"Does your Crys know about Trish?" Nik said turning to Gabe.
"Yeah, she does. But she and I are both certain that Trish is lying," Gabe said.
"Hmm, perhaps," Nik responded before taking a deep breath. "I must get back to my beautiful date." He turned his head towards the table, his eyes capturing each of them before he spoke. "My apologies for the disruption."
Gabe watched him go as he found his own chair.
"Dad…" Gabe started.
"You really don't think she's pregnant, Buddy?" Benny interrupted.
"Nobody goddamn well does, Ben!" Pete said firmly. "God, get a clue, dude. And, if she is going to marry into the Milosevic family, God help her."
"Either way, if she is or she isn't, we'll find out tomorrow," Gabe said.
"But, they're going to call her with the results. What if she doesn't tell us?" Benny asked.
"Ah, yeah. About that," Gabe said. "I went up to the reception desk and told them that Trish had forgotten that she had lost her phone and asked if they could call me."
"Why would they do that?" Grandpa Pete asked suspiciously.
Gabe shrugged. "Because I told them I was Mr. Sampson."
*.*.*.*.*
I saw Gabe come barreling through the shop, straight behind the reception desk, as he picked me up and twirled me.
"Wha…" I started.
"Negative, Crys," He said, lowering me back down and doing a fist pump. "She was no more pregnant than I am! Ha-ha!"
I couldn't help but laugh with him.
There it was, the truth right out in the open for all of us to see.
"And, when I went to the hotel to rub her nose in it, she'd already checked out. Get this! She checked out last night," Gabe was almost giddy as he relayed the last bit.
So, no pregnancy.
No Trish.
Guess I'd be giddy, too.
"Dex!" Gabe called.
"Heard you, Gabe," Dex said. We watched as Dex poked his head out of his booth. "Congrats, man!"
"Thanks," Gabe said, wrapping his arms around me.
"This is where it starts, Kitten," he said, his face in my neck.
"Where what starts, baby?" I said with a smile, my arms reaching around his broad shoulders.
"Our life. Our life together," he murmured, pulling back and looking me in the eye.
I smiled back. But he still didn't know about my decisions, about the choices that I was making and the direction in which I wanted my life to go.
Where I was steering my life to go.
"What's the big book look like for the rest of today?" Gabe asked, trying to see it from where we were standing.
"We're pretty busy, baby," I said.
"No worries," he said, kissing the end of my nose. "What about tomorrow?"
And I smiled as I felt him disconnect and move away, walking backwards.
"We need to talk," he said.
"Yeah, and?" I said, flipping the page to see what was cooking for tomorrow.
"My shit is sorted, Crys. We need to talk," he repeated and I'd never seen him smile so big his eyes sparkled so bright. "Make some time for me, Princess, alright?"
"Yeah, Gabe, I will," I said, looking down at the book but my heart was thundering a million miles an hour.
I tried waiting up for him, but I was tired. It had been a long freaking week. But I managed to surprise him by being in his bed when he finally came home.
"You like my bed, Kitten?" he said nuzzling me from behind.
"Kind of, I guess," I said with a sleepy smile. "Think I like what's in your bed more, though."
"Me?" he asked.
"Yeah, you," I agreed.
"Marry me, Crystal," he said softly, slowly.
I was quiet.
"Gabe, there's a couple of things that I've decided and I think you need to know about them," I said equally as soft.
He sat up on an elbow and turned on a light. He was frowning.
"I'll marry you, Gabe," I sat up and turned toward him, hurrying to explain. "I want to marry you, but I think you need to know about what I plan on doing."
"Oh-kay," he drawled.
"I'm going to sell the house and land, Gabe," I said.
He looked at me waiting. "And…"
"And I'm going to open my own shop, a piercing and costume jewelry shop. You now that little video and game place up on McKinley?"
"The one by Luigi's?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's the one," I said, trying and failing to keep the excitement out of my voice. "It’s a perfect size and I've been looking into getting the stuff I'm going to need to get it fixed up. Caitlin's helping. Oh! And Marianne wants to invest in it…"
"What about Human Hiero?" he asked slowly.
