The Best Man’s Surprise Baby (Vows and Veils #5)

Chapter 1

THEO

“You’re late,” Max said.

Theo Davenport sat on the bleachers to check the knot in his shoelace. “There was traffic.”

“You’re never late for anything,” Max told him.

“Well, it’s only basketball.” It wasn’t even real basketball. It wasn’t as though Theo and his brother played in a league, or even with other people. It was only their weekly Thursday night pickup game, and in Theo’s opinion, Max should count himself lucky that Theo made time for this at all.

But he knew it was difficult for his brother to understand the differences in their lives. As a freelance sportswriter, Max could work when he wanted to. He could set his own schedule. Taking Thursday evening off was no big deal for him.

It was different for Theo. As the owner of the Houston Stallions, he had to be constantly available to deal with emergencies and keep the club running smoothly. People might think that owning a baseball club was all fun and games, but the truth was that it was a lot of hard work.

Not that Max knew anything about hard work. Berating Theo for being late to a pickup game, as if this was the most important commitment he had!

He got to his feet, satisfied with his shoelace, and held out his hands for the ball.

Max passed it to him. “It’s not only basketball,” he said. “This is the only time you and I see one another. It’s the only time we spend together. That’s important to me, Theo.”

“It’s not like I blew it off. I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Sometimes I think you just do this because it’s the only time you get any exercise in the week.”

“That’s not true at all. I have a home gym — and you know it.” Theo made a point to get in regular workouts, if only because fitness was necessary to allow him to keep up with the rigorous demands of his work life. You couldn’t work sixteen-hour days if you were going to fall victim to fatigue.

Max rolled his eyes, as if Theo’s comment had somehow only proved his point. “Whatever, bro. You’re here now, so let’s play. Take the ball out.”

Theo did, and over the next several minutes, the two brothers fell into a companionable routine.

They were a good match for one another on the court, having played one-on-one all their lives.

Theo had often felt that this was the only way he had to relate to his brother.

He and Max had so little in common, but they both enjoyed these pickup games.

Today, though, Max was playing unusually badly. After Theo had stolen the ball from him for the third time in a row, he stepped out of bounds, which was their way of signaling a stop in play. “There’s no point in this if your head isn’t in the game,” he told his brother.

“I’m sorry,” Max said. “It really isn’t.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, it is, I just… wanted to ask you something.”

Theo sat down on the bleachers. “Is this about the marketing job? Because it’s still available, and I think you’d be really good for it.”

“What? No, I told you I didn’t want that job,” Max said. “Why are you so adamant about trying to get me to go into marketing at the club? I’m happy with what I do.”

“Because you could earn a reliable paycheck instead of living contract to contract,” Theo said. “And you’d still be writing, you know. I know that’s what you want to be doing.”

“I would be writing ad copy. That’s completely different and has nothing to do with sportswriting. And I already told you that I wasn’t interested in this job,” Max added. “You don’t need to keep offering it to me. That wasn’t what I wanted to ask you about.”

“I’m just trying to help,” Theo said. “You’re a father now.”

“And you aren’t, so please don’t assume you know more than I do about what it takes to raise children.”

That was fair, if a little harsh. Theo nodded. “Fine,” he said. “So, what was it you wanted to ask me about, then?”

“Well, it is about the kids,” Max said, “kind of.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine. Everything is great.” Max drew a deep breath. “What I wanted to ask was… will you be my best man?”

The words took a moment to register. Then Theo turned to look at his brother. “Are you serious? You and Tara are finally taking the plunge?”

“After two kids, I think it’s about time,” Max said with a grin. “We always talked about doing it after the baby was born, and now that he’s here, I think it’s perfect timing. But I can’t do it without you by my side.”

“You know I love Tara,” Theo said hesitantly. “And I think you two are great together. But are you sure this is what you want to do? I mean, a wedding… all that junk…”

“It’s not junk, Theo. And Tara really wants it.”

“I wouldn’t like to think you were getting into something you weren’t sure about just because she wants it. What about what you want?”

Max was quiet for a moment. “Look, I know how you feel about weddings — about marriage,” he said.

“But I don’t think it always has to be a bad thing.

I think it could be really good with Tara.

And it isn’t just her who wants it. I want this too.

I want us to be a family. Me and Tara and our kids.

We already are, of course, but there’s something special about making it official, and I want to do that. ”

Theo nodded. “If it means that much to you, of course I’ll be your best man,” he said. “I think you and Tara are a great couple.”

A look of relief broke over Max’s face. “Thanks,” he said. “I know it’s really important to her to have you be a part of this, too. She doesn’t have any siblings, you know, and she wants to have a relationship with you. She values you, Theo.”

