by Natalie Ann
“Why lie or beat around the bush?” Trisha stated plainly. Good for her, Carly thought. Maybe they finally got the right meds for her mother. Maybe now she could start living life the way she used to.
Carly heard a creak upstairs and remembered Sean was in her bed. Crap, how could she have forgotten? Well, that was easy enough, she was too busy watching her mother for any signs of problems and too amused over her grandmother.
No time like the present, not that Carly had much choice. She just hoped Sean dressed before he came downstairs. On second thought, she better run up and warn him. “Excuse me a minute, please.”
She turned and ran upstairs but still heard her grandmother say in a loud whisper, “I think we’re about to meet him now.”
Carly opened the bedroom door that she’d quietly shut when she made her way downstairs, to see Sean pulling on his jeans. “Where did you go?” he asked her.
“Just downstairs.”
“Did I hear you talking to someone?”
She gulped. Well, she knew he loved her. Time to meet the family, right? She could handle this, she hoped. “Yes. You see, the funny thing is, my grandmother and mother decided to stop in for a visit.”
“Really?” he asked. Was that amusement on his face? She really hoped it was and not apprehension, or worse yet, annoyance.
“Yeah. They knocked on the door before I got off the last step.”
“Guess it’s better timing than if they knocked an hour ago. We might not have heard them. You got pretty loud there for a few minutes.”
“Sean,” she said, gasping, horrified he’d just said that. “Don’t you dare say anything like that in front of my mother.”
“Oh, so you think she’s going to be shocked to find me coming downstairs now? Should I say I was up here cleaning your pipes?” He burst out laughing at that statement. “Get it…cleaning your pipes? I’m pretty good at it, aren’t I? Admit it.”
“Oh my God. What has come over you? You’ve been hanging around Alec and Brynn too long. Please don’t say those things,” she begged him, even though she was laughing right along with him. And blushing. She knew she was blushing because she felt the heat rising up her face again. He was just something else.
She watched as he finished getting dressed and then walked down the stairs with him following behind. “It took you long enough, Carly,” her grandmother said. “What, did you decide to have a quickie?”
She was completely mortified her grandmother just said that. She’d never expected her sweet old granny to voice anything like that before. How embarrassing.
“Mother,” Trisha said. “What is wrong with you? Why would you ask that and embarrass Carly in front of her boyfriend?” Trisha rushed forward and offered her hand. “I’m so sorry for my mother’s rude behavior. I’m Trisha Springfield. That old coot relaxing on the couch is my mother and Carly’s grandmother, Theresa Smith. Just ignore her.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Sean said, returning her handshake.
Then he walked over to shake hands with Carly’s grandmother, only to have Theresa say, “I’m too old to shake hands. Come give this old lady a kiss on the cheek. Aren’t you a treat for the eyes.”
If Carly thought what her grandmother said before was embarrassing, it was nothing to the humiliation she felt right now. Her grandmother had been outrageous over the years, but never like this.
She wondered what her mother thought of Sean. It always amazed Carly how Trisha ended up with Joe Springfield. Was it his dangerous side that attracted her mother? Or did he act nice when they were dating and then reveal his dark side after their marriage? Either way, Trisha finally found her courage when she up and left in the middle of the night during a snowstorm, taking Carly with her.
With the embarrassment riding high on her face, Carly turned to see Sean’s eyes laughing over the entire situation. Then she remembered how controlling the women were in his life. She’d bet none of this was new to him, and she was actually a little thankful for it.
***
Sean set his coffee cup down and looked at the three women across from him at Carly’s table. He was glad to know that he didn’t have the monopoly on crazy dominating women in his family. The funny part was, Carly was the complete opposite of her grandmother and mother.
Not so much in looks. Carly looked very similar to her mother, even the same smile, when he caught one brief smile from Trisha. They shared the same color eyes and hair, but that was about it. Trisha was several inches taller than Carly and curvier.
Carly clearly got her build from her grandmother, who was an inch or so shorter than Carly, and one hundred pounds on a good day. That was the only thing they had in common. Carly’s grandmother was a clip. The things that came out of her mouth—she definitely wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.
No, Carly was nothing like her grandmother. Half the time Sean felt Carly was hiding what she wanted to say, or stumbling and embarrassed if she actually said it.
Then there was Trisha, who barely smiled, and half the time was scowling at her mother. Though honestly, Sean felt it was all a game the two women had, because he had seen the one brief smile Trisha had sent her mother when she made a funny remark about Carly being a homebody.
