Rise (Roam Series, Book Three) (31 page)

“I swear
it.” He nodded, reaching for West’s hand. They shook, and I gripped Eva tightly to me. “We will spend these years developing alternatives to the prophecy with Asher.”

“Thank you,” I said, wrapping my arms around him. “Thank you for helping me. I will never forget it.”

“You deserve happiness,” he looked down at Eva, smiling gently. “I can tell that she will bring you a great deal of happiness.”
He gestured to the four-year-old. “I cannot return home without the child’s escort. I must ask that you see me through this once.”

That evening, West and I took Eva with us and returned to the Johnstown Inclined Plane. We came out on the same platform on the mountainside as before, but this time the sun warmed the land and we were welcomed by the people.

Will spoke to them, and they knelt before Eva, pledging their fealty and asking her to return to them.

Asher
hobbled slowly ahead, and West stepped forward. The old man lifted his arms, reaching for his son. “You have her, she is safe,” his shaking voice confirmed. I watched my husband nod, the emotional struggle on his face evident in his watery blue eyes.

“Thank you,” he hugged his father, and Asher nodded, looking down at his granddaughter.

“Ah, we meet again, lass. You’ll be good for your parents?”

“Yes grandfather.”

West and I looked to each other in surprise.
When had they met?

“Of course you will,” he gave the child a conspiratorial
wink, nodding. “All of my love to you, my son, my daughter.”

From the crowd, an elderly, white haired woman approached us, and I raised my hand to my mouth, holding my breath.

“Helena?”

“You have won, your majesty,” she said reverently as I allowed her to embrace me. “Your strength and perseverance are
an inspiration to your people.”

“Thank you,” I whispered, tightening my hold on her frail shoulders once more before releasing her.

“Farewell, Roam and West. Eva,” Will knelt before her, offering his hands. She tentatively placed her small fingers in his. “I hope that you will come to visit me again.”

“Okay,” she nodded eagerly, lifting her
nervous eyes to mine. “Can I be a princess here?”

He
smiled, nodding. “I am quite sure that
you
are a princess in every land,
little one.
”

As I remembered Will’s words,
Logan pulled away. “Come on. I’ll talk to West. Morgan needs her maid of honor.”

I twisted the diamond ring on my finger, nodding. “I’m going to tell her that I married West right before the ceremony. So I don’t have to listen to her yell at me.”

He laughed, lifting my hand to his mouth and kissing away the sting of the pin prick. “I’ll bet you five bucks she yells anyway.”

I owed Logan ten dollars; Morgan exploded at my words, and then growled at me again as I handed her Jason’s wedding band later in the ceremony.

Photographs were taken in both the church and at my favorite Lake Erie park. West and I barely had time for a private conversation, moving quickly in and out of poses for Morgan’s photographer.

“OMG these poses are so cheesy,” Ally-May complained, shifting in the hot sun.

“They’re memories,” I defended, watching Jason sweep his bride into his arms for a dramatic kiss at the lake shore.

“Hey, baby…,” West met my lips in a kiss, smiling at Ally. “Hi, Ally.”

“Hi Mr. Perry. I mean, West.” She smirked, her eyebrows dancing up and down on her forehead. “So, you two are married… the secret is out. How’s your dad dealing, Ro?”

I turned toward the group of groomsmen, waving at my dad. He nodded,
returning my wave before focusing back on the photographer. “He likes West… and loves Eva,” I added, remembering the conversation West and I had with my father after we returned from North Carolina for my gown fitting.

My father reacted better than I’d expected, and promised not to tell Morgan until I was ready. “I just wish I could have been there,” he’d added, looking at West pointedly.

“Roam will have her perfect wedding,” he assured my father.

“I already did,” I’d whispered, remembering our vows on the North Carolina beach.

“You’re so young to take on the responsibility of being a mother,” my dad argued, referring to Eva.

“I love Eva with all of my heart,
Dad,” I replied, the depth of my adoration for my daughter clear in my voice.

“She’ll finish college,” West assured him, and that was all that my father needed to hear.

The reception was held in a hall near the lake in Madison, large enough to accommodate Morgan’s two-hundred person guest list. After the wedding party was introduced, I sat between Eva and Violet at dinner.

“Roam,” Violet leaned forward, lowering her voice. “I need to tell you something.”

“Is everything okay?”

Violet nodded, glancing across the U-shaped table erected for the bridal party and watching her father carefully. “
Logan asked me to marry him.”

My eyes moved immediately to Logan, seated next to West.

“He told me what happened… with Eva. Now he’s like me,” she reached for her bouquet of roses, pulling at a petal. “Thank you for doing this, Roam. For giving him to me… forever.”

“Violet,” I held my arms out for her, and she folded into them. “I love you both
so very much.
I know you’ll care for Eva…
when I can’t,
” I took a steadying breath. “She’ll need you when I’m gone.”

“Always.”
She vowed, sniffling. She sat back, reaching for her glass. “You know, I don’t think we’ll get in trouble for a little champagne. Not tonight,” she gestured to my glass that remained untouched near my plate.

“I’ll pass,” I met her eyes, and she nodded, grinning.

“Yeah, I thought so.”

“Mommy, dance!” Eva cried as the dinner music continued, Frank Sinatra’s
Summer Wind
filling the hall.

“No one else is dancing yet,
sweetheart.”

“Daddy will. He said this is your song.”

I looked at West, watching him gently lay his napkin on the table before sliding his chair back.

