Read Online The Other Brother by Brandon Massey - Free Book Online Page B

street. Gabriel glanced at him as he drove past. Isaiah pressed the accelerator harder, making the engine bellow like a lion.
    He had to go somewhere else. Vicious waves of energy churned through him, and he needed to channel the forces in an alternate, more positive direction.
    As he drove away, he thought his course of action proved that he was a different man. A wiser, more patient man.
    In the past, he would have killed Gabriel right then.
    As Gabriel was taking the rest of the groceries inside, a car sped past.
    It was an old-school, smoke-gray Chevy Chevelle with supersized chrome wheels. Tinted windows concealed the driver. The car streaked down the road, orange-red sunlight shimmering on the rear window as though the interior of the vehicle were afire. The car veered around the corner at the end of the block and rumbled out of sight.
    For some reason, the car sent a shiver tipping along Gabriel's spine.
    Weird. It was an ordinary car, driven by God knows who.
    But the chill clung to him until he went inside the house and closed-and locked-the door.

Chapter 9
    or dinner, Dana cooked some of Gabriel's favorite dishes: cream of spinach soup. Pan-seared salmon with sour cream and dill. Twice-baked potatoes. Steamed vegetables. A tossed salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing. And for dessert, she'd prepared cheesecake.
    They had dinner by candlelight in the formal dining room. Soft jazz, broadcast from a satellite radio station, played on the stereo system that dispersed music throughout the house.
    Gabriel could not help but reflect on the amazing flow of events. Last night he had been unconscious in a hospital after a car wreck. Barely twenty-four hours later he was in the comfort of his home, enjoying dinner with his fiancee. What a trip. When they said grace, he spent an extra minute with his head bowed, giving thanks to God for the many blessings.
    "This looks delicious," Gabriel said. He filled Dana's wineglass with chardonnay, and then his own. "Best birthday dinner ever."
    Dana raised her glass. "I want to make a toast. Happy thirtieth birthday to you, Gabriel Joseph Reid, the most won derful man I've ever met, my future husband-and future baby daddy." She cracked a mischievous smile.
    They clinked their glasses together, took short sips of the wine, and began to eat.
    "You know," Gabriel said, "we can get started on the baby daddy part tonight if you want"
    "Uh-huh, I bet," she said. "We're not married yet"
    "Okay, I was kidding about starting tonight. But we can start when we go on our honeymoon."
    "You know that's not the plan," she said.
    "But wouldn't it be cool to have a Gabe Junior running around?"
    "How do you know the first one will be a boy? It might be a girl."
    "The first one will be a boy, trust me," he said. "Then we'll have our baby girl, Kaya"
    They had already selected names for the children they planned to have. They believed-well, Gabriel believedthat they would have two children, a boy and a girl. Just like his parents had had him and his younger sister.
    "One year," Dana said. "I'm not carrying any babies before then"
    "There you go"
    Along with picking names for their future children, they had discussed their plans for starting a family. They had agreed-well, Dana had decreed that they would begin attempting to have children only after they had been married for at least a year. Although Dana was twenty-nine and the ticking of her biological clock got louder by the day, she insisted that it was important for them to spend a year as a married couple without children, bonding.
    Gabriel went along with Dana's wishes and saw the validity of her position-but he didn't want to wait. He was eager to be a father and excited about the challenges and joys of fatherhood. Why wait? He and Dana already had been dat ing for three years and spent time together nearly every day. If they hadn't "bonded" by now, they never would.
    "We've discussed this," she said. She stabbed a broccoli spear with her fork.