Page 10 of Cryptic Curse (Bellamy Brothers #7)

HAWK

“C an I hitch a ride back with you?” Robin asks.

“How’d you get here?” I ask.

“Shane was driving into the city to pick up supplies, so I hitched a ride with him. You know how I hate driving downtown.”

True. Robin does hate that. She’s never strayed far from home. Only for college and vet school, and then she couldn’t hightail it back to Summer Creek fast enough to become the chief veterinarian on our staff. Shane is one of her technicians.

“Yeah, sure. Glad to have your company, sis. Give me just a sec.”

So much for my coffee date with Grace. I walk to the nurse’s station, where she’s tapping on a computer.

“Hey, Grace,” I say.

Her eyes light up. “Hawk, hi. You ready? I can take my break anytime.”

I swallow. “I’m sorry. My mom decided to have a big family dinner at home tonight, so I have to leave.”

Disappointment clouds her pretty features. “Oh.”

“Rain check? I’ll be back to see my dad tomorrow, probably.”

“Yeah, sure.” She smiles, but it doesn’t quite make it to her eyes.

“I’ll look forward to it. See you, Grace.”

“Bye, Hawk.”

Robin and I are the quintessential middle children.

Even though she and Raven are twins, Raven was born about thirty seconds before she was, and Mom has always favored her.

I’m the middle brother, between Falcon and Eagle, and Raven was Mom’s miniature growing up, while Robin preferred to hang out with us guys.

That didn’t win her any goodwill from Mom.

We get into my truck, and I start the engine and roll out of the parking lot.

“Of all the…” Robin murmurs.

Yeah, Robbie’s in one of her moods. Not like she ever tries to hide it.

“What’s sticking in your craw?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “You’ll think it’s nothing.”

“Come on, Robbie. You know I’m the one who gets you the most.”

She lets out a huff. “Just Mom. Being her Mom self.”

I chuckle. Yeah, I get it. “What did she do now?”

“A big dinner. I mean, really? It’s great that Raven and Vinnie are engaged, and we all were expecting it.

But why in the hell did she decide to host some big engagement dinner tonight?

When it’s already after four o’clock? And the father of the bride-to-be is still stuck in a hospital bed and can’t string two words together? ”

“You know Mom,” I say. “She likes to keep herself in a permanent state of denial. And when she’s doing something else—cooking a big dinner, even though we have staff that could do it—she’s focused on something.

She’s not worried about Dad lying in a hospital bed or the fact that his aphasia is making him sound like a lunatic. ”

She swallows. “Except ‘they’re coming’ makes a lot of sense.”

I roll my eyes. “Only if we know who ‘they’ are. If that’s even what Dad meant to say. Before you got in, he referred to me as a door.”

Robin is quiet for a moment, until— “I’m so glad Ray is okay. That she’s in remission and is going to be fine. And that she’s found love. Even if it is with a mobster…”

“Vinnie’s not like that,” I say. “You know that.”

She shrugs. “Yeah, I know that. You can’t help the family you’re born into.”

It doesn’t take a literary scholar to decipher what Robin is saying.

She and I have both lamented the fact that we were born to the Bellamys.

I doubt that Falcon, Raven, or Eagle ever have.

Not that we aren’t grateful for the fortunes we have.

But a hell of a lot of conditions come with that privilege.

Robin sighs. “Do you think that if I’d announced my engagement today, we would be having a big last-minute shindig at the house?”

I don’t reply because I simply don’t know the answer.

“I’m not begrudging Raven,” Robin says quickly. “You know I love her like a sister.” She smiles.

That was always Robin and Raven’s little joke when signing yearbooks back in high school. Love you like a sis.

“I know that, Robbie.”

“It’s just that… You and I both know she wouldn’t have done this for me.”

“Raven did just survive cancer,” I remind her.

She holds up a hand. “That’s not even what I mean. We’re all ecstatic that Ray’s okay. But I just know it wouldn’t have been the same if I’d been the one with the big announcement.”

“I guess we’ll never know, Robin, because you didn’t make any big announcements tonight.”

