Undone

by Shannon Richard

  Brendan’s heart kicked up hard in his chest as the music changed. Paige and her father came out from behind a cluster of trees where they’d been waiting.

  She was stunning.

  Her dress was simple. It was a satin material, and it flowed down her body, molding to her curves. It dipped down the front of her chest in a V. There were straps at her shoulders holding her dress up, and her freckled arms were exposed in all of their glory. He’d never seen anyone or anything more beautiful in his entire life.

  Her eyes didn’t waver from his as she made her way down the aisle with her father.

  “Dearly beloved,” Pastor Phillips began when Paige and Trevor stopped at the end of the aisle, “we are gathered here today in the sight of God and these witnesses to unite Brendan and Paige in holy matrimony.”

  Brendan just stared at Paige as the Pastor continued to talk. She smiled at him and mouthed, I love you.

  I love you, he mouthed back.

  “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” Pastor Phillips asked.

  “Her mother and I do,” Trevor said before turning to Paige. He pulled her into his arms, hugging her as he whispered something in her ear. Then he kissed her on the cheek and let go. He turned to Brendan and pulled him into a hug.

  “You have to take care of her,” Trevor said. “You have to take care of my little girl.”

  “Yes, sir,” Brendan said as Trevor pulled back.

  Trevor gave Brendan a watery smile as he grabbed Paige’s hand and put it in Brendan’s. He nodded at their joined hands in satisfaction before he made his way over to Denise.

  When it was time for them to say their vows, Brendan was surprised that his voice came out as steady as it did.

  “Paige, I didn’t think it was possible to love someone as much as I love you.” His voice hitched slightly but Paige squeezed his hands and he pushed through it. “I was always scared of falling in love. For years I refused to let myself fall. Then you came along out of nowhere and you undid every single one of my defenses before I even knew what was happening. I never had a choice. I promise to love you, even when it’s difficult. It’s the things that you have to fight for the hardest that are worth the most, and you’re worth everything.”

  “Brendan,” Paige said and took a deep breath and smiled, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I met you at a time in my life when I thought I was lost. As it turned out, I was following the right road the whole time because it led me to you. You’ve unraveled me from the beginning, pulled at the strings until you left me feeling completely cherished, completely loved, completely undone with no chance of ever going back. I promise to love you every single day for the rest of our lives.”

  Yup, he was done for.

  “You’re crying,” she whispered as she reached up and swiped her fingers under his eyes.

  “So are you,” he said, grabbing her hand and holding it to his face. “And I thought you said happy crying was okay.”

  “It is.”

  “May I have the rings?” Pastor Phillips asked.

  Brendan turned to Shep, who slipped him the rings. As the pastor blessed the rings, Brendan couldn’t focus on anything besides the feel of Paige’s soft hands in his.

  “I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and with all that I am, and all that I have, I promise to honor you. With this ring I thee wed,” he said as he slipped the ring on her finger.

  “I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and with all that I am, and all that I have, I promise to honor you. With this ring I thee wed,” Paige repeated as she slipped the ring onto his finger.

  “Now that Brendan and Paige have pledged their love to each other, by the power vested in me I now pronounce them husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

  No one had to tell Brendan twice. He grabbed Paige’s face in both of his hands, brought her mouth to his, and kissed his wife for the first time.

  * * *

  Paige couldn’t stop smiling as Brendan slowly guided them around the dance floor. One of his hands rested on her lower back, his fingers brushing across her skin, while his other hand held hers. Her free hand was wrapped around the back of his head, her fingers trailing through his hair.

  “Mrs. King,” Brendan said as he stared at her with a big goofy grin and dazed eyes.

  “Yes?”

  “I just like saying it,” he said, bringing his mouth to her ear. “Mrs. King, Mrs. King, Mrs. King,” he whispered.

  Every time he said it, a wave of euphoria ran through her body, making her want to scream and cry and laugh all at the same time. But in the interest of looking sane, and not ruining their first dance, she did none of those things. She just let Brendan lead her around the dance floor, happier than she’d ever been in her life. When the music ended, Brendan placed Paige’s hand in her father’s and walked off the floor.

  “My Little Miss, all grown up and married,” Trevor said as they began to move across the floor. “You look beautiful, beautiful and happy.”

  “I am happy. I love that man so much,” she said, beaming.

  “I’m so grateful I got to see this. Be here. Walk you down the aisle. Dance with my baby girl on her wedding day,” he said, his eyes getting glassy. He blinked and a few tears ran down his face.

  “Dad?” Paige asked her own eyes filling up. The day was already emotional, and the sight of her father crying really did something to her.

  “I’m okay.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he said and nodded, smiling through his tears. “Now, no more crying,” he said as he kissed her on the temple and proceeded to lead her around the dance floor.

  * * *

  “Welcome home, Mrs. King,” Brendan said as he carried Paige through the front door of their house. Brendan locked the door behind them, all the while still holding Paige.

  “Hmm,” she hummed against his throat. “I like the sound of that.”

  “Close your eyes,” he whispered against her temple as he carried her through the house and to their bedroom. “And keep ’em closed,” he said as he set her down.

