“I think it gets easier when you believe you’re doing the right thing for the right reasons. Is it something you can at least consider?”
“I’ll think about it.” He kissed the side of my head. “I wish I had told you from the beginning about why I’m in therapy, but I wasn’t ready to tell you. I had shit to work through this summer.” He paused. “And I guess I should tell Dr. Falcon, too,” he jested.
“I wish I had known all of it. Your dad. It’s so much to take in and process.” I nuzzled into his neck. “We were Romeo and Juliet from the beginning.” I sighed. “From that day in the library and you flirted with me? Total Capulets and Montagues, and I had no clue.”
“Soph?”
“Hmm?” I didn’t want to move. I needed his arms around me a little longer.
“Is your dad’s Germany number in your phone?” he asked.
I startled. “Yes. Why?”
“Give me your phone. I need to make a call.”
“Roman, what are you going to tell him?” I asked, but I passed the phone to him. I was nervous again.
He rubbed his eyes. His long lashes were still beautiful, even if I had marred his sparkly blue eyes for the night. “Maybe we started like Romeo and Juliet, but it’s not going to end like that.”
I watched as he tapped the number and was connected after a few seconds.
“Hi, this is Roman Sorrow. I need to speak to Colonel Mark Fairchild.” He paused. “Yes, I know this is the family line. Tell him it’s an emergency about national security.”
32
Roman
“So all the forms are signed? Everything is good?” I asked Dr. Falcon.
She nodded. “I forwarded the required paperwork to the HR director for the Dire Wolves.” She smiled. “He sent a read receipt. I specifically made a note that you never missed a session and met all the requirements to return to training camp.”
I exhaled. I’d never been so relieved. “That’s it, I guess.” I extended my hand toward the doc. “Thank you.”
Her hand was surprisingly soft. “Good luck to you, Roman. I hope you continue your treatment when you get back to Richmond.”
“I’m good, right? We got everything out here. I don’t think there’s anything to figure out anymore.” I felt as if a huge weight had been surgically removed from under my sternum. Dr. Falcon had stuck with me all summer. Sophie encouraged me to tell her more than I was certain was safe, but I told her about my dad, the family business, the threats, and how he was taken into custody by Colonel Fairchild.
“Therapy is a lifelong process. It never ends.” She smiled. “But you can always come see me when you’re in town to visit your mom. A little tune-up isn’t bad, either, every now and then. I have plenty of colleagues in the Richmond area if you’re interested. Trusted colleagues,” she added.
“A tune-up?” I frowned.
She laughed. “I’m thinking about seeing someone after you leave. You did a number on me.”
I stared at her. “I did?”
“Try working with a client for three months, only to have a breakthrough at the very end. Let’s just say you made me question all my training and a part of my sanity.”
I chuckled. “Trust me, Doc. It’s me, not you.” I flashed a smile.
“Nevertheless, I’m getting a tune-up. See this streak of gray?” She pointed to a faint silver line in her midnight hair. “That is a Roman Sorrow silvering. I might send you the bill from my colorist.”
“Happy to pay.” I grinned.
I turned around before opening the door to the small sitting room.
“Doc?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you think you’d like to come see me play sometime?”
She smiled. “I would.”
“I’ll make sure you get the good seats.”
I nodded and ducked out of her office. The next client sat on the couch, eyes averted, a shredded tissue in her hand. I wanted to tell her she was going to be okay. Dr. Falcon was the best there was. I was living proof. But she didn’t need me to tell her, she’d figure it out. Hopefully it wouldn't take fifty sessions.
* * *
Sophie was in the literacy project room when I walked into the Golden Page. Her back was to me. Two pencils stuck in the top of her bun. Did she know how beautiful she was? The most exquisite woman I’d ever laid eyes on. From that first football game, to running into her in the library, to this moment. She was light and beauty. Grace and energy. I didn’t know my heart was capable of expanding more, but those sessions had taught me I had levels that needed exploring. Exploring with Sophie.
