“Are you still mad at me?” Brandon pulled away slightly so he could face me on his side.
“No, I’m not. I’m glad you did what you did, I just couldn’t believe you’d kept something like that from me.”
“I know I should have told you about the letters and his coming, but I was afraid I would get your hopes up and he wouldn’t ever respond or show up. I thought it was better to deal with you angry for having not told you, than watch you be crushed if he let you down again.”
“You really are too good to me Brandon Taylor.”
Shaking his head, he brushed some hair behind my ear and cupped my cheek, “All I want is to make you happy. I’ll do anything for you Harper.”
“I know. Thank you.” I kissed his lips softly and held his gaze, “I love you so much.”
“And I love you.”
23
Two and a half years later.
“Come on guys, it’s time to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s.”
Liam and his sister set down their flowers and rushed back to Brandon and me.
“Bye Unca Chase!”
“See ya Uncle Chase!”
It was the fourth anniversary of Chase’s death, and like every month, we were here to say our hellos and leave orange lilies on his grave. Brandon and I still told stories of him all the time, and though Liam and our daughter Kristi didn’t fully understand what we meant when we told them he was gone, or that he was Liam’s father, they loved hearing his stories. Trying to explain that he was Liam’s father was even worse than explaining they wouldn’t meet him, so for now they affectionately knew him as Uncle Chase and looked forward to our visits every month.
I hitched Kristi up on my hip, grabbed Liam’s hand and watched Brandon as he said a few quiet words to Chase. He did this every time, and I loved him for it. I’d asked him a while ago what he always said, and he simply explained he was thanking Chase for his part in our family and letting him know he would always take care of us.
Brandon took Kristi and wrapped his other arm around me as we walked back to the SUV. “How are you holding up Sweetheart?”
“I just can’t believe it’s been four years.” I smiled softly at my husband and rested my head against his shoulder. “It feels like it’s been longer, but at the same time like it just happened.” My body shivered as a flash of that night played through my mind.
He rubbed his hand up and down my arm and kissed my forehead, “I know baby.” He responded to both my statement and remembrance of that night, “I miss him too.”
We drove to Mom and Dad’s for our annual night of celebrating Chase’s life and I took a deep breath before we walked in. Our crazy family was all already there, as well as the new additions. Kristi and Liam tried to tackle Sir, who actually preferred to be called Papa now, and he gladly went down and let them jump on him. He was a completely different man from the Sir I’d grown up with, but he was great with the kids, and Brandon and I spent a lot of nights with him. He’d moved to California just as soon as he’d left from his first visit and after a lot of pushing on Carrie and Mom’s part, was now dating a great lady named Veronica.
Konrad hugged Brandon and gave me a kiss on the cheek before rushing a plate of food to an extremely pregnant and moody Bree. Their little girl Cadence was helping our kids tickle Sir, and girl number two was due any day. Aubrey and Jeremy were curled up on each other on one of the chairs and deliriously in love. They were definitely still in the honeymoon stage…seeing as they’d just gotten back from their honeymoon three days ago. Carrie’s new husband Bruce was helping Dad bring in the food off the grill and Kate almost knocked into him as she came storming around the corner.
“Harper! Oh my God, how do you deal with him?” She pressed the tips of her fingers to her forehead and shook her head, “He’s impossible!”
Brandon and I smiled at each other and rolled our eyes, “What’d he do now?”
“He wants to name him AIDIEAS.”
“It’s better than freaking Wrinkles!” Carter mocked as he rounded the corner with their new English Bulldog puppy. “Baby, you can’t name a male bulldog Wrinkles.”
Can’t argue with that. “What kind of name is Ideas?”
Carter hugged me and clapped Brandon on the shoulder, “No, it’s said AY-DIAS. All I Do Is Eat And Shit.”
Brandon and I burst into laughter. Oh dear.
Carter set down the squirmy ball of wrinkles and he took off running toward the screeching and laughing kids, crashing into a chair on his way. “We can always call him crash?”
“Oh! I like Crash.” Kate said with a little clap.
“Yeah? Well, I like you.” Carter’s voice went deep and husky causing Brandon and me to back away.
Kate launched herself at Carter and we groaned as we tried to step around them. Those two couldn’t have been more perfect for each other. Apparently Carter didn’t learn much since not even a month after their first date they eloped in Vegas, but at least this marriage was still going strong. They fought on a daily basis, but their fights never lasted more than ten minutes and always ended in everyone else within seeing distance yelling at them to get a room while they attacked each other with lips and searching hands.
Once we were away from the love fest, we made our way around the house hugging and kissing everyone as we passed them. Mom’s eyes were bright with unshed tears and she kept me in a hug for a long time before sending me to the table with another platter of food. When I was done, I stood off to the side and watched our large mismatched family and smiled.