Forever My Love: A Christian Romance (The McKinleys Book 2) Read online

  Trying to quell the fluttering in her stomach, Brooke turned her gaze to Danny. “Ready to go, buddy?”

  At his nod, they headed out of the house. Brooke paused to lock up and turned to find Lucas standing by the passenger side door of his car waiting for her. More fluttering. This was not good.

  As she approached the car, Lucas smiled at her. “By the way, you look very beautiful.”

  She couldn’t believe the heat she felt climbing in her cheeks. She was not a blusher by nature. Yeah, not good. “Thank you.”

  He waited until she was settled into the seat before closing the door. Danny had already climbed in and buckled himself in the back seat. “I love this car, Mom.”

  Brooke had to admit that she did as well, but there were other things she was enjoying about the arrangement that she shouldn’t have. Like having someone to drive. Someone to open doors for her. To compliment her.

  She shouldn’t want those things. She didn’t need them. And yet there was no denying that she enjoyed them. She just had to remember who Lucas was and all that he represented.

  Well, that had been an abysmal failure.

  He’d hoped that putting some distance between them would help him get whatever he was feeling under control. Unfortunately, all it had taken was the sight of her hopping on one foot trying to put on a shoe as she’d come out of her bedroom to put him right back where he’d been on Tuesday night.

  When she’d glanced up, her eyes wide, to see him standing there, Lucas had struggled to remember how to breathe. He could face down boardrooms of high-powered men and women. He could make difficult decisions without even breaking a sweat. Nothing—absolutely nothing—had reduced him to the quivering mess he became with just one look from Brooke.

  Thankfully, she hadn’t seemed to notice, but sitting next to her in the car with her light floral scented perfume teasing his senses, Lucas was once again having trouble taking a deep breath.

  “So, where are we headed?” he asked as he pulled away from the curb.

  Brooke pulled a piece of paper from her purse and gave him the address.

  He recognized it as not being too far from his mom’s place. “Is that where your brother lives?”

  “No. His boss offered him the use of his estate to have an outdoor wedding.”

  With an idea of where he was headed, Lucas turned toward the closest highway. “That was very nice of him. Who does he work for?”

  “He works for BlackThorpe Security.”

  Lucas laughed. “So are we going to Marcus’s or Alex’s place?”

  “You know them?”

  “Yep.” He glanced over at Brooke and grinned. “And I think I know your brother as well. I just didn’t put two and two together until now.”

  “You know Eric?”

  “Well, if Eric McKinley is your brother, then yes, I do.”

  “How?”

  “Marcus and Alex I know from business dealings we’ve had. Eric, however, I know from church. He began attending our church around the beginning of the year.”

  “That was when he met Staci and started going to her church.”

  Lucas glanced over his shoulder to check for traffic before merging onto the highway. At least he’d know a few people at the wedding in addition to Brooke and Danny. “Your brother shared in our men’s group a few months back. I’m not sure why I didn’t put it all together. Usually, I’m pretty good at that.”

  “You had other things on your mind,” Brooke pointed out.

  Yes, he had…and it hadn’t just been Danny. Though meeting up with the BlackThorpe guys at the wedding was fortuitous, he was going to take it as a sign. He’d been praying about it for the past few days with no clear direction or peace about what to do. Maybe he’d be able to move forward now.

  “Eric spoke a little bit about his and Staci’s journey back to each other.”

  Brooke shifted in her seat, crossing her legs. It really wasn’t good that he noticed the way the silver strap around her ankle contrasted with the tan of her legs.

  “Yeah. I had no idea what had gone on for them until after Staci showed back up in his life. Their daughter Sarah is a doll. She loves Danny.”

  “I love her too, Mom,” Danny said from the back seat. “She’s going to walk with me down the aisle. “

  “Yes, they get along really well even though there’s a five year age gap between them.”

