by Katie Dowe
“Thanks, Jill,” Kelsey said with a wave.
“I want to purchase it for us,” Nicholas said as soon as the woman had left. They were standing in what appeared to be the master bedroom with its purple and fuchsia colors and big bay windows that opened up to the gentle sloping rise and continued onwards. The view was spectacular with an oak tree towering upwards not far from the dozens of fruit trees lining the massive grounds.
“No.” She pulled away from him and went to one of the windows. “I want both our names on the deed in case…”
“In case what, Kelsey?” He had come up behind her but was not touching her. “In case you decide that you do not want me anymore?”
She turned towards him and saw the flint-like expression on his handsome face. “That’s not what I meant. These things are uncertain and we never know-”
“Nothing in life is certain!” His voice was impatient. “Nothing! We could die later or tomorrow or even next week, but we have now, this minute, and I want to spend the rest of what time I have with you and our child. I am tired of you second guessing what I feel for you, Kelsey. You need to stop!”
She stared at him for a moment, feeling her hackles rising. “You do not get to tell me that! I went through hell-”
“The pity party again!” Nicholas knew he was probably passing the boundaries of what he should say to her, but at this point he did not care! “You were handed a pretty rough hand when you were a kid. I get that! You have been using it as a crutch ever since I met you. I love you, dammit, and that is not going to change. I want to marry you and spend my life with you. Stop hanging onto the past and just let it go!”
She stared at him in shock. He had never spoken to her like that before and for a moment she felt the fury rising up inside her! How dare he!
“I am going home,” she told him coldly.
“Why, because I dared to tell you the truth?” Nicholas pushed his fingers through his hair wearily. “I am in love with you, Kelsey, but I am not going to stand by and watch you put up your past like a banner every time we have a serious decision to make.”
“Take me home.”
He stood there for a moment and then nodded. Kelsey wanted to cry. They should be celebrating and instead it had turned into one big fight that had her wanting to pull the sheets over her head and bawl for a day! He did not say anything to her during the ride back to the office. She got out and slammed the door shut, going to her car and getting in. He waited until she was on her way before he turned and went the opposite way.
Kelsey made it to her apartment and went inside, closing and locking the door behind her. He was not coming with her and she told herself that it was fine with her, but she went into the kitchen and resting her head on the marble countertop she gave in to the tears that threatened to tear her apart!
*****
Nicholas did not go to his apartment but went back to the house they had just left. He had the keys because she had left them in the car. He went through and parked just outside the front doors and sat there for a little bit. She was stubborn and too independent for her own good, but that was one of the reasons why he loved her so much. He was not going to let the fight with her have him backing off, far from it! He was giving her time to cool off before he took control even if he had to tie her up and put her over his shoulder. He got out of the vehicle and walked around the grounds. It was a lovely place and in his mind’s eye he could see their children racing around in the grass with him and Kelsey joining in the fun. The oak tree had branches sturdy enough to make the swings she had talked about. He intended to make them strong enough to hold them as well. The smell of roses dominated the entire place as he made his way further out. There was a stream, he found to his delight, and he bent over and put his fingers in, relishing the cold, clear water gurgling over the smooth rocks. He looked around and figured they could get a Labrador at first and then maybe a half-breed to keep it company. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called the realtor.
“Jill, this is Nicholas Peterson. Could you draw up the papers? I want the purchase going through as quickly as possible. And please do not say anything to Kelsey. I want it to be a surprise.”
He hung up with a smile on his handsome face and made his way into the house. He had seen her looking at the bedroom opposite theirs and figured she would want it used as the nursery. The room was large and airy. He knew she was going to want to change the color to maybe a teal or sapphire blue, but whatever she decided, it was up to her. He was no longer going to sit by and allow her to push him away. That was over as of now!
And he was not going to allow her to sleep without him either. With a determined look on his face, he headed for the doors and made his way out.
Kelsey heard the keys turning inside the lock and she felt the unbelievable joy blossom inside her! He had come back! She saw him framed inside the doorway and ran to meet him. He caught her in his arms and hugged her close to him, his expression tender.
Chapter 12
“You came back.” She lifted tear-streaked eyes to him.
“Where else would I go?” he asked her with a slight smile. He lifted her and took her over to the sofa where he settled her on his lap. He tilted her chin up. “I meant what I said. I love you too much to stand aside and let you push away what we have. I want to marry you and I want us to build a future together.”
“I am scared,” she whispered, her lips trembling.
“I know.” He traced her lip with his thumb. “I am here and I can promise you through thick or thin, I am not going anywhere. Not without you.”
She blinked as she stared at him, realizing that he meant every word.
“I want us to get married. I want you to bear my name and become the better half of me. I am not going to stop until you say yes.”
“I have a feeling you won’t,” she whispered. “So, I had better say yes.”
“Good,” he said briskly, a smile curving his lips. “How soon can we make it happen?”
