Destiny's Dream

by Delia Latham

  Clay tightened his arms around her and nuzzled her hair. “I just don’t get it. After all he’s done, all he’s admitted to, what could he possibly have to say to you? How could he even have the nerve to face you?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t think he feels any shame, so facing me won’t be a problem. As to what he has to say…well, I guess that’s why I’m going. I’m curious.”

  His chest rose and fell as he drew in a huge, frustrated breath and let it out again. “Fine. I don’t understand why you’d do anything this guy asks, but I can see you’re going to, so come on. Let’s get it over with.”

  Destiny chuckled and touched the tip of his nose with a fingertip. “You’re so sexy when you’re ticked off, darling.”

  Clay quirked an eyebrow, placed a big hand on each of her arms, and firmly moved her backward a step. “Keep that up and we won’t be going anywhere.” He opened the door and waved her outside with a grand flourish. “To the lion’s den, then.”

  Twenty minutes later, they stood outside Shark’s jail cell. From the other side of the bars, the man eyed them with obvious dislike. But Destiny saw something more in his gaze. Curiosity. And something else. Fear? What could he have to fear from them?

  Clay spoke first. “You wanted to see Miss May, Shark. Well, we’re here.”

  The man nodded, but said nothing. His cold eyes raked over Destiny and Clay and settled behind them. “Still afraid of me, I see.”

  Clay emitted some kind of animal-like growl, and Destiny squeezed his hand. She spoke without taking her gaze off the unpleasant man in the cell. “It’s OK, darling. Why would you think we’re afraid of you, Marlon? I hardly think you’re in a position to hurt anyone right now.”

  “I’m not.” He steadfastly refused to look at them. His eyes never wavered from a point just over Destiny’s shoulder. She turned to see what so commanded his attention. Nothing there but a row of mostly empty cells.

  She sighed. “Look, I’m here because you asked me to come, but I don’t have all evening. What was it you wanted?”

  Shark finally pulled his gaze from whatever he had fixated on and faced Destiny. “If you ain’t afraid, then why did you bring the big guy?” His gaze moved behind her again, and yes, that was definitely fear in his eyes.

  She smiled and placed a hand on Clay’s arm. “Clay is my fiancé. I like having him with me.”

  Shark moistened his lips and shook his head. “Not him. That other’n.”

  A tiny shiver inched its way up Destiny’s spine. “What other one, Marlon?”

  Clay snorted. “He’s crazy, Destiny. He’s toying with you.”

  She held up a hand, sending him a brief glance and a shake of her head. “I don’t think so. Marlon, who are you talking about?”

  The prisoner pointed a trembling finger at her. “You know who, stop actin’ all innocent. I’m not crazy! I’m talkin’ about that muscle-bound bodyguard behind ya, the one who follows you around like a shadow. He’s the reason I could never get a chance at you.”

  While Clay looked on, obviously confused, Destiny smiled with sudden assurance. She had a wonderful feeling about this. “I have a bodyguard?”

  “Don’t you be laughin’ at me, Miss May!” Shark’s voice cracked, either in anger or desperation. His gaze lifted, seemingly pulled against his will to that mysterious something behind Destiny. “You know who I’m talkin’ about. If he hadn’t got in my way, I coulda stopped your nonsense at the fair, when you was with yer other boyfriend. And I’m pretty sure he had something to do with my gun messin’ up on me that day in your office.”

  “Destiny, the man’s out of his mind.” Clay didn’t attempt to hide his dislike for Shark. “Let’s go. He’s wasting our time.”

  “Just a moment.” She stepped a little closer to the cell.

  Shark’s eyes widened. His face drained of color and he stumbled backward. “No! Don’t come any closer!”

  She stopped. “What are you afraid of?”

  “Him! The giant. He won’t let me be. Even when I sleep, he’s in my dreams, always whisperin’ some warning about leavin’ you alone.” Shark dropped onto his cot and covered his face with shaking hands. “Please, send him in the other room. I can’t hurt’cha from in here.”

  “Shhh.” Destiny found herself pitying the man. His skinny frame shook, and the circles around his eyes bespoke long nights without sleep. “Marlon, I forgive you for what you did to me.”

