“The Rented Husband”


2012 Copyright All Rights Reserved


Chapter 28


    “Alright,” Brody said cautiously, “Exactly what are you wanting to talk about?”  He settled his shoulder up against the wall and stared back at Olivia’s brother.  The two siblings looked similar but they had there differences as well.  They both shared the same golden shade of blond hair but Cane was a good six inches taller than Olivia and where as Olivia had that coffee brown eye color; her brother’s was of a deep rich brown; almost black in color.

    “So you and my sister are married?” Cane plainly stated to which Brody just simply nodded. He paused then continued with an intrusive gaze that made Brody feel slightly uncomfortable. “When?”

    “Three weeks ago,” Brody recited.  “We went down town, filed for the marriage certificate and then went over to the magistrate's office to finish the job.  Liv didn’t want to make a big deal about it because of Caley’s upcoming wedding so we kept it all on the down low.”  He shrugged his shoulders, saying his piece just the way they had rehearsed it before getting on the flight to come over here.

    Cane still wasn’t buying it.  Not taking his eyes off of Brody, he cocked his head to the side and simply asked, “Why?”

    “Why?” Brody repeated his question, not sure what he meant or was looking for.

    Cane nodded.  "Yeah, I would really like to know why."

    “Well,” he started and looked down to where his fingers were blindly fidgeting with a string that hung off the bottom of his tee shirt.  “Because I love her and she loves me." He took a deep breath and then continued.  "I asked her to marry me and she said yes.  Isn’t that a good enough reason?”

    Cane stayed silent as he studied Brody trying to decipher his response.  After a long minute of insufferable silence he finally spoke.  “Under normal circumstances I would say yeah, that would be plenty for me but we both know this isn’t normal circumstances now, is it Brody?”

    He snapped his head back up.  “What do you mean by normal circumstances?”  As soon as the question was out of his mouth, he realized what he had left out and had to think quick to recover.  “I  take it you mean the pregnancy?”

    A smile kicked up at the corners of Cane’s lips.  “Now you see, that’s the funny thing.  I had a nice little talk with Seth this morning before the two of you arrived and I have reason to believe that you are both lying about Olivia’s condition, so to speak.”  Cane held up his hands as he added finger quotes when he referred to her ‘condition’.

    Brody glanced away unable to meet his all too watchful gaze.  “Now, why would we do something like that?”

    “That’s what I want to know,” Cane replied.  “Why would either of you do something like that? I know my little sister.  And there are certain things that I happen to know she would never do, this being one of them."

    Knowing that he needed to get her brother off his back, he turned to him and schooled his face into an emotionless mask.  “Because we....,” he stopped when he realized that he had snapped a little too loudly and they had started to draw an audience.  Re-focusing on Cane, he lowered his voice and added, “We didn’t plan for it to happen, but I’m not going to say I’m sorry that it did happen.”

    Cane stared at the man who was obviously hiding something and he wanted now, more than ever to fetter out what that something was.  “Brody, look at me,” he ordered.

    Brody obediently lifted his head.

    He pinned him with his gaze.  “Just because my eyes are brown, doesn’t mean I’m full of shit.  Seth told me that Olivia was blitzed last night and the one thing that I know about my baby sister is that if she had any inkling that she might be pregnant, she wouldn’t drink anything stronger than orange juice.  So,” he said, pushing himself off of the wall, closing some of the distance between Brody and him, “Do you want to try that answer again.”

    Brody growled low in his throat and Cane struggled to hold back his laugh.  He was actually starting to like this guy but he wanted to know the truth too, he had to know the truth because it involved one of his sisters. 

    “There is no baby,” Brody conceded.  “We used that as an excuse for a quickie marriage, figured that would be the easiest and most plausible explanation.”

    “I see,” Cane nodded and leaned back against the wall again.  “What were you going to do when it came out that there was no baby?  What were you going to tell my mom who I‘m sure has already started to plan the Christening, baby shower and all that other crazy stuff women do?” 

