“Aren’t you mortified?” Alexi whispered, wishing for the first time that his bolstering presence wasn’t behind her. “Your mother sent James to get us. She knows what we were doing. That doesn’t bother you?”
“Since she wasn’t with us watching, she can only guess.”
She elbowed him in the stomach. “Will you be serious?”
“I am,” he said, laughing as he turned her to face him. “I’m thirty and my mother is a smart woman. She’s also been married to a Weldon for thirty-five years. Odds are she knows more about sex than either of us.”
Alexi fanned her cheeks. “This is not helping.”
“You’ve got guilty written all over your face. Remind me to teach you the art of subterfuge, though why people are obsessed about hiding what everybody does is beyond me. ”
“That’s it. I’m going to go bury myself in the pasture.” The notes of “Happy Birthday” being played on a fiddle twanged.
“Time’s up.” He scooped her into his arms and ran.
She had no choice but to hang on for dear life as he dashed to the people gathered by the picnic tables. She thought she’d die the minute he set her down, but all the loving chaos reigning over the Weldon’s gathering swallowed up their arrival. The fiddler playing “Happy Birthday” wasn’t singing happy birthday. He crooned lyrics that compared Jackson to an old shoe. Two kids begged Jesse’s mother to light the candles, and Jackson stood, looking really uncomfortable at being the center of attention. She touched Jesse’s shoulder and whispered. “Your brother isn’t happy.”
“I know.” Jesse sighed. In that second, she saw layer upon layer of tough bad-boy skin fall from Jesse’s persona, giving her a glimpse of the man inside—a man who cared deeply. “I’m worried about him. His wife died a couple of years ago in a car accident and he hasn’t rejoined the living yet.”
“Oh.” The air rushed from her lungs and she caught hold of Jesse’s hand. “I know,” she said softly. “I know some of how he feels, and I know how you feel, too. After I lost my mother, it was years before I could have fun when I went to a party. The happiness in the people around me hurt for a long time. And my father, I don’t think he’s actually rejoined the living, yet. Twenty-two years and he’s still withdrawn.” She blinked away the gathering moisture in her eyes.
She’d give anything to have a big loving family, had thought often that her and her father’s pain would have been less if they’d had a large family. Seeing Jackson said otherwise. Maybe there were some hurts that only time could heal. And in her father’s case, maybe even time wasn’t enough.
Looking serious, Jesse squeezed her hand.
“What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. I—”
A real rendition of “Happy Birthday” started, calling their attention. Once Jackson blew out the candles, James and Jared decided that Jackson needed to have a birthday spanking before he could have his cake. This must have appealed to all of the men, because the second Jackson took a step to evade James, it turned into a madhouse, but nobody could catch hold of Jackson. “I’d better go help,” Jesse said, tearing after the crew.
She wondered if Jesse planned on helping Jackson, or not.
“Those boys of mine.” Jesse’s mother, Emma, seemingly happy and friendly came up, shaking her head, a dishtowel in her hands. “They could raise enough cane to sugar the world.”
“You must have had your hands full when they were little.”
“My hands and my heart. And they’re still full. Come and get some cake while there’s any to have. Once the men get their hands on Jackson, the cake will be next. With the Weldon’s, you either eat first and play later or you don’t get the treats.”
Laughing, she followed Jesse’s mother. The kids were all sitting at the bench eating cake as if tomorrow wasn’t coming. They probably had already learned the eat-first wisdom. But looking at the double sheet cake taking up almost a third of the picnic table, she thought there’d be enough for weeks to come.
“Do you like lots of icing or just a little?”
Alexi patted her stomach. “I’ll compromise and take a little piece with lots of icing. I’m saving room for a double serving of your blackberry cobbler at the hospital.”
Emma smiled, and carrying two pieces of cake, she headed toward an empty table. “I’ve enjoyed our talks over blackberry cobbler in the cafeteria, but you never mentioned you knew Jesse.”
