Austin's Revenge (The Townsends Book 4)

by Angie Campbell

  “Hang on. Headed that way,” he shouted, jogging toward the front door. When he reached the door and opened it, a huge grin broke across his face. “Hey, Adrian. How’s it going?”

  “So-so. How are you?” he asked, slapping Alex on the arm. “Have you grown about five inches since the last time I was in?”

  “I doubt it,” he laughed. “It’s not been that long. Does Zane and Amanda know you were supposed to be here? They didn’t say anything.”

  “I told them I would try to make it,” he shrugged. “I didn’t know for sure. That’s probably why you haven’t heard anything. Are they here yet?”

  “Yeah, they’re in the kitchen,” he answered, turning to lead the way. “It’s amazing. Amanda can get Zane to help cook something other than chili when he’s here.”

  “Why’s it so hard to get him to cook? Amanda says he’s a better cook than she is. And that’s saying something.”

  “I don’t know. It’s a mystery. He and Hannah are the only ones as good as Mom. At least so far. Well, they tell me I am, but I don’t know about that,” he said, flushing red a little bit. “Come on. Let’s go let everybody know you’re here.”

  He pushed through the swinging doors with Adrian right behind him and the kitchen erupted in applause and shouts of surprise and welcome. Jamie stepped around the counter and wrapped her arms around him. “Amanda hadn’t said you were for sure coming.”

  “I hadn’t told her I for sure was. I stopped to see Martin in Springfield, and I wasn’t sure I would make it down in time. Dealing with jetlag and all, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t need to get some sleep at his house, then start out really early in the morning,” he said, doing his best to wrap his arms around Jamie’s much shorter frame.

  “Is Martin going to make it?” Amanda asked, finally making it over to hug her brother.

  “He plans on it,” he answered, hugging her back. “But he plans on getting here in time for the wedding, then cutting out as soon as it’s over. He wants to minimize running into any of the idiots we went to school with.”

  “Hey, ouch,” Zane chuckled. “He went to school with all of us too, you know?”

  “Yeah,” Adrian smirked back. “Just as well as you know who he’s talking about. He wants to see you all, but he hopes you understand, he doesn’t want to hang around town more than necessary.”

  “Yeah,” he nodded. “The way they carried on, it made me wonder if they were hiding something. Like they were afraid their being around him, might reveal some hidden truths about themselves they didn’t want anyone else to know.”

  “Is he planning on bringing Wesley with him?” Amanda asked.

  “Yeah, he’s wanting to see you and finally meet Zane,” Adrian chuckled. “Wesley also told me about when they got the invitation in the mail. He said they had just gotten home from grocery shopping and he was coming in the front door with a couple of bags of groceries to find Martin jumping up and down and waving his arms around. He thought he was trying to stomp on a spider or something.”

  “Oh yeah, that’s right. Martin is almost as afraid of spiders as Amanda is,” Zane chuckled.

  “Yeah, so it was an understandable conclusion. Come to find out, he had just opened the invitation to your two’s wedding and he was so excited he couldn’t contain himself. Wesley said the first words out of his mouth when he asked what was going on, was it’s about time. He said he was nearly shouting and started jumping up and down all over again by the time he got done telling him what was in the envelope. Martin always has been a big sap,” he added with a smirk, knowing how his sister was going to react.

  “Hey,” Amanda huffed, smacking her brother on the arm. “Don’t call Martin a sap. He’s a romantic.”

  “I guess we really were the only two in the dark,” Zane chuckled with a shake of his head.

  “Yeah,” Adrian snorted. “Anyone who knew either of you at all, had it figured out. Apparently, they didn’t even have to be friends,” he sighed, his comment in reference to Austin’s revelation.

  Jamie chuckled and patted him on the back. “Well, supper is almost ready. Why don’t you go ahead and take a seat?” she asked, pointing at a chair. “They all need to get back to work, so we can eat.”

  “Well, I can help if you need me to,” he said, hesitating to take the seat she had directed him to.

