Happily Even After

by Lena Matthews

  Then he shut the door gently, his footsteps briskly moving away as Creigh sat back down on the bed in anger and dismay. Damn him and his platitudes. And damn her for her lies.

  ———

  “Fuck it,” Dean muttered under his breath as he made his way down the hall. He just couldn’t win for losing with her. Nothing he did, nothing he said was ever right, and he was damned tired of trying. Goddamn it, when was he going to let her stop tying him in knots? He’d been right to keep his defenses up when she was around. She was fucking fatal. His own personal brand of kryptonite, and he was over it.

  As upset as he was, Dean knew it was best he left as soon as possible. He didn’t want to chance running into Creigh again. He didn’t think he could handle being thrown out of his house three times in one lifetime. After calling out a quick good-bye to Hamilton, who was watching G.I. Joe on the couch, Dean made his way out the front door and down the steps.

  Before he could make it to his car, however, the front door opened. “Dad.”

  The desperation in Harlow’s voice stopped him in his tracks. Frowning, he turned and made his way over to the porch, where she was standing in the doorway. She looked so much like Creigh it was heartbreaking. He could remember back to the day she was born. He knew then she was going to break his heart one day. He never knew it was possible to love one person so much. “What’s up, princess?”

  Doubt clouded her hazel eyes. “Are you going home?”

  Or to the first bar he ran across. “Yes. I have some stuff I need to do.” Like get rip-roaring drunk.

  “Can I come with you?”

  Dean frowned. “You have school tomorrow, honey.”

  “I know.” Harlow glanced behind her into the house for a second before coming outside completely. “I meant can I come home with you. To stay. I want to live with you.”

  He stared at her in amazement. Of all the things he’d expected her to say, asking to move in wasn’t one of them. He stared at her in shock for a couple of seconds trying to figure out what to say. Of course he wanted her to live with him. He wanted them all to live together under the same roof. He missed the noise, the constant clutter, everything great and small. But jumping on this opportunity, when Creigh was down and Harlow was so upset, was just the wrong thing to do. “Princ—”

  “I’d be a big help to you.” She rushed forward, as if she could sense his response already. “I can do the laundry, vacuum, and help you keep the house nice and neat. And I’d be real good company for you.” Her eyes watered with every word.

  She was breaking his heart. “Harlow, come here.” He pulled her the rest of the way to him and into his arms. Resting his chin on top of her soft golden hair, he sighed. Dean wished he had the words to make everything better for her, but he didn’t. Nor could he give her what she wanted. “As much as I’d like to say yes, honey, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “But—”

  “No buts, honey.” He pulled back so he could peer into her upturned face. “Your mom needs you right now, and as mad as you are, you need her too. You don’t want to move out, and you and I both know it.”

  “She doesn’t need me. She has Hamilton, and soon she’ll have the new baby.” Tears fell unchecked down her cheeks, the sight of them almost undoing him. Nothing could lay him low faster than his girls in pain. Which was part of his problem with Creigh. It wasn’t in him to sit back and watch her struggle.

  “And that’s when she’ll need you most. Babies are a lot of work, honey.” Harlow made a disgusted faced that made him laugh. “But they’re a lot of fun. You were too young to appreciate it with Hambone, but with this baby you’ll be able to hold her and play with her. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

  Harlow shrugged but didn’t say anything.

  “Do me a favor.” Dean rubbed his hands up and down her arms. “Give it a try, and by the time the baby’s been here for let’s say six months, if you still feel the same, we’ll talk about this again.”

  “You promise?”

  “I promise,” he said solemnly. Although he seriously doubted this would be an issue in a year. Harlow wasn’t asking to move in with him because he was the better parent. She was asking him to strike out at Creigh, and as much as he wanted to take his ex-wife over his lap and punish her for the way things were going right now, he would never do anything to purposely hurt her. She was a good mother, a good person, and despite how angry he was with her right now, still the woman he loved and also the mother of his children. As long as he was living, his children would not disrespect her, no matter how upset they might be.

