Brainy and the Beast (36 page)

“No. Mr. Shelton. Nick.” Helen scooted forward “You don’t understand.”

Helen set her mug on the coffee table. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. She
is
safe here. I believe that. From what Shawn told me, not only can Grant defend himself, so can you.” She uttered a shaky laugh. “According to my daughter, you’re kind of a cross between Captain America and the Incredible Hulk.”

What?
I sent a searching glance over my shoulder, but Henry was just as puzzled. He was staring at Helen with one eyebrow up and a suspicious look on his kisser. I could hardly blame him. I’d thought Helen wasn’t too keen on us at all.

“Helen…”

She raised one finger, schoolmarmish. “Nick Shelton, if you can inspire that kind of admiration and belief from a teenager, believe me, you should accept it and run with it.” She rubbed her forehead in an agitated fashion. “I haven’t seen Shawn be impressed by anything like that in, well, too long a time.” Helen grabbed the mug of cocoa and took a large sip.

“Uh. Would you— Can I get you—”
Wait
. It wasn’t quite nine o’clock in the morning. Just what the hell else was I going to offer her to drink, anyway? Even if she did look like she could use a stiff one. “Um.”

“Nick. Don’t you have to get to the garage to drive that friend of yours somewhere?”

Thank fuck
. “Oh! Oh, yeah.” I grabbed the lifesaver my dad tossed like I was a third-class passenger on the
Titanic
. “He’s—uh, I’m sorry, Helen.” I stood up, needing to move. Needing to do something. “I’ve got someone waiting for me down at the shop.” I looked around. “Um, Henry can—”

From the death stare I got from my guy, it was clear he was not going to hang around the house with all these females. “I’ve got to get to the lab, Nicholas.”

Whoa
. That left my dad to stay at home. With Helen. A thought occurred to me. “Helen. Does your husband know where you are?” The last thing I needed was that asshole showing up here while I was driving nimrod Rick Andreczyck up behind the Cheddar Curtain. My dad wasn’t exactly in shape to take on that dick.

Backing up in her chair, pressing herself flat to the seat back, Helen shook her head and waved her hands at me. “No! No! That’s impossible. He’s—Selwyn is at… He’s at the office.”

Shawn shifted toward her mother. “Momma. Are you sure? He can’t come here?”

Helen sort of folded in on herself. “I heard him on the phone last night. He…he actually came home right after you left to pack for a trip and, um”—she avoided looking at her daughter—“he went to his office over in Lincolnshire.”

“He went to his girlfriend’s apartment, didn’t he?” Shawn’s voice was accusing as she stared at Helen.

“Shit. This is going nowhere fast.” I raised both hands to get their attention. “Look. I’m more than willing to help you both. I am. I don’t know that there’s anything I can do, but I’ll help.” I pointed toward my dad and Henry. And Grant. “We all will. But let’s not get into all of that stuff right now.” I wasn’t sure just what good any of us could do for those two anyway. We were hardly experts. Led by me, we were just a bunch of dudes who made a hell of a lot of our own mistakes. “Helen. Do you have any family to go to?”

When Helen mutely indicated no, I hung my head. “Oh-kay. If you want to stay here for right now, we can work something out. Do you—are you sure you don’t need a doctor?”

When she again said no, I blew out a breath. My day was already fucked. I dug my phone out of my pocket and dialed the shop. “Hey, Jake? Yeah. It’s me.” I’d been calling the shop for more than twenty-five years, and for the last fifteen, Jake had answered off and on. He still didn’t recognize my voice more than half the time. “Look. I’m tied up with something really important this morning. Can one of you guys drive Rick to his interview?”

I held the phone away from my ear as Jake bitched loud and long. “Jake. Jake! Look. I know. He’s a schmo and I was an idiot for volunteering, but I just can’t get over there right now, and I don’t want to be the reason that Rick Andreczyck doesn’t get that job. He needs it. His family needs it. And
I
need him to get that job so he’ll get out of my hair.” I was nearly yelling by the time I finished talking. And I could feel a headache coming on. A big one.

My dad stepped up next to me, and I rolled my eyes at him as Jake gave me some bullshit story about not being able to go. Big Mike gestured toward the phone. “Let me talk to him. You take care of this.” He nodded toward Helen.

“Fine.” I shoved the phone at him. “Now. Where were we?” I looked around blankly.

Henry unbent enough to move forward and stand next to my chair. “I think we need to find out what Helen wants us to do. What she needs us to do.” He nodded encouragingly at her.

