Waking Up Wed

by Christy Jeffries

  They hadn’t gone more than a few yards when his father-in-law leaned in and whispered, “Did you see what I did there, son?”

  Drew looked back to the cabin. “What you did where?”

  “Oh, boy. I can see they didn’t teach you much in all those fancy doctor classes. Back there? In the kitchen? That’s called reverse psychology.”

  He wouldn’t define it as a textbook example, but Drew was curious to see where the man was going with this.

  “My baby girl is as smart as all get-out, but she falls for it every dang time. Try to suggest she can’t do something and she bends over backward to prove you wrong. And now that she’s taken you under her wing, she’s gonna get her dander up and protect you.”

  Apparently, the ability to manipulate his daughter didn’t work all the time, because Coach Chatterson hadn’t convinced her to dress more conservatively or quit the cheer team. “So you’re saying you were trying to get her to do the dishes on purpose?”

  “Yep. I haven’t had a chance to get to know my son-in-law yet, and I figured we were about due for a man-to-man talk.” Oh, great. As much of an expert as the man might be in “psychological warfare” on the pitching mound, Drew wasn’t about to be intimidated. “Anyway, I know my Jellybean better than anyone else does, and I figured you might need some advice on how to handle her.”

  Did her father think Drew was doing a poor job of it so far? He opened the boat shed and gestured for Bobby to go inside. With the awkward direction this conversation was taking, he wanted to make sure they were well out of his wife’s earshot. “Sir, Kylie’s a strong woman, and I don’t think she’d appreciate anyone handling her, let alone me.”

  “See, I knew you were the one. Looks as if you’re starting to get it.”

  “To get what?”

  “Reverse psychology. You gotta let her think things are her idea. She has a fiery temper, that one. Gets it from her mom.” Somehow, Drew sincerely doubted that. But he let the man ramble on.

  “I’m not saying you should play games with her or mess with her head or any bull like that. I’m just saying that my Kylie is special, but she’s strong-minded. Now, I don’t believe that just because she’s my baby girl and I’m crazy proud of her. I believe that because I’m an excellent judge of character, and that one back there—” he jerked his thumb toward the cabin “—has character to spare. She knows what she wants, and she is more than capable of making sure she gets it.”

  A lot of what he was saying was true, yet with his questionable approaches, Drew had to wonder if his father-in-law actually knew what he was talking about. “Then, why the need for reverse psychology?”

  “Well, now, sometimes she can be just a touch stubborn. Gets that from her mom, as well. And I don’t like to see her miss out on something good for her or wind up regretting doing X when she should’ve done Y. It might sound as if I’m being a little controlling, but when you two have kids, you’ll see. You just want what’s best for them.”

  The thought of having children, especially with Kylie, brought a little tingle to the back of Drew’s neck. But a good kind of tingle, like how he always felt when he was a kid waking up on Christmas morning. “So how often does this trick actually work?”

  Bobby sighed. “It was easier when she was younger.”

  “That’s interesting. According to Kylie, she rebelled and went in the complete opposite direction of what you wanted.”

  “That’s how good I am at it, son.” Bobby Chatterson smiled, his straight white teeth proudly displayed beneath his long beard.

  “Wait. You’re trying to tell me that when she was growing up, you tried to talk her into playing baseball because you actually wanted her to join the cheerleading team?”

  “See, all my life I wanted a daughter. Every time Lacey got pregnant, I prayed for a little girl. Don’t get me wrong. I love my boys and I’m damn proud of them. But when I finally got my little princess, I was in heaven. I’d spent half my career in a locker room and men like me and you, well, we need to be exposed to that softer, feminine side of life.”

  Drew was trying to keep his expression as neutral as possible. As much as he was coming to like and appreciate Kylie’s father, he couldn’t for the life of him see the similarity. “You think we’re a lot alike, do you?”

  “Of course we are. That’s why I trust you enough to have this conversation in the first place. I wouldn’t be giving this advice to just anyone. Let me tell you, Kylie has dated some real boneheads in the past, and if I wasn’t one hundred percent certain you two were completely perfect for each other, I’d reverse-psychologize her to dump your sorry butt.”

  Drew almost laughed at the coined term, but just then a sharp pain exploded under his rib cage.

  He winced before coming down hard into a sitting position on the wood floor.

  “You okay, son?” Bobby Chatterson knelt in front of him.

  The pain was already fading, but Drew gingerly felt along the side of his torso. There was no specific reason why he should’ve felt as if his skin was being ripped open.

  Unless somewhere out there, his brother, Luke, had just felt the same thing.

  Chapter Ten

  Drew’s head began spinning, thinking of the potential danger his twin could be in right this second. He tried not to panic. After all, if he could feel Luke’s pain, wouldn’t he then be able to feel if something worse had happened to his brother? Wouldn’t he know if his twin had...died?

  He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, then repeated it. The ache was definitely easing, and he was able to get his thoughts a little more under control.

  Either way, sitting in a boat shed with baseball legend Bobby Chatterson wasn’t going to solve this mystery for him. And he certainly didn’t want to explain to his father-in-law the idea of twin telepathy. “It’s just a muscle cramp. I think it’s going away, though. I’ll be fine.”

