Forever His Bride (6 page)

“Then let’s go back to Grand Rapids,” Nick said.

Josh shook his head. “There’s no reason for
you
to stay.” But he had one. Actually he had two reasons, his boys. They loved Cloverville. And the Kellys.

“S
O THERE’S REALLY NO ROOM
for me stay?” Nick asked Brenna as she walked him to the door.

She smiled at his persistence. “I’m sorry. No.” Her parents would have found room, though, if not for the subtle shake of Josh’s head when they’d opened their mouths to offer. He obviously didn’t want his friend staying with them. “There aren’t any hotels or motels in Cloverville, either. I’m really sorry.”

But she wasn’t. To protect her friend she couldn’t have Nick around looking for Molly, stealing from her that time she’d asked for—that time she’d never taken for herself. Everything she’d focused on since her dad had died had been connected to getting the medical degree she’d promised him.

Poor Molly.
She deserved some happiness in her life; she deserved a man like Josh.

“Clayton McClintock offered me his spare room,” Nick admitted. “I think
he
feels guilty about the way his sister’s treated Josh.”

“Molly has a good reason for doing what she did.” She had to, or maybe she’d cracked under the pressure she’d put on herself. Last night at the reception Brenna had been ready to disregard her friend’s request for time alone, and Eric had been right to point out her selfishness. She shouldn’t have called and left the late-night voice mail, either, because that had been to relieve her own guilt. A good friend gave a person what she wanted—including time.

“Josh is fine,” she assured Nick, pitching her voice low so that he wouldn’t overhear them from the powder room off the hall, where he was cleaning up the twins. The hall which had once been wide, was narrow with the antique desks and wall tables that lined it.

Brenna wanted a house that was wide open for herself. And she wanted nothing breakable in her home, in her life—especially not her heart. She couldn’t let herself fall for Josh or his sons. She didn’t have that right.

“I’d like to believe Josh is fine,” Nick said, “but I’ve made that mistake before.”

About Josh? “I don’t understand…”

The tall man stepped closer. “Just keep an eye on him for me. And if he starts acting crazy, call me.” He pressed a card into her hand. “My cell number’s on there.”

“What do you mean, crazy?” Like kissing her in the moonlight?
That
had been crazy.

“Just, you know, depressed or…”

“Good, you’re still here,” Josh said as he stepped through the pocket doors of the powder room and joined them. With his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed, he hardly looked happy.

Brenna curled her hand around Nick’s card, as if to hide it from Josh. Somehow, she doubted he’d be pleased his friend was so worried about him. His pride had already taken enough of a beating.

With a hand on each of his son’s shoulders, Josh nudged them forward. “Have fun with Uncle Nick,” he told them.

“What?” Nick asked, his eyes widening in surprise. “You’re not going on your honeymoon, so why would I take Buzz and TJ?”

“You’re taking them to the park,” Josh said, a wicked grin illuminating his face.

“We wanna go to the park, Uncle Nick,” TJ said, reaching for the surgeon’s hand.

“Yeah, the park,” Buzz chimed in.

“They have to burn off some of that sugar,” Josh explained, as he held open the screen door that led to the front porch.

Nick groaned, and then nodded. “Sure, we’ll go to the park.” He tightened his grip around each boy’s hand as he stepped outside. “We have to stop someplace first, though, and it’s probably a good idea to have you both along.”

Brenna wondered at Dr. Jameson’s cryptic comment. But then the boys jerked free of his grasp and turned back to her. “Bye, Brenna,” they shouted.

Her heart warmed. “See you both later.” She wasn’t so sure about Nick, and wondered if he would survive the adventure at the park. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to each twin’s cheek.

“Remember to call,” Nick beseeched her.

She nodded, then joined Josh on the porch, where he waved to his sons and his friend. “He was really going to watch them while you were on your honeymoon?” she asked, amazed that the other doctor would have agreed. “How did you convince him?”

Josh’s broad shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Even though he won’t admit it, he actually enjoys spending time with them. When Amy left me, he helped a lot with them. Too bad he’s sworn off marriage and kids.”