  Lowering his voice, Dean spoke in a sterner voice. “Now I think you owe your mother an apology. Slamming the door was rude and almost earned you a first-class ticket to No-privacyville.” He softened his tone a bit. “Where pesky little brothers run freely in your room at all hours of the day.”

  “Dad!” she protested, her face a mask of annoyance. Dean arched a brow but didn’t say a word. After a few seconds, Harlow hunched her shoulders and looked away. “Fine. I’ll apologize.”

  “Good. You should…” He glanced up and spotted Creigh standing in the doorway. For a second their gazes connected, but before he could say anything, she hurried past the door and out of sight. He wondered how long she’d been there, then mentally kicked himself for caring. He’d said what he said for Harlow’s sake. Not Creigh’s. Shaking his head, he cleared his mind and went back to the conversation at hand. “Think of something nice you can do for your mom. This is not in lieu of apologizing, by the way. You still have to do that. Capisci?”

  “Capisci.” A small smile formed on her heart-shaped lips. “I love you, Dad.” Harlow slipped her arms around his neck and squeezed tight.

  As always, Dean’s throat got a little tight when she said that. “I love you too, princess. Now scat.” He released her, then landed a playful swat on her behind as she headed back inside.

  Dean watched until she entered the house and shut the door before he turned and headed to his truck. He knew she would do as promised and apologize to her mother, even though it wasn’t what she wanted to do. Harlow was a good girl, even if she did have his temperament. Besides, they were all learning to do things they didn’t want to these days. Sighing heavily and wondering just how things had gotten so far, Dean opened the door to his truck and climbed in. His earlier thoughts about visiting a bar seemed like an even better idea now, and he knew just the one to go to.

  ———

  The sound of the baseball game playing on the flat-screen greeted Dean the second he opened the door to his brother’s bar. Hooters this place wasn’t, although Gino’s hot-wings recipe had greatly improved. De Luca’s Tavern was, at best, a man cave. An old-fashioned watering hole with cable. The beer was cold, the burgers greasy, and there was always a game on. It was Gino’s idea of heaven and of late had become Dean’s second home.

  He didn’t go there to drink, though. He could do that in his living room while wearing nothing but his underwear. Dean went for the noise. It was hard to feel lonely in a room full of drunks. Dean nodded his head to the regulars he recognized as he made his way over to the bar.

  To his delight, it wasn’t just his eldest brother he found, but his youngest there as well. The two men were working the busy bar, filling beer mugs and taking orders. Even from a distance the resemblance between the brothers was extremely noticeable, not helped at all by the matching black T-shirts they wore with the bar’s logo on it. Gino had a good ten years on Sergio and had been looking after him ever since their parents died seven years ago. At the time Gino was a construction worker with a small place of his own, doing a bunch of nothing. He instantly moved in to their parents’ house and took over. But just because Gino had been granted custody over their younger brother, it didn’t mean he’d been the only one taking care of him.

  Everyone had pitched in—neighbors, cousins, aunts, and uncles, proving the old adage that it did indeed take a village. Now his little brother was a
few inches taller than them both and working part-time at the bar, the flower shop with Creigh, and going to school.

  Every time Dean looked at Sergio, he knew his parents would be proud of all of them and how they all turned out. Even if they wouldn’t have been pleased with the divorce. His parents were very old-fashioned, and a lot of his ways and beliefs came from the foundation his father had laid out for him.

  Smiling and feeling more relaxed than he had all weekend, Dean made his way over to the bar and sat down across from his brother on an empty stool. The younger man grinned when he saw Dean.

  “Beer me, little brother.”

  “Sure thing, big brother.” Sergio stepped away to fill the order. While he was doing that, Dean took in the view. The new pool table Gino had installed seemed like it was a crowd-pleaser. It fit just fine in the back next to the jukebox and dartboard.

  “Here you go.” Sergio popped the top before handing it to Dean, then opened two more, slipping one to Gino, who came up alongside them.

