Fate Intended (The Coulter Men Series Book 3) (7 page)

Chapter 9

Jane gripped the armrest. Air travel always made her nervous. It wasn’t natural. People weren’t meant to flap around in the clouds. The cabin shook, and she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming for the pilot to let her off the plane.

Trip gripped her hand. “Sorry, the ride on a puddle jumper is always a bit rougher than a big plane. I’d have gotten the jet, but I didn’t want my mom to know I’m sneaking you to the island.”

Her belly gave her a different sort of pain. “You don’t? Why?”

When Jane told Sasha her plans for the weekend, she had flat out told Jane she was insane…that no good would come of it. Her dismal prophesy had taken some of the fun out of the escapade, and now this? First, the plane ride from hell, now he admits he doesn’t want his mother to know about her? Couldn’t be a good sign….

“My mother can be a load. I’d rather you judge me by my brothers. Then when I have you in my web, I’ll let you meet her. Sure as hell don’t want to let her scare you off.”

“You’re sure that’s all?”
Please don’t let me vomit
, she prayed.

He placed a hand on her shoulders and rubbed her back. “I swear. Can I get you anything? How about a Sprite? Or ginger ale? Grams swears by ginger ale when you’re nauseated.”

Jane shook her head. “I’ll be fine.” The plane hit another bump. “How long until we land?”

“Soon.”

“And then what?”

“I think Tres is meeting us at the airport, and he’ll take us to his house.”

“In a car?”

Trip chuckled. “Yes. In a car.”

“Good.” Jane rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

“It’s only about an hour drive to the island. My brother lives down in Buxton. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is down there. I’ll take you to see it.” She couldn’t make small talk while her stomach tried to figure out what altitude it was at, so she nodded.

“It’s a beautiful place. Have you been there?”

She shook her head against his shoulder.

“If we had more time, I’d take you to the Lost Colony and the Wright Brothers. You enjoy history, right?”

“Mmm, hmm.”

A smile spread across his face, and he pulled her tighter, kissing the top of her head. “We’ll come back some time. There’s shipwrecks and pirates…so much to see.”

The pilot announced their descent. Trip reached across and buckled Jane’s lap belt, giving her leg a pat before settling his hand in hers.

*****

Trip stepped out first, then turned and took Jane’s hand, leading her down the air-stairs. She looked pale as hell and more than a little nervous. Last step cleared, he wrapped an arm across her shoulders and tucked her close.

He spotted Craig first. His second older brother was the tallest of the three of them, so he stood out no matter the crowd, which in this private little airfield was nearly non-existent. Only the family boarding a Piper and a crew working on a Cessna moved between them. Craig spotted him and gave him a head nod hello. Up popped Tres, his oldest brother, with a little guy on his hip. Sammy, his nephew, offered a two-handed wave and yelled, “Uncle Trip! Did you fly on the plane?” The sandy-haired fella lifted a toy plane in the air. “Look, I got a plane.”

Normally, Trip would run to the kid and give him a helicopter spin, but he was afraid to let go of Jane. She might pass out. He figured he better get her some food or something, so she didn’t look so green.

As he came closer, Jane pulled away a bit, straightened her back, and smiled. Trip wanted to hug her. He knew she felt like hell, but she evidently wasn’t about to let on to his brothers.

“Tres, Craig…this is Jane.” He turned to Jane and said, “Jane, these are my brothers and my rotten nephew, Sammy.” He tickled Sammy’s ribs. The little boy squealed and wiggled.

“Give me a piggy ride, Uncle Trip!”

Trip hesitated a moment, but Jane shoved away gently, nodding to the child as she said, “Yes, Uncle Trip, give him a piggy ride.”

Before Trip could say yes or no, the boy climbed on his back. Sammy planted a pair of airplane clad sneakers in his uncle’s ribs as he yelled, “Giddy-up!”

“Whoa, sport, we better not run through an airport. Security might think we’re escaping bank robbers and take a shot at us.”

“Really?” the boy asked.

“Yep,” Trip answered.

