Courted by Trouble: A Courting Romance (In Hyacinth Book 3) by Bree Cariad Page B

a few weeks back and now she was about to land and meet the man who was her father. Chris had done a lot of the legwork. A friend of his who was a PI had run a check on the Alversons and on Taylor Trundle and they came up clean. No problems except for the stuff she had already seen.
    Dora, who had quickly caught up with all the work on the inn, had everything firmly in hand so that Chris could accompany her. “Don’t worry,” she teased him before they left. “I’ll have all the rooms in pink wallpaper and have turned your kitchen upside down by the time you get back.”
    Squeezing her hand, Chris kissed her cheek. “You doing okay?”
    “I have no idea.”
    Chuckling, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Everything’s going to be fine, sweetheart. Jerod contacted a friend of his who lives here. He’s going to meet us at the airport. Turns out he knows your father.” Trembling, she nodded. Was she ready to do this? It was only weeks ago that who she thought she was was blown apart. Stephanie just hoped the shocks were over. She couldn’t take many more surprises.
    John Durrant was a nice man. He shook her hand, holding it between his own. “You look like your mother,” he commented as he put their suitcases in the bed of his truck.
    Laughing, but mainly from nerves, she blurted out, “My mother or my aunt?” Chris’s hold on her hand tightened and she leaned on him.
    John’s eyes softened. “I know this must be difficult. Come on. Let’s get you to the hotel.” They got into his truck and he started off. “I’ve talked with Taylor and Bryant. They’re both relieved you’re alive and well, of course, are excited to see you. But they also understand this is difficult for you. Your grandparents are looking forward to seeing you as well.” He told her a little about what to expect. “Taylor was crippled in the skirmish he was in. Came back with only one leg. He uses a prosthetic. Bryant just graduated from college a year back. He and his fiancée Carrie are getting married in August. They have a little girl named Samantha.”
    She was an aunt. And she knew enough about the rest of the world to know that a baby out of wedlock wasn’t as shocking as it would be in Hyacinth. John dropped them off at their hotel so they could rest and gear up to meet her father and brother. Stephanie didn’t want to be alone and Chris was matter of fact about, “What they don’t know in Hyacinth won’t hurt them.” So instead of two rooms, they shared one.
    After taking a long shower to get rid of the airplane stench, she changed into one of her own creations as it helped her to feel like herself. “You look good,” he told her before they left the room. John had planned it so that they met in a private dining room of a local restaurant. As the two of them followed the hostess through the rows of tables and chairs, Stephanie’s heart beat faster and faster. “Everything’s going to be okay,” Chris encouraged in her ear. “If you need a stress reliever, just imagine all the fun Dory’s having at my expense back home.”
    Huffing out a laugh that didn’t hold much humor but showed she was grateful for the attempt, she nodded.
    “They are through that door right there,” the hostess told them, pointing to a large wooden door.
    “Thanks.”
    Chris tightened his hold on her hand and opened the door, pulling her through behind him. The private room was large, probably meant more for large business lunches than strange family reunions. There were several people in the room, two sets of elderly couples, a woman a few years older than she was holding a baby in her arms, a man who looked like the male version of Stephanie, and a man in his early forties who stood up at their entrance. Even with Chris in front of her, his eyes locked on hers and she felt a pang as she looked into them. This man was Taylor Trundle. He was older than in the photos she had seen, but just like so many men, he had gotten better