Mail Order Bride
SLADE
Whenever my brothers and I are in town at the same time, my father insists on gathering us together for a Rhodes family dinner.
After hearing about Lila’s family, the trust fund with strings attached, the siblings circling like vultures… it hits different now, my dad calling us kids together just to see our faces.
We all gather together. Most of us, that is.
I know Dad wants my sister Josie here too, but she comes back to Marble Falls about twice a year, and she’s due to return for Thanksgiving.
So it’s just me, my older brother Walker, and my younger brother Tanner, plus Rafe.
Not to mention Jonah, Walker’s eight-year-old son.
Tonight we also have the newest additions to our family dinners: Sadie, Walker’s wife, and their twin girls. Sadie comes through the door with one baby and Walker has the other.
As luck would have it, the stove is out of commission at Rosemont, so Dad has to convene our family dinner in the private room of Marble Falls’ best steakhouse.
As luck would also have it, Lila is running fifteen minutes late because of a work emergency, so I have plenty of time to reveal to my family the surprise guest I’ll be inviting.
And the reason why I’ve invited her.
I think about what I’m going to say as my family’s familiar loud chatter washes through me. Most of the time I find their noisiness oddly soothing, the way some people find thunderstorm sounds soothing I guess, but tonight my palms are sweating.
I tap my whiskey glass with my knife. Instantly, the chatter ceases.
I never do that.
They know something’s up.
They stare at me expectantly.
“I have an announcement to make,” I say.
“You’re retiring,” Tanner says instantly. “Finally.”
At the same time, Jonah, still in the middle of chewing on a breadstick, shouts, “You’re gonna play for the Montana Hawks and live in Marble Falls forever!”
“No, and no.” I’m still gripping the steak knife, and it feels slippery in my hands. “I’m getting married.”
There’s complete silence.
And then Tanner gives a dry chuckle. “Okay, bro. April Fools, har-dee-har. What’s this really about?”
“I’m really getting married.”
There’s silence. They all exchange glances.
Walker leans forward, elbows on the table. “Didn’t know you were dating someone,” he says in that velvety drawl of his, that voice that’s made him famous.
“I’m not,” I say.
“I knew it!” Tanner declares. “You got a mail-order bride. Makes sense. What was your pitch? That you have forty head of cattle, can chop wood, and speak in monosyllabic grunts only? What woman could resist?”
“She’s not a mail order bride,” I growl. “She’s my designer.”
Jonah’s eyes widen as he leans against Sadie. “I’m getting an auntie?”
Walker ruffles his son’s hair, still looking at me through narrowed eyes. “Seems so.”
Rafe frowns. “I thought you said your designer was an older lady?”
“Never said that. That’s just what you all assumed.”
Dad is leaning back in his chair, eyes twinkling. “Lila Interiors, hmm? I did some checking up on that, did I mention? Miss Lila Sherwood. Very talented young lady. And my new daughter-in-law to-be you say?”
“Yes, but.” I take a breath. I was nervous but excited to tell them about the marriage part.
Now comes the weird part.
Over the next few minutes, I explain the arrangement Lila and I will have. About her trust fund. That this will be a marriage of convenience. Not real.
More silence. I watch Sadie and Walker exchange a look in which a silent conversation seems to pass between them. Sadie just takes a healthy drink of wine while Walker drums his fingers on the table.
“Slade,” Walker says at last. “Have you lost your fuckin’ mind?”
“Language, Dad!” Jonah chirps through another breadstick.
“How do you know this woman’s not some kind of con artist?” Walker demands.
My brother’s on the paranoid side, which I understand.
Tanner and I are well known amongst the fans of our respective sports, but Walker is famous-famous, like can’t walk down the street in Nashville or New York without getting mobbed kind of famous.
Moving back to Marble Falls has brought him peace and quiet, but he’s still guarded as hell around anyone new.
“She’s an heiress to one of the oldest fortunes in America,” I tell him. “Or she would be, if she hadn’t turned their money away. Why does she need my cash, when she could have had her family’s?”
Walker’s eyes narrow. “So what’s in it for you?”
Sadie elbows him. “Walker! You don’t ask a man that question when he tells you he’s getting married.”
“I wouldn’t ask, if this were a real marriage. Instead of whatever sham we’re hearing about now.”
“It’s not a sham,” I say abruptly.
Except… isn’t it?
Walker doesn’t back down an inch. “You’re talking about marriage, Slade. It’s not a fucking business deal or a joke. It’s supposed to mean something.”
Dad leans forward. “Now, now, son, let’s not be so hasty to judge. I’m sure there are nuances here none of us have understood yet.”
He sends a wink my way, like we’re in on something together.
I frown. I don’t know what he thinks he knows.
Although he did say he looked up Lila, probably saw her headshot on her website and knows how pretty she is, so maybe he’s imagining all kinds of things that aren’t there.
“No, really, bro.” Tanner’s looking at me like I’m crazy now, which is kind of insulting considering he rides angry bulls that want to kill him for a living. “Is this a hostage situation? Blink twice if someone’s blackmailing you.”
Now I’m getting genuinely irritated. “This is a favor to a friend. And she’s coming here tonight to join us, and if I hear a single word against her, or our situation, out of any one of you, she and I are walking right out that door.”
Now Walker’s got a more considering look in his eyes. “You’re mighty protective of a ‘friend,’ my brother.”
