Feels Like Home: A Southerland Family Contemporary Romance Book 1 (7 page)

He should never have touched her, but she’d
been sitting right there in front of him. It seemed like the most
natural thing in the world to let his hand rest on her shoulder.
Before he realized, his fingers slid under her hair to the warm
skin beneath.

Maybe he could convince Nancy to come back
from maternity leave. Then he could fire Autumn, drag her upstairs,
and get her under him. He could spend days with his hands on her,
with his mouth on her, pleasing them both and burning her out of
his system.

Who was he kidding? Nancy wasn’t coming back
early – if at all. And even if Autumn didn’t work for him anymore,
it was no guarantee he’d get his hands on her. Half the time he
wasn’t even sure she liked him let alone wanted him like he wanted
her. Normally cool and in control – he was a doctor for Christ’s
sake – he felt like a stumbling ass around her.

He turned the lock and pulled the door shut
behind him. At least dinner with the family would take his mind off
things. With all nine of them at the table it was so noisy he
couldn’t hear himself think.

Tonight it would just be the eight of them.
It hadn’t been nine since Travis left for Afghanistan. He and the
rest of the family were counting the days until his baby brother
came home for good.

Not eight, seven, he remembered, Taylor was
still in Charlottesville. She’d begged off this week because of her
job. Thank God, she’d found something she seemed to enjoy. He said
a silent prayer, hoping she’d stick this time and slid behind the
wheel of the Jag to drive the short distance to Avanel.

His boyhood home had been in the Southerland
family for generations. It had started as a cotton plantation,
somehow managing to survive the war. The family had chosen or been
forced, depending on who told the story, to sell off the land and
the rest of the town had grown up around it. It stood, a quiet
beauty, behind the magnolias which were almost as old as the house
itself.

Jude pulled his car around back to the
carriage house his dad converted into a garage and workshop. Daddy
had been too busy working to support them and loving Momma to build
much of anything, but it had given them a place to hang out. On the
rare occasions his parents fought, his dad retreated to the
workshop, but he never stayed long enough to finish a project.

When Jude saw the Porsche already waiting in
the drive, he groaned. Andrew was here. He should have expected it.
Andrew spent almost as much time in this house as he had. When his
schedule allowed, which was often, he came for family dinner.

Of course he’d be here, and he’d ask about
Autumn, probably in front of his mom just to mess with him. Blake
and Adam would jump on the train and Rachel and Bailey would ferret
out anything the twins and Andrew didn’t manage. He paused with his
hand on the door handle. Maybe it wasn’t too late to make a clean
getaway. No one had seen him yet.

Chicken.
He’d never get away with it. He lived in town. His
sisters drove over an hour to get home for family dinner. There was
no way his mom would let him out of it.

His hesitation cost him his escape. The door
pulled out of his grasp and Taylor beamed out at him.

“
Thank God you’re here. Get
in,” she said, tugging on his arm. “Maybe they’ll stop fixing my
life and work on finding a wife for you.”

“
Hey.” He dragged her in
for a hug. “What are you doing home? I thought the job was keeping
you in Charlottesville tonight.”

“
We’re not talking about
that now.” She took in his expression and poked her finger in his
chest. “I mean it Jude – not tonight.”

Oh no, not again. His little sister was sweet
and smart and gifted at so many things. She just couldn’t seem to
settle on one thing. She’d been flitting back and forth for years
now. He lifted her chin and saw the sadness in her eyes before she
pulled her face out of his hand.

“
Alright,” he said,
squeezing her before letting go. “But I expect you to be on my
side. Deflect, baby girl, deflect.”

She grinned up at him, without committing to
anything and pulled him by the hand into the noisy kitchen. “Not if
you call me that,” she said under her breath.

“
You’re late, darlin’.” His
mother’s soft drawl matched everything about her. Elegant, proper,
perfectly gentile, and strong as steel. She’d been his world
growing up, a constant loving presence behind everything he did.
She cupped his face in her hands and he bent to kiss her soft
cheek. The familiar scent of Shalimar surrounded him.