“Too bad,” she agreed, remembering the way Colleen had stared up at Nick when she’d danced with him the night before. Brenna would have to warn her young friend to protect her heart, as well.

“Yeah, too bad.” Josh sighed. “He’d make a good husband and father.”

“He’s some loyal friend,” Brenna mused. Usually the people who made friends like that
were
friends like that themselves, loyal and supportive.

“Yeah, Nick and I go way back.”

Just as she and Molly did. She should be unconditionally supportive of Molly, as Nick was of Josh. Yet while she was concerned about Molly, she was also confused. How could her friend have been so careless with Josh’s feelings, with his heart? “You two have a ‘from the cradle to the grave’ kind of friendship?”

“That’s what Nick’s afraid of,” Josh said. “That he’s going to be putting me in the grave.”

“What?”

“I heard him, asking you to keep an eye on me for him, when he realized there wasn’t room for him to stay here.” Josh snorted. “Hell, I’m surprised he didn’t bring in a sleeping bag so he could sack out on the floor next to me in the parlor.”

“Well, that goes beyond friendship and qualifies as obsession,” she observed, leaning over the rail to catch a glimpse of Nick with the boys as they disappeared down the sidewalk. “Are you sure you should let him take your sons?”

Josh nodded. “He’s fine with Buzz and TJ. I’m the one he’s driving crazy.”

“Why’s he so worried about you?” she asked, wondering if she needed to be worried, too.

“He’s got me on suicide watch.”

Brenna’s heart skipped a beat. “Suicide watch?”

“Yeah.” Josh nodded. “He’s worried I’m going to do something stupid.”

“So he said,” she admitted. “But he wouldn’t tell me what he considered stupid.”

“He thinks he has reason to be worried,” Josh admitted.

“Oh, my God!” Realization dawned. “When your wife left you, did you do something?”

“No!” Josh assured her. “I never even considered it, not even for a second. My sons depend solely on me.”

“I can’t imagine what kind of woman would leave her children.”

“Marriage, motherhood…She was overwhelmed.”

“You must have been, too,” she pointed out.

“Things were crazy for a while,” Josh admitted, rubbing a hand across the stubble on his chin. His razor had disappeared from his overnight bag, and he hoped Buzz hadn’t gotten a hold of it again. The kid would need more stitches, if he cut his hair any shorter. “But I never got crazy.”

She held up the card he’d seen Nick press into her hand. “I don’t need this?”

He shook his head. “No. Nick’s overly sensitive.”

She rolled her eyes.

“He’s overly sensitive about this.” He grimaced, remembering and reliving his friend’s pain. “When his older brother’s wife left him, the guy fell apart. Nick and I were just teenagers at the time. He didn’t know how to help his brother, and then it was too late.”

“He killed himself?”

Josh pushed his hand through his hair. “Let’s say it was a deliberate accident.”

Her green eyes widened. “Oh, my God. That’s awful…”

Josh appreciated her reaction. Then he noticed the way she stared at him, as if wondering whether he might do the same.

“I’m fine,” he assured her, although he was getting sick of having to make the claim. He thought about proving it to her, that he hadn’t loved her friend and that he wasn’t brokenhearted. He reached out, as he had last night, sliding his fingers across the silky skin of her cheek. He’d eaten more than one cinnamon roll, but still he was hungry—for her.

Her breath audibly caught. “Josh…”

She’d run from him last night, like every other woman he’d cared about or thought he might have cared about. It was better that she thought he was in love with Molly then maybe he wouldn’t fall in love with her. He pulled his hand away from her face and lifted his fingers to his lips as if licking away frosting. “The boys iced you, like the cinnamon rolls.”

Brenna nodded, but Josh doubted she bought his claim about the icing—or about being fine.

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“He’s fine,” Brenna assured herself as she helped her mother carry brunch to the table. No matter that they’d had cinnamon rolls earlier that morning, Sunday brunch was mandatory. No one missed a meal at the Kelly house.