Helen rubbed her hands along her arms. The shiner under her left eye was screaming at me.

I motioned to Grant. “Hey. Add some more wood to the fire, will you?”

We all watched while my nephew grabbed a good-sized hunk of birch and added it to the nicely burning pile Henry had started.

“You’re lucky, you know.” Helen included Henry when she tilted her head in my direction. “You both are. You all seem to care about each other. That’s…nice.” She rested her head against the black leather. “I’m so sorry that I’ve bothered you today. I just—I don’t know what to do now. All I knew when I left home this morning was that I needed to do…something.”

“What happened?” Henry gestured to his cheek, then nodded toward Helen.

She cupped a hand over her eye protectively before slowly lowering it again. “He… Selwyn and I were…talking last night and, um, well, he asked me where Shawn was. I told him she was with a girlfriend. He wasn’t too happy that I’d let—” She shrugged.

“Oh, Momma.” Shawn bent her head, taking Helen’s hand in her own. “You’ve never admitted that out loud before. What he does to you.”

“To both of us.” Helen gave a shaky laugh that sounded more like a sob.

I was totally out of my element here. I raised my head to meet Henry’s gaze, and the compassion there kind of surprised me. Dr. Love wasn’t usually the warm and fuzzy type. Not since he was usually ticked at me, anyway.

“Helen.” Henry spoke tentatively. “Would you like to talk to someone? Your rabbi, perhaps?”

She bit her lip and shrugged, then nodded.

“We could call him, see if he’s available to come over this morning.”

I was impressed. I wouldn’t have thought of that. With a half smile up at Henry, I nudged his thigh with one finger, needing to touch him.

He paused long enough to glance at me “Do you… Have you considered also talking to a lawyer?”

Helen looked a little stricken by that idea, but, I don’t know, I had to believe that the thought might have occurred to her before.

Henry stood, digging out his phone. “Why don’t we start with your rabbi and go from there, hmm?” At Helen’s nod, he continued. “Okay, good. Do you know his number? No? Okay, give me the name of the temple and we’ll figure it out.” He moved closer to her, sitting on the coffee table.

I watched as Henry fiddled with his phone and brought up a number. I had to admit he was surprising me, in a nice way. Henry was a good guy. A really good guy.

My dad waved my Motorola in front of my face. “Hey,” he murmured. “Here. Jake’s going to take care of Rick.”

I stood, and we moved closer to the kitchen. “Good. Thanks.” I kept my voice low. I didn’t want to interfere with Henry’s command of the situation. “Hey. What time were you going to head to the shop?”

My dad looked at his watch. “Eh, I was thinking maybe ten, but I could get going now.”

I was relieved. “Good. That’s good.” I thought quickly. “I’ve got to get the parts order in, and I wanted to get started on that Aston Martin for Joe Hogan.” I rubbed my neck, darting a look at Helen. “I’ll follow you over as soon as I can.”

“Sure. Just let me know. I’m going to call Sari now and tell her I’m on my way.”

“’Kay. Take the Volvo. It’s already warmed up. I’ll bring your tank when I come.”

My dad rolled his eyes but smiled anyway. “Sure thing, Nicky.” He cuffed me on the shoulder, and I gave him a half grin. “Cheer up. Looks like the genius has things under control.”

I eyed the small group near the fire. Grant had resumed his place behind his friend, and I frowned. “Getting kind of worried about the kid, though. He’s a little young to be so serious, isn’t he?”

My dad headed to the mudroom, and I followed. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just his Sir Galahad side kicking in.”

“Sir who?” I pulled his coat from the hook and handed it to him.

“Really?”

I scowled at my old man. “Yeah, really. Who is he?”

Chuckling, Big Mike zipped his coat and wrapped a scarf around his throat. “Hand me my hat, will you?”

Sighing, I did as he requested.

“So, Sir Galahad was a knight in King Arthur’s court. You have heard of King Arthur, right?”

“Yeah, I have. They all sat at that big round table thing.” I checked the car through the window. “It’s still running, so it should be nice and warm now.”

“Nick. Stop worrying. I’ve been on this earth awhile now. I kind of know what I’m doing.” Despite his chiding words, my old man gave me a one-armed hug.

I couldn’t help watching him, though, as he walked across the driveway to my car. I’d kept the drive salted throughout the storms so far, but you never could tell. Might have been some piece of ice under there.

“Nicholas.”

I swung around.

“Rabbi Hale is on his way.”

