Exception (47 page)

With hands full, the two friends walked to the left end of the table where Chuck sat. Emily set the heavy plate containing the heap of his favorite mashed potatoes in front of him, and stole a quick glance at Taylor, who was placing the sweet potato dish in the center of the table. Their eyes met for just a second, sharing some sort of silent communication. Suddenly, Taylor winked at Emily, who responded with small agreeing nod.

Charlotte’s eyes watched the slight change in her sister’s face—the relaxed look became a mixture of nervousness and joy. Letting go of the white porcelain dish, she took a long deep breath and draped an arm around Chuck’s shoulders, giving him a half hug.

She held him like that for a little while before lowering her face so she could speak closer to his ear. “I know you like that, but save some room for dessert, big bro. I’ve made that triple chocolate pie you like.”

In the past two years, the only contact Emily had accepted from her brother-in-law was handshakes and high fives. Charlotte knew that her husband loved Emily as if she was his own sister, and because of that, she knew how badly he hurt over the distance she imposed upon their relationship.

With tearful eyes, Charlie looked at her husband and saw that he had the same glisten in his, and an awed look plastered over his face. The brotherly love he felt was clearly stamped in his grin as he leaned his head to the side, bumping foreheads with his sister-in-law. “That’s a pie worth saving room for, kid.”

In a second, the sweet display of affection was over. Emily lightly kissed his cheek before removing her arm from his neck and rubbing her hand on top of his head, making a mess out of his hair. Her playfulness earned a roll of laugher from him, before he turned his attention to his wife. As the young couple locked eyes and hands, sharing the joy and overwhelming emotion they felt at the sudden change in their dear sister, Emily walked towards Taylor. She had a smile on her lips, and eyes that were begging for feedback. Even though his smile was more than enough to convey his thoughts, he also offered two thumbs up and a wink, making the pride he felt for her loud and clear.

With their mission halfway done, both friends walked side by side to the other end of the table, where Emily’s surrogate parents had just arrived with the turkey. After another exchange of encouraging glances and smiles, which didn’t escape Charlotte’s watchful eyes, Emily squared her shoulders and took the few steps that landed her right in between Simon and Johanna.

She took their hands and held them in each of hers, pulling them in to hear the heartfelt words she was whispering. As she watched the exchange, Charlotte’s eyes filled with tears that mirrored the pair looking at her sister with gigantic smiles and eyes filled with wonder. Simon replied briefly to Emily’s words, making her laugh, before she leaned in to deliver a soft, tender kiss to his and his wife’s cheeks.

As the younger member of their family walked away, Simon looked like he would burst into tears at any moment, while his wife seemed about to faint. Charlotte took her teary eyes from her beloved parents, moving her gaze in the direction of her sister, who was dancing her way towards her new favorite man.

Reaching Taylor, Emily all but threw herself in his arms. “How did I do?” she whispered.

“You did awesome, I’m so proud of you, Ems,” he praised her, rubbing the leftover tension form her shoulders. They held each other for just a little while longer before Taylor delivered a kiss to the tip of her nose and walked her to her sit between him and Charlotte.

During dinner, no one spoke of what had just happened. They simply enjoyed the delicious food Johanna had prepared while talking about the baby and flooding the three siblings with questions about their family, childhood in Canada and their lives in the States. It was incredible how relaxed and familiar the atmosphere was, and how perfectly they all fit together.

Two hours later, when dinner and desserts were over with, Gabriel and Penelope offered to help Johanna and Emily with the cleanup, displaying the good manners their mother had taught them. As the four of them worked in the kitchen, storing food, rinsing and loading dishes, Simon and Chuck sat at the kitchen table to continue the conversation they’d started with Penelope, while eating their chocolate pies. Both men were beyond amazed at her wit.

After another trip to the washroom, Charlotte returned to the dining room to find Taylor removing the tablecloth and rearranging the vase of flowers on the table. “Kitchen too crowded?”