Alexi, bringing two glasses of tea, joined her. “I, uh, only knew him a short time back in high school. I didn’t think it mattered.” Alexi was thankful for the dessert. She concentrated on it, finding the melt-in-your-mouth texture of the chocolate icing irresistible. “This is delicious.”
Emma smiled. “I’ll give you the recipe. Don’t be embarrassed about Jesse. I already knew you knew him. I saw you two together a couple of times on his motorcycle back then. And your eyes lit up every time I mentioned him. So the newspaper’s picture wasn’t a surprise.”
Alexi set her fork down, her cheeks burning. “I, we, uh—”
Emma laughed. “You don’t think I know what my boys are like? Their daddy took me stargazing for the first time when I was twenty and the stars haven’t stopped shining since.”
Alexi choked on her tea. “We didn’t exactly—”
“Lord, I’m making a mess of this.” Emma handed her a napkin. “Are you okay?”
Drawing in air, Alexi managed to smile. “I’m fine. You’ll have to forgive me. You haven’t said anything wrong.”
A cheer rang out and the boisterous men grew nearer.
“They caught Jackson.” Emma smiled. “Maybe I’m going about it the wrong way and now I’m out of time.” Emma reached across the table and clasped Alexi’s hand. “Weldon men hit a woman like a freight train, and are more stubborn than a devil, but their hearts blaze true. If you ever need to talk, I’m here. I may love my boys but I’m not blind to their faults. ”
“Thank you.” Alexi smiled and squeezed Emma’s hand. Just then, Jesse came around the corner of the house. He held Jackson’s feet. James and Jared held Jackson’s arms. Jackson fought, telling what he’d do to them when he got loose.
“Mom, Jackson’s ready for his birthday cake. Face first.”
Emma got up and stood protectively in front of her birthday masterpiece. “You boys ruin my cake, I’ll tan your butts blue.”
Alexi scooped up her last bite before anything disastrous struck. The chocolate cream cake would be a sin to waste.
“A drink then,” James said.
“Yeah, a long cool drink from the toilet,” Jared added.
Laughing, Jesse’s father, John, separated from the crowd. “You boys bring this mob into the house and I’ll tan your hides.” He grinned and she could see that all the Weldon boys were a chip off a devilish block. Close to sixty, gray-haired, and a bit thicker around the middle, John Weldon could still turn women’s heads. “There’s always the creek,” he said. “Meanwhile, I’m heading for the cake.” The other men followed John. Emma started cutting huge chunks of cake.
“Good thinking. The creek.” Jesse turned to leave and Jackson fought harder, managing to free his feet.
“Hell, we’re in for it,” Jesse said, taking off.
“Head for the hills,” James said, right on Jesse’s heels.
Jared didn’t run and Jackson went for him first. “Wait,” Jared said, holding up his hands. “Let’s make a deal.”
“What?” Jackson said, caging him.
“I’ll help you get them later if you let me get cake now. It’s disappearing fast.”
Jackson eyed the cake and then Jared. “Deal.”
They both joined the men getting cake. Right before her eyes the cake disappeared. Emma laughed. “See what I mean?”
“I didn’t believe you. I’m glad I had mine first.”
“Come on into the house, I’ve something that I want you to hide in Jesse’s car until he takes you home.”
Curious, she followed Emma. Hi
dden in a cabinet were two more cakes, individually wrapped in plastic. “I always bake extra.” She handed one to Alexi. “Don’t let Jesse see it until he takes you home.”
Laughing, Alexi agreed. “Your family has a lot of fun together.”
“Fun and love are the heart of the home.”
Alexi left the kitchen, knowing what Emma meant. The Weldon home was small and cozy, neat, but relaxed, with a world of loving and living etched upon everything. It was more of a home than hers, despite the generations of Jordans who’d lived in it. She liked the soft blues and yellows weaving through the country décor of the kitchen, dining room, and living room that formed one huge great room. Cross-stitched sayings and years of the Weldon boys’ lives caught in pictures adorned the walls. She could spend hours exploring it all, but took just a few minutes to make her way outside.
She returned to the backyard party by walking around the side of the house instead of through it, where she would have been tempted to stay and delve deeper into Jesse’s life. She was still in the shadows when she heard Jesse talking to James.
