Marriage by Mistake (40 page)

She didn't say anything, either, just looked
at him. All of Dean's wishes, all his desires, his everything, was
standing there in the person of this woman. He thought he was going
to explode if somebody didn't say something. "How are you?" he
finally managed to croak out.

Kelly looked incredulous. "What?"

"How are you?" Dean took a deep breath.
"That's what I really came out here to find out. I know I hurt you
two weeks ago. I    I wanted to make sure you were all
right."

Kelly's eyes widened.

Dean saw her surprise and a ragged laugh
escaped him. "Kind of hard to believe, huh? I    I guess
I didn't leave you with the impression I cared." His voice lowered.
"But I do."

Kelly continued to stare at him. Her
disbelief launched another arrow into Dean's already aching heart.
He felt that organ twist with all he'd never told her, all he'd
been too afraid to admit, even to himself.

Well, if ever there was a second chance this
was it. Dean closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. "I care,
Kelly. I really care. I...love you. That's it. Love. Just
  
love
. That's how I feel." He gave another
whispery laugh and opened his eyes.

Kelly was staring at him in a way that made
Dean's heart sink. He'd failed, once again.

Then she launched herself at him. It was too
fast for Dean to do anything but gasp, clutch her close, and try to
keep them both from landing on the pavement.

"Oh, Dean. Dean, Dean, Dean." She rained
kisses all over him; eyebrows, nose and both cheeks.

Dean crushed her gently. Her warm, lithe body
was actually in his arms. How was this possible?

"You said it." She squeezed him tightly. "You
actually said it."

It took Dean a second to understand what she
meant. Meanwhile he didn't dare let go. "Oh," he said. "Did you
like that?"

Kelly pulled back to stare at him. "Did I
like it?!"

Dean felt his face turn warm. "I guess what I
mean is, love is a feeling and, well, feelings, they're not very
reliable, are they?"

Kelly gazed at him round-eyed. "You think
feelings aren't
reliable
?"

Dean had to look away. "Well,
mine
are..."

"Dean." She turned his chin so he had to look
at her. "
My
feelings are reliable, too. And I love you. I
do."

Dean felt a very strange pressure, deep in
his throat. She loved him. He hadn't known how...big it would feel
to hear the words. Or how hard it would be to believe them. "But
   you left," he tried to disagree.

Kelly's lashes dropped. "I did. Because you
couldn't hear that. You weren't believing it."

He hadn't. He wasn't. How could she love him
   forever?

Kelly raised her eyes. "You still don't
believe me."

Alarm flashed through him, but she suddenly
grinned. "All right. I guess you're just going to have to do the
experiment and find out."

"The experiment?"

She hugged him gently around the neck. "Take
me home and find out if my feelings last. It's a long experiment.
Might take forty or fifty years, but eventually you'll get your
answer."

Dean knew he was staring at her. He'd let her
down, but she was just smiling at him, so beautiful, so generous,
so...loving. He tried, and failed, to swallow. "You're...coming
home with me?"

She tapped his chin. "How else can I prove my
feelings are forever?"

"Kelly    " Then Dean couldn't say
any more. He pressed his face into the curve of her neck. He hadn't
driven her off? Amazing. On her waist, his hands trembled. "I'll do
anything, anything, to make this work," he vowed.

"Oh, Dean." He could feel her stroking his
hair. "All you have to do is be yourself. I love you just the way
you are."

Dean went very still. The words echoed in his
brain. Oh, he could almost...
remember
them. That's right,
standing in the hot desert air, next to a building with a huge
wooden yellow sun tacked to it, and Kelly. Oh, Kelly looking up at
him with her clear, sincere eyes.

Slowly, Dean drew back from their close
embrace. He looked down into her face. She blinked up at him,
quizzical. In that moment he understood. Oh, the memory blew away,
ethereal as smoke, but the understanding remained. Her words, the
sentiment    it was what had driven him to follow Troy's
hypnotic suggestion in the first place. It   
this
   was what he'd wanted. Not wild sex, not an
irresponsible alliance, but this: the love of a good woman.

"Oh," Dean said. "
Oh
." It was so
absurdly simple. So...rational. He started to laugh.

