Ever After (38 page)

By nine Jamie still hadn't returned to the house. Hallie was tempted to go out to the gym, but she didn't. Instead, she went upstairs and got into bed, planning to read one of the novels on her eReader. Instead, she fell asleep so deeply that she didn't hear Jamie come up the stairs.

A pounding woke her. At first she didn't know what it was and she lay there for a few seconds before she realized it was someone at the front door. “Jamie!” she said, thinking that something was wrong with him. She leaped out of bed and ran to the stairs.

But Jamie was already halfway down, clutching the banister, his crutches nowhere to be seen. When he turned to her, his face was white, and she knew what he was thinking, that something horrible had happened to his family.

“Stay back,” he said. “I'll handle this.”

“Your family wouldn't knock,” she said as she hurried past him and flung the door open.

A young man she didn't know, college age, was standing there. The goofy grin on his face made her realize he'd been drinking. “He said he was staying at the Hartley house. We had a hard time finding the place.” His words were slurred. “If you're Hallie, he says he loves you.”

“Who says that?” she asked.

Jamie was behind her and opened the door wider. He was taller and could see over the boy's head. Behind him were two more college boys holding a man upright. He was in his thirties, rumpled suit, dirty blond hair, and was clearly feeling no pain. “How much has he had?”

“A lot,” the boy replied. “He said he wanted to go back to college and do everything all over again.”

“Who?!”
Hallie asked again.

The boy stepped aside.

“Braden!” Hallie ran to him.

“Hallie,” Braden said, smiling, his eyes half closed. “You are beautiful. I don't remember you ever before looking this good.” Grinning, he looked at the three boys around him. “Didn't I tell you she was great?”

“Yeah, you did,” the first boy said appreciatively, then looked at Jamie. “Can we leave him with you?”

“Take him upstairs to the bedroom on the left,” Jamie said.

“But that's your room,” Hallie said.

“I have a feeling you'll want to be near him tonight and there's no place for you to sleep downstairs.”

“But you—” She stepped aside to let the young men toss Braden's luggage in, then push-pull him up the stairs.

“Don't worry about me,” Jamie said. “Take care of your friend.”

Part of Hallie was pleased at Jamie's words, but part of her was annoyed. What happened to that delicious jealousy of his?

“And put on some clothes!” he added.

Hallie glanced down. Her big T-shirt exposed her bare legs. When she walked up the stairs in front of Jamie, maybe she swayed her hips just a tiny bit more than was necessary.

She went to her bedroom to pull on jeans and apply a bit of makeup to her sleepy face. It was Braden! He was here!

When she got to the hall, the college boys were just coming out of the bedroom. “That guy sure knows his stuff,” one of them said.

“Braden?” Hallie asked. “Did he give you some legal advice?”

“Him? No.” They were laughing. “He told us to stay away from women forever.”

“He's had a hard time lately,” Hallie said. “Do you guys need a ride somewhere?”

“No, we're walking.” They went down the stairs and paused at the bottom. “He's too old to go drinking. You better keep him home with you.”

“I'll do that, thanks,” Hallie said. They left and she went into Jamie's bedroom.

Braden was in the bed, half sitting up and grinning.

“He threw up outside,” Jamie said, “so he should be better tomorrow. We got his clothes off and put one of my clean shirts on him. He still stinks, but I wasn't going to hold him up in a
shower and wash him.” He looked at her. “Or maybe you'd like to do that.”

“I'll pass on that, but thank you for doing this. I hate running you out of your bed. You want to use mine?”

Jamie took a moment to answer. “I'll accept that invitation when you're included in it.” He stepped back from her. “I'll leave you to it. See if you can get some more water inside him. But then I'm sure you know that.” He left the room.

“Hallie,” Braden said as soon as they were alone.

“How are you?” she asked as she bent over him. Jamie was right: He
did
stink.

“I've been better.”

She went into the bathroom, got a washcloth, soaked it in cold water, and took it back to put on his forehead. She considered pulling up a chair, but it would be too short for the bed. Instead, she climbed up beside him, sitting on top of the covers.

Braden's eyes were red and seemed to be floating around in his skull. He took her hand in his and kissed the back of it.

Hallie leaned toward him and smoothed his hair back. It was a beautiful golden blond. When he was younger his hair had been almost white. His mother loved to tell how her son had been cast as an angel in every school play. For Hallie, it felt good to touch his hair, his face, his neck.

He kissed her palm. “I've made a mess of it.”

“Of what?”

“My entire life.”

She gave a little laugh. “Far from it. Your mom says you're about to make partner and that you're the youngest one in the firm to do so.”

Braden waved his hand. “That's me. Best lawyer Boston has. I win all my cases. It balances out my personal life, where I lose everything. Did you know that I've proposed marriage to three women?”

“Yes,” she said.

Braden groaned. “Of course you do. Mom told you. One turned me down, the other two said yes but later dumped me. I should buy engagement rings in bulk. I'll put in a standing order with the jeweler. With the number of them I buy, I should invest in a diamond mine.”

“They didn't return the rings?” Hallie asked.

