Chapter 17 #2
“Call me, Sean,” he replied clapping Del on the back so hard his glasses slid halfway down his nose. “And my family is glad to have you. We don’t stand much on ceremony around here,” he continued. “Bridget,” he hollered up the stairs. “Your young man is here.”
“Yes, Da, I can see that,” she replied coming gracefully down the wide staircase, modestly dressed in a butterscotch knitted dress that came to mid-calf.
Del relaxed. She was lovely with her golden hair flowing softly about her shoulders.
The wide belt cinched her tiny waist and with low heeled shoes she seemed much smaller, younger somehow.
Her pretty face had very little make-up, her lips shining with a natural gloss instead of the red lipped temptress she had portrayed most of last week.
She looked beautiful, soft and feminine and Del had the almost uncontrollable urge to kiss her lips, but he settled for her cheek.
“It’s nice to see you again, Bridget. Thank you for inviting me.”
“I’m glad you could come, Winston. You’ve met my Da. Let me show you the house and introduce you to my family.”
Taking his coat and hanging it up, Bridget handed her Da the bottle of wine Winston had brought. Linking her arm with his, she began showing him the house.
The little girls were playing house in the living room and Winston shook each small hand as he was introduced to Lilly, Rose and Caitlin. The twins were identical, almost down to the last freckle. Long auburn hair and amethyst eyes, they looked nothing like Caitie with her bobbing blond curls.
“I know you,” Caitlin said. “You work at my daddy’s office.”
“I certainly do,” Winston agreed. “It’s nice to see you again, Caitlin.”
“Nice to see you too and you can call me Caitie. Are you gonna marry my Aunt Bridget?”
“No, at least I don’t think so,” Del replied carefully.
“Why not?” Lilly piped up. “You like her, don’t cha?”
“Yeah, how come you don’t wanna marry our Aunt Bridget? She’s nice an’ pretty too,” Rose added joining the fray.
“She’s very pretty,” Del agreed, looking to Bridget for assistance. None was forthcoming.
Bridget was enjoying this. It was good to see him unsure of himself for a change.
“I can’t marry your Aunt Bridget,” he said sadly, finally seeing a way out of this.
“Why not?” all three girls asked in unison.
“She doesn’t like my name,” Del told them. “How will she ever be able to call me if she can’t say my name without laughing?”
“What is your name again?” asked one of the twins. “Delbert, Lilly,” he told her. “My name is Delbert.”
“I’m Rose,” the little girl insisted. “Your name is Delbert Lilly? That’s not a bad name. My sister has that name too. I mean some of it.”
“I got an idea,” Caitie offered grinning. “If she don’t like your name, she can call you honey. Mommy calls my new daddy “honey” all the times.”
Bridget had her arms crossed over her chest trying to control her laughing.
“I don’t think I’m making this any better,” he admitted to her, a desperate look on his face.
“No and you never will,” she agreed. “Those three should all go to law school at some point. They can talk you in circles and they have an answer for everything. You girls are so silly,” Bridget told them, giving each of them a kiss on the cheek.
“I have to go introduce Winston to the rest of the family. Your babies are crying anyway, you better take care of them.”
“Okay,” they agreed, but before Del and Bridget could make good on their escape, Rose had one more suggestion.
“I thought you said his name was Delbert Lilly? Why did you call him Winston?”
“I don’t know, that’s just what I’ve always called him,” Bridget replied.
“Then you can get married,” Caitie supplied clearly pleased that the whole thing was settled. “You can call him “Winston honey”. I like that better than Delbert Lilly anyways.”
“Good grief,” Del whispered at they walked away. “Are they always like that?”
“Yup, sometimes it’s even worse. I can’t imagine what they will put their parents through, but I’m sure I’ll think it’s funny.”
“I’m sure you will too,” Del agreed, shaking his head in amazement. “Who do the twins belong to?” he asked.
“My sister, Colleen, and her husband, Noah. Noah’s a History Professor at the college.
They also have a son, Devlin, who’s around here somewhere.
He’s the same age as Todd and they get along famously as long as it’s just the two of them.
Add Molly and Patrick’s boys, Michael and Ryan, and all hell breaks loose.
We’ll run into them sooner or later and you’ll get to meet them.
For now, I better introduce you to Ma, before she blows a gasket. ”
“Is your mother like you, easily excitable?” he asked innocently.
