A Baby And A Wedding

by Eckhart, Lorhainne

  “Come and follow me. I want to show you,” he said, leading the couple out of his office and down the wide hallway to the first classroom on the right.

  Emily held Brad’s hand and he gently squeezed hers; they shared a meaningful look.

  The door of the room was open and through the glass front they could see the entire kindergarten class. John was a younger man with long, brown hair, which he tied back in a ponytail. He stood at the back of the classroom with the teacher, watching Trevor, well removed from the boy’s space.

  Trevor was on the floor with two other children, building a Lego house. One was a girl and the other a boy whom Emily knew was a dickens, always getting the last word with his teacher. Trevor handed a Lego figure to the little girl, who smiled and said something. He looked at her and smiled back, before touching her hand and saying something. She giggled and Trevor pointed to something on their creation.

  Brad glanced down at Emily as she pressed her hand over her heart.

  Bending down, John touched Trevor’s shoulder, and gestured to Emily and Brad. The boy looked up and searched the room, not spotting them right away. He was smiling and looked happy, and Emily suddenly realized how far he had come in such a short time. Trevor hadn’t made his ‘whop whop’ noise or whined in a long time. He was using words and he was playing; he actually wanted to be with the other kids.

  “Brad, look at him,” she said.

  He pulled her closer and brushed a kiss on top of her head. “I see darling, I see.”

  Chapter 3

  When Brad parked the truck back at home, there was a black Mercedes with a rental company sticker on the license plate parked beside Jed’s brown truck. Emily glanced at Brad. Trevor was buckled into his car seat in the back.

  “Your mom and dad are here,” she said.

  Brad reached over and touched Emily’s cheek. She leaned into his hand.

  “The gang’s here,” he announced. “Are you ready?”

  Emily grabbed his wrist and shut her eyes, needing to take a breath. She loved his mom and dad, but when Jed showed she felt all stirred up and couldn’t put a rational thought together. Maybe it was because of the way he had caught them earlier; locked in her soon-to-be husband’s arms, and carrying on like two love-struck teenagers.

  Brad tucked a strand of Emily’s wavy brown hair behind her ear. “What’s wrong?”

  She unbuckled her seatbelt and slid over to Brad, who pulled her onto his lap. “I don’t know what the matter is with me. When your brother showed up, I couldn’t pull it together. What must he think of me? And I just, I can’t catch my breath. I’m nervous.”

  Brad wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on top of her head. “You were embarrassed because I was kissing you silly on the front porch and we were busted by my brother.”

  Emily sat up and looked at him. “You’ve taken me way out of my comfort zone, and at times I don’t know how to handle it. Sometimes…” She rubbed her soft, rounded belly and gazed up. “And the wedding... I just want everything perfect.” She gazed out the window at the heap of broken vehicles. “Like this junk here.” She shoved her flattened hand toward his window. “Could you not move this for the wedding? I don’t want everyone showing up and seeing it. I want everything to look nice.”

  Brad opened his door, grabbed Emily, and lifted her down. Then he reached into the back and pulled out Trevor. Wrapping an arm around Emily’s shoulder, Brad turned her towards the house. “So the tarps not working for you?” he asked.

  A giggle burst out of her mouth, which she covered with her hand.

  “I’ll take that as a no,” he said with a sigh as they stepped onto the front porch. “I’ll get Jed to help me move it all tomorrow.”

  “Thank you,” Emily replied, turning to him. Standing on tiptoe, she pulled his head down and kissed him.

  Voices drifted out from the house, making Brad smile wickedly. “You know, I can send Trevor in, and then you and I can finish what we started out here when my brother interrupted us.”

  Emily’s jaw fell open and she swatted his shoulder. “I don’t think so.”

  Brad chuckled, a deep rumble, as he led her into the house.

  In the living room, Katy was sitting on the floor with another guy who resembled Brad and Jed. He had darker hair, and was dressed more conservatively in a green sweater and neatly pressed blue jeans. The man lifted Katy in the air and made a buzzing sound like an airplane, making her giggle over and over.

