* * * *
Gavin made a few phone calls. They could get married that very day. Since this was a big day for Ryan, they told him and Brayden, but that was it. Gavin gave Taylor a song and dance about it being easier this way. And it would. Mom would probably not speak to him for a week when she found out, but they could still do that big ceremony thing later. Taylor’s chilled fingers cooled his palm. Holding hands, they stood before the desk in Judge Robert McAffery’s office.
When they walked out of here, Taylor would be his wife. His. He looked again at her.
Coppery strands of hair trailed down from her French twist. Her gaze was locked on the judge and there was that slight crease on her forehead, but her dimples faintly peeked out.
Everything would be fine.
Out of the corner of her eye, she cut her gaze to him, and her dimples deepened as a pale blush stained her cheeks. He couldn’t help it, he smiled. Rushed or not, this was the happiest day of his life.
Gavin called her at work and told her to meet him at her house at eleven-thirty. Since they were both pressed for time, they quickly changed. She wore one of her antique dresses in ivory. It was all silky and cut just like the blue one she’d worn for the ball. Taylor was absolutely beautiful. He called three flower shops that morning to find the bouquet of honeysuckle and roses she held.Ryan was dressed in pressed chinos, a shirt and tie. Brayden stood to the side clicking pictures from a disposable camera.
“By the power vested in me, and the state of Maryland, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” Judge McAffery clasped his hands in front of his waist. “You may kiss the bride.”
Gavin looked down into her over-bright eyes and wished this wasn’t so damn rushed.
Cupping her face, he brushed his thumbs across her lips. Just a breath away, he whispered, “I love you.”
Her lips smiled under his as he gave her an open mouth kiss. When her tongue danced with his, Gavin almost forgot where they were.
Brayden’s voice brought him back. “Could you put your hand up again? I missed that shot.” Click.
They pulled away laughing.
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“I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Gavin Kinncaid.” McAffery shook his hand, and kissed the back of Taylor’s. “I still can’t believe you tied yourself to this one. Never thought I’d see the day when he settled down.”
Gavin rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, it just took the right woman.”
“It always does, son. It always does, with everything in life.”
Brayden strolled up and gave her a hug. “All right, now can we really get married, Gorgeous?”
Taylor looked from one to the other.
His brother continued. “Brayden here…” He jerked his thumb towards Gavin. “And I thought we’d pull one last twin prank. You married Brayden. I’m Gavin.”
The smile on McAffery’s face fell. “Excuse me?”
Gavin punched his brother in the arm.
“No, I married the right one,” Taylor said, sliding her arm around his waist. “You’re Brayden. And this, is my husband, Gavin.” Her hand, holding her bouquet of honeysuckles and roses patted his chest.
“Well,” Brayden said on a smile, “it was worth a shot.”
“Do you honestly think I wouldn’t know?” she drawled.
“Brayden Kinncaid, that was not amusing. Though I’m sure your father would think so,”
McAffery said, waggling a finger.
“Indeed sir, indeed.” Grinning wickedly, Brayden said, “I think you should call Pop now and tell him
all
about it.”
A twinkle lit the judge’s eyes. “I would dearly love to, but I promised I wouldn’t. Now,” he said taking a deep breath and turning to Ryan, “I think we have some other business to discuss.”
Ryan fidgeted, looking around the room, until he noticed all of them staring at him.
“What?”
Gavin held Taylor’s hand and squatted down so that he was eye level with Ryan. “Well, Taylor and I wanted to surprise you. We put a rush on those adoption papers and since this man is a judge, I had him look over everything. Instead of waiting, we thought we would go ahead and sign the adoption papers today. What do you say? You want to become a bona fide Kinncaid today?”
They hadn’t told him anything until they picked him up from school. And then he’d only said, he still wanted to walk Taylor down an aisle.
Ryan looked from Gavin, to Taylor, to the judge. “Really?”
Gavin made an ‘x’ over his chest. “Cross my heart.”
