“I do,” Brook nodded, and this time her smile actually reached her eyes.
“Then maybe we need to talk about that a little more later?” Dylan smiled as he leaned forward, softly pressing his lips to hers. “I think you would look very beautiful, pregnant.”
“I think one thing at a time,” she giggled, and finally her shoulders relaxed for the first time since they left the courthouse. “You have my head in a spin, Doctor Murphy.”
“But you still love me, Mrs. Murphy,” Dylan replied, giving her a knowing look. “You can’t tell me you don’t.”
“I do,” she confirmed, smiling once more. “Speaking of Mrs. Murphy, what are you going to tell your family?”
“That today I married the woman on my dreams,” Dylan whispered, before leaning in, kissing her once more.
“But I was thinking,” Brook said, giving him a nervous look. “Maybe we should keep it to ourselves for tonight.”
“But…” Dylan began to argue, wanting so much to tell everyone that he’d married the woman he loved, but Brook just smiled and stopped him with a kiss.
“I know you want to tell them,” she explained. “And I do too. But tonight is about Liam and Lexi. They have become parents, and we are about to meet your niece and nephew for the first time. Let them have their night. From what you've told me about their past, they deserve that much. Tomorrow we will still be married, and we can tell them all then.”
“You really are very sweet,” Dylan replied, before kissing her one last time. “Are you ready to do this?”
“I guess I am,” Brook replied with a nod.
With one last smile, he climbed from the car, before he hurried around to open the door for Brook. Dylan knew Nell and Sean were already here. Liam had asked them to come a little earlier so they could help them when they arrived home with the babies.
Climbing out of the car, he spotted Landen and Callum’s car parked already. They had just reached the door, when Finn’s car rumbled up the driveway, pulling to a stop behind Dylan’s car.
Dylan smiled as he watched his older brother helping his now very pregnant wife from the car. He watched how Finn took great care with Emmy as she climbed from the car, and Dylan knew right then and there that he wanted that for him and Brook.
He knew Brook was right about keeping their marriage a secret for tonight, but still part of him wanted to tell the world that he loved her and that she was now his wife. He wanted to tell the world that one day she would give him a child of his own too and that Warren was wrong. They would get their happy ever after. He could feel it in his soul that it was meant to be. Brook had fought too hard to fall at the last hurdle.
No, Warren would go to prison, and they would finally be able to get on with the rest of their lives. Dylan was never more determined about anything else in the world than he was about this.
He thought about their conversation earlier that day. He’d meant it when he said he would go back to New York with her. He would do whatever it took to keep her safe and happy, but in his heart, he really hoped it wouldn’t come to that. He loved his life here. He loved his job, and he couldn’t imagine leaving his family.
But Brook was now his family too. Other than her father, he was all she really had. Of course, he knew that by marrying him, she was now part of a much larger family, but he knew in her head, it was her and him, and what was left of her father. So, he needed to be the man she married and do whatever it took to make her happy.
“Dylan!” Brook called, pulling him from his thoughts. He realised she’d been talking to him, but he hadn’t heard a word. She gave him a worried look as she reached up and softly touched his face. “Are you okay?”
“Couldn’t be better,” he assured her with a smile as he reached up, taking hold of her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it softly.
“Good evening,” Finn said as he and Emmy joined them both on the steps. “Why am I always the last to arrive at these things?”
He looked at Emmy and gave her a knowing grin.
“Oh don’t blame me, Professor Murphy,” Emmy scolded her husband. “I was twenty minutes waiting for someone to put down the paper he was reading in his study.”
“Freshmen!” Finn grumbled, giving Dylan an unhappy look. “You know how much I love freshmen.”
“I do,” Dylan laughed, as he turned his attention to Emmy. “You look beautiful as always.”
“Beautifully fatter by the day,” Emmy laughed, then turned to Finn, smiling at him. “But my husband says I’m beautiful, even if I was once his freshmen too.”
