The Ransome Brothers_A Ransom Novel

by Rachel Schurig

  I don’t like the look on his face when he mentions Dad so I decide to skip over that part. “I didn’t ask her, actually. She asked me.”

  “What?”

  I don’t bother to hide my grin. “I mean, I asked her back when we found out she was pregnant. A bunch of times, honestly. But she was dead-set on us not getting married just because of the baby. She said she wanted us to do it for the right reasons.” I shrug. “I would have married her ages ago, you know? So I was just kind of waiting for her to let me know when she was ready. And then she went and proposed.” I laugh. “Surprised the hell out of me.”

  Reed shakes his head. “You know, that does sound like Daisy. She’s not really the type to sit around and wait for what she wants.”

  I look over at him. “Right? It was awesome.”

  “So how did she ask you?”

  “Apparently we talked about this, when we were kids. I didn’t remember it, like at all. But Daisy always remembers stuff like that.” I have a feeling there’s a goofy expression on my face, but I don’t really care. Reed knows I’m a complete idiot where Daisy is concerned. “I guess I had told her all the fun things I would want to happen when someone proposed to me—I was like, eight. I had no idea the guy usually does the proposing. Anyhow, Daisy remembered everything I said, and she tried to recreate it.” I let out a laugh, the sound a bit choked up. “It was pretty freaking perfect.”

  “You guys are perfect,” Reed mutters, watching me. There’s a weird expression on his face. He almost looks jealous.

  “Hey, man,” I say, turning in my seat to see him better. “You and Paige are pretty perfect too.”

  He stares straight ahead, his jaw clenched. “Yeah, when I’m not screwing everything up.”

  “Reed, you don’t—”

  He shakes his head, his expression clearing. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get maudlin. We were talking about something happy.”

  “Reed, we can talk about anything,” I say. “You know that, right?”

  “Sure,” he says, his voice easy. I’m not buying it. “But right now we should talk about how insanely lucky you are because that girl is way too good for you.”

  I bark out a laugh. “You don’t have to tell me.”

  He takes his eyes off the road for a minute to smirk at me. “Like way too good.”

  Reed switches lanes, cutting across to exit the freeway. The GPS says we’re almost there. “Honestly, though,” Reed says, his voice more serious now. “I’m really glad for you guys, Daltrey. You’re good together. And you both deserve to be happy.”

  “Thanks,” I mutter, a strange feeling of pride rising up in me. It’s nice to know he thinks so. I clear my throat, more than a little uncomfortable with the serious tone of the conversation. But Lennon had said we should all talk more about this kind of stuff, so I take a breath. “That means a lot to me, man. ’Cause, you know. I really respect your opinion.”

  He glances over at me quickly, looking surprised. “Yeah?”

  “Well, yeah, Reed. I mean, you helped raise me. I’ve always looked up to you.”

  He doesn’t say anything and from the corner of my eye I can see his jaw clench. But then the GPS is directing him into a busy parking lot and I figure the moment is over. And I’m pretty damn relieved. None of us do that well with this emotional shit.

  But before I climb out of the car, Reed reaches over and clenches my shoulder, hard.

  “Thanks, Dalt,” he says, his voice rough.

  “Sure, man.”

  We don’t say anything else as we make our way through the rows of cars. Once we’re in front of the bridal store, though, Reed groans. “I knew it was going to be like this.”

  “Like what?”

  He gestures at the front of the building. “All…frilly. Girly.”

  I laugh. “Paige will kick your ass when I tell her you said that.”

  “What?” he asks, following me to the door. “What’s wrong with saying it’s girly? It is.”

  “Yes, but it was your tone. Like being girly is the worst thing something could be.” I walk into the store, taking in the abundance of white and poof before my eyes focus on the person in the middle of the store, modeling a pristine ivory dress. “Oh,” I say, my mouth dropping open.

  Paige turns to face me, grinning, running her hands down the front of the wedding dress. “You weren’t supposed to see this!” Then Reed comes in behind me and her eyes widen. “Shit,” she mutters.