“So you are the baby of the family, you say? The lone boy?” Theresa asked.
He wasn’t offended by the question. It’s not like it was the first time it was said to him, or it would be the last. And it was the truth. “I am.”
“See, Trisha, he is probably used to being pushed around by women. Carly’s sweet nature has to be a breath of fresh air to him.”
Sean laughed at Carly’s snort. “Grandma, that is rude. You have no idea how the women are in Sean’s family.”
“Ignore my mother,” Trisha said. “She has no manners.”
His eyes darted around the table like a Ping-Pong ball. He was used to following conversations by multiple people and had no problem keeping up. Just because he was shocked by their behavior—the complete opposite of Carly’s—didn’t mean he couldn’t follow along. “It’s not a problem.” He turned to Theresa. “You’d be right. I’m from a big Irish Catholic family. The women rule the roost.”
“So you need to feel like a man, and that’s why you are drawn to Carly?” Trisha asked, her eyes turning a little cool.
He didn’t know what that was about and tried not to be offended, but he couldn’t help it, he was. Carly jumped in quickly before he could answer. “Mother, you know better. You of all people.”
Trisha’s face turned white while Sean was trying to figure out what was going on. Just as quickly, Theresa came to Carly’s defense. “Trisha, not everyone is you. Don’t make judgments on your mistakes.”
Trying to defuse the situation that was getting out of control, even though he had no idea why it was, he played the peacemaker. He’d done it enough growing up between his sisters. Hell, even now he did it. One of his sisters was always calling and putting him in the middle of their arguments. “Your daughter is a beautiful woman,” Sean said to Trisha. “A strong independent woman who doesn’t need a man. She makes me feel like a man because I want to cherish her…for the fact she doesn’t need a man in her life.”
He looked over at Carly, saw her eyes water and felt foolish for saying it. He didn’t even know what possessed him to make that declaration just now, and even though he didn’t know what was going on with the three women, he felt the need to make his feelings known.
“Are you happy now, Mom?” Carly asked, and Sean could she there was sadness mixed in with the mortification of the situation.
“I’m sorry,” Trisha said, contrite and showing signs of distress. “I shouldn’t have said that. It came out wrong.”
“No, Mom,” Carly said, jumping up and running to her mother’s side. “It’s fine. You’re just looking out for me. I know that. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
Why Carly was apologizing for her reaction was beyond Sean. He felt she was justified. His sist
ers would be having an all-out screaming match if one of them said anything remotely close to what Trisha had said.
“No, you have every right to be upset with me, Carly,” Trisha said, standing up. “Mother, I think it’s time we left. We’ve imposed long enough.” Trisha turned to Sean. “I’m sorry, this night got away from us. My mother and I meant no harm and if we’ve said anything to insult you, we both apologize. Right, Mother?”
Theresa stood up and nodded. “Yes. We’re pretty protective of Carly, so if we’ve insulted you, we do apologize.”
He was insulted, as much as he didn’t want to be. More so because of Carly’s reaction to it all. It bothered him more than he cared how upset she seemed over the whole conversation. He was feeling pretty protective himself at the moment. “No worries,” he said sincerely.
“It was nice to meet you,” Trisha said. “Next time I promise we will be on better behavior.”
“Think nothing of it,” Sean said.
After the door was shut on the two women, Sean blew a breath out and asked, “Okay, what did I miss?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, not really looking at his face and then walking back into the kitchen to clean up the remains of the dinner she’d thrown together for everyone.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was slightly insulted by your mother’s comment, but that was quickly overridden by what you said back. Not to mention what completely unfolded after. It was clear that you were terrified you upset her, when maybe she even had it coming.”
She stopped wiping down the counter and looked at him. He could tell she was weighing her words. “My mother is fragile.”
“Not tender?” he asked.
“No. Not tender. I know Brynn uses that word to describe me, and as much as it bothers me, I know it’s true. I wear my heart on my sleeve and it’s plain for people to see. My mother doesn’t do that.” She took a deep breath. “She is fragile; her moods can swing fast and we try to avoid that.”
“We, meaning you and your grandmother?”
“Yes.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
She put the sponge back in the sink and turned to lean on the counter. “Sean, I love you. I know I just said it to you for the first time a few hours ago, and it’s the truth. The last several hours have been a whirlwind of emotional upheaval. I’m not really ready to go into more personal things.”
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.”
Pretty Wonderful
“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?”