Committed Passion (8 page)

Abbie had fallen asleep, head on the table, one hand still curled around her glass. Her curly hair flopped over her face, but I could tell from the rise and fall of her shoulders she was still breathing. Leah sat near me. She was smiling at the karaoke duet, though she wasn’t singing along.

I scooted my chair closer so we could talk about the noise. “You feeling okay?”

“Yeah. This is fun. I’m just kinda tired.”

I couldn’t help but notice she’d drunk virgin cocktails all evening, so it wasn’t much of a stretch to suspect there was a good reason for it. “Are you…pregnant?”

Her brows rose. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“Well, the lack of drinking for one thing, but I’ve noticed you taking a lot of naps since you got here. Unless you had the flu or something, it was pretty easy to guess why. Congratulations.”

“Thanks. It’s been…” She shook her head. “Kind of a huge day. I finally told J.D., and he’d brought this along and planned to propose.” She stuck up her hand with the engagement ring. “I’m happy, but it’s a lot to process all at once.”

“Of course.” I rested a hand on Leah’s arm, thinking it must be strange to be blind in an unfamiliar place like this and only have sound to clue her in to what was happening. “I know you guys will do fine as parents. It’s not as hard as you think it’s going to be.”

I kinda lied on that last part. Travis could be a real handful. But why freak her out any more than she already was?

“I haven’t even told Gina yet. I thought I’d do it before we left the house, but then we ran out of time.” Leah laughed. “If I told her now, she probably wouldn’t remember by morning.”

I laughed too. “Maybe not. She and Cyndi are besties now. I think they—oh my God!”

“What?”

“Cyndi nearly fell off the stage. Gina had to catch her. But they’re okay and heading this way.”

The drunken duo reached the table and collapsed into their chairs.

“I
love
you guys, man. You know that?” Gina demanded. “Love you both so much. And we’re so lucky. We’re going to be like sisters now! I never had a sister. Just three bossy brothers and a sister-in-law who’s a mean old cat.” She made claws with her fingernails and hissed. “But you guys”—she reached out her hands to Leah and me—“you’re my
girls
! We’re going to have such good times together.”

I held her sweaty hand. “I never had any family at all, really. I’m thrilled about this too.”

“Me too,” Leah agreed. “Only child here. I always wanted sisters.”

“What about me?” Cyndi’s lower lip jutted out. “My sister won’t talk to me. She set fire to my car once because she claims I stole her boyfriend. I want to be part of you guys too.” Tears welled in her eyes threatening to smear more mascara down her cheeks.

“You are, Cyn. Always,” I promised.

We’d nearly closed the bar, and I was more than ready to go home and get some sleep before my big day. Besides, Leah looked exhausted, and Abbie… Well, we’d be lucky to get her on her feet and into the limo. We dropped the girls off at their motel room and sat quietly on the drive home.

Slumped in one corner, Gina began to snore.

“We are lucky,” Leah said suddenly. “Not only to find the men we have but to actually get along with their girlfriends. That can be rare. I haven’t known you long, Rianna, but I feel like I can talk to you about anything and you’ll understand.”

I smiled into the darkness and tried to remember why I’d been nervous to meet these two. Already I felt completely comfortable with both Leah and Gina. Maybe we’d been meant to meet each other just as we’d met the three brothers.

Full of warm feelings, I blurted, “I want to tell you where Jonah and I went earlier today. Travis’s dad, who hasn’t had any contact with us in several years, popped up out of nowhere. He wants to have a relationship with Travis, but we’re not comfortable with it. He swears he’s changed, but I don’t know. Jonah’s going to adopt Travis, and I want him to be the only father Travis knows.”

“Wow. I’m sorry you have to deal with this guy, especially right before your wedding.”

Leah’s soothing voice made me feel a little better. Telling the news to someone who wasn’t personally involved like Jonah helped. I’d had girlfriends before, Cyndi and Abbie, for example, but already I felt a different sort of connection to Leah, who was so easy to talk to. She would be family soon, and I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather have as a sister-in-law.

“Thanks for listening,” I said. “I needed to talk about it.”

“Any time.” Leah’s hand reached for mine across the seat of the limousine. “We’re almost sisters now, right?”

