Her Very Own Family

by Gina Wilkins

  Everyone was amused by Kelly’s babbling. She gave them no time to answer her questions before asking a dozen more. “Nice van, Tony. Jared, do you have my suitcase? Oh, good. Brynn, are you sure you got everything?”

  “I’m sure,” Brynn said with a laugh. “Will you calm down?”

  “I can’t help it. I’m so glad to be leaving this place. Even if I have to come back every day for therapy, it will be so wonderful to sleep on a real bed. And eat real food.”

  “Cheeseburgers?” Shane suggested.

  “Pizza,” she put in.

  “Fried chicken.”

  “Tacos and cheese dip.”

  “Hot dogs and chips.”

  “Milk shakes,” she said with a sigh.

  Brynn couldn’t help laughing. “If that’s all you’re going to eat, I’ll never be able to help you in and out of that chair.”

  “Speaking of which,” Tony said as they all paused beside his van, “there is no lift on this van. We’ll have to get you inside another way, Kelly.”

  Shane stepped forward. “I’ll get one side, Dad. You take the other.”

  Kelly looked at them doubtfully.

  Shane grinned and chucked her chin with his knuckles. “Trust us. We pick up little heifers all the time.”

  “Oh, that makes me feel better.”

  Brynn stood back out of the way as Shane and Jared skillfully transferred Kelly from the wheelchair to her seat in the van. Shane and Kelly were laughing, and even Jared chuckled at their foolishness. Tony stood close by, grinning, ready to help if needed.

  As she watched them, Brynn couldn’t help thinking that this could be her family. Her uncles. Her cousin. These wonderful, kind, generous and handsome men.

  Her heart swelled, but she tried to ignore the feeling. She refused to allow herself to start thinking in terms of family when she’d been so alone for so long. Until she had concrete proof, she would think of them only as her friends.

  She couldn’t help wondering how they would feel if Ryan produced that proof. Though Ryan had assured her she would be welcomed, past experience had left her wary of high expectations. What if they thought of her as an interloper? An opportunist? What if they didn’t believe that it was only coincidence that had brought her into their circles?

  Joe came out of the hospital to see Kelly off. He smiled at Brynn, then checked to make sure Kelly was securely fastened into her seat, her legs adequately supported.

  Brynn watched him broodingly, wondering—not for the first time—what Joe would think when—or if—he discovered that Brynn was Miles Walker’s illegitimate daughter. She knew he would think she should have already discussed this with him, but she simply hadn’t known how to bring it up. Would he be annoyed with her for keeping her conversation with Ryan secret for now? Would he feel differently about her if she was, indeed, his sister-in-law’s niece? Would knowing the truth strengthen the bond she had formed with Joe and with all the other Walkers and D’Alessandros—or threaten it?

  Joe reached out a hand to help Brynn into the van. “I’ll be seeing you later,” he murmured, giving her hand a discreetly intimate squeeze.

  She swallowed hard before nodding and climbing quickly into the vehicle.

  Michelle and Cassie waited to greet Kelly and welcome her to her new home. They even had snacks and chilled beverages waiting, creating an impromptu party in the main house. Before the afternoon was over, Vinnie and Carla had dropped by, and Layla, Kevin and Brittany Samples popped in.

  Kelly thrived as the center of attention. Without a trace of complaint or self-pity, she sat in her wheelchair, her right leg immobilized in front of her. The clean break in her left leg had healed, but it would be several weeks yet before the crushed bones in her right leg, now held together with pins and rods, would comfortably support her weight.

  “She’s a trooper, isn’t she?” Shane asked in a murmur, catching Brynn alone for a moment in a quiet corner of Michelle’s den.

  “Kelly’s always been very good at making the most of her circumstances,” Brynn agreed. “She’s never been a whiner.”

  Shane draped a companionable arm across Brynn’s shoulders. “That seems to be something else you and Kelly have in common.”

