Entwined - SF5 (2 page)

"Is that why he moved out?" Jamie was intrigued by the uncharacteristically individualistic behavior of Ryan’s oldest brother, and her interest showed in her inquisitive look.

"I suppose." Ryan shrugged her shoulders, clearly at a loss. "There wasn’t a lot of discussion about it. When he came back home from law school I had moved into his room, since it was long past time for me to stop sharing a room with Rory. Rory and Conor offered to bunk together since Bren was the oldest, but he said he was getting his own place, and that was that."

"Your father didn’t make a big deal out of it?" Jamie couldn’t imagine Martin letting go that easily.

"Nope. If you try to force the issue, Bren will just blow smoke at you. Da knows better than to try to get him to say something he doesn’t want to reveal. He’s always been like that, Jamie. That’s just Bren." She gave another resigned shrug, showing that her brother’s tendencies were not something that she had any control over.

Jamie gave a short laugh, observing, "Kinda like his uncles, huh?"

"Kinda," Ryan agreed. "We used to tease him that he should be a priest since he didn’t seem to need a woman, and he would never violate the confidences he’d hear in confession."

"Maybe that’s in the offing," Jamie observed, mulling over the fact that Brendan was the only regular churchgoer of his generation.

Ryan laughed at the thought. "You could be right, Jamie. All I know is that we wouldn’t know a thing about it until he was wearing a roman collar!"

A short while later Jamie found herself sitting on a small rise behind one of the softball diamonds, surrounded by at least a dozen women, most of whom appeared to be in their early to mid twenties. On the field, 17 men and one woman stretched out their muscles, in a show that reminded Jamie of taking Duffy to the dog park. All of the cousins, Ryan and her brothers, and a few of the Driscolls were among the group, and as they sized each other up Jamie wondered if one of them might actually lift his leg on one of the bases, just to mark territory.

Ryan came trotting over, giving her partner a blindingly white smile. She wore a bright green softball jersey with "USF" emblazoned in gold block letters across her chest, black double-knit shorts that showed her prominent thigh muscles, green knee socks, and well-used knee pads. Black, low-cut cleats finished off her outfit, and as usual, Jamie was more interested in getting the uniform off of her than she was in watching her play, even though she enjoyed both pastimes. "Nice shorts, Tiger," she teased. "How many polyesters had to die to make those babies?"

Ryan took the teasing in stride, running her hands over the thick black material. "Not many," she laughed. "They’re small."

"I like small," Jamie reminded her. "I’d like to take all of your clothes and wash them on hot."

"I thought you had an ulterior motive in trying to get me to let Maria Los do my laundry." Ryan’s smirk was firmly in place, since she loved to tease her partner like this. Getting to her feet, Jamie signaled Ryan to meet her at the corner of the diamond, where they could talk in private.

Ryan jogged over and cocked her head in question. "Wassup?"

"I don’t really want to sit with the girls," she complained. "I want to play with you guys."

Ryan looked a little uncomfortable, and she shifted her weight from foot to foot as she considered her reply. In a move that nearly made Jamie laugh, the dark haired woman spit rather forcefully into the pocket of her glove, rubbing the moisture into the leather, the smell of wet cowhide and dust just barely reaching Jamie’s nose. "Umm…have you…um…played before?" Hesitant baby blues peeked out from the dangling bangs, adding to Ryan’s adolescent demeanor.

With just a touch of indignation Jamie assured her, "Many times, Ryan. I even have a position."

"What’s that?" Now the teasing was back in full force, and Jamie knew she was on the verge of getting zapped.

"I play second base," she informed her, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Tell ya what," Ryan suggested, "I normally play second, since I’m the little one in this crowd. Let me play the first inning since I’m warmed up. We can alternate after that." Ryan let her eyes wander to the spot on the grass that Jamie had vacated. She slowly checked out every other woman, letting her gaze linger on a couple of them for a moment. "You’re still in the lead in the best-looking date contest, Hon, but Conor’s entry hasn’t shown up yet."