"I've been thinking about that, too. Right now, I'm pulling in a third of the profits, but I'm also adding to the revenue. So, according to Marianne, I should be able to re-negotiate that and just pull a smaller percentage of the profits and be a 'silent' partner." I was smiling and almost giddy with the thoughts running through my head.
"Where would you live?" Gabe said, his voice very neutral.
"Where would we live, you mean?" I asked. I hoped he didn't think I was going to do this without him. "I was serious, Gabe, I want to marry you."
"Yeah," Gabe breathed, but it sounded like a breath of relief if you asked me.
"I don't know. Where do you want to live, Gabe?" I asked.
"Up by Leila and Dex," he said without hesitation.
I thought for a moment. Oh yeah, their neighborhood was perfect.
"When is all this going to happen, Kitten?" he asked.
I sat and looked at him. I didn't have a timeline. I was more worried about it actually being something that was do-able as opposed to when it was gonna be done.
"Soon. But, maybe after we get married?" I said, trying to see a calendar in my head.
"And when would that be, Crys?" he asked, pressing.
"I'd really like to get married on July fourth if that's okay," I offered. "That way we'd always have the day off to celebrate our anniversary and the night, our special night, would always have fireworks."
He reached to open the nightstand drawer on his side of the bed and took out a small envelope that had been folded in half.
"Are you sure?" He asked me, settling back against his mound of pillows.
"Yeah, Gabe. I've never been more sure about anything in my life," I vowed.
He opened the sealed envelope and poured his mother's rings out in his hand, before he snagged mine.
"We can always get it resized, Crys, if it doesn't fit," he explained slipping the engagement ring, with the tiniest of diamonds, on my finger. But it was a perfect fit.
Just like us.
He brought the ring up to his lips and kissed it before dragging me, sliding me, across the sheets bringing me against him.
I heard the crinkle of paper and retrieved the envelope from the disheveled bedclothes.
"Hey, what's this?" I said, reading 'For Gabe' on the outside but seeing more writing on the inside.
My chest got tight as I read it and looked at Gabe.
"What?" he said, taking the envelope and seeing what was written, in his mom's handwriting on the inside of envelope.
'and Crys', it said and there was a tiny hand-drawn heart.
"Guess she knew, huh, Kitten?" he said bringing his mouth to mine.
"Yeah, Gabe," I said, my voice thick with emotion. "She always knew us best."
Chapter Thirty Four
"Did you get it?" Caitlin yelled coming up the stairs to D & J Accounting.
"Yeah, girl, I got it. Cool, huh?" Marianne replied, watching her friend come barreling into her cube.
"Who else but Crys, right?" Cait said looking at the text one more time.
'Dear Friends' it began.
'Please join Gabe and Crys as they finally make legal what they've know was true their whole lives. Beckman Creek, Wed., July 4th, 2012, 9 a.m. Casual Dress. C U There!'
Cait'
s phone rang, the ringtone, Lady Marmalade and Cait answered with a loud "Frank-kay! Did you get it, too? You are? You and Stan? Really? This is going to be so fun!"
Marianne's phone rang, the ringtone, Ode to Joy, and Marianne answered with "Leila! Yeah, I got it. She's too cool for words. You are? Awesome. Dex too? Yeah, I know. I'll tell her. See ya."
"Okay, you first," Cait said practically bouncing up and down in her excitement.
"That was Leila, she got the invitation and she and Dex are standing up for Crys and Gabe."
"Ohmigod," Cait breathed, her eyes shining. "That is the best!"
"C'mon, your turn," Marianne reminded her with a smile.
"Uhm. Frank is planning the wedding and Stan is going to build this bridge gazebo thingie as well as a dance floor because otherwise we'll be dancing in the dirt."
They both laughed hard at the thought of everyone at a wedding shuffling around in the dust.
"Okay, so what are you wearing?" Cait breathed.