  She gave him a smile, shaking her head. “We have more than enough hands already. Just take a seat. I’m sure you’re not used to being able to rest a whole lot.”

  “No, I’m not,” he agreed, finally taking his seat like she’d asked him to. “I was afraid I wasn’t going to get leave, but I was really determined to be at this wedding. I almost passed out when Amanda called and told me they were finally getting married,” Adrian said, looking over at Zane with a grin.

  “Let me guess,” Zane smirked, looking at him, then Amanda. “You knew I was in love with her even as far back as high school.”

  “Yes, I did,” Adrian said, this time, turning to look over at his baby sister. “But she wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “Oh, you mean you told her,” he said, shaking his head at her.

  “Yeah, I told her several times.”

  “I wish she would have listened. Maybe, I wouldn’t have come so close to committing murder a few months back.”

  “Oh yeah,” he grumbled, a look of murder in his eyes. “Austin Green. Did she tell you, when I found out she was dating him, I threatened to go AWOL?”

  Zane chuckled, shaking his head at her. “No, but I take it, you didn’t like the guy before he started hitting your sister.”

  “Nope,” Adrian growled. “But she didn’t tell me he had been hitting her until after you had almost killed him over him dragging her out of here by the hair, then trying to shove her in his car.”

  “Okay you two, that’s enough about that,” Amanda said, handing Zane the plates to set the table.

  Her brother gave her a very serious look, raising an eyebrow at her. “Well, I think subconsciously you were dating guys like Austin because you knew Zane would come to your rescue.”

  She huffed, smacking her brother in the belly. “I was not. That’s not even close to funny.”

  “First of all, I wasn’t joking,” he said, furrowing his brow at her when she started rubbing her hand. “And second of all, I said subconsciously. You didn’t realize what you were trying to do. And have you not learned you’re only going to hurt your hand smacking me like that.”

  She gave him a pinched look, crossing her arms in front of her. She was almost feeling hurt that her brother would think she would play games like that. “What do you think I was trying to do?”

  “Find out if I was right,” he said, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. “Stop hurting your hand on me like that. I don’t like it.”

  “I have the same problem with Zane,” she grumbled. “It’s those six-pack abs you guys have.”

  “You smack him a lot too?” Adrian smirked.

  She gave him an as-if look. “It’s Zane. What do you think? I mean, I love the man just like he is, don’t get me wrong. But he has always been, and will forever be, as ornery as the day is long.”

  Her brother chuckled, shaking his head. “Like you can’t handle him. Who was it that shaved my head in my sleep when I was in the twelfth grade. Thankfully I had already gotten senior pictures done. Mom yelled at you for three hours over that.”

  She blushed, shaking her head. “You deserved it. And, just so you know, I was done dating anyone else after Austin,” she added, changing the subject before they really got to telling stories of everything she had done to her older brother while they were growing up. “And that was before I knew Zane was for sure in love with me.”

  “Hey, I always knew I was in love with you.”

  “That didn’t help me any. You could have told me.”

  Zane sighed, pulling her into his arms. “Baby, we’ve already decided this was the best way for things to have happened, all things c
onsidered.”

  “What do you mean?” her brother asked. “I would have thought you marrying her right out of high school would have been the best thing. I would most likely already have nieces and nephews.”

  “Austin never wanted me. He just wanted to get at Zane,” she sighed, wrapping her arms around Zane’s waist. “He decided the best way to do that was to make me miserable.”

  He gave them both a confused look. “So, wouldn’t that mean if you had been married, you wouldn’t have gotten involved with his revenge?”

  By the time Zane was done explaining his theory, Adrian was on his feet, pacing with both fists doubled up. “Right now, I’m really wishing he wasn’t in jail, just so I could make him disappear.”

  “While I understand how you feel, try to keep a handle on those emotions and don’t say things like that in front of me,” Zane chuckled. “I wouldn’t want to have to arrest you later, if for some reason he ends up getting out of jail and then something happens to him.”

