The Rockwell Legacy (Books 1-3)

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Nicole fastened the blood pressure cuff around Max Rockwell’s arm and pumped it until it was tight. As always, he grumbled at her. Max was nothing if not a grumbler.

“All those brilliant doctor minds, they can’t invent a way to measure blood pressure that doesn’t pinch?”

“Don’t you know that everyone in the medical profession is a sadist?” She winked at him. “Especially us home health aides. We live to torment.”

In her experience, teasing Max was the best way to stop him from getting riled up.

She watched the gauge. “Looking good. I think the new diet is working.”

“Yeah, working to drive me nuts.”

“Oh, come on. You loved the vegetarian chili I made last night.”

“It was an insult to beans, that chili. If you were just more honest and called it Flavorless Bean Mush, it might not be so bad.”

Nicole rolled her eyes as she stowed the blood pressure cuff back in her bag. “Call it whatever you want, I don’t care. As long as you try it.”

Max rolled down the sleeve of his flannel shirt so she could button the cuff for him. Max was a big bear of a man with a lion’s mane of pure white hair. With his wide barrel chest and booming voice, his hulking stature and charismatic presence, he was a dominating figure, even now that he was battling heart disease and arthritis.

At first she’d found him intimidating. But she’d quickly figured out that Max was all bluster and thunderstorms. There was actually a soft heart behind all that grumbling. Well, soft-ish.

“Are you ready for your visualization?” she asked him. It sounded goofy to some, but she liked trying out different methods of stress-relief. As soon as she’d arrived at Rocky Peak Lodge, she’d started fantasizing about things like healing retreats and spa days.

Which totally wasn’t her job here.

Either of her jobs.

“If I threaten to rip my eyeballs out, will that get me out of it?”

“You don’t need eyeballs for visualization, you big whiner.”

He groaned and lumbered to his feet. “Give me a minute. Even torturers need a break.” He wandered over to the sky-high picture window that dominated the “great room,” as he called it.

Nicole followed his gaze. Admiring the incredible scenery here at Rocky Peak was never a hardship. It was early August, and people were already talking about the change in seasons. She kept looking for signs of autumn, but Max had explained that evergreen forests didn’t change much from one season to the next.

As a city girl, this was all news to her. Maybe she was imagining it, but she sensed the approach of fall in the air. The sky was a deeper blue, the night temperatures dipped lower, and visitors wore more bulky sweaters. She couldn’t wait for the snow to start falling. She’d never experienced winter in the mountains. Her hope was that the entire lodge would be blanketed with snowdrifts and she’d forget all the worries and stress of her regular life.

She’d never fallen in love with a place as quickly and thoroughly as she had with Rocky Peak Lodge. It was almost a chemical thing. As soon as she’d driven her red Jetta into the wide gravel lot and laid eyes on the main lodge, with its steeply peaked roofs, rough-hewn log construction, and chalet-style trim, she’d exhaled a deep breath, as if something had settled into place inside her.

It wasn’t just the crystal fresh air, or the deep peace of the surrounding forests, or the homey atmosphere of the lodge. She felt a sense of possibility here. If she did her job right, she’d walk away from here with enough money to take care of her sister for years.

Not her Max job. Her other job.

“All right, Nurse Nicole. What do you have for me today?” Max turned away from the window and settled his big body into his favorite leather armchair. “White light? Ocean waves? Shark attack?”

“Ha ha.” She dug out her notebook in which she’d scribbled some ideas for visualizations. “How about a magic carpet?”

“Ooh, that one sounds fun.” Gracie Rockwell skipped into the room, and as always, Max’s weathered face lit up. She came over to kiss him on the cheek. “I have big news, Daddy. Do you want it now or after the magic carpet ride?”

Gracie was another reason Nicole had fallen in love with Rocky Peak Lodge. Max’s daughter was such a sweetheart of a girl. With her wispy light hair and luminous eyes, her perpetual quirky dimple and petite figure, she was the type of adorable that made boys fall in love with her at a glance.

But she seemed mostly oblivious to that. Gracie rarely left the lodge, except to join friends for hikes on the lodge’s trails, or see a movie in town. Nicole would have worried about her, except that she always seemed happy as a bluebird. She kept plenty busy at the lodge, mostly with the restaurant. She scooped ice cream, took reservations, handled the website. On her off hours, she read, or filled sketchbook after sketchbook with her drawings. Maybe she had everything she wanted here at the lodge.

“Sorry to interrupt, Nicole,” Gracie added, tossing a smile her way. No one could resist that smile, and Nicole didn’t even try.

“No worries, we haven’t started yet. This is perfect timing. Max, do you want to chat with Gracie first? I can come back later.”

He gave her a “stay here” gesture. “Let’s hear the big news, but you don’t have to leave for that. You know all about my bodily functions. Might as well know the rest.”

“I agree, you should stay, Nicole. If Dad has a heart attack, I’ll need help.”

“Sweet hell on a cracker, Gracie. What’s going on here? Are you pregnant?” Max asked.

Gracie flushed a deep rose. “Of course not. How can you say such a thing?”

Nicole knew the answer to that. Because Max had no sense of tact or delicacy. It wouldn’t surprise her if Gracie was still a virgin, judging by her shyness about that sort of thing.

“Oh, don’t get your panties in a bunch,” Max grumbled. “It was just a joke. Why are people so sensitive?”

“For heaven’s sake, Max. Just apologize and move on,” Nicole told him. “He’s sorry, Gracie. It was a rude comment and he knows it. He just can’t admit it.”