    Brody sighed. “We wouldn’t have let it go that far.  After every one returned home, and things got back to normal we would have told the truth.  Liv didn’t want anything to ruin or place a damper on Caley’s wedding so we have tried to keep this as hushed up as possible.”

    Cane tapped his chin.  “ I see,” he noted and narrowed his eyes, “But do you really care for Livy, I mean do you really love her?”  He asked him, getting right down to the heart of the matter.

    “Yes,” Brody agreed.  “I care for her very much. and yes I love her.”  And that was definitely a true statement that he had been fighting over himself.  In the time that he had spent with Olivia he had begun to realize how much he did care and love this woman.  It was more than he wanted to admit and way too much for him to deny.

    Cane pushed himself off the wall again and stepped up to Brody, slapping him on the shoulder.  “Well, that’s good enough for me.”  He held his hand out to him and Brody tentatively took it.  “All I can say is welcome to the family man,” he smiled a devilish grin.

    Shaking his hand in return, Brody reciprocated the smile.  “Thanks, I think.” he muttered.  Cane tossed his head back and laughed one of those big guffaw laughs.  “See, I knew the moment that I met you, that I would like you.”

    Brody couldn’t help but laugh with him.  He sort of liked him too, not as much as he liked his sister, but that was just a matter of simple biology.  Olivia had things that Brody was much more interested in and Cane could in no way, shape or form provide a one of them.

    “Hey,” Seth stuck his head out in the hall.  Both guys turned in his direction and he motioned back towards the reception hall.  “They’re ready to start.”

    “We’re coming,” Cane said, glancing once more back at Brody.  Seth disappeared back into the reception area and the guys started to walk.  Just as they reached the door, Cane stopped and faced Brody once more.  “This is you’re only warning… you hurt my sister, you break her heart or even make her cry, I will break every one of the two hundred and six bones that are in your body, one at a time.  You feeling me?”

    Brody cringed at the mental imagery and by the look on his face, he could see that Cane was dead serious.  “Yeah, I’m feeling you,” he answered.

    Cane brushed a small dust bunny off of Brody’s shirt.  “Good,” he said looking at his shirt and then craning his neck so that he could see his face.  “That’s real good.  Now come on, we have a rehearsal to attend.”

    With a tight smile, Brody didn’t say a word.  He just followed Cane into the room, looking for the one woman that had somehow managed to work her way under his skin.

    “Dad,” Cane stopped and Brody, not looking where he was going, ran right smack into his back. 

    Ted laughed, not bothering to hide his amusement.  “I see you’ve met our resident free loader.”

    Brody whipped his head up, “Excuse me?” 

    Ted lifted up his chin, “You heard me boy, I didn’t stu...stu....stutter.”

    Cane stepped in between them, placing a hand on Brody’s chest.  “Brody, why don’t you go over there and see your wife.  Dad can be a little anal at times.”

    “Anal,” Brody snorted, “More like down right brutal.  Who in the hell do you think gave me this,” he said, pointing at his blackened eye.

    “Dad?” Cane covered his mouth in disbelief.  He glanced behind him and stared at his father, humor twinkling in his eyes.  “You punched Olivia’s husband?”

    “Twice,” Ted confirmed, folding his hands over his chest.  “And I’m not above doing it again if he gives me due cause.”

    “I didn’t give you due cause the first time,” Brody argued.  “You blew up and then you hit me.  Now I understand where Olivia got her out of control temper from; that would be you!”

    “Like father, like daughter,” Ted taunted, “And I can guarantee there will be more where that came from.  Olivia packs quite a punch too, doesn’t she?”

    Cane stepped up again, really struggling to hold in his laughter and pushed Brody towards the group of ladies.  “Go get your wife,” he told him.  “That’s the only one you need to worry about pleasing.”

    Brody looked down at him and flitted one more glance at the cocky looking Ted standing behind him.  He grunted, “You’re right, she is the only one that matters.”  He cracked his neck to the side and smirked at her father.  “She seemed pretty pleased with me last night.”

