Her Very Own Family

by Gina Wilkins

  She laughed, interrupting the song she’d been singing. “You couldn’t possibly be hungry. You just guzzled down an entire bottle.”

  “He’s growing. Takes a lot of fuel to get from that size to full-grown D’Alessandro male.”

  Brynn’s jerk of reaction startled Justin in turn. Tiny arms flailed, and the baby’s mouth opened for a squawk of displeasure. Brynn lifted him quickly to her shoulder and patted his back, looking chidingly at Joe.

  “You scared us.”

  “Sorry. I thought you heard me walk up.” He motioned toward the swing beside her. “May I?”

  “Of course.” She scooted over to give him more room.

  The swing jolted when he lowered himself onto it. The seat was just large enough to accommodate them both, his left leg brushing her right.

  Joe reached over to stroke his nephew’s cheek. “Hey, kid, how’s it going?”

  Justin grunted in response.

  Joe laughed. “I’ll take that to mean you’re doing okay.”

  “He’s doing very well. Growing so fast. And he’s such a good baby. He hardly ever cries.”

  “And why should he cry? He’s got it made. Doting parents. A nice home. A brother and a couple of sisters waiting to play with him. And you for a nanny. What more could a kid ask for?”

  Flustered by the warmth in Joe’s voice, Brynn concentrated on the baby. “He seems to enjoy being outside. It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. It’s especially beautiful here.” Leaving her to try to decipher his tone, Joe reached over to take the baby from her. “C’mere, nipote. Come see your tio Giuseppe.”

  “Giuseppe? Is that your name?”

  Joe tickled the baby’s chin. “No. It’s Joseph. Giuseppe’s simply a family nickname.”

  He looked so comfortable, so natural, with the baby. So incredibly sexy...

  “Where’s everyone else?”

  His question brought her abruptly back to the conversation. “Um, Tony took the day off. He and Michelle took the older children to a water park for the day.”

  “So it’s just you and the kid today, huh?”

  “Yes.” Michelle couldn’t resist touching Justin’s pumping hand. “Just us.”

  “You must be enjoying the peace.”

  “It’s been a very nice day. But I rather miss the noise.”

  “You’re crazy about those kids, aren’t you?”

  Her smile felt soft. “Yes.” She lowered her head and lifted the baby’s hand to her lips. “All of them.”

  Joe looked at her intently. “You’ll be a wonderful mother, Brynn.”

  The words were meant as a compliment. She should have been flattered by them. Instead, she was shattered.

  She released the baby’s hand and straightened, crossing her arms over her chest “No golf game with your father today?”

  Joe studied her face a moment before answering, making her worry that he would pursue the painful subject further. Instead, he followed her lead. “We played earlier this morning. Dad likes to hit the greens before it gets too warm.”

  “Who won?”

  “One way or another, Dad always wins.”

  “Why did you come here today, Joe?” She couldn’t wait any longer to ask.

  “To see you.”

  She laced her fingers in her lap, staring at the children’s play area. “You seem to be making a habit of that.”

  Joe nestled the sleepy baby more snugly in his arms, rocking him gently with the motion of the swing. “Yes, I’ve noticed.”

  “I’m not complaining. I always enjoy visiting with my friends.” She stressed the word slightly, hoping to make it clear that friends were all she and Joe could ever be—if, of course, he had anything more in mind.

  “That’s nice to hear. One of the reasons I came by is to invite you to a Fourth of July cookout Saturday. Dad practically ordered me to bring you.”

  His casual tone only confused her more about his motives. She wasn’t sure by his wording whether Joe was asking her himself or simply relaying a message on behalf of his father. Either way, it would probably be wisest of her to politely decline. Spending even more time with Joe and his charming family was not a good idea.

  “You might as well say yes,” Joe said when she hesitated. “Pop will just come after you if you don’t. He’s decided he wants to see you this weekend. And I just told you that he always wins.”

  “I’ll consider it,” Brynn said, compromising.

  “Sure. You can let me know tomorrow. I’ll call you.”

