by Cee, DW
“Good morning, everyone!” I greeted the Reid clan with my usual enthusiasm and went over to Kate as she gestured for me to join her. In front of people I considered family, Kate kissed me longer than was comfortable or polite. We were never the openly public “couple” so something about last night must have made Kate insecure. I could feel her holding on tighter, which made me want to run away further.
“Foreign pasture?” Jane cheekily asked about my relationship with Kate.
I messed up her perfect hairdo and answered, “Wasn’t welcomed on home soil.” I could tell Jane wanted to tell me off, but my goddaughter saved me with her cry for attention.
“Donovan, may I have a word with you?” Roland walked with me toward Delaney and James who were sitting on the grass, away from all of us.
“What’s up, Roland?”
“You still friendly with Kate?”
“Kind of...”
“I’d like for her to come work for the firm. With her status, she could bring in a host of clients. Will you talk to her?”
“I can ask, but I can’t make any promises.”
“Stay down here for the week. I have some clients who need attention around here as well as San Diego. Base yourself at the Montage and call me as soon as Kate gives you an answer.”
“The firm needs to get me a room. I’m not cohabitating with Kate.”
Roland fell quiet, but quickly agreed.
“Let’s go see your brother.” I put Elizabeth on my shoulders and walked over to the grassy area overlooking the ocean.
“Can we join you two on the grass?” I didn’t bother listening for an answer. I sat Ellie next to her brother, though she kept climbing back onto my shoulders. “You feeling OK? You left the dinner table early last night.”
“I’m well today, thank you.” It could’ve been my imagination, but this girl started cleaning up the moment we sat.
“What are you up to today, Delaney?”
“I’ll be going home with Gram and Sir Ascot after brunch.” She had finished cleaning up and tried to leave up with James.
I asked her to stick around the resort and hang out with me and she snorted. I offered her a ride home later, she said no. I asked her to participate in a few water sports and she declined. There was nothing I could do or say to change her mind.
“Join me, Delaney. It’ll be fun.”
“Thank you for the fun offer, but I think I’ll go back home. I still have some stuff to do for school and I’m sure you and Kate need time to get reacquainted. You two make a beautiful couple. I guess you’re over my cousin, Jane?” She couldn’t look at me making all these personal comments. Does it bother you that I’m with Kate? Is that what the cold shoulder is all about? “Excuse me, I think I’ll take James back to Emily.”
I reached for her arm and tugged at her so she would have to look me in the eye. “Would it kill you to address me by my name?” I hated that she was so distant with me.
“Not at all. I’ll see you later, Mr. Taylor.” Shit! I hated that damn Mr. Taylor moniker even more.
I was successful in convincing Kate to join us at the firm, and the clients in San Diego were glad to see a partner giving them three days of undivided attention. The office was in semi-hiatus as Roland’s wedding day neared. We all felt like a part of the family watching the patriarch marrying his first love. For me, it was extra special watching Gram rediscover love and happiness. Roland Ascot was a good man and I knew Grandpa Jerry would approve.
“Are you escorting me to Roland and Estelle’s wedding?” I hadn’t talked to Kate since our first and only night together, and she called today with an unexpected question. Either she chose not to understand my wishes to remain friends, or she was not as quick as she used to be. In either case, another talk was necessary. I was at odds with how I was to answer this question. I surely did not want to attend a “family” wedding with Kate.
“Sure.” I answered out of courtesy. She would soon work here with me on a daily basis. I didn’t need stupid tension. I’d talk to her again soon once she settled in the company. “I’ll have to meet you there. I’ve got some work to finish up at the office.”
“I’ll see you at eleven?”
“See you then.”
I had nowhere to be, but I didn’t want to be with Kate anymore. Once she brought up the topic of marriage, I knew Kate wasn’t the woman for me. Who that woman was, I didn’t know. I just knew it wasn’t Kate.
“Hey.” I picked up the call coming in from my buddy. “How was the rehearsal dinner?”
“Roland put all the Reid women in a fine mood last night with his gift.”
“What’d he give Gram?”
“He brought the Ascot treasure chest with him and gifted each woman whatever her heart desired from that chest.”
I let out a loud whistle. “No way! Damn, that Roland has style…not to mention a lot of money.”
“Hell, a lot of money doesn’t even begin to cover what my Ellie picked for herself.”
“Even Ellie got a turn?”
“Yeah.” I could tell Jake had that stupid grin plastered on his ugly face whenever he talked about his family. “Roland and Gram allowed her to pick first, reasoning that she had no clue what she was doing. My brilliant girl picked the most expensive item in the trunk!” This proud papa voice was making me chuckle. My buddy was such a goner where the two women in his house were concerned. Those two could do no wrong. “My baby picked a tiara completely encrusted in diamonds.”
“Damn!”
“Damn is right! This tiara probably costs upwards of…” he had no idea, “who the hell knows how much it costs, but it’s got to be worth half a million dollars.”
“Shit! My goddaughter is as brilliant as she is beautiful.”
“Yeah, she is!”
“All right, proud papa, what did your wife pick?”