"Geez, Cait. We've got a couple of weeks before it happens. Who knows what size I'll be in a couple of weeks," Marianne replied, rubbing her hand lovingly over the slightest, tiniest of baby bumps.
They shared a smile before moving away to complete their day.
*.*.*.*.*
In another part of town, Crys was just completing the paperwork for the lease on the old video games shop. She wouldn't officially be moving in until after July 15th, when she and Gabe came back from their honeymoon in Alaska. In fact, they wouldn't be opening the store until after they got back from Sturgis in August, but she was happy with that.
One thing at a time.
The house had been sold and was going through a thirty day escrow at the insistence of Carmi's land developer/realtor father, Bruce. Crys thought he did it to ensure she didn't have a whole lot of time to change her mind about the sell.
After she and Gabe found the perfect house two streets over from Leila and Dex, she knew she wasn't going to change her mind. And when she discovered Gabe had been willing to put in so much money, they had been able to offer a down payment of fifty percent. Sah-weet!
She scrolled through her messages and saw four missed calls, all from Frank-kay.
Geez, this would be her third phone call with him today, she thought as she called him back.
"Emergency, Frank?" she drawled. Maybe she shouldn't have chosen someone so high strung to plan her wedding.
Naw, he was perfect for the job.
"Okay, we've got the flowers, the cake, the catering, the table and chairs," Frank read through his list, because Crys could hear the pages turning. "Stan is going to go measure the crick for the bridge gazebo contraption. Oh! I remember why I called? Are you sure we should only get tables and chairs for twenty? That's all that are coming?
Crys rolled her eyes. She and Gabe had agreed. A small wedding. Small. And twenty people was pushing it as far as Crys was concerned.
"Yeah, Frank, twenty. And we call it a creek, not a crick," she said firmly.
"Okay. But what about music, a nice little chamber group or …"he asked.
"No. Frank, stop. We talked about this. If we wanted live music, Benny or Gabe would play and I'd sing. No. We want to have our playlist, the playlist we're putting together. We might need a dock and speakers, though, if you wanted to look into that," she said unhooking her keys from her belt loop.
"One last question, Cara-Bella," Frank trilled.
Crys sighed heavily. She knew that was a lie but she'd learned that if she pointed it out, it'd hurt Frank's feelings. She didn't want Frank to be hurt since he was having so damn much fun.
"What are you going to wear, Crys? Have you found a dress yet? I saw the cutest little number at that boutique in the mall…" His voice speeded up and got higher trying to fit it all in before Crys hung up on him.
Which was starting to become a regular occurrence.
Crys gave another sigh. If Frank had his way, she'd be squeezed into some frothy concoction that resembled a huge blob of meringue or something.
"Frank?" she asked, trying to keep the smile out of her voice. "Who says I gotta wear a dress?"
"No dress? Crys, please don't tell me…" but Crys hung up, chuckling.
Little did Frank know that Crys was utterly serious.
In her mind, that day, her wedding day was supposed to be about her and Gabe. Their special day. Okay what they'd planned so far made it non-traditional and nothing close to what you think of when you think, 'wedding'.
But it was their day and they were going to do it their way.
"Hey, Kitten," his voice was deep and slow when he answered the phone. God she loved his voice. "Did you get the papers signed?"
"Yeah, baby," she breathed. "You still want to meet at the hospital?"
"Please," he said. "Dex said he and Manny can handle it until we get back after lunch."
"Okay, I'll swing by there now."
"See you, Princess," he said.
She smiled as she said her own goodbye.
Benny's test results had come back about the same time he'd been diagnosed with arteriolosclerosis.
The blood test from Denver had identified a nasty infection which had been treated with huge amounts of antibiotics. Once that was taken care of, he had to go into surgery to have the blockages in his carotid arteries cleared. But the surgeon could only do one side at a time, so they cleaned out the right side first since it was at fifty percent. The left side was done day before yesterday and was to clear the forty percent blockage there.
