A Billionaire's Love: The Sherbrookes of Newport Novella Page 6

  “Yeah, of course.” Curt accepted Scott’s daughter and made a mental note to remember Belinda was wearing the brown onesie with the large pink poodle on the front.

  Trent waited until the children and Scott left before circling back to the conversation they’d been having. “What kind of situation have you gotten yourself into this time?”

  Curt gave them the condensed version of events over the past week.

  “When will you and Taylor find out?” Jake asked when he finished.

  “Soon. Both Jordan and Reese had the cheek swabs done at the beginning of the week,” he answered, reaching for his beeping cell phone on the end table.

  We’re all on our way back. The message from Taylor read.

  He’d expected them much later tonight. He knew his sister had made dinner reservations at The Raven’s Nest, the nicest restaurant at the ski resort. While Leah could have changed their reservation time, he didn’t see why she would. If the group was on its way home now, either Leah had changed it or something had happened. But then again, if someone in the group was injured, one of his cousins would’ve received a phone call or a text message. Other than when his younger cousin Alec called earlier to let his brother Trent know he wouldn’t be up today but would see everyone tomorrow in Salem, everyone’s phone had been silent up until now.

  Is everything okay?

  Curt received a response right away.

  I received an email from the lab.

  Mass Genetics told Taylor they’d email the results to both her and Jordan. When they didn’t arrive yesterday, he’d assumed the lab was closed on the weekends and they wouldn’t hear anything until Monday at the earliest.

  Taking in a deep breath, he exhaled slowly before replying. And?

  I’m waiting until I get home to check. That’s why we’re on our way back. See you soon.

  You can read the results without me.

  I’d rather wait.

  Setting the device down, Curt rested his head against the back of the armchair and closed his eyes.

  “Bad news?” Brett pulled his beeping cell phone from his pocket and looked at the screen.

  “Taylor got the results from the lab.”

  “Since you aren’t smiling, I guess it means Jordan is Reese’s father,” his brother said as he typed a message and then put his phone away.

  He both understood Taylor’s reasoning and appreciated that she was waiting until they were together to read the results. At the same time, he wished she’d opened the email as soon as she saw it and put him out of his misery. “Taylor hasn’t read the email yet.”

  “I would’ve opened it as soon as I saw it,” Brett said.

  “She’s waiting until she gets home. Everyone is on their way back now.”

  “Yeah, I just got a text from Jen telling me they’d be home in about two hours.”

  Reese and Erin reentered the room and escorted the boys over to the large coffee table. Scott followed them, carrying a tray of drinks and snacks for both the adults and the children. “I thought they had dinner reservations,” Scott said.

  “Small change in plans.” Curt snagged a can of root beer as his cousin walked by and opened it. At the moment, he’d much prefer a shot or two of scotch, but with eight children in the house, soda would have to do.

  He watched Reese pour some goldfish into a plastic bowl for James, then stick a straw in his juice box. And for at least the twentieth time this week, he prayed the test determined that Jordan and Reese weren’t related.

  Nine

  The previous afternoon, they’d arrived at Ravenwood around dinnertime. While Taylor, Leah, and Taylor’s two cousins settled into Leah and Gavin’s mountainside condo, the rest of the group checked into their rooms at the ski resort’s hotel. Then, before they all headed out for some nighttime skiing, she’d checked her email one last time for the day. And bright and early this morning, Taylor had checked it again before heading out for a day on the slopes. She’d almost not bothered to open her email app when she’d returned to the condo to change before everyone met up at The Raven’s Nest for dinner. But after showering, she grabbed her cell phone, more out of habit than because she expected to find anything. When she saw the email address, her first instinct had been to open the message and know once and for all the truth. Instead, she’d closed the app, explained why she wanted to skip dinner, and asked if anyone minded. Not surprisingly, no one had, since everyone there knew the situation.

  “I think my brother would understand if you read the report without him.” Leah glanced at her from the driver seat as they waited for the traffic light to turn green.

