More Than A Feeling (The Boston Five Series #3)

by Poppy J. Anderson

  “Yes,” Heath threw in with a laugh, simultaneously bottle-feeding the infant in his arms. “But that’s only because my wife makes the best burritos in town.”

  Hayden laughed delightedly as she cut up Josephine’s food. “That’s lovely of you to say, dear, but you’re no better than your sister. Your table manners are just as nonexistent when we have burritos.”

  Heath made a face but didn’t deny it.

  “Before you collectively drive me to the brink of despair,” their mother cut in, “and since I need to learn to live with the fact that my children are unable to handle a knife and fork properly, let’s talk about the wedding instead.” Eyes sparkling with excitement, she turned to Thorne. “Where do we stand with the preparations, honey?”

  Her daughter-in-law smiled back at her. “We decided on a cake yesterday, Ellen.”

  “It’s going to be a chocolate cake,” Brady hastened to add, obviously enchanted with the prospect.

  “Yes,” his mom guffawed. “If I could have had my way, though, we would be having a light buttercream with a ganache made from passion fruit. But Brady, Shane, and Alec outvoted me. So, yes, we will be having chocolate cake, which means there’s a good chance of stains on my white wedding dress.”

  As soon as Alec’s name was mentioned, Kayleigh’s ears pricked up, and she focused on her plate like a hypnotized squirrel, simultaneously praying to the Almighty, Buddha, and the god of baseball that she wouldn’t blush. That might give away that Alec Anderson was responsible for a very naughty dream she’d had last night.

  “Chocolate cake sounds good to me,” Kyle chimed in now. “We had buttercream cake at Hayden and Heath’s wedding, and it led to that awful case of diarrhea, remember? We even had to call an ambulance for lactose-intolerant Aunt Masiri.”

  Ryan pushed his plate away and made a retching noise. “Thank you very much! Do you really have to talk about diarrhea while we’re eating Mom’s meat loaf, Kyle?”

  His twin brother wrinkled his nose. “Diarrhea is as frequent an occurrence as the common cold or a migraine,” he lectured, “so don’t be such a sissy about it.”

  “In case you didn’t realize, Kyle, we were trying to talk about the condition of the cake before it passed through anyone’s intestines!” Ryan spat. “Jesus, what’s next? Comparing the texture of the meat loaf to Aunt Masiri’s stool?”

  While the rest of her family made faces that indicated they all had too-active imaginations, Kayleigh grinned at her brothers’ verbal exchange and shoveled more of the meat in question into her mouth. No talk of a lactose-intolerant great-aunt could curb her appetite.

  Her mother, on the other hand, was outraged. “Ryan Niall Fitzpatrick! Are you seriously comparing my meat loaf to stool?”

  Kyle played the good-student-of-medicine card and said musingly, “There is a certain similarity in color, Mom.”

  Heath, who was known to be a real sissy when it came to disgusting talk at the dinner table, was about to run away, while Shane, Hayden, and Thorne looked undecided about whether they ought to leave the table at this point.

  “Kyle Rhys Fitzpatrick!” their mother blustered. “I’ll spank your butt with the wooden spoon, and then I’ll wash your mouth out with soap! What’s gotten into all of you today?”

  Kayleigh remained a picture of calm as she dipped a piece of the meat loaf into the delicious burgundy sauce that went with it and then pointed the dripping morsel at her twin brothers. “I recommend an exorcism, Mom. Maybe that would also cure Ryan of the annoying habit of making eyes at any woman who looks vaguely like Kathy Bates. It’s really getting disconcerting, you know.”

  “Ha!” Her younger brother wrinkled his nose and nodded in her direction. “Speaking of making eyes at anyone at all, dearest sister, I’m getting worried about you, too. It seems you still haven’t scored a date for the wedding, after all. Or have you?”

  Kayleigh ground her teeth. “Oh, don’t worry your little brain about me, Ryan,” she replied, trying to sound nonchalant.

  Her brother, the damn loudmouth, gave her a wolfish smile. “I was merely trying to remind you that you bragged about being able to produce a decent companion for this wedding. The clock is ticking, and now I’m curious to see who your poor victim will be. Maybe you’re going to force your medical student slave to attend it with you?”