  “Taking care of a bill.” Gino grabbed the beer on his way by. “Be right back.”

  “Busy night?” Dean asked.

  “Little bit. College kids mostly.” Sergio gestured with his head to the perky sorority-type chicks down at the end of the bar. “Tips were good.”

  Dean wasn’t surprised. His brother was a handsome man. They all were, but he sometimes wondered if God used him and Gino as the practice runs before blessing their parents with Sergio. Dean considered it a godsend they never had to compete for the same girl growing up, because even though the men looked very similar to one another, there was something just a bit more about Sergio that would have made it an unfair fight. Added on top of the fact his brother was generally a good guy, it was downright sickening.

  “I’m back and thirstier than fuck.” Gino slapped a white towel over his shoulder, then held his beer up and grinned. “It’s toasting time.”

  “Ugg.” Dean rolled his eyes at the cornball tradition to see who would get the next beer free. “Not this old thing.”

  “Yes, this old thing. Best line wins. I’ll start it. It’s a classic, boys. Join in if you know it. ‘Here’s to the bee that stung the bull and started the bull to bucking.’”

  Dean smiled, for he did know it.

  “‘And here’s to Adam, who stuck it to Eve,’” Dean and Sergio joined in, “‘and started the world to fucking.’”

  The three men raised their bottles in the air, then each took a drink simultaneously.

  “Hear, hear,” Dean said, as Gino bowed regally.

  “My turn.” Sergio jiggled his bottle to garner their attention. “I’m ready. ‘Here’s to hell. May my stay there be as much fun as my way there.’”

  “Excellent, little brother.” Dean laughed before chugging down another gulp of beer.

  “You ready?” Gino asked.

  There was no time like the present to share his good news. “Yes. I’d like to make a toast my brothers.” Each man raised his bottle once more. “To Creigh and her new baby. May they live long and prosper.” Dean took a deep drink, but he was the only one. His brothers still had their hands raised, but their mouths were open wide in shock. “What? Was that too Star Trekish?”

  Gino was the first to recover, lowering his bottle back to the bar. “That didn’t rhyme. Nor was it the slightest bit funny.”

  “I thought the same thing when she told me on Friday.”

  “Fuck.” Gino’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know you two were…”

  “We aren’t.”

  “Oh.” Gino went and grabbed another bottle of beer and slammed it down in front of Dean. “You win. Hands down.”

  “I’m feeling really out of the loop right now. When did this happen?” Sergio asked with a frown.

  “Apparently four months ago.” Dean toyed with the label of the bottle he was still drinking.

  “But…I’ve been working at her shop on the weekends for like a month. I haven’t noticed at all.”

  Dean shrugged. He’d seen her twice a week for four months and hadn’t noticed either. “She’s showing, but not too much.”

  “So,” Gino interrupted loudly. “Is this the part where you say the father is…”

  “Unknown to me.” A fact that was still rubbing him raw.

  “Well then, there’s only one thing to do,” Gino said out of the blue.

  “Close the bar and grab the bats,” Sergio offered.

  Dean smiled. Now that was a brother.

  “No. Fuck him. Fuck her.” Gino frowned. “It’s time to get you laid.”

  “I could have sworn just yesterday you were putting the entire problem with our relationship on my shoulders, and you were hinting—strongly, I might add—you thought she and I should get back together.”

  “Clearly I was wrong.”

  “Or were you?” Sergio chimed in. “The guy’s a no-show, right?”

  “Right.” Dean nodded.

  Sergio continued. “You still have feelings for her, right?”

  Try as he might not to, he did. And they just weren’t going away. “Right.”

  “Then all you have to do is go in there and save the day.” Sergio smiled widely. “Right?”

  “Wrong.” Gino frowned and shook his head. “She dumped you, man. She no longer has feelings for you.”

  Dean shook his head. “I don’t believe that. Yes, she dumped me, but I think she still cares.”

  “That’s the alcohol talking,” Gino protested.