  Adrian shook his head, trying to sit back down. “I’m sure I’ll have calmed down enough by the time he has any hope of getting out not to do anything stupid. Besides,” he grinned, “you two are together now. My sister’s finally happy. That’s what I really care about. Revenge would be a waste of time.”

  “Yeah, I’m happy,” Amanda grinned, pulling Zane’s head down so she could kiss him.

  “Okay you two. Don’t start that,” Jamie said, smacking Zane on the arm to get his attention. He just ignored her and wrapped his arms around Amanda.

  When his mom smacked him again, he swatted playfully back at her, not even looking up. When Amanda pulled away, her cheeks were flushed from the kiss. “I think we better get back to work.”

  “Are they always like that?” Adrian asked, trying not to laugh.

  “Yes. They’re the worst ones so far. Even worse than Mark and Jenny while he was still trying to get her to marry him,” Jamie said, shaking her head. “I’m afraid I’ve got one coming that’s going to be a whole lot worse though,” she said, glancing over at Alex. “He’s having way too much difficulty admitting his true feelings. When the dam finally breaks, we’re probably going to have a flood.”

  Alex knew his mom was talking about him and done his best to pretend like he didn’t hear her. Despite how red his cheeks got. Adrian had noticed where she was looking and raised his eyebrow in question.

  “Abby Harris,” Jamie answered. “Mark’s baby sister. She’s not much of a baby anymore. She’s quite beautiful with legs a mile long. And shy.”

  Mindi had to work really hard not to laugh when she looked over at her younger brother. She didn’t want to make his embarrassment any worse, so she tried to direct the conversation back the other way. “Well, Mark tried to kiss Jenny without an audience,” Mindi said with a smirk. “Zane doesn’t care. For that matter, neither does Amanda.”

  “Hey, I’ve heard you’re already pregnant again,” Adrian said, glancing over at her.

  “Yeah,” Mindi said with a grin. “I’m due April tenth.”

  “How many are you two thinking about having?”

  “Six.”

  Adrian grinned, shaking his head. “So, Zane, how many nieces and nephews are you two intending to give me?”

  “As many as Mandy wants,” he shrugged, not sure he’d managed to hide the nervous look he was sure had crossed his face. “She said something about six.”

  “Six seems to be the magic number.”

  “Yeah, I think that’s how many Mark and Jenny are planning on having.”

  “Well, how many are you and James planning on having?” Adrian asked, looking over at Lisa.

  “We have decided to go until one of us cries uncle.”

  “That could get a little crazy.”

  “It probably will.”

  “Well, you’ve expanded the kitchen, but is it going to be enough?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at Jamie.

  “I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

  Epilogue – Part 2

  Thursday, December 25 (Wedding Day)

  The church house looked like a winter wonderland of white roses and red poinsettia, with green ribbons. Amanda and her mom, along with Jamie, had decided if they were going to get married on Christmas, they would go with the holiday for wedding colors. All Zane could think was he was a nervous wreck, and he wanted the ceremony to be over, so he could breathe.

  What was it with weddings anyway. He would have rather done something more like what Lisa and James had done. Of course, he was the one who had placed the time restrictions on them. It was his fault they couldn’t have it in the middle of the summer. But he didn’t think his mom could handle another grandchild conceived out of wedlock this soon. He’d had a hard-enough time keeping his hands to himself for the last four months. He wouldn’t have made it much longer. He had already been snarling at everybody. And his bride wasn’t much help. She didn’t even try to keep her hands to herself.

  He was pacing back and forth in the back of the church, pulling at the collar of his tux when his dad stepped through the doors and told him it was time to start. His mom had obviously used her cell to tell his dad. “Come on. You and the guys need to get up there, so we can get this started. Before you pass out in the floor,” his dad added, giving him a look of mild concern.

  Zane didn’t even bother trying to crack a joke. He looked back at his brother and jerked his head toward the doors and headed through them.

