“Rented it,” Adam said. “What’re you all doing here?”

“Mom sent a text asking us to come,” Mac said. “No idea what’s up.”

“How come I wasn’t invited?” Adam asked.

“I guess you’re not one of her favorites,” Evan said. “But I could’ve told you that ages ago. Let’s go find out what she’s up to. I was right in the middle of something at the studio.”

The others filed in ahead of Grant, who waited for Dan.

“Hope I’m not intruding on a family moment,” Dan said.

“Don’t worry about it. There’re no secrets in this family.”

Inside, Grant’s parents and Uncle Frank were talking to a woman Grant didn’t recognize. He hadn’t heard his uncle was on-island. Grant and his brothers greeted Frank with hugs.

“Here they all are,” Linda said. “Our sons Mac, Evan, Grant and Adam. Oh, and Grant’s friend Dan is here. He was on the boat, too.”

When she said that last part, Grant took a step back. Who was that woman?

“Boys, this is Betsy Jacobson. Steve’s mother.”

“No,” Grant said. “No.” His feet moved seemingly of their own volition as he bolted from the house. The drumbeat of denial, no, no, no, echoed in his ears as he ran from the home where he’d been raised in a cocoon of love and understanding. They wouldn’t understand what he couldn’t reconcile himself.

“Grant! Stop! Wait.”

“Grant!”

He heard his brothers calling his name, but still he ran, blinded by tears, stumbling and nearly falling over a crack in the sidewalk that had always been there. And then strong arms were around him, stopping his forward motion. Mac.

“Stop. Grant… Don’t run. I’ve got you.”

Something in him broke as his brother’s formidable strength surrounded him, holding him, protecting him from the tsunami of overwhelming agony that forced gut-wrenching sobs through his body.

“It’s okay.” Mac held him so tightly that Grant could barely breathe. He wanted to beg his brother to not let go. If he did, Grant might drop off the cliff he’d been clinging to for days now. “Let it out.” Mac’s hand on the back of Grant’s head kept his face pressed tight against his big brother’s shoulder. “Let it go. No matter what it is, we love you, we’ll always love you.”

“No,” Grant said between sobs. “No, you won’t.”

“Yes, we will. That could never change. Nothing you could do would make me not love you.”

“He’s right,” Evan said from behind Grant. “He speaks for all of us.”

“You don’t understand,” Grant said.

“Make us understand, buddy,” Adam said. “Let us help.”