Promise (47 page)

“Okay, babe. This is where I leave you.” Beckett pauses in front of the doors.

“I’m not ready. Just let’s go inside together.”

“Okay, babe. It’s your day. We do things your way.”

He swings open the worn, wooden door, and it creeks with the motion.

Inside, the church smells of vanilla and lavender along with a hint of the old wood scent that comes from the hundred-year-old planks and benches. There are a hundred white candles flickering on the alter and vases overflowing with fresh flowers on every flat surface.

“Did you do this?” He’s got a romantic streak as big as his heart.

“Why, do you like it?”

“I love it.” I shove my shoulder into the side of him.

“Good. Then yes, I did. Well, I paid a nice lady from the flower shop to do it.”

Beckett kisses the top of my head, and I hear the snorting laughter of my stand-in father come from somewhere in the back corner of the church.

“Lord, this place is in the middle of nowhere. I think I saw a kid playing a banjo on that last turn from dirt road A to dirt road B. I may never get my truck clean.” Bruce pushes his glasses up his nose with a smile and points a half-eaten pretzel at me.

“
Stop
. God, you’re a princess, you know that? No wonder you keep chasing away any decent boyfriend material.”

“Good to see you.” Beckett nods at Bruce. “Thanks for taking care of my girl today.”

Bruce waves a hand in the air.

“She’s as close as I will ever get to having my own daughter.” He fiddles with the white rose stuck in his lapel with a sniff.

“You never know what life has in store. Trust me on that one.” Beckett looks down at me, and I can feel his heart beating under the hand I place on the front of his suit jacket.

“Whatever.” Bruce waves his hand at us. “I just want to be sure you two get on with things and she gets the rest of her shit out of my apartment. Besides, it’s a short aisle, thank Christ. I wasn’t doing anything else today.” He looks at me with a wink.

A burst of sunlight streaks in the door and my heart is already in my throat before I hear his voice.

“Ahhh!” Jordan’s excited squeal enters first. “Wow! You look pretty.”

I turn, and Jordan’s eyes widen. He stuffs his hands down into his dark suit pants as he stares me up and down, then looks at Beckett with a sheepish grin.

He looks like a little man. All dapper and smiling. His cheeks are turning red, and I realize he has never seen me this dressed up.

Beckett had said I could spend as much as I wanted on my dress, but I had wanted to pay for it myself, a declaration that Beckett steadfastly ignored. Instead, he charmed his way into the bridal salon and made the staff swear on a stack of Bibles that they would not let me pay or even tell me the price of anything. After giving them his credit card and me a smack on my ass, he disappeared out the front door of the shop, leaving a bevy of happily shocked, young women in his wake.

I ended up choosing a dress that most people wouldn’t look at twice. It took Rachel and Marsha, my two personal bridal consultants, over an hour to dig one out that fit the description of what I wanted. They said these were popular back in the 1980’s. It’s got a high neck of ivory, gauze-like fabric with eyelet lace around the edges and hems. If I wasn’t wearing a slip, you would see right though. But it fit with my dream of this little white church, breeze blowing and the dandelions dotting the lawn with yellow winks.

“Hey! Everyone ready for the big day?” Louis comes in behind Jordan, pulling off his black Oakley’s and brushing a hand through his dark hair.

“What’s big about it?” Bruce chimes in. “It’s us and the judge.”

“Well, what my girl wants, my girl gets. She wanted small, and I wanted fast. So, here we are.”

“The judge is getting out of his car. He pulled in right behind us.” Louis smiles at Beckett and sets a hand on his shoulder, and I see him give a little squeeze. “So we better get in place.” He drops his hand from Beckett and sets it on top of Jordan’s head, messing his hair.

“Hey, stop!” Jordan swats his hand away, and I have to shake my head because so much has happened so fast. So many good things have come in such a short time; I almost pinch myself making sure I’m not dreaming.

“Are you excited about Disney World?” I smile at Jordan as he flattens his hair.

“Yeah. We’re staying in a huge suite at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. You look out your room, and there are giraffes and other animals
right there
. It’s going to be
so cool
.”

“Yep. We leave at ten tomorrow.” Louis pulls his shoulders back and grins at me.

“You take good care of him. He’s never been out of Cleveland. Neither of us.” I playfully poke Louis in the chest, and I notice his eyes narrow just a bit.

“We’re out of Cleveland right
now
.” Jordan’s corrects me the way only an eleven-year-old can.

“
Okay
, out of
Ohio
then.” I lean my head into Beckett’s chest, so grateful to see my brother happy.

“That’s the plan.” Louis’s lips are tight, and he shifts back and forth, looking over his shoulder. “You guys have a good trip, too.”

He looks at Beckett then back at me, and I wonder for a second why he never married.

“Yep, we fly out tomorrow at five. Nice little hut in Fiji. Don’t know what we’ll do for two weeks, huh babe?” Beckett gives me a wink, and I’m suddenly glad I brought an extra pair of panties.

“Come on, Cinderella.” Bruce interrupts as he nods toward the back corner of the church where there is a small room for me to finish getting ready.

I look at Beckett and see him staring at me.

“What?” He won’t let go of my hand.

“I dream every night about you. And you know what happens when I wake up?”

“No, what?”

“I see you next to me, and realize I don’t need to dream anymore.” He holds my hand to his lips again, only, this time, he closes his eyes, and I think I feel him shaking.