  It had been quite a while since Lucas had last been to a wedding, but this was the first one that had him thinking what it might be like for the groom. To be on the cusp of pledging his life to the woman he loved. To love someone so much that he was willing to commit to her and only her for the rest of their lives.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t want a more serious relationship, but he’d never been able to imagine growing old with any of the women he’d dated. He glanced at Brooke. Something told him that life with her would never be dull.

  “Are you planning to catch the bouquet today?” Lucas asked.

  Brooke huffed. “Not likely. You won’t find me in that batch of women. There will be plenty of single women there who want it way more than me, so I’ll leave it to them to battle it out.”

  Her response didn’t surprise Lucas at all. He wondered what kind of man it would take to change her mind. It was fairly apparent she didn’t have the highest opinion of the male of their species.

  “Do you like Eric’s fiancée?” Lucas asked, more curious about the wedding now that he realized who the couple was.

  “How exactly am I supposed to answer that?” Brooke said with a laugh. “The short answer is, yes. She’s nice and seems to be good for Eric. He’s certainly happier with her than he was with any of the other women he’s dated since coming back to Minneapolis. And she’s a great mom to Sarah. I think she might not be entirely sure how to take me though.”

  “You can be scary, Mom,” Danny piped in.

  Brooke turned in her seat. “Really? I don’t try to be.”

  “My guess is that it’s your overwhelming confidence,” Lucas said.

  “Hah. Just because I don’t slink around and make like a wall flower doesn’t mean I’m scary.”

  Lucas was curious now to see how Brooke interacted with the members of her family. Danny and Brooke continued to discuss how his friends found her scary too but also cool.

  “Are they expecting a big crowd?” Lucas asked as he turned into the driveway which had been marked with an elegant sign reading Staci & Eric’s Wedding.

  “I think around two hundred. Quite a few from Eric’s job and also from the church.”

  There were men dressed in black pants, white shirts and black ties standing along the driveway who pointed to where he should park though there weren’t too many cars there yet.

  Lucas pulled his car into a spot and turned it off. He opened his door and got out, planning to open the door for Brooke, but she was already standing with Danny by the time he got there.

  “The wedding’s around the back,” she said.

  CHAPTER TEN

  THOUGH the driveway was smooth blacktop, Lucas offered Brooke his arm. After a slight hesitation—he wasn’t sure but maybe he’d imagined it—she slid her hand into the crook of his elbow. Danny trotted ahead of them to the sidewalk that ran along the side of the mansion to the back yard.

  When the walkway narrowed, Lucas expected Brooke to move her hand from his arm and walk ahead of him, but instead, she pressed closer to him. He could hear music as they neared the back of the house.

  “Sounds like the string quartet is warming up,” Brooke said.

  The sidewalk ended at a large cobblestone patio, and her hand tightened on his arm. “They certainly didn’t think of people in high heels when they designed this thing.”

  Lucas bent his head as he laid his hand over hers. “I thought you women could walk over anything in heels.”

  “Not this woman,” Brooke said, looking up at him, her eyes sparkling. “I prefer flats to heels.”

  A gu
st of wind swept across the expansive back yard, tangling her skirt against his legs. She paused as she gathered the fabric back into place with her free hand.

  “Brooke!”

  Lucas looked up to see a man in a dark gray suit approaching them from across the grass and recognized him as Eric McKinley.

  Brooke slid her hand from his arm. “Hey, Eric. Ready to get hitched?”

  The man grinned as he hugged her. “It’s about time. I was beginning to wonder if we’d ever get to this point.”

  “Why? You only proposed to her, what, three times?”

  “And almost had to do it a fourth after some of the counseling we went through.” Eric’s gaze moved from his sister to Lucas. A frown creased his brow. “I know you.”

  Lucas nodded. “Just realized on the way over here that we go to the same church.” He held out his hand. “Lucas Hamilton.”

  Eric gave it a firm shake. “Mom said something about you being Danny’s uncle?”

  “Yes. My brother Lincoln was his father.”

  “Mom mentioned about his passing as well.” Eric clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m so sorry to hear about that.”

  Lucas nodded. “Thanks.”

