Page 3 of Forbidden Fate

“Nice going, sis!”

Speak of the devil. Hawk grabs me in a bear hug. Eagle, our youngest brother, is behind him. At eighteen, he’s still tall and lanky, but he’s starting to fill out. His huge Bellamy frame will be here in no time.

“Where’s Ray?” I ask, referring to my twin, Raven.

“Over there with Mom and Dad.” Hawk points.

Raven graduated last week from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota where she majored in Home Economics. The guys and I joke that she got her MRS degree. Ray has always been a homebody, loved learning to cook and do all the other things our mom does. It’s where her interests lie, and we love her for it.

Me? For the first five years of my life, I was convinced I was a boy, so I followed Falcon around, probably getting on his last nerve. He was a good sport about it, though. Being outside with Dad and the boys is what led to my love of animals. We’re beef ranchers, but we also keep horses, poultry, and any dogs and cats that happen to wander by. Once they’re here, they stay, and we love them all.

“You guys should come over to Chevy’s for drinks with Barb and me and the gang,” I say to Hawk.

“Uh…sure. Except I’ve got some turning twenty-one to do.”

I whip my eyebrows up. I know for a fact Hawk has a fake ID. He’s been to Chevy’s lots of times.

Then I realize he’s putting on a show for Eagle. Right. E had an issue last year with drugs. I’m not supposed to know about it, but Hawk and I are close, and he told me. I’m not sure why he knew about it and I didn’t, but Ray doesn’t have a clue, so I’m sworn to secrecy.

I wink at Hawk. “Just teasing.”

He winks back. He’ll be there. Barb has a huge crush on Hawk, but he’s not into her at all. Says she’s too old. Since when is twenty-two too old for twenty? But Hawk says she’s like an honorary sister to him.

Mom, Dad, and Raven arrive, and Raven hugs me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. Her breath smells like Orange Crush, her favorite drink. I think it tastes like carbonated chemicals, but I’m not really into soda. Give me a fresh-brewed iced tea any day of the week. Or a whiskey sour at Chevy’s. Frankie, one of their hot bartenders, makes the best sour I’ve ever tasted. He says he learned it from some guy he met at a wacky club in Chicago called the Jade Sanctum. He always gives me Wild Turkey too, instead of the well bourbon, without charging me more. I’m going to miss him. I’ll especially miss our one-nighters…

“Congratulations, Robbie,” Dad says with a huge smile.

Dad and I are pretty close. I’m way more like him than I am like Mom. I give him a hug. “Thanks, Daddy.”

I look to my mother. Starling Bellamy is beautiful with her black hair, olive skin, and big dark eyes. But she and I just don’t mix. I used to think it was because I was more of a tomboy and Ray was the girly girl. Raven and I are fraternal twins, though we’re sometimes mistaken for identical because we look so much alike. But we couldn’t be more different in personality.

Anyway, now I’m not sure why my mom and I still don’t mesh. After I went through puberty, I started dressing more feminine to get attention from boys, but I still had my outdoor interests. I’ve known since I was a little girl that I wanted to work with animals. Dad says once I’m licensed, I’ll be the head veterinarian for the ranch. I can’t wait.

But first…

I have a solo trip to Europe before I begin vet school in the fall. Barb was supposed to go with me, but a month ago she had to cancel on me because her financing fell through. I offered to pay her way, but she wouldn’t take it. She’s always been that way. Even though I can afford to treat her, she always pays for her own meals and drinks and whatever when we do stuff together. Honestly, I respect her for it.

So I’m going on my own. Mom doesn’t like the idea. She wanted to pay a chaperone to go with me. Of course, she didn’t offer to go herself. Even though she was supposed to take Falcon on a big wine tour the summer after he graduated. That didn’t happen. Prison has a way of screwing up your plans.

To be honest, I’m glad she didn’t offer. A summer in Europe with my mother finding fault with everything I do was never on my to-do list.

Besides, this way, I decide where to go and what to do. I’ll do the touristy places, of course—France, Spain, Switzerland. Then I’ll head to East Europe to the Czech Republic. But the crown jewel of the trip will be few weeks in Romania.

I know. Who goes to Romania? But that’s what I’m looking forward to the most. As a kid, I loved all the old monster movies that took place in Transylvania. I can’t wait to see the castles that inspired Dracula and Frankenstein in the medieval cities. I even booked some belly dancing lessons.

I leave next week. In the meantime, I’m off to Chevy’s to meet Barb.

“Thanks for coming,” I tell Mom and Dad. “I’ll see you later. I promised Barb I’d meet her for drinks.”

Mom’s mouth drops into an O. “But we made reservations at The Robin’s Nest,” she says. “Your favorite. Won’t it be nice to have a family dinner?”

We can’t truly have a family dinner without Falcon.

But I don’t say that. I do love The Robin’s Nest. It’s been one of my favorites since I was a kid. I begged Dad to take me there because it had my name in it, and I ended up falling in love with the short ribs on the menu. It’s a farm-to-table restaurant, and they source their beef from our ranch. I don’t know what they do to those short ribs, but they’re the most tender and flavorful meat I’ve ever tasted. Neither Mom nor any of our cooks can match them, and believe me, they’ve tried.

“But Barb⁠—”

“Why don’t you invite Barb to join us?” Dad says.