Sebastian hadn't had such a wonderful sleep for a while. There hadn't been any noise like in New York at all, just what he'd always wanted. Quiet. Peaceful. And he wondered why he had left home in the first place. When he woke up this morning, it had been to the sound of birds chirping outside his window and then soon after that the voices of girls talking. He was sure it wasn't Alaina or Tara. The maids perhaps?
Now fully awake and refreshed after his shower, he sighed in content. It couldn't get any better than this, sitting here with his brothers in the morning sun in their courtyard with cherry and magnolia trees in full bloom surrounding them.
The sound of a dog barking came their way.
"Holy smokes!" Conrad said, perching up in his chair. "Is that?"
"Toby," Darcy supplied, more interested than he wanted himself to be.
The dog appeared from the direction of the pond and dashed straight at them. Toby stopped by Tristan and greeted him by jumping around the man's leg with delight. Tristan picked him up and let him sit on his lap as he fed the dog his bacon.
"Man, Toby really likes to hang around here, doesn't he?" Conrad said.
"That's because his owner lives nearby," Hayden put in.
"We should return Toby and the memory stick to her after breakfast," Nicolas suggested.
"I concur," Tristan added, feeding Toby yet another piece of his bacon.
Logan, who was sitting beside Tristan, stroked Toby's head. The dog was obviously enjoying being the center of attention and stuck his tongue out in delight.
Darcy reached out, got himself another perfectly cooked, golden-brown toast and was just about to sit down when he saw her. His heart, to its own accord, did a good somersault at the sight, and naturally, the toast decided to do a somersault of its own as well all the way to the marble floor because Darcy's fingers and thumb seemed to have lost their gripping function.
"She's in our house," he whispered in amazement.
The brothers turned their eyes toward the house, and sure enough, the girl they were talking about was there. Not to mention the fact that she looked amazing in that lilac dress and heels, and yes, talking to James—their dad—in a most intimate way.
When they thought it wouldn't get any weirder, James pulled the girl into his arms and kissed her on the cheek.
The brothers stared at the scene before them in shocked surprise, confused, and questions ran through their minds. A moment later, she pulled back and rushed out the opened door and right into the courtyard.
Sakura nearly fell off her three-inch pumps when she came face-to-face with the seven brothers again. This isn't happening, she thought to herself. She couldn't believe it. Just couldn't! She thought she'd get away with it. She thought they would still be in bed until midday, and she therefore wouldn't have to face them. At least not this soon. Well, at least she was decently dressed this morning.
"Toby," she said.
"Woof!" the dog replied.
"You found him." James came up behind her, one hand holding his coffee cup and one arm wrapped around her shoulder, which of course caused the brothers to stare at him in confusion.
"Shouldn't you be thanking your brothers for that?" James asked Sakura, a cheeky smile on his face.
The brothers continued to stare, and Darcy said, "What?"
"Brothers?" Sebastian shouted.
"We're her brothers?" Hayden asked in disbelief, pointing a finger at Sakura. It had to be a joke—a very big, fat joke that none of them liked.
James tilted his head to one side—a gesture they all knew very well that meant he was disappointed and was indeed very serious with the situation. He glanced from one of his sons to the other, his eyes sharp as he said, "Don't tell me you forgot Sakura? Shocking. Most shocking. Your own adopted sister."
A long silence followed. Sakura knew James was doing this on purpose. She knew he knew the brothers didn't remember her. She knew he knew she didn't want to meet them again. She knew he took pleasure in shocking his seven sons by introducing her to them with such weird timing.
She said, "Toby! Come here. You're in trouble, young man."
Toby jumped out of Tristan's arms, trotted to her, and rubbed his head against her legs to say he was sorry. She bent down to pick him up. The view was too enticing not to notice and the brothers simply stared at her—enchanted.
James noticed his sons staring and coughed loudly to bring them back to Earth.
"I'm going back in," Sakura said, turning around.
"No, you're not." James held her by the shoulder, rather a bit too firm for her liking, to prevent her from escaping. "Have breakfast with your brothers." He emphasized the word brothers again.
"I've had mine, thanks," Sakura replied, desperate to get out.
James was having none of it and made her sit in the empty chair between Nicolas and Logan. Then he left to get more food, muttering to himself he really needed another cup of coffee because one wasn't enough, and a certain person refused to offer him another, as too much was bad for his health.
Sakura heard him and said loudly, "Too much caffeine isn't good for you, Daddy James."
James secretly smiled. Ah! Just the exact response he needed. Once at the door, he had a quick glance at his seven sons and saw the sour expressions on their faces. Ah! Yet another satisfying response. Daddy James, indeed.
Sakura placed Toby on her lap in front of her as if to form some sort of barrier between her and the brothers. Logan reached out to pet the dog. Sakura got very annoyed when Toby rubbed his head against the handsome man's palm and then even moved from her lap onto Logan's to sit. Not a moment later, the dog began to enjoy some of Logan's delicious bacon.
"Toby, behave yourself. No more bacon, all right?" She lectured. "Your cholesterol isn't too good at the moment."