  She nodded, thinking she could use the time to come up with a very good excuse for not going.

  Joe stood suddenly and very carefully deposited his sleeping nephew into Brynn’s arms. His head was very close to Brynn’s when he made the exchange. She looked up from the baby to find Joe’s mouth only inches from hers.

  “See you later, friend,” he murmured. And then he covered her mouth with his, kissing her thoroughly before drawing away.

  He was gone before she remembered how to breathe again.

  Brynn told herself she went to the Fourth of July picnic only because she didn’t want to disappoint Vinnie. He was such a kind man. He’d been so good to her. It would be rude of her to ignore his kind invitation.

  All of which was true but irrelevant. She just couldn’t seem to say no to Joe. Which was not a good thing if she intended to follow through on her determination to keep him at a safe distance.

  Brynn and Joe arrived at his cousin’s suburban Dallas home at almost the same moment as Joe’s parents. Vinnie and Carla greeted Brynn with enthusiastic hugs. And then they towed her into a dauntingly large crowd of D’Alessandros, introducing her first to their hosts, Paul and Teresa D’Alessandro, and then to so many others that Brynn finally stopped even trying to remember names.

  Tony and Michelle and their children weren’t there, having left that morning to spend the holiday weekend in Arkansas with Michelle’s sister Lindsay. Michael hadn’t been able to make it, either. Vinnie complained loudly that two of his three sons had been too busy to come see their “poor, old Papa.” He was generally ignored.

  Brynn found it interesting to compare the interaction of the D’Alessandro family with that of the Walker siblings. Unlike the Walkers, who’d known one another as adults for only a little more than ten years and had built their relationships from that point, the D’Alessandro clan had been together forever. They were boisterous, garrulous and emotional. Their conversations were peppered with Italian phrases and flailing hands, and they argued as frequently as they agreed. But the affection between them was so obvious it was almost tangible.

  Brynn was as fascinated by them as she was bemused by them.

  It was embarrassingly obvious from the beginning that everyone thought she was Joe’s date. And this crowd was not reticent about pumping for information.

  “Have you and Joe been seeing each other long?” Teresa D’Alessandro asked with friendly curiosity.

  “I’ve known Joe and his family for almost two months,” Brynn answered carefully. “We’ve become acquainted during the time I’ve worked as nanny for Tony and Michelle’s children. Joe and I are just friends.”

  “Of course you are.” Teresa patted Brynn’s shoulder. “And you make such a cute couple. Thomas! Don’t put ketchup in your cousin’s hair. Excuse me, Brynn.” Teresa dashed off to settle the crisis, leaving Brynn ruefully aware that her neatly worded little speech had resolved nothing.

  “It’s about time Joe’s found himself a nice girl,” Vinnie’s brother, Salvatore, declared a few minutes later. “Some of these young men can’t seem to understand that time won’t stand still until they’re ready to settle down.”

  Brynn didn’t know what she was supposed to say to that. She looked to Joe for guidance. Apparently, he was so accustomed to his family’s bluntness that he was able to shrug it off.

  “I really don’t think the D’Alessandro name is in any danger of dying out,” he murmured wryly, loo
king around at the four generations of family milling around the large, crowded lawn.

  “There can never be enough family,” his uncle pronounced firmly.

  Joe caught Brynn’s hand and pulled her away when Salvatore’s attention was suddenly focused elsewhere. “I want to introduce you to someone very special.”

  Someone else to assume she and Joe were a couple? Brynn sighed, but didn’t resist.

  The woman Joe wanted her to meet was very old and very tiny. So tiny she was almost lost in the hand-crocheted afghan wrapped around her in her wheelchair, even though the afternoon was quite warm.

  “Tia Luisa, may I present my friend Brynn Larkin. Brynn, this is my father’s aunt Luisa Sanducci.”

  Surprising sharp and clear dark eyes studied Brynn intently. “Piacere, Brynn.”

  “She’s pleased to meet you,” Joe murmured in translation.

  His great-aunt shot him a repressive look. “I speak inglese perfectly well, Giuseppe.”