He seemed to think about it for a few seconds. Then he looked to the judge. “It’ll be legal and everything. She won’t ever be able to un-Kinncaid me?”
No one needed to ask who ‘she’ was. Gavin’s heart squeezed.
The judge shook his head. “No, son. Your mom here and the Kinncaids have explained everything to me. I see no reason why you can’t become a Kinncaid today, granted you want to.
And as for her, she’ll never have another thing to do with you.”
Finally, Ryan’s face lit up, breaking into a huge grin that seemed too big for his nine-year-old face. “Wow.”
Taylor hand tightened on his. “Wow,” she laughingly said.
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For several minutes, Gavin, Taylor and Brayden waited outside. The judge was in his chambers talking to Ryan. After what seemed an eternity, the door opened. Both McAffery and Ryan were smiling.
Papers were signed. The camera kept clicking along with mutters, “Mom’s just going to
love
these pictures.”
Gavin turned and glared at his brother just as Brayden, grinning, took one more shot. His brother would get his just rewards.
When everyone filed out of the office and into the bright afternoon sun, Brayden held up a hand. “Okay, stop you three. You need a first family picture.”
Under the big old sycamore trees, Gavin put his arm around Taylor and they both put their hands on Ryan’s shoulders.
Brayden yelled, “Cheese!”
Two more pictures later, they all climbed into the Navigator. Gavin turned to his brother.
“Thanks, Bray.”
“Mom and Dad are going to strangle you and I’ll get in trouble just for knowing.”
Gavin smiled and chuckled. That brought back too many memories to count. “Just like the old days.”
Brayden slapped his back as he hugged him. “You take care of them.”
Gavin nodded “I will.” Hell, he’d have to tell them all sooner or later. “Do you think Mom and Dad would come into town for dinner?”
They could all go to the hotel to eat. Not exactly the way to start a honeymoon, but that was later. Now, was what Gavin worried about. Looking at his watch, he saw it was approaching one.
Hell, he had to be at the office at one-thirty.
“Yeah, they probably would.” Bray ran his tongue around his top teeth, propping his hands on his hips. Black brows, identical to his own, rose above his shades. “I guess I get to call and ask?” Gavin only smiled.
“Shit. Yeah, I’m sure they will. Depends on what I tell them though.”
True. “Tell them to meet us at
Heather’s
in the hotel at seven.” Seven should work.
“I doubt Tori and Christian will come, it’s a school night. Quinlan’s in Ireland and Aiden and Jesslyn flew out to Colorado.”
The less the better in Gavin’s opinion.
“Fine, but if Christian and Tori can come, make it a family thing and if not, that’s fine too.”
“Mom’s going to grill me.”
Gavin smiled. “Of course she will, why do you think I’m having you call her? Tell them it’s about the wedding, something’s come up.… No, don’t tell her that either. Hell, I don’t care what you tell her, just get them here.”
“I can handle it.” Brayden checked the time. “As much as I’d love to stay and chat with you, I need to get to the shop. I have several clients coming this afternoon, and since this was sorta last minute, I couldn’t reschedule.”
“Yeah, me too. We’re both going back to work and dropping Ryan off at school.”
Brayden shook his head. “You know if you lived closer to Seneca you could send him to that private school where Tori goes and….”
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“Good-bye Bray. I’ll talk to you later.” With that, Gavin climbed behind the wheel. “What a day, huh?”
“I’m hungry,” Ryan said.
Of course the kid was hungry. It was lunch and he and Taylor were both pressed for time.
“Hey, can we eat at McDonald’s?” Ryan asked.
Gavin looked at Taylor. Pathetic. Their first dinner as a family. He felt like he was sliding down on his ratings of suave. She seemed to read his mind.
Grinning she said, “I think that would be a great idea. How about drive through?”
He laughed. Justice of the Peace and McDonald’s. “McDonald’s it is.”
“Memorable.” Taylor chuckled.
“Never forget it.”
