by Dale Mayer
She looked at him and said, “You should know. Did you sleep at all?”
“Yes,” he said, “but you need to go back up to your room and rest some more.”
She stared at him, one eyebrow rising.
He nodded and grinned. “Everybody else doesn’t quite know how to tell you, but you need to make yourself scarce for the next few hours.”
“And how will I do that?” she asked caustically. “I don’t really want to be sequestered in my room for two hours.”
“Tough,” Kai said.
Ice glared at her. Kai was one of those can-do, could-do and would-do-in-all-circumstances kind of person. She was a great person to have on hand in the toughest scenarios. Zoe, Harrison’s partner, was the same. Ice glanced around at the faces watching her and realized all the women had come back from where they’d stayed for safe keeping, and she knew her staff. But, at the moment, Ice wasn’t really in the mood.
Just then, Bailey walked in and said, “She needs breakfast first.”
The trouble with Bailey was, she was soft and gentle. Everybody loved her. Just then several other women came in and sat down at the table. Ice was given stuffed croissants, scrambled eggs, and a crème fraîche dish. She looked at it in surprise, and then the men helped themselves to champagne and orange juice.
She looked at them and asked, “Mimosas for breakfast?”
“Why not?” Bailey said. “It’s a special day. Can I get you one?”
“No, I’m fine, thanks.” With that, Ice sat back and enjoyed the breakfast thoroughly. Well, she thoroughly enjoyed her food, but the conversation around her was pretty calm and quiet, as if they were waiting for her to leave.
She glanced at Levi. He was eating the same thing. “Feels weird when it’s just the two of us eating,” she announced.
“That’s all right,” Bailey said. “Everybody will be eating lunch.”
Ice nodded and finished her breakfast. She stood, refilled her coffee cup and looked at Levi.
He nodded. “I guess we’re supposed to leave?”
A group of women separated them. “Yes,” Bailey said, as she led Ice back upstairs to her bedroom.
As she walked into the room, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do now, she found more of her friends and coworkers joining her, laughing and giggling. She raised her eyebrows, and they sat her down in a chair in the center of the room.
“Hair time.”
“Hair time?” Ice said with amusement. But sure enough, her hair was taken out of the braid, and she was not allowed to see what they were doing, but out came curling irons, ribbons and all kinds of things. She stared at the feminine frippery in wide-eyed shock. Slowly, worried in spite of herself, she asked, “You won’t make me look terrible, right?” She eyed all of the extra ribbons they had. “You know I don’t do the ribbon thing well, right?”
“You’ll be just fine,” they all said, laughing.
But they wouldn’t let her see anything in a mirror. She sat here with her coffee, and, when the coffee was gone, they replaced it with another glass of orange juice, after she refused the champagne, saying she was too tired for alcohol.
“You know I don’t have anything to wear.” It was something that had really bothered her, and yet she didn’t quite know how to bring it up.
“Hair first,” they said.
Ice sighed and agreed. But it wasn’t just “hair.” They washed it, conditioned it and then blew it dry. At the same time somebody plastered her face with gunk and called it a mask. She chuckled. “You know how normally I’d go to a spa for this.”
“When was the last time you actually went to a spa?” Bailey asked with a gentle smile.
“I go sometimes,” Ice protested.
Just then somebody rapped on the door and stepped in, and there were cries of “Hello, Anna.”
Ice couldn’t open her eyes because of the stuff they had just put on her face but muttered, “Hey, Anna.”
“Well, I see you’re excited.”
“Nope. Trepidatious, worried, anxious, nervous, all of the above,” she said with a laugh. But as she took stock of where she was inside, what she was inside, she realized she was happy. These women had all come together to do something for her that she had never expected, had never even thought could happen.
“I brought snacks,” Anna said.
“Maybe you can pop something in my mouth then,” Ice said. “Breakfast wasn’t all that long ago, but these women are making me nervous.” She opened her mouth, and something small was popped in.