“I guess that depends on what you mean by excitable,” Bridget answered, pulling him into the empty study and pushing the door closed with her foot. She’d show him excitable.
When she threw herself into his arms, Del was helpless to deny her.
Lifting her off her feet, his arms were steel bands around her as his lips claimed hers.
Her toes curled and her shoes dropped right off her feet, thumping silently on the carpet.
Del murmured warnings about getting caught, but Bridget just let her head fall back exposing her throat to his ravaging mouth.
“Oh, Winston,” she moaned. “You’re so good at this. I don’t think I can let you go.”
“For your information, Bridge, I am the one who has you, and you’re not going anywhere,” he growled against her throat.
One arm held her as he slid the other under her dress grabbing her ass and pulling her tighter against him.
When he had her secure, his other hand moved up her back tangling in her hair holding her head at the angle he wanted.
Turning around, he backed her up against the thick door as her legs came around his waist. With the door supporting some of her weight and holding her steady, he was able let go of her head reaching instead to cup her firm breast in his hand.
“Oh my God, Bridget, this is so wrong,” Del panted, feeling the heat from her body through his trousers.
Bridget pulled his glasses off and dropped them to the floor.
Taking his hair in both hands, she forced him to look into her passion glazed eyes.
“If you stop now, I’ll kill you, Winston, I swear it,” she growled before locking her lips on his neck.
They both froze when they heard the door knob twist.
“Is someone in there?” Molly whispered.
“It’s Molly, thank God,” Bridget sighed, letting her legs slide slowly down Winston’s. “We’ll be right out, Molly,” she called back softly, hanging onto Winston for support, her legs too weak to stand on her own. Tears leaked out from her eyes as she rested her head on his chest.
“You better hurry,” Molly whispered back, “you have about three minutes.”
Slipping her shoes on, Bridget ran her fingers through her hair and wiped the tears from her eyes. Picking up Winston’s glasses, she tossed them to him
“Why are you crying?” Del asked confused.
Shaking her head, she held a hand splayed over her abdomen. “I didn’t think women felt pain from unsatisfied desire, only men, but right now I want you so badly it hurts,” she told him truthfully, her green eyes huge in her face.
“You could have picked a better time to throw yourself at me. What will your parents think?” Del shot back, his erection tenting his pants.
“Quick, get behind that chair and stand there,” she ordered, flying across the room and diving into the chair, smoothing her dress down.
Winston did exactly as she said and stood behind the high-backed wing chair about two seconds before Rory opened the door and walked in.
“You two hiding in here?” he inquired, noticing the flush on Bridget’s face. Del looked like he swallowed a lemon and he wondered what his sister was up to.
“Detective O’Malley, nice to see you again,” Del managed to squeak out.
“You’ve met?” Bridget asked in surprise.
“Yes, we met when I was trying to find Tess. How are you, Del, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Sir. Bridget had a little headache so we came in here so she could rest for a few minutes. Isn’t that right, Bridget?” Del was amazed how quickly a man could lose an erection when the girl’s cop-brother made an appearance.
“Yes,” she stammered in agreement.
“And are you feeling better now?” Rory asked, speaking to Bridget, but fixing Del with his best interrogation stare.
“Oh, yes, much better, thank you.”
“Then maybe you better take Del out to meet Ma, she’s been asking where you were.”
“We’ll do that, Detective O’Malley,” Del replied, stepping out from behind the chair and reaching for Bridget’s hand.
“It’s Rory, Del.”
“Yes, Sir, Detective … I mean, Rory. Come on, Bridge, let’s go.”
Rory poured a shot of whiskey and tossed it back. Shaking his head, he went to find Tess.
* * *
Bridget made the rounds, introducing Winston to the rest of her family. Her mother loved him on sight, appreciating the lady-like clothes Bridget decided to wear to dinner.
Colleen gave him the once over behind his back and gave her sister the thumbs up sign.
He’s cute, she mouthed. Secretly, she doubted Delbert was as mild-mannered as Bridget thought, but then again, what did she know.
Colleen had learned appearances could be deceiving and that even gentle loving husbands could be driven to unpredictable behavior.
Rebecca and Mason arrived with baby and gear in tow shortly after noon and it wasn’t long before they all sat down to eat.
Sean said the prayer as hands joined around the table. Rory could feel Tess’s ring on her finger and wondered how long it would take someone to notice.