He's Captured My Heart (Captured Series Book 1) (2 page)

“A penny for them,” Ethan says as he walks into the room.

“I really don’t know where to start,” I say with a lump in my throat.

“Mum is going to take Lucy next door into mine and get her changed to give us some time to talk.” It didn’t come as a surprise to anyone when Ethan and I had both been given keys to our new homes, right next door to each other, for our shared twenty-first birthday. And when Ethan and Lindsay got married, it was great having them so close. But now it just doesn’t feel right. I feel as if I haven’t kept up my promise to Lindsay.

I’m spending all my free time looking after Lucy. Ethan and I both need our space, and Ethan also needs to adjust to being a dad on his own. But it is going to be really strange not to be so close to him. I can just hear Dad talking to Mum in the hall. “Don’t worry, Jane. They’ll work this out.”

“I am sure you’re right, Phil, but I am their mother. It’s my job to worry,” she answers him. I can hear the anxiety in her voice.

Dad sticks his head round the door and gives Ethan a stern look. “Now you two better behave. We’re only next door. And Ethan? Please at least hear your sister out,” our dad says, giving me a warm, reassuring smile. He walks towards us to take Lucy. I give Lucy a kiss on her forehead, and she smiles. God, she melts your heart when she does that. Ethan leaves the room to speak with Mum.

“Dad, truthfully, how was he while you were away?”

“Libby, I won’t lie to you,” Dad says. “It’s going to take him a long time. But he did spend more time on his own with Lucy, which was hard on your mum, ’cause—as you know—she wants to do
everything
for them both. Hopefully you can help him see some sense. And if he doesn’t listen today, don’t beat yourself up about it. Give him more time. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“I hope so, ’cause I hate seeing him in pain. And at the moment, I feel as if I’m going to cause him more,” I reply.

“Libby, if he’s going to listen to anyone, it will be you,” Dad says. “Just try and be patient with him. Before your mother and I go home, we need to discuss business. You can bring me up to speed on everything. Maybe after dinner? I love you, Elizabeth.” He gives me a kiss.

“No bother, Dad. I love you too,” I say as Ethan returns.

“Well, Libby, it’s just you and me and no distractions,” he says. “Time to tell me what’s going on.”

“Promise me you’ll hear me out without interrupting,” I say. He just nods, so I suppose I’d better start. Where better to start than the beginning? “There are a number of reasons for me leaving here. For a start I presume that Dad told you he wants me to take over running the hotel?” Ethan nods. “He says I’m ready, although I am sure there are a select few within the hotel who will disagree with his decision.”

Dad is in PR. He is obviously very good at what he does, going by the big-time, high-profile celebrities, politicians, and businesspeople on his client list. But he also has a few other businesses, including Stewart Country Estate on the banks of Loch Lomond and a restaurant and bar in Glasgow. The hotel is not a lavish, five-star complex with hundreds of rooms but more of what I like to think of as an intimate inn with forty-five cosy bedrooms. Although we do have some of the luxuries of bigger hotels—a great fitness suite and pool, a function suite, a cosy bar, restaurant, and sitting room—our best feature is our romantic yet prime location right on the bonny banks of Loch Lomond, surrounded by acres of land.

With his publicity business doing so well, Dad’s just not got the time for running the hotel from day to day. He inherited the hotel when my grandfather died. It’s always been in the family, and we spent a lot of time there when we were kids, always getting
up to mischief. Dad is also a silent partner in a restaurant and bar in Glasgow. I believe the previous owners, PR clients of his, got into a bit of bother, and he bailed them out.

“This house is also too big for just me,” I continue, “so I’m going to stay at the hotel until I find a flat. Something a bit smaller. I want to be really hands on at the hotel to prove to Dad that I am capable of running it. I really need the challenge. I’ve loved the last few weeks doing the job I’ve worked so hard to get. It’s made me remember why I worked so hard in uni; this is all I’ve ever wanted to do—and you know that. But to be totally truthful, it’s also because of you.”

Ethan looks a little shocked, sad, and deep in thought, probably remembering Dad’s words to him before he left. He sits still and doesn’t say anything. I try to choose my words carefully; I really don’t want to upset him. He’s my brother, and I love him.