She tasted it and said, “Still on breakfast food items, if that was bacon.”
“Bacon-wrapped cheddar balls,” Anna announced.
Ice chuckled. “Did you guys have anything to do with the menu?”
“Are you kidding? That’s been Alfred’s and Bailey’s domain.”
“I can’t imagine you guys actually pulled together to do something like this.” Just then she heard a helicopter. She straightened, and the women cried out, and she sagged back down again. “It’s a helicopter,” she said, as if that was the only explanation needed.
“It’s Bullard coming in,” Anna said. “I was just talking with Flynn about it.”
“I need to know if everybody’s okay,” Ice said.
“No,” Sienna said. “You need to remember your father’s here too. So, if there’s any problem, he can deal with it, and, if he needs you, he will call.”
“I didn’t see my father at breakfast,” Ice complained.
“You’ll see him soon enough,” Sienna said.
Groaning at that, Ice let the women do what they would. Her hands were soaked in something special, and her feet were in a foot bath, and she slowly started to relax and to enjoy herself. “I can’t remember ever doing something like this.”
“Not even in college?” somebody asked. She thought it was Anna’s voice but couldn’t quite recognize it.
“No,” Ice said. “It seems like all I’ve ever done is pick up machine guns and wear khakis.”
“Well, today you won’t be doing either of those,” somebody chided her.
Ice laughed. “I will if somebody attacks the compound.”
“That’s not happening anymore.” Another voice entered the room. She recognized a harried Louise.
“Welcome to the party,” Ice said in a dry voice. “I’d say hi, but I can’t even see you.”
Somebody reached out and stroked her arm gently, followed by Louise’s voice saying, “Hi, anyway. You look fabulous.”
“That bad, huh?”
Louise went off in peals of laughter. “Absolutely that bad. But I love seeing you like this. We’ll take lots of pictures and record all of it.”
At that, Ice struggled upright and was finally forced back down into the chair when they all promised not to take pictures of her right now. “You’re not allowed to make fun of me on my wedding day,” Ice said with an authoritative voice.
“Nobody’s planning on making fun of you,” somebody said.
“How many are in this room now? It feels like it’s completely full.”
“Twelve of us already,” Anna said. “And, believe me, lots more to come.”
Ice smiled. “What about the puppies? Somebody decorating them for this?”
“Those puppies, as you call them, are pretty darn big,” Anna teased. “At least they’re all fixed and looking healthy. Are you sure you don’t want more around here?”
Ice cried out, “No.”
“Okay,” Anna said, “but I’m warning you, there’s always a surplus at my place.”
“I know,” Ice said gently. “That’s one of the saddest things, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Anna said. “But we’ve done pretty well finding homes for everybody.”
Ice’s feet were lifted, wrapped, then dried and placed on top of some sort of a footstool, and then something was added to her eyelids. Cucumber slices? She could feel somebody working on her toenails. “You know what? If you guys h
ad told me that you would try to make me beautiful, I could have freed up a couple days to make that happen,” she said. “No way you’ll do anything with me in such a short time frame.”
“Really?” Anna said. She reached over and gave Ice a gentle kiss on her forehead. “If there was any way to let the world know what a beautiful woman you were inside,” she said, “nobody would even see the outside. As it is, you are an incredibly stunning woman all on your own. All we’re doing is helping you to shine today.”
Her words warmed Ice’s heart. “You guys are just being nice to me because it’s my wedding day,” she said, laughing. Another tidbit of food was popped into her mouth. “What is that?”
“Miniature carrot muffin bites or something like that. Some fancy name Bailey has for them,” Sienna said.
Ice chewed it carefully and said, “It’s good.”
“I don’t think Bailey knows how to make anything that’s not good,” Kai said, laughing. “All I’ve done is gain weight since I moved here.”
Ice lost track of the voices as they all chimed in.
