Handle With Care (Special Delivery Book 3)

by J. A. Armstrong

  “Brooke…”

  “No, I mean it. He was pissed when I decided to go into obstetrics as a specialty. I mean pissed, Tess. He didn’t talk to me for weeks and that was after he told me that I was making a huge mistake. I was wasting my talent and my career.”

  “And, you think that is how he feels about us?”

  “I think, deep down, it is how he feels about me. I don’t think it has anything to do with you at all. If anything, you will probably make it a little better. I told you, he went on and on about how sweet you are. And, he was really impressed when I told him that you had wanted to pursue medicine.”

  “That was a long time ago,” Tess said.

  “Not that long ago, Tess.”

  “Long enough. And, besides, I did not have any desire to be a surgeon either.”

  “Yeah, but you should have seen his face when I told him what you scored on your SATs.”

  “I’m not sure I even want to know how you know that,” Tess chuckled.

  “Your dad brags all the time,” Brooke explained.

  Tess rolled her eyes. “About my SATs? Good Lord,” she laughed. “Brooke, maybe he just doesn’t know what to say, just like you aren’t sure what to say to him.”

  “Maybe.”

  Tess leaned over and kissed Brooke’s cheek. “I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed in you as a daughter,” she said honestly.

  “You're biased.”

  “Nope, just honest,” Tess said. Brooke smiled unconvincingly. Tess smiled. “I understand, I really do,” she said. “I know what that feels like, love. I do. Maybe you just need to look for some common ground with him again. You know? Something that you can enjoy together.”

  “I have no idea what that would be,” Brooke confessed.

  Tess kept smiling. “I have faith in you.”

  “I just wish he did.”

  “Don’t give up so quickly.”

  “How do you do it?” Brooke asked Tess.

  “Do what?”

  “Try and find common ground with your mom?” Brooke replied.

  “Well, I don’t do it all that well,” Tess observed. “I do try. In the end, I have just learned that she is who she is. I can’t change her any more than she can change who I am.”

  “It still hurts you,” Brooke commented.

  “Yeah, I guess it does. Don’t give up. Your dad is not my mom.”

  Tess clasped Brooke’s hand in encouragement. “I will bet Dani will take care of some of that anxiety for you.”

  “What do you mean?” Brooke wondered.

  Tess laughed. “She is Dani,” Tess made her reply.

  Brooke couldn’t help but join in Tess’s laughter. Dani could be animated at times. She loved to tell stories and she was not shy about telling tall tales to anyone who would listen. If Dani got hold of Brooke’s father for any length of time, Brooke would be lucky to get a word in edgewise. Thinking about that reality, Brooke began to wonder how she would ever get Dani to sleep.

  “Umm, Tess?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Would it be really bad if I gave her a dose of Benadryl?”

  Tess laughed. Brooke would never give the kids anything they didn’t need, but she appreciated the sentiment. Davey had a tendency to crash when he was tired. Dani on the other hand, seemed to be determined to push through exhaustion if there was any possibility she might be missing out on something. Tess had watched Dani chatting up both of Brooke’s parents at dinner. She doubted Dani had even begun to weave her tales.

  “Why? She sniffling?” Tess played along.

  “No, but I might be before this night is over,” Brooke said. “You really sure you don’t just want to come home?”

  “Nice try,” Tess replied. “Besides, I think Davey is looking forward to that pool before bed.”

  “We have a pool.”

  Tess smacked Brooke playfully. “An outdoor pool that we have yet to even uncover,” she reminded Brooke.

  “Still…”

  “You are impossible sometimes, you know that?” Tess asked.

  Brooke grinned. “Still love me?”

  “More than anything,” Tess replied, surprising Brooke with the emotional change in their dialogue.

  Brooke reached across the seat and pulled Tess into her embrace. She felt Tess’s head come to rest on her shoulder. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “For what?”

  “For knowing what I needed,” Brooke said.

  Tess pulled back. “You’re welcome.”

  Chapter Six

  “At least, he will be tired by the time we get upstairs,” Rebecca observed to Tess as Davey jumped into the pool again.

