The Journey Collection (24 page)

“You, me, mom — we’re a package deal, little man. None of us work right without the others.”

“Like a puzzle. We need all the pieces to make the picture whole.” Max stood up and hugged Travis. “There’s just one problem with our picture, though.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” he wondered.

Max leaned back and smiled. “I need a little brother or sister.”

Before Travis could utter a sound, he spun on his heel, walked into the house, and left him sitting there stunned.

***

Chapter Nine

‘Til We Meet Again

Travis brought the crystal champagne flute to his lips and took a sip, letting his eyes wander around the room. It didn’t take him long to find her; he had been aware of her even before she entered his line of sight. If he concentrated for a moment, he could imagine the feel her body pressed against his, the whispered moans and pleas for more that would trickle out of her mouth. He longed to give in, to let her feel just how much he needed her, but he couldn’t — not here, anyway.

They were standing in the middle of the Methodist church’s fellowship hall. Their family and friends were milling around them, rambling on about how amazing the weather had been — perfect for the wedding. Travis nodded and murmured out a “You’re right” or “Sounds great” every few minutes, but all of his attention was honed in on his fiancée.

Penelope was standing on the other side of the room with Wanda, Martha Reynolds, and Nadine. Based on the look on her face, Travis guessed that she was bored to tears, and he made the decision to go rescue her. However, before he could as much as lift his foot, a hand came crashing down onto his shoulder.

“What the . . .” Travis’s words died in this throat when he turned around and saw Cal Hendricks standing there with a goofy smile on his face. Behind him were his girlfriend, Anna Ruiz, and her younger brother, Ben. Travis laughed. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Like I’d miss out on you getting married,” Cal scoffed, hugging him. “Penelope called. You know, since someone didn’t bother sending us an invitation to the biggest moment in his life.”

“Sorry, man, I just figured you’d be busy dealing with pre-season injuries,” Travis replied.

Cal waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s been nuts, but we managed to get a few days off, so here we are.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re here.” Travis stepped over to Anna, kissing her on the cheek. “Anna, you look amazing. Way too good to be with this dork.”

“Thanks, but you’d better be careful or the people in this room will think you’re cheating on your bride.” Anna smirked and gave a discrete nod of her head.

He chuckled and looked around. Sure enough, several people had been watching them with scowls. Rolling his eyes, he turned back to Anna. “Let them. Penelope knows she’s all I need.”

“You sound just like them,” Ben grumbled, tilting his head toward Cal and Anna. His features mirrored his sister’s, except where she had hypnotic, black eyes, his were a bright, vibrant blue. From what Anna had mentioned when Travis first met her, Ben had gotten his eyes from their mother. “All lovey-dovey and crap. Not all of us need to hear about it, you know.”

“You sound just like Max, Ben,” Travis replied, offering the boy his hand. “How are you doing?”

Ben shrugged his shoulders. “I’m hanging in there. I was hoping to get to play ball this fall, but the doctors still feel that it’s too dangerous. So I guess I get to stand on the sidelines again.”

Anna brought her hand up to his shoulder, but Ben shrugged it off. Travis was about to say something, but he stopped himself before the words could leave his mouth. On her left hand was a diamond ring with a matching gold wedding band. Travis reached out and grabbed Cal’s left wrist, yanking it up. Sure enough, there sat another gold wedding band.

“Um, what the heck?” Travis asked, releasing his hold on Cal and looked from him to Anna. “Someone explain.”

She was the first to speak. “We’re married.”

“So I see,” Travis laughed. “When?”

“Valentine’s Day.” Cal smiled, sliding his arm around his wife. “I’d been thinking about asking her for a while, but, well, I was scared. We were eating dinner at that little French place downtown, and she was talking about Ben,” he explained, ignoring Ben’s groan, “and I just knew. So, I pulled out the ring I’d been carrying around with me since Christmas and asked.”

“When he dropped to his knee, I thought he was having a heart attack,” Anna teased. “I’d just reached into my purse to grab my cell when he pulled out the box. Pardon me if I don’t share his exact words, but when he asked me to marry him, Travis, I couldn’t say no. I love him so much.”

Cal beamed with happiness before he said, “That night, after we picked Ben up from his friend’s house, we flew to Vegas. Anna and I were married in a little chapel on the strip.”