“Come on. . . . You’re giving us all insulin shock.” Bruce puts his hands on my shoulders, and Beckett lets me go.

The three men who are about to become my new family watch as I disappear into the back room with Bruce.

“My legs won’t stop shaking, you lumberjack. You tried to chop me in half.”

“Good, if they’re not shaking after, I haven’t done my job.”

The sun isn’t up yet, and there has been no sleep. I can’t get used to the feeling of the two rings on my left hand. My thumb keeps crossing my palm to play with the platinum bands.

“Yes, but I have to walk eventually. Are you going to let me rest before we have to leave? Or, do you plan on carrying me back to the loft?”

He leans up on his elbow next to me. The only light in the bedroom of the honeymoon suite at the Chabot Plaza Hotel is coming from the two hundred, light blue candles that have been flickering through the night.

He’s so beautiful. Even after all the hours I have looked into his eyes, I still get lost in the magnificence of their color. I lift my hand and rest it on the texture of his cheek. I don’t see scars anymore; I see the person whom knocked on my heart and made me finally answer.

“I’ll carry you wherever you want, babe. For as long as you need.” His lips come down onto mine, and I breathe him in.

He’s got a stupid grin on his face.

“What?” I can see he want to say something.

“I have a present for you.”

“We said no presents. This ring is crazy already. I told you I didn’t need anything. I didn’t get you anything.” I look down and still can’t believe the massive rock he put on my finger when he asked me to marry him. Then yesterday when he slipped on the gold band set with an inlay of diamonds. I told him I would be fine with a simple gold band. Leave it to him to do it his way and know that in the end, I loved it.

“You’ve given me everything.”

He’s up and out of bed, grabs a rolled up scroll of paper tied with a light blue, satin ribbon and is back next to me, setting it in my hand.

“What is it?”

“Why do people always ask that before they open a gift? Just open it.”

I slip off the ribbon and slowly uncurl the thick, sketch paper.

“Oh God, Beck . . . Thank you.”

My eyes are wide. It’s my face again, my sketched silhouette with my hair pulled on top of my head, the lace collar of my dress from yesterday showing at my neck.

There are words coloring my face as in all his other drawings. I slowly make them out.

My love dwells in every part of you.

But it is bound tightest to those parts of you find most shameful.

Because those are the parts where I love you the most.

I spend the next minute kissing him in every place possible until I take him in my mouth and show him how much I love him.

I curl next to him while he catches his breath, and his hand strokes my hair.

He turns his head to look at me with a smile, and I see that front tooth with the chip.

“Hey, what happened there?” I tap it with my forefinger.

It seems strange that I’ve been obsessing about that tooth since the day he walked into his father’s room at Windfield, and I’ve never asked.

“This tooth?” He screws up his face and smiles, touching his fingertip to the tooth in question.

“Yes, dummy.”

His other hand smooths my hair back from my face.

“Well, I was on a very dangerous mission.” He lowers his voice and draws his dark brow tight. “I probably shouldn’t tell you; it’s classified. Or, I could tell you, but then I’d have to marry you.”

“Just tell me, jeez.”

“Oh wait,” He looks up at the ceiling and taps the tooth in thought. “I already married you. Okay, I’ll tell you on one condition.”

“
What
?” He is exasperating sometimes, but he’s got other assets that make up for it. And, the fact that he made me cum four times in the last hour is helping his case.

“You make a baby for me.” He drops his finger from his tooth and lays his hand on my belly with a grin.

I shake my head and try to look annoyed but fail.

“I imagine that won’t take long with the effort you’ve been putting in. I think we’d make beautiful babies. I’ve never even thought about it much before now. Being a mom. But, it feels like I’ve been waiting and now I get it. I want that.”

“Okay, well, I’ll give you prepayment on that then. Okay, this tooth . . .”

Beckett

After a nice shower session, we scoot out of the hotel and head back to the loft to grab some things before the limo is scheduled to show up.

I pull up my jeans with nothing under them and leave the top button open because I’m planning one more sneak attack on her ass before we leave for the airport.

“Seriously, you need
one
carry-on, Promise. You will be naked the entire time. Stop shoving balls of clothes into that crate of a suitcase.
You’re killing me
.”

The small, resort-run bungalow I booked for us is set out over the water on stilts. There is no one else in sight, no other huts or houses, and that was the plan. I don’t want clothes on her for two weeks. That’s just how beautiful she is. She sticks her tongue out at me and continues to rummage through the drawers of the dresser.

“I give up.”

I settle at the kitchen counter and start thumbing through the stack of mail that’s gathered in the last week. Staying at Louis’s has been great, but life doesn’t stop.

There’s some paperwork I need to finish to wrap up what will be the end of my Navy career. It’s the right decision, especially with Jordan. I want to be here for him in whatever capacity he'll allow. I won’t risk the life I’ve been given. That meant I had to choose, and Promise and Jordan were my choices.

There for me yet again, Louis offered me a job with his security company. Head of the private service department. It’s a godsend. I’ve got some decent scratch saved up, but I need to think about the future and how to make sure my new little family has anything and everything they need or want. Louis hooked me up with a salary I’m sure if far above market, but as I’ve said before, dude’s always had my back.

So, as soon as we finish our love-fest in Fiji, I’ll be a fully employed civilian. Louis said we would finish up the necessary paperwork to make my employment official when we both get back from our trips.