Marilou says, “I think she went skiing.”
I gasp, “At her age? Are you serious?”
Nodding fast, Marilou purses her lips. “Yeah. Right off a cliff and into the Abominable Snow Beast’s lair. Good riddance.”
Laughing, I hit her arm. “That’s so good and so wrong.”
“I know, I know. Straight to hell in a rowboat without a paddle. She has the day off.”
As I reach for bundles of silverware, Marilou looks to the tables and says, “Well, you can have your old section. The luncheon doesn’t start for another hour, and there are some clingers from brunch still loafing. We’ll need to chase them out of here soon.”
“Ugh. I’m not doing that.”
“Fine. I will. I’m the hell-bound hussy, anyway. Check on your people while I’ll check mine. The sooner we get them out of here, the better off we’ll be.”
“Okay, but if they refuse, I’m coming after you for back-up.”
“Got it.”
Finding a notepad and pen, I go to my section and see two people, with one holding a menu nearly to their face. Of course, they’d be at Dylan’s table. Remembering him sitting there, I slow as the pain sears me. It shouldn’t hurt. Dylan and I are together. Maybe barely, but we still love each other.
I walk closer, the back of the guy’s head nearly stops me again. And when the person sets down the menu, I stop short. “Lynn?”
She smiles. “Hi there, honey.”
I resume walking. “I didn’t know you’d be in here early. I thought Ollie closed…” As I stop at the table, dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes meet me. I stutter, “Dylan?”
“Hey, there…” he squints at my name tag. “Natalia.”
“Oh, my God. What are you doing here?” I glance at his dark blue attire. “And in your police uniform? What’s going on? Did you move back here or something?”
Remaining silent, Lynn folds her hands on the table and looks at Dylan as if she’s waiting for him to explain. Dylan clears his throat. “I came here because I need to talk to you.”
“Now?” I look to the dining room and don’t see anyone else. Marilou is missing. I’m at an utter loss. “I don’t understand. Why did you fly all the way here? Did someone die? Oh, God.”
“No one died. I should ask why you’re in your uniform.”
I look down at my clothes. “I’m helping out for the day.”
Dylan slides out of his seat, and I look up at him. Standing in front of Lynn, I want to kiss him but cross my arms to keep from touching him. I notice his uniform is from Richmond PD. Before I can ask another question, Dylan says, “I missed you.”
I glance at Lynn, and even though she knows about Dylan and me, I keep it casual. “I missed you too. It’s been a while.”
“Too long. I met you at this table, and I instantly knew you would change my life.”
“I got you a sandwich,” I joke as Lynn watches this weird exchange.
“Not just that. I fell in love with you.”
I stare at Dylan, shocked he’s admitting this in front of Lynn. Stupidly, I ask, “You did?” But then I whisper, “I fell first.”
Dylan glances at Lynn as he shoves his hand into his pocket. Then he looks back at me, uncertain. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted, now and forever. I came here for one answer.” Dylan drops to a knee, and I’m stunned. “Talia, these past few weeks, I’ve had time to think about what I wanted for us, and every time, I came up with the same answer. I want forever and a day with you. I want the rings, the vows, and babies with you. You’re my everything, and I want to be yours.” Dylan holds up a diamond ring, and I loudly gasp. “Will you marry me, Talia? Will you make me your husband until the end of time?”
I stand in front of him, frozen. Even if Lynn is sitting next to us, I ask, “You’re not breaking up with me?”
Dylan slowly shakes his head with a crook of an eyebrow. “I hope not.”
I continue to stare at the ring in a trance. Lynn clears her throat, and I say, “I…You’ve been…Are you sure you want to marry me?”
“Without a doubt. You always believe in me and love me no matter how bad I mess up. You always, always have my back, whether I want you to or not. I love you, Talia. You fit. You’re the one.”
“Um, I still can’t believe you’re here, doing this.”
Lynn impatiently sighs. “Natalia Marjani Welch, Officer McGrath just proposed marriage to you. He did a lot of planning and flew all the way out here to do this. Will you answer the man already?”
