The Wreck (25 page)

Carly’s eyes widened. “Really? I can’t
imagine your mother not liking her own daughter-in-law.”

“Jane wasn’t much of a daughter-in-law or
a wife. As my mother said in Florida, ‘There wasn’t an ounce of warmth in that
woman.’”

“Then why’d you marry her?”

He winced. “She was a bit of a
looker—tall, blonde, blue-eyed. You get the picture.”

Carly made a face. “Spare me any further
details, please.”

He quickly added, “She was also an ADA,
and she worked as much as I do, so it was more a marriage of convenience than
anything. Then she started talking about having a family and buying a house in
the burbs. I was like, whoa, that’s not what I signed on for. I certainly
didn’t want that stuff with her. She was so self-absorbed that she would’ve
been a horrible mother. Things got kind of ugly toward the end with her.”

“How long were you with her?”

“About three years, married for just over
a year.”

“And since then?”

“I’ve been married to my work.”

Carly released a long deep breath and
rested her head on his shoulder. “Thanks for telling me.”

With his finger on her chin he tilted her
face up so he could see her. “I want you to understand… Both times, I knew in
the very moment I was saying ‘I do’ that I was making a mistake, because
everything inside me was crying out for you.”

“Brian.”

“I mean it.”

“I know you do.”

“Can I ask
you
something?”

“Of course.”

“It’s kind of a big deal.”

“Okay.”

“Which do you think would be worse? Being
my third wife or never being my wife at all?”

Carly laughed until she cried. “Never
being your wife at all,” she was finally able to say through her tears. “That
would definitely be worse.”

“Good to know. Can I get up for a
second?”

She lifted her arm and leg to let him up and
then wiped the tears from her face.

He went over to rummage around in his bag
and came back to flop down next to her. Perched on his pinkie was a diamond
ring.

“What?”
she cried.
“Where did you get that?”

“It was my grandmother’s.” The utter
shock on her face was exactly what he’d hoped for. “You should’ve seen how my
mother bawled when I asked her to get it out of the safe for me today.” Wiping
the tears from Carly’s face, he touched his lips to hers. “Remember the first
time we got engaged, and I told you I’d get you a ring as soon as I could? You
said I shouldn’t spend the money because we’d need it for things like food?”

Dealing with a new flood of tears, Carly
nodded.

“Well, I knew this ring was coming to me
when I was ready to get married, and I’d planned to give it to you the next
day. Then everything happened, and I never got around to it. I regretted that,
Carly. After all, we
were
engaged. I spent a lot of time after I left
wondering if I’d given you the ring and made it official, if we might’ve
somehow found a way to stay together.”

“Why didn’t you give it to Beth?” she
asked softly.

He shook his head. “The only person I
ever could’ve given it to is you.” Reaching for her left hand, he said, “Will
you marry me, Carly? Will you make my life complete by spending the rest of
your life where you should’ve been all along? With me?”

“Do you even have to ask?” she whispered.

He slid the ring onto her finger. “I love
you, and I’m sorry it took me so long to come home to you.”

“All that matters now is you did and
nothing has changed between us.” She raised her hand to take a better look at
the ring. “It’s absolutely beautiful. Thank you.”

“I want to get married as soon as we
can.”

Surprised, Carly glanced up at him.

“What kind of wedding do you want?” he asked.

“Something small. Is that all right with
you?”

He snorted with laughter. “I couldn’t
care less how we do it, as long as we do it—and very, very soon. I’ve lived
long enough without you. Are you going to be okay with not getting married in
church? They’ll frown on a two-time divorcee.”

“Father Joe might make an exception for
us.”

“I don’t want you to get your hopes up,
honey.”

“Maybe we can do something in my parents’
backyard and ask Father Joe if he would marry us. If we’re not in church, it might
not be an issue.”

He tightened his hold on her. “I can’t
believe we’re in bed together talking about getting married. I used to spend
tremendous amounts of time imagining us just like this. I hope you won’t mind
if I keep you in bed for most of the first year we’re married.”

She laughed. “Just the first year?”

“I’ll have to go back to work at some
point so I can take care of you.”

“I don’t know if I can live in New York,
Brian.”

“You don’t have to.”

“But your job—”

“We can live in the burbs, and I’ll commute,
or I’ll quit and do something else.” He shrugged. “Whatever you want.”

“You love that job. I’d never ask you to
quit.”

“You didn’t, so don’t sweat it. I’ve had
a bunch of offers since the Gooding trial. We can do anything we want. I’m
ready to find something with more regular hours, so I can spend most of my time
with you. And the baby.” He ran a hand over her flat belly. “What will we name
him? Or her?”

“You don’t already know?”

“Should I?”

She nodded.

“Hmmm. I’m stumped.”

“We’ll name him—or her—Sam.”

“Carly,” he whispered as he pressed his
lips to hers. “My parents would love that. Thank you.” He noticed the new tears
in her eyes. “Hey! What’s this?”

“I’m just…”

“What?”

“Happy.”

Pulling her to him, he held her as tight
as he could. “Good. That’s the only thing that matters to me.”

“And scared. We’re so close to having
everything we’ve ever wanted. I’m afraid he’ll find a way to take you away from
me again.”

