Ross 04 Take Me On (25 page)

“I’m only saying that it’s worked out quite well for him, hasn’t it? Now he’s in the picture for good, and you’re obviously taken with him. Why wouldn’t he take advantage of the situation?”

“It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!”

“Lower your voice,” Gianna all but hissed, casting a glance around the store.

“
You
started this.”

“I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

“You think I do? Please have at least a little respect for my judgment. I know it hasn’t been the best in the past, but—”

“Oh stop. Quit blaming yourself for what happened at your wedding. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Funny that’s coming from you, who not so secretly wishes I’d take Mark back. Whose judgment isn’t good here?”

“Gabriella—”

She couldn’t stop the words once they’d started. “But at least there’s no way Mark might be after my money, since he has his own. Because that would be a far,
far
worse thing than being a cowardly, indecisive asshole. Apparently.”

Gianna crossed her arms and glared icily at her. “If you move Ian into your apartment, consider yourself on your own.”

“Are you
cutting me off
?”

“I’m protecting you from yourself. You want to have this baby, and I support that. I will
not
support a…parasite living off our family.”

“But he’s not—!”

“If you want him, you’re more than welcome to have him, but you’ll have to quit med school and go back to nursing. We won’t support it. I’m sorry to draw the line this way with you, but I’m only thinking about what’s best for you. Forget about men right now, Gabriella. Focus on school and the baby.”

“So it’s med school or Ian. Yeah, forcing me into this situation when I’m already an emotional mess sure is what’s best for me and the baby.”

“Actually, I think we’re making the decision pretty easy for you, aren’t we?”

“Mother—”

She got the long-nailed finger in the face, punctuating each of Gianna’s words. “End. Of. Discussion.”

Momentarily robbed of speech—rare for her—Gabby stepped back in absolute astonishment, feeling her shoulders deflate in the subarctic temperatures of Gianna Ross’s dark stare. “I wasn’t planning on moving him in, Mother,” she said, finding her voice at last. “And it’s not like he doesn’t have a job. He works for your
son
. If he moves back to Dallas to be close to me, he’ll probably go back to work for his old bosses.”

“Well, good for him. He’ll make his own way. You can do what you want, but he won’t live under any roof that we pay for. You have a path set under your feet, and I want you to stay on it. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.”

“It’s your attitude toward him that’s unreasonable. Spending too much time with Sylvia Andrews, are we? Why don’t you just keep in mind how she
really
feels about Brian?” Gabby scoffed. “Though I get the feeling you’re about to find out in a big way.”

Her mother didn’t take the bait, and Gabby was glad, because the second she cast it out there, she regretted it. “This doesn’t have anything to do with her or Brian. It has to do with
you
.”

“I suppose Dad agrees with you on this. Was this his idea or yours?”

“He has the same concerns I do, yes.”

“Ian is the father of your grandchild. You could at least afford him that much respect. If you can’t, you’re going to lose a lot of mine. Both of you.” Doing her best to keep her composure, Gabby turned and left the store, even though going outside felt like walking into an oven and her mother apparently still meant to buy a few things. She wanted to tell her she didn’t want a damn thing from her—but she couldn’t, could she?

The car had remote start, so when Gianna had mercy on her and it fired to life beside her, Gabby got in the passenger side and put her head between her knees, deep-breathing.

Did she even want to subject Ian to this bullshit? Did she want to burden him with the knowledge of what her family—with the exception of Brian—thought of him? He’d had so much hurt to deal with all his life. She wanted to protect him from any future pain that might be coming his way—either from her family…or from herself.

It was the same feeling she’d had standing on the beach in Florida. Forces beyond her control washing away the sand beneath her feet, leaving her unsteady and unsure.

Chapter Eighteen

It was Candace who answered Gabby’s knock at Brian’s apartment this time, looking adorably disheveled with her blonde hair pinned up. She wore slouchy sweats and a T-shirt that could’ve been Brian’s for the way it swallowed her. She greeted Gabby brightly and invited her in.

“How are you feeling?” Gabby asked as she entered the apartment, almost identical in layout to Ian’s. A warm vanilla aroma drifted in from the kitchen that made her mouth water.

“Not too bad lately. How are
you
feeling?” Candace’s grin and the knowing tone of her question alerted Gabby to the fact that Brian hadn’t been inclined to keep her own condition a secret from his fiancée. She followed Candace into the kitchen.

“I’m okay. Still a little sick in the mornings.”

“Me too. I heard you went to the hospital, though. Everything okay now?” Candace bent down to peer into the oven, where obviously something sweet and decadent was baking.

“Seems to be. Is Brian around?”

“I sent him to the store. Should be back any minute. I realized I had no icing for the cupcakes.”

Gabby laughed, taking a seat at the bar that separated the kitchen from the living room. “You’re going to make him gain weight.”

“He’s already spending double time at the gym. I think he’ll be all right. Me, on the other hand…” Candace rolled her eyes. “Every day I say I’ll try to do better, and every night I’m in here baking.”

“So…when are you guys going to break the news?”

Her face darkened. “Well—” She paused when the front door opened, and Gabby turned to smile at Brian as he entered, carrying what looked like a ton of grocery bags, and kicked the door closed behind him.

“Isn’t that sweeeet,” Gabby said with pure syrup in her voice.

“If my hands weren’t full, I’d so flip you off right now,” he said, trudging into the kitchen, where he heaved the bags onto the counter.

“I said
icing
,” Candace laughed, looking over the pile of white plastic bags. “Only icing.”

“Yeah, well, who the fuck knows what you’ll come up with tomorrow night. I got everything we could conceivably be running low on.” He grinned and planted a kiss on the side of her bared neck. “Forethought.”

