“You just gonna ignore my question?” Her brow rose as she looked him over, scrutinizing his face while waiting for him to answer. Ignoring her was never an option. She’d hound him until she got the answers she wanted out of pure stubbornness.
“No, ma’am, I’m not ignoring you. I was just trying to think of the right way to phrase what I need to say.” The need to protect Lena rose up again. He wanted to defend her to his mom, but he didn’t want to overshare something Lena might have said in confidence either.
“How many pancakes you want?” His mom lifted the cover on the cake plate where she’d stacked up the pancakes she’d made.
“Three’s good. Thanks.” He took the plate of pancakes offered. “Lena had a far different upbringing than I did. She wants to be friendly, really, she does. She’s not used to sharing feelings and such like she just did. When she does, and she realizes how much she shared, it scares her. Then she frosts over and retreats. Give her a little time and she’ll be right back down here with a smile.”
“Oh, that poor girl.” His mom looked toward the stairs. He recognized that look—Lena just became his mom’s new project. “Well, we will make her fit in here and she’ll know she can trust us.”
“It would mean the world to me if you did.” He popped a bite of pancake in his mouth, chewing slowly while he considered the implications behind that. Those agreed-upon boundaries were starting to get a little fuzzy for him and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. If she wasn’t starting to feel the same, he could be setting himself up for a whole world of heartache.
Since his disastrous engagement, he’d kept his relationships short and sweet. A few weeks, maybe a month, max, and then they parted ways. He didn’t stick around long enough for there to be drama. He’d already invested more time in getting to know Lena than he had in his last three relationships. And yet, he didn’t regret a moment of it.
“Does Lena make you happy?” his mom asked, rubbing his back.
“She does. I can see a real future with her.”
“Oh!” She nearly squealed and pulled him into a big, tight hug. “You have no idea how long I have been waiting to hear you say that! It does this old heart good to hear that.”
Saying that had maybe taken this fake relationship a step too far toward real. He had never been good at lying to his mother. She’d always seen through any charade he’d attempted and had known his every transgression as a child almost before he’d done it. How he would make it through the next few days without spilling his guts and admitting the truth, he wasn’t quite sure. But was he really lying to her this time?
That was the real question, wasn’t it?
“While Lena’s upstairs, I wanted to ask...” His mother paused for dramatic effect.
And his heart stopped. The pancakes he’d just eaten sat heavy in his stomach, a gluttonous brick weighing him down. He pushed away his half-finished breakfast, having suddenly lost his appetite. She always saved “the pause” for when she was about to call him out for the transgression he’d thought he’d gotten by with.
“How are you really feeling about Jessie’s return?”
“Jessie?” His heart started up again with an odd lurch. She wanted to talk about Jessie? “I...uh... Well, I’m sure Ray and Mary will be happy to have her home.”
He’d always liked Jessie’s folks. They’d been like a second set of parents to him when he’d been with their daughter. He’d hated the role he’d played in separating them from their daughter, even if it was unconsciously done.
“But how are you feeling about it?” His mom clucked her tongue at him. “I know they’re happy to see her. But she isn’t my concern. You are. And I’m worried about what seeing her is gonna do to you.”
He opened his mouth to tell her that the idea of seeing Jessie again hurt, but then it dawned on him that it really didn’t. He closed his mouth without speaking as he rolled that realization around in his head. The knowledge that he was going to see the woman who left him standing at the altar actually didn’t hurt.
Had he really and truly moved on, then?
“Dexter?” His mom put a hand on his shoulder and he looked up. Her eyes were clouded with concern. “I knew I should have found a way to keep them from inviting her. This is too much for you.”
“No. It’s fine. Really.” The way to explain it finally came to him. “I realized just now that it no longer bothered me that I might have to see Jessie again. I know... I know... I’ve been saying for a while that I was over her. But I don’t think I was. At least not fully.”
“And you are now?”
He hadn’t known hope could be audible until that moment, but he heard the hope in his mother’s voice as she asked that.
“I am,” he confirmed, flashing her a real smile. “I really am.”
“Lena is more than just good for you, then,” his mom said, her voice no longer concerned but now filled with a happiness he hadn’t heard directed at him in years. “I think I’m going to love that girl.”
He was going to have to burst that happiness bubble like a bully would pop a younger child’s balloon when he told her that he and Lena “broke up” after the holidays. And he stubbornly shoved away the thought that maybe, just maybe, Lena’s presence in his life was why he finally felt completely over Jessie. Accepting that would make things with Lena far too real.
* * *
Lena paused outside the doorway to the kitchen as she overheard the tail end of Dex’s conversation with his mother about his ex. Hearing him say that he was completely over Jessie sent a warmth running through her entire body that made her giddy. She wanted to find some pompoms and do a cheer. Or clap like a lunatic until she burst into awkward laughter.
She wasn’t ready to acknowledge why Dex’s confession made her so happy she could skip. But it really and truly did.
Taking several deep breaths, she tried to wipe the smile from her lips that would clue him in that she’d overheard his conversation.
