“Of course I’m nervous,” I shoot back at her. “I haven’t seen him in weeks. I probably look terrible. For all I know, he’s got a girlfriend already.”
Claire’s eyebrows shoot up. “Well, we both know that’s bullshit. The part about you looking terrible and him having a girlfriend, I mean. He’s not going to see anyone but you and Tyler today, and you know it.” She glances out the window where the snow storm that started this morning is getting heavier. “It’s probably the weather keeping him.”
I nod and start to respond, but the front door opens and I hear four little squeals coming from the living room. “And there he is…” I say quietly when I hear Matthew’s laugh.
“Go say hi,” Claire urges softly.
I hesitate and she rolls her eyes.
“Samantha, it’s Matt,” she reminds me. “He’s a simple man. You can handle him…”
Sighing, I nod and quickly check my reflection in a mirror next to the kitchen door, very carefully ignoring Claire’s snort of laughter into her wine. Stepping out into the hallway, I hear all four kids vying for Matthew’s attention and as I come around the staircase, I see the only one he has eyes for is Tyler. There is a huge smile on his face and his eyes are bright and watery as he kneels on the floor to give Tyler his full attention. Tyler of course takes full advantage of this by pressing against Matthew and talking in rapid speed about everything he’s done in the last several weeks. I take the opportunity to take in Matthew’s appearance. I’m not certain what I expected, but given the brief description Claire had given me when she visited him, I thought maybe he’d be scruffy and thin and exhausted-looking. Damn, was I wrong… He looks incredible, more so than he did when I last saw him. His black messy hair is a little longer than he usually keeps it, but it suits him. Even from where I’m standing, I can smell his cologne and I feel myself smiling at the scent.
Claire walks past me and nudges me forward slightly. “All right, my three, go bother your father for a while,” she calls. “Leave Uncle Matt alone for now…” She smiles at her brother. “Hi, Uncle Matt. Glad you could make it.”
Matthew turns his attention to her briefly and kisses her cheek when she leans forward. “Sorry I’m late,” he tells her. “Traffic was a b…” He glances over at Tyler. “A witch.”
Claire snorts a laugh. “Right, well, you three take your time,” she says, shooting me a look as she heads into the living room.
My eyes follow her until she disappears around the corner, then look back at Matthew who has stood up with Tyler in his arms and is staring at me with undisguised longing and love and lust and a hundred other emotions. “Hi, Matt,” I say quietly, walking forward to close some of the distance between us.
“Hi,” he whispers back, his eyes roaming my body almost hungrily. His lips twitch up into a smile and he adjusts Tyler on his hip. “You look great.”
I smile back, feeling shy for some reason. “Liar,” I mutter. “I’m getting fat.”
Matthew huffs a laugh. “Definitely not,” he says firmly, looking down at my baby bump. I know he’s taking in the fact that at this point in my pregnancy with Tyler, I’d barely gained any weight at all, and I can’t help but believe this is a good sign. “Our daughter is getting fat. There’s a difference.”
Rolling my eyes, I give him a full smile. There are so many things I want to say to him, but right now, I can’t think of a single one. Judging by the look on his face, he’s in the exact same boat right now. “Happy Thanksgiving,” I say lamely.
His eyes glimmer in amusement. “Happy Thanksgiving,” he repeats. When Tyler seems to grow bored of our conversation—or lack thereof—Matthew lets him slide to the floor and he rushes off into the living room with his cousins. Matthew watches him go with a fond expression. “He’s gotten bigger.”
“That’s not saying much,” I reply. “Kid is shorter than your three-year-old niece.”
“True,” Matthew concedes. “Doesn’t make him any less adorable.”
I smile in agreement and we fall into several long, tense moments of silence that’s only broken by Bonnie shouting for Matthew to get his bony behind in the living room to meet her nephew. And that’s when I’m reminded that Mark Reilly is here for Thanksgiving as well and Matthew probably has no idea.
