The Wedding Blues (7 Brides for 7 Brothers Book 9)

by Lee Wardlow

  “Hey girlie, where are you?”

  I glanced over my shoulder at Kayla. She was a tall, thin, beautiful nurse that I worked with three days a week. Her long, dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She was invited to our wedding.

  We had become friends since I moved to Severe since we always worked the same schedule. We were as different as night and day. She was more, free spirited like my sister. I knew she had tattoos and liked motorcycles which scared me, but we worked as friends.

  “Daydreaming,” I replied and tried to focus on my computer.

  “You’ve been like that all day. What did Davy do to you last night?”

  I smiled at the screen but gave nothing away. She sat down at the other computer to chart her patients. We were both getting off work soon.

  “Wedding plans all done?” She asked while she waited for the login to complete.

  “All done. We’re ready to become man and wife and no problems this time with the maid of honor slipping away to parts unknown.”

  She laughed but Kayla knew that I had been really worried about Lacey. Then hurt when I found out that Eddie lied to me that he didn’t know where she was.

  I was still hurt over that one.

  When I was done charting. I grabbed my cell and purse and headed to the garage. Kayla still had some work to do.

  My feet were tired. Heck, my bones were tired today. It had been a busy one with three new babies coming to the unit by one in the afternoon.

  My phone rang. I dug it out of my scrub pants. “Hello.”

  “What did you do to Davy?” Lacey asked me.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked as I continued walking across the parking lot where employees parked.

  She laughed in my ear. “Brodie said he couldn’t stop smiling today.”

  I chuckled. “We had a nice talk last night. Cleared the air.”

  She scoffed at me. “Is that what you call it? You better be careful talking,” she emphasized the word. “You and Davy will end up like me and Brodie with a bouncing baby boy on the way.”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “Speaking of you and Brodie, when are you getting married?” I asked her.

  Lacey became really, quiet. I was close to my car. I stopped walking. “Lace, you still there?”

  “Yeah, I’m here. We’ll get married soon.”

  “What’s the hold up?” I asked. I walked the rest of the way to my car and unlocked it with the keyless remote.

  She sighed. “Caz,” she said my name and I knew that I was partially if not all the reason she wasn’t married yet.

  “Lacey, why haven’t you married Brodie?”

  “Because, you have always felt like you walked in my shadow which you shouldn’t have. You are an accomplished, beautiful woman.” I heard Lacey sniff. “I wanted you to get married first. If Brodie and I are married before our son comes, that is all that matters to me.”

  “To Brodie too,” I declared. I knew he had been pressuring her. “Have you told him why?”

  “No but you’ll be married soon and so will we.”

  I started up the car and let the cool air blow in my face. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” Lacey asked me.

  “For being such a jerk the last week or so,” I replied. “I was scared that Davy really didn’t love me and I would be alone while you had everything. The perfect man.” Lacey snorted, and I had to laugh. “He’s practically perfect now that you came into his life. He cleaned the mascara off my face.”

  “That was pretty sweet.” She had to agree to that.

  “The perfect house,” I declared.

  “You and I both know that means nothing without having the love that goes with it.”

  “We do,” I agreed. “And the perfect child in just a few months.”

  “Caz, what makes you think Brodie Steward’s child is going to be perfect?” Lacey asked me.

  “Hey,” he shouted from the other room. “He’ll be the most perfect football player and the smartest kid in town.”

  “I know Brodie,” she cut him off. “He’s crazy about this kid.”

  “I know and so are you.”

  “I am,” Lacey agreed. “I’m happy that you were wrong about Davy.”

  “Me too.”

  “Now will you relax?”

  “I’ll try. I feel kind of like Davy. I’ll feel better when we’re pronounced man and wife.”

  I backed out of the parking space. Then headed towards the main street that ran in front of the hospital. I stopped and looked both ways. This entrance had a right on red, so I turned when the traffic cleared.

