Love Me (Trust Series #2) (29 page)

Damien picked out the saying that went on Rebecca’s tombstone. From conversations I’ve had with him, his mom spent the time planning the get together after the service. The small important details such as the tombstone wording didn’t matter to her. She makes my blood boil.

A peaceful quietness comes over us as I say, “Damien, I’m going to give you a minute. You need to forgive yourself. I know she does. Take this moment and know she loved you. She knew you were going through a rough time. You both were.”

He looks up at me, totally lost, but he nods. From the conversations we’ve had, I know that he hasn’t been back to Rebecca’s grave since she died. There’s something therapeutic about it for me, and I hope it is the same for him, too. It hurts like hell, but it’s part of the healing process. I back away quite a few feet to give him a moment of privacy with his sister. I know he would let me stay, but after experiencing a loss like this, some things need to be said alone.

He sinks down to his knees and bows his head. Per my request, Bane had the rest of security wait down by the entrance. I wanted Damien to have as much privacy as possible. I hope he’s finally dealing with this loss, and then he can regain the part of his life that has been dedicated to regret.

He puts his hand to her grave and begins to speak as he traces the words he chose for it all those years ago. After this, maybe he will be able to look back at all the memories of his sister with fondness and not sadness, like I am able to do with my parents because of him. He removes his hand from her tombstone and smoothes them over his dress pants.

In one fluid motion, he rises and signals for me to come over, and I comply immediately. As I put my arm around his waist and look up at him, I see the moisture in his eyes, which causes mine to become wet. My heart breaks, knowing the pain he’s been carrying around all this time.

He further tightens his grip, and we turn toward her grave as he speaks, “Becky, this is the love of my life. She’s my other half, like Grandma was to Grandpa. I want you to know that I’m going to be okay now that I have her. She would have been the sister you always wanted. We’ll keep you updated on our life. I’m so sorry I didn’t come here sooner. I have loved you always, even when I was a little lost.”

I wipe away the few tears that have slipped out of my eyes. As we are about to leave, I grab Damien and lean into him. I need to say something. I feel compelled to say something. “Rebecca, I wish we could have met. I want you to know that I’ll always love your brother with every fiber of my being. I never dreamed of finding a love like this.”

Damien tightens his arm on my waist at my words, and I cannot continue, or I’m going to be a sobbing mess. Seeing him emotionally upset and raw hits me to the core. I can feel the love here, like I do at my parents’ grave.

We stand there for a few minutes, reflecting, as Damien kisses the top of my head.

He eventually whispers, “Good-bye,” to his sister, and we head to the limo.

I can feel the closure he has received. It’s as if the weight of the world has been lifted off his shoulders. We get back into the car, and he immediately raises the privacy screen of the limo.

As the car takes off, Damien stares out of the window while he rubs my knee lost in reflective thought. After carrying around that guilt all these years, I’m sure that he’s a little lost in trying to get his bearings straight.

After a few minutes, I lean my head on his shoulder, giving him as much contact as possible. “How are you doing?”

He puts a finger underneath my chin and raises it until I meet his eyes. “Thank you.”

And with those two words, I know he’s going to be okay.

I smile up at him. “I love you, Damien. There isn’t a thing I wouldn’t do for you.”

“Me, too, baby. Me, too.”

Going for my purse on the seat, I say, “I have something for you.”

He quizzically looks at me as I continue to dig for it. I pull out the small box that is perfectly wrapped.

As I hand it to him, I explain, “With how fast the wedding happened, I didn’t have time to get you a wedding gift. I just got it back before we left to come up here. I have been waiting to give it to you.”

He’s smiling as he takes the gift from me and opens it.

“It’s your something old, something borrowed, something new, and something blue. I know that normally doesn’t apply to guys, but what you did for me was incredibly sentimental, and I wanted to do something similar for you.”

He pulls out the titanium-banded watch that matches his wedding ring.

I continue to explain, “The something new is the watch itself that matches your ring. The blue sapphires marking the hours from one to eleven on the clock face were my mother’s, which is your something old and something blue. The something borrowed is the small white diamond at the twelve o’clock position. If you look closely, it’s a small heart that I got in a ring when I turned sixteen. You will always have my heart. The inscription on the back matches what our rings say. This way, when we have to be apart, you’ll always be able to count down the minutes until we are together again.”

The casual observer would never be able to see the heart-shaped diamond as it just looks like another stone. I was incredibly pleased with how his gift turned out. I was afraid it would be too feminine, but it’s a good balance between sophistication and masculinity.

He’s just sitting there, staring at it closely. All of a sudden, doubt starts to form in my mind as I wonder if I did the right thing.

Then, he pulls me to him, and his lips take mine in the most adoring kiss, almost bringing me to tears.

“I love it. It’s perfect like you. I’ll cherish this always.”

I’m so excited as I smile and lean into him, just holding him. He puts on his watch and just stares at it. I look at my sapphire ring, rethinking those words he wrote to me in the letters on our wedding day.

After a moment, he continues, “If there’s any time tonight when you want to leave, you let me know.”

“I promise. It’s me and you.”

His parents’ home is beautiful. It’s all stone with a perfectly manicured lawn. It’s a Tudor-style, appearing more cold than warm. It suits his mother’s personality.

More than anything, I’m nervous about what they’re going to try. I guess it’s the
unknown
that makes me the most nervous.

Looking down at my sapphire ring, I remember Damien’s words about what it represents, and it gives me strength.

“Alli, if this is too much, we can leave now.”

Peering over at his concerned face, I respond, “I’m fine. I promise.” I can see the doubt in his features, and I continue to try to reassure him, “I was just preparing myself for whatever will be said or done, so I don’t let it faze me.”