“What’s the nephew like?” Matthew asks conspiratorially. “I’m thinking tweed suit jacket, suspenders, and a bowtie.”
I raise my eyebrows at him. “Really?” I reply. He grins at me. “Actually, no. And you already know him.”
His grin fades. “Do I?” he asks warily. “Who is it?”
I gesture towards the living room. “All I ask is that you behave. And remember Claire did all the dinner invitations.”
He narrows his eyes suspiciously at me, then heads into the living room and I follow him. On the couch, Mark is sitting between Danny and Jessica, his date today, and Matthew’s niece Abby seems to have attached herself to his lap, her head resting on his chest as though she has no intention of moving anytime soon. It’s actually very cute. But judging by the way Matthew’s body tenses and the annoyance rippling off his body he doesn’t agree in the slightest. I was actually relieved when I heard Mark was bringing a date—my hope is that Matthew might actually realize Mark and I really are just friends, despite appearances, if his attention is directed towards Jessica. And so far, I really like her. She’s very down to earth and outgoing and funny, and from what I’ve seen, she really cares about Mark. The only hitch in the day so far came when Claire asked her what she does. Apparently by complete small world coincidence, she works at Young Technologies in one of the development labs and interacts with Matthew on a daily basis. She’s a little nervous about spending Thanksgiving with her boss, but I have the feeling her boss will be more concerned with other things—namely me—to really make a big deal out of the situation. Not that I really think he would; Matthew runs a rather casual atmosphere at work and as long as the job is being done correctly, he’s not usually bothered with how his employees spend their time away from work.
“Just my luck,” he mutters under his breath so that only I can hear before he plasters a smile on his face and reaches out to shake Mark’s hand. It’s only then he sees the redheaded woman sitting beside Mark and suddenly his mood picks up. “Jessica! This is a surprise.”
“Jessica is Mark’s girlfriend,” Claire helpfully announces.
Matthew looks between Mark and Jessica, then over towards me with surprise. “Oh,” he says, and I see his entire body relax slightly. Now I know he was worried about what might have been going on with Mark and me while he was essentially out of the picture for a few weeks. I swallow my disappointment at the thought that he believed I could move on from him so quickly. “Well, the more the merrier!”
Several expressions seem to clear with relief that Matthew won’t be making a scene at the very presence of Mark in his sister’s home and everyone goes back to their previous discussions, leaving Matthew to turn around and look at me again. He takes a step closer to me, then speaks, “Can you and I talk later?” he asks softly, almost pleadingly.
I can only nod in response.
He sighs with a relieved smile. “Thank you,” he says, reaching up to run a finger down my cheek. Again, I nod. With a wink, he turns back to the others in the room.
Without realizing I’m doing it, I feel my hand lift and touch the place Matthew just touched with an almost reverence. The moment I realize what I’m doing I roll my eyes, mentally scold myself for being such a girl, and join the party in the living room to watch the parade on television. Tyler is happily sitting in his father’s lap and Matthew is happily holding his son in place. I glance over at Mark who is carefully keeping up conversation with Danny and Jessica about something related to Danny’s work. Claire and Bonnie are contentedly sipping at their wine glasses. The twins are sprawled out on the loveseat near the fireplace. There is only one empty spot in which to sit if I have any hopes of ever standing up again, and it’s right next
to Matthew. I wonder who set this up; judging by the smirk on his face when I cross the room to sit beside him, it was Matthew himself.
After a while, the kids get antsy and demand to go out and play in the snow. None of the adults seem willing to venture out into the cold, Matthew especially as he tries to covertly put his arm on the couch behind me. When I turn a glare on him, he doesn’t seem the slightest bit apologetic, and as normal as it feels to sit beside him like this with his arm behind me, I need distance for the moment, at least until Matthew and I have had our talk.
“Everyone get their coats on,” I announce, rising from the couch. I hear Matthew sighing behind me in what I presume to be disappointment, but I follow the kids out into the hallway as they get on their coats and gloves and snow boots, then lead them out the backdoor.