“Since Lindsay’s death I’ve gone between work and caring for Lucy. She’s your daughter, Ethan. And please don’t look at me with those sad eyes—you
know
I love you both! She’s a beautiful girl. But so far it’s been either Mum or me there to witness her firsts. Her first smile. Her first time rolling over. Her first time shaking her rattle. And her own daddy wasn’t there,” I say. “I know it’s hard for you because you are grieving, but Lindsay’s gone, and her daughter, the little girl you and she made
together, is still here, and she needs you! You’ve hardly spent any time with Lucy since she was born. That beautiful baby girl needs her daddy. I’m just her aunt. I will always be there for her, but I am not her mum, and that’s what she’s going to think I am if things keep going the way they are. I made Lindsay a promise, and so far I’ve not managed to keep that up. And now I need to.”

“Oh, Libby.” Ethan has tears rolling down his face.

“Don’t—everything will work out,” I tell him as I wrap my arms round him. We sit cuddled on the couch, something we’ve not done in a long time. The tears keep rolling, and deep down I know he hasn’t cried like this since Lindsay’s death. This is what he needs to help with the grieving process.

Of course it’s not long until the tears are running down my face too. We’ve shared a few tears since the accident but nothing like this. Ethan’s been sitting for weeks on end just staring into space. “Ethan, please. I didn’t mean to upset you. Please stop crying.” I wipe the tears off his face and see a slight smile.

“Libby, I have tears because I know you’re right—just like you usually are. If I’m honest with you, it’s just…I’m
scared
to do this on my own,” he says. “Lindsay would have been such a great mother. And yes, I miss her like crazy. There’s not a day I don’t think about her.” He stops and sighs. “I know she would hate seeing me the way I’ve been lately. I had a lot of time to reflect on these last few months while I was
away. Lucy, work, friends, family, but most of all the future —I thought about it all.”

“Ethan, we’re all here for you—Mum, Dad, me, Lindsay’s family. We all want to help, but you do have to start doing some things for yourself.” I pause to judge his reaction. “Maybe you could think about joining a baby group, look into returning to work, and ring Stephen to arrange a night out. He’s missed you, and he doesn’t know how to help. You can’t go on sitting behind four walls doing nothing.”

He nods. Well, it’s a start.

Stephen is Ethan’s closest friend. He also just happens to run the leisure complex at the hotel. I’ve been giving him up-to-date reports on how Ethan’s doing since my brother has stopped returning his calls.

Ethan and I sit talking for ages about the holiday, what I’ve been up to whilst he was away, and my plans for the hotel, not to mention Ethan’s plans for the future. He’s thinking of going back to work on a part-time basis. He works for an advertising company, and he was promoted a few months before Lindsay’s death. They’ve been great with him about the time off he’s needed. He assures me that he will get in touch with Stephen over the next few days. It’s great just sitting, catching up. This is the brother I remember.

“So do you want a hand packing?” he asks.

“Nope, it’s all done. Even my cases for the hotel are in my car,” I reply. I don’t know how I managed to find the time to do it with work, but it’s all done.

“Well, come on. Let’s go next door to my place and put Mum and Dad out of their misery…and maybe phone out for take-away. And Libby…thanks for today. It’s what I needed.” He gives me a tight hug. I love him dearly.

Mum and Dad look relieved that Ethan and I are still on speaking terms when we go in, although Dad is giving me that
I told you everything would be fine
look. We spend the evening playing with Lucy, watching TV, and just talking about nothing of great importance. It’s great. Just reminds me of growing up, I suppose. We were lucky; we had a great childhood and fantastic parents. Don’t get me wrong. We had some ups and downs, but the ups outweighed the downs. The downs we don’t really talk about.

Mum stayed home to look after us and the house whilst dad worked. Sometimes he would be away from home for days with his various clients. Dad always kept us grounded, even though it would have been so easy to slip into spoiled-little-rich-kid mode. We each knew the meaning of hard work from an early age, and we never took anything for granted growing up. And Dad always worked so hard, although when we saw his picture in the papers or on TV with clients, it didn’t look like such hard work. But as we got older, we both realised just how hard Dad’s job could be, especially with some of his more challenging clients.

