Chapter 32

32

Brandt was still trying to put this into perspective. He doubted he ever would fully be able to understand what had happened.

His father was hurting now, but he would make a full recovery. Brandt's mother didn't have even one bruise on her; it was the emotional trauma that would stay with her forever. The nightmares.

Powell and her baby were going to be fine. It had been bad for a while there. She had been right in the middle of things.

Gunnar's prognosis was good. He would be okay—eventually. It would be at least three months until the other man was back on his feet fully. Brandt felt for him—he had been in the same boat himself, after all. Gunnar had the woman he loved right next to him, though. The other man was going to be just fine. That it was Powell, well, Brandt had known she would fall for a man completely eventually. He was glad it was Gunnar—there wasn't anything that man wouldn't do to take care of Powell and make sure she was happy, and that was all Brandt really wanted for his sister.

Powell was already making plans to paint her nursery, and move that man in with her. Once he was recovered.Powell was determined to have happily-ever-after. His sister would be okay.

Brandt went searching for his sister early. She'd made it clear she wasn't leaving room 403 until Gunnar did—and Brandt's father wasn't getting out of the hospital until close to noon. They'd kept him after a small complication with his heart had shown up on the monitors. Enough to have Brandt's mother panicking. Brandt's brothers were roaming around the lobby of the hospital when he stepped in. Brandt went to them.

Mac had a snarly expression on his face. Normally, it was Alex who was in a foul mood. But Mac took protecting Powell to the extreme. Well, Brandt could fully understand that—his sister had drawn far too much trouble in her direction lately. "What are you doing here so early?"

"Waiting," Alex said. "Mac wants to talk to Heather."

"But Heather does not want to talk to Mac right now," a feminine voice said bluntly from behind his brothers' shoulders. "You guys should probably listen."

Heather's niece Cara was there. A very beautiful, dark-haired, dark-eyed fairy princess type who had captivated Brandt's brother Alex completely. Cara didn't have a clue about that, either.Brandt privately thought it served Alex right.

"Heather is going to get even angrier at you, Mackie Mac McBarratt," Cara said. "And she has enough problems to worry about right now."

Brandt listened to her lecture Alex and Mac very bluntly. She made him want to smile. Alex was drooling over her again.Cara was completely oblivious to that.

"What are you doing downstairs?" Alex asked. "I thought you were in with your aunt?"

"No. I am taking my turn sitting with Daniel. We voted. Apparently, we are keeping him. Cashlyn and Summer think we can retrain him into a proper man creature while he recovers." She said it so seriously that Brandt almost laughed. He wondered what Daniel, one of Mac's closest friends, would think about that. "Powell is in there next to Gunnar, and I think she's hungry, but she won't admit it. So I am going to the vending machines. They have good granola bite snacks in there. Powell will probably eat those. She can be a little finicky. I was going to get them for her. I'm going to be her new personal assistant, you know."

"I hadn't heard," Brandt said. Cara just nodded.

"Yes, Powell doesn't want to work sixty hours a week with the baby coming. So I'm going to work for her instead of at B-3. That way, Alex will leave me alone." She shot his brother a probing look. Alex just smirked at her. Cara's cheeks turned bright red instantly.

Brandt would admit it: seeing his brothers so early reassured him. Now he just needed to see his sister and parents. Then he would know everything was going to be fine.

He checked his watch. It was not quite nine a.m. His flight had gotten in at two that morning. A few texts from Mac hadn't answered his questions. Not fully.

Brandt had found his mother in the lobby of the hospital at three that morning. He'd spent the next three hours holding her and listening as she'd told him what had happened. What those bastards had done. And why.

He hadn't even seen his twin sister yet.

Someone said his name. From behind him. A woman.

He turned.

Blinked.

Brandt took a step toward the two women who were standing there. Waiting. " Meyra. What are you doing here, little one?"

Her shorter cousin was right next to her. Charlotte smirked at him and his brothers. "Where is Powell?"

Brandt was barely aware of Cara answering the question. He took two steps toward the woman staring at him, an uncertain look on her face. "Meyra? Sweetheart?"

She took a step toward him, clutching her bag tightly. "I wanted to be here if you needed me."

"I will always need you." No lie. This woman...kept his heart beating stronger. She always would. Brandt just held open his arms.

Meyra walked right into them. He wrapped her up close and buried his face in her hair. She smelled beautiful. Perfect. "Why didn't you text me? Let me know you were coming?"

"We didn't want to take you away from your family," she said simply. "How are they doing?"

"I haven't seen my dad or my sister yet. But Mom says they are going to all be okay. Dad has a concussion. Powell ended up getting stitches. She was grazed by a bullet. Gunnar was touch and go for a while, but he's been upgraded to stable. I can't believe you came down." She'd left Masterson. For him.

"She cornered me in my suite at five this morning, already packed and ready to go. I just had to buy our tickets," Charlotte said. "When Meyra makes up her mind about something, there is no stopping her. And I think she may have made up her mind about you."

Brandt barely heard her words. He was too busy holding the woman he loved.She had come to him. Because he needed her.

"Powell is upstairs with Gunnar," Cara told Charlotte. "He is sleeping. He'll be okay. Him and Daniel both. Eventually. But it was really scary."

He listened to Cara and Alex fill Charlotte in on what had happened. But he mostly just held Meyra. Meyra didn't pull away.

He knew long embraces were hard for her, but she let him hold her. Then Brandt pulled back. Big, beautiful green eyes looked at him. "Did you eat anything on the plane? The food in the cafeteria isn't that great here. It's actually pretty bad when I think about it. But I haven't had breakfast, either."

There were other people coming into the lobby that he recognized. Including Powell's friends, who were probably intent on finding her.

They saw Charlotte first.

Then they were surrounded.

Brandt just wrapped his hand around Meyra's and held it. She'd left the safety of Masterson. Left her routine.To be with him.That rocked him. More than he could have ever thought it would.

He looked at her. "Thank you."

"You needed me. So here I am."

He fell for her even more in that moment. Meyra Talley had his heart completely.