“I’m won’t let him touch us, Carly. I
promise you that.” He poured all his love for her into a kiss that left them
both breathless. “Guess what I discovered out there in the world?”

Amused by his expression, she said,
“What’s that?”

He kissed her neck until she trembled
with desire. “There’re
tons
of ways to make love. We’ve only scratched
the surface.” He kissed his way down to her belly and dipped his tongue into
her belly button.

She clutched handfuls of his hair.
“Brian!”

Laughing softly, he said, “I’d forgotten
about your hang-ups. We’ll have to get you over that—and fast. I’ve got
lots
of stuff to show you.”

“Oh,
God
,” she groaned.

On
their way back to Granville late on Saturday, they called Brian’s parents and
Carly’s sisters, requesting everyone meet them at Carly’s parents’ house.

“Did you ask her?” Mary Ann said
breathlessly.

“I’m not saying a word,” Brian replied
with a wink for Carly.

“That’s not nice!”
Mary Ann complained.

“See you at seven thirty,” Brian said,
smiling as he ended the call.

“She knows,” Carly said.

“She
thinks
she knows.”

“She gave you the ring,” Carly reminded
him.

“I told her not to get her hopes up and
not to tell my dad about the ring, just in case.”

“In case of what?”

“In case you said no.”

Startled, Carly spun around in her seat
to stare at him. “Did you
really
think that was a possibility?”

He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure how you felt
about me being married before. And I was afraid I might be hitting you with too
much too soon.” Pausing, he added, “If I am, you know, going too fast for you,
it’s okay to say so.”

She held his hand between hers. “You’re
not, Bri,” she said. “I want everything right now, too. I feel like my life has
been on hold for fifteen years, and now that it’s finally moving forward again,
I don’t want to waste a minute of it.”

He squeezed her hand. “In that case, how
about Labor Day weekend?”

“That’s in three weeks!”

“That
long?”

“We can’t get a wedding together in
three
weeks!”

“Sure we can. I’ve got nothing but time
right now since I’m not working. Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

“I know you’re quite experienced with
planning weddings—”

“
Watch it
,” he said in a teasing
growl.

She giggled. “But you’re still a guy, and
no woman in her right mind would trust her
one
and
only
wedding
to a
guy
.”

“You’ll pay for that later.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” she said with
a saucy smile.

“What do you say to quitting that job of
yours so you won’t have to trust the wedding planning to a dreaded
guy
?”

She shook her head. “Not until we’re
married and figure out where we’re going to live and everything.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do. Molly
has been so good to me.”

“The right thing would be for you to take
the next three weeks to enjoy every minute of planning your
one
and
only
wedding without any pesky distractions like a job. I’ll move in with you and pay
for everything, so you can focus on the wedding.” He kissed her hand. “Let me
do this for you, honey. Please?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“What’s there to think about?”

“I’ve been taking care of myself for a
long time, Brian. Just let me have some time to get used to the idea that I’m
not going it alone anymore.”

“You’re
not
alone anymore.”

“I know, and you’re very sweet to want to
come in on your white horse and take care of me. But even if I do say yes to this
plan of yours, I’d have to give Molly some notice.”

“Fine. Tell her tomorrow you’re leaving
at the end of the week.”

“
Brian
.”

As
they crossed the line into Granville, Carly felt her tension return. Somewhere
in this town she called home was a man who wanted to harm her for a
transgression she could neither remember nor repair. Her worries about who he
was and when he might strike again took something away from her happiness, and
that made her mad. Hadn’t he already taken enough from her? When would the debt
be repaid?

“Hey.” Brian rolled their joined hands
around on her leg. “What’s going on over there?”

“He’s out there somewhere, waiting for us
to come back. It’s like I can feel him watching me.”

“Why don’t we go to New York until the
wedding? There’s no need for you to live like this when I’ve got a place
sitting empty in New York. Let’s get you out of here until they find him.”

“What’s to say he won’t follow us there?”

“He’d be out of his element in the city.”

Carly thought about that as Brian rolled
the car to a stop at a four-way intersection. “You can take Tucker Road,” she
said. “There’s no sense going all the way around.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded, and he took a right.

“So what do you think about New York?”

Turning her head so she could see him,
she said, “Would you think I’m a silly, sentimental girl if I said I want to be
with my mother, my sisters, and my nieces before the wedding?”

“Of course not.”

“Then we can stay here at least until the
wedding?”

“Only if you’ll consent to spending
twenty-four hours a day with me.”

“I don’t know if I could stand that,” she
joked.

He poked her ribs, and she was still
laughing as they took the last curve before the accident site. Her laughter
faded to a shriek when Brian slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a person
standing in the road. The car fishtailed wildly for what felt like an endless
second before stopping just a few feet from where Sam and their friends had
died.

In the time it took for Brian to regain
control of the car, the man dashed into the thicket of trees that lined the
road. Brian sprinted from the car and disappeared into the woods after him.

“Brian!”
Carly screamed.
“Come back!”

Fumbling around in her purse, she found
her cell phone. With shaking hands, she dialed 911.

C
arol pressed a cup of hot tea into
Carly’s cold hands. “I added a shot of whiskey to warm you up.”