by Apryl Baker
“You were supposed to get me a young, hot nurse, not Nurse Ratched.”
“I’m sure she’s an excellent nurse or Jesse wouldn’t have hired her.”
“Maybe if I were in a nursing home she would be.” I chuckle at his statement.
“All joking aside, I need to ask you a serious question,” I say as I fumble with the papers on my desk.
“I’m listening. It’s not like I have nothing else to do.”
“May I have your permission to ask Jesse to marry me? I wanted to ask you in person, but with everything going on, I don’t know when I would see you without Jesse hovering over you, or me.”
The line is silent. I’m not sure if he is still there and I hear him sigh. Come on, man, I’m starting to sweat.
He clears his throat and begins to speak. “Jesse is my oldest child and I wanted so much for her. I’m proud of the way she has grown as a person in the past couple of years, especially this year. A lot of that has to do with you. You make her strong and secure in her thoughts and ideas. Aedan, I would be honored to have you as my son-in-law.”
“Thank you. I will do my damndest make sure that never changes.”
“I’m sure you will. I have no doubt in that. Do you have an idea when you’re going to do it?”
“The family Christmas party.”
“Oh, she called me about that earlier. It will be a hell of surprise for her.”
“I think so. She has no idea. I think I’ll tell my mom and sister since they are helping Jesse plan. That way it will be an engagement party too.”
“You’re getting a little soft on me.” He chuckles.
“Maybe I am…I’ll blame Jesse.”
“You’ll make her day, and it will take her mind off all this bullshit Chantelle has created.”
“Bullshit it is.”
“Any update on locating either of them?”
“No, sir. I wish. Taking a break today and hitting their trail tomorrow when Sam gets back from Idaho.”
“Sounds good. And keep me informed if you find anything.”
“Sure thing.”
The phone line goes dead and I hang up the receiver. I sit back in my chair and begin to think about how I’m going to pop the question, and I’ll go with what hasn’t failed me yet, blunt and straight to the point. Ideas run through my head and the gate buzzer interrupts my thoughts. Dinner has arrived. I look at the gate camera and let the driver in, go out to greet him, and bring in the food.
***
Sunday dinner took my mind from the exhausting week we had to how much I enjoy being around family and friends. When we look at houses, I’m going to suggest closer to my parents, possibly. I have no idea where Pearse is going to end up. Knowing him, he’ll have a new lady friend in less than a year and he will be living with her. Time will only tell.
I’m having a hard time getting out of bed this morning, my body is tired, and my mind is sluggish. When I get in the office, I know the priority is changing all the processes and procedures Sam and I worked on in Idaho. Craig has already made scanner access changes, and they have been in effect since Wednesday of last week.
“It’s too early to be thinking that hard,” Jesse says from her side of the bed.
“How do you know I was thinking?”
“You grind your teeth. The sound is like nails on a chalkboard to my ears,” she mumbles.
“Sorry. Just going over everything I have to do when we get in the office today.”
“It’s going to be a busy month, especially with it being the last month in the quarter and the year.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Are you planning to take any extra time at Christmas and New Year’s?”
“I can since we have account managers, but I feel since it’s my first Christmas as the owner, I should be there.”
“No one would be mad at you if you took time off. Being the owner allows you to work when you want.”
“I know. Are you taking off?”
“No. I have a lot to take care of before the end of the month.”
“Then what’s the point of me taking off?”
“Spend time with your family?”
“I could…”
“Whatever you decide, just make sure you decide quickly so accounting can get anything they need signed and taken care of.”
“I’ll decide before our monthly meeting today.”
“Perfect. I’m going to get up and shower. Want to join me?”
“I might in a bit. I’m going sleep a little longer to see if this headache will go away.”
“I’ll bring you meds.” It’s rare for her to decline a shower or complain of a headache. I walk in to the bathroom, get a couple of Aleve and a glass of cold water, and take them to her.
She sits up in bed and takes the meds and water I hold out for her. “Thank you.”
“Welcome, gorgeous.” I kiss her forehead before she lies back in bed and covers up.
I glance at the clock before I go back in the bathroom, it reads 04:45. I’ll let her sleep a few hours before I wake her up. She doesn’t get up until 06:30 normally. Sleeping in until 07:00 should help.
The hot shower feels amazing cascading down my body and I stand there, letting it pound my body from every angle. I turn on the in-shower radio to listen to the morning news. It seems to be the same daunting news every day. Someone killed, someone overdosing, and that doesn’t include all of the drama with politics. I change the channel to music and let it take my mind from the news to nothing, which is good because I need to relax before work today.
I finish my shower and get dressed for my day sans jacket and tie. It’s still not time to wake up Jesse, so I set an alarm on my phone to remind myself to wake her up in case I get engrossed in my work. I head to the upstairs office, turning on the lights, and set behind the desk, turning on the computer.
When the login screen appears, I go straight to the email icon, clicking on it to open it. The first couple of emails are from Sam, and by the amount of emails he’s sent me this morning, he’s already in the office. The next emails are from Craig and HR. I click on Sam’s and skim them quickly to see if they are items I need to address now, and they can wait until I get into the office.
