Bane's Heart

by Sandra R Neeley

  Chapter 18

  Avaleigh was just slipping on her favorite pair of jeans when Daniel wrapped his arm around her from behind, lifting her hair with his other hand to be able to kiss the side of her neck where it joined her shoulder, just exactly where he’d marked her. It always caused her entire body to shiver, and he loved the response she always had to his touch. “Do me a favor, Love?” he asked her as he continued to press his lips to her skin.

  “Of course, anything.”

  “Wear this for me?” he handed her one of her sun dresses. One of his favorites, it was a soft pale yellow color. “And slip on a pair of those strappy sandals that I love.”

  “We are just going to a picnic, Sweetie.”

  “I know, but I love the way your legs look in them. Please?”

  She could refuse him nothing, so she slipped off the jeans, tossed them onto the foot of their bed, and pulled the sundress over her head. She noticed that he was pulling on his best jeans, and a button down shirt. Okay, they were definitely still up to something. She shot him a sideways glare as she made her way to their closet to slip on the sandals he’d asked her to wear for him. They left the house, hand in hand, her still looking at him like he was going to steal her favorite toy if she took her eyes off him for even one second. Her boys, her Mate included, were definitely up to something.

  Goldy and Sadie had made their way to Bane’s house a few minutes before Avaleigh and Daniel left their home to head that way, and the minute they set foot in the clearing, Goldy began to grin. “Sadie-girl, I think we’ve been had,” he told her, looking around at all the decorations, grinning. “Oh, My Goodness! Is that what I think it is? Is this a wedding?” she asked him, moving further toward the house frame. Bam answered from where he was jumping down from the rafters. “Yes, Ma’am. I planned all this, and Mav and Kaid helped me. And we got it all set up for Bane and Janie. Do you think they’ll like it?” Sadie had tears in her eyes as she slipped off her shoes to walk the length of the white drop cloth aisle so she wouldn't leave any smudges on it. Bam met her at the stairs, and she reached up to cup his face, “You are such a sweet man, Bam. They are going to love it. How special that you planned all this for your brother.” Bam blushed. He’d never had anyone’s mother, not even his own, compliment him and tell him he was a good man. “Thank you, Ms. Sadie.”

  “Oh, My God! You guys planned their wedding! I cannot believe you did this!” Avaleigh shrieked as she entered the clearing. She turned around immediately, turning narrowed eyes on Daniel, “And you didn’t tell me at all!” she accused, with her hands on her hips. “I couldn’t, Love. If we ran into Bane or Janie, you might have given it away. It was very important to Bam that they be surprised. They made me swear not to tell.” Avaleigh turned around, intent on chewing them out for not including her, but found herself filling up with tears as she took in all the details that her guys had provided. She clasped her hands in front of her mouth, “She’s going to be so excited. You guys have out done yourselves. It is so beautiful.” Bam glowed under her praise and for once, even Mav was out of smart-ass remarks. “Thank you, Darlin’. I really hope it’s special for her.” Then she noticed that Kaid was standing with an older man over near a very prettily decorated mantle. “You guys even got a preacher? Wow, I don’t know what to say, I’m so touched, and it’s not even my wedding.” She moved forward to go help where she could, and Daniel stood there, feet planted, mouth hanging open, realizing that he’d never thought to ask Avaleigh if she wanted a wedding. And now he felt just exactly like Bane did the previous night at dinner. “Fuck Me!” he mumbled. He heard snickering and looked up to find Maverik looking at him, shaking his head, knowing full well what Daniel had just realized.