She lets out a sigh. “And based on the last couple of guys I’ve dated, I won’t be doing that anytime soon.” She shrugs again. “Much to Mom’s consternation, I’m sure.”

She’s not wrong. Mom is the quintessential housewife. She believes a woman’s place is in the home. Our grandparents were immigrants from Mexico, devout Catholics, and though Mom didn’t push her religion on us, she’s very traditional in her values.

Even though our household was always fully staffed, Mom enjoyed working in the kitchen, helping the staff, or even giving them the night off and making dinner herself. She always insisted on making a hot breakfast for Dad every morning. The kitchen was her domain then.

Come to think of it, with Dad in the hospital and all the kids out of the house, maybe she’s feeling a little lost. Maybe that’s why she jumped at the opportunity to host a big dinner.

Robin is quiet for a few more minutes. Until she turns to me. In my peripheral vision, I see that she’s getting ready to ask a question. A big one.

“Hawk?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think Mom loves Raven more than she loves me?”

I open my mouth, but the answer catches in my throat.

Robin and I have always wondered this about ourselves. But this is the first time in a long time—since our childhood—that she’s asked me the question straight out.

I don’t like to lie to my sister. In fact, I’m not lying. Because I know if I asked our mother, she would say she loves all five of her children equally. And in her mind she would be telling the truth.

“No, I don’t think she loves Raven more.” I scratch my chin. “I think right now she’s very thankful that that we all have Raven.”

“I am too. Don’t for a second think that I’m not.”

“I know that. But I also think that Mom and Raven just have a lot more in common than you and Mom do. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s just how people are.” I clear my throat. “For example, I have nothing in common with our father.”

“You’re the only one who looks even slightly like him,” Robin reminds me.

“True. I’m the tallest, and I have his eyes.”

Dad and I are the same height. But Mom is a foot shorter than Dad, so Falcon and Eagle didn’t quite hit Dad’s height.

“Yeah, I know. But he and I just have a different way of looking at the world. Truthfully, so do Mom and I.”

Robin simply nods.

She gets it.

“What was it you called us the last time we had this discussion?” she asks me. “The redheaded stepchildren?”

I laugh. “Only because we have less in common with our parents than the rest of them do. I never for an instant doubted their love for us.”

“Oh, I know that , Hawk. I’ve never questioned that Mom loves either of us. Just how much of that love is focused on us compared to the Golden Trio.”

I chuckle. That’s our secret nickname for Falcon, Raven, and Eagle.

“But Mom would like to see us all married off for sure.”

“True,” Robin says. “And now you and I are the only single Bellamy siblings, assuming that Eagle is still fooling around with Scarlett Ramsey.”

“I suppose we’ll never know,” I say. “He’s never been real open about his personal life.”

“I know Leif Ramsey and Falcon are the best of friends,” Robin says, “and Leif and I have a past, so I know he’s a good guy, but I have to tell you, I’ve never trusted Scarlett.”

“Yeah, me neither.” I look straight ahead at the road.

“He was probably with her today,” Robin says.

I rub at the back of my neck. “Probably. He said he didn’t come up from Summer Creek and last I heard, Scarlett is living in Oakwood Falls.” I sigh. “I don’t really know. I’ve done my best to keep an eye on Eagle.”

“He’s not your problem, Hawk.”

I simply shake my head.

Robin is now the only one of us Bellamy siblings who doesn’t know what happened in that barn all those years ago. Who doesn’t know the real reason why Falcon went to prison.

I’d like to be everywhere all at once—to keep an eye on Eagle, keep him out of trouble.

But I can’t be.

Growing up, I always felt that my needs were the last ones met. It didn’t bother me, not really. I didn’t mind fending for myself. It made me strong, helped me learn that self-reliance is the best quality a man can have.

Still, there was someone I depended on all those years ago.

Someone I rarely let myself think about.

* * *

“Dad!” I yell, barreling into my father’s home office.