  Emily stopped. Trevor let go of Brad’s hand and raced into the kitchen.

  “Oh, there’s my grandson. Give me a hug!” Becky’s sweet voice drifted in from the kitchen, followed by the sound of chairs scraping back and footsteps clicking on the floor as everyone poured into the living room.

  Brad’s father, Rodney, who was an aged version of his son with gray hair and wise old eyes, strode over to her. “Emily, you’re looking good,” he said, giving her a hug and kissing her on the cheek.

  “It’s good to see you, too. How was your flight in?” she asked.

  “Long, but Neil here made it entertaining as he flirted with the stewardesses, arranging a date with both.”

  The sharply dressed man who had Katy flung over his shoulder strode over, flashing a brilliant smile with straight, white teeth.

  “I knew the moment you walked in that you had to be Emily, you gorgeous thing. I’m Neil, the middle child, and your future brother-in-law, at your service my dear.”

  Neil lifted Emily’s hand and kissed it, making her blush.

  Brad tightened his hold around her waist. “Get your hands off my wife and stop flirting with her,” he said, shoving his brother on the shoulder just as he set Katy down.

  Neil grinned wickedly. “Ah, but she’s not your wife yet.”

  Katy chose that moment to yank on his sweater, squealing, “Up, up, Uncle Neil, airplane.”

  “Ha ha, I’ll take this one,” he shouted, lifting the little girl up, and twirling her around as she giggled.

  Before Emily could say anything, a short gray haired woman, dressed in a light brown sweater and tan slacks, pushed past Rodney and pressed Trevor into his arms. It was Becky, Brad’s mother. She gave Emily a big hug.

  “Oh, Emily, you’re looking so good,” said Becky. Stepping back, she lowered her soft brown eyes, which were filled with such deep love, to the pregnant woman’s stomach. “May I?” she asked.

  When Emily nodded, Becky pressed her hand to the round belly, just over the baby. Pushing Brad aside, she placed an arm around her future daughter-in-law and guided her into the kitchen. Emily could hear Brad laughing behind her as they walked.

  Becky directed her to a chair. “Sit down,” she said. “Let’s leave those men in there to look after the kids.”

  As she spoke, Emily noticed Jed standing quietly in the doorway, and he nodded her way . For a moment the air was awkward between them. He said nothing and then strode into the living room.

  Emily darted her big eyes back to Becky, who was filling a teapot. She’d taken over the kitchen, but Emily wasn’t bothered, considering that some wonderful scent was coming from the oven and she was being waited on. Becky placed a mug in front of her and filled it up. “It’s white tea, very good for you. Now tell me what I can do to help,” she said.

  Emily blinked as every thought, plan and list that had plagued her mind, of all the things she had to accomplish in the two days before the wedding, vanished from her head. She let out a sigh and leaned back in the chair. “I haven’t a clue.”

  Chapter 4

  After lingering in a warm bath, full of lavender oil, Emily pulled on the short cotton nightgown that Brad had ordered from Victoria’s Secret. In fact he had ordered a dozen, which she’d never be able to wear outside the bedroom and were not made to keep her warm at night. But then, when Brad came to bed, every one of those silky, lacy gowns found their way to the floor. He reckoned he wasn’t doing his job if she was cold at night, which was the one thing she wasn’t�
��cold that is. Brad warmed her nicely every night after he’d fully loved her, which always settled her in for a good sleep, snuggled in his arms.

  Brad was in the shower as she pulled back the covers and slid into bed. It had been a crazy night. Emily imagined how wide her eyes had been as they darted between Brad and his brothers; at dinner, and then afterwards in the living room, the way they poked at each other with barbed insults, and then chuckled and shoved each other on the shoulder. At first she assumed they were fighting, but each one had a mischievous twinkle in their eye.

  Becky must have picked up on her wariness because she explained in the kitchen that it was the brothers’ way of saying they loved one another. To Emily, it looked as if they’d just as soon plant a fist in the other’s face, but then she’d never been around so many alpha males in one room in her entire life. One thing was certain: each one was trying to up the other.