  It wasn’t that much longer, and they could hear Bane and Janie, talking and laughing as they made their way through the trees toward them. They all stepped up into the house and took up positions on each side of the mantle, so that when they came through the trees, they’d see all the decorations, their cake, their family, and their reception waiting on them. As they came through the trees, Janie was turned around speaking to Bane over her shoulder, so he saw the house first. The look of shock that passed over his face was enough to stop her words and make her turn quickly to see what it was that had him so surprised. Her hands flew to her chest, where she held them clasped over her heart, and she started to smile so big that it would surely never stop. “What have you done?” Janie asked them with awe in her voice, walking forward quickly to get to the white drop cloth aisle. “We made you a wedding,” Bam told her. He looked up at the rafters strewn with daisy garland, and then over to the cake and food. Her eyes followed his, taking in everything that he was showing her. Bane stepped up behind her, kissing the tip of her ear as he wrapped his arms around her and pressed himself tight against her back. “Marry me, Janie. Please?” She spun around to be able to see him, and was almost floored at the emotion she saw in his eyes. Bane’s eyes were wet, he wasn’t crying, but it was damned close. “Yes. Yes, Oh my God! Yes, I’ll marry you.” She looked back at their family and friends and realized that they were dressed in sun dresses and nice shirts, “But can you give me a minute to run back to the house and change real quick? I, at least, want to put on a dress.”

  “Nope, not necessary,” Kaid answered. He walked over to where he’d put the bags down and picked them up. He reached into one of them and took out a white, lace dress. It had tiers of white Battenberg lace layered over what looked to be a linen sheath and thin white straps. He jumped down from the raised flooring and approached her. He handed her the dress and then the bag. There’s a pair of white sandals in there, too. I thought maybe you could go right back into the woods over there and change real quick. The preacher is here. The food’s ready. Your cake is here. Let’s do this.” She looked at the dress in her hands, then back at Kaid. “I don’t know what to say, Kaid. I can’t believe you bought me a wedding dress,” and a single tear tracked down her face.

  “I just; no one has ever,” she just couldn't make the words fit together to express her gratitude. He smiled at her and tipped her chin up with his fingertips, “You are so welcome, Janie. Now go slip your dress on so that we can get you two married.”

  “You want some help?” Avaleigh offered.

  “Yes, please!” and both women ran off into the woods, giggling.

  Kaid turned to Bane, “Here, I got this for you.” He handed him the bag. Bane reached in the bag and pulled out a white linen shirt. He grinned at Kaid and immediately pulled off his T-shirt and put the linen dress shirt on and started buttoning it up. Then Bam was standing there, and Bane immediately wrapped his brother in a hug that would have bruised a lesser man. “This was you, wasn’t it? You knew I needed to do this.” Bam just nodded his head, too choked up with too many emotions himself to speak. Bane kissed him on the cheek, “Thank you, brother. For everything.” They stood for a moment with their foreheads pressed together. Just being there, in the moment, before Kaid said, “I got you these, too. If you don’t like them, you can always trade them in later, but I thought they were fitting.” Bane turned to him, and Kaid handed over a small bag. Bane reached in and took out a small square box. Bane opened the box, and inside lay two perfectly polished white gold bands. One much smaller than the other. Both with a row of tiny round diamonds channel set across the top of them. “They are perfect, Kaid,” Bane said as he raised his eyes to Kaid's. “I have no words.” And he truly didn’t, He was so choked up that his brothers had done this for him and his Mate, that he had no words. No matter what he said, in his eyes it wouldn’t be enough. Just then he could hear his Mate making her way back through the trees with Avaleigh. They’d gone just far enough that no one could see her change. Goldy, Sadie and Mav had made their way over to the rest of them by now, and everyone was waiting for Janie to come back to the clearing. As Janie entered the clearing, Sadie leaned over and whispered in Goldy’s ear. The big man’s face wrinkled up and turned red with the strain of tryin
g not to cry at whatever it was she said to him. “Are you sure? Do you think it would be okay? Would she want me to?” Goldy rasped at Sadie. “I think there is no one better, it should be you.” Goldy wiped his eye with the back of one big tattooed hand and started over toward Janie and Avaleigh. “I’d be mighty honored, Janie, if you would allow me to walk you down the aisle to your husband this day,” Goldy said to her. Janie looked from Goldy to her mother and when her mother smiled at her and nodded, she gave Goldy a hug and said, “I’d have it no other way, Goldy. It would mean the world to me.” Everybody rushed to take their places, and Goldy and Janie waited patiently. Mav stepped forward once everybody was ready and held his cell phone in the air. The wedding march immediately began playing through a wireless speaker that Mav had hidden behind one of the rafters. He grinned when Avaleigh gave him a thumbs up. But Bam broke the moment temporarily as he sprinted out of the house and down to where Goldy and Janie stood, yelling “Wait, she needs flowers!” with a bouquet of fresh daisies in his hand. Right in the middle of the daisies was something red wrapped in tissue paper resting nestled in the daisies. When Janie looked closer, she realized it was the rose that Bam had saved for her. The same one that Bane had bought for her in the store that terrible day that she had had to let him go. She took the bouquet from him and kissed the rose, tears in her eyes now. When she looked up at him, Bam leaned down to kiss her cheek, “I’m glad you’re my sister now, Janie. I won’t ever let anything happen to either one of you.” She didn’t even have time to answer him before he turned and jumped back up on the raised floor and ran back to his spot beside Bane, to wait for them to walk down the aisle.