Chapter Eight

Jonah

I struggled with getting the knot in my tie just right, but my reflection told me it was still crooked. At last, Micah let out a snort of annoyance and came over to fix it. When he was finished, he clapped his hands on my shoulders. “You’ll do.”

I studied the perfect knot around my neck in the mirror. Micah always had a flare for fashion. Today, his suit was just a little better cut, a little classier than J.D.’s or even mine, and I was the groom.

“Thanks,” I said.

“No problem. You ready for this?”

“Sure,” I said, but inside, doubts tossed and turned and made me a little nauseated. I wanted to marry Rianna. I absolutely wanted to be her husband and Travis’s father. It was me I worried about. Look at the example I’d had. Could Jesse Wyatt’s son possibly succeed at being a family man? What if I failed Rianna or Travis in some way? What if I fucked up?

“Hey,” J.D. spoke from beside me, breaking me out of my downward spiral of worry. “You look like you’re freaking out. Don’t. I’ve never known you to fail at anything you set out to do. You got this.”

“Ditto,” Micah said from where he sat on a chair giving a last polish to his two-tone wingtips.

You got this
, I mentally repeated as I walked out of the dressing room and into the chapel to take my place up near the altar.
You’re not him. You know how to be responsible, and how to love.
 

Neither Rianna nor I were particularly religious, but she’d wanted to rent a church rather than go to the courthouse. We’d chosen this small chapel near a county park. The reception would be in an open-air shelter overlooking a lake. Flowers from our own garden garlanded the altar and were strewn up the aisle down which Rianna would walk—any second now.

I folded my hands in front of me, trying to appear at ease, but my heart thumped as I looked toward the back of the church and waited. A pianist played softly. And I waited. Then there was movement in the foyer, and the pianist began the wedding march.

Not a march, really. We’d chosen a lyrical piano piece, and Rianna’s sole bridesmaid, Cyndi, slunk down the aisle to the tune. The woman couldn’t help it. She heard music and her hips swayed. She made me smile, and I started to relax. Then my gaze settled on Rianna, and nothing else mattered.

She walked alone, graceful, beautiful, proud. She had no parents to escort her. Her grandmother had refused to attend, saying the several-hour trip to Lexington was “too far.” I’d suggested she might want to have Travis by her side, but Rianna had shaken her head.
“You know how he is. He might get nervous or stubborn or act up. I’d feel more comfortable with him in one of the pews.”
 

I’d smiled at her practicality. She knew our boy well. At four, he was unpredictable, and while he might have escorted her like a little angel, he was just as likely to show off and make faces at the guests all the way up the aisle. Not that it would matter much. There were only my brothers and their girlfriends, a few friends from Sawville, and a few more Rianna and I had made since moving to Lexington.

Right now, Travis sat between J.D. and Leah. He waved at his mom as she passed, and she lifted her bouquet and gave a little finger wave back. She turned her attention back to me and gave me a look with those gorgeous eyes that had seized me the first time we met and rocked my world.

I couldn’t stop grinning back at her like a big idiot. It was literally impossible to restrain my smile. And then she was beside me, and the minister began talking. We’d stuck with traditional vows because I knew I couldn’t begin to make it through a speech about how much she meant to me. Micah handed me the rings, and Rianna and I exchanged simple, classic “I dos.”

We kissed politely while everyone applauded. I would’ve liked to spend much more time and effort on that kiss, but tradition swept us back down the aisle and outside to greet our guests.

Travis came barreling up and threw his arms around my legs. I scooped him up and held him in the crook of my arm. “How you doin’?”

“Good. Are you my dad now?”

Too hard to explain about adoption paperwork to a little kid, so I answered, “I sure am” and gave him a big kiss and hug.

Travis reached for his mom and clambered from me to her like a little monkey. “Me and Uncle Micah got a present for you. It’s a surprise,” he announced.

“What is it?” Rianna asked distractedly while continuing to greet guests.

“He wouldn’t tell me ’cause he said I’d spill the beans, but you’ll love it.” Travis slipped down Rianna’s body, and Gina took his hand.

“Congratulations, you guys. It was a beautiful ceremony,” she said before she led Travis away.

I chatted with a few of my distillery employees, and with Bud Harringer, an old friend from Sawville.

Micah, who stood beside me, nudged me with an elbow. “Who’s that?”

I looked up to see Clay Peters walking across the lawn toward the chapel. No. More like weaving his way. Drunk. Angry drunk. I could tell from his expression.

