Safe With Me

Chapter Fifteen

Caleb’s phone is ringing. I’m flat on my back and he’s wrapped around me, clinging to me and breathing slow and steady, in a seemingly dreamless sleep.

Brynna – 1, Nightmares – 0.

“Caleb,” I nudge his shoulder and try to reach his phone, but it’s too far away. “Caleb, your phone.”

He rubs his face against my breast and then looks up at me with sleep eyes. “Huh?”

“Your phone is ringing, babe.”

He reaches for it and presses it to his ear, instantly awake and alert. “Montgomery.”

A man on the other end is speaking. Caleb moves from the bed, naked as the day he was born, and I prop my head on my hand to watch him pace beside the bed.

“Just tell me what’s going on,” he barks, but the line goes dead. “F*ck.”

“What’s wrong?” I ask and sit up, glancing over at the clock. It’s six in the morning.

“Matt’s on his way over. We need to get dressed.”

“What’s going on?” I ask and move from the bed, only to be caught up in Caleb’s arms and pulled against him.

“He wouldn’t say. He’ll be here in a few.” He hugs me close and buries his face in my hair, breathing deeply. “You smell amazing.”

I chuckle and kiss his chest before stepping away to pull on some clothes. Just as I pull my sweater over my head, there is a loud bang bang bang on the front door.

“That was fast,” I mutter with a smile.

“He was already on his way when he called.” Caleb pulls his jeans over his hips, grabs a shirt and flashes a grin at me before he turns and leaves the room. “Have I ever told you how fantastic you look first thing in the morning?”

“Uh, no.”

“Well you do.” He looks me up and down and then leaves me here in my bedroom, staring at the empty doorway.

I hear him answer the door and let Matt in, and I rush to pull on yoga pants and tie my hair up on top of my head. When I descend the stairs, Matt and Caleb are standing in the living room, Caleb with his arms folded over his massive chest, and Matt with his hands propped on his hips, both of them scowling.

“What’s up, guys?” I ask. “And why are you in your scary cop attire?” I ask Matt, gesturing to his gun and badge.

“I’m on my way to work,” he responds with a sigh. “Look, I got a call this morning from Chicago.”

Every hair on my body stands on end and I automatically reach for Caleb’s hand.

“Apparently, Will Montgomery getting engaged during a Nash concert is big news, and it has been splashed all over the morning news shows.”

“So?” I ask and frown. “What’s the big deal?”

“It wouldn’t be, except several of the shots from last night include photos and video of the family, Brynna.” He sighs and clenches his jaw, his eyes worried and trained on me as the implications of what he’s said sinks in.

“I was in those pictures,” I whisper and sit on the couch behind me. Caleb curses under his breath and sits next to me, drapes his arm around me and pulls me to his side.

“You were,” Matt confirms. “One of the guys with Chicago PD called me this morning. We don’t know that anyone else would notice, but it’s only a matter of days before it hits national magazines as well, and it’ll be all over the evening news tonight.”

“Why did he have to propose like that?” Caleb asks softly and kisses my shoulder.

“He didn’t know,” I whisper and for the first time in more than a year, I regret my decision to keep the rest of the family in the dark. “He didn’t know because I wouldn’t let you guys tell them.”

“We have to tell them now,” Matt murmurs.

“I know.” I nod and straighten my spine. “Today.”

“I have to work a shift today,” Matt says as he checks his watch and winces. “But let’s have the family over here this evening and we’ll talk to everyone, fill everyone in, and figure out where to go from there. I’ll make some more calls today and keep an eye on the media. My contact in Chicago was going to try to contact one of the undercover guys to see what they know, but it can take a few days to hear back.”

“Can your parents keep the girls one more night?” Caleb asks me. “I’d rather they weren’t here when we talk with our families.”

“Yeah,” I nod. “I’m sure that’s not a problem. I’d like to go spend time with them today, though.” I swallow and glance up at Matt who nods and smiles reassuringly.

Caleb pulls his phone out and begins to text the family.

Family meeting, today, 6pm. Brynna’s house. Mandatory.

***

“Hey, thanks for coming.” I kiss Stacy’s cheek as she and Isaac come inside my home. They are the last to arrive. “Do Luke’s parents have all the kids?”

Stacy nods as Isaac leads us into the living room.

My house is bursting at the seams.

Isaac and Stacy’s parents are all sitting at the dining room table, while all of the siblings are gathered in the living room. Luke and Natalie are sharing a chair while Jules and Nate and Mark and Sam are on the couch.

Will, Meg, Isaac and Stacy claim the remaining seats, and all eyes are on Caleb, Matt and myself.

Why do I suddenly feel so f*cking guilty?

“So what’s up?” Will asks. “Where are Bryn’s parents and the girls?”

“My parents have the girls at home. It’s best if they don’t hear this.” The last few words are said with a whisper, and everyone exchanges curious looks.

“Are you okay?” Steven Montgomery asks, and I have to blink furiously to keep tears at bay.

Geez, this conversation is just starting. Cut it out with the water works already.

I nod and look to Matt and Caleb for guidance.

