Ties That Bind Us

by Nicole Knight

  Nick stirred next to me, and I was jealous of the way he could sleep so soundly. My world was crumbling around me, and this was just another day in the life for him. I wanted desperately to hold on to him to steady myself and make sense of all of this, but was it a mistake to trust him?

  I had to choose between Nick and my own father, everything I had ever known. If I went through with the wedding, people would get hurt, maybe even die, and it would be my fault. I had never imagined my marriage could cause so much hurt and turmoil within people, and it was really wearing on me. Was it worth it? What if Nick couldn’t protect me like he thought he could? Did I really need protecting from my own family?

  When I woke up the next morning, Nick was gone, and my immediate reaction was frustration. Had we not talked about this last night? What about focusing on us? Relaxing? Apparently, it hadn’t sunk in, and I was going to have to enjoy this vacation with or without him.

  I threw the covers off, but something on the table caught my eye. There was a bouquet of roses, a tray full of breakfast, and a note.

  I picked the note up and read Nick’s words, unable to control the smile on my face.

  Good morning, my love!

  You looked so peaceful sleeping I didn’t want to wake you. As I promised last night, today is all about you! I have big plans so I hope you got some rest. Your first stop is the spa. Rose will have your next adventure waiting there. I’ll be seeing you soon :)

  Nick

  I sighed, not able to contain my smile. In true Nick fashion, he was going above and beyond to show me he hadn’t forgotten what we talked about. I was curious to see what he had planned, and excitement washed over me. Somehow, whenever I doubted him, he found a way to prove me wrong.

  I ate a little bit of the breakfast he’d had delivered, and slipped my swimsuit and cover-up on and headed to the spa. I’d seen it when I was exploring yesterday, and had been dying to go inside. I made my way up the steps and to the front desk. Immediately, I was hit with the soft aroma of lavender, and took a deep breath. Classical music played in the background, and everything was so peaceful and serene.

  “Hello. How can I help you?” a small woman with a flower in her hair asked.

  “Uh, I am looking for Rose, my name is—”

  “Oh, I know exactly who you are, Ava.” She smiled sweetly. “Please follow me, right this way.”

  She opened a set of double doors that led to the interior of the spa, and gave me a tour. There were several large, interconnected pools that she explained were the hydrotherapy pools. Each one had a different purpose and I would soak in each of them. She led me to a locker room and handed me a key.

  “In there, you will find a robe and slippers. Change into them and then you can go right through that door for your treatments. I will be back at the end to give you something.” She smiled and then disappeared quickly.

  I bit my lip softly. This was all a little overwhelming. I had no idea what treatments she was talking about, but I did as she asked and changed my clothes. Once I was done, I made my way into the room she’d showed me, where a therapist waited.

  “Good afternoon, Ms. Ava. My name is Jackie and I will be your therapist today. Are you ready?” She spoke softly, but quickly.

  “I think so, but can you tell me what we will be doing?” I asked curiously.

  “Of course!” she exclaimed. “First, you will have a ninety-minute hot stone massage, followed by a mud and seaweed wrap. Once you are done with that, we will do a hibiscus sugar scrub and you will soak in our hydrotherapy tubs. Rose will meet us after that to take you to the remainder of your day.”

  I could certainly get used to Nick’s idea of relaxing. I followed the woman into the treatment room and spent the next four hours in pure heaven. The only thing that could have made it even better was having Nick with me, but I had a feeling I was going to be seeing him soon.

  I sat in the locker room waiting for Rose and soon, she arrived.

  “How was your morning, Ms. Ava?” She smiled and handed me a glass of champagne.

  “Incredible.” I smiled. “Are you taking me to see Nick now?”

  “Not yet. We still have a few things to do first.” She giggled excitedly. It seemed she was getting as much enjoyment out of this as I was. “You can leave your stuff here and one of our workers will bring it over.”

  I followed her through another set of doors, and we were suddenly in a salon.

  “This is Angel. She is going to be your stylist.” She introduced me to the fairy-like woman behind the desk.

  “My stylist?” I asked.

  “Yes, it was specified that the next place you’re headed is very elegant, and that no expense should be spared in helping you get ready.”

  “Of course.” I laughed to myself. Nick wouldn’t have the slightest idea about how to spare an expense if his life depended on it. He was always extravagant. What exactly did he have in mind with all of this, though?

  Angel led me over to a chair and put a cape over me. “Your husband must really love you.”

  “Oh, he’s not my husband.” I blushed. Not yet, anyway.

  She scoffed. “Well, you better make it official soon, sweetie. I’ve seen a lot in my time here, but this guy must be crazy about you for what he’s planning.”

  “You know where I’m meeting him?” I asked, curious to see if I could pry some information out of her. The suspense was killing me, and this one seemed more talkative than the other women I had met today.

  “I know the gist of it, but don’t think you’re getting anything out of me.” She winked. “Now let’s see what we want to do here . . .”