I open Craig’s email and I skim the contents and have to stop and go back to the beginning. As I read, he is telling me that Stella’s thumb scans stopped working and it won’t read her thumb anymore. So she is still going to use her card until he can figure out why the system won’t read her. Odd, but Craig knows what he is doing. I go to the next emails and they are from HR reminding me that I need to do evaluations before the end of the year. My favorite thing to do…not. I set myself a reminder to do them before the end of the week, that way I don’t forget.
The rest of my mail is nothing important so I discard it all. I get up from the desk, go downstairs, and make coffee. While I wait for the coffee to brew, I make a light breakfast, and sit down and eat it when the coffee is ready. I look at my watch and it’s almost time to wake Jesse, so I make her breakfast and take that and coffee up to her.
“Jesse, it’s time to wake up,” I say as I enter the room. I don’t turn on the lights in the room, but I do turn on the bathroom light to see where I’m going. She doesn’t make a sound.
“Jesse…it’s six-thirty. Wake-up time.” I gently shake her shoulder after I set the tray of food and coffee on the nightstand.
She rolls over and rubs her eyes in an effort to wake herself up. “What time is it?” she mumbles.
“Six thirty-three,” I reply after looking at the clock.
“Okay.” She sits up, trying to get her bearings.
“I made you a light breakfast. I didn’t know how you would feel but figured you’d feel better with something in your stomach.” I get the tray and place it on her lap.
“Thank you. This looks perfect.”
She eats most of her breakfast, but she doesn’t look like she feels well. I’ll make a call to Dr. Monroe later
if she doesn’t improve. I know she’ll get mad at me, but she doesn’t need to suffer if she’s sick.
Jesse heads to the bathroom to shower and get ready. I go back to the upstairs office and check my email again. Nothing new, so I open an Internet browser and look up homes in the area…nothing really impressing so far. I wonder if she would want to build a house. We aren’t in a hurry…because that would take time. I’ll keep looking and leave that as an option.
Time passes by quickly and before I realize it, Jesse is standing at the threshold of the office ready to go.
“How’s your head feeling?”
“Better now that I’ve had meds, ate, and showered.”
“Good. Ready?” I ask as I stand up and walk over to her.
“Yes.”
“Let me grab my tie and jacket and we can go.”
“I’ll meet you downstairs.”
“Okay.” I kiss her before she walks away, and I make sure she knows how much I love her.
Chapter Sixteen
Aedan
Time has flown by. It’s already past the middle of December and Christmas is approaching at a rapid speed. As long as I can remember, I’ve always loved Christmas. My love of Christmas comes from spending time with my family, and this year it has grown to include four more people, plus Laney. I can’t leave her out because she’s treated like a McCoy.
The past three weeks has been packed with party planning, secret planning, ring design, house searches…too many things at once. Sometimes I have to stop and ask myself if this is actually happening. I’ve watched Jesse grow into a beautiful, strong woman. I’ve seen her at her lowest and on top of the world. When I started working for McCoy fresh out of college, I never thought I would fall in love with his daughter…or even be asking her to marry me.
Nervousness courses through my body as the party gets closer. My gut is telling me something is going to happen, something is going to go wrong, but I won’t let it. This is our night. I pat my pocket for the sixteenth time since I put these pants on to make sure the ring I had designed for her is still in place.
I went with the same design as the necklace I got her for graduation, the past, present and future. The love I have for her will never die. She is all of those things to me. Her past brought me into the present, and together, we will have an amazing future.
My mind goes back to what if something goes wrong tonight, and this time I can’t shake it. I pull my phone out of my pocket and press send when come to Sam’s name. The phone rings and rings before I hear his voice.
“Getting cold feet, bro?” His loud voice echoes through the phone.
“No, not at all. I got a feeling. How many do you have working tonight?”
“Eight, including me. I hired on three new people for security and promoted Mona Granger to the Alpha team.”
“Nice. Make sure that everyone is run through facial recognition. Something is going to happen. I can feel it.”
“You’re scared Jesse is going to say no.”
“No, she’ll say yes. I just have to make sure we get to that point of the night.”
“For once you need to relax. I went to the event location and checked everything out myself. Andrews and Lee are there now watching the crew set up. They will make sure everything is clean before they allow anyone in there, especially with the celebrities on the guest list.”
“You know that biggest issue of the night will be that we stole Randy Andrews from Ken Reeves, that actor that has been in the news lately for the charity work his daughter’s doing with the soldiers.”
“He’s on the list?”
“Pearse added him last minute.”
“Great. Has the back entrance been cleared in case the paparazzi get carried away?”
“All covered.”
“Is Stella helping with checking in everyone?”
“Yes, Jesse said she volunteered even though she was invited to the party.”
“Nice.”
“Yeah, should make check-in quick.”
“This party got a lot bigger once Pearse and Mom found out that it was going to be an engagement party.”
