Love Song Series Box Set (25 page)

Julie

Kristen has just finished my hair when Uncle Mack walks in. He smiles at me. “You look so beautiful today, my little jewel.” The old nickname brings tears to my eyes.

“
Oh no! No tears. We just finished your makeup,” Bethany says, rushing across the room with a handful of tissues.

We still see each other nearly every day, but she moved into Jase
’s old apartment nearly a month ago. Jase threw the biggest fit you can imagine when she mentioned moving out. In his mind, she was part of our family and should live in our house until she was old and gray. She begged and pleaded, then finally made him some oatmeal raisin cookies, her version of my bacon wrapped meatloaf, before he finally agreed to let her go. Even then, he throws seven kinds of hell if she misses more than one night at our dinner table.

She dabs my eyes and applies another coat of mascara before dabbing some concealer under my eyes.
After she gets done touching up my makeup, she, Kristen, and Aunt Angie leave the room.

Uncle Mack hooks his arm through mine.
“I know you wanted your brother to be here to give you away today, but you’ll have to settle for an old man.”

A voice cuts through the room.
“Uncle Mack, you know a bride always gets what she wants on her wedding day.”

I jerk my head around and see
my brother Brandon standing by the door. Oh my God! He’s home! I run over to him and give him a tight hug. “Brandon,” I whisper, tears running down my face.

“
Hey, little bit. You look absolutely beautiful,” he says gruffly, hugging me tightly back.

“
I’m so happy you made it.”

He smiles down to me.
“I wouldn’t miss your wedding for the world.”

“
I thought you had two more weeks before you were released from service.”

He shrugs.
“My CO heard what all has happened around here, and he figured you needed an Army man to protect you.”

Kristen walks back into the room
before I can reply. “I knew you were going to need a touch up as soon as I saw Bran walking in here.”

We
’re just finishing up my makeup again when I hear the music start. Kristen rushes out of the room to take her spot in the line. Brandon takes my hand and leads me to the rectory doors. When the wedding march starts, he looks down at me. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

I smile up to him.
Am I ready? “I have never been more sure of, or more ready, for anything in my life.”

The wedding
is just what I always dreamed of. Jenny is our flower girl, and she spends most of the ceremony picking up the petals that she’d already tossed and tossing them down again. Jamie’s our ring bearer. Our rings are on a ribbon tied around his little ankle. When the preacher asks for the rings, Matty unties the ribbon and gives them to Jase and me. Everything is perfect.

As soon as the ceremony
is over, we all head over to Pop’s garage. The garage no longer holds bad memories for me. I refuse to let it. Not only have I forgiven Jase, but Jamie was conceived here. I look around, and I can’t help but smile. Tonight is all about celebrating family. Everyone is here eating, drinking, and dancing. Just having a good time.

Believe it or not,
Becca is even here. We aren’t as close as we used to be, but I do consider her my friend again. She helped save mine and Jamie’s life. How could I not forgive her? We may never have the relationship we once had, but I will always be glad to have her in my life.

I look at
the people celebrating with us and say a quick prayer of thanks. Not only have I just married the man I’ve always loved, but my brother is home. It may not be the way most women dream of celebrating their wedding day, but it’s perfect for me.

“
Are you having a good time, baby?”

I shake my head.
“Nope, I’m having a wonderful time.”

As the words of
‘Whiskey Lullaby’
by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss reach my ears, I grab Jase’s hand and pull him onto the dance floor. I think about how much our lives are like this song as he sways me back and forth; Jase’s drinking, both of us being sad and lonely, a love that never fades. I look up at him and smile. “This is our song,” I say to him.

He pulls me closer.
“It is?”

“
Yep, it’s all about us, but we changed it.”

He tilts his head to the side, smiling a sexy smile.
“How’d we do that?”

“
We gave it a happy ending.”