    Ted’s face contorted into an angry looking scowl and a fresh red color rose in his cheeks.  Seeing that he achieved the effect that he wanted, Brody inclined his head to Cane and strode off towards Olivia thinking that Cane had a damn good point there.  Olivia was the only one he needed to worry about making happy.  Her father could go eat crow for all he cared as long as she was happy, that was all that mattered to him.

    “Will everyone take there places please.”  An older gentleman, presumably the Priest stood at the front of the room and clapped his hands.

    Brody stopped behind Olivia and laid a hand on her shoulder.  “Hey,” he bent down and whispered in her ear.  She gave him a questioning look and twisted to see her brother who was smiling and giving her a thumbs up. 

    “Hey,” she replied as she turned around, grabbing Brody’s hand.  “So, I take it all went well with Cane?”  The nervousness that she had about her brothers reaction showed in her eyes, Brody noticed and he found that rather endearing.

    “Yeah, it’s all good.  I had to tell him a little of the truth but other than that, he gave us his blessing.”

    The smile quickly fell off her face. “The truth?  My god Brody,” she sagged, “What do you mean a little of the truth; what did you have to tell him?” 

    He squeezed her hand reassuringly.  “It’s no biggie Liv.  You’re perceptive brother-in-law had already figured it out.  You got drunk off your ass last night…” She nodded, knowing this much but not quite making the connection.  “If you were pregnant, would you have done that?”
   

   “Damn!” She lowly whispered dropping her head, while trying to avoid Brody’s watchful eyes.  “I'm sorry Brody, I screwed up. I wasn't thinking.”

    He chuckled, grabbing her chin and lifting her head so that he could see those beautiful dark eyes of hers.  He loved her eyes.  He could get so lost in them and didn't care if he couldn't ever find his way out, he thought to himself.  Hearing the music start, he shook off his thoughts, leaned in and brushed a soft kiss against her lips.  “Yeah babe, you did but it’s alright.  Our secret is safe for now.”

    She furrowed her brows, not quite sure she believed him.  It all just seemed to simple to be true.  “Are you sure?” She asked again.

    “Yeah,” he said tugging at her hand, noticing everyone was already in their assigned places.  “Just trust me this once, okay?”

    It took her a minute, but she finally assented with a sincere smile of her own.  The honesty in that single smile sent a lightening bolt of desire straight to his lower man parts.  “Good,” he said curtly, just because he was too strained to say much more.  He started to pull her along to their places when they were suddenly railroaded by a smaller figure cloaked in black.

    The other figure toppled backwards and both Olivia and Brody would have fallen if he had not been able to grab the column that was beside them, effectively holding them up. 

    “Are…are you okay?” Olivia stuttered, stepping out of Brody's arms and immediately bending down to help the other person up.  She held out her hands to her as the woman fixed her veil and her wimple.  Brody bent down and picked up the bible that she had dropped during the collision, preparing to hand it back to her.

    When the Nun stood up and recognized who was helping her, she gasped and smacked Olivia’s hands away from her.  Her face went stern as she crossed herself with her hand.  Brody held out her bible to her, trying to discern his own personal amusement of the situation.  She hastily grabbed the Holy Book from him and hugged it to her chest.  She looked back and forth between the couple and hissed, “Fornicators!” before turning haughtily on her  heels and walking away from them.

    Olivia scratched her head, watching the Nun make her speedy retreat.  She had no idea what that wall all about.  “That was weird,” she commented, watching the Nun disappear from the room.

    “Oh sweet cheeks, if only you knew,” Brody said bemused as he steered her back to the rehearsal, “If only you knew.”

    “What?” She started to stop as he used his hands at the small of her back, nudging her forward to keep her moving.  “Later, Muffin,” he said chuckling, “It’s a tale that you are going to want to be sitting down for, that much I can promise you.”