“I agree, but it’s not every day someone gets engaged.”
“I know, but the whole idea of the party was to not have to do a Christmas with my family and a Christmas with her family. We’re going to have to now because I’m not buying all these people gifts.”
“You’re worrying, man. Relax. After tonight, you won’t give two shits about all that stuff.”
“Probably.”
“I’m going to head to the gas station. See you in an hour?”
“Yes, I’ll be there at six.”
“Later, H.”
The line goes dead. At this point, all I care about is getting this ring on her finger. Once I’ve accomplished that, I’ll be able to relax.
Jesse rushes into my office, flustered. “We need to go. Why didn’t you tell me it’s as late as it is?”
“We have plenty of time. Everything is under control.”
“I want to make sure for myself.” She hurries out of the room, not giving me time to respond.
I shake my head as I turn off the lights and head to the garage, because I’m sure she’s in one of the vehicles waiting on me.
***
The party is in full swing. People I haven’t met before are here. Celebrities who use McCoy and don’t use McCoy are here. I didn’t think that this would be a popular Christmas party. It’s to the point it’s a fundraiser. People asked who we wanted them to donate to, so Jesse decided on a few charities for whom she works pro-bono, because non-profits need the same care as for-profit companies. Doing that is a win-win for all.
I stand back in the shadows, watching as people interact with Jesse. The feeling in my guts still hasn’t dissipated, but I don’t think it’s nerves. The thought of Jesse becoming my wife doesn’t scare me. It’s another chapter in our lives and I’m excited we will be going through it together. Maybe I shouldn’t be that sure of her saying yes, but I can’t think of any reason for her to say no.
“Hey, H. Hell of a party.”
“Yeah, a lot more people showed up than I thought would.”
“Agreed. It’s under the paparazzi radar, so they can come and be themselves without having the eyes of the world on them.”
“True. Everyone made it through the scan okay?”
“Yes. I didn’t have security scanned or Stella. I figured they were good.”
“I’d hope so.” I chuckle.
“When’s the big moment?”
“After dinner.”
He slaps me on the back. “She’s as good as yours as soon as she sees the ring.”
“I hope so.”
He walks off.
Soon, the dinner rush fades into after dinner drinks. The guests mingle around the room and Laney gives the cue that everything is ready for me to pop the question.
I take Jesse’s hand and walk to the center of the room. “Excuse me, everyone…” The guests turn and face us.
Jesse smiles at me as the crowd’s attention is on us. “Thank you for coming to the first of what will be many McCoy holiday celebrations. This couldn’t have been possible without all of you, I would like to personally thank each one of you for McCoy Investments.” The room applauds. “Thank you for attending and we hope you have a wonderful holiday season!”
Jesse pulls on my hand to leave the center of the room, but I don’t move.
“Before we go for the evening, I have something else to add.” Jesse looks up at me. Instead of addressing the crowd, I look at her. “Jesse, I’ve spent the past three weeks trying to come up with words that describe our relationship and how you make me feel. There aren’t enough hours left in this day to get through them all. I never knew what love was until I met you. The first time I saw you, I knew I was going to marry you…and almost nine years later, I’m standing before you, with our family and friends surrounding us. They are going to help me. I have a questi
on for you…ready, everyone?”
Our families, plus Laney and Sam, all hold up signs that spell out, “Will You Marry Me?”
Once she reads the signs, she gasps and tears well in her eyes. She nods her head.
***
Jesse
“Ye—”
“Stop!” a voice that instantly sends chills down my spine calls out from behind the crowd that’s gathered around us.
Our family, friends, and business acquaintances part to let the unknown person through the crowd. Our eyes meet, and I can’t believe he’s here…Chet.
I place a hand over my frantically beating heart and the other over my mouth. His eyes are dark; so many secrets lie behind them. He looks so different from three weeks ago, gaunt and pale. He walks closer to Aedan and me. He gently pushes me, but I refuse to budge. He looks at me through the corner of his eyes, and I glare back. I’m not afraid. I will kill him myself if I need to.
“You must be out of your goddamned mind by coming here…especially tonight of all nights,” Aedan snaps.
“No, for the first time in years, I’m actually thinking clearly. I came to turn myself in…but I wanted to say a few things to Jesse before I did.”
I look at this man, wanting to wrap my cold fingers around his thin neck, wondering what Chet has to say to me after everything that he’s done to ruin my family and me.
“Well, start talking. You have eight guns pointed at your head and five minutes before I take care of you myself…” Aedan says.
“I’m listening,” I tell him, as I wait for Chet to talk to me before someone kills him.
“Jesse, I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done to you and your family. I thought doing as Chantelle wanted would be the right thing to do—the whole blood is thicker than water bullshit. But it’s just that. Bullshit. I really did…do love you. I’m sorry, so sorry. I don’t know if I’ll be able to tell you how sorry I am…” His chin drops to his chest and blood starts dripping from his nose. He puts his fingers up to his nose and gently wipes, and he sees that it’s blood. Shaking his head, he lets out a laugh.
