“
This is never going to work," a pretty woman
with light brown hair said. "It's only been ten
minutes and your eyes are already glazed." She
reached into her purse and pulled out a plastic pack
age. "I thought this might happen so I brought name tags."
A petite redhead handed over a box of her own.
"Great minds,
Elizabeth
," she said. "I brought
them, too."
The redhead turned to Nash.
"I'm
Jill, Craig's
wife. Craig's the oldest of the brothers." She
glanced around the room, then pointed to a tall,
dark-haired man with gray at his temples. "Craig's
easy to keep track of. He's the best-looking of the brothers."
“
He is not,"
Elizabeth
said, then laughed. "I
guess we all have our favorites."
“
Fortunately that is usually the guy we're married
to. Anything else would make these gatherings awk
ward." Jill looked at Nash, then at Stephanie. "Are
we terrifying you? I guess this is really strange.
We're such a close-knit family that we don't even
think about it, but I remember when I had to meet everyone. It was a little intimidating." She frowned
slightly. "Actually it was a lot easier for me back then. Only Travis, Kyle and Austin were married.
There weren't as many kids. Did you know that
Austin
isn't officially a Haynes? It's more of a fam
ily member by adoption."
Nash shook his head. "You can't start adding
more people," he said. "Not without written per
mission."
As he spoke he spotted his brother, Kevin, across
the room. Haley was next to him, staring at him with
a look of love and devotion that made Nash feel
he'd accidentally witnessed something personal. He turned away.
“
Listen up everybody,"
Elizabeth
said loudly.
A boy of about fourteen stuck two fingers in his
mouth and gave a sharp whistle. The room went
quiet.
“
We have name tags," she continued, waving the
box over her head.
“And pens," Jill added.
“
Right. Everyone come get a name tag. If you're
an adult, put your name first, then a dash and your
spouse's name. If you're a child, put your name on
top and your parents' names underneath. If you’re
too young to write, come see me or Jill. Any ques
tions?"
“
Is there going to be a quiz?" Travis asked.
"You bet. And if you fail, you are in big trouble, mister. Don't be messing with me."
Travis looked pleased at the prospect.
“
After you've filled out your name tag,"
Eliza
beth
continued, "take a seat at one of the tables. We
want to save the big one at the far end for the adults.
You kids can sit at the other tables with your
friends." Jill handed out name tags while
Elizabeth
passed around several pens. Nash saw Adam and Jason race
over to stand with their mother. She talked them
through filling out their tags. He waited until they
had finished, then wrote his own name. It was only
when he glanced around the room that he realized
every other tag had either a spouse's name on it or
parents' names. Kevin and Haley had put each
other's names with theirs on the name tags, as had
Gage and Kari.
“
Getting ready to bolt?" Stephanie asked when
she'd peeled the back off her tag. "I'm fairly com
fortable in crowds, what with running the B&B and
all, but even I'm a little overwhelmed by all this."
“
I'm doing okay," he said, taking the tag from
her and placing it on her sweater, close to the ribbed neckline. "I won't pass the quiz, though."
She grinned. "I figured if they called on me, I'd
cheat by saying everyone was a Haynes. At least
then I'd be able to pass with about eight-five-percent accuracy."
“Good idea."
His gaze fell onto the tag he'd just pressed into
place and he saw that she didn't have a name after
hers either. They were the only two unattached
adults at the gathering.
Elizabeth
waved them over to take a seat at the
large table. Nash found himself seated between
Stephanie and Jill. Kevin was on Stephanie's other
side.
When everyone was settled, Craig stood. "As the
oldest of the Haynes brothers, I would like to thank
all of you for coming." He smiled. "We are here
tonight to welcome our new brothers." He motioned
across the table. "Gage Reynolds, Kevin Harmon
and Nash Harmon."
Nash found himself standing, along with Kevin
and Gage. There was a round of applause. When
they were seated, Craig continued.
“
I know we're all anxious to get to know each
other. I suggest we start by going around the table and stating our names, where we live and what we
do for a living. Oh, and don't forget to introduce
your children."
“
Yeah, don't forget us," a little dark-haired girl
said.
The adults laughed.
“
As I already have your attention, I'll start," he
said when there was quiet. "I'm Craig Haynes. My
beautiful wife, Jill, is sitting right here." He put his
hand on her shoulder. "We have five children, the
oldest of which is that tall, good-looking eighteen year-old. Ben was offered a football scholarship at UCLA." He continued to introduce his five children, then
concluded by saying Jill had the hardest job of all—
she kept them in line—while he was just a cop.
