The One who got Away_A Second Chance Romance

by Mia Ford

  Not now though, not today. Today is a happy day and I want it to stay that way. Anything challenging can come later on. This is my proposal day. The first day of the rest of our lives.

  Epilogue – Serena

  “How do you feel?” Ethan asks me, looking about as pale and anxious as I feel. “All good? You okay? I mean, you look great I just want make sure that you feel...”

  “Will you stop it?” I beg as I smooth down my ivory mermaid tail gown, which I pretty much chose for the sweetheart neckline and lace detailing alone. “You’re making me panic here. The last thing I want to do is panic on my wedding day.”

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re right, it’s just... oh God.” Ethan’s eyes well up with tears. “Well I’m just so happy for you. And I’m so glad I decided to move to the city to be near you guys. Getting to reconnect with you and meeting, spending time with my niece and nephew, well it’s just been incredible. I feel so happy.”

  I grip onto his hands and pull him to me for a grateful hug. “I’m so glad that you’re here too and I’m pleased it’s you walking me down the aisle.”

  Mom and Dad are here, it would have been wrong not to invite them, and much as I’m not sure they deserve to know my babies, I need to be a grown up about it and give them a chance. If I think about it seriously, at least they gave me some money to get started with. They didn’t kick me out with nothing. I don’t mind giving them just one shot. It will only be the one though. They can be here, but not part of the wedding party. My very supportive brother deserves that role so much more, he’s never turned his back on me. Not once.

  “I suppose we better get going in a minute. Your husband to be awaits.”

  Luckily, the place we decided to stay in is just a short walk from the church, so I walk arm in arm with my brother and suck in some cool, fresh air which calms me down a bit. I don’t know what emotion is more prominent inside me, the excitement that I’m going to spend the rest of my life with the man of my dreams, or the nerves that this day will end up in disaster. Iris has been amazing in helping everything to run smoothly, but I just want it all to go well.

  “Oh look.” Ethan points in front of him. “There are your bridesmaids.”

  Jenny has Rose with her and Tia has Brandon. No one but me thought it was a good idea to have my children as part of the ceremony while they’re so young, but they’ll soon see. They’re old enough to walk now and they both look utterly adorable in their outfits. There’s no doubt about it, today is going to be incredible.

  “You look great,” Jenny instantly gushes as she spots me. “Really beautiful.”

  “Oh well you two look wonderful too. I love the lilac on you both.” I don’t know if either of them agree, but they don’t complain. “Are you ready? I suppose we better do this.”

  Jenny and Tia both hug me and whisper messages of congratulations and good luck to me, before they start walking with my little ones ahead of me into the church. I hear the music playing, it makes my heart skip a beat, but I manage to chill out just a little bit by thinking about the man waiting for me at the other side.

  We fought hard to get to this place, we deserve this.

  “I think that’s our cue.” Ethan grabs my arm again. “Come on, let’s go.”

  All eyes fix on me as we walk into the church, but all I can see are a pair of hazelnut’s staring back at me with the same smiling look that he had when we first met. I was a naïve young girl waiting for my life to get exciting, dressed in barely anything and handing out drinks. He was the rich stranger who’s handsome good looks and kind nature made my time on the job seem not too bad. Who knew how irrevocably we would change one another.

  “Wow,” he mouths as I get closer to him. “You look beautiful.”

  I’m so fixed on him, loving the look of his moving lips, that I completely misstep and don’t quite keep in time with the music. But I’m sure it doesn’t matter. That isn’t what we’re here for after all.

  Ethan hands me over to Ben who takes me willingly from him. Maybe it’s a bit archaic to be passing me along as if I’m some sort of property to be owned, but I don’t care. I like the traditional aspect of it all, it feels nice. I think I’ll enjoy the sensation of having just one person to care for me forever more.

  “Friends and family of Ben Katch and Serena Jones,” the minister starts in a tone that booms around the quaint small church that’s been made even more beautiful by the pink and white roses decorating it. “Welcome, I would like to thank you for joining us on such a special day.” I don’t look anywhere but at Ben, my eyes already shining with pure love. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the special love between these two people by joining them in marriage. You have chosen to have your wedding here, because it symbolises the union you share and the love in which you wish to indulge in for the rest of your lives.”

  There is a hush in the church, I can even feel myself holding my breath. I knew today would be an emotional one, but I didn’t think it would feel this intense. It’s almost overwhelming.

  “Your marriage today is the public and legal joining of your souls that have already been united in your hearts...”

  That’s it. I’m a mess. The tears stream down my cheeks making me so glad that I put on water proof make up this morning. It’s almost as if I knew that I would fall apart.

  “Marriage will allow you to grow as individuals, as well as together, it will deepen your love and allow you to face the world together, hand in hand. Of course, you will need courage, patience, and a sense of fun to get you through this, but this time will ensure that you fall in love over and over again.”

