“That sounds like her.” Cloe was smiling, but her eyes were wet, her voice husky with emotion. “She always had goals. She always wanted to be taken seriously and prove herself. I miss her so much.” She wiped under her eye. “I should have come when she first told me she was pregnant. She wanted me to, to help when the baby came.” Anguish flashed across her expression. “Is she here? Storm?” She looked longingly toward the upper floors again.
“Emma took her to Reid’s office.” Sophie pointed vaguely toward the village. “They’re married now. Did you know that?” she asked tentatively. “They want to adopt Storm.”
“Oh. No, I didn’t know.” Cloe’s voice went hollow. She seemed rocked by that news, gaze turning inward. “That’s why I’m here. I mean, not to adopt her. To see her. To make sure she’s okay.”
“She is. Emma really loves her. So did Tiffany. She absolutely loved Storm to bits. It was just a lot for her to help Wilf and keep house and have a new baby. This place is very isolating. That was hard on her. That’s why she hired Emma. Then, when the plane crashed, Emma spent so much time with Storm, she bonded with her.”
She’s her mother. Sophie wanted to hammer that home, but made herself keep the kid gloves on.
“If only”—Cloe fisted her hands against her brow, elbows on her knees—“I wanted to come. I just couldn’t.”
It almost sounded as though Cloe wished she had been here so her niece would have come to her after the crash, instead of Emma. Sophie felt a tug of empathy for her, but her loyalty was to Emma and Reid all the way.
“Here come the men,” Sophie noted with relief.
Down at the marina, the Fraser brothers were tying off the bowrider and striding purposefully up the wharf.
*
Logan moved with grim purpose alongside Reid and Trystan, crossing the village grounds and climbing their drive.
Fear nipped at Logan’s heels. Fear that he was losing everything that meant anything to him. He could stand to sell Raven’s Cove, even though it had come to feel more like home in the last months than it had during any other time in in his life.
He was losing Sophie, too. He had no right to hold her back so he had to let her go.
But Storm? If Tiffany’s sister was thinking she could take her, if she somehow managed to, what would he have? His brothers both had lives to go back to. Even his mother had built a new life without him.
He would wind up alone in some far-off place, trying to convince himself he was happy when he knew damned well he was faking it. As they pushed into the house, Sophie opened the door to the deck off the kitchen.
“We’re out here,” she said cheerfully.
Cheerfully? Didn’t she realize his entire fucking world was ending?
They filed out to see a woman in jeans and a white-and-yellow striped T-shirt rise from a lounger and wipe her palms nervously on her hips. She offered a tentative smile.
“Hi. I’m Cloe, Tiffany’s sister.” She sounded sheepish as she offered her hand.
“Logan.” He was closest so he shook first.
She didn’t look much like the blonde, very white bombshell that Tiffany had been. She was pretty, but shorter. The shape of her eyes were Storm’s all the way, but there wasn’t much else that resembled his little sister. Logan wasn’t about to ask her to prove her identity, though. Not when he’d been asked in the past if Trystan was his “real” brother.
He was. And, lately, Logan had started to feel like he had brothers.
The tension in his chest cranked up another notch.
“Reid.” He stepped forward and gave her hand one firm pump.
“Trystan.”
“Hi.” Cloe’s intimidated expression became more starstruck. Color blossomed in her cheeks. “I, um, recognized you as I was getting off the water taxi this morning. I didn’t mean to stare. I should have said something, but… I was nervous. This is a lot.” She withdrew her hand and swallowed, flicking her gaze between all three of them.
Logan had noticed Trystan’s distraction this morning, but any sign of male interest was gone from Trystan’s expression now. Good. They needed to find out what the hell this woman wanted, then get her on her way. “Should I call Em?” Sophie asked in a helpful tone.
“No,” they said together.
Logan glared at her. Did she not understand the stakes. Em had been scared. He was.
Sophie rocked back on her heels, seeming shocked by their collective hostility.
“What are you doing here?” Reid asked Cloe gruffly.
“I’d like to see Storm if that’s okay.” Her blue-gray gaze shifted from man to man to man. She tried to stand tall and lift her chin, but she was too petite to pull off looking tough.
“Why?” Reid folded his arms.
Logan couldn’t help mirroring that and so did Trys.
“Because she’s her aunt,” Sophie said with admonishment in her tone. “Can you guys all take one big, collective breath? You’re coming on really strong.”
“Sophie,” Logan warned in a lethal voice. “Do you remember telling me never to get between you and Biyen? This is like that.” He would do anything to keep his sister. She must understand that.
“I’m not telling you what to do with Storm. I’m telling you to bleed off some of that testosterone you’re all gassed up on. You’re being scary when Cloe is a perfectly normal person who does not have a gun to your head. Everything is fine.”
“No, it’s not!” Logan said and, damn. That had come out really fucking loud.
He knotted his fists and looked to the water, instantly embarrassed. He tried to get a grip on himself, but it wasn’t easy.
“Logan,” Sophie said gently as she came to stand in front of him.