  Dean laughed. “I haven’t even finished my first beer.”

  “Then that’s the alcohol not talking. Have another drink.” Gino pushed the bottle closer to him. “Maybe you’ll wise up.”

  “Or maybe I won’t. You said it yourself. I’ve been chasing her so long, I don’t know how not to.”

  “She’s pregnant with someone else’s kid,” Gino said as if Dean needed the reminder.

  “Yes. Yes, she is.” That was the one fact he could not dispute. But for the first time, hearing it out loud wasn’t quite so painful. It was almost normal. Creigh was having a baby, and saying it over and over didn’t make the world implode or his head explode. It was just a baby. And if Hambone was planning to mold her into a soldier, why couldn’t Dean just mold her into another daughter? Where she came from wouldn’t matter so much once she was here. She’d love the man who raised her. DNA be damned.

  Gino’s eyes narrowed. “I do not like that look on your face.”

  “Well, that sucks for you,” Dean teased, feeling a bit better than he had before. There were still so many things wrong with his and Creigh’s relationship, but suddenly he realized this baby didn’t have to be one.

  Gino tossed a handful of pretzels at Dean. “Whatever you’re thinking, stop it. You need a vacation. From your life and from your ex-wife.”

  “No, what I need is to get her back.” The minute he said it, he realized it was the truth.

  Gino leaned forward and rapped his knuckles on Dean’s skull. “Hello. Anyone in there? She doesn’t want you back.”

  Dean pulled back and batted his brother’s hand away. “You don’t know that.” Dean could be as stubborn as the next De Luca.

  But his obstinacy didn’t slow Gino down. “The divorce courts do. She left you. Broke your heart, man.”

  “Which means she’s the only one who can ever fix it,” Sergio interjected.

  The other two men stopped talking and turned their attention to their younger brother, who suddenly didn’t seem so little anymore. Even though Sergio was way over six feet tall now, tunnel vision wouldn’t allow either Dean or Gino to see him as anything other than the younger, smaller, weaker kid brother. Well, at least till now. Dean was staring at Sergio in a whole new light. The kid was actually making sense. Sounded as if there was a chance he’d actually gotten his tip wet a time or two.

  Gino, on the other hand, didn’t appear to be having an epiphany at all. “What do you know?”

  Gino’s hypocrisy made Dean b
urst out laughing. “Aren’t you the same person who told me I shouldn’t discount squirt here just because he’s learning to wipe his own ass?”

  “Since when have you ever listened to me?”

  Dean smiled. “Exactly.” Rising from his seat, he reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, then tossed a few bills down on the bar to cover his tab.

  “No, take this back.” Gino grabbed the money and handed it back to him. “You’re going to need it for therapy.”

  Sergio snatched the bills out of Gino’s hand and it handed it to Dean. “Or flowers. A good place to start.”

  Gino groaned and pulled the white towel off his shoulder and snapped it at his baby brother. “You’re not helping.”

  “No, I think he is.” Dean gladly took back the money Sergio gave him and reached over the bar to slap his brother on his arm in camaraderie. “You grew up on me, man.”

  Sergio shrugged. “It was bound to happen.”

  “So I see.” Dean squeezed Sergio’s shoulder. “I’ll see you guys later.”

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” Gino yelled after him.

  To which Dean had no reply. Trying to hook up with his ex-wife who was pregnant by another man was more than stupid. It was insane.

  Chapter Four

  Creigh arrived at work the next morning determined to put the weekend out her mind. It was a new day, and she was going to focus on the positives and not the negatives, even if it killed her. She parked her car in its usual spot and made her way into the flower shop she co-owned with her paternal cousin, A-mei Gibbs.

  A-mei had already opened the store three hours earlier and was now sitting behind the counter with her head buried in a book. The only visible part of her caramel brown skin was her forehead, but even that was slightly covered by a few strands of her jet-black hair. The rest of her thick hair was twisted in a knot on top of her head and held up with her customary chopsticks, a nod to her mother’s heritage.