A quick backhand to the gut testified to the fact that Jamie’s reflexes were perfectly adequate for a second baseman.

Ryan’s team took the field first, and Jamie spent more than a minute watching her partner toss the ball around the infield while Frank warmed up to pitch. She was so engrossed in staring at the lean, lanky second baseman, that she almost didn’t notice the woman who sat down next to her. The cloying scent of
Eternity
reached her nose before any of her other senses became aware of the woman, and as she turned, she was stunned to find an absolutely knock-down-dead gorgeous woman smiling at her. "That good looking man over there told me that you could tell me where Conor O’Flaherty is." She inclined her head in Malachy’s direction, and Jamie shot him a grin along with a thumbs up.

The woman next to her was tall, tan, blonde, and decidedly European. Her accent was Scandinavian, but Jamie wasn’t sure which country. "I’m Jamie Evans," she said, extending a hand.

"Bindi," replied the woman, nearly blinding Jamie with her smile.

"Conor should be here any moment," Jamie informed her. "He’s changing into his softball clothes." With a start, she looked up to see Ryan leaning into the chain link fence, blue eyes dancing.

"Everything okay, Jamie?" she asked, innocently keeping her eyes only on her partner.

"Yes, Dear, everything is fine."

"We could switch now if you wanted," Ryan offered, guileless blue eyes blinking slowly.

"No thanks, Honey," she smiled, ignoring the impish grin that now covered Ryan’s face. "I like it just fine right here."

"Okay," Ryan tossed over her shoulder, as she ran back to her position. "Just want to make sure you’re happy." When she was about 20 feet away she turned and added, "The votes have been tabulated, Jamie. You’re still number one!"

"You’re a generous grader!" Jamie called after her, smiling sweetly at Bindi. "My lover, Ryan," she said pointedly. "She’s Conor’s little sister."

Bindi gave the lanky woman an appraising glance. "She’s not so little, is she? People are very large in this family."

A quick look at Jamie refuted her own statement, but Jamie caught the look and reminded her, "I’m an O’Flaherty by marriage."

"Oh, people of same-sex can get married in the United States, too?"

Jamie shook her head briefly. "No, not legally. We’re married in every way that counts though. Where are you from, Bindi?"

"Denmark," she informed her. "I’m just visiting some friends who are living in San Francisco. I’m going home next week."

"Ooh, that’s too bad. How did you meet Conor?"

"I was having a drink with my friends in a little club the other night, and he was just there. All of a sudden we were chatting like the oldest of friends. He’s a very nice man, isn’t he?" she asked thoughtfully.

"Yes, he is," Jamie assured her. "Now his sister, on the other hand…"

On her way back to second base, Ryan had stopped by the bench and snagged a black baseball cap which was now pulled down low on her head. Jamie smiled at the intense look of concentration on what little of her face she could still see, thinking it quite funny that Ryan would take a mere family softball game seriously.

Dermot was the first player to bat, and he beat out a single by laying down a bunt, catching the left side of the infield by surprise. There was a bit of grumbling from the team on the field, but they settled down and took their positions, waiting for Niall to take his turn. After letting a few pitches sail wide of the plate, he hit a grounder to short, and Kieran grabbed it and zipped it to Ryan to begin the double play. To Jamie’s amazement, Dermot slid in, spikes high, giving Ryan a good shot to the knees as she leapt into the air to make the peg to first. She landed heavily atop her cousin, and he immediately took umbrage, pushing her off roughly. Ryan scrambled to her feet, her face filled with fury, and pushed him as he tried to get up. There was a very brief pause as both decided how to respond, then each gave the other a strong shove and the melee was in full swing. All 18 of the players pushed and shoved, their voices rising as they shouted taunts and insults at each other. A cloud of dust swirled around the group, and the noise level rose dramatically as the fight seemed to escalate.

Jamie leapt to her feet and started to take off, not sure what she could do, but determined to protect her lover, who was at the epicenter of the scrum. She had barely reached the edge of the backstop when a strong hand gripped her shoulder, effectively stopping her progress. She whirled and cried, "Martin! Ryan’s at the bottom of that pile!"

