before I can make heads or tails of anything, Jack is right up in my face.

"I thought you were my friend, but you're a real piece of shit fucking my sister behind my back." He shoves my shoulder again, smashing me into the wall the second I try to right myself.

My eyes widen in stunned disbelief before they narrow into slits. "Really, Jack? You're doing this here? Now?"

He blusters out a noise, his fists balled up at his sides, and I can tell he wants to take a swing but is holding himself back. Barely. "What? You don't want your family and friends to know you've been screwing your nanny? Do you have any clue what you've done? Or has it all just been a good time for you? A mindless divergence and a way to blow off steam?"

I shake my head, fury tingling my spine and hardening my gut. I'm ready to pounce all over that when I hear Estlin call out.

"Jack, stop!" she cries, racing over, but she's held back by Keegan and Wren as Vander, Stone, and Mason now stand in between us. Mason is practically right in front of Jack, all six-four, two-hundred-twenty pounds of NFL quarterback. He's not saying anything, but he doesn't have to. His size and expression say it all.

Only the muscle isn't necessary.

At least for me.

I have no plans to hit Jack, and if he wants to take a swing at me, I won't stop him. He has a right to be pissed and a right to confront me, but this is the wrong place and the wrong fucking time for it .

"I won't stop," he seethes at her before turning his wild eyes back on me. "Did you think I wouldn't find out? Did you think I wouldn't care when I did?"

"What's going on?" Wren questions, glancing back and forth between me and Estlin, her brows knit together. Not to mention, we've grown a crowd. Including my grandparents. Awesome. I don't see Rory, though, which is a relief, but where is she if she's not in the room with everyone else or with Estlin?

"Can we go somewhere else and talk about this?" I ask meaningfully because I don't know where my daughter is right now other than knowing she's here with everyone else, but Jack doesn't give two shits. Yes, he knows these people, some better than others, but they're not his people the way they are mine.

"No. We can't." He turns to Wren. "What's going on is your brother has been messing around with my little sister." He snarls before turning his unrelenting gaze back on me. "And from the looks of it, I'm not the only one you were keeping this from."

Well, there you have it, folks. Not the way I was planning to come clean about all of this, but it's too late now because everyone heard that—including my grandmother—so I guess this is how it's going to happen.

"Is that true?" Wren asks, and I can't tell if she's upset or hurt or just simply curious. Silence falls flat and heavy like the end of a bad joke over all of us. I sigh and throw my family a surreptitious glance, wordlessly apologizing to my grandmother, especially for what she's about to hear. There are few people in my life I never want to disappoint, and she's one of them.

"Yes. It's true," I answer everyone, though I'm staring Jack directly in the eyes.

Jack charges like a bull in a china shop, only to be shoved back by Mason .

"I'm not saying you can't be pissed, but I'm telling you now, no one is getting physical here," Mason asserts calmly.

Jack's temper isn't diminished as he starts to pace in a circle, too riled up not to move.

"She's your nanny, you bastard," he seethes at me. "She works for you. She's twelve years younger than you are." He pauses and glares at me like he's ready to charge once again. "You took advantage of her. She was vulnerable, and you took advantage."

I shake my head, fuming at that accusation. "She's not a child, Jack. She's a grown woman, and I certainly never coerced or expected anything. And screw you for assuming that about me. I'd never take advantage of a woman, and you know it."

"Except she works for you, so what was she supposed to do?"

I shrug, suddenly feeling like being a dick because the fact that he thinks so little of me hurts like nothing else. "Say no."

In rage, he charges forward again, only to be stopped by Mason and Vander, who each grab one of his shoulders.

"Not happening," Vander states calmly. "You two can talk it out, but I'm not letting you throw fists. There are sick children and their parents in this hospital, and they deserve your respect. So be a fucking adult and get your shit under control."

Jack growls, running frustrated hands through his hair and steps back.

"Jack, just let it go," Estlin pleads, keeping her distance from both of us as she stands by Wren and everyone else who is watching us. I'm not sure how that makes me feel, but right now with Jack so riled up, it's probably the smart play. "This isn't the place for this, and frankly, it doesn't concern you."

"Doesn't concern me?" He's indignant. "How does you screwing my best friend not concern me? Do you even know what you're doing with him, Eddie? You think he cares about you?" He practically laughs derisively. "He just admitted he's messing around with you. That hardly sounds serious to me. You're nothing more than some fun to him because Owen doesn't do more than that anymore. He's not looking for serious and he's not looking for happily ever after. He doesn't believe in them anymore. Hell, he told me so not even two months ago."

