Misty Blue (31 page)

“You two sure look happy,” he said.

“How can you tell?” Mia quipped.

“Oh, maybe that stupid smile on your face.” He glanced at Damien. “And that same stupid smile on your husband’s face gave me a clue.”

“We’re in love,” Mia sang, “And we’re newlyweds.”

Keefe shook his head and stared for a moment at his new brother-in-law. “Damien, thanks for making Mia happy. I’m sorry that our mother made things so tough for you. I never would have believed that she would grope you right there at the wedding, right under Mia’s nose. That’s a new low, even for her.”

Keefe was smiling but stopped when he saw the silly grin Damien had been sporting all night slide off his face. He turned just in time to see the grin leave Mia’s face. God, she hadn’t known. He glanced toward Ashleigh, who was giving him a knowing look of pity.

“Damien, I’m sorry. I thought you told her.”

“Told me what?” Mia asked, the knowing in her voice as she looked from her brother to Ashleigh. Then her gaze landed and stayed on her husband. “Did all of you know?”

“Mia, it was no big deal.”

“Then why did the three of you try so hard to keep it from me?”

“How the hell was I supposed to tell you that?” Damien asked quietly.

“Maybe the same way that you told Ashleigh or the way you told my brother.”

“I didn’t tell Keefe.”

“But you told Ashleigh?”

“Mia, I was asking her advice. I just wanted to know if she thought I should tell you.”

“And she said no.” Mia glared at Damien, then Ashleigh, then her brother. “You knew this, Kee?”

She felt a stab of pain in her chest and closed her eyes, willing the pain and the image of her mother groping her husband to go away. Then she blinked and opened her eyes. That was her old process. She was tired of burying her feelings.

“I want to know exactly what happened,” she insisted.

“Not now, baby girl. I’ll tell you when we get home. We’re having a good time. There’s no need to spoil the evening.”

“I’d say that ship has sailed. I want to discuss it now.” Mia refused to acquiesce. “Aren’t you the one who said we won’t lie? Did you mean me or both of us?” She saw Damien’s jaw clench and knew he was getting annoyed. And she didn’t care, not one little bit.

“The three of you have a hell of a lot of nerve.”

“Mia, there’s no need for you to swear,” Keefe admonished.

She turned and stared at her brother. “I’m an adult, big brother, a married woman. I can say what I please. And I meant what I just said. How dare any of you try to decide what’s best for me. What did you do? Have a meeting, take a vote? Did you all decide that Mia was too weak, too looney to handle the fact that her mother felt her husband up at her wedding?”

She began shaking. “God, I hate her!” she spit out. “I’ll never forgive her for that, ever.”

Keefe touched his sister’s hand, surprised that she was making a scene at the table. She really was changing. Still, he attempted to calm her down. “Mia, you’re upset now. You’ll get over it.”

“I don’t think so,” she answered, then glared at Damien. “Is that why she told Jerry that you got an erection?”

Damien’s mouth opened. “I didn’t encourage her, Mia.”

“I believe him, Mia,” Keefe interjected.”

“So do I,” Ashleigh added.

“Who asked you, either of you?” Mia almost screamed. “It’s none of your business. I didn’t ask for your opinions. I asked my husband. Damien, I can’t believe that you kept something like this from me. When were you going to tell me?” She blinked rapidly to keep back the tears. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

“I don’t know,” Damien answered truthfully. “Probably not. I didn’t think it would serve any purpose.”

“And what purpose do you think not telling me has served other than to let me know that I can’t trust either my husband or my brother. Thank you for helping me learn that lesson.”

“Mia,” Damien interrupted. “You know that’s not true.”

She turned her hand to him. “Don’t talk to me, or I’m going to scream right here.”

She cut into her steak and began eating, ignoring the three people at the table. Her new process was frightening but at least her stomach wasn’t tied in knots.

When she was done eating, she looked up at the three of them staring at her. “I can’t remember ever being this angry and in time I’ll more than likely forgive all of you. Just not tonight. I’m not in the mood for forgiving so easily. As for Mom, I meant it when I said I’m never forgiving her. I hate her and she’s not my problem any longer. When she comes to town, you deal with her, Keefe. She calls, you answer. I don’t want anything to do with her, not ever again.”

“You know I won’t go to her aid without your coercion.”

“Then she won’t be receiving any more aid because I won’t be coercing you.”

“This isn’t like you, Mia.”

“You mean it wasn’t like me, Kee. This is the new me. Get used to it.”

She saw the hurt in her brother’s eyes, the simmering anger in her husband’s and the confusion in Ashleigh’s. Okay, she was changing too rapidly for them to keep up with. She sighed to herself, then smiled to take away the sting of her words.

“How do any of you expect to know if I’m unhappy if I don’t tell you? I’m ticked at all of you. I don’t want any of you wondering if I’m really angry. I want you to know for sure. I am angry.”

* * *

Mia couldn’t believe how liberating it felt to admit that she was angry. She still wasn’t done and as she walked behind Damien into their apartment, she intended to show him just how not through she was. She wanted to know the details, all of it.

“Okay,” she said and sat on the sofa. “Tell me when, what and where.”

“Why?”

“Because all of you know and I think I should also. I’m your wife.”

“Are you blaming me for this?”

“Just tell me.”

“On the dance floor.” Damien sighed. “Right before I walked away from her. She had been doing things all day but I looked over them. I didn’t want to upset you. I mean, after all, she’s your mother. I figured most of it was because she’d had a few drinks. I thought, what the heck, humor her a little, maybe it would be enough to make her back off. Besides, I was teasing you, remember? I wanted to make you leave. I thought my dancing with her would do it.” He shrugged his shoulders and took a second before continuing.

