Page 71 of Old Fashioned
Black invaded my vision as I stared at the screen, my head foggy, chest so tight I couldn’t squeeze a breath out to save my life.
Half of the company was ours.
Half of the company had been left to my grandfather, to my father, tous.
There was never supposed to be a Will, and yet my father had found it. He’d brought it to Patrick. Patrickknewwhat was inside it.
And on the day of my father’s death, he’d asked him to meet in the very office where he perished.
Every nerve in my body stood on end, my chest fluttering with the rapid beats of my heart, head pounding with questions and accusations circling like an F5 tornado. More and more questions popped into my head with every new re-read of the entry, and sweat gathered on my forehead, my gut churning, breaths shallow once I finally found them.
All the years we’d searched for answers, and now we had them.
And I knew sleep was the last thing I’d be able to do now.
Jordan
On the outside, everything was perfect.
It was perhaps the most beautiful November day Stratford, Tennessee, had ever seen. An unusual front of warm weather had swept in overnight, leaving us basked in a cloudless sky of sunshine and a comfortable sixty-seven degrees. It was just warm enough for women to not have to wear a jacket over their dresses, and just cool enough for the men in tuxedos to not sweat.
Perfect.
I stood by Noah’s side at the altar, along with Mikey and Logan, and when the entire congregation turned to watch Ruby Grace float down the aisle in her floor-length, cream-colored lace dress — I watched him. His eyes welled with tears at the sight of her, and he bowed his head, trying to fight them off before he lifted his eyes to her once more and I watched two tears slip in parallel lines down each cheek. His smile was the size of his entire face, though he covered it with one hand, in utter disbelief that the stunning woman walking toward him was about to be his forever.
Perfect.
Ruby Grace’s sister and best friend stood behind her, and I watched them get just as emotional as my brothers during the ceremony as we watched Noah and Ruby Grace pledge their undying love to one another. They held each other’s hands as Pastor Morris spoke of eternal love and sacrifice and compromise and I knew without a doubt that they barely heard a word of it, because they were lost in each other’s eyes, in the dreams they had built together, in the ones yet to come.
Perfect.
It all seemed to come and go in both slow motion and the quickest hour of my entire life. I was wrapped up in every moment, until Pastor Morris declared that they were now husband and wife and Noah could kiss his bride. When he did, the church roared with applause, and Noah turned to the crowd, thrusting his hand holding Ruby’s into the air while he yanked his opposite fist into his side in a victorious pump. He’d landed the girl. She was his, and he was hers, and their new life together started now.
Perfect.
On the outside, at least.
Because on theinside, under the rib cage that held my lungs and heart in place, and under the skull that protected my brain, and inside the deepest part of my gut?
It was total and complete chaos.
As I’d predicted, sleep hadn’t come for me the night before — not after what I’d discovered. I hadn’t been able to eat this morning, either, because the mere thought of food made my entire body heave in protest. Every nerve, every cell that made up the man I was was focused on that journal entry, on what I’d read, on what my father had left behind as the final clue to solve the mystery of his death.
And the worst part was that I knew I couldn’t tell anyone.
Not yet.
It was Noah’s wedding day — a day he’d been planning for and looking forward to for months. It was a day Mom had dreamed of for his entire life. It was a day to celebrate love and union, not to make my entire family sick with the knowledge that Robert J. Scooter had a Will, and we were in it, and Dad had found it, and Patrick knew about it, too.
And the last request he’d made was for Dad to meet him in the office he’d taken his last breath in.
All of it compounded right on top of the feelings that had been stirring inside me over Sydney — theoriginalreason I couldn’t sleep last night. So, while I forced my best smile for my brother and did everything in my power to be present, to celebrate, to let it all go until the day was over, I was powerless to fight the wave of anxiety that took me under over and over again.
After the ceremony, Ruby Grace and Noah stood near the doors to speak with all the guests in the receiving line. Mom stood on one side while Ruby Grace’s parents — Mayor Barnett and his wife — stood on the other, each of them greeting the guests with a handshake or a hug and athank you so much for being here.
My brothers and I stood off to the side, waiting for the time when our next job duties would kick in. We each had our role to play in the day, and the next step was transporting the bride and groom to the outdoor reception that would be hosted at the Mayor’s mansion.
I had my hands in my pockets, watching Noah’s genuine grin, wondering how the hell I would tell him and my other brothers what I’d found when Sydney stepped into view.