  “No swearing in front of the dress!” Daisy says. “The dress is too precious for swearing.”

  I glance over my shoulder at my brother to see him staring at Paige, a blank expression on his face. Honestly, he looks a little like the way he always does when he gets into it with Cash and takes a fist to the face. Stunned.

  “We’re just messing around,” Paige says quickly, her eyes on him. She looks worried now. “We saw this dress and the girls—”

  “We knew it was perfect for her,” Daisy says, reaching down to adjust the hem. “I mean, look at this thing. It was made for her.”

  “They made me try it on,” Paige says, her voice small now. I see Karen glance from Paige’s stricken face to Reed’s shocked one, and she narrows her eyes.

  “And you look perfect in it,” Karen says in a sharp voice. “Whoever marries you will be damned lucky.”

  Paige steps down off the pedestal, looking sheepish. “I’m going to take it off,” she mumbles.

  “We’ll help,” Daisy says, sighing a little. “But I still think you should buy it.”

  I hear Paige laugh as she leaves the room, the sound a little shrill. “I’m not getting married, silly.”

  “Paige,” Daisy says sternly. “A dress this good doesn’t need a wedding. You should live in this dress.” They all giggle as they follow Paige back through the hallway.

  I turn to face Reed. He’s still staring at the place where she’d been standing, still stunned. I snap my fingers in front of his face. “Dude.”

  He blinks, shaking his head a little. “What?”

  “You’re freaking out, man.”

  He looks at me, eyes wide. “Paige was in a wedding dress.”

  “They were messing around. You don’t need to panic.”

  “Panic?” he asks, looking confused. “I wasn’t panicking.”

  I nod back to where the girls exited. “I’m pretty sure that’s the impression they all got.”

  He frowns. “I wasn’t panicking,” he says, again, his voice quiet.

  Reed seems unwilling—or unable—to talk to me so I wander around the showroom, fingering the soft material of some of the gowns, wondering what Daisy is going to look like in her dress. My brothers would rag on me so hard if they knew this, but it’s something I’ve imagined a million times before. Daisy, walking down an aisle towards me.

  “Hey,” she says, coming up behind me and slipping her hands around my waist.

  “You done?” I ask, turning in her arms to face her. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, a multitude of curls escaping to float down around her face. She probably messed it up trying on dresses.

  “All done.”

  “Did you find something?”

  She grins. “I did.”

  “Can I see it?”

  She laughs before kissing my chin. “Not a chance.”

  I pull her closer, kissing her lips. “Boo,” I mutter against her mouth.

  “We should get going,” Paige says. She looks a little pink-cheeked and I have a feeling she’s intentionally trying not to look at Reed. He’s standing to her side, staring at her with that same dazed look on his face. “Carmen is probably waiting for us.”

  Carmen is the wedding planner we hired. Paige has been handling most of the communication with her but I met with her a few times. She seems efficient and straightforward, which I like. I figure her no-nonsense attitude might help keep Daisy from getting stressed out.

  I look down at her to see the teasing smile melt from her face. “Okay,”
she says, and worry pulses in my chest.

  There isn’t time to ask her about it, though, because Paige is nudging us all outside to a waiting stretch limo. “You got a limo?” I ask, confused.

  “We had a girls day,” Paige says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Mani-pedis, lunch, shopping.” She shrugs. “The limo seemed appropriate.”

  I look down at Daisy to see her smiling once again. “And it was very nice of you,” she says, kissing Paige’s cheek. “This day has been perfect.”

  “Well it’s not done yet!” Paige says, gesturing for us to climb into the limo. “The venue is absolutely gorgeous. You’re going to love what Carmen has put together.”

  Reed doesn’t say much on the drive over to the venue. Neither do I—it’s difficult to get a word in when the girls are so eager to discuss and dissect just about every dress they looked at today.

  “Should we be talking about this in front of Daltrey?” Paige asks at one point, shooting me a worried look.

