Page 55 (1/1)

Chapter Twenty-five

Brant was hardly surprised to see the crew fro with Mark and Ava at the airport Of course Mark would have offered them a ride back to Myrtle Beach on his plane He was hardly in theEmma behind, but maybe it was for the best Less ti

Everyone kept the conversation light as they were cleared for takeoff When the plane reached its cruising altitude, the flight attendant Mark had hired for the return trip took drink orders Mark ordered a scotch and soda and Brant requested the same It was still early, but damn, he needed a drink Suzy looked at hi her hand briefly over his "She’ll be ho not the beautiful and intily, an ally

He looked around, thankful that no one see any attention to their conversation "Do you think so?" he asked, needing some reassurance

Suzy studied hi or has happened between you two, you were ether from the moenerated enough sparks together to singeboth himself and Suzy "Thank you" He smiled "You have no idea how much I needed that"

"Oh, I think I do," she replied, "and you’re welcome" Brant looked away as Gray claimed his wife’s attention Jason and Claire sat beside them Jason idly twirled a lock of his wife’s hair as if he needed to stay connected while he discussed business with Declan Ella was curled against her husband, who kept a protective arainst his shoulder

Brant was glad to see his brother so at peace after years of searching for so at Ella, Brant thought he finally understood what Declan had been so desperate to findit was her When at last Brant’s gaze landed on Mark and Ava, he was ry Hell no, he didn’t want Mark involved with his sister, but that wasn’t the vibe he was getting from them In a weird way, it lookedroe concept to think of Mark having a straight friendship with someone as attractive as Ava

Brant was relieved when Jason drew him into a discussion of a new customer and forced his mind away from Emma and onto business Maybe it was obvious to the other h his head

E a h the open double doors and onto the deck The day so far was unusuallyon a patio chair and Emma took the one next to her They sat in co their coffee and watching the waves break in the ocean E the waves and throwing up a hand in greeting when she spotted the her Sadly, the memory of it was all they had now Her mother was the first to break the silence "I heard Brant leave this et back hoht with the others from Danvers"

"I see" Her o back with him?"

Surprised, Euys to handle everything Jason told ed, knowing she sounded defensive

Showing some of her for expression on her face "Honey, I’m not blind You looked like someone had kicked your cat when Brant showed up here Now, I’ that someone in a relationship wouldn’t be surprised if the other person ca problehed She was just too da else, she was sure that she could distract her ht-out-of-a-book tale of blacknals and finally love, so she confessed everythingwell, soist of what had been going on

Soainst her chair, saying, "Wow, you could have just answered with ‘It’s co, it orth the e open Admit it, Mom, you didn’t think I had it in me"

"Honey, I knew you had it in you; after all, you have my blood in your veins I just wondered when you would realize it One thing you didn’t say, though, during your story Do you love Brant?"

Without hesitation, Emma said, "Yes No matter how much he drives me crazy at times, I absolutely love hiavefrown He had no idea that those frowns turned into the highlight of my day"

"Well then, I repeat, why are you still here?"

Emma took her mother’s hand "He hurt me and I need some time to come to terms with that And h Robyn’s aparts alone I love Brant, but ht now He’ll wait forelse, I know that"

Chapter Twenty-six

In the end, it was eighteen days later when Ereed to pick her up at the airport She hadn’t told Brant that she was co home; she wanted to surprise hiiven her the ti her know that, other than working twelve-hour days, he was fine, she probably would have broken down and called him much sooner She kneas silly, but she just couldn’t risk having long telephone conversations with hi home to find a completely different Brant She was still trau the cold shoulder from him before Robyn’s accident

She spotted Suzy immediately in the airport arrivals area There was no way to h heels E so happy and healthy Suzy had told her on the phone that they were planning to adopt and that they had taken their first step in the process this week: a hoency would see that Suzy and Gray would be wonderful parents She had little doubt that her tough-talking friend would melt when she held her child in her arms for the first ti like it had beenat her "Babe, it’s so good to have you back We’ve all missed you"