Chapter 1 #2
Grabbing half a bagel, Kate kisses me on the cheek before rushing toward the front door. “I love you! See you tonight. Remember I’m meeting with all the bridesmaids after work today to make sure everything’s set for our big day.”
She stops after flinging the door open and looks back at me. “You’ve got all your groomsmen in order, right?”
I don’t want to worry her, so I lie. “Of course. Most of them are my brothers, so they know if they don’t fall in line they’ll have to deal with me. Not to worry, babe. One month from now, you’ll see.”
Relief washes over her face. “Good. Okay, I’ll see you tonight! Wish me luck with the Brinleys.”
“You don’t need luck. You’ve got this. Love you!”
A second later, the door slams behind her and she’s on her way out to the car service I arranged so she doesn’t have to worry about how she’ll get to and from the city.
Alone, I try not to think about the fact that Marius and Kellen still haven’t done anything about their tux situation.
Matthias owns one since he has to attend black tie functions more often as the head of King Industries than my other two brothers, so he’s all set.
Those two, though, will need to rent them, unless they suddenly have the urge to buy formalwear, although knowing them, that’s a hard no.
The memory of one of those two telling me their tux was sitting at the bottom of some lake drifts through my mind, but the details escape me. Sounds like Kellen, but knowing Marius’s history, it very well could be him who ended up buck naked on a boat somewhere.
Clearly, I need to get this handled, so there’s no time like the present.
I call Kellen first since I know he’s up at seven in the morning. He answers quickly, but something tells me he’s not having a great day already.
“What’s up, Ronan?” he asks in a clipped tone.
“Just calling to see how you’re doing and to check on how the tux issue is going.”
He doesn’t immediately answer, making me wonder if he ended the call, but then a second later, he exclaims, “Fuck! Hang on. I’ve got to stop this bleeding or I’m going to look like a fucking wolf attacked me this morning.”
The phone drops, making a clanging sound, and I wait as I wonder what’s happened to ruin his day this early. Kellen has never been a morning person, so it might be simply that he’s pissed he’s awake at this time.
In the background, I hear Salem say something and then laugh.
That’s not going to be good. In addition to being a cranky soul in the morning, what he hates even more is when others don’t cater to that miserable way of his at the crack of dawn.
My brothers and I never tiptoed around his feelings as kids when he acted like this before school, but I guess I’d always assumed Salem took a gentler approach to his hatred of this time of day.
A second later, he comes back to the phone. The sulking is crystal clear in his voice. “Sorry about that. You know me and mornings. Salem says hi.”
Obviously, Salem has a way of dealing with this brother we never figured out because that’s the first time I’ve ever heard Kellen apologize for his behavior.
“Tell her I said hi. I hear she’s meeting with Kate and the rest of the bridesmaids after work today.”
“Yeah. I think she mentioned something about that. So what’s up? You getting cold feet and want me to hide you away on some island so Kate can’t drag you down the aisle?” he asks with a chuckle.
My instinct is to clap back at his attempt at being funny, but knowing how he acts in the morning, I hold back.
Kellen and I have always been closer to one another than any of our other brothers, so I know him almost as well as I know myself.
He’ll only give me a hard time if I don’t humor him today, so better to go with ignoring his teasing.
“Nah. I’m looking forward to it,” I say before downing the rest of my orange juice.
That makes him chuckle again. “I know. That’s how it is when you find the one.
You and Kate were made for one another. We all saw that when you were in high school.
So let me guess. You’re calling me because even though you went with Marius as your best man, I’m the one who’s responsible for planning a blowout bachelor party and you’re not sure I can handle the challenge.
Well, you don’t have to worry. I’ve got it covered.
Just you wait until you see what I’ve got planned. ”
My bachelor party is the last thing on my mind. It’s not like we’re going to do anything like have strippers or get so drunk I can’t stand up to say my vows the next day. I’ve never been into that kind of thing, and he knows it.
At least I think he does.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. You know me. I’m pretty chill about things like bachelor parties. I assume it’s going to be all of us sitting around eating some good food, smoking cigars, and drinking some good whiskey.”
