Her eyes searched mine, question swirling there.
“Mads,” I whispered softly as I grabbed her hand and lifted it. “Right now, the house is full of family, and I have you.” I held her stare as I pressed soft kisses to her wrist and palm, then trailed my finger over her engagement ring. “I’m fucking perfect.”
After I’d asked Madison to marry me, we’d tucked the ring away and agreed to hold off telling anyone for the sake of letting Avalee adjust however long she needed. But that little girl took control. Telling us the night before, as we’d taken care of the animals, that Madison and I could get married next to the peach trees . . . if we wanted. But that I should probably give her a ring first—like the one in her dream.
Then described in detail the one I’d already given Madison.
So, we’d told her.
Then after they’d gone back to the Black’s house for the night, I’d called Raf to be the one to tell him. And as soon as someone noticed the ring, our families would know.
I pulled Madison into my arms and pressed a slow kiss to her lips before leaning back to study her dazed expression. “It’s raining,” I murmured softly.
Excitement danced in her eyes as she shifted so she was tucked against my side. “That so?”
An assent rumbled in my chest. “Wanna dance?”
“Always,” she replied just as softly as I led her over to where Avalee sat. Listening to Emberly describe the mural Cayson was doing in the nursery.
Grabbing Avalee’s hand, I pulled her away with us and nodded toward the front of the house. “It’s raining.”
Joy bubbled up from her as she bounced at my side. We didn’t say anything to the rest of my family, just headed for the front door while the chaos continued behind us.
But that high I’d been riding vanished when Madison opened the door.
It took a second too long to realize I was really seeing him. And then I was pushing Avalee behind me. Adrenaline coursing through my veins in an instant as I prepared for anything.
“Madison,” I murmured in warning. In demand. But she was frozen next to me.
Beau was standing on the other side of the storm door. Rain dripping from his hair and face. Chest pitching roughly. Looking like he’d been through hell countless times, and glaring like he wanted to murder me.
When Beau reached for the storm door, Madison finally jolted back and pulled Avalee away.
I didn’t hear what she said to her. I was too focused on every step and breath my brother took. The way his stare followed after my girls.
“Beau,” I ground out.
“Fifteen days,” he seethed as his cold gaze snapped back to me. “I haven’t seen my wife or my kids for fifteen days because of you.”
“I’m sorry,” I said calmly. “I’m sorry. But whatever you’re about to do isn’t gonna change that. You know that better than anyone.”
“Fix it,” he snapped. Maybe begged.
“Beau—”
“Fucking fix it,” he yelled. His stare shifted past me a second before Madison’s hand slipped into mine.
I pressed our joined hands to her stomach, trying to push her back. Trying to silently tell her to get away from this before it could turn violent again. But she stood firm. Grabbing my arm with her free hand to reiterate she was there. That she wasn’t going anywhere.
“Ruin everyone?” Beau sneered at her, his head shaking jerkily. “Just Savannah. Just me.”
“Beau, I’m sorry,” Madison said, her voice twisting around the words.
“It wasn’t just y’all,” I hurried to say when it looked like he was going to verbally unleash on her. But the way his trembling came to a sudden stop in a cold, menacing way as he locked onto her hand—onto the ring there—had the rest of my words jumbling in my throat.
The ticking of his jaw was his only tell before he whispered, “Sure about that?”
“Beau,” Sawyer said from beside me at the same moment Cayson came up on my other side. “You have to take fault in this.”
Fuck.
Beau exploded. He launched forward, face twisted in rage. “I’ve tried,” he shouted when I slammed my hands against his chest, stopping him from getting through the door. His aggression turned from Sawyer to me. “Why the fuck do you think Madison left? Because I tried to come clean.”
“I already know,” I said calmly.
“I mean now,” Sawyer added, sighing like Beau’s outburst was just another day. Then again, it had felt like that when we were growing up, and Sawyer was the only one who had stayed in his life. “What y’all did is only part of it for Savannah. What you’re doing now? That’s—”
“You talked to her?” Beau asked, his entire body jerking just hearing her name.
“Yeah,” Sawyer said after a second. “We all have. We’ll be there for her the same as we’ll be here for you. But, man, you’re not hearing me. This, what you’re doing right now, is a huge part of it for her. Your anger. Your fighting . . .”
“That’s why you aren’t seeing them,” Cayson finished softly.
Beau sagged against my hands with a heaving breath before staggering back a step, agony ripping across his face. “Savannah—my kids—I’ve never hurt them.”
“I know.” I didn’t have to be in his life for the past ten years to know that. Savannah had always been the only thing to snap Beau out of that destructive place, even as kids. “She knows you wouldn’t.”
Madison placed a hand on my back, calming and supporting me as I watched my brother stand on a razor-thin edge between hostility and suffering.
“But you got to a point . . .” I dragged a hand over my face as I struggled with what I was about to say. That push I was about to give him in either direction. “Beau, she’s afraid she can’t stop you anymore.”
His chest caved, and he swayed as if what I said had been a physical blow. He tried stepping back . . . and broke.
Fell to his knees.
Head hanging low.
Hands gripping his chest.
Looking like a man being consumed by fire.