"Don’t worry about her," Martin soothed, maintaining his hold. "There’s always a fight, Darlin’; this one just got under way a little early." Even as he spoke the brawl was breaking up of its own accord, the players slapping each other on the back as they returned to their positions. The last two were Dermot and Ryan, and Jamie watched in amazement as her smiling lover pulled Dermot down for a kiss on the cheek. He laughed and slapped her hard on the butt, grinning as he dropped his head and trotted back to the bench.

"Wha…how…did…?" Jamie was nearly sputtering, completely shocked by this development.

"They’ve been fighting since the first two of them were three years old," Martin assured her. "No one’s ever been seriously hurt, Jamie. Don’t give it another thought."

She shook her head, slowly, making eye contact with her partner who shot her a helpless shrug. "I’ll never understand that woman," she muttered slowly.

"Don’t even try, Jamie," Martin laughed. "It’ll make you old before your time."

Jamie prudently decided that being a spectator at an O’Flaherty softball game was more her style, and she spent the rest of the game chatting with the women that the cousins had escorted to the picnic. By the time the contest was over, they were all quite companionable, and Jamie had answered the thousand questions Bindi had about the United States in general and San Francisco in particular.

Ryan was, as expected, a sweaty mess, but she managed to make herself presentable in the public restroom. She emerged in jeans and a peach French cut T-shirt, reminding Jamie of the womanly curves that had been hidden by her oversized jersey and unfashionable shorts.

As she met and held Jamie’s gaze, Ryan gave her an enormous grin and said, "Have I told you today how absolutely fabulous you look?" Her eyes trailed up and down Jamie’s body, taking in her pale yellow jeans and the Madras plaid cotton blouse in pink, purple and yellow.

Jamie tilted her head, considering the question. She looked towards the sky, pursing her lips as she finally gave a short shake of her head, tossing her blonde hair about. "You haven’t said word one."

"I swear I don’t know how you put up with me," Ryan muttered. "I was watching you sit there on the ground with all of those other…people…I’m not sure if they were men or women, you know," she lied. "And I kept thinking, ‘How did I get so lucky to have such a beautiful woman fall in love with me?’"

Jamie offered up a knowing smirk at the effusive compliment, patting Ryan’s flushed cheek while she was at it. "Even with the fight and the obvious attempt to take a look at Miss Denmark, you’re still getting lucky tonight, Hot Stuff, so you can stop sucking up."

Letting out a heavy sigh, Ryan shook her head and gazed at Jamie with a completely serious look. "I’m lucky every day of my life as long as I have your love."

It was late when they arrived back at the house, and they spent just a few minutes assembling their gear for the trip back to Berkeley. After Ryan carried Jamie’s travel bag out to the car, she came back in to find her hanging up her cell phone. "Mother called to see how we were," she said, a bright smile on her face.

"That’s nice," Ryan agreed. "Does she still seem okay about Saturday?" It was hard to believe that it had only been two days since Jamie had come out to her parents, and Ryan sincerely hoped that Jamie’s mom would remain as supportive as she had been on that night.

"Yeah…she seemed fine. She asked how you were, but other than that it was just our normal conversation."

"Normal is good," Ryan smiled. "Business as usual is what I’m hoping for."

Jamie felt so completely and totally loved at the end of the long day that she was honestly too excited to sleep when they were tucked into their bed in Berkeley that night.

"I can’t tell you how good it felt to have you parade me around introducing me all day," she said, her childlike enthusiasm bubbling out.

Ryan was charmed by her comments, but a bit puzzled as well. "Why is that surprising for you, Hon? I introduce you everywhere we go."

Jamie didn’t answer with complete candor, since she didn’t want to bring her own family into the discussion, but she knew that Ryan would never be offered the same level of complete acceptance that she felt from the O’Flaherty clan. "I guess it’s not that it’s surprising, Honey," she admitted. "It just feels so darned good, that I want to thank you for making me feel so special."