A wife for my brother

They waited a month for Emma’s christening, and a month was how long Deanna refused to see or speak to Harry. But she had run out of excuses because Daniel would be the godfather.

And he couldn’t help the pang in his chest when he saw her again at the church door, arriving with her brother and niece and nephews as if they were family. But he had decided that sooner or later all those feelings would have to go away.

It was the first time Deanna had met the girl other than through photographs. Laura insisted that she hold her, although she could tell that she had built a wall around her, protecting herself from further blows.

But the little pink bundle brought a sweet smile to her face and for a few minutes she forgot everything. They both saw her with the little girl in her arms and both had the same thought. For Harry it was a fantasy, but for Daniel it could become reality.

The godfather offered his house for the reception and the boys from the university provided the music, but this time Deanna saved herself the starring role. The main part of the evening would take place in the old guesthouse.

A couple of guitars were needed for the song the college band wanted to play, and there were a couple of guitars gathering dust in her music room, so they went for them. It was time for Harry to face the inevitable once and for all.

He appeared in the doorway, a lost dog look on his face. Deanna stepped aside to let him pass and closed the door without a word.

– I’m so sorry, Dean –

– For what part? –

– Which part?

– Which part do you regret more, lying to me, meddling in my life, or manipulating me at your whim?

– All of it.

– You used me, Harry. I trusted you and you used me. You made me believe I was helping you and you were only out to please yourself. It wasn’t the last chance for you and Laura, you weren’t that desperate. You interfered with my relationship with Frank… –

– The guy’s an idiot –

– I knew that, but you didn’t let me make my own decisions, you made them for me. You pulled me out of my senior year of college for what? To give you “a chance”? To get me away from Frank? You weren’t even honest with Laura. I didn’t know you could be so selfish… I found out everything from her… were you ever going to tell me?

– No… I was never going to tell you. In what way? You were already in love with Daniel and he with you… That, Deanna, is what hurts me the most… No, don’t worry, I’ve already decided to put it all behind me… Is there anything I can do? No… I knew you would reject me all the time and now that you are with him, I have no chance… Nothing would have happened if I had had the courage to tell the truth, to be honest with you and with Laura… I was always “your friend Harry”, never anything else –

– My “friend Harry” listened to me in my worst moments, you used that to your advantage… He always encouraged me to keep going, you put a weight on my neck and pulled it. Do you know how much that hurts? All the times I looked for you to know what was wrong, why you acted the way you did, and you kept lying to me. Everything you have said to me since the proposal of marriage to Daniel has been a lie… even before…

– I was sick with sadness, anger and jealousy, because in my head, everything you have with him should have been mine… It was what I always wanted… And I kept lying so you wouldn’t run away. When you left him those days, I felt relieved again… I hoped you wouldn’t go back to him…

– I really don’t know who you are. You talk about Daniel as if he were a stranger to you, you’ve treated him like a stranger, pushed him away… He doesn’t say it, but you can see in his eyes how much it hurts him that his brother doesn’t know him like that. Not only that, you’ve been a jerk to your pregnant wife, do you know what she has to put up with because of your behavior? –

– Yes, I am! Aren’t I? An idiot… I let a woman blind me and I almost lost my family and we never had anything. I guess it would be better to say I’m pathetic –

– To me, you’ve become something more than that: a manipulator –

– Do you know what I went through when Laura told me she was pregnant?! Yes, I know! I’m a terrible man, I know that… But in that pregnancy all my illusions disappeared. I don’t regret it now

that I have Emma, but in that first moment it was like a rock crushing my head –

– You keep making excuses –

– I’m trying to explain…

– No, you’re trying to justify yourself. In reality, you were just acting like a petulant child throwing a tantrum because his toy was taken away –

– I don’t expect you to forgive me.

– Good, because I won’t –

– You’re cruel, Dean –

– You were cruel when you decided to cheat instead of facing your feelings and coming clean with Laura… But you know what? It’s still a win-win for both of us: Daniel and Emma aren’t mistakes –

– He’ll end up disappointing you…

– You don’t know what you’re talking about, you don’t know what’s going on between us. You just assume, like everyone else. At first I thought you were just prejudiced, now I know you’re cynical

– He warned me you’d take my head off, I never thought you’d end up hating me –

– I don’t hate you, you just stopped being my Harry –

– Daniel, you always forgive him… –

– I put my affection and trust in you and you used it to make your life easier… The worst thing is this feeling of pain because I lost my friend, more than the anger or the use you made of me… I can’t trust you anymore –

– I don’t blame you, even I don’t know if I can trust myself. But I have made a decision and that is to start a new life, I care very much for Laura and I am madly in love with my daughter, so I will make it work one way or another. We are going to move to another city. Eventually I will stop feeling this way, I know it… –

– I really hope everything you’re saying is real, because what you’re risking now is much more than a whim. Now you have a daughter and she needs you to be brave and honest, to take care of her and protect her, you can no longer afford to act like a child.

– It’s true, nothing is more important to me now than Emma –

– Good, because the next time I won’t take your head off, I’ll break it –

Daniel, standing at the window, smiled. That was his Deanna. He couldn’t help but go after Harry when he guessed his intentions, although he knew that her anger would keep her on her feet, what worried him was the aftermath.

Harry came out, he had nothing more to say, and he saw him standing there.

– You don’t know how lucky you are,” he told him.

– Yes, I do.

– Don’t ruin it too.

He waited a few minutes to go in and went straight up to hug her without saying anything.

-I love your perfume…

Deanna told him, hiding her face in his chest, feeling relieved.