“You all know,” Matt begins and sighs, “that Brynna came home about a year ago rather abruptly.”

Isaac scrubs his hands over his face and swears under his breath. He knows the story, and has kept my secret for all this time.

“You knew?” Stacy asks him, her voice full of hurt. He sighs deeply and wraps his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him, and kisses her head while whispering to her.

“It’s time you all know why,” I announce and offer a wobbly smile to Caleb and Matt. “And you should hear it from me.”

I swallow hard and look around the room at this beautiful group of people who have become my family and best friends.

“On Thanksgiving Day, just over a year ago, I was taking the girls to their father’s to spend a few days with him. Just before we got there, Jeff was murdered by members of the drug cartel that he was working undercover with, and as I pulled up to his house, they were leaving.”

There are mixed emotions from everyone in the room. Some gasp. Eyes widen. Mouths gape.

Nate’s hands ball into fists.

“I couldn’t identify any of them,” I continue and wring my hands together. “But, they don’t know that. I can’t testify against them in court, so I don’t qualify for the witness protection program, but they don’t know that either.”

“She was advised to leave town, and as long as she remained quiet and out of sight and out of mind, she should be safe,” Matt announces.

“And I have been,” I quickly assure them all. “The police in Chicago have kept their eyes and ears open, and for all I know, I’ve been forgotten.”

“So what’s going on now?” Luke asks, his voice hard.

“A few things have happened over the past few months to raise flags for us,” Caleb begins, speaking for the first time. “First, Matt received a call from a P.I. at the station, asking all kinds of nosy questions about the family.”

Matt nods and picks up where Caleb left off. “Then there was an employee at Isaac’s company who seemed…”

“Creepy as hell,” I finish for him. “He made comments about me being tied to a cop, and kept finding reasons to hit on me. Turns out he was just a creepy guy with a crush, but…”

“But I didn’t like it,” Caleb adds. “Then, the girls noticed someone poking around the house, looking in the mailbox up by the road after they got off the school bus one day.”

“Why are you telling us this now?” Jules asks. “We’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on with Brynna for months. So why now?”

“I’m sorry, guys,” I begin and close my eyes with a sigh. “I just didn’t want you all to worry and I figured the less you knew the less likely you could be a target, especially given how high profile some of you are.”

“But, our baby brother decided to grow a romantic side, and proposed to his girlfriend in a very public way last night,” Matt mutters and rubs his forehead with his hand. “It was on the news this morning, and I got a call from Chicago.”

“I was in the photos,” I add, and light bulbs go off above everyone’s heads.

“Are you in danger again?” Gail asks.

“We don’t know,” Caleb answers her. “But it’s only a matter of days before the images spread to papers and rag magazines, and as time progresses, chances improve that the wrong people will notice where Brynna is, and who she’s with.”

“F*ck,” Will mutters. “I’m sorry, guys.”

“You didn’t know,” I rush to assure him. “This is not your fault, Will.”

“We want you all to know so you can pay attention,” Matt informs everyone. “Keep your eyes open to anything that seems off. Someone’s already been asking around about the family, and we want to make sure that you all know what’s happening so you are sure to set your alarms and watch your backs. Whether we like it or not, we’re a high profile family.”

Suddenly, we notice that Gail is whispering feverishly at Steven, who is adamantly shaking his head.

“You have to tell them,” she insists, louder now. “They have the right to know. You can set their minds at ease, at least about this.”

“Mom?” Jules asks with a frown. “What’s going on?”

Steven stares at his wife for several long seconds and the tension is so thick in the room you could cut it with a knife.

“Dad.”

Isaac’s voice is calm but firm and Steven turns his gaze to him, and then to each of his children, one by one. His face is completely sober as he moves his eyes about the room and back to his wife who nods reassuringly.

Finally, he stands and moves next to Matt.

“I don’t really know how to say this,” he mutters, his eyes never leaving his wife. Finally, she stands and joins him, linking her hand with his and tilts her head to kiss his shoulder.

“You’re scaring me,” Jules whispers with wide eyes.

“Right after Caleb was born,” Gail begins and rubs her free hand up and down Steven’s arm, as though he’s cold. “Your father and I split.”

“What?” Matt exclaims.

“Let me finish the story,” Gail scolds him and keeps talking. “We went through a rough patch, like most marriages do. I had three little boys at home, and he worked more than I liked, and we decided to split. So, he moved out.”

“You moved out?!” Jules scoots forward in her seat, leaning forward, listening carefully.

“I did,” Steven confirms. “Worst f*cking three months of my life.”

“Okay, this is surprising, but what does it have to do with what’s happening now?” Matt asks.

“The P.I. was looking for me,” Steven announces and meets Matt’s gaze. “While I was separated from your mother, I had a very brief affair with a woman while I was on a business trip. I didn’t know it then, but she became pregnant.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Isaac growls.

“No,” Steven shakes his head. “I’m not kidding. The boy has been trying to find me since his mother passed away several months ago. He is the person who hired the P.I.”

The room is dead silent for several seconds while everyone processes what has just been said. I look up at Caleb’s face, and his jaw is clenched, muscles flexed and eyes narrowed on his father.