“I’ll admit I knew she pushed your buttons and you were a bit jealous. I was going to use it to make you leave the reception. I take full responsibility for that, baby. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I was wrong to try and manipulate you like that.”

“What happened?” Mia questioned, with not a trace of emotion in her voice.

“She ran her hand down the front of my pants, then she cupped me.”

“Why didn’t you push her hand away when she first touched you?”

“It all happened so fast.” He looked sadly at her. “You are blaming me?”

“I’m only after the facts. Between touching you and cupping you, you couldn’t push her away?”

Damien didn’t answer.

“Did you have an erection?”

“Yes.”

“Is that why you didn’t push her hand away?”

Damien folded his hands across his chest and sat back. “This is your story. Suppose you tell me. Did I want your mother? Did I get a hard-on because she touched me? Did I not push her hand away because I liked her touching me? I’m the one on trial here, you tell me what your verdict is.”

Mia looked at him for a moment. He was glaring at her. It would be nice if some of the blame for her mother’s behavior could be apportioned to someone else, but not to her husband. That she wouldn’t do. She knew in her heart Damien wasn’t guilty of the crime.

She leaned back and tucked her legs underneath her body, her gaze locked with her husband’s. “I know it wasn’t your fault. I just hate that my own mother would do that. I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to feel sorry for, Mia. You didn’t do it, your mother did.”

“Yeah, but do you have any idea how that makes me feel?”

“Responsible. I know, but we both have to learn that we can’t control others’ behavior. We can barely control our own. Will you forgive me for trying to use your mother to make you jealous? I should have known better.”

“Yes, I forgive you, just don’t ever do it again.”

Damien stretched his legs out in front of him. “That was some performance you pulled back in the restaurant. I thought you were going to kill either Keefe or me, or both. Your poor brother,” Damien laughed. “He looked totally flabbergasted. I’ve never seen him speechless. He didn’t know what to make of you.”

“I know,” Mia grinned. “Screaming and yelling is not part of my process.”

“You know he’s going to blame me for your changing?”

“I know.” Mia grinned again.

“And you’re okay with that?”

“It serves you right for hiding things from me.” She cocked her head to the side. “Damien, I’m serious. Don’t do it again,” she said in a sterner voice.

“I suppose you want me to stay on my side of the bed tonight?” he asked, looking down at her.

“No, that would be punishing me,” Mia replied. “And I’m not a masochist.” She smiled, then grinned when Damien lifted her, then carried her off to the bedroom.

* * *

Mia couldn’t believe how quickly the time was passing. In just a couple of weeks they would be celebrating their six month anniversary. She had less than a year before she earned her Ph.D. and Damien had surprised her just a month before saying that he wanted to be a veterinarian.

Mia looked over the list that she still had to finish, ignoring the comment Damien had made.

“Are you ignoring me?” Damien asked.

“Yes, this is our first Christmas together and I want us to spend the day together.”

“We will,” he argued, “but they need me to work at the club. They’re willing to pay me double.”

Mia’s hip jutted out and she leveled her husband with a glare meant to stop him in his tracks and it did. “This is important,” she said. “I spent Thanksgiving in the club sitting at a table alone while you sang. I’m not spending Christmas like that. You’re just going to have to tell them that you’re not working.”

“What if I get fired?”

“Then you get fired.” She turned away from him. She was sounding bossy and a bit like a shrew and she didn’t like it.

“You’re being unreasonable.”

“I don’t think so.” She kept working on her list, the memory of the first holiday in her life she’d not spent with her brother on her mind. He’d gone with Ashleigh to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with her parents and Mia had felt alone. Mia had no plans to put a damper on her brother’s love life but at the same time he was the only blood relative that she was claiming and she didn’t want to start a habit of them going their separate ways on the holidays. She’d talked to him, told him just how she felt. And together the two of them had decided that no matter what, they would spend two of the major holidays together, even if it was for only part of the day. Christmas was the first holiday dinner that she would be fixing for her new husband and her brother. It was their opportunity to bond as a family.

“Mia, how are we going to pay all our bills if I lose my job? Singing pays three times what I make at the zoo. We’ve already taken a chunk out of our savings to pay my tuition. Do you want me to drop out before I even start?” he asked.

“You know I want you to go back to school.”

“Then we need the money.”

“There are some things more important than money and I think spending our first Christmas together is one of those things.”

“You’re not giving an inch on this?”

“I can’t, it’s too important.”

“Mia, you’re stubborn,” he said, coming up to her. “But if it’s that important to you, I won’t fight you on it. Hopefully I’ll have a job singing the day after Christmas, but like you said, there are some things more important than money. And without a doubt you are the most important thing in my life.”

“Don’t worry about the money for your classes. I’ll pay for them.”

“Before I met you if a woman had made that offer I would have taken her up on it without a thought. But no thanks, baby. I’ll pay for this on my own.” Damien whispered in her ear.

“And before you, I would have never made the offer,” Mia answered. “Keefe would have killed me. I have a compromise,” she said. “We can pay for it together, just include it as a household expense and pay for it from our joint account.”

“We’ll see, baby girl. Hopefully it won’t come to that. This is really something I want to take care of on my own. It means a lot to me.” He pulled her tighter. “I’d say it’s as important for me to do it myself as my staying home for Christmas is for you.”

“That sounds like blackmail. Okay, I understand, just know that you don’t have to worry about the money. What’s mine is yours. Okay?”

“Okay, thanks, baby.”

He held her from behind and nibbled on her neck. “That’s an awfully long list that you have there.”