The Wedding Blues (7 Brides for 7 Brothers Book 9)

by Lee Wardlow

  “I was afraid for her when I found out she was dating Brodie. I didn’t handle it well.”

  “I didn’t help the situation with my comment about Lacey, but Brodie had never been serious about anyone,” I chimed in.

  Eddie glanced over at me. “Let’s be honest. There were a lot of mistakes made. No one was perfect, but we certainly didn’t mean to make you feel like you did sweetheart.

  “I was scared when Lacey called me about your accident. I had to sit and wait for someone to call me. Ricky and I have been talking about selling the restaurant and moving home,” Eddie said.

  “What?” Lacey and Caz said at the same time.

  He nodded.

  “Last night, it hit home. We would be doing this again when Lacey went into labor. And again, when you and Davy start having kids. We found out how much we missed you kids when Lacey stayed with us.”

  Caz threw her arms around her uncle. “I want you to be happy,” she told him. “But I would love to have you back home.”

  He patted her on the back and held her. When she released him, he turned to Lacey. “What do you think?”

  “I’d be thrilled. Built-in, babysitters, I can trust.”

  He huffed at her teasing.

  “I think Ricky and I need to get serious about it then. We would keep the apartment in the Keys and sell the house too. Then if we wanted to go down there say for the cold, winter months, we could.”

  “You’ve been thinking pretty seriously about this,” Caz said.

  “We have,” he agreed. “I’ve even had a few buyers interested in the restaurant. The money would be enough we could start over here or retire whatever we decide.”

  “Eddie, that would be fantastic to have you and Ricky home again.”

  “We don’t want to miss the important things coming up in your lives.”

  They stayed until seven. Eddie was staying with Brodie and Lacey while he was here. He was going to stay with us until Caz took a tumble out of the tub.

  When they left I resumed my normal post beside her bed in the recliner that had become my bed. “One more night,” she whispered.

  “One more night,” I agreed.

  Chapter 10

  Getting Caz home was a relief.

  My brothers had installed a ramp over my front porch steps, so she could walk easily up to the porch to the front door.

  She was teary eyed that I thought to use our new linens on her hospital bed. Lorna had brought over some meals for us in plastic ware that I just had to stick in the microwave. Honestly, it was better that way than me trying to cook and take care of her too.

  I went back to work on Monday. Eddie and Lacey came over and stayed with her. We were two weeks away from our wedding.

  Caz’s patience was low. Her leg was uncomfortable. Lacey was big with her baby. Her patience wasn’t the greatest either. I came home the first night and Eddie was alone with Caz.

  He warmed up dinner for us while I sat with Caz. She was testy and that was putting it mildly. I finally left her alone and went to the kitchen to see Eddie.

  “What happened to Lacey?”

  He scoffed at me. “That lasted about three hours. They are worse than when they had their periods at the same time.”

  I almost laughed. He glanced at me over his shoulder. “Don’t laugh or I’m not coming back tomorrow.”

  “Sorry,” I replied contritely. I needed him. “That bad?”

  “She’s uncomfortable,” he pointed to my dining room. “I understand that because her leg is itchy and that cast weighs a ton. She’s wobbly on crutches because it’s so heavy.”

  “Yeah, I took care of her Saturday and Sunday,” I replied.

  He rolled his eyes at me. “Then the other one…she’s bitchy because your brother’s baby is a whopper and pressing on her bladder. She needs to pee every half hour. She’s worse than when she lived with me. Then she and Caz got into who felt worse. That was a nightmare. They cannot be in the same house right now.

  “I consider myself to be a very patient man, but I can only deal with one Chapman sister at a time, right now.”

  “I really do appreciate your help.”

  He glanced at me. Then he rubbed his hand across his face. “Honestly, it’s my pleasure. I’ve missed them more than I realized.”

  “I’m glad.” I looked around at what he was doing. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “Nope. I’m good. I’m staying for dinner. Caz wanted me to then Brodie is picking me up. She wants a sponge bath. That is all your game,” he said to me. “I didn’t mind bathing them when they were little. Not doing it now that they are adults.”