“Wow,” Travis said, laughing. “You just eloped?”

“Yeah, we didn’t need a big wedding,” Anna replied, grabbing Ben’s hand. While he pretended to be disgusted with his sister and new brother-in-law, Travis could tell that Ben was genuinely happy for them. “Ben walked me down the aisle and stood up as Cal’s best man. It was perfect.”

“Sounds like it,” Travis agreed. Holding his hand out to Cal, Travis said, “Congratulations, man. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks. I would have told you sooner, but I knew you were dealing with a lot already,” Cal told him, shaking Travis’s outstretched hand.

Nodding, he sighed. “Let me guess: Penelope told you about the exam and everything.”

“Don’t be mad at her; she thought maybe I could offer some support. I told her the best thing she could do was just be there,” Cal explained. “That woman must love you an awful lot to call a total stranger for help.”

“That she does,” Travis murmured. “Come on, I can’t wait for you to meet her and Max.”

He found them sitting at a back table with Russ, Nadine, Sherman, and Wanda. Each of them had a plate of food from the small buffet the ladies from the church had organized. Travis and Penelope had tried to refuse their generosity, but they’d insisted. Travis suspected that Russ and Nadine had more to do with it than either was willing to admit. Penelope stood up when Travis, Cal, Anna, and Ben came up to the table.

“Penelope, I’d like you to meet Cal Hendricks,” Travis said.

“It’s wonderful to have a face to go with the voice, Cal,” she murmured, offering him her hand.

Cal, on the other hand, scoffed and wrapped his arms around her, spinning her around.

“Oh, my!”

“Honey, let her go,” Anna ordered, laughing.

Cal did as he was told and set Penelope back on her feet. “Sorry, I got a little overzealous, I guess.”

“I’d say so,” she giggled. “But don’t worry about it.”

“Dude, really?” Travis shook his head at Cal before gesturing to Anna. “Penelope, this is Anna Ru . . . well, Anna Hendricks now, I guess. She’s Cal’s new wife.”

“What?” Russ bellowed, standing up. “You two got hitched?”

“Yes, sir, we did,” Cal admitted.

Russ turned his glare onto Travis. “Why didn’t you tell me, boy?”

“Because I didn’t know,” he groused. “Why are you so upset anyway? You love Anna.”

“Well, yeah, I do, but . . .” His father huffed. “She doesn’t have a daddy to get pissed at her for not telling him, so I guess I figured I’d do it.”

“Oh, Russ,” Anna gushed. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you and tell you myself, but I knew you would give us your blessing.”

His lips twitched. “Yeah, I would have.” Shifting his eyes over to Cal, he added, “Hurt her and you answer to me.”

“Yes, sir,” Cal replied with a smile.

She rolled her eyes. “You’re a silly man. Anyway, this is my brother, Ben.”

“Nice to meet you, Ben,” Russ said, nodding toward the dark-haired boy.

“Yeah, you too,” Ben mumbled.

Max stood up and walked up to him. “Hey, I’m Max. Want to go find something else to do?”

Ben smiled. “Yes. I’ve been stuck with grownups for two days.”

“I hear ya,” Max scoffed. “My friend Jana brought some cards. Do you know how to play poker?”

“Um, no,” Ben said.

He grinned. “Good. I’ll teach you.”

The boys walked away before anyone could stop them. Travis contemplated going after them, but he decided that, at least for tonight, it wasn’t a battle worth fighting. How much trouble could they get into while inside a church?

“Cal, Anna, I’d like you to meet my parents,” Penelope said, drawing everyone’s attention back to her. “This is my dad, Sherman, and my mom, Wanda. Next to Russ, that’s his . . .
friend
Nadine.”

“That’s her polite way of saying that I’m Russ’s girlfriend,” Nadine mused, nodding toward Anna and Cal. “I’ve heard so many great things about you.”

“Russ, have you been bragging about me?” Anna cackled and slid into the chair next to him. “Be careful. Someone might think you’re
not
a cranky, old man.”

“Hush now, girl, before my cover is blown,” he teased.

Travis had to bite his lip to stop from laughing. If he hadn’t known that his father was in love with Nadine, he would have thought that Russ was flirting with Anna.

