Beautifully Knight (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #5)

In-Laws and Impasses

-MARIA-

"Of course the girls can stay here after camp, Mar, but is everything alright?"

"I, I don't know, Jess, I'll update you, okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay," I breathed and hung up as my heart thundered in my chest and I mashed the button on my keychain to turn off my car, which I realized was still running. The second I heard the engine stop, I hurried down the cobblestone pathway to my mother-in-law's front door and struggled to cram my keys and phone in their appropriate compartments in my purse.

Yanking open the screen door, I didn't pause to ring the doorbell out of respect like I usually did and I didn't stop to take off my shoes. Instead, I raced full speed ahead to the staircase and made my way upwards two steps at a time until I came face to face with my older brother at the top.

"Hey, twinsy," Nate began, but I interrupted.

"Where is he?"

"He's out of it—"

I moved to slide past him, but Nathan stepped into my pathway and clasped onto my shoulders gently.

"He's wasted, Maria. That's why I had the driver bring him here instead of your place. He wouldn't want his girls seeing him like this."

"I'm not one of the girls, Nate! I'm his wife. He didn't come home last night and now he's showing up at your workplace drunk? I need to know what the hell is going on and I need to hear it from him!"

"I know, Maria, but you're not going to get much out of him right now. He was practically incoherent when we were talking outside the station and then he passed out on the ride here. The driver was worried that he had alcohol poisoning, but he puked a little bit ago so I think he's gonna be okay."

Frustrated tears filled my eyes, "You think? Nate, he was in the background talking about dying the whole time you were on the phone! That's what he was saying, wasn't it? Or did I mishear?

My twin dipped his head so his eyes stared directly into mine, "Marisa—"

"It's a simple question, Nathan."

"Yeah, but it's not a simple answer," he replied as he pulled back. "I don't have all the facts. Tony was rambling a lot, but from what I could piece together across everything, it sounds to me like he met with Antonio yesterday and told him that he's dying and he doesn't have much longer left. Unsurprisingly, he's taking it pretty hard."

My eyes widened, "Wait a minute, what? His f-father, Antonio? That Antonio?"

Nate nodded.

"Oh my God," I whispered.

"I know," Nate sighed. "That was my reaction too."

"Oh my God," I repeated as my head spun and I found myself clutching onto the stair rail.

"Let's go down to the kitchen, okay?" Nate suggested. "Katherine said she was going to get the housekeeper to make some tea."

I felt like I was glued to the floor as my legs became heavy all of a sudden, but somehow Nathan nudged me into following him downstairs anyway.

On a normal day, I would have admired Katherine's recently remodeled kitchen and the way she always kept the place looking so perfect, but not today. Not right now. Right now, I was having a hard time breathing and comprehending what I was hearing.

A painful lump formed in my throat and hot tears blurred my vision of Katherine slowly stirring her mug and staring out the bay window in front of her blindly as if she didn't even hear my footsteps or Nate's.