Travis went next. He rose and introduced his wife,
Elizabeth, and their four children. They went around
the table. Every single Haynes brother was a cop,
until
Jordan
stood and proclaimed himself as the
only Haynes sensible enough to go into fire fighting rather than law enforcement.
Austin Lucas was next. He had the Haynes ba
sics—tall, dark hair and eyes—that distinguished the
brothers, but his hair was much longer and he wore a small gold earring.
Austin
mentioned that he was
a Haynes in spirit and heart, rather than by blood.
Gage was next. He talked about his life in Possum
Landing, where he was the local sheriff. He intro
duced his fiancée, and said that his brother, Quinn,
should be arriving any day now.
When a tall, dark-haired woman rose, Nash fig
ured she was the half sister he'd heard about. Her
introduction confirmed the fact. She explained that
her mother, Louise, was home babysitting their latest daughter who had been born only six weeks be
fore.
When it was Nash's turn, he stood. "I'm Nash
Harmon. Kevin's twin brother. I'm the smart one." Everyone laughed.
He grinned when Kevin reached around Stephanie
and punched his arm. "I live in
Chicago
," Nash
continued, "where I'm a negotiator for the FBI."
As he added a few more details, he glanced down
and saw Stephanie looking at him with surprise.
Hadn't he told her what he did for a living?
“
I figured there would be more of you than Kevin
and I could ever hope to take on on our own," he
said lightly, "So I convinced my temporary landlady
to take pity on me and help balance the numbers.
This is Stephanie Wynne. Her three boys are..." He
glanced around at the other tables, then spotted Ja
son and Adam frantically waving. "Over there."
He sat down. Craig rose again. Just then several
servers entered the room. They had large trays cov
ered with pitchers of root beer, iced tea and beer.
When everyone had a drink, Craig raised his glass.
“
Welcome," he said.
Chapter Six
Nash lost count of the number of pizzas consumed
by the Haynes family. They simply kept on coming.
Pitchers of drinks were continually refilled as well. By the time the kids asked to be excused to go play
video games and the adults had started moving the
chairs around to form small conversational groups,
even the servers were looking exhausted.
He'd spent most of dinner talking with Stephanie
and Jill, but after the meal, he found himself in the company of his brothers.
Brothers.
The word still surprised him. How
could he and Kevin have been a part of this family
for so many years and not have known? How could
a man like Earl Haynes get an innocent seventeen year-old pregnant, abandon her to return to his real family, then produce such honest, sincere, caring offspring?
He crossed to the pitchers of drinks left on the
table and poured himself another glass of iced tea.
After two beers, he'd switched to the non-alcoholic
d
rink. He wasn't worried about driving, they'd
brought Stephanie's minivan and she'd taken the
wheel on the way over. Instead he considered the
fact that too much beer would make his hostess even
more of a temptation than she already was. When
sober he found her delightfully intriguing. While
drunk he might find her irresistible. Not a good thing for either of them.
He took a drink and surveyed the crowd. He could
put a name to the men, but he was still having trou
ble connecting which spouse belonged with which
partner. Hannah was easy. As the only female
Haynes, she had many of the physical characteristics
of her brothers—she was tall, dark-haired and at
tractive. Her husband was the only blond male in
the room. But after that, things got fuzzy. Was
Kyle's wife the average-height brunette with brown eyes or the average-height woman with light brown
hair and green eyes?
“Is it making you crazy?" He turned toward the speaker and found a slender woman standing next to him. Her name tag read "Rebecca—
Austin
." Underneath were the words "Honorary Haynes through love."
“The guy with the earring," he said.
She smiled. "That would be my husband, yes.
He's something of a bad boy."
She spoke the words with a smile and Nash saw
the affection twinkling in her eyes.
He glanced over to the man in question and saw
him with a young child on his hip. As he spoke with
Travis,
Austin
absently brought the child's hand to
his mouth and blew on the palm. The little boy
laughed loudly.
“You seem to have changed his ways," he said.
Rebecca shook her head. "Actually he changed
them all on his own. He was always the quiet rebel,
but he's mellowed."
Austin
looked content, Nash thought. He was a
man comfortable and at peace with his world. Two
things Nash rarely experienced.
He turned his attention back to the woman in front
of him. She was lovely, with classically beautiful
features that spoke of a gentler time. Unlike the
other wives who were dressed in slacks and blouses,
Rebecca wore a long dress edged in lace. Her dark,
curly hair came to the middle of her back. She reminded him of a character in one of those British
period movies—the kind that made him head di
rectly for ESPN if he ever turned the television to
one by accident.