Starting Over (Treading Water Trilogy) (28 page)

“Yep. It’s our tradition. What’re you hiding behind your back?”

“How do you know I’m hiding something?”

“What is it?” she demanded, trying to scoot around him to see what he had.

“Mike, ladies in dresses do not wrestle with men in suits,” Daphne said as she came to the door. Her eyes traveled over him with admiration. “Even very, very handsome men in suits.”

“You’re beautiful.” He kissed Daphne’s cheek. “Both of you.”

She slid her fingers over his tie. “You’re not too shabby yourself.”

“As stunning as my two best girls are, though, it seems there’s something missing.”

Daphne and Mike exchanged glances. “What?” Mike asked.

“These,” he said, bringing the orchids from behind his back.

“Oh,” Daphne said. “They’re gorgeous!”

“Can I smell?” Mike asked.

Brandon held the flower for her to smell and then bent to pin it on her sweater.

“Thank you, Brandon,” Mike said, kissing his cheek.

“Go brush your teeth, Mike,” Daphne said. “We have to leave in a few minutes.”

After Mike went into the apartment, Brandon turned to Daphne with the orchid. “Your turn.” He slipped his hand under Daphne’s sweater to pin on the flower. His fingers brushed against her warm skin, and he lingered there much longer than he needed to. With the flower in place, he drew her into his arms and dropped soft kisses on her neck.

“The flowers are beautiful. Thank you.” She reached up to cup the back of his neck and tugged him down for a proper kiss.

“Do I have time for one more cold shower before church?” he asked, his lips still pressed to hers.

“Nope. Time to go.”

“This is going to be a
very
long day,” he groaned as he reluctantly released her.

When they arrived at the church, they created the stir he’d predicted. They sat several rows behind his parents and Erin’s family. His mother turned in her seat to stare at him, Erin’s mouth hung open, and Dennis shook his head in amazement. Colin scooted in next to Brandon a few minutes after mass began. He saw no sign of Declan or Aidan, but Brandon knew his older brother hadn’t set foot in a church since Sarah died, and his younger brother was probably still celebrating his engagement.

He watched his mother and Erin whisper to each other while trying not to be obvious as they stared at Daphne.

“Let me guess,” Daphne whispered with a smile. “Your mother and sister?”

“What’s the give-away? The staring or the gawking?”

She laced her fingers around his and squeezed.

An unexpected surge of love for her left him breathless. He was taken aback when his eyes flooded with tears. Joy, like sorrow, often struck without warning in the midst of his sober life, leaving him raw and exposed to emotions that were all new to him. He’d be hard pressed to describe the feeling to anyone who hadn’t experienced the highs and lows of finally discovering life almost halfway through it.

Not much had changed in the more than twenty years since he’d been in the church—the pungent smell of incense, the music, and the pageantry were all as he remembered. Mike crawled into Brandon’s lap and rested her head on his shoulder during the priest’s homily. He noticed Colin staring at someone on the other side of the church and nudged his brother to ask who he was looking at.

“That’s her,” Colin whispered. “Meredith.”

Brandon stretched his neck to get a better look at the woman with long, dark hair but couldn’t see her face. “How do you know?” he whispered.

“I’d know that hair anywhere,” Colin said without taking his eyes off her, as if he was afraid she’d slip away when he wasn’t looking.

Brandon returned his attention to the mass, easing back into the routine of it like he’d never been away. He was impressed by how well behaved Mike was during the hour-long service. Obviously, she was used to being there.

Colin bolted after communion, hoping to see Meredith.

Outside the church, Brandon held hands with Mike and Daphne while he waited for his parents and the
Maloneys
to catch up to them.

“Mum, Erin, this is Daphne.”

Colleen shook hands with Daphne. “So nice to meet you, love. And who is this adorable girl? Could this be the little Mike I’ve been hearing all about?” She held out her arms to Mike who walked into them as if she’d been waiting all her life for this grandmother to find her.

Accustomed to being annoyed by his mother’s antics, Brandon felt his heart swell with love for her as she embraced the child he’d come to think of as his.

“Hey, Mike,” Josh said when Colleen finally released the girl. “How’s your head?”

“All better. How about yours?”

He smiled and lifted his blond hair to show off a still-colorful bruise before he led Mike over to where Erin’s children waited for their parents.

Brandon looked around but didn’t see Colin anywhere. He hoped his brother had managed to track down the elusive Meredith.

Erin hooked her arm through Daphne’s. “Let’s get going,” Erin said.

Daphne glanced over her shoulder in search of Brandon.

“I’m coming,” he said.

Erin’s driveway was full of cars when Brandon parked Daphne’s SUV at the curb.

Mike ran for the house when she saw Josh on the front porch, but Daphne stopped Brandon as he reached for the door.

“What,
hon
?”

“I’m nervous,” she confessed, clutching the bright bouquet of tulips she’d brought for Erin.

He leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Don’t be.”

“There’re so many of them.”

He laughed. “I’ll be right there with you.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. Kiss me.”

Daphne glanced at the porch full of O’Malleys. “Not here.”

“Right here,” Brandon said, pointing to his mouth.

She resisted for a second before she gave him what he wanted—and then some.

Groaning, he pulled away from her. “That was mean!”

“You asked for it.”

“We’re attracting an audience,” Brandon said, nodding to the porch where his parents, Erin, Tommy, and Aidan acted like they weren’t watching them. Brandon got out and walked around to open her door. “Come on.” He tugged her from the car. “I love you. I’ll be right there with you.”

