"What does it say?" Julie asked.
"Drowning. It says he drowned. But that…"
That wasn't what any of us had ever been told. Not like people had been eager to speak about Patrick Walker after his death. That event, more than any other, had been what plunged the pack into decades of backstabbing and scheming.
"I don't… I don't know what to do with this information. It doesn't help me. It doesn't help the case." Branson growled loudly. "Even in prison, that woman is fucking with me." He picked up a decorative vase from the nearby table and threw it against the wall. The blue-and-white glass shattered before the pieces scattered across the floor.
Moments later, the front door opened, and Riley ran in, followed by Tyrone, Hollister, Kansas, and Phin.
"What happened?" Riley asked. "What was that sound?"
"Just more unanswered questions," Branson replied, breathing slowly in an attempt to calm down in front of his mate. He angled the paper for the others to see while Riley slid under his arm, hugging one arm around his chest.
But when Riley saw the paper, he froze. "That date. That wasn't the date you told me before, was it?"
"No. It isn't what any of us were told," Julie said. "Why? Is that date significant to you?"
Every eye was on Riley, but it was Hollister's face I watched. He stretched his neck to get a good look at the paper before the color drained from his face.
"Hollister?" I held my hand out and he took it.
"That date, it isn't…" Hollister looked up at me, confusion making his features heavy. "That's the day before the police dropped me off at the hospital. When I was a child. I don't really remember it, but that date is on my adoption paperwork. I'm sure of it."
"That's the day my parents died," Riley added.
Branson passed the certificate around. Phineas took one look and nearly dropped it.
He nodded at the rest of us, but I wasn't sure if he saw us in that moment or if he'd gone back to that night in his head. "If we look at those newspaper clippings again, they'll confirm this was the date…and almost the exact time my parents died."
Everyone turned to Kansas, who held Calvin tightly while he stepped behind Wyatt's back. "I don't know," he said quietly. "I don't remember. We could ask my uncle…"
"Absolutely not," Wyatt growled, turning to embrace his mate rather than forcing him to stand in front of everyone.
Suddenly, Branson yanked the paper out of Nash's hands and folded it in half, shoving it in his back pocket. "That's enough. We've learned something new. Dwelling on it will just make us crazy. I'll come back and look again, but we're leaving now. All of us. We have a housewarming party to attend."
Hollister squeezed my hand excitedly. "And a Freedom Party for Julie!" he said brightly.
"And a 'congrats, you're a wolf' party for Hollister," Kansas added.
"Then let's get the hel—ck out of here," Branson said.
***
"This place is gorgeous," Riley said, letting his fingers drift along the outside wall. "You made this? I mean, I know you guys build things for a living, but this is…"
"It's beautiful, right?" Hollister effused. He'd started talking in the car ride from the pack lands back to Lawrence and hadn't stopped until the others had showed up.
They came with coolers of meat and beer. We had supplies enough to put together a couple side dishes, and once the barbecue had been fired up, the party got started. For the most part, I manned the grill, answering any questions about the house that Hollister didn't already know the answer to.
"You should try rubbing the walls inside," Hollister said with an airy, dreamy quality.
I darted my eyes, but he shook his head and hands at the same time. "It's a powers thing," he explained, but by the way his cheeks went red, I made a mental note to bring this up again later.
"So you had this place the whole time you lived with us?" Nash asked. He sat in a plastic lawn chair that was angled so he could talk to us at the grill while also keeping an eye on the kidlets playing in the grass.
Kansas sat on a blanket with Calvin laying on his tummy in front of him.
"Not the whole time." I took a swig of beer. "But I was working on it that whole time. I had to buy the land, clear the land, put in the foundation, wiring, plumbing." And all mostly by hand and between my actual work projects. "It took a while."
While Branson had put the beef between us behind him until this point, I knew by the tilt of his eyes that he was growing upset again. "We all could have helped you. I think I know a thing about building houses."
Hollister rubbed my leg but said nothing.
"I know you do, Branson. But this place…it was where I went when hiding who I was became too difficult." Before, I had nothing to take out my aggressions on. But when I started building this place, there was shoveling and demolishing to do, hammering, lifting. I'd come up here ready to peel my own skin off but would leave calm enough to believe I could make it for a few more days. And then, every few days, that cycle repeated.
Branson didn't reply, though that was partly due to the sharp look he'd received from Riley.
"I agree that your home is beautiful," Julie said. "And when Nana comes back, she'll agree too."
We were quiet for a moment after that. I assumed the others were wondering the same thing I was. When would Nana come home? I couldn't deny everything we were dealing with would've been made better by Nana. But a mother needed to grieve, and Nana had experienced so much more loss.
"So, Nana is everyone's great-grandma, right?" Hollister asked.
Julie shook her head. "She's my grandmother-in-law."
Hollister reached for a chip he popped in his mouth. "Who was your mother-in-law?"
Julie squished her face like she'd just remembered she had to do her taxes when she got home. "Celeste Walker was beautiful, but never warm. I'm not sure why Alpha Walker chose her, and Celeste and Nana never got along. But then Celeste died, and Alpha Walker took it harder than anyone could've guessed. He aged that day. I think that's why he always seemed so much older than his mother. I didn't understand Celeste, but Alpha Walker must have loved her."
"And then Patrick died and then her son, Alpha Walker," Hollister added sadly. He wasn't trying to drag out uncomfortable memories as much as he was trying to understand the tangled web that was our lives.
Julie lifted her face, shaking the gloomy mood from her shoulders. "Nana is strong. She said she'd be back. I trust that she'll come back. The woman has never lied to me yet. Besides, I thought this was a housewarming-freedom-becoming a wolf party. And I haven't seen anyone become a wolf."
Hollister grinned like he'd been waiting for the right time for someone to ask. He got to his feet, smoothing his clothes out like he was a performer taking the stage. He winked at me and then looked up at the rest of them. "Watch this."
Chapter Twelve
Hollister
My stomach bulged like I'd swallowed a bowling ball. I pushed Aver's arm to get his attention.