I heard part of what she was explaining to Morgan, the new hire. They seemed happy, laughing every few seconds. I was glad the new girl worked out.
When she turned around, she caught me staring at her. Her eyes flickered. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
I stood idly while Morgan gathered the stack of short fiction and walked past me. I nodded at her, but my eyes were only on Sophie.
I didn’t know which one of us moved faster. I locked the door, tugging Sophie into my arms. Her lips were soft and firm. I kissed them slowly and deeply. She purred.
“I’m free.” I waggled my eyebrows. “Officially cleared by Dr. Falcon to return for training camp.”
“That’s great. Congratulations.”
“What about dinner at Sombreros to celebrate?” I asked. “Lots and lots of margaritas so you forget you’re in the guestroom and I can ravish you.”
She giggled. “First, there is not enough tequila in the world to make me forget your mom sleeps down the hall. Second, you're supposed to leave in a few days. Don’t you think your mom is going to be sad? She wants to see you as much as she can before you leave.”
I exhaled. “I am counting down the days so we can walk around my apartment naked, and you are counting down the days until my mother is a sad, lonely woman.”
She scrunched her nose. “Sorry, I just know it’s going to be a big adjustment for her, especially considering how eventful it has been since you’ve been home.”
“'Eventful' is your nice way of saying I torched Penny Hill this summer.”
“Your words. Not mine.”
I tilted her chin toward my lips to kiss her. I wanted her more every day. Fell a little more.
“How’s that dress coming along?” I asked.
“I’m supposed to have my last fitting tonight.” She ran her tongue over my lips. “But you know, it’s just so I have it. For when we’re ready. Your mom wanted to work on it while I was in the same house because it was easier for both of us to—”
“Shh.” I pressed my lips over hers and wrapped my arms around her waist. “You don’t have to worry about scaring me about marrying you. I’m certain, Soph.” I gazed into her eyes. I swore she could see all of me, even the layers I thought I had hidden well. “I want to marry you. I want you to be my wife. I want the light to be the only thing in our lives now. We’ve gotten rid of the darkness forever. It’s this.” I swayed with her in my arms.
“So you’re ready to set a wedding date?” she asked. I saw the hopefulness in her face. “I think I printed out the practices, pre-season games, regular season, and all the possibilities for post-season track dates. If next summer makes the most sense in the off-season, we might just go with a June or July date, but until we see what series you have coming up it’s kind of impossible to figure it out.”
“Soph.” I shook her shoulders. “We are not waiting until the next off-season.”
“Okay. Then we’ll look at the longest breaks you have. I think after you play Minnesota you might have a five-day stretch.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think you understand.”
I pushed her away gently. I lowered to my knee. Her eyes widened. I held up the ring from Lee’s fathers’s jewelry shop. Lee had helped choose the stone and the setting.
The lid cracked, and Sophie gasped.
“I promised you the biggest, brightest diamon
d I could find, but I knew it also had to be beautiful and light.” I slid it out from the velvet cushion to slip it over Sophie’s ring finger. I lifted my eyes to hers. “Will you marry me, Sophie Fairchild, before we leave for Richmond?”
She blinked. “What?”
“I’m never leaving here again without you being mine.” The ring fit snugly. “Marry me.”
She nodded, dropping to the floor next to me. “Yes.” She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me. “You weren’t kidding about eloping, were you?”
I plucked the pencils from the back of her head, sighing when her hair fell around her face. “We’re not eloping, Soph.”
She looked even more surprised. “What are you talking about? The courthouse?” Her lips fell, making her appear crestfallen.
“Let’s say… grand gestures?” I shrugged.
She laughed wildly, and I pulled her under me. She wasn’t going to believe what I had planned for her this time.