  “I’ve had more than my fair share of those.” Bobby Chatterson moved Drew’s hand away. “You probably should get inside and rub some Icy Hot on it. Besides, I still need to stop by and see Kane tonight. Now that I’ve got you and Kylie all squared away, I need to go talk some sense into that boy.”

  Drew was relieved to find that standing up didn’t retrigger the soreness. He locked the door to the shed, and they made their way back to the cabin.

  “So, a few minutes ago, you said you thought I was perfect for your daughter. Why?” Drew not only wanted to get the man’s attention off his odd injury but also was curious to hear an outsider’s opinion about the potential for their relationship.

  “Knew it from the moment I asked that DJ to play that song for you two at the reception and she went all swoony.”

  Drew stopped in his tracks. “That was you?”

  “You bet. I knew no matter how stubborn she was being about downplaying you guys running off and getting married, she wouldn’t be able to resist a classic love ballad like that. You get that girl on a dance floor and she becomes an open book.”

  “Let me guess. She gets that from her mom, too?”

  “Hell no. She gets her lack of cooking skills from her mom. Her ability to dance and her great taste in music are courtesy of yours truly.”

  Drew would have laughed if the effort wouldn’t have further aggravated his side.

  * * *

  Although the suspicious pain had gone away hours ago, Drew had been restless most of the night. Luke was on a classified assignment and Drew was anxious to get to his office, which had a secure phone line, and pull some rank to find out where his brother was and whether something had happened to him.

  He hadn’t told Kylie about his conversation with her father the night before or about the possibility of his brother being injured. By the time he’d gotten the twins to bed after Mr. Chatterson had left, he’d walked into the bathroom to find Kylie soaking in a tub of steamy bubbles. He’d locked the door, and neither one of them had done much talking after that.

  That morning, he kissed her g
oodbye and drove the Jeep entirely too fast down the mountain in his rush to get to work. After almost flipping it at the turnoff onto the state highway, Drew reminded himself that he was trying to avoid arriving in an ambulance, although working at a military hospital did have its perks.

  It took several calls and a lot of red tape before he finally found out that Luke was just coming out of surgery aboard one of the navy’s hospital ships somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

  It took another two hours to be connected with him via satellite phone.

  “Luke, what happened?” Drew practically shouted into the receiver when he heard his brother’s slightly raspy voice.

  “Well, our op ended prematurely.”

  “No, I meant what happened to you?”

  “I’m surprised you found out so soon.” Drew didn’t tell him the reason he knew. And if Luke felt the same connection, Drew didn’t need to tell him. “It was just a little cut. Had to have a few stitches.”

  “Sounds like more than just a cut to me. You had to be airlifted to a ship on a humanitarian-aid mission, brother. I’ve been in war zones, too, you know. Stop trying to minimize what happened as if you’re talking to Mom.”

  “You haven’t told her yet? Or my boys?”

  “Nope. I just found out myself. But if you don’t tell me how bad it is, I’m going to speak to your commanding officer and request that he give her a call and fill her in.”

  “Okay, okay. Jeez, Saint Drew, it’s not like you to fight so dirty. It’s really not that big of a deal. I fractured a couple of ribs and had to have surgery to get everything back in place. I guess I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around it all.”

  “You mean you finally realized that you weren’t invincible?”

  “Something like that. I’ve never worried too much about death before.”

  “Is that why you’ve been hell-bent on taking so many chances with your life?”

  Luke was silent for a moment. “I guess that when Samantha died, a part of me wanted to die, too.”

  Drew shook his head. All along, he’d known the reason for his brother’s attitude, but it’d been painful to watch things escalate to this level. “I love you, Luke, and I don’t regret the fact that we all walked on eggshells after your wife passed away. But it’s been a few years, and it’s time someone told you that you need to face your reality. People lose their loved ones and it sucks. I can’t even begin to imagine the hell you went through. But you aren’t doing your sons any favors by running off to play Captain Save the World every time you need to escape what happened.”

  “Dammit, Drew. You don’t think I worry about those boys every single minute I’m away from them? Have you ever stopped to think that maybe Aiden and Caden are better off with someone more stable in their lives?”

  “No. That asinine thought hasn’t crossed my mind once. You’re their father. They love you. They need you. They miss you like crazy. And there isn’t anyone more capable of loving them and providing for them than you. So if you think they need someone more stable in their lives, then you need to man up and figure out how to be that someone.”

  He could hear his brother’s sigh on the other end of the line. It was hard to be so brutally honest, but they both knew Luke needed to hear it.

  “I know. You’re right. The past twenty-four hours have been a complete game changer for me, and I’ve had nothing but downtime to sit here and make some tough decisions.”

  Drew’s stomach dropped, and the pain in his side lit up again. His twin brother had never been the best at thinking things through. He usually acted first and improvised as he went along. Which was why Drew no longer went to professional sporting events with the guy. Drew looked at the crooked pinkie finger on his right hand that served as a reminder. “What kind of decisions?”

  “Like whether or not I want to stay on the team and keep putting my kids in jeopardy of becoming orphans.”

