Authors: Natalie Ann
He tried not to be hurt by those words, but he understood. It was still early and they didn’t know that much about each other, but he still wanted to know. “Is she sick?”
“Physically, no. Mentally, yes. My mother suffers from depression, but she has been strong and well for a few years now. It’s all good.”
He knew she was done talking. There was more to it than that, though. There had to be, but he accepted what she said. “You’re pretty protective of her too, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I am.”
“So you met the bickering twins?”
Sean looked up from his computer to see Brynn standing in the doorway Monday morning. “Yep.”
“First impressions?” she asked, a grin tugging at her lips.
“You summed them up well.”
Brynn walked in a few more feet and sat in the chair across from him, looked to be hesitating, and finally said, “Carly was pretty embarrassed over the whole thing.”
He knew that, he was there too. “She was. I told her not to be.”
“What happened?”
“She didn’t tell you?”
“Not in great detail, no. Just that she was embarrassed and that you were insulted.”
“I wasn’t. Not really. Not enough to be angry. I know their hearts were in the right place.” And he convinced himself of that when he went home the next day…after he replayed the whole scene in his head again and again, trying to calm the sense of unease about it all.
“What did they say?”
“She didn’t tell you?”
“No.”
He wasn’t going to go into it then. It was best to let it go. “Nothing important.”
Brynn mulled it over, he saw, then tilted her head and said, “Anything else happen?”
“What do you want to know? It seems to me Carly told you what she wanted you to know,” he countered. He didn’t want to play head games but was having fun pulling Brynn along. Maybe he could find out a few things he felt he was missing.
“She did,” Brynn said back, grinning. “I know she told you about her mother.”
“She did.” Sean threw the words back at Brynn.
“I was surprised, if you must know.”
“Why’s that?” It was a good opening to find out more.
“As far as I know, you are the first man she’s ever told about her mother.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“It is to her. She never wanted to be judged. You know, the whole, the apple-doesn’t-fall-far-from-the-tree fear.”
Sean snorted. “That is the furthest thing from the truth I’ve ever heard.”
“I agree, but you know Carly. She’s tender.”
“The heart on the sleeve thing again. I get it.” Sean leaned back in his chair, placed his hands on his stomach and got comfortable. “Since you started this conversation, I’m going to expand on it. I feel like there are pieces missing from a puzzle here and everyone knows what they are but me. What’s going on?”
Brynn took a deep breath, bobbed her head side to side, pursed her lips and finally said, “It’s not for me to say.”
“But there is something?”
Again with the head bobbing and hedging. “Yeah. But you didn’t hear it from me. And the reason I’m giving you this much is because Carly told me she loved you. She told me she
told you
she loved you.”
His face flushed. He tried not to let that happen, but it was a bit personal and he was surprised Carly confided so much in Brynn. Then again, having sisters, he knew they did that all the time with each other. Carly and Brynn were as close as sisters, so he couldn’t really take exception to it. “What else did she say?”
“Not much more. I know the feelings are shared, if that is what you’re getting at,” Brynn replied. “I’m glad. I’m happy for both of you. I like you, Sean. I always did. I mean, after all, you interviewed me first and without you I wouldn’t have been hired or found Alec and be living in a blissful marriage.” She giggled at her own comment.
“Nor would you be busting my balls all the time either. But I guess we have to take the good with the bad.”
She laughed, like he knew she would. “Very true.”
“Since it seems you owe me so much, answer me this at least. Was Carly hurt?”
“What do you mean?”
“Who or what hurt her?”
Deep breath again from Brynn. “Just know that Carly is a strong independent woman who has a ton of love in her heart. Not just for you and her mother and grandmother, but also for everyone she helps. It’s who she is now. Who she always was. In her mind, anything that happened to her in the past only helped form her into the wonderful person she is now.”
Sean knew there was no getting anything else from Brynn. There was no use even asking. He’d have to take that answer and pick it apart another time. “She is pretty wonderful.”
***
After Brynn left, Sean picked his phone up and dialed. “Hi, baby,” he heard his mother say on the other end. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong. Why does there have to be something wrong?”
“Because you never call me unless there is a problem or you’re worried about something. It’s early in the week, too,” she said slyly, hinting that he had to have known she would have called him today or tomorrow.
Sometimes there was no getting around family, not when they knew you so well. “There’s nothing wrong,” he tried to assure her again.
“You aren’t calling to tell me you won’t be making it for Thanksgiving, are you? You know better than to blow your family off for some new girl you’re dating.”
He heard the laughter in her voice and knew she was joking. “Honestly, that
is
the reason I’m calling.”
“You’re going to go to Carly’s family’s instead?” she asked.
He heard the hurt in her voice and didn’t want to pull her along any further. “No. I was actually thinking of bringing her with me to meet everyone.”
“Finally! Oh dear, I’m so happy,” his mother squealed into the phone. He could almost picture her with her hands clasped in front of her chest and tears in her eyes and he tried not to cringe over it.
