Captive

Chapter Twenty

Bret noticed that her grip on his hand was tight as they entered the bar in town. It was a family friendly one that served food and was where they were meeting Kane and Mark. It was some time since Juliet had seen or spoken to her brothers; the last time had been Rebecca's funeral which felt like a lifetime ago. Her stomach was a riot of butterflies because she didn't know quite how they might be with her. She didn't know what Michael had said to them about her or how they would feel about her turning up here with Bret. Mark had been cold at the funeral, keeping his distance from all of them and Kane burned like fire, his temper rising and falling as quickly as a flash of lightning. Feeling her hand trembling slightly in his Bret paused.

"Last I heard they were real excited about seeing you sweetheart," he said, gently. She glanced up at him, caught off guard once more by that endearment which he seemed to be using an awful lot when he spoke to her at the moment. He ignored the slightly surprised look on her face and smiled. "Come on." He pulled gently on her hand and led her inside. Mark and Kane were not difficult to spot as they were sat side by side at the bar. They both had their long hair in a braid down their backs, though she was surprised to see Mark's once auburn hair was dyed black while Kane's was now the same chestnut brown shade as her own. But when they turned to face her both faces filled with joy and they got down from their stools at the same time striding across to her, almost racing to see who would get their first. Bret released her hand and she was suddenly caught up in Kane's arms as he successfully beat his brother to reach her. Kane held her close for a moment before setting her on her feet only for Mark to grab her in a fierce embrace. Her nerves started to fade when she saw Kane shaking Bret's hand, asking him how his family were doing and Bret replying in a friendly enough tone.

"I reserved us a table," Mark said. "Dani's sorry she's not here. She's working tonight, she's a nurse up at the hospital."

"I'm sorry to not see her too," Juliet said and Mark smiled.

"Always next time darlin'," he said and she gave him a faltering smile back. They both knew this was the first time she'd been out here since he moved here ten years ago. "How's the next book coming along? I read your first one; it was interesting...."

"You read it?" Juliet sounded surprised and Mark scowled at her , folding his arms across his chest.

"Of course I read it. My baby sister had a book on the bestsellers list. What kind of brother would I be if I didn't check it out?"

"Did you read it too?" she asked Kane and her other brother reddened slightly.

"Well kind of," he said and Mark rolled his eyes.

"He read the blurb on the back of the book and looked at the pictures," he said and Bret laughed out loud at that. Kane scowled but then gave his sister an apologetic look.

"Jane Austen isn't really my thing, but it doesn't mean I'm not real proud of you, Ju Ju."

"It's ok, I wouldn't have expected either of you to read it," she replied consolingly. Mark grinned.

"Yeah but I actually did and it was good, real good. You made it all sound interesting, not the sort of dry school text book version that I was expecting to be honest."

"Well thank you, I think," Juliet said and Mark laughed, shrugging.

"Last history book I'd read was a school text book Juliet so you have to forgive me for that. But I liked yours. Dani read it too and it inspired her to read all of Jane Austen's book, not to mention searching out the films and TV series. Not sure I'm quite ready to forgive you for that." But he was smiling and she found herself relaxing a little.

"Who is the next one about? Stephen King?" Kane asked, hopefully and she laughed.

"I'm afraid not. It's more Jane Austen, a deep dive into her works, looking at how they mirrored society at the time. The book will be in sections, each one devoted to one of her books and looking at what influenced them. You might like the part about Northanger Abbey; that found its influence in Gothic fiction, with ghosts and skeletons in the closet just waiting to leap out." Her tone was lively as she described it and Bret watched her, enjoying seeing her so animated and relaxed with her brothers. He lost track of exactly what they were talking about as he watched her chatting away, giggling at something Kane said and enjoying watching her two brothers bicker good naturedly, but then Mark's face turned serious.