“
Hey Momma.” He looked
behind him and saw Andrew grinning at him, with the twins standing
beside him. “Daddy.” His dad sat in his chair, the wingback
reserved just for him and sipped what looked like
bourbon.

His dad raised his glass but didn’t get up.
Taylor wove her way past Andrew and the twins and went to perch on
the arm of their father’s chair. Another look around the room and
he still didn’t see his other sisters.

“
Where are the
girls?”

“
Just what we were
wondering,” said Andrew, the twins nodding their agreement. “We
thought you might bring someone with you tonight.”

Jude tried to give him a look that promised
payback before the night ended, but Andrew wouldn’t be
deterred.

“
Weren’t you going to ask
out Autumn Maddox?” Adam looked from Jude to his twin.

Blake nodded soberly. “It’s been almost a
month since he said he was going to ask her out. We all thought
she’d be ready for family dinner by now.”

Jude glared. They were yanking his chain.
He’d never brought anyone home for family dinner. None of them
had.

His mother looked up at him with eyes which
were far too discerning, and he fought the urge to murder his
brothers where they stood.

“
What’d I miss?” Bailey
came in from the dining room. Jude used the distraction to take a
step away from his mother.

“
Jude’s got a girlfriend.
He was supposed to bring her tonight.” Taylor gazed at him with a
look that said she was all too happy to feed him to the wolves and
that she trusted him not to retaliate. She knew him well enough to
know he wouldn’t tease her about something as raw as her job –
whatever had happened to it.

“
I do not have a
girlfriend.”

“
What happened?” Andrew
asked with mock concern. He knew perfectly well what happened. He
was just screwing with him. “She didn’t turn you down did
she?”

“
No,” Jude said through
gritted teeth. His mother still watched him like a hawk, ready to
pounce on any clue. “You know I didn’t ask her out. She’s working
for me, filling in until Nancy gets back.”

“
Much better idea, Son.”
His dad raised his glass again, the same drink Jude bet he’d been
nursing all night. “Women are a lot of trouble.”

“
John!” scolded his
mother.

“
Daddy,” Bailey and Taylor
said in unison. Taylor swatted his arm and he grinned up at her
affectionately.

“
Not you, darlin’. You’re
expensive but not too much trouble.” Even across the room, Jude saw
the hurt in his sister’s eyes and the fact their father was
completely oblivious to it. “Or you, Emily love. Now Bailey is a
different story.”

Bailey snorted. Running her own restaurant at
Mountain Lake, a resort community, she was one of the most settled
of all of them and had caused his parents the least amount of
trouble growing up.

“
Yes, Daddy, I know I was a
trial for you. But I made you shrimp and grits to compensate. It’s
on the dining room table, getting cold.”

“
Can’t have that.” His
father nudged Taylor off the arm of his chair and rose. “Let’s eat.
I’m starving.”

Autumn barely opened her car door before the
screen on her sister’s trailer banged open. Summer stood in the
door, practically vibrating and her eyes red rimmed.

“
Honey, what’s wrong? Is
Abby okay?” Panic gripped Autumn’s stomach. Jude said it was a
simple cold. Had something more serious happened?

“
She’s okay. Well, same as
before.”

“
What’s wrong?”

“
He promised me he wouldn’t
do it again. I told him it irritated her throat.”

“
Who promised what,
Summer?” She asked the question, but she already knew the answer.
That asshole Dwayne had done something and it was making Abby
sick.

“
Dwayne. I don’t know what
he’s working on in that bedroom.” As she said the words her eyes
slid to the side. Maybe not, Autumn thought, but she has her
suspicions. “But I told him not to do it with Abby in the house.
The fumes bother her.”

Autumn pushed past her sister and took a deep
breath. The house smelled sweet, like burnt sugar or vanilla air
freshener with the lingering faint traces of something that smelled
like cat urine. It wasn’t strong, but it was noticeable.

“
I aired it out, but you
can still smell it, can’t you?”

Autumn nodded. “What is it?”