“All right!” Ryan said from the back seat. “Does this mean that this afternoon when I sign my name, I can write Ryan Kinncaid?”
* * * *
Jock listened to his wife’s mutters and worries for the last hour. All damn afternoon truth be known. It was beyond him why women talked things to death. ‘Course he wasn’t the one who talked to Brayden. Or was it Gavin that had called? Hell if he knew. It was one about the other. But then why in the hell would Brayden have called for Gavin? Weren’t his sons grown men?
“You could say something,” Kaitlyn said as he pulled under the entrance of the hotel. The valet came running and opened his door.
“I could, yes. But why? When I can’t get a word in edge wise.” He grabbed hold of the handle above the door to heft himself out of the car. Damn his aging body. But, Kaitlyn leaned over and grabbed his arm.
“I’m worried, Jock. Something is going on. I just know it and it’s not good. Not good at all.” Jock sighed and closed his eyes. “What did the boy say when he called?”
“Not a damn useful thing.” Her green eyes flashed.
He’d have to have a talk with the twins--those two did nothing but worry their blessed mother since the day they were conceived. Sighing, he took her hand. “I’m sure everything’s fine,” he lied.
One russet brow cocked. “Jock, Brayden said we had to come to town for dinner at seven.
That Gavin had some news to tell us.”
“She’s probably pregnant or something and they want to move the wedding up,” Jock said, patting her hand. This time he got out of the car as she huffed out her side. He tapped the circular hood ornament.
Damn boys. You’d think at least one of them could conceive a child within the sanctity of marriage. Couldn’t a bloody one of them keep their blasted zippers shut? Ian--well he wouldn’t think about that. But Brayden, then Aiden and now--damned if he wouldn’t be right--Gavin.
He nodded to the valet. Kaitie’s arm fit into the crook of his arm, and as it always had, it gave him a faint jolt to feel like his arm was made especially for hers to fit into, like an interlocking puzzle.
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“We should have had girls,” he muttered. “Less trouble.”
“Of course, Jock dear. I had such control over the sex of our children.” Her heels clicked on the cobbled stones. “And if we had had girls, you’d be going off after some man with your shotgun ready to do him bodily harm when she came and told us she was pregnant before the wedding. It works both ways, dear.”
Kaitie had him there. If they had daughters he would have been one of those over-protective fathers. But that was who he was.
“Still I would have liked to have walked a daughter down the aisle.” That old twinge pricked at his heart as it always did when he thought of having a daughter.
But life was life. And he was dealt a herd of roughhousing boys. Boys that seemed to give him lots of grandchildren. Jock smiled at that.
“You’ll get to when Christian decides to marry someone.”
That caught him off guard. The girl who had shown up on their doorstep so many years ago was not the starving teenager she had been then. She was a grown woman. There was a thought.
And God knew he loved her like a daughter. She’d been a part of their family for so long, he took her for granted. He’d never thought of the day Christian Bills might not be around mothering Tori, or helping Brayden.
Maybe the walking down the aisle bit was overrated. Come to think of it, he didn’t much care for the thought of giving her to another man, or another family. He liked her just where she was. A Kinncaid. He scowled at his wife, and she only grinned back and patted his arm.
Kaitie went before him when the doorman opened the door for them. His gaze roamed over her. She was over sixty and built like a thirty-year-old--at least to him. Sculpted muscled calves flexed as she walked in her dark emerald silk suite. Her hips might be a bit rounded after bearing five sons, but he liked her ass just the way it was, even when she constantly complained it was too wide. His fingers itched to rub the silk of her suit over her….
“What are you looking at?” she asked him, jerking him out of his fantasy.
Grinning widely, he told her the truth. “You. And how I still think you’re the best looking woman God ever put on the earth.”
Her eyes rolled. “Honestly, Jock. Can’t you keep your mind on matters at hand for more than two seconds?” But he caught the faint blush and the twinkle of her eye.
“Kaitie lass, why worry over something until we know about it. Seems kinda rushing things a bit.” They walked to the restaurant.
