Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
Luke
F our days later, Luke lounged in the armchair with a whisky tumbler in his right hand. He swirled the amber liquid with the large, round ice cube. The lump of ice stayed still, taking up most of the glass, keeping his fingers cold on the warm late August evening. Luke was listening to his big brother, Archer, tell stories about the rigs to his sister’s husband, Nate. Jason watched on with a smirk.
With only a few days until Luke and Freya’s wedding, the evening felt like the calm before the storm.
Their aunt Cynthia had still not shown her face.
“You’re quiet tonight, brother,” Jason commented to his left.
Now that all four siblings were home on Copper Island and their mother had taken the fifth cottage in the row of large houses next to Edward Hall, they had gravitated to each of the houses for different reasons. Archer and Erica’s house was for evening chats and relaxing. They met at Jason and Heidi’s place if they were having dinner together. Luke and Freya’s place became the designated spot for girls’ nights in. Daisy and Nate’s place seemed to be a place where they went for the lad’s nights in, also known as whiskey nights.
At the end of the row stood Imelda’s cottage. That was more like a day nursery as she took care of the grandchildren while they went to work. Tonight the boys were at Nate and Daisy’s place as the girls were doing girl’s stuff for the wedding.
Archer reached for the decanter on the large piece of blond driftwood with a thick glass on top that acted as the coffee table.
Side eyeing Luke, he poured two fingers into his tumbler. As he sat back on the sofa opposite his brother, he caught Luke’s eyes.
“Yeah, you’re usually correcting all the embellishments I make in the stories,” Archer pointed out.
Luke looked at Archer and raised his glass, ridiculously irritated.
“You’re doing a successful job of underselling how many times we nearly lost our lives, so Nate won’t go back to Daisy and cross-examine her about how she got the scar on her left calf,” Luke said in a measured tone like he was delivering a calm threat.
“What?” Nate bellowed as he stood, looking out to the vast lawns like he was searching for his wife.
Jason looked at Luke with an exasperated expression and swivelled to Nate, who had sat back down opposite him across the unlit fire pit that was between their armchairs.
“Luke’s joking. He’s just pissed off he’s had to wait so long to get married,” Archer said.
Luke rolled his eyes at his peace-maker brother but silently thanked him for being the levelheaded one.
“I’m not joking, and that’s not what I’m pissed off about. I’m pissed off that I had to wait a year to marry Freya because you fuckers couldn’t keep your hands off your wives and got them all knocked up. Archer for the second time, and Freya has put an embargo on sex,” Luke said, through clear, succinct, annunciated words.
He added a hand gesture that had his thumb and forefinger touching to make an A-OK sign, but he was anything but A-OK.
“Dude, you need to get laid,” Jason said, trying hard but failing to hide his laughter.
“I fucking would, but Freya has made us abstain for the last week. I’m not allowed to even kiss her for the week leading up to the wedding.
“What’s all the yelling about?” Daisy, Luke’s sister, called out from ten feet away.
She was coming from Luke and Freya’s house. The brothers and Nate were hanging out at Nate and Daisy’s place while waiting for their wives to return from where they’d been. Luke tried all the tricks he knew to get anyone to reveal what they were doing, but everyone kept their mouths shut.
Daisy, Erica, Heidi, and Freya walked side by side towards the back wall and stopped on the dirt path.
The four women’s clothing gave him no clues, dressed in baggy trousers and loose tops, looking fresh and rejuvenated. A far cry from how Luke was feeling.
The women looked at the men with amused expressions.
“Daisy, come here,” Nate said.
He beckoned her over with four fingers pressed together like he was signalling for a truck to back up.
Jason burst out laughing.
Archer snapped his head to Luke. “Luke,” he said in a whiplash voice.
“What?” Luke replied, throwing his hands up in the air, feigning innocence.
“Daisy,” Nate repeated. “Come here.”
This time, his commanding voice left no room for nonsense.
Daisy smirked at the girls. She then broke away from them, walked to the gap in the wall, and walked straight to her husband.
“Yes, Nathanial, what is it I can do for you?” she said, standing in front of him with her hands in her pockets.
She’d shuffled so her legs were leaning against his splayed legs.
“You can turn around,” Nate said.
Heckles came from the girls as Heidi and Erica came into the patio area and headed for their husbands. Freya stayed on the other side of the wall.
