chapter 16

When Julia arrived back at Drew's place, the house was empty and she could hear the

sounds of the power sander coming from the workshop. She followed the dirt path from

the house to the big outbuilding and stood in the open door, watching him.

She hadn't noticed it before, but she could see the Delaney in him now. The shape of

Colin's jaw was repeated in Drew, the angle of his nose. There was something around the

eyes, too. She hadn't wanted to believe that any of this was true, but now, she could see

that it was.

Drew was hunched over one of the side panels of the boat he was building, working

the sander, his focus on his work so complete that he didn't see Julia standing there.

When he turned off the sander and ran his hand over the wood, she said, "Drew?"

He looked up, and didn't answer for a moment.

"What are you doing back here?" His tone was mild, without the contempt she'd

worried she might hear.

"I wanted to see if you're okay." She walked into the room, her shoes crunching on a

fine layer of sawdust.

He shrugged. "I ought to be, I guess. I'm a multimillionaire."

"The debt Tessa left you, the stress of that—it's all over," she said.

"I guess." He shrugged again, as though none of it mattered, as though inheriting an

immense sum was just one irritating detail in an otherwise routine day.

"You've had a few years to absorb the news about who your father was," Julia said.

She hugged herself for solace, if not for warmth, since the space was comfortable enough

with the heater Drew had running. "But this is all still hitting me." She shook her head.

"God."

He avoided looking at her and busied himself around the workshop while he spoke

—putting away the sander, fiddling with rags and tools.

"It's been hard enough having to adjust to the fact that I'm some cattle tycoon's

bastard," he said. He grabbed a broom and began sweeping up sawdust from the floor.

"But this? When I read the news that Redmond had died, I thought, fine. I missed my

chance to talk to him, to meet him, but that was okay, because he didn't care about me

anyway. He didn't care if I was alive or dead, so what did it matter?" He paused in his

sweeping and looked at Julia, the broom in his hands. "But now, with the money …"

"He did care," she said. "He did."

He nodded slowly. "I guess he must have. Enough to give me his money. Enough to

let everybody know I was his."

He began sweeping again. He looked at the floor, not at Julia, but his voice was

fierce. "If he cared, then why the hell didn't he find me? Why didn't he get in touch with

me, when we still could've …" His voice trailed off, and he shook his head. "Ah, hell. I

don't know what we could've done. Dad was my dad, you know?"

"Yes." Julia could feel the emotion welling up inside her. "If you'd had a

relationship with Redmond, it would have hurt Dad. And I know you wouldn't have

wanted that."

"Mom didn't mind hurting Dad though, huh?" The bitterness in Drew's voice cut

through her.

"Why didn't you tell me what was going on between you and Mom? For three years,

you just let me wonder."

"How could I tell you, Jules? How could I tell you that Mom cheated on Dad, that

she … I wanted to protect you from it."

"You didn't protect me from anything. I didn't know why our family fell apart, but I

knew it did. Maybe I could have helped you. Maybe I could have been there for you."

He didn't respond to her, and the room was silent except for the sound of the gentle

rain falling on the roof.

"Did all of this have anything to do with your divorce?" she asked finally.

He let out a bitter laugh. "I guess you could say that, yeah. I was angry—angry about

all of it. I was pissed off pretty much all the time. She got tired of dealing with it, I guess.

I don't really blame her."

"That's why you just let her do it. The money, the credit cards. You could have hired

a lawyer, but you didn't."

"Yeah, well." He propped up the broom in a corner of the room. "I figure she

deserved something, after all I put her through."

She went to him and put a hand on his arm. "You deserve something, too. Take the

inheritance, Drew."

"Yeah. I don't suppose I'm going to turn down money like that, am I?"

"And …"

"What?"

"I think you should go out there. To California. You should meet the Delaneys."

"Ah, Jesus. Julia—"

"They're your family."

He moved away from her touch, his face hard. "You're my family. Not them."

"They didn't know, Drew. They didn't know about you. Colin—"

"You seem like you two are kind of close. What the hell is that about?"