I remember one client of Dad’s from when I was about fifteen. The client was an up-and-coming,
young actor, and his agent had wanted Dad to get the kid’s name out there. But the actor wasn’t that keen on taking advice; he was more interested in the club scene and girls and drink—not a great combination. I adored him, which led to a whole host of problems. Actually it was a recipe for disaster. And that’s exactly what he cooked up.

The family woke up one Sunday morning to an article in the paper. The actor had been arrested the previous night for an alleged sexual assault. Dad was furious. We had the media camped out at the bottom of our driveway for weeks, waiting on any info Dad could give them. The young man never did any acting again.

“Does someone want to phone for some food? I’ll go and get Lucy bathed and ready for her bed,” Mum says.

“No, Mum, it’s okay. I’ll take care of her. We both need to get used to it,” Ethan says, looking at me with a smile. He takes Lucy off of Mum and heads upstairs.

Dad looks pleased, Mum less so.

“Mum, try not worry about him. Ethan and Lucy will be fine, and they’ll still need you. I know that’s what’s bothering you. Mum, we will always need you,” I say.

“Libby, I love you. Both Dad and I are really proud of the beautiful, thoughtful young woman you’ve become,” Mum says, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

“Oh, Mum, don’t. There have been enough tears today,” I say as I walk over to the couch and sit beside her so I can give her a reassuring hug.

We order dinner. By the time it arrives, Lucy has been bathed, dressed for bed, fed, and is sound asleep. I got the privilege of feeding her—well, I did miss her when they were on holiday, and who knows when I will get time again soon? She is such a hungry, wee girl.

We sit round the table eating and talking. I fill Dad in about the hotel, telling him about what’s been happening and about all of this coming weekend’s events, including the wedding we have on Friday and the charity event for Sunday afternoon. He tells me he’s taking tomorrow off work to spend the day with Mum and that he will come by the hotel first thing Thursday morning to go through the figures. It’s nearly ten o’clock when Dad turns to Mum and says, “It’s time we were going home. I know Libby has an early start as well tomorrow. What time are the removal guys here?”

“Seven,” I answer. And then the estate agent comes at eight to collect the keys for the new owner. Then I’m heading straight to the hotel. I have a few things I want to take care of tomorrow. Kieran is covering for me.”

“Oh, all right, Phil…although I did think we could stay here tonight with Ethan,” Mum says, sounding disappointed.

“Mum, I’m fine. Lucy and I are going over to visit Lindsay’s parents tomorrow. I am sure they’ve missed her,” says Ethan.

We see our parents out to the car. It’s been an emotional day, and Mum has tears running down her face as she gives Ethan her tightest cuddle.

“Mum, please don’t. I’ll be fine,” he says. After tonight I’m sure he will be. It will still take time, but he will get there in the end. We stand in the street, Ethan with his arm draped over my shoulder, as we wave them off.

“Libby I do hope you’ve managed to clear some time off over the weekend,” Dad calls from the car. “Remember I have an Alexander Mathews staying at the hotel. He arrives Thursday afternoon, and I will need you to chat him up, show him about, keep him happy.”

“Of course I remember! See you Thursday morning. Enjoy your day tomorrow.”

Ethan laughs, and I know he is laughing at me. I know I have made a face as we turn away from the car. “What?” I ask.

“Nothing. Just the expression on your face.”

“Well, I can think of better things to do than spend time with one of Dad’s friends sight-seeing.” I shrug.

“Libby, I don’t think he’s a friend of Dad’s. A business client maybe.”

I can’t remember what Dad told me about the man before he went on holiday, only that he told me
to pencil in some free time to spend with a client. Actually thinking about it Dad was very vague. Well, this should be fun and interesting. Sight-seeing. It’s not normal practice that a hotel manager would have that much interaction with a guest, but then again Mr. Mathews doesn’t appear to be a normal guest.

I say good-night to Ethan, telling him to phone me if he needs me, but he reassures me that both he and Lucy will be fine. I know he will be. He has a lot of family and friends who care and want to support him. We hug for a few moments before letting go of each other. I watch him turn and go back inside his home and feel sad, even though I know it won’t be long until I see him again. He’s coming to the charity event on Sunday, although it’s not really his cup of tea. I think he’s only going to keep Mum happy. She practically begged him, saying he needs to get out more. That I can agree with. I hope he’ll see Stephen and that they get a chance to talk.