“Mom, don’t be getting ahead of yourself on this. I haven’t even broached the subject with her. She has family in town and she may prefer to spend it with them.” He probably should have mentioned it to Carly first before his mother. Now if for some reason Carly couldn’t make it, or didn’t want to go, he’d never hear the end of it from his family.
“She’ll be here. We know you can be just as persuasive as the rest of us when you want something bad enough.”
That was true, but he was hoping he wouldn’t have to convince Carly. He was hoping she’d be willing to go. “Either way, I expect everyone to be on their best behavior.”
He heard the snort loud and clear. “When aren’t we on our best behavior around one of your girlfriends?”
“Do I need to start listing the times? Why do you think it’s been so long since I’ve ventured to bring one home?”
“Good point. I’ll talk to your sisters. But you know they’re going to be so excited. Sean, it’s been years since you brought someone home for us to meet. The only time any of us have met someone was when we visited you.”
It was true. He hadn’t meant for that to happen, but it seemed there wasn’t anyone serious enough in the last few years to subject her to his entire family at once. “Well, Carly is different.”
“Different how?”
“Different in that I’ll be pretty ticked off if anyone isn’t on their best behavior.” Since he very rarely lost his temper or showed any signs of anger, he figured his mother would get the hint.
“Okay. I’ll let you go then. I know you’re busy.”
She didn’t make a comment on his last statement and now she was rushing to get off the phone. Great. “Going to call Anna right now, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am.”
He knew his mother well. “Going to warn her to behave herself?”
“What? Oh yeah, sure. I’ll make sure she does.”
“Then you’re going to call Kristy and Melissa, right?” he said, laughing to himself. He wasn’t stupid; she wasn’t calling to tell them to behave. She was calling to tell them how excited she was he was bringing someone home.
“Absolutely. Have a good afternoon. Bye, Sean,” she said, then hung up before he could say another word.
He wasn’t sure if Carly would want to spend the holiday away from her mother. As much as he saw the tension between the three of them, he knew they were close. He hoped he could convince her, but if she didn’t want to, he would understand too. And then he would try to hide the hurt.
“Are you nervous?” Brynn asked the weekend before Thanksgiving.
“Yeah. I mean this is a big deal, right? Not just meeting his parents, but his entire family. I’m going to be so outnumbered.”
“You’ll do just fine. You’re good with crowds.”
“Not with adults. With kids, yes,” Carly corrected.
“There will be plenty of kids there, so you have that buffer too. Did you say there were nine of them?”
“Yes, all ages. I think Sean said their ages range from three to seventeen. His sisters are pretty close in age, the three of them born in five years, but the youngest is still seven years older than Sean.”
“You know quite a bit about them, then?” Brynn asked.
“Bits and pieces. He talks about his family often. I know everyone’s names at least. Now I can put a face to the names.” Well, that wasn’t true. She’d studied the pictures on Sean’s wall enough that she knew everyone’s name and face, as long as they hadn’t changed too much from when the picture was taken.
“Then you at least have that covered.”
“What’s wrong?” Carly asked, noticing how pale Brynn had just gotten. She’d been awfully quiet, too.
“Nothing, why?”
“You don’t look well. Are you coming down with something?”
“I don’t think so. I hope not. I want to see the baby tonight.”
Brynn had texted her that Sophia had gone into labor yesterday and delivered last night. A healthy baby boy named Ian Philip. “How are Sophia and Ian doing?”
“They’re doing well. They were both sleeping when we finally could get in to see them last night. Sophia still looked beautiful, but she was exhausted. Phil looked pretty rattled over it all. I overheard him saying to Alec that he didn’t think he was going to be able to make it listening to her yelling and seeing her in pain.”
“Childbirth is painful,” Carly said.
“And you know that firsthand,” Brynn said, smiling.
“Of course not.” But she wanted to. “Want to know something funny?”
“Sure, make me laugh,” Brynn replied.
Carly swatted her hand at Brynn. “Seriously. This morning when I got out of the shower there were two texts waiting for me. One from you and one from Sean, both telling me about Ian’s birth. He gave me more details than you did.”
“What do you mean? I said his name and weight,” Brynn argued.
“But Sean gave his time of birth.”
“Why did you need to know that?” Brynn said, looking all indignant.
“Because that is normally what people ask—name, weight and time of birth.”
“Well, Sean is an old pro at it since he’s been through it nine times. Cut me some slack, it was my first birth announcement.”
“There, again, you just paled,” Carly said, pointing her finger. “Are you pregnant?”
“What? Where did that come from?”
“Seriously, Brynn, are you? Do you even know?”
Brynn’s eyes filled. “I think I am, but I haven’t said anything to anyone, not even Alec. I’m just a few days late, but I feel it, you know?”
“No, I don’t know.” But Carly said it with a smile, got up and walked over to hug Brynn where she was sitting on the stool in Carly’s kitchen. Carly thought it was odd Brynn asked if she could stop over this morning and if Sean was around. Once Sean had left an hour ago, Brynn didn’t hesitate to make her way over. “Are you happy about it?”
