Natural Reaction (19 page)

“Come on, Bradley,” Sean said. “I’ll bring you in.”

Bradley took a deep breath and nodded. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

They entered the living room to find Mary’s father arguing with his sons, Arthur and Thomas. “Are you both daft?” he asked. “He was clearly fouled.”

“Are you talking about that play in the second quarter?” Sean asked as they walked in the room.

Mary’s father, Timothy, turned and looked at them. “Bradley, good to see you,” he said warmly. “Yes, Sean, it was a clear foul.”

Sean nodded. “I agree, but Bradley thought he was fine.”

“What? You thought the call was good?” Timothy said, incredulously.

Bradley felt his stomach drop to his feet. “Well, from my point of view,” Bradley said, with a gulp. “It looked good.”

“See dad, we told you,” Art said.

Bradley turned to Sean. “Thanks,” he whispered. “Thanks a lot.”

Sean grinned. “Hey, just trying to break the ice.”

Timothy shook his head. “Next you’ll tell me you thought the call in the third quarter was bad,” he said.

“Well, as a matter of fact,” Sean began. “Bradley thought…”

Bradley elbowed Sean. “Shut up, Sean,” he whispered fiercely.

Sean chuckled. “Hey, da, Bradley needs to talk to you,” he said. “And you better do it now or he won’t be able to enjoy breakfast.”

Timothy stood up. “You need to speak with me?” he asked.

Bradley nodded. “Yes sir, I do.”

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go out to the back yard. We can have a little privacy there.”

They walked out through a patio door and down a path that led to a large garden. “I like puttering around in here during the spring and summer,” Timothy said. “When things grow, it’s like a little miracle. You get this small seed, you stick it in the dirt, water it and then you get a tomato plant.”

“I used to have a garden,” Bradley said, “When I lived in Sycamore.”

“Sean told us about your wife and your daughter,” Timothy said. “I want you to know how sorry I am for you, for your loss.”

“Thank you,” Bradley said, “I couldn’t have ever discovered what had happened to her without Mary. And Sean has been so helpful. I owe your family a great deal.”

Timothy nodded and walked forward. “So, you came to my house to thank me?” he asked.

Bradley shook his head. “No. I mean I am grateful, but that’s not why I’m here,” he said. “I…I love Mary.”

“Yeah, well, that’s understandable,” Timothy said, “She’s a lovely person.”

“No, I mean, I love her,” he said. “And I want to ask her to marry me.”

Timothy scratched his head. “So, you just discover what happened to your wife and now you want to marry my daughter. Don’t you think
it’s
pretty fast?”

“I think I’ve been in love with Mary since the moment I met her,” he explained. “But, I couldn’t act on it because I didn’t know what happened to Jeannine. I searched for her for eight years, without ever being unfaithful. Mary is the only woman who makes me feel this way.”

Timothy nodded and rubbed his chin with his hand. “You’ve got a daughter?”

Bradley nodded.

“And even without knowing her,” Timothy said. “You’d give your life for her, you’d die for her.”

Once again, Bradley nodded.

“So, Mary’s my little girl,” he said, looking up and meeting Bradley’s eyes. “And you’re asking me to let you have her. How do I know your good enough? How do I know you’re going to take care of her?”

Bradley ran his hand through his hair. “Well, I’m not good enough for her,” he said. “She’s amazing. She loves unconditionally, she gives without question. She is braver, stronger and nobler than I will ever be. But for some reason, she loves me. What I can promise you is she will never want for anything. She will never doubt my love. Nothing will ever be more important in my life than Mary.”

Timothy nodded slowly. “And what happens if I say no?”

Closing his eyes, Bradley felt his heart shatter within his chest. He took a deep breath and faced Timothy. “If you say no, then I won’t ask her to marry me,” he said. “Her family, all of you, mean too much to her for me to cause a rift in it.”

“You wouldn’t ask her anyway and let her choose what she wants?”

He shook his head.
“No, because either choice would hurt her.
I never want to hurt her.”

Timothy turned away from Bradley and stared at a playground set in the far corner of the yard for a few moments. “I built that playground set for Mary,” he said. “She’d spend hours on it.
Never swinging on it, like normal kids.
No, she’d climb all over it.”

Bradley couldn’t think of anything to say. Was Timothy changing the subject? Was the conversation over? Was he finally going to be able to marry her, only to be turned away by her father?

Timothy took a deep breath. “Are you going to find your daughter?” he asked.

“Yes, I am, I will find my daughter.”

Timothy turned back and nodded his head. “Good. Good. I need a granddaughter to play on that playground.”

Bradley inhaled deeply. “You mean?” he asked.

Timothy patted him on the shoulder. “Welcome to the family, Bradley,” he said, with a smile. “Take care of my little girl.”

Mary walked down the stairs slowly, still tired from the night before.

“
Shhhh
, don’t tell her,” she heard Maggie say. “It’s
a
s’prize
.”

“Aye, darling, we’ll just keep it our little secret,” Ian said.

“
She’s
gonna
like it all right,” Andy offered. “She likes stuff like that.”

Mary felt her heart melt and warmth replace the fatigue from the night before. How was she ever going to be able to let those two go home? She rubbed her hand over her heart.

“She’s coming,” Maggie said. “I can hear her.”

Mary hurried down the remainder of the stairs and walked into the kitchen. “Good morning,” she said brightly.

Maggie and Andy stood up, their hands behind their backs. “We made something for you,” Maggie announced. “Something you’re
gonna
love.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“Breakfast!”
Andy said.

They brought their hands forward. Maggie was holding a large glass of chocolate milk, with extra syrup running down the sides. “I made it myself,” she said. “It has lots of chocolate.”

“LOTS of chocolate,” Ian emphasized, from the other side of the counter.