––––-o––––-
Well, this is going brilliantly… The moment Samantha leaves the room I realize today won’t be as easy as I’d hoped it would be. I saw the look in her eyes when she saw me with Tyler and I know I was reflecting that look back to her, and for a brief moment, I thought everything might just fall back into place and be normal again. I should have known better. And while I’m trying to ignore Mark Reilly’s presence in my sister’s house, now that Samantha is out of the room, that’s becoming slightly more difficult.
Though I do have to admit the fact that he brought a date is rather comforting. Jessica Mills is one of my best employees. She’s been with the company almost from the beginning and I’ve never had a problem with her or her work. The way her mind works is similar to mine in that she sees the smaller details of a project before even beginning work on it and can usually identify any and all possible problems that might arise. With her bright red hair comes a feistiness I don’t see much in my line of work; most people are too afraid to challenge me as their boss on an issue, but that’s never been the case with Jessica. If she has a problem, she’s right there to call me on it.
And if her presence keeps Reilly away from Samantha, that’s just another plus for me.
Claire stands and heads into the kitchen, and I immediately follow her, waving dismissively at Bonnie’s request for more wine. I lean against the wall beside the pantry door behind which Claire is digging around for something. She closes the door, finds me standing behind it, and yelps. “What the fuck?” she hisses, hitting me with a spatula. I raise my eyebrow at her choice of weapon. “Why are you sneaking around?”
“A better question would be why didn’t you see fit to warn me that Dr. Dipshit would be in attendance today?” I retort evenly.
“Dr. Dipshit?” she repeats, laughing. I glare at her; she rolls her eyes. “You know, if I didn’t know any better, big brother, I’d say you were jealous.”
I want to argue that I’m no such thing, but even I have to admit the truth once in a while. “Anyone would be when they show up at their sister’s house and find the asshole who’s trying to move in on the love of their life,” I respond.
“The man brought his girlfriend, Matt. He’s not trying to move in on Samantha,” Claire tells me patiently. “They’ve barely talked from what I’ve seen. She’s been too busy stressing about you to bother with him.”
“Stressing how?” I ask warily.
Claire shrugs. “She hasn’t seen you in weeks, she doesn’t know what to expect from today, the list goes on,” she says. “But you’ve got nothing to worry about with Mark, I promise you that.”
“He’s attracted to her,” I say bitterly. “I’ve seen how he salivates when he looks at her.”
“I’d hardly call that salivating,” Claire responds. “And who wouldn’t be attracted to her?”
I decide to ignore that. “She’s attracted to him,” I tell her quietly. “She’s told me herself.”
“Maybe,” Claire concedes. “But just because she’s attracted to him and he to her, it doesn’t mean she’s going to do anything about it. If Danny got insecure every time I see an attractive man, he’d never get anything done because he’d be curled up in a corner in the fetal position. Besides, Mark seems pretty much focused on Jessica and I don’t think he’s going to start problems with her by ogling Samantha.”
“Yeah, but how many of those men are you actually ‘friends’ with?” I reply, blatantly ignoring her last statement. The only one who should be ogling Samantha is me.
“I do have male friends,” Claire reminds me. “And yes, there are a couple I’ve always been attracted to, and while there might have been very brief moments in time when I thought about possibly being more than friends with them, at the end of the day, my love for my husband always won out over everything else. That’s what it’s like between Mark and Sam, and you need to trust that she’s making the right decisions for her, for Tyler, and for the future of your relationship.”
I accept the glass of wine she pours me. “I do trust her,” I say softly. “More than anybody else in my life.”
“Have you told her that?”
“I will,” I promise. “It’s one of the million things I need to say to her. And I plan on starting that list tonight.”
“Good,” she says firmly with a nod. We stand in silence for a few minutes sipping our wine and occasionally glancing out the backdoor where the snow is falling hard enough that I can barely see the end of the deck. I can’t imagine Samantha staying out there much longer. “Are you aware that she has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow?”
