Married by June (17 page)

It would have taken a much harder heart than Deb’s not to accept such a sincere apology. By the time they left the hospital, Cooper was sure the two women were on their way to a warm relationship. He had dibs on teaching the kid how to drive, but it was clear he was going to have to line up behind his mom to get at her any other time.

L
ATER, AFTER THEY DROPPED
Rachel at home and went to a late-night drive-through for burgers, they were lying in Jorie’s bed.

“I realized something about my mom tonight,” she said.

“Me, too.” He stroked her shoulder. “You first.”

“All this time, I thought she gave everything up for her men. I saw her chasing that ring and hoping for vows and I believed she failed.”

“But?”

“But she had principles. She got dumped too many times. Obviously. People get dumped. But sometimes she dumped the men. She took me and left because whatever the guy had to offer her wasn’t good enough.”

He smiled into her hair.

“Your mom was a force of nature. I’ve been saying that all along.”

“Well, I guess it took talking to your mom and hearing how much she gave up to keep your dad to make me realize all the times my mom made the opposite choice.”

“I can’t believe my dad cheated. I have to ask Bay if he remembers anything about it, but I don’t think he does. He would have told me.”

“It’s been quite a night.”

“How about that baby,” he said. “She looked smart, didn’t she?”

He felt her smile. “She sure did, Coop. Takes after her uncle, I’m sure.”

“I hope she doesn’t get quite as tall as me.”

“She’ll be perfect. You know that.” She slid her leg in between his. “Are you tired?”

“Not much,” he lied.

It turned out she wasn’t very tired either.

E
VENTUALLY, SHE FELL
asleep with her head on his chest. He lifted her carefully to the side so he could grab his notebook. The page where he’d started his vows so long ago was getting cluttered. He found an empty spot and wrote, “I promise never to cheat.” And then “I promise to pay attention.” And finally, “If you call me, I’ll always come.”

He was ready.

If he’d broken up with her because he couldn’t write his vows, he now knew he was ready to ask her to marry him again.

She wanted to wait until after Theo was sworn in and he understood her reasoning, but on the other hand, he was impatient. This charade of an engagement caused her problems. He could see that.

He went back to bed eventually, but he didn’t sleep much. He wished he knew the right thing to do.

N
OLAN SENT A TEXT
that Cooper should take the day off. He suspected his mom was behind it, but he didn’t risk calling to find out. He and Jorie packed a bag full of water bottles, her digital camera, and sunscreen, and escaped to the Mall. They wandered all morning, looking at the monuments, buying hot dogs from a cart, browsing in her favorite bookstore, tucked in an alley and full of wonderful stuff. They argued over which year the Lincoln Memorial was finished, who had a better cavalry, the Confederacy or the Rohirrim from
The Lord of the Rings,
and generally enjoyed the hell out of each other.

Bailey called and told him they’d named the baby Mary Anne. Mary was Deb’s mom’s middle name and Anne was Rachel’s. They were planning to call her Mamie. That led them into a conversation about nicknames.

“Everyone always asks if my real name is Jordan,” Jorie said. “But I’m plain Jorie. When I was little, my mom used to call me JB, which I thought stood for Jorie Burke, but she swore stood for Just Bratty.”

“Nobody better call Mamie a brat. They’ll have to answer to her uncle.”

“Did you have a nickname when you were a kid?”

“Bailey called me dorkweasel for about three months when I was in first grade until my dad made him write an essay on the habitat and breeding habits of the weasel. Does dorkweasel count?”

He waited patiently while she stopped laughing and then he kissed her. A group of high school students passing by whistled and snickered. He kissed her some more. One of the teenagers snapped a picture with his phone. Cooper rested his forehead on hers. “That’s it, Jorie. I’m keeping you.”

“I’m so happy about that,” she said. Her eyes sparkled. “Dorkweasel.”

“I shouldn’t have told you that, should I?”

“Probably not.”

His phone rang and he reached in his pocket to pull it out, still looking at Jorie. He liked the way the sun made her eyes a bright blue. The caller ID told him it was his dad. He wondered what the chances were he could get away with saying he’d lost his
phone. But he knew Nolan would just try Jorie if he didn’t pick up.

He answered, but kept his arm around Jorie. “Dad, you told me I could have the day off, remember? One whole day?”

“The governor made his decision,” his dad said. “It’s good news.”

“T
HANK GOD,”
Cooper said. “Wow. Great. Took him long enough.” He wasn’t making any sense, but he was overwhelmed. He was going to be a temporary senator after all. It was a lot to take in.