“A barely-there broach.” Classic Emily—picked the smallest item, and left the nicer pieces to all who came after her.
“Delaney?” Why I asked about her, I didn’t know. I was just curious.
“A pair of Swarovski jewel-encrusted glass slippers.”
We both got a good laugh. “I guess not much has changed with her. She’s still into her Disney fairy tales. She and Ellie could have a dress-up day with the tiara and glass slippers.”
“Easy, Buddy. My cousin may still believe in fairy tales, but she’s one of the most sensible people I know. I’d be proud to have my Ellie grow up to be as bright and sweet as Laney.”
“I’m only kidding.”
“I assume you’re coming to the wedding?”
“Shit yeah, I’m coming. It’s not every day you get to see your honorary grandma marry your boss.”
“Emily wanted me to tell you to come early. She wants a picture of you, Laney and our kids.”
“I guess I’ll have to dress in my English finest.”
“Yeah, like that was even a question. Emily wants you for a picture, but I want you to come and do your godfather duty to my kids and hang out with them. They’ve forgotten who you are.”
“You’ve always been such a nag.” I started laughing. “I’ll be there as soon as I look good enough to stand next to my godchildren.”
I could hear Jake scoffing in the background as we got off.
Aunt Babs had pulled off another miracle. Overnight, she had transformed an everyday backyard into a spectacular English garden.
“There you are.” Kate walked toward me and put her hand on my arm. Without putting up a fight, we walked into the backyard looking like a couple. I had purposely sat in the back during the ceremony, avoiding Kate’s attention. Once we headed to the English breakfast, there was no hiding from her. “That was beautiful, wasn’t it?” I’d never seen such a whimsical look in Kate’s eyes before.
“It was.” I agreed, somewhat freaked out at Kate’s dreamy attitude. It was so unlike her. “I think it’s nice not to be…” Befor
e I could finish my sentence, James came crashing into my shin with his shopping cart, so I picked up my godson and gave him ample attention. “Hey, there mini-Jake!” I kissed this little one several times before I heard a screaming girl asking me to pick her up. I put James in a football hold with my left arm and eventually got Ellie in the same hold with my other arm and walked to the groom.
“I see you have a special delivery.” Roland picked up James while I held onto Ellie.
“Don’t you look beautiful today, my precious Elizabeth.” She rewarded me with her heart-stopping smile. This girl was going to be the early death of her father. Too soon, she would have boys lined up to court her attention. I’d have to stand strong with Jake and ward them all off because no one was good enough for my goddaughter.
“And you look awfully dapper, Master James.” Roland kissed his newest great-grandson.
“How does it feel to be married and to have an instant family?”
“Like nothing I’ve ever experienced. This must be heaven on earth to find so much love in one backyard.”
“So this soft spot of yours is how you won over our Gram?”
“It was the good looks along with the sweet words.” Roland was in fine form today. “Thank you for talking to Kate. I’m glad she decided to work with us. She’ll be a huge asset to the company.”
“I aim to please, Boss.”
“Could you let Kate know the partners would like to meet her? Maybe I could do a quick introduction right now since we’re all here.”
“Will do. Congrats, again, Roland. Keep our Gram happy.” As if that warning was even necessary—but I felt it my duty to say it.
“You worry about your own affairs.” He warned in return. “Your life is riddled with beautiful women and believe it or not, that could be a bad thing.” Taking both kids, I laughed off what he said and walked toward Kate.
“There’s my favorite niece and nephew.” As soon as Nick showed up, both kids jumped into his arms.
“Sure. Be like that!” I complained, but still kissed these beautiful babies good-bye. They could care less what I’d said since Nick was making them cackle away.
Kate was happily chatting with Jane, and here was another scene that was mind-blowing. I was sleeping with the woman who was carelessly talking away with another woman I continually flirted with—what was wrong with this picture? Roland wasn’t wrong to warn me about having too many beautiful women in my life.
“Donovan.” Kate beamed.
“The partners would like to speak with you; they’re over with Roland right now.” I said all that in practically one breath so she would be out of this awkward picture. Jane was giving me a funny vibe and Kate was being very unlike herself.
“If you’ll excuse me?” she asked Jane.
“What’s the story between you and this woman?” Jane wasn’t shy about expressing her opinion on Kate. Then she hungrily looked me up and down and asked, “Who the hell dresses you every morning?”
I loved these spontaneous remarks of hers. She couldn’t help herself. More times than proper, the filter was off between us. “Why? You applying for the job?” She turned red with embarrassment so I flirted with her some more and told her how delicious she looked. Her attempt at pushing me away with talks of her boyfriend was futile. Our laissez-faire friendship and frisky banter was what I needed to forget the trouble I was in with Kate. Kate...it was going to be a long night making her understand that we were done. “If your boyfriend will allow you to sit with me, I’ll tell you about her.” I dangled a carrot I knew Jane would be hungry to bite.
Jane looked at me expectantly while I looked over at the dance floor and saw Delaney handing James off to Max. Delaney was a vision in pale blue today. She picked a color that showcased her sparkling blue eyes and highlighted her creamy yellow hair. She had the Reid eyes but the rest of her was beautifully unique.