“He is,” Mama agreed, pausing to press her cheek against her daughter’s head as she set out sausage gravy to go with the flaky buttermilk rolls that Brenna had just pulled from the oven. “I don’t understand what Molly was thinking,” the older woman said as she stared out the sliding doors. Like Brenna, her attention was focused on the backyard, where Josh wrestled with his boys.

Brenna nodded, equally puzzled.

“Mary McClintock called earlier today,” Mama said as she backed away from the table toward the island in the middle of the industrial-sized kitchen. While they’d kept the rest of the house true to the Victorian era, they’d modernized the kitchen, installing commercial-quality stainless-steel appliances, granite countertops and cherry cabinets.

“Did she talk to Molly?” Brenna asked. If she were Molly, she would have called her mother—right after she called her best friend. But despite having known her longer and being college roommates, Molly wasn’t as close to Brenna as she was to Eric South. Probably especially now—physically, at least.

“She didn’t say,” her mother replied, her gaze not quite meeting Brenna’s. “She called to check on her almost-son-in-law and the boys. She wanted to make sure everything was all right over here.”

“She offered to put them up at her house, didn’t she?” Brenna deduced from her mother’s evasiveness.

Mama waved a hand, dismissing the idea. “That would be silly. They’d be stacked on top of each other over there, with Abby and Lara staying, along with Mary’s own kids.”

Just fourteen-year-old Rory and twenty-three-year-old Colleen. Clayton had his own place in town above his father’s old insurance agency, which was his now.

“Abby’s staying in Cloverville?” Brenna asked after the friend who’d spent the past eight years between Detroit and Chicago. Like Brenna, Abby loved business. She’d started her own firm from the ground up—Temps To Go, a specialized employment agency. “She and Lara are moving home? Cloverville would be a great place for the next branch of Abby’s business.”

Mama held up a hand to restrain Brenna’s enthusiasm. “Abby claims she’s just staying until she’s sure Molly’s okay. But if Mary has her way, Abby and that adorable daughter of hers will be home for good.”

Brenna narrowed her eyes at her mother’s odd tone. Was she planning to play matchmaker, as Mary McClintock always had? Of course, Mrs. McClintock had tried matching up Eric with Molly and that had never worked out. Molly had always insisted they were just friends, that Eric didn’t have any romantic feelings for her. Yet she’d been devastated when he’d enlisted in the Marines. Their friendship or whatever it was that existed between the two of them had never been the same after that.

Maybe Mrs. McClintock would have more luck connecting Abby and Clayton. Brenna smiled as she remembered their kiss on the dance floor. Apparently the two of them couldn’t fight their attraction quite as successfully as they had eight years before.

“I’ll have to call Abby,” Brenna said, “and see if I can help convince her to stay.”

“Mary said that the best man stopped by her house this morning with Buzz and TJ.”

“He did?” Was that the visit he’d curiously referred to?

“Yes, to see Colleen.”

So Nick hadn’t just accidentally run into her at the park, as he’d led them to believe when he’d brought the boys home. Nick had been invited to brunch when he’d arrived, but he’d begged off, probably exhausted from the outing. From the boys or from trying to pry Molly’s whereabouts out of Colleen? Brenna suppressed a smile. No one could keep a secret like the youngest McClintock sister.

“Does Mrs. McClintock know if Colleen talked to her sister?”

“You’re worried about her,” Mama guessed. “You and Molly have always been so close.”

“Yes.” Brenna sighed. “That’s why I just can’t understand…”

Mama shook her head, tumbling the waves of white hair around her face. “I don’t understand Molly agreeing to be Josh’s bride…” she said with another shake of her head “…when we all know she’s always loved Eric South.”

Brenna laughed. “You have that backward. Eric has always loved
her.
” Since second grade when he’d moved to Cloverville to live with his great uncle. While the McClintocks had been through a rough time, no one member of their group of friends had experienced as much loss as Eric. First, both his parents had died, and then the guardians with whom his parents had left him had gotten divorced. And neither of them had wanted him. Fortunately his uncle Harold, a retired Marine colonel, had been delighted to have him.

“Eric South has grown into a fine man,” Mama said with pride. She and Mary McClintock had been like mothers to him. “He’s a hero, you know.”