“As soon as next week. I don’t want a fuss or anything big.”
“I agree with you. My mother will probably be horrified, but we can get past her. I just want to be your husband.”
“I am starting to like the sound of that,” she whispered. “I am glad you came back. Let’s go to bed.”
“Before we do…” He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the box.
“You have been walking around with it?” Kelsey asked him in shock.
“Every single day hoping you will say yes.”
“Oh, Nicholas,” she murmured as she held out her left hand. He took it out and slid the exquisitely made ring onto her left finger. It was a perfect fit and shot fire from ever side! “It’s perfect.”
“So are you,” he whispered.
*******
“There is no way that is possible!” Sarah said firmly as soon as they told her about getting married next weekend. It was going to be the second week of July and she wanted it out of the way before the end of the month because she had to take a quick trip to Japan and had promised Nicholas to go with him to Texas. “There is no way we can plan a wedding that fast.”
“I am not asking you to plan anything, Sarah,” she told the woman patiently. “I am a very busy woman and so is Nicholas. It is not about the wedding, it’s a lot to do with the marriage.” She glanced at Nicholas, who was looking at her in amusement from his place on the sofa. They had come by for dinner to tell the family about the impending nuptials. “I heard that as a quote somewhere,” she said with a smile as she looked at him. “Kelly is going to be the only attendant.” She saw the look Alexandra gave her and caved. “Kelly and Alexandra.” She glanced at the three boys with uncertainty. “I leave you to choose who you want to walk with,” she told the girl. “I am not willing for it to become the society wedding of the century or whatever. If it was up to me, I would just as well go off to Vegas.”
There was silence after her lengthy statement.
“Ni
cholas?” His mother looked at him for answers. She liked the girl but thought that she was too much in her own way for her own good.
“She is running the show, Mother, so whatever she says. I just want her,” he said with an amused smile.
Graham looked at her with grudging admiration. He had seen her over the months and realized that she was quite a force. He glanced over to where his wife was perched on the arm of a soft leather sofa. They were trying to work through their own marriage and he had come to grips with the fact that his father had been right to put Nicholas in charge. His brother was quite a leader!
“Good.” She sent a quick grateful look to her fiancé. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “Before I met Nicholas, I was not much on family, you all know my history.” She gestured vaguely. “Nicholas has shown me a different way of thinking and for that I will forever be grateful to him.” She stretched out a hand and he came over to her immediately scooping her onto his lap. “He tells me that you are not a bad sort to have as a family and I am taking his word for it.”
“We are not,” Graham Senior told the startlingly frank woman with a smile on his lips. She was exactly the kind of woman he would expect his son to fall in love with.
“Good.” She grinned at her soon to be father-in-law. “I know you are used to large weddings and all that, but I am pregnant and busy and I just want to get it out of the way.”
Sarah sniffed but left it alone. “Thanks,” Kelsey murmured softly.
******
They got married on a wet July afternoon. The sale of the house had gone through and they would be going there right after the wedding. Kelsey had not said anything about giving him her part of the money, so he figured he was making progress. She had gone by her father and had told him she was getting married. “I wanted to ask you to be the person who walks me down the aisle, but I am afraid I have not reached there yet,” she told him frankly.
“I understand,” he said softly. She had come without Nicholas even though he had offered. She had told him she wanted to do it by herself. “You are marrying a good man.”
“I just wanted to clear up something between us. I figured I am going to be a parent so I need some answers.”
“Go ahead.”
“Why did you do it? Why did you abuse me?”
He had hold down his head and looked at his hands clasped before him. “I loved your mother to distraction,” he admitted quietly, his eyes sorrowful. “I always knew she was too good for me and I was shocked when she agreed to marry me. When you came, I thought my happiness was complete. She had complications when she was having you and she was told that it would be risky to have another child. But I wanted a son,” he told her bitterly, his hands clenched. “She never said a word to me about what the doctor said to her and she wanted me to have my son.”
To her horror, she saw the tears coursing down his lined cheeks. “When she was pregnant again, I was over the moon and when we were told that it would be a boy I thought I was the happiest man in the world.” He leaned back wearily and closed his eyes. “If I had not wanted a son, she would not have died.” He opened his eyes and looked at her. “You look so much like her that each time I saw you it would drive me crazy. I should not have taken it out on you and the fact that I did makes me so regretful that you will never know.”
Kelsey had sat there feeling his grief and almost overwhelmed by it. “You could have told me,” she had said quietly.
“No.” He shook his head. “It was too much for a little girl to bear and it was too much for me to talk about.”
“I am so sorry.”
“I wanted to drink myself to death after she died, but I could not seem to be able to do so.” He smiled whimsically. “In the back of my mind, you were there and somehow through all the madness going on inside me I felt I had to be there for you.”
“But you weren’t.”
“I was not,” he agreed. “When I asked you that time for money, I wanted to just go somewhere and bury myself in grief.”
