Rick turned to this woman who’d made his brother’s life complete. She stared at him with wide green eyes, apology and regret etching her features. How could he remain angry at her? He exhaled a groan and put a comforting hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. “I don’t blame you.”
She shot him a grateful smile. “We were still wrong.”
Roman nodded in agreement. “And by the time we were ready to tell you everything, you’d met Kendall. There was no way in hell I was going to tell you that Mom had been faking her heart condition.”
“Why the hell not?”
Roman rolled his eyes as if the reason were obvious. As if anything about this situation could be obvious, Rick thought with no small amount of frustration.
“I couldn’t tell you once you met Kendall because she was the first woman you’d trusted since Jillian. The first one who really interested you. You seemed to have a shot at what we have.” Roman gestured back and forth between himself and Charlotte. “And I wasn’t going to be the one to give you an easy excuse to claim distrust in women and back off from Kendall. Not when it was so obvious you were already head over heels. So when Mom wanted to tell you the truth, I put a stop to it.”
Rick shook his head in disbelief. “Mom wanted to come clean?”
Roman raised his hands in the air. “What can I say? She’s had it with pretending to be sick because it’s putting a crimp in her social life. So I told her to keep her mouth shut. I figured making her keep up the charade of being sick was damn good punishment for meddling in our lives.”
Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. Thank God the aspirin had begun to kick in and the pounding had lessened enough for him to relax and think more clearly. “I don’t believe this. You played psychologist and match-maker.” He wanted to throttle Roman.
But as brothers, they’d always understood one another and thinking about the whole messed-up situation, Rick supposed his younger sibling’s reasoning made sense. In an ass-backward sort of way. “You do realize this makes you no better than our mother?”
Roman actually flushed red. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” he muttered.
Charlotte sighed, placing a hand on Rick’s shoulder. “So here we are.”
Rick groaned. “Yeah. Here we are. Did you know you two could give a sober man a headache?”
Roman laughed and though Rick glared, he joined his brother. Putting all the pieces and reasoning together, he couldn’t hold Roman responsible for a situation Raina had created and one he’d believed he had no choice but to perpetuate. After all, Chandler brothers stuck together when they could. Nothing would change that—except a woman. In Roman’s case that was Charlotte and knowing what Rick would do for Kendall, he wasn’t about to pass judgment on his younger sibling.
“I take it the family feud is over?” Charlotte asked, staring at Rick until he was forced to meet her bright-eyed gaze.
“I’ll think about it.” Let Roman wallow a little while longer, Rick thought. For as long as his hangover lasted seemed a fair exchange to Rick considering his head still hurt like a son of a bitch. “Scratch that. No thinking today.”
Roman laughed, obviously reading Rick and knowing things between the brothers were fine once more. “I need to do some errands in town before Charlotte and I head back to D.C. tomorrow. Finish your soda, take your aspirin, and I’ll drop you off at home.”
Rick picked up the glass and polished off the entire drink in almost one gulp. “That’s better.” He stepped toward the front door when realization bypassed the mugginess in his brain. “We need to tell Chase about Mom.”
Together Roman and Charlotte winced. Rick understood. When his oldest brother discovered the extent of their mother’s games, things wouldn’t be pretty. He wasn’t thrilled himself, but exhaustion, body aches, and other hangover-related ailments prevented him from focusing too much on Raina’s antics. Besides, if he was capable of concerning himself with anything at this particular moment, it would be Kendall.
Twenty minutes later, feeling just as crappy as when he awoke, Rick climbed out of Roman’s car and headed around the side of the building to his apartment.
To his surprise, when he arrived he had a visitor waiting. Hannah sat, head bent, her hair hanging over her face. He paused on the step below her. “What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned that she’d show up out of the blue and wait for him to come home.
She raised a tear-stained face to his, pain etched in her expression. “Kendall’s going to sell the house and leave town.” Her voice cracked on the last word.
Rick hadn’t realized he was still holding out any real hope for a future with Kendall until he heard the finality in Hannah’s tone. And though the heartache was great, her words weren’t a surprise. Instead of shock, he felt let down instead. Disappointed in Kendall and her decision not to stay and fight her demons, not to fight for them.
Rick had spent last night drowning his emotions and this morning learning about his family situation. He hadn’t dealt with anything yet, but it could wait. Right now Hannah needed him more. He knelt beside the young girl, wishing he could offer comfort when he knew there was none to be had.
Not for Hannah and not for him. After wrapping an arm around her, he pulled her close. “Your sister loves you, you know.”
“Yeah right.” She snorted in his ear and ended with a sniffle.
Despite his disappointment in Kendall, Rick knew it was in Hannah’s best interest that he put a positive spin on a hopeless situation. Normally Rick didn’t give up without a fight but Kendall had left him with no alternative. He’d done his best to show her the life they could have together. She was the one walking away. And though he thought he’d been preparing for this moment since Kendall’s arrival, the burning in his gut told him he was wrong.
Regardless of how she felt about him, Rick was certain Kendall did adore her sister. But before he could begin to make Hannah see the truth, he needed to know what Kendall planned. “Well, where did your sister say you’d be going when she takes off?” His stomach churned as he used words that put an end to their time in Yorkshire Falls.
Hannah sighed. “Kendall said she’d take me with her but I don’t want to go anywhere.” Her voice trailed off in a long sigh.
Clearly she wanted more than Kendall was willing to give. Join the club, Rick thought silently. But knowing Kendall was doing right by Hannah filled Rick with relief and eased the vise gripping his heart. If Kendall was giving up her solitary roaming, then she’d begun to face her fear of commitment and stability. She was fighting harder than he’d given her credit for, but he didn’t delude himself into thinking she’d take that next step and do right by herself. At least she’d opened her heart and her life to her sister at the moment the young girl needed her most. That counted for a lot in Rick’s book.
He glanced at Hannah out of the corner of his eye. “You know your sister’s way of thinking. She doesn’t know anything other than a transient kind of life. For her even to take you with her is a huge leap. You need to go. To bond with her. Get to understand her.”
He drew a deep breath, forcing himself to make a bleak situation look great to a teenager. “Besides, I hear Arizona has amazing weather, no humidity, and you’ll be able to learn horseback riding,” he said, figuring Kendall planned to head west as she’d told him a while back. He put his hand beneath her chin. “Look at me.”