Grant wrapped his arms around her waist, and she leaned back into his warmth. Rafe crawled toward her and planted a kiss on her lips. “You’re an amazing woman, do you know that?”
“Wait until tomorrow night, and I’ll show you just how amazing I can be.” She giggled. “You two aren’t the only ones who have your minds in the gutter.”
Stranded
Chapter Twenty
Ellen showed up at nine o’clock on the dot as she’d promised. India felt bad for calling her so late at night, but the other woman didn’t seem to mind. She’d actually sounded quite pleased.
“Thank you so much for coming here on such short notice,” India greeted her when she answered the door.
The reporter gave her a genuine smile. “No, don’t worry about it. And believe me the pleasure is all mine. I really didn’t think I’d hear from you again, so when you called me, to say not only would you do the interview, but you had the other two survivors with you as well, I was in hog heaven. Stories like these don’t come along often and I’m glad you thought of me when you decided to share yours.”
“Please come in. Have you had breakfast? There’s plenty leftover. We have chocolate chip pancakes as well as blueberry ones, turkey bacon, grit and eggs.”
Ellen shook her head. “Mmm, that sounds delicious, but I’m trying to watch my weight. My high school reunion is coming up and I’m trying to slim down so I can get into this Calvin Klein dress I bought at a killer sale. I had to have it when I saw it, but unfortunately it was a size too small.” She patted her stomach with regret.
“Can I at least get you a cup of coffee?”
“That sounds wonderful. Black with two teaspoons of sugar, please.”
“Coming right up, and the men are in the living room so you can go ahead and introduce yourselves to each other.”
India wished her aunt could have been here for the interview as well. After all, she was India’s closest family member. Aunt Val was a free lance editor who did a lot of her work from home, but occasionally she had to go into the office. This morning happened to be one of those times, but her aunt promised to be back in time to see the three of them off.
Her aunt had been more of a mother to her than Leila Powers could ever be. India could no longer think of those two people who’d sired her as her parents. Real parents would have loved her unconditionally and wouldn’t have gone out of their way to make her life miserable. For so long, India had wished she knew what it was about them that had made them treat her the way they did, or if there was something wrong with her. Now, none of it mattered. They were out of her life for good.
On a bright note, maybe she and Jack could finally forge that brother and sister bond they’d never had. She much preferred to be his friend than his enemy. Maybe now that he was out of the closet, he could find someone to love without being secretive about it. She credited her brother for her decision to have this interview. All his life, he’d been miserable, obviously ashamed of who he was. India realized she didn’t want to live like that.
India returned to the living room with coffee mug in hand, and offered it to Ellen.
“Thank you so much. I was running a bit late this morning so I didn’t get a chance to stop for a cup.”
India took a seat in between her men on the couch. “This beats the stuff in the convenient stores. My aunt brews it fresh.”
Ellen took a sip. “Mmm. You’re right.” She placed the cup on the coffee table. “Now that everyone is here, shall we start?”
India took Rafe’s and Grant’s hands, unashamed of showing them affection in front of others. She could tell it didn’t go unnoted by the other woman, who shot them a curious glance.
“India, if you would like for me to include a few quotes from your family in this article, I would be more than happy to,” the reporter began.
“Rafe and Grant are my family, and my Aunt Val of course.”
Ellen raised a dark brow. “I can infer from your comment the three of you became close on the island. Would you say it happened because you did what was necessary to survive?”
India looked from Rafe’s smoldering Latin handsomeness to Grant’s rugged All-American features, not bothering to hide what she felt for them before turning her attention back to Ellen. “We did have to depend on each other to survive, but it was much more than that, you see, the three of us fell in love. They with me and I with them.”
Ellen shot the three of them a look of disbelief. “Is this something you want included in the interview?”
India waited to get silent consent from the men before answering for all three of them. “Yes. You see, none of us are ashamed of our feelings. The world may look on at us as an unconventional trio, but something special happened to us on the island. Yes, it was a daily struggle with fighting the elements, and wondering if we’d be rescued. We experienced things you wouldn’t find in any movie or book and we went to bed hungry more times than I care to remember, but we managed because we had each other.”