Jenny

Me and Jamie are in Poppa’s office. Jamie is in his playpen blowing spit bubbles. He does that all the time. I think it’s kind of gross, but Momma thinks it’s cute. He’s supposed to be asleep, and I’m not supposed to be in here bothering him, but I really needed to talk to him, so I snuck in here anyway.

I lean over the top of his playpen
so he can see me. “I’m your big sister. Isn’t that so cool? Now, I can talk to you. I won’t have to bug Aunt Bethy anymore ‘cause just between us, I think she wants to kiss Uncle Bran. I think Uncle Bran wants to kiss her too ‘cause they keep looking at each other just like Momma and Daddy do right before they kiss. Gross, right? You better get used to it though ‘cause Momma and Daddy kiss all the time.” I stop and think about last night.

“
I think that kissing might be how they got you and me. See, I heard them talking last night. I was supposed to be sleeping, but I wasn’t. Momma and Daddy were going into their room, but Daddy kept kissing her neck. She told him that he better quit it or they would have three kids, so I ain’t never going to let no boy kiss me. Momma got real fat when you were in her tummy, and if I got real fat, I wouldn’t be able to fit in my pretty flower-girl dress.” I twirl around so Jamie can see how pretty it is.

“
But, it might not be so bad if Uncle Bran and Aunt Bethy kiss. Maybe they could have a baby too, and then I would have another baby to play with. Maybe it would even be a girl. I like you, but I want a little girl baby to play with, too.” Jamie grabs my finger and pulls it to his mouth. Daddy said all babies do that, but I think it’s because Jamie loves me so much. “I can’t wait till you get bigger. We’re going to have so much fun. I’m going to teach you how to do everything. You’re gonna have a great time growing up with me and Momma and Daddy.”

I reach into his di
aper bag to find Lulu. I love this doll. I think of all the times she was my only friend, but now I have Jamie. “I love you, Lulu, but I think you need to get a new best friend.” I kiss her on the head and lay her beside my brother. “Jamie, I want you to have Lulu now. I love her, but I love you most.”

I hear the door open
, and Momma and Daddy walk in. “I thought I told you not to be in here?” Momma says, but she smiles so I know she’s happy. I love to see Momma so happy. I don’t even like to think about the times she was sad.

Daddy
walks over and picks me up and says, “Guess what?”

“
What?”

He looks at
Momma, grabs her hand, and says, “This crazy woman is my wife.” I look up at my momma, and she’s still smiling.

I smile at her.
“The crazy part is right.”

Mom
ma just kisses my head and looks at Daddy. “You better remember, I know where you sleep.” We all laugh.

“
Since your momma is my wife, do you know what that makes us?” Daddy asks

I shake my head.

“That makes us an official family,” Daddy says and kisses my cheek. I am so happy that I feel like my tummy is going to bust.

I look at Jamie and say
, “I told you it would be great.”

BONUS EPILOGUE

Brandon

After arriving at Pop’s shop for the wedding reception, I grab a beer and take a seat beside Kristen at one of the picnic tables. “I can’t believe she’s doing this shit at a garage. Shouldn’t this be at some fancy ass hotel or something?”

“
Pop mentioned throwing her and Jase a party here. You know your sister. She couldn’t tell him no.”

I look over to where Julie and Jase are dancing.
She has a huge ass smile on her face; I’ve never seen her look happier. “She’s happy, isn’t she?”

“
Oh yeah,” Kristen replies with a smile of her own.

“
She deserves to be happy.”

“
Yes, she does, and so does Bethany.”

My eyes instinctively move across the crowd, seeking out Bethany.
It takes a few seconds, but when I finally find her, my heart starts to race. She’s the woman I’ve been dreaming of for nearly nine years, since the day Julie sent me the first picture of her new friend.

“
Hmmm…” I mumbled, not sure what else to say.

When it comes to Bethany, I never know what to say.
She’s a complete fucking enigma to me. From the second I saw that picture of her, I wanted her with an intensity that I still don’t understand. I had never felt anything like it in my life. For years, I thought she was going to be my future. I had it all planned out. I would finish my time in the Army; then I’d make her mine. My plans changed the day I found out the truth about my sister’s marriage.