“Yeah. Apparently my sister’s jitters have left her, and she’s stealing the show with Simon and Chuck,” he said, folding the tablecloth with incredible ease.

“She makes good on her reputation,” Charlotte said with a laugh.

Having no idea what reputation she was referring to, Taylor simply looked at her with questioning eyes. A wide smile spread across Charlotte’s lips. “Emmy told me she was quite awesome.”

Her comment made Taylor chuckle. Bringing her eyebrows together the tiniest bit, Charlotte continued, “What’s so funny?”

“Poppy said the same thing about Emily before we met.”

Leaving the folded fabric on top of the table, he followed Charlie to the other room and sat next to her on the couch, where he watched with amused eyes as she fought with her gigantic stomach in an attempt to remove her boots.

“Here, let me help you with that?” he offered with a smirk, kneeling in front of her.

With a grateful smile, she lifted her feet one at the time, accepting his help. “Thank you, Taylor. Nobody warns you that footwear will be a problem when you’re pregnant.”

They laughed as she moved her ankles and toes. He sat back down on the couch, giving her a friendly smile. He made small talk, commenting on how incredibly uncomfortable it must be to be that tiny and have such a bulging stomach. After a few minutes of that, Taylor saw concerned lines forming between Charlotte’s brows.

“Did you tell Emmy to do that?” she finally asked him.

The tone she used had a lot of the toughness and honesty Emily had warned him about and, being an older brother himself, Taylor could recognize the emotion behind the woman’s words as being the need to protect that was innate to older siblings. As for her words, they might seem vague to a lot of people, but not to him. He knew exactly what she meant.

“No I didn’t. That was all her,” he answered truthfully and kindly.

Charlotte inhaled slowly through her partially open mouth as the lines in her brow deepened. Taylor smiled, and in a kind voice, he elaborated his story, hoping to diminish her confusion. “One night back in Vermont, we were talking about our families and our holiday traditions. Emily told me how grateful she was to have the Webbers and Chuck in her life, and how sad she was that she didn’t demonstrate her love for them often enough. One thing led to another, and we ended up discussing ways she could make her feelings for them known and, at the same time, feel comfortable. That was all my contribution. I helped plot and gave moral support—everything else was Ems.”

The joy and gratitude in Charlie’s glistening eyes was undeniable, and was accompanied by the same large, girlish smile her sister had. “You have no idea how much that meant to them? They all love her so much, and the coldness and distance she’s kept these past few years was so hurtful to them. Of course, none of us ever blamed her for that, especially with what that fucker put her through, but we always hoped she would eventually go back to being her. When Zack and Jody showed up, I thought that maybe she’d try to open up to our family again. When that didn’t happen, we all kind of lost hope. But now . . . ”

Charlotte closed her eyes and covered her lips with her hand, completely taken by emotion. Taylor remained silent, giving her the time to recompose herself. Two soundless tears fell from her closed lids and made their way down her cheeks. After a few long moments, she opened her wet eyes and looked at him with a mixture of admiration and gratitude shining in those two blue pools.

Bringing her small hand up to the back of the couch where his arm rested, she covered it with hers. “I will never be able to repay you for what you’re doing. You’re a good man, Taylor Carter.”

“Emily’s my best friend and the most important person in my life.” Those words were a simple statement, but the honesty with which he spoke tugged at Charlotte’s heart. “I just want her to be happy, Charlie. That’s all. She’s been through too much already, you both have, and she deserves better. I’d give my life to make sure she laughs every single day, and goes to bed every night knowing how much better the world is because she’s in it. She’s the kind of woman who deserves everything, and I plan to do anything I can to assure she gets it,” he finished, squeezing Charlie’s hand and letting all of his emotions flow from his palm to hers.

