The Police Chief's Bride

by Elana Johnson

  “And crab cakes,” he said as Deirdre arrived at the food table. Several other officers had already started to crowd nearby.

  “Nobody is to touch a single thing,” she said to them. “Until the party starts.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Wyatt said, because he didn’t want to upset Deirdre. She’d worked very hard on this party, and he wanted it to be everything she’d planned.

  She hovered over the punch, over the profiteroles, over the placement of every tray and every serving utensil. She double-checked the doughnuts hanging from pegs on the doughnut wall that had been tempting Wyatt for two solid hours.

  She conferred with Meg and Norma, and precisely at five o’clock she nodded at Norma, who came over to Wyatt. “Call them to order, Chief,” she said.

  Wyatt stepped over to the nearest desk and picked up the phone there. He dialed the appropriate numbers to get the public address system to activate, and he waited for the beep.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “This is Chief Wyatt Gardner, and we’re ready to begin our police department party in the main room. Anyone with anything to do with the police department is welcome.” He met Deirdre’s eye, a slip of foolishness running through him. But she’d asked, and he’d agreed to say the next part. Her eyebrows raised as another moment passed.

  “Ho ho ho!” he boomed into the receiver. “Merry Christmas.” He hung up and grinned at her while laughter burst out of everyone already standing in the room. Everyone who came through the door was also smiling, and Wyatt could see the wisdom in Deirdre asking him to act like this party was exactly what he wanted.

  Maybe it was, and maybe it wasn’t.

  But as he took her into his arms and kissed her, he knew that she was exactly what he wanted.

  Even with everyone looking, catcalling, and clapping.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Deirdre and Wyatt spent Christmas at his place, with Pru from next door and his dog, Tigger. At least that was the plan.

  A couple of days before Christmas, Deirdre found out Meg wasn’t going to go home for the holidays, and she’d invited her and Father John to come to the meal. She’d no sooner stepped foot inside her office to tell Wyatt when her phone rang.

  “Hey,” she said. “I was just about to text you.”

  “Don’t be mad,” he said. “But I found out a friend didn’t have anywhere to go for Christmas, and I invited them to our dinner.”

  “Oh—”

  “And I may have invited Cal and his family too,” he said. “You’re friends with Lisa, right?”

  Deirdre started laughing, and Wyatt did too. “I just invited Meg and her dog,” she said. “Sounds like we better get to the grocery store again.” They’d gone last night to buy everything, and Wyatt had it all at his house, just waiting to be prepared.

  “I’m headed out right now to get more chocolate oranges. I’ll get another dog treat too.”

  “Not everyone has to have gifts,” Deirdre said.

  “Yes, they do,” Wyatt responded. “I’ll get several extras, just in case.”

  “In case of what?” she asked. “Are you going to invite more people?”

  “Who knows?” He laughed again. “I just don’t think anyone should be alone on Christmas Day, and I have a big place. It won’t kill me to store some chocolate oranges.”

  “Store them, right,” Deirdre said sarcastically. “If there are any left, you’ll have those consumed before New Year’s.”

  He didn’t deny it, and Deirdre liked that she knew such intimate details about him. The last couple of weeks since they’d gotten back together had been great, and while she didn’t feel the need to accelerate their relationship either, she knew they were playing a long game. A marriage game. One where her uniform was a wedding dress.

  She sat down at her desk and tapped to get her laptop awake. The wedding board she’d started when she’d first come to Getaway Bay and Your Tidal Forever was still there, staring back at her.

  She’d started pinning things that she personally liked, things she might want at her own wedding. Her wedding with Wyatt.

  Her heart shot out an extra beat, but she wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t worried about what she might have to tell him. She was excited to share her life with him.

  Dalton had called and said he and Emma had filed the cancellation paperwork, but the hearing wasn’t until after the New Year. So she’d endure one more Christmas alone, though she couldn’t help wondering how much she’d want Emma in her life. She’d been communicating with Dalton a lot more, and it certainly seemed like their daughter had not changed a whole lot.