"You have no clue what you're talking about," I say, refusing to raise my voice even when I want to shout it at him. "We're not simply messing around. You twisted my words. You have no idea how much I care about her. Why are you?—"

"Care about her?" He laughs sardonically, starting to pace again. "Bullshit, you do. If you cared about her, you would have been a man and come and spoken to me about it instead of keeping her like your dirty secret from everyone. Do you have any idea what she's been through? The last thing she needs is another older man preying on her while taking advantage."

I step forward, only for Stone's hand to hit my chest. I brush him off, throwing him a fleeting glance to let him know I'm in control. He shifts to the side and lets me through, and I stand in front of Jack despite our heavy audience flanking us.

"Preying on her?" I bite out in a low, cool tone. "You think you know everything, but you know nothing. You still call her Eddie and treat her like a child. She's been living in my house for the last two months, Jack. I'm with her all the time. I treat her like the smart, incredible woman she is, and have nothing but respect for her."

I sigh and twist to look at Estlin. This week on vacation with her and Rory was the best time of my life. This is not how I wanted to tell either of them. Not even close.

I turn back to Jack and, on a heavy breath, say, "I'm sorry. You're right that I should have told you. From the very start, I should have, because even though we said it was going to be casual, I never was with her. She was more for me the first night I met her, and that's only grown."

Jack blinks at me. "First night ? "

"She was at the bar the Friday night your flight was canceled, and so was I. Only you never mentioned that to either of us. Did you?" I accuse. "You all but told me to go out and have a good time."

"You motherfucker?—"

Mason catches Jack mid-launch, and just as I go on the offensive, Estlin steps in and shoves Jack back and out of Mason's hands.

"Enough!" Her hands plant on his chest, and she holds him steady. "Stop it. Do you think I need you to pick my battles and fight my wars?" she asks, and he sputters, staring down at her. "I love you, Jack, and I get that you're upset because Owen and I didn't feel the need to include you in our sex life, but I'm tired of being treated with kid's gloves. Owen is right. You still call me Eddie even though I've been going by Estlin for the past five years, and you hover over my every move and word. Part of that is my fault. I've let you and everyone else treat me that way because I never had the courage before to stand up to it until now, and I knew it came from a place of love. And yes, Claude was older, and he was manipulative, and I was young and easily taken in. But Owen has never treated me that way. Not once. He has been nothing but open and honest with me from the start. He's done nothing but try to protect me—from himself, from Claude, and anyone else."

Jack's hands go to his hips, and he's breathing hard. "Edd—Estlin, don't you see that he's not serious about this with you?"

"Not serious? You asshole, I'm in love with her."

" Love ?" Jack chokes reflexively like he's hacking up a hairball.

Everyone freezes, including Estlin. The silence so resonating, my heart starts to pound faster, blood thrumming through my ears as if to make up for it.

"You know, I'm thinking we should go home," my grandmother muses, drawing everyone's attention to her. "It's late, and Katy and Bennett need their space and time with baby Willow, and there are things that need to be worked out without an audience witnessing it." She slowly walks over to me, unreasonably spry for a woman her age. I expect any manner of disapproving look from her, but she surprises me with a warm, loving smile. "Good night, my Owen. You are a brilliant surgeon and a man I am very proud of. Don't worry about Rory, she's with Rina." She kisses my cheek, wipes at the lipstick stain she left behind, then leaves, a trail of people following her, including all my uncles and aunts and most everyone else except for our small circle.

It's an incredible move and a gesture that speaks volumes about her love, faith, and trust in me. It's also one I'm insanely grateful for. Once everyone else has gone, I walk into the now-empty waiting room, and the remaining crew follows.

Now it's my turn to pace, but I quickly get over it and take Estlin's hand, bringing her to me. I said the words, and I won't take them back. They're hers now to do with as she likes, but I was tired of holding them in. Tired of her not knowing when it's all I think about. Wanting more is going to bring me to my knees, but here it is.

My heart in my hands and my life on the line.

"I knew the world wouldn't see us as we are," I murmur as I face both Estlin and Jack. "They'd see that Estlin is younger and I'm older. They'd see that I'm her boss and she's my daughter's nanny. They'd see and think so many things that didn't speak to us. But the truth is, she walked into my life, and I forgot everything else but her." My heart batters mercilessly in my chest, and my palm grows slick against hers. "What else is there to say? I love you."

Her eyes sparkle up at me, and her other hand lands on my chest over my racing heart. "I love you too. Even before you gave me my birthday presents."

I laugh at that, the sound relief and strain glued together as one. Thank fucking Christ for that. Now if Jack wants to kill me, at least I'll die a happy man.

"You?" Wren checks almost as if what I'm saying isn't computing. "You're in love. With Estlin. And she's in love with you." She does a slow owl blink at both of us. "And you met… before you hired her?"

