by Jill Sanders
He didn’t know what to say. He swallowed the knot in his throat and nodded instead of talking.
“After tomorrow,” Iian continued. “you’re family.”
“Thank you.” He finally found his voice.
Then the man leaned in and lowered his voice. “But if you ever hurt my girl…” He raised his dark eyebrows at him, and Carter understood his meaning, even though he was smiling.
“I’ll try not to,” he added quickly, since he could see Riley approaching them.
“Ready?” she asked him. He had picked her up at her place and they had driven to the restaurant together. He’d wanted to spend as much time with her as he could.
Riley walked over and wrapped her arms around her father, then leaned back and signed something quickly to him, causing the man to chuckle and kiss her.
“Night,” Iian said to him. Carter nodded in response.
“Did he scare you?” Riley asked once they were in the car.
“No,” he answered automatically. Then he laughed. “Okay, a little.”
Riley chuckled. “He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Unless that fly hurt his daughter,” he said under his breath.
“Even then, he might give you dirty looks and bar you from eating at the Oar…” She reached over and took his hand. “He likes you. They all do.”
“How can you tell?” he asked as he pulled into the parking lot by her apartment.
“They’re letting your brother marry my cousin.”
“Letting?” He turned off the car and turned towards her.
She smiled in reply. “Are you coming up?” she asked.
“Not tonight.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You aren’t doing some wild bachelor party tonight are you?”
He laughed. “Right, I’m taking Corey to the local strip club… oh, wait… there isn’t one.”
“And it’s a good thing too,” she joked. “Can you imagine it? Pride isn’t big enough to support strippers. The girls would have to be on welfare to survive.”
He laughed, then leaned in and kissed her. “I love that you always look at the positive side of things.”
“Not always.” She sobered. “I’m worried about you being alone in that big house all of the time.”
“I’m not always there. I’ve been spending a lot of time with you lately.” His hands ran over her bare shoulders.
“Have you thought any more about getting a dog?”
He had. Actually, he’d even gone into Carrie’s Sanctuary and looked at a few dogs she had up for adoption. The one dog he’d liked, a total mutt, wasn’t quite ready to be released. It had been rescued from a hoarding situation and still needed some medical attention and had to be neutered.
“I have,” he admitted. “I’m still thinking about it.”
“Good.” She kissed him again. “Now, are you sure I can’t persuade you to come up?”
A car door shut beside them and they looked over to see her brother get out and go into the store.
“Nope, not tonight.” He didn’t want word going around that they were sleeping together, even though they had just officially told her family they were an item. He supposed it was the principle of it, not wanting her family to gossip about them.
“Okay.” She hugged him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She stopped before opening the door. “We’ll officially be family tomorrow.” She smiled. “Lilly’s getting married.” She half squealed it.
“I know.” He chuckled. “Night.”
He watched her climb the outside stairs, then open her door and turn on the lights inside. When she poked her head out the door and waved goodbye, he finally turned on his car and started driving home, alone.
The truth was, he wanted more than anything to walk her up to her apartment. He wanted to stay with her all night long, holding her in his arms, making love to her until the sun woke them both. But he needed some time to think, and he needed some sleep before the very long day he knew was coming.
When he pulled into his parking spot, instead of getting out and going inside, he sat in his car and looked at the house.
His lights were on smart timers, so when he came home and his phone was within range, the front porch and inside lights turned on automatically. He’d installed them with his new security system, which had cameras pointed at every doorway.
The place was finished, with the exception of the last guest bedroom upstairs, which he’d decided to leave empty for the moment until he figured out what he wanted to do with it.
Looking at the place, he realized he had everything he’d thought that he wanted a year ago. The house, the car, the business. Everything had fallen into place. He’d never imagined he’d be so lucky to have what he did now.
Still, there was an empty spot. He thought about his brother and the fact that after tomorrow, he’d be married. Having a wife to come home to every night and never being lonely was something Carter had never imagined he’d want, let alone be able to obtain.
Leaning back in the seat, he closed his eyes and imagined what it would be like to have a wife and kids waiting inside the house for him. He could envision opening the front door and having a large shaggy dog meet him with a bark as it jumped up on him to get attention. The kids would run down the stairs, loudly yelling, “Daddy’s home.” Then he’d turn and kiss his wife as she met him at the door.
His heart did a little flip when he realized that if the wife was Riley, he’d easily be the happiest person alive. Still, he struggled with thinking that he didn’t deserve her.
Corey had always tried to shelter him from the worst of their father’s wrath, but he’d gotten some of it as they had gotten older. His father’s beatings by then weren’t as bad as they had been when they’d been kids. But he’d learned to use a different tactic. Mental abuse was somehow worse than the physical stuff his father threw at them.
Being told constantly that he was worthless when he was younger had taken its toll on his well-being.
He’d worked for years to overcome his father’s reach. This was the last and the hardest hurdle to get over.
