His Family

He couldn’t do that anymore.

And it had been easy to plan to leave when the house had been always quiet. In those days, Killian seldom came home from the city, even on weekends, and though Sawyer was home, he kept to himself a lot, working on the foundation’s projects and other charitable community functions. Chloe had a busy social life and came and went all the time. The staff was like family, but they were all good employees and worked hard.

So Campbell had spent a lot of time alone, and he’d thought he’d liked it that way—though he’d been determined to spend it alone someplace else. But now that the house was full of women, children, laughter and plans, he felt as though the place had a grip on him and didn’t want to let go.

“Uncle Cam!”

That, too, was something new. He turned to see Sophie’s two youngest racing toward him from the family room down the hall where they’d gone to watch movies after dinner. Their older sister, Gracie, was staying the night at a friend’s.

“What’s going on?” he asked, leaning down to catch them in his arms.

“We’re going to have a wedding!” Emma said, dark eyes bright at the prospect. “And we’re all going to wear pretty dresses and flowers!”

“Oh, no!” he exclaimed. “I don’t have a pretty dress!”

She giggled and tugged on his hand. “You’re not gonna wear a dress, silly! Just the ladies wear dresses. You have to wear a special suit.”

“A tux.” Eddie made a face. “Me, too. I’m going to carry the rings. I hate tuxes.”

Eddie was lively and imaginative, and Campbell thought he’d make a great Abbott. “Why?”

“Because I’ll look stupid.”

“I don’t think you will, but if it’s any comfort, all of us guys will be wearing tuxes, so you won’t be alone.”

“When are you going away?” Emma asked.

“Saturday,” he replied.

“Sawyer says we’re going to come and see you.”

“That would be very nice.”

“And Grandma Chloe’s gonna have a big party for you before you go. And we get to come. On Friday.”

“Right.”

“It’s too bad,” Eddie said gravely, “that China isn’t Abigail. We really like her.” Since their mother’s involvement with Sawyer, the children knew all about the family’s search for their missing member, understood why China had come to visit.

Campbell nodded, suddenly a little short of breath, out of words. He had to think, clear his throat. “Yes. We all like her. But it could be that the adopted sister she grew up with might be Abigail. Do you know what ‘adopted’ is?”

“It’s when you don’t have a mom and dad,” Emma put in knowledgeably, “and somebody else’s mom and dad let you live with them.”

“You have to go to court to be adopted,” Eddie said. “And the judge makes your name the same as the new mom and dad’s name. One time when we went to court, there was this kid there who was getting adopted. I remember wishing we could get adopted by another dad, only, Mom could come with us. But the court doesn’t ever do that.”

“Because moms don’t get adopted by dads,” Emma explained to Eddie, pleased to know something he didn’t. “They have to marry them. Like Mom and Sawyer and the wedding.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “I know that. I just meant, that day we were in court, it seemed like it would be a really good idea if it worked that way.”

Sophie had had an abusive husband, and the children had seen and experienced things that shouldn’t be part of any child’s memories.

“Well, it’s a good thing that didn’t happen,” Campbell told him, “because if you’d been given to someone else, you wouldn’t be my niece and nephew.”

Winfield suddenly flew out of the family room where the children had been watching movies. Then he spotted them with Campbell and put a hand to his heart in relief. “Thank goodness,” he said in his gravelly voice as he came toward them. “I dozed off during the third viewing of Nemo. Party breaking up?”

Campbell had hired Winfield a little more than a year ago, concerned about the family’s safety. A butler trained in self-defense and security was suddenly a popular new hybrid among household staff. Winfield was Campbell’s height but showed the results of years of weight training as a professional boxer. He had thin blond hair, light blue eyes and a nose that had been broken several times. He was flawlessly courteous to household members and guests of Shepherd’s Knoll.

Winfield worked hard at keeping the house safe, though his skills hadn’t really been tested. A good result of the very fact that he was there, Campbell thought.

“No, I have a few things to do tonight,” Campbell replied, “so I had to excuse myself.” He ruffled Eddie’s hair and kissed Emma’s. “I guess I’ll see you at the party.”

“Come on, kids.” Winfield led the children back to the family room. “Campbell has work to do. Let’s go raid the kitchen.”

There were cheers of approval, and they ran toward the kitchen ahead of the butler.

Campbell changed into comfortable clothes and went down the back stairs to his office off the kitchen. He could hear Winfield and the children rummaging in the cupboards, talking about crackers and peanut butter and Kezia’s lemonade.