  “Nothing will go wrong this time, Caz. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

  “Thanks. I’d appreciate that.”

  No sooner had Lacey and I hung up Davy called me. He was home early tonight. Dinner was waiting for me and so was he.

  “No work tonight at all?” I asked.

  “Nope.”

  “I’ll be home in fifteen minutes,” I told him.

  “Can’t wait to see you, babe.”

  It was like last night had rejuvenated our relationship. The doubt had been lifted by removing the fears that were weighing on each of us.

  I couldn’t wait to get home.

  When I pulled in the driveway, Georgie’s car was there. I was surprised that Davy hadn’t mentioned she was coming over. In my mind, I knew it was ridiculous to be jealous of her, to feel so uncertain of her. She was my friend too, but the niggling doubt was still there when I saw her car.

  She was happily married to Hunter Cole. They were adorable together with one son, Fox who was born in March of the previous year and another boy, Gage had been born in February.

  Georgie was quiet and sweet. She had always treated me with kindness. Never an ounce of awkwardness so why did I feel so uncomfortable still? Hadn’t Davy reassured me last night?

  I walked up the sidewalk and could hear them laughing. I could see them in our front room. Davy was on the sofa and Georgie was sitting in a chair across the room. When I went inside, they both looked up at me, Fox was in Davy’s arms trying to squirm his way down to the floor while Georgie held Gage.

  “Hey Caz, I’m glad I waited so I could see you too,” Georgie told me.

  “I’m happy you did too.” I sounded happy to see her, didn’t I?

  I sat beside Davy and ran my finger down Fox’s cheek. “Georgie, he’s getting so big, so is Gage.”

  “They are, aren’t they?”

  “They both have Hunter’s hair.”

  She laughed, and I turned to her. She was small, about five feet two. She was curvy like me though. Red hair, pale, creamy skin, freckles across her nose. We were really nothing alike. I glanced at Davy wondering if he had an actual type.

  “Caz, your hair looks great.”

  “Thanks, it was time for a change. I’ve had the same style since high school.”

  She smiled at me. “I know what you mean.”

  Davy snorted. “You’ll never cut your hair,” he informed Georgie. “I remember the one time you did. The curls were tighter, and you complained for months while it grew out.”

  “I can have it professionally straightened.”

  He frowned at her. “I don’t think you would be you without your curls, Georgie. You might lose your super power like Samson.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “I would think you would like that, Davy.” I didn’t know what they were talking about. She realized I was confused. “You mean he didn’t tell you.”

  “Tell me what?” I asked clearly confused by this conversation.

  She moved over to the coffee table.

  “Georgie, don’t.”

  “Why not? I’ve learned that there is nothing wrong with what I do, Davy Steward. It’s gift not a curse. Let Caz decide for herself.”

  Fox had gotten away from Davy and toddled to the window to look outside so she handed him Gage.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Caz,” Davy grumbl
ed.

  Georgie took my hand in hers. Her thumbs traced over my palms and this warm sensation traveled up my arm. I glanced up and our eyes connected. She tilted her head to the side.

  “We need to talk, privately.”

  Davy glanced at us. “What?”

  “Take Fox and Gage out on the deck in back, Davy,” she told him.

  He left but he was grumbling about it being his house and being ordered around in his house by the women in his family was just not cool.

  I watched him walk out of the living room carrying one baby and guiding the other boy with his hand on his head. He was so comfortable with the kids. I knew he would make a great father.

  I was even more confused by his reaction and the sensations in me at Georgie’s touch.

  Georgie smiled at me. “Why didn’t you tell us the other night that you were worried that Davy had feelings for me still? I could have told you that wasn’t the case.”

  I gasped. “He told you?”

  She shook her head no. “My gift is that I see things about people, their thoughts and emotions. I can see their past and their future.”

  “Seriously?”