  I laughed. “I think I can handle it.”

  Later, after dinner, when the dishes were cleaned and put in the dishwasher and Eddie was gone I gave her a bath.

  I brought water with some of her bubble bath to the dining room in a bowl along with some clean clothes and towels.

  “Lacey washed my hair this afternoon but that was as far as we got before we started fighting,” Caz told me. She glanced up. “I texted her and told her I was sorry.”

  I chuckled. “What did she say?”

  “She was sorry too. Neither of us feels great right now. We’re bound to get on each other’s nerves. We have to try harder to not be so sensitive.”

  “She’s right.”

  I sat beside Caz and looked at her. I wasn’t sure where to start. She slipped her tank over her head revealing her very naked, very beautiful breasts. “I need more of these shorts and tanks. They work great with my bulky cast.”

  “Done deal. I’ll talk to my step-sisters tomorrow. Surely one of them can find them for me.” I tried not to look at what was staring me in the face. The last thing I needed was to get excited.

  “Are you sure they won’t mind?” She asked.

  I rinsed out the cloth I had thrown in the bowl and ran it down her shoulder, her bicep to her fingertips. Caz groaned at me. “That feels amazing.” Her tone was husky making me nearly groan myself.

  “I’m sure they won’t mind.” I cleaned her other arm and across her stomach. Then I handed her the cloth. “You get to do the chest area or I’m going to embarrass myself.”

  She laughed and took the cloth, groaning as she wiped across her breasts. I shook my head. This wasn’t much better. She handed it back to me and I gave her a towel to dry herself.

  I handed her another tank top then helped her get out of her shorts. Now the bottom half. We repeated the process. I washed her leg and her foot. The tips of her toes that were sticking out of her cast. She washed the intimate parts. Then handed me the cloth. I gave her the towel to dry with. Then I helped her slip into the shorts.

  “Davy, where are you going?” She asked when I headed towards the door.

  “To put these in the laundry hamper and take a cold shower,” I told her. I was teasing. I winked at her before I headed to the basement with the towels.

  She was tired. I could see how much today had sapped her energy. She just wanted to go to sleep. I offered to sit with her until she fell asleep.

  Caz glanced at me, “Davy, I miss sleeping with you.”

  “I miss you too,” I told her.

  She scooted over. “Will you lay with me?”

  I kicked off my shoes and tugged my polo shirt out of my pants then yanked it over my head and laid it on the chair. I snuggled in beside Caz on the bed and held her in my arms.

  We didn’t talk. We just laid there, holding each other. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “For what?”

  “For doing this. You can’t be comfortable.”

  “I’m comfortable enough,” I told her. That was the truth. Holding her, being close to her was all I needed. Were we cramped? A little but that didn’t matter. What mattered was being close to Caz when she needed me.

  “I love you, Davy. I can’t wait to be your wife.”

  “I love you too, babe.”

  That is the way that Eddie found us the next
morning, asleep in Caz’s hospital bed. He cleared his throat to wake us up.

  I woke first and glanced at the clock in the living room that I could see from here.

  “Shit, I’m late.”

  “You are,” he replied. “I knocked, and nobody answered.”

  “I didn’t hear you.”

  I slid out from under Caz. She didn’t wake; I was grateful for that. She had slept soundly all night for the first night since her accident.

  I headed upstairs to shower, Eddie headed to the kitchen with the bowl that I had used to bathe her. I didn’t know what we would do without our family.

  Half an hour later, I was out the door, leaving Eddie with a still sleeping Caz. I thought it was better that way.

  Lacey called me at one. Ricky was in the hospital with appendicitis. They were removing his appendix at two before it ruptured. Brodie was on his way to get Eddie to take him to the airport. She was heading to my house to stay with Caz.

  “Can you handle her?” I asked.

  “Do you mean emotionally or physically?”