“So, bro. Is she the one? Mom’s smile when she looks at you with Alexi shouts that she sees a grandkid in the near future.”
“Damn. I was afraid of this. I told her that Lexi and I aren’t an item.”
Though she didn’t expect to hear different from Jesse, Alexi still felt a stab of hurt.
“Looks that way to me, man,” James said. “You two have got in-love written all over your faces. Disappearing to the pasture was like a wedding announcement around here.”
Alexi closed her eyes, and the heat of embarrassment made her cringe. She’d known better. She should have immediately marched back to the party. What was it about him that made her go against her good sense?
“In love?” Jesse’s incredulous response rang and Alexi winced. Then she had to strain to hear the rest.
“Haven’t you figured life out yet? Love doesn’t exist. It’s just feel good euphoria for getting your needs met. It’s just sex, bro. Alexi’s good in bed. We are not in love. The itch will wear off soon and we’ll go our own merry way.”
Good in bed. Why is it that every woman wants to hear a man say that, but when he does, it makes her feel bad? She sucked in air, trying to ignore the pinpricks of hurt Jesse’s words caused. He didn’t say anything she hadn’t thought and he wasn’t telling James one thing while leading her to believe another. They were having a fling and she needed to grow up and face the cold facts. This was sex, not love, and she’d better be very careful she didn’t confuse to two. Had she already? Surely, she was smarter than that. Only a fool would fall in love two days after abandoning her wedding.
“Hell, Jesse, be serious! Love exists. What do you think mom and dad have been doing for nearly forty years?”
“Drop the Walt Disney glasses and wake up, lil’ bro. Mom and Dad are good at meeting each other’s needs. That’s what’s given them a successful marriage. That’s the crux of it for every relationship. Do you think they would have stayed together if they weren’t getting their needs met? You take a good look at this emotion called love that people walk around professing to have. People are in love until they realize their needs aren’t getting met then love takes a hike and they go looking for someone else. I realized a while back that I suck at meeting needs beyond the bedroom so I do what I do best and then move on.”
“That’s bullshit. I may not have everything figured out, but I know your take on relationships is off base. If you stick to this love ‘em and leave ‘em and screw the rest philosophy, you’re going to wake up one day and realize you broke your heart by stepping all over it, pretending it didn’t exist. And the hell of it is you’re going to lose a good woman like Alexi in the process. I’m getting some birthday cake. I, at least, have the intelligence to value something good when I see it.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t value her. Alexi is… well hell, she’s the best, most honest woman that I seem to know.”
“Then you better wake up and smell the coffee, bro.”
Alexi leaned against the side of the house, lost in a swirl of emotions. She knew love existed, believed in it with her whole heart. But when she looked back and examined her relationship with Roger, she had to admit that what she believed about love in her heart was not a part of her relationship with him. She and Roger had pretty much fallen into the rut Jesse had described, but on even a more superficial level, a social one. They’d met each other’s social needs, responsibilities, and family obligations, and that was it. The sexual, spiritual, emotional had been a void— because she didn’t have any expectations in those areas.
Suddenly the truth hit her, as if a piece of a puzzle she’d been trying to find for years fell into place, and she understood how she’d fallen into a relationship with Roger. She’d based her ideas of relationships and family on her own personal experiences, the emotional void with her father, the duty-bound with her grandmother, and the absent promise of love from a mother who’d died long ago. Roger had fit into her life because a relationship with him had been in her comfort zone. So what did that say about her fling with Jesse?
Did anything besides hot sex exist between them? Did she want with Jesse that deep sum of all things passion she sensed in the Adam and Eve pictures? Is that why Jesse’s words hurt?
She gathered herself enough to rejoin the party. Jesse and James were still arguing, but the subject had changed. Jesse winked at her as she walked up and she knew she was in trouble, because he still looked as great to her as he had before
“You owe me,” James said, wiping a dollop of residual frosting from the cake-less platter. “It’s all your fault that we didn’t get any cake.”