  A heavy silence fell on the room. Destiny heard Clay’s sharp intake of breath, but she kept her eyes on the man in the cell. He slowly dropped a hand onto each leg and turned his wet face toward Destiny. “You forgive me? But I—I…” He shook his head. “Why would you do that?”

  Destiny looked at Clay. “Would you get a couple of chairs? I think we’re going to be here a little longer than we planned.”

  Obediently, Clay did as she asked, though he appeared every bit as confused as Shark. When they were both seated, he took Destiny’s hand. “Tell me what’s going on, please?”

  Destiny smiled. “Well, I think Mr. Shark has met one of my angels.”

  ****

  Clay smiled.

  Shark moaned.

  She opened her mouth to speak, but the prisoner interrupted, his gaze distant, voice still tinged with fear. “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

  “Yes.” A deep peace washed over Destiny, and joyful tears streamed down her face. “Where did you hear that, Marlon? Somehow I didn’t picture you as a Bible-reading fellow.”

  “I’m not.” Shark raked the fingers of one hand through his thinning hair. “I read them words that day in your office. They burned.”

  At Destiny’s questioning look, he tried to explain. “The letters in that pitcher behind your desk. They glowed with some kinda holy fire. And my gun, it—well, it wouldn’t work. Or maybe it did, I don’t know. I couldn’t make my fingers work to pull the trigger, even though I shorely meant to do it. I shorely did!”

  “I know you did.” Destiny nodded, reliving the terror she’d felt when he pointed that weapon at Julie. “But you couldn’t. Do you know why?”

  He shook his head in mute response. “No. I’m not sure I wanna know.”

  “Well, I want to know.” Clay spoke up.

  Destiny took his big hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m going to tell you, anyway.” She smiled through the tears still dripping down her face. “It started on the day my mother died.”

  She talked for several minutes, giving the prisoner a shortened version of the same story she’d so recently told Clay. Shark listened, though he refused to look her way. When she finished, no one said a word. Clay stood, took her hand, and led her toward the door. But Destiny turned back to smile at the man in the cell.

  “God loves you, Marlon Shark. He has angels for you, too. Why don’t you talk to Him about it?”

  ****

  On the ride home, Destiny snuggled against Clay’s side. Neither of them spoke for several moments, awed and hushed by the overwhelming peace that held them in its grip. An occasional tear found its way down her cheek as the car sliced through the darkness.

  Finally Clay brought her hand to his lips and kissed each of her fingertips. “I knew you were special.” He spoke in a whisper, seeming hesitant to break the silence. “Even the angels want to be near you.”

  “There’s nothing special about me.” Destiny swallowed hard and brushed at the wetness on her cheek. “But there’s something incredible about a God who loves each of His children enough to give them their own heavenly bodyguards.”

  Clay nodded. “Yes. That is amazing.” He paused, and she waited, knowing he had more to say. “I’m wondering why some people can see the angels, and some can’t. I mean, Shark sees them—at least one of them. That little girl you told me about—Gracie. She saw one. Why doesn’t everyone see them?”

  “I’ve wondered about that myself. It’s pretty common knowledge that children are more open to such t
hings, perhaps due to their innocence, or because society hasn’t convinced them that certain things aren’t real.”

  “I guess that makes sense.”

  “As for Shark…well, maybe God opened his eyes to keep him away from me.” She shrugged. “I don’t really know the answer, Clay. Who can explain God’s ways?” She smiled in the darkness. “Want to know something else that’s nothing short of miraculous?”

  “Tell me.”

  “The moment each of us is born—no, the instant we are conceived, maybe even before—our Father plans a specific ‘other’ for us. Someone to be with through all of life’s twists and turns, all the unexpected curves in the road. Someone who makes us whole, and without whom we are incomplete and insignificant.” She rested her head on his shoulder and spoke against his neck. “Someone to love.”

  “She whom my soul loveth.” Clay’s murmured words held a note of sudden enlightenment. “You know, sweetheart, I finally understand what you’re doing with Solomon’s Gate. I tried before, but I didn’t, not really. Now I think I do. I get it.”