The O’Malleys went out of their way to make Daphne feel welcome. Even Dennis was especially friendly, which Brandon appreciated. He and Daphne chose virgin Bloody
Marys
from the drinks Erin offered.

Colin came in a few minutes later and went straight to the bar. When Brandon caught his eye, Colin shook his head.

“I need to talk to Colin for a sec,” Brandon whispered to Daphne. “I’ll be right over there.”

“Okay.”

“What happened?” he asked Colin, who was twisting the cap off a beer.

“She was with her family, so I didn’t get a chance to talk to her.”

“Did she see you?”

He nodded. “She looked so sad. She might’ve talked to me if she hadn’t been surrounded by people.”

“I still think you should call her.”

Colin shrugged.

Brandon glanced over to where Daphne was being grilled by Colleen and Erin. “I need to go rescue her. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, go ahead. Daphne and Mike look beautiful.”

“Don’t they?”

“You’re a lucky man.”

“I feel lucky lately. You’ll get your turn, Col. I know it.”

“Yeah, sure. Any day now.”

Declan and Jessica arrived a short time later.

Noticing how they were glowing, Brandon exchanged glances with Colin.

After they greeted everyone and introduced Daphne to Jessica, Declan put his arm around Jessica. “So listen, everyone, we have news.” He looked down at Jess. “We’re engaged!”

The room erupted with congratulations, hugs, and kisses.

“Tommy!” Erin called as she reached for Jessica’s hand to see the ring. “Bust out the champagne!”

Brandon watched Aidan congratulate Declan and Jessica and then go out the front door to the porch.

Caught up in the excitement of looking at Jessica’s ring and hearing the story of how Declan popped the question, Daphne didn’t notice when Brandon slipped away.

He found Aidan hunched over the railing, studying the garden below.

“Who’d a
thunk
it, huh?” Brandon said, joining his brother at the rail.

“I know. It’s hard to imagine
him
as the only married O’Malley brother.”

“No kidding. Thanks for all the help yesterday. We’d still be there if you hadn’t shown up.”

“It was no problem. You’ve got yourself a beautiful lady there, Brand. Two of them, in fact.”

“Thanks. I’m doing my best not to screw it up.”

Aidan laughed.

“I, uh, I got a really nice note from Clare,” Brandon said, not sure if he should mention it.

Aidan’s eyes sparked with interest. “Really? What did she say?”

“She thanked me for my letter and apology and wished me well with my recovery.”

“Anything else?”

“Just that she was sorry things didn’t work out with you.”

Aidan’s jaw clenched as if he was absorbing a punch.

“Have you talked to her at all?”

Aidan shook his head. “What would be the point?”

“I’ll bet she misses you, too.”

“Maybe.”

Declan joined them on the porch. “Erin’s looking for you, Aidan.”

“I’m supposed to be helping her in the kitchen,” Aidan said on his way inside.

“How’s he doing?” Declan asked.

“Suffering in silence.”

“Sucks. I felt bad coming in here with my news after what happened when he proposed to Clare.”

“He’s happy for you. You know that. Although none of us can believe you’re going down first.”

“I know,” Declan said with a grin and a shrug. “But it’s the right time and the right girl.”

“When’s the big day?”

“Fourth of July. Neither of us wants the big white wedding, so we’re going to have a clambake in Mum’s backyard and let the town provide the fireworks.”

“That sounds perfect.”

Declan turned to him. “I need a best man. Are you interested?”

Brandon stared at his brother. “
Me?
”

“Yes, you,” Dec said with a chuckle. “What do you say?”

“I’d be honored.” Brandon hugged his brother and made a mighty attempt not to bawl his head off.

The door opened, and Daphne came out. Brandon extended his hand to her. “Hey, baby, I’m sorry. I was just coming back in.”

She took his hand. “I was fine, don’t worry. Jessica’s ring is beautiful, Declan.”

“This guy helped me pick it out.” Dec squeezed Brandon’s shoulders. “I’d better go back in with Jess before Mum takes over the wedding plans.”

When they were alone, Brandon drew Daphne into his arms.

“So you knew about this?” she asked.

“I didn’t know when it was going to happen, but Colin and I helped him buy the ring on the way home from Vermont.”

“It must be nice to be so close to your brothers.”

“He asked me to be his best man.”

“That’s wonderful, Brandon!”

“Just a couple of months ago, none of this would’ve been possible for me. I wasn’t close to my brothers when I was drinking. I wasn’t close to anyone but the bottle. That’s why I’m so astounded Dec asked me to be his best man. I mean, why me?”

“Because he knows he can count on you now.” She reached up to caress his face. “Do you miss it? Drinking?”

“I miss a cold beer at the end of a long day. I miss the guys I used to drink with. It would be a stretch to call them my friends, but we had some good times. I don’t miss feeling like shit every day or waking up somewhere and not knowing how I got there. I don’t miss that at all.”

Daphne winced. “What am I going to do if you go back to that? I know it’s possible things won’t work out between us, but if I lose you to that—”

“You won’t. And don’t even talk about it not working out between us. It’ll work out because I have something now that’s so much better than a cold beer ever was.”

She smiled. “Oh, yeah?”

“Oh
, yeah
,” he said, losing himself in a hot, deep kiss.

“For God’s sake, will you two cut it out?” Erin said when she came outside a minute later.

Daphne’s face flushed to a bright pink.

Brandon resisted her efforts to escape. “Buzz off, Erin.”

“I was just going to tell you it’s time to eat, if you can come up for air long enough.”

“Don’t listen to her,” he said to Daphne. “How do you think she ended up with five kids in five years?”

“Shut up and come eat,” Erin said, laughing as she went back inside.