by Maggie Way
Her mind spun, and she could feel the tears trailing down her cheeks. Quickly, she glanced at Mr. Donovan and saw him standing, leaning against the wall with a smirk on his face. Then, she found Kailey, who was crying as well while Jim rubbed her back. Looking back at Jaxon before her she knew only one possible answer that she could give him.
“Yes,” she breathed out on a whisper.
“Yes?” Jaxon asked, getting up off his knee.
Nodding enthusiastically, she repeated herself, “Yes. Absolutely yes.”
She didn’t feel much as he slid the ring on her finger, just what came after. He took her in his arms and dipped her, just like they did in old-fashioned movies, before dropping his lips to hers. Warmth enveloped her with his touch, and her body stirred with happiness and desire, knowing this would be the last man she ever kissed.
Jaxon pulled away, gently resting his head on hers. “I can’t believe you said you.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were doing this!” Kailey shouted, causing everyone to laugh.
“You’re serious, right? This isn’t some random thought that you have right now?”
He kissed her again, his fingertips trailing up and down her back as he did. “You think I set up a surprise entrance and bought a ring nearly five weeks ago and I might not be serious?”
Her cheekbones would have broken if she grinned any wider. “I just needed to check.”
He chuckled and slipped his hand into hers. “I know this is rushed, but how do you feel about a spring wedding?”
“I think it sounds like the perfect time.” She had a feeling if he’d asked her to go to the courthouse tomorrow, she would have said yes – not that they would be open.
“Congratulations,” Mr. Donovan said with a warm tone. “I couldn’t have asked for a better second daughter.” He walked over and hugged her, dropping a kiss in her hair.
“You knew?” she accused, but not in a serious manner.
He nodded. “I knew. Someone had to make certain you were in the right place for him to track you down.”
“My parents knew too, didn’t they? That’s why they called.”
“Of course. I needed to ask permission.”
“And if they hadn’t given it?”
He smirked at her. “I would have asked anyway.”
All of a sudden she was overwhelmed by a rush of emotions seemed to drown her – happiness, lust, excitement – and she took a deep breath. Blowing it out slowly, she let the sensations slip away, leaving nothing save for the happiness she felt at knowing she would spend forever with the man she’d been in love with her whole life.
“I think I’d like a March wedding,” she smiled at Kailey. “Your sister can keep April.”
Kailey laughed. “Thanks for that. If you don’t mind, though, I think I know the perfect place.”
“Ordinarily I’d say slow down and enjoy Christmas. But a wedding in three months requires quick planning,” Jim said. “I know how long ours took.”
“That’s because my sister is neurotic,” Jaxon said, not taking his eyes of Adrianna.
“If you’re done insulting, I was going to say that I think you should get married in the backyard as well.”
Adrianna thought back to last spring. To the beautiful arch covered in roses and the gentle cool breeze that was a relief from the humidity. She’d always dreamed of getting married along the Mississippi, but there was something about marrying the boy of childhood in a home that had meant a lot to her during her childhood, that seemed too perfect.
“If your dad is all right with it, I’d love to get married here.” She felt Jaxon tug her against his side and she sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Just as long as it’s Jaxon and there’s no more switcharoo's at Donovan weddings.”
The deep rumble of his laugh moved through her head because of where it rested. “I can promise you, you’ll have to find a different something borrowed for our wedding.”
Epilogue
“You look every bit as beautiful as I did,” Kailey said as she slipped the rhinestone flower clip into Adrianna’s loose blonde curls.
Adrianna laughed, knowing that despite the way it sounded, Kailey had meant it to be a compliment, not a slight. She looked at her best friend through the mirror, lifting her gaze up just a bit since she was in a chair. “And you look every bit as beautiful as I did when I was your maid of honor.”
“Except little miss thang is a matron of honor,” Becky teased. “Is she ready for me yet? I think Dominic was insulted she asked you to do her hair and I’m just dying to get my hands on her to do some wedding day makeup.”
“There’s no one else I’d trust with my face more,” Adrianna teased.
Just as it had been nearly a year prior, there was a gaggle of women in the master suite at Kailey’s father’s home. Though she only had three bridesmaids instead of six, the room was just as crammed due to Becky, a photographer and her mother crowding in it.
A knock at the door caused her to snap her focus from the ladies around her to it.
“Adrianna, it’s Mr. Donovan. Can you come to the door?”
She watched in the mirror as the color visibly drained her face as the flashback of Kailey’s wedding slammed into her. Though she knew Jim was there, she was praying Jaxon hadn’t received some ridiculous urgent deployment earlier in the morning.
“I’ll get it,” Kailey whispered, giving her shoulder a squeeze.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll get it.” Blowing out a breath she ignored the burn of bile as it rose up in her throat.
It’s going to be okay. There’s no way anything is wrong. She chanted over and over as she crossed from the on suite bathroom to the door and pulled it open.
Mr. Donovan stood, looking as impeccable as he had a year before in a black suit, leaning against the door frame. His expression changed from delight to panic as he looked at her. “Oh, you think I’m going to tell you Jaxon couldn’t be here?” He shook his head and threw I back laughing. “I promise you, my son is nervous as a lab rat in the guest room taking shots just like Jim did.”
“Jim did what?” Kailey snarled from behind Adrianna.