  Chapter 19

  The wedding was beautiful. It went off without a hitch, and they laughed and danced and ate and celebrated into the night. At one point Goldy and Sadie were dancing to a slow song, and Janie was pretty sure that she witnessed their first kiss. It was a chaste one, but a kiss nonetheless. She hoped she was right. Her mother deserved all the happiness she could grab. She and Bane were husband and wife now. Mate and Mate. They would never be separated. And she had never been happier. She rolled over in bed tucking the pillow beneath her head, holding her hand out for the sun to catch the little diamonds in her brand-new wedding band. The ring sparkled in the sunlight as she moved her hand back and forth. The door to the bedroom opened, and in walked her husband, carrying a tray loaded with juices, milk both white and chocolate, pancakes, eggs, sausages, and bacon. She sat up in the bed holding the sheets against her breasts, “Bane, who do you think is going to eat all that?”

  “You are, my Heart.”

  “Ha! You might, I’ll never be able to eat all that by myself,” she chuckled as she reached out and snagged a piece of bacon off the tray as he sat it down on the end of the bed.

  “Well, then, it’s a good thing you’re not eating by yourself, isn't it?” he answered her with a sly grin. Wondering how long it would take her to catch on. He’d been stunned when Bam had told him to load up the tray with extra food for Janie, this morning, and why. But now, the shock had worn off, and he really needed to share it with her. He was so excited that he couldn't contain it much longer.

  “It is a good thing. And you better eat most of this.”

  “No, I snacked while I made your plate. This is all for the two of you.”

  She froze, with another piece of bacon halfway to her mouth, “What did you say?”

  He full-out smiled; she’d caught on. They were getting ready to celebrate. As soon as he fed his Mate that is. “I said, this is for the two of you.”

  She looked at him, hope blooming in her chest, excitement tingling all through her body, “Two? The two of us? Bane?”

  “Yes, my Heart. The two of you.” He pushed the covers away from her chest and placed his hand on her stomach, over the gentle swell of her belly. “I can’t wait to see you swollen with our child, Heart. She sits right here, waiting for her chance to come out and run everybody ragged!”

  Janie’s lower lip quivered. She looked down at his hand resting on her stomach, she placed her hand over his. “How do you know? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, very sure. Bam’s Bear told him that you carry a daughter. A strong daughter. And that she will be as strong as her father and as beautiful as her mother.”

  Janie sobbed, then caught herself. “Our daughter?” She looked down at their hands covering her stomach again. “Oh, My God! Our daughter! Bane, we are having a daughter!” She shouted bouncing everything all over the bed, food included. But he didn’t give a damn. His wife, his Mate, his pregnant Mate, was in his arms, laughing and screaming with joy. And that was more than he ever dreamed possible. Life was good. Life was complete.

  “What are we going to name her, Bane?”

  Whatever you want to name her, Heart.”

  “Daisy!” Bam shouted through the closed door. “You want to name her Daisy. She likes that name.”

  “How do you know what name she likes?” Janie asked him.

  “Her Bear told me. Just like I knew she was there. Her Bear said Hi. She said her name is Daisy. It’s why I decorated your wedding in daisies.”

  Janie looked at Bane, her mouth opened, eyes wide, “She’s got a Bear?”

