17. 17
“S
hould I be scared?” I say, looking at Miles, who has yet to open his car door. We’re just sitting here like we’ve got targets on our backs.
“No. My mother is the sweetest human on the planet.”
“Your face says otherwise.” I can’t look away from Miles’ deer-in-the-headlight stare.
“It’s just—we had to drive around for half an hour to ditch those photographers. And—” He shrugs. “This is all just strange. I’m sorry.”
“The photographers will lay off some after the press conference.”
“Are we really doing a conference—with as little as we know?”
“It isn’t until tomorrow night,” I tell him, hoping to ease his worries. “We’ve got some time to go over things.”
“Okay, let’s go meet Lucy,” he says, pushing open his car door.
Miles told his mother we were coming—an hour ago. If the woman is anything like my mother, she’s in full pout mode at this point. But then, from everything Miles has said, Lucy Bailey and Claire Jones are on opposite ends of the mother spectrum.
We’ll see.
Miles reaches for my hand, his eyes darting left to right down the street, but the photographers who’ve been following us are nowhere in sight. Still, his hand folds into mine, and while it’s foreign, it doesn’t feel wrong. He guides me up the stairs and inside of the charming little gray house.
“Mom?” he calls, but the end of his word drowns to a mere squeak as we leave the small entry to a sitting room. I’m guessing one of the people sitting in this small living room is Miles’ mother, but she definitely isn’t alone. Miles clears his throat. “Hey, everyone.”
A dark-haired man sitting in the corner next to a little blonde folds his arms, his muscles flexing with the motion. The frown on his face is hard to ignore.
A little redhead sits on a blond man’s lap next to them. She smiles—almost robotically—at me while he just stares, brows raised.
Coco, Miles’ sister, is holding a plump little girl on her hip. She rocks side to side on her heels, bouncing the girl.
A dark-haired woman with eyes like Miles’ and a soft grin sits in the armchair at Coco’s right.
Miles’ hand tightens around mine. He points to the scowling man. “Work.” Then to the blond man. “School.” He shakes his head. And then he rounds to Coco. “Clinic. You all have places to be right now. Why aren’t you—”
“Coco called us,” the scowler says.
I flick my gaze to the sister that I think I’m going to end up liking. She’s got spunk.
“I’ve explained nothing, Miles. But I felt like this was important enough to call a family meeting.”
Miles coughs. “At least Coop is—”
The redhead holds out her phone. “He’s here.”
Another man—who, while blond, still looks too much like Miles to not be a brother—waves via Facetime. “Hey, bruh.”
Lucy steps forward. “We saw pictures online. Coco said you’d explain.”
“Mom, I know this is a little unorthodox.” He swallows. “And unlike me. But”—he dips his chin, tilting his head toward me—“this is Delaney, and we recently got married.”
A girl gasps and the scowling man stands. “You did not,” he says, cursing under his breath.
“Levi!” Coco growls.
“What? Alice isn’t here and Lula can’t talk yet. Miles is talking crazy. You know I have no patience for crazy!”
Miles waves for his brother to sit again—he doesn’t. “It does seem crazy. To me too. But Delaney and I met, and one thing led to another. I don’t know what to say, Levi, except that it just felt right.” He’s so sincere, so earnest. And felt right… Does he mean that? Everything else is true. In fact, somehow Miles Bailey confessed our marriage to his mother and his entire family without telling our secrets and without lying. The man has more skills than I realized.
“It felt right?” Levi says. “It didn’t feel stupid? It didn’t feel selfish? It didn’t—”
“Sweetie.” The blonde girl reaches for Levi’s hand, pulling him back down beside her. “Shush. Be kind to your brother.”
Huh. I’m gonna like her too.
“Mer, he’s married. None of us even knew this woman existed—” He says the word married as if it alone were an insult. “And now he’s—”
“Settle down, Levi,” Lucy says, her tone less sweet and more commanding. “You can ask questions, but Meredith is right: you don’t get to make judgments.”
