Love’s Suicide(79)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Brooks was so serious, and I respected his decision. After all, he was her father. As much as I wanted to feel bad for Bobby, I knew he’d made his own choices and burned bridges. No judge in the world would give him visitation of a child that wasn’t his, especially now that he had a record.

“It’s still hard to believe.”

Brooks got on his knees and waited for me to step into my bottoms. “No, it’s not. Tell me this – when I came back the first time for the wedding, how long did it take you to realize that you were with the wrong brother?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You know the answer.”

“Humor me, woman.”

“I supposed I knew it even before I saw you. I remember standing there watching for you to get out of a cab in your fatigues. My heart was racing and I couldn’t calm myself down. Then when I saw you for the first time, it was like the whole room disappeared except for me and you. Fighting those feelings was impossible for me. I knew I was making a mistake, but I couldn’t figure a way out of it.”

Brooks stood back up and pulled me against him. “I was on the airplane with this old couple. They kept thanking me for risking my life for my country. About halfway through the old lady asked if I was married. I sat there with two strangers, who told them all about the girl I’d loved my whole life, and how she was marrying my twin brother.” He shook his head and laughed. “I was so messed up in my head that day. I’d thought about what I wanted to say to you a million times. It was shocking when that old woman, who’d been married for more than half her life, told me I had to stop the wedding. She said I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t tell you how I really felt. When I got out of the cab and saw you standing there, I knew I was going after you. Something inside of me snapped. There was no way I could let you go through with it without telling you everything. I didn’t do it to get you into my bed. That part happened on its own. Obviously, in making love to you that night, we made the most beautiful little girl. I could tell you that we’re together because of her, but it would be a lie. I wanted you back the minute I saw you on the army base, I just needed to be mad first. I felt so betrayed and hurt. For my whole life I’d thought Branch was keeping us apart. Then I found out you were married to someone else.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Can I be honest about something?”

He nodded.

“I could lie and tell you that I would have been faithful in my marriage, to be honorable. The thing is, the second I knew you were alive was when I knew for certain that I was fighting a losing battle with my heart. If you’d have come on to me in those first five seconds, with my husband standing right there, I don’t think I could have pushed you away. I felt like it was a miracle; like you’d come back from the dead to save me from myself.”

Brooks and I both shared a moment of silence. We hadn’t meant for things to get deep, but there we were so caught up in each other. When the doorbell rang, we realized we’d been talking much longer than we anticipated.

I pulled the cover-up over my head and held Brooks’ hand as we headed downstairs.

B was coming at us, running full-force. Brooks picked her up and spun her around. My stomach was in knots knowing that I hadn’t laid eyes on Branch since I’d left him at the altar. I almost wanted to smile knowing that I’d paid him back and not even known it was happening.

We sat down on the couch to wait for them to walk in the room. I could hear them being greeted by Walt and Danica. Brooks put his arm around me and leaned in for a kiss. I don’t know what made me do it, but I climbed on his lap and kissed him like we were back in the tree house. He had to push me off, and when he did, I was all smiles. I saw his lips forming his own half amused smile. “You’re being bad.”

I couldn’t answer, because I saw them coming toward us.

Branch was still wearing his sunglasses, while Melissa clung to his arm as if he was dragging her. Brooks stood up, leaving me shielded behind him on the couch. He stuck out his hand for Branch. I was afraid to look at how he reacted and I was petrified to look him in the eye. There was also a fear that Brooks would just walk up and punch him.

Then B came running out from around the corner and everyone looked at her. She froze when she saw her father and then another man that looked just like him. That’s when I looked at Branch for the first time. He pulled off his glasses and stared at my beautiful daughter. “You’ve got to be kidding me?” He looked at his brother and then back to B.

“Her name is Brooklyn, after her father.” Okay, in my defense, I felt like it was necessary to immediately shove the fact that I’d had a child with Brooks, in his face.

Branch looked down and scratched his head. When he looked back at me, he held out his arms. “I think we’re here to make amends, Katy.”

I didn’t move from beside Brooks. If he thought for one second I was going to hug him, he was dead wrong.

Then I looked at Melissa, who’d said nothing. Just knowing that she’d spent the past two years trying to be the perfect future daughter-in-law made me want to laugh. She’d never be me, no matter how sweet she acted, or how much they visited. Brooks shrugged as his parents came into the room. B went running toward Danica. “Mom mom, yook.”

She pointed to her father’s twin.

Danica scooped her up. “B, this is your uncle. His name is Branch. Can you say Branch?”

“Banch.”

Branch laughed, and then he did something that I would have never expected. He held his arms out for her. “Hey, little cutie. Come here and say hi.”

She peeked over Danica’s shoulder to look at Brooks. He smiled and motioned that it was okay. I watched her, being taken into Branch’s arms. He hugged her with more love and affection than I’d ever seen him have. Brooks put his arm around me and kissed me on the top of the head. His brother, who was still in awe over her, finally looked our way. “She’s beautiful.”

I felt guilty, after he’d said that. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but Branch was different. He seemed so sincere. Melissa, started talking to B and I began to relax. Brooks was right about living in the past. We weren’t going to make progress if we didn’t move forward, so I walked over toward them and smiled. “It’s been a long time, Mel.”

She hugged me and I slowly let my arms reach around her back. “I missed you so much, Katy.”