  Jed was an absolute puzzle. The way he watched her with those mysterious brown eyes was as if he hadn’t made his mind up about her. She felt that she was on probation. Becky explained that Jed did things his own way, and that included figuring people out. Jed wasn’t a people person at all, but kept to himself; even more so after falling out with Brad over his ex-wife, Crystal, right before he married her. Becky said the woman had played the brothers off by flirting with one and then the other. She didn’t know everything, but the rift Crystal created had been long and deep. This was the first time that Jed had been back to the ranch since their estrangement.

  The news had Emily sitting up and taking a good look at Jed. No wonder he was studying her. Maybe he expected her to be like Crystal. The woman had turned everyone’s lives upside down, including Emily’s, when she first met Brad. But there was something about Jed, which, she now realized, was a deeper hurt that he wasn’t sharing with anyone. He was his own man and, as Becky said, the first Friessen man to walk away from everything to which he was entitled. He worked hard, and what he had was from his own sweat and two hands.

  The Friessen family were a wealthy bunch. This ranch that Brad owned had been in the family for generations. Rodney had passed it down to his oldest son, while he and Becky had retired, and bought a ranch on the Yucatan peninsula ten years earlier. Neil had joined his father in that ranching venture, cattle , horses and a resort he was negotiating with the local authorities.

  Emily didn’t notice that Brad had finished his shower until he slid under the duvet and pulled her towards him, once again disposing of the lacy negligee, which fell to its spot on the floor, where it ended up every night.

  ***

  The day of the wedding brought a houseful of commotion and lively chatter. The night before, Brad came to bed later than usual. His brothers had dragged him out to the old house where the ranch hands stayed with a few bottles of whiskey, and had their own impromptu bachelor party. Brad woke her, when he stumbled in at 4am a little unsteady and landed on the bed in his clothes, Emily had thought it might be the first night that her lacy purple nightgown would remain where it was, on her but she was soon mistaken when he, peeled off the baby doll and moved her on top of him. He slid his hands over her silky, pale skin as she helped him off with his boots and clothes. As Emily slid on top of him, Brad watched her silhouette against the moon through the sheer curtains around them, and with his hands he worshipped her and loved her.

  Now, this morning, Emily allowed the hairdresser whom Becky had hired to pamper her, pin up her curled hair and fasten the long, shimmering veil to the back of her head. Emily stared at the face reflected in the mirror and was stunned by the beauty that radiated back of a woman who had fought her entire life to hold onto the dream of being loved deeply by a man who took her breath away; a man who was her first thought in the morning and her last at night. Now he was soon to be her husband.

  Emily let out a shaky breath as the door popped open and Becky peeked in, looking radiant in a yellow taffeta dress and matching jacket. Behind her trailed her good friend, Gina.

  “Oh, Emily, you look absolutely beautiful.” Gina moved to stand directly behind Emily. She was dressed in a long, dark blue dress with short cap sleeves, showing a deep cleavage. Her dark, shoulder-length hair fell in shimmering ringlets and diamond-studded earrings sparkled in her ears.

  Becky lifted Emily’s wedding dress from the back of the door, which she’d insisted the girl buy yesterday after discovering that she hadn’t got one. Emily had planned on wearing a peach dress that Brad had bought her a few months earlier.

  Emily stared at the white ballgown with sheer shoulder straps, full tulle skirt, and long train that hung from the waist. It was stunning, and she still didn’t quite know how Becky had organized it. Yesterday Becky had pulled out her cell phone and made some calls, and the next thing Emily knew, she was in the back of the Mercedes, and Rodney was driving them to Olympia where several gowns were waiting.

  Emily had not been allowed to look at the price tags on the dresses. Instead, she was fitted and then whisked away for lunch; assured that the reception and all of the details were being taken care of back at the ranch. Even Brad, true to his word, had hauled the junkyard away from the front of the house, with the help of Jed and Neil.

  Now, as Emily slipped on her dress with the high waist that nicely hid her rounded belly, she felt like a princess living her very own fairytale. As she spun around, it was Becky who said, “Oh, Emily, you are absolutely beautiful, and that son of mine is going to be a babbling fool when he sets eyes on you.”

