Broken Promises (2 page)

“A wedding,” Maggie explained. “Bradley told Mary the wedding cake was the second best part of getting married.”

Katie looked over at Bradley and raised one eyebrow in a way mothers have done for generations.

“I whispered it,” Bradley stammered, “I promise.”

“The whispered stuff is always the bestest words to listen to,” Maggie explained, “My mom and dad whisper all the time, especially when they talk about you-know-what.”

“What’s you-know-what?” Bradley asked, grinning at Katie.

“I think this conversation should end here and now, young lady?” Katie asked, turning a delightful shade of pink.

Maggie shrugged. “I don’t know, they always just say you-know-what,” she said, before she filled her mouth with her last piece of cake.

Mary snorted and then took a bite of cake before Katie could glare at her.

“Well, I think, perhaps, Maggie and I should be getting home,” Katie said.

“So you and Dad can do you-know-what?” Maggie asked.

Nearly spitting out her cake, Mary clasped her hands over her mouth and Bradley hid his laughter in a cough.

Katie turned even redder, shook her head and laughed. “I suppose once you become a parent, you lose all chances for dignity.”

“You are the most dignified mom I’ve ever met,” Mary said sincerely. “And you have happy, confident and intelligent children. You are amazing in my book.”

“Thank you,” Katie replied, helping Maggie from the chair and wiping her mouth with a napkin. “That means a lot to me.”

“Katie, I was wondering if Bradley and I could come by this evening,” she asked, turning to Bradley for a quick approval. “We need to talk to you and Clifford about a couple of things.”

“Sure, that would be fine,” she said. “The kids are generally in their rooms by eight o’clock, so any time after that will give us a chance to visit without interruption.”

“Great. We’ll be over then,” Mary replied.

Bradley waited until Katie and Maggie were out of earshot, moved his chair closer to Mary’s and placed his hand over hers. “So, what happened and why do we need to speak with Katie and Clifford?”

Mary turned her hand over, so their fingers could link, and looked into his eyes. “Maggie isn’t your daughter,” she said softly.

“What? Are you sure?”

The soft words hit him like bricks. Although he hadn’t admitted it to himself, he had begun to think of Maggie as his daughter. He had opened his heart to her and now she was being pulled away from him, just like Jeannine.

“But...but, she saw Jeannine,” he argued. “She spoke with her...”

Mary nodded. “Maggie told me that Jeannine came to her only when her friend, Clarissa spent the night,” she explained, “because she could see Jeannine, but Clarissa couldn’t and Jeannine wanted to speak with Clarissa.”

“What? Who’s Clarissa?”

“Maggie said Clarissa was her best friend because they were the ‘doption girls,” Mary said, repeating Maggie’s phrase. “Both girls had been adopted, so they formed a special bond.”

“Both girls?” Bradley asked. “So Clarissa...”

“Clarissa is your daughter,” Mary said. “Maggie said Jeannine told her that Clarissa was her little girl.”

“Where is she?” he asked, rising to his feet. “We should talk to Katie now and get her address. Why did you want to wait?”

Mary stood and put her hand on his shoulder, stopping him from following after Katie and Maggie. “Maggie told me that Clarissa and her mother left town,” she explained.

“Where did they go?” he asked, turning towards her.

“I’m hoping we can find that out from Katie and Clifford this evening,” Mary explained. “It sounds like something might have happened to Clarissa’s father, but I want to confirm the details with them.”

He nodded and sighed, and they both sat back down at the table. “It’s funny, in some ways I really wanted Maggie to be my daughter,” he said, running his hand through his hair. “She is such a loveable child. But then I realize the reason she turned out that way is because of the love and care Katie and Clifford have given her all her life. I wondered how I could ever tell them she was mine?”

Mary was silent for a moment. “You know...” she finally said.

“What?”

“Tonight, when we meet with them and tell them the truth... they might be a little... I don’t know... apprehensive of our relationship with both Maggie and Andy,” she said.

“A little suspicious of our motives, being so willing to take care of the kids?”

Nodding, Mary replied, “We didn’t... couldn’t tell them what we suspected, but they might not see it that way.”