Max muttered something that might have been agreement.

“As a side note, that’s the best way to keep your blood pressure down,” she added. “Think of an apology as a pill. They’re scientifically proven to reduce stress.”

“Is that true?” Gracie asked.

“I think so.” In her experience, you could dig up a study to prove just about anything. Besides, preventing an argument was definitely good for Max’s blood pressure. “Anyway, back to your news, Gracie.”

“Right.” She drew in a long breath and faced her father. She was wearing a summer outfit of cutoffs and a baby doll top and was barefoot. Gracie only wore shoes when she had to for health department reasons. “This is big, Dad. Brace yourself.”

Nicole braced herself too, mentally running through the steps she should take in case of a heart attack.

“Kai is coming home.”

Max went still, as if those words had turned him into a statue during freeze tag. He stared at Gracie for a long, long time, while Nicole summoned every bit of knowledge she had about Kai.

It wasn’t much. She knew he was the oldest son, that he’d left Rocky Peak as a teenager and never come back. She’d seen him in the old brochure photos. Tall, fit, stormy-eyed. He was the rebel who’d defied his father over everything, big and small. These days, he was a mountain guide, sometimes. Ski patrol, sometimes. He’d spent some time in the Army, even earned a medal. The closest thing he had to a home was a condo in Colorado, but he traveled a lot.

She also knew the story of his name. Kai meant “ocean,” which was odd for a family that lived in the mountains. His mother had named him Kai as a link to the Pacific Ocean because she’d grown up on a sailboat. Marrying Max had meant leaving behind the open seas and embracing the mountains.

Gracie didn’t say much about her deceased mother. Apparently she’d died when Gracie was small. Nicole didn’t like to pry, but she’d seen a few photos of her on the walls of the family wing of the lodge. There were photos of Griffin winning races, a photo of Isabelle graduating from medical school, Jake at the Last Chance.

But not a single photo of Kai, other than in the old brochures.

“When?” Max finally asked. “Why?”

“Dad, don’t be rude. He probably wants to see us, that’s why. He’s coming soon. Today, actually.”

“Today?”

Max jerked forward.

Nicole put a soothing hand on Max’s arm and shot Gracie a scolding look. “A little more notice would probably be helpful.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to say anything until I was absolutely sure it was happening. That would be like Christmas getting canceled. But he’s really coming!” She gave a little skip of excitement. “Dad, don’t worry. Isabelle made him promise not to get into any fights with you.”

Max’s arm trembled under Nicole’s hand. She squeezed it lightly and checked his color. A little heightened, but not too bad. She checked his pulse and found it slightly thready.

He shook her off. “Good God, woman, can’t a man find out his prodigal son is coming home without a doctor’s exam?”

“I don’t know, can he?” she answered tartly. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m O.K.” He dragged out the word sarcastically. “But if Kai is coming back for one of those damn apologies, he can turn right around.”

“Dad, it’s nothing like that. He’s not looking for anything, especially not an apology. And you can’t get into a fight with him. Nicole, you’ll help, right? No fighting. Promise?”

“Me? Why would I get into a fight with Kai? I don’t even know him.”

She fiddled with her friendship bracelet. “Not you. I’m talking about Dad. You’re always so calm, I can’t even imagine you getting into a fight.”

Calm? Try ‘careful.’ Nicole had to watch every word she said here at the lodge.

Gracie clapped her hands, eyes gleaming. “Actually, that’s perfect. Maybe you can stay closer than usual to Dad just in case they start getting on each other’s nerves. Dad’s always more mellow when you’re around.”

“Mellow?” Max snorted. Nicole could practically see the steam coming out of his nostrils. “If I’m ever ‘mellow,’ take me out and run me over with a four-wheeler.”

Gracie pointedly ignored him and kept her gaze fixed on Nicole.

“I don’t know, Gracie…” Nicole’s job here was essentially a grownup babysitter. Gracie sometimes called her the “Max-Whisperer,” although that seemed overboard to Nicole. “I wouldn’t want to intrude on a family reunion.”

“Kai won’t mind. He’s cool, you’ll like him. Kai’s like…hmmm, what’s the best way to describe Kai? He’s like…that feeling when a cold front comes through and suddenly the wind is all brisk and blustery and you feel wide awake.”

Max snorted again. “Not bad, Gracie. Not bad. Sounds like Kai in a nutshell. He’s half tornado, that kid.”

“You’re saying your brother’s like a weather disaster?” Nicole had never heard someone described in quite those terms.

Gracie screwed up her face, searching for the right words. “He’s…exciting. Maybe that’s a better way to put it. He’s kind of wild and adventurous. But not in a scary way, because he’s also really knowledgeable about survival skills. If I was lost in the wilderness, he’s the one person I’d pick first to be stranded with. He’s rescued so many people from avalanches and accidents.”

Nicole shuddered at the very thought. She had no intention of getting lost in the wilderness. Admiring it from the safety of the lodge was good enough for her. And Kai Rockwell didn’t sound at all like the kind of person she’d like. She wanted peace and harmony, not storm fronts. Life held enough turmoil already.

But for Max’s sake, she’d do her best to be nice to Kai—and to keep things on an even keel. That was her job here, after all.

Or at least the job Max had hired her for.

He didn’t know about her other job. She tried not to think about that one, because she was a terrible liar and stood a good chance of giving everything away.

“I look forward to meeting him,” she said, faking a smile. Truthfully, she planned to avoid Kai Rockwell as much as possible. Unless she got lost in the wilderness, of course.