  Destiny laughed softly. “I knew you’d see the light.”

  He pulled into Claire’s driveway and turned off the ignition, then turned to pull her into his arms. He rested his forehead against hers, and Destiny breathed in the spicy smell of his cologne. “How could you be so sure I’d come around?” he murmured against her cheek.

  “Because, my darling.” Destiny turned her face so that her lips touched his. “You are the one God made just for me. If He created us for one other, doesn’t it make sense that He’d give us an understanding of each other’s hope and dreams?”

  Clay’s only response was a kiss that said it all.

  Epilogue

  Peering through the huge bay window in the dining room of their new house, Clay spotted Destiny on the enclosed patio. Wrapped in a heavy throw, she huddled near the outdoor fireplace, enjoying the early evening air.

  She’d been living in the new place for a couple of months, since she sold her mother’s home. Clay had brought his own things over a little at a time. After the wedding tomorrow, he’d be living here with her, and he was beyond ready. It couldn’t happen fast enough for him.

  He tapped on the window and she looked up with a smile, beckoning him to join her.

  “Are you supposed to be here?” Her teasing voice met him when he stepped outside. “Isn’t there some dire warning or something about you seeing me before the wedding?”

  “Nope, not until tomorrow. Then I can’t see you until you take my breath away coming down the aisle.”

  Her impish grin jerked hard on his ever-weakening heart. “I plan to do just that, Gallagher, so be prepared. Hey, you will show up, won’t you?”

  He laughed and dropped down beside her on the small sofa. It looked a bit out of place in their pretty little private nook, but when it came time to sell the furniture from Miss Margie May’s house, Destiny had been unable to part with a couple of things. Her parents’ bed she gave the position of honor in the bedroom they would share. And then there was this old couch. She had it reupholstered in a bright, weather-resistant fabric and made it a part of their patio furniture.

  Clay didn’t care what they sat on out here, as long as they sat on it together. He pulled Destiny—blanket and all—close to his side. “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away, lady!”

  “So you say now,” she teased. “But you have something of a reputation for showing up at the wrong church.”

  Clay hiked a brow at her. “Yeah, and it has served me well. The last time I showed up at the wrong church, I found the right girl.”

  Destiny snuggled in closer to his side. “You can only do that once, so don’t try it again. And you’d better be waiting at that altar tomorrow—you know it would break my heart if you wound up married to the wrong bride.” She paused for a moment, and then her soft laughter filled the air. “Poor Aunt Betty! I still can’t believe you stood her up like that.”

  “You know, Aunt Betty ended her ornery life by making mine good.” Clay shook his head, amazed at the irony. “Maybe I should stop badmouthing the old dame.”

  She jabbed him with an elbow. “Even when you try to paint her as an ogress, it’s obvious you loved her.”

  “Yeah, I guess I did, at that.” He never thought he’d admit such a thing, but it was time.

  The flames died down in the fireplace as they watched in comfortable silence.

  Destiny stirred at his side. “Last chance to back out, Gallagher.”

  He tilted her chin up and kissed the tip of her nose. “Not happenin’. What about you…any second thoughts?”

  “No way!” She giggled. “This is a quick way out of the stranglehold your little loan hung around my neck.”

  Laughing, he stood and pulled her up with him. “I should go now, so you can get some sleep. Tomorrow’s a big day. I just wanted to stop by and say good night.”

  She leaned into his chest and nodded. “The biggest day of our lives.” Raising her gaze to his, she searched his face. “You’re sure you don’t have a problem with C.J. and Julie?”

  “I don’t care if we share our wedding with your entire Solomon’s Gate clientele, as long as you’re the one who meets me at the altar.”

  Her warm laughter made him want to never let her out of his arms. “I tried to get Cameron and Karyn to make it a triple wedding, but they want to be married in the church her parents attended, back in her hometown. So we have a trip to look forward to.”

  He urged her into the house and out of the cold. “And Mom and Preston, of course, just abandoned the whole idea of a wedding.”

  “They did not!” She punched him lightly on the arm. “Their Vegas ceremony tied the knot just fine.”

