Everyone
Loves a Wedding From Family Matters
By Chris Owen
His mother smiled serenely. "Get out of
my kitchen. Go and see your sisters, your nieces and nephews."
Spencer moved toward the sliding doors that led to the backyard.
"But not my father or brothers-in-law?"
"They're talking about football. You leave them alone or
I'll hear about it for days."
Spencer smirked to himself, feeling a little evil thrill of
power. He'd had one little conversation about the way football
players looked, all lined up with their asses in the air, and
he'd been blackballed from all sports-related conversations.
He'd tried to talk to them about swimming and diving during
the last Olympic games, but Adam and Michael, married to his
two younger sisters, had gotten up and left the room. His sisters
had been cranky, too, except for Mary. She thought he was hysterical,
just as she always had. The others said her reaction was a twin
thing and therefore didn't count.
"I won't say a word," Spencer assured his mother as
he opened the door. A flood of sound greeted him, drowning out
her final admonition to play nice, something that Spencer was
happy enough to miss.
He went to the backyard, immediately deciding not to join his
sisters. They were all huddled in one corner of the yard under
a big blue sun umbrella, apparently circled around two wine
bottles and a collection of the smaller children. They were,
of course, keeping an eye on Maddy and the four year old twins
as they splashed in the wading pool. It wasn't so much the wine
or the babies that kept him away, though, as it was the way
they were giggling and looking at the pack of men who were standing
around a cooler of beer in the opposite corner.
The girls were far too amused and that promised nothing good
for anyone with a penis.
Spencer waved to them as he skirted the edge of the yard, his
dignity wrapped tightly around himself as he ignored Beth and
Ginny hooting at him. He did, however, notice that Mary waved
back and looked more cheerful than preying. He knew who loved
him best.
He half listened to his three brothers-in-law discuss football
as he approached them, grinning when Michael, Adam and Billy
didn't even pause in their conversation as they huddled a little
closer to each other like they could protect their sport from
his lechery. They did nod to him, though, as Spencer scooped
a beer out of the ice and opened it.
"Hey, Dad," he said as he lifted the bottle and gestured
toward the girls. "What's up with them?"
His father smiled. "I'm not sure, and I'm doing my best
to ignore it. Is your mother still hiding in the house?"
He looked relaxed as he lounged against the fence, a beer in
his hand. Retirement was suiting him, Spencer thought. Good.
He deserved it.
Spencer glanced toward the kitchen window. "Yeah. Well,
she's cooking and she kicked me out. That's hiding, right?"
"Uh-huh." His dad grinned and they both winced at
a piercing shriek of laughter from across the yard.
"They're your daughters," Spencer pointed out. "And
your grandkids."
"That doesn't mean I ever had any level of control over
them."
"How big of you to admit it," Spencer said with a
laugh.
"Hey, Spencer." Michael was looking at him curiously.
"How've you been?"
Spencer raised an eyebrow at him and drank his beer. "You
mean since the last time I saw you? It's been a whole week,
hasn't it?"
Michael's look grew into a broad grin. "Yeah, then. When
I kicked your ass at every video game known to man. You looked
really heartbroken when I left you sobbing into your shattered
high scores." It was so easy to see the college jock in
Michael when he teased. It was a good thing Spencer was used
to it and could remember a time when Michael went out of his
way to be polite to his then-new girlfriend's brother.
Spencer rolled his eyes as a chorus of brothers-in-law made
fake sympathetic sounds. "You mean just before your wife
called you up and demanded you get your butt home to deal with
the chores?"
The brothers-in-law turned on one of their own, catcalls ringing
as Spencer walked away from them and put himself into lawn chair
next to Brian, the boyfriend who'd been oddly silent. Brian
was carefully studying the beer bottle in his hand, his forehead
creased. Next to him sat his friend Dean, a guy Spencer knew
well enough to say hi to and ogle, but not well enough to grope.
Spencer took a look at the cluster of bottles under Brian's
chair. "Man. What's up with that?"
Dean snorted and shook his head, not saying a word as he drank
from his own bottle. He was looking out at the yard just as
carefully as Brian was looking at his beer.
Brian gave Spencer a dark look. "Not all mine. Adam had
one, and Billy."
"Hey, I'm not telling you to stop," Spencer protested,
hands up. "The drunker you get, the faster you fall asleep,
the more dessert that's left for me." He sprawled a little
more, admiring Dean's tan surreptitiously. "Seriously,
what's up?"
"Nothing," Brian mumbled, his cheeks flushing a little.
He leaned back and seemed to gather himself together. "Nothing.
I'm just thinking about stuff."
Again, Dean snorted. "Nerves," he said to Spencer.
"The boy's nervy."
Spencer had to take a moment to focus on the words. He'd somehow
forgotten about Dean's voice that was a rumble Spencer could
almost feel, deep and rich and completely unexpected. Dean didn't
look like he'd have a voice that could rival James Earl Jones',
not when he looked like an Iowa country boy.
"What's he nervy about?" Spencer finally asked, suddenly
hating how his own voice felt kind of scratchy. He drank his
beer to help that out.
"Hello, I'm right here. Christ, you two." Brian sighed
and then sat up straighter as the three men behind him all turned
as one to stare at him.
"Language," Adam said primly, pointing to the children.
Spencer laughed. "How many years did it take you to stop
swearing in front of the kids?"
Adam winked at him. "First time Maddy swore back at me."
"That cured all of us," Spencer's dad said. "Your
little lady was loud."
"She still is," Spencer pointed out, looking over
at the wading pool where Maddy was shrieking and laughing as
Matt and Luke splashed water at her in huge waves.
"True enough," Adam agreed, smiling as he turned back
to his conversation with Michael and Billy.
"Is it always like this?" Dean asked a couple of minutes
later, just after a loud burst of laughter came from the corner
where the women were all still clustered together.
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