“So how doyou know the happy couple? Do I call them a couple? They're more like a quad.” A high-pitched voice interrupted my pensivethoughts.
I looked up to find an impeccably dressed man standing over mychair.
“One of the grooms is my brother.” I quirked an eyebrow at his pristine suit. He was either gay or married—or both. Maybe I was cynical, but single guys usually didn’t look that well puttogether.
“Oh.” He squealed. “Which groom? I'm Todd, the best friend of the bride.” He held his hand out to shake. My biological brother and his two best friends, who were my chosen brothers, had married the love of their lives, Ellie, a few hoursbefore.
When I placed my hand in his, he squeezed it with both of his. A feminine diamond wedding set gleamed on his ring finger. Gay, then. “Arch. Well, biologically speaking. But we all grew up together, so they all feel like brothers tome.”
“Of course, of course. You must be Linda—the traveling nurse?” Todd’s energetic smile was a little disconcerting since I didn’t have the first clue who he was. “Arch told me you're the only girl from the farm with blackhair.”
“They talk about me?” I asked, suspicious. With all the siblings on our farm, I couldn't believe they spoke about me enough to make me standout.
“Absolutely. They're very proud of you and the work you do.” Todd sat beside me in the seat reserved for my non-existent date. “So, where are you off to next? Some exotic location? Maybe you'll be nursing some oiled-up surfer dudes back to health on a beach in Hawaii?” Todd's eyes glazed over. “Or in the mountains—you'll have to apply muscle rub on some bulky mountain men.” He snapped back to himself. “Oh my.” His hands fluttered around his neck. “It was lovely to meet you. If you'll excuse me, I need to find myhusband.”
He scurried across the reception hall without allowing me time to respond. I chuckled to myself. He was quite acharacter.
I hadn’t met him when I’d met Ellie, a little over a year before. He and his husband had gone on a cruise for the holidays. After spending Thanksgiving weekend in Texas, I’d started my new job and hadn’t stoppedsince.
My wine glass was empty, so I headed to the bar. “Merlot, please.” I turned to find my brother walking towardme.
“Linda. You made it.” He pulled me into a bearhug.
I twisted away in time to stop the hair ruffling, thankfully. It had taken me an hour to get my fine hair to take a curl. I’d kill him if he messed it up. “I missed the ceremony, I'm sorry. My flight from Destin was delayed twice, something about the toilet.” I smiled my thanks at the bartender when he handed me my wine, and joined Arch to walk over to his newbride.
“It's okay. I'm glad you made it at all.” He motioned around the room. “Never thought I'd be getting married here,though.”
Memories of our childhood made me smile as I looked around the room. “I didn't, either. Why not inTexas?”
“Ellie has no family to speak of, and if you compare the number of people on her side that would have to travel versus the number of our people, it made sense to have it here, near ourfamily.”
“And she's probably got enough money to pay for her friends to come here, anyway. It would get ridiculous flying all of us to Texas.” I'd only spoken to Ellie a few times but from what I could tell, her money hadn't ruined her. I hoped not, for my brothers’ sakes. “She knows everything about our family, I take it? I hope you were honest withher.”
Our upbringing was alternative, to say the least. Not only did our family border on the extreme, we lived in what amounted to a commune with two other families, and as time passed, more and more paidworkers.
We couldn't get away with anything. If one of our thirteen parents wasn’t catching us and disciplining us, one of the farmhands would. Even still, we were surrounded by love. I'd never in my life felt like nobody cared about me or that I was all alone in theworld.
“Of course I did,” Arch replied. “I’ve told her so many stories about our childhood I feel like she lived it withus.”
We stood to the side and watched the guests mingle. One of Gray’s moms, Rosa, danced with his dad, Patrick. He always got all of us kids confused and just called us by our hair color, height, whatever he could say to get the pointacross.
We spotted Ellie and headed her way. She wore an ivory silk gown, floor length and sleeveless. It was as simple as a wedding dress could get, but absolutely sexy. Arch eyeballed her front as she met us halfway across the room and pulled me into ahug.
“Linda, I'm so glad you made it. There was some sort of hold up with your lastpatient?”
I elbowed my horny brother and nodded. “Unfortunately she died this morning.” My heart pounded. She was a wonderful woman, who’d spent most of her retirement volunteering and giving all her life savings away. I'd gone to her home to be a live-in nurse for the last few weeks of her life, knowing death was coming. It still hurt, even though I was prepared and she was ready togo.
“I'm sorry, Linda. You're a strong woman to still be upright and functional afterthat.”
“It's the job. I did everything I could to make her comfortable and happy in her last days. She had no family. I was her family, as much as I could be, until she passed. It comforts me to think that she was at peace when shewent.”
Ellie's eyes filled with tears. “See? I'm a basket case just hearing thestory.”
I chuckled at her soft-heartedness. “Yeah, you'd have a hard time. I'm headed to North Dakota tomorrow to help a woman with a brokenhip.”
“Don't you want to settle down?” Ellie asked as I followed her to the bride's table. “Please, sit with me. We’re staying here for two weeks so I can get to know your family, but you'll be gone soon. I want to know you—I hope my questions aren't toopersonal.”
“Not at all. I'm not a terribly private person,” I replied. “I love traveling, for now. I'm only twenty-seven—I've got plenty of time. I get free time to be a tourist when I'm traveling, and I get to see the United States.” I took a sip of wine, and remembered the news I'd gotten the day before. “I also found out, now that I've been with the company for a year, I'm eligible for their program in Europe, Canada, and Mexico, and soon they'll be expanding to parts of South America. So I'll be able to really see the worldsoon.”