  Georgie nodded. “When Hunter and I were falling in love Davy was a little bummed that he didn’t find someone first.” I frowned at her. “I know, kind of stupid and selfish. I told him that I wasn’t the right woman for him.

  “Caz, I had seen you in his reading that we did at Finlay’s house one day. Suddenly all the Steward boys wanted me to read them. I also saw Greer in Fin’s future. Talk about awkward. Mac hadn’t been gone very long.” She shook her heard. “Caz, you were Davy’s destiny, not me.”

  “He’s never told me why you broke up,” I said.

  She sighed. Her eyes were sad when she glanced back at me. “I saw things that scared me when Machara was ill. I tried to talk to Davy about them and he didn’t want to hear it. He’s never liked my gift. He is very logical, and my gift is not.

  “When Machara died, he asked to take a break. He told me I could live here if I needed while we sorted things out. I had given up my apartment to move in with him, so he moved in with Ewan.”

  I waited for Georgie. I knew she had more that she wanted to say. “He and Brodie have always had the hardest time with what I can do and see. Funny, he and Ewan came to me in high school and asked me to tell them if they would win the state championship.” She kind of laughed a small, sweet laugh.

  “Did they?”

  “Nope and I told them if they hadn’t asked they could have won. They went into the game feeling defeated so they lost. What I see can always be changed. We have free will to do what we want to do and screw up our lives however we want,” she teased.

  “So, your break became permanent?” I asked.

  “It did. I knew it would be. I moved out soon after he asked for a break. Then three months after we broke up I met Hunter. We both kind of knew from the start that we were meant for each other. It just felt right. Like you and Davy feel for each other,” she suggested.

  I agreed. “We’ve been struggling since April because of postponing the wedding. Both having doubts and not talking to each other.”

  “Doubts?”

  “Me thinking that he was still hung up on you and him thinking that another woman didn’t want to marry him.”

  Georgie chuckled. “Davy has always been an old soul even as a little kid. He was the most settled child I have ever seen.”

  “Settled?”

  “He has never liked change. He had a few things he liked to play with. As we got older he wanted nothing more than to be committed to one woman. He’s just been waiting on you, Caz.

  “He was never one to jump from woman to woman like the others did. He and Ewan are both like that. They get in a relationship and stay in it. He would have married me and stayed married whether he was happy or not because he won’t change things. It would have been disastrous. I could have lost a good friend. I’m glad we’ve worked things out.”

  I didn’t know if I could say the words to Georgie. While I struggled she said them for me which was unnerving. “He’s not settling for you, Caz. He adores you.”

  I almost cried. She leaned over and hugged me. “He loves you so much.”

  “I’ve been such a loon,” I told her.

  She laughed. “We all have those moments. Trust me when I saw Hunter’s ex-girlfriend I had my own unnerving doubts too. He had to set me straight.”

  “Thank you, Georgie.”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  Davy walked into the living room with a crying baby and a toddler hanging off his pants leg following him. “There are many things I can do with these kids but feeding them when you guys are breast feeding is not one of them.”

  He handed Gage to Georgie. She settled on the sofa beside me and Davy left the room to check on dinner, taking Fox with him. “Want some privacy?” I asked her.

  “I don’t think there is anything I have that you don’t have,” she replied. “Have you guys talked about kids?”

  She settled Gage at her breast and I couldn’t look away at first then I realized how awkward it was, me staring. I turned towards the front window. “We have. Davy wants to wait a little while. Enjoy being married.”

  “You don’t?”

  I shook my head no. “I’m enjoying Lacey’s pregnancy so much. I want a baby too.”

  Georgie smiled at me. “It will happen when you’re both ready.”

  “I know. They’re all cute and cuddly until you’re up all night with them according to Davy. He’s being practical.” I smiled at her.

  She nodded. “That sounds like Davy.”

  “I know from working at the NICU, so many things can and do go wrong.” I glanced at Georgie. I wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t know. She had lost her sister following the birth of the twins. “You would think if anyone didn’t have their head in the clouds it would be me,” I said.