Sammy’s voice was serious. “We don’t want that. Huh?”

Trip shook his head and followed the group to the car. Tres and Craig made small talk with Jane about the warm weather in DC. It had been warmer up north than in the South. As they passed a soda machine, Craig stopped and bought a Sprite. He handed it to Jane. “Here you go. My wife was green around the gills most of her pregnancy.”

“It’s from the plane. It kept hitting turbos and was bumpy. Up and down the whole way.”

Both of his brothers grinned, neither corrected her by explaining she had hit turbulence. She was nervous. Her English went to crap when she was nervous, and he loved that she took meeting his family so seriously. Trip wanted to stop where they were, grab her, and kiss her.

On the drive, Jane and Trip sat in the back seat, with young Sammy sandwiched between them in his car seat. As Trip strapped him into the seat, Sammy gave Jane the essential information. “I have a little brother. And I have a big brother. My big brother is Tanner, and he lives at college now, but I’m not going to college. Mommy says that’s fine; I can do whatever I want. My little brother’s name is Chas, and he’s trouble. He eats your toys.”

Jane gasped. “Oh my, I’m glad I didn’t bring mine with me.”

“You didn’t?”

Jane shook her head no and offered an exaggerated frown.

“Well, I can let you borrow mine.” Sammy offered up his plane. Trip settled himself in his seat as Tres put the car in gear and started the engine of his Ford Excursion.

“Why thank you, sir. That’s mighty generous of you.” Jane gave him a broad smile.

“You’re welcome.” Sammy smiled at her then added, “You talk funny, like the lady at the grocery store. Do you work at the grocery store?”

Tres shook his head and said, “Sammy, Jane is from Russia. She doesn’t talk funny. She speaks another language.” Tres made eyes contact with Jane in the rearview mirror as he explained, “Tonja is here on a work visa from Poland. She gives the boys gum, so they love her.”

“I see.” Jane smiled and nodded.

“How many languages can you talk?” Sammy asked.

“Just two. Russian and English.”

Sammy nodded. “How do you say plane?”

“Samolet.”

“Wow, so Sammy is plane in Russian! Did you hear that Dad? Sammy is plane is Russian.” He pointed to the plane in Jane’s hand. “See this? It’s the Blackbird. It’s the fastest plane in the world.”

“The fastest, wow! That is really cool.” Jane held the plane up, turning it from side to side as if inspecting it from top to bottom before handing it back. “I think this is a magnificent plane.”

Sammy listed all the major parts, like the wings and wheels, while Jane listened. As the car turned off on the two lane road that led to the island, the boy yawned and tucked the gray plastic craft into his chest like it was a teddy bear as his heavy eyes dropped closed.

Jane tipped the plane so the nose didn’t bite into his chin and smoothed the hair across his forehead. She winked at Trip. “He’s adorable. Never thought I’d think a guy was cuter than you.”

Trip chuckled. “You hear that, Tres? Your kid stole my girl.”

Tres laughed, flipping on windshield wipers as a soft drizzle hit. Craig said nothing, but turned and looked at his little brother, then to Jane, then back to Trip. Trip could guess what he was thinking. Knew his brother would never call a girl
his
, well not until Mollie. Craig would be the tougher sell. If he liked Jane, then Trip would know he had a good one. And if his brother didn’t like her? Trip glanced at Jane and decided…it really didn’t matter.

*****

They arrived at the house a little past nine. Bombarded at the door, Jane was greeted by Trip’s sisters-in-law. First up, the shorter and more talkative of the two, Mollie, with her soft, brown curls and girl-next-door smile was her usual, warm self. Jane was barely in the door before Mollie wrapped her in a hug.

Mollie saved Trip the awkward introductions as she kept Jane tucked in her arm and said, “I’m Mollie. Craig’s wife.” She pointed to Craig. “The tall guy with the tendency to look grumpy.” Mollie winked at Craig before adding, “And this is Jenna, Tres’s wife.” The tall blonde looked more like a thirty-something Coppertone model than someone’s wife. “I see you’ve met Sammy.” Mollie grinned at the little boy who wiggled from his dad’s grip to get Jane by the hand.