When he doesn’t say anything to that, I add, “Right?”
Again, he laughs. I think I preferred when he was a miserable bastard when he woke up rather than Mr. Chuckles.
“Don’t worry, Ronan. I know you. You’re my baby brother. I’ve looked out for you nearly all my life. I wouldn’t do anything to ruin your big day.”
I breathe a sigh of relief at hearing that. “Good. By the way, have you taken care of the tux yet? I know you won’t be buying one, so you need to get yourself to the rental place.”
“Jeez, dude. You don’t get married for a month. Why are you stressed out about my tux? I’m your brother, Ronan. Trust me. I’ll have the right clothes on when you see me standing with you at the altar. If I were you, I’d be more worried about Marius.”
Kellen likes to think that our older brother is going to be an issue, but I work with Marius at our foundation, Hope Forward, so it’s not like my wedding isn’t on the top of his mind.
This brother, on the other hand, I rarely see since he and Salem are always so busy with their jobs.
Even more, Ava talks to Eden nearly every day, and I know between those two, they have Marius and his tux under control.
I don’t tell Kellen that, though.
“Yeah, I’ll be calling him right after I get off the phone with you. Just tell me you’ll have it handled, okay? If Kate finds out from Salem tonight that you haven’t even thought about it, she’s going to be stressed out. I don’t want that for her.”
My brother hums into the phone. “You’re coming through loud and clear. Make sure Salem tells Kate I’m on it so she doesn’t worry. Got it.”
Closing my eyes, I pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration. “Or you could just go to the tux place and get fitted so it’s ready for the wedding. That could happen, right?”
Salem once again says something in the background, and Kellen sighs.
“I’m getting it from all sides here. Okay, I swear I won’t screw this up.
I’ll get there today or tomorrow. It’s just that you have us all going to that place out near you and I’m in the city all the time, but I’ll get to it. Scout’s honor.”
I imagine him holding up the Boy Scout sign with his fingers, but the problem is I don’t remember Kellen ever being a scout, so that pledge means nothing. I don’t feel like pushing him anymore today, though, so I’ll have to take him at his word for now.
“Thanks. Okay, I’m off to call Marius. Have a good one!”
“You too, baby brother, and don’t get so stressed out. We have the easy job. All the guy has to do is show up and look good. It’s Kate who’s doing the heavy lifting with the wedding.”
He leaves me with that thought. He’s right. Kate’s done far more planning for our big day than I have. Not that I didn’t want to, but choosing colors for dresses, flower arrangements, and the million other details that go into a wedding don’t seem to need much input from the groom.
Here’s to hoping I’ll have better luck with Marius. Although I don’t even know if he’s awake before eight on a Tuesday, I call him and am surprised when he answers sounding like he’s been up for a while. Domestic life with Eden seems to have made him a changed man.
“What’s up, Ronan? I bet you didn’t think you’d get me all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, now did you?” he asks with a laugh.
Caught off guard at how awake he truly sounds, I fumble out, “Well…not really, but you know.”
“No need to explain. I know I haven’t always been Mr. Rise and Shine. The baby had different plans, though, and since Eden had errands to run this morning, I’m the guy in charge of the progeny today. So what’s going on?”
Stuck on his use of progeny instead of his daughter’s name, I ask, “Does Lily’s mother know you refer to her like that?”
He gives me a full belly laugh before answering, “Probably. I call Lily everything but her name, to be honest. Nugget. Dumpling, but that’s usually only after we get dinner from that great Chinese place.
Pumpkin. It’s all pretty much food, frankly.
Well, except for Little Duck, but that’s just because I call her mother Duck.
Don’t worry. She’ll know her name by the time she has to go to school.
So what’s going on this fine April morning, and why are you calling me? ”
I’m not sure how to deal with this very awake, very chipper version of my brother.
Before Eden, Marius tended to be pretty sarcastic most of the time.
He had his genuine moments, of course. Definitely that night he found me after I tried to kill myself was one of them, and we’ve certainly been closer since then, but for most of my life, Marius was the brother who seemed comfortable being snide and cynical about life.
This Marius confuses me, but I can’t help but admit I like this guy.