“It’s true. He used to play this song over and o
ver after you lost your memory. Pathetic.” Violet tipped her head back, finishing the last of the champagne in her flute.

“A dance, Mrs. Perry?”
West held his hand out for me, and I smiled, nodding.

“Every dance, Mr. Perry,” I replied, returning his endearing grin.

“And that is your last glass of champagne tonight, Vi,” he added to Violet. She scowled playfully.

“You can’t watch us all,
Dad.”

West took the lead, pulling me close
in his arms. The catering crew continued to move around us, but the DJ lowered the lights, just slightly, in our favor. “Well, these two can’t resist Ol’ Blue Eyes,” he spoke into the microphone smoothly, and I turned, finding Morgan’s gaze on us.

She sat
back in her chair. “
I love you, Socrates,
” she mouthed, crossing both of her hands over her heart.

I nodded, smiling through the relentless tears that sprang to my eyes. “
I love you, too,
” I responded soundlessly, resting my head against West’s chest. He felt me stiffen, cupping my chin in his hand.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah,” I sniffed, brushing at the tears with my fingertip. “I just… really hope… that Eva will be the kind of big sister…
that Morgan is to me.
”

His hands slid down to my upper arms, and continued down my sides. Thumbs over my
abdomen, his dark blue eyes warmed like the evening summer sky.

“
When?
” His voice, so filled with love, consumed my heart.

“
March.
”

He
laced his fingers through mine and found, for the first time, that they were still.

“Okay, just listen to my voice, but don’t open your eyes.”

Immediately, I opened my eyes.

West dove to kiss my lips, even through my inevitable smile. “I said closed!”

“They’re closed,” I replied, grinning at him and gazing into his eyes.

He shifted around to my side, his hand cradling my protruding stomach. “Terrible actress.”

I laced my fingers through his, feeling our son press gently against the heat of his palm. “Good morning.

“Good morning, baby,” he caught my lips again, and then lowered his face to my belly. “
Good morning, baby,
” he whispered, and then I closed my eyes, smiling and turning into the pillow.

“I have to get up,” I moaned dramatically. “He’s playing hopscotch on my bladder. Where’s Eva?”

“Violet and Laurel took her dress shopping. Violet has an appointment at the bridal store at nine, and then they’re going out to lunch.”

“Red Robin again?”
I leaned forward on my elbows, trying to remember what my toes looked like. The tray on the bed next to us teetered, and I noticed waffles (my current obsession), strawberries, milk, and a lily.

“Of course, it’s her favorite.”

“Thank you for this,” I threaded my fingers through his hair, smiling. “Breakfast in bed.”

“I know, crumbs in the sheets,” he winked. “I at least needed to make the gesture. I’ll carry the tray back downstairs.”

“I swear this OCD only got worse with pregnancy.” I waited until he safely placed the tray on the dresser. “So, we have Saturday all to ourselves? For our first Valentine’s Day?”

“Just you,” he pushed me back against the pillow with an adoring kiss, “me…,” he dropped next to me, wrapping his arm over my waist.
“… and Thor.”

I burst with feigned disgust, amused but heartily joining into our new favorite game. “See, now, last night before I went to bed, I was thinking…
Darth
.”

“What’s wrong with Elvis again?”

“I still don’t see a problem with Einstein.”

He chuckled, tracing his finger over my inner arm. “Well, it’s your turn. I got to name Eva.”

“Maybe if you’d tell me your middle name, I’d know what to call our son.”

He sighed, raising his eyebrows. “It doesn’t
matter, I dropped it a long time ago.”

“Because…?”

“Because I don’t deserve to be named after a saint.”

My first clue.
Pressing my lips together, I raised my eyes to the rustic beams in the vaulted ceiling. “So, it’s Theresa, then?”

He tackled me with kisses, and I couldn’t suppress the giggle in my throat. “No.”

“If I tell you something that I’ve never told you before, about myself, will you tell me your middle name?”

He stopped his kiss-assault, pulling away.
“Absolutely. I demand to know everything about you.”

“
Demand?
” I shot him my haughtiest look. “Wrong word.”

“I
want
to know everything about you,” he softened, and I nodded once.

“Better.” I brushed my hair away from my eyes. “Deal, Mr. Perry?”

“Deal, Mrs. Perry.”

I bit my lip, shifting uncomfortably. “I lied to you.”

He stiffened, his face falling. “What?”

“I lied to you about something… and I’m afraid that you’ll think… less of me… if I tell you the truth.”

He sat up on one elbow, his crisp, white tee-shirt bunching slightly at his stomach. “What is it, Roam?”

I swallowed hard, letting tears fill my eyes. “Do you remember when we went out to eat in Emerald Isle, the first time?” He nodded. “Well, I…. I…,”

“You’re worrying me.” His commanding voice almost broke my resolve and curled my lips into a smile, but I managed to hold back.

“Oh,
West… it’s
Indiana Jones.
My favorite movie isn’t
Das Boot
… it’s
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
.”

He stared at me for a second and a half before falling to the pillow, laughter from deep in his chest thoroughly entertaining me. “Jesus Christ Roam, you scared the shit out of me.”

“Don’t curse in front of him!” I flattened my palms over my wide stomach, and he shook his head.

“Why?” He demanded, brushing his hand over my hair.
“Why
that
movie?”

“Well, for one, he’s not trying to get the cup for his own selfishness. He’s just trying to save his father. Two,” I tilted my head, “I love the take on history. And three… I’ve had a crush on Harrison Ford for as long as I can remember.”

He narrowed his eyes, and I shrunk back playfully.