“
I don’t think she has ever been truly happy a day in her life.”

I
’m watching as Shane steps beside her. As they start to talk, I have to fight the urge to rush over there and pull him the fuck away from her. He has no right to talk to her. She’s mine, has been mine for years; he needs to leave her the hell alone. But I stay planted in my seat, knowing that I can’t have her.

I stayed away from Julie, not visiting during my down time.
I knew the life I was living wouldn’t be good on a relationship, and I knew that if I ever met Bethany, there would be no way I could let her go, so I stayed away. Because of that, I didn’t know what kind of monster my baby sister was married to. I didn’t protect her.

I look over to Kris and shrug, trying to appear calm.
“She looks pretty happy to me.”

“
He likes her. He has for a while.”

“
He can get over it.” The words leave my mouth before I can stop them.

“
Why should he?” she says with a shrug. “She needs a good guy, someone that isn’t ashamed of the way he feels about her.”

As always, Kristen sees right through me.
This time, though, she isn’t seeing to the heart of the matter. I’m not ashamed of Bethany; I’m ashamed of myself. I lost all focus on what was important, keeping Julie safe, and because of that, Julie was hurt. I can’t ever forgive myself for letting all that shit happen to her, and being around Bethany just reminds me of my failure.

“
I’m not ashamed of anything,” I lie right to her face.

“
Then why are you over here, while she’s over there?”

I should lie to her again, should tell her to mind her own fucking business, but this is Kris.
She’s my sister in everything but blood, so she knows me. She’ll figure it all out soon enough, so I tell her a half truth. “She’s that bastard’s sister.”

As much as I want Bethany, a huge part of me can
’t get over the fact that she shares blood with the man that nearly killed my sister. Even worse, she should have told Julie what a monster he was. She should have warned her to stay away from him.

“
Yep, she is. Not sure what that has to do with you fighting whatever this is you feel for her.”

Just like I thought, she saw right through my bullshit.
“She was supposed to be Julie’s friend. Instead, she led her right to the man that ruined her life.”

“
What?” she asks in voice just below a shout.

“
Bethany should have warned Julie.”

“
She did,” Kris says, leaning forward to poke a finger into my chest. “She tried to warn us all, but we wouldn’t listen.”

“
She didn’t do a very good job,” I reply with a shake of my head.

“
I honestly think she did the best she could. There were some things that Bethany just couldn’t tell us.”

“
What the hell are you talking about?”

Kris looks past my shoulder
, her eyes full of pain. “Dean hurt Bethany just as bad as he did Julie, maybe worse.”

“
He’s her brother,” I state the obvious. Brothers don’t hurt their sisters. They protect them.

“
Yeah, he is. The same brother that has abused her since the moment she was born. Watch her. It won’t take long for you to figure out how,” she says in a near whisper, her voice filled with anguish.

That one sentence causes bile to rise up in my throat.
It couldn’t be what I think she means, could it? “What do you mean by that?”

Do I even want to know? My gut is telling me that once I find out, I
’ll never be the same. Not only had I failed Julie, but I didn’t protect Bethany either.

“
She hates to be touched, especially by men. The only man she will even let near her is Jase, and I think that is only because she thinks of him as her protector.” Her eyes slowly move back to mine. “When we were roommates, I knew someone had hurt her, but I never even imagined it was her brother.”

“
No, way. No, fucking way. A brother doesn’t do shit like that.”

Kris
’s eyes narrow before she leans forward and places her face merely inches from mine. “He does if he’s a monster.”

My eyes fly back to Bethany just as Shane leads her to the makeshift dance floor.
“I have to talk to her.”

Finally stepping back, she looks over her shoulder.
“If you hurt her, I’ll never forgive you. I’ll always love you, brother, but I’ll never respect you again.”

I already had, but I plan to fix that right now.
“I won’t. She will never be hurt again.”

The End

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