Independence (24 page)

Marry me. Take the beating heart in my chest
and do with it what you wish. It's been yours since
the day
you saved my life. You've been saving it ever since.
I love you, baby, more than will ever be understandable, but I dare you to try.

Every tomorrow is all that matters, my love.

The tears that blurred my vision pulled a good ache in my chest to the surface.

Oh…

How was I supposed to follow that? Now I had to write my vows to him and try to be as perfect and spot on as he had been? He was
my
very
heart. He was
my
love, he was
my
everything… I felt so inadequate compared to him. I wiped my eyes with my palms and sucked it up. I had to do this. I took a deep breath and focused on Caleb. He had some black boxer briefs on and he stood at the sink getting ready to shave. The mirror was fogged over and he hadn't wiped it yet.

I decided not to wait and write them all out. I would just tell him how I felt right now. No worrying over pencil and paper and trying to word things just right This was me, real, alive and in love with him. I was about to had myself to him raw on a platter.

I kept my eyes closed and took my pinky
finger
in the air, imaging the words as I wrote them out
in the fog on the mirror
in front of him
, little section by little section
,
and then letting the steam cover it back over before starting again.

I know
that
you think that on some level I regret the day you touched me. I don't. Not on any level, not even a little. You've changed me in the most profound ways. When I was a little girl, I always imagined that I'd grow up to be like the women I saw in town. Women like my mom, who took care of everything so effortlessly and reveled in their status and small accomplishments. But it was all fake.
Your family made
me
see that you
should take care of
your family because you love them, not because someone important is watching. And I want to take care of you. In my body,
down into my veins
is this itch, this need to make you absolutely happy. You don't try to keep me down, you keep me safe while also letting me be me. You said you we trying to find the balance between being the tyrant and letting me be myself? You're there, baby. You take such good care of me. And the fact that you worry about it is the best part. It shows how much you love me. And there's no doubt in my mind at all that I'll be happy with you.
I only hope that I can make you as happy, too.

I love feeling your heart in my chest
,
knowing that mine is beating there right beside yours. I'm right where I
belong. So do I regret the day you touched me? The day you made me yours? Never, Jacobson.

No matter where we go, what we do, what we see or have to deal with as the leaders of our kind... You're amazing, you're sexy and fun, protective, ambitious, and sweet.

I am so ready to live this life with you.

He emerged from th
e bathroom, his boxers
the only thing he wore. His reverent face was ruggedly beautiful. And when he bounded toward
me
, his bare feet padding on the tile floor, I welcomed the crash of our bodies. His hands wrapped around my thighs to lift me up and he held me to him and squeezed the life out of me as he said, "
Is it tomorrow yet?"

I smiled against his mouth. "Almost
. Thank you for
what you wrote. To say it was beautiful is a terrible understatement."

"
I meant it. And v
ows on the bathroom mirror? I bet I'm the only Ace who can say that that's how they got them."
I shrugged and smiled in embarrassment. "I improvised."

"I loved it. Thank you," he said in my favorite growly voice. He nipped at my chin. "You want to straddle the line with me, Mrs. Jacobson?"
"That's all I want to do
right now
," I said breathlessly as he took me and placed me gently on the bed before following me down. H
is mouth claimed small pieces of skin that seemed so miniscule in the grand scheme of things, but he also lit me on fi
re with every inch he moved to.

We stayed decent, dressed and technically innocent, but satisfied. The boy was a genius at knowing me, at knowing my body, and knowing just how far to go and what each sigh and
gasp meant
.

The blue energy ribbons that came when we melded our minds wasn't eerie any longer. It was now a part of me and I welcomed it. It felt like it belonged.
And watching his face through the glow as he kissed
my shoulder and neck was one of
the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.

And now as we lay together in his warm bed, reveling in the feel of each other and trying to tell our bodies to calm down, it was the best kind of Hell. The worst kind of Heaven. We only had a few short hours until Heaven and Hell would collide
,
and I wasn't scared or worried or even anxious. I was just ready.

Pull
the gate and let this racehorse go. I was ready for the marathon
.

I woke to the tune of
We're Not Gonna Take It.

I sat up so quickly my head spun. I mumbled, through my teeth, "Ohmygoshwhatisthat…" I looked around and saw my cell phone bumbling around on the night stand. I grabbed it up and answered with a groggy, "Hello?"

"Maggie, Maggie, Maggie. So good to hear your voice again." I froze. Marcus. "Do you like that new ringtone I got for you?"

He had my phone? He had been…in our house….

I shook Caleb, but he was already awake, feeling my scared heart beating in my chest, and up glaring at the phone in my hand. "What do you want?"

"You. Dead. Too much to ask?"

"What do you want?" I said more forcefully. My min
d immediately flitted to Beck, t
hat he was calling to tell me he'd found her and she was dead. Caleb shook his head and took his own phone off the dresser and dialed her number.