  She made a face at him. “You sound rather jealous, my dear. If you insist, I’ll give you Gary’s phone number.”

  Kyle laughed. “As long as he looks a little like Kathy Bates, Ryan will gladly go out with the guy.”

  “At least I’m not overly fond of conversations about feces,” Ryan retorted acidly.

  “Children,” their mom murmured, “I’ve been looking forward to a quiet and harmonious Sunday dinner with my family.”

  Heath snorted loudly. “Have we ever had a quiet and harmonious Sunday dinner in this family, Mom?”

  Defeated, their mother drew her lips into a pout and conceded, “As long as none of you talk about stool or Ryan’s preference for Kathy Bates at the actual wedding, I guess I should be happy.”

  ***

  Thorne was going to be a beautiful bride.

  As her future sister-in-law turned in front of the mirror and then stood very still to let the lady in the bridal store mark the hemline with tiny pins, Kayleigh admired the way she looked in the dazzling gown.

  “Honey, I’m afraid we’re going to have to alter the bustier a little bit. You seem to have gained half an inch or so.”

  Thorne blushed at the thoughtful tone of the saleswoman’s voice and then threw Kayleigh an alarmed glance.

  Lounging on the spacious couch in the prettily decorated store in her most comfortable pair of jeans, Kayleigh merely winked at Thorne in a lazy fashion. The bride-to-be blushed even more heavily.

  As soon as the saleswoman had left the showroom to fetch another pin cushion, Thorne sighed. “Please don’t tell anyone, Kayleigh.”

  “Hey! Who told you I couldn’t keep a secret? I can!” She scratched her chin and added, “But I think it’s pretty obvious my brother finished the job, Thorne.”

  Now the black-haired woman looked alarmed, and her eyebrows shot up in panic. “Do I look fat?”

  “Not at all,” Kayleigh said soothingly, stretching her legs. “It’s just that Shane follows you around like a besotted watchdog and keeps you from lifting even your own purse. It doesn’t take a genius to guess that you’re pregnant.”

  “Shh,” Thorne hissed with a nervous nod of her head in the direction of the front room, where Kayleigh’s mom had disappeared a few minutes earlier on a quest to find the perfect veil to go with the chosen gown. “I don’t want your mom to know yet.”

  “Oh, come on,” Kayleigh groaned and rolled her eyes. “Mom may go to church every Sunday, own a picture of the Pope, and bake a hundred cakes for the semi-annual church bazaar, but she’s progressive enough to understand that you and Shane are sleeping together. Also, in case you weren’t aware, Brady is living proof of your sex life!”

  Now it was Thorne’s turn to roll her eyes. She lifted the voluminous train of her gown and stepped down from the dais to sit gingerly on a small stool. Kayleigh observed the gracious movements of her future in-law and told herself for the umpteenth time that she would never be able to move this elegantly, or even decently, in a gown like that. She would feel as if she were in disguise and would most likely move with the elegance of a one-legged pirate.

  “It’s not about Shane and me having sex,” Thorne whispered. “For heaven’s sake, we’re all adults.”

  “Then why don’t you want anybody to know the good news?” Kayleigh asked with genuine curiosity. She ran a hand through her unruly hair. “Mom would have kittens if she knew!”

  “Exactly.” The beautiful bride beamed at her and then lowered her eyes, biting her lip. “Everyone will be excited and happy, which is great, but …”

  “But?”

  Thorne looked up again and winked at her. “Shane and
I just want to have the news to ourselves for a little while longer.”

  “I see,” Kayleigh replied, a warm feeling in her chest. “See, I can totally understand that. As soon as Mom hears about it, there’ll be no holding her back.”

  “As soon as I hear about what?” The merry voice of her mother startled them both. Ellen stepped into the room with a selection of veils.

  Thorne’s alarmed eyes tricked Kayleigh into carelessly announcing, “That I’m letting you pick my dress for the wedding, Mom.”

  “Good God,” her mom laughed, simultaneously appraising her future daughter-in-law in her gown. “That is a most welcome surprise indeed. I was worried you’d want to attend wearing nothing but a baseball jersey.”

