Page 8 of Bound By Words

“Do you guys even know how to get to the hospital?” Chase asked, looking mildly panicked.

“Don’t worry,” Drew interrupted, taking the keys from the valet once he pulled up. “Miguel and I got this.”

“Wait? What?” Now Miguel looked panicked as he glanced between the panting pregnant woman and his husband. “I am not delivering a baby. No, no. That was not part of my agreeing to be a dude of dishonor.”

“It’ll be fine,” Drew assured him as he moved to open the back door of the SUV. “We’ll get them checked in and come back to the reception. She’s not going to have the baby in the back seat.”

“That better be a guarantee. We’re burning the car if that happens. You cannot get the smell of placenta out of leather. I’d never look at this car the same—“

Adrian moved forward, interrupting Miguel’s little freak-out, gently settling Isobel into the back seat and reaching around to fasten her seatbelt. He jogged to the passenger door on the far side of the car, jumping in and slamming his door.

“Let’s go.” Drew jerked his head toward the car, and Miguel flashed me a look of pure terror.

“Go,” I nodded, knowing that if they waited too much longer, he might be delivering a baby on the side of the highway. I wasn’t sure how long she’d been in labor, but looking back on it, Isobel had seemed mildly uncomfortable all day. “The longer you wait, the more likely you’re gonna have to get up close and personal with Isobel’s lady business.”

“I haven’t seen a honey pot since college. And definitely not one with a head trying to escape from it like that thing in Alien.”

“You mean the alien?” I laughed as he made a face.

Chase cackled, leaning back into Evan’s chest. “Honey pot? You clearly need a better thesaurus.”

“Since when have you liked women?” Elle asked from behind me.

“I wanted to see what the fuss was about. Zero out of ten. Do not recommend,” he gagged.

“Quit telling my sister about how you kissed a girl and didn’t like it and get in the damn car.” Drew smacked his hand on the hood as he peered around the front windshield, clearly ready to get on the road. For someone who was determined not to be serving as a backseat midwife, Miguel couldn’t take a hint.

As the car pulled away, the group headed back into the hotel. Chase giggled as Evan wrapped his arms around her from behind and whispered in her ear. She looked like a princess, her sleek ivory gown hugging her curves and the wild mane of golden curls laced with jeweled pins sparkling in the lobby’s lighting.

As I looked around, everyone was paired off—Evan and Chase, Ethan and Elle, Sam and Kristine, and then there was me. By myself.

Blowing out a heavy breath, my eyes burned as tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. I was not going to cry. At least, not yet.

My body moved on autopilot as we returned to the head table, the DJ calling the room to order once the bride and groom had reappeared. Then, the nerves kicked in. Now I knew why Elle and Miguel were all too happy to let me be the maid of honor…well, technically, Elle was the matron of honor, and Miguel had dubbed himself a dude of (dis)honor because he said he was too young to be a matron. It was because I now had to stand before several hundred guests and speak about my love for my little brother.

I’d written a speech—of course, I had. I took assignments seriously, well…most of the time. But now, I was trying to filter through the mush in my brain to recall all the sappy things I’d written.

As I watched my father and Chase’s struggle to hold it together as they looked proudly at the newly married couple during their speeches, my mood darkened. Then Ethan got up there and talked about growing up with this intense desire to protect his baby sister and how he knew from the first time he met Evan that he didn’t need to worry anymore. I was gutted as he handed me the microphone, my mind full of static.

The room quieted as I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment, trying to get ahold of myself.

Warm fingers squeezed my left hand, and I opened my eyes, looking down at a slightly disheveled Miguel taking his seat. He winked and nodded at the microphone, so I took another deep breath and faced the crowded ballroom.

“For those of you who haven’t had the misfortune of meeting me, I’m Kelly, Evan’s older—much prettier—sister. Unless you ask Chase, she seems to think this guy is cute or something,” I laughed, hooking my thumb at Evan.

“Or something,” Chase said loudly, and the crowd chuckled.

“As the firstborn, I was used to being the center of attention. As a toddler—if you ask our parents—I reacted severely to them bringing a baby back from the hospital on my third birthday. I told them I’d asked for a Barbie doll, not a baby brother, and they could return him to the store to exchange him. As you can see, they didn’t listen to me.” I paused, glancing over at my parents. My dad was laughing, and my mom was shaking her head at me with a smile.

“Most of the time, I’m glad that siblings are non-returnable. Evan has grown on me over the years, both in height and like an incurable rash. He was forced to follow in my shadow throughout most of his childhood, teachers exclaiming how different we were to my parents when the loud, talkative, high-energy child was followed up with her quiet, vastly more socially compliant brother who never got in trouble for bossing his classmates around or refusing to stop talking.”

“Despite being forced to deal with my reputation, Evan was always supportive—except for that one time he refused to let me dress him up like a Ken doll for Halloween.” Chase laughed loudly, and Evan’s cheeks turned pink. I didn’t even want to know why with those two.

“Evan was always the quiet sibling, but I didn’t mind because it meant I had a captive audience. He tolerated a lot of teasing from me over the years, and until recently, he took it with a stoic acceptance. When he called me last year asking for a ride from the airport, he seemed different—not only because he was wearing leather pants—but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. Then, I sat and listened to Chase read an excerpt from the first book they wrote together. I could tell that Evan had written part of the passage she read, his usual eloquence shining through.”

“As we sat there and listened to her bring his words to life, I watched his face, his expression one I’d never seen from him before. I could see the amount of pride he felt as she captivated the entire audience with her voice, but it wasn’t until she finished that I realized the way he looked at her wasn’t an expression I’d seen from him before.” I glanced over at Evan, smiling at the soft grin on his face. He was in a room surrounded by people, and he was utterly relaxed. “Evan has had trouble being in a crowd since we were kids, always tending to avoid social situations that placed him in large groups. I’d seen him during author events early in his career, and he tended to look more like he was being led to slaughter.”

“When Chase opened the floor to questions, talking about her writing experience with Evan, I realized that Evan had finally done something first. While he’d spent his entire life getting to do everything second, he’d beat me to one thing—well, I guess now two since we’re here today. Evan was the first to fall in love.”

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