Chapter 23
“You’re late,” Kenzie said, smiling hugely as she reached up and threw her arms around his neck, yanking him down to give him a bear hug that would put his brothers’ sad attempts to shame. “I missed you.”
Closing his eyes, he returned his sister’s hug and chuckled. “You saw me last week.”
“It was a short visit,” Kenzie pointed out as she released her hold on him and headed back towards the kitchen.
“I had somewhere to be,” he lied, rubbing the back of his neck as he followed his sister.
“Sure you did,” she said, sending him a mischievous smile over her shoulder as she pushed the swinging door open.
He walked in, expecting to find his mother arranging large bowls and platters of food, only to find his father standing in the middle of the kitchen with a large bowl of mashed potatoes in his arms. When his father’s gaze locked on Kenzie, he shot her that warm, sappy smile that belonged to his only baby girl.
That smile quickly disappeared when he looked up and saw Danny standing in the kitchen.
Jaw clenched firmly, he walked past Danny, pointedly looking straight ahead.
“I do so love these family dinners,” Danny mumbled, rubbing his hands down his face.
“Why don’t you just tell Dad that you-”
“Don’t,” he said, dropping his hands by his sides, “Just don’t.”
“Sorry,” Kenzie said, giving him a small smile as she grabbed a large platter of fried chicken.
“Don’t worry about it,” Danny said, sighing heavily as he looked around the large kitchen. “Where’s Mom?”
“She spilled gravy on herself and had to go change,” Kenzie said with a shrug.
He gestured absently behind him. “I wanted her to meet Jodi.”
The smile on Kenzie’s face slowly turned to horror as his words registered. “You brought your girlfriend here?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?” Kenzie demanded, shoving the platter of chicken in his hands.
“In the front hall with everyone,” Danny said, wondering what her problem was.
“You left her with our brothers? Are you out of your damn mind?” she demanded, shoving past him and making him realize what he just did.
He’d left Tinkerbelle alone…
With his cousins…
And his brothers…
Who all thought it was their job to look after him.
Shit.
He dropped the platter on the kitchen counter by the door and shoved past his sister at a dead run.
He was halfway down the hallway when he realized the large foyer where he’d left Jodi with his brothers and asshole cousins was empty.
By the time he’d reached the stairs, the cries to stop had started.
“Please, stop!” Tinkerbelle cried, sounding out of breath.
He was going to fucking kill them, Danny swore as he followed the sounds of her pleas.
He couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been to leave her like that.
He’d known better than to leave her with them, but he hadn’t been thinking.
He hated coming here, hated seeing his father, hated the reminder that his father hadn’t spoken a word to him since the night before he’d run off to enlist, but most of all, he hated the fact that his father looked at him as though he was a stranger.
“No, I can’t take anymore! Please, stop!” Tinkerbelle cried, sobbing hysterically as he rounded the corner and ran down the hallway where he used to race his matchbox cars with his brothers late at night when their parents had gone to bed.
He ran down the hallway, shoved the double doors to the family room open and decided then and there that he was definitely going to kill his brothers.
“Please, stop!” Jodi cried, gasping for air as she tried to stop laughing, but she just couldn’t, not with all seven of Danny’s brothers shoving the most embarrassing pictures they could find of Danny in her face.
“Wait! I found the home videos!” Arik announced triumphantly as he held up a large stack of DVDs.
“You…Bastards!” Danny snarled as the photo album on her lap was suddenly yanked away.
“Oh, come on!” his brothers whined as Danny snatched the rest of the photo albums away from them.
“Betraying bastards,” he grumbled with a murderous glare aimed at his brothers as he slammed the photo albums down on the coffee table.
“Stop being an asshole,” Duncan said with a roll of his eyes as he reached down to-
“Ow!” he yelped as Danny grabbed his hand and, with a simple twist of his wrist, dropped his brother to his knees.
“The next person that shows my girlfriend a picture of me wearing one of Mom’s bras is a dead man!” Danny snarled, using his hold on his brother’s hand to make his point.
“Let go, you bastard!” Duncan yelled, gasping in pain as Danny added a little more pressure to drive his point home.
She should be concerned about his brother, but…
“There’s a picture of you wearing a bra?” Jodi asked, shooting a hopeful glance towards the pile of photo albums and wondering if it would be possible to get a copy blown up for her wall.
“Don’t even think about it,” Danny said, throwing her a menacing look that once upon a time would have cowed her, but now, it just made her mumble under her breath and shake her head as she got to her feet and walked around him to find that picture for herself.
She heard a muttered curse and then, she found herself pulled into Danny’s arms and his lips pressed against hers. “Be nice, Tinkerbelle, or I won’t show you my old tree house.”
“You had a tree house?” Jodi asked, smiling against his lips as she imagined a mini-Danny hiding in his tree house, warding off his territory from his younger siblings.
“Yes, he did and I could only get him to come out for dinner,” a small woman with graying black hair and a huge smile said as Danny stepped back.
“Sweetheart, this is my mother,” Danny said, leaning down to kiss his mother on the cheek.
“Mom, this is my girlfriend-Mom?”
“Mrs. Bradford?” Jodi asked, panic taking over as she reached for the older woman just as her eyes rolled back and she-
“I’m fine,” Mary, Danny’s mother, said, waving off everyone’s concerns and gesturing for everyone to eat.
