Only One (Ward Sisters Book 2) (33 page)

Chapter 30

Liam sighed. Sooner or later, he'd have to come clean to Jenna about every dirty bit of his life. He hoped she'd still love him when it was all said and done. Even though she'd said before that she would, it scared the shit out of him that she might not.

He took a deep breath and made what would be the hardest and the easiest call of the three to his family. Dialing Mary Cate, he waited for her to yell at him. His mother would have called in between, despite the fact that he'd said he would call his twin.

“Joseph Liam Michael Neely! Are you a fucking idiot? What the
hell
are you thinking? You don't want to marry a girl because you got her pregnant! Do you want to end up like dad? Married for twenty-five years to a woman you don't love because you made a baby with her, when all along you were in love with someone else? Do you want to put your kids through what we went through? Didn't you learn from Dad's mistake?”

“You done?”

“No! And what about Nina? I thought you liked her? You said she was great, that you were happy, you thought maybe you'd finally grown up and could settle down? Were you lying?”

He said nothing because he knew she wasn't done.

“You don't have anything to say for yourself? Who is this girl? You got some random girl pregnant you haven't even seen in months? Who does that? Who gets pregnant and doesn't tell the guy? What were you doing? Did you forget to use a condom? You know better than that! Didn't you learn from Mary Sarah getting pregnant on the pill?”

“You done yet? You think I could get a word in edgewise?”

“Fine. Spill.”

“I told you about her before, Mary Cate.”

“This is Jenna? The girl who works for Robbie?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. Well, you didn't say that.”

“Hard to say anything with you running off at the mouth.”

“Sorry. So, Jenna? You're marrying Jenna? I
knew
you were in love with her. You've been in love with her since you met her, haven't you?”

He sighed. There were good and bad things about being a twin. He didn't need to ask how she knew, she always did.

“Yes. I told her last winter. Finally got the balls to admit how I felt about her and was ready to make a real commitment to her, stop screwing around with other girls and treat her the way she deserved. But then all that shit went down with Rob and Emily...”

“Right. And being a dumbass, you probably never bothered to call her. Let me guess, you didn't have that kind of relationship.”

“Yeah.”

“You're a fucking moron.” Only his sister could talk to him like that and mean it in the nicest possible way.

He sighed. “Tell me about it. I'm lucky she's even speaking to me, let alone agreed to marry me.”

“She must be due soon, then. You haven't seen her since you left L.A., have you?”

“Nope, not until today. She showed up with a pretty big belly. Soon as I saw it, I knew the baby was mine.”

“What the fuck happened, Liam? I know you love her, but were you too stupid to use a condom?”

“No, it broke, and her pill failed, too. It wasn't on purpose, Mary Cate, but I'm not sorry. I didn't know I wanted to be a dad, but I do. I wish I'd been there for her through her pregnancy.”

“Well, you're going to be there from now on, aren't you?”

“Yeah. When we go back to L.A., I'll stay until the baby is born and he can travel back here with us. We'll move in with Rob and Emily after that.”

“It's a boy?”

Liam's voice grew thick again. He was still so in awe of it all. “Yeah. Jenna wants to name him Robert Cameron.”

“No shit. Well, of course. She's a Bruins fan, right?”

“Yeah. You remember that?”

“Liam, you've never talked so much about a girl in your life. I thought it was strange that you stopped mentioning her, but I just figured Jenna had given up on you ever getting your act together and she'd met someone smart enough to hold on to her. Then you told me about Nina and I thought maybe you'd moved on, too. So, what happened with Nina? Did you break up with her?”

“Yeah. It sucked. She was good about it, but I hated hurting her, Mary Cate. She's such a great girl. I really liked her. Probably could have fallen for her, could have made a life with her.”

“But then you'd have been Dad.”

He sighed. “Right. Why the hell didn't you call me on my shit about Jenna before?”

“Because you never listen to me, anyway. I knew you'd get your head out of your ass eventually. You did, didn't you?”

“Yeah. Almost too late, though.”

“Well, better late than never, right?”

“Yeah. Look, we're getting married on Monday. Can you be here?”

“You kidding? Like I'd miss it. What time?”

“Noon. I'll send you the GPS coordinates for the house. Can you send them to mom and Dad? I don't know if anyone else will come, but you can give it to them, too.”

“Dad coming with Peggy?”

“Yeah, mom's not excited about it, but I'm not gonna tell him she can't be here.” Mary Cate grunted her assent. Like Liam, she had grown fond of Peggy over the years and felt bad that it still hurt their mother so much to see Bobby with his second wife.

“Who else is coming?”

“The Deacons are here. Jenna's mom and dad will be here, too. Her mom lives in Belmont. She might be on one of your charity committees.”

“You think? What's her name?”

“Allison Ackerman. Or maybe she changed her name. I can't remember if Jenna said she switched her name after her divorce.”

“Wait,
what
? Did you say her name is
Ackerman
?”

“Yeah, why?”

“No fucking way.”

“Do you know her mother?”

“Know her mother? I know Jenna! She was my best friend in college!”

“What? No. That can't be possible. The girl you kept trying to fix me up with?”

“Yes! Holy shit! I
knew
you two should be together. I can't believe she never told me!”

“What do you mean? Do you still talk to her?”

“Sometimes. Not often enough. You've been together for how long now? Three years?”

“Three and a half. You're serious? You know Jenna?”

“Hell yes! Damn. And she works for Robbie. I
knew
she worked for someone famous, but she'd never said who.”

