"You"re unbelievable."
"I"d like to think I"m generous."
"Not fighting for me is stupid, plain and simple."
"It"s a good thing I didn"t have to. You came to your senses faster than I thought you would."
He leaned in and kissed me, so softly that it instantly became more. We went from sitting in front of each other, to him lying on top of me on his bed. My hands were under his shirt running up his warm skin. I wanted him to make all of my worries go away. Finally he pulled away, and laughed. "We need to go downstairs."
I grabbed him between the legs. "Are you sure?"
Brooks stood up and readjusted himself, so his erection wasn"t as noticeable. I couldn"t stop staring at it and licking my lips. He pointed at me. "Stop it. You can have your way with me later. Right now we need to go downstairs and clear the air. You"re clearly stalling."
I rolled my eyes and held out my arms for him to pull me to a standing position. When I got up next to him, he brushed my lips with his thumb. I closed my eyes and whispered, "I love you, Brooks."
He kissed me one more time, pa.s.sionately. "Not as much as I love you, Kat."
We changed our clothes since it was no longer chilly outside, and headed downstairs. Walt and Danica were sitting at the table with B. She was propped up with old phone books eating some cut up turkey. They both smiled when we came in. "Grab the mayonnaise when you walk by the refrigerator, will ya?" Walt acted as if no time had pa.s.sed. I smiled and grabbed it, while Brooks sat down next to B. It was a little awkward sitting there in silence as they thought about what to ask us first.
I knew they"d have one burning question and I was fully prepared to answer it. Rather than have them nervous about asking, I decided to just blurt it out. "She"s Brooks" daughter. When I found out I was pregnant I had them check on the date of conception several times. I wasn"t with Branch at all the whole month of December. Brooklyn was born September 11th, if you need to check on the math."
Not only did I shock both Danica and Walt, but Brooks put his hand on my knee and gave me a crazy look. "Now that you know, can we talk about something else?"
For a few seconds the room felt extremely tiny. I felt like the biggest idiot. "Sorry. I know you were going to ask and I also know that Brooks and Branch have identical DNA. Anyone would want to know."
Danica reached over and smiled. "Katy, we weren"t going to ask."
I was confused. I"d been engaged to Branch and was claiming that one night with Brooks had gotten me pregnant. Anyone would question that. "I don"t understand. You"d just believe me?"
Walt cut in. "We a.s.sumed Branch told you. When he proposed to you, we told him to tell you."
"Tell her what?" Now Brooks wanted to know.
"Branch can"t have kids. He was born with a tumor on his t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e and they had to go in and cut out part of the tube that sends the s.e.m.e.n into the p.e.n.i.s. He"s sterile."
My mouth dropped. "He knew I wanted children," I mumbled.
Brooks started laughing uncontrollably. "That b.a.s.t.a.r.d. I can"t believe the levels he stooped to keep us apart. You"re telling us that he knew he couldn"t have kids?"
"That"s exactly what we"re telling you, son," Walt stated.
Brooks grabbed two rolls and dropped one on the plate in front of me. "This day just keeps getting better."
I kicked him with my foot under the table, as if we were kids again. He was acting inappropriate and he knew it.
"Sorry, we were just worried that you"d think we were lying to keep Branch from B."
Walt folded his hands. "I"m feeling a bit disturbed myself, Katy. It seems there"s a lot of things that Branch did that we weren"t aware of. If we would have known, we never would have let you accept his proposal."
Danica cut in. "Of course not. Katy, we knew how Brooks felt about you. I never could understand what made you pick Branch. I mean, I love both of my sons, but they"re very different. I should have said something back then, I suppose."
I placed both of my hands palms down on the dining room table. "Brooks and I have decided that we"re not going to dwell on what"s already been done. We can"t change any of it." I looked at Brooks. Aside from his shoving half of a sandwich into his mouth all at one time, he was still smiling. "We just want to move forward, with our daughter and our future."
B started laughing from across the table. I turned to see the culprit and noticed Brooks showing her his mouth full of food. I hit him with my elbow. He crunched his body up and started coughing and laughing at the same time. B laughed more.
"I can see that some things haven"t changed." Danica laughed too.
I took a deep breath and look around the table. "How about we start over?"
"Katy, you"re home. As much as I would have loved to be a part of your life for the past two and half years, I understand why you felt like you had to leave. I"m not going to lie. That morning you left was a day I don"t like thinking about, but aside from sending everyone home with their gifts, it wasn"t so bad. Walt and I were worried what would happen when you finally saw Brooks again. My mother used to tell me that absence makes the heart grow fonder. You two grew up in the same house. It wasn"t hard to believe at all."
"I didn"t want to hurt anyone. I left because I couldn"t bear to see your faces. I thought you"d hate me."