  Ben’s fingers loop through mine the entire way through the ceremony and I can feel myself gaining a strength from him. We are different, there’s no denying that. Our lives have been unique, we have grown into individuals, but those differences between us strengthen us as much as our similarities. He is my ying to my yang. I guess, we complete each other in a way. He gives me all the things I didn’t know I needed, and I think I do the same for him. Yes, we have struggled, but the fight we’ve endured now means we know we can tackle anything.

  The only time Ben takes his hands away from mine is the moment he speaks out his vows and he slips the ring onto my finger. Because of how upside down and back to front our love story has been, we decided to stick to the traditional wedding vows.

  “I, Ben Katch, take thee, Serena Jones, to be my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward until death do us part.” Once the ring is on my finger, Ben cannot help himself. He adds a little bit of his own. “After all, it was only ever going to be you, wasn’t it?”

  Then, it’s my turn. “I, Serena Jones, take thee, Ben Katch, to be my lawfully wedded husband. To respect you in your successes and your failures, to care for you in sickness and in health, to nurture you, to grow with you throughout the seasons of life.” I cope him. Once the ring is on I add my own little bit. I basically say the same but with much less fuss. “Only you.”

  “You may now kiss the bride.”

  Ben spins me and dips me low in an unexpected dramatic fashion before he places his lips against mine, creating a massive whooping and cheering from the crowd around us. As we share our first kiss as husband and wife, I finally feel that sense of excitement that I’ve always been looking for, but this time it’s mixed in with security too, making it the most amazing feeling in the world. With our children beside us and our friends and family watching us and sharing in this moment, I couldn’t be happier. Everything is perfect.

  “I love you,” Ben whispers as we finally pull apart. “Only you.”

  Only you, it seems that is going to become our thing, our mantra to push us forwards when it seems to hard to do so, our motto to remind us that even when it seems that way, it really isn’t that bad. Only you, the words of me and Ben. The glue holding us together.

/>   “I love you too,” I tell him softly while gently stroking his cheek. “You and only you.”

  Obsessed

  Blurb

  I wanna bend her over my desk, and show her all that she has missed these years.

  She's back from college.

  And looks more than just the tiny Mexican orphan she was.

  Her voluptuous body, perfect a$$, those long legs that could go on forever...

  One look at her firm bre*sts and I am hard.

  I wanna feel her soft body, hold her close to me.

  And never let her go.

  But mom said she was like our sister (my brother and I)

  We practically grew up together.

  Does that really matter?

  Wait! why is my brother trying to be a jacka$$ in this relationship!

  Chapter One

  Nathan

  I pored over another real estate contract, making sure the legal team downstairs hadn’t missed anything crucial. Neatly stacked piles of documents lined my desk in my office overlooking the city. The gorgeous view was a waste for me since I was forced to focus on paperwork.

  Work never seemed to end, but in the real estate business, you had to keep your wits about you and always be on top of things. Otherwise, someone else would come along and steal a client right out from under you or snap up a lucrative deal. It was a cutthroat business, but I managed to keep our company the most profitable in the city of San Diego.

  My father had passed his company to me when he retreated from the world. Taking the reins was an amazing opportunity, and I enjoyed every second of it, until my brother Nick decided it was time to get his shit together and make his worth known to our father. I couldn’t fight Nick on it since technically, the business had been handed down to both of us, but I couldn’t stand the way Nick walked around all high and mighty, trying to take over everything.

  I had literally dedicated my entire life after college to this company, and then Nick traipsed in and uprooted everything. But that seemed to be how it was for us our entire life, Nick wanting what I had, and using the older brother card to take it. I knew Nick had no real interest in being a real estate mogul, but we both wanted to make our father proud. So I dealt with his presence, trying to put out fires he made before they became full on blazes.

  I took in a deep breath and looked down at my laptop. The email symbol was flashing and rotating around in a circle. When I clicked on it, I saw Nick’s name as the sender, and I sighed. I was really hoping it was one of our bigger clients who were trying to finalize a multimillion-dollar real estate deal. As I opened the email, a picture appeared.

  My brother smiled at the camera mischievously with his arm around Ronni. They were standing in the kitchen of our father’s estate. I hadn’t realized that Ronni was back in town already. I slammed the lid of my laptop, irritated by my brother’s brash reactions to things. He always tried to rub it in my face and be the first at everything. I gathered my things and headed down to the garage to grab the car and head over to my father’s. Luckily, it was midday so traffic wouldn’t be too bad in Coronado where Dad lived.

  I was glad I chose to drive the convertible Audi today, as the San Diego sun was shining bright and warm overhead. I pulled out of the building and took to the street, heading for the bridge. I crossed over and looked down at the large Naval ships sitting at port and the city disappearing behind me, and I thought about the first time I ever met Ronni. I was sixteen years old and obsessed with cars, chicks, and anything and everything that was the complete opposite of my father’s business and learning it. I was a rebellious teen that knew just how far to take it because I also knew where the money came from.

  Mother had decided that we needed some live-in help to keep better care of our estate, so she hired a really nice couple from Mexico. The couple had a six-year-old daughter.