  “If you say so,” he groused. “It would have been nice to have been invited, though.”

  “Oh, stop pouting, Gallagher! Claire is happy.”

  He had to admit the truth in Destiny’s statement. Watching his mother with her new husband brought back a lot of good memories. Dad would be pleased that she finally found that kind of love again.

  He winked. “You’re right, sweetheart. You’re always right.”

  Destiny kissed his cheek. “You just keep that in mind, and we’ll always be this happy.”

  Laughing, he tugged her into his arms for a real kiss. His voice went all gruff when he tried to speak, but he didn’t care. “By this time tomorrow, you’ll be my wife.”

  “Yes, I will. And you, my darling, will be my husband.”

  One last kiss, and he forced himself to step away and release her from his arms. “Good night, ma jolie dame. I love you more than life.”

  “And I love you, Monsieur Gallagher. Oh, how I love you!”

  He touched his finger to her lips and then to his own, opened the door and forced himself to walk away.

  ****

  Destiny and Jeremy awaited their cue at the back of the sanctuary. Scattered rose petals littered the aisle in the twins’ wake, and Julie had already made her entrance. She stood next to C.J. under one of the two flower-laden, gate-shaped arches at the front of the church. Clay waited there as well, as C.J.’s best man. The two of them would reverse roles when Destiny started down the aisle.

  On one side of the arches, Jenna stood in the matron of honor’s position, elegant as always in her teal gown. Despite the radiant smile on her perfect face, she dabbed at her eyes with a lace handkerchief. Peeking into the sanctuary, Destiny smiled. Her sister never could stop the waterworks at a wedding.

  Carrie and Cassie, wearing miniature replicas of their mother’s dress, squirmed on each side of Jenna. Behind them, Mary Lynn looked like a runway model, her slim figure revealing no sign of a recent pregnancy. Last in line, Karyn wore a gown identical to Mary Lynn’s. The color, several shades lighter than Jenna’s deep teal, complemented her dark hair and eyes to perfection. She smiled across the aisle toward Cameron, who waited with the minister, Clay and C.J. From her spot at the rear of the church, De
stiny breathed a heartfelt prayer of gratitude that no bruises or unsightly scars marred the smooth skin of Karyn’s face.

  Old Miss Willard struck the first notes of the wedding march.

  “Ready?” Jeremy covered her hand with his and smiled.

  Destiny thought he might be the most handsome man in the building—save for Clay, of course, who stood head and shoulders above them all, in more ways than one.

  Peeking around the marble column that sheltered her, she drank in the sight of her beloved waiting at the altar. Clay stood in front of an elaborate white gate, custom made by a local artisan. To each side, intricately designed square pillars formed support posts, from atop which a profusion of roses, twined with baby’s breath and greenery, cascaded downward. Clay’s head nearly touched the top of the gate, but his gaze was fixed on the foyer at the rear of the church, anticipating her appearance.

  Grinning, she said, “I can’t tell you how ready I am!”

  Jeremy chuckled. “Just for the record, sis, I don’t think I could have chosen better if I’d picked him out for you myself. Come on…let’s not let this one get away!”

  Destiny laughed softly. “He’s not going anywhere, little brother.” She reached up to plant a kiss on his cheek then tucked her hand through the arm he offered. Smiling, he placed his hand over hers.

  As they stepped into the aisle, her gaze flew to her bridegroom. Judging by his stunned expression, she thought she might safely assume he was properly wowed. Everyone stood when she appeared, and she realized they were all straining to get a look at her in her profusion of white lace and pearls.

  But the only eyes that mattered were Clay’s shining gray ones. She held his gaze until she reached the front pews and the final notes of the wedding march faded to silence.

  Destiny stopped and turned to her left, where the flame from an intricately shaped white candle shed its glow on a framed photo of her mother. Next to the picture, an empty crystal bud vase sparkled in the candle’s flickering light. Pulling a long-stemmed white rose from her bouquet, Destiny placed it in the vase and touched a finger to the glass over her mother’s lips. “I’m so happy, Mama,” she whispered. “Your angels did well.”