  Brynn smiled up at him, unable to suppress a quick wave of affection, and wishing his words were true. Unlike Kelly, she’d always been a worrier. For example, she was terrified that Ryan Walker would return with proof that there was no relationship between Brynn and his family, leaving her alone again after giving her reason to hope.

  Though Michelle’s den was filled with people—Kelly, Tony and Michelle and their children, Vinnie and Carla, Kevin and Layla and Brittany, Jared, Cassie and Molly—Joe spotted Brynn the moment he entered. She stood in one corner of the room, looking relaxed and contented. That, in itself, shouldn’t have annoyed Joe. The fact that she looked so happy while standing within the circle of Shane Walker’s right arm made him absolutely furious.

  His first thought was that she certainly wouldn’t have looked so comfortable if he had put his arm around her right in front of everyone. His second thought was that he really couldn’t stand here just looking at them like this. He needed to do something.

  Waving acknowledgments to the greetings sent his way, he headed without pausing to the far side of the room. Brynn spotted him... and her smile dimmed. Which only made him angrier, an emotion he hid behind a pleasant expression.

  “Hello, Shane,” he said, extending his right hand.

  Though he looked a bit surprised, since they didn’t usually shake hands each time they saw each other, Shane removed his right arm from Brynn’s shoulders and took Joe’s hand. “How’s it going, Doc?”

  Satisfied that he’d accomplished what he’d intended, Joe replaced Shane’s arm with his own, drawing Brynn to his side. “Hi, darlin’,” he said, and kissed her before she could answer.

  He was tired of hiding his feelings, tired of trying to make everyone believe that he and Brynn were just pals. They were lovers. He was in love with her. And even if it meant taking the risk of losing her, he couldn’t pretend any longer.

  Well aware that he’d gotten Brynn’s attention—as well as that of everyone else in the room—he lifted his head and deliberately turned his attention away from her, as if the brief kiss of greeting had been a commonplace occurrence for him.

  He smiled at Kelly, who was watching his with a gleam of speculative amusement in her green eyes. “I see you’ve successfully escaped the hospital. Any problems?”

  “None at all,” she said airily, though he suspected she was in some discomfort from the activities of the afternoon. “Everyone’s taking very good care of me.”

  Joe felt Brynn trying to inch away from him. He tightened his arm, holding her in place. She would probably give him hell later, but he’d deal with that then. Sometimes it was just too hard to be a sensitive, understanding male. Especially when he’d just seen the woman he loved standing in the arms of another man.

  “Kelly’s starting to look tired,” she said, trying a new tactic. “I should take her to the guest house to rest.”

  “I’ll wheel her over when she’s ready,” Shane volunteered. “I want to see how fast I can make that buggy go.”

  Kelly’s eyes widened in mock dismay. “Maybe I’d better just crawl, instead.”

  “No, really, Kel. There’s a slight incline behind the house. I can take you to the top and give you a big push...”

  “Jared!” Kelly interrupted Shane’s nonsense with a wail. “Can’t you do anything with this son of yours?”

  Leaning against the arm of his wife’s chair, Jared chuckled. “I could take him behind the woodshed, if you like, but it’s never done much good before.”

  Shane snorted. “Like you could get me there now.”

  Jared lifted an eyebrow and looked at his full-grown son. His tone was very mild when he asked, “You want me to give it a try?”

  “Er, no,” Shane said, quickly holding up his hands.
“I take it back, Dad. You probably could get me there now.”

  Everyone laughed.

  Vinnie looked ruefully at Jared. “I wish my sons had such a healthy fear of me.”

  “We love you, Pop—you know that,” Tony quipped. “But Mom’s the one who makes us tremble in our shoes.”

  “And so you should,” petite, gentle-faced Carla D’Alessandro murmured. “I can still send you to a corner if you misbehave, Antonio.”

  “And he’d still go, if you told him to,” Joe said with a grin. “As would Michael and I.”