  She got to work doing my hair while another lady came in and did my makeup. Another gave me a manicure and a pedicure, and I felt like an absolute queen. Nick had to be spending a fortune on all of this, and I felt a little guilty. It was too much.

  “Wow!” I exclaimed when they finally turned me around and let me face the mirror. It was a complete transformation from what I has walked in here as.

  “You look amazing, sweetheart. You’ll absolutely knock him off his feet.” She squeezed my shoulders excitedly. “And now for the grand finale!”

  “There’s more?” I laughed anxiously. At this point, all I could think about was seeing Nick.

  “You didn’t think we were going to send you out of here in your swimsuit, did you?” Angel winked again and led me into a room that looked like a giant closet. There were hundreds of dresses, and even more shoes and jewelry. It was like my absolute dream closet. My eyes widened as I looked around, taking everything in, and I ran my fingers along the fine materials of the dresses. This place was incredible.

  “Pick whatever you like!” Angel squealed excitedly, fanning her arms out around the room.

  Was she serious? It would be impossible to pick. There were hundreds of options and I imagined myself trying each one of them on. As if reading my mind, Angel grabbed a short, white dress off of a hanger and thrust it at me. “Why don’t you try this one? It will look beautiful with your complexion.”

  By the time I came out of the dressing room, she had a pair of shoes picked out that were exactly my size. Whatever Nick had planned, I knew this wasn’t going to be a normal date. Everything was too perfect, working out too well. Something about today was special.

  When I was finally dressed and Angel had given me her seal of approval, Rose led me outside. We walked down the pathway and she made small talk, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of anxiety that was growing in my chest. Surprises weren’t my favorite thing in the world, and with all this buildup, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

  “If you go right down those stairs, I think you’ll find what you’re looking for. It was a pleasure to meet you, sweet Ava. Enjoy your evening.” She gave me a tight hug before leaving me at the top of the steps.

  I took a deep breath and stepped forward, looking down the staircase.

  Nick was standing with
his back to me, talking to another man on the beach. My heart skipped a beat watching as the sun set behind him, white sand all around us. It was like the most beautiful painting I’d ever seen. I was overcome with emotion, and wondered how I had possibly made it to this moment. How we had made it here together. Nick was so incredible, reorganizing his life for me, doing everything he could to protect me, treating me like an absolute queen. It was in this moment as I made my way down to him that I realized how much I trusted him. That I knew he was telling the truth about my father, no matter how badly I didn’t want to admit it.

  Nick didn’t hear me coming until I was almost down, and when he did, he turned around, grinning uncontrollably. Why did he have to be so damn cute?

  “Wow, Ava, you look . . . incredible,” he stuttered, nearly at a loss for words. He bit his lip as he looked me up and down.

  “You don’t look so bad yourself.” I smiled, noticing for the first time that he was wearing a tuxedo. “What are we doing here?” The way he was acting made me a little anxious.

  “Ava.” He took my hand. “I’ve loved you from the second I met you. Nothing about our relationship has been conventional, and I know how hard it’s been for you.” He pulled a ring out of his pocket—my ring, which I had left in the safe in our hotel room. He slid it gently onto my finger. “When I gave this to you, I told you someday I would ask you for real, and that I hoped your answer would be the same. I’m not asking you to do this because there’s a treaty or because our fathers say we should. I’m asking you because I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  All the air left my lungs as I realized what he was doing, what this entire day had been.

  Nick got down on one knee, still holding my hand in his. “Marry me, Ava. Marry me, right here, right now, on this beach, just the two of us.”

  Tears pooled in my eyes. “But what about—”

  “No buts. Nothing else matters. Nothing but you and me. I don’t want to let other people dictate our relationship. I want us to do what we want to do. I want us to do this the right way. Say you’ll marry me.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath, trying to put how I was feeling into words. Nothing seemed adequate. Were we really going to do this?

  Chapter 30

  Nick

  Ava was speechless when I finished talking, but the look in her eyes told me everything I needed to know. I was elated. Marrying Ava on our own terms was more than I ever imagined would happen. I briefly thought back to the day that my father had told me that I would marry one of Alessandro’s daughters. I thought he was insane, and had even concocted a plan to force the girl away. I couldn’t have known what would be in store for me. I wasn’t lying when I told Ava that I loved her from the second I met her—from that very first night, she was ingrained in me and I would never be content with anyone else. Thank God she felt the same way.

  “Of course I’ll marry you,” she whispered, tears pooling in her eyes. “This is . . . this is perfect.”

  I put my palm against the back of her neck and pulled her closer to me, kissing her eagerly. It was one thing to see the excitement on her face, but it was a whole different thing to hear the words come out of her painted lips.

  If she didn’t want me to take her right on this very beach, we were going to need to get this show on the road. The officiant, Oscar, joined us, handing us each one of the rings I bought earlier today. Hers was a simple band of diamonds and mine was titanium, both engraved with today’s date. I wanted to remember this moment for the rest of my life.

  Ava let out a small gasp when she saw her ring. Pleasing her would never get old. Oscar started reading vows about loving and honoring each other, but all I could focus on was her.