Luke dragged his eyes away from his sister, who was sashaying on the spot, which made him want to throw up and throw something at Nate. Luke’s eyes shot straight to Freya, who was already looking at him like he was breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He put his hands flat on the sofa arms and began to half stand when three things were said at once.
“How did you get this scar?”
That was Nate. He’d pulled up her left trouser leg and was drawing his thumb over Daisy’s left calf.
“Is it done?”
That was Archer to Erica, who had plopped down onto his lap.
Erica nodded and giggled.
Archer promptly stood with Erica in his arms.
“We’re leaving,” he announced.
Archer carried her out of the patio area, turned left, and ran with her to their home.
“Luke,” Daisy snapped.
Ignoring his sister, he looked back to his soon-to-be-wife.
“Come here, Freya,” Luke said, hoping the command would work as Nate’s instruction did with Daisy.
“No,” Freya said, while shaking her head with a smug grin. “It will be worth the wait.”
“Luke,” Daisy snapped again.
“What?” he yelled at his sister.
“What did you tell Nate?” Daisy asked, with her hands on her hips.
“How did you know it was me who told him?” Luke replied, looking at Jason, attempting to shift the blame onto him.
“Did you say yes?” Jason asked Heidi, who perched on the arm of his chair.
“Yeah,” Heidi replied.
“Because I know how pissed off you are that I’m a parent before you, and I’m also married before you. Jason would never rat me out, and neither would Archer,” Daisy said, clearly annoyed as her voice rose.
“We’re going. Later,” Jason said.
He stood, took Heidi’s hand, dragged her away from the patio area, and turned left to his cottage next door.
“What the fuck is going on here? What did you women do?” Luke barked out.
“It’s a show, not tell thing. I’ll tell you after we’re married,” Freya said.
“That’s three days! By the look in Jason and Archer’s eyes, I want to know right this fucking second.”
“Luke,” Daisy shouted. “What did you tell Nate?”
“I’ll see you around, Turner,” Freya said just before she jogged across the lawn towards Edward Hall.
Luke had no idea why she was giving him blue balls, but seeing as three days wasn’t an eternity, he slumped into the chair and sulked.
The wedding reception was being held at Edward Hall and her relatives that were not on the island were staying there. Freya thought Erica was in charge of the wedding arrangements, but apart from the dress and anything the women wore, Luke had arranged all her wishes. This was her wish, so he’d go with it. But not without stating he was not happy.
Luke’s attention went back to his sister and Nate.
“It’s seven inches long,” Nate said, leaning closer to Daisy’s calf.
Was that reverence he heard? He muttered it, leaving Luke uncertain if he was angry or bereft.
“It was a long time ago, Nate,” Daisy said over her shoulder. “Stop looking at it. I can’t see it, so I don’t know how it looks.”
Nate had one hand clamped on her hip to keep her in place, so she wasn’t moving anytime soon.
“There is barely a scar,” Nate added. “It looks deep. How did you get away with a thin scar?”
He asked Daisy, but Luke answered.
“Because I’m fucking excellent at sutures,” Luke replied and stood. “Honestly, these are going to be the longest three days of my life.”
“Did you say yes, too?” Nate asked Daisy.
“Sure did,” she replied with a grin.
Seconds later, Daisy was over Nate’s shoulder, and he was marching into their home.
“See yourself home,” Nate called out just before he closed the back door.
“Fucking great, everyone is off with their wives, and I’m alone,” he muttered to thin air.
“Well, there’s always your old mum.”
Imelda, Luke’s mum, came strolling by carrying a teeny tiny baby in the pouch tied to her front.
“Mum, you’re not old,” he said, coming to the wall to peek at Daisy’s little one, Penelope.
“It seems like yesterday you were this tiny, and now look at you all grown up, getting married, and hopefully having a baby on the way soon,” His mum said, coming into the patio area.
Luke leaned in to give his mum a kiss on the cheek.
“Oh, Mum, I’m finally getting married.”
Luke pulled the blanket away from Penelope’s face and grinned down at the sleeping baby. He couldn’t wait to start a family.
“You’re going to make a great father,” she whispered.
“Thanks, Mum. I can’t wait.”
Three days, and he’d be all over it. They weren’t coming back from their honeymoon until Freya was pregnant.