His Vengeance, Marriage and a Baby: He hated her for cockolding him with his brother. Now he wanted vengeance.

by Sabel Simmons

  “You are right, but it bothers me Amber and I hate that she missed out on the things I could have given her!”

  “I realize that, but please don’t overwhelm her with gifts and luxury items all at once. She is well balanced and I don’t want her to turn into a spoilt brat!”

  “I understand how you feel, but I want to give her stuff and buy her clothes. I will not allow her to turn into a spoilt brat, but I am going to spoil her nevertheless!”

  Amber just shook her head, knowing it was a battle she was doomed to lose. Their bags were unpacked in no time and Damien insisted they go clothes shopping. Zoey was over the moon and Amber shot Damien a warning glare. He just shrugged his shoulders.

  “I want you to try on these outfits, Amber.”

  They stood toe to toe – a stare off extraordinaire – in the middle of a luxurious boutique.

  “I don’t need more clothes, Damien.”

  He sighed and searched for the right words to say without angering or insulting her.

  “Honey, I am a very rich man, with a high level profile. As my wife I will expect you to always be by my side at functions and the like. Whether you like it or not, it is the life you accepted to live when you agreed to this marriage.”

  She clamped her mouth shut, realizing with remorse that she never thought of that particular part of his life. Her measly clothes were not enough, let alone classy enough to attend and be seen around the city as his wife.

  “Fine. I admit I did not think of that. But I will pay for them myself.”

  “No, Amber, I will buy your clothes. Now stop arguing, I want to get home at some stage this afternoon still. Oh and Amber … make sure you buy lingerie as well. Lots of them … especially those stringy strips you wear.”

  She blushed at the saleslady’s delighted giggles. He turned back and whispered in her ear, causing her blush to deepen.

  “Nighties … don’t bother with those. You won’t get to wear them!”

  Amber put away all the new clothes and placed the lingerie in the laundry to wash them in the morning. She found Zoey and Damien in her room. She sat on the King sized bed surrounded by clothes, bags, shoes and she glowed.

  “Mom! When am I ever going to wear all of these? But look! These are all those I wanted. Thanks Dad! You’re the best!”

  Damien followed Amber, but took her hand and led her to another room in the corner with an even better view. Even the bathroom had floor length windows facing the sea.

  “This is the main bedroom … our bedroom. I want you to decorate it the way you’d like. There is enough time before the wedding. We will start sharing this room then. The decorators are on their way.”

  “Damien the room is fine as it is.”

  “Just do it, Amber! Once we’re married we can re-do the whole house, starting with Zoey’s room. “

  Amber sighed and shook her head. “This is really not necessary. The house is beautiful as it is.”

  “I want both of you to feel this is your home, so you will do as I ask. Now, I am starving. How about starting with dinner whilst we wait for the decorators. I have been craving that mac and cheese Zoey bragged about. My chef is on leave until next week.”

  “You have a chef? I am not so sure I can compete with him! What am I going to do then every day? You have a house full of staff. I really like to cook!”

  “You take them off my hands. I don’t have the time for house management as well. As far as the chef is concerned – my Mom has been after him from the day he started here. She can’t cook – at all. If that is what you want, then that is what we’ll do.”

  She turned to him and stepped into his body, wrapping her arms around his waist. She lifted her head and looked into his eyes.

  “I just want to thank you for your patience with me, even though I know at times you want to strangle me. All of this, the clothes … I want you to know it is a little overwhelming and not because I don’t appreciate any of it.”

  Damien basked in her soft body pressed so intimately against his and his erection rose to full arousal between them. He lowered his head and captured her full lips. The kiss was slow, sensual and so, so tender Amber felt like crying.

  “Urgh … just so I am prepared … is this kissing going to be a regular thing? Perhaps I should start wearing a bell around my neck so you can hear me coming! Does kissing effect ones hearing, Dad?”