33
Sophie
The guestroom door was closed and locked. Roman was outside running the leaf blower, but I wasn’t taking any chances. It was the only surprise I had to give him for the wedding. Ruby Sorrow stood back after she unwrapped the fabric from the fine linen tissue she had used to protect it from even the slightest wrinkle. I gasped when I saw the final version. I was afraid to touch it.
“Ruby, it’s so gorgeous.” My fingers tingled as I extended my hand to the skirt.
“The design is only as beautiful as the bride.” She smiled, watching me gawk at my wedding dress. “I have the veil, too. I was worried I wouldn’t finish it in time.” She opened the closet and handed me the ivory tulle with beaded crystals at the comb.
I lowered my head so she could affix it to the back of my hair. I wanted a low chignon for the wedding. The comb fit perfectly. I saw my reflection in the mirror. The veil flowed around my shoulders.
“It’s perfect.” Roman’s mother smiled next to me.
“It is. All of it.”
Tomorrow we would be married. I didn’t know how Roman and Lee had pulled off wedding plans under my nose, but I’d never suspected either of them of their plotting and scheming. I was too wrapped up in the literacy project to lift my head and take a look around. Finally, I thought the Golden Page was my calling. This was what I was meant to do.
I didn’t know how I was going to run the project, operate the book shop, and be Roman’s wife in another city. It was another reason the wedding caught me off guard. I wasn’t prepared to make hard choices.
Marrying him was the easy decision.
That night after dinner, I excused myself to head upstairs. I needed to spend the last night alone taking deep breaths and thinking about what I was going to say for my vows. I scribbled a few words on notecards. I had showered and sat on the bed, legs folded, staring at the vows.
The dress was hanging on the back of the closet door in front of me. I kept glancing at it and then the vows.
I groaned. I didn’t know why I couldn’t decide what to tell the man I had loved for the past eight years of my life. Loved him when he was with me and when he was not.
My ears perked at the knock on the door. It was too loud to be Ruby.
“No, go away,” I called. “We can’t see each other until the wedding,” I reminded Roman. I’d already kissed him goodnight at the bottom of the stairs.
Knock. Knock.
“I’m serious. I’m not opening that door for you.”
Knock. Knock.
“Argh.” I threw the pen and hopped off the bed, scattering a few of the cards to the floor in my wake.
Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.
I whipped the door open, ready to lay into Roman. But my jaw dropped and my eyes refused to blink.
“Dad?” I whispered.
“Hey, sweetheart.” He hugged me, gripping me to his chest.
“When did you get here? How? I thought you were in Germany.”
“I wasn’t going to miss your wedding.” He eyed me.
“I’m so glad you’re here.”
He chuckled. “Roman made sure I could fly over. He said he wouldn’t have done this without full military approval.” He winked. There was a new unspoken understanding between them now. Ever since that night Roman called my dad and turned his own father in to the intelligence agencies, the mistrust Dad had toward Roman was gone. It went beyond that. Dad saw him differently. There was empathy and regret. Respect for the way Roman had protected me. Admiration for doing something incredibly difficult. He’d never known Roman suffered because of his father. Things had shifted quickly.
I hugged him again. I hadn’t seen him in months, but he looked and felt the same.
“I was going to get a hotel room, but Ruby insisted I stay here,” he told me.
I didn’t think my dad and I would bunk together. I waited for an explanation. “She has a pullout in her sewing studio.”
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot about that. Cozy.” I smiled.
“I’d love to stay up and talk, but I’m going on twenty-two hours with no sleep, and I think I have someone to walk down the aisle tomorrow.”
“You do.” I smiled and rubbed the side of his arm. I couldn’t believe he was here. I couldn’t believe Roman had made it happen.
Dad leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. “See you in the morning.”
“Goodnight, Dad,” I whispered. I waited until he was at the end of the hall before locking my door again.
I rushed over to the cards on the floor. Suddenly, I knew exactly what I wanted to say in my vows to Roman.
