Page 12 of Rescuing Our Bride

I didn’t miss how quickly Anna changed the subject after she mentioned this being our first date. That’s a topic I have no intention of letting her drop now that she’s brought it up. This may be our first official date, but it sure as hell won’t be our last.

“It’s not like a date, Anna. It is a date and there will be plenty more to follow.” I assure her with a confident smile and hand over the whisk I found in one of the small drawers to the left of the oven.

“Okay.” She drags out the word with a heavy emphasis on the second syllable as a blush warms her cheeks.

She looks cute with her cheeks flushed, though I’m not sure why, after everything we’ve done together—and we’ve done a lot to elicit a blush before now—the idea of a date is what brings the heat to her cheeks.

“I believe it’s customary to tell your date, or in this case, your dates,” Jax gives her a wink and a half grin, “a little something about yourself.”

“You already have a file on me. I’m not sure there’s anything I could tell you that you don’t already know.” Anna pours the dressing on the salad and tosses it all together until she seems satisfied that every vegetable in the bowl is coated with the oil and vinegar concoction she created.

“Oh, there are a lot of things about you that aren’t in your file. We’re going to have fun discovering every one of them after dinner.” I let the insinuation hang heavy in the air between us, enjoying the deepening flush of her cheeks.

There’s something intimate about sharing a meal and conversation with her that makes this thing between the three of us feel more real. Before I can stop myself, I’m asking her about the one thing I haven’t been able to get my mind off of since we got back from the lake.

“What about kids?” As soon as the words are out of my mouth Jax hits me with a “dude, what the hell” look.

It’s not that Jax doesn’t want kids. Crazy as it sounds, we’ve talked about this shit before. He wants a family as much as I do. Probably because it was the one thing neither of us had growing up. Not until Penny. No, if I know Jax, he’s more concerned with me dropping a question like that straight out of the gate. He might think it’s too much too soon, but I know what I want. Just like I know what he wants.

What matters is what Anna wants.

“What about them?” She scoops a heaped helping of salad on her plate and jabs the lettuce with her fork.

“Do you want them? Actually, this is a two-part question. Do you want kids and if the answer is yes, how many?” Say yes, say yes. A houseful. Say it. I’m willing her to give me the answers I want to hear.

“Honest answer? You’re going to be sorry you asked.” She manages around a mouthful of food, dabbing her mouth with a folded piece of paper towel in place of a real napkin. “I’m an only child. I never had an older brother to look out for me. Or a younger sister to steal my clothes. I was lonely growing up. I had friends, sure, but it’s not the same as a sibling. Someone who’s lived through the same things, you know? Someone who can just look at you, know what you’re going through because they’re going through it too and you can look back at them, and not feel so alone.”

“I’m sorry you didn’t have that. Mark and I shared that growing up. Still do. Even through the worst of it, I never felt alone.” Jax tips his head in my direction. “Wouldn’t have made it through my first foster home without him.”

The corners of Anna’s mouth curve up in a warm smile as she meets Jax’s gaze, and then she turns to me, hitting me with the full power of those beautiful blues. “Fair warning, there’s still time to throw me back.”

“Like fucking hell.” Jax and I cut in almost in unison.

Her laugh is a beautiful sound, and I’m trying to think of something funny or clever to say so that I can hear it again.

“You say that now, but you haven’t heard my answer yet.” There it is again. Her laugh. Pure joy. I’ll never get tired of hearing it. “Yes, I want kids. Lots of kids. Five, maybe six?”

Five or six? Fuck yes. I’ll make that dream come true sooner than she thinks, for both of us.

“So, umm, you’re foster brothers?” Anna glances between the two of us, then turns her focus back to her salad like it’s the most interesting thing in the room.

It’s not. Trust me.

Jax answers her question before I can, elaborating on how we became brothers.

“Yeah, I’m not too proud to admit Mark saved my ass my first day at the boys’ home. We were eight, no, nine. Anyway, Mark had been living there for a few months before I arrived. Knew the rules of the yard, you know? I didn’t have a clue, but I had one hell of a chip on my shoulder. My mom was a junkie, and I’d been through some shit before she overdosed. I thought I had it rough and hated the world and everyone in it. I learned real quick that I wasn’t as tough as I thought I was. The other kids, the ones who saw through my bullshit because they were just like me, only bigger and stronger, kicked my ass before my bag hit my bunk.”

“So Mark jumped in to protect you?” Anna is focused on Jax as he tells her about how we first met.

As much as I hate reliving our days in the boys’ home, that day is worth remembering. Jax isn’t my brother by blood, but by bond. That means more to me than any DNA.

“Hell no.” Jax laughs, picking up the story where he left off. “But he offered me a hand, helped me get up off the floor and after I cleaned the blood off my face, introduced me to his friends. He’s had my back, and I’ve had his, ever since.”

“That was before your foster mom. Her name was Penny, right?”

This conversation is like picking scabs off a wound, but I get why Anna wants to know.

“Yeah, the older you are, the harder it is to get placed. The kids in the home used to say that if you weren’t fostered or adopted out by first grade you were at the home until you aged out. But Penny had a soft spot for the troubled kids, and Mark and I sure fit the bill. So when the caseworker called, she came around to meet us. Took one look and knew we were a package deal, real brothers or not.” Jax clears his throat. He has a hard time talking about Penny too.

---