Thursday afternoon:
Robyn woke up again a few hours later. She slowly opened her eyes and smiled as she found herself looking into Joey's warm brown eyes. She slid her hand across the pillow and stroked his cheek.
"Were you watching me sleep?" she asked groggily.
He perched himself up on one elbow, "Yep." He grinned.
"You were, huh? Now why were you doing that?"
"Cause you're so gosh darned pretty and I can't believe that you are my wife!" Joey leaned over and kissed her.
"Ugh! Don't do that, I've got morning after vomit breath," she covered her mouth as she sat up.
"What's a little bad breath between a man and his wife?" Joey teasingly wrapped her in his arms and kissed her soundly.
"Would you stop saying that?" she asked with an edge to her voice.
"Stop saying what?" Joey looked perplexed. His wife didn't look happy.
"Stop calling me your wife!"
"But why? I'm so happy you are-that we are--you know. Why would you want me to keep quiet about that?"
"Because. OK, just because." Robyn got up from the bed, grabbed the hotel robe that was nearby and wrapped it around her. She went into the bathroom, made sure the door was closed and sat on the edge of the tub. What the hell had she done?
Joey was confused. What to do? Go to her, or let her have her space? He had a feeling that the wrong choice now could be disastrous to his marriage and future happiness.
Another five minutes found Joey tapping lightly on the bathroom door.
"Robyn? Can I come in?" He gave it a couple seconds. He didn't hear anything, but that wasn't a bad thing, was it? He turned the handle slowly and eased the door open a little.
"Rob?" He peaked around the door. There she was, sitting on the edge of the tub with her face in her hands. "Baby?" He slowly approached her. "What is it? Please tell me."
Robyn shook her head. "No, I'm OK."
Joey squatted down in front of her. "You're not OK. Look at me. Come on, baby, look at me," he coaxed.
Robyn slowly gave in to Joey's gently pulling her hands. He took both of her hands in one of his and used his other hand to dry her tears. "Don't cry baby, you're breaking my heart." She looked into his eyes and saw her tears mirrored in his eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into his strong chest. Joey held her tightly and reassuringly rubbed her back.
"Oh, Joe," she sighed. "My brothers are going to kill you."
"What?" He was so surprised he lost his balance and fell backwards, taking her with him. "That is so not what I was expecting you to say!" They lay on the clammy tile floor laughing.
Joey stopped laughing to catch his breath. "As much as I love having you on top of me, do you think we could carry on this conversation in a more comfortable place?"
"Sure." Robyn moved her limbs gingerly and untangled herself. She got up slowly, still stiff from a night of vomiting.
Once Joey got out from underneath her, he scooped Robyn into his arms and carried her back to the bed. He got her settled under the covers and then passed her a bottle of Gatorade that he had chilled in the ice bucket. "Cheers!" he said. "The doctor said you have to keep hydrated, so drink up!"
Robyn rolled her eyes, but drank anyway. She patted the bed beside her. "Come sit with me."
"Only if we talk," he bargained.
"OK," She grudgingly accepted.
"Then you're going to go back to sleep."
"OK." She sighed like it was a huge imposition, but in reality she was exhausted and more than willing to go back to sleep.
"OK," he smiled. He had been expecting her to fight him on that one. Joey picked up her hand. "So, about these brothers...how many are we talking here?"
Robyn smiled. "Three. All older."
"Shit," Joey muttered. "I'm a dead man."
"Yeah, you are." She smiled ruefully. "We're both in for it. They'll never forgive me for getting married without telling them."
"Sure they will," he encouraged. "Tell me about them."
Robyn settled herself with her head in his lap. Joey played with her hair while she told him about her family.
"I have a kind of weird family," she started. "There is a fifteen year age difference between me and my next oldest brother, Jeff. Kit is two years older than him and Craig is two years older than Kit. I was the change of life baby, the surprise my parents said they were thrilled to receive. They had always wanted to have a little girl, but after Jeff, my mother was told she wasn't able to have any more kids. You can imagine how surprised my parents were when they found out they were pregnant again. I always thought it must have been a big pain for Jeffy especially. He was in high school when I came on the scene and stole his place as baby. He says he didn't mind that much and he swears that I was a chick magnet." Robyn smiled, "Jeffy used to offer to take me out for walks after school. Our mother thought he was being sweet, but he was really using me to meet girls. They'd all come over to the stroller to see me, and he'd brag about being a big brother. He complains now that I don't bring him girls the way I used to. Of course, he's got our nieces and nephews to use for that now."
"Nieces and nephews? You mean I'm an uncle?" Joey smiled.
"Yeah, you're an uncle, all right. I should warn you that they are not much younger than us-another one of the joys of being so much younger than the rest of your siblings. I'm closer in age to the kids than I am to my brothers."
Robyn continued to talk about her family. She told him that her parents had been killed in a car accident when she was three. Joey's heart broke for her when he heard this.
"Craig had just finished college was living on his own when our parents died. He moved back home to take care of Jeffy and me. Kit was in college and Jeffy was in his last semester of high school. My parents had already talked to Craig about being my guardian if anything should ever happen to them. They knew that since they were older by the time I came around that they might not be there for my whole childhood."
Robyn talked with great affection for all of her brothers, but especially Craig. She told Joey how special Craig was, how at such a young age he had taken on a being a parent to his baby sister and never let her feel like he didn't want to be. Craig had asked her at the age of five for her blessing in getting married to Abby and then the two had proposed together. Robyn had been Craig's "best girl" at his wedding. She had refused to be different than her brothers and insisted on wearing a tuxedo, not a dress. Joey couldn't wait to see the pictures of that!
Robyn drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face. Joey stayed next to her, still stroking her hair, wondering how it was that he had never known all of this about Robyn before.
Story Tags: proposal joey