  As if to torture herself, she’d logged into her email account at least half a dozen times since leaving Ravenwood. Now, just like every other time, the subject line taunted her. With one simple touch, she could read the results and find out if Jordan was Reese’s father.

  Don’t do it. Taylor’s finger hovered over the email. Instead of opening it, she logged out of her account, flipped her cell phone over, and went back to looking out the car window. They were almost to Curt’s house. After waiting this long, she could hold out for another five or ten minutes.

  “I know, but I want to wait.”

  Taylor had her reasons for not reading the results now. Perhaps most importantly, she and Curt were a family, and some things needed to be done as a family. Her second reason for not checking was because if the results weren’t the ones she wanted, Taylor wasn’t sure how she’d react, and she’d rather not embarrass herself in front of the people in the car.

  Lillian, her maid of honor and cousin, leaned forward and patted her shoulder from the back seat. “You’ve got more self-discipline than me. I would’ve opened it two hours ago.”

  “Since you haven’t heard from Jordan, it might mean he’s not the father,” Jen, Curt’s future sister-in-law, said.

  “Or he hasn’t checked his email today.” Not everyone checked their accounts every day. Some people, like her mom, opened their account only two or three times a week.

  After turning onto Route 38, Leah stopped again as they approached a line of traffic, something that rarely occurred on this stretch of the road unless there was an accident. “Is there another way home?”

  Of all the days. “Not a good one. Even if we wait in this, we’ll still get home quicker than if we go the other way.”

  “Do you think Curt’s house is still standing?” Lillian asked as a way to distract her.

  With eight children, several of them still in diapers, and only seven adults, the men had had their hands full today. Taylor knew both Reese and Erin would help in any way the men might need, except for maybe changing a dirty diaper. Still, even with the added assistance, the house might have become a little crazy.

  “If it’s not, my brother will have something to work on after the honeymoon,” Leah replied.

  “Brett probably had all of them except Theresa and Belinda running laps and doing pushups,” Jen said.

  Leah shook her head. “Nah, I bet Reese convinced Curt to move the furniture so they could play soccer in the house. She has my brother wrapped around her little finger. He can’t say no to her.”

  Knowing all the parties involved, Taylor could picture discovering either scenario when they arrived at Curt’s home.

  When she walked in the house ten minutes later, the smell of pizza and popcorn greeted them rather than screaming children and crying grown men.

  “From here, the house looks okay.” Leah stopped next to her and shrugged off her jacket.

  “That’s because Kendrick and Garrett are busy using markers to redecorate the kitchen walls,” Jen said, coming up on the other side of her.

  It wouldn’t surprise Taylor if Jen turned out to be right. As much as she adored the two little boys, when they got together, everyone better watch out.

  “Those two are just like Trent and Jake were at that age,” Judith added. She’d pulled into the driveway a moment or two after they had.

&n
bsp; “Again, it’ll give my brother something to do when you return from your honeymoon,” Leah said.

  Unsurprisingly, Curt met the group in the hallway before they reached the living room.

  “Since I doubt you guys saved us any pizza, I’ll order us something to eat,” Leah offered before she and the other women continued on down the hall.

  Taking her hand, Curt led her back toward the foyer in silence.

  “I half expected to find a soccer game going on when I walked in.”

  “We did that before lunch, so we’d have time to move the furniture back.”

  She couldn’t tell from his tone if he was being serious or not.

  Opening the library door, Curt switched on the lights and let her enter the room first. “You didn’t have to wait for me.” He closed the door behind him, although why, she didn’t know. With everyone in the living room, no one would hear them in here.

  “I wanted us to read it together. Did you say anything to Reese about me getting the results?”

  He shook his head as he sat down. “It seemed pointless to mention it until we knew one way or the other.”

  Since the last time Taylor looked, she’d received emails from three other individuals. She didn’t even check the subject lines. They’d all be there later.

  She scanned the brief standard cut-and-paste message before scrolling down to the attached report and opening it. Next to her, Curt remained silent, his leg rubbing against hers as he bounced his knee up and down while he waited.