  I cleared my throat. I didn’t want to say anything about their argument yesterday. She answered her own question.

  “Fortunately, we’re both worried for Ricky so we’ll behave.” I chuckled. “And physically? No, I can’t. Your Dad and Lorna are meeting me there in case I need help with her. That cast is obnoxious no wonder she’s a grouch.”

  I laughed outright at that.

  “I know,” Lacey told me. “I’m a grouch too. Your brother tells me that all the time.”

  “He does?”

  “Nicely, but yes, he does.”

  “Remind him that he was twelve pounds at birth,” I told Caz. “If your child is that big, he should be groveling at your feet.”

  She was very quiet.

  “Lacey?”

  Her eyes were wide with fright. “I hope this boy isn’t that big. He never told me that.”

  “Mom almost didn’t want any more kids.”

  “Yet she had six more.” She laughed after she made that statement.

  “A set of twins. How lucky was that?” I teased her.

  “Yeah, I always have that in the back of my mind because Brodie wants more kids and Fin has twins.”

  I laughed. “Scary, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, two of Brodie?” She teased me. I was beginning to like this girl.

  “Call me if you guys need me. I can always work at home.”

  “We will, Davy. Thanks for making Caz so happy. Eddie told me how he found you this morning. She was in a much better mood this morning because you cuddled her all night.”

  “Anything for my girl.”

  We hung up after that. I didn’t hear from them the rest of the day. I hoped that Eddie and Ricky would make it back to Severe for the wedding. Caz would be crushed if they didn’t.

  Chapter 11

  Three days before the wedding, Eddie and Ricky drove to Ohio. I’m not sure why. If I wasn’t feeling the greatest the last thing I would do would be to make a nearly twenty, hour drive from Florida to Ohio but they did.

  They had arrived last night and were staying with us. I was working from home and spent most of my time in my office while Eddie and Ricky kept Caz company.

  She was making sure all the details for the wedding were set. Bairds was good to go. There was a flub with the flowers, but she didn’t let it bother her. The florist promised to make it right with something like what she had chosen.

  The bakery confirmed her order for the cake. Lacey confirmed the DJ. I confirmed the tent, tables and chairs because I had made those arrangements.

  We had one problem remaining. Eddie brought it to my attention that afternoon. “How is she going to walk down the aisle? She can barely make it to the bathroom. I know you said you would carry her, but have you felt the weight of that cast?”

  “I have. It’s a heavy son-of-a-bitch.” I leaned back in my office chair and sighed.

  “She doesn’t want to do a wheelchair and from what Lacey said we probably couldn’t get one to the gazebo.”

  “We probably couldn’t.” I had to agree.

  I thought about how to get Caz about twenty-five to thirty feet from the house where she would get dressed to the gazebo at the park where we were getting married. That was a long way for her to walk right now. She had difficulty walking five feet to the bathroom on hardwood floors.

  “How do you think she would feel about riding on a litter?” I asked.

  “A what?” Eddie frowned at me.

  “You know, a litter like something a prince or princess rides on with big, brawny men to carry her,” I explained. “Corny but how else do we get her from the house to the gazebo?”

  I watched Eddie rub his jaw. “You have one of these things at your disposal and the brawny men to carry her?” He asked.

  “No but I know lots of good welders who could build one out of scrap metal. I have six step-sisters who could make it look pretty. Then I have six brothers who are standing up with me who could carry her. Most would consider them brawny. Well maybe not Brodie but five could still carry her. Would she kill me?”

  He laughed. “No, she won’t kill you. She might be a little embarrassed, but I think she’ll find it sweet…eventually. It’s better than my idea.”

  “Which was?” I asked dreading what Eddie was going to say. He had been teasing her a lot since his arrival at our home.

  “A wheelbarrow or a child’s wagon,” he replied with sarcasm.

  “You’re right. I’ll get on it.”

  I texted Hugh who was supervisor of the welders. I asked him to make a litter to carry Caz to the gazebo where she would marry me in three days.