He took her hand in his once again. “I’m sorry, Mary,” he said. “I know how much you love them. If Katie and Clifford feel threatened and keep the kids away from you, it’s because of me. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Mary shrugged. “Of course you didn’t. And besides, it wasn’t just your decision to keep it from them. We all decided it would be best. Let’s not think about the negative side right now. Let’s just hope they understand the predicament we were in and why we did what we did.”

“What we need is a diplomat who can convince them that our decision was the best for all concerned,” Bradley said. “And that we really had no choice.”

They both looked at each other and smiled. “Ian.”

Stanley twirled Rosie around one last time as the final chords of the song faded away. She laughed with delight as he bent her over into a not-so-deep dip and gave her a quick kiss.

“Oh, Stanley, you are such a wonderful dancer,” Rosie gushed, waving her hand in front of her face to cool herself from the exertion. “Wherever did you learn those moves?”

Smiling, Stanley shrugged his shoulders modestly. “Well, I ain’t saying I’m good and I ain’t saying I’m not. But I will say it makes all the difference iffen you got a good partner and I can tell you, I was dancing with the best.”

“Oh, Stanley,” Rosie said, a soft blush stealing across her cheeks, “You say the nicest things.”

Stanley put his arm around her shoulders and started to lead her off the dance floor when he saw Mary and Bradley sitting at the table in the far corner of the reception hall.

“Why ain’t Mary dancing?” he wondered aloud. “Seems to me that girl needs a little more fun in her life.”

“Well, it looks like they might be discussing something serious,” Rosie said.

“Those two are always being serious,” Stanley scoffed. “‘Bout time he did something romantical. Come on Rosie, someone’s got to talk some sense into that young man.”

He guided Rosie across the room and stopped in front of Mary and Bradley’s table.

“So, girlie, why ain’t you out there cutting up a rug?” Stanley asked Mary, and then he shot Bradley an annoyed look. “Ain’t no one got the manners to ask you?”

Mary placed her hand over her mouth, trying to hide the smile, and shook her head. “We’ve been talking...” she began.

“You get the chance to hold a pretty girl in your arms and all you want to do is talk to her?” Stanley asked Bradley. “In my day, real men didn’t pass on an opportunity like that.”

The soft strains of a love song began to play and couples, young and old, began to drift out into the dance floor. Bradley stood up. “Excuse us, please,” Bradley said. “I’ve got a pretty girl I need to hold in my arms.”

He turned to Mary. “Mary, may I have to pleasure of this dance?”

She smiled up at him and nodded. “I would be delighted.”

He led her to the dance floor and pulled her into his arms. She laid her cheek against his shoulder as they swayed gently to the slow song. She inhaled his unique masculine scent and, as always, it caused her insides to begin a slow meltdown.

She wondered what it was about his cologne that caused her reaction. She inhaled the scent again and felt the tingle deep inside. She was sure there were pheromones mixed in with the woodsy scent and... something else. She cuddled closer, burying her nose next to his chest and sniffed again.
Was it citrus or ...?
She inhaled deeply.
Yes, citrus, definitely... grapefruit...that was it! And... something...
She sniffed once again
. Maybe ginger...
She started to breathe in again...

“Um, Mary, what are you doing?” Bradley asked.

How embarrassing,
she thought.

“Sniffing you,” she said, biting her lower lip and lifting her head to meet his eyes.

“Sniffing me?”

She nodded.

“I showered, I promise.”

She chortled. “I know. You just smell so... good.”

“Good?”

She shrugged slightly. “Your scent causes a meltdown reaction in my body, like there are pheromones in your cologne."

“Meltdown, huh?” he asked, inhaling deeply as a self-satisfied, manly grin spread across his face, “So, have you ever had this reaction with any other man?”

Lowering her face slightly, she smiled. “No,” she replied, snuggling back into his arms. “You are the only one whose scent makes me slightly crazy.”

He bent down and brushed a kiss along the side of her neck that caused her to shiver. “Good, keep it that way,” he whispered.

She sighed softly and reached up, pressing her lips against his neck. “I intend to.”

He slid his hand up her back slowly and then threaded his fingers into her hair, pulling back slightly, so he had access to her mouth. “Mary,” he said, his voice husky, as he searched her face for a moment and then lowered his face towards hers.

“Mary!” Linda called brightly, as she hurried towards them with Bob in tow. “We’re going to be leaving in a few minutes and I just couldn’t go without talking to you.”