“Hey, Brook,” Emmy said, greeting Brook with a kiss on the cheek. “How are you doing, Sweetie?”
“I’m good,” Brook replied, giving the same old answer that she always gave. Dylan smiled, but deep down inside he knew she was far from okay. He knew her mind had to be a living hell. Everything was such a mess, and beyond her control, he knew it was terrifying for her. Still, she smiled and tried her best to keep up the pretence that everything was okay.
“You know if there’s anything we can do,” Finn said, giving her a warm smile. “You just have to ask. I mean, I know that Landen, Liam, and Dylan have it pretty much covered, but we’re your family too.”
“Thank you, Finn,” Brook replied, giving him a genuine smile, just as the door to the house opened.
“I thought I heard voices,” Liam said, appearing in the doorway. “What are you guys standing out here for? My beautiful babies are waiting to meet the rest of the family.”
He greeted everyone with a smile and a hug, and Dylan noticed he hugged Brook a little longer, and he whispered something in her ear, but Dylan had no clue what. But whatever it was he said just made her smile, and this made him smile too.
“Wait until you see them,” Liam gushed as he led them into the house. “They are as beautiful as their momma and as awesome as me.”
This made Dylan laugh out loud. He loved that no matter what else was happening in their lives, Liam would always be Liam.
“Hey, Macy Cakes,” Liam said as he walked into the kitchen and scooped up Macy in his arms. “Look who I found outside the front door. They came to meet your news cousins. Is that okay with you?”
“Yes,” she said, giving Dylan and the others a very serious look. “But they are very little, so you can’t be loud. And Uncle Liam said I could be Ella’s favourite cousin because we are both girls. Henry is going to look after Noah, but I think he will like me too.”
“That’s good to know, Mace,” Dylan laughed as he leaned in, giving the little girl a kiss on the cheek before Liam set her back down.
“Brook!” Macy exclaimed excitedly, grabbing hold of her hand. “Let me show you, Ella, first; she is the best one.”
Brook glanced at Dylan, giving him a big smile before she let Macy drag her away, followed closely by Emmy and Finn.
“How’s she holding up?” Liam asked, stopping Dylan before could follow the others.
“Oh, you know,” Dylan shrugged. “She hasn’t said much.”
“Well, Matt called,” Liam said, and from the look on his face, Dylan knew the news wasn’t great. “They are still sitting on his place, but he hasn’t shown up yet. So we’ve issued a BOLO for him, so we should pick him up soon.”
“Do me a favour,” Dylan said, giving Liam a pleading look. “Please don’t tell Brook that, not tonight.”
“I won’t,” Liam assured him as he turned towards the door. “Now come on, I want you to meet your niece and nephew.”
“About time,” Dylan chuckled as he followed Liam towards the living room where they found Brook cuddling the most beautiful baby, wrapped in a pink blanket. Dylan smiled at Brook, thinking just how perfect she looked holding the baby, and he longed for this happiness that all his brothers now had.
“This is Ella,” Brook said as Dylan moved closer to her, taking a closer look at the perfect little girl. “Macy said that she’s the best one because she’s a girl.”
“Well, you can’t argue wit
h that,” Dylan replied, looking down at the tiny baby. “Hello, Ella. Welcome to the world, little woman.”
“Would you like to hold her?” Brook asked, giving him a knowing grin.
“I would,” he grinned as Brook slipped the baby carefully into his arms. He couldn’t believe he was holding Liam’s daughter. She was so perfect.
“Dylan,” Liam said from beside him, and when he looked up, Liam was standing next to him, holding his son. “I want you to meet Noah Dylan Murphy. Noah, this is your uncle, Dylan.”
“Are you serious?” Dylan asked, a lump quickly forming in his throat.
“Of course,” Lexi said as she moved next to Liam, slipping her arm around his waist. “I mean if it wasn’t for you…”
“I didn’t do anything any of us boys wouldn’t have done,” Dylan croaked, feeling more than a little emotional.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Landen said from where he was sitting on the sofa. “You have been there for every one of us at some point or another. You’ve always been the sensible one, the one who keeps calm when the rest of us are falling apart. I think Noah couldn’t be named after a better person.”
