Welcome to Blissville

by Walker, Aimee Nicole

  “Hi,” I said shakily. “What are you doing here?”

  “I think it’s kind of obvious, but if not, maybe this will help.” Gabe dropped to one knee and held a ring box up in front of him. “Josh, will you make me the happiest man on earth and agree to be my husband?” Gabe opened the box and showed me the platinum and diamond band inside.

  Tears burned my eyes, and I had to swallow a few times before I could whisper, “It’s not my birthday.”

  “This isn’t a gift for your birthday. It’s a gift to myself; you’re my gift,” Gabe said.

  “Are you even real?” I asked him, echoing words I had used in the past.

  “Me or the diamonds?” Gabe asked, taking a page from my book and using humor to lessen the tension. “Both are real.” Gabe leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Um, you’ve left me hanging here, Sunshine.” He shook the ring box a little. “We’re streaming live, and our parents are watching. You think maybe you can give me an answer?”

  It was the most precious moment in my life. I wanted to say the right thing, something that he would cherish forever. For the life of me, I couldn’t think of a snazzy response, so I just went with genuine. “Yes, I will be honored to call you my husband, Gabriel.”

  Cheers and laughter broke out around us as Gabe slid the ring on my finger. He rose from his knee and pulled me into his arms for a sweet kiss that had tears running down my cheeks. I showed my ring off to the girls and shook hands with the guys before we got back to filming the rest of the wrap-up show.

  “Have a wonderful vacation,” Cindy said once we finished. “When you come back, you’ll get to start filming your solo segments. Are you excited?”

  “About many things,” I answered, looking down at my ring again. I thanked her for helping Gabe pull off his surprise, then left with my fiancé.

  The hour-long trip home was spent on the phone either texting, tweeting, talking, or Facebooking our big news. I could do that because Gabe had hired a car service to drive him to Cincinnati to surprise me. Gabe looked gloriously ridiculous driving Princess, but he didn’t like to be driven places by anyone. Well, he let me take his ass for a drive on occasion.

  When we got back to town, I expected Gabe to take us straight home, but he didn’t. He parked in front of Georgia Beaumont’s mini mansion that had remained empty since her death. He looked over at me with a proud grin on his face.

  “What are we doing here?” I asked him.

  “Five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a huge, fenced back yard, and a three-car detached garage for Charlotte, Charlotte II, and Princess.” It still made me laugh that Gabe couldn’t pick out a better name for his everyday Charger. He laughed when I looked surprised. “You think I don’t notice you checking out listings for houses daily? I’m a cop; I notice things.”

  “Why this house?” I asked him.

  “You don’t like it? It has beauty and grace, but it’s classic and masculine at the same time. It reminds me of you.” Damn, he knew how to render me speechless. “I also thought that Georgia would approve of someone she loved living in the home she adored. You’re not worried about ghosts or anything, are you?”

  “No,” I answered honestly. “Well, maybe if I’d smeared an ugly-ass pastel pink on Georgia’s lips for her viewing. She would’ve haunted my ass no matter where I lived if that had been the case.”

  Gabe chuckled then asked, “What’s holding you back from saying yes?”

  “Um, the expense,” I told him. “We make a good salary together, and the salon is growing faster than I can keep up with, but this house must cost a fortune. How can we afford to buy it?”

  “I inherited some money from my grandparents that we could use for a large down payment to make the mortgage payments more manageable. Don’t look at me like that, Sunshine.” He shook his head. “They left me the money to do something amazing with, and I can think of no better way than to spend it on our future.”

  “That wasn’t what I was thinking, Gabe, but I’m sure I would’ve gotten there eventually,” I said saucily.

  “Okay, then what’s bothering you? Don’t tell me nothing because I know better,” Gabe warned.

  “I’m more worried about Internal Affairs breathing down your neck,” I told him. “What small town cop can afford a mansion on his salary? They’ve already investigated you three times—oh, make that four with the Broadman shooting. You must like it. Your nefarious reputation could be bad…” I broke off when I realized how absurd my statement was going to sound. Bad for my business? Ha! The sketchier things were, the busier my salon became. Hmm, I began wondering what kind of rumors I could spread.

