Hope Unbroken (Unveiled Series Book 3) by Crystal Walton

than usual. “Goodnight, Emma.”
    “Goodnight.”
    The door closed behind him. My eyelids had no problem shutting out the day. My thoughts, on the other hand, weren’t so accommodating.
    I wasn’t sure how his contract would affect our wedding date. But now that I’d met his family, I couldn’t imagine getting married without them there. They needed to be a part of it, a part of our lives. All of them.
    I rolled onto my side, then onto my back, and stared at the ceiling. Sleep. You can do it .
    Useless. I fumbled over the handful of items on the nightstand in search of my cell. The lighted screen cast a glow over the wall behind me.
    “I was starting to wonder if you were going to call,” Austin said, skipping hellos.
    “The phone does work both ways.”
    “Funny, yours only seems to work in the middle of the night.”
    I glanced at the clock. It wasn’t even midnight yet. And he called me dramatic. “Funny,” I said right back, “you’re always up when I call.”
    His laugh echoed through the line. “Someone has to stay up to show these fools how to snowboard.”
    “You’re snowboarding now? In the dark?” His girlfriend wasn’t giving him flack for that?
    “If we only boarded in the day, it wouldn’t be called an extreme sport, now would it?”
    I bunched the covers under my arms. “You better be careful.”
    “You know me.”
    That was the problem.
    “So, you gonna tell me what’s up, or not?”
    How did he always know? I ran my fingers along the stitching across the comforter. “I can’t sleep.”
    “Your trip to the almost-in-laws isn’t turning into a Meet the Fockers scene, is it?”
    I squeezed my pillow. He was lucky he wasn’t here to get a good smack with it. “I’m trying to be serious.”
    His laughter tapered. “Sorry. Switching over to Emma-mode now. Okay, go.”
    If I weren’t so distracted, I might’ve been able to think of a comeback. I sighed into the phone instead. “Riley and his dad don’t get along. I mean, I knew that before coming, but it’s kind of painful to watch.” More than I’d expected.
    I stared at his childhood pictures cloaked in moonlight. “We’re lucky. We got to share more love in the years we had with Dad than some people do in an entire lifetime. I’m scared they won’t see what they’re forfeiting until it’s too late.”
    “If Riley upholds the character I’ve seen in him so far, he won’t let that happen.”
    I wanted so much for him to be right, but the scene from dinner replayed in the shadows with the reminder that it was a two-man show.
    Background conversations seeped in from his end of the line. He needed to get back to friends, but there was one more thing on my mind.
    “Austin,” I said slowly, “there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” I rolled the top of the comforter down to my knees and let it unfurl. Why was this harder than I thought? “Since Dad can’t be here, would you walk me down the aisle . . . on my wedding day?”
    I sank deeper into my pillows the longer his pause stretched.
    “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.
    The beginning of tears coated my throat. No matter what else changed in my life, I’d always need my brother. “Aust . . .” My voice cracked.
    “Love you too, Em. Now, get some sleep.”
    “Night.”
    The glimmer of light from my phone faded. In a house of fractured memories, I closed my eyes and tried to drift into a dream where everything in life was whole.
     
    The splinter in Riley and his dad’s relationship widened the longer we were there. Even on Christmas Eve.
    While Mr. Preston tinkered out in the garage, the rest of us hung out in the family room around an artificial tree decorated in mismatched ornaments. I rocked in a recliner, listening to Jasmine show off her saxophone skills. Melody kept her nose buried in a book and her headphones on, as usual. And Mrs. Preston wielded a cross-stitch needle while Riley filled her in on his upcoming album.
    His