  Damien chuckled against her lips and she could not hold back her own. Slightly upset that the tender moment was interrupted, but glad when the housekeeper indicated the decorators have arrived.

  “Aunt Mia! I am so happy to see you! Hi Uncle Ash!”

  Mia hardly got her one leg out of the car when Zoey jumped on her and wrapped her arms around her neck. She laughed and hugged her tight.

  “Let me look at you, pumpkin! Goodness but you have grown since last I saw you!”

  “Yeah … a whole year ago!”

  Mia was flabbergasted walking up to the house, whispering to Ashton her amazement.

  “I don’t even want to guess at what this place cost! And our little Zoey and Amber is going to live here! It is just too amazing!”

  The two lifelong friends caught each other in a tight embrace, and both cried. Zoey just shaking her head.

  “Don’t worry Dad. This is how it is every time they greet each other!”

  Mia turned to Damien and smiled at him.

  “Hi Damien. Good to see you again.”

  “You two know each other?”

  “Yip, my friend. I got to know him pretty well those first five years after you disappeared. He came knocking on my door twice a month with the same question – where is Amber?”

  “You never told me!”

  “I did not want to upset you. I’ve often wondered, Damien. Am I the one that gave her away in Cleveland?”

  “No, Mia, it was not you. Welcome to our home.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned. You know when you told me I am to be your maid of honor, you could have knocked me over with a feather! Marrying the hottest guy in Miami!”

  “Mia!” Amber chuckled at the blush on Damien’s face.

  Good Lord! He was human after all!

  “Well my friend, you know every single one of our friends were in love with him at school! And there you go and catch him. Hook, line and sinker.”

  Amber was the one blushing now, praying Mia would stop. Fearful that she would say something about Paul next. Apart from Ashton, she was the only one that knew what happened.

  She watched Zoey take a seat on the armchair of the chair where Damien sat outside on the porch facing the sea. Her gaze sharpened and she watched their expressions and easy and natural comrade between them. Mia was a highly emotive person and the words just exploded from her lips.

  “My Lord. She really is his!”

  Damien immediately stiffened and Amber closed her eyes. She shook her head at Mia and Ashton immediately captured her attention away from father and daughter. Amber avoided Damien’s stare, desperate not to break the relaxed atmosphere they developed last night.

  Zoey took Mia to her room to fit her dress for the wedding. Amber walked Ashton to his car whilst Damien took a phone call from his office.

  “Ash, would you have time to pick something up for me later today and drop it off here? It’s Damien’s wedding gift.”

  He agreed and accepted the invitation to stay for dinner. Rory was invited specifically to meet Mia. She turned back to the house and came face to face with an angry looking Damien. She sighed, but tried to pacify him anyway.

  “Damien, we’re about to be married. Can we at least try to make it a day to remember with good memories and not regret? I can’t change what happened in the past, but I am willing to change where the future takes me.”

  He looked at her for so long, she despaired that he might not give a damn. Then he sighed and took her face between his hands. He kissed her very, very softly, her lips quivered in response.

  “Very well, Amber, for the
next two weeks we will build on a future. I won’t think of you with him. I am not sure I can commit to more than that at this point. Eleven years of hate is a long time to just forget, Amber, you have to realize that.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Amber was relieved when Ashton and Rory indicated they were ready to leave. It was a taxing evening. Rory and Mia did not take to one another at all and she literally snapped at him all the time. He, of course, had an irritating smirk on his mouth which just served to increase her antagonism.

  “Is your bag packed, Buddy?”

  “What bag?”

  “I have been told, no scrap that, instructed to take you with. You, my friend, are not allowed to see your bride until she walks down the aisle … even if it is in fact down the garden path.”

  “That’s utter nonsense. I don’t believe in rubbish like that.”

  “No Dad! You have to! Both Grams made me swear I’d get you to go with Uncle Rory. Are you going to make a liar of me?”

  Everyone laughed at the cheeky ten year old. Even Damien could not resist to laugh and with a shaking head went to pack. He just finished zipping his duffel bag when Amber walked in.