Andy held out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut in diamonds. “I made this myself,” he added proudly. “It’s got peanut butter and jelly and raisins and marshmallows.”

“Well, everything looks delicious,” Mary said.

“And we colored on the plate,” Maggie added. “See.”

The paper plate had little hearts and squiggles drawn all over it. “It’s the most beautiful plate I’ve ever seen.”

“We already ate our breakfast, so we can watch you eat yours,” Andy said.

Mary took a sip of the chocolate milk and realized Ian had not been joking. It tasted like the drink was half syrup and half milk. “This is the
most chocolaty
milk I’ve ever had,” she said. “It’s delicious.”

She lifted a portion of the sandwich and took a big bite. “
Mmmmm
, good,” she murmured, the roof of her mouth covered with peanut butter. “Delicious.”

“See, there, I told you she’d love it,” Ian said, carrying a cup of tea to her.

“To help you wash things down,” he whispered.

Then she saw Ian’s face, covered with a bruise the size of an orange.

She placed her hand over her mouth in dismay. “Oh, Ian, I’m so sorry,” she said. “That looks awful.”

“Ian told us he got it when he was fighting a monster last night,” Andy said.
“A huge monster.
Twenty feet tall.”

Mary grinned. “Twenty feet tall?” she gasped. “Oh, my, where did you find such a beast?”

Ian looked slightly discomfited. “Aye, well, it was in the wee hours of the morning,” he said. “And I was…I was stepping outside because I heard a noise.”

“Don’t you know you’re not supposed to go outside when you hear noises?” Andy lectured. “That’s what always gets the guys killed in the movies.”

“He’s right, Ian,” Mary agreed, walking toward the counter and picking up an extra piece of toast slathered with marmalade. “And movies never lie.”

“Unlike some Scottish professors I know,” she whispered.

Ian coughed. “Well, and I was afraid it was going to come into the house,” he said. “So I was willing to take the risk.”

Maggie giggled. “Mike would have saved us,” she said.

“Mike is another one of her imaginary friends,” Andy explained. “She even talks to him at night.”

Maggie turned and grinned at Mike who was standing in the corner. He winked at her and then stuck out his tongue at Andy, which made the little girl giggle even more.

Andy shook his head. “Sometimes things are weird at your house, Mary.”

Mary laughed out loud. “Oh, Andy, I totally agree with you.”

“I told Mom about Mike yesterday when she called,” Maggie said. “She said he was probably a guardian angel.”

“Moms have to say stuff like that so they don’t hurt your feelings,” Andy responded.

Ian chuckled. “I’m sure you have at least two guardian angels looking out for you,” he said to Andy.

Grinning, Andy nodded. “Yeah, Mom says my guardian angel must be exhausted by the end of the day.”

“Aye, like Mary’s guardian angels,” Ian said, winking at her.

“Mary has more than one?” Andy asked.

“Oh, aye, she needs a whole army of them.”

“Okay, it’s time to brush your teeth and get ready for the bus,” Mary interrupted. “We don’t want you to be late for school.”

Maggie sighed. “You sounded just like a mom when you said that.”

“Thank you, Maggie,” Mary said with a sad smile.

A few minutes later, Mary opened the door to let the children out and found Rosie and Stanley ready to knock. “Well, good morning,” Mary said, as Andy and Maggie brushed past her.

“Good morning,” Rosie said. “I baked some cookies for some good children to have when they get home from school. Do you know any good children?”

“I’m good,” Maggie said. “I’m very good.”

“Me too,” Andy agreed, he paused for a moment and added, “Most of the time.”

“Well, I think most of the time is good enough for Chocolate Chip cookies,” Rosie said. “Don’t you think?”

Andy nodded eagerly. “Yeah, I do.”

“Well, then, hurry off to school, so you can hurry home,” she said.

The children ran down the steps to the waiting bus.

“You’d better hide those cookies from Ian or there won’t be any left for the kids,” Mary warned with a smile, inviting them into the house.

“I heard that, Mary O’Reilly,” Ian called, walking in from the kitchen.

“What the hell happened to you?” Stanley exclaimed.

“I went a round with a famous Irish pugilist,” he said. “And I lost.”

“Mary did that to you?” Stanley replied
,
his eyes narrowing as he approached Ian. “What did you do to her?”

Mary stepped between them. “I was having a nightmare, a flashback, and Ian was helping me,” she said. “In my dream I was punching Gary, unfortunately…”

“You got quite an arm Mary,” Stanley said, examining the bruise.

“To say nothing of the
fist
attached to it,” Ian added.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have some cookies just for you,” Rosie said, laying a plate of cookies on the coffee table. “I remembered how much you enjoyed these the last time I made them.

Ian picked up a cookie and took a bite. “I’m feeling better already,” he sighed, savoring the taste of the cookie.

Mary reached for one and Ian snatched the plate away from her. “I’m sorry, young lady,” he said. “You can’t have any cookies until you’ve finished your breakfast.”

“You want a bruise on the other side?” she asked.

He handed over a cookie. “You’ve a way with words, Mary,” he said.

Rosie sat down on the couch and cleared her throat. “We do need to get ready,” she said. “Stevo Morris will be here any moment.”

“Who’s Stevo Morris,” Ian asked.

“He was the shortstop on the high school baseball team,” Rosie explained. “The one who helped the coach get all of the students out of the room.”

“He was the last person to see Coach Thorne alive?” Mary asked.

Rosie nodded. “The coach helped him down and he was waiting for the coach to come next. He hit the ground, turned around to help the coach and the explosion knocked him to the ground.”

“That’s pretty traumatic,” Ian said.

“Yeah, he blamed himself for a long time,” Rosie said. “If he’d been faster the coach would have made it out safely.”