"We were angry that we let it go as far as it did. Branch hasn"t always been forthcoming, but he made it a point to shove everything about the two of you in his brother"s face. We accept blame for allowing it to happen. The fact that you two found each other again, just proves that it"s right."
Brooks grabbed my leg and squeezed it. I looked at him and saw him winking. "She thinks you were going to make her sleep in the tree house."
"We might make you sleep there, but not Katy, and certainly not little Brooklyn, who"s obviously named after her father." I could see the love in Danica"s eyes and knew that she"d forgiven me. For the time being, I felt happy.
Sure, I wanted to kick the c.r.a.p out of Branch and his faulty b.a.l.l.s, but I had an idea that Brooks was going to handle that for me.
I looked over at my beautiful little girl and finally felt like she"d have the family that I always wanted for her. I could see her coming to visit and celebrating the holidays being spoiled like crazy.
Just knowing that made me feel blessed. I had Brooks to thank for it all. We may have been running from our problems at home, but I"d never felt safer than how I felt at that very moment.
Chapter 43.
We spent the entire afternoon catching up. Danica wouldn"t let B get two feet from her. She changed, fed and played with her. Walt took a dozen pictures, making sure to get some of the three of us. I knew they"d be our first family photos together, deeming them priceless.
They wanted to know all about my time away, in which Brooks filled in the blanks with his cleaned up version, that didn"t include my marriage or the fact that I"d kept him from knowing he had a child. By dinner time, they were done with the questions and only wanted to know when they could come visit. The good thing was that I owned my house. I"d had it built from part of my inheritance money. Once I got my legal issues settled, they could come and visit and have plenty of room.
When it got late, after dinner, Brooks and Walt went up into the attic to get the rails for the bed. Walt said that he knew for sure they still had some around.
Danica and I took B up and gave her a bath. It was cool, seeing her in the same tub that I"d gotten my baths in. I belonged there, with this family, even without Brooks in my life. He"d brought me home and I felt complete for the first time since I"d lost my parents. I"d finally found my purpose. Seeing Danica, loving on B, as if she"d known her forever and loved her the same made everything make sense.
"She"s so beautiful, Katy."
I crossed my arms and stood in the doorway watching her washing her granddaughter. "She looks like her daddy. Of course she"s beautiful."
"I"ll have to get out the baby pictures, so you can show her. It"s uncanny, really. When I saw her I knew she was his." I couldn"t remember seeing her so happy. My little miracle had that kind of effect on people.
"I just wish Brooks could have been home when she was born. He"s missed so much being away."
Danica sat back on the tile floor. "Don"t let that get to you. I think you both needed the time apart. I don"t mean that like you"re a.s.suming. What I mean is that you needed the time to figure out your feelings. Between the two of us, I think you probably always knew. You"ve favored Brooks since the three of you were babies."
I laughed. "I never really thought about it. When we were kids we all three loved each other. It was so innocent back then."
"Honey, we all grow up. We make mistakes and we learn from them. I wish that you all didn"t have to hurt each other so much, but everyone"s happy now. Even Branch seems content with his life."
"He won"t be happy to know I"m here. I"m sure I"m the last person he and Melissa ever want to see again." Not that I wanted to see him. I was going to shove my foot as far up his a.s.s as it would go, if I ever did.
"Katy, it"s none of my business, but maybe it would do you all some good to work things out."
I shrugged, not feeling like talking about seeing Branch, at all. "I don"t know. I can"t make a decision like that without Brooks."
I knew she was disappointed, wanting her whole family together again, especially since knowing about B.
She removed B from the tub and wrapped her in a towel. The guys were in the bedroom, putting up the rails that had been covered in plastic. We pulled it off, while Danica helped her get pajamas on. I reached in her bag and got out her favorite book. "B, do you want Mama or Daddy to read it?"
"Daddy and Mama."
We looked at each other and laughed. More than her asking us both to do it together, she"d once again called Brooks "Daddy", which I knew melted his heart.
Danica and Walt both gave her kisses before leaving us to be alone. I turned all of my attention to my two B"s, watching them interacting together and loving every minute of it. Even after she"d fallen sleep, we lay there, all three of us together, in the quiet room, until Brooks sat up and reached for me to join him.
We found his parents downstairs in the family room, drinking wine. They had two gla.s.ses for us, and I was too embarra.s.sed to tell them that I really didn"t drink. Brooks sat down with his arm around my back. I knew, as long as we were together, we could get through anything.
"We"ve been talking while you were putting B down. Listen, I know you"ll both have a hard time with it, but we want to have your brother and Melissa over before you leave. We"re a family, all of us. So much time has pa.s.sed and we never know when something could happen." Danica"s words cut like a knife through me. I knew we had to face Branch and even Melissa. We didn"t have to be best friends, but at least be cordial so that Danica and Walt could finally feel like they had their family back. Throughout the day I"d seen how much they missed us. With Branch and Melissa still living at least an hour away, they were lonely. Now, with a new granddaughter, they wanted a fresh start.