  “Of course you do, Tia. But Brynn speaks no Italian.”

  “Then you will have to teach her, si?”

  Joe’s smile turned mischievous. “We’ve had one lesson already.”

  “It’s very nice to meet you, Mrs. Sanducci,” Brynn said quickly, her first chance to speak.

  Those intent dark eyes turned in her direction again. “You’ve been taking care of Antonio’s children.” It was clear that Luisa kept abreast of family news.

  “Yes. They’re such good children. I’m very fond of them.”

  Luisa nodded her silvery head. “I’m told you’re very good with them. Va bene. It’s good that you like children.”

  Brynn swallowed. It wasn’t hard to see where this was headed.

  Luisa waved toward a folding chair set up next to her wheelchair. “Sit down so we can talk. Joseph, bring us lemonade. And take your time.”

  Joe sent Brynn a thumbs-up sign and obediently disappeared, leaving her to engage in an utterly fascinating conversation with this amazing old woman.

  Brynn looked very right among Joe’s family. She felt very right at his side. So right, in fact, that Joe found himself fantasizing about having her with him at many family gatherings to come.

  He knew his family’s matchmaking was causing her discomfort. But she handled it well, with patience, grace and good humor. She had seemed to bond very quickly with Luisa. Another big plus, as far as Joe was concerned, since he adored his great-aunt.

  He couldn’t help thinking of the term Tony had quoted from Jared Walker: “outsider syndrome.” Jared had coined the phrase to describe the way a former foster child felt in the midst of a large family. Perhaps Brynn did have those feelings occasionally during the course of the day—and Joe could almost pinpoint the times it affected her—but she was able to mingle successfully anyway. So successfully, in fact, that everyone was making it very clear to Joe that they approved of her, and that they thought he would be a fool to let her get away.

  He was beginning to agree with them.

  Now all he had to do was convince Brynn that there was no reason for her to panic every time he got close to her.

  He thought he might be making a little progress in that direction when he approached her late that afternoon and she actually smiled at him. It wasn’t quite the smile he wanted from her—but it was getting much closer.

  “Your aunt Paula was just telling me about the time you made your first home run in a baseball game.”

  Joe groaned. “Not that old story.”

  “Mmm. It seems you ran so fast to home plate you left your shoes at third base. After that, everyone called you ‘Shoeless Joe, Jr.’ ”

  “They did until I threatened to do bodily injury to the next person who dared. It wasn’t my fault. I told Dad Michael’s shoes were too big for me, but he wouldn’t listen. Michael was going through a growth spurt and he’d only worn the cleats a few times before they were too small. Dad didn’t want a perfectly good pair of shoes to go to waste. So, there I was, at what should have been one of the high points of my young life, and I ran right out of my hand-me-down shoes.”

  Brynn chuckled. “You must not have known whether to be more proud or embarrassed.”

  “Pride won out. Hitting that homer felt awfully good.”

  “And did you get a new pair of shoes for the next game?”

  Joe rolled his eyes. “You know my pop. I wore two pairs of socks for the next game. My feet got so hot my toes almost melted. Dad finally broke down and bought me new shoes when that pair was eaten by the neighbor’s rottweiler.”

  Lifting an eyebrow, Brynn studied Joe’s face suspiciously. “They just ‘happened’ to be eaten by the neighbor’s dog?”

  “I might have accidentally dropped them over the fence. And I might have accidentally smeared leftover gravy on them first.”

  Brynn laughed. “You haven’t changed a bit, have you?”

  “He was always a scamp and he still is,” Carla pronounced, hearing the end of the story as she and Vinnie approached.

  “But it’s still not too late for the right woman to reform him,” Vinnie added with an arch look at Brynn.

  Joe noted that Brynn’s smile immediately dimmed. He mentally chided his father for being so tactless. He could excuse the rest of the family, but Vinnie should have known better.

  Carla spoke quickly, as if she, too, thought the remark ill-timed. “Vinnie and I are going to the fireworks show at the high-school football stadium tonight. Would you two like to go with us?”