“My fault?” Jesse scooped the frosting from James’ finger before James had a chance to eat it. “You and Jared are the ones who decided to give Jackson a whooping.”
“So? There was still plenty of cake then. It’s you who headed for the creek and then were lame enough to let go of Jackson’s feet. If you’d have held up your end, I’d at least have had the satisfaction of throwing Jackson into the creek.”
Jesse popped the icing in his mouth before James could steal it back. “Seems to me that this is all Jared’s fault,” Jesse said with his finger still in his mouth.
“Me?” Jared stood, quickly shoving the last bite of cake into his mouth. “How can you say that?”
James and Jesse looked at each other and grinned. “Because, little bro,” Jesse said, “You got cake and we didn’t.”
James maneuvered himself behind Jared and Jesse lunged, managing to knock Jared back into James’s arms. They picked up Jared and headed for the creek. Laughter followed as Jared appealed to Jackson for help.
“You’re on your own,” Jackson yelled back. “It’s the price of changing loyalties mid birthday.”
Alexi blended into the background and watched the Weldon family, fascinated. A new sense of what families could be imprinted itself in her mind and in her heart and reminded her that tomorrow she’d have to forge the bridges to reconnect with her own family. She’d also have to get back to her life soon. She couldn’t continue to float in Jesse’s sensual wake any longer.
But one more night in Jesse’s bed wouldn’t hurt. Surely, one more treat from his jar of delicious sexual delights wouldn’t hurt at all.
* * *
While Alexi showered, Jesse scoured the kitchen for something sweet. He always ate sweets when something nagged at him and his earlier conversation with James kept popping into his thoughts. He should just blow the talk off. James had never seen life outside of Georgia’s homegrown borders while Jesse had seen the world and knew his take on relationships was right on. He and Alexi looked close because they met each other’s sexual needs for now. It would fade.
The phone rang, pulling him from his musings. He answered it, his mind only half on the caller as he dug around in the freezer looking for a smidgen of ice cream.
“Jesse, it’s Nan, Alexi’s friend. Sh
e’s with you, right?”
“Yeah. Is something wrong?” He straightened and shut the freezer, giving Nan his full attention. She sounded hesitant, maybe even a little worried.
“No. Well, I don’t know. It’s just strange. Before I left for work today, I received several phone calls, but the caller hung up every time I answered. I thought it was just kids playing around. The thing is, I’ve just returned home from work and there are dozens of hang-up calls on my answering machine and I’m still getting calls. I know it’s silly thinking this might be related to what happened at the hotel and gallery but…”
“No, Nan. It’s not silly at all. Anything else unusual?” Several thoughts ran through his mind and his grasp on the phone tightened. The principal one being that the caller might be looking for Alexi, just waiting for Alexi to pick up the phone so he’d know she was there and—
Alexi walked into the kitchen. “What is it? I thought I heard you say Nan’s name.”
“You did.” Jesse held up his hand to stave off Alexi’s questions for a minute. “Listen, Nan, do you have all of your windows and door locked?”
Nan laughed nervously. “You’re scaring me, but yes, I do.”
“Oh, my God. What is it?” White as a sheet, Alexi grabbed his arm.
“Everything is fine,” Jesse said to Alexi. “I just wanted to know.” He spoke back into the receiver. “Nan, listen, I have a security employee of mine in town. He’s at the Marriott not too far from where you live. Since we’re over on Tybee Island, and he can reach your place in just a few minutes compared to our thirty, I’m going to have him run over and check around. His name is Paul Hanson. He’s blonde and tall. Sort of looks like Paul Drake from the old Perry Mason reruns.”
Alexi mimed to speak to Nan.
“Nan’s getting hang up calls.” Jesse said.
Nan’s voice, a little higher, and more nervous than before rang in his ear. “I love Perry Mason, but this cloak and dagger stuff in real life isn’t fun. Do you think I’m in danger?”
“No. But I don’t like taking unnecessary chances and we’d all rest easier if Paul checked things out, don’t you think?”
Wild Irish (Book 1 of the Weldon Brothers Series) Page 15