My heart flutters—no, it pounds. My eyes are glued on Lucy, and I can”t look away.
“There’s one other thing,” Miles says, and I realize Coco truly didn’t share anything except that Miles had news. “The reason I never said anything”—his words are choppy, this is Miles lying—“Delaney is also known as Lane Jonas.”
“Wait, what?” the redhead pipes up.
“Lane?” Levi’s Mer says. “I knew you looked familiar!”
“Wait.” Levi shakes his head, his eyes narrowing as if to see me better. “As in The Judys?”
I clear my throat. “Ah, yeah.” My cheeks burn with an abnormal flush—people recognize me all the time. But this is Miles’ family. And while they may not have seen it at first, they certainly do now. Not to mention, I’m still reeling from Lucy’s compassion, but I have to help Miles out here. So, I find the words. “I’m the reason he didn’t say anything. That show, Celebrity Life Celebrity Wife—my contract stated that I couldn’t tell anyone outside my very small wheelhouse the truth.”
“Lane Jonas!” The redhead hisses, and she snags onto Meredith’s arm. “I saw you. And I know her. But her being in our living room. I never thought— I didn’t think that could be real. I just assumed—” She locks her eyes back on me. “I’m a fan!” she whispers.
The angry wrinkles over Levi’s face smooth out—not with approval but curiosity.
“Delaney?” Lucy says with kindness and patience. She takes control of the conversation again.
I nod. Suddenly I have no voice. My voice is my superpower, and all at once it’s gone.
“You’ve captured my Miles’ heart. Only someone completely and wholly good could do that. While I’m not a fan of missing any of my children’s major life events—you’re here. You’re his.” She smiles, and I think Miles might be right: Lucy Bailey is an anomaly. She might be the kindest woman alive. “Which means,” she says, “now you’re also mine.” She holds a hand to my cheek, and I melt like butter in a microwave.
Is this woman for real? She has to be at least ten years Claire Jones’ junior, and yet she talks with love and wisdom as if she’s lived a thousand lives or spent a year with the Dalai Lama.
A loud groan sounds from the scowling Levi, but everyone ignores him.
Lucy reaches for me, taking my hand from Miles. She cups her fingers around mine and steps toward her waiting family. “Delaney, this is Miles’ brother, Owen.”
My heart pounds. I can hear it in my ears.
Crap. I do not know enough about these people.
There’s a warm hand on my back, and then Miles is on my other side. “The teacher,” he says as if he’s told me this before.
“Right.” I nod. “Nice to meet you, Owen.”
“His new wife, Annie,” Lucy says, without one little jab about how Owen and Annie didn’t disappoint her by eloping.
“I’m so trilled—” Annie laughs a shrill giggle. “Ah, thrilled to meet you,” she says. I’m pretty sure her voice isn’t normally that high. She holds out a hand and I shake hers, flooding her freckled cheeks with pink.
Levi snorts. “New?” he says. “Annie’s been around longer than Coop.”
“Hey. Not true,” the man on FaceTime calls out.
“That’s my youngest.” Lucy motions to the phone Annie holds. “Cooper.”
“Hey, Lane Jonas,” Cooper says, and while he isn’t in the room and I’m married to his brother, I still get a flirty vibe from the cute kid on the screen.
A breathy laugh leaves me. “You’re trouble.”
“He’s sweet,” Lucy says, only to sigh a second later. “And trouble.”
“That’s him,” Levi says. “Cooper, the sweetest little troublemaker, named for Mom’s favorite dog.”
“A dog?” I say, unable to stop myself.
Lucy grins. “He really was the sweetest dog.”
My brows lift as I remember that I do know something. I’m not completely oblivious. “And Miles was named after Miles Howard—who I totally know! I used to watch him with my grandma.”
Lucy’s eyes brighten. “What a small world.”
“It’s a worldwide television show, so not that small,” Levi says.
“Levi, sweetie, simmer down.” Meredith pats his leg.