  “It’s okay to have your head in the clouds sometimes, Caz. You’re pretty sensible all the time.”

  I had to be sensible, all the time. If I wasn’t nobody would have been, not my mother, not my father. Lacey was three years younger. She needed me. I told Georgie that.

  “You’re like Dallis. She thought she had to take care of all of us after our dad died. You don’t,” she told me. She put Gage on her shoulder to burp.

  “We only had Eddie as a responsible adult in our lives and he couldn’t be there all the time.” I kept looking between her and the hem of my shirt that I was twisting between my thumb and forefinger.

  “I was fifteen when Mom died, and Lacey was only twelve. We were with Eddie the night that she died. He took us to the hospital and Dad met us there with his girlfriend. It was the first time that we met her.

  “Then we went to live with him. Soon after that, she moved in too. He just didn’t know what to do with two girls. We spent a lot of time with Eddie and Ricky. It was hard on them. They were younger and wanted to go out, but they were the responsible parents. My dad and his girlfriend liked to go out too, so they just left us.”

  There wasn’t much more to say about that. Our role models for a loving relationship was Eddie and his partner Ricky. They had been together longer than most married couples.

  “I met Eddie when be brought Lacey and Greer home. He stayed a few days before he flew back to Florida,” Georgie told me.

  “He’s a great guy. I hope both he and Ricky come home for my wedding.”

  After a really, loud burp which made us both laugh, she put Gage on the other breast. “You can tell he belongs to Bear Cole,” she teased.

  “How is Bear. He hasn’t been to Sunday dinner in a while.”

  She nodded. “He’s been having trouble with arthritis in his knees, so he’s been staying home a lot. Not even going to bingo on Friday nights. Hunter is worried about him.”

  The Sunday dinners at Ian and Lorna’s house extended to Bear Cole, Hunter’s grandfather. Anya Cole when she was in Sev
ere, Hunter’s sister. Bodhi James’ family when they were in town. On occasion Bronx came when he had nothing to do. I really liked Bodhi’s mother, Bambi. She was interesting and unique.

  That is what I liked most about Davy’s family. They were welcoming. His father was wealthy and had never known what it meant to struggle but you couldn’t tell by how he acted, and his sons were raised the same.

  They did not put on airs or feel they were better than anyone because they had grown up privileged. They were simple and normal people who loved and cared for each other.

  I glanced up when Davy leaned against the framework of the living room entrance. Fox peeked between Davy’s legs and he chuckled. “How’s it going in here?” He asked.

  “Dinner almost ready?”

  “Not quite.” He smiled at me.

  That knowing smile that said to me, I can’t wait to get you alone.

  “We’re almost done, Davy,” Georgie told him.

  “Take your time.” He turned, grabbed Fox making him giggle and headed back towards the kitchen, I assumed.

  “It sounds like your life was a little like ours except our mother wasn’t irresponsible just busy running the pub. She left us a lot with our grandmother, Fenella.”

  I nodded. “Not much fun when you have to rely on each other because there’s no one else.”

  “We’re very close because of it,” Georgie told me.

  “So are me and Lacey. I think at times I was too much of a mother and not enough sister.”

  Georgie laughed. “Same with Dallis. Don’t worry, we love her still.”

  “I think Lacey loves me too.”

  Georgie frowned at me. “She does, silly.”

  I glanced up. “Then why didn’t she trust me enough to tell me where she was going when she left town.” My lower lip trembled. I didn’t want to cry but I had never told anyone, not even Davy how much it hurt that she did that to me.

  I was scared for her. Worried for weeks when she wouldn’t respond to my texts or phone calls. She finally texted back that she was all right.

  “Oh sweetie, she was angry at the world then. Hurt by Brodie. You two had your big argument at the Christmas party.” Everyone in the Steward/Baird family knew about that disagreement. “Don’t take it personally.”