  “Here’s hoping,” Tess said.

  “I wonder how Brooke is doing,” Rebecca snickered.

  “She’s nervous.”

  “I know.”

  “Not just about tomorrow,” Tess told Brooke’s mother. Rebecca looked at Tess curiously. “She’s worried about spending time with Brad.”

  Rebecca sighed heavily. “Why didn’t she say something?” she asked. “She is so sensitive when it comes to her father.”

  “I know,” Tess said. She was feeling some pangs of guilt for sticking to her guns and insisting on staying at the hotel. Part of Tess thought it might be best for Brooke. It would give her some time to try and connect with her father. At the same time, she understood Brooke’s anxiety well. Tess had to admit that she was relieved that she would not be spending much one on one time with her mother. Tess loved her mother, but the last thing she wanted was anything negative to taint her wedding, and Mary Sinclair had a unique capacity for pushing all of Tess’s buttons.

  “Maybe it’s good that they have some time,” Rebecca offered.

  “I know. I thought of that too. But, I also feel horrible. I mean, I get to avoid that stress this weekend and she gets thrown right into it. It doesn’t seem fair.”

  “Tess? Did Brad say something to upset Brooke?” Rebecca wondered.

  “I don’t actually know,” Tess admitted. “When she came home in January from her visit, she was…Well, quiet—for days, actually. When I finally asked her what was wrong…”

  “Yes?” Rebecca prodded.

  Tess looked at Rebecca. “She thinks he has issues with her.”

  “She’s always thought that,” Rebecca said. “He was not tremendously supportive of her career decisions.”

  “I’ve heard. That isn’t what was bothering her,” Tess said. Rebecca was puzzled. “She thinks he has issues with her sexuality,” Tess explained. Rebecca groaned. “Oh, that’s not good,” Tess said.

  Rebecca shook her head and kept her eyes focused on Davey’s antics in the pool. “The truth is, Tess, I don’t know what he thinks about that. I suspect she’s right, but he has never said that to me. Frankly, he’s probably afraid to.”

  “Why?”

  Rebecca let out an uneasy breath. “Brad and I are very different people,” she said. “That didn’t stop us from falling in love,” she mused. “I still love him,” she admitted. “I suspect I always will, but I don’t understand him. Funny how that happens sometimes.”

  “You think he disapproves of this? I mean of us getting married?”

  “Not really,” Rebecca answered. “I think he just doesn’t understand. I think he just always envisioned his little girl becoming a big name surgeon and marrying some handsome, rugged lawyer or doctor, to be honest,” she said. “And, I think he was able to hold the delusion for many years because Brooke never really talked about her personal life. He knew, of course, but Brooke never had any lasting girlfriends, and she has never shared much about her personal interests with her father. That much I do know.”

  “Why not?” Tess asked. “She’s done so many incredible things.”

  “She has,” Rebecca agreed. “The truth is, she has always looked up to him. When she was little, she would follow him around wearing a stethoscope,” Rebecca recalled. Tess smiled. She had done the same thing with her gra
ndfather. Rebecca sighed heavily. “When she was little, he doted on her. When she started school, he pressured her. Constantly. It drove me to distraction. I sometimes wonder if she chose medicine entirely because of him.”

  “She loves what she does,” Tess said honestly.

  Rebecca turned and offered Tess a small smile. “I know she does. She fell in love with it, Tess. I’m not sure she was in love with it from the beginning. In some ways, I think she chose obstetrics partly because she figured she’d never have a family of her own.”

  Tess hated to admit it, but Rebecca’s observation did not surprise her at all. Brooke loved her job. In fact, Tess knew that for Brooke it was not just a career. Brooke loved people. She loved kids, and she honestly did revere life. But, Brooke loved many things. Tess had found out entirely by accident that Brooke was an accomplished pianist, a pianist who did not own a piano. Brooke loved music, all kinds of music. And, Brooke was more than just a spirited adventurist. She had been a competitive swimmer and played basketball in high school and college. Brooke held many interests. Tess could easily see how Brooke’s career path could have varied at any point. In the end, Brooke chose to follow the same path her parents had, at least, mostly.

