Page 3 of I'm Yours

“No, it’s absolutely not necessary,” Marshall says, and is he seriously trying not to laugh right now?

“Marshall, my little sister—yourpregnantwife—hasn’t been located for hours, and a search party isn’t necessary?” Ah-ha. Keys are on the kitchen counter. I pause there to finish my Protective Older Brother speech. “I’m sorry, but I can’t just pretend that it’s not a big deal. And if you say that it’s not necessary one more time, I will actually come ung—”

Another call beeps in, and I pull the phone from my ear. Relief pours through me when I see my sister’s name pop up. I quickly end the call with Marshall, but my sister talks before I can get any words out.

“Stop yelling at my husband, Seth,” she says simply.

“What?” I ask, because how does she know about that?

“I’m pretty sure you heard me. You wouldn’t have asked me ‘what’ otherwise.”

“Jess, I was just told that you haven’t shown up at your house, and Marshall was trying to tell me a search party was unnecessary if you didn’t show up within the next hour. How, exactly, am I supposed to ta—”

Once again, I’m rudely interrupted. But this time it’s not another caller beeping in. No, that wouldn’t make me nearly drop my phone like I do right now as I get bombed with red and yellow confetti and some tiny person runs up and throws their arms around my leg.

“Happy birthday, Office Seth!’

Ah.That voice belongs to Ella, which means she’s the one hugging me. It’s hard to tell through the pieces of paper raining down on me, but it looks like—

“Surprise!”

Andyep.That voice belongs to my sister. The one who is clearly not lying unconscious somewhere, because the confetti is starting to thin. I can see that Jess is grinning from ear-to-ear, Ella is the one hugging me, and Jenna is holding a sleepy Eli while she stands beside my sister, obviously trying not to laugh.

Laugh it up, ladies.

“Did we surprise you, Office Seth?” Ella tilts her head back to look at me, dark eyes sparkling with delight.Maybe it was worth the near heart attack, after all.“Mommy said I was a really good bed sheet. And Eli slept the whole time. I think that means we get ice cream sandwiches after we eat burgers.”

Since I have no idea how to process any of that, but especially the bed sheet situation, I glance at Jenna just in time to see her cheeks turn a dusty shade of pink. I wish I wouldn’t have, because every time I see her blush, I feel this unwelcome pang in my chest region.

One that reminds me of how much a (very) small part of me wants more than just friendship with her, but I know that can never happen. I’m pretty sure there are things about her ex-husband she hasn’t confided in me about, and Iknowthere are things about my past I haven’t shared with anyone, not even my sister. Now, before you assume (because we both know what that means) I have some murderous background, let me clarify.

I could not be a police officer if that were the case.

No, it’s nothing remotely close to having a murderous past.

There are just some things I have no interest in talking about. I am not, and will never be, one of those people who goes around telling their problems to everyone. Believe me, people have enough of their own crap to deal with. I see it firsthand in my job nearly every day.

So, when it comes to Jenna, I promise you there is nothing between us. She was wronged by one man in the past. I will not be the second, because I know all too well what it’s like when someone you love ends up being the person who hurts you the most. Both from the standpoint of being a child and from being an adult. I care too much about Jen and the kids to ever hurt them like I’ve been hurt. Ella and Eli have already seen one father leave; they don’t need to see me fail at fatherhood because my own father was a bad example and I have no idea how to be a dad.

Walking my sister down the aisle because our dad isn’t a part of our lives is one thing. Having two innocent children and their mother put their trust in me when sometimes I don’t even trust myself? That’s an entirely different thing. I will be there for Jen and the kids in any way I can, just like the past three years, as long as they won’t end up attached and disappointed when they find out I can’t do it all.

“Yoo-hoo.” Jess’s hand, sporting her shimmery wedding ring that catches the sunlight streaming in my front door and tries to blind me, waves in front of my face. “Did you hear anything I just said?”

I know better than to lie to a woman, so I shake my head. “No. I was too busy trying to figure out why Ella said she makes a good bed sheet.”

Okay, that’s not necessarily the full truth, but it’s not a complete lie. I still don’t know the reason she said it, and the fact that Jenna’s cheeks are bright red all over again proves there is something more to the story. But the door opens behind me before I can voice my questions.

“Did it work?” Carrying two big to-go paper bags from Farm to Table, Marshall walks in wearing shorts and a T-shirt, which means he must’ve left work early enough to shower, change,andpick up food. He makes a beeline for his wife and slides his free arm around her waist after setting the bags on my counter. “I’ll have you know it was really hard not to laugh as soon as you answered the phone.”

I roll my eyes. “Thanks a lot. When I gave you my permission to marry my sister last year, I didn’t mean you could also scheme with her to scare the crap out of me. Can someone explain to me what’s going on?”

“Did you really think we’d let you be all alone for your birthday evening?” Jess grins, leaning against Marshall, her hand resting on her stomach. It doesn’t go unnoticed that they’re wearing the T-shirts Marshall got for Christmas last year. His saysMy wife is a smoke showand hers saysMy husband is a hottie.“No. The answer is no, we will not. That’s why the four of us were camped out in your laundry room for the past thirty minutes while we waited for you to get home, and then when you didn’t come down the hallway, we had to put Plan B into action. I was looking forward to jumping out at you, but I think this is better, because I don’t think I could jump anywhere without having to go to pee.”

I roll my eyes and lift Ella into my arms, making her squeal with simultaneous delight and surprise. After I swing her around a couple times, her giggles subside and she beams at me, the gap between her bottom two teeth on full display. I’ve only talked to her father a few times, but I speak honestly when I say Ella wears the curly dark hair and brown eyes a lot better than Pete.

“Did you know that my birthday is next month?” she asks, her little finger touching my chest badge.

“I did know that,” I say. “Maybe we’ll have to celebrate by…hiring the Tickle Monster to come to your house!”

---