“It is,” I tell them. “You made Jo and me so scared to talk to you about something like this that we had to hide it away. Do you think we wanted our relationships to be a secret?” I look at my brothers. “Both of you were able to date without problems. Why couldn’t we have the same courtesy?”
“Exactly,” Jo adds. “Still pissed with you,” she mumbles at me. That’s fine, I’ll take it.
“We love you both. We were just trying to protect you,” Pierre exclaims.
“And we love you, but your love is suffocating sometimes,” I tell him.
Pierre flinches. Felix looks away.
“We didn’t mean to …” Pierre starts.
“I know you didn’t mean to. But you did.” I look at Jo. She nods even though she’s still furious with me. Because on this, we’re united. “Every time a guy looked at us, you threatened him. Every time we mentioned someone, you ran a background check. You made it impossible for us to have normal relationships, so we had secret ones instead. That’s on you.”
“That’s not fair,” Felix says.
“It’s completely fair,” Harper tells him. He opens his mouth to argue, and she gives him a look that shuts it down.
“Your sisters are right,” Mom says quietly. Everyone turns to her. “I raised you to protect each other. But somewhere along the way, protection became control. And control drove your sisters into hiding.”
The room is silent. Pierre is staring at the floor. Felix is staring at the ceiling. The fight has left them both.
Emmett clears his throat from the couch. “For what it’s worth,” he says, looking at Justin. “I’m pissed you didn’t tell me.I took a punch today, and you were standing right there with a marriage certificate in your pocket.”
“I know,” Justin says. “And I’m sorry, Cap.”
“But I also get it.” Emmett looks at Jo, then at me. “Because I know what it’s like to love a St. Pierre. I also know what it’s like to love someone so much you’d rather lie to everyone than risk losing her.”
Jo reaches for his hand, and he takes it.
“You owe me a beer,” Emmett tells Justin.
“I owe you a lot more than a beer,” he tells him.
“Start with the beer. We’ll negotiate from there.” The corner of Emmett’s mouth twitches. It’s not forgiveness.Not yet.But it’s a crack in the door.
Mom stands, walks over to Justin and gives him a look. He automatically stands up, and she reaches out and gives him a big hug.
“Welcome to the family, Justin. It’s Claire, by the way. If you’ve married my daughter, you call me Claire.” She turns to me. “And you, we are going to have a very long conversation about eloping without your mother present.”
“Yes.”
“But not today.” She pulls me into a hug, and I break. I sob into her shoulder because the weight of this secret has been crushing me for weeks, and it’s finally gone. She holds me and strokes my hair. “Shh, ma chérie.”
When I pull back, Jo is standing, her face is blotchy, she still looks hurt, but she opens her arms.
“I’m still so mad at you,” she whispers as I fall into her.
“I know.”
“But I love you,” she says.
“I love you too.” I bawl my eyes out.
“Your timing is absolute shit.” She chuckles.
“I know, but I thought I might as well rip the Band-Aid off.”
She holds me tighter, then pulls back and wipes her eyes. “And for the record, I want to see the ring properly later. Not flashed in the middle of a family crisis.”