“Mr. Kinncaid. Mrs. Kinncaid.” The
maitre d’
smiled at them. “The rest of your party has been seated.” He led them through the restaurant to the back alcove that was reserved for family only. Gavin, Taylor, Ryan and Brayden were sitting at the round table.
They saw them coming. Everyone stood up. “Dad, Mom, we wondered when you would get here,” Gavin said.
“Did you think we weren’t coming?” Kaitie asked. He caught the edge to her voice, and he noticed the boys straighten.
This should be fun. The curve of his wife’s back stiffened as he guided her around the table to the chair Gavin pulled out for her.
“All right. I want to know right now, what is going on.” Kaitie always cut right through the
167
chase when she wanted to.
And something sure as hell was. Brayden was grinning like a damn loon, Gavin wouldn’t look either of them in the eye and Taylor was fidgeting. Only Ryan seemed normal.
The boy’s grin was so wide; Jock couldn’t help but smile back. “Hi, Mr. K.”
“Hello, Ryan. You look happy.” Jock settled into his chair between his wife and Brayden.
Ryan nodded. “I am.” Blue eyes twinkled.
The last time Jock saw the boy, he was quiet and withdrawn.
“Mind if I ask why?” Jock leaned back as the waiter set a glass of water in front of him. He saw the man start to get out his pad, but Jock waved him off.
“Well.” Those blue eyes were guileless. “I can’t tell you. It’s a secret.”
Bloody hell. Turning to Taylor he asked, “Are you pregnant?”
Taylor flushed to her hairline.
Brayden started laughing but cut it off soon enough when Jock turned and glared at him.
Gavin started in, “For the love of God, Dad.”
“It’s a legitimate question,” Kaitie said.
“Taylor can’t have kids, that why she adopted me,” Ryan said.
Well, that was definitely news. And some Jock wished he would have known ahead of time. He hated making an ass of himself.
Looking at Taylor he said, “I do apologize. With this family, that’s usually what it is.
Sorry.”If that wasn’t bad enough, the woman smiled at him, a real smile with joy in her eyes. “No, Mr. Kinncaid. It’s okay. Actually…” She looked at Ryan.
Brayden stood. “I need to go check something. How ‘bout you come and help me, Ryan?”
The two were barely out of earshot when Kaitie leaned over Gavin and patted Taylor’s hand. “I’m so sorry honey. But, you have a wonderful son in Ryan, and I’m certain you’ll find other children to adopt.” Kaitie tended to chatter sometimes. “Why between Gavin in obstetrics and my friends still in pediatrics, we’re bound to come across plenty of kids that need a good and loving home.”
“Kaitie, if they want to adopt, I’m sure they’ll go through one of those adoption agencies or Taylor’s job.”
His wife turned a looked at him. “What’s wrong with finding a baby through Gavin’s job.”
“Did I say a single blessed damn thing was wrong with it?”
Her mouth thinned and those green eyes, the color of expensive emeralds, narrowed.
“Mom, Dad. Stop. Good God,” Gavin interrupted.
Jock looked from his wife to his son at Gavin’s voice. His son and his soon-to-be daughter-in-law were holding hands and grinning.
Gavin continued, “Actually, it seems Taylor can have kids. But that’s not what we have to tell you.”
“What do you mean she can?” Jock was getting confused.
“It’s a long story, Mr. K.,” Taylor told him.
“And it doesn’t have a damn thing to do with what we want to tell you,” Gavin said.
“Watch your mouth, young man,” Kaitie admonished.
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“Yes, Mom, sorry.” Gavin looked at Taylor. “What we want to tell you will come as a shock, but we have our reasons,” Gavin said, exhaling heavily. “It fact, it’s pretty bad, or it could be, but we won’t let it.” Turning back to them, his mouth was tense at the corners, and something shifted in his eyes.
It was the seriousness that had Jock straightening in his chair. Out of all his children, Gavin was the most laid back, the most relaxed.
