Circle of Friends, Part 1

by Susan Mallery

  Which, she suddenly thought, hadn’t been discussed.

  Just then Dev knocked on the bedroom door. She crossed the cushy carpet, her high-heel sandals sinking in with each step.

  “Hi,” she said as she opened the door. “I’m ready.”

  He looked good in his tailored black suit. Very elegant and in charge.

  He smiled. “You’re beautiful.”

  “Thank you.” She clutched the tiny white satin evening bag she’d borrowed from Crissy. “Did you, um, think to get wedding bands?”

  He patted his jacket pocket. “I have them right here. I picked out platinum, to match your engagement ring.”

  Before she could say anything, he held out a small bouquet of white roses and starburst lilies.

  “For the bride,” he told her.

  She hadn’t expected flowers. Funny how they got to her more than the suite or the expensive engagement ring. Her eyes burned with unshed tears and she willed herself not to cry. Dev had been nothing but sweet and thoughtful. He didn’t deserve tears.

  She thanked him and they walked to the elevator. The ride down passed with a blur. Suddenly they were in a small chapel and she was reciting that she would love and cherish Dev as long as they both shall live. She hesitated slightly before her “I do” knowing she was making a vow she had every intention of breaking. Then she whispered the words and it was over.

  She was aware of someone taking their picture, then polite conversation with the officiate, followed by a quick ride back up to the room.

  “Are you all right?” Dev asked as he inserted the key, then pushed opened the door.

  “I’m fine.”

  She didn’t feel any different than she had a half hour ago. Except for the slender platinum band nestled against her engagement ring, there wasn’t any proof that anything had changed. Yet she was now married. How was that possible? Shouldn’t she feel profoundly transformed?

  “Did you eat last night?” he asked.

  She turned her attention from her rings to the man she’d married. “What?”

  “Let me rephrase that. When was the last time you ate?”

  Food, like sleep, hadn’t seemed possible. “Thursday.”

  “That can’t be good.”

  He took her hand and led her toward the large dining table. It was only then she noticed the covered dishes, along with a bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket.

  “I had a feeling you wouldn’t have eaten much,” he said. “So I ordered us an early dinner.”

  He walked to the champagne and expertly popped the cork. After pouring some in two glasses, he handed her one. “I know you’re pregnant and only nineteen, but I thought you might want a sip on your wedding day.”

  She stared at the bubbles rising in the narrow glass, then smiled at him. “Actually, I’m twenty. My birthday was last week.”

  He frowned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I missed it.”

  Some of her tension eased as she laughed. “I really didn’t expect you to notice, Dev. It’s not a big deal.”

  Had they been a real couple, she would have been hurt, but under the circumstances...not so much.

  He raised his glass. “To your birthday, a few days late. And to us.”

  She touched her glass to his, then took a sip.

  While the bubbles tickled her tongue, the liquid had no taste. She didn’t think it was the champagne’s fault, either. At that moment, she doubted she could have tasted anything. She put down her glass and tried to ignore the trembling in her body. She was so tired, she thought. Tired and confused and not sure what he expected of her.

  Noelle swayed slightly on her feet. Dev grabbed her arm.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, wondering what the hell he would do if she collapsed.

  “I’m okay. I haven’t been sleeping.”

  Exhaustion darkened her eyes. Her skin was so pale, it was practically white.

  “You want to go lie down?” he asked.

  “I won’t sleep.”

  “You might surprise yourself.” He spun her toward her room and gave her a push. “Go on.”

  She turned back to him. “What about the dinner? You went to so much trouble.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  She bit her bottom lip as if not sure if she could do what she wanted instead of what she should. Then she raised herself on tiptoe, whispered, “Thank you,” and kissed him on the cheek.

  Her lips lingered for half a second and in that moment he was stunned to find himself wanting to turn so that his mouth brushed hers. Only he wanted more than just a simple kiss. He wanted to claim her in a moment of passion that rocked them both.

  The need shocked him into stepping back, although he was careful to keep his face expressionless. He gave her another little push and this time she walked into her bedroom and shut the door.

  He stood alone in the center of the living room, with an open bottle of champagne and a romantic dinner for two. Ignoring both, he walked to the minibar and pulled out every container of Scotch.

  Hell of a way to spend a wedding night, he thought as he opened the first bottle and swallowed the contents.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  NOELLE TWISTED HER new rings round and round on her finger. “I keep thinking I’ve reached the peak stomach-churning experience,” she said. “But then a new one crops up. Do you think we’re close to done?”

  As she spoke, she glanced at Dev, who sat behind the wheel of the car and negotiated the streets that led to her parents’ house.

  “Once we’re through with this, it should be easy,” he said.

  “Except I have to tell them I’m pregnant.”

  “Not for a few more weeks.”

  “I know. I’ll try not to think about it.”

  She was getting good at that—clearing her mind and living in the moment. After the wedding, she’d stretched out on the big bed, thinking she would never sleep. When next she’d surfaced, it had been after midnight and she’d still been in her white dress. She’d showered, washed off her makeup, then crawled into bed where she’d zonked out until nearly eight.