He was changing the subject, and she couldn't let him. She needed to get him to face

what was happening, to deal with all of it instead of turning away like he had been.

Instead of running off and hiding with his anger and his boats.

"You need to meet them. For better or worse. Whatever happens, at least you'll have

your questions answered."

For all of the show he was putting on, despite the brooding, she knew her little

brother, and she knew he was scared.

"I could come with you," she said. "If you need a friendly face."

"I just … It's a lot to process. I need to think. I need to … let it soak in."

"Of course you do." Her voice was soothing.

She pulled him into her arms. He was stiff at first, refusing to accept the comfort she

was offering. Then he relaxed and wrapped his arms around her.

"I don't know what to do, Jules."

"We'll figure it out," she told him. She stood there with the rain on the roof and the

sweet smell of sawdust surrounding her, and savored having her brother back, if only for

the moment. "Don't worry, Drew. I'll help you. We'll figure it out."

Once she left him, she didn't know what to do next. She felt restless, unsettled.

Usually, when something was bothering her, she liked to talk it out with someone—most

often, Mike. But this time, she found herself wanting to be silent, to be alone, to work out

everything within her own mind before opening up to anyone else.

The rain eased to a light mist, so she followed the signs for Cusheon Lake, parked at

the side of the road, and walked a short distance to a small public dock jutting out over

the water. She sat down on the dock, the dampness from the wet wood seeping through

her jeans, and dangled her boot-clad feet out above the calm surface of the lake. She

listened to the sounds of water dripping from bare tree branches, someone having a

conversation on the other side of the lake, something rustling around in the brush at the

water's edge.

She pulled her coat around her against the cold.

She knew she'd been right—Drew needed to go to California to meet the Delaneys.

He needed to face them, face the family he'd never known, whatever that might bring.

But what if they were cold, suspicious, even hostile of this newcomer who'd be taking on

a large chunk of what they might consider rightly theirs? What if they shut him out, or

even put up a legal fight to prevent him from inheriting? Colin seemed to have a genuine

desire to see Drew get what was his. But what if the rest of the Delaneys didn't feel the

same way?

What if she was urging her brother to go into a situation that would confirm all of his

worst assumptions about his biological family? What kind of damage might that do?

She knew it was a chance he needed to take, though. He had to know. Though it

wasn't her life, and it wasn't her call, she felt certain that he wouldn't begin to heal until

he ripped off the Band-Aid and faced them.

And she meant what she'd said about going with him. He didn't have Tessa now,

didn't have someone who could hold his hand while he rode out the emotional upheaval

the journey was certain to bring. So, she would do it for him. She would hold his hand.

She would be his advocate, someone who would be on his side no matter what happened.

After a while, when she was wet and cold and when the silence of the lake had

settled her mind a little, she got back up and walked to the car. She was ready to do

whatever had to be done.

But first, she had to talk to Colin.

When Julia got back to the B&B, she saw no sign of him. She knocked on the door

to his room, but got no answer. She was chilled from the wet weather, so she went to her

room, stripped off her cold, damp clothes, took a hot shower, and then dressed in warm,

dry jeans and a cotton sweater. When she was dressed and had pulled her hair up into a

messy bun, she ventured out of her room and downstairs to the breakfast area, where the

food from the morning had been cleared away but there were still urns of coffee and hot

water for tea.

She made herself a cup of strong coffee with cream and sugar, wrapped her hands

around the white ceramic mug for warmth, and then settled into an overstuffed chair in

the downstairs sitting room to wait for Colin. He couldn't have gone far, she reasoned,

since she'd had their only car.

He came in the front door about fifteen minutes later dressed in sweatpants, a

hoodie, and running shoes, breathing fast, his hair damp from the light rain and from

exertion.

She couldn't have said what it was, exactly, but something about seeing him all

casual, tousled and sweaty—a sharp change from the lawyer persona he usually presented

—left her momentarily speechless. For a split second she wondered what it would be like

to kiss him right now, while he was breathless and tasting of salt and rain.

She silently chastised herself and shoved the thought away.

