Mercy (Somerset University #3) - Ruby Vincent Page 0,50

class starts at eight. Walk Pepper with Adam and I’ll have breakfast sent up here.”

My voice croaked from deep in my chest. “Sometimes being late is the only sane thing to do.”

Val laughed. “Don’t pass that on to our kid. It’s hard enough getting him ready in the morning.”

“Babe, please.” I was reduced to begging. “If you give me five more minutes, I’ll love you for all eternity.”

“You’ll do that anyway,” she replied, amused.

Damn if she isn’t right.

“But five minutes is yours. Come on, Adam. Let’s see what’s for breakfast. Pepper, you too, girl.”

An enthusiastic yap was her response. After some shuffling, chatter, and barking, my room plunged into silence.

Summer was over and everyone in our home under the age of twenty-two was off to school. All except for Jaxson and, no, I didn’t forget Pepper. She was off to obedience school right after Val dropped Adam for his first day of elementary school.

What the hell possessed me to sign up for an eight a.m. class?

Val’s seminar in health psychology starts at eight, a voice reminded me. You came in your pants dreaming about riding to school together.

There was one thing for certain in this big, crazy world of ours.

I was whipped.

Eventually, I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. Val, Adam, Pepper, and the guys greeted me in the dining room.

“Why are you up so early?” I directed the question to Ezra and Ryder.

“Going into the office before class,” Ryder said.

“Mom wants me to swing by the restaurant. She’s throwing a correspondents’ dinner in three weeks and this morning is the only time Chef has to finalize the menu.” Ezra swiped a finger of cream off his pancakes and put it on Val’s nose without a break in speech.

She cried out—half laugh and half scream—and whipped her napkin at him. Ezra caught it one-handed, tugged it free, and gently wiped her nose. They shared a loving kiss. All forgiven.

“Now that I’m talking about it,” Ezra continued. “Your dad is coming, right?”

“Why would my dad go to a correspondents’ dinner?”

“Mom wants him to give a speech on cybersecurity. One of our competitors was hacked and they got the names of three confidential sources off their servers. She figures everyone will be interested in learning how to prevent that happening again.”

Our housekeeper, Matilda, set a plate of strawberry-covered chocolate chip pancakes in front of me. Now that Caroline was in remission, she was indulging her appetite and the chef was cooking meals to satisfy.

“My dad won’t say no to Amelia. If he wasn’t ridiculously in love with Mom, I’d wonder if there were some suspiciously brown siblings in your future.”

Ezra choked on his sip of tea. “Fu— Forget you,” he corrected. “One Beaumont brother is more misery than I’ve earned in my life.”

Our breakfast continued in the same charming vein. Sometimes I wondered about the example we were setting for Adam, acting like, well, twenty-one-year-olds. But the kid remained incorruptibly sweet day after day, and Val was always there to rein us in.

An hour later, we packed into our cars and headed off in every direction. Val and I dropped Adam off at school and then continued to the university.

“Nervous about the first day?” I asked.

“Nervous about classes? No. Nervous about my first batch of pledges? A little bit.”

“Why?” My hand curled around hers. “You’re the best president Zeta Rho has ever had.”

“Am I? How would you know?” she teased.

“Everyone knows. It’s all over campus. The secret’s out.”

Her soft, throaty laugh tugged a smile free.

“It’s just more girls to coordinate. More activities. More events. And I have to be there for all of them because the final decision has to go through me. I can’t accept or reject girls I haven’t spent time with.” She blew out a breath. “Let me say it now with you as my only witness, I’m so glad Blair is back. She’s already taken over the planning for rush week. Blair set up the schedule for the orientation week booth. Also, she’s begun talks with the Evergreen Country Club for our second annual charity dinner.”

“Second annual? I thought you only threw the first to get your hands on the list of alumni.”

“I did. Turns out my genius takes a life of its own. It was such a hit, they want to do it every year. I don’t get to touch the guest list though,” she added.

“It was a hit, babe. We raised the largest donation the food bank has ever received. You could alternate