“You have to communicate with me, Alli. I won’t jeopardize
us.
”

He has me by the shoulders, staring intently into my eyes. He is trying to read any apprehension I might have. I feel like my soul is bared to him when he looks at me like that.

“Promise.”

The partition in the limo rolls down, and I see Bane sitting alone in the front seat. Jeremy is standing outside our door.

“Mr. and Mrs. Wales, the house has been thoroughly searched. Your room has been checked for bugs, and a security guard has been outside of it all day. Your mother assumes he’s guarding jewelry in the bag we brought in earlier. It was a good cover with all the people coming and going from the house to set up for this evening’s events. To be on the safe side, I would advise not to talk about the situation. It wouldn’t be wise to indicate anything other than you two being here to celebrate your marriage. My number one mission needs to remain confidential.”

Damien responds, “Bane, don’t look in Rebecca’s room until after the party. I’ve been thinking about it, and I think she would have hidden her diary in a secret cutout in her closet. It’s where we hid all our secrets as kids.”

“Yes, sir.”

And just like that, Bane gets out of the car, and our door opens.

Damien squarely looks at me. “Alli, I mean it. I want you to talk to me first.”

I nod and swallow.
Here we go.

I give Damien my hand, and he returns a reassuring squeeze as we exit the car to a waiting Meredith.

Where in the world is Jon?

Their sidekick Cassandra is nowhere to be found.

At least for the time being.

Meredith walks up, animatedly talking with her hands. “Oh, my dear, dear son, we’re so glad to have you home finally.”

“Mother.”

I don’t see the sadness I normally see in Damien when he sees his parents. Between Rebecca’s pregnancy and the payoff to keep it a secret when she disappeared, I think he’s had enough. It’s one thing to mistreat him, but to mistreat someone he loves, such as his sister or myself, takes it to a whole new level.

“Oh, there’s no reason to be so formal,” she says.

I try talking to them again. “Mrs. Wales, it’s lovely to see you again. Thanks for having me in your home. It’s beautiful.”

His mom gives me a slight smile as if it’s painful to form as she nods. “Thank you.” She turns her attention back to Damien.

Well, at least, she was a little nicer this time.

“Let’s see to your bags. The dinner party is at eight, so you’ll only have a few hours to get ready since you arrived later than you said. I have you set up in your old room. Damien, I’d like to speak to you for a moment about some arrangements this evening that I’d prefer to keep as a surprise.”

He looks to me, and I smile.

This should be interesting.

As he walks a few feet, I go to get my camera bag from the backseat of the limo, and then I turn to see them talking. Damien’s back is to me, and his mother has a perfect smile in place. The way he stiffly holds his shoulders and stands erect tells me he’s pissed and on the verge of seething. His arm swipes through the air, and his mother momentarily blanches. When he turns, he closes his eyes for a moment before opening them and walking back to me.

Looks like the sweetness of his mother is still just a charade.

His pace is clipped as he makes his way to me and grabs my hand. “Let’s go to our room and unpack, baby.”

“Sounds good.”

Mentally, in order to remain calm, I keep repeating to myself,
The way his mother acts doesn’t matter. This is our life. They have no control over us.

She walks up to us and ever so sweetly says, “Let’s get inside, so everyone can be presentable by the time the party starts.” She turns and starts toward to the door.

As we pass through the threshold, Meredith states, “Oh, and I have invited some of your dearest friends, son. I just love dinner parties.”

I want to roll my eyes, but I refrain and keep it to a mental one only. I wonder where this nastiness stems from. I am almost glad that I barely register on her radar. Deep down though, I would have loved to have had a loving mother-in-law to bond with and be close with, like I was with my mom. However, Damien is worth the trade any day.

We are about to begin climbing the stairs.

Out of nowhere, his father grumbles behind us, “Damien, I would like a word with you.”

Oh geez, what now? Does this family not have any tact?

Damien responds, “Let us get settled. I’ll try to come down later and find you, Father.”

If there were any more ice in Damien’s voice, I’d have hypothermia. His father’s irritation is discernable, but he nods as we continue to make our way to his old bedroom.

As we are headed upstairs, Damien puts his hand on the lower part of my back as he whispers, “I’m sorry about that.”

We stop on the landing, and I look back to see his parents are gone from the bottom of the stairs.

“Damien, it’s not your fault. What did they want?”

“For you, my ‘friend,’ to sleep in another room because Cassandra is staying the night.”

My eyes go a little wide as that was honestly just a little unexpected, to say the least.

He continues, “Obviously, that was a fuck no, and my mother has been warned that we will leave without a moment’s hesitation.”

Taking a deep calming breath, I look him in the eye as I answer, “We need to stay. I’m glad you didn’t have us leave. I would have liked to have a good relationship with your parents, but it’s their choice not to accept me. If they want to live in their little world where I’m just your friend, that’s fine because I’d say I have some great benefits to go along with our friendship. Don’t ya think?”

I wag my eyebrows for extra effect. He only chuckles and smiles at my response even though I know he’s still seething.

We get to the door, and I try to lighten the mood with one of the ways he deals with this type of stress.

“So, will I get to christen this room as your wife?”

He gives me a wink as he opens the door. “I’d say that’s a definite possibility.”

Damien walks into the room and closes the door behind him.

Gah, he’s not taking the bait like he normally does.
I look around the room, trying to form some kind of plan on how I’m going to get him to spring into action and take me. His room has his football and baseball trophies from high school. It looks like he might have underplayed how good he actually was at sports back in the day. His room is done in blues and blacks that match his football team colors. It’s fairly plain and boring. There’s a queen-sized bed, and a chair and a desk in the corner. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this seems kind of nerdish with all the books in the bookshelves lining the room.