  “Lucas? Is that you, man?”

  He looked past Eric to see another familiar face. Holding his hand out as he joined them, Lucas said, “Good to see you again, Trent.”

  Trent frowned. “Sorry to hear about Linc.”

  Again Lucas nodded his thanks. “I take it you’re in the wedding party?”

  The man nodded and grinned at Eric. “I don’t get into a monkey suit for just anyone.”

  He’d met Trent Hause a couple of years earlier when he’d come to help set up a virtual security system. Though he had worked mostly with Lincoln since computers weren’t really Lucas’s thing.

  “It’s good to see you again.” He glanced around at the people busy setting up chairs and decorations. “Are all the BlackThorpe guys going to be here?”

  “Last I heard,” Eric said. “Of course, Marcus has no choice.”

  “So how’d you meet up with Brooke?” Trent asked. “Did she run into your car or something?”

  Brooke reached out and swatted at Trent, but missed when he took a step back out of her reach. “I am not a bad driver.”

  “So you ran into the car of your last date on purpose?”

  Ah, so this was one of the infamous date stories.

  “It wasn’t on purpose. You could hardly say it was my fault that he parked so close behind my car.”

  “Or that you put it into reverse instead of drive,” Trent remarked with a lift of one eyebrow.

  Lucas looked down at Brooke in time to see her put her hands on her hips and glare at Trent. “Oh, shut up.”

  “So if it wasn’t a car accident, how did you two meet?”

  “Lincoln is Danny’s father,” Brooke said before Lucas had a chance.

  That rendered Trent speechless for about five seconds. “Wow. Seriously?” His gaze went back and forth between the two of them before settling on Lucas. “So you’re Danny’s uncle.”

  Lucas nodded. “Yes, we just found out about Danny last week when we read Lincoln’s will.”

  Eric looked to where Danny was talking with the man Lucas recognized as Brooke’s dad. “How’s he taking it?”

  Lucas deferred to Brooke. She was definitely the better judge of that.

  “He’s doing pretty good. Seems to be taking it all in stride.”

  “He’s a great kid,” Trent said with a smile.

  A shout drew their attention. Eric looked over then turned back to them. “Guess I’d better see what’s up. Trying to keep any type of stress from getting to Staci today.”

  “I think I’m going to go find the women,” Brooke said. She looked at Lucas. “Will you be okay hanging out for a little while?”

  “Don’t worry,” Trent said. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

  Brooke’s gaze met his. “See you in a bit.”

  He watched her walk toward the rear doors of the house. When she disappeared inside, he turned back around to find Trent observing him with a grin on his face.

  “Is it too late to warn you off Brooke?” Trent asked.

  “Warn me off?” Lucas asked.

  “Dude, you picked the one sister that really doesn’t think too highly of men.”

  Lucas laughed. “I didn’t pick her. We’re not dating. I’m only in her life because of Danny.”

  Trent grinned again and arched a brow. “You just keep telling yourself that.” He gave Lucas’s shoulder a whack. “Let’s go see if the groom needs a hand.”

  Lucas shot one last glance to the doors leading into the house before following Trent to where Eric had gone.

  “You look beautiful, Staci,” Brooke said as she spotted the bride seated on a bench in front of a mirror while someone worked on her hair.

  Staci smiled at her. “Thank you. Still need to get the dress on though.”

  “I think Eric would marry you if you walked down the aisle in a bathrobe at this point.”

  “True,” Staci said with a laugh.

  “Auntie Brooke, do you like my dress?”

  Brooke looked down to see Sarah standing beside her. She wore a light green dress with a satin sash at the waist. The skirt was full and ended just above her ankles. “You look beautiful, too. Just like a princess.”

  The term brought an immediate smile to the little girl’s face. Since having Sarah come into their lives, there had been a few moments when Brooke had wished she had a daughter. Not instead of Danny, but in addition to. It was hard to remember that Sarah was actually five when she looked more like the size of a three-year-old. In some ways, it made her that much more adorable.

