Page 71 of Falling for Brody

He folded their fingers together and he gave her a gentle tug, so she'd walk beside him.

The movement helped.

The blood flowing through her body helped a lot.

Especially given all of the thoughts tumbling inside of her.

"What was his family like?"

She turned her head to look at him and saw the intent way that he was watching her. "His family?"

He nodded. "You were saying how surprising Charles-"

She tensed at the sound of his name. "Yes, Charles."

She smiled after another step or two.

"We called Chip Chip from the day he was born which made it easier for me not to hear people call him Charles' name after he was gone."

"Sorry," Brody apologized easily and she could hear the sincerity in his voice.

It helped.

"Thanks."

He gripped her hand a little tighter for a moment before letting his hold ease.

They fell into companionable silence for a number of steps.

"Imagine," she began, "everything that's amazing about your family. All the love you share. How much you love being around each other. The way you care. The Russell family is the exact opposite. So far on the other end of the spectrum, they can't even see your family. Everything they do... is transactional. Love wasn't a commodity they understand."

The tops of the trees over their heads swished and tossed in a night wind that she couldn't see, but she could hear.

"When we married, he had a job that paid so much more than I made. Not that the money mattered to me. As long as we had a place to live, food to eat, our lives together, I was good. But Charles explained that he gave his family money." She looked over at Brody and saw that he was looking at her, his focus on her face, his whole body seemed to be tuned to her. "A lot of it. It seemed like they all were attached to him by a kind of vacuum tube, taking money from him.

"He had me keep my money separately from his. Saying that I didn't deserve to have them take from me, too."

"You didn't like that."

She smiled and felt those same emotions rushing back into her body.

"I didn't like him thinking that we weren't together. That we weren't a team. A couple."

"A family."

Hearing him say it, she smiled.

"Exactly. He worked incredible hours. There were some days that we hardly saw each other, especially with me working on a rig with the long shifts of my own, some days I'm surprised we had Chip. But we did, and that's when things changed."

Brody led her around a corner and she turned. She didn't know exactly where they were, but she knew that Brody wouldn't lead her too far afield.

"When Chip was born, Charles cut back on his hours at work. He even started to hold back money from his family. They didn't let him have much peace after that, but Charles said that it was important for him to take care of Chip." She sighed and lifted her face into the cooler night air. "And when he passed, he left us some money, and a few accounts. How he kept that money away from his family, I'll never know."

"His family didn't come to you for money? After your husband..."

"Once they showed up on our doorstep. I could tell they were looking for something to use. Or maybe an indication that we had all kinds of money, but we didn't. It wasn't long before they just stayed away. I wasn't a big fan of theirs and they definitely didn't like me either, but I thought with Chip being family that they'd want to see him."

"No?"

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