Saving Simon (Tarnished Saints Series Book 5) (30 page)

“I wouldn’t live anywhere else,” she said with a smile, “and don’t worry, you won’t be jobless.”

“Thanks for the optimism, but I don’t see any jobs for me on the horizon.”

“Mrs. Glover, will you do the honors?” Piper called over her shoulder.

The old woman picked up a clipboard and brought it over to him. “Just sign on the dotted line,” she told him, and when he realized it was a bill of sale for the marina, he put Piper down and took the clipboard and pen from the woman.

“Pippa? Is this what I think it is?”

“It’s my wedding present to you, Simon.”

“Piper bought my marina,” Mrs. Glover told him, “and not as part of Westbrook Enterprises but with her own money. She put it in both your names, so as soon as you sign the papers it’s yours.”

“A waste of money as far as I’m concerned,” he heard Piper’s father mumble.

“What if I would have said no to your marriage proposal?” he asked, eagerly signing his name to the paper.

“Then I guess we would just have had to live together the rest of our lives even if we weren’t married,” Piper told him. “Because there is no way I’m ever letting you out of my sight again.”

She picked up the whistle and gave a few blasts on it and then smiled. “That’s the code for I love you,” she said, and everyone laughed and congratulated them. It was a dream come true, and Simon was just afraid he was going to wake up and find out it wasn’t real.

Chapter 23

The next morning Piper stood across from Simon on his sailboat docked at the end of the pier. All of his family, her family, and the entire town of Sweet Water gathered on the dock watching them.

Reverend Black stood at the end of the pier with his prayer book in his hand conducting the wedding service right over the water. Thad filled the position of best man standing on one side of him, and her sister, Amy, served as her maid of honor on the other.

Piper wore a short white chiffon dress, strapless with a sweetheart neckline that she and Cat had picked up in town at Winston’s Mercantile. She wanted to support the local businesses in Sweet Water instead of buying her dress somewhere else. She opted not to wear shoes or panty hose because she didn’t want to lose her balance in the boat, so she just stood there in her bare feet. This was definitely not the type of wedding she’d thought she’d ever have, but she loved it. It was what Simon wanted, and she actually found it exciting getting married on a sailboat, even if her father thought it was crazy and embarrassing.

Though she’d tried to get Simon to wear his Navy uniform, he said he wouldn’t do it. Instead he wore long white pants and a button down sea-blue short sleeved shirt, and no shoes either. His Captain’s hat was on his head and his Bosun’s Whistle around his neck.

They held each other’s hands, as she’d decided not to have a wedding bouquet, because she’d rather be holding on to Simon instead of the flowers if she ended up falling out of the boat. As it was, she still felt jittery standing in a sailboat, but Simon had told her he’d protect her and never let her fall overboard, and she believed him.

The sails weren’t up on the boat, and she secretly hoped that he was going to let her get off and go back to shore as soon as they said their vows.

“It’s time for the rings,” the priest said, and Thad pulled a box out of his pants pocket and tossed it over the water to Simon.

Simon expertly caught it in one hand without even rocking the boat.

“Where did you get rings?” she asked, wondering how he’d gotten them so quickly.

“I didn’t. Not yet. I wanted you to pick them out, and I didn’t want you to be rushed.”

“So what’s in the box then?” she asked as he handed it to her. She opened it, smiling when she saw the shiny gold Bosun’s Whistle inside.

“I figured you needed one of your own.” He reached over and put the chain over her head.

“I love it, but I don’t understand why you’d think I’d need it,” she said, running a hand over it gently.

“You know,” he said with a wink. “To blow if you fall overboard again, or maybe to call all our children like in the Sound of Music.”

Everyone laughed and Piper blew a few notes on it to try it out.

“I’ll treasure it forever,” she said, and then they continued to say their vows and when they finished, everyone applauded as they kissed.

“All right, Thad, it’s time to show her my surprise,” said Simon to his youngest brother.

“Aye, aye, skipper.” Thad stepped off the pier onto the boat and raised the sail as Simon sat her down on the seat and grabbed the till.

The sail went up and on it was painted the words ‘Just Married.’ Beneath it was a little cruise ship with a cartoon man and woman embracing and kissing on the bow.

“Simon, I love it,” she said with a giggle.

“Thad painted it,” Simon told her. “He wanted to make the girl falling overboard but I told him I didn’t think you’d enjoy his weird sense of humor.”

“Well thank you for that,” she said reaching up and kissing him.

“Okay, Thad make yourself scarce,” Simon said with a wave of his hand. “Us newlyweds need to go for a sunset cruise and don’t wait up for us if you know what I mean.”

“Gotcha,” Thad said and jumped back onto the pier and helped cast off as Simon directed them away from shore.

“Is this why you convinced me to wait and not have the reception until this weekend?” she asked.

“It is, but now that I think about it, maybe I should have waited a week, because there’s no telling how long we’ll be out here on the lake.”

“We’re going to spend the night out here?” she asked, not at all sure she liked the idea.

“We’ll spend as much or as little time as you’re comfortable with, but I hope to at least consummate the marriage out here before we get back to shore.”

“That I’ll agree to,” she said, spying something inside the cabin door she hadn’t seen before. It was an open cooler with a bottle of champagne sticking out of it. “Is that champagne?” she asked.

“Why don’t you take a closer look?”

“All right, I will.” She scooted over on the seat, and holding on to everything along the way, she leaned over and stuck her head into the cabin. Rose petals led a path across the cabin floor and up to the main berth that was covered with a soft-looking down comforter and lots of large pillows. New bright blue curtains covered the windows and the whole place smelled fresh and clean. There was a vase of red roses in the drink holder, and he’d even put a rug on the floor. Something smelled delicious and when she looked over to the sink she spied a covered casserole dish nestled inside. She knew by the aroma that Simon had cooked her some of his famous, delicious, catfish chowder.