  “Ha, ha, very funny, Mom.” Kayleigh made a face and gave Thorne a conspiratorial wink. The bride exhaled loudly. “As long as you don’t try to put me into a number with puffed pink sleeves, we should be fine. I don’t want to look like a meringue. And I’m going to do my own hair,” she declared categorically, since she knew her mother was dying to attack her with rollers, hair pins, and other torture devices she liked to call beauty products.

  While her mom stepped behind Thorne and held one of the veils behind her head to see what it would look like, she clucked her tongue reproachfully at Kayleigh. “Honey, I still don’t understand why you cut off your beautiful hair. Those long curls were so pretty.”

  Yeah, but they had also been extremely annoying, getting in the way whether she was at work or playing sports, Kayleigh told herself, running a hand through the spiffy pixie cut she had gotten only a few weeks ago, much to her mother’s very vocal chagrin. For herself, it hadn’t been a big deal to cut off all the hair she’d been growing and grooming since childhood. Her mom had been disconsolate, while Heath had joked that they almost had the same haircut now. Ellen had openly admitted to fearing Kayleigh would never land a husband and that she had just lowered her chances considerably by looking like a boy. She could understand her mom’s worries a little, but she simply loved her new, hassle-free do.

  Wanting to tease her mother and to further deflect any closer scrutiny of Thorne’s big secret, she declared contentedly, “At least with this new haircut I’ve stopped getting pictures of penises in my inbox. All the men now think I’m a lesbian.”

  Her mother looked shocked and drew a gasping breath. “Kayleigh!”

  She shrugged with an innocent expression. “Granted, some of the photos sent via various social networks were rather impressive, but it’s slightly annoying when you log into your account and the first thing that pops up is a penis, don’t you think? Things have quieted down considerably, and that’s all due to my new lesbian hair.”

  “It is exactly this kind of talk that frightens any prospective man away, not your hair or your jerseys.” Her mother shook her head in genuine frustration, before busying herself with Thorne’s veil. Then she threw Kayleigh a sidelong glare and added, “I’m active on a number of social networks myself, young lady, and nobody ever sent me a picture of a penis!”

  Kayleigh crossed her hands behind her head. “I could send you the best ones if you want me to, Mom. I have a lovingly curated top ten on my PC. If you’re interested in those as well, Thorne, just let me know.”

  “Thanks, but no, thanks.” Thorne waved it aside with a laugh. “ I don’t think I’d want pictures of strange penises on my computer.”

  “Right. A picture of Shane’s penis should be fully sufficient.”

  “Jesus, Kayleigh,” her mom whined. “It’s going to be your fault if we’re kicked out of this lovely store. Could we please change the subject now and talk about the wedding?”

  “Fine.” She nodded in an exaggerated fashion and winked at Thorne. “So what are your raunchy plans for your wedding night?”

  “Let me get through the actual wedding first, before I worry about the wedding night,” the raven-haired beauty suggested, inclining her head and looking at the veil in the full-length mirror. She turned to Kayleigh’s mom. “So which of the veils do you like best with this gown, Ellen?”

  “You look absolutely lovely in all of them,” she replied, gracing her future daughter-in-law with a warm smile. “Shane will be enchanted when he sees you. He’ll probably be tongue-tied with awe.”

  Kayleigh thought that it was much more likely that Shane would have a massive erection when he saw his bride’s bulging cleavage, but since her mother seemed close to bursting into tears at the view of the stunning bride, she refrained from pointing that out and instead smiled broadly.

  “That is so nice of you to say, Ellen.”

  “I mean it, honey. My son ought to count himself damned lucky to have you as his wife.”

  Before both the groom’s mother and the bride could burst into tears, Kayleigh interrupted their rapture with a groan. “Since when do you use that kind of language, Mom? I hope Father MacCallahan never hears you talk like that, or Shane and Thorne will have to get married in a Walmart parking lot by a priest with some shady internet credentials.”

  “If you don’t stop it, Kayleigh, I swear I’m going to find you some pink puffed sleeves!”

  Kayleigh raised both hands in a placatory gesture, and then she rose to start pacing the showroom while her mom continued to fuss with the veil on Thorne’s head.