“Well, there’s a condition. The seat is yours, but remember when I told you they had questions? Well, the questions weren’t about you, they were about Theo. The state committee doesn’t want to swap one Murphy for another a second time in one year. They think it looks bad. Theo’s age is working against him. And that video of you and the mugger really made an impression. They think they can get a lot of campaign mileage out of it.”

“Dad, what the hell are you talking about?”

“They want you, Cooper. As the appointee and the candidate. Theo’s off the table.”

“I never agreed to that, Dad.”

“Cooper!” His dad’s voice exploded through the line. “Don’t even think about starting with me. We got this far, we’ll work out the rest of it. The state committee wants you. You’ve got the connections.
Your mom and I can make sure the transition team is in place so when you take over for Bailey we’ll keep the issues to a minimum. It makes sense you’re nervous, but we’ll all be right there with you, same team as always.”

Cooper shook his head. He wasn’t worried about being a freaking United States Senator.

He’d been thinking about Jorie. This day had given him a taste of what it would be like once they were both free from the staged engagement and his family’s business. He wanted to marry Jorie, but on her terms, not his. And not under the cloud of his election. He’d been waiting to talk to her, looking forward to the day when he was sure she was ready for him to propose again, this time for real. Taking the Senate seat would make that impossible.

“What if I said no? What’s the Plan B?”

“There isn’t a Plan B, Cooper. If someone tells you they want you to run for the Senate, you god damn well better say yes because they’re not going to ask again.”

That was the problem. His dad hadn’t expected to be out of the Senate so young. As long as he had a son holding a seat, he could stay involved, broker deals, draft legislation. The prestige wasn’t the same, but there was little difference in the power level.

If he said no and Theo had already been rejected,
there wouldn’t be a Murphy in the Senate. His mom and dad would have to retire for real, long before they’d planned to.

Any refusal on his part would tear his family apart again. The faults they’d exposed after Bailey quit, and then again last night scared him. He’d always thought the Murphys were unbreakable, but now he saw the cracks. How could he stand to be the one who ripped apart the bonds they’d repaired last night?

“I have to talk to Jorie,” he said. “I’ll call you in a little bit.”

“Son, make sure she understands that this changes everything. You’re going to have to work things out with her to make it through the election and at least a year. We can set her up with a house—”

“Dad. Stop talking. I’m hanging up.”

He turned off his phone. He didn’t know when she’d shifted out from under his arm, but she was standing a few feet away on the path now. She knew. He could tell how stiff she was—the opposite of the person he’d just been kissing.

“Did you hear him yelling or did you guess?”

“Both.” She smiled. “Congratulations.”

“The state committee wants me to run. I don’t see how I can say no.”

Did she shiver? He couldn’t tell. He stepped closer to her. “Should we go home so we can talk?”

“Is there anything to talk about? You want to run,
don’t you? You’ve always been the support guy and this is your chance to take center stage. Why would you refuse?”

He clenched his fists. “I never wanted the seat. I know it seems odd, but I like being the support guy. I’m a speechwriter and I’m good at it. But maybe I could want it. Maybe I need to give it a chance. Find the things in it that are going to work for me. I wasn’t expecting this, but maybe it could be good for us.”

She came to him and slid her arms around his waist, grabbing his belt in the back. He felt better. Maybe what he’d said was true. This might be the start of something wonderful for both of them.

“I’m with you, Cooper. You know that.”

J
ORIE RODE WITH
C
OOPER
to Bailey’s office but didn’t go in. He apologized for having to end their day early, but she reassured him it was okay. The last thing he needed was to worry about her. She walked home alone slowly.

She could head over to the Wish Team and work for a while. She and Miriam had a bunch of really great projects on the go. She could call Alice. Her friend would be at her door in ten minutes. She’d even bring cake. She could also call Rachel if she wanted to.

Life was different for her than it had been when Cooper broke up with her the first time. She’d
changed, she’d opened up, she’d discovered that she could count on people.

She even had her fiancé back for good. He wouldn’t break up with her again. Not with the election coming up. She knew he wanted to marry her. She wanted to marry him, too. Everything should be perfect. It was perfect. The trouble was inside her, as usual.

She was going to marry Cooper. She loved him. He loved her. There was absolutely no reason not to marry him. Except they’d never had a chance to choose. She’d thought they had time. After the appointment and the election, after Theo was sworn in, she’d expected to have time to herself with Cooper. They weren’t getting that now. They were getting something even better, in his dad’s mind. A Senate seat. A guarantee that the Murphy legacy would continue.

She shouldn’t care about the choosing part. Cooper would have picked her. She knew it. She just wished he’d had the chance, because there was always going to be a little piece inside Chelsea Burke’s daughter waiting to get rejected. She just hoped it was small enough not to poison the rest of what they had.

C
OOPER GOT BACK
late that night. Jorie realized she’d been expecting him even though he hadn’t said he’d
be coming. He would want to see her, though. Of course he would.

