Chapter 14

14

Kaitlin laughed as Anthony Santini spun her around the restaurant. She hadn’t had one moment’s rest since they’d arrived at the location for the reception. She had been passed from one Santini to the next, not to mention that most of them she had no idea who they were. The only thing she knew was that they were all sexy—and she didn’t even want to start talking about the British side of the family.

The wedding had come together faster than anything she had seen. Marcella Santini appeared, and she and Joey, along with Kaitlin’s mother Deidre, had put it together. Vicente’s wife owned a nursery, so that had made it even easier.

Declan had closed the restaurant for the day, and it was filled with Fitzpatricks and Santinis. It was amazing that so many of them had made it there for the wedding, even for one day. Even Nando, the baby of the family, caught a hop over from Germany for the ceremony. Family mattered to them.

“You’re making me dizzy, Anthony.”

He smiled down at her. “I figured you have to already be dizzy to agree to marry my brother. Why not run away with me?”

All of the Santini men were charmers. She had been overwhelmed by each of them. The best thing was that they treated her as if she were one of them. NO one cared about the circumstances. They just wished them well.

“Because I love Brando.”

“See, dizzy.”

“I still get kind of queasy though, so you might not want spin me that much.”

“Oh, okay.”

He stopped immediately and she laughed. “So, I take it Brando has been telling stories about me?”

“He said something about you trying out for the Exorcist.”

She shook her head. “I am going to beat him.”

“If you do, can you make sure to tell me so I can get it on video. That bad boy would be online in an instant.”

She laughed. “I don’t think that’s the way I should start off my marriage.”

He looked past her to something over her shoulder. “Hey, your maid of honor is trying to get your attention.”

She glanced over and saw Wendy waving at her.

“Thank you for the dance, sir.”

He chuckled and leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Welcome to the family, Kaitlin. Brando is definitely a lucky man.”

She thanked him, then made her way through the crowd to Wendy. It hadn’t been easy dealing with her and Aeden lately. Something had happened between them, but both of them refused to talk about it. The fact that they weren’t yelling at each other told her it had to have been something really bad.

“What do you need?” she asked.

“I need to talk with you.”

“Okay.”

“In private,” she said, looking around at the crowd. There was definitely something bothering her best friend.

“Let’s go,” she said, grabbing Wendy’s hand. She tugged her into one of the rooms Declan used for private parties.

She released Wendy’s hand and waited for her to talk. But she just wandered around the room saying nothing.

“Wendy.” She waited for her friend to look at her. “What’s up?”

Drawing in a deep breath, she blurted out, “I’m leaving Tuesday.”

“What? Where are you going?”

She sighed. “You know I volunteered to go to Africa. It finally came through.”

Kaitlin shook her head, unable to come to terms with what Wendy had just dropped on her head.

“Wait, you can’t leave. I’m having a baby.”

Wendy shook her head. “I’ll be back for that. I double-checked the dates. Can’t miss that.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kaitlin asked, knowing that she was starting to sound whiney. “I don’t want you to leave me now. How am I supposed to handle all this without you? And why didn’t you tell me?”

“You asked me that twice.”

“Shut up. I’m mad at you.”

But she wasn’t. The terror now icing her veins left her cold inside.

Wendy took hold of both of her hands. “Because this is about you, not me. But, you two are leaving tomorrow and when you get back, I’ll be gone.”

She frowned feeling as if she were close to tears. “I don’t like it.”

Wendy laughed. “I know you don’t, but I want to do this. They need good nurses over there. You know they do.”

She sighed. How could she yell at a friend who was sacrificing so much to help out with the latest Ebola outbreak? It was a sacrifice not many people would make. She admired her more for what she was doing.

“You’ll be back before this one comes?” she asked patting her belly.

She nodded. “I’m going for three months. They had someone who backed out at the last moment because she was pregnant. They put out a call two weeks ago.”

Kaitlin tugged her closer and hugged her. “Please, be safe.”

“I will.” With a squeeze, she released Kaitlin. “I need to go tell your mother. She’s not going to be happy.”

“Have you told your parents?”

Wendy’s smile faded.

“I haven’t talked to them since last March. I’ll send them a postcard. And don’t,” she said. “Don’t tell me I should contact them. They suck.”

Kaitlin smiled as she blinked back tears.

“I love you, Kaitlin.”

“Love you too.”

She slipped out the door. A second later Brando came in. He put his arms around her. He surrounded her with his warmth…his love. The pain she had been feeling seemed to fade.

“I can’t believe she’s going over there.”

He kissed the top of her head. “You know she wanted to.”

She nodded. Then she looked up at him. “Hey, have I told you how sexy you are in your uniform?”

It was nothing but the truth. The moment she had seen him standing in front of the altar wearing his mess dress, she had almost melted into a puddle of lust. Which, if she thought about it, probably meant that she might be going to hell. Lusting in a church had to be a sin.

“No. But I can promise I look much sexier out of it.”

She laughed. “Let’s go cut that cake so we can get out of here.”

He took her hand, kissed her fingers, then led her out of the room and off into the rest of their lives.