  “I love fireworks,” Brynn admitted.

  Joe smiled at her in approval, relieved that she didn’t seem to be n too great a hurry to bring the day to an end. “So do I We’d be happy to join you.”

  It felt good to say ‘we.’ It felt right. He sincerely hoped it felt the same way to Brynn.

  The sky exploded with noise, color and light. Red. blue, green, gold, silver, white. Starbursts, pinwheels, cascades; fountains of light glittered in the night sky, then faded to black.

  In the darkened stadium bleachers below, a large crowd oohed and aahed on cue, necks craned, eyes wide in wonder.

  Brynn was having trouble concentrating on the show in the sky. The stadium bench was so crowded that she had to sit pressed very close to Joe’s side. That was distracting enough. But when he reached out to lace his fingers with hers, holding their linked hands on his knee, it would have taken more than a few fireworks to draw Brynn’s attention away.

  There was something incredibly romantic about sitting in the darkness holding hands, an unaware crowd around them, the heavens alight with color. Brynn didn’t even remember the last time she’d simply held hands with a man; she knew that, whenever it had been, it couldn’t possibly have felt this good.

  She couldn’t lie to herself any longer about the way she felt about Joe D’Alessandro. She had fallen so hard for the guy it was a wonder she didn’t have bruises. This wasn’t the easy affection she felt for Shane Walker. This was serious. And dangerous. If only...

  A particularly awesome display induced the spectators to gasp in delight. Joe squeezed Brynn’s hand, causing her to look at him. He was watching her, his face in shadows, his dark eyes glittering, his mouth quirked into an enigmatic smile.

  “Enjoying the show?” he asked, making her wonder if he’d noticed her inattention to the fireworks.

  She used the excuse of a particularly noisy explosion to give her a moment to steady her voice. “It’s very impressive.”

  “I’m enjoying it.” Joe tightened his grip on her hand. “Actually, I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed anything more.”

  Brynn stared up at him and felt a few more metaphorical bruises form as she fell just a little harder. And when Joe lifted her hand to his lips and brushed a fleeting kiss over her knuckles, she felt something give inside her.

  Something that might have been her last thread of resistance to him.

  Though she knew it was silly, Brynn was acutely aware that the main house was empty when Joe to
ok her home that night. Though she rarely saw the family after her workday ended—they’d made a point of giving her privacy in the guest house—she was generally aware that they were so close to her. Like unseen chaperons, there to keep her from doing anything incredibly foolish.

  Brynn was afraid to be alone with Joe, but it wasn’t his actions she feared. It was her own mixed-up, painful, ever-deepening feelings for him.

  She unlocked her door and looked at him over her shoulder, one hand on the doorknob. “I had a very nice time today,” she said, thinking he might take the hint and be on his way.

  She should have known better.

  He rested a hand on the door frame above her head, standing so close she could feel the warmth of his body. “Will you ask me to come in?”

  She found herself staring at his mouth while she debated her answer. He had a beautiful mouth. But then, Joe was an incredibly attractive man, his striking Italian heritage very clearly defined in his features.

  Brynn was painfully aware of her own questionable heritage.

  “Brynn?”

  Still leaning against the door frame, only inches away from her, he lifted his free hand to brush a strand of hair from her cheek. His fingers lingered, gently cupping the side of her face.

  “Ask me in,” he urged, his voice going husky.

  She wanted to. So badly she trembled. She tried to steel herself with a mental list of all the reasons this was such a bad idea, but she was having trouble remembering them. “I...”

  He leaned his head down just far enough to brush her mouth with his. It was like being touched with a live wire. She felt the jolt all the way to the soles of her feet.

  “Ask me in, Brynn.”

  She opened the door. She would ask him in, she decided. But only to tell him that this couldn’t go any further.

  Joe looked almost smugly satisfied when he closed her front door behind them. The only illumination in the living room came from the small lamp she’d left burning in one corner of the room. Hoping to dispel the intimate mood that soft light fostered, Brynn reached toward the switch for the overhead light.