“I know.” Even before he’d gotten hurt in the line of duty, saving others, he’d been a hero. Molly’s hero. Brenna sighed. “But Molly has only ever seen him as a friend.”

Which was the only way Brenna could allow herself to see Josh. But as he and his boys joined her family at the table, she couldn’t help imagining that he was hers.

“Y
OU’RE BACK
,” Josh said with a sigh as his friend walked up the wide steps of the Kellys’ front porch for the third time that day. Obviously his best friend had gone home to Grand Rapids for a bit, since he’d replaced his rumpled tux with a fresh pair of jeans. A picnic basket swung from his free hand. “You brought me food? Did you forget where I’m staying?”

Josh had just pushed himself away from the brunch table. In addition to a second batch of cinnamon rolls, there’d been frittata, sausage gravy and homemade biscuits, eggs and bacon. He’d never eaten so well, and neither had Buzz and TJ. He doubted they’d settle for his boxed macaroni and cheese and cold sandwiches ever again. Maybe Mama Kelly—or Brenna—could teach him how to cook.

Nick glanced down at the picnic basket, and his face flooded with color. “Uh, this isn’t for you. But I did bring you this.” He dropped an electric razor into Josh’s hand. “You look like hell.”

And Nick obviously didn’t want Josh looking like his brother had after his wife had left him. Rubbing a hand over the stubble on his jaw, Josh explained, “My razor disappeared.”

Nick nodded. “I figured as much. Like I told Colleen, I really do owe her sister a thank-you.”

“For what?”

“If she’d actually married you, you two would be off on your honeymoon right now.”

The thought of a honeymoon with Molly filled Josh with dread rather than excitement. He preferred to be right where he was…with Brenna. God, Nick was right. He was crazy.

But he wasn’t the only one filled with dread at the thought of his honeymoon. Nick shuddered, as well. “And the twins would be with me.”

Josh jabbed his shoulder lightly. “Hey, those are your godsons.”

“Yeah, I know.” Nick sighed. “And I just paid off the plumbing bill from the last time they stayed with me.”

Josh laughed. “C’mon.”

“And the cat has just finally ventured out of the closet.”

“That cat is skittish.”

“Gee, I wonder why.”

Josh patted his friend’s shoulder again. Changing the subject—back to the one Nick obviously wanted to avoid—he asked, “So if the food isn’t for me, who is it for?”

“I’m staying in Cloverville,” Nick replied, ignoring Josh’s question.

“What? You camping out in the park?” He probably wouldn’t get much sleep if so, as Buzz and TJ really liked the playground. They’d already talked Pop and Mama into bringing them back.

Nick shook his head. “No, Clayton’s letting me stay in his spare room.”

Josh groaned. “C’mon, you can’t take advantage of the guy. He’s probably not exactly thrilled with us, for not leasing the empty space in his building.”

“He understood we needed more room.”

And Nick had needed more time—so he’d agreed to open an office in Cloverville only if they built a new building. “You already hate this town,” Josh reminded him. “Just go home. I’m fine.”

“Have you heard from her?”

“Molly?”

“Yeah, you know, the woman who was supposed to marry you yesterday.”

“No.” He’d decided to not tell Nick about her voice mail—he’d only be more pissed off if he heard about her cryptic message.

“Then I’m staying in Cloverville until I find her for you,” Nick insisted.

Josh sighed. “You don’t need to do that.”

“I’m the best man,” Nick said, with a teasing glint in his eyes, as if he spoke of more than merely his role in the wedding party. “It’s one of my duties to track down the runaway bride.”

Josh grimaced. “Funny, I don’t remember that being on Brenna’s list.”

“Of course not.” Nick laughed. “She’s protecting her friend.”

“You think she knows where Molly is?”

Nick nodded. “I’m sure of it. All those bridesmaids know. Clayton’s gonna work on Abby.”

“And who are you working on?”

His friend glanced at his watch. “Gotta go,” he said as he headed back down the stairs to the sidewalk.

“Nick!” Josh yelled after his best friend, but the guy simply kept walking, whistling under his breath.