I turn back to Claire and nod. “It’s on my calendar,” I answer. Not that I need it on my calendar to remember; I’ve got all her check-up dates memorized.
“Are you going with her?”
“I’m not sure she’d want me there,” I reply sadly.
“You’re an idiot,” she counters. “Of course she wants you there. She’s been stressing about going alone, since you’ve been with her for all the others, including during her pregnancy with Tyler. I offered to go with her, but I know she’d prefer you.”
I nod broodingly. I want to be there for her tomorrow. I want to see our daughter and how much she’s grown. But I suppose that will be contingent on how the rest of today fairs; if my talk with Samantha is disastrous, I can’t imagine she’d want me around.
“How’s therapy going?” Claire asks, turning towards the oven to check on the turkey.
“Pretty well, I think,” I say with a sigh. “I’m coming to terms with issues I didn’t even know I had. Not just about Sam, but about Dad and Leo and everything else that’s wrong with my life.”
“Glad to hear it,” Claire says sincerely. “Honestly, I’m surprised you and I haven’t had the need for therapy about Dad before now.”
I snort a laugh. “No kidding.” I hesitate, knowing I should probably be asking Samantha about this next question, but if I’m right about what I suspect, it’ll only make things worse now. “I need you to be honest with me about something,” I begin slowly. Claire meets my gaze and nods suspiciously. “Did Dad come to the house while I was, for lack of a better descriptor, dead?”
She freezes and for the first time since I’ve been back, she doesn’t make a zombie joke. “Yes,” she says quietly.
“What happened while he was there?”
Sighing, Claire refills our wine glasses. “Matt, this is really something you need to talk to Samantha about.”
I shake my head. “Just tell me.”
She watches me for a few moments, sizing me up. “He basically told her she was freeloading by living in your house, despite what your will said. I don’t know details, but it upset her to the point that Leo called me that night asking me to come keep an eye on her. Leo also said Samantha handled it very well until he was out of the driveway. As far as I know, that was the end of it and a few days later you were back anyway, so the entire situation was pointless.”
“Fucking asshole,” I mutter, shaking my head. “What’s it going to take to please him, Claire? And when is he going to realize I’m a grown man and he has no control over my life anymore?”
/>
“The only answer I have to both those questions is I don’t know,” she responds. “I think as long as Samantha is in your life it’s going to be like this.”
“Then he needs to understand I’ll choose her over him every single time,” I tell her. “Especially if this is how he’s going to treat her. She’s the mother of my children—his grandchildren—and he is the last thing in the world she needs to deal with, particularly while she’s pregnant.”
“I agree,” Claire says. We glance out the window as the kids run up to the deck looking like they’ve been burying each other in snow. Samantha follows, laughing and shaking her head.
When she enters the kitchen she finds me immediately and grins and blushes for some reason. She’s adorable when she does that. I realize I’m grinning at her like an idiot when I hear my sister’s snort of amusement and disgust. “I bribed them with hot chocolate to get out of the cold,” she explains, standing at the end of the counter where I’m leaning.
“Well done,” Claire says proudly. “Matt, make the kids hot chocolate.”
Samantha laughs at the incredulous expression on my face and of course I can’t remained annoyed when I get to see her laughing, even if it’s at me. “I’ll help,” she offers quietly.
Between the two of us, we have a tray of hot chocolate in mugs with marshmallows that we take to the table for the four kids. I’m very much enjoying our teamwork and it’s not until Samantha realizes Claire has slipped out of the room that she seems to get uncomfortable standing near me. She mutters something about her socks being wet and quickly scurries out of the room. Tyler’s eyes are following her moves and in the interest of not worrying him, I put a huge grin on my face and try to steal one of his marshmallows. He’s distracted and I’m relieved that I can still do something right…
––––-o––––-
Young Revelations (Young Series) Page 37
