6 Mountain Brothers for Christmas

Even though I wasn’t sure why they were gathered around him.

“Look, Ethan, we both need to calm down,” I said. “We’re both hotheads, okay? We can deal with this imaginary slight of yours later. Right now, all we need to do is concentrate on Kyra. Can you do that?”

It took him a second to nod but, when he did, I felt a rush of relief cascade over my system. Now, all I needed to do was go find Kyra and apologize. She was going through more than any of us could ever imagine and she was the one that was owed the real apology.

CHAPTER NINETEEN - ROWAN

I knew Kyra would need her space, especially after my protective brothers descended upon her like a pack of wolves. When Kyra came out and woke us up to tell us there was some sort of meeting the doctor wanted to have, I gave her a hug before I came back. She wanted me to stay and part of me wished I had but I also knew she would need a clean place to come back home to. I could only imagine the disarray their house was currently in and, when I walked into the house that was still unlocked, I wasn’t surprised.

I set to cleaning up the entire main floor so Kyra wouldn’t have to walk back into that house and be reminded of her father’s condition.

So, it came as a real shock to me when I saw Kyra walk into our house alone. My brothers were outside yelling about hell-knows-what and she had a very disappointed look on her face. I watched as her gaze raised up to mine, relief passing over her features before Ethan yelled out.

She turned just in time to see Chance hook his hand behind his back and that was when I decided to intervene.

“Are you thirsty?” I asked.

I walked over to her and guided her into the living room. I didn’t want her to see the fight we all knew was brewing between Ethan and Chance. The youngest and the oldest… it was an age-old fight. The two of them were brutish hotheads. Owen was a quiet sort of angry but those two were all out with each other all the damn time. Blake was always stepping in between them to try and fix things but I figured we should just let the two of them knock some sense into each other.

With everything else Kyra was dealing with, a fight between the two of them was the last thing she needed to be dwelling on.

I led her over to the couch and had her sit down. I went and got her a glass of water, then came back and sat with her on the couch. She was dazed. Sad. I hadn’t seen her eyes this empty since her mother’s funeral.

“How did the meeting with the doctor go?” I asked.

“I wish you were there,” she said, whispering.

“I know but I wanted to come back and clean things up. Trust me, had I known you were coming here, I would’ve stayed.”

“Clean up what?” she asked.

“The downstairs of your house.”

She panned her gaze over to mine as my eyes fell to the water in my hands.

“You cleaned our house?” she asked.

“I didn’t want you to walk back into all that disarray,” I said. “I didn’t want you to have to be reminded of it when you came back home.”

She took the glass of water from between my hands but she didn’t make a move to drink it.

“The doctor said he’ll recover but there’s a chance the damage could be permanent. He’ll need care with lots of things when he first gets home. Then it’s just a matter of seeing where medicine and therapy get him.”

Tears were brewing in her eyes again and I couldn’t help but snake my arm around her. I scooted her close to me and she laid her head on my chest, the water slipping from her fingers. I caught the glass and placed it on the table before I pulled her into my lap. In an instant, she began to cry.

“We’ll always be here to help,” I said, whispering. “Always.”

I placed a kiss on the shell of her ear. Then she turned her face toward mine and smiled.

“Thank you. I’m lucky to have such wonderful neighbors.”

“Neighbors, huh? Surely we’re a bit more than that at this point.” I winked.

The cute little blush that crept across her cheeks was more than I could bear. Even with all we were dealing with and all she was currently going through, her innocence still shone through. Her smile still crept up to her eyes and her skin still flushed with that telltale glow I’d loved pulling from her during our time together as children. I’d say anything I could to get her to blush. I thought she was at her most beautiful when she wore her emotions on her face like that.

But the gift-wrapped box in my pocket was calling to me and I figured now was as good a time as any.

“I’ve got something for you,” I said.