  Kayleigh was happy for her mom, who threw herself into the wedding preparations with such eagerness and was constantly beaming. Since Kayleigh loved her mom dearly and had been worrying about her well-being ever since her dad had passed away, she felt great relief at seeing her mom so excited. But at the same time, she braced herself for the inevitable reference to her own marital status, which was always bound to be mentioned again soon. She’d turned thirty a few weeks ago, and her mother kept alluding to that.

  “Have you found a date for the wedding yet?”

  Yep, there it was. Kayleigh groaned and banged her head against the white-paneled wall unit in front of her. “No, Mom.”

  “Then you should step up your game. The wedding’s in a few weeks.”

  “If I don’t find anyone, I can always fall back on one of the penis pictures in my inbox. Who knows? Maybe one of them would make an excellent son-in-law.”

  “Don’t try to mock me like that,” her mom chided. “I’m going to pick a really nice dress for you …”

  “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” Kayleigh moaned and then stuck out her tongue at Thorne, who had started to giggle. She turned back to her mother and explained slowly, “Mom, you know a pretty dress won’t suddenly turn me into wedding material.”

  Ellen looked determined as she cocked her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking her daughter up and down as if planning to sell her to the highest bidder. “You sell yourself too cheaply, honey. You are pretty, and also intelligent and funny. A little makeup, a pretty dress, and maybe … Less discussion about penis pictures would work wonders, believe me.”

  “As if I never had a boyfriend,” Kayleigh complained grumpily. “I get along fine with men, Mom. Most of them are just not the type you would file as wedding material, that’s all.”

  “Please, no details now,” Ellen pleaded. “My heart couldn’t take it.”

  Kayleigh mimicked taking a bow.

  Thorne seemed to want to help her out. “Just take your time, Kayleigh,” she chimed in with an exaggeratedly merry tone. “So far, the right man just hasn’t introduced himself to you. Maybe that’ll change soon.”

  “Why don’t you ask one of your coworkers, or the nice medical student you work with? I’m sure one of them would like to accompany you to the wedding.”

  “God help me, Mom!” Kayleigh made a retching sound. “I’ll show up with one of the penis pic guys before that happens!”

  “There’s nothing wrong with coming on your own, either,” Thorne said, nodding insistently. “There’s nothing shameful about attending a wedding without a companion. Shane told me last night that Alec’s coming alone as well. Apparently he
broke up with his part-time girlfriend.”

  Kayleigh threw her future sister-in-law a quick glance over her shoulder. But Thorne didn’t notice, as she was mainly talking to Ellen.

  “What is that supposed to mean? Part-time girlfriend? Is that some newfangled term for a long-distance relationship?”

  “No, Ellen,” Thorne said and chuckled. “I’d say it’s a typically male term. Alec changes his girlfriends like other people do their part-time jobs. He just told Shane he was coming on his own, which forces us to change the seating arrangement. Even though I’m sure he’ll have a new girlfriend by the wedding.”

  Suddenly, an idea started to form in Kayleigh’s head. She took a deep breath and turned around to face the mirror again.

  Chapter 3

  It wasn’t like Kayleigh was a stalker, but she did know that Alec Anderson could be found at O’Reary’s on a day like today. After all, the Seattle Mariners were playing the Boston Red Sox.

  She remembered Hayden’s last birthday, when she and Alec had discussed the Major League in great detail and with a lot of laughter and enthusiasm. Kayleigh had enjoyed herself so much that she all but overlooked the blond wifey who’d clung to Alec’s arm for the entire conversation. She remembered his unrestrained laughter after she’d told him about the persistent rumor that former pitcher John Smoltz had burned his own chest while ironing his shirt … because he hadn’t taken it off before taking the iron to it. And Kayleigh could have sworn Alec had all but forgotten his mute companion, too. But at the end of the evening, he had left with said companion, while Kayleigh had trekked to the aforementioned pub, feeling disillusioned and frustrated. The following morning, she’d kicked out the naked man she’d woken up next to.

  She wanted to blame that episode on excessive alcohol consumption, but truth be told, she’d hardly had anything to drink that night. She’d had a different reason for having that one-night stand.

  No matter how dumb it may sound, Kayleigh had been seeking recognition and affirmation of her own attractiveness, worrying that the time had come when all she could be was the cheerful pal you met for a beer and a game of darts, and nothing more.