  Deirdre had been telling herself that for a couple of weeks now. Everything was not going to go back to normal. A new normal would have to be established. She couldn’t control Emma, and she didn’t have to open herself up for more pain and more damage to have her daughter in her life.

  “When are you done today?” he asked.

  “Four,” she said. “And then a whole week off.” She sighed just thinking about having a little vacation. She wasn’t leaving the island, but she was planning to visit a different beach every day once Christmas passed. She and Meg were planning that, actually, and Deirdre had been packed for a couple of days already. “Is your mother still okay for me and Meg to stay with her for a night?”

  “Are you kidding?” Wyatt asked. “It’s all she talks about. I get new texts from her everyday. What does Deirdre like to eat? Do you think she’d tell me about her job? Maybe I can get her to stay an extra day.” He pitched his voice up in a bad imitation of his mother.

  Deirdre burst out laughing, and Wyatt chuckled with her. “You’ve made her whole year by asking to stay overnight.”

  “And you’re still okay not coming?”

  “Sweetheart,” he said. “I was married for over twenty years. I understand that women need some time to themselves sometimes. You’re coming off something stressful, and then going into the hearing. I have plenty to keep me busy until you get back.”

  “Okay,” she said. “And then, maybe we should plan something off-island in the springtime.”

  “Off-island? Like a trip together?”

  “Yes,” Deirdre said, feeling reckless and a bit unlike herself. “I’ve never done that before, but I would like to meet your daughter.”

  “Oh, you’re talking way off-island,” he said, clearly surprised.

  “Yes,” she said. “I’ll send you something.”

  “Okay,” he said, and the call ended. Deirdre sat down in front of her computer again. She’d started piecing together things to do in California, and she sent Wyatt the link for the board where she’d been putting things.

  Wow, he texted back. I’m calling Jenn right now.

  Deirdre smiled, because his enthusiasm for what she wanted made her happy.

  Christmas morning dawned somewhat rainy. Deirdre drove over to Wyatt’s and found him in the kitchen wearing a pair of gym shorts and a gray T-shirt. “Hey, sweetheart,” he said, pausing in his washing of his dog’s bowl to kiss her. “You’re early.”

  “Couldn’t sleep.” She bent down and gave Tigger a good scrub behind his ears.

  Wyatt put his food bowl down and said, “I’ll go shower.”

  “I’m going to get the turkey in,” she said, setting her purse on top of his fridge. She got to work, putting plenty of salt and pepper in the butter she then rubbed under and all over the turkey’s skin.

  She wasn’t stuffing the bird, as they were having candied ham too. Plenty of mashed potatoes. A huge salad, along with fried plantains, shrimp cocktails for appetizers, and freshly baked rolls for days.

  She’d barely slid the turkey into the oven when Wyatt returned. “Can I interrupt you for a minute?” he asked.

  Deirdre stepped over to the kitchen sink to wash her hands. “Yeah, give me a sec to wash up.” Fully soaped and drying her hands, she turned to find him wearing a pair of jeans and a dark brown sweater with Christmas lights sewn into the collar.

>   “What in the world?” she asked, giggling at his wardrobe. “I’ve never seen you wear anything like that.”

  He glanced down at his sweater, smiling.

  “The collar lights up and everything.” Deirdre stepped over to him and touched one of the little green lights. “How does it do that?”

  “Christine made it for me,” he said. “It has a little battery pack back here.” He touched the back of his neck. “I wear it every Christmas.”

  Deirdre gazed up at him, so much love streaming through her. “You must miss her so much.”

  He swallowed. “Sometimes,” he said. “Not today, though.”

  “No?”

  “No.” Wyatt leaned down and kissed her, and Deirdre didn’t care that she had a long list of tasks in front of her. Wyatt was the best gift in her life, and she wanted him to know it.

  He finally cleared his throat and stepped away from her. She leaned against the fridge now, and she had no idea how she’d gotten there. “I wanted to give you my gift before the others come,” he said.