  While Tony’s children dissolved into giggles at the thought of their father being sent to a corner, and Kevin Samples joked with his own blushing teenage daughter, Joe thought about how much he’d looked forward to having his own children, eventually. It was something he’d always taken for granted, even as he’d been more aware lately of the passage of time. Marriage and children were simply a given in his family, considered the greatest blessings anyone could have in life.

  He’d had to do some serious thinking since that momentous telephone conversation with Brynn. And he’d come to the conclusion that, yes, he had seen her—at least subconsciously—as a potential mother of the children he’d expected to have. He was thirty-five, after all; he’d. probably subliminally been looking for a mate for the past year or more.

  No one had “clicked” until he’d met Brynn. It hadn’t taken him long to decide it was Brynn he’d fallen in love with, and not the hypothetical children he could have had with her.

  A decision about children could wait. First, he had to convince Brynn it was okay to smile when he walked into a room.

  Kelly seemed to be in no mood to be used as a convenient excuse. She was in no hurry to leave the party being thrown in her honor. She thrived on the solicitous attention after so many weeks in the hospital, and she didn’t want to give it up too soon.

  But weariness finally claimed her and she agreed to Brynn’s suggestion that she should go lie down for a while. There was no lack of offers to help them, but Joe stepped forward, grasped the handles of the wheelchair and assured everyone he would take care of everything.

  No one attempted to argue with him.

  “I have to go, anyway,” Shane said, glancing at his watch. “See you, Kelly. And, Brynn—”

  Glancing at Joe, he kissed her cheek, a look of sheer devilry in his eyes. “I will most definitely be seeing you later.”

  Joe was almost growling when he wheeled Kelly out of Michelle’s den and through the house to the kitchen door, which led directly to the path to the guest house. He maneuvered the chair skillfully up the single step onto the tiny front porch of the guest house. Brynn opened the door and helped him get Kelly inside.

  “I don’t know why I’m so tired,” Kelly murmured—her first hint of complaint all day. “It’s not as if I’ve really done anything today.”

  “Cut yourself some slack, Kelly. Even with the physical therapy you’ve had every day, six weeks in the hospital is debilitating. You’ll get your strength back as you get back on your feet.”

  “I’m ready for that,” Kelly said heartily.

  Ten minutes later, she was comfortably ensconced in her bedroom, pillows propped behind her on the bed, her right leg supported, a book, glass of water, a radio and a television remote within her reach. Brynn urged her to call out if she needed anything, and then she and Joe left Kelly to rest.

  Joe followed Brynn into the kitchen, where she busied herself making a pot of coffee she didn’t want. At least it gave her something to do with her hands, and someplace to look other than Joe.

  “You’re being very quiet,” he commented, leaning against the counter, watching her every movement. “Are you mad at me?”

  “I’m annoyed,” she replied, trying to keep her voice cool. “Why did you make such a production of—of kissing me in front of everyone? Now they’re all going to think you and I are...involved.”

  “You and I are involved,” he answered, his tone no warmer than her own. “Seriously involved, as far as I’m concerned.”

  She swallowed. “Still, I think I should have had a say in when—or if—we decided to go public with it.”

  “All I did was kiss you. I hardly made a general announcement that we’ve been to bed together. Twice.”

  Her cheeks heated. “You didn’t have to announce it. Now they’re probably all wondering.”

  “These qualms didn’t seem to occur to you while you were plastered all over Shane in front of everyone.”

  Brynn’s jaw dropped. If she didn’t know better, she would swear that Joe D’Alessandro was jealous of Shane. Jealous—over her!

  “Everyone knows that Shane and I are just friends,” she retorted pointedly. Cousins, maybe, she could have added, but she wasn’t ready to talk about that until she had heard from Ryan.

  “And everyone probably suspects now that you and I are more than just friends,” Joe shot back. “I’m not interested in an illicit affair with you, Brynn. You aren’t my mistress, and I refuse to treat you as such. Either we’re on or we’re off, but I won’t have any more of this in-between.”

  She raised both eyebrows, turned slowly toward him, and planted her fists on her hips. “Excuse me? You won’t have it? You’re setting the rules now?”