  “Before you go, there is something I want to give you. It is in our … our bedroom.” He smiled at her hesitation, but followed her with a smile on his lips.

  “I want to thank you for the room, beautiful. It really looks fantastic.”

  He walked into the room and then froze in his footsteps. He got tears in his eyes and walked closer to the bed slowly. Amber used the photos her mom took of him and Zoey in her kitchen and the one she took on the boat, the day they went for lunch at his parents and had them photo printed on large square canvasses. They were beautifully framed and encapsulated the very essence and emotions that existed already in their very young relationship.

  “Do you like it?”

  Their eyes met and he gestured her closer. He wrapped his arms around her and drew her into an embrace so strong she could feel the thumping of his heart against hers. He lifted her head and looked into her eyes. For the first time he looked at her with something other than hate and loathing. She reached up and covered his lips with hers and kissed him with all the longing and passion in her heart. He groaned and drew her even deeper into his arms and their kiss became sensual and wild.

  “Ahum …”

  Numerous throats being cleared behind them took a while to register and when it did, they both groaned in regret.

  “See, Aunt Mia! I told you kissing makes you deaf!”

  “You sure did, love. It just hasn’t happened to me.”

  “I’ll be happy to show you …”

  “You should be so lucky, you big oaf!”

  Rory chuckled at Mia snapping at him and looked at the pictures standing against the bed.

  “Those are really beautiful.”

  Zoey also noticed them and walked from the one to the other with her hands over her mouth. She turned to her parents and her eyes were full of tears.

  “Mom, did you do this?”

  “Yes, darling. It is your mother’s wedding gift to me. Come here, squirt.”

  She jumped in his arms and he hugged her against his side, with Amber still flush against the other.

  “What did you get Mommy, Dad?” He ruffled her hair and smiled indulgently.

  “Tomorrow, squirt.”

  “I guess we are in for a wonderful wedding tomorrow! Come on boys, off you go. It is time for the bride’s beauty sleep.”

  Mia held the wedding dress for Amber and she stepped into it very carefully. Zoey stood watching and as soon as Mia fastened the dress at the back of Amber’s neck she clasped her hands over her mouth. Her eyes as wide as saucers.

  “Mom, you look like a fairy!”

  “Not from the back, she doesn’t. This dress is … wow! Did you really design it yourself?”

  “I only did the basic drawing.”

  The white skirt of the dress was A-line that fitted snug around her hips and started to flair from her thighs … mainly due to the slit high on the left side – very high, and close to her bikini line. It fell into a natural long veil trailing on the floor. The top part of the dress was made from exquisitely fine lace in white and silver, enhanced with Swarovski crystals. The only solid part on the top was a bra-type cup over her breasts that appeared to be hands hugging them. The rest of the top was see-thru lace and came together around her neck in a halter format with a band covered by crystals, leaving her arms bare. The band came together at the back of the dress with four crystal buttons – the only thing that held the dress together.

  The back of the dress was bare, except for the lace that framed her back from her neck down the sides to join again in a low V at the back. The design was relatively simple, with a stunning effect.

  She wore high heeled silver sandals. Her nails and toenails were done neatly in a French manicure and suited the dress. Mia assisted her earlier to put her long hair up in a loose knot on her head with tendrils caressing her neck and cheeks. Her make-up was shades of silver, greys and whites and complemented the dress and her dark red hair.

  “Have we covered all the requirements? You know, the something borrowed, something blue and something new?”

  “Mom gave me her garter … a beautiful white lace one, I am wearing a G-string with a small blue flower sown on … and I guess the dress counts as something new.”

  There was a knock on the door and Zoey went to answer it, whilst Mia and her Mom assisted with her coral colored lipstick.

  “Dad! You can’t come in here! You know you can’t see Mom yet!”

  “Relax, squirt. I just wanted to give your Mom these. Tell her to read the note inside.”