“What the hell are you looking at?” Jane waved to me. “Hello?”
“Sorry. I was in a daze.”
“You could say that again. So Kate?”
“Kate and I’ve been together, on and off, for about ten years.” As soon as I finished revealing this information, Jane had a what the hell look. It was cute. “We started seeing each other my junior year in undergrad, and by the end of my senior year, I’d practically moved in with her and had asked her to marry me.”
This revelation was too much for Jane; she was floored. “What’d she say when you asked her to marry you?”
“She laughed at me and told me to finish law school, then get a job.” Jane’s mouth opened in surprise. I decided to give her the rest of the story. “Kate was in her early thirties at the time, and on the fast track to success and stardom in the hedge fund world. She didn’t need a strapping young buck holding her back. So we broke up, I went to law school, got a job, and we’ve been picking up where we left off ever since.”
“In the young buck department?”
“Funny! I love your sense of humor, Jane.”
“So she’s back to pick up where you left off again? Are you so in love with her that you drop everything and anyone whenever she’s back in town?”
I knew what Jane was trying to get at, but shined it off. I didn’t need anyone telling me how complicated my life had become.
“She came back to ask me to marry her, if you must know, my curious Jane.” That had done the deed of making Jane go completely mute. While Jane stared at me, there was a movement near us that suddenly froze as I explained to Jane, “I don’t love her anymore, though the attraction is still there. Maybe what I felt for her back in college was a young buck’s fascination, adulation, obsession. I don’t know if it was love. Plus, there’s somebody holding me back from wanting to explore anything with anyone new. I know you’re with another man. I’m not going to take what’s not mine. But I can’t help wonder what it would be like to be with you...to laugh with you...to love with you.... A chance with you is what’s holding me back from moving on.... There’s my confession for the day. And now, I better get out of your boyfriend’s seat.”
Immediately, I regretted having said these words to Jane as I was more caught up in the flirtatious moment. Sure, I was curious. But would I be a bastard and take away what’s not mine? That was not me. I could be a jerk at times, but I wasn’t a total dick.
As promised, I cleared Max’s seat and found Delaney quickly turning herself from me. I caught a sliver of her pained expression, and the unshed tears in her eyes broke my heart. The desire to reach out to her and comfort her was overwhelming. This girl made me feel emotions that were foreign and yet so very human to me.
I hurried over to her. “You look like you’re about to cry. What’s the matter?” I asked while touching the back of her arm. She stood in front of me and refused to turn around. I slowly turned her face to me, and the way she forced her lips together and held back the tears made me want to put my arms around her and chase away the sadness.
“I guess I’m just happy to see Grandfather find his true love, again.” Still, her lips were tightly formed and she kept blinking her eyes to chase away the tears.
“Are you sure? Your mouth tells me these are happy tears, but your face says otherwise. What’s got you so sad?”
“I’m not sad.” She was a terrible liar.
My instinct told me Delaney heard my conversation with Jane and that conversation upset her. But since I rarely trusted my gut, I had to wonder what about my conversation would upset her? I hadn’t said anything about Delaney. The entire conversation was about Kate, Jane, and myself. To loosen up this sterile atmosphere, I paid her a light-hearted compliment. “Well, tears or not, you really do get prettier every time I see you.”
That brought about her sweet smile and she returned the compliment. All was going well until I asked her what she’d discovered in Roland’s treasure chest. Why I’d asked this question when I knew the answer was beyond me. To make matters worse, I couldn’t help laughi
ng at what she’d chosen.
Delaney was pissed and yelled out, “I picked a pair of Swarovski crusted glass slippers! Go ahead and laugh at me. I’m sick of you treating me like a ten-year-old. Go back to your sugar mama or whoever else is holding you back from your sugar mama and leave me alone!” before she literally ran away.
Damn! That chick had bite!
Our last conversation at Gram’s wedding bothered the hell out of me. The first thing I should have undone was that conversation with Jane, but she was secondary. That brief look of pain in Delaney’s eyes haunted me. I couldn’t wait to get to the game and talk with her about last weekend.
“Hey, Donovan.”
“Hi Elle. Where’s Delaney?” I asked after doing a look-around.
“She says she has too much schoolwork. She’s probably sitting at the Johnson Library studying away.”
“How do you know she’s there?”
“That’s the only library she goes to. She has a special seat upstairs, in the southeast corner. I don’t know why, but that’s where she always sits.”
“She doesn’t study in the Reid Library?”
“Nope. It’s always the Johnson Library.”
I dropped all my stuff in the dugout and ran over to catch her before she left. This was a conversation that needed to be finished.
Delaney was packing up to leave as I finished the steps, and came up from behind her. “Where do you think you’re going?”
This cute girl jumped back and her big blue eyes depicted a scared bunny look. “How’d you find me?”
I swear if she wasn’t Jake’s cousin, and the little girl whom I gave piggyback rides to when she was younger, I would have grabbed her and kissed the frightened look away. She was absolutely adorable.