  They’d shared a quiet breakfast in one of the cafes, then had flown home at noon. Now they were going by to tell her family the news and pick up several suitcases and return to his house.

  Easy enough, as long as she didn’t actually think about doing any of it.

  Before she’d figured out exactly what she was going to say to her parents, Dev pulled up in front of the house. Noelle got out, then smoothed the front of her cotton skirt and forced herself to smile as she led the way to the door.

  “Hi, Mom,” she yelled as she entered.

  Unlike the previous weekend, this time the house was quiet. All of her sisters were off with friends. But Noelle had called ahead and knew her parents were home.

  “Hi, honey,” her mom said, stepping out of the kitchen. “Are you hungry? Did you want me to—” She spotted Dev. “Oh, hello. I didn’t know you were with Noelle today.” She smiled, then yelled. “Bob, Noelle and Dev are here.” She looked back at them. “Your father’s in his study. He preached from Romans today and you know how he gets.”

  Noelle turned to Dev. “He goes over his sermons after he gives them and looks at ways he could have done things better.”

  Her father walked down the hall toward them. “We didn’t expect to see you until later.” He held out his hand to Dev. “Good to see you again.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Dev glanced at her, which she knew was her cue. Noelle drew in a deep breath.

  “Mom, Dad, I didn’t spend the night at Crissy’s last night. Dev and I flew to Las Vegas and got married.”

  Both her parents stared at her in open-mouthed shock. She cleared h
er throat, then added, “I’m sorry I lied.”

  Dev stepped into the uncomfortable silence. “It was all my idea,” he said quickly. “Please don’t blame your daughter. I was doing my best to sweep her off her feet and all the time she kept talking about how she didn’t want to disappoint you. I hope you’ll understand and lay the blame where it belongs.”

  Noelle appreciated the support and the fact that Dev wasn’t technically lying about anything.

  Her mother surfaced first. “Married?” she asked in a shaky voice. “One of my babies is married?”

  Noelle held out the ring. Her mother glanced at it, then at Dev. “Okay, yeah, for that I might have married you, too.” She gave a laugh, then pulled Noelle close. “Is this what you want? Are you happy?”

  Noelle was grateful that the tight hug meant her only response could be a nod.

  Her father glared at Dev. “You’re sure about this? You’re prepared to take on the responsibility for my daughter?”

  “Of course,” Dev said confidently. “Mr. Stevenson, I know how much your daughter means to you. I would never hurt her in any way. She will be taken care of and safe for as long as I draw breath.”

  Noelle waited for her father’s response. Once again Dev had managed to speak the truth. She wondered if anyone would notice that he hadn’t promised to love her.

  Her father continued to study Dev for a few more seconds, then held out his hand again. “Then welcome to the family.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  The next few minutes passed in a blur. Her parents ushered them into the family room. Her mother produced lemonade and cookies, then wished they had champagne in the house.

  “I didn’t think we’d need it so soon,” she said, touching Noelle’s hand. “Tell me everything about the wedding. I wish we could have been there. Oh, my. There are so many people to tell. We’ll have to have a party, won’t we, Bob? Maybe something in the garden.”

  Dev listened to Jane Stevenson talk about the wedding. There were tears in her eyes as she realized all she’d missed of her oldest daughter’s big day. He felt bad for having to deceive her and her husband, but it was better this way. Better that they not know the truth about the baby. They were the sort of people who would insist on helping and he didn’t want to have to argue against their pride and love for their daughter.

  Noelle was holding up better than he’d expected. She answered lots of questions about the Bellagio and even surprised him by admitting she’d already packed most of her things.

  When they were finally ready to leave, he braced himself for a one-on-one with Noelle’s father. He figured he owed the man, so he wouldn’t try to duck out of the conversation. But instead it was Jane who cornered him as Noelle’s father loaded her luggage in the car.

  “Please take care of my little girl,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “I know she’s the oldest, but I still think of her as my baby. My firstborn. Oh, Dev, I know you’re a good man, but this is difficult.”

  He touched her arm. “I promise I’ll take care of her.”

  She smiled through her tears. “I know she’ll never want for anything, which is lovely, but there’s so much more to a marriage than not worrying about bills. Noelle is special. I guess I don’t have to tell you that, but I’m going to, anyway. She’s smart and responsible and caring. And that’s what I worry about the most. Her heart.”

  She paused and wiped away the single tear that had escaped. “She thinks she’s tough, but she bruises so easily. She leads with her heart. Be careful of that. Be tender.”

  “I will,” he said, knowing it was a safe promise. Noelle’s heart didn’t enter into their agreement.

  “As long as you love each other fully, you can get through anything,” Jane said. “That’s my best advice. Love each other.”

  He nodded without speaking, then walked toward the car.

  Love. Romantic love. He didn’t believe in it. Not anymore. He’d tried it once, while he’d been raising Jimmy, only the woman in question had refused to deal with a difficult teenager. He’d let her walk away because he hadn’t known how to keep her. The loss had devastated him.