  After reading the results a second time, she bowed her head and collapsed against the sofa.

  “What does it say?”

  “Jordan is not Reese’s father.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She handed Curt the cell phone, so he could read the report himself. And as he did, she watched the tension leave his body.

  “We should tell Reese and Mom.”

  Her niece didn’t know she’d received the results, but Mom and everyone else who’d gone skiing with her this weekend did. And they were almost as anxious as she’d been to learn the truth.

  “Let’s talk to Reese first. But I need to grab something before we do. While I’m up, I’ll get Reese and bring her in here.” He kissed her cheek before standing up. “Be right back.”

  Whether they told Reese alone or Reese and Mom at the same time didn’t matter to her. For some reason, Curt cared, so she didn’t argue with his suggestion. However, she was darn curious about why it mattered and what he needed to get before they spoke to Reese.

  “Curt went upstairs. He’ll be right back,” Reese said, entering the room. “How come you’re home so early? I thought you weren’t going to be back until after I went to bed, and that was why I was sleeping here tonight.”

  “We decided to skip dinner and come home early because—” She stopped when Curt came in and closed the door again.

  He put down the gift in his hand before joining her. She’d noticed the present sitting on his nightstand. Although not wrapped in the same snowman wrapping paper as the other presents Curt had wrapped so far, she had assumed it was a Christmas present for someone.

  “Because why?” Reese asked.

  “The laboratory we went to for the DNA test emailed me the results. I came home so that Curt and I could check them.”

  “Oh.” Frowning, Reese dropped into a chair and crossed her legs in front of her. “Is that why Curt got me? So you guys can tell me what it says.” She rested both elbows on her legs and propped her chin in her hands.

  Taylor nodded. “Jordan, the man I told you about on Monday, isn’t your father.”

  Reese’s transformation was like nothing she’d ever seen. Jumping to her feet, she turned toward the door. “I need to tell Erin and Mimi.”

  “Hold up, short stuff. I have a present I want you to open first,” Curt said.

  At the word “present,” Reese spun around. “But it’s not Christmas yet, and it’s too early to be for my birthday.” Despite the apparent confusion, she accepted the small box without complaint.

  “It’s not a Christmas present. It’s something I bought for you, and I want you to open now.”

  Her niece didn’t need any additional instructions. She tore off the silver bow and placed it on Curt’s head before ripping off the purple paper. The box’s cover soon landed on the floor next to the wrapping paper, and Reese pulled a white gold ID bracelet out.

  “It looks like Hazel’s, but hers is yellow and has a heart charm on it.”

  Around Halloween, Reese had mentioned that she wanted a bracelet like Hazel’s. Although Taylor hadn’t purchased one yet, she’d planned to buy her one for Christmas. It looked like Curt had beat her to it.

  Rather than ask Curt or Taylor to put it on her wrist, Reese handed the bracelet back to Curt. “Curt, the store gave you the wrong one. My initials are R.E.W. The ones on here are R.E.S.”

  Now she understood why he hadn’t asked Mom to join them.

  Smiling, Curt took both of Reese’s hands in his. “They didn’t give me the wrong one, short stuff. Your name right now is Reese Emma Walker, but if it’s okay with you, I’d like it to be Reese Emma Sherbrooke.”

  Reese tilted her head slightly to the left as her eyebrows bunched together. “For us to have the same last name, you’d have to adopt me. Like Megan’s parents did, but they adopted her when she was a little baby, and Megan doesn’t remember it happening. And if you adopted me, then you’d be my dad.”

  “Correct on both accounts, if it is something you want.”

  Grabbing the bracelet back, she launched herself at Curt. “Can I call you Dad?”

  Wrapping his arms around her, Curt kissed Reese’s cheek. “You can call me Curt or Dad. It’s up to you.”

  Taylor had fallen in love with him over a year and a half ago when he showed up with a lacrosse stick in each hand, ready to give Reese a lesson. Now with him sitting there with a silver bow on his head and making her niece the happiest girl in the world, judging by her smile, Taylor fell in love with him all over again.

