wrong,” Luke insisted. Now or then.
His dad’s hand fell on his shoulder and drew him farther into the room. “Well, what’s done is done. Tame that damn hair, put your coat on, then come get a glass of champagne so you can celebrate with the rest of us.” Thirty years in the Army turned every request into an order.
Luke looked at the man beside him. They were the same height—six-two—but Colonel William Brennan’s military bearing always made him seem taller.
Beyond his father, he caught sight of Kristin, finishing a slow waltz with her new husband. They ended with a kiss. He took a deep breath. “No, thanks.”
The Colonel’s gray eyes went steel-cold. “Listen, son, I expect you to cooperate—”
Luke jerked out from under his dad’s hand. “How much more cooperative can I get? I let him take them away. I stepped aside and gave him my whole life. I even played the part you wrote for me today.”
He lowered his voice, stepping close enough to guarantee his words would stay between them. “But if you think I’m happy about it, you’re crazy. And if you think I’m going to come in there and toast this marriage—give them my blessing, for God’s sake!—you’re more than crazy. You’re sadistic.”
“Luke—” Strong fingers gripped his elbow as cheers from the other end of the room drew his attention. Dread tightened his throat, but Luke looked over.
Kristin stood balanced on one slender leg, her skirt lifted to reveal the other foot in its high-heeled slipper resting on a chair seat. Her groom, wearing Army dress blues, knelt in front of her. As she laughed, he slipped a lacy blue-and-white garter down her thigh and over her smooth calf. Applause broke out as he stood and flourished the scrap of fabric.
“All single men to the front, now!” He grinned widely. “This lady’s mine and I’m not sharing, but if you catch her garter, you’re guaranteed to find your own!”
As he looked around the room, the groom’s gaze came to rest on Luke. Even from a distance, the antagonism in his face was clear to see. The crowd chuckled, murmured, and finally ebbed into silence.
Luke broke away from that stare and glanced at his father. “There is a limit to brotherly sacrifice.” He turned on his heel, heading toward the club exit. “Your other son,” he said over his shoulder, “just crossed the boundary line.”
Then, as if chased by demons, he ran for his life.
ERIN COULD HARDLY stand still long enough to let her grandmother unbutton the back of her hot, scratchy dress. “Are you done yet, Grandmom?”
“I’ll never be done if you don’t stand still, young lady.” Grandmother Brennan was pretty strict. You didn’t go to her house and put your feet in the chairs or eat with your elbows on the table—not if you were almost seven years old. Babies who were only four—like Jenny—could still get away with just about anything.
Such as whining when she didn’t want to change clothes. “I want this dress,” she told Grandma Jennings. “I want to see Mickey Mouse like this!”
“Well, you can’t.” Erin turned toward Jenny, and was pushed back in place by a firm pair of hands. “We’re goin’ on a plane, Jenny. You can’t wear that dress on a airplane.”
Jenny started to cry. “I want Mommy!”
Erin felt the last button on her dress give way. “Oh, boy.” She pulled away, dragged the dress over her head and let it drop. “That feels so good!” She whirled in the middle of the room, her arms spread out like wings. “I hate dresses!”
Grandmother Brennan picked up the stupid pink-and-green dress and put it on a hanger. “Get your shorts on, Erin, dear. You’ll be leaving soon.”
“Disney World!” Erin ran to the chair with her clothes and stepped into her favorite blue shorts. The itchy flowers in her hair got caught in her T-shirt, so she pulled them out. That pulled out some of the braid, too, which was okay, because braids hurt. She tugged the rest of her hair free. “Where are my shoes?”
“Right here.” Her grandmother held up a pair of white sandals with pink flowers on top.
“Those aren’t mine. I want my red sneakers that Daddy bought me.”
Grandmother Brennan brought over the yucky shoes. “These will look better with your outfit, sweetheart.”
Erin crossed her arms. “I…want…my…red…shoes.” She wasn’t gonna cry, like Jenny. But she wasn’t going anywhere in those stupid white sandals.
The door of the room opened, and Mommy came in. Jenny jerked away from Grandma Jennings. But Erin reached their mother first. “Tell her I don’t have to wear those shoes, Mommy. I want to wear my red ones!”
Jenny arrived. “I wanna wear my dress for Mickey Mouse!”
Mommy got down on her knees. She put one arm around Erin and one around Jenny. “Erin, sweetie, your red shoes are in the suitcase under the window.”
Erin flew to the bag and found her shoes right on top of all her other clothes. She sat down and started to pull one on.
“Socks first,” her mother said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Erin groaned. She put on the socks, then the shoes, and tied the laces herself. Daddy had taught her to tie her own shoes over spring break from school.
With Mommy to help, getting dressed and ready to go was easy. Jenny put on the plain yellow dress she was supposed to wear and let Mommy brush her hair. In just a couple of minutes they were all done.
Mommy’s new husband waited for them in the hallway. “All set for Disney World?” Jenny put her thumb in her mouth and hid her face in Mommy’s neck. He looked at Erin. “What do you say? Ready to go?”
Erin looked back at him. He’d told her to call him Matt. Mommy said she thought Daddy Matt would be better, since he was a part of their family now. Because Mommy asked, Erin tried to remember. But he didn’t feel like much of a daddy to her.
He was tall, and kinda big—bigger than Daddy, even if they were brothers. And he was more like Grandmother Brennan than Daddy. Daddy played games. He laughed and joked and called her funny names.
Most of the time, Daddy Matt talked about rules.
Suddenly, Erin didn’t know if she was ready for Disney World. “Mommy, where’s Daddy?”
“He’s right here, love.” She looked surprised.
“No. I mean my Daddy. I need to tell him something.”
Erin saw Mommy look at Daddy Matt. Then Daddy Matt came over and squatted beside her. “He had to go to…work, Erin.” Daddy Matt had blue eyes. Even when he smiled, his eyes stayed serious. “He said to tell you to have a great time in Florida. He’ll be thinking about you, and he’ll see you when you get back. Okay?”
When you were almost seven, you could usually tell what you could get out of and what you couldn’t. Erin knew she wasn’t going to see her dad again before they left. She sighed and nodded. “Let’s go.”
Daddy
