Courtney gave his hand a squeeze now. “And Darcy.”

He rubbed her hand with his other hand. “Yeah, and Darcy even though she had no idea where she was.”

“The articles only talk about the fire and a man being found. Not about your mother.”

“But you knew that.”

“My father has many connections.”

She heard him groan. “So does my father. It was swept under the rug to protect us. Yes, she killed a man in self-defense.”

Courtney began to sob harder now. “I’m sorry. Oh, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have worked this into something that it wasn’t.”

He pulled her to him. “It’s okay. I’ve never dealt with it. I needed to.”

“I can’t imagine your mother had to go through that.” The sobs came harder. “She survived and she found love. She had two more sons. Her daughter came back to her.”

“Yes.”

“What if had he gotten to her in that fire? What if…”

“She wasn’t going to let him. There was no way she was going to leave my brother and me.”

And then everything inside of her broke loose. Fitz had left her.

Tyler pulled her even closer to him as tears poured down her cheeks and her body shook. “Honey, take it easy. Breathe. Breathe.”

She sucked in a breath but it was a ragged one. Her entire body quaked against him.

“Fitz,” she said between those breaths she tried to draw in. “Fitz.”

“Okay, okay.” He kissed her forehead. This was the moment he and his father had been talking about. Of all things to have set her off about her brother, he thought.

He let her cry against his chest and he simply held her, stroking her hair. Avery looked in the window by the door and he’d nodded her away for a moment. She knew. She understood, he could see it in her eyes. Right now the moment was for Courtney and he’d hold her as long as he needed to.

The sobs lasted the better part of an hour, but he held her. She clung to him and he gave her comfort. He wiped her tears and kissed her cheeks—and finally it stopped.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Shh,” he said wiping away the last of the tears. “It’s okay. It’s very okay. You needed to do this.”

“Not here. Not when I came in here accusing you of being something you’re not.”

“Now.” He pulled her to him again. “And I’m sure it’ll come again.”

“He left me, Tyler,” she said with her face pressed to his chest. “He always promised to stay and be with me. He left me.”

“Not on purpose.”

She nodded. “I know. Just as your mother wouldn’t have left you on purpose either. And she didn’t leave Darcy on purpose.”

Who would have thought two very different things could be so much alike in feeling?

Her breath began easing back. She pulled back. “I shouldn’t feel so sad that he was defending his country when he died. But I do. I take it very personally that he died and left me here alone. He always promised me he’d come back to me.”

“I’m sure you were in his thoughts when he died. I can’t imagine you weren’t.”

“He should have fought harder.”

He pulled her to him again. Yes, these tears would come again. She wasn’t ready to let Fitz’s death go yet.

When Avery happened by the door again, he waved her in. Courtney sat up and wiped her eyes.

“Everything okay in here?” Avery asked as she walked through the door.

“Oh, I’m just having a meltdown,” Courtney laughed. “Good thing I don’t have to worry about whether my mascara ran down my cheeks.”

“I hate when that happens,” Avery said.

“My friend put mascara on me once. I have no idea if it looked good or not, but I remember my eyelashes getting stuck together.”

Avery let out a hearty laugh. “Yep. Oh, what we do to look beautiful.”

Tyler sat back in his chair and looked at Courtney. It was a shame she’d never know how beautiful she was on the outside, but it didn’t really seem to matter to her. Even with tear streaked cheeks, no one held a candle to her.

Avery pulled a pile of papers out of the bag she’d carried in with her. “Well, now down to work. We just received RSVPs from four hundred people for the gala.”

“Already?” Tyler sat up in his chair. “We didn’t even get all of the invites out yet.”

She grinned wide at him. “I might have at one time mentioned to a few of our corporate sponsors something about a huge family event.”

“You might have?”

She grimaced. “I told you I hate this.” She handed him the papers. “It’s worth two million to the organization if we can make something family friendly happen.”

Tyler felt the blood drain from his head. Hadn’t there been enough stress this morning? He rubbed at his temples and let out a breath. Okay, he could do this. He winced at the pain in his chest caused by the stress his cousin had caused. Sure—he could do this.

Chapter Twenty-Four

It had become work and Tyler had roped Courtney into it much more than getting some information on past recipients. The Diamond Gift was having a family extravaganza—thanks to Avery’s mention of it.

The entire week had been spent with long hours, late nights, and about a million phone calls between the three of them.

Thanks to the long list of connections that Simone and his father had, they were able keep the venue and expand it out into the parking lot. They would have tents and events outside as well as dancing and entertaining inside.

One thing was for sure, Courtney was not only the most organized person he’d ever known, and Avery the least, but she was brilliant with the ideas.

Avery pulled the pencil, which was holding up her bun, out of her hair. It fell over her shoulders and she shoved it back.

“It is nine o’clock on Friday night and I’m in a board room hashing out details on an event that is two and a half months away.”

“Which is three times its size,” Tyler reminded her.

“And worth three times as much.”

He laughed. “Go home. We need to finalize the menu tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Saturday?”

He tossed a wadded paper in her direction. “Nine o’clock too early?”