  ‘Ok, now go! Oh, Dad … prepare to have your socks knocked off! Mom looks … beyond beautiful! So do you!”

  “Thanks for the warning, Precious. See you later.”

  Zoey carried the square box to Amber and gave it to her as if it contained a bomb.

  “Dad said you must read the note inside.”

  Amber sat down on the edge of the bed and carefully unwrapped the package. She lifted the lid and there was a small note, which had the tears run down her face, eliciting a screech from Mia.

  For your eighteenth birthday, my love and to fortify the love we committed to this week. All my love, Damien.

  She turned the note over and in the same bold handwriting, just with harder strokes she read what he just wrote.

  I did not get to give it to you then as they weren’t ready. Now, marriage for our daughters’ sake is as good a commitment as I am going to get from you.

  Her heart bled at the callous words, as if to remind her what they had and what she threw away. She lifted the earrings and her gasp was echoed by the other in the room. It was hanging oval shaped purple diamond white gold earrings, surrounded by white diamonds and a centimeter straight diamond covered strip that split into a tear shape at the top. The tear shape section fitted over the earlobe and the purple diamond dangled against her cheek.

  “He bought these for my eighteenth birthday, but never gave it to me. He … kept them all these … years!”

  “Wow Mom! They look beautiful on you … with your eyes!”

  “Indeed it is, but could he not have given them to you yesterday? Now we have to re-do your make-up again!”

  Maybe he specifically gave it to me today so I understand what it is he really want from me … and that most definitely is not love!

  Amber thought they had reached an unspoken agreement over the past few days – obviously she was the only one that committed to the future. He still only wanted vengeance from her. Suddenly the day she looked forward to and the wedding she thought they would have shriveled to an ordeal looming ahead.

  Amber’s Dad knocked on the door and had to wipe the tears from his eyes when he saw how beautiful she looked.

  “This is one day each and every Dad cries. To give his daughter to another man to love and care for. You look beautiful,
Amber. We better go. Your groom seems to be getting annoyed with the hold-up.”

  “His own fault! He gave her these earrings and we had to re-do her face!” Mia grumbled.

  Zoey walked down the aisle first in a white flowing pantsuit. She never was a dress wearing girl. She smiled widely at her Dad and winked at him. Mia followed, smiling and nodding at Rory.

  The wedding march started and Damien turned to watch his bride walk towards him. He forgot to breathe she was that beautiful. When he went to pick up his suit, he knew she would look beautiful. His suit was black with a silver-grey waistcoat and tie. A silver silk handkerchief peeped out of his pocket. She wore the earrings he gave her and even over the distance he could see how they made her eyes glitter and shine.

  He regretted the words he wrote on the back of the note, the minute he turned away from her door. But what was done was done. For his daughter’s sake, this wedding would be memorable. He smiled at Amber when their eyes met and she returned it with a tremble around her lips. Her hand tingled when he took it in his and placed it on his arm, covered it with his own. His hand stayed there throughout the ceremony.

  It was a short, but beautiful service. When they had to exchange rings, Zoey skipped to them and smiled at them excitedly. First handing Damien’s ring to Amber and then hers to Damien. She turned to go back to her place, but Damien stopped her.

  “No, Precious. You should stand here with us for this.”

  Amber had to swallow hard to keep the tears at bay at the joy that elicited from Zoey. She turned and hooked her arm through Damien’s other arm and waited for the priest to say his blessings first. Amber said her vows and kept her eyes on Damien the whole time; her voice clear and earnest. He did the same, and no one there would believe that they were not deeply in love.

  She took his hand and slowly pushed the ring on his finger. It fitted perfectly and suited his hand. He looked at it for a long time and the thought that she knew him pretty well to have chosen the ring she did flashed through his mind. It was a broad platinum ring with a single white gold cable swirl in the middle of the band. His breath wedged in his throat when she lowered her head and kissed his knuckle just above the ring.