Flowers on Main (28 page)

“Not yet,” he said. “I’m just on leave for a couple of weeks.”

“Just long enough for me to whip your butt on the basketball court and in a few games of poker,” Connor said, coming over to embrace his brother. “I’ve missed you, bro.”

“That goes both ways,” Kevin replied, then looked around. “Where’s Jess? And where’s my brother-in-law to be, Abby? I have to sit Trace down and have a talk with him before you two tie the knot, make sure he understands what he’s getting into by marrying an O’Brien.”

“You leave Trace alone,” Abby instructed, even as her fiancé approached and gave Kevin a hearty slap on the back.

“Good to see you, man,” Trace told Kevin. “And don’t worry about me. I think I have a pretty good idea of what I’m getting into with your sister. It’s your nieces you should have warned me about.”

Abby poked him in the ribs. “Stop it, both of you. As for Jess, if she’d known this celebration was to welcome you home, she’d have been here on time for once, I’m sure.”

Just then Kevin apparently caught sight of Megan. His eyes widened. “Mom?” he said, his eyes unexpectedly filling with tears before he determinedly blinked them away. He quickly covered his initial reaction by saying, “I didn’t expect to see you here.” The edge in his voice contrasted sharply with the emotional response he hadn’t been quick enough to hide.

“Oh, Kevin,” Megan whispered, her own tears spilling down her cheeks as she walked slowly across the lawn. “I’m so relieved to have you home safe.” She turned to Mick, who’d been hanging back, his own eyes misty at the reunion. “You’re off the hook for abandoning me earlier. This is the best surprise ever.”

Kevin looked uncomfortable as Megan embraced him, then he hurriedly moved away to grab a beer from a nearby cooler.

“Obviously Gram was in on the secret,” Bree said.

“I had to tell her,” Mick said. “I knew she’d need a couple of days to get this feast ready.”

They all turned to Gram. “And you kept it from the rest of us,” Abby said in awe. “I have new respect for your ability to keep a secret.”

Nell gave her an indignant look. “You have no idea how many secrets I’ve got stored away,” she retorted. “That’s why everyone in this family comes to me, because they know I won’t blab.” She linked her arm through Kevin’s and gave him a pointed look. “In fact, I know another one, a big one.”

Kevin dropped an affectionate kiss on her brow. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell them. I was just waiting for Jess to get here, and I see her racing up the driveway right now.”

Jess slammed on the brakes at the sight of the gathering with Kevin at the center of it. She leaped out of the car practically before the engine quit and flew into her big brother’s arms, smothering his face in kisses.

“You ugly thing, why didn’t you tell me you were coming home?” she demanded, giving him a thorough once-over. “I’d have baked a cake.”

Everyone in the family groaned.

“Okay, I’d have had Gram bake a cake,” Jess said, then glanced at the tables covered with food. “Where’s Kevin’s favorite chocolate cake?”

“Hey,” Abby protested before Gram could answer. “Let’s get to the secret. Jess is here now, so tell us.”

Kevin’s gaze immediately went toward the front door of the house. At his nod, the door opened and a long-legged woman with short, strawberry-blond hair emerged and prac
tically floated across the yard, her gaze locked with his. The rest of them might as well have been on another planet for all the attention she paid them. Kevin pulled her close and gave her a lingering kiss.

When he finally ended the kiss, his expression was filled with barely repressed excitement, and some of the exhaustion in his eyes was wiped away by the look of adoration as he looked down into her upturned face.

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Georgia O’Brien, my wife as of two o’clock this afternoon.”

Bree stared at him in shock. “You’re married?”

“Before me?” Abby joked. “I thought I was next in line.”

“So did I,” Trace said wryly. He winked at Kevin. “Mind telling me your secret so I can get Abby to start making wedding plans?”

Kevin circled his arm around Georgia’s waist. “When you’re someplace like Iraq, you tend to be highly motivated.”

Megan turned to Mick. “And you knew about this? For how long?”

“A couple of days. I was his best man,” Mick confirmed.

“But why didn’t you wait, have the ceremony here?” Jess demanded, clearly upset. “Didn’t you think we’d all want to be there?”

“Yeah, bro,” Connor said, obviously miffed. “I was counting on being your best man when you finally got around to tying the knot.”