“Miss Jane wants to play with me,” Sammy contended.

“I think Miss Jane wants to be with the grown-ups,” his mother said gently as she tried to pull the boy away.

“No!” Sammy stomped a foot. “She wants to play with me, to see the rest of my planes.”

“I see someone is up way past bedtime,” Jenna said dropping to a knee and adjusting the boy’s hair.

“I did tell him I would see his planes. If it is all right?” Jane said softly.

“Oh, well, of course.” Jenna rose and smiled at Jane before looking down at the boy. “You can show her your planes, but you only have ten minutes, then bedtime. No arguing, no fussing…understood?”

“No brushing?” Sammy asked.

“No, you still have to brush your teeth.”

“And Jane can read me a story?”

“Well,” Jenna blushed and looked to Jane, who nodded. “I suppose.”

“Good. Come on, Miss Jane.” He led her from the room, probably stealing her heart forever as he observed, “You’re a lots better than Old Livia.”

Mollie slapped a hand over her mouth, but the giggles still escaped. Jenna covered her eyes, but said nothing.

Tres muttered as he gathered Jane and Trip’s overnight bags, “Out of the mouths of babes…guess I better get these to your rooms.”

Jenna shoved a hand in her husband’s back pocket and slowed his escape. “I better go with you. Show you where they go. Trip, I assume you know how to make yourself at home?”

Mollie, righting herself, said, “I’m sorry, Trip. I know you liked her, and I suppose she wasn’t all bad….”

“Who? Olivia? That’s over.”

Mollie’s eyes were bright as she grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “So, how did you meet Jane?”

“She watched my dog while I was overseas.”

“You told us that…. I mean, how did you meet her? Does she run a kennel?”

“No. She manages a hotel,” Trip said.

They found their way to the living room as they talked and settled onto comfortable overstuffed couches. Mollie curled up on her husband’s lap as her interrogation of Trip continued. “So you placed an ad?”

“No. Honestly? She got caught in the middle of a fight between Olivia and me; Olivia was extremely freaking rude to her, and I grabbed her at the elevator to apologize. And we hit it off.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, while we were talking, I mentioned I needed someone to watch Eve, so Jane volunteered.”

“Wow. And she didn’t even know you? Is she a saint?”

Trip felt his heart do a flip-flop. “She’s something all right.”

“Why aren’t you telling Mom?” Craig asked as he traced lazy circles on Mollie’s arm.

“I don’t want Mom screwing things up. I’ve only known Jane a few months; only gone out with her a few times.”

“Hard to believe she barely knew you and still offered to watch your dog. You sure she’s not a gold digger?”

“She has no clue what our family is worth.”

“That’s what they all say,” Craig said.

“Craig!” His cynicism got him a shoulder slap from his wife. “That’s an awful thing to assume.”

“Someone has to use their head. If Tres and I hadn’t talked sense into him, we might have gotten stuck with Olivia for a lifetime.” He turned to Trip. “You do realize, little brother, Olivia loved Mom’s connections more than she ever loved you.”

“Craig, that’s horrible.” Mollie turned to Trip. “He didn’t mean that.”

“Yes, I did,” Craig said.

Mollie’s mouth dropped open.

“It’s okay, Mollie. Craig’s right. I should have seen it myself. But,” Trip leaned forward in his chair, “Jane is different. But I won’t tell you. You’ll see for yourself. She’s sweet, she’s funny and thoughtful. I—”

“Don’t say it,” Craig ordered.

“Say what?” Trip asked.

“Don’t say love. You’re not allowed to use that word this early.”

“You only knew me….” Mollie started, but Craig interrupted, “That’s different. I wasn’t fresh from a, good lord, how long did you date that bitch?”

“Two years.”

“So, spare me. You’re not to be trusted.”

“That’s why I brought her here,” Trip answered.

“Brought who?” Tanner asked as he sauntered in.

“A, um, lady friend,” Mollie answered.