“Can’t have that,” she snickered before turning to Sherman and Wanda, who looked taken back by the charm she was laying on Russ. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

“You, too,” Wanda murmured. “How long have you and Cal been married?”

“Three and half months,” Cal and Anna replied together.

Everyone laughed.

“We were married on Valentine’s Day,” Cal said. “Long story short, we eloped.”

“So you didn’t get to have all of this?” Penelope asked with a bit of sadness in her tone.

Anna smiled and shook her head.

“Do you regret it?” Penelope wondered.

“No,” Anna said, and Travis couldn’t deny her sincerity in the simple word. “I’ve never been one of those women who wanted a big to-do. And I’m sure that Travis has told you about my parents, right?”

Penelope nodded, before turning to Sherman and Wanda. “They were killed in a car accident a couple of years ago.”

“Oh, we’re sorry.” Sherman frowned.

“Thank you.” Anna shifted in her seat and cleared her throat. Cal brought his arm up and wrapped it around her shoulders, and she relaxed into him. “Ben was there to walk me down the aisle, and I got to marry the love of my life. What else did I need?”

“Nothing,” Penelope murmured, dabbing the corners of her eyes.

“Oh, please don’t cry,” Anna pleaded. “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“You didn’t,” she said. “You just have such a positive outlook on life.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Anna laughed. “You should see me when I am stressed over finals.”

“No, she shouldn’t,” Cal snickered.

Anna glared at him.

“Oh, honey, you know I love you, but you’re scary when you’re studying.”

“Oh, my God,” Penelope exclaimed. “When Travis was studying for his exam, I had to tiptoe around him. He’d get this look on his face . . .”

“Squinty eyes, tongue poking out between his teeth, and lips puckered around it?” Cal lifted an eyebrow in Penelope’s direction.

“Yes!” She smiled, while Travis rolled his eyes.

Cal smirked. “Yeah, he’d get that look a lot back in college. Remind me to send you the photos. You might need them for blackmail one day.”

“Dude!” Travis laughed. “You swore you’d never show those to anyone. In fact, you said you’d destroyed them.”

Cal shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I lied.”

Travis pointed at him. “You’re a jerk.”

Russ, Nadine, Sherman, and Wanda leaned back in their seats, laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Penelope sighed and leaned her head on Travis’s shoulder. Closing his eyes, he turned and pressed his lips to the top of her head.

“Aw, you two are so cute,” Cal teased, but a moment later, he turned serious. “Penelope, I know you don’t know me very well, but I hope that you’ll indulge me for a moment.”

“Of course,” she told him.

Cal took a deep breath and sat up in his chair. “Travis has been my best friend for ten years. We roomed together at UT; he was there for me when I blew out my knee, and when I was looking for a job, he pointed me toward the Sharks. Telling him that his career was over killed me because the game was everything to him.”

“Dude,” Travis started, but when Cal held his hand up, he pressed his lips together.

“I wasn’t sure if Travis would be able to recover. Weeks passed, and I didn’t hear anything from him. Then one day, I found him and Russ standing under the goalpost. When Travis turned back to me, I didn’t see the same pathetic guy who’d left my office with a scowl on his face.”

“I wasn’t pathetic,” Travis jibed.

“Yeah, whatever, man.” Cal laughed. “My point is, Penelope, he told me about you and Max, how you two had found your way back to one another. He was happy, and I just want to say thank you for loving him.”

“Oh, Cal,” Penelope wept. “Loving him is the easy part.”

“I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Cal grumbled, looking to Travis for help.

Travis wrapped his arms around his fiancée and nestled her against him. “You’re such a sentimental jerk,” he mused, but his words were laced with the tears that he struggled to hold back. “Thanks for being here.”

Cal smiled. “I wouldn’t have missed it.”

Travis and Penelope excused themselves, slipping out the back door to enjoy the quiet for a few minutes. The last few weeks had been emotional and overwhelming for both of them. Travis had called Jack the day after he got his exam results and accepted the position. Two days later, word had already spread around town, and he was fielding at least ten phone calls a day from people who wanted to congratulate him. While he was touched by their gestures, he was already nervous enough without that added pressure on his shoulders, too.