She’d worn the blue nightgown on purpose. If they had sex, she could stop thinking. And she didn’t want to talk.

When he came through the bedroom door, she had a candle lit on the nightstand. His eyes took a few seconds to adjust, but then he saw her.

“We should talk,” he said.

“Please, Cooper. We can talk tomorrow.”

He nodded once and then undressed and came to her.

She held his face in her hands and kissed him long and hard, her tongue seeking as he ran his hands over her back, shoulders, breasts, hips, thighs. He wasn’t shy about his need, letting her see and feel how much he wanted her. She wished she felt the same way he did, but there was something in the way. She believed that he loved her. She trusted him. It was just the small voice in the back of her head telling her she’d never know now. She’d never be sure.

She’d gotten as much time as she was ever going to get to prove to him and to herself that they were going to make it. In the end, they’d run out of time. They’d gotten back together in a sham engagement and they’d work together now to make it real. Those
were facts and nothing would change them. It had to be enough.

She lay back, pulling him with her, and then rolled him over so she could climb on top of him, fitting their bodies together, feeling him touching every part of her. There were condoms in the nightstand and she handed one to him. When he was inside her, she shut her eyes, doing everything she could to turn off her brain so she could let this man, this beautiful, smart, kind and loyal man love her.

Afterward, she lay in his arms and listened to him sleep. The sweat was drying on their skin, leaving a thin shivery cold sheen, but she couldn’t find the energy to pull the sheet up. She wondered if there was a way they could stay here, just like this, forever. She thought she’d be okay then. Here in the dark, with his arms around her, she could believe.

That wouldn’t happen, though. His family was waiting for him and tomorrow reality would come bearing down on them. She started to feel the old panic and slipped out of bed. She didn’t want to disturb him when he was going to be so busy in the next few months.

C
OOPER FELT HER GO.
He’d been asleep, but ever since the night that guy attacked her, he’d had trouble sleeping if she wasn’t nearby. Something was
wrong. She was putting up a good front but she wasn’t happy.

He wasn’t happy either. The meetings he’d had were terrible. He kept waiting for someone to jump up and point at him and say, “Fraud,” because he sure as hell didn’t feel like a senator.

His mom had kept an eye on him. Every once in a while, he’d notice her staring, but she hadn’t told him what was bothering her. Maybe she knew he was the wrong choice. Maybe she could persuade his dad.

He lay awake for a while, hoping Jorie would come back to bed. When she finally did, he closed his eyes and pretended he’d been asleep all along.

H
IS DAD WAS INSANE.
Cooper suspected he’d stayed up all night and now he was back at it, driving them crazy at the crack of dawn.

The first text had come at what felt like five minutes after he fell asleep. He didn’t answer that one, so his dad called. Then he texted again.

Cooper finally gave in and got up to take a shower. He left his phone outside the bathroom, and when he came out, there were fourteen new texts and two voice mails.

“Is there any chance that your dad is actually a preteen girl?” Jorie asked. She was sitting at her small kitchen table with a cup of coffee, one strap of her blue nightgown sliding down her shoulder. “He texts more than anyone I know.”

“He’s excited.”

“He should be. This is a big day for the Murphys, right?”

Cooper slid his belt through the loops and cinched it. “Big day. That’s right.”

“What’s the game plan?”

Another text hit his screen and he missed what she said.

“What?”

“I asked what’s the game plan?”

I give up my life and any hope of an honest relationship with the woman I love so my dad can keep walking the floors of the Senate.
“Uh, what?”

“Are you supposed to be somewhere this morning?”

I’m supposed to be in my dad’s library listening to him tell me what to do and how to do it. I’ll be there every morning for the rest of my life.
“I’m not…”

Jorie got up. “Are you okay?”

Other than feeling that he was going to vomit? Yep. He was perfectly fine.

“No.” He felt behind him for the edge of the couch and then sat down. “No. I’m not okay.”

She sat next to him, the hem of her nightgown riding up. He put one hand on her thigh, touching that special soft spot just to reassure himself that he wasn’t losing his mind. He was sitting on the couch with Jorie and he wasn’t going to tell his dad he couldn’t accept the nomination.

Except, he really thought he had to.

“What’s the matter?”

“I didn’t know what was the matter. Not until just now, but I think I figured it out.”

She waited. He waited.

“Yes?” she prompted. “You figured it out?”

“I’m the only one who’s not a cheater. Bailey can’t be the senator because he’s a cheater, or maybe he’s a cheater because he didn’t want to be the senator. Either way the result is the same. And my dad can’t be the senator because he’s a cheater. So we need a senator and guess what?”

She shook her head.