  He threw his hands up in exasperation. “We don’t have rules. This isn’t a game, Brynn. I love you, damn it.”

  She started to snap back at him...and then his words sank in.

  She sagged against the counter, the coffee scoop tumbling from her suddenly limp hand to the floor. If there had been rules to their relationship, Joe had just changed them drastically.

  It took her a moment to recover enough to speak. “I don’t—”

  “You heard what I said. And maybe now you understand why I don’t want to sneak around to see you when there’s no one around to know. Why I don’t like watching you smiling at another man and trying to pretend I’m not in the room.”

  Brynn spread her hands. “Joe, there is nothing going on between Shane and me. There will never be anything between us.”

  He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I know that,” he admitted after a brief pause. “I’m sorry, Brynn. I was out of line to make comments about Shane. He’s a nice guy, and I understand why you like him. I just can’t help envying him because you are so comfortable with him.”

  She wanted to tell him that she was comfortable with Shane because she didn’t have to worry about hurting Shane. About being hurt by him. But she didn’t know how to say the words. She bit her lip, instead.

  Joe reached out to touch her face, his fingers lingering to cup her cheek. “I promised you I would be patient, didn’t I? I haven’t done a very good job of that, I’m afraid. Being patient isn’t easy for a D’Alessandro. But I’ll try.”

  “Joe...about what I told you on the telephone the other night...”

  “I heard every word you said,” he assured her. “But nothing I heard made any difference in the way I feel about you. I love you.”

  She closed her eyes, letting the words echo in her head, wanting desperately to believe them, yet terrified that she might actually start to do so. “Sometimes,” she murmured, forcing herself to look at him, “loving each other isn’t enough. Sometimes the differences between two people are just too big to overcome.”

  “Tell that to either of my brothers—Tony and Michelle, or Michael and his wife, Joy—who, by the way, is Asian American. To my parents, for that matter, who have little more in common than their Italian heritage and their love for each other and their family. Try telling Jared Walker and his bubbly, impulsive, demonstrative wife, Cassie, that they are too different to make a life together.”

  He reached out and took her hands, gripping them, pulling her close to him. “From what I’ve seen, when two people love each other, there’s nothing they can’t overcome together. Do we love each other, Brynn?”

  “There’s something I have to tell you. About my father....�
��

  “I want to hear it,” he assured her. “Later. First, answer my question.”

  “It’s important, Joe. My father...”

  “Was a teenage alcoholic. You’ve already told me. Do you love me, Brynn?”

  His mouth was only an inch above hers now, his eyes locked with her own. He had to see the truth there, so there was really no point in denying it further. “Yes. But...”

  His mouth covered hers before she could finish the caveat.

  Brynn’s hands settled on his shoulders, clutching the fabric of his shirt. She closed her eyes and opened to him, unable to resist him while his words of love still resonated in her mind.

  It didn’t matter that Kelly was resting in the other room. That a dozen Walkers and D’Alessandros were milling in the house next door, probably speculating about Joe and Brynn. That there were still so many unanswered questions ahead of them. She loved him. He said he loved her.

  For just this moment, Brynn allowed herself to be purely happy.

  Joe groaned deep in his chest and hauled her closer, crushing her against him. The countertop was hard against her back when he pressed her against it, his hands going to the hem of her top and under. His palms were warm against her back, hot against her breasts. She gasped and crowded closer to him, reveling in the evidence of his desire for her.

  “Ancora,” Joe murmured into her mouth. “Tell me again.”

  “I love you, Joe. I...”

  Her words were muffled by a kiss that nearly melted her knees. She was trembling from head to toe when he finally lifted his head.

  “So, will you marry me?”

  A blast of ice water couldn’t have cooled Brynn down any faster. She jerked herself out of Joe’s arms. “What did you say?”

  He made a face. “Too much, too soon?”

  “I would say so. Joe, we haven’t even been on a real date. We can’t even talk yet about getting m-m...”