Honesty - SF8 (33 page)

"You were definitely asleep. This is your drool isn't it?" she teased as she pointed to a dark string of spit that trailed down her chest.

"Oh shit! I'm really sorry. But why didn't you wake me up? You didn't have to let me drool on you!"

Jordan leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Ryan's flushed cheek. "After all you've done for me this weekend, you get a lot of leeway, Sport."

Ryan was very pleased, if not very surprised, to see a little blonde head peeking around the door as they made their way off the plane. The last 20 feet of the trip consisted of chuckles, giggles, loud smacking of lips in imitation of kisses and a few verbal taunts, but Ryan was happy to endure the razzing of her teammates for the pleasure of seeing her lover a few minutes early. Even though she knew the whole team was watching, she gave Jamie an appropriately emotion-filled kiss as soon as she could push past her playful teammates to reach the waiting arms. "I missed you," she whispered fervently.

Several more kisses followed until they were interrupted by a grinning Jordan. "I missed you too, Jamie," she said seductively, puckering up for a kiss.

Jamie opened her arms to give the tall blonde a generous hug and a tamer version of the kiss than she had requested. "I missed you too, Jordan. Thank you for watching out for my precious one."

"It's a full-time job, but I think I did well," she smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow, Slugger," she said as she leaned in and gave Ryan a kiss on the lips. In a lower tone she said, "Thanks for everything. You were a lifesaver." She ruffled her hair affectionately and waved goodbye as she trotted after their teammates.

"What was that all about?" Jamie asked as she took Ryan's hand.

"She had trouble sleeping again, Babe. I think she'll be in my bed for the whole season. Are you okay with that?"

Leaning her head against the broad shoulder of her partner, Jamie sighed, "Of course. It must be hard for someone like Jordan to admit to being frightened. I'm glad you're there for her." She gave Ryan another tender kiss as she added, "If she ever tries to get fresh I'll beat her to a pulp, but other than that, it's perfectly all right with me."

"Duly noted," Ryan smiled. "I would kill for a latté. Join me?"

"Absolutely. Then we'll head home so we can help get ready for Rory's welcome home. Too bad we can't pick him up, but his flight isn't until late afternoon."

As they started their walk to the car, Jamie said, "Stop for a second and let me take a good look at you. I've never seen your warm-up outfit." She took a long look at a grinning Ryan, surveying the navy blue warm-up from every angle. The raglan sleeves of the lined nylon jacket accentuated Ryan's broad shoulders and gave her an even more athletic look than she normally had. The back of the jacket bore the traditional gold script that read 'Cal' but underneath, 'Volleyball' was emblazoned in bold block letters. The matching navy blue pants were devoid of lettering, but they had long zippers at the ankle that Ryan had opened to reveal bright gold fabric. The white high top basketball shoes that she wore did nothing to hide her jock aura, and Jamie had to admit that the outfit was totally pleasing to her critical eye. "You look so..." she mused as she walked around her one last time. Finally deciding on the correct adjective she stood on her tiptoes and kissed Ryan lightly on the lips as she pronounced her, "scrumptious."

"Thank you," Ryan replied with a smirk. "You don't look so bad yourself," she added. Leaning over to whisper in Jamie's ear she promised, "But there's an outfit that I'd like to see you in as soon as possible." A light nibble on her ear was followed by, "Your birthday suit."

"Works for me," Jamie replied happily as she took her hand.

"You know, I didn't think it was possible, but you might actually wear a hole in the carpet by the end of the day," Ryan observed later that morning, watching her father pace across the living room.

He gave her a slightly embarrassed shrug and said, "I just wish Brendan would get over here. I'm really worried about him,
Siobhan
. Out of all of the children, I think he'll have the hardest time accepting my plans for marriage."

"Why do you think that, Da?" she asked, having firsthand knowledge of her father's prescience.

"Brendan doesn't like change, Love. Never has, and I doubt that he ever will. He likes to keep things nice and simple, and I'm afraid that he'll be worried that this will upset the order." He paused in his pacing and added, "I also think he'll have a hard time thinking of Maeve as a replacement for your mother. He was, by far, the closest to her of all of the children."