“Rianna’s ex,” I answered. “Jesus, how did he know where to find us?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this.” Micah strode off, beckoning J.D. to go with him. I wanted to join them, but me ending up in a fistfight on our wedding day wasn’t the kind of memory I wanted Rianna to have.

By now, she’d noticed Clay too, and frowned as she watched him approach. “Oh no.”

I leaned close and murmured, “You don’t have to talk to him. Not today. Let my brothers handle this. They’ll get him out of here without a scene.”

I hoped. But given Micah’s sometimes short fuse, J.D.’s protective instinct, and Clay’s level of drunkenness, it was a fairly combustible mix with potential for explosion.  

*

J.D.

“Gotta go, hon. There’s a situation.” I inhaled Leah’s perfume as I leaned to whisper in her ear. She smelled good. I hated leaving her standing by herself in the midst of the wedding guests.

“Wait. What?” she asked.

“Looks like some drunk guy is crashing the wedding.  Micah’s heading him off, but he may need my help. I’ll tell Gina to come over by you.”

“That’s okay. Go do what you have to do. I’ll wait here.”

I gave her a quick peck on the jaw before I hurried to join Micah. He’d almost reached the man who had a bottle in one hand and was yelling Rianna’s name.

“Is this the ex Jonah told us about?” I asked. A little drunk and in a confiding mood at the bachelor party, Jonah had told us about the guy from Rianna’s past who’d reemerged to try to claim his kid. So much for AA. Clearly, Clay Peters had fallen off the wagon and was in angry-drunk mode.

Micah nodded. “Let’s get him out of here before he draws attention.”

We strode fast across the last few yards separating us from the increasingly noisy man. “I just want to see my kid, goddammit. I have rights!” he bellowed.

We flanked him on either side, barring his way forward with our shoulders.

“Now’s not the time,” I said calmly. “You can see Travis another day. You don’t want him to meet you like this, do you?”

He squinted at me. “Who
the
fuck
are you?”

“Friends,” Micah said. “Nobody wants any trouble here. Let’s just walk over there a ways, and you can tell us all about it.” He pointed away from the park shelter that was set up for the reception, then he made the mistake of touching Peters’s arm to guide him away.

Clay jerked away. “I got nothing to say to you. I don’t even know you. I’m here to find my kid.”

I glanced back at the group outside the chapel. People were starting to glance over, and both Jonah and Rianna looked upset.

“Okay. Time to go.” I didn’t wait for more belligerent arguing or the inevitable first punch. I moved in close to Peters and applied pressure to a stun point near the junction of his neck and shoulder. Immediately the man’s legs started to crumple. I slung his arm around my shoulders to prop him up and Micah did the same on the other side.

“The Vulcan thing really works!” Micah said. “So that’s the kind of cool shit you learn in the army.”

An army buddy had taught me the technique. It wasn’t part of our training, but I didn’t bother to explain. Together we dragged Peters around the back of the chapel, out of sight of the curious wedding guests.

Peters wasn’t completely unconscious, only momentarily stunned, and he quickly recovered and started his rant again. “What the fuck? I got rights. I just wanna see my boy.” Angry drunk turned to slobbery as his eyes welled with tears. “My kid,” he mumbled.

A kid he’d never supported financially or showed any interest in until now. I bit back my own feelings about deadbeat dads as I exchanged a look with Micah.

“What are we gonna do with him?” I asked.

“Throw him in the lake,” Micah suggested. “Cool him off and sober him up.”

“Tempting.”

Instead, we dragged Peters to a park bench far away from the pavilion where the reception was, though I could hear the DJ starting music. “Don’t you need to get back to be in the wedding photos?” I asked Micah. “You’re the best man.”

He cocked his head and studied Clay Peters sitting on the bench, head lolling on his chest. “You got this guy under control?”

“No problem. Go on.”

Micah straightened his vest and tie and jogged off to rejoin the wedding party. I sat in the sunshine with the dozing drunk and thought about dads, my dying dad in particular. I’d be a father soon, and even though the embryo inside Leah was little more than a cluster of cells, I could already feel the weight of it. My son or daughter. I couldn’t imagine walking away from that responsibility. Made me want to punch the idiot beside me who’d left his woman and child to fend for themselves.