  Gabe laughed hard for a few minutes. “You never fail to make me smile, Sunshine. What do you say? Do we want to get serious about buying this home when we get back?”

  “Yes,” I said. “This has always been my favorite house, besides mine, and I can see us being very happy here. Hell, we’d each get a wing to ourselves if we start getting on each other’s nerves.”

  Gabe smiled and said, “I thought we could find better uses for some of the extra rooms.”

  “Sex room, arcade, home gym…”

  “Those are all very good suggestions, but I was thinking more like bedrooms for our kids,” Gabe said.

  I had never permitted myself to consider fatherhood in the past because I had believed it was something that would never happen to me and didn’t want to put myself through unnecessary misery. With Gabe, all things good and wonderful were possible. I didn’t yet know how or when it would happen, but raising kids with him was something I saw in my future. I didn’t need my psychic friend, Emory, to tell me it would happen.

  “I hope they take after you,” I told Gabe. “There are only so many divas a house can hold, regardless of the size.”

  “I’m not afraid of divas,” Gabe replied with a happy, hopeful expression on his face. “I have only one worry, and this is a deal breaker, Sunshine.”

  “What, babe?” I asked.

  “The entrances to that scary-ass hidden basement are getting boarded up forever. I will never go down those rickety motherfucking steps for any reason,” Gabe said resolutely.

  “Deal,” I agreed. We sealed our promise with a kiss and Gabe put Princess in drive so we could head back home.

  A sexy vacation, a wedding to plan, and a house to buy and furnish were on the horizon; my life couldn’t possibly get any sweeter. I had to pinch myself to be certain that I hadn’t died and gone to heaven.

  To my Dye Hards,

  You brighten my world every single day, and I cherish the friendships we’ve made. Thank you for being a part of my life!

  Josh and I had the most amazing week in the Bahamas to celebrate his birthday and our future. We spent our time swimming, sunbathing, eating, and making love. I soaked in every second we had alone because we both knew things would get crazy once we returned home.

  Broadman’s pretrial hearings were scheduled to start, we also had a wedding to plan, and a mini-mansion to buy. The changes to our lives were huge and overwhelming, but so fucking amazing. I couldn’t wait to start our new life together and raise a family. In fact, we treated Josh’s birthday vacation like it might be the last time we got to go away alone as a couple for a very long time. I thought trips to Disney might be in our future instead of a romantic getaway for two. Some couples were lucky enough to do both, and I thought it should be our goal also.

  “That was the most amazing week I’ve ever had,” Josh said as I pulled down our street. “Thank you for so many wonderful birthday surprises.” He was talking about the little gifts I gave him daily to celebrate him taking another trip around the sun. Those were nothing compared to the surprise I had for him at home. I knew the moment he saw his special gift.

  “Oh! My! GOD!” He squealed and danced in his seat as I pulled in the driveway. The car hadn’t even come to a complete stop before he jumped out and ran to his Princess. “Racing stripes! You bought me racing stripes!” There was more dancin
g followed by a kiss fit for a hero. I seriously debated painting some temporary racing stripes down the front of my body to see what kind of reaction I would get from him. “You shouldn’t have spent so much money, but damn I’m so in love with them.” He ran his finger lightly over one of the silver stripes.

  “I’ve seen the way you lust after Emory’s stripes, or at least I hope it was just the damn stripes,” I grumbled.

  “Shut up,” Josh said, slapping me playfully on my arm. “Oh, speaking of Emory, here he comes. I bet he wants to talk about my new stripes.”

  I could tell by the expression on Emory’s face when he neared us that he wasn’t there to admire the stripes. In fact, I was positive that I didn’t want to hear whatever Emory had to say.

  “I’ve had a vision,” he said somberly. “I know why I’m here in Blissville.”

  I automatically reached for Josh and pulled him close. I didn’t have to be a psychic to know that it was bad news. “Why are you here, Emory?” I asked him.