  What is a litter?

  Doesn’t anyone ever read?

  I explained to him what I had explained to Eddie and he responded.

  So that is what those are called? We can do that. I’ll put Kyle in charge of decorating it.

  Don’t forget to make the seat wide or put something on it that will support her cast.

  I won’t. Davy, who is carrying this thing?

  My brothers, of course.

  Glad I asked so I know how light of steel to use.

  Love you guys.

  I didn’t get a response from him, so I expected that he was hard at work, designing something that would get Caz to the gazebo where we were going to be married.

  Lacey came to my office. She was laughing at me. “Eddie just told me about your idea to get Caz to the gazebo.”

  “Bad idea?”

  “Better than his,” she replied.

  “Is she going to kill me?” I asked.

  “No, I think it’s sweet.”

  “Hugh is building it out of scrap metal. He said he’ll have Kyle work with my sisters to decorate it so at least it will be pretty.”

  “She’s worried about making it from the house to the gazebo.”

  “Tell her not to worry I have it covered but don’t tell her how. I want to surprise her.”

  “Oh, she’ll be surprised all right.” I was suddenly starting to think this was a bad idea as Lacey left my home office.

  On Friday, Hugh sent me a picture of the litter, fully decorated and waiting on Caz at the house where we were getting married tomorrow. The girls had painted it with green, satin paint. Flowers were tied to the poles with spaces for my brothers to grasp onto it.

  Extending down from her seat was a foot rest for her cast angled to support her just right. It was perfect. Only four of them could carry her though. I wondered if they would flip for which four would do the honors.

  We were skipping a rehearsal dinner. She would be lucky if she made it through the wedding and reception tomorrow without being worn out.

  It’s beautiful. Thanks guys. I texted Hugh.

  We’ve already decided. You need Ewan, that’s a given. Brodie isn’t able yet. So, Coll, Gray, Fin and I will carry her to you.

  Thanks man. Much appreciated.

  Eddie and
Ricky had gone to bed. Ricky was still weak from his surgery. Leftovers from dinner were put away. Dishes were in the dishwasher and running. Caz was asleep, and I was waiting on Ewan.

  He said he would be here about nine. He was coming in later since we weren’t having a rehearsal which I understood. He wanted to leave after work. Detroit to Severe was about a four, hour drive. I was expecting him any time.

  I moved out onto the porch with two beers. I left the door propped open, so I could hear Caz if she needed me and waited for Ewan in the swing on my front porch. My brother showed up right on time. He got a hug then his beer which was still cold.

  “Thanks man,” he said.

  He sat his suitcase by the front door then we went to the swing to sit and talk. “Where’s Tasha?” I asked.

  “She’s angry with me so she decided to stay home.”

  “What did you do?”

  Ewan surprised me. He talked about coming back home. He had even talked to Brodie about whether there was a place for him at Steward.

  “What did he say?”

  “Of course, there is.”

  I felt a little hurt that Ewan hadn’t told me first, so I asked him why.

  “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, Davy. I didn’t want to get your hopes up.” He took a swig of his beer then glanced at me.

  “So why is Tasha angry at you.”

  “She doesn’t want to move to Severe.”

  “Oh.” I glanced at my brother. “So, what are you going to do?”

  He watched the beer swirl around in his bottle and then he glanced at me. “Davy, I care for her a lot. I would probably ask her to marry me if she would move with me, but she won’t. I miss you guys. I understand why she won’t move with me.” He looked at me. “She would miss her family too. It was hard being away when Brodie was shot. I couldn’t take off as long as I wanted. I had to rely on you guys to let me know how he was doing. That was hard.”

  Ewan looked at me. “I wanted to be here for you when Caz was hurt.”

  I took a drink of my beer. “So, are you doing this?” I asked.

  “I am. That is why she’s angry. We’ve been together a year and a half, Davy. I didn’t discuss it with her. I told her I was moving, and I wanted her to go with me, but I understood if she didn’t want to.”