  “Alright,” she said and smiled as she folded her arms across her chest. He moved around the room for a minute before music started playing and he came up behind her.

  “Open your eyes,” he whispered as he pressed his lips to her neck.

  Paige opened her eyes to find the room glowing from a dozen or so candles. Sunflower petals were scattered across the duvet on the bed.

  “Brendan,” Paige said, turning in his arms, “you didn’t have—”

  He cut her off, covering her mouth with his. He reached up and started removing the pins from her hair as his tongue moved in perfect rhythm against hers.

  “Yes, I did,” he said a moment later when he came up for air.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said as he started to unwind her hair and pull it down around her shoulders.

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s sufficient. You can’t really say that anything is beautiful when you’re in the room. Everything pales in comparison.”

  “Brendan—”

  But that was as far as she got before he kissed her again and started unzipping the back of her dress.

  * * *

  Brendan and Paige went on their honeymoon the last weekend in June. Brendan had told Trevor that they could postpone the trip, but Trevor insisted. He and Denise were going to Savannah, Georgia, for the week. She’d always wanted to go, so he was going to take her.

  Brendan and Paige’s honeymoon was in North Carolina and they spent a week at a cabin in the mountains. Brendan was in a state of total bliss, but that bliss didn’t last long. They were driving back to Mirabelle when they got the call.

  Trevor had collapsed. What made matters even worse was that he had hit his head and gotten a concussion. They’d taken him to the emergency room and were running tests. But that was all they told Paige; she had no idea just how bad it really was.

  They we
nt directly to the hospital. Brendan pulled into the parking lot and turned off his truck. He turned to Paige, who was staring out of the windshield.

  “I have this really bad feeling,” she said. “I don’t want to go in there.”

  He couldn’t tell her it was going to be okay, because he knew damn well it wasn’t going to be. So instead he grabbed her hand, brought it to his mouth, and kissed her wrist.

  She turned to him, fear in her eyes.

  “Whatever it is, we’ll handle it,” he said.

  She merely nodded before she went to get out of the truck. They met at the front and he grabbed her hand, holding it as they walked inside.

  Chapter Twenty

  Broken Promises and Broken Hearts

  Paige prayed as Brendan led her through the hallways of the hospital. She prayed that the awful feeling in her stomach wasn’t true. That her father was going to be fine.

  But it took one look from her mother to know that nothing was going to be fine.

  Denise stepped out into the hallway, wincing at the florescent light. The second her mother’s sad, desperate eyes focused on them, the ground dropped out from under Paige’s feet.

  Her father was dying.

  Denise’s face crumpled and she started sobbing.

  “Oh, Mom,” Paige said, letting go of Brendan’s hand and wrapping her arms around her mother’s shaking shoulders.

  They just stood there, both of them crying.

  “How bad is it?” Paige whispered

  “Bad,” Denise said, pulling back. “It’s pancreatic cancer.”

  Paige had a teacher in college that had died of pancreatic cancer. She knew that, on average, people who were diagnosed with it lived for less than a year.

  “It’s already spread to his other organs. They said four months is optimistic.”

  Nothing about this entire situation was optimistic, and hearing the word made Paige so angry she wanted to hit something. Four months wasn’t good enough. Four months was a joke.

  Paige wasn’t prepared for this. She wasn’t prepared for her father not being around for the rest of her life. He wouldn’t get another birthday. Wouldn’t get another Christmas. Her parents had celebrated their last wedding anniversary. The thought of her mother living out the rest of her life without her father made Paige physically ill.

  “I need a minute,” Paige said, pulling back from her mother. She turned to Brendan. “Bathroom?”

  “Down there,” he said, pointing down the hall.

  Paige bolted, getting there just in time to empty her stomach of everything.

  * * *

  Somehow Paige calmed herself down enough to see her father. She walked into the dim room to find Trevor sitting up, a bandage over his head.

  “Hey, Little Miss,” he said weakly.

  “Daddy,” she whispered as she walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. He leaned forward, reaching for her, and they wrapped their arms around each other. Paige held onto her father for dear life. She didn’t want to let him go, not ever. It wasn’t long before she felt warm tears soak into the shoulder of her shirt, her own were streaming down her face. “Don’t die. Please don’t die.”

  “If only it were that easy,” he said, pulling back to look at her. He gave her a sad, watery smile. “I love you, baby girl,” he said, reaching for her face and running his thumb under one eye and then the other. “We still have a little time. And we’ll make it count.”

  Paige nodded. Unable to say anything for fear she might lose it again.

  * * *

  While Paige went to talk to her dad, Brendan stayed out in the hallway and talked to Denise. She told him everything that Dr. Kendrick had told her and it didn’t take long for Brendan to realize that Trevor hadn’t told Denise when the real diagnosis had happened. Dr. Kendrick had explained everything to Denise like they’d just discovered the cancer.

  So Trevor didn’t want them to know that he’d been sick for months. Didn’t want them to know that he and Brendan had known what was coming.

  Brendan hadn’t been prepared for this. But what the hell was he supposed to do? His father-in-law was dying, and he wasn’t going to go against what Trevor wanted, so he just played along.

  When Paige came out of her father’s room, Brendan knew she was barely holding it together.