Kevin held tight to Georgia’s hand. She stood beside him, her expression filled with guilt. “I’m afraid that’s my fault,” she said. “I only have a couple of days on leave and I wanted my dad to perform the ceremony. He’s a minister back home in Texas, but we couldn’t get decent connections to fly there and then here. He and my mom were able to fly in and meet
us at the airport in Baltimore, but they had to fly right back to Beaumont. He has services there in the morning. All of this came together at the last second. Kevin and I weren’t even sure we’d both get approval for leave at the same time until a few days ago.”

“You got married at the airport?” Jess asked, her expression incredulous and less than pleased.

Georgia nodded. “Not terribly romantic, but the logistics worked. And it gave us time to come here to be with all of you before I have to go back to Iraq. Kevin talks so much about his family, I wanted to meet you.”

“So this is your wedding reception,” Megan concluded. “Mick, did you get champagne?”

“Of course I did,” he said. “It’s chilling in the kitchen right now. I figured if I brought it out any sooner, you’d all know something was up.”

Gram grinned at Jess. “Same with the cake. I baked a special chocolate wedding cake, but I had to hide it in the pantry.”

“Then let’s get this party started,” Connor said, rallying from his earlier disappointment and slapping his brother on the back. “I’ll bring out the champagne.” He leaned down and gave his new sister-in-law a kiss. “Georgia, welcome to the family.”

Everyone else started to swarm around her to offer congratulations, but Bree hung back. Jess and Abby welcomed Georgia with obvious restraint, then joined Bree.

“I was afraid of this,” Jess said, her voice low. “They hardly even know each other.”

“But look how happy they are,” Abby said, clearly squashing her own doubts. “Kevin looks as if he won the lottery. Our doubts don’t matter. We owe it to him to give her a chance.”

“Well, of course we do,” Jess said. “I’m just saying it seems awfully fast.”

Mick apparently overheard her comment as he approached. “Being overseas puts a stress on a man the rest of us can’t possibly understand. I’m just glad Kevin has someone by his side who obviously adores him.”

“Dad’s right,” Bree said. “This is their day. We need to make it special for them.”

“At least Kevin will be sticking around after she goes back,” Jess said. “Maybe we can find out the real scoop then. You don’t suppose she’s pregnant, do you?”

“Jess, stop it,” Abby ordered. “This isn’t the time for that kind of speculation. Besides, I imagine they’d send her home if she was expecting a baby. Surely they wouldn’t want a pregnant soldier on duty in Baghdad, of all places.”

Jess looked unrepentant. “Hey, it would explain why they were in such a rush. Even Kevin said they were highly motivated. Maybe that’s what he meant.”

“I think I’ll vote for love being the reason for the rush,” Bree said. She’d been watching her brother and Georgia ever since Kevin had made the big announcement. He’d hardly taken his eyes off his new wife. “Dad, get a glass of champagne and propose a toast. Isn’t that one of the best man’s duties?”

Mick nodded. “Good idea.”

As he wandered off, Jess disappeared, as well. By the time Mick lifted his glass of champagne several minutes later, Jess was nowhere in sight.

As soon as Mick had finished his lengthy toast welcoming Georgia to the family, Bree again looked around for Jess, but she was missing. She turned to Abby. “Where’s Jess?”

“I have no idea, but this has obviously upset her. I don’t know if she’s worried about Kevin or hurt that he didn’t tell her ahead of time. It won’t matter to her that he didn’t tell any of us except for Dad. She always thought of Kevin as her
champion. She’s been devoted to him since he went overseas. She sends him cookies, books, DVDs and anything else she thinks he and the other soldiers might like. I’m afraid Kevin’s just unintentionally shattered that bond.”

“I agree,” Bree said. “Hopefully Kevin will pick up on that and make amends. It would be awful if this causes a rift between them.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” Abby said, already starting across the lawn.

Before she’d gone far, though, Jess came outside and raised her own glass of champagne. “Everyone, I’d like to make a toast to my big brother and his bride. Georgia, you may not have had the wedding of every girl’s dreams, but I promise the honeymoon will be more traditional. The bridal suite at the inn is yours for as long as you’re able to stay. That’s my gift to you and Kevin, along with a ton of good wishes for a long and happy life together.”

Abby returned to Bree’s side. “She almost made that sound sincere.”