  Karen laughs. “Do you see that glossy look in his eye? That means he’s bored out of his mind and he has no idea what we’re even talking about.”

  I shrug. “I couldn’t tell you the difference between satin and silk so none of this is really making any sense to me.”

  When we get to the hotel we chose as the wedding venue, I feel Daisy stiffen next to me. “Oh, shoot,” Paige mutters, and I turn to look out the window. There’s a small crowd of paparazzi on the sidewalk, waiting for us.

  “How in the hell did they find out we were coming?” I ask.

  “One of the vendors probably tipped them off,” Reed says in a dark voice. “Trying to get a few minutes of free publicity.”

  “Shit,” I mutter. “We don’t have any security with us.”

  Reed peers out the window. “Looks like the venue staff is holding them back. We can probably get through.”

  “You okay with that, baby?” I ask, leaning down to look at Daisy. We have to deal with paparazzi on a pretty regular basis when I’m working. It’s never pleasant, but sometimes it’s harder on Daisy than usual. After everything she went through her senior year, crowds and attention still set her off sometimes.

  “I’m fine,” she says in a small voice that makes my chest constrict.

  “Just stick by me,” I tell her. “No one will bother you.”

  Reed brings Karen and Paige out, a protective arm around each of them in case the photographers get too close.

  “Let’s do this,” I urge Daisy when she doesn’t seem in much hurry to follow them out of the limo. “The faster we get through the better.”

  She nods, looking scared, and I pull her from the limo, immediately wrapping an arm tight around her. I turn her face in towards my chest so the flashes won’t get in her eyes. “Tell us about the wedding!” one of them shouts.

  “Daltrey, when’s the big day?”

  “Daisy, any truth to the rumors about—”

  I try to block out all the shouting, my eyes on Reed’s back in front of me. I don’t like how close they’re getting, don’t like being here without security. Don’t like the way Daisy is clinging to me, like she’s really scared. “Almost there,” I whisper. Then I see Carmen in front of us, holding the door open. She looks pissed as she gestures us into the foyer.

  “I am so sorry about that,” she says, scowling. “I’ve fired the floral designer responsible.”

  I ignore her, turning to Daisy. She’s breathing heavy, eyes closed.

  “You’re okay,” I tell her gently, waving Paige away when she comes close. “Just breathe through it.”

  I hate seeing Daisy have a panic attack, hate the desperate way she gasps for air. Hate how helpless I feel, unable to do anything but stand at her side, trying to project calm.

  This time she seems to fight it off before it gets too bad. She takes several deep breaths, eyes closed, as I run my hands up and down her arms. Then she looks up at me. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize,” I say, my voice rough. I want to pull her tight against me, but I know feeling confined, even in my arms, is the last thing she needs right now. “We should go. We can reschedule this.”

  “And go back out there?” she asks, her voice high and thin.

  “I’m sure there’s another exit—”

  She shakes her head. “Paige and Carmen did a lot of work for this.”

  “Daisy.”

  “And all the vendors took the time to come.” She manages a smile at me. “Let’s just do it.”

  I look down at her, battling my protective instincts. She hates to be babied when she’s having a hard time and I know it’s important for her to set her own boundaries, make her own decisions about what she can and can’t do. So even though I would much rather throw her over my shoulder and get her out of here, maybe take her all the way back to Tennessee if I could, instead I grip her hand and turn back to the others. “We’re ready.”

  Paige and Karen are watching her with worried eyes but when she smiles at them they relax. “This will be fun,” Paige says. “I promise.”

  I don’t know if I would call it fun. Parts of it are cool—we get to eat wedding cake samples and try a few signature cocktails, which is awesome. We also talk to the guys organizing the fireworks, which sound even more kick-ass than I expected. But most of the hour is spent looking at boring shit like flowers and china. I can tell that Daisy is just going through the motions, but she keeps a smile on her face the entire time, agreeing with Karen and Paige whenever they express an opinion.