Toby ignored her, and just when she thought she couldn't handle the brothers staring at her in silence any longer and was ready to leave this weird situation in the past, Sebastian said, "So you're Sally?"
Sakura felt her cheeks turn hot. "My name is Sakura. Pronounced Sa-ku-ra. It's a Japanese name meaning cherry blossom."
She thought she really needed to get that important information out for them to understand. She really did hate the name Sally. It rhymed with silly, after all.
"Sally means princess," Sebastian said.
"And you were the one giving the nickname to me," Sakura replied sarcastically. "I believe it also sounds rather like silly. Sally is silly. Sakura is silly."
The brothers shuffled uncomfortably in their seats as though all of a sudden memories came flooding back.
Sebastian couldn't believe this beautiful girl was Sakura, their adopted sister from years ago. The girl who Tara and Alaina had always picked on and made fun of. She was the girl he had secretly liked to watch from afar because she interested him. There had been too many incidents in the past involving her that he hadn't wanted to remember, and when he started boarding school, he'd pushed all those memories out of his mind and locked them deep within him. Eventually, he'd forgotten all about her because he'd never seen her again—that was until yesterday and then today.
James reappeared with another tray of scones, savory muffins, fried eggs, and toast. He placed it in the center of the table and sat down in the empty chair next to Sebastian.
"So…," He began. "Where are we up to?"
The brothers didn't know how to respond because none of them wanted to talk. James reached out for toast and began to eat it. The silence continued.
Darcy, sitting there silently staring at Sakura. Now he knew why he'd felt that odd, aching sensation back when he'd first sighted the island. It was because of her, Sakura, his adopted sister. He'd wanted to forget about her, and in fact, had done marvelously well for the past years. Not even a small thought of her had ever occurred to him. That was until today. Now every fragment of memory about her rushed back to him, knocking him over like a blast of ice-cold water, making him almost breathless. She was the Sakura he used to care about, used to like—used to love even. But that incident thirteen years ago had changed everything.
"Sakura," James said loudly, breaking the silence, "Mark phoned last night, asking for you."
Sakura looked up. The brothers turned their attention to their dad then. James could tell curiosity was eating at them, and he grinned rather pleasantly.
"But since you weren't feeling well, he left you a message."
"What is it?" Sakura asked.
"He was asking if you'd be free this afternoon."
"I'm free," Sakura said quickly. Anything to get out of staying at home with these men.
"Good. I told him you're free. He needs help at the lab, running tests."
"His research, I suppose," Sakura murmured under her breath. "He'll be at Lauren's birthday party anyway, so I'll go to the lab with him after."
"Of course," James said, smiling. "Sebastian." He turned to his son who was watching Sakura way too intensely, which of course warmed James's blood. "Would you like to be a volunteer?"
Sebastian turned to his father. "What?" Obviously, he wasn't paying attention.
"Mark needs healthy volunteers for his research," James said. "Unfortunately, I'm too old."
Sakura knew where James was going and quickly put in, "I'm sure he already has enough volunteers."
"I'd be happy to volunteer," Nicolas said. "What do I have to do?"
"Not much." James chuckled. "Just sit and let Sakura take your blood."
Sakura frowned at James. Her adopted father laughed at her sour expression.
"I'll volunteer," Logan said quickly.
"Me too," Conrad said. "So, Sakura, does it hurt? Taking blood, I mean."
The brothers were quite shocked that Conrad had managed to say their adopted sister's name without a hint of a quiver in his voice as if it were natural for him. Then again, Conrad had been very young when Sakura had been adopted, and so his interactions with her hadn't been much of anything before she'd left for boarding school. Hence, he didn't feel awkward calling her by her actual name.
"Maybe a little," she said, smiling at him.
Sebastian nearly choked on his breath when she smiled. It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. It was the same, of course, for the rest of his brothers because they couldn't stop staring at her, once again.
James, on the other hand, suddenly realized that not only did all his sons liked Sakura, but they were smitten with her. In a million years he never imagined that could be possible. Now he wondered if he'd be having more trouble keeping them away from Sakura.
"Oh, my!" Mary said the moment she was outside. "Look at you guys, taking my precious Sakura away." She came to stand behind her friend, and after greeting her seven cousins a good morning, she pulled Sakura up and tsked seriously that they were going to be late if they didn't hurry.
"What's the hurry?" Logan asked.
"Lauren's birthday party," Mary said. "Sakura and I were asked to help. It starts at ten. Oh, why don't you guys come along? I'm sure you remember Lauren. She's turning eighteen today."
"Yeah," Conrad said. "I remember Lauren."
Lauren Simpson, Mr. Mayor's one and only darling, was only a few years younger than Conrad himself. He remembered her back in elementary school as the girl with golden-brown hair and warm-brown eyes who always talked.
"Good," Mary said. "See you guys there." She then dragged Sakura, who was only too glad to be taken away, into the house to get their bags.
The brothers watched Sakura go—each had his very own odd expression on his handsome face.