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“He and Birdie seemed made for each other. He shared the same values she’d been raised with, and he could recycle a month’s worth of trash in the palm of your hand. Birdie fell hard, and it seemed so did Shithead Steve. They had one of those handfasting ceremonies four months later.”
“Handfasting?” Sawyer asked.
“It’s like this ancient Celtic thing where the hands are tied together to symbolize connecting two lives,” Brody said. “What?” he added as his brothers stared at him. “I have a kid. I need to keep ahead of the curve. You all know how smart she is.”
“What happened?” Sawyer asked.
“One day he just up and left. Said he didn’t want to be tied down and he was a free spirit or some shit,” Ryder said.
“That fucker,” Sawyer snarled.
“He left town before I could beat the shit out of him for hurting her,” Ryder said. “But it hit her hard, no matter how much she said otherwise. You know Birdie. She carried on like nothing had happened. Her parents were pretty cut up too.”
Birdie had been engaged. The thought made Sawyer’s gut twist.
“Anyway, this all stays with us because no one has taken off their cones yet,” Ryder said.
The Duke brothers nodded, and then each removed their invisible cones.
Mandy, Ted’s wife, was waiting for them in reception when they arrived back at the lodge.
“Your mother said to tell you that you need to head to the dining room,” Mandy said.
“That’s going to be a hardship. I’m hoping there’s plenty of food,” Ryder said, smiling at the woman.
“Plenty of food there, I promise.” She blushed.
“It’s like you were born doing that,” Brody said as they headed to the dining room.
“What?” Ryder asked.
“The smiling and flirting shit,” Sawyer said.
“Fuck off. It’s called being nice. You three should try it sometime.”
They walked through the doors, arguing. The shriek to their left had them turning.
“No way,” Dan said.
“Zoe?” Sawyer’s voice came out raspy. He started moving with his brothers.
His sister was here. He reached her first, and she ran at him. He caught her and hugged her hard.
“Jesus,” he whispered. “It’s good to see you, little sister.”
“Give her to us,” Dan demanded.
Releasing her, he stepped aside to watch the others. His mother moved to his side and slipped her arm around his waist.
“How come she’s here, Mom?”
“I don’t know all the details, but I think she’s here to stay, Sawyer.”
“I called her,” Uncle Asher said. “Asked if she’d fly in for the wedding so I’d have all the people I love in one place. She rang me to say yes. I worked out the details, and she came in by bus this morning.”
Something made Sawyer turn his head, and there she was. Birdie McAllister, the woman whose panties he had his hand inside last night.Not a sound move to think about that standing surrounded by your family, Sawyer.
She was sitting with Ally, and Autumn’s son, Ritchie. Her eyes, however, were on the Duke family reunion. They then found him and quickly jerked away.