“The last one did.” With a sound of pain, he pointed toward his jeans hanging over a chair. “Look in the pocket.”

Hallie got off the bed and searched the pockets until she found the ring. It flashed in the light of the room. There was a diamond in the center surrounded by what seemed to be dozens more little diamonds. They surrounded the larger stone, went down the sides and halfway around the band. “Gaudy” was the first word that came to Hallie's mind.

“Did—what was her name? Zara?—choose this?”

“Yes, she did,” Braden said.

“I think Shelly would love it,” Hallie said as she got back on the bed beside him.

He groaned. “That's your ultimate condemnation.”

Hallie was toying with the ring. “You said you took Shelly to work with you.”

“I did. But if I tell you the truth about that, you'll hate me.”

She picked up a bottle of water from the bedside table and held his head as he drank. “No, I won't.”

Again he kissed her palm. “Why can't I marry someone like you?”

“I have no idea,” Hallie said seriously. “In my opinion, that's one of the great mysteries of the universe.”

Braden pulled back to look at her, blinking to clear his eyes. “You're different. Something's happened. You've changed.”

“Maybe getting out of the house where I grew up has let me see some things differently.”

He was staring at her. “You look really good. I mean really
really
good.”

Hallie could feel herself blushing. “Everybody and everything looks good when you're drunk. So what happened that would make me hate you?”

Braden turned away. “I used Shelly, just plain
used
her.”

“Sex?” Hallie was trying to sound coolly sophisticated, but her nails were biting into her palms.

“Lord, no! What do you take me for? I used Shelly to make me look less like a failure. I put her in a pair of four-inch heels, a Chanel suit, and took her to work with me to show her off. I wanted Zara to see that I wasn't suffering because she threw me over for a bigger diamond, a bigger house, a bigger
life
.” He let out his breath. “But it all backfired on me. Shelly came on to one of the partners. When he told me what she'd done, he said that if I wanted to make partner I needed to get another kind of woman for a wife. He said I should get someone to run a home for me, to entertain clients. Someone I could have kids with.” He looked at her. “He meant someone like you, Hallie.”

She laughed. “I'm the girl next door. Only men from elsewhere marry us. We're exotic to them.”

He took her hands in his. “I've thought about you these last few days. You're perfect. You always have been. And I've always loved you. You know that, don't you? And you're a saint. You took care of your whole family without one complaint.”

“I never stopped complaining. Ask your mother. She dried my tears.” Hallie started to get off the bed, but Braden held on to her hand.

“You have the ring?”

She handed it to him and he slipped it onto the ring finger of her left hand. “Think about it, will you?”

“I think this is the best drunken marriage proposal I've ever had.”

His eyes were beginning to close. “Have you had many proposals? I ask because I pass them out like party invitations. Marry me, have my kids, live in a four-bedroom three-bath,
have date night on Fridays, come watch me coach Little League. Why are women today so repulsed by that?”

“I have no idea,” Hallie said honestly as she got up, took the washcloth off his head, and tucked him in.

“Let me hear you say yes,” he murmured. “I've had too many nos lately.”

“Yes,” she said. “You won't remember any of this in the morning, so I accept. Now, sleep well and you can go to the wedding with me tomorrow.”

“Shelly said her wedding colors would be purple and green. Does that sound good or not?”

“Why were you and Shelly discussing her wedding plans?” Hallie asked, but Braden was asleep.

“What the hell do you have on?” Jamie said through clenched teeth when Hallie walked into the kitchen the next morning.

She glanced down at her jeans and T-shirt, not understanding what he meant. “I'll change before the wedding. I hope you will too.” He had on sweats and a long-sleeved T-shirt that, as usual, covered most of his body.

Jamie pivoted on his foot, took her left hand in his, and held it up. “What is this?”

The big engagement ring sparkled in the early morning light. “Oh. That. I couldn't get it off. Are there any more of those cranberry muffins? I think Braden might like them.”

She tried to step around Jamie, but he wouldn't move, just stood there staring at her.

“Are you planning to
marry
him?”

Hallie gave a little laugh as she sidestepped and went to the refrigerator. “Maybe. He asked me and I said yes, so that could mean I will. But on the other hand, he was drunk. If you'd stayed longer he might have asked you.”

Jamie stood in the middle of the room, glowering. “If you think this is all a joke, why do you have that ring on?”

Hallie was rummaging in the fridge. She needed to buy groceries. Now that she had two men to feed, she should buy a lot. When she closed the door, Jamie was standing there.

“Hallie?” he said with exaggerated patience. “What's going on?”

She saw a basket with a big napkin in the center of the table. It held an assortment of muffins. There was also a full teapot. When she sat down and began to eat, Jamie took the place next to her. He was waiting for her to speak.

She sighed. Obviously, he wasn't going to give up. “Braden's had a hard time lately. Well, maybe not just recently but ever since he was in college. I guess you could say he's been very unlucky in love.”

“You're saying that a bunch of women dumped him so now he's going after you?”

“Yes, I mean no. He was upset last night, that's all, and he showed me the ring that had been returned to him.”