Michelle Celmer - Demanding His Brother's Heirs

Although not by choice, children had never been a part of his life plan, so he usually did what he could to avoid them. But if he was going to be a good uncle, he supposed he should at least try to learn to care for them. If, God forbid, something were to happen to Holly, they would be his sole responsibility. And then, if something were to happen to him, if his illness were to return, who would take them?

The idea was both humbling and terrifying.

This was the absolute last place he had expected to end up when he’d left home today.

Their bottoms dry and their bellies full, the boys fell sound sleep, and Jason helped her put them in their cribs.

“How often do you have to do that?” he asked Holly as she stood at the sink rinsing the empty bottles.

“Every three hours. Sometimes more, sometimes less. They’ve never slept more than a four-hour stretch.”

That would be an average of eight times a day. Two babies, all by herself.

He had a sudden newfound respect for single mothers.

“How do you manage it alone?”

Her tone nonchalant, she said, “I’ve learned to multitask.”

He had the feeling it was a bit more complicated than that. How was she supposed to get a job with the boys to care for? Day care, he supposed. Call him old-fashioned, but he wanted to see his nephews raised by their mother, the way he and his brother had been raised by theirs. He had nothing but fond memories of his early childhood. Life had been close to perfect back then.

Until it hadn’t been anymore.

She finished the bottles and wiped her hands on a dish towel. “Thanks for the help.”

“Anytime,” he said, and he meant it. “In fact, I’ll be back in the city next week and I was hoping I could spend some time with the boys.”

“You don’t live in New York?”

“After our father died I moved upstate.” The lake house had been in their family for generations and had been his favorite retreat as a child.

“Jeremy used to talk about us moving upstate, getting a house in a small town. A fixer-upper that we could make ours. With a big yard and a swing set for the boys. I can’t help thinking that was probably a lie, too.”

Sadly, it probably was. Jeremy had preferred the anonymity of living in a big city. Not to mention the ease with which he could support his drug habit. Something told Jason that wouldn’t have changed.

Jason always had been the one who’d strived for a slower-paced lifestyle. Ten years of working for his father had landed him on the business fast track, but his heart had never really been in it. Only after his father’s death had he started living the life he’d wanted.

“You and the boys should come and visit me,” he told her, surprised and hopeful when her eyes lit.

“I’d like that. But are you sure you have the space? I don’t want to put you out.”

At first he thought she was joking, and then he remembered that she knew virtually nothing about their family. Or their finances. Maybe for right now it would be better if he didn’t bring up the fact that her sons stood to inherit millions someday. It might be too much to take all in one night. And though Jeremy had been disinherited years ago, he would see that Holly and the boys were well cared for.

“I have space,” he assured her. Maybe once he got her there, once she saw how much room he had and how good life would be there for them, he could convince her to stay, giving him the chance to right the last wrong his brother would ever commit. He owed it to his nephews.

And to himself.

Three

Jason sat at the bar of The Trapper Tavern, the town watering hole, nursing an imported beer with his best friend and attorney Lewis Pennington.

“Are you sure you can trust her?” Lewis asked him after he explained the situation with his sister-in-law and nephews. “I don’t have to tell you the sort of people with whom your brother kept company. She could be conning you.”

Jason didn’t think so. “Lewis, she was so freaked out she actually fainted when she saw me, and she seemed to genuinely have no clue who Jeremy really was.”

“Or she’s as good an actor as your brother.”

“Or she’s an innocent victim.”

“With your flesh and blood involved, is that a chance you really want to take?”

Of course not. The day his brother died was the day the twins’ happiness and well-being had become Jason’s responsibility. “That’s why, when she’s here, I’m going to ask her to stay with me. Until she’s back on her feet financially.”

He’d left Holly his phone number and told her to call if she needed anything. She’d called the next morning sounding tired and exasperated, asking to take him up on his offer to visit, saying she needed a few days away from the city. In the background he could hear his nephews howling. He admired the fact that she wasn’t afraid to admit she needed help. And he was more than happy to supply it. That and so much more.

“My point is that you know nothing about this woman,” Lewis said. “Don’t let the fact that she’s the mother of your nephews cloud your judgment.”

“With a brother like Jeremy, I’ve learned to be a pretty good judge of character.”

“Maybe so, but I’d hide the good china, just in case.”

Jason shot him a look.

“At least let me run a background check, search for a criminal history.”

“If you insist, but I doubt you’ll find anything.”

“When is her train due in?”

Jason glanced at his watch. “An hour.”

He’d offered to drive to the city and pick up her and the boys at her apartment, but she’d insisted they take the train. And when he’d tried to talk her out of it, she’d only dug her heels in deeper. Though he barely knew her, he could see that persuading her to do something she didn’t want to do was going to be difficult, if not impossible.

“If she’s so destitute, why not just pay her debt and set her up in her own place in town? What woman wouldn’t go for that?”

The kind who was too proud for her own good. And as much as it annoyed him, he couldn’t help but respect that. “I offered to pay all the debt Jeremy left her with and help her get a fresh start.”

“And?”

He took a long swallow of his beer, then set the bottle down on the bar. “She wouldn’t take a penny.”

Lewis’s brows rose in surprise. “Seriously?”

“She wouldn’t budge.”

“She’s independent?”

That was putting it mildly. “You have no idea.”

“Attractive?”

Immensely. “That’s irrelevant.”

Lewis grinned. “Are you attracted to her?”

Hell yes, he was. Who wouldn’t be? “She’s my sister-in-law. My feelings are irrelevant.”

“Not if you plan to live under the same roof with her. Feelings have a way of happening whether we want them to or not.”

“My only concern is for my nephews.”

“What if you ask her to stay with you and she refuses?”

“Obviously I can’t force her.”

“That’s not necessarily true.”

Jason frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You have leverage.”

“Leverage?”

“Your nephews. You could threaten to sue her for custody.”

“On what grounds? She seems perfectly competent to me.” Not to mention the damage it would cause the twins, first losing their father, then being ripped away from their mother.

“If she’s as destitute as you claim, the last thing she’ll want is a legal battle. The threat of one could make her more likely to cooperate.”

Or put her right over the edge. He did worry that getting her cooperation would be difficult, but he couldn’t imagine ever taking it to that extreme. However, if there was any validity to Lewis’s suspicions, Jason could be downright ruthless if it meant keeping his nephews safe. But there was no need to jump the gun. Unlike his father, who had been quick to judge and considered anyone he didn’t know well a potential threat, Jason preferred to grant people the benefit of the doubt. Innocent until proven guilty. But he knew he could never convince Lewis that she was telling the truth, so he didn’t even try.