* * *
Lee stood next to me in a pale pink dress. Across from her was Luca Salak, Roman’s best friend from college and his Dire Wolves teammate. All our guests were seated in Ruby’s backyard. A trellis had been constructed under the shade trees. Ruby and my father sat together. He looked almost regal in his full military dress uniform. Gorgeous hand-painted fans waved back and forth in the early evening air. Sunset was beginning to drop over us with arms of pink and orange. Golden rays. Blissful rays.
Roman’s hands gripped mine. Big, firm, strong hands that had held me when I was sad, lifted me up when I was down, explored my body when I was passionate, and steadied me when the world seemed to tilt too far off its axis.
As we stood there in front of our family and friends, the world was righting itself. It couldn’t have been more in balance than the moment we pledged our lives to each other.
The minister pronounced us married to a rowdy round of applause.
Roman’s eyes lit as his mouth covered mine. It wasn’t a sweet and gentle kiss. He didn’t care that my dad was in the front row or that Lee’s parents had to look away. Roman kissed me fiercely with the passion powered by every muscle in his body. Our tongues lashed, and his lips didn’t stop until I knew he’d never leave me again.
He grinned like the devil had just kissed me.
“And I thought you wanted my father to like you,” I teased as we laughed, facing our guests. I had an apologetic grin.
“It was the first time kissing my wife. I had to make it memorable,” he explained.
We stepped off the dais and walked through the yard to where the band was playing. A photographer ran after us, snapping pictures. We immediately stepped onto the dancefloor under a billowing white tent. Ruby’s entire backyard had been transformed. The crews had assembled the tent, dance floor, and wedding altar in twenty-four hours. Roman’s attention to the yard seemed to have paid off. The grass was deep green, and the flower beds were overwhelmed with blossoms.
“How am I doing for my first surprise wedding?” my husband asked.
“I’ll let you know when I taste the cake.”
He chuckled. “All right. Dance with me first.”
I leaned into his shoulder. Our bodies aligned. The guests had started to mingle. A few gathered on the outskirts of the dance floor to watch us.
I’d spent so many years wanting to distance myself from Roman
. I didn’t want my neighbors or friends to see a picture of him and pity me. I didn’t want his success and rise to fame to mean poor Sophie. The last four years, that’s what I'd thought. But now they were watching us spin around the dance floor. Me in my custom wedding dress. Roman in a tux. Our fingers entwined. Our eyes locked on each other. Our lips barely breaking to take a breath. Now, when they saw me walk down the street in Penny Hill, I wanted them to think of Roman, too. Of what we had overcome together. How we had fought for this moment.
I wanted them to know how the pain of the past didn’t paralyze us. It didn’t ruin us. It brought us together.
* * *
Boxes everywhere. I couldn’t escape the sour smell of cardboard. I would light a few candles to waft away the scent, but I had no idea which box they were in. I didn’t have many places to escape. Roman’s apartment was a modest two-bedroom. He didn’t splurge on space, but he did spend money on electronics. Every room was custom-wired for high-tech lighting, voice control, speakers, flat screens. It was unbelievable.
I stared at the living room. It certainly wasn’t cozy like my apartment. There were no blankets to snuggle up under or stacks of books. It was a bachelor pad, plain and simple.
I heard his footsteps behind me, but I didn’t have enough time to turn around before his hands slipped around my waist and laid flat against my skin. His fingers tickled.
“You want to move already, don’t you?” he asked, nipping at my ear.
“No,” I lied. “I think it’s great.”
I had married the love of my life. I hadn’t investigated the living space.
“You sure?” he prodded.
I nodded. “It’s going to be fine. We’re going to start looking for a house soon, anyway.” I bit my lip, trying to figure out how I could make something out of the mess in front of me. A rushed wedding and a quick move to Richmond hadn't left any time for house hunting. There was no reason I couldn’t wrap my head around this problem and solve it.
Cold As Puck: A Cold Love Series Novel Page 18