According to the doctor, Benny's symptoms were classic with his mood swings and hearing loss. He said Benny had come in just in time, because if a piece of plaque had broken off, Ben could've had a massive stroke.
While he was only forty-two, the doctor said it probably ran in the family and with that in mind, he was not too young to be exhibiting the severe symptoms he'd had.
He was better now. So freaking much better than he had been and I know Gabe is grateful to have his dad, his real dad, back.
Benny's medical issues were what prevented Gabe and I from running up to Vegas to get married.
Well, that and because we wanted to seal the deal at the creek.
Our creek.
I stopped by the grocery on the way to the hospital and picked up a small tub of the fancy ice cream Benny loved so much.
He and I had made up.
He said that he remembered what happened but it was like he was watching someone else, hearing someone else when he talked. Even the words, "I'm sorry", came out of his mouth. Came out of his freaking mouth every damn time I was around him.
Shocked the shit out of me every time he said it, too.
Ben and Dex had made up, but I kind of got the impression that this was standard shit for the two of them. And it definitely wasn't their first fight. The way Dex made it sound, he met Benny in a bar fight and they've been friends ever since.
I was just glad we could put it all behind us.
It'd been a rough six weeks.
But that was the past.
I opened the Jeep's door.
I was moving into my future with a smile, and couldn't help the soft, "Hell, Yeah" that escaped my lips.
*.*.*.*.*
"God, Dude, quit fiddling," Dex instructed trying to remember how to correctly tie a necktie as he stood behind Gabe, both of their faces reflecting in the mirror in front of them. "Do we really have to wear these fucking nooses?"
"Yeah, Dex. It's what Crys wants," Gabe said, his chin pointed towards the ceiling, trying to look at what Dex's hands were doing in the mirror.
"I thought the invite said 'casual'," Dex mumbled.
"For the guests, not for us," Gabe explained.
"Still sucks," Dex said.
All Gabe could do was smile. He'd lost the argument with Crys on the 'dressing fancy' thing and knew that Dex wasn't seriously pissed. Mildly annoyed, but not seriously pissed. But, Dex was always mildly annoyed.
Dex finish
ed and Gabe moved to the dresser to grab the band that went with the engagement ring. The band that his mother wore when she and his dad got married when she had been a girl of sixteen.
So young, too young, to know who you were much less what you wanted.
He and Crys were a lot older.
And, for the moment anyway, it seemed they knew what they wanted.
Her small shop was a big step for her, breaking away from Human Hiero, standing on her own two feet.
But it was the selling of the house that really marked the biggest change.
He never thought she'd do it, sell Max's house. Or to hold a yard sale to end all yard sales to get rid of most of the furniture and knickknacks.
He shook his head at the memory of Crys in all her glory, weaving her way through the absolute shit-load of stuff they'd set out in the driveway, laughing and joking with the browsers and buyers that had come by. He'd been afraid that she would get emotional, and she did, but in a good way.
He should've known, though, that she'd roll with it. Because when Crystal Marie Armstrong, soon to be Mykalson, made up her mind, that was it!
Dex came out of the bathroom adjusting his tie with a frown.
"What? You got a problem?" he asked Gabe with a scowl.
"Not me, Dude," Gabe said, smiling. He held the gold band out to Dex. "Don't lose it."
Dex smiled back, tucking the thin band in the smallest pocket of his jeans. "Guarding it with my life."
"You ready?" Dex asked softly moving towards the door.
"Have been, Dex," Gabe replied equally as soft, feeling his heart swell as he followed Dex down the hall, their footsteps echoing in the empty house. This was probably the last time Gabe would ever be in it, which was hard to fathom. It was a place that he'd known his whole life and couldn't imagine Crys living anywhere else.
Good memories, but he knew they'd create many more in their new place.
Theirs.
He liked that word. Liked the thought of he and Crys building a life together, building many more memories together, sharing a name. And, maybe somewhere down the road, having a kid or two.
But, first things first.
One step at a time.
Step one was marrying his girl.
Just like he had planned.
Crys And Gabe Page 26