"You run?" she said, because it seemed like a better opening than licking him.

"Yeah, usually." He ran a hand through his wet hair. "I've been missing it lately

because of everything that's been going on. The travel, and Drew, and … But I had some

time today, since you were out, so …"

He was rambling. It was cute that he was rambling.

"We need to talk," she said as he stood in front of her, dripping on the floral rug.

"All right." He nodded. "I'll just run up and shower. I'll see you back here in ten."

He jogged up the stairs—old, wooden stairs that creaked under his weight. She watched

him go and thought about kissing him again.

Get a grip on yourself, Julia.

She took a deep breath and focused on her coffee. Coffee was always safe.

When he came down, all freshly showered and smelling of soap and some light,

spicy aftershave, he already knew what she'd wanted to tell him.

He went to the coffee urn, poured himself a cup, and returned with it to sit in the

chair beside her in the downstairs parlor.

"Drew wants to come to California," he said. "He left a message on my cell phone."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Julia told him.

A fire was crackling in the fireplace, and the room was cozy and warm. The

innkeeper was fussing around with the coffee urn in the next room, and they could see

her through the open doorway refilling the sugar container and putting out fresh mugs.

"I'm surprised he wants to come," Colin said. "Glad, though. Everybody's got a lot

of questions, on both sides. It'd be good to get them answered, as much as we can with

Redmond gone."

"I'm coming with him," she said.

Colin gave her an appraising look, as though he were evaluating all of the many

reasons she might want to follow Drew out to Cambria and the Delaney Ranch.

She told herself she didn't have a reason other than wanting to protect her brother.

But even as she thought it, she knew it was utter crap. This thing with Colin was like a

drop of clean, refreshing water amid her long drought with men. What might happen if

she chose to immerse herself completely, to dive in for a deep, satisfying swim?

She wasn't going out there for him. She was doing it for Drew.

But in the process of supporting Drew, she might get a few of her own questions

answered—questions about Colin Delaney, and what lay underneath his smooth and very

appealing exterior.

If a trip to California turned out to be a multipurpose deal, would that be so bad?

"He mentioned in the voice mail message that you might," Colin said, the barest hint

of a grin on his freshly shaved face. "Well, we've already traveled together, so we know

what that's like."

"I've never been to Cambria," she said.

"You're going to love it." Colin nodded with certainty. "And your brother's about to

own a big chunk of it, so there's that."

The words hit Julia hard as she worked to adjust to this new reality.

"Well, I guess it would be good to see it, then."

Julia felt fortunate that all of this was happening at a time when she didn't have to be

at work on a job site. That was the thing about the winter season for a landscape designer;

whatever you had to do, you could do on paper. The hands-on work wouldn't start until

the snow melted in Montana and the ground thawed, so she had a certain amount of

freedom to go traipsing around, hunting down her brother in Canada and then following

him to California.

Once she'd made the decision to go, she called Mike and asked him to check her

mail, make sure her pipes hadn't burst, and otherwise take an occasional peek at her place

until she came back.

"This isn't your deal, Julia," he grumbled at her. "It's Drew's. I get that you want to

help him out, be there for him and all that. Just … try to keep some distance. Don't get

too caught up in it."

"What are you now, some kind of self-help guru?"

"Don't be a smartass," he said.

She was packing her suitcase as she talked to him on her cell phone, tucking her

toiletries into the front compartment. "Sorry. I know you're right. But I can't help

worrying about him."

"You're his sister, not his mom," Mike said.

"Yeah, because look how well Mom has handled things so far," she added dryly.

"And anyway, it's not just about protecting him. This whole thing … it's just so

intriguing."

"I'll give you that," he said. "It's not every day you find out your father isn't your

father, and your real father is a millionaire."

"Billionaire," Julia corrected him. "Drew's inheritance won't be as much as that.

There's money tied up in the family's corporation, and there are inheritance taxes, and a

big chunk is going to charity …"

"But it's a shit ton," Mike finished for her.

"Yeah. It's a shit ton."

"Intriguing," he said.