To my surprise, my father’s not sitting behind his giant desk. Instead, I find a young man with sandy-brown hair and blue eyes a lot like my own. He’s wearing jeans, and on his right ring finger is a ring with a turquoise stone and in his left ear a single silver earring in the shape of a star.

“I can’t find my mom,” I say. “Where’s my dad?”

The man rises from Dad’s chair. “He’s out on the north quadrant today, I think. Checking on some livestock. My name’s Ted. I’m your father’s new assistant.”

He comes around and holds out his hand to me and then drops his gaze to my knee, which is throbbing.

“Hey, little fellow, what have you done there?”

I’m nearly twelve years old. I don’t really appreciate being called little fellow . But whatever.

“I just need some Bactine and a bandage,” I say. “I couldn’t find any in the linen closet.”

“Let me help you out with that.” He reaches into my father’s bottom drawer and pulls out a first-aid kit. “How’d that happen anyway?”

I frown. “I was trying to hang out with Falcon and his friends. They rode off on their bikes, and I tried to catch up. But I ran over a rock and flipped headfirst over my handlebars.”

Ted chuckles. “Then you’re lucky you only skinned a knee, partner.”

Partner.

I like the sound of that. Dad calls Falcon partner all the time, but he never calls me partner. I’m always Hawk or Blue, for my eyes.

“Were they too fast for you?” Ted asks.

“No, I can ride as fast as they can. But they left without me, and I was trying to catch up.”

“I see.” He cracks a grin. “The big brother blues.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ted nods to the family portrait on the wall.

Mom and Dad are sitting front and center, and Falcon, the oldest, stands behind them right in the center—the place of honor.

Robin and Raven on either side of him, and Eagle stands next to Mom, while I stand next to Dad.

“Middle brother. I get it.”

“You’re a middle brother too?”

“Yep, right between Hank and George. Hank was always going off doing stuff without me, and George was the baby, always wanting me to play something stupid with him.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He leads me out the door and down the hall to the powder room. “Let’s fix that knee.”

I don’t need anyone helping me fix my knee. It’s certainly not the first scraped knee I’ve had, and it won’t be the last. I’m not a baby, after all. I know how to wash my wound, apply some Bactine, and then a bandage.

But for some reason, I let Ted help me.

It feels good to be taken care of.

“So your big brother leaves you out?” Ted says.

I sigh. “Yeah. All the time. He’s three years older than I am, and Eagle three years younger. Then there’s the girls, who are two years older than I am, but Raven is so girly. Robin can be fun now and then, but she’d rather be hanging out with Falcon and his friends, too. Flirting and everything.”

“So that makes her what? Around fourteen?”

“Yeah, fourteen in a couple months. Her and Raven both.”

Ted wets a washcloth in the sink and carefully applies it to my scraped knee. The washcloth is warm, and his touch is gentle. Gentler than I would’ve been.

“Doesn’t look too bad,” he says. “It’ll scab over and heal up in no time. Just in time for you to scrape the other one.”

“Yeah, probably.”

He takes the Bactine out, puts some on a cotton ball, and rubs it gently on the open wound before putting on a bandage. “There you go. The Bactine has an anesthetic in it that will numb the pain pretty soon.”

“Thanks,” I say.

“Tell you what. I don’t have a lot more to do today. How about you and I hang out together for the rest of the day?”

“Doing what?” Last thing I want to do is hang out in my father’s office and watch him work on the computer.

“Do you like games?” Ted asks.

“Sure. Who doesn’t?”

“Video games, I bet,” he says.

“Oh yeah, love them. We have a Nintendo, but Falcon is usually hogging it playing Mario Kart. But even when I do get my turn, Mom doesn’t let us have a lot of screen time.”

“Your mom’s a smart woman. Those things numb your brain.” He clasps his hands together. “I’ll teach you to play a real game. How about Monopoly?”

“We have it, but it takes too long. We never finish the game.”

He smirks. “I can take care of that. Or we could play Scrabble.”

“I don’t think we have that one.”

“I never travel without Scrabble,” Ted says. “I’ll go get it out of my truck. You stay here in your dad’s office, and I’ll be right back.”