“Right, still, it’s a good place now that we have the pool. We’re all out exercising on a regular basis too.”
“Me too,” Ice said. “I meant to get a new bathing suit, but I haven’t yet. I do need to though.”
“That’s the problem. We’re all so busy that we never take the time to find nice clothes. Most of your clothes, Ice, are work clothes.”
“Of course,” she said, “and we never go out for evenings, but we should be doing more evenings in. We have the lights. We have the pool now. What we should do is get some outdoor furniture set up, more tables and chairs, and have maybe movie nights or dance nights.”
“Oh, I like that idea,” Sienna said. “Maybe we could have like a Mexican evening or something like that.”
The women were busy talking and planning, as Ice settled back, enjoying this thoroughly. It was good to hear the women all had something to say and something to offer, and they all had great ideas.
Just when Ice started to relax, her fingernails were washed off, and her hands and arms and shoulders were massaged with cream, and then the gunk on her face was washed off.
They went to work styling her hair, followed by special creams on her face. She knew she was almost done when they started on makeup.
Then came the moment. They let her look in the mirror. She looked at her face … and her hair … in astonishment. She was speechless. It was the look in her eyes that got her. Just that special look that said she had a secret. She wondered if any of the other women had noticed.
*
Levi was led outside, where he was shown all their plans. He stared in astonishment. The yard was decorated with fresh flowers and twinkle lights, and an altar was set up at one end of the pool. He looked at the glistening water and shook his head. “You guys have done an incredible amount of work here.” Even as he watched, several of the women put some floating bowls in the pool, some lit candles and fresh flowers floated around the water.
He shook his head. “Ice will love this.”
“Any second thoughts?” Bullard bellowed at his side.
Levi looked at him and said, “Not in this lifetime.”
“Damn right, you better not have,” Bullard said. “You know I’ll take her away from you in a heartbeat.”
“When I’m dead and gone, you’re welcome to make her life as happy as you can make it,” Levi said. “Until then, don’t give me a reason to put you in the ground.”
At that, Bullard laughed. He slapped Levi on the shoulder and said, “You’re a good man. I’m jealous as hell, but she’s always had you as her number one love so …”
“Are you two done fighting?” came the much calmer voice of Ice’s father.
Levi turned and grinned. “Richard, how you doing?” He reached out and shook his hand. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for your help with Rhodes.”
“Ice had it well in hand,” he said. “That girl would have made a very gifted surgeon, if I could have convinced her to leave you.”
“Exactly what I said,” Bullard said.
Levi just grinned. “What can I say? She loves me.”
“I know she does,” Ice’s father said. “And that’s why I never fought it. But you will look after my daughter, won’t you?”
Levi nodded. “Of course. I always have, haven’t I?” But something more was in his future father-in-law’s gaze. Levi wondered what was going on. What had he missed? He said to Richard, “Did you know about this well in advance?”
He nodded. “I had a good idea of what was going on. I just didn’t have a final date. When they gave it to me, you guys were in the middle of warfare as usual.” He shook his head. “I spend my life putting people back together again and helping them heal, and here you guys are busy tearing them apart.”
“Not quite,” Levi said. “We’re in the business of putting people’s lives back together on a more global scale. You’re on the individual details. We’re on the countrywide and company-wide scale.”
“And I guess both need to happen,” Richard said.
Levi nodded. “They do.” He looked around and said, “Did anybody here think about a suit for me?”
“We thought about the suit you wore to propose,” Stone said, stepping up beside him, wearing some of the most garish Hawaiian shorts Levi had ever seen. “And then we thought maybe you wanted to go casual, like I am.” He motioned at his own lack of dress, his bare chest and his blue-steel prosthetic shining in the sunlight.
Laughing, Levi shook his head. “I don’t think Ice will match that look.”
“Nope, she won’t,” Alfred said, coming out. He held up something covered in plastic and gave it to Levi. “Your tux. And all to match Ice’s colors,” he said. “Come on. Let’s get you ready.”