"Really?" Ryan asked, thinking that honor would have gone to her.

"Oh my, yes," Martin insisted. "They were cut from the same cloth,
Siobhan
. You probably don't see it like that, since you were so young, but Brendan was nearly a duplicate of your mother. He changed after she died," he said thoughtfully. "He grew more cautious and somber about things. Then, of course, I had to ask him to take on so many of her duties that he lost a lot of his childhood." Turning to his daughter, Martin said, "If there's one regret that I have, it's that I wish I could have hired someone to take over running the household. Having a young boy be in charge of so many adult responsibilities was just asking too much."

"So Bren was really different when he was young?"

"Oh yes," Martin admitted. "He was quite a lot like you. Very open and forthcoming about his feelings...always in a good mood...very optimistic about life in general." His face took on a sad, resigned expression as he said, "He'd lost most of that by the time your mother was gone. It was a very, very difficult time for him, and he has never gotten that spark back. I know that would break your mother's heart." He pursed his lips, looking like he was holding back tears. "I wish I could have helped him more, but it was overwhelming for all of us. Brendan got the short end of the stick more than he should have." Martin shrugged his shoulders and decided, "Accident of birth, I suppose. Rather like my brother Francis."

Ryan had heard a number of stories that indicated stark parallels between her father's upbringing and her own. Martin's mother had also been ill for much of the boys' youth, and she died when Martin was also thirteen, just Brendan's age when Fionnuala died. The significant difference, however, was that Martin's father had fallen into a deep, alcohol-enhanced depression after his wife's death, and the boys had to care for him as well as each other.

Francis O'Flaherty was the most serious, and clearly the most taciturn, of the brothers. Ryan could see some similarities between her uncle and her brother, but she held out hope that falling in love might loosen her brother up a bit, even though she wasn't able to share her thoughts on that topic with her father just yet.

"I think both of our families were pretty lucky to have oldest brothers like Uncle Francis and Brendan," Ryan allowed. "Can you imagine what would have happened if Conor and Uncle Malachy had been the eldest ones?"

Martin burst into laughter, finding the images of the most carefree sons heading the families too funny for words. "It would have been interesting, that's for sure," he agreed.

As usual, Martin had an orderly plan for how to share the news of his engagement. He decided to speak to the boys in order of their birth, so Brendan was first. Martin asked Conor to stay close to home for a while, so the second son was reclining on his father's bed, watching a baseball game originating from the east coast.

Just to keep an eye on things, Ryan and Jamie were hanging out too, and they both looked up sharply when Brendan entered, and flopped down on the bed. "Da wants to talk to you, Conor," he said. "He's in the yard."

"Oh shit," Conor said, his eyes wide. "This must be bad if he has to do it outside." He scooted off the bed, pausing to give Jamie a dramatic hug. "Been nice knowing you, Jamie," he sniffed. "Remember me."

As soon as he was gone, Ryan asked her brother, "How'd it go?"

"Not bad," Brendan allowed. "I think I did pretty well at acting surprised. Da seemed happy."

Conor came scampering back into the room just a few minutes later, looking at the television as he asked, "What did I miss?"

"Nothing!" Ryan laughed. "Barry Bonds is still up!" After a slight pause she asked, "Did Da talk to you?"

"Uh-huh," he said, rather distracted by the game.

"What do you think about his news?" she persisted.

"Cool with me. Aunt Maeve's the bomb."

Unable to resist teasing him a bit, Ryan asked, harkening back to their conversation about Mia, "Do you think Da's getting a four for four?"

His head swiveled to allow him to gaze at his sister with a shocked look on his face. "Ryan! What a way to talk!" He turned back to the TV, intent on the action, but after another few minutes he turned back and said, "I think she's a three for four. She spends altogether too much time looking nice. And I don't mean hot nice," he added pointedly, in case there was any doubt.

By the time Martin returned from the airport with Rory, the relatives were already arriving, keeping up with the O'Flaherty tradition of being extremely early for every occasion.