"I met her out at the bar, and we had some fun together. I liked her immediately. She just… clicked for me somehow. But the next day, when she and Jack came to my house, it felt like everything was falling apart. I hired her because I had no choice, and Rory adored her. I tried to stay away. I tried to resist her. But she's impossible to resist." I look straight at Jack. "She's everything to me. Everything ."

Silence falls across the room again, only to be broken by Mason. "Are you going to try to kick his ass, or are you done with that?"

Jack emits a mournful noise, his hands locked behind his head, his elbows butterflied out, but his eyes are still hard as fucking stones on me. Me loving his sister doesn't erase that I kept it from him and lied about it. Fine, I'm pissed he thought so little of me, so I guess we're even.

"Probably not," he admits.

"Good. Because I think we should go too." Mason nods toward Stone and Vander, and Keegan nudges Wren as she puts her purse on her shoulder. Mason slaps my shoulder. "You good?"

I nod. "I'm good." Hell, minus Jack and Rory off somewhere, I'm fucking great.

"All right." He gives me a hug. "We'll catch up tomorrow, brother. Nice work on Willow."

"Thanks, man."

I exchange similar goodbyes with everyone else, and then it's just the three of us. Minus my daughter. I'm glad she's with Rina, but I'd like her here. It's late, and I want to take her home .

"And what of her work?" Jack throws out at me.

Her hand flies up. "Oh, come on, Jack."

He shakes his head at her. "No. This is important. You say you're in love, and I'm happy for you if that's true. Still fucking pissed, but happy. Except she was in love with a guy who didn't let her work take center stage for her the way he should have. You know she has an offer from a gallery in New York. Are you going to force her to stay here and continue to work as Rory's nanny because that's what you need her for?"

I didn't know about the offer from the gallery, and I feel a bit blindsided by it. For a moment, I trip over my thoughts. Over my words. His comment about forcing her to stay acts like a sucker punch, and I'm winded at the thought of losing her.

"I hope she'll stay, but I'd never force her to," I start slowly. "She works every day on her art, either in the studio we made for her in the basement or in the studio she pays for. I think her talent is amazing, just as I think she's amazing. I'm not here to ruin her life, Jack. Did you miss the part where I said I love her? I'd never stand in the way of her dream. Not ever." I turn to her. "You got into a gallery in New York?"

She nods. "Yes. The Broad. Billy's uncle is evidently the owner, and he showed him a couple of my paintings. He called just before you came out of surgery."

Well, that last part is a relief. For a moment, I was worried she was keeping it from me. "Hell, baby." I cup her face, not caring about our audience. "I'm so proud of you. That's fantastic."

"There are a lot of details to work out about it."

"Then we'll work them out," I promise her. "Whatever you need, we'll make it happen."

"I wasn't worried about it," she teases. "I knew you'd be happy and supportive about it. But Rory's upset. She overheard me telling Jack and thinks I'm leaving her. I'm not. I never will. It's like I told you in Florida. I want us. All three of us. "

I kiss her because I have to fucking kiss her.

Jack makes a noise, and I pull back.

"I don't know what else to say." I shrug. "Your lack of faith in me as a man hurts like hell. I get that you're angry we kept it a secret, but you should know me well enough to know the sort of man I'd be to her. Yes, it's new for us. We have a lot to work out. But if she wants me, I'm hers. That's all I know and all I can tell you. Other than that, I'm totally, completely, incoherently, wildly, truly, madly in love with her."

Estlin's palm cradles my face as she reaches up on her tiptoes to kiss my lips again. "That was a lot of adjectives."

I scrunch my nose. "Too many?"

"I was hoping for a few more."

I laugh, my forehead falling to hers. "I'm a doctor and hardly known from my poetry."

"I'll take it because I feel the same way. With just as many adjectives, if not more."

I swallow thickly. "Then that's all that matters." My gaze flows upward to Jack. "What do you say?"

Jack steps forward and extends his hand to me. I reach out and grip it. Immediately Jack pulls me in and clasps my shoulder. "You'll take good fucking care of her."

"I promise."

"Don't ever lie or hide shit from me again."

I nod just as Rina brings a puffy, red-eyed, and a sad faced Rory back to us. Immediately, Estlin bends and picks her up, fiercely hugging her. She's a mess, her head drooping to Estlin's shoulder, her eyes already starting to close. It's more than a little late at this point, and it's been a long day, and she's emotional.

"I'm not going anywhere, Gingerbread," Estlin promises her. "I love you, and I love your dad. There may be times when I have to go on a trip, but I'll always come back to you. "

"You swear?"

Estlin kisses her head. "I swear."

"Forever?"

"And ever. I promise."

I kiss both my girls. Time to take them home.