  “Ava, do you take Nick to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

  She smiled, keeping her eyes locked on mine. “I do.”

  “Nick, do you take Ava to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

  In my mind, all I could think was Abso-fuckin-lutely, but I decided to keep with tradition. “I do.” We each slipped the band on the other’s hand.

  I couldn’t contain my smile; this was actually happening. When I had come up with this plan, I had no idea the emotion I would feel as it all happened. Ava was everything I never even knew I wanted.

  “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss your bride.” Oscar beamed.

  I snaked my arm around Ava and pulled her to me tightly. She giggled, blushing as my lips grazed her cheek. She tilted her chin up to kiss me, and I pressed my lips to hers passionately. Nothing had really changed, but it felt like I was kissing her for the very first time—and in a sense I was. As my wife.

  When we finally broke apart, we were both breathless and smiling uncontrollably. Oscar had us fill out the license and signed it as our witness before leaving us.

  “I can’t believe we just did that.” She let out a sharp laugh and covered her mouth slightly.

  “Well, believe it, baby. We’re married!” I pumped my fist in the air in excitement, flashing her the ring on my finger.

  “We’re married,” she repeated, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

  “Let’s go celebrate.” I scooped her into my arms and carried her bridal-style all the way back to our villa. She pretended to fight me the entire way, but it was the first time I had really seen her smile without holding something back. She was free, and she finally starting to realize it.

  The last days of our trip flew by in a blaze, mostly because we hardly left the room. Ava and I were trying to soak in every last second of alone time we could, someday when things blew over, I’d bring her back here and we’d actually see some of the sights. I knew once we touched down in New York, shit would hit the fan. Alessandro had to have heard by now that his plan had been foiled, and who knew what he would do to try to break us apart this time?

  Now, though, there was no way he’d be able to. Ava was legally my wife, and there wasn’t a damn thing Alessandro could do about it. I had quadruple checked that everything about this marriage was legal and binding and there were no loopholes he could find.

  I watched as she stared out the window of the airplane, a million miles away. This trip had been life changing in more ways than one, and I could only imagine what was going through her head. Our marriage was probably the least of it. I had dropped some serious bombshells about her father, and I knew that had to be hard to stomach. It could have derailed my entire marriage plan but luckily, Ava had trusted me. I’d be right by her side as she processed it all, but I knew some of it had to be done on her own. I could protect her from him in the future, but I couldn’t fix the damage he had already done. How a man could do that to his own family, I’d never understand.

  “Where is your head at, beautiful?” I rested my hand on her knee, rubbing the inside of it gently with my thumb.

  She sighed, not answering at first. “I was just thinking about our kids,” she finally said.

  Kids? What. . . . Did she just. . . . She must have read the expression on my face because she immediately backtracked.

  “I’m not pregnant.” She shook her head wildly. “God, no, that’s not what I meant. I was just wondering what their lives would be like. I always imagined I would raise my children away from all of this.”

  I needed to broach this conversation carefully. “Baby, look.” I turned to her. “I know this isn’t exactly how either of us imagined things, but I swear I will do whatever I can to give you and our kids a normal life.”

  “You know, I always thought my childhood was normal. I figured everybody’s family was like that,” she said.

  “The way your dad treated you, and continues to, is definitely not normal. I’m sorry you had to go through all of that, but I can guarantee you, you won’t have to anymore. And neither will our children.
We will have as normal a life as possible.”

  “Is it even possible to be part of the Mafia and have a normal life?” She laughed anxiously.

  “Of course it is, if we try hard enough,” I assured her. “My brothers and I played sports, went to public school, everything. And we always had a choice of whether or not we wanted to join. Our sons will, too, I don’t want to force this on them.”

  “You’ve already decided we’re having sons?”

  “Absolutely. At least that’s one thing your dad and I agree on. Girls are tough.” I laughed. The thought of having a tiny Ava running around was more than I could handle. I had my hands full with her already, and if I had a daddy’s little girl to worry about, I’d be a wreck.

  Her expression clouded when I mentioned her father again. “What if my dad is upset that we did this?” she asked, clearly coming off of the initial high of the wedding and realizing the repercussions.

  “He’s going to be,” I said definitively. There was no doubt in my mind Alessandro was going to raise hell when he found out what we’d done. “But, baby, none of this is about him. This is about us. You and me. Do you regret getting married?”

  “Of course not.” She shook her head. “I’m happier with you than I think I’ve ever been.”

  Relief washed over me. “Then nothing else matters. Whatever happens next, we will face it together.”

  “Is your family going to be upset about it?” she asked.

  I chuckled a little. “My mom will probably be pissed that she wasn’t there, but I think overall they’ll be pretty excited. They love you.”

  “You’re right. It doesn’t matter what other people think.” She smiled and nestled into my shoulder. “I wish we could have just stayed there forever.”

  “Me too.” I kissed her forehead. “But responsibility calls. At least you still have another week off from class, that will be nice.”

  “Yeah, I’m going to try to find an internship in that time, though.” She sighed.