Enchanted (The Accidental Billionaires #4)(2)

That’s what this discussion is about. She’s trying to make me accept that she’s dying.

“You’ll be all right, Noah,” my mother said in a weak but soothing voice. “You’ve always been my good, levelheaded boy. Whether you realize it or not, you’ve helped me raise your younger siblings. You never really had a childhood.”

That isn’t really true, is it?

Yeah, I’d always had responsibilities, and I’d done everything I could to help my mom out with my younger siblings, but I hadn’t had to do it alone. Mom had always made all of the hard decisions in the family. I’d just been there to babysit, pick up the kids from school, and get them fed if she was working.

“I didn’t mind,” I assured her.

She smiled at me. “I know. But I want you to know that I regret the fact that you never really got to be a child.”

“Don’t,” I said desperately. Now that I was accepting the fact that she was dying, I didn’t want my mother to pass away with any regrets. “I’d willingly die for any one of them. I’ll take care of them from here,” I vowed to her honestly as I squeezed her hand. “Rest easy and don’t worry, Mom. I swear that I’ll keep my head down and work hard, just like you said.”

As terrified as I was right now, I knew I was telling my parent the truth. I’d be there for my sisters and brothers. I’d fight to keep all of us together, no matter what it took to do it. And I’d always work hard so they could survive and thrive.

At the moment, maybe I was overwhelmed. The thought of losing my mom was ripping my heart apart so bad that I could hardly breathe, but Mom didn’t need to see that.

“You don’t have to be brave right now, Noah. I know you’re frightened,” she said, like she’d just read my mind. Sometimes my mother was scary that way.

Jesus! I was going to miss her. But I was going to need to comfort my brothers and sisters. I couldn’t fall apart.

“Come give your mom a hug, Noah,” she whispered. “You can be strong later. Let me be here for you right now. I’m not gone yet.”

I scooted my chair closer and wrapped my arms around her fragile body, laying my forehead on her shoulder. “I love you, Mom,” I said, my voice hoarse with sorrow.

“I love you, too, Noah,” she said in a comforting tone as she stroked her hand over my hair. “I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but everything will be okay.”

I didn’t know how anything would ever be okay again, so I wept on her shoulder as she tried to soothe me.

It was the first and last time I gave myself permission to cry.

A few days later, she was gone, and I had to stay strong and keep things normal for my brothers and sisters.

Keep your head down, work hard, and your brothers and sisters will survive.

My mother’s advice became the mantra I lived by in order to keep my shit together as I took on the responsibility of caring for my siblings.

I’d made a promise to take care of them, and I’d be damned if I ever broke that vow to my mother, no matter what I had to do to keep it.





CHAPTER 1

ANDIE



The present . . .

“You have no idea how much I appreciate you doing this for me, Andie,” Owen Sinclair said to me as I was packing for my trip to Cancún.

I threw a lightweight jacket into my suitcase and turned to him. “I’m not just doing it for you,” I reminded him. “I’m using it as an assignment. My blog followers are always asking for more on Cancún, and I already have a travel magazine that’s more than willing to buy the article. It’s no big deal, Owen.”

Like I’d refuse to do the one thing Owen had asked of me in all the years we’d been friends?

Not going to happen.

Owen had been my rock during some of the darkest days of my life. This was the first time he’d ever allowed me to do something to pay him back for all of his friendship and support in the past.

Really? How big of a sacrifice is it to go off to the Caribbean for a few weeks? It doesn’t even feel like I’m doing him a favor.

A small sigh escaped from my lips as I surveyed his muscular, fit body sprawled out in all of its glory on my mattress. My suitcase was open on the chair because Owen took up a large amount of space on my bed.

The newly credentialed family-medicine doctor who was currently spread out on my quilt could easily be considered incredible eye candy, but I didn’t see Owen in that way. Yeah. Sure. I could see why women salivated when they saw him, but to me, he was like the brother I’d never had.

We’d been friends since grade school, and I’d never seen Owen as anything other than a good friend who had always been there for me.

Granted, he’d changed a lot physically in the last year or so. The first thing he’d done, once he’d come into money, was laser surgery to fix his vision. So he no longer sported a pair of hefty glasses that obscured his gorgeous eyes.

He’d also hauled me out to help him choose a new wardrobe, something he’d never allowed me to do and pay for before he’d had the money to do it himself.

Another thing he’d invested in was a membership to one of the best gyms in Boston, and his body had gone from healthy but slim to deliciously muscular with the help of a personal trainer.