“And you set my restaurant on fire.”
He nodded and lowered his head. “I am getting better now.”
“Do you still love her?”
“I have never loved anyone the way I love her,” he admitted.
But she was still not able to let him walk her down the aisle. She had made a concession by walking towards Nicholas by herself. The chapel was small. Somehow the press had gotten wind of the nuptials and had gathered outside to catch a glimpse of the woman who had made something happen when nothing was going on for her and of course the youngest son of the Peterson’s family who had formerly been a playboy. Kelly had sourced a dress for her and Kelsey had insisted that it not be white so she had settled for champagne color. The dress floated around her gently and came just above her knees. It had a high neck and left her arms bare. Her hair had been styled by a society stylist and was caught up in many tiny curls on top of her head with sprinkling of flowers in the midst of it. Nicholas was dressed in dark blue tux and looked handsome and relaxed as he watched her walking in. Alexandra had on a stunning rose pink dress and Kelly had on blue.
The ceremony was short and to the point and within minutes they were husband and wife. The reception was being held at the home he had bought her which was several miles away. Within the course of the week, he had commissioned a decorator to redo the entire place, getting rid of the heavy unattractive furniture and replacing it with what they wanted. The nursery had also been decorated in teal blue and white and was ready for their son. He had insisted on hiring a housekeeper and someone to tend the grounds. He had also told her that he was going to hire a nanny when their son came.
The reception was being held outdoors and there were tents set up to ward off the fierce blaze of the sun which had come out during the course of the day after the rain. He held her hand as they made their way towards the head table and held her chair out for her to sit. “Mrs. Peterson,” he whispered as he made sure she was seated.
“I actually love the sound of that,” she said softly, looking up at him.
“So do I.”
For the first time in her life, she felt like happiness had finally found her! She looked around the place and noticed the wives with their husbands. Kelly was sitting on Kane’s lap with their son sitting over at the table where the children were seated. Leesa Wellington had her arms around Bradley and they were kissing without being aware or did not care that they were in public. Ciara and Aiden had their heads close together, and Felicia and Andre could not keep their hands off each other. The rest of the wives and husbands were the same. She blinked as she looked at her own husband, who was talking to his dad. He felt her looking at him and turned to her. “Hey,” he said, noticing the sheen in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“I am not used to being so happy,” she told him huskily.
He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the mouth. “Get used to it.”
******
They stood outside in the soft dappled light of the lowering sun that night after all their guests had left. They had both changed. She had put on a light cotton dress and he had donned a cargo shorts and thin white t-shirt that revealed his rippling forearms.
“Can we talk?” she asked, looking up at him.
“Uh oh,” he said teasingly. “Are you going to break my heart?”
She jammed her elbow in his stomach causing him to wince. He walked with her over to the one of the chairs still set up on the lawn. They were coming to pick them up tomorrow.
“What’s on your mind?”
“I did not tell you what my dad said when I spoke to him.”
He noticed that she had started to refer to him as ‘dad’ now and it warmed his heart. “I figured you would tell me eventually.”
She looked at him gratefully before telling him what he had said. “I think he loved her to the exclusion of everyone else including me.”
“That gave him no excuse to do what he did and hurt you so much,” Nichola
s said firmly, taking her hands in his. “I love you beyond belief, but I am going to love our child or children with the love they deserve.”
She squeezed his hands pleased at his answer. “He thought she was so much better than he was. I used to think that they were the perfect couple, but there was a certain aloofness with my mother.”
“How do you feel now?” he asked her gently.
“I have not completely forgiven him, but I am getting there.” She lifted his hands to her lips and kissed them gently causing his eyes to darken a shade. “I owe you everything,” she whispered, resting her cheek on his fist.
“It was nothing. I was fighting for the woman I love and I would do it again.”
“I love you so much,” she said tearfully.
“I love you more.” He hoisted her up in his arms and carried her inside to show her how much.
*******
Nicholas took the laptop from her firmly. It was the fifteenth of September and the due date of her delivery had passed three days ago. She had celebrated her husband’s birthday with him by taking him to dinner a week ago. They had travelled to several countries and had taken a week out of the time for their honeymoon.
“I was just ending one last email,” she protested. She had left her assistant in charge and even though she knew Heather was capable, it was the first time she had been from work for so long. She kept seeing the business collapse without her and had to forcibly take it from her mind. Doctor Whittingham had told her to come in for them to induce labor if it did not happen within the next day.
“You are supposed to be getting your mind and body ready to deliver our son.” He put the laptop away and came beside her on the bed. She had found it a wonder being married to him. He was thoughtful and kind and the most loving person she had ever met. He loved her and he was not afraid to show it. At first, she had been very cautious and hesitant, but now that she was completely sure of his love for her she returned it in spades.
“I am ready.” She snuggled closer to him, breathing in his spicy expensive scent. He had taken the time off to be with her and she appreciated it. “Your son is being very stubborn.”