  Moving over to the Christmas tree in his living room, Wyatt plucked something from the branches of the tree. Deirdre followed him, her heart pounding in the back of her throat.

  “I know I said we could go slow,” he said. “And we can. Pick any date you want, even years from now.” Wyatt cracked the lid on a little black box to reveal a diamond ring. “I just want to be yours every Christmas.”

  Deirdre pulled in a breath and stared at the glittering gem. Then Wyatt.

  “I love you, Deirdre,” he said. “Will you marry me?”

  She drew in a breath, her lungs shaking. Her fingers shaking. Her very soul shaking with excitement. “Yes,” she whispered.

  Wyatt grinned and swept her into his arms, lifting her right off the ground. Deirdre laughed with him, tears accompanying the giggles as he slid the ring on her finger. “I love you too, Wyatt,” she said.

  He swayed with her, and Deirdre enjoyed the moment where only the two of them existed, where she could listen to him breathe and know he was hers. She was his.

  “I really am going to retire next fall too,” he said. “I’ve decided.”

  Deirdre pulled away from him and searched his face. “And then what?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “But I’m going to call the university once classes start again in January. I could definitely do something for them. They’ve asked me before, and I like working with new recruits.”

  Deirdre beamed up at him. “I don’t think we need to be engaged for very long.”

  “No?”

  “I want Meg to do my wedding, so I’ll check her schedule and pick the soonest date she has.”

  “You’re sure?”

  Deirdre grinned and nodded. “I’m sure.”

  Tigger barked, and they both turned toward him. “Someone’s here,” Wyatt said.

  “Must be Meg,” Deirdre said. “She’s making her pumpkin roll here this morning.”

  Sure enough, the doorbell rang, which sent Tigger into a barking fest, and Wyatt opened the door to welcome Meg to his home.

  Deirdre squealed and held out her left hand. “I want you to plan the wedding.”

  “The wedding?” Meg struggled under the weight of her grocery bags, and Wyatt relieved her of several of them. “Oh my holy dolphins and starfish,” Meg said, her voice turning to air. She looked from Wyatt to Deidre. “You’re engaged.”

  “We’re engaged!” Deirdre shrieked.

  “Ho ho ho!” Wyatt said, and the three of them laughed.

  Meg hugged Deirdre and started swiping on her phone, talking a mile a minute about her schedule and the brides she already had to deal with. “Oh, and one more thing. We have room for one more, right? I invited Texas.”

  It was Deirdre’s turn to be surprised. “You did?”

  “Yeah, he didn’t have anywhere to go, and I just found out.” She glanced at Wyatt, who was loading his coffee mug into the dishwasher.

  “Wyatt will have to give up one of his hoarded chocolate oranges,” she teased.

  He smiled at her and came to put his arm around her shoulders. “We have room. Who is it?”

  “Her new boyfriend,” Deirdre teased, but Meg shook her head.

  “Not my boyfriend. You know him, Wyatt. I met him at the police department party. Dallas Farnsworth?”

  “Oh, Dallas, sure,” Wyatt said, but he looked confused. “I thought you said Texas.”

  “He goes by Texas,” Meg said. “In his biker club thing.”

  “Oh.”

  “That’s what I said,” Deirdre said. “But Meg says he’s a good guy.”

  “He works in the evidence room,” Wyatt said. “I didn’t know he was a biker club guy.”

  “He is,” Meg said. “It’s not like they’re outlaws, Wyatt. He was explaining it to me, and it sounds like they do good things around the community. Bikers for Babies? That’s their main cause.”

  “I have heard of that,” Wyatt said. “And they do good things for babies born prematurely and babies born addicted to drugs and alcohol.”

  “Exactly.” Meg moved into the kitchen. “I better get started. We have a pumpkin roll to make this morning and a wedding to plan!”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Nine months later:

  Wyatt tugged on the ends of his jacket sleeves, more nervous than he’d ever been. More than when he’d flown across the Pacific Ocean with Deirdre at his side so she could meet his daughter. More than when he’d met Emma for the first time. More than when he’d worked his last day as Chief, and more than when he’d walked into his beginning criminology class at the university the next Monday.

