Seduced by the Sheik (The Raminar Family #1)- Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,22

hazel eyes dark with anger and pain. “We can’t…!”

“You can,” she interrupted gently. “Being angry with your sister isn’t wrong, even though she’s no longer here. It’s normal and healthy to be angry.” She folded her hands carefully, knowing she was getting into dangerous territory now. Unfortunately, it had to be said. She had to let them know that their feelings were valid, even if they didn’t want to feel them. “What she did was irresponsible. Yes, it caused her death and that was tragic, but it still might anger you. Until each of you own up to that anger, you will be stuck trying to put her actions in context. Unfortunately, you all are too responsible with your own lives and don’t understand what pushed your sister to get into a vehicle and race around on narrow streets at excessively high speeds when she had two small children to care for and protect.” She inhaled slightly, but then decided to go for the next issue. “I think that each of you are also angry that she married someone that you disapprove of.” She paused, looking at each face, noticing their stiff, furious expressions. “Am I right?”

There was a long silence, then a faint voice said, “Yes.”

Four sets of eyes turned to look at Talia and, for the first time, Harper saw the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Immediately, Amit stood up and came over to her, pulling her into his arms to hold her as she sobbed.

Tarin and Gaelen watched their siblings with surprise and…something else. They were both powerful men, which meant that they probably didn’t like emotions. They definitely didn’t like their baby sister crying. No man liked seeing a woman in pain, and a family member in pain was even worse.

Harper understood that this was a private moment and headed towards the doors, intending to leave them alone to talk about their grief.

But as she passed by, a hand touched her wrist, stopping her departure. Initially, she’d thought it would be Amit’s hand. But when she turned, it was Tarin. In fact, all three men were staring at her with an almost identical pleading look to their raw features.

So even though her instinct was to leave them to their grief, she nodded and returned to her chair. She didn’t really want the wine, but it gave her something to hold onto.

Slowly, Talia’s sobbing subsided and someone handed her a handkerchief. Then all four of them settled, four sets of eyes turning to Harper.

She understood. For months, these siblings had struggled to contain their emotions. Now she was asking them to release them, to poke and prod at their pain. To acknowledge it.

She smiled slightly. “I don’t have a secret formula for moving forward,” she explained. “The best way to get through these kinds of emotions is talking to each other, remembering your sister, telling the girls stories about her.” She looked at each of them. “And giving yourselves permission to be angry with her. But in that anger, also remember that no one is completely good or completely bad. Even in her reckless behavior, there were nuances to Princess Orella that you might have seen or heard that you admired as much as you disapproved of. Talk about those and let yourselves feel. No matter what emotion your memories dredge up, it’s better to feel them and acknowledge those feelings. Pushing them away only makes the pain come out in different, and sometimes unexpected ways.”

They were silent for another long moment, so Harper prompted them. “Tarin, what’s your first memory of your sister?”

Tarin leaned back in the chair, propping one ankle over the opposite knee and resting his untouched glass of scotch on his knee. “I remember her crying a lot,” he said, one side of his mouth quirking upwards in an awkward smile. “She yelled and cried a lot in those early days.”

There was a rumble of laughter through the room. After that, the words continued, thoughts flowing, memories coming out from behind the stiff veneers, the protective barriers behind which each of them had buried their emotions. Talia didn’t say much, but she listened and the silent tears didn’t seem so intense now. Tarin told stories about what Orella was like in school and how she’d pranked the tutors, sneaking away to the stables as often as she could. Gaelen nodded, then told a story about how she’d tried to start a fire in the stables but, before she could get the wood lit, one