There was amazement in Charlotte’s eyes. Knowing her sister inside out, Charlotte had been aware that Emily harbored deep feelings for Taylor for quite some time. She also knew that those feelings were still a mystery to her. For that reason, hearing Taylor profess the kind of love most women would die without ever knowing, with words that they would die without ever hearing, filled her with equal amounts of joy and worry.

“Like I said Taylor, you’re a good man, and my sister is lucky to have you in her life. In fact, we all are. The way you’ve changed Emmy, getting her to talk about our parents and California . . . ” She paused to let a small incredulous laugh out before continuing. “ . . . you know that, to her, that’s like having sex, right? She’d never have given that to you unless she thought you were very special.”

Taylor laughed at her analogy, knowing how spot on it was. When he spoke again, he couldn’t keep the smug smile off of his lips. “In case you didn’t get it from what I said, Ems is pretty special to me too.”

“No shit,” Charlotte teased laughing. “My only question is, how special is pretty special?”

It took a few minutes for Taylor to assimilate her question but, as soon as he did, the only obvious answer popped into his mind. With a deep breath and a wide, proud smile, he answered, allowing all the honesty in his heart to seep through his words. “She’s the one-in-a -lifetime and I’m a lucky SOB—kind of pretty special.”

Charlotte stared into those big brown eyes and saw everything she needed to see. “Good. Now be a good brother and rub my feet.” She plopped the feet that looked like a couple of buns on the cushion in front of him and smiled.

With a humorous “Yes, Preggo” and a snarky comment about her usage of cuss words, Taylor worked his fingers against the soles of her feet.

“Oh, this is goooood,” Charlie moaned, running her hands up and down her baby bump. “Tay,” she called his attention back to her. Once his eyes left her feet and moved up to her face, she continued, “I know you know this. But it’s my job to have you promise that, no matter what happens, no matter how long it takes, you’ll keep respecting Emmy’s time and allowing her to be the way she is.”

“I promise,” he answered without an ounce of humor, and then returned his eyes to her feet.

The conversation between them changed directions, moving to lighter subjects that included the funny stories Emily shared with him about Charlotte’s rebellious youth.

With the kitchen clean, Emily walked back to the family room talking to Gabriel who, despite being prone to being a douche with single women and his siblings, proved capable of being just as nice as his older brother to her. Seeing her sister sprawled on the couch and receiving a foot massage from Taylor while laughing like crazy with him made Emily stop in her tracks.

“What’s going on here?” Emily asked.

Charlotte’s face was red from laughing too hard. She turned to her sister with a broad smile. “Hey, sissy, since you told all my embarrassing stories to Taylor, I decided to repay the favor and tell a few stories of my own.”

A mixture of annoyance and curiosity had Emily’s mind itching to know what her sister was disclosing to her best friend. She’d told him all the things about her life she considered seriously embarrassing, but her sister had that mischievous glimmer in her eye that got her worried.

“The thing is, my dear sister, I already told Tay all the embarrassing things about me.” Emily was all smugness as she walked to the couch and settled on the armrest behind her best friend, who stared up at her with a smile on his lips.

“Bullshit,” Charlotte said, laughing. “You told him the embarrassing stories you remember, but don’t forget I’m three years older than you. I remember a lot more.”

The two sisters stared at each other, holding their laughter and daring the other to speak first. It was an old well-practiced game for them that went back to the days of going to church with their grandmother. In those days, their silent challenge was related to running into the church cemetery and touching one of the tombstones, and usually ended with both girls chickening out and running back to Grandma.

Seeing the stare down going on between both sisters, Gabriel sat on one of the armchairs to the side of the sofa and watched them with giddy eyes and a smile, almost begging to hear the stories.

A wicked smile let Emily know her sister was going first. “For instance, I was just telling Tay, here, about the time when Grandma taught you it wasn’t ladylike to let people see you in your underwear.”

Knowing exactly what story her sister was referring to, Emily covered her face with her hands and stifled a laugh. Having already heard the story, Taylor’s laughter belted through the room, making his brother protest for being the only one in the dark.