Dylan smiled, but he couldn’t reply, not right at that moment. He knew if he did, he would have cried, and that was the last thing he wanted. Instead, he focused on Ella, who was in his arms, holding her closer to his face, breathing in the new baby smell as he stole a glance at Brook. The moment their eyes met, her smile widened, but her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, and he knew she was overcome with emotion too.
“Let me get a photo of the four of you,” Nell, who was making no effort to hold back her tears, said as she stood up. “My twin babies, holding my twin grandbabies.”
Liam and Dylan moved closer together as Nell clicked down on the camera on her phone.
“I love this,” she said as she looked at the photo on the screen. “I think I need to send this to Harriet and Jill. I need to tell them about the babies.
Dylan froze when he heard Harriet’s name. With everything that had happened that day, he forgot that by now, his mother’s best friend probably knew about him and Brook getting married at the court.
“I thought tonight was supposed to be just about family,” Dylan said with a nervous laugh. “Aren’t you breaking the rules?”
“Don’t be ridiculous” Nell laughed as she absentmindedly tapped in a message on her phone. “They are my family.”
Moments later, Nell’s phone began to ring, and Dylan suddenly felt like the room was closing in on him. This was not how he wanted his mother to find out that he was now married.
He watched her as she disappeared out of the room to take the call.
“My turn to hold my niece,” Finn said stepping in front of Dylan, pulling him from his thoughts.
“Sure,” he said, giving him a half-hearted smile before handing over the baby.
“Hey,” Liam said, giving Dylan a worried look. “Are you okay? You look like you’re going to be sick.”
“Yeah,” Dylan said, forcing a smile on his face. Maybe Harriet wouldn’t say anything to his mother. Maybe he was worrying for nothing.
“Hey,” Liam said, still watching him like a hawk. “You never said why you and Brook were at the courthouse.”
“Oh, it’s a long story,” Dylan replied, but before he could say another word, his mother appeared in the doorway, looking like she was about to explode.
“Dylan Murphy!” She exclaimed as she hurried towards him. “What the hell were you thinking? You’re married?”
“Mom,” Dylan replied, glanced quickly at Brook before he looked back to his mother. “I know you’re upset.”
“Upset doesn’t begin to cover it, Dylan,” Nell said, looking angrier than Dylan had ever seen her before. “You’re my son; my baby, and you got married without telling me. Without telling your family!”
“Are you serious?” Liam said, giving Dylan a look of hurt. “You got married, but you didn’t tell anyone.”
“We were going to tell you,” Dylan said as he glanced at Brook once more. “But it was complicated.”
“How complicated could it be?” Liam said. Dylan knew his brother was not happy.
“Well, we thought tonight should be about the babies and you guys,” Dylan tried to explain. “We were going to tell you tomorrow, I swear.”
“But it’s me, Dylan,” Liam said giving Dylan a look he’d never seen before. “We tell each other everything. You got married without me even being there.”
“Liam, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Dylan tried to calm him down, but he knew Liam was not going to back down. “I swear, I was going to tell you.”
“When?” Liam hissed back. “On your silver wedding anniversary?”
“This was my fault,” Brook said, standing up from where she was sitting. “I said not to say anything, because of the babies. Tonight is your night, and I didn’t want to ruin it.”
“No offense, Brook,” Liam said, sounding a little colder than Dylan had ever heard him before. “But this is between Dylan and me.”
“I know,” she replied, her eyes now filled with fresh tears. “And I’m sorry if I have caused trouble between you both. Between you all in fact. You’ve all been so nice to me when you really didn’t have to be, and this is how I repay you. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry,” Lexi said, smiling at her. “I understand why you didn’t tell us.”
“Well, I don’t,” Liam hissing, cutting across his wife. “I don’t understand why you two had to sneak down to the courthouse to do this. We’re Dylan’s family. We should have been there.”