Her words seem to bring Lucy back to the present. “This is our Meredith. Levi’s fiancée.” Meredith takes Lucy by the hand and they share a small squeeze before dropping the other’s hand. “They’ll be getting married at the end of summer. But then, you probably know all about that.”
I don’t. But their lives aren’t a secret, so it makes sense that Miles would have told me. And with more time, I’m sure he would have. I grin like I know exactly what she’s talking about. “August, right?” I assume, looking to Meredith for confirmation. She said the end of summer—August feels like a safe bet.
She giggles. “Yes. The twenty-seventh.”
“And my Levi,” Lucy says. Her brows raise at her son as if silently telling him to play nice.
Levi’s jaw clenches, but he holds a hand out toward me. “What do we call you?”
“It’s Delaney, Levi. I already introduced her,” Miles says from beside me.
“But you changed your name, right?”
“You know who she is,” Coco says to him. “You sing that one song of hers all the time.”
Pink blooms over Levi’s ears.
I tilt my head. “Which song?”
He gives a small head-bobbing shake. “I don’t know,” he mutters.
“Yes, you do,” Meredith says. “It’s in half of your playlists. The one about a thousand years, a thousand lives—”
“Right. That one,” he says. “I’ve heard it before.”
I hold in my chuckle but can’t stop my grin. Levi listens to The Judys. “I helped write that one. And yes, I have a stage name. My PR manager thought Lane Jonas was punchier.” I sigh. “Honestly, that particular name is just confusing. I can’t tell you how many times people ask me about Nick—as if I know.”
Levi grunts—or maybe that’s a laugh. I’m not sure. But he doesn’t look like he totally hates me.
“You’ve met Coco.” Lucy continues down the line.
Miles’ sister smiles at me while bouncing the baby on her hip.
“Alice is in school, but this is Lulabelle.” Lucy runs a palm over the chubby baby’s head. “And Jude, Coco’s husband, is away for work. He’ll be home tomorrow. You can meet him at our family dinner on Sunday.”
Family dinner. Huh. Lucy doesn’t ask, she just tells.
The rest of the afternoon is a mix of questions and Miles’ siblings returning to work. Owen’s the first to go—he got a friend to cover one class and spent that as well as his lunch break with us. Not long after, Levi decides he’s needed at the shop he runs. Cooper has better things to do than sit on FaceTime all day long with us, so he’s gone too.
“All this time, we were watching Celebrity Wife and betting on who you’d end up with and you were dating Miles.” Meredith heaves a breath, her eyes on me.
“They must have filmed it weeks ago, though. Right?” Annie asks, looking to me for confirmation—at least all her words are coming out right now.
“Weeks and weeks,” I tell them. “It’s been hanging over my head. I just wanted to move on with life, and that show wouldn’t let me.”
Meredith’s brows cinch and Lucy’s hand finds mine. We sit on this couch together while Miles runs out to grab lunch. He was hesitant to go, but I promised him I’d survive. I’m certain I’ve survived worse—in the very home I grew up in.
And I am surviving.
I think.
Everyone is kind—a little smothering, but kind.
“So, where will you guys live? Miles isn’t moving to California, is he?” Coco scoots to the edge of the couch—she’s done feeling squeamish around me and ready for some answers.
Lucy looks semi-alarmed at the idea of her son moving and I”m not trying to cause a family meltdown. Miles clearly likes his family, and I do too. I don”t want to turn my mess into his. He doesn”t need any more drama.
“Ah—no. Of course not. I travel a lot. So, we decided Coeur d’Alene will be our home base.” We never had such a conversation, but it sounds good.
Lucy lets out a breath I didn’t realize she’d been holding.
“Where will you live?” Annie’s eyes bulge. “I mean, that room he lives in is like… tiny.”
“Well—” I swallow. Where am I going to live? I just assumed I’d extend my Airbnb for a time… but newlyweds would probably want to live together… “I have a house I’m renting. It does have more space.” I clear my throat. “We may live out of both for a little while until we figure out a more permanent place.”
There. That’s smart. Then none of these happy little Baileys can fault either of us for spending time at either place.