"What?" Kelly demanded. "What?"

Dean felt emotions swell up in his chest.
Humor, understanding, need. And love. That's what it was all about,
wasn't it? Love.

"What?" Kelly asked again.

Dean made a low noise in his throat. "This,"
he said, and lowered his head. Kelly's lips felt like coming home.
Well, a combination of coming home and flying to the moon. Dean
drew in a sharp breath and moved in closer, exulting when Kelly
pressed back. Oh yes. She, like he, wanted a perfect union.

For a long time they stood there, trying to
forge that union with their mouths. Finally, reluctantly, Dean
pulled back.

Kelly made a protesting noise, but Dean set
her apart, resolute. "I'm not done    My speech," he
panted out.

"Your speech?" Kelly looked dazed.

Dean laughed a little. "On the way over I had
a few hours to put one together."

"Mm?" Kelly was making a visible effort to
clear her brain of the kiss.

Dean brushed a finger down her cheek. "I may
actually be able to say it now."

"Hm?" Kelly blinked back to full awareness.
"To say what?"

Dean sighed and shifted her in his arms.
"Yeah, I may be able to say it, since I'm trusting and taking
chances here..." He slipped one hand into his inside jacket pocket.
He watched Kelly closely as he pulled forth a red silk
handkerchief. "You, uh, left this in my office a couple months
ago."

Kelly watched, frowning, as Dean unfolded the
handkerchief. In the center was a simple gold band. From the look
that then crossed Kelly's face Dean was pretty sure she remembered
throwing it at him during their first meeting in his office.

He cleared his throat. "You know me, always
wanting to cross the t's and dot the i's. I brought it along
thinking    " His heart took a long, deep dive. "Well,
thinking, Kelly    Will you marry me?"

She looked up from the ring to his face. "Oh,
Dean."

The expression on her face nearly blew him
away, but Dean managed to remain standing. Feeling both elated and
terrified, he shrugged. "I know we already are married, but I still
don't remember the ceremony and I'd really like to remember
marrying you, Kelly."

"Oh, Dean."

He cleared his throat again. "Is that a
'yes?'"

She threw her arms around his neck. "Yes!"
she cried. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Dean struggled not to fall as she jumped onto
him. Grinning madly, he decided he could get used to this taking
chances business.

###

They had the wedding at the Little Chapel of
the Dawn again. This time, however, Kelly invited her friends. Dean
had Troy fly out to be his best man. And there was a little family
confab beforehand.

Dean and Kelly gathered all involved parties
in her apartment the night before the wedding. Even Felicia
Thurgood attended, though her presence was a surprise, given that
she'd always been the arch-enemy of the man who'd brought her
along, Dean's cousin, Troy. But that evening Felicia and Troy, arm
in arm, were beaming in the way that only a couple in the beginning
stages of a love affair can beam.

Dean took a look at the two of them, his
expression somewhere between astonishment and comprehension. "I
knew something more was behind that check," he muttered, and gave
Troy a slap on the back that made him stagger.

"Thought you did," Troy grumbled, and looked
about to slap Dean back    amiably, of course
   until Kelly stepped between the two of them.

"It's so good to see you two actually talking
to each other..."

"As opposed to throwing punches," Felicia
finished, with a pointed look toward Dean's colorful jaw.

Dean massaged his jaw with a sheepish
expression while Troy coughed into his fist, just as
sheepishly.

"Anyway," Kelly went on, linking an arm
through Troy's. "We're glad you could come    both of
you."

"Uh, that's right," Dean agreed, though he
gave Felicia one more baffled look.

Kelly mentally shook her head, thinking Dean
should be the last one to question a long-shot romance.

Eventually, everyone who'd come to the
meeting found places in Kelly's apartment to sit. Dean seated
himself last, settling on the edge of Kelly's Lazy-Boy. He planted
his elbows on the chair arms, steepled his fingers, and looked
straight at his father. "I want responsibility for Robby," he
announced.

Kirk, who'd been lounging on Kelly's sofa
with his arms along the top of it, shot up his eyebrows. "And just
what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means we're going to formalize what I
already should have been doing. Robby is going to live with me.
Permanently. And I'll be the one to make decisions concerning him."
Dean paused. "Including when you can whisk him off to Greece with
you."

