Silent Love(18)

Off to the right Ryan stood and beamed her direction when they stepped  into the room. He was the first to approach her and give her a kiss on  the cheek. "Hello, sweetheart," he said. "Don't be nervous."

She nodded, antsy, which caused him to laugh and give her a supportive squeeze.

Sean set down the two kids, who took off running towards two very large  men standing in the doorway at the opposite side of the room. Both men  beamed down at the children, then took them by the hands and led them  away. Who were they?

"Those are the kids mannies, Jarrett and Russ," Ryan answered her unasked question.

"Male nannies?" She knew that came out more presumptuous than she wanted.

A tall, extremely good looking man in a navy, tailored designer suit  rolled his nearly black eyes and set down a rocks glass filled with an  amber liquid. Scotch maybe? "Yes, my wife just had to hire them."

A gorgeous blonde woman appeared next to him, stood on her tip toes, and  kissed him hard on the lips. That seemed to pacify whatever unspoken  issue there was over that comment. She spun Beth's direction, stepped  around her husband, and approached. Beth gasped. The woman was stunning.  Sapphire blue eyes like Sean's and Ryan's, high cheek bones, full lips,  and fair skin, she belonged on a movie screen. And she was tiny. But it  was the aura of confidence she carried that made her seem almost regal.  When the woman approached her, all activity in the room stopped and  focused on the blonde.         

     



 

"Hello," the woman said when she was in front of her. "I'm Courtney, Sean and Ryan's cousin."

Oh. Dear. God. She's the cousin they constantly talked about. Their description of her didn't do the woman justice.

Courtney stuck out her hand. Timidly Beth shook the proffered hand.  Without warning their cousin pulled her into her body, wrapped an arm  around her shoulder, and spun her to face the group of people. She  motioned to each person. "This is my husband Derrick." The handsome eye  roller. "My mom and dad, Sarah and Tom. These four men are part of the  staff." She motioned to four men you would not want to meet in a dark  alley.

Sean stepped in front of his cousin. "I'll do the rest."

Courtney smiled and kissed him on the cheek, then went back to her  husband who wrapped her up protectively. Was that a family trait? Sean  constantly did the same thing with her.

Leading her towards an older couple standing next to Courtney's parents,  Sean beamed proudly. "Mom and Dad, this is my Beth. Elizabeth Connors."  He turned to her. "Beth, these are my parents, Jennie and Todd Millen."

Beth knew her hands shook as she reached out. This was terrifying. She  felt like she was on display in a zoo exhibit for all to watch her  reactions and actions.

"It's lovely to meet you, Beth," Jennie said and took her hand. "Sean has told us so much about you."

Todd snorted and reached out his hand. "He won't stop talking about you, Beth."

She knew she turned bright red. Ryan visibly barked out a laugh but  tried horribly to cover it up with what she assumed was a cough he hid  behind his hand- which granted him a shooting glare from his brother.

"Well dinner's ready. We can head outside to the tables," Courtney announced, saving Beth from more embarrassment.

They meandered their way downstairs and sat in their assigned seats.  Clearly their cousin had gone all out for this dinner. Champagne poured  into crystal flutes, candelabras centered a long table, cloth linens and  napkins were all covered under a large canopy while soft dinner music  played on a system that filled the outside air.

Once everyone was situated, Derrick stood at the head of the table with a  glass of champagne in hand. "I would like to welcome everyone to my  home, specifically Beth. Thank you for joining us this evening and  giving us the opportunity to meet you. Hopefully there are many more  dinners to come with all of us gathered around. To family."

"To family!" Everyone toasted in return.

What an entirely different dinner than the one that took place at her parents.







Cloud nine had nothing on Sean. His entire family fell in love with  Beth. Both his parents hung onto her every soft-spoken word, Derrick  quizzed her about starting up the business part of his clinic, Jack  subtly questioned her about the day she was fired. Little did she know  Derk and Smith listened intently and would probably track down and give  those two former coworkers something to think about. The kids were all  over her like a brand new shiny object. Entirely smitten, Daniel picked  flowers and weeds until she had a bouquet laid out on the table. Caitlin  climbed onto her lap and asked her twenty questions. There were a  couple times Sean watched Beth try to maintain her composure when Cait  turned away while jabbering, but she handled it brilliantly by tapping  her on the shoulder and asking the four year old to repeat herself.

