He sighed and put his feet up on my desk. “She won’t marry me. Says we should take it slow. But can you keep a secret?”
I glanced over at him and shrugged. “No promises, but I can tell you’re about to bust, so spill it.”
“She wants a baby.”
I tilted my head and tapped my chin with a fingertip. “Let’s see, so in our world, the “then comes Cara with a baby carriage” usually means “then comes marriage” first, right? Or did I miss something?”
It was his turn to shrug. “I dunno. We’re pretty happy the way we are. I’ll finish my degree next year and be able to do full-time teaching to go with the coaching. Cara got a promotion, and is gonna be managing two of the newly merged clinics. Why not have a baby?” His wide grin was contagious.
“Francis, you’re something else, aren’t ya? Woman refuses to marry you, no matter how much you beg, but you’re happy as a pig in shit because she wants you to knock her up anyway? Lord have mercy, our poor mother …” I shook my head.
“Well the way I figure it, the rest of you ya-hoos have softened her up. Besides, you know how she is about babies.”
I sighed and leaned on my elbows. Exhaustion hit me hard. I hadn’t been sleeping well, and had spent the past day or two worried about the way Daniel was getting snappy and short with me again, after about a week’s worth of pampering and “I’m sorry babys.”
“Oh, and I have more news,” Kieran said, looking smug. “Want to go out and grab a bite? My treat.”
I glanced at my watch, pondering how easily I was slipping into a “but Daniel will be pissed off if I vary the schedule” sort of thinking. “Yes. I would love it. What’s Cara up to tonight?”
“Book club. She and her group are reading some seriously sexy stuff right now. It’s pretty awesome fluffing for later.”
I smacked his shoulder. “Pig,” I said, but to my surprise, he grabbed me and held on tight. I pressed my nose to his chest, my arms around his waist and let myself relax.
His news—that Daddy was so happy that Dominic seemed to be with Diana Brantley again he’d agreed to call a truce with him—made me dissolve into giggles.
“The fact that Diana is actually with the handsome new veterinarian and is all but engaged to the man, and the extra fact that our mother is the one who told me that …”
Kieran chuckled then finished his burger. “I know. She’s holding onto that, I’m sure. Anything for reconciliation.”
“I really don’t think Dom is gay, d’you?”
Kieran shrugged. “I stopped trying to figure him out years ago. Unfortunately, it’s part and parcel of his illness. Manic depressives act out sexually sometimes. And every time Dom is off his meds, he gets that way … reckless, dangerous, willing to try anything, you know?”
I nodded, taking a bite of my BLT, wincing when my sore jaw sang out in pain. Kieran frowned at me.
“Yeah, I remember, all right. He is the only one of y’all with a kid our mother has never laid eyes on, which makes her insane.”
Kieran sighed and finished his iced tea. “Please tell me what happened to you for real, Angel.”
I toyed with the fries, dredging them through ketchup and putting them to my lips. “I’m fine. I’ll deal with it. Don’t worry about me.”
“You know I’m at risk now, since I’ve seen you.”
“What are you babbling about?” I caught the waitress’ eye to get me a box for the food. My appetite, never great, had disappeared at the sight of a text from Daniel. “I gotta go,” I muttered, tucking the phone in my pocket.
I had known Daniel for just shy of six weeks, and had fallen so hard for him, this sharp U-turn of personality had me reeling, but determined to get past it.
Kieran paid the bill then grabbed my hand as I was getting up. “I can’t not tell them, if they ask me how you are.”
“Oh, I see. You’re physically incapable of telling our parents a lie.” I raised an eyebrow and pulled my hand free of his. We shrugged into our coats and hats and hit the parking lot. The snow had stopped, but the late evening was pitch dark already. “I hate winter,” I said to no one in particular.
“Call me, or text me or just run out and find me, promise? I mean it.” My brother had me by the shoulders and was glaring at me with those Halloran green eyes. I tried not to cry. Luckily, his phone rang, distracting him. I ducked into my car, blew him a kiss and pulled slowly out onto the main highway. At a stoplight, I tugged my phone out of my purse.
“I don’t appreciate coming home to an empty house. Where the hell are you?”
My fingers shook from cold and panic as I replied: “Had dinner with a brother. Headed home now.”
That night I got some new bruises, none of them above my neck or below my knees or elbows. He called it “BDSM play.”
By the time he finished with me, I had that used sex-doll feeling again. I ached all over; even though I’d screamed my so-called safe word until I was so hoarse all I could do was cry.
He held me close, shushing me while I sobbed against his strong, bare chest and promised me—again—that he’d never hurt me on purpose. That I just made him mad, and if I wouldn’t do that anymore, all would be well. Once he fell asleep, I was able to disentangle myself and curl up on the family room couch under a blanket.
The next morning, after he’d made me breakfast, fed it to me himself, kissed and loved on me, and forced me to fake an orgasm so he’d stop touching me, he left for work.
I grabbed my purse, used as much makeup as I dared to cover my bruise, and lit out of there in my old junker car, leaving behind everything he’d bought for me, including all the gorgeous clothes and jewelry.
I shivered as I sat at the stoplight that would, if I turned left, take me to my parents’ house, and if I went right and drove about twenty miles, to a different sort of refuge. I turned right. And when I pulled into the Brantley’s driveway, I sat and cried with relief for a few minutes, then pulled myself together and went inside.
Chapter Seventeen
We sat at Diana’s table that night, enjoying a delicious, home-cooked meal and the company of my brother and Lee, Diana’s amazingly hot and fabulous boyfriend.
I felt at peace. I’d turned off my phone so Daniel couldn’t contact me, figuring he had enough sense not to go to my parents. He probably knew they wouldn’t help him—I suppose they’d sensed in him what I missed, but whatever. I was free of the asshole now.
My feeling that Diana and Dominic had something going on between them exacerbated the weirdness at the table. Call it female intuition, but it took me less than five minutes to spot it.
Poor cute vet guy was oblivious. At least I thought so, until I realized he was making a concerted effort to appear that way. I flirted with him a bit, and Diana didn’t seem to mind. My head felt buzzy, and I was sore from the night before, but it was obvious everyone had their own issues and hardly noticed me.
We cleaned up, and the awkwardness increased by about a thousand percent when Lee came up behind Diana and hugged her, kissed her neck, and said, “Headed upstairs,” before smacking her ass. Dom glowered after Lee while he climbed the steps.
Diana had the dishtowel in a death grip. But she followed Lee up without a word to Dominic or me. I still had my hands in the soapy water.
“Why are you still here?” I asked him.
“Where the fuck else am I supposed to live?” He threw down the wet rag he’d been using on the countertops and dropped into a chair. “Besides, I’m in charge of that renovation.” He jerked his chin toward the screen door.