  Since then, he’d avoided the emotion and found he got along quite fine. Love was for the weak. He’d always been strong. Nothing about that was going to change.

  * * *

  SINCE DEV WAS able to carry about five times as much luggage as Noelle, they carried everything inside in two trips.

  “I told you about the two bedrooms down here,” he said as he showed her a large, airy bedroom decorated in pale blue and beige. A queen-size bed sat against one wall, with a big armoire opposite. A long desk filled the space under the window.

  “I ordered the desk last week and had it put here,” he said. “I thought you might like to look out while you studied.”

  He’d done that for her? “Thank you,” she said as she glanced out at the beautiful yard. She could see flowers, a tree and one end of the pool. Talk about a great way to take a break. “It was very thoughtful.”

  “You’re welcome. Bookcases,” he said, pointing to the ends of the desk.

  She bent down and saw there was a good-sized bookcase at each end. On both sides of the comfy looking leather chair were deep file drawers.

  The closet was equally impressive. A big walk-in had been finished by some expert who had put in angled shelves for shoes, straight shelves for folded items, pockets for purses, three sets of drawers and plenty of multilevel hanging space. The fixtures were a gleaming silver that looked great against the light wood.

  She walked into the bathroom. There were two sinks and lots more storage space. The far door led into another nice bedroom with a queen-size bed and simple furniture.

  “You’ll want to make changes,” he said. “To make this into a baby’s room. I’ll give you the name of my decorator. If you’d rather design it yourself, I have a handyman who will move furniture, paint, hang curtains, whatever. All that information is in my study.”

  He left, apparently wanting to give her that stuff now. Noelle lingered for a second. A baby’s room. She tried to imagine the space filled with a crib and changing table, but nothing about this situation seemed real.

  She found Dev in his study. He offered her a list of phone numbers, including his personal cell, work cell, private line, the decorator and anyone else he thought she might want to get in touch with.

  There was also a leather box filled with an assortment of items. He went through them quickly.

  “ATM card, checkbook. Extra key to my car. House key, alarm code. Everything is marked.”

  “You’ve been busy,” she said, feeling her head start to spin. “All I had to do was pack up a few clothes.”

  “This is your home now, Noelle.”

  Was it? Technically, but she didn’t think she would feel totally comfortable in the beautiful space for a long time.

  “So you’re saying I can put my feet up on the coffee table?” she asked.

  “You can take a hammer to it, if you’d like.”

  She winced. “Not my style, although I appreciate the offer.”

  They smiled at each other. Okay, sure, this was weird and awkward, but Dev was doing his best to make things pleasant and easy. He’d been nothing but thoughtful from the moment he’d found out about the baby.

  “You’re a really good guy,” she said. “Why aren’t you married?”

  He grinned. “Actually, I am, Mrs. Hunter.”

  “What? Oh. Me.”

  “Forgotten already?”

  She glanced down at her ring. Mrs. Hunter. Was that her? “Sort of.”

  He put a hand on her shoulder. “You’ll get used to it.”

  She nodded and started to say something, but the words got lost as she realized how much she wanted to step closer to him. Right
now she could do with a good hug and one specifically from Dev. She wanted him to hold her next to him and tell her everything was going to be all right. She wanted to borrow strength from him and listen to his heartbeat and maybe have him...

  What? What did she want? She swallowed as the truth uncoiled inside of her.

  She wanted him to kiss her.

  The thought was so unexpected, she actually took a step back. Kissing? There was no kissing in their relationship. Oh, sure. Slight, friendship-style kisses on the cheek. But not mouth to mouth, breath mingling, tongues touching, I-want-to-melt-into-you kissing. That was not allowed.

  “You all right?” he asked.

  “Fine,” she said in a squeak, then cleared her throat. “Thanks for all of this.” She motioned to the box. “I’ll, um, try not to go wild at the sales.”

  “I’m not worried.” He hesitated, then said, “There’s something else you need to see. Under the circumstances...” He seemed at a loss for words, which was so not Dev. “Jimmy lived here, in the pool house. I’m having it redone into a game room, but before the workmen show up, I thought you might want to look around and see if there’s anything you’d like to keep for yourself or the baby. I’ve already taken a few things for myself.”

  Jimmy. She hadn’t thought about him in days. He was the reason all this had happened and yet he’d practically vanished from her mind.

  Guilt battled with her more practical nature. If she’d let him go so easily, apparently what she had felt wasn’t love. So what did love feel like and how would she know when it was real?

  “If this is a bad time,” he began.

  “No, it’s fine. I appreciate the offer.”

  She followed him outside. The pool house was a big open room with a full bath at one end. A sofa sat in front of a large television. A bed had been pushed against the far wall.

  Noelle looked at the sports posters on the walls and a few trophies on a shelf. She waited for a flood of emotion, but there wasn’t one. Just sadness for a young man who had died too early.

  Several small model cars sat on a window sill. When she crossed to them, Dev said, “He always loved cars. By the time he was ten, he knew more about them than me.”