There was only one person he was wary of. Courtney. She was unusually  quiet after the initial introductions. Throughout dinner her intense  gaze never wavered from Beth. When they'd first arrived, he thought  Courtney was on board with Beth, but now the tension coming off her was  quite noticeable. What was going on in his cousin's stubborn mind?

They were in the middle of discussing the spread for the baseball game  when Derrick leaned over and whispered into Courtney's ear. Her gaze  swung to Beth, then to him, then to her husband. She bit her bottom lip  and nodded. Her shoulders sagged and the air went out of her, like she'd  been defeated. What the fuck was wrong with her? Certainly she didn't  have an issue with Beth. He'd kill her.

After dessert the entire party stood from the table and lingered in the  backyard, drinks in hand, laughing and talking about a trip to Kennywood  Park on Saturday. Derrick invited Sean and Beth to join in and both  thought it would be a refreshing day out. You could never be too old for  an amusement park.

"Forgive me for asking," Tom, Courtney's father said. "Beth, how did you lose your hearing?"

Sean felt Beth stiffen under his arm that was wrapped securely around her waist. Everyone grew quiet.

"Dad," Courtney scolded. That was the first word Sean heard from her since the dining room.         

     



 

"That's all right," Beth said. She took a deep breath and blew it out.  Was she going to answer? Unbelievable. Even he hadn't had the guts to  ask how she'd lost her hearing. Leave it up to his direct uncle to get  answers. "It happened close to five years ago," she said. "I'm sure you  heard about it on the news. There was a car explosion in the city. Right  in broad daylight."

Holy shit.

Sean's gaze swung to Courtney whose face drained of color. Instantly the  stilled silence grew frigid, but Beth didn't take notice. Why would  she?

"I happened to be leaving a jewelry store when the car exploded," she explained.

"What the fuck," Carl breathed.

Beth thought he was talking about her ordeal and focused on him. "I  almost died. I was hit by shrapnel and went through many surgeries,  including some plastic surgery. The sound broke my eardrums. At the time  they worried about saving my life, not my hearing."

Sean could have sworn his heart skipped a beat. Oh, god. Oh, no. His  eyes bounced from Beth and back to his cousin, who stumbled backwards  into her husband's arms. Tears fell down Courtney's face. Ryan stepped  in front of Beth to shield her from their cousin's sight and motioned  his arm to leave.

"Let's go," Sean said to Beth, already dragging her towards the stairs with Ryan beside her.

She looked at him confused. "Is everything all right?"

They didn't make it.

Courtney grabbed Beth and yanked her around. "Did you see him?" she pleaded. "Did you see him?"

Confusion donned Beth's features.

"Back off, Court," Sean growled.

His cousin ignored him. "Did you see the man in the SUV? Did you see him?"

The shocked expression on Beth's features showed the moment she  understood what Courtney asked. "You mean did I see the man when the car  exploded?" she asked horrified.

"Yes, did you see him?" Courtney demanded, her tone growing impatient.

"Courtney!" Derrick yelled, storming up behind her.

"Stay out of this!" she screamed back at her husband, then spun back to Beth. "Tell me now. Did you see him?"

"No! I was too busy shielding myself, losing my hearing, and getting impaled by blunt objects," Beth bit out.

His cousin was too quick for anyone to have stopped her. The sound of  the smack Courtney laid across Beth's cheek ricocheted off every outside  surface.

All hell broke loose.

Grabbing her cheek and crying out in shock more than pain, Beth  whimpered. As Sean went to insert himself between the two women, he  accidently nailed Courtney in the arm. She stumbled back enough to put  distance between the two women. Derrick caught his wife from falling to  the ground. Ryan rushed Beth up the deck steps and out to their car.  Sean didn't say a word as he ran after them.