  At first, I really didn’t pay any attention to Ronni. I was ten years older than her, and she was just a little kid, running around and getting in my way. The thing I remembered most when she was that age, was the fact that she had big, striking, dark eyes. With Ronni’s parents working here in Coronado and living on the premises in the servants’ quarters, it gave her a chance to get a better education than she had in Tijuana.

  I always noticed her sitting at the kitchen counter while her mother cooked, studying her English diligently. Sometimes, I would try to help by speaking in my broken Spanish, but it just got confusing. Ronni was incredibly intelligent on many levels, and though I wanted to help, she started following Nick around and mooning over him. He was the older brother, and even I had to admit he was cooler than me back then. I just put it out of my mind, not really thinking about it, other than the times that I would run into her sitting in the kitchen studying.

  Then that day came. The day that changed her life forever and the lives of my own family as well. I could remember the day like it was yesterday. We were gathered in the living room, speaking to the police who had brought news of the car crash. Ronni was still at school when the police first arrived, but I remembered standing in the living room and seeing her enter through the front door. It was the last few moments of her childhood. If I had realized it then, I would have run to her, pushed her out of the house, and prolonged those last cherished minutes of innocence.

  She walked in and looked at the tears on my mother’s face and the police staring at her with sadness, and she knew. No one had to say it. I reached out, as if life were in slow motion, and caught Ronni by the arm as she dropped to her knees. My mother ran over, scooping her delicate little body into her arms and covering her, trying to keep the pain out. I think we all grew a little bit that day.

  Ronni didn’t have any family left in the states now that her parents were gone. My mother knew sending her back to Mexico would mean a very hard life for her. So, doing as my kind-hearted mother always did, she brought Ronni into our home permanently. She made up the room right next to hers and treated exactly as if she were her own daughter.

  My father kept a distance, but since he loved my mother so much, he did what he could to make Ronni feel as if she were part of the family. That was really important to my mother, for her to feel like she was part of the family. We always made sure to listen to our mother, knowing how kind she was and knowing how she was the glue that held this family together. So, there she was, our new little sister, too scared to speak up, but kind enough to treat us how she always had.

  Now that she was back home, I couldn’t wait to see her. I weaved in and out of traffic, hurrying toward my destination. The closer I got to my father’s house, the faster I pushed the car and the more my thoughts of the past overwhelmed me.

  After Ronni became part of the family all those years ago, I lost track of everything. I was in my own little world, being accepted into the Ivy League, having my outrageous college experiences, and almost looking down on the “servant’s daughter.” Looking back now, she probably could have used my friendship, but at that time, I didn’t even know how to introduce her to my friends, much less find anything in common between us.

  A few years after Ronni’s parents died, more dark times hit our family. We lost my mother, too, when her kind, loving heart gave out on her. When I got the news, I was stunned, broken, and completely unable to come to terms with it. Everything changed that day, and my father fell into a deep, inescapable bitterness. Ronni was no longer protected by my mother, so father sent her off to boarding school, trying to get rid of any reminder of my mother’s unrelenting kindness.

  For me, it was easier to stay where I was, finishing school, building my career, and just trying to get past the fact that my dear sweet mother had died so suddenly. I knew that this meant that my parents’ real estate empire would end up falling on me and Nick, but I knew Nick was not someone I could rely on. He never had been. I’d grown out of my wild lifestyle after high school, but Nick stuck with the parties, the girls, and the freedom of being a rich boy with no responsibilities. However, knowing I had
security and that my father trusted me with his business, was worth it all.

  When I finally came home for the holidays, my father was even worse than before, and Ronni was sixteen. I hadn’t seen her since my mother’s funeral, and she tried not to come home for holidays. This year, though, she didn’t have any other option. When I walked in, I didn’t even recognize her. The chubby little Mexican girl with a toothy grin had slimmed, trimmed, and transformed into an absolutely beautiful woman. I could barely take my eyes off of her, and when Nick arrived, I had to pull him aside and remind him that she was like our little sister.

  My father didn’t seem to notice Ronni at all, and she went around fixing the table and helping the servants prepare for the holiday dinner. Her spirits were high, and I found instant comfort in her positive outlook on life. She was, indeed, a light in the darkness of our family. Her charming smile, long dark hair, and same striking eyes glimmered in the candlelight of the house.

  My father hadn’t even thought of decorating for the holidays, but he reluctantly agreed to allow Ronni to do so, knowing it was her and my mother’s favorite thing to do every year. Nick and I chipped in to help, hanging lights, putting up wreaths, and finding the perfect tree for the living room. We laughed and joked with each other as if nothing had ever happened in our lives, but on the inside, Nick and I both were struggling to remember to see Ronni as our sister and not the sexy young woman in front of us.

  For the next few years after that, I found myself at my father’s house more often, usually when I knew Ronni would be coming home from school. Every time I saw her, she seemed as if she had grown more and more beautiful. He body filled out, her lips were strong but pouty, and her eyes cut right through me. She had worked really hard in school and ended up getting a full scholarship to a private college, and when she left, I did everything I could to get her out of my mind.