He’d recovered, or so he’d thought, from the rest of his father’s damaging effects. Thinking about Riley and her family, how they had treated him since he and Corey had stepped foot in Pride, made him believe in the good of people again.
Could he allow himself to relax and become embedded in something better? What was holding him back? He knew it was no longer his father, since the last time he’d seen the man had been over a year ago, and before that, it had been several years. If it wasn’t his father holding him back, then the only person left to blame was himself.
Walking into the house, he reset the alarm and toed off his shoes before walking around the house. Blake had really done an amazing job decorating the place. It was the home he’d always dreamed of having. Now all he had to do was fill it.
Chapter Eighteen
Riley held in tears as she watched Lilly walking across the sandy beach in her white dress. Her shoulders were bare, with the exception of her long hair flowing over them in tight ringlets. The diamonds on her grandmother’s pearl necklace and earrings caught the light as she moved closer.
Everyone stood when she stepped into the narrow aisle made by the cluster of white folding chairs.
When she heard Corey whisper, “My god, she’s so beautiful,” Riley lost it and a tear slipped down her cheek.
Standing in the warm sunlight and listening to her cousin and Corey say their vows seemed different than all of the other weddings she’d attended in the last few years.
First, it had been Sara and Parker’s wedding. Riley glanced around and saw her other cousin holding one of her twins, Ellie, while Parker held Ethan. The one-year-olds were playing quietly.
Then she’d attended her friend’s wedding almost a year ago. Carrie Brogan, the local police chief’s daughter, had married her long-time sweetheart Joshua Williams, after he’d returned to Pride.
Lastly, her cousin Matthew and Blake had had a very small wedding less than a month after getting engaged over the holiday season.
Each wedding had been wonderful and unique. And made her think of her desires for her own wedding.
She spared a glance over at Carter and as her cousin and his brother exchanged their vows, daydreamed about walking down an aisle towards Carter.
When the crowd cheered, she realized she’d daydreamed all the way through the ceremony, up to the kiss. Clapping with the rest, she watched the happy couple walk back down the beach together.
The reception was being held in a large brick building that used to be a warehouse of some sort. It had been converted into a party space by Sunset Weddings.
She’d helped Lilly pick out the place and was surprised at the changes the sisters, Kara and Robin, had made to the place. They had gutted the main portion of the building, leaving the old brick while adding class with two large bars, a stage area for bands, and a dance floor. Large circular tables and chairs sat on either side of the room, with a long table in front of massive glass garage doors that swung open onto a private beach area.
The sunset was the perfect backdrop outside the windows as the band began to play. They had added a koi pond along the side of the building and planted a variety of plants and flowers with pathways weaving through them.
Lilly had debated having her wedding in the garden area instead of the beach, but the beach would hold more guests, which was key for their big family.
When the music started playing, Carter grabbed her, and they followed everyone else out to the dance floor.
Fifteen minutes later, she sat next to Lilly and listened to Carter toast the couple.
“Some of you may not know this,” Carter began after getting everyone’s attention, “but I’ve known Corey my whole life…” Everyone in the room chuckled. Then Carter turned to Corey and sobered. “Corey was there for me when no one else was. Growing up, we had each other, that was it. Now…” He turned to Lilly. “He’ll have Lilly.” Carter smiled. “I couldn’t ask for a better sister.” He held up his glass. “Thanks for taking my brother off my hands.”
Laughter again as everyone drank. The dinner was just being laid out on the long tables when Riley caught sight of a new couple walking into the building. Seeing the older man and woman made her instantly tense.
Jumping up from her seat, she moved to kneel next to Carter. Leaning close to him, she lowered her voice.
“I don’t want to alarm you, and please don’t react to what I’m about to say, but I think your parents are here.”
She felt him tense, then glance around the room.
Since the majority of the room had gotten up to stand in line for dinner, she had to point out where the couple stood just inside the doors, looking around.
The fact that his mother was wearing a light pink dress and his father was in a suit told her that they had planned to attend the wedding, but somehow missed and ended up at the reception instead.
Carter stood up quickly and, without a word, started walking towards the doorway. She followed him, quickly getting the attention of her father and uncle as she moved across the floor.
When she stopped beside Carter, he had his father’s arm in his hands and was trying to usher them out the door they had just walked through.
“Like I said, this party is by invitation only.” He was speaking softly yet talking through clenched teeth.
His father jerked his arm free and spoke in a loud enough voice that several heads turned their way.
“I think we have the right to attend our son’s wedding.” The man jerked his arm again, finally dislodging Carter’s arm.
“You’re not welcome here,” Carter said, still keeping his voice low.
“We have a right to be here.” His mother stepped in.
“No,” Carter said. “You gave up that right long ago. Corey doesn’t want you here. Actually, the both of us would be happy if we never saw either of you again. You can try to take away what’s ours, god knows you mooched off the old man for years, until he cut all ties. Corey and I are doing the same. We don’t want to see or hear from either of you again.”