“Thank God.”

Henry gave a slight grin. “I suppose so, actually.”

“Listen. I’m sorry I snapped at you a little while ago. I was, I was a little—”

“Overwrought?”

Offended, I glared at my lover. “Uh, old ladies get that. Do that. Whatever.”

Now he was sporting a wide grin. “Mm-hmm. That’s true.”

I sniffed. “Huh.” I eased around the corner, peeking as if I could see into the living room. “So. Everything under control in there?”

“Yes. You can stop hiding now.”

I finally noticed he had his overcoat on again and was buttoning it up. “Wait. Where do you think you’re going?”

“Nicholas, my love, you may own your business, but I do not. I have to get to work. It’s bad enough I’m going to be a couple of hours late as it is.”

My love. Wow
. That sounded so… “You’re leaving me?”
Damn
. Why had my voice sounded so girlish?

Chuckling, Henry tucked his cashmere scarf around his throat. “I’m not abandoning you.” He stepped close, pinning me against the wall. “We’re still meeting for a late lunch, remember?”

“You’ve got to stay at least until the reverend guy shows up. I feel like I’m running a halfway house, for Christ’s sake.”

“Shh.” His lips covered mine, and our tongues touched, caressed for a few seconds. “He’s a rabbi, not a reverend.”

“Whichever. What am I supposed to do until he gets here? And what about after he gets here?”

Henry rubbed his whole body against me, and I shivered. “I’ll tell you what. If you’re a really good boy”—
Damn
. There was that phrase again; he knew exactly what effect it had on me—“and you take care of Helen and Shawn until Rabbi Hale arrives, I’ll see if I can take this afternoon off. I’ll stay at the lab long enough to check on Miranda and handle anything urgent.”

“You don’t like taking time off work.” He’d told me that more than once.

“True. But somehow today I’m inspired to review that policy.”

I snorted. “Why your smart-guy talk turns me on, I’ll never know. Just don’t stop doing it.”
Please, don’t stop.

“Oh, Nicholas. You have no idea how you’ve changed my life, do you?” Henry leaned his forehead against mine. “I don’t know where we go from here. I just know I want to do it together.”

I swallowed hard. “Me too, Doc.” My voice was husky. “Me too.”

Whatever happened, with Helen, with my nephew and my crazy sister, with my dad, I wanted to be with Henry to face it. Together.

That was a nice-sounding word.

Together.

“Uncle Nick! Come
on
. Open your last present!” Only Grant could turn an order into a whine. Still, the kid had a big grin on his face, so I figured it was all good.

We’d put the seven-foot Christmas spruce in the corner of the living room, and the four of us were spread out around it. The pair of leather chairs was arranged near the tree, and my dad was happily relaxed in one of them, his feet on the ottoman and Rum snuggled across his lap. Coke was busy nosing the torn wrapping paper that lay on the floor, and both dogs were looking terminally cute with the blue bows Henry had tied around their necks.

Speaking of Dr. Love, he was in the matching black chair, bending forward with a shy grin on his face as he held out my last gift. He was dressed as casually as I’d ever seen him, wearing black denim jeans and a Chicago Bears jersey.

“You’re looking especially fine this morning, Doc.”

His grin morphed into an unimpressed scowl.

“Hey. Don’t look at me.” I was perched on the second ottoman, and I managed to stay on as I dodged the stray chunk of paper he tossed over. “It’s not my fault you bet against the old man. I told you he had to have at least a full house that last hand, but you wouldn’t listen. You thought you could outsmart him. And now look where you are.” We’d played Texas Hold’em last night, and Henry had apparently been filled with rookie confidence.

My man
was
really smart, but he hadn’t yet gotten one of the core concepts of poker: bluffing.

He grunted. “Yes, indeed. Look what I’m reduced to. I’m wearing a…a
football
jersey, for God’s sake. The jeans are bad enough, though I do have to admit they are comfortable. But this monstrosity that’s masquerading as men’s clothing? I’m telling you right now, I will not leave this house wearing it.”

My dad snorted. “Henry. Get over yourself, son. You’re in this family now, whether you like it or not. The Bears are in the play-offs, and you’d better get used to wearing that jersey. No man in this family is going to be wearing a bow tie or-or a cashmere sweater while the Monsters of the Midway are playing for the division title. It’s too embarrassing.” He rubbed his hand along Rum’s silky coat, then finished in a mutter. “Besides, I was trying to help you out with that bet, get you to look more relaxed.”