"I just wanted to tell you that I heard about your friend's passin
g. Sad really. Those pesky fuel
lines… Anyway, my family is back home now. The compound is all they've got left. They are so pathetic, moping around and trying to find jobs. But I just can't do that. I didn't enroll in college or anything. I was always too busy helping Sikes with his schemes, and now he's gone, and Donald is gone. My father is the most pathetic of them all. Marla was his golden child. You did me a favor, by the way." He laughed, though I could hear the slight crack telling me he was lying. "She was always the soft one, the one who flew by the seat of her pants and just wanted everyone to kiss her butt an
d tell her she was pretty and
special." There was a pause. "Anyway, I'm going to be in the neighborhood and I thought maybe I could stop by your dad's house tonight. I figured that since I haven't seen you, you aren't interested in retaliating against me for Rebecca like I assumed you would. I assumed you wouldn't stop until you found me. So I guess I'll have to go hi
gher in the ranking and take out
dear old daddy."

My breath caught in my throat. Caleb took the phone from me then and
yelled into the receiver. "S
tay away from them.
You're a human now
. Do you really want to test Maggie right now?"

I could hear it all through Caleb and heard his gutturally grunted words.
"I want to do more than test her. I want her to die in your arms and watch as you cry like a girl for your fallen, pretty, little Visionary." He chuckled under his breath. "I guess…I'll see you soon."

And the line went dead.
Caleb dialed Rebecca's number as
I glanced at the clock
. It was only a little after seven in the morning. Caleb's hand shook with anger as he tossed my phone onto the bed. "Beck's fine. She answered and said to stop calling her and hung up. So, she's fine."

I swallowed, my throat dry. "Ok, now what?"
"Well…I had planned to-" He sighed, long and hard. "I had planned to take you to the apartment I got for us in Arizona. But Marcus is screwing all of that up."

I felt my breath catch in my throat. "Arizona?"

He nodded and gave me a wry smile. "I wanted to take you there and tell you all about the plans I want for us and my company." He slid down to the floor, kneeling at my feet as I sat on the bed, and rested his arms on my knees as he continued. "I thought long and hard about this. I knew not buying you a house for our wedding is going to upset some people, mainly my dad, but I knew that Bish didn't have the money and that you wanted to help any way that you could. So
,
I decided to buy the house for Bish and then rented us an apartment for your wedding gift in Arizona for us to go back and forth from here to there." He gulped slightly. "I want you to work with me. I want you to help me expand the centers to other states. It's what I've always wanted to do and I know you haven't decided what you wanted to major in or anything yet. You can do anything you want, I promise I'll stand behind you in whatever you decide, but I would be honored if you'd be my co-pilot." He grinned. "My co-CEO of my company and travel with me to get the centers started and hire the staff.
I'll buy you a real house for us to settle down in whenever you're ready, but for now, I just thought this would be make more sense.
"

I spoke slowly. "It makes perfect sense. I love it."

"You do?" he said in relief.

"Yes. And I want to be available to the other clans as much as I can, too. This should help keep our schedule pretty open since we're not going to be on a set daily time that we have to work like we would at your dad's office."

He nodded. "Right."

"You're the
sweetest
. Those kids are so incredibly lucky to have you."

His cheeks may have turned a little pink. I couldn’t be sure in the dark. "
Yeah."

"So what are we going to do about Marcus?"

"Well instead of going to Arizona, I guess we better leave after
the
wedding and take your dad with us. And Bish. And Kyle, too, for that matter.
I'll book us a couple cottages at Virginia Beach or something. It won't be the honeymoon I wanted to give you, but…"

"It's perfect. We'll still get a honeymoon and knowing that everyone else is right there with us safe will be better." I took a deep breath, trying not to cry as I thought about it.

He noticed though
and
looked at my eyes closely. "You nervous?"

"Not even a little." He looked skeptical. "I just can't believe it's today."

He smiled and snaked his arms around my waist. "I bet Marcus was so smug thinking he'd ruined your day. He always underestimates you."

"
I won't let anything ruin this day."

He kissed the end of my nose.
"Today is all that matters, my love,"
he whispered into my hair.

"And what i
s today?"
I asked cheekily.

"The day you pay the consequence for saying 'yes'."

I giggled and opened my eyes to find him over me on his elbows. "I'll gladly pay that penalty."

"Good." He kissed my forehead. "I'll go drop you off at Dad's and all the girls can get ready there. Kyle said we'd get dressed at his house. Don't worry. I'll bring Bish and your dad so you don't have
to worry about them. I've got '
e
m
."

"Thank you." I kept my face straight. "Are you nervous?"
"Hell no," he said with a grin. "Let's go, gorge
ous. Everything you need is at Dad's."

"OK." We got dressed and he drove me over to Peter's house.
The new butler had started that day and he wasn't nearly as funny or as friendly as Randolph had been.

Caleb
kissed me on the cheek and said he'd see me later. I looked over my shoulder at him as I climbed out of the truck. Bish came out and hopped in with him. He waved at me and smiled the hugest grin. It made me want to cry at seeing him that happy. I look past him to Caleb and waved my fingers at him.

Bye.

Bye, baby.

And they drove away to Kyle's leaving me standing in the massive driveway. I turned
around and half expected to find white
tulle
and
bows everywhere, but the place looked the same.

I made my way through the garage and down the maze of halls, remembering the way to navigate it that Caleb had taught me. Bella met me first, circling me and licking at my fingers. Then Maria ran and tackle-hugged me around my middle. Rachel was next, asking how my night had been. I couldn't stop the blush that crept up. So I wasn't surprised at all when Gran gave me a scowling look.