“She wouldn't. She's even more protective of his privacy than he is. Amy is his publicist, but Jenna is the pit bull.”

“Oh yeah? She's the three-headed dog, huh?”

“What?”

“Sorry. Harry Potter reference. I'm reading that to Lila Beth right now. I can't believe you're with Jenna. Do you know how hard I tried to make that happen when we were in college?”

“You only mentioned it every time we spoke on the phone.”

“I wasn't that bad.”

“Yeah, you were. You always called her Jen. I knew she went to BU at the same time as you. I never thought to ask if she knew you because you weren't in the same program and most of your friends were from the swim team.”

“Most, but not all. Jenna was my best friend, though. She's the one who took your place when you left me for the great white north.”

“Are you ever going to forgive me for that?”

“No. Okay, maybe. If you're really moving back this way, and if you're really going to marry my other best friend. Finally.”

“I'm really marrying her. God, I love her. I just...I don't know why I was such an idiot for so long.”

“Because you're a man. I told you this before, did I not? I love you, Liam, but you're no better than any other man. Hell, half the time, you're worse.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Mary Cate.”

“Oh, shut up. You know what I mean. Too damn stubborn to listen, even if you know someone is right.”

“Meaning you.”

“Of course. Did I not try to get you to meet Jenna for four years straight? If you'd have listened to me then, you could have been with her all that time. Maybe you'd never have gone into the CIA. Maybe you wouldn't have gotten shot.”

“And maybe I wouldn't work for Rob.”

“Nah. You'd still have done that. He trusts you with his life.”

“He does. Hey, look, I have to go, but are you going to come up early?”

“What, you mean, like, crash Robbie's wedding?”

“You know he'd love to have you here. He can't say no to you.”

“Ha! That's what you think.”

“I don't want to know. Then I might have to punch him, and I don't want to listen to Christopher if I make his pretty face ugly for the wedding tomorrow.”

“Christopher? Not Jenna's Christopher?”

“Uh, if you mean her best friend from high school, yeah. He works on the team. He's Rob's stylist. Has been for years.”

“Holy shit! I love that man. Hell, yeah, I'll come early! Wait? When is the wedding?”

“Tomorrow at one. Why?”

“Crap. Well, I'll miss the ceremony, but I'll crash the party after. Lila Beth has swimming at ten and then she goes with Tony's parents for the rest of the weekend. I'll leave as soon as they pick her up at the house.”

“Sounds good. I'll send you the GPS coordinates and I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Mom and Dad freak out?”

“No worse than you did.”

Mary Cate laughed. “No, I'm sure it wasn't as bad as me. You knew I'd read you the riot act.”

“Of course. Since when don't you?”

“I love you, little brother.”

“Last I checked, I'm bigger than you.”

“Ha! You're still four minutes younger.”

Liam laughed. This was their goodbye ritual. “Just means you'll be old first.”

“Yeah, but I'll always be prettier than you.”

“Yes you will. Love you.”

“Love you too. Congratulations.”

“Thanks.”

Liam took a deep breath and held it. That was exhausting. Of course, with his family, no matter what the circumstances, the process would have been tiring. He stood and made his way back to the house, where he looked forward to kissing Jenna and holding her in his arms.

He had to wonder if she knew he was Mary Cate's brother. There would be time to talk about it later. Once again, he felt guilty to be relieved that Nina didn't stay. Now they just had to get through Rob and Em's wedding.

**********

Jenna's phone played Cindi Lauper's
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
and she smiled.

Liam had talked to Catie.

“Don't be mad,” she answered.

“Bitch! I can't believe you've been with my brother for three and a half years and you never told me! And don't try to give me some bullshit that you had no idea he was my brother. I know you. You've probably known the whole time.”

“Busted. I actually figured it out right after I met him. When I saw his eyes, I thought he was your brother. As soon as he said his name, it set off alarm bells. The more things he told me that made it pretty obvious he was your twin, the more curious I became. I checked into it the, uh, next morning.”

“After you slept with him.”

“Yes.”

“You're having a baby with my brother. Do you know what that means?”

“It means we're family. For real now.” Jenna choked up. Catie had always been the sister she'd never had.

“Yeah,” Catie said, tears in her voice. “And now it doesn't mean a damn thing that Tony doesn't want us to be friends. Now, he doesn't get a say.”

“Did he tell you that? Did he make you stop calling and emailing?”

“You know he'd never do anything that obvious. He's too slick for that. At first, he just made it difficult. And then he made me feel guilty if I even implied that I wanted to see you. As if it would have harmed Lila Beth irreparably for me to be away without her for even a few hours.”

Jenna sighed. “I knew it would come to that. As soon as you said you were marrying him, I knew that would happen. If not right away, eventually.”

“Well, you were right. Happy now?”

“No. I don't want you to be miserable.”

“I'm not. Most of the time, when I'm with Lila Beth, I'm happy. I hardly see Tony. He's gone all the time. It's when I'm alone that I feel sad. I...I never told Liam about Noah. Don't say anything to him, okay? He thinks I married Tony because I love him. He'd never have let me do it if he thought I was marrying for anything other than love.”

“I know. Your secret is safe with me.”

“Yes, you're apparently Fort Knox. Keeping the fact that you were the love of my brother's life from me. Failing to mention that Robbie Deacon was your big, high-profile boss. You know, I could have kicked Liam's ass a long time ago if I'd known.”

Jenna took a deep breath. “I know. But I didn't tell you for the same reason I didn't tell Liam. I wanted him to tell me himself.”