  He smiled and nodded at her, pushing a piece of her hair behind her ear again.

  “Yup, it’s a little Bear right now, but I think she’s going to be a wild one,” Bam shouted through the door - again.

  “Is it okay that she has a Bear, my Heart?” Bane asked, as though he was a little afraid of her answer.

  Janie looked at Bane, remembering all the terrible things that she had said once upon a time. “It’s perfect that she has a Bear. I love that she has a Bear. I wish you could have put a Bear inside me, too.”

  “He did!” Bam yelled through the closed door. “It’s just he’ll have to put another one in there, when this one comes out!”

  They both laughed. “Bam, do you want to come in?” she yelled.

  The door burst open, and Bam bounded inside, dropping to his knees beside the bed. He reached out his hand and placed it on her stomach, shoving Bane’s out of the way. “Hello, little Daisy,” he whispered. Neither Janie, nor Bane heard or felt anything. It was much too early, but Bam grinned and nodded. He looked up at Janie, “She says she likes the sausage better. Give her some of that instead of bacon.”

  Bane gently eased himself behind his Mate and pulled her back to rest against his chest. Bam moved to the end of the bed and started reassembling the food on the tray.

  Janie sighed deeply, “Thank you, Bane.”

  “For what, Heart?”

  “For loving me. For our family. For our daughter. For everything. I love you.”

  “You’re welcome, my Janie. I love you, too. You are my Heart.”

  The End. For now.

  Keep Reading for your free Bonus Short Story, “Goldy’s Girl”

  Goldy’s Girl

  Everybody was sitting around the breakfast table when they heard Janie laughing and shrieking from the bedroom she and Bane shared. They all looked around at each other, WTF looks on their faces. “What the hell?” Kaid asked, himself grinning at her laughter. Bam had been standing outside their bedroom door trying to carry on a conversation with them. Once he begged his way in, everybody else got up to join them; they just couldn't contain their curiosity any longer.

  “Hey, what the heck is going on in here?” Goldy asked as he and Sadie brought up the rear of the constant stream of people into Bane’s bedroom. Janie was laughing and giggling, and Bane was grinning ear to ear.

  “Mom, guess what?” she shouted excitedly to Sadie.

  Sadie, a huge smile on her face due to Janie’s infectious laughter, giggled herself, “What? Tell me!”

  Bam, his huge ass jumping back and forth from foot to foot like a toddler needing to go to the bathroom, couldn’t contain himself any longer, “They’re going to have a Daisy!!!” he shouted. Holding his hands out, mouth wide open, eyes huge, w
aiting for everyone else to join him in his celebration.

  They all looked at him, puzzled, “Huh?” Kaid asked.

  Bane clarified, “A baby. A daughter, and her name is Daisy,” he explained proudly.

  Everybody exclaimed all at the same time, laughing, congratulating, hooting and hollering, Mav howling.

  “I’m going to be a grandmother,” Sadie said, wide-eyed, grinning. Delightedly clapping her hands together.

  Goldy pulled her into a hug, kissing her forehead, “I’m so happy for you, Sadie-girl.” And he turned to Bane and Janie, “And for you guys, too! What an adventure we are going to have! I’m going to be a gr..,” and he stopped himself. Realizing that he had not made his intentions completely clear to Sadie yet. Though he felt like he was going to be a grandfather because Sadie was his Mate, she didn’t know she was his Mate, so he couldn't express that feeling right now. He swallowed his words and turned his attention to Bam, who was busy explaining that he and Mav had decorated Janie and Bane’s wedding with daisies because the little Bear that was Bane’s daughter had told him her name was Daisy.

  Mav was lounging against the door jamb, still shoving food into his mouth from the plate he held, “Uncle Mav! I am going to be the most awesome uncle in the whole damn world!” he said around a mouthful.

  “No, you are not!” Bam shouted at him, “I am the awesomest uncle to her because she already talks to me! I am her best uncle!”

  Mav just snickered, loving to rile Bam up over anything he could. He loved the big Bear, but it was so easy to push his buttons sometimes. He shrugged his shoulders non-chalantly, “I call second uncle.”