“Simon, this is wonderful,” she said, and he came up behind her, putting his arms around her and gave her a kiss.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“Wait. Who’s driving the boat?” she asked.

“I tied up the till, we’ll be fine for now. I wanted to show you my new addition to the family.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked with a giggle.

“Watch this.” He stuck his head into the cabin as well, and picked up his Bosun’s Whistle and blew a few short notes.

All of a sudden, colored Christmas lights that were strung around the inside of the cabin turned on and started to blink.

“Lights activated, Simon,” came a woman’s voice from somewhere inside.

“Simon? What’s this?” she asked, laughing.

“It’s Zeb’s wedding present to us. Just wait, there’s more,” he told her, holding up his hand, this time blowing three longer notes on his Bosun’s Whistle.

The portable radio sitting on the floor clicked on, playing soft, romantic music.

“Music activated, Simon,” came the woman’s voice again.

“Thank you, Von Trapp,” he said with a nod.

“You have your own voice-activated maid like Zeb and you’ve named her Von Trapp?” she asked, laughing so hard she felt tears dripping down her face.

“Yep, I named her Von Trapp, just like the Sound of Music, because of all the kids we’ll be having some day.”

“But how did you get it to work on a sailboat and respond to your Bosun’s Whistle?” she asked curiously.

“That was Thad’s doing,” he told her. “I don’t know exactly how he did it, but he’s a master of inventions so I don’t even question things he comes up with any more. He said it was part of our wedding present from him.”

They sat back down on the outside bench of the sailboat and Simon popped the cork on the bottle of champagne. It went flying up into the air and she screamed and they both laughed as the champagne fizzled out of the bottle.

“Quick, open your mouth,” he said and she didn’t even care that they didn’t have champagne flutes. She opened her mouth and he poured some in and then took a swig himself.

The champagne continued to pour out, soaking Simon’s shirt.

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll lick it off later,” he said, handing her the bottle and pulling off his shirt. Then he looked at her from the corner of his eyes making her want to jump him he looked so sexy. When she leaned forward to kiss him again, he turned and shoved his shoulder in front of her face. “This is the rest of the surprise,” he said. “I hope you like it, Pippa.”

She looked at his anchor tattoo with the heart, and in the middle of the heart in big black letters was her name – the name he always called her and she’d learned to love. Pippa.

“I love it, Simon,” she said smiling more than she ever had in her life. “But where did you go around here to get that so quickly?”

“Thad did it,” he said, taking a seat next to her, reclaiming his position at the till as captain of his ship. “My little brother has a true talent for anything artistic and started giving tattoos when we were down in the Caribbean. This was part of his wedding present to us as well.”

“I wish I had some kind of surprise or present for you,” she said.

“You already did. You bought me the marina, and I love it. Besides, I’ve got you, honey, and that’s all I need. But tell me, why did you ask to marry such a messed up guy when you knew there was no saving me?”

She smiled and leaned back against his chest with the champagne bottle in her hands. His one arm was around her holding her protectively just like she knew he’d do for the rest of her life, and the other was on the rudder, guiding them around the lake in the sailboat. She knew he had everything he loved right here and as long as she had him, she had no need for anything else either.

“I asked you to marry me, Simon, because I love you and couldn’t imagine my life without you. You may have thought there was no saving you, but I didn’t agree. I knew my work may have been cut out for me, but there was nothing else I’d rather do than spend the rest of my life
Saving Simon
.”

Cast of Characters For Saving Simon

Simon Zealot Taylor
– 33 years old, loves sailing and the sea.

Piper Erlina Westbrook
– 25 year old city girl, works for Westbrook Enterprises.

Thad Taylor
– youngest of the Taylor brothers, lived in Caribbean with Simon.

Zeb & Cat Taylor
– Simon’s lawyer brother and wife.

Howard Westbrook
– Piper’s cutthroat father, businessman.

Beatrice Glover
– widow who owns the marina in Sweet Water.

Thomas & Angel Taylor
– Eldest of the Taylor brothers and his wife.

Their kids: (6-18 years of age) Eli, Gabby, Josh & Jake, Zeke, Sam, Dan.

Levi & Candace Taylor
– Second oldest brother & wife. Levi is mayor and they own the Three Billy Goat’s Diner.

Vance & Val
– their six-year-old twins.

Judas & Laney Taylor
– next brother who is sheriff & wife who owns antique shop.

J.D. & Mathias
– their teenage daughter and her newborn baby boy.

James Taylor
– twin of Zeb and rancher.

Nate Taylor
– second youngest brother, owns bar and plays guitar in band.

Philip Taylor
– the Taylor brother who is a teacher and lives in France.

Aunt Cappy
– the Taylor brothers’ crazy aunt.

Mabel Durnsby
– ex mayor of Sweet Water and busybody.

Gus Kramer
– owns gas station and Thomas’s good friend.

Old Man MacAllister
– Widower and farmer who owns farm and orchard.

Cecile & Amy Westbrook
– Piper’s mother and older sister.

From the Author:

I hope you enjoyed Simon and Piper’s story. I think this story is one of my favorites because I put so much of my own life into it. For example, my husband loves the water and to sail and I don’t care for anything to do with water or boats, and can’t really swim. Of course, while doing research for this book, I pushed past my limits and went out on sailboats and pontoon boats and spent a lot of time on the water this summer and now have a whole different attitude about things as I kind of fell in love with a sailor’s life so to speak. I now understand Simon probably more than any of his brothers.