Page 28 of To Regret a Raven

She huffed a laugh, smiling up at the woman with the flushed cheeks and artfully styled bob. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Oh, and sweet as can be to boot. You gotta hang on to this one,” she said, smacking an arm against Fisher, who threw his hands in the air.

“Kinda hard when everybody keeps stealing her away.”

“Sounds like you gotta be quicker,” Drie teased, causing Kris to cackle loudly.

“Oh, my stars! You’re like whiskey in a teacup. C’mon. Let me introduce you to his Mama,” she said, pulling her from the room. “She’s just gonna love you.”

Drie shook her head ruefully, smiling back at Fisher as she allowed herself to be dragged along, though…her eyes snagged on one person she didn’t recognize across the room, sitting on the far end of the couch. A young woman with long, almost pitch-black hair and bold red lipstick. She hadn’t been in the latest family picture he had shown her before they’d driven down, Drie would’ve remembered.Maybe she’s a new girlfriend of one of the cousins?

It struck her as odd, however, how the woman kept her eyes trained so closely on Fisher over the rim of the beer cooler in her hand. Especially considering the tall, ferocious-looking man in a five-piece suit glaring daggers at the girl from where he stood in the shadows, leaning against the hall doorframe. He’d not been in the picture either.Who are these people?

But then she was walking through a glass door, and there was a whole new crowd before her.How big is his family?Drie thought as she eyed the size of the group scattered throughout the yard and pool.

It was the couple standing by the grill, however, that Kris dragged her toward.

“Linda, Linda!” Kris huffed, pulling to a stop by the little lady with pale brown eyes and shoulder-length auburn hair. “You gotta meet?—”

“Drie,” Linda supplied, smiling warmly as she stepped forward and folded her into a hug. “It is so lovely to finally meet you. Here”—she nudged them toward a bench seat along the edge of the patio—“let’s sit.”

“Hi, Mom,” Fisher called out, his tone dry as he remained standing aimlessly by the back door.

“Hi, dear.” Linda fluttered a hand in the direction of the man by the grill. “Go help your father. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover with your…friend.” She smiled cheerily again, wide enough to make dimples pop in her cheeks, though Drie felt a touch of apprehension as she found herself being settled securely between the two tiny, boisterous women. “So, Drie Raven…I was told that you were born up near East Valley. Is that right?”

“Uh…yes?” She blinked, wondering where the line of questioning was possibly going as she watched Fisher lift a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Greatstart.” Linda nodded encouragingly. “Then what happened?”

Drie leaned forwardover the sink, doing a quick check of her makeup in the bathroom mirror. She’d been sitting outside in the humid autumn weather, being quizzed on her life story by a steadily growing crowd of Fisher’s family for nearly two hours.

Her lips twisted into a smile at the thought.

She’d loved every second of it.

She had been hesitant at first, but those women put her at ease in a matter of seconds with their easy humor and direct questions. They wanted information, and they were hell-bent on getting it.

Fisher tried to rescue her multiple times, even staging a dramatic fall into the pool at one point that made her giggle, and all the women surrounding her snickered. But by that point, even a few of the uncles had pulled up chairs to listen in on her interrogation, and there was little hope of rescue to be found.

Every time she thought it was over, they would open a new line of questioning. It was exhausting. And it was heartwarming, how interested they were. It made Drie wonder, more than once, what Fisher must’ve been telling them about her.

But every time she tried to remind them that they weren’t technically dating, his mother would just brush it aside.

“Meh, neither are me and Ted.”

Drie had frowned. “Isn’t Ted your husband?”

“Semantics.”

Drie shook her head at the memory, making a note that she would need to introduce Nellie to the family one day. Her little sister would fit right in with that crowd. Probably lead them all to world domination.

Smirking at the thought, she ran her fingers through her hair in an effort to smooth the frizz before stepping back out into the hall and heading for the glass doors that opened to the backyard, where they’d been prepping the firepit before she’d left for the restroom. But she paused with her hand an inch from the handle when Fisher’s voice floated through the open window to her right.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Rena.”

“Iknowhow I feel,” an unfamiliar feminine voice answered, the tone furious.

“Maybe. But you don’t know howIfeel.” He sighed heavily. “You told me once that I’d never love her like I loved you. And you were right.” Drie’s eyes widened, her chest seizing as he continued. “I love her in ways I’ve never loved anything or anyone. I’m sorry, Rena. I know you were hoping for a different result, but Drie is it for me. That’s not going to change.”