Chet held up the letter. “Mina quit the Group.”
Jeremiah nodded. “When I checked in with my assistant an hour ago, she told me. Some of the staff is going to be meeting Mina tonight to see what’s going on with her, why she’s leaving. I suspect some might even want to make a play at changing her mind.”
Tyler stepped in. “Why did she quit, Chet?”
“We had…a falling out last night. And I’m afraid it was mostly because of my damned issues.”
Tyler exhaled loudly.
“What’s that mean?” Chet asked, immediately realizing that he was about to get his first real brother-to-brother-to-brother talk about something that had nothing to do with Eli.
Tyler said, “I won’t presume to play big brother to you unless you’re willing to hear it.”
Jeremiah lifted an eyebrow to Chet, seconding Tyler’s comment.
Chet didn’t know where it came from, but he got one of those warm glows in his chest that he mainly felt when it seemed that Mina was watching over him, doing anything for him.
He’d hoped that he might have two brothers who’d do the same for him, except…
Well, this was different. They were family, not a partner.
“What do you have to say, Ty?”
Just like the Group leader he’d been for years before he quit, the oldest Barron dove straight in. “The way I see it, we were all given a mighty dose of bad medicine to swallow these past several months. I was ready to tear Eli apart with my bare hands for what he’d done. As for Jeremiah…I guess you could say he got a little lost, himself.”
“Hey,” Jeremiah said, with a smile. “I got found.”
“And that’s my point,” Tyler said. “We had certain someones come into our lives at exactly the right time, just like answers to prayers. I don’t know how I would’ve managed without Zoe.”
“Ditto here, but with Ally, of course,” Jeremiah said. “And I think I know where Ty is going with this. There were times when we both almost ruined what Zoe and Ally brought to the table for us when we needed it the most.”
“But they’re strong women,” Tyler said, “and they took our guff. Each one of them is capable of that, Chet.”
“Including Mina.” Jeremiah had that eyebrow cocked again as he measured his younger brother.
Chet kept holding that letter. Damn it, he still loved her. He always would.
Would they know how to dig him out of this hole?
Chet pushed up the brim of his hat. “If I knew how to fix what I’ve done to Mina, I’d have made things right with her already. But what we have is more than just a simple misunderstanding.”
“What’s the problem then?” Tyler asked.
“She’s pregnant. That’s not a problem, though.”
Both men had skipped right over that last part, dwelling on the baby news.
“Congratulations,” Tyler and Jeremiah said at the same time, lighting up, and it seemed as if they were about to come forward to shake Chet’s hand.
But then Chet told them the rest: how Mina had apparently seriously considered the consequences of being with someone like him—just as undependable as the last man who’d broken her heart. How she thought he might feel about his own illegitimate child, what with being one himself.
“I don’t even know where it all started going downhill,” Chet finished. “Where we began to argue and say the wrong things to each other.”
Jeremiah had come to stand with his hands planted on his hips. “Did you tell her you’d never have her raise a child alone?”
“Of course.” Chet crumpled the letter a little in his hand. “I told her that I’d always take care of the baby, but I was so taken aback by what we said to each other that I didn’t say I’d take care of her. And I want to do that. I can’t imagine a future without her.”
“Damn,” Tyler said. “I never realized it before, but for a mellow man, you’re really bullheaded, Chet.”
“I don’t want to be.”
Jeremiah said, “Listen, I made my mistakes with Ally, too, and I would’ve ended up crawling back to her on my hands and knees if I’d needed to. Luckily, it didn’t come to that.”
“You’ve got to stop thinking about everything bad that might happen,” Tyler said, getting back into leadership mode, “and think about what good might come out of it instead.”
Chet just stared at his oldest brother. When the scandal had broken, Tyler would’ve been the last person on earth to be talking in optimistic terms.
Taking a chance with Zoe had changed him though, just as Ally had done for Jeremiah.