Making sure to make her steps heavy, she took the final few steps into the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of coffee and walked over to him. She couldn’t stop herself from wrapping her arms around his waist and giving him a tight hug from behind.
“So, uh, what’s the plan for today?” she tried to ask nonchalantly. Like she hadn’t been eavesdropping on their conversation from the hallway. “I know the rehearsal dinner is tomorrow, but is there anything on the schedule today?”
“We are having lunch with the soon-to-be newlyweds and her parents,” Dex’s mom said. A pained look crossed her face and she added, “And some family from each side.”
“What my mama is hinting at, unsuccessfully, is that Jessie is likely to be there.”
“I see...” Lena leaned against Dex, trying to work out how she was supposed to feel at the thought of meeting the ex before the wedding. “Do I have anything to worry about with her?”
“Of course not,” Dex protested, stiffening up beneath her touch.
“Then bring it on. I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of your family, at least. I thought there’d be more people here this morning, even.”
Namely, Dex’s father and the aunt from the next room they’d had to be quiet for to avoid waking. When she’d come downstairs in search of food and coffee this morning, she’d found only Mrs. Henry sitting and staring out over the most beautiful sunrise Lena had ever seen.
“David and Peggy went into Gatlinburg for the morning. Every time Peggy is here, she insists on having a morning with just the two of them, and they usually end up at the Donut Friar to get her cinnamon bread fix in.”
Dex laughed. “But it’s so good that I can’t even blame her for that. Lena, I’ll take you if we have time before we leave.”
Seeing his comment as the perfect way to reinforce his mom’s belief in their fake relationship, Lena laid her head on Dex’s shoulder. �
��If not this time, maybe we can do it next time, then.”
His mom had been kind this morning, but she’d gotten the impression that the older woman wasn’t completely buying that they were in love. Not even after walking in on them kissing last night. She was very perceptive and had a way of looking at a person that made them want to spill every secret they’d ever heard.
They’d have to up their game to make it through this week without being found out. But Lena was up for the challenge. She’d handled twenty-seven years under her parents’ scrutiny. One week under the watchful eye of the Henry matriarch would be a breeze.
Meeting the ex was what she was more worried about. This Jessie had dated and loved Dex for years, so she’d know his tells and mannerisms. If anyone was going to out them as fake, it would be her.
“Where are we meeting everyone for lunch?” Dex asked.
“Down at Westfield Steak House. Roy and Mary reserved their party room. And tomorrow morning we will head over to the church and get all the decorations up before having the rehearsal and that awful ugly sweater party that Jill insists on.”
Dex and his mom talked about some of the people who might be there, with Mrs. Henry filling Dex in on what had happened with them regularly.
The mention of Jill’s parents brought questions to mind for Lena. Even if they managed to pull the fake relationship off for the entire week here, Dex would have to deal with his ex being around for the rest of his life with his brother marrying her sister. What would he do next time? Find another fake girlfriend? She mentally noted to bring this up with him when they were alone.
Wade stumbled into the kitchen just then, half-asleep and half-dressed. “I’m hungry.”
Mrs. Henry looked him up and down without a word.
Lena knew there was something being said with the older woman’s gaze, she just wasn’t sure what. Wade must have understood though, because he left and returned a minute later fully dressed.
When he sat next to Dex, a plate of pancakes was placed in front of him. He tucked in like he’d never eaten before. Like Dex, his appetite surprised Lena.
“Wow, I can’t imagine what your grocery bill was like when all of your boys were at home.”
Mrs. Henry laughed. “More than a mortgage payment for years. Are you hungry? I think that batter you made is salvageable. I can make you up some pancakes if you don’t think you can wait for lunch.”
“No, but thank you.” Lena shook her head. If she ate even a third of what she’d seen Dex put away, she’d be sick. “I’m good to wait.”
“Lena...” Wade said with a grin. “You look more beautiful in the light of day. You know, you could move across the hall and get to know the better Henry man.”
Dex slugged him in the arm. “Hey! Back off.”
Lena couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m afraid I can’t take you up on that, but it was, uh, sweet of you to offer.”
“Sweet? You think he’s sweet?” Dex shot her a look of pure disbelief. “There ain’t nothing sweet about Wade.”
“Is this why you wanted to give him away?”
“Give me away!” Wade gasped in faked outrage. “How dare you? Dex, I’m hurt.”
“Lena’s never had a sibling.” Dex shrugged nonchalantly, but the look he shot his brother was one hundred percent mischief. “I told her I had a spare.”
“Well, Dexter, I’m not sure which is worse, giving Wade to Lena because she was an only child or selling Tommy for a potato.”
Lena nearly spit out her coffee. “You sold him for a potato?”
The slightest hint of a blush crept up into Dex’s cheeks, but he met her gaze defiantly. His eyes crinkled up in that happy way she loved. “In my defense, that potato was shaped like a duck. Wade’s proof that a kid can have another baby brother, but how often do you find a potato that looks like a duck?”
“You need a little more backstory before you judge my son too hard on this. He was only two, after all. And Tommy had the worst colic. That child...he didn’t sleep for more than a few minutes at a time and I usually had to be walking the floors with him to get him to doze off then.”