“Aw, you’re awesome.” She smacked him on the butt, and he made a grab for hers, but she twirled away, giggling. God, could they be any more sickening?

“Where’s Ian?” Brian asked, beginning the task of putting all the groceries up.

“At his place. I haven’t seen him yet tonight, but I’m headed over there in a minute.”

“He’s welcome, you know, if you want to call him to come over.”

“Thank you for that. Really. But I kind of wanted to talk to you first.”

“Everything okay?” Brian looked over at her, blue eyes wary beneath the bill of his black baseball cap. It warmed her a bit that her little brother still looked ready to kick some ass on her behalf if she said the word, even though it would be his friend on the receiving end and not a guy he hadn’t liked much anyway. Blood really was thicker than water with Brian.

“Mom is on my ass because of him.”

“Why?”

“She thinks he’s trying to weasel his way into our fortune or something.”

“Oh my
God
. That’s fuckin’ ridiculous.” Brian erupted at the same time Candace made a similar exclamation. “Do you want me to talk to her?”

“I don’t know. I mean, whatever, she can think what she wants, I guess, but…he doesn’t deserve that. It’s not like we were planning a wedding, but she makes it sound like I’ll be out on my ass if I try to set up anything permanent with him.”

“I can’t believe that,” Candace said, shaking her head. “Your mom is always so cool.”

“You didn’t grow up with her,” Brian said.

“Well,
you
didn’t grow up with mine,” Candace countered. “Believe me, I consider your mom cool.”

“Not about this.” Gabby stared down at her hands, where her fingers were laced so tightly together that her knuckles had gone white. “Maybe if, um…you guys would go ahead and announce, it would get all the focus off me?”

Brian and Candace both looked at her for a moment, then at each other.

“We weren’t planning to do that yet,” Brian said at last.

“Okay. Why not?”

“We’re going to get married first.”

“
What?
”

“Like, this weekend.”

Gabby heard all the words, but she couldn’t process them. “
What?
”

“I always warned y’all we were gonna run off and do it. Did you think I was joking about that? You ought to know me better.”

Sighing, Gabby shook her head. “I know you always said that. I’d just hoped we might be able to change your mind.”

Brian scoffed and returned to his chore. “Shit, no. We know what we’d be taking on with
her
family, and now you tell me Mom’s frazzled, so fuck all that. We’re going to take care of things, come back and say, ‘Here’s what’s going on, here’s what we did about it, fucking deal with it.’ I’m sick of the bullshit, Gab. We’re all grown-ass adults but you’d think we’re still teenagers for the way our parents want to have their hands all in our business.”

“I hear you,” she said quietly.

“We’ll move before we deal with it much longer, just leave it all behind. Evan had the right idea.”

“He never had to put up with this much, though,” Gabby pointed out.

“Yeah, he’s a fucking saint. I’m not. And I’m not gonna pretend to be one. You shouldn’t either, sis. If you want to be with Ian, then fucking be with him. You have
my
blessing, anyway. Jesus Christ.”

She had to chuckle, because Brian kept gesturing wildly with various boxes of food items as he ranted, and finally he shoved them in place and slammed the cabinet door as if the entire conversation had agitated him beyond control. Candace flinched, and Gabby sent her a sympathetic smile. Her little brother could be a hothead, but certainly it wasn’t the first time Candace had witnessed it. It had to be a burden on her, since her family was a huge part of their problem.

“What do you think they’re going to say?” Gabby asked her, and Candace didn’t have to ask whom she meant.

“Oh, they’ll be furious.” Her petite hands drifted down to her belly, hidden beneath Brian’s three-sizes-too-big shirt, and she shrugged before dropping them back to her sides. “But I’m with him on every point. I’m sick of it all. We planned to do this all along, but me getting pregnant has kinda put a rush on things.”

Gabby shifted her gaze back to Brian. “So this weekend, you said.”

“We’re going to fly to Vegas. She got our plane tickets today.”

“I’m happy for you guys. I really am. But…dammit! I so wanted a big wedding for you.”

“
We
never wanted that,” Brian said.

“Nope,” Candace agreed, shaking her head. “Never.”

“Is it not what
you
want, though, or is it yet another thing you’re letting your family dictate for you, Candace? The need to run away instead of having to deal with them through a big wedding?” Funny
she
was asking that. Wasn’t she allowing her family to dictate plenty for her right now?

“I see what you’re saying, but honestly, he’s all I need. I don’t need a crowd or a white dress or any of that crap. Hell, I’d rather get married in black.”

Brian grinned. “That’s my girl.”

God. Gabriella could only imagine how the Andrews family would react to something like that. Police cars and ambulances came to mind. How could it be that she wished so hard for things for Brian that she wouldn’t want for herself? If eloping was what they wanted, could Gabby really blame them? The memory of being the excited, nervous, expectant bride came back, rising around her like a flood intent on sweeping her away. And that moment when she’d had all of it ripped out from under her in one simple sentence from Evan.

“Gabby, he’s not here.”

Not that Brian would ever in a million years do to Candace what Mark had done to Gabby—but still. If she could ever be talked into going through with the whole thing again—and that was a big
if
—she would never want to set herself up for such failure again.

Failure… It didn’t necessarily have to happen at the altar, though, did it? It could happen years later and still blindside her as severely as it had that day, still rip her world apart.

Maybe it wasn’t
weddings
she had such a problem with… It was marriage. The entire institution of it.

Hell, maybe it didn’t go that far. Maybe it was relationships. They might work for other people, but for her, they had always been another arena for failure to whip her ass. One she didn’t need right now.

She forced words past the strangled feeling in her throat, since Candace and Brian were probably waiting for her thoughts on the situation at hand. “I see. You’re not sparing yourself from them so much as you’re sparing them a coronary.”