Love, Exes, and Ohs (Cactus Creek #4)(43)

“She’s my baby sister.” Vivian crumpled and Xoey helped her to a nearby chair. “What am I going to tell Blake?” Her hands flew up to cup her mouth in horrified anguish. “What if we lose her? She was just driving home from the store. The other driver that crashed into her barely sustained any injuries. It’s not right. It’s not fair.”

No, it wasn’t.

Isaac put a gentle hand on Vivian’s shoulder and she looked up. “Oh Isaac, this must be terrible for you to live through again. Xoey mentioned you lost your brother in a vehicle accident as well. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

Bleak sadness mirroring Vivian’s overtook his features. “Darcy is in far better shape than my brother was. He…he actually never even made it to the hospital.”

Xoey snapped her gaze over to his. He’d never divulged that part before. She reached for him, and he locked her hand to his. Shaking. Unshed tears in his eyes magnifying what she could describe as abject torture. The memories were literally torturing him before her eyes and she was powerless to stop it.

She remembered then that Cody and Isaac had been riding together when the accident took place. Which meant…

Oh God.

“Isaac.”

He shook his head in a silent command: Not now. While still gripping Vivian’s hand in comfort, he gripped Xoey’s now for strength as he schooled his features and banked the pain.

And they kept standing like that, in a circle of sorts, until a knock at the door broke the spell.

“Vivian?”

“Charles, thank you so much for coming by.” Vivian rushed over to greet the older gentleman with a grateful hug. Turning back to them, she made quick introductions. “Charles is a family friend. I called him this past week to see if Darcy’s affairs were in order.” She shook her head in bitter disbelief. “I always heard the term ‘affairs in order’ in the movies, but I never thought I’d have to call about my baby sister’s life insurance policy and estate planning.”

Charles gave her another hug. “This is never easy, but I’m glad you called. Your sister actually had very detailed instructions on everything.” He handed Vivian a folder. “As you’ll see there, Darcy did have a health care advance directive wherein you, Vivian, have the sole power to make all medical decisions until Blake reaches the age of twenty-one, at which point, he becomes the sole decision maker. However, she did have a stipulation, which you can see on the next page, outlining the maximum amount of time she wanted to be on life support.”

Vivian covered her mouth to hold back a sob.

“She didn’t make that decision lightly, Vivian,” explained Charles softly. “She simply doesn’t want to burden you or Blake. She didn’t want to drain you dry financially, nor did she want to keep your lives tethered to hers if all that was keeping her alive was a bunch of tubes and wires.”

Nodding, Vivian wiped her tears and moved on to the next few pages.

What she saw next made her freeze.

Charles cleared his throat. “I see you’ve gotten to the Standby Guardian paperwork. Basically, it mirrors what’s in her will, but this is specifically and singularly applicable in the event of her being alive, but medically incapacitated either physically or mentally. As in this case with her being in a coma. Per Darcy’s Standby Guardianship wishes, she has named Xoey Montenegro as Blake’s legal guardian until he is eighteen years old. However, should Darcy wake up from the coma and is physically and mentally able to care for Blake, she will automatically regain full parental rights.”

Vivian gaped at the signed papers, a copy of which, Charles handed over to Xoey.

“Charles, you can’t be serious,” hissed Vivian.

“Darcy had me draw these papers up years ago. She has already signed it, in the presence of two witnesses. All that’s left is for Xoey to accept the standby guardian designation by signing at the bottom.”

Xoey could barely process the angry exchange between Vivian and her lawyer friend.

All she could do was repeat what this all boiled down to.

She was now the legal guardian of Blake.

“Xoey!”

Isaac was at her side in an instant when the room swayed. Shaking off the momentary vertigo that even had Vivian looking worried, she reassured them all quickly, “I’m fine. Just…surprised.”

To put it mildly.



*



ISAAC WAS STILL shaking himself out of the stupor he’d fallen into at the bombardment of memories from Cody’s death when the arguing started.

The look of immeasurable grief on Xoey’s face before Charles had entered the room told him the exact moment she’d figured out that he’d watched Cody die right before his eyes.

Before he could stop it, he was sucked back into the vortex, the one he’d once tried to make stop spinning via copious amounts of alcohol.

Or at least make the landing a little less painful.

It wasn’t until he’d glanced over and saw Xoey swaying on her feet that he was able to jolt himself back to reality.

Listening to the arguing that picked right back up again, he got caught up quickly. Xoey was going to be named legal guardian of Blake over his own aunt.

Vivian looked equally livid and hurt. Though it was mostly the anger that was coming out. “I’ll contest it. I can easily argue that I’m the better parental figure for Blake. With me, he’d have a stable home with two parents, and two cousins he already adores. If he goes with Xoey, he’d be living in a studio apartment above a brewery for godssakes! With a bartender as a parent who won’t even be able to come home before two a.m.”