  “And what conclusion have you reached?” Drew knew he could browbeat his brother to death, but Luke needed to come to this realization on his own.

  “That maybe I should talk to my commander about a reassignment.”

  “To where?” Drew rubbed his ribs. No matter how much he believed Aiden and Caden needed their father, the thought of Luke moving the boys away just now when Drew was beginning to build a relationship with them was a real blow.

  “Well, all of my stuff is currently in a storage facility near the base in San Diego. But my life, my family, is in Idaho. I can’t keep uprooting the boys and taking them away from the people who love them every time a new mission comes up.”

  “So what are you saying?” Please don’t let it be that he’s going to move the boys back to California.

  “I’m thinking the navy needs recruiters, and there’s a reserve unit in Boise, so I’ll speak to the CO about working on a transfer there. I haven’t talked to Mom and Dad about it yet, but I figure I’ll need to lie low for a couple of weeks anyway to recuperate.”

  “Wow. It sounds as if that might actually work out pretty well.” The doctors must have had him on some serious medication, because usually Luke never was good at planning.

  “Okay, enough about me. Tell me how my sons are doing.”

  “They’re great,” Drew said, actually excited to be able to give his brother a good report. “Kylie got them enrolled in this wilderness-adventure camp, and they’re having a blast. She has them on a routine, and the boys are absolutely crazy about her. She’s even got me doing a cooking therapy class and learning how to make us fresh, home-cooked meals. Overall, it’s been a fantastic summer so far.”

  “Who’s Kylie?”

  Drew’s smile fell, and he took off his glasses to clean the lenses. By checking in with periodical emails, he’d been able to avoid telling anyone in his family about his wife because he didn’t know how long things between them would last. But Luke was the twins’ father and deserved to know who was helping care for his children. “Listen, there’s something I need to talk to you about. I kind of got married.”

  “I knew it!” Luke’s triumphant laugh made its way through the wonky satellite connection, and Drew could imagine him pumping his fist in the air.

  That was his brother’s response? Not doubt? Not worry for his brother’s unorthodox mental state? Not even recriminations for having a wedding without him?

  “What do you mean, you knew it?” They had never talked about their bond or how they sensed things in each other. But acquiring a wife wasn’t like a physical ailment or a career-ending injury to the rib cage that the other twin could simply...feel.

  “I just did. It was the strangest thing. There I was, flying over the middle of the... Well, that’s classified. Anyway, I was about to do a low aerial jump out of a C-130 and normally, I’d be the first person to pack my chute and launch out of the plane. But something made me pause. I hesitated and radioed in to double-check our target’s coordinates. I told myself I was overthinking the mission. I was smack dab in the middle of a hot combat zone, and I was acting like Saint Drew, the great analyst. But just then, a projectile grazed the wing of the plane and the sudden force threw me across the deck of the interior cabin and halfway out the open cargo hold. We were suddenly under serious fire by some low-grade surface-to-air guns our intelligence had completely missed. And there I was, hanging out of the plane like a rag doll. One of their shots grazed me, tearing through my vest just as my team was pulling me back into the cabin.”

  Drew squeezed his eyes tightly closed, unable to get the image of his brother practically being shot down out of his head.

  “I can sense your brain working, Drew, and there’s no rhyme or reason to any of it, so don’t start that what-if business. You got married and I’m going to be fine.”

  “Wait. Explain to me how my marriage, which you didn’t know about, was somehow responsible for practically getting you killed?”

  “Don’t you see? My hesitation was completely out of character, but it actually saved the
whole unit. There were tanks and ground units carrying antiaircraft artillery that our radar hadn’t picked up swarming the jump perimeter. I knew something was off, and if I hadn’t taken the time to call in the coordinates, or if I’d just done my usual balls-to-the-wall routine, we’d either be dead or the United States government would be getting a ransom call from a remote cave in... Well, again, that’s classified information. Anyway, I can’t wait to meet the woman who married my brother and saved my entire team.”

  Drew took a few moments to digest the information that his brother was alive and well. And that he’d be coming home for good. “Do you know when that meeting will be taking place? When will you be coming home?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll keep you posted.”

  They disconnected the call, and Drew leaned back in his desk chair.

  He was relieved and more than thrilled to know he’d be seeing his brother again soon.

  But his stomach dropped at the thought of telling Kylie. They’d just started getting to know each other. If she thought the kids didn’t need her, she would be out the door like a cork popped out of an expensive bottle of champagne. Yet he also knew he shouldn’t keep her in the dark about Luke coming back into the picture. But he needed time. After they’d made love initially, he thought he’d have the whole summer to convince her that they should stay married. But his brother’s reassignment changed everything.

  He needed to figure out a way to keep their marriage together before Luke came home and turned their fragile world upside down.

  * * *

  Kylie had sensed a tension in Drew last night after he and her father had returned from their manly talk in the boat shed. And while she’d been dying to ask Drew what they’d said, she never really got the chance once he’d locked himself in the bathroom with her.

  Then, the following evening, her husband was back to his usual sweet but practical self—up until they were alone, at which point he seemed to lose all control and Kylie threw common sense out the bedroom window.