Levi looked around at the men, feeling choked up. Unable to trust his voice, he nodded and disappeared with Alfred. He leaned closer and said, “Has everybody been involved in this mess?”
“Everybody,” Alfred confirmed. “But it’s not a mess and won’t be as long as we can keep the peace around here for a little longer.”
“I don’t even have a gift for the bride,” Levi said. “That’s a problem.” Then panic set in. “I don’t have rings either.”
Alfred reached into his pocket and said, “We already contacted Diamond.”
Levi took the box, stopped in the hallway and opened it. His breath caught in the back of his throat as he stared down at the ring he had designed along with Diamond to match Ice’s engagement ring. He’d been desperate for a chance to give it to her, and here it was today, and they had done all this without him.
He looked at Alfred, smiled and said, “I don’t know if I should be pissed I was left out of this or excited because all those details are something I no longer have to worry about.”
“You’re delighted,” Alfred said drily. “After all the panic and worry over Badger’s wedding, we decided we didn’t want to deal with you too.”
Levi just chuckled at that. They headed toward his bedroom, and he stopped and said, “I can’t go in there, can I?”
“No.” Alfred led him to one of the few spare rooms left in the place. As Levi stepped inside, Alfred told him to strip. He opened up the suit bag and pulled out a beautiful tuxedo.
Levi looked at it and said, “Isn’t this a little too formal? A suit would have done.”
“No,” Alfred said comfortably. “A suit would not have done.”
At that, Levi gave a bark of laughter and said, “As long as you say so. This isn’t my field.”
“No, it isn’t, and we had such a hard time keeping down the number of people who wanted to come to your wedding, you know?”
“I know,” Levi said. “I saw that at Badger’s. They tried so hard to keep the numbers down, but it was still a lot of people.”
“And we’re a lot of people without bringing in very many extras,” Alfred said. “But you need to be pr
epared. The numbers have swelled.”
At that, Levi stopped. “By how much?”
Alfred shrugged. “At least triple.”
“Holy crap,” Levi said, running his fingers through his hair. “Are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious.” Alfred snorted. “You are both well-loved.”
Levi swallowed, then pulled out a brand-new white shirt to go with the tux. As Levi shifted backward, he caught sight of a beautiful blue cummerbund. He reached over and said, “That’s a gorgeous color.”
Alfred smiled. “It’s Ice blue.”
Levi agreed. “Is she wearing that color?”
Alfred shrugged. “I hope she’s wearing white,” he said, “but I do believe this is the trim color.”
With Alfred’s help, Levi dressed carefully. There was just something magical about putting on a tuxedo that held so much majestic power and such a sense of pride. As he studied himself in the mirror, he shook his head. “I never would have thought.”
“I know,” Alfred said, and he appeared almost choked up.
Levi understood. Alfred had been more father than friend for decades. He reached out, gripped his fingers and said, “Thank you.”
Alfred gave him a teary smile and then wiped his eyes impatiently. “Forgive an old man,” he said, “but weddings always make me emotional.”
“I’m getting pretty damn emotional myself,” Levi said. “After all this time …”
“And you’ll be gentle with her, right?” Alfred asked hurriedly.
Levi frowned, stared at him and said, “There have been a couple veiled references today that I’m not sure I understand. What’s going on?”
Alfred sighed and said, “It’s for Ice to tell you.”
Levi had no choice but to leave it at that. With Alfred at his side, they walked down to the kitchen and outside. With so many hands helping, the backyard had been turned into an incredibly beautiful landscaped wedding reception. His best friends, the men that he’d hired and worked with, the men he trusted to guard his back and to look after his lady, had all come together with their own ladies and had created a perfect paradise for Ice.
He stood tall and straight and proud until one of the men came up and said, “Come give us a hand, will you?” Everybody was dressed in suits, and the ladies were in gorgeous dresses.