Bradley glanced at Mary, a wry smile on his face, and then loosened his hold on her.

Mary looked over. “Linda, you look so beautiful. Obviously being married agrees with you.”

“Well, so far,” Linda laughed.

Turning to grin at Bob, Mary chuckled. “Well, that’s a good sign. You’ve been married for about an hour and she still loves you.”

He put his arm around Linda’s waist and pulled her close. “And I intend to keep her in love with me.”

Bradley extended his hand to Bob and the two men shook hands. “Congratulations Bob. I know you are both going to be happy,” Bradley said.

“Well, thanks to you and Mary for bringing us together,” he replied. “And thanks to Mary’s fast reaction during the wedding. You saved my life.”

“I had some help,” she said, thinking of Ernie, the ghost of Linda’s father. “Besides, I’m sure that’s one of the responsibilities of being a maid of honor, protecting the married couple from any crazed infiltrators.”

“Well, if it’s not, it should be,” Bob said, leaning forward and kissing Mary’s cheek. “Thank you for all you’ve done for us.”

“Really, Bob, it was nothing,” she said.

“No, Mary, it was everything,” he said sincerely.

Throwing her arms around Mary, Linda hugged her tightly. “Thank you, Mary,” she whispered. “You gave my true love back to me twice. I can never repay you.”

“Just be happy,” Mary said.

“Thank you,” Linda said, wiping away a tear.

“Come on, sweetheart, we’ve got a plane to catch,” Bob said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close for a quick kiss. “Besides, these two want to dance.”

Linda smiled and nodded. “I’ll call you when I get back,” she called, as Bob led her across the dance floor.

“Perfect,” Mary said.

Bradley drew her back into his arms as another slow song began to play. “The always amazing Mary O’Reilly,” he said.

She looked up at him. “Shut up and kiss me,” she replied.

His eyebrows shot up a little and a slow smile spread across his face. “It will be my pleasure.”

“Well, and how was the wedding?” Ian asked politely, barely looking up from the computer, as Mary and Bradley walked through the door to Mary’s home.

“It was lovely,” Mary answered.

“Good, good,” Ian replied, his interest in the webpage obvious.

“Action packed,” Bradley added.

“Action packed?” Ian repeated, not really aware of the words. “Well, isn’t that nice.”

“Mary ended up going three rounds with Linda’s stepfather. Knocked him out cold with a smooth upper cut to his chin. The guy had a glass jaw.”

Ian lifted his head from the screen. “Do you mind repeating what you just said?”

Mary grinned at Bradley and then walked past Ian to the kitchen and began to fill the teapot with water.

“Bradley would you like some tea?” she asked.

Bradley pulled out his smartphone and began tapping on the face. “Don’t mind if I do, thank you Mary,” he said.

“Oh, no, you kinna be thinking you’ll walk in here and drop a bombshell as that was and not explain yourselves away,” Ian demanded.

Mary looked over at him. “I’m sorry, did you say something?” she asked sweetly.

“Aye, I’ll be begging your pardon for not paying attention the first time,” he said. “Now, what’s this about you going a few rounds at the wedding? Was it during the reception?”

Mary put the teapot on the stove and hurried over to sit next to him on the couch. “Do you remember Ernie, the ghost that appeared during our bedroom snowball fight?”

Bradley looked up from his phone. “Excuse me? Bedroom snowball fight?”

Mary glanced over at Bradley, “Oh that, it was nothing. Really. I’ll tell you about it later.”

Ian chortled. “Aye, and I want to be around for the telling.”

Bradley stared at Ian. “Oh, you will be, believe me.”

Rolling her eyes, Mary turned back to Ian. “So Ernie taught me how to box because he said it was important, something he needed me to do for a loved one. But, he said he couldn’t tell me the reason.”

“Okay, so Ernie taught you how to box,” Ian said. “But you didna know why.”

“Right,” Mary replied. “And then, today, I was standing at the front of the church and the minister was about to start the ceremony, when Linda’s stepfather walked in through a back door and pointed a gun at Bob, the groom.”

“So, the stepfather didna want Linda to marry Bob?”

“No, the stepfather didn’t want Linda to get married at all, because she was his meal ticket,” she replied.