  “You two should go home,” Denise said, standing up and smoothing her hands along the side of her pants.

  “Mom, we’ll stay. It’s no problem.”

  “No,” Denise said, shaking her head. “I’m going to stay with your father. He should be released tomorrow. You need to get some rest, baby,” she said, reaching up and patting Paige’s cheek. “Go home and be with your husband. Grieve with your husband.”

  “But what about you?”

  “I’m going to grieve with your father. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “You’ll call me if you need anything?” Paige asked.

  “Promise,” Denise said, kissing Paige on the forehead before she slipped back into the hospital room.

  * * *

  Paige did grieve that night, and every night after that. She’d curl into Brendan’s side and cry herself to sleep, and he’d just hold her. Tell her how much he loved her. She didn’t think she’d be able to get through the day if she didn’t know that she had a safe place in Brendan’s arms waiting for her.

  He kept her going.

  It didn’t take long for things to get progressively worse with her father. Within weeks, he was so weak that it was a struggle for him to get out of bed. He slept for most of the day, only getting up when Paige and Brendan came over for dinner.

  By the middle of August, Paige’s dad was officially bedridden and attached to an IV and using an oxygen machine to help him breathe. A hospital bed had been set up in the living room, and her mom slept on the couch next to her dad’s bed every night. As the dose of his pain meds went progressively up, his lucid moments went progressively down. Denise was barely holding it together. Paige knew this because she was barely holding it together.

  Paige spent most of her free time at her parents’ house. She’d often sit by her father’s bed and read him one of his favorite books; other times, she’d just talk to him. Brendan was there a lot too. Helping in every way he could. Doing everything that was asked of him, and about a thousand things that hadn’t been.

  Damn, did she love that man with every fiber of her being.

  One morning Paige woke up sprawled across Brendan. She moved her hand to the center of his chest and rested her chin on it, looking up at his sleeping face.

  The last month and a half hadn’t been easy. She didn’t know how she would’ve gotten through it without him. It shouldn’t have surprised her that he knew exactly what she needed and when she needed it. He was her shoulder to cry on in a moment’s notice. He knew when to give her space and exactly how much. She knew why he could practically read her mind. One reason was because he’d gone through this before with his mother. He knew what it was like to lose a parent to cancer. The other reason was because he knew her.

  She’d been so incredibly wrong to think she’d ever been in love with anyone before Brendan. No one could compare to him on any level.

  She watched him sleep. She studied the face of the man she loved more than anything. She needed him so badly it hurt. She slid her thigh between his legs and pressed her open mouth to his neck. He stirred beneath her, pressing into her even though he wasn’t up yet. Well, not awake at least.

  She pulled her underwear off before she threw her leg over him and straddled him. She closed her mouth over his and knew the exact moment he was no longer asleep because his tongue started moving against hers and he groaned into her mouth. His hands were on her hips, holding onto her as she moved against him.

  She pulled her T-shirt over her head, breaking their kiss for only a moment as the fabric passed between their mouths. She threw it over her shoulder and reached down, pulling him out of his boxers. When he was firmly inside of he
r, they both froze. He grabbed her face and pulled back, holding her head in his hands.

  “Paige?” Brendan asked, studying her face.

  She nodded and pressed her mouth to his, trying to show him what she wanted, because words weren’t enough. She needed this, right now, no barriers. The kiss turned frenzied after a moment, both of them trying to consume the other. She moved over him as he thrust up inside of her, and when she came, he rolled her onto her back and started moving again. His hips bumped up against hers and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She wasn’t sure how long they moved together, but at some point another overwhelming orgasm raked through her body. Brendan followed her over and collapsed onto her, breathing hard and shaking.

  * * *

  Everything had happened so fast. Brendan had woken up with Paige on top of him. One moment they’d been kissing, the next he’d been inside of her, absolutely nothing between them.

  Nothing had ever felt like that before. Gravity had pulled him under and then he’d fallen to pieces. He was still lying on top of her, trying to come back down to earth, trying to piece himself together again. But it was impossible. She shattered him.

  He couldn’t have moved even if he’d wanted to, and right at that moment, he didn’t want to move ever again. Paige’s legs were still wrapped around his waist. Her hands were on the back of his neck, her fingers trailing through his hair. His face was pressed into her throat and every time he inhaled, he inhaled her.

  “Are you okay?” Paige whispered.

  He nodded. That was all he could do because he still couldn’t remember how to speak. When his brain finally connected with his body again, Brendan got up on his forearms and looked down at her. He reached up and traced her hairline, pushing her hair behind her ear.

  “That was…” He trailed off, shaking his head. He had no words.

  “I know,” she said and smiled, running her hands to the back of his head and pulling his mouth down to hers.

  * * *

  Paige had a lot of inspiration lately, most of it dark. She channeled it toward her work, and she assumed it worked because her pieces were selling like crazy. She’d actually cut back her hours at the funeral home, working only four days a week. Painting was one of the few ways she was able to escape for just a moment. Sometimes things would just build up to a peak and Paige needed something to think about besides her father and the constant pain he was in, because whenever she thought about it she couldn’t breathe.