Josh grinned. Well, if Nick had planned a picnic in the park, he wasn’t going to get the privacy he no doubt wanted. He turned back to the house. But the grin slid from his face as he remembered that when Pop and Mama had taken the boys, they’d left him alone with Brenna.

“I
CAN’T BELIEVE
the boys wanted to go back to the park,” Brenna mused as she submerged the quiche plate in a sinkful of soapy water. And she couldn’t believe that her parents had taken them, leaving her and Josh to clean up the mess from brunch alone.

Were
her
parents matchmaking now? She was used to their pressure for grandchildren, but she hadn’t thought they’d stoop to underhanded tactics such as taking advantage of a man who was brokenhearted and vulnerable. She couldn’t believe
she
nearly had the night before.

“There’s a playground there,” Josh said, as if that explained his sons’ motives.

What about her parents’?

Josh stood beside her at the sink, drying dishes with the same precision he probably demonstrated in his surgeries. His shoulder brushed against her bare one as he reached above her to put away a plate.

“But Nick said Buzz nearly got sick from the merry-go-round,” Brenna said. The kid had come home a little green that morning—and so had Nick.

“That’ll just make them want to ride it more,” their father said with a chuckle. “They don’t learn from their mistakes.” The amusement left his face. “I guess they get that from me.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” she advised. Perhaps Nick was right about his friend, that he needed someone to keep an eye on him. She wished that was the reason she’d insisted that he and his boys stay with her family, but she couldn’t be sure her reasons hadn’t been more selfish than altruistic…Because she would miss him…

“I try to do the right thing for my boys—” Josh said as he dropped the dish towel onto the counter “—but all I seem to do is make things worse.”

“Staying here is going to make things worse?” she wondered.

He nodded. “They’re going to get too attached to your parents. And to you.”

“I see. That’s why you were going to go back to Grand Rapids.” She’d worried that maybe it was because of her.

He jerked his chin in another short nod. “Yes. And I shouldn’t have let you change my mind.”

“Did you change your mind about moving here?” she asked. It would be easier for them both if he had. If he moved back to Grand Rapids and never set foot in Cloverville again.

“No,” he said, “despite Nick’s efforts.”

Instead of having her hopes dashed, relief eased the pressure on Brenna’s chest. She wanted him to stay. “Then it’s not a problem that they’re becoming attached. They can still come over here, and my folks can visit them at your new house. They can still have a relationship.”

“What about us?” he asked.

“What about us?” she repeated as she wrestled again with her unspoken desires.

“Can
we
have a relationship?”

“We’re already friends,” she reminded him, her heart beating heavily at the intensity of his stare.

“I know.” He sighed. “That’s all we can be, but I can’t help…”

“What, Josh?” She lifted her hands from the sink and wiped them on the towel Josh had left on the granite counter. “What can’t you help?”

“Wanting more.”

There was no moonlight, no spiked punch. He had to be able to see that she was no substitute for Molly. She wasn’t her
second.
Brenna drew in a deep breath and tried to calm her racing pulse. Josh’s freshly shaved jaw tempted her to reach out and glide her fingers over the smoothness of his cheek.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I understand.”

“You do?” he asked, as if he didn’t.

“You’re hurting. Your heart, your pride, over the way Molly jilted you.”

Josh winced, not with pain but guilt from letting her think he felt anything but relief over the canceled wedding.

Before he could explain, though, Brenna continued. “I understand that you want to feel better.”

“But that’s just it,” he said, as he reached over and wrapped his arms around her. “I don’t know if you’ll make me feel better…or worse.”

Her breasts were soft against his chest, and her hair brushed his cheek. He wanted her too much to care about the consequences at the moment.

He lowered his head and kissed her—with none of the tentativeness or gentleness of the previous evening. He kissed her with all the passion and frustration he’d suppressed ever since he’d met her.

She pulled back, her lips swollen from the kiss. and protested, “We can’t!”

Shaking with desire, he forced himself to drop his arms and step away from her. But then she reached for him, pushing her fingers through his hair to pull his head back down to hers. She kissed him with all the Kelly warmth and generosity, filling his senses and testing his restraint.