  Theirs was the biggest wedding party for their family weddings to date. So now, he stood up at the front of the church with Phillip, Mark, James, Luke, Luke, Jake, Alex and Michael. Amanda had said she didn’t want to leave anyone out just to make it a smaller wedding. He was probably lucky she hadn’t tried to include some of his other younger brothers as groomsmen.

  As it was, Michael was walking with Tonya, and they’d had to bribe the two with a hundred dollars each to get them to promise to get along. If they fought at all, even a little bit, they wouldn’t get the money they had been promised. He figured they had a pretty good chance of it working. Michael wanted all the money he could get his hands on, since he had finally accepted he was going to have to buy his own car. He wasn’t going to have one handed to him.

  Amanda had been determined enough, that she had managed to include all his brothers and sisters in some way. The rest of his brothers were candle lighters and ushers, and his two youngest sisters were flower girls.

  When the music finally started, unbelievably, he was able to take a deep breath, and actually managed to relax a bit. But only a very little bit. His hands were still shaking, and he felt like he might vomit soon if this wedding didn’t get over fast enough. At the moment, he wasn’t sure he was even going to make it long enough for all of the bride’s maids, or whatever he was supposed to call them, along with the flower girls, to get up the aisle so that Amanda could finally start-up it.

  He stood there watching Christy, then Jenny, followed by Lisa walk slowly up the aisle, thinking, why in the world do they have to walk so slow. He was starting to wonder how they’d found a song long enough for all of them to make it up the aisle before it was over with. Now it was Mindi’s turn, followed by Teresa, then Hannah and after her, Abby. When Tonya finally took her spot at the front of the church, he once again managed to take a deep breath, trying once again to calm his nerves a little bit.

  When his two youngest sisters started up the aisle with one huge basket between them, he found himself almost laughing. They weren’t really fighting, but one would tug one way, then the other would tug back. They were creating a zig zag pattern as they made their way down the aisle. Every few seconds, he could almost hear Zoe trying to give Emily pointers on how to be a good flower girl. This was Zoe’s fourth wedding after all. She was nearly an expert.

  When the two little girls finally took their place at the front of the church and the music changed, Zane turned to face the back of the church. When the doors came open, his breath caug
ht in his throat. He hadn’t realized it before, but this was the day he had been waiting on since he was eighteen and had come to her rescue for the first time. She was all he had ever wanted. And she was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on.

  He started to sway forward and realized he had stopped breathing. He took a deep breath and started concentrating on breathing normally. He was thinking so hard about breathing, that Amanda and her dad had made it up the aisle before he had realized.

  He looked into her eyes and once again took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. Once her dad placed her hand in his, and he felt how cold and shaky it was, he realized she was as nervous as he was. He looked up at her and grinned. “I think we should have eloped,” he whispered.

  “I know. But it’ll be over soon,” she whispered back with a grin.

  She was right. Once the ceremony was over and they had made it back down the aisle to the back of the church, where they would stand to greet all the guest, he was able to revert back to his usual ornery self. He was feeling good enough, he decided to pester Phillip.

  “Well, Big Brother, it’s your turn. Why don’t you propose to Christy now, and we can go back to the front of the church? I’m sure we could get the Judge here to give you a waver on the three-day waiting period for the license.” There really was no use for Phillip to try and deny he was in love with Christy. They had all seen that kiss under the mistletoe a week ago.

  Since the judge in question happened to be John Jones, Zane was fairly certain he would go along with Zane’s joke. And sure enough, John didn’t disappoint him.

  “Sure, Phillip. I can do that,” John said, winking at Christy, who was doing her best not to laugh.

  “Funny. Zane. I think we need to get through your wedding first. Okay?” Phillip asked, nearly growling at his brother.

  “What’s wrong, Bro? Can’t stand the heat? Maybe you should have stayed out of the kitchen,” Zane said, giving Phillip a smirk. He knew Phillip could tell he was thinking about the time he had put the thumb screws to him at one of the family dinner nights. He had about the dirtiest look on his face Zane had ever seen him with. “Who’s the big chicken now?”