“You know I think she’s great.”

“And it means the world to me. There’s just… well, there’s one other thing about all this.”

“What do you mean?

“We kind of jumped the gun on our preparations — well, we were so excited,” Max said quickly.

“We were calling around, trying to find a venue to have the wedding reception. We haven’t found one yet, but then we decided to contact Tara’s church.

She wants to get married there. And they had an opening in six weeks. ”

“Hang on,” Theo said. “Six weeks? You’re going to do this that quickly?”

“I mean, there’s not really any reason to wait. We’ve been together for years. We have two kids together. It isn’t like we’re going to change our minds about this.”

“No, I know, but do you really think you can plan a wedding that quickly?” Theo asked. “I mean, I don’t know about you, but knowing Tara, she’s going to want something fancy and elaborate. It won’t be enough to have a backyard barbecue reception or anything like that.”

“No. And I agree,” Max said. “I want something nice too.”

“You’re going to have a hell of a time pulling it all together in six weeks.”

“And that’s what I need your help with,” Max said earnestly. “As my best man…”

“Oh, no,” Theo said, realizing where this was going.

“Tara and I really can’t handle all that wedding-planning stuff. You know how busy our jobs keep us, and we’ve got the kids.”

“And you know how busy I am with my job. I could hardly get away for this pickup game today!”

“I know,” Max told him. “I know how hard you work, Theo. I know what a big ask this is. But in a way, your job would help, wouldn’t it?

You have a lot of professional contacts.

You know photographers, event planners, even DJs…

I’m sure you’ll be able to pull something together much more easily than I could. ”

“You’re asking me to take advantage of my professional resources?”

“I’m not asking you to do anything unethical. But surely you know some people who do this kind of thing, people you could get in touch with and try to hire for the wedding. I mean, I know for a fact that you know catering companies. You probably have huge lists of vendors that would be relevant.”

He was right, even though the request annoyed Theo. “It’s still an awful lot of work,” he said.

“I know. And I’m not asking you to do it alone. Tara’s maid of honor will help you — she’s already agreed to it.”

“Do I even know this person? I don’t think I’ve met any of Tara’s friends.”

“No, I doubt you do. She was at Jack’s baptism, but…” Max trailed off.

Theo knew what his brother would have said if he had continued.

But you didn’t come to the baptism. That was a sore subject and a half.

He’d been invited to Jack’s baptism, of course, but he’d had a big meeting that day, and it wasn’t as if Jack was going to remember who had been there and who hadn’t.

He would have been attending purely for his brother’s sake, and his brother just didn’t need him to be there that badly.

He had gone to Jenna’s baptism when she had been born, after all.

He had participated in one of them. How many times could he realistically be expected to take time off work for one of these things?

And the kids were going to have birthdays every year, and graduations — he had to pick and choose what he was going to be present at.

He couldn’t do every single thing. Max should understand that.

Still, raising the subject had had the intended effect — Theo was feeling guilty. “All right,” he said. “I’ll meet this person. At the very least, I can give her my contact list, and maybe she can make use of it.”

“I really appreciate that, Theo,” Max said.

“And I hope you’ll help her with some of the planning.

It would mean the world to me. You know, this is the only wedding I’m going to have.

I asked you to be my best man because you’ve always been there for me.

In a way, you’ve been more of a parent to me than our own parents were. ”

Theo had to look away. He knew his brother was right about that.

It was amazing that Max was getting married at all, given what the two of them had been through growing up.

Their parents had divorced when they were young, and it had been bitter and contentious.

The fights, the way each parent had leveraged the boys against the other — it had all been a very difficult way to grow up, and Theo had done all he could to shield his brother from the worst of it.

He was proud of Max. He was happy that his brother had found enough confidence in his love life that he was able to get married. God knew Theo himself would never feel like that.

And his brother wanted him to help with the wedding preparations. They had been together, a team, all their lives, and now Max was asking him for this.

“All right,” Theo said, though he dreaded how much the project would take him away from his work and prevent him from getting things done. “Six weeks. I’m sure we can pull something together in that time.”

“Thanks, man.” Max beamed. “I knew I could count on you. Tara is going to be so happy.”

“All right.” Theo got to his feet and bounce-passed the ball to his brother. “Let’s finish this game, shall we? And get your head in it, or I’m going to have to let your fiancée know that she’s engaged to a guy who can’t make a layup.”

Max laughed, and the game resumed.

At least this maid of honor person is going to be involved in the planning, Theo thought. With any luck, she’ll be so excited about planning her friend’s wedding that I’ll hardly need to do anything at all.