“The only Murphy who never, ever, wanted to be the senator has to be the senator because he’s the only one who found the right person to marry and he’s the only one who will never cheat. Ever.” He touched that soft spot again. “I mean me. I would never cheat. But that doesn’t mean I’d be a good senator.”

Her eyes were glistening. Why was she crying?

“Why are you crying?”

“I’m not crying. I’m listening.”

“We both got caught, right? Your mom wanted you to get married and she gave you her wish. You didn’t get to choose. And my dad wants that seat and he’s only got one way to get it. I don’t get to choose.” Cooper turned to face her. “I’m going to tell him no. All along I kept telling myself I had to take care of my family. Which is the right answer, but I had the wrong family in mind. I have to take care of you and me.”

“Cooper. You can’t tell him no.”

“Yes. I can. I can absolutely tell him no. I should tell him no because I really, really don’t want to be a senator. And you can tell me no. Your mom shouldn’t have put this on you. How could you say no to her last wish? I never should have gone along with it. It seemed romantic, but it was just as manipulative as the stuff my dad pulls.”

J
ORIE COULD FEEL THE
tears on her face, but she still didn’t quite believe she was crying. She hadn’t cried in months. Why now? Because Cooper said he would never cheat? That he’d found the right person to marry? But then why was he telling her she could say no to him?

“Are you breaking up with me again?” she asked.

“Yes.”

One simple word and it landed like a rock in her gut. He was jumping all over the place. “Why?”

“So you can choose. Free and clear. When you’re ready.” He took his notebook out of his pocket and tapped it on his knee. “I’ve got notes in here, Jorie. All the things I’m going to vow. I’ll propose again as soon as you’re ready. But this time it’s your choice. Nobody else’s.”

“I still don’t understand,” she said.

“I love you, Jorie. I want to spend my life with
you. But we need to start the right way. With our own lives and our own goals and our own dreams.”

“Are you really not going to be the senator?”

“I can’t. I hate public speaking. I hate committees. I’m not a huge fan of politicians, and without Bailey around, I found out I really, really, don’t like working for my dad.”

“What will your parents do?”

“They’re going to live their own lives. Same as Bailey. And me. And you.”

“What are you going to do?”

Cooper smiled and leaned back on the couch. He lifted her up to hold her on his lap, one hand resting warm and strong on her hip, the other holding her hand. “I might apply at the Wish Team. I write a mean fund-raising letter and I have experience with fulfilling wishes.”

This was not the conversation she’d expected to have when she was pouring her coffee and listening to his phone go crazy with texts and calls. But that was Cooper Murphy to a T. He didn’t do what she expected. He led with his heart and when he did…he was unstoppable.

“I’m not sure we have any positions open,” Jorie said. “Is your résumé very impressive?”

His hand crept up under the hem of her gown and cupped her bottom. “I have skills, Jorie. Skills you haven’t even dreamed of.”

“We have a rigorous interview procedure,” she said, dipping her head to kiss his lips and then to nip his earlobe. “And if you did get hired, there would be performance reviews.”

“Annually?” Cooper asked. His hand was working its way around the side of her hip and she found herself turning, opening herself to meet him.

“Daily.”

“Hot dog,” Cooper said. “I think I’ve found the job for me.”

She spun around to straddle him and captured his hands under her knees. She applied gentle pressure to keep them pinned. She didn’t want to be distracted when she asked him her next question and Cooper’s hands were very distracting.

“What if I don’t want to be engaged right now?”

He closed his eyes but opened them again quickly.

“That’s all right. It’s what I’ve been telling you.”

“I…I think I might not want to be engaged.”

“That’s okay. I can wait.”

He kept his voice steady and she gave him enormous credit for that. He couldn’t conceal the hurt in his eyes, though.

“I’m really sick of being engaged. And I really don’t want to plan a wedding right now.”

“That’s all okay. We’ll keep on the way we’ve been, but skip the engagement.”

“Or we could just go to a justice of the peace and get it over with.”

He bit his bottom lip then burst out laughing. “That’s your proposal? I made you a freaking book, Jorie. I drew things and wrote little funny stories and you say ‘let’s get it over with?’”

“You want to do it?”

“Let me have my hands back,” he said. She lifted her knees and he put his hands on her shoulders, drawing her toward him so he could feather kisses on her eyelids, her forehead, her cheeks, her mouth.

“You could ask me if I’m up for a trip to the moon, and I’d say yes. I’m in, Jorie. Wherever you go, I’m in.”

“Well, I’ll just go get dressed. Looks like I’m going to be a June bride, after all.”

She slipped off his lap and ran for the bedroom, but stuck her head back out and said, “We are not skipping the cake. Red velvet from Lucky’s. My treat.”