I look over my shoulder at her and then back to Dylan. “Yes.”
Dylan whispers, “Is that a yes for her or me?”
“You. Yes, Dylan. I’ll marry you. Yes, a thousand times.” I blink away tears to see him wiping his face with the back of his hand.
“It’s about damn time! Lord Almighty!” Marilou yells from the kitchen window and then barrels through the door.
Dylan takes my left hand and slides the ring onto my ring finger. He stands and picks me up. Putting my arms around his neck and my chin on his shoulder, I burst into tears. Glancing at my ring, I see it’s a larger round diamond flanked by smaller ones on a gold band. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful and never thought a man would give one to me.
I notice more familiar people exiting the kitchen, mostly his family, Russ, and Sadie, making me cry harder. In my ear, Dylan whispers, “I’ll love you forever, Talia. I promise. I’m the happiest guy in the world.”
“I love you so much, Dylan. I thought I was losing you.”
“Never, baby.”
Marilou bounces behind Dylan and then grabs my hand. “Oooh wee! Check out this ring! Dylan, you did good!”
Dylan sets me down, and he smirks. “I can’t take all the credit.”
Jordan runs over and jumps into Dylan’s arms as Marilou grabs me into hers. There are so many people around us, I don’t know where to look first.
Marilou squeals, “I can’t wait for the wedding!” Oh, my God. I’m getting married. “I better be in it! Just saying!”
Still unable to speak, I only nod. Lynn pulls me into a hug. “My darling girl. I’m so happy for you.”
As she squeezes me, I blurt, “Would you and Gerald give me away? You’re the only family I have.” I feel her shake against me, making me cry again.
“Of course, we will. He’ll be touched.”
I pull away from Lynn as we both dry our eyes. “You knew Dylan was doing this?”
“I’ll just say we talked.”
Jordan turns to me with a grin before she hugs me. “Congratulations. Take care of my boy.”
“I will.”
Dylan’s parents hug me next. I can’t believe so many people flew out here for this. Grant and Emerson offer their congratulations. At least Ollie had the courtesy to keep his grumpy ass in the kitchen.
Marilou says, “Okay, everyone! Who wants to help me with the food?”
“Food?” I ask, confused.
With her hands on her hips, Marilou says, “We all got to eat lunch. Planning an engagement is hard work.” She giggles as Emerson, Grant, Lynn, and Deirdre volunteer to help her.
Grabbing my fiancé’s hand, I tow Dylan to the storage room, needing a minute with him, and he follows without argument. When I close the door, he pushes me up against the wall and kisses me. I giggle against his mouth. I try to pull away, but Dylan’s eager mouth is relentless. “Do you have your gun? How’d you get it on the plane?”
“I didn’t. That’s not my Glock. I’m just really happy to see you.”
I laugh as I gently push him away. “Dylan, what just happened out there?”
“You agreed to marry me.” He kisses my neck, and I laugh again.
“I’m speechless. You didn’t mention you wanted to get married.”
He tilts his head, which makes me smile. “I tried to tell you the day you came to Richmond, and we…made up.”
“I can’t wait to marry you. I wish we could do it now.”
�
��Why don’t we?”
“Get married now?”
“Yeah. Today. Almost everyone is here. Dani, Dex, and Ricky aren’t, but that’s okay. We just have to get rings and go to city hall. I know it wouldn’t be a big wedding, but—”
“I don’t want to wait. I don’t care if we wear our uniforms.”
Dylan grins. “We’ll spend our wedding night in my hotel room. I guess we should tell everyone. Within hours, we’ll be married.”
With teary eyes, I smile. “On our terms.”
His sexy smirk electrifies me. “Such rebels.”
“Forever, Dylan McGrath.”
“And a day.”
Chapter 33
Hearing the whirring of the garage door, I close the bedroom door. Silence. Fuck gold. After twenty-two years of the noise, it’s platinum in this house.
Running water echoes in the bathroom. Checking my watch, there’s still time. Thank God because this is a necessity.