“I know,” Dylan said, feeling a little pissed that Liam seemed so angry, and how he spoke to Brook.
“No, you don’t know,” Liam growled. “We’ve risked everything for her. You were almost killed because of that lunatic she was married to. You don’t think that when he finds out that you two are married, he’s not going to come at you both with everything he has. She is his wife…”
“NO!” Dylan yelled, having heard enough. “She is my wife, and I would be grateful if you treated her like she was.”
“How could you be so stupid?” Liam asked, his words cut through Dylan like a knife.
“And how could you be such a fucking asshole?” Dylan sighed giving Liam a look of pure disappointment. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. My wife and I are leaving.”
“Dylan…” Callum said, stepping forward, giving him a pleading look.
“It’s for the best,” Dylan said, giving Callum a grateful smile.
“Let him go,” Liam hissed without even looking at him. Dylan glanced at his mother, but she just turned away, and his heart broke. He reached for Brook’s hand, and walked towards the hallway, but stopped when he reached the door.
“Oh, just so you know,” Dylan said, feeling like his whole world was falling apart. “Brook and I and going to live in New York. You can’t say I didn’t tell you this time.”
Without saying another word, Dylan continued out to the door, almost taking it off its hinges, before making his way out to his car.
“Dylan,” Brook said, as she followed him down the steps. “You can’t leave things like this.”
“Please, Brook,” he said, giving her a pleading look. “Please, just get in the car.”
“They are your family,” Brook continued.
“And so are you,” Dylan replied. “If they can’t see that, then they don’t need to be in my life.”
Without saying another word, he climbed into the car and started the engine. Moments later, Brook climbed into the passenger seat. She’d barely got her seatbelt on when Dylan took off down the driveway like a bat out of hell.
As he reached the gates of the house, he stopped to check for traffic on the road. Glancing in his rear-view mirror, he spotted Liam on the front steps of his house. Dylan hesitated for a moment, but then pulled out into the street and headed for home.
He knew going back would have just
caused more trouble, and right now, he just wanted some space to clear his mind.
Chapter 28
Brook
Dylan’s phone rang out as he and Brook sat in the kitchen of his house. Setting her coffee cup down, Brook looked up at him, waiting for him to react to the phone, but he didn’t. Instead, he just kept eating his breakfast. Though what he was actually doing, couldn’t really be called eating, it was more like pushing the food around on his plate.
“Dylan,” Brook said finally, unsure if she should say something or not. He had already made it clear the night before he didn’t want to talk about it, and everything she said just seemed to make him angrier. “Are you going to answer that?”
“No,” he replied abruptly without even looking at her.
Brook hated that everything was such a mess. The day before should have been a happy day for the Murphy family. But instead, she felt like she had come and just pulled the family apart. She hated feeling like this. She hated that she and Dylan almost felt like strangers now.
The ringing stopped, but just like it had done for the past thirty minutes, it started again, moments later. She looked down at the phone, and this time she could see Liam’s number flashing on the screen, the call previous had been from Landen.
“They’re your family,” Brook said, the sound of the phone now beginning to go through her brain.
“Then they should have acted like it last night; now please just drop it,” Dylan huffed, this time he set his fork down, but still he didn’t look at Brook.
In fact, he’d hardly looked at her since they arrived back to his house the night before, nor had he really talked to her other than when he was yelling at her.
When they left Liam’s house, Dylan drove straight to his parent’s house where he instructed Brook to pack her things.
“We can’t just leave like this,” Brook had tried to reason with Dylan, but it was no use. His mind was made up, and nothing she said would change it now.
After everything that Nell and Sean had done for her these past few weeks, this just felt wrong, but Dylan refused to listen.
Instead, he hurried up the stairs to his own room and gathered up the few bits and pieces he’d left there over the last three weeks. When he was done, he joined Brook in her room, making short work of her belongings that were hanging in her wardrobe.
Dylan (The Murphy Series Book 5) Page 27