given up really hurt. Normally it didn’t bug him, but lately, ever since Regan had come into town, he’d started to resent it.
“When Mom and Dad died—”
ChiChi closed her eyes and made the sign of the cross. When she was done with her “God blesses” and “Lord rest their souls,” he continued.
“I stepped into a position that I never asked for.” Or wanted. “I walked away from art school, my friends, everything, so that this family could keep functioning. I became a parent to Abby, Marco, Trey, and, to an extent, Nate. I stepped in as president of a company that Dad had mismanaged for so long it was barely turning a profit, and lost—”
Jasmine. After all these years, Gabe couldn’t even say her name out loud. It wasn’t that he was still in love with her, it was that the one person who he’d counted on, had pictured building a future with, had walked. At the most difficult time of his life. Taking with her every dream he’d created for the future.
ChiChi patted his hand, her eyes soft with understanding. “We know what you sacrificed, how unhappy you are. You may never say it, but you wear it on your sleeve as a badge to remind us daily.”
Did he? Gabe tried so hard to fill his father’s shoes, to be the kind of man his mother would have been proud of and the kind of man his siblings could depend on, but he’d never meant to make his family feel guilty.
ChiChi walked to the fridge, and when she returned she had a glass of milk in one hand and was balancing a plate full of Pricilla’s pastries—including his favorite, a mascarpone cheese danish—in the other. As with all Italian grandmothers, food was her solution to everything.
“Do you know when I fell in love with your grandfather?”
Gabe couldn’t help but smile. He’d heard this story a million times. “When Grandpa stole that Merlot blend you were secretly making in your dad’s cellar and placed it in the Summer Wine Showdown.” Because even in those days a woman couldn’t enter. “And when it took first place, he told everyone that it was yours.”
“That”—ChiChi sighed, clutching her locket that held a photo of Grandpa DeLuca—“and he deflowered me the same night. Your great-grandfather Ryo threatened to shoot his balls off if he didn’t make an honest woman out of me.”
Gabe swallowed his bite whole.
Her expression fell serious. “That was why I married him, Gabe. But I fell in love with him when he ate my fruitcake and asked for seconds.”
“Grandpa liked your fruitcake?”
“Don’t sound so horrified.” ChiChi laughed. “And no, he hated it. But he loved me enough to let me fail, and believe it or not, over the years it’s gotten better.”
Gabe’s respect for his grandfather just quadrupled.
“What I’m saying is, stop smothering your siblings. Let them fail and find their way through the pain on their own. You’re so busy running everyone else’s lives that you’re missing your own.”
Gabe didn’t think of it as running his siblings’ lives so much as avoiding avoidable disasters. Nate, trying to pick up the slack after losing Regan, had hired a marketing team out of Chicago that was determined to make Ryo Wines appear like they belonged in a box. Marco was in over his head with his new hotel. Trey had made a life of new day, new country, new girl, and if he wasn’t careful he’d wind up in an early grave. Abby was so trusting and sweet that she attracted every SOB in a pair of slacks and loafers. And now, with Regan in town and—
“See, there you go again. You’re already plotting out how to save the family.”
“I just don’t want them to get hurt.”
“And you think running Richard’s mistress out of town will help Abigail?” ChiChi picked up a scone and, pinkie raised like a lady, took an enormous bite. “That sister of yours needs to own up to the fact that Richard was a cheat. She knew it and married him anyway. Can’t spend her life blaming the sheep when she watched her wolf get clothed every day.”
“You knew that Regan was Richard’s mistress?”
“It’s why I sent her the job offer. Poor girl deserves a second chance at happiness.” She reached over and pinched his cheek. “Just like you do.”
CHAPTER 6
“Okay, angel. Hands up and then we finish packing your room.”
Regan pulled a pink T-shirt with two kittens across the front over Holly’s head and slid her arms