  “I think she is happy with her decision,” Tess told Rebecca.

  “I think so too,” Rebecca smirked. “And, I don’t mean medical school,” she clarified. “But, I do wonder sometimes. I told her when she was starting to apply to colleges to follow her heart.”

  “You don’t think she did?”

  “Partly. I think she was torn.”

  “What do you think she wanted to do?” Tess wondered.

  “Oh, I think she would have liked to pursue music in some way. But, Brad thought that was a fairy tale.”

  Tess huffed audibly. “I tried to convince her to get a piano for the family room instead of that behemoth of a television. She insisted she didn’t want one. Then she insisted that I should have a studio to paint,” Tess chuckled.

  “Mm…I suspect that’s because she doesn’t want you to sell yourself short on something you love because you think it’s pointless.”

  “Like her music,” Tess guessed.

  “Exactly.”

  “How did I miss that?”

  Rebecca smiled. “Don’t get me wrong,” she said. “I think Brooke is happy now with her choices—all of them. But, when Brooke chose medicine she quit playing the piano completely. Like she couldn’t have both. All or nothing with her at times, just like her dad.”

  Tess nodded. Brooke could be that way at times. Tess had learned how to push gently and ease Brooke through those moments. “Maybe I should have stayed home.”

  “No,” Rebecca said. “They need this time. If they would just give each other half a chance to be honest, they would find they are very much alike,” she said affectionately.

  “You still love him,” Tess commented.

  “Very much so. I just couldn’t live with him anymore.”

  “I hope that never happens to us.”

  “I wouldn’t worry,” Rebecca said honestly. “You already have two kids. Brooke might have her moments,” Rebecca laughed. “But in any all or nothing contest, you and the kids would win hands down.”

  “I hope she knows she never has to choose.”

  “She does,” Rebecca said. “And, that is what let’s her make those choices, Tess. Her father never let her feel she had a choice in anything. He doesn’t mean it to be hurtful. It’s how he was raised and how he thinks. In his way, it’s how he shows her he loves her. He had his ideas about me too, about us. Brooke doesn’t remember all of those things. And, I didn’t want her to. I love him, but I wasn’t about to live a life where I was second and Brooke was an afterthought. Not in his heart, Tess—in his life.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” Rebecca said honestly. “I’m not. Now, he is getting older and not practicing…He’s softened a bit. He doesn’t like that,” she laughed. “But, he has. I would suspect he is as nervous about staying with Brooke as Brooke is about having him there. I just hope she gives herself a chance to be herself with him.”

  “Me too.”

  ***

  “Did you know that Mom painted those?” Dani pointed to two paintings that hung in the living room.

  “Your mom paints too?” Brad Campbell asked.

  “Yep. Sometimes she does. Brooke says she should sell ‘em.”

  “She probably should,” he replied. “They’re quite good.”

  “Yeah, that’s what Brooke says. Mom thinks she’s nuts,” Dani told him.

  Brooke’s father tried not to laugh. “Brooke is artistic too. Always was,” he said.

  “Brooke paints?” Dani’s eyes grew wide as she looked at the older man.

  “I don’t know,” he confessed. “I’m sure she could. She was quite the little virtuoso.”

  “Virtoso?”

  “Virtuoso,” Brad corrected Dani. “She played the piano,” he explained. He chuckled slightly. “She played everything. Everything was an instrument when she was a kid—spoons, forks, sticks—everything. She even conned us into buying her a drum set. She was quite good with that too,” he recalled.

  Brooke entered the room from the kitchen carrying a beer for her father and a glass of juice for Dani. “Showing my dad Mom’s paintings?” she asked.

  “Brooke!” Dani nearly screamed causing Brooke to jump and nearly spill Dani’s juice.

  “Geez, I was just in the kitchen,” Brooke laughed.

  “You played drums!”

  Brooke’s mouth twisted in discomfort. “A little. A long time ago,” she said as she handed Dani her juice.

  “You coulda’ been a rock star!”