Sadie strokes her fingertips over the back of his palm and my brother relaxes even further under her touch. She says, “I think it’s very gallant. A spontaneous proposal of marriage just to help her out? It’s actually pretty romantic.”
“It’s not,” I assure her. “It’s practical.”
Tanner shakes his head. “I’m not buying it. Something’s fishy here. Something you’re not telling us. Is it—”
Just then the door to the private room opens.
Every head swivels and every pair of eyes lands on Lila.
The collective impact of every Rhodes’ family member’s eyes on her makes her pull up short. She blinks back at them, and offers a smile.
“Um, hi. I’m so sorry I’m late. There was a situation with a thousand-pound credenza going up on a crane to the second story and…”
I stand and go to her side. Instinctively, I wrap an arm around her waist. My lips brush lightly against her cheek in the barest kiss.
Not that I need to put on a show for my family, but I’m introducing the woman I’m marrying, and it feels right to show some affection.
“Glad you made it,” I murmur.
Her eyes come to mine, warm and a little surprised, and I become aware that my entire family has gone very quiet behind me.
With a hand at the small of her back, I steer her to the chair next to mine and pull out hers for her. When she sits, I drape my arm across the back of her chair.
“This is Lila,” I announce. “My fiancée.”
There’s still total silence around the table, which for a Rhodes family gathering, is vanishingly rare.
Lila’s smile turns uncertain.
And then Jonah says, eyes round under his glasses, “Your hair is pink.”
“Sure is,” she agrees. She gives him a big smile. “You must be Jonah. Your uncle has told me so much about you.”
He nods. “That’s right. I’m gonna have an auntie with pink hair. That is so cool.” He beams at her. “Are you a mail order bride?”
Her eyes widen.
“That’s what Uncle Tanner said,” Jonah explains. “Also, what is a mail order bride?”
I glare at Tanner as he chokes back a laugh. Walker, who was in the middle of sipping his whiskey, plunks the glass down and sends a glare of his own Tanner’s way.
“You’re a bad influence,” he growls at our younger brother.
“Lila,” I say, “This is Jonah, Walker and Sadie’s son. And that’s Sadie, my sister-in-law.”
Sadie grins at her from across the table, one baby propped on her knee, the other working on destroying a breadstick. “I can’t tell you how nice it is to have another woman at this table. With Mari and Anne here, and now you, we’re finally starting to balance the scales.”
Lila’s eyes drop to the babies and her whole face changes. “Oh my goodness,” she says, really studying the girls now, a wondering smile on her face. “They’re absolutely beautiful.”
“Do you want to hold one?” Sadie asks.
Lila’s face lights up. “Can I?”
Sadie transfers the nearest baby—Mari, I think, though honestly I still mix them up sometimes and Walker would never let me hear the end of it—into Lila’s arms.
She settles Mari against her chest and the baby immediately grabs a fistful of pink hair and holds on, giving her a toothless, gummy grin. Lila laughs, delighted, and lets her.
Sadie asks Lila, “Do you want kids?”
Damn. So much for softball questions. Sadie’s as blunt as my brother sometimes.
Lila looks up from Mari’s face, still smiling. Something wistful moves across her expression. “Someday,” she says softly. “Yes. Very much.”
Tanner leans back in his chair with a grin that tells me I’m not going to like what comes next. “You’re in luck,” he says. “Slade will give you as many as you want. Ain’t that right, bro?”
The table goes momentarily quiet.
Because every single person at this table, except Lila, knows I’ve said I’m never having kids.
Not that I don’t like them—I love my nieces and nephew—but kids of my own?
Too much risk. Too much potential for heartbreak and loss.
I made my position very clear to anyone who asked. No marriage, no children.
Except now my fiancée is sitting next to me holding my baby niece, Mari’s tiny fist gripping her finger, and those set-in-stone nevers appear to be made of sand.
Key word being: appear.
Because nothing has really changed.
Lila glances at me uncertainly, obviously sensing the tension. I don’t want her thinking she’s the punchline here. This is my family giving me hell, the way they always have, the way they always will. She’s sitting at this table because I put her here, and I need her to know I’m always on her side.
I rest a hand on her knee in reassurance as I lean close to her. “He’s just giving me shit,” I explain quietly. “Nothing to do with you.”
Tanner raises his whiskey glass at me, unbothered. “I’m calling it right now. Y’all will have three boys and girl, just like Mom and Dad did.” His green eyes find mine over the rim of his glass. “These things tend to repeat themselves.”
“That,” I tell Lila, pointing to Tanner, “is my idiot brother, Tanner.”
He flashes a bright white grin. “He’s just jealous because I’m the good-looking one. Howdy, my lovely future sister-in-law.”
I point to Walker next. “That’s Walker, my asshole brother.”
Walker shoots me another glare before giving a polite smile to Lila. “Good to meet you.”
Then I nod at Rafe. “Rafe’s the good brother.”
Rafe lifts his whiskey glass our way. “Nice to meet you, Lila.”
Then I look at my Dad, whose gaze is flickering between me and Lila, a little bit curious and whole lot delighted. “And that’s my dad, Daryl.”
“Lila,” he says warmly. “Welcome to the family.”
Her smile turns hesitant again. “Th—thank you.”
“I told them everything already,” I explain to her. “They know what we’ve got going on.”
Tanner just laughs again. “Boy do we ever.” He waggles a finger at me. “Slade, you dog. It’s all making sense now.”
I know better than to dig into whatever the fuck he’s implying with that.