“That sounds rough.”
“Dexter had been so excited to get a baby brother.” A soft smile lit her face as she reminisced about Dex as a child, and Lena could see hints of Dex in the crinkles around her eyes. “I think Tommy was a bit of a disappointment since all he did was cry and puke. My daddy had just retired and had a big garden that year. He used that garden to keep Dexter busy for me so that I could focus on Tommy. When Dexter dug up that duck potato, he wanted to keep it. Well, Daddy told him he had to pay for it if he wanted to keep it.”
“To be fair, my first offer was my fire truck. But then I tripped and broke the duck potato.” Dex stretched, his shirt pulling tight across his muscular chest. “And I couldn’t trade a perfectly good fire truck for a broken potato. So I offered him a broken baby brother.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, as you can see, it’s been three whole decades and I still haven’t lived that one down. I’ll be hearing about it until I’m old and gray.” Dex grinned at her and she could tell he wasn’t upset in the slightest by his family’s teasing.
In fact, she thought he might like it.
There was a warmth in this room that had nothing to do with the heating and entirely to do with the love shared by the people in it. It seeped in through the soft smiles and was reinforced with the patted shoulders. It was something Lena had absolutely no experience with.
She’d never had her mother look at her with the kind of indulgent tenderness that Mrs. Henry did her sons. Her mother had never made her a single meal and certainly wouldn’t have gotten up early just to have a moment alone before doing it.
What would it have been like to have been surrounded by pure affection her entire life?
A longing rose up in her chest. She wanted what Dex had with his family. The fondness and caring, even the teasing, made her yearn for the impossible.
Sitting in that kitchen, surrounded by Dex and his family, in that instant, it felt very possible. If Dex ever attempted something long-term again, that is.
But even more, would she ever be able to live up to the expectations of a family like this? She had no experience with what a healthy, loving relationship looked like. Romantic or platonic.
A shrill song pierced the moment and Lena blinked several times while she tried to focus on where the sound was coming from. Finally, she dug her cell phone out of her pocket and winced as the caller’s name flashed on the screen.
Of course. The woman had a sixth sense for knowing when happiness crossed Lena’s path and her instinct was to burst that bubble. Fast.
Lena put the phone to her ear. “Hello, Mother.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
LENA SCHOOLED HER expression to a calm facade, but Dex had spent enough time with her to catch the frustration and hint of fear. Talking to her mother scared her?
For a split second, he wanted to jump up and pull her into his arms, reassure her that she wasn’t going to have to face her parents alone. Then common sense returned and the recollection that this was entirely a farce washed over him with a grim reality.
He wouldn’t be there beyond this single visit. And he couldn’t let himself forget that simple fact.
She met his gaze and then motioned toward the door. At his nod, she stepped out onto the back deck to take her call. Through the windows, he watched her pace, tension in her frame visible through the glass.
“She doesn’t get on well with her mama, does she?” Wade asked around a bite of pancakes.
“That’s an understatement.” It wasn’t his place to share all of Lena’s secrets, but the answer to Wade’s question was pretty obvious. “So, what’s going on today in Westfield?”
Changing the subject to the town’s Christmas traditions was as much a ta
ctic to distract himself as Wade. He didn’t want to accidentally share something Lena might have told him in confidence.
“Oh, you’re in luck. They are having a gingerbread house contest over at the library at four, and I believe the Mason lodge has a craft fair going on.” His mom pursed her lips in thought. “At least, I think they do. You’ll have to drive by the lodge and see. I might have the dates mixed up on that one.”
“I thought I’d take Lena out and spend some one-on-one time doing something Christmassy after lunch. I already have tickets for the High Bridge in Gatlinburg. I want to show her the lights later tonight.”
“Just the two of you?” Wade whistled low and slow. “That sounds romantic. You aren’t about to pop the question too, are you? I’m not even ready to be the only Henry man left single.”
Propose?
Oh, man. He hadn’t thought out the implications of taking her to the High Bridge alone at night. While he knew Lena would not be expecting a proposal that evening, he hadn’t considered how it would look to his family for him to take her to one of the most romantic spots in the area. He glanced over at his mom and she’d perked up at the conversation. Her eyes were lit with excitement that he had to crush.
“Uh, no. I was just thinking that since she loves Christmas so much, she’d like to see the lights over Gatlinburg and the mountains. We haven’t been dating that long and we aren’t at that point yet.”
“You said you saw a future with her, though?” his mom questioned. “Why wouldn’t you propose?”
“Yeah,” he said, gesturing vaguely. He swallowed hard. Fake dating was one thing, but he refused to propose. That was too far. “In the future. Don’t rush it, Mama. I’ve known her less than a year.”
“I knew your father was the man for me after our first date.” His mom smiled at him knowingly. “He proposed on our third date. By the time we’d known each other a year, we were married and expecting you.”
“If you follow their timeline, I’ll be an uncle by next Christmas.” Wade grinned at him, mischief filling his face. “‘Uncle Wade’ has a nice ring to it.”
A Nurse, a Surgeon, a Christmas Engagement Page 11