Riding the Storm - Brenda Jackson [15]
Storm smiled. “Yes, Tara is my sister-in-law. She and my brother Thorn tied the knot a few months back. Why would you need to meet with Tara? She’s a pediatrician and you don’t have a child.”
Not yet, Jayla thought to herself. “The reason I’m meeting with Dr. Westmoreland is for business reasons—in fact, we’re doing lunch. The company I work for, Sala Industries, is picking up the tab for the caterers the night that the Kids’ World calendar is unveiled at a charity ball, and Dr. Westmoreland is on the committee. It will be a huge event, and we expect well over a thousand people to attend.”
“I understand the ball will be next month,” he said, after the waiter had returned with their drinks.
“Yes, the second weekend in October, in fact. And I understand your brother Thorn is Mr. July.”
“Yes, he is.” Storm couldn’t forget how Tara had been given the unlucky task of persuading Thorn to pose as Mr. July. Doing so hadn’t been easy, but things had worked out in the end, including Thorn’s realizing that he loved Tara and the two of them getting married. Kids’ World was a foundation that gave terminally ill children the chance to make their ultimate dream—a visit to any place in the world—come true. All proceeds for the foundation came from money raised through numerous charity events.
“I understand the calendar turned out wonderfully and the sale of them will be a huge success,” Jayla said smiling, interrupting his thoughts. She gazed across the table at him for a second, then said. “Tell me about your family.”
Storm raised a brow after taking a sip of his water. “Why?”
She smiled. “Because I was an only child and whenever you mention your siblings or your cousins I can tell you all share a special closeness. It was lonely growing up without sisters or brothers and I’ve already made up my mind to have a large family.”
Storm chuckled. “How large?”
“At least two, possibly three, maybe even four.”
Storm nodded. He wanted a large family as well. “The Westmoreland family is a big one and we’re all very close. It started out with my grandparents who had three sons, one of which was my father. My parents had six kids, all boys until Delaney came along. Dare is the oldest, then Thorn, Stone, Chase and me. As you know, Chase is my twin brother. My father’s twin brother’s name is James and he and his wife Sarah also had six kids, but all of them were boys—Jared, Spencer, Durango, Ian, Quade and Reggie. My father’s youngest brother, Uncle Corey, never married, so it was assumed he’d never fathered any kids, but we discovered differently a few months ago.”
Jayla placed her coffee cup down, curious. “Really?”
“His sons, who never knew he was their father, just like he never knew he had sons, had an investigator track him down. Uncle Corey is a retired park ranger in Montana and that’s where they found him.”
Jayla was fascinated with the story Storm was sharing with her. “But how did he not know that he was a father?”
“It seems a former girlfriend found out she was pregnant after they’d broken up and never bothered telling him. Unknown to Uncle Corey, the woman gave birth to triplets.”
“Triplets?”
“Yes, triplets. Multiple births are common in our family. Like me and Chase, Ian and Quade, and my father and Uncle James are fraternal twins.”
Jayla inhaled, trying to absorb all this. “And your uncle’s former girlfriend had triplets?”
“Yes, the first in the Westmoreland family. It seems that she told them their father had died when they were born and only revealed the truth on her deathbed. Although Uncle Corey never married the woman, she had moved out west to Texas and had taken his last name, so fortunately, her kids were born as Westmorelands.”
“So your Uncle Corey has three sons he didn’t know a thing about?”
“No, two sons and one daughter.” He shook his head, chuckling. “And all this time we all thought Delaney was the only girl in the Westmoreland family in two generations. Last month Uncle Corey suprised us and