  “Someone’s looking for you, Gabe. A man.” He replied so solemnly that it was almost funny.

  “Should I be worried?” Josh quipped, never one to miss an opportunity to snark. I looked down into his hazel eyes and was surprised that I saw concern there instead of the humor I expected. I remembered how unsettled Josh was about Emory’s appearance in our lives and how hard he worked to convince himself that everything was going to be okay.

  “Honestly,” Emory said then paused for effect, “yes.”

  “Whoa,” Josh said softly, every ounce of happiness he’d felt moments before was gone. I knew I needed to act fast to get it back.

  “Emory, do you know anything more specific than a man is looking for me. I mean, that could be anything. What makes you think we should be worried?” I asked our friend.

  “It’s hard to explain,” he said, but he could tell by the expression on my face that he was going to need to try. “There was an aura of danger in my vision.”

  “A feeling?” I asked. I wanted—no, I needed—something more concrete than a feeling. I was a cop and worked on facts, not premonitions.

  “More than that,” Emory said in frustration. I could tell he was struggling to find a way to explain things to me. “Sometimes my visions have colors around the edges, and sometimes colors surround the person in the vision. I saw a red aura, which can be several things, among them is anger, resentment, and even danger. This man—or whatever he represents—could be dangerous to you.”

  “Did you get a good look at his face?” Josh asked. “Believe it or not, we have a sketch artist on the task force.”

  “I remember,” Emory said. “Your work with the artist brought a killer to your door—the same man whose negative energy I sensed in my house when I first moved in.”

  “Well, did you see his face?” Josh asked, urging Emory to answer his question. I was curious to hear the answer myself.

  “It wasn’t a clear vision of the man; it seldom works that way. Hell, if it did I could prevent…” His words broke off as a look of complete devastation washed over him. I wondered if he was talking about his husband’s death, but hadn’t I read that his abilities started after River died? I also noticed he spoke in future tense—not past—like he wanted to prevent something that hadn’t happened yet, but knew he couldn’t. “Never mind,” he said, shaking his head. “What I see are fragmented pieces of events like snapshots, and sometimes they’re nothing more than vague impressions. In your case,” he nodded to me, “I saw an outline of a tall man appearing before you and his aura was so dark black that…”

  “I thought you said it was red,” Josh said, cutting him off.

  “Gabe’s aura was red,” Emory clarified patiently. “The stranger’s aura was black, which usually indicates the inability to forgive, repressed anger, and bitterness.”

  “Emory, why don’t we go upstairs and talk about this,” I suggested. “You can tell me exactly what you saw.”

  “Yeah, okay,” he said, but his tone indicated that he’d rather not. “I guess the least I can do is grab a suitcase.”

  “You’re reading my mind again,” Josh told him, trying to inject some humor into the situation.

  Once upstairs in our apartment above the salon, Emory sat sipping a can of Coke that Josh handed him while we greeted our fur and feather babies. Adrian had sent a text when we were on our way home that said he’d drop Buddy off, so that he could be waiting for us when we arrived. He couldn’t decide if he was happy to see us or pissed because we left him in the first place. Someone abandoned him once, and I always worried he felt left behind when Josh and I left him for an extended time.

  “You’re such a good boy,” I assured him as I rubbed his belly. “Best boy in the world.”

  “Bite me, asshole! Bite me!” Savage squawked as he flapped his wings angrily and rocked his little swing back and forth. “Asshole!”

  “Somebody’s jealous,” Josh said, nodding his head toward the bird. “Let me take over here while you calm the bird down.”

  I rose to my feet and walked over to the cage while Diva wove in and out of my legs. “Did you miss me, Savage? I missed you.” Savage settled down as soon as I opened his cage. “Have you been a good boy, Dirty Bird?” I stroked my finger over his soft blue feathers.

  “Big Daddy’s home! Little Daddy’s home!” Finally! I’d been trying to teach him to call Josh that for weeks!

  “Little Daddy?” Josh asked.