"Okay."
Brooks turned and looked at me like he was in disbelief. "Wait, did you just say okay?"
"Yeah. We can handle Branch and even my ex best-friend Melissa. Some more of this wine might be necessary though."
Everyone laughed.
We talked more about where we were living and if they could come and visit. I wasn"t sure if things would calm down by Christmas, so Brooks and I promised to visit for the holidays. His schedule, being that he was injured was questionable. Based on the fact that my house was paid for, and Brooks made good money, I wouldn"t need to work. Any reason to stay home with B was a good one for me.
While sitting with his parents we were planning our future without them knowing that we hadn"t done it already. Brooks never stopped touching me. No matter what he was doing or how he was sitting, his hand was always somewhere on me. I took comfort in knowing that if I fell he"d always catch me. I didn"t know how, but I was falling more in love in with the man by the minute.
When it got late, we said our goodnights and headed up to go to sleep. Brooks checked on B before meeting me in his bedroom across the hall. After a little too many gla.s.ses of wine, I was feeling like I could conquer the world, and an erotic dance.
I don"t even know why he"d packed them, but his fatigues were packed snugly in his bag. I pulled out the jacket and grabbed the boots, before hiding in his closet to undress.
Brooks came into the room looking around for me. He must have thought I was in the bathroom, because once he was down to his underwear, he started climbing into bed, as if he knew something was about to happen.
I pushed open the double closet doors, wearing only his camo jacket and his extra-large boots. The jacket, which was left hanging open, was giant on me, but from the look on his face, he could have cared less. I trotted my way toward the bed, a.s.suming that my strut was s.e.xy. Brooks put his hands behind his head and had a huge smile on his face. About four feet from the bed, I tripped over my own feet and went face first into the mattress.
My knee was skinned and I was completely embarra.s.sed, yet too drunk to care. I sat there, with my breast hanging out, laughing hysterically.
Brooks slid off the bed, silently making fun of me, while he checked my knee. "Are you alright?"
"I feel like an idiot. This was supposed to be s.e.xy."
He touched his jacket and looked at the rest of my body that was supposed to be hidden. "Trust me, Kat, you"re extremely s.e.xy. Maybe next time you can go without the boots." He pulled them off of me one at a time and helped me back up. I felt his hands reaching in and tugging off the jacket. When it fell onto the floor, I was standing there, completely naked in his arms.
"You really think I"m s.e.xy?"
He kissed me slowly, taking his time to answer. "I can"t wait to get you in the pool tomorrow."
I thought about the pool and it being dark outside. Mix that with half a bottle of wine and a very lightweight drinker, and my idea was probably outrageous. "How about we go swimming right now?"
He bit down on his lip and smiled. "Don"t tempt me with your nakedness, woman. I"m weak when it comes to you."
"You make me happy." The room was starting to spin and I was giggling even when things weren"t funny.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the bed. "We can swim tomorrow."
I sat back up. "Can we make love now?"
He laughed more and I felt like he was making fun of me. He touched my thigh and ran his hand up between my legs. "You want to make love with my parents downstairs and our daughter across the hall?"
"Is this a trick question?"
Brooks walked his fingers from my belly b.u.t.ton to one of my breast. He flicked the tip, causing me to jump. "Can you be quiet?"
I snickered. "Probably not."
He was laughing too, but only had to cover my loud mouth so I didn"t wake up B. With his face against my ear he whispered, "If you can be really quiet, I"ll make love with you. Can you be quiet, beautiful?"
I nodded.
Brooks placed kisses on my skin as he slid down between my legs. I hadn"t expected it, but there he was playing with my s.e.x and peering right at me. "Close your eyes."
I let my head fall to the pillow and felt his warm tongue penetrating me. Every one of my senses came alive as I pictured in my head what his tongue was doing to me. Each stroke of his slippery muscle sent chills from my toes to my nipples. When fingers came into play, I lost control.
It felt too good.
I couldn"t take it.
I screamed out loudly, filling the whole house with my tremendous o.r.g.a.s.m.
When I realized what I"d done, I shot up in the bed and looked right at Brooks. My hand covered my mouth as he shook his head and wiped off his face. "You suck at keeping quiet."
"I couldn"t help it," I whispered, knowing his parents had heard us. I pulled the covers over my head. "I"m never going downstairs."
He rubbed me between my legs. "You"re going to have to put a sock in your mouth, because I"m not even half way finished."
I kicked the covers off my feet and looked right at him as he climbed on top of me. If this was my last moments without being able to look them in the eyes, at least we could make it worth it. "I"ll be quiet this time."
He kissed my lips and the scent of me lingered on them. "I don"t care how loud you get. Do you have any idea how long I"ve wanted to do this is my bedroom with you?"