Kirk's eyes got narrow. Robby, meanwhile,
looked stunned. "Why?" Kirk asked.

Dean gave his father a direct stare.
"Because, face it, you're not much of a parent."

Kirk snorted. Dean ignored him and went on.
"Unfortunately, I've been following your example, refusing to take
full responsibility. Well, I'm through being like you, or even
thinking I'm like you. I'm going to do what
I
want now." His
gaze went up to Kelly, standing by his side. She smiled back down
at him. Their fingers met and laced.

Kirk's brows drew down. "And you
want
to take care of Robby?"

Dean turned to Robby. White-faced, Robby
stared back at him. To one side, Troy raised his eyebrows.

"Yes," Dean said.

Kirk tapped his fingers on top of the sofa.
"Well, I don't know."

"No more telegrams demanding you come home."
Dean's attention switched back to Kirk. "You can do whatever
you
want."

Kirk's eyes got even narrower. "Happens I
like the telegrams."

Dean blinked. Unhampered by surprise, Kelly
stepped in. "Fine. We'll continue with the obnoxious telegrams,
sent at random intervals. We won't forget you."

Kirk looked at Dean questioningly. Dean
frowned, obviously confused, but he nodded. "Yes," he told Kirk
carefully. "We'll stay in touch."

Troy, nudged by Felicia, cleared his throat
and offered, "Yes, Uncle Kirk. We'll keep in touch."

Kirk's gaze shot to Troy, then back to Dean.
After a long moment he lifted his arms from the sofa and stood.
"You want Robby? Fine. You got him."

There was a beat of silence, then Robby
whooped, and ran to throw his arms around Dean's neck. Dean's eyes
went wide, but he hugged Robby back.

Kirk, looking distant, shrugged. "Well, I'm
off. Who knows? I may even catch up with Marisa."

The next morning at the quaint little chapel
with the big yellow sun tacked onto its side, the wedding ceremony
proceeded without a hitch. Completely done with his sulks, Robby
was the ring bearer. Troy and Felicia, trading meaningful glances,
played the part of the attendants. Both bride and groom looked
suitably besotted.

Upon being pronounced husband and wife, the
groom kissed the bride with a warmth and passion that convinced
everyone present how deeply in love he was. As Dean led his new
bride down the aisle and toward the front door, however, a peculiar
expression crossed his face.

"What?" Kelly asked.

Dean frowned and started to shake his head.
Then he leaned down to whisper in her ear. Kelly immediately turned
a bright shade of red. "You remember!" she accused.

"I do," Dean admitted, looking rather pink in
the face himself. "That much, anyway, and only just this minute.
But that's beside the point. What do you say? Could we?"

Kelly gave a quick glance to the side to make
sure no one could hear them. "Fur-lined handcuffs? What else do you
remember?"

Dean got very close to her ear. "That we
never got around to using them. But we will this time, darling, we
surely will."

Kelly could tell by his smile, confident now
   maybe a wee bit
too
confident   
that, indeed, they would get around to using them 'this time.' She
raised her brows, then smiled and snuggled closer to his side. Dean
might surprise her now and then, but he was never going to be a
stranger again. She knew just who he was now: the man who loved
her, really loved her.

Kelly's smile turned smug as they walked out
onto the sun-filled sidewalk. Fur-lined handcuffs, hm? She couldn't
wait to see what else he might remember.

The End

About the
Author

Alyssa Kress completed her first novel at age
six, an unlikely romance between a lion and a jackal. Despite
earning two degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and spending nearly a decade in the construction industry, she's
yet to see her feet stay firmly on the ground. She now lives in
Southern California, together with her husband and two
children.

You can learn more about Alyssa Kress and her
other novels at
http://www.alyssakress.com
.

Preview of The Heart Heist

Wind whipped ice across Matt's face as he
rappelled down the sheer wall of cliff. Even though his heart
raced, he slowed his speed since a blast of that wind could knock
him into the cliff like a paper toy. At the same time he couldn't
afford to be too careful. Five minutes was all he had. Five minutes
before the explosive set by the Holiday bomber would go off.