Chapter Twenty
Wesley
“Where did Brad go?” I asked Kayley as she handed me a beer.
She shrugged, “He said he had an emergency at work.”
“Dang, couldn’t he have gotten someone else to handle it.” Huntley said, “It is his daughter’s birthday.”
Kayley gave him an annoyed look “That is the difference between being the baby of the family and being the oldest. As the oldest, he takes his job seriously. You whine and complain and expect someone to do it for you.”
I laughed, “You know, I never thought about it, but she’s right.”
“Bullshit!” Huntley laughed. “What does that say about the middle child?”
“It says that he can go either way, but you know as well as I do that our dear Wesley, is different than most middle siblings. He goes above and beyond.”
Henley was grinning, “What about me? I’m a middle child, too.”
“You are more like Hunt, you whine.” Kayley grinned his way.
“Hey, Hunt, I thought you were bringing your fiancé to the party. Did she get tired of you already?” Riley smirked.
“No, she didn’t get tired of me. She had to work this weekend.” Hunt said.
“Isn’t she an administrative assistant? What does she have to work on over the weekend?” Kayley asked him, and Henley began to snicker.
“She had to work on her boss,” Henley commented with a smirk
“Cut that shit out,” Hunt said as he glared at us. “She has an important job.”
“If you say so,” Riley said with a laugh.
“Doctor Young!” I heard the voice and thought I was dreaming. As I turned, I wondered if I’d had too much to drink and I imagined it, but little Marisol was charging toward me. I had just enough time to hand off my beer before I caught her.
“What are you doing here, Marisol?”
“Mr. Brad came to bring us to the party. He said you got busy, so he did it.”
“Oh, he did, did he.” I knew that if she was here, so was her mom. “What else did Mr. Brad say?”
“He told me that you love me. Do you?”
I nodded, the smile was gone now as I answered the very important question. “I do.”
“Do you love my Mommy, too?”
“Wait, what?” Hunt said from beside me, but I ignored him as he turned to our siblings, “What did I miss? Wes has a woman with a kid?”
I studied Marisol, for a moment, “I do. Where is your mom?”
She turned and pointed toward the driveway, and I followed her finger. There at the end was the woman I couldn’t stop thinking about. The woman who had stolen my heart and then crushed it because she couldn’t be honest with me.
She looked nervous, but also intent, and I wondered if Brad had kidnapped her, or had she come willingly? It didn’t matter, she was here now. Brad said I should listen to her, here was her chance. If she couldn’t be honest with me, then there was no chance of a future with us.
I glared at my brother “You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
He smirked, “Nope. You can thank me later. Come on, Marisol, let’s go find the fun.” He quickly took charge of Marisol, and off they went as we stared at one another. God, she was beautiful. It was so damn hard to stand back and not go to her.