“Of course I am, but I’m scared. My God, Carly, I could hear women screaming in the birthing unit last night. I don’t want to go through that. I remember when Kaitlin had the twins and how scared everyone was when she got rushed into surgery. But it didn’t seem to bother me like it did last night with Sophia.”
“That’s because you didn’t know everyone that well back then. You weren’t as vested as you are now. But now you see yourself there, in their shoes and in their place, right?”
“Yeah, I do. Sophia’s mom is flying in today; so is her father. They were both upset they missed it, but Sophia went into labor earlier than they thought.”
“And you’re thinking how your mom is going to miss this?” Carly should have realized that was part of this.
“I am. It’s not fair.” Brynn wiped her eyes with her knuckles. “I’m emotional, just ignore me.”
“Because you’re pregnant. I know you are. Go buy a test, please. Go do it right now. I’ll keep it a secret, I promise.”
“I don’t know. What if I’m not?”
“You are, because now you’re wishy-washy, and you are
never
wishy-washy. Go do it.”
“Can you go buy it for me?”
“Nope. My luck someone would see me and recognize me. No way am I going to be seen buying a pregnancy test. Sorry, you’re on your own.”
“I don’t suppose you have one here in the house?” Brynn asked, joking.
“If I did, I would have offered it, but you know better than that.”
“Fine, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Carly watched Brynn walk out the door. She was happy for Brynn, she truly was. Now she was going to really be Aunt Carly, and not just to a dog, because she was positive Brynn was pregnant.
As much as she wished it were her, she wasn’t jealous in the least. Mainly because she knew that she and Sean were getting there. She could see it—she wasn’t overthinking things, she wasn’t jumping the gun and she wasn’t wishing on stars. She just knew that her time was finally coming. She just didn’t know when.
When Brynn returned fifteen minutes later, Carly could see the excitement on her face now. “What am I supposed to do, just pee on the stick?”
“You didn’t read it,” Carly said.
“No,” Brynn said sheepishly, “I just want to go do it.”
“Give me the box. Let’s go.” Carly grabbed the box and walked up the stairs to the bathroom with Brynn following while she opened it and took out the stick. “Here, go do your thing. Then we need to wait.”
When Brynn was done, she walked into Carly’s bedroom where Carly was waiting on the side of her bed. “Talk to me while we wait. Distract me.”
A distraction was good. They both needed one. “Did you know Sean’s family has Thanksgiving dinner at their pub?”
“Really? Is it open to the public?”
“No. The family is so big, that no one has a house big enough. I guess years ago they decided to eat at the pub. He said it’s a blast, plenty of room, and the kids have all sorts of things to do between pool, video games in the back, and darts. There are plenty of TVs and they can watch all different things, and everyone is happy there.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun really. But I think my Thanksgiving is going to be bigger than yours,” Brynn boasted.
“How’s that? There are fewer kids than Sean’s family.”
“But more adults. Isabel and Michele Mathews, Ryan’s mother, decided to do the holiday jointly this year. It’s going to be at Kaitlin and Ryan’s house since it’s massive.”
“Your house is pretty big,” Carly said.
“Nothing like Ryan’s, trust me. He can fit us all and then some. Anyway, it’s Kaitlin, Ryan, Phil, Sophia, Alec, me, Ben, Presley, Alec’s parents, Ryan’s parents, Lucas, Brooke, Mac, Beth, all the kids.” Brynn stopped counting on her fingers, then waited while she thought. “Oh, my father, Drew, and probably Sophia’s parents, which is four more, since they are both remarried too. Maybe they won’t stay that long. It’s still four days away.”
“That is a lot.”
“I lost count. I don’t know. More than you though, right? You have close to twenty; I think it’s close to thirty at ours. Either way, I’m just glad I’m not doing anything for it.”
“I offered to bring a dessert, or something, but Sean said his mother refused. She didn’t want me to bring or do anything. Since it’s at the pub, it’s not like I can even bring wine. I offered that too and Sean laughed at me.”
“I’m sure you will think of something, Carly. You always do, you little Suzy Homemaker.”
“I’ve got a few ideas.” Carly stopped and looked at her watch. “Time’s up. Go look.”
“I can’t,” Brynn said. “I can’t get my legs to move. You go do it.”
“You want me to be the first to know?” she asked.
“You will be anyway.”
“Not really, you would be if you looked at it,” Carly insisted.
“I can’t. If I can’t have my mom here with me, I’d rather it be you, any day. Please, go look for me.”
Carly reached over and hugged Brynn on the bed next to her, then stood up and walked out of the room. She wasn’t nervous about looking; she knew Brynn was pregnant. She felt it deep down and didn’t need the stick to confirm it in her mind.
Looking at it quickly, she noted the results and walked back to the bedroom with tears in her eyes. “Tell Droopy he is going to have a sibling soon.”