Digging into the back of my underwear drawer, I remove a velvet box and set it on the dresser with the mirror. Before walking away, I slide my hand through my hair, noticing more gray strands laced throughout the honey-blond. I’m not surprised.
Looking toward the bathroom door, I flop down onto the bed, which I make every damn morning. It gives me a false sense of order to my disorderly life. My gaze falls to my wedding ring, which I’ll have to lose.
The bathroom door flies open, and her perfume wafts through the air as she heads to her dresser. “How’d it go this morning?”
Her smile in the mirror compels me to smile. “Good.” I watch her messing with her curly, chin-length hair with light brown streaks throughout. I love kissing the curve of her neck where it meets her shoulder. Her thin pink tank displays her tits in the mirror even though she’s wearing a bra underneath.
“Did Cruise argue with you about taking Lynzee to school?”
“Nope. He knows he’ll be walking.”
“Oh, shit. I forgot to give Marzee money for her field trip today before she got on the bus?”
“Handled it. I stole it from Chase’s room.”
“Good man.”
“What’s he need it for? He’s in college and still lives here for free.”
Lying on the bed and watching her, I’m impatient. I wait for Talia to notice the box, but she instead asks, “You got in late from work last night.”
“Yeah. I’m getting ready to get back on the road.”
“How does your knee feel today?”
“Better than it did.”
“I fell asleep early. Did you talk to Chase? I know he was watching TV.”
“Not a pleasant conversation. He accused me of having only one thing on my mind. I wish. Anyway, he said they’re not doing it.”
“I think our baby boy is still innocent.”
“At twenty-one? I doubt that.”
“If he’s dating her, he needs to be responsible. Neither are ready to be parents, and I am not ready to be a grandmother.”
“Yeah, and Lieutenant Ricky Tesco will kick his ass too.”
“I don’t blame him. Chase is dating his uncle’s best friend’s daughter.” Talia looks at me in the mirror. “An older woman.”
“Three years?” I scoff. “Amateur.”
“She wants to be a journalist like her dad. I think Chase is in love for real.” She giggles. “Richmond’s favorite sports anchor, Finn Wilder, could be Chase’s father-in-law.”
“That’s a long way off, yet. But wow. I met Ricky and Finn when I was on probation in high school. When I met my two best friends, I had no idea one would become my brother-in-law and the other’s kid would date mine.”
“Finn is a little older than me. His age looks damn good on him.”
“What am I? Chopped liver?”
Talia spins around, giggling. “No way. You’re mine. No one compares to you.”
“Uh-huh.” Talia returns to the mirror as she continues to get ready for work. I prop my arms underneath my head, on edge because she still hasn’t noticed her gift or said anything about today. “Still, he’s not the son I’m worried about.”
Talia sighs, toying with her necklace in the mirror. “Our Cruiser. He’s such a conundrum.”
“He’s a rebellious pain in the ass. I don’t know where he gets that shit from.”
She shoots me a deadpan look. “Our rebel? Not a damn clue.”
“And I’m positive he’s been around quite a few blocks.”
Talia gasps, horrified in the mirror. “Dylan, no! He’s only seventeen!”
I laugh. “And? What did you want to do at seventeen?”
“Not that, really.” She frowns, and I immediately feel horrible.
“Sorry. I’m an asshole,” I mutter.
Talia rolls her eyes. “He’s been seeing that cute girl whose family is from Cuba. What’s her name?”
“Adios. She won’t be around for long. Cruise never stays with a girl for more than three months.”
“He’s a good-looking kid. I wonder where he got that from, Dylan?” Talia giggles as she sorts through jewelry, frustrating me more. “Just means you need to talk to him again.”
“He won’t listen to me anymore the tenth time.”
“I don’t care. Remind him about STDs and pregnancy. At least tell him he needs to keep it wrapped.” Talia cringes in the mirror, and I laugh.
“Why do I get to do this shit?”