  “Will you help me put this on?” Moving from Curt’s embrace, Reese handed Curt the bracelet and extended her arm out. “Hey, now that you’ll be my dad, Leah and Brett will be my aunt and uncle. Do you think they’ll let me call them Aunt Leah and Uncle Brett?”

  When Curt mentioned adopting Reese, she’d told him he had nothing to worry about. Later, she’d remind him how right she’d been.

  Curt fastened the bracelet around Reese’s wrist. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask them.”

  Yeah, she didn’t see Leah and Brett saying anything but yes. They’d been treating Reese like a niece for over a year.

  Reese grabbed Curt’s hand, and then as if just remembering Taylor sat there, she took hers too and pulled. “C’mon, let’s go ask them and tell Mimi and Erin.”

  She didn’t let go until they reached the living room where everyone was gathered.

  “Guess what?” Reese called out, stepping into the room.

  Reese’s question stopped the various conversations, and everyone, including the four little boys, looked in their direction.

  “Curt’s going to be my dad, and I’ll have the same last name as him and Aunt Taylor.”

  Her mom blinked several times, but Taylor still noticed a few tears slip down her cheeks. “All good news in the email then?”

  Not only good news but perhaps the best news she’d received in a long time. “Yep.”

  Joining them, Curt’s mom hugged Reese. “You do realize if Curt’s your father that makes me your grandmother. And since you already have a Mimi, you’ll have to call me Nana.”

  Reese’s face lit up, and she smiled. “I didn’t think of that. And it means Jonathan is my grandfather, right?”

  Judith nodded.

  “What should I call him?” Reese asked.

  “You’ll have to ask him next time you see him,” Judith answered.

  Satisfied with the answer, Reese approached Curt’s b
rother. “Can I start calling you Uncle Brett?”

  “You better, or I won’t play soccer with you anymore.” Brett pulled Reese in for a bear hug.

  “Same goes for me,” Leah called from the opposite sofa.

  “You want Reese to call you Uncle Brett?” Trent asked.

  Leah threw her cousin a dirty look and elbowed him in the side. “Reese knows what I mean.”

  In true nine-year-old fashion, Reese rolled her eyes. “Trent, she wants me to call her Aunt Leah.” Turning, she glanced at the table where the boys were eating their snack, and then she looked back at Taylor and Curt. “Since Trent, Jake, Scott, and Callie are Curt’s cousins, does that mean Kendrick, James, Cooper, and Garrett will be my cousins now?”

  “Yep, and so will Theresa, Belinda, and Courtney’s son, Liam.”

  Reese’s eyes doubled in size. “I’ll have seven cousins. Cool.”

  “More than that, Reese. You also get stuck with those two.” Jake pointed at Trent and Scott before he continued. “As well as Scott’s two sisters, Trent’s brothers and sister, Callie, Sara, and me.”

  If someone could pass out from excitement, her niece would be lying on the floor right now. “Awesome.”

  “We’re kinda related now too, since Leah is my stepmom and she’s Curt’s sister,” Erin called out from where she sat cleaning up the goldfish one of the boys had spilled on the table.

  With a smile stretching from ear to ear, Reese joined Erin and hugged her before accepting the graham cracker James offered her.

  “Have I ever told you how much I love your family?” she whispered in his ear. How could she not love the people gathered around her? From day one, they’d accepted her, Reese, and Mom into their lives and made it clear they considered them family.

  “They’re your family now too.”

  Ten

  Some women spent months and months searching for the perfect wedding gown. Not her. About two months after Curt proposed, Taylor stopped into a bridal boutique in Boston during her lunch break. She hadn’t walked in expecting to purchase anything. She’d gone in more just to get an idea of the various styles available and, at the same time, get a few ideas of what she might like Reese and the rest of the bridal party to wear. She’d spotted her gown on a mannequin and fallen in love with its simple but elegant design. The moment she slipped it on and saw her reflection, she’d known she’d found the gown. Looking at her reflection in the mirror now, she loved the wedding dress even more than the last time she’d put it on for her final fitting.