  “Hey, Brooke.”

  She glanced up to see Victoria coming towards her with their mom and Alicia in her wake. Victoria wore a dress in the same shade as Sarah’s, but it lacked the poofy skirt that the little girl’s had.

  “Hey, guys.”

  Her mom wore a dress in a slightly darker shade of green. She was beaming, clearly excited at the prospect of the first wedding for one of her children. “You look beautiful, Brooke. I love that color on you.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  Alicia hung back. The two of them still hadn’t managed to get to a comfortable place the way it appeared she had with Eric and Tori. And even with her mom. Like Brooke, she wasn’t in the wedding party so wore a dress in a soft rose. She could pull it off in a way that Brooke couldn’t since Alicia’s hair was a darker auburn.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” Brooke asked.

  “I think everything is pretty much under control. I sent Denise out to check on things outside.”

  Denise was Staci’s maid of honor while her husband was Eric’s other groomsmen. Trent was his best man. It was a small wedding party, but that seemed to suit them just fine. Eric had approached her to see if she wanted to be one of Staci’s attendants, but Brooke was fairly sure it was out of obligation that he’d asked, not because Staci really wanted her to be a bridesmaid. And she was just as happy to not have that responsibility.

  “It looked pretty good when I was out there.”

  Staci smiled. “I just want to get this show on the road.”

  Brooke watched as her soon-to-be sister-in-law turned to check her hair and makeup in the mirror. When she’d first heard about Staci and Sarah, she wasn’t sure how she’d felt about them. Again, she didn’t completely understand how Staci was willing to take Eric back after what they’d gone through, but there was no denying the love they shared.

  Eric had been very open about the fact that they’d gone to counseling with their pastor to help them deal with some of the remnants of emotional baggage from their joint past. And it seemed to have helped. Each time she’d seen them together, they’d seemed more and more at ease and in love with each other.

  “Well, I’ll get out of your way here if you don’t need any help,” Brooke said. “I
’ll go and make sure Danny isn’t getting messed up.”

  “Can I go with you, Auntie Brooke? I want to see Danny.”

  Brooke looked at Staci. “Is that okay?”

  “Yep, but Sarah, you stay out of the dirt. Do not get your dress dirty, okay?”

  Sarah nodded as she slid her hand into Brooke’s. “I promise, Mama.”

  Together they left the room and headed down the stairs. “Are you excited about the wedding, Sarah?”

  “Yep. Daddy says it means he doesn’t have to go home at night anymore.”

  “That’s true.”

  “But he doesn’t get his own bedroom. He has to share with Mama.”

  Brooke grinned. Somehow she doubted that would be the hardship Sarah made it out to be.

  As they stepped out onto the porch, Sarah added, “And maybe they’ll get me a baby brother or sister, too. Mama said that once Daddy didn’t have to go home at night, we could maybe get a baby. I don’t know where we get one, but Mama said not to worry. She and Daddy would take care of it.”

  Brooke started laughing at the comment. Ah, out of the mouths of babes.

  “Care to share the joke?”

  She glanced over to see Lucas walking up the steps of the porch, Danny right behind him. Before she could say anything, Sarah darted over to Danny.

  He stooped to give her a hug. “You look beautiful, Sarah.”

  Sarah held the edges of her skirt and twirled. “I know. Your mommy told me that already.”

  As Lucas stepped to Brooke’s side, Sarah stopped spinning and zeroed in on him. “Are you Auntie Brooke’s boyfriend?”

  “Sarah!” Brooke said. “Why would you ask that?”

  “Grandma said you had a date, and Auntie Tori said it was about time you got a boyfriend.”

  Brooke fought the urge to roll her eyes. People were going to have to start watching their conversation around this little girl. “No, he’s not my boyfriend. He’s Danny’s uncle.”

  Sarah tilted her head. “Is he my uncle, too?”

  Brooke looked over at Lucas to see him regarding the little girl seriously.

  “I’m not, but if you want another uncle, I wouldn’t mind.”