“
Some stupid money making
scheme he’s working on. I don’t know; he won’t tell me about it. He
keeps the door locked.” She motioned to the room with the extra
lock Autumn saw the last time she’d visited.

That couldn’t be good.

“
I tried to stay off his
back. He’s trying to provide for us, but I told him the smell
irritated Abby’s throat. When we got back from the doctor’s, he was
gone and the house smelled horrible.”

Her sister looked defeated. Autumn doubted
Dwayne was concerned with being a good provider but it didn’t seem
like the moment to point that out. She also thought Summer didn’t
want to know what he was up to. The lock on the mystery room door
was stronger than the one on the front door, but surely she could
get her hands on Dwayne’s key. The walls were paper thin. If she
wanted to get into the room, she could.

Autumn didn’t think she wanted to which was
okay. She didn’t have to know what was going on; she just had to
get Abby and Summer out of there. Maybe this would be the push she
needed.

“
Where’s Abby?”

“
Laying down in her room.
Her door was closed. The smell wasn’t bad in there.”

Autumn had already started to get used to the
sick sweet smell. If she didn’t get Summer to leave soon, she
wouldn’t get her to go. She opened Abby’s door a crack and peered
inside. The little girl slept in a tangle of covers, her small face
smooth and untroubled. As she watched, her little chest heaved and
she coughed the same barking cough she had at Jude’s office. Autumn
felt Summer flinch beside her.

“
We have to get her out of
here.” She tried to say the words as gently as she could, hiding
the anger she felt. Summer started to open her mouth but before she
could protest, Autumn interrupted. “At least for tonight. Just
until she feels better. Come on sweetie, grab some clothes and come
home with me. We’ll have a sleepover. It will be like old
times.”

Summer hesitated, but when Abby’s brow
wrinkled in sleep and her breath came out in a rasp, she
nodded.

“
Okay, for tonight.
Thanks.”

Kids were amazing. Abby slept while they
buckled her into the booster seat Summer put in Autumn’s car. She
slept while her mother carried her into the house and only woke up
when Summer laid her down on the bed that had been hers as a girl.
Autumn followed them up the stairs, carrying both their bags.

“
Where are we? Where’s
bunny?” She squeezed her small fists in her eyes and then blinked
up at them, owlishly.

Autumn unzipped the little pink backpack to
grab the well loved bunny she’d tucked inside. She pulled the
rabbit out by his velvety soft ears and smelled the nasty sweet
odor from the trailer.

“
I think bunny needs a
bath. Your momma and I will give him one and get him back to you
all clean and fresh.”

“
Did you bring my icicle
pops?” She sat up, the rabbit momentarily forgotten.

Autumn groaned. “I did, sweetness, but I
forgot and left them in my car. They’re probably a grape puddle by
now.” Please let the wrappers hold. Otherwise, she be cleaning
sticky grape off the floorboards of her ancient Volvo.

“
Oh, okay.”

She didn’t whine or complain and it made
Autumn proud and broke her heart at the same time. She was glad
Abby wasn’t spoiled, but she hated that she seemed so used to
disappointments. That wouldn’t work. Aunts were supposed to spoil
their nieces.

“
Tell you what, why don’t
you and your mom take a nap and I’ll go get some more. I’ll be back
before you wake up.”

“
You don’t have to do
that.” Summer sounded used to disappointments, too.

“
Yes, I do. It’s what aunts
do.” She gave her sister a squeeze. “Stay with her. I’ll be back in
a couple of minutes.”

She picked up the bags she’d just carried
upstairs and took them downstairs to the laundry. She opened the
washer and dumped in the contents of the pink back pack, including
the rabbit. Now that she wasn’t used to it any more, the smell was
strong again. What was it? She put the stuffed animal to her nose
and sniffed. Not exactly chemicals. It smelled sweet and burnt with
the underlying smell of ammonia or cat urine.

What the hell was Dwayne doing?

She did not need to know. Dwayne Foster could
blow himself to kingdom come as long as her sister and Abby were
away from him. She’d never say it out loud, but the world would be
a better place without him.