  A knock on the door interrupted them. Gina hurried over, cracked it open and peeked out. “What?” she uttered in annoyance.

  Gina pulled the door open further, and Brad shouldered his way in, dressed in a black tux and with his hair slicked back. He looked like a gentlemen, but Emily took one look at the hardness in his face and her heart sank.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, not noticing the stylist slip out and a shorter man with dark, curly hair and dark-rimmed glasses until he stood beside Brad.

  Brad touched her shoulder and then firmed his lips into a fine white line. He glanced at the shorter man before answering, “We have a problem. We can’t get married today.”

  Gina and Becky both shouted, “Why?”

  Emily couldn’t get her brain to formulate a reasonable word. Her ears were ringing and she felt dizzy. “I need to sit down.”

  She must have gone pale, because she felt beads of sweat on her forehead, just as Brad whisked her into his arms and sat her on the bed, propping a pillow behind her.

  “Are you okay, Emily?”

  “Brad, did you change your mind? Don’t you want to marry me?” Her voice sounded strangely distant, like a lost little girl. Her throat ached as she fought to hold back the tears as she felt her fairytale dream being wrenched away.

  “Oh my god, Emily, is that what you think?” he asked. “No, dammit, I want to marry you!”

  The stranger stepped up from behind Brad. “Emily, I’m Keith, Brad’s lawyer and friend. Just so you know, Brad’s already threatened to beat the hell out of me. But you can’t marry him today, because you’re still married to Bob.”

  She sat upright. “What?”

  Gina swore in the background and Becky’s eyes widened, but she said nothing.

  “I don’t understand what you’re saying. We’re divorced. The papers were filed and I signed them—you’re mistaken, Keith.”

  When she glanced back at Brad, his eyes flashed with a fury she hadn’t seen in a long time.

  “Apparently, that asshole held onto the papers and sent them back unsigned to your lawyer, who apparently took a month off with his family to tour Ireland. His secretary contacted Keith this morning when she was opening the mail and realized what he’d done.”

  Brad glanced back at Keith.

  “Emily, until we get a court date or get him to agree to sign the divorce papers, I’m afraid you’re still married to him and that means the wedding cannot happen today.”

  Emily glanced down at h
er rounded belly and rested her hand over the fluttering movement inside. Brad lifted her chin with his long fingers, but his image was blurry before her. She couldn’t fight the sheen of tears that filled her eyes and spilled down her powdered cheeks, ruining her makeup.

  “I’ll call Bob and get him to sign,” said Emily.

  Emily didn’t how or why he’d done this. Bob hadn’t said a word when he picked Katy up the previous weekend. But then he had stopped speaking to Emily, and after the first time Brad had informed her soon-to-be ex that he was marrying her when the divorce was final, Bob had avoided eye contact all together. She’d just shrugged it off as being down to his prickly personality and self-inflicted misery.

  “You don’t think this was deliberate?” she asked. “No, of course it isn’t. He’d never do something like that. Or would he?”

  Brad held up his cell phone. “Emily, I called him just now, and it was intentional.”

  Keith jumped in before Brad could say another word. “I’ll get to work on him, Emily, but unfortunately you two just can’t get married today. Soon…”

  Emily just stared, first at Keith and then at Brad, feeling numb. Brad didn’t move, but she could feel how tense he was. She could also tell, by the darkness that had fallen over him, that he was hiding something from her; something really bad. When he glanced away, Emily knew he didn’t want to tell her.

  “Tell me everything, Brad,” Emily insisted. “And don’t you think for a minute that I don’t know you’re hiding something.”

  He grunted and exhaled so hard that he almost sounded like one of his bulls. “That prick wants money.”

  “What? He said he wants you to pay him for me?” she snapped.

  “No, my dear, he’s playing a very dangerous game. He said he will not sign because he wants to renegotiate, and maybe he’d like to share custody of Katy. He didn’t come right out and say money. He didn’t have too; he can stall, and cause trouble and upset for you, so I’ll pay him to go away.” Brad stood up and paced across the empty room.