“You have an illegitimate son,” Matt clarifies.

“I do,” Steven nods with tears in his eyes. “His name is Dominic.”

“Holy shit,” Nate whispers and clenches his eyes closed. “We met him.”

“You met him?” Isaac exclaims, jumping to his feet.

“Yes, the day we took the girls shopping.” Nate nods. “He was having lunch with your parents.”

“You’ve been having lunch with him?”

“I can’t f*cking believe this,” Caleb mutters, speaking for the first time.

“Look,” Steven holds his hands up, as if surrendering. “I was waiting for DNA tests to come back before I told the family. What if he was some a*shole trying to get to my high profile children?”

“Your father was protecting you,” Gail tells them all with a stern voice.

“But the DNA confirms it,” Caleb states coldly.

“Yes.”

Matt swears, long and loud and paces around the room while Isaac just glares at his father. Jules and Will look shell-shocked, and Caleb is scowling, a tense ball of anger and frustration.

“I have something to say,” Caleb begins with a hard, yet deceptively calm, voice.

“Go ahead,” Steven says.

“You taught us what it is to be a man. A partner. A father.” Caleb inhales deeply and a muscle in his jaw ticks as he grinds his teeth together. “I feel like everything you’ve ever taught us has been a lie.”

“It’s not a lie,” Gail interrupts angrily.

“He f*cked around on you behind your back! What kind of a man does that?”

“He did not!” Gail storms over to Caleb and stares up into his eyes. “We were not together, Caleb. And he told me about it when he came home, begging me to take him back.”

“He was f*cking married!” Isaac interrupts. “I don’t give a shit if you were on a break.” Isaac laughs humorlessly. “This isn’t Friends. He was married to you, whether he lived in the same house as you or not.”

“We were taught to respect women,” Will adds with a husky voice. He looks up and pins his father in his blue gaze. “You taught us to protect the women we love. To take care of them. To never hurt them.”

Steven sighs deeply and hangs his head, staring at his shoes. “It was a horrible mistake, and something I’ve regretted every day of my life. Your mother was more forgiving than I deserved, and I’m thankful every day that she loved me enough to take me back and mend our marriage with me.”

“Where is he?” Caleb asks quietly.

“He lives not far from here,” Gail responds with tears in her eyes. “He grew up mostly in Italy with his mother’s family.”

“Were you ever going to tell us?” Jules asks. Tears are rolling down her cheeks.

“Yes, I just didn’t know how,” Steven whispers.

“But not if there hadn’t been a kid,” Isaac adds.

“If Dom hadn’t been born, there would be no reason to tell you,” Gail informs them all. “What happens in our marriage is between your father and me, and no one else.”

“How can you protect him?” Caleb asks his mother angrily. “After what he did to you?”

“Honey,” Gail takes Caleb’s hands in her own. “You need to remember, this happened more than thirty years ago. We’ve had more children since then, grandchildren. Thirty years of life.” She turns and looks at all of us as a tear falls from her eye unheeded. “This is fresh for you. For you, it happened today, but for us, it’s so far in the past it was a lifetime ago.”

“Do you have any more information for us?” Isaac asks Matt and pulls his wife to her feet.

“No,” Matt shakes his head.

“I’m out of here.”

Isaac leads Stacy out the door and we hear him start his truck and peel out of the driveway.

Jules is crying in earnest now and Nate pulls her into his lap, rubbing his big hand up and down her back and whispering in her ear, trying to calm her. Natalie’s face is pressed to Luke’s chest, where tears run silently down her cheeks.

Will stands and crosses to his father, his eyes full of anger and disgust and stops, toe to toe with the older man.

“I want to deck you right now. But out of respect for my mother, I’ll say this: I never expected to be this disappointed in you. Not you.”

Will shakes his head and turns away, striding quickly to the front door. Meg brushes tears from her cheeks and follows behind him.

Caleb’s gaze hasn’t left his father since he began speaking. He hasn’t moved. His face is white and his body is tight, and I can feel the anguish rolling off of him.

Tears are rolling down my own face, though I barely feel them. I don’t know what the f*ck to do, so I do what feels right. I wrap my arms around Caleb and hold him. He unfolds his arms and wraps them around me tightly, pulling me against him. His body is practically humming with agitation.

“I think…” Matt begins but pauses and swallows hard. “I think this meeting is over. Just keep your eyes and ears open, everyone.”

As he passes by Caleb and me, he pats my shoulder reassuringly and walks out the front door, closing it quietly behind him.

“Come on,” Steven says to Gail. “Let’s go and let them process all of this.” He looks about the room, to his friends sitting shell-shocked at the dining table, his children, Luke’s siblings. “I love you all very much. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that you had to find out about Dom this way.”

He stops in front of Jules, his face in absolute torment, as he gazes down at his daughter. “Jules,” he whispers.

Jules jumps up out of Nate’s arms and launches herself at her father, holding him tightly. “I love you so much, Daddy.”

“I love you too, baby girl.”

Jules hugs her mother and sniffs loudly as she pulls back and we all watch them walk out the front door.

“F*cking-A,” Caleb whispers.