Bree frowned. “What do you mean
almost?
I thought she sounded convincing.”

“Too convincing,” Abby said. “I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she isn’t planning to run over to the inn and put shaving cream on the pillows or short-sheet the bed.”

Bree gave her a startled look. “She wouldn’t,” she protested, then added with less conviction, “Would she?”

“Our sister is unpredictable, especially when she’s upset,” Abby reminded her.

“Do you think we should warn Kevin?”

A grin broke across Abby’s face. “Not a chance. We should probably come up with a few evil tricks of our own.”

“You’re a brat,” Bree chided. “Maybe even worse than Jess.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t want to get even with Kevin for cheating us all out of a wedding,” Abby accused.

“I’m much more mature than that,” Bree said, then giggled. “But I do want to be there when he finds whatever surprise it is that Jess has planned for him.”

Abby suddenly looked vaguely guilty. “Maybe we should warn Georgia, though. She is new to the family, after all, and women ought to stick together.”

“Hey, you climb into bed with a dog like Kevin, you should expect fleas,” Jess said, coming up beside them in time to figure out that they were onto her.

“You’re bad,” Bree scolded.

Jess grinned wickedly. “Yes, I am. I’ve sent Connor on my devious mission even as we speak. I believe he corralled Trace into helping him.”

As she chuckled along with her sisters, an image of Jake crept into Bree’s head. She couldn’t help wondering what her brothers and sisters would have pulled if she and Jake had gotten married in a rush six years ago. Kevin was one of their own, so he was likely to get off lightly. Jake might not have fared as well. Then again, everyone in the family knew him, even liked and respected him, just as they did Trace.

Suddenly she was totally immersed in nostalgia over what might have been. And what she wanted again.

As that thought settled in, she waited for the usual questions and doubts to follow, but they didn’t. Instead, what she felt was certainty. She’d fallen in love with Jake all over again. Sadly, though, it was entirely possible that she’d blown her chances with him forever.

“I’m going for a walk,” she announced, hoping to get away before she started crying and made a complete fool of herself. Maybe no one would have given it a second thought,
since weddings made a lot of people cry, but she didn’t intend to risk it.

Abby was already regarding her with concern. “You okay?” she asked.

“Fine,” Bree replied, forcing a smile. “I just need some air.”

“We’re outside,” Jess said, clearly puzzled by the comment.

“Sea air,” Bree murmured. “Over there.”

“Away from us,” Abby added.

“Exactly.”

But even as she walked away, she knew both Jess and Abby were staring after her, not quite sure what had plunged her into such a dark mood. She wasn’t sure she could have explained it if they’d asked.

Jake heard the news about Kevin O’Brien’s marriage at church on Sunday morning. The whole town was talking about the fact that he’d come home from Iraq with a new bride on his arm. Most of them were speculating about the haste with which the ceremony had been performed, and at an airport, no less. All that gossip made Jake realize for the first time that he ought to be grateful that he and Bree hadn’t been forced to rush into marriage, after all. What couple needed to start a new life with everyone in the whole town talking about them? He sympathized with Kevin.

He told himself that was why he was driving over to the O’Briens’ on Sunday afternoon. For several years, he, Kevin and Connor had been as tight as any brothers. Mack and Will had hung out with them, as well. They’d played ball together, spent lazy days fishing on the bay, had a few beers together on hot summer evenings. The O’Brien brothers had included him in everything because of Bree. Jake wanted to show Kevin that there was at least one person in
town who didn’t care why he’d gotten married as long as he was happy.

As he’d expected, he found Kevin, Trace and Connor tossing a football around on the front lawn. Jake leaped up and intercepted Kevin’s pass before his friend even knew he was around.

“Hey, where’d you come from?” Kevin asked, a grin spreading across his face. He slapped Jake on the back, then tossed the ball to Connor and pulled Jake aside. “Good to see you.”

“Word on the street is that congratulations are in order,” Jake told him as they walked away from Connor and Trace. “I came over to offer my sympathy to the woman who had the misfortune to hook up with you. Where is she?”

“With Abby, Bree and Jess down on the beach,” Kevin said. “They’re giving her the lowdown on how to handle me.”

Jake feigned dismay. “And you’re letting that happen?”

Kevin grinned, but then his expression sobered. “How’re you doing with my sister back in town?”