“Because you have a dick and can relate. I deal with the girls. It’s only fair unless you want to talk to them about pregnancy, periods, and birth control.”
“No, thanks. All the above has gotten me in trouble.”
“Like fertilizing my garden four times.”
“I’ll never forget Verna because of that and her trying to grab my dick more than once.”
Talia’s shocked reflection meets mine. “What the hell? More than once?”
“When I took her to the banquet, I needed two rounds of pepper spray.”
“Her hands were all over you. I wanted to punch her and rip out every Ronald McDonald strand of hair. I thought maybe you’d sleep with her. That killed me.”
“It would’ve killed me. And there’s no way in hell I could’ve gotten it up for that, drunk or sober.”
“You were mine. I had fallen in love with you, and I realized it from my table. That’s why I followed you to the lobby, but I was afraid to tell you.”
“So, you seduced me, instead?”
“I didn’t plan to. I wasn’t on birth control.”
“We still had fun.”
“I wonder how many kids Verna has besides Tristan’s daughter. That’s the only one Lynn has heard of.”
“I don’t know, but it didn’t take long for us. We played with fire a few times and soon burned the place down. I mean, our wedding night?”
“Marilou accused me of being pregnant before the wedding. Wrong. But she wasn’t far off.
“Mr. McGrath, I think you just got me pregnant.”
“How do you know, Mrs. McGrath?”
“It’s a feeling. I can’t explain it.”
“And there was Chase Dean.”
“Dylan. Oh, my God. There are two lines.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means I was right, and my new husband has a good aim. You’re going to be a daddy.”
“I can’t explain it. With Chase, I knew. I had no idea with the other three. Probably because I wasn’t paying attention.”
“You went into labor while I was at work. I kind of freaked out. Ricky had to drive me to the hospital.”
“Talia’s having the baby. I don’t know what to do, Ricky.”
“You go in there and let her blame you for the pain, the economy, and global warming. Then you hold her hand, tell her you love her and cut the cord. That’s it, man. Natalia does the hard part.”
“And then almost two years later, we tried for another but couldn’t get there for a while. I think we were trying too hard.”
>
I smirk. “No complaints here. We weren’t on a timetable.”
“You weren’t. I stressed myself out so much about it. But then you were in that car accident at work, and it put an end to sex for three months. I’ll never forget that phone call.”
“A drunk driver crashing into my police cruiser. I wasn’t hurt that bad. I was lucky.”
“It gave you a concussion, broke your leg, arm, and fucked up your knee. Chase and I could’ve lost you.”
“But you didn’t. The only thing it did, really, was take away SWAT for me. Even after surgery for a dislocated knee and torn ACL, there’s no way I could’ve done the training or kept up the rigorous schedule of being on call every minute of the day.”
“I’m glad you didn’t do it. I’d worry about you more than I do now.”
“I’m fine.”
“That’s what you said when you felt better, and you seduced me that night.”
“Chase is finally asleep. I want you. It’s been so long, Talia. I miss you.”
“I don’t want to hurt your leg.”
“I’m fine. My leg isn’t what hurts.”
“Then I’ll give you a blow job.”
“No way. I want your mouth on mine as we fuck.”
I sigh. “And there was Cruise Jordan.”
Talia smiles. “Then we both wanted a girl. Leaving it to chance that it wouldn’t happen so fast after having Cruise or that we’d have another boy, thirteen months later, there was Lynzee Camille, my mini-me.”
“Dylan, you’re never going to believe this.”
“Holy hell. I fertilized your garden, didn’t I?”
“A little.”
Talia smiles. “And then we were done.”
“Right.”
“I was told an IUD is very reliable.”
“Tell that to your positive pregnancy test and our youngest daughter.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Your fertilizer must be industrial strength.”
“Say what?”
“You got me pregnant, Dylan.”
“We used birth control. That test has to be wrong.”
“It’s the fifth one.”
“Six years after Lynzee, there was Amari Deirdre and a tubal ligation.”
Rebel Rook: An Everyday Heroes World Novel (The Everyday Heroes World) Page 35