  He was getting married today, and he had no right to be this nervous. He’d done this before, after all, and Deirdre was going to show up.

  She’d wanted a beach wedding, and Wyatt hadn’t objected. She’d wanted it in September, when they’d started dating again, and Wyatt was fine with that. She’d wanted it to be small and personal, and Wyatt had said he’d try.

  Unfortunately, he’d been Chief of Police in Getaway Bay for a very long time—and for their entire engagement. The news of his marriage to Deirdre had been on the local news and in the local newspaper for weeks now.

  The whole town was coming. In fact, they were showing it on television.

  “Ready, Boss?” someone asked, and he turned toward his brother.

  “I can’t find my cufflinks,” he said, glancing down at the table in front of him. He and Deirdre had planned a family-only ring ceremony to take place before the wedding. That way, she got the private moment she wanted, and the people on the island who’d loved Wyatt got to participate too.

  “Take mine,” Scott said, already unbuttoning his links.

  “I can’t take yours,” Wyatt said. “Jenn got these for me, specifically for the wedding.” His daughter wasn’t there, because she was pregnant and due any day now. Her doctor had not allowed her to fly for so long over open water for the wedding. Deirdre had said they could do it at another time, but Jenn wouldn’t hear of it.

  “They’re literally right there,” Scott said, picking them up from the corner of the table. “You’re blind, man.”

  “I’m nervous,” Wyatt said, looking at his brother before focusing on the cufflinks.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve just had a lot of changes in my life recently.”

  “It’s going to be great.” Scott took over and got the cufflinks on. “You look great. We’re waiting for you.”

  Wyatt looked at himself in the mirror and decided this was as good as it was going to get. “Okay. I’m ready too.” He followed his brother out into the main room, where the small group Deirdre had wanted waited.

  She stood there, and she rendered Wyatt mute. She wore a white gown that seemed glued to her upper body, with straps that went over her shoulders and left a lot bare. The skirt flared at the waist, and flowed to the floor, covered with lace and beads and everything shiny
.

  Her hair was curled and pinned back on the sides, and she positively glowed from within. Wyatt had been worried about having the ceremony in front of cameras and the whole island, but now he knew it didn’t matter.

  When he was in the room with Deirdre, the whole world narrowed to just the two of them.

  He walked past his mother, his brother and his family, his sister and hers, as well as a few of Deirdre’s friends from her job. Norma and her husband were there, both of them sniffling, and Deirdre had invited her ex-husband and her daughter, and they both stood nearby too.

  But it was really all about Wyatt and Deirdre. He reached her and drew her into a hug to a collective sigh from the guests.

  There was no pastor or preacher here. He waited outside at the altar, along with the other invited guests, cameramen, and the island.

  But here, Wyatt said, “Deirdre Bernard, I love you with my whole soul. I’m so glad you’re going to be my wife, and that I’ll get to share the rest of my life with you.” He took the ring accompaniment piece he’d bought to go with her engagement ring from Scott and slipped it on her finger.

  Together, they looked at the new piece, and Wyatt loved the way it curled around the larger diamond, almost making a floral arrangement.

  “Wyatt Gardner,” she said, twisting to get the ring from her daughter. He knew things weren’t perfect between Emma and Deirdre, but he also knew they’d get better the more they worked through things. He’d only met the girl twice now, and he refused to make a judgement on her.

  “I love your smile. I love how dedicated to people you are. I love how freely you love. I’m so glad we got as many chances as we did, and I can’t imagine my life being as happy as it is now without you in it.”

  She presented him with a dark gray wedding band, with a rim of gold along both edges. “I’ve wanted to be your wife since the day I met you.”

  With the ring on his finger, Wyatt felt like everything inside his life had finally settled. Not a single piece was out of place, now that Deirdre was in his heart. He leaned down and kissed her, and he couldn’t wait to establish a new normal with her as his wife.