  Brooke handed her father his beer. “I don’t think so,” she chuckled.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” her father commented absently. “I remember you playing with that band when you were in high school.”

  “That was just for fun. Besides, you never saw us.”

  “No, but your mother sent me a video once,” he said.

  “It was just a teen phase,” Brooke dismissed her father’s observations.

  “Can you teach me?” Dani asked Brooke.

  “I haven’t played in years, Dani.”

  “I’d expect it’s like holding a scalpel. You’d remember when you picked it back up,” Brad said.

  Brooke was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation. She hadn’t made mention of her musical abilities to the kids. Tess had discovered her hidden talents when Brooke had pulled out some old photo albums. Ever since, Tess had been cautiously prodding Brooke to start playing again. Brooke had continually shrugged off the idea. As a youngster, Brooke had practiced for hours at a time on the piano. When she wasn’t studying or playing sports, she was at the piano, behind her drum set or holding a guitar. She’d dabbled in nearly every instrument she could get her hands on. It had been an escape for her, one that she had loved. Music, her father had told her, was not a viable career. Medicine was a better, more stable choice. Brooke was skilled with her hands and her mind. Once she had entered college, she had found little time for musical endeavors. She still missed it, but in many ways playing the piano or the drums brought back sad memories for Brooke, and so she decided it was best to leave that part of her life in her past.

  “It was a long time ago,” Brooke repeated.

  “Mom played the flute in school,” Dani interjected. “Grandma made her.

  “Yes, I know,” Brooke said. “She wasn’t fond of it.”

  “Nope. She hated it,” Dani said with a wrinkle of her nose. “Next year they start band,” Dani told Brooke. “I don’t want to play the flute,” she said. “Drums! And, you could help me!”

  “We’ll talk about it,” Brooke said. “Finish that juice and go get washed up,”

  “I’m not tired,” Dani said flatly.

  “I am,” Brooke mumbled. She heard her father snicker as he took a seat on the couch.<
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  “What do you like Dani?” Brad asked the young girl. “Do you like painting too?”

  “Nah, not really,” Dani said.

  “Sports?” he asked.

  “Nah, that’s Davey’s thing. He loves gym—and recess best,” she told Brooke’s father.

  Brad looked up at Brooke momentarily. Brooke rolled her eyes and shook her head. “That is probably true,” Brooke admitted. “Dani likes science.”

  “Really?” Brad returned his attention to Dani.

  “Yep,” Dani agreed as she took a sip of her juice. “Brooke says that science is cool, and it doesn’t make me a nerd.”

  “Brooke always was smart,” he said. “Although,” he whispered to Dani as if he had a big secret. “She didn’t like science much until she was older, except for animals and bugs,” he laughed. “I think she might have liked recess best too.”

  Brooke sat in a chair and watched her father interacting with Dani in complete astonishment. Who the hell is that? A pod person?

  “Brooke still likes recess,” Dani said.

  “What?” Brooke asked.

  “That’s what Mom said.”

  “I don’t get recess,” Brooke told her daughter.

  “Yes sir, Mom told Aunt Rachel that you liked to take a recess in the afternoon once in a while and surprise her.”

  Brad chuckled at the blush that crept onto Brooke’s cheeks. Brooke forced a smile. She had skipped out of the office a few times to surprise Tess at lunch—a quick rendezvous at home on Tess’s lunch break. I’ll kill them both. “Well, sometimes I just need a break too,” Brooke said. “And, I miss you guys.”

  “Yeah, ‘cause you have to work all night sometimes,” Dani said.

  “Exactly,” Brooke said.

  Dani turned back to Brooke’s father. “Did Brooke get in trouble when she was a kid?” she asked. Brooke rolled her eyes.

  “Once in a while. Not very often. Why?” Brad asked.

  “’Cause she gets in trouble with Mom all the time.”

  “I do not!” Brooke argued almost like she was a nine-year-old herself.

  Dani folded her arms across her chest, just like Tess did when she was about to reprimand one of the kids or Brooke, for that matter. “Do so. You run outside without shoes all of the time. Mom is always telling you to put something on your feet.”