“Is there a problem?” Robert walked over, no doubt alerted to the situation.
“No problem,” Carter’s father jumped in. “We’re the parents of the groom.” The man actually held out his hand as if he expected it to be welcomed.
“I know,” Robert said easily. Instead of his normal law uniform, he was wearing a dark suit. “I’m the local law here, and I believe your wife”—he nodded to Carter’s mother—“still has a restraining order out. She’s not to be one hundred feet from Lilly,” Robert motioned to where both Corey and Lilly were talking to a crowd of people. Riley could tell that her family and friends were trying to shield the happy couple from the scene. “So, unless you’d like to end up in a jail cell… I’d suggest you leave.”
His father’s face turned a deep purple and Riley could tell that he was fighting to figure out how to attack the problem from a different angle, when Carter’s mother touched his arm.
“Let’s go, Calvin. We can find another way to see our son.”
“No you can’t.” Carter added. “Not unless you both want to end up in jail, again. If you have to say anything to us, say it through your lawyer. We have plenty of money now to pay Triggs to keep you both out of our lives forever.”
His father allowed himself to be pulled a few steps away, then jerked free from his wife’s hold and approached Carter.
“You think your little slut’s family can keep us from what we deserve....”
She was thankful her father was standing directly behind Carter, because he reached up and held Carter’s arm as it started to swing towards the older man.
Carter’s father sneered at him. “You’ll get what you deserve, soon enough.” The man laughed as, once again, her father held Carter back from attacking the man.
After the couple had disappeared out the front door, Robert turned to them. “I’m going to just make sure they know how to get out of town.”
“Thanks,” she said to him before he left. Then she turned on Carter. “What were you thinking?” She crossed her arms over her chest and waved her father off. Her dad waited a heartbeat, then released his hold on Carter when he realized he wasn’t going to go after the couple.
“I wasn’t,” he finally answered her when they were alone.
“Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to slug the guy too, but not in front of Robert.” She nodded behind her to the front doors where he’d disappeared. “He loves us, but he is the law. You could have spent the rest of the night sitting in a jail cell instead of dancing with me and sending your brother and new sister off on their honeymoon.”
She watched Carter’s shoulders sag. Then he moved over to her and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the top of the head. “You’re right,” he said softly. “That man brings out the worst in me.”
“And me,” Corey said from behind them. “Thanks for dealing with them.” His brother walked up to them. “I didn’t see them until… Well, until just before they left. I should have handled it myself.”
“You handled them plenty growing up. This was my turn,” Carter answered. “Don’t let them spoil your wedding.”
“I won’t.” Corey smiled. “Nothing could ruin this day.”
“Good,” she jumped in. “Because I’m starving and bored of talking about your parents.” She took Carter’s hand. “Let’s get some food.”
He stopped her and once again pulled her into his arms. “Thank you,” he said softly.
“For?” she asked, looking up at him.
“For being there.”
Smiling, she leaned up and kissed him. “Always.”
An hour later, she took pictures with her cell phone while Lilly and Corey cut the cake and sipped champagne.
For the rest of the evening, the mood was light and fun. She danced until her feet hurt and then she d
rank a little more until she could no longer feel her feet.
By the time the party was winding down, she’d snuck away with her other cousins and decorated Corey’s car for their trip to the airport that evening.
Corey hadn’t confided in her where he was taking Lilly on their honeymoon. He told her it was because he didn’t trust her to keep a secret, and she realized he was right in doing so. There wasn’t anything she could keep from her cousin, even that.
As she stood with the rest of the remaining partiers, throwing bird seed at the newly married couple, Carter was having to hold onto her since her head was swimming and she couldn’t keep her balance.
“I think you’re drunk.” He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her.
“I am.” She nodded. “Totally.”
“It’s a good thing I’m driving you home then,” he said next to her ear, which had goose bumps rising on her skin.
“I don’t want to go home,” she admitted. “I want to go to your place.” She turned easily into his arms. “The store is closed tomorrow.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Besides, I packed a bag.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” He kissed her.
Just then, cheers filled the area as Corey and Lilly came rushing out the doors. They had both changed into different clothes for their trip. She threw bird seed at them, then hugged Lilly when she stopped in front of her.
Carter took a moment to give his brother a hug as well. “Take care of Rosco for me.”
“He’s already enjoying the house.” He waved his brother off. “Go have fun. Take lots of pictures.”
Corey nodded and pulled Lilly out of Riley’s hold.
“You know where they’re going.” She turned on him as soon as the car disappeared.
“I do.” He smiled. “Would you like to know? I think it’s safe to tell you now that they’re on their way.”
“Yes.” She had been dying to know.
“He booked them on a week-long cruise. Catalina Islands and Acapulco.”
