Read Online Reason Enough by Megan Hart - Free Book Online Page B

curls. She settled contentedly against him and kicked her chubby legs. He let her crawl off his lap to sit on my couch.
    “She’ll crash in about fifteen minutes,” he said confidently, though to my eyes Leah looked about as far away from sleep as a kid could get. “Then we’ll really catch up.”
    I watched my niece gnaw on the edge of one of my expensive, dry-clean-only pillows and bit my tongue against the words that would have made me sound like my mother. “I’ll go make some coffee, okay?”
    “Sure.” My brother grinned, though the force of his love was directed at his daughter now, and not so much at me.
    I didn’t mind, I told myself in the kitchen as I ground beans and measured them into the brand-new, complicated coffeemaker Dan had bought when we moved in. I still wasn’t entirely sure how to work it.
    I didn’t mind that my brother was happy. I was, in fact, nearly overwhelmed with happiness on his behalf. We’d grown up in a house fairly devoid of joy, and I’d been an adult before I’d even begun to allow myself to believe I wouldn’t be pretty miserable for my entire life. Instead, he’d met Luke. I’d met Dan. We’d both managed to escape the past and make a present; I had no reason to believe we wouldn’t both create a joyful future, too.
    Hell, I’d even forged a relationship, of sorts, with my mother. Chad hadn’t managed that yet, though I hoped the fact he and Luke had moved back to Pennsylvania from California with the only grandchild my mother could claim would change that.
    It absolutely wasn’t that I was jealous of my brother.
    “Coffee—” I bit off the words when I saw Chad put a finger to his lips. Leah, sprawled on top of the cushions and covered with her blanket, had indeed fallen asleep. Chad made a barrier with more pillows to keep her from rolling off, and gestured to me.
    We broke our silence in my new kitchen, with all its new appliances and dishes and pictures on the walls. Chad took the coffee from me with a grateful gasp and drank back half his cup in a large gulp.
    “God,” he said. “I swear to you I’m living on caffeine now. She’s finally starting to sleep through the night, but it’s been a hellish six months. The pediatrician says at twenty-two months she should be sleeping through with no problem, but she’s having adjustment issues.”
    I liked to sleep. Really, really liked it. Was pretty unfunctional without enough sleep, as a matter of fact.
    “So, has she said anything about us?” Chad didn’t waste time. He got up to pour himself more coffee and helped himself to a muffin from my fridge. Only the slope of his shoulders gave away his tension.
    “Oh, Chaddie, do you want to know?”
    He turned. “Yes, Ella. I want to know.”
    He’d used my old name, the one my mother still insisted on using. Point taken. “She asked if I’d seen her. Meaning Leah. I said yes. She wanted to know…”
    The words lodged in my throat. I shouldn’t be embarrassed to repeat them. Chad was the one who’d always called my mother The Dragon Lady, after all. He wouldn’t be surprised, but he would be hurt. I didn’t want to hurt my brother, not even by proxy.
    “What?”
    I sighed. “She wanted to know how dark she was.”
    Chad’s expression went so carefully blank I knew he was furious. “Uh-huh. What did you tell her?”
    “I told her,” I said, “to stop being so damn ridiculous.”
    He smiled. “Did you?”
    “I did. I can’t make excuses for her, Chad, but you know how she is.”
    “It’s bad enough I’m gay, I know. But that I have a black daughter…God. What will the neighbors say?” Chad grimaced and slugged back more coffee. “And she wonders why I don’t come home.”
    “At least she’s asked you to,” I pointed out, drinking my own coffee. “At least she’s not pretending you don’t exist.”
    He made a derisive noise. “If she doesn’t accept Luke or Leah, then she still doesn’t really accept me. End of story. She