Kiss Across Chaos (Kiss Across Time #10) - Tracy Cooper-Posey Page 0,4

her chest and grabbed her throat. Her eyes stung. Her chest hitched and she realized she was a step away from crying.

She breathed deeply, trying to ride out the odd sensation.

“Hey, what did I say?” Brody said, still speaking quietly.

She shook her head, afraid that if she spoke, she would bawl, instead. She kept breathing, battling back the tears.

Brody waited. He was very good at that. So was Veris. They had infinite patience, because they had all the time in the world to figure things out.

When Jesse thought she could safely speak once more, she said, “I’m happy.” And her eyes filled once more. “God, this is stupid,” she added and dashed at her eyes with the back of her hand. “I should be smiling, but it just…”

Brody was smiling. He sat on the window seat and patted it.

Jesse folded onto the cushion and wiped furiously at her damp eyes and they refilled.

“You’re family, Jesse,” he said gently. “You don’t have to be grateful for that. It just…is. Taken for granted.”

She swallowed. “But I’m pathetically, wonderfully grateful anyway.” Her voice was hoarse. “After Mom died, I was alone—jarheads excluded, but even they aren’t the same as you guys. You get me. You let me be myself. And you’re…you’re nice.”

Brody gave a soft laugh. “No one has ever called me nice before.”

“But you are. All of you. You’re different. Of course you are. But that doesn’t make any difference, or maybe that is the difference. You don’t brim over with milk and honey—none of you do—but you’re all nice to be around and you don’t seem to mind me and my ways, and you’re always happy to see me, and if it hadn’t been for you guys, I think I might have curled up and blown away, the last few years, but you’re here and you let me in and…and I’m happy.”

Brody picked up her hand and just held it. “You know there is no ‘letting in’ in the way you’re talking about, right? You’re family by default, not by a show of hands. Time tapped you on the shoulder. You’re one of us, whether you like it or not.”

She nodded. Aran had said something like that, a long time ago. “But still…”

He bumped his shoulder against hers. “We’re only nice because at the moment, no one is taking pot shots at us. No one is coming after us, stealing us away, screwing with time and our lives. So we can be nice. You haven’t been around to see the dark side. We all have one, you know.”

Jesse wiped the last of the moisture from her cheeks, feeling foolish. “I’ve got one, too,” she muttered. “That doesn’t scare me.”

“It should,” Brody said. “One day, you might get to see that darkness and then you’ll understand.” He put her hand back on her knee. “We’ve been having a nice run of peace for a few years now, but that won’t last. It never does.”

“I can’t figure out if you’re sad about that, or glad.”

“Bit of both,” Brody said. “Surviving interesting times is tough, but it’s not boring.”

“And peace is,” Jesse finished. It wasn’t a question.

“It can get that way, although for a while, it’s good.”

She nodded, because she understood that completely. It was always good to get back to camp, but a month standing down was usually too long.

“Are you upsetting Jesse, Brody?” Veris said, moving across the room toward them.

Jesse sat up straighter. “No! I was just being stupid—”

“She’s happy,” Brody added.

Veris paused. “Happy.” He repeated it woodenly. His blue eyes fixed her with an intense examination.

Jesse swallowed.

“Because for some unfathomable reason, she likes us, and likes being around us,” Brody added. “Although I’m sure she doesn’t include you on that roster, Northman.”

“I do!” Jesse protested, and realized it was the truth.

The corner of Veris’ mouth twitched. He pulled over the upright chair that London had been using and sat in front of both of them. The chair gave a tiny groan. He was a big man. He crossed his arms. “Probably just as well. Taylor would be upset if you disappeared on us.”

“Speak for yourself, big guy,” Brody murmured. “He means he would be upset,” he added to Jesse.

Veris didn’t dispute it. But he did look uncomfortable.

Jesse changed the subject. “I’m a day or two away from finishing the editing on your book,” she told Veris. She had been ridiculously touched when he had asked her to line edit his How To Survive Time Travel handbook. It would never be