Crimson River (The Edens) by Devney Perry

Author:Devney Perry [Perry, Devney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Devney Perry LLC
Published: 2023-06-14T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

VANCE

The Edens were loud.

Not just in volume—though Lyla’s family laughed like there was a decibel quota to meet over dinner. They were loud in other ways. Their smiles. Their hugs. Their love.

It had been a long time since I’d been to a Sutter family dinner. Maybe my memory was failing me, but the only time I recalled my family being loud was the very last dinner. The one where everything had fallen apart. Not a good loud.

The Edens were a good loud.

Anne and Harrison sat on opposite ends of the dining room table and, between them, their children and grandchildren.

The table itself, a smooth, black walnut piece with matching chairs, was new. It lacked the dents and dings of furniture that had seen more than a handful of family functions. It was slightly too large for the space, but that was likely because it had been bought with this crush of people in mind.

A large family needed a large table. Even if it was crowded, Anne and Harrison probably wanted each person here to have a seat. They’d even made space for the little ones and their high chairs.

No surprise, Lyla’s parents were good people. Anne had welcomed me with a hug. Harrison with a firm handshake. And then Lyla’s siblings had descended, nosy but not intrusive.

They’d asked questions but hadn’t pried into my personal life. Instead, they’d learned tonight that I preferred whiskey over beer. That I liked my steaks medium rare. And that my favorite color was blue.

Lyla’s blue.

Though I hadn’t been that specific when Eloise had asked a few moments ago.

“Blue would have been a good color choice,” Knox said.

“I didn’t want blue.” Anne jutted up her chin. “I wanted yellow.”

“But it’s not yellow, Mom.”

“Of course it’s yellow.” Anne had recently painted the powder room down the hall. Tonight was the first anyone but Harrison had seen it. “The color is called mustard. Mustard is yellow.”

“It looks like baby poop,” Griffin said.

“Griff,” Winn scolded.

“What? It does.”

“It’s not the color of baby poop.” Anne harrumphed, then adjusted Griff and Winn’s daughter, Emma, on her lap. “Change your daughter’s diaper once in a while and you’ll know the difference.”

Griffin just laughed and shook his head, making a face at his two-year-old son, Hudson, who was making a hell of a mess in his booster seat with some Play-Doh.

Some dads didn’t change diapers, but I suspected that none of the men here shied away from a loaded Pampers.

“It’s sort of baby poop, Mom,” Talia said, her hand splayed on her pregnant belly.

She and her husband, Foster, were having a boy. Current name options were Kaiden or Jude. I’d voted for Jude.

“Are all of my children color-blind?” Anne asked the room. “It’s yellow.”

Harrison hid his laughter in the beer bottle pressed to his lips.

“It’s not that bad.” Jasper’s arm was draped around the back of Eloise’s chair, his hand on her shoulder. He was rarely far from her side, and if she was close, he touched her in some small way.

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