Billionaire's Touch(6)

“I heard they named the baby David,” Micah said conversationally as the plane continued to descend for landing.

Evan inwardly released a sigh of relief that Micah had dropped the teasing. It wasn’t something he was entirely comfortable with, even from family.

He nodded as he answered. “David was a friend of Hope’s who was killed while chasing tornadoes. An extreme meteorologist. They wanted to pass the name on to their son.”

Evan admired the fact that Hope was paying tribute to a good friend who had died trying to collect weather data, but he sure as hell hoped that his nephew didn’t decide on the same line of work as his mother or his namesake. Maybe it was a good thing that Evan hadn’t known that Hope was chasing tornadoes and every other form of extreme weather before she married Jason Sutherland. However, it still ate at him that he’d failed his only sister, hadn’t protected her from the horrors she’d suffered early in her career. She had hidden her involvement in her dangerous endeavors well, but he should have been better, more involved in her life. He was her oldest brother, and he should have kept her safe. Evan hated failing at anything, but what had happened to Hope was his deepest regret and his greatest defeat. He still hadn’t forgiven himself; he was pretty sure he never would.

“I can’t believe that our sweet little Hope was such a wild child,” Micah mused, his voice sounding slightly awed.

“It was her career,” Evan answered unhappily. “It’s not like she was out seeking thrills for no reason.” He didn’t like her being referred to as wild. She wasn’t. Not usually. As Micah had already mentioned, Hope had been a very sweet child and a quiet teenager. Evan had thought she was just carrying on in the same manner in Aspen, living a very sedate life free of media attention in the Colorado Rockies. In reality, she’d been roaming around the world photographing extreme weather events.

I don’t really know her. I don’t really know any of my siblings anymore.

If he wanted to be honest—which he didn’t—he had never really known them at all. They’d spent very little time together as children or adults. Evan hated the fact that there was distance between himself and his siblings, but now that they were all grown and happy, he wasn’t certain how to fit into the Sinclair family or how to fix the situation, or even if he wanted it to be fixed. Too much time had passed.

Maybe I feel distant because I’m not happy or content like they are now? We have nothing in common.

No. That wasn’t quite right. Evan had always needed to maintain his distance in order to keep his secrets. Now, he wasn’t sure he could or would ever truly be close to any of them. He was fairly certain that all of them saw him as more of a pain in the ass than a brother, simply because he interfered in their lives from time to time. But he was okay with that. As long as they were all safe and happy.

“I still think she’s pretty ballsy,” Micah said with admiration. “And her photography work is incredible.”

“It is,” Evan answered simply. He was proud of all of his siblings, and Hope’s talent was truly astonishing. His home in Boston was filled with as many of her photos as he’d been able to acquire after he’d found out about her secret career path.

Hope was currently working on her nature shots, but Evan loved the very photos that had caused her harm: her extreme-weather photography. Some of them were very tangled and dark, breathtaking in their intense ferocity. Evan knew little about photography techniques, but he didn’t need to know much about taking pictures to recognize that the shadowy images struck a chord in him that resonated through his entire being. Hope’s creations reminded him of his own life, and the uncertainty of life itself.

Neither man spoke as they came to a rather bumpy landing on the runway of the small airport located outside Amesport, each seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Evan noted that his car and his driver, Stokes, had already arrived, the Rolls-Royce waiting just beyond the area where the plane would come to a stop.

“Do you want to stay with me?” Evan offered sincerely. Both Micah and Julian were coming for the party Hope was hosting, which she was calling The Amesport Midwinter Ball, though Evan knew it was really just a reason to get the entire town together to see her new son. It was being held in the Youth Center, and he had no doubt everyone invited would be there.

He unbuckled his seat belt as the plane came to a stop, damn glad he didn’t have to attend yet another marriage ceremony. It seemed like the only reason he usually came to this town was to be in a wedding. If he had to stand up one more time with Randi Tyler, he was likely to lose it. Luckily, he had no more brothers to marry off, his sister was already married to Jason, and he’d never again have to stand across from Randi and pretend he actually liked her as she took his arm with a false smile on her face while he led her down the aisle. Hopefully he could avoid her almost entirely on this trip. It wasn’t like he saw every resident in Amesport on each visit. The town was small, but it wasn’t that small. Unfortunately, Evan doubted that he’d be able to avoid Randi completely. She was friends with Hope now, and would inevitably show up at the party.