The house was nearly full when Brendan poked his head in the front door. Ryan spotted him and nearly gasped when he came into the room escorting a woman. "Oh my God," she said to Jamie, giving her a poke in the side. "It looks like this is Brendan's coming out party!"

Immediately heading across the crowded room, tugging Jamie along with her, Ryan reached her brother's side quickly. She wrapped him in a big hug, whispering, "Good thinking, Bren. Da's announcement will take the focus off of you."

"Ha!" he replied triumphantly, having thought his plan through thoroughly. Stepping back he said, "Maggie Reardon, my sister, Ryan and her spouse, Jamie Evans."

The dark haired, dark eyed woman smiled broadly, showing bright, even teeth. "I think I could have picked Ryan out in a crowd," Maggie laughed, a light, lilting sound that Ryan found very attractive.

"We certainly never had any doubts about being adopted," Ryan agreed, giving Maggie a long look while Jamie spoke. She was tall, Ryan guessed close to six feet, and very slender, not a visible muscle on her entire body. Her eyes were very dark and very striking, nearly dominating her attractive, but not distinctive, features. Long straight dark brown hair was brushed off her face and held back with a tortoiseshell headband, giving her a clean-cut, preppy look. Bright red slim fitting cotton slacks and a navy blue silk shell added to her tidy appearance, and Ryan immediately decided that this woman fit Brendan's style very well.

Ryan slung an arm around her partner and sent Brendan on his way. "You've got your work cut out for you tonight. Give me the sign when you're half-through with the introductions and I'll buy you a beer."

"It's a deal, Sis," he agreed, smiling broadly and looking surprisingly relaxed.

"Cute woman," Jamie said as the couple started their rounds.

"Yeah. She looks like the type that Brendan would choose. He seems happy, doesn't he?"

"Yeah. He does. Just two more, Ryan, and all of the O'Flahertys will be locked up." Jamie paused in thought, wondering, "I wonder who will finally snare Conor?"

"I think he's waiting for Pamela Anderson to hunt him down," Ryan decided, not even considering sharing Conor's thoughts about Mia.

The welcome home party had been raging for six hours by the time Ryan could finally pull Rory away for a quiet chat. They stood out on the landing of the stairs that led to the yard and sipped on their beers as they cooled down from the overheated atmosphere indoors.

Ryan spared repeated glances at her brother, always finding the differences between him and the rest of the family fascinating. Rory was not nearly as small as the typical Ryan, but he shared every other feature with their mother's side of the family. His deep auburn hair looked as dark as every other O'Flaherty when the light was dim, as it was now, but when the sun shone, the deep red tones predominated. He was also the only member of the family to inherit the sea-green eyes that were common to the Ryans, with both of Ryan's grandparents bearing similar shades of green.

Rory's facial structure also didn't resemble his siblings', the strong jaw and deep-set eyes absent from his face. He most closely resembled their Uncle Brendan, their mother's only brother, who had died before any of them were born. The family had only a few precious photographs of the young man, tragically killed when hit by a car while riding his bicycle to a nearby town. Fionnuala had been pregnant at the time and unable to travel to attend his funeral, but she and Martin had immediately agreed that their child would bear her brother's name.

As Ryan snuck another glimpse of her brother she thought once again how very much he looked like the talented young man whom everyone had such high hopes for. He was considered a math prodigy, and Ryan assumed she took after him with her abilities in the field. It struck her that her grandparents had basically lost three of their four children in just a few years-two gone for America, the third lost to death.

Rory broke her reverie when he commented, "I've got to tell you, Sis, it was quite a surprise to see how firmly ensconced into the family Jamie's mom seems."

"Yeah, it's been amazing, to tell you the truth. I started out thinking things would be great with her dad, and he's turned out to be...well, I'm not sure how that's going to work out," she admitted, not wanting to go into details. "I was sure that I would never like her mom since Jamie felt so abandoned by her. But Catherine's trying so hard to rebuild their relationship that I started to like her the moment I met her. I guess it really is unfair to prejudge people."