  I’m relieved when we finish. Daisy’s shoulders are tense by then, her smile forced. But she thanks Carmen and Paige profusely for their hard work. “I think we’re right on schedule,” Carmen tells her, looking over her notes. “The big day will be here before you know it!”

  Daisy visibly blanches at that, and I squeeze her hand.

  I have to wait until we’ve dropped Reed, Paige, and Karen at his car at the bridal salon before I can talk to her about it. Paige arranged for the limo to take us out to dinner before we have to be back to relieve the nanny. But I have a feeling dinner isn’t going to be happening.

  “Daisy,” I say, pulling her around to face me once we’re alone. “I need you to tell me something.”

  “Okay,” she says, not meeting my eyes.

  “How much of this current mood is about the paparazzi and how much of it is about the wedding?”

  She frowns up at me. “What do you mean?”

  “Baby, you don’t seem very excited about any of this.”

  My stomach sinks when her eyes fill with tears. What if she doesn’t want to marry me after all?

  “Do you think the paparazzi will be like that at the wedding?” she asks, the first tear slipping down her face.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Will I have to walk through a gauntlet like that in my wedding dress?”

  “Daisy.” I pull her into my arms, rubbing my hands up and down across her back. “Of course not. We’ll have security. We’ll keep them out.”

  “I keep thinking, what if they would have been at the bridal salon?” Her voice is muffled against my chest. “What if someone got a picture of me in my dress and sold it?”

  “That didn’t happen.”

  “I know…I just…” She’s really crying now.

  “Daisy,” I say, and I can hear how strangled my voice is. “Baby, do you need more time?”

  She pulls out of my arms, staring at me. “What?”

  “If we’re rushing into this, we can take a step back and—”

  “You don’t want to marry me?”

  “What? Of course I want to marry you!”

  She’s sobbing, covering her face with her hands. I grab her fingers, pulling them away so I can look at her. “Daisy, I would fly to Vegas tonight if you wanted to. I would wait until August and do it just the way we’ve been planning with Paige. But I’m also fine to wait longer, if that’s what you need.” She takes a deep, gulping breath. �
��I’m just worried this is all stressing you out. And that’s the last thing I want.”

  “I feel so stupid,” she mutters.

  “Why would you say that?”

  “I never even thought about…you know…my issues.”

  I frown, trying to decipher that. “The panic attacks?”

  She nods. “All those people, watching me. Carmen got guest lists from our dads and the one with our friends from Paige and we’re at like, two hundred and fifty people. Two hundred and fifty! What if I freak out again?”

  “Daisy—”

  “The media knows about the wedding now. They’re going to be following me around while I’m planning stuff with Paige.”

  “You’ll bring security from now on,” I say.

  She shudders. “It doesn’t help. They still press in like that. Shouting at me.” She raises a shaking hand to brush away her hair. “I hate it.”

  “I’m sorry.” I feel like complete shit. It’s my career that puts her in this position. I slam my fist into the cushion at my side, feeling guilty and angry and so powerless. “We should have stayed at the farm.”

  “No!” she says, reaching for my hands. “I’ve been happy here, Dalt. Honestly. I get to see the girls and your brothers so much more. And I love being able to see you guys play so easily.” I give her a skeptical look. “I’m truly happy that we’re here.”

  “But you’re not enjoying this wedding planning.” She looks away. “It’s not just today with the paparazzi, Daisy. I can tell. You’ve been feeling overwhelmed for a while now.”

  She blows out a breath. “I think I just always figured it would be…more simple.”

  “We can do simple,” I say quickly.

  She gives me a rueful smile. “But you got so excited about the fireworks and the—”

  I put a finger over her lips. “I’m excited to marry you. I don’t need any of that stuff. Not unless you want it.”

  She searches my eyes for a long moment, like she’s trying to decide if she believes me. “We can’t just change it all now,” she says eventually. “Carmen did so much work to pull it together on such short notice.”