  I turned to face Josh, who had Jazzy sitting on his shoulders, while he rubbed Buddy’s belly. “I don’t know where he learns these things, Sunshine. I honestly don’t.” I turned back to face our bird who bopped his head like he was jamming to music that only he could hear, which made me wonder if I could teach him to dance to music to entertain our guests. “Daddies are home, Dirty Bird.”

  “Dirty Bird!” Savage repeated.

  Emory’s chuckle reminded me that a more serious discussion needed to take place. I stroked over Savage one last time before I closed his cage then braced myself to hear whatever Emory had to say. He looked nervous where before he looked afraid. Was he worried that I wouldn’t believe him? While I couldn’t say that I was hanging onto his every word, I wasn’t going to ignore him either.

  “Okay,” I said, taking a seat on the sofa. “Tell me exactly what you saw.”

  “It was just a snippet in time. You were standing on a porch talking to a man.” That was it? “That’s not all,” Emory said, giving me a knowing look. I blinked because Josh had jokingly called him a mind reader on more than one occasion. “It was the scowl on your face, Detective, not me peering into your brain.”

  “It’s still creepy,” I told him.

  “Right?” Josh asked from where he sat on the floor.

  “I feel ridiculous for practically running across the yard with an ominous threat with virtually no information to back it up. I know just how much you law enforcement officers want hard, concrete evidence.”

  “Juries kind of demand it, Emory,” I told him dryly. “Tell me what you saw.”

  “I feel ridiculous now that I’m about to say it out loud.” He released a long breath and said, “I saw a quick snippet of you talking to a man on a porch.”

  “Our front porch or back porch?” Josh asked. “Front door visits imply that the person doesn’t know us well or maybe not at all. Friends and family would come to our back door.”

  “Neither,” Emory replied. “It wasn’t at this house.”

  “What did the house look like in your vision?” Josh asked. Who was the detective here?

  Emory closed his eyes like he was trying to remember every detail. “It was a big, wide porch, with large white pillars and dark wicker furniture with gray and blue striped cushions.” He opened his eyes and said, “It seems familiar to me, but I don’t know why.” A shiver of fear snaked its way down my spine.

  “Like this?” Josh asked. He scooted over to Emory and showed him a picture on his phone. I knew without asking w
hich house he was showing him. It was the one we were going to buy so we could start the next phase of our lives. We’d discussed it the day I asked Josh to marry me right before we went on his birthday trip. The house was exactly how Emory described it, minus the dark wicker furniture with striped cushions. But damn if that didn’t sound like something Josh would buy to put on that big porch.

  “Yes, just like that!” Emory exclaimed. “Whose house is that?”

  “It’s our forever home,” Josh said confidently. “We just need to buy it.”

  “You don’t know why the guy was there or what was said, and you can’t tell me what he looked like. Is that right?” I asked. I wanted to give credence to his words but it was hard to do with such vague details.

  Emory blushed a little, and I felt guilty for making him feel bad. “He was taller than you by a few inches, and he wasn’t as muscular as you,” he said. “I know this sounds ridiculous, but my visions or impressions have never been wrong. There will be a man who comes to your front door, and he will bring anger and resentment with him. He’s dangerous.”

  “Thank you, Emory,” I said, unsure what else to say. “I appreciate you looking out for me.”

  “I won’t stay any longer,” he said, rising to his feet. “I know you probably have a lot to do now that you’re back from vacation.” There was only one thing on my mind, and I’d pounce on it the minute he left.

  “Are you coming to dinner tomorrow?” Josh asked him when he reached the top of the staircase.

  “You mean I’m still invited?” he asked softly.

  “Of course,” Josh replied. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  Emory looked at me as if he felt he needed my invitation as well. “Don’t be ridiculous,” I said, mirroring Josh’s words. I had a minimum of fifty pounds of muscle on Josh, but I knew damn well who was in charge. Besides, Emory wasn’t trying to hurt either of us. He thought he was helping.

  “I’ll be here,” Emory said, but again I noticed that he hesitated.

  “He won’t be here,” Josh answered. I wasn’t sure who Josh meant. “See, Emory; it’s creepy when someone reads your mind.”