“Honey, maybe we should go to the hos-” Dr. Bradford began to say only to stop mid-word when Mary turned a furious glare on him.
“My oldest son brought home his girlfriend to have dinner with me and I’m damn well going to have dinner with her!” Mary snapped at her husband, startling everyone at the table.
“Ummm,” Dr. Bradford began to say, swallowing nervously as he slowly, ever so slowly, handed his wife the icepack he’d been holding against the back of her head where she’d hit the edge of the couch when she’d passed out, and sat back in his chair. “Just let me know if it starts hurting.”
“Uh-huh,” Mary murmured absently, shifting her attention back on her. “Would you like any more chicken, Jodi?” she asked pleasantly, startling her even more.
“N-No, thank you, I’m fine,” Jodi said, glancing down at the plate overflowing with food and wondering how she was going to eat all of this without getting sick.
“Are you thirsty?” Mary asked, sounding eager as she gestured towards one of the many pitchers lining the long dining room table.
“I’m fine, thank you,” Jodi said with a smile.
“Are you sure?” Mary asked, gesturing for one of her sons to pour her a glass of lemonade.
“She’s fine, Mom,” Danny said, waving his brother off.
“Yes, yes, of course,” Mary murmured, looking thoughtful as she absently pushed her mashed potatoes around on her plate.
“This is really good, Mrs. Bra-umm, Mary,” Jodi said with a smile as she took a bite of mashed potatoes.
“So, tell me about yourself,” Mary said with a huge smile as soon as Jodi had food in her mouth.
“You already know all about her,” Danny said, surprising her.
Mary’s eyes narrowed on Danny. “I have waited years for one of my inconsiderate sons to bring a nice young woman home to meet me! You will not deny me this moment!”
Jodi watched in astonishment as every single one of Danny’s brothers suddenly dropped their heads and became completely focused on their food while Jason, Trevor and Kenzie sat there, clearly enjoying themselves.
Danny just sat there, pushing his food around on his plate as he stared down at the table.
Frowning, she looked from Danny to the end of the table where his father was doing the same.
“Jodi?”
“Hmm?” she murmured, tearing her gaze away from Mr. Bradford to focus on his wife, his really happy wife.
“Tell me about yourself, Jodi.”
“There’s really not that much to tell,” she said, feeling self-conscious as every pair of green eyes at the table looked up to watch her as she answered.
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Mary said, smiling. “Danny said you went to college?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jodi said, clearing her throat as she shifted in her chair, subtly looking around, hoping that someone, anyone, was going to come to her rescue, but no one said anything. “I have a Master’s in History with a concentration in Antiquities.”
“Very nice, very nice,” Mary said, nodding approvingly. “And your family? Danny said that you’re very close to your father?”
“Yes,” Jodi said, smiling weakly because they were close, but over the last couple of months, she’d been avoiding her father. She didn’t want him to see how far she’d fallen because it would only take one hug from her father to make her lose it and break down, telling him everything.
She really missed him.
“Why are you here?” Danny suddenly asked, distracting her. She looked over at him to find him still sitting there, still pushing his food around on his plate.
“There was a party,” Jason said, taking a large sip of his iced tea.
“And we weren’t invited,” Trevor finished for him with a careless shrug.
Okay, then…
“And Haley and Zoe?” Danny asked, still pushing around his food.
“Were,” Jason answered, taking a bite of mashed potato.
“And the kids?” Jodi asked, too curious to keep her mouth shut.
“Also invited,” Trevor said, taking a bite of chicken.
“Then, why weren’t you-” she started to ask, only to get cut off when a small, pretty woman with jet black hair pulled up into a ponytail, wearing a tight, black Bradford Construction tee-shirt and hip-hugging jeans came walking into the room, smiling hugely as she said, “I’m sorry I’m late.
Uncle Jared needed a hand with some blueprints. ”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Darrin demanded, looking seriously pissed off.
“Darrin Bradford!” Mary gasped. “What is wrong with you?”
“Many things,” Reese muttered under his breath, taking a bite of food as he shook his head in disgust at his twin.
“I’m glad you’re here, Marybeth,” Mary said, smiling warmly at the small woman that looked nothing like the rest of the Bradfords.
Actually, now that she thought about it, she thought that Marybeth looked like she had a little Native American blood in her.
She had a flawless tan, warm dark eyes and a mischievous smile that far surpassed Danny’s.
“I wanted to see if you’re still planning on flying down with us for the trip. ”
“She’s not going,” Darrin said evenly, grabbing two biscuits off the large platter in front of him.
“Yes, I am,” Marybeth said, sitting down in the empty chair next to Darrin.
“No, you’re not,” Darrin said, even as he scooped some mashed potatoes on her plate and started to load it up with food.
“I really am,” Marybeth said, taking a sip of his lemonade.
“No, you’re really not,” Darrin said, throwing his arm over the back of her chair as he took the glass of lemonade from her and finished it off.
“You really need to get over it,” Marybeth said and as much as Jodi knew that she should look away, she couldn’t. There was just something about the couple that made it difficult to look away.
“You really think I’m going to be able to get over this kind of betrayal?” he demanded, reaching up to play with a lock of her hair.
“I had lunch at a buffet with Zoe without telling you. It wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last time, so get over it,” Marybeth said, stealing one of his rolls off his plate just as a loud gasp drew everyone’s attention to the other end of the table where Trevor stood, looking absolutely furious.
“She told me that she was running errands!”