“Honey, what is it?” His wife’s hand reached out and covered her son’s, the other seeking his under the table and squeezing tight. “Are you sick?”
“Kaitie, let the boy tell us.”
His wife’s shoulders rose on her inhale.
“We got married today.”
Someone dropped a tray, dishes broke, silverware clattered and glasses tinkled. Jock couldn’t have cared less, didn’t even turn to look.
“And?” Hell, he thought it was something drastic like cancer or some other disease.
“You did what?” Kaitie asked in that tone he knew all too well.
“No, I’m not sick. It’s not what we’ve done that’s got us so worried. We got married, today. It’s the reason behind it that has us all walking a proverbial tight rope.”
Jock stuck his tongue in his cheek and leaned back. Better the boy handle this one on his own. “Mom, I know you’re disappointed, what with all the plans you’ve put into the wedding at the house and all.” Gavin swallowed.
“And all?” Then she turned on Taylor. “And you went along with this? What of the invitations, the flowers, your dress? It won’t matter if you’re pregnant or not, that’s what everyone will think. ‘Oh, it’s another Kinncaid, hurried wedding. Wonder how
early
this baby will be born.’” Yes, Kaitie chattered when she was worried, and she’d been damn worried all afternoon.
To be told it was only marriage should have relieved her, and Jock was certain it did, but she needed an outlet--thus the complaints over the
when
of the deed.
“Mrs. Kinncaid, we still want to either have a big ceremony or just a reception in four weeks,” Taylor tried. Jock had to give her points. His wife was going to be pissed for a good week over this. Not that Gavin lived at home--no, he’d be the one that had to hear it all.
On a sigh, he sat back up.
“Why? Today?” she asked. “And what? You couldn’t call us? Your own parents?” Kaitie did have a point.
“No, Mom. I should have, but it all happened so fast.”
Her titian head shook, catching and spinning the lights. “Why?”
Gavin took a deep breath, his eyes narrowing. “It’s a long story. Please listen patiently.”
“I just can’t believe…. At least we were
invited
and
included
in Aiden and Jesslyn’s rushed wedding.”
Jock rolled his eyes. Maybe longer than a week. Maybe more like a month.
“Mom.”
“Don’t you ‘mom’ me. I can understand hurrying through things. Fine, but we raised you better, you could have picked up the damn phone and called.”
169
Yeah, probably a month, at least.
“Why?” she asked again.
Jock squeezed her hand.
She turned on him, her eyes flashing. “What? Are you going to sit there and tell me this doesn’t upset you? Our own child.…”
“Kaitie, let them explain.”
“It’s my fault.” Ryan hopped up into his chair.
“Sorry, I kept him busy as long as I could,” Brayden dropped down into his seat.
“Did you know of this?” His mother asked him.
“Of?”
“Don’t you pull that act with me,”
“Mrs. K?” Ryan started again. “It’s my fault. The reason they got married.”
That statement shut her up. Jock breathed a sigh of relief.
Gavin turned to Ryan and pointed a finger. “Do
not
say that again. You’re mother and I did what we thought was best. None of this is in anyway your fault.”
This conversation was getting dizzy.
“Will someone please explain?” Jock asked, leaning up and taking a drink of the water sitting in front of him.
“Taylor and I got married today at the Justice of the Peace. Judge McAffery.”
“Robbie?” Jock asked, nodding.
“Yeah, Dad, Robbie. Anyway, there’s a reason we needed to get married so quickly.”
“Me,” Ryan interrupted.
“No, to keep you safe,” Gavin countered.
Brayden leaned up. “If I may? The short version is that the woman who gave birth to Ryan has escaped from prison. Not only did Gavin and Taylor get married today, but Ryan is now officially a Kinncaid.”
Prison? What the hell was this? Ryan looked down at the tabletop.
“Ryan?” Jock asked the boy.
“Dad.…” Gavin started, but Jock cut him off by raising his hand.