She chuckled, not surprised Kailey had come to make certain everything was on track. “He managed to walk fine, woo you with his vows and dance his feet off. I think we’re past needing to care that he needed to drink a little beforehand.”
“Fine, you’re right.” Kailey conceded. “Why are you here if everything is running smoothly?”
Adrianna had the exact same question.
“because,” Mr. Donovan said as he took Adrianna’s hand. “I wanted to tell her how happy and blessed I am that my son found the perfect person. I couldn’t ask for a better second daughter and I’m more than excited to have you officially join the family.”
“Mr. Donovan,” she sniffled, feeling tears build up.
“I think it’s time you called me, Dad”.
She stepped into his outstretched arms and cried for a few seconds. Sniffling, she pulled back and smiled at him. “I’m so lucky to have the best second dad any girl could ask for.”
“It’s my honor. Now, go in there and finish getting ready so you can marry my son.”
“And I’m incredibly lucky to have a very beautiful, intelligent daughter. Even if she is going to go thousands of miles away to be with her husband.” Her father said, stepped up next to Mr. Donovan. “You look amazing, sweetie. You’ll outshine everyone in the room once you’re walking down the aisle on my arm. Now, do as your other father says and go get ready.”
Laughing, she went back inside and sat in front of the mirror. “Okay, Becky, make me beautiful.”
“You’re already there. I’ll just make you sparkle.” Becky said as the flash of a camera went off.
She allowed her mind to float as Becky seemed to apply the perfect amount of shimmer and blush in all the right places. In less than thirty minutes, she would be Mrs. Jaxon Donovan. She would be marrying the m
an of childhood dreams and he was so much better than she could have ever asked for.
“There. Just in the nick of time,” Becky stepped back and pulled at the chair. “Are you ready to get married?”
Jaxon was sweaty and it had next to nothing to do with the warmer than usual spring day. As each bridesmaid had walked down the aisle he’d felt more and more like he was ready to jump of his skin. Seeing Kailey glide along with Jim made him wish he could tug at his collar. Thankfully, all his time in the military standing at attention made it possible for him to ignore that urge so he didn’t look like a nervous cad when they watch the video of their wedding.
Without warning the tempo of the Wedding March deepened and he watched as the guests in the yard rose. Shaded, just outside his vision he heard the back door crack open for the final time.
He was unprepared to see Adrianna standing before him in a wedding gown, and the sight nearly brought him to his knees. Her blonde hair lifted in the gentle breeze, rustling the curls before setting them almost carefully back down on her shoulder. She’d chosen an unconventional dress – an off the shoulder lace gown that went to just below her knees. The lace was covering up some short of a white shimmering layer of fabric, and she looked to be every bit the angel he knew her to be as she walked towards him.
When she kissed her father and passed her bouquet of star gazer lilies - or at least that’s what he thought they were called - to Kailey, he couldn’t help himself.
“I love you.”
She looked at him, her piecing hazel eyes glimmering with happiness through the lace veil. “I love you too, Mr. Donovan. Now let’s go make me a Mrs.’.” She slipped both her hands into his and squeezed them.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the union of Jaxon Donovan and Adrianna Laurant. They have requested a shortened ceremony, so that they may catch the proper light for photos against the Mississippi.” The Justice of the Peace nodded his head. “Please place the rings on each other’s fingers and exchange your vows.”
He felt the cool slide of the white gold ring as it went over his finger. His hands shook just enough that he worried she would see, but if she did, she gave no indication. As the matching band slid over her ring finger there was no explanation for the burst of utter happiness he felt pass over him.
“I, Jaxon, take you, Adrianna, to be my lawfully wedded wife. I promise to cherish you everyday, and make the burden of being a Marine spouse as small as possible. Adrianna, I’ve known you since I was eight. I watched you grow and somewhere along the way fell for my baby sister’s best friend. I was an arrogant, cocky teenager who wouldn’t have been worthy of you. I’m grateful for the years we spent apart. They allowed me to grown into a man that could honor and cherish you the way you deserve. I can’t promise you every morning and every night because of my job, but I can promise you every single one when I’m not deployed. You are giving up everything to allow me to continue to make the world a better place. I will not for a single second of a single day forget your sacrifice. I love you, Adrianna and I pledge to spend all my remaining days making certain you know it.”
He breathed out a sigh on the final word, unsure of how he made it through the planned speech without fumbling, except for having said it in the mirror at least ten times an hour since he wrote it last week.
“I, Adrianna, take you, Jaxon, to be my lawfully wedded husband. I fell in love you with the only way a teenage girl can – fast, hard and without any actual knowledge of what love was – not to mention without ever having dated you.”
Her comment drew a bit of laughter from their guests. She smiled at him and he kicked himself for not seeing what he was missing so many years ago.
“When you showed up to walk me down this very same aisle a year ago, I couldn’t take my eyes off you. When we slow danced and you told me the horrors you’d seen, I couldn’t stop myself from falling in love with you. I’ve never known a home other than New Orleans, and I’m more excited than anything that I get to spend the rest of my life seeing the world with you. You make not only the world as a whole a better place, you make anywhere you are a better place. I love you, Jaxon, and I’m ready to spend a lifetime with you.”
“By the power vested in me, you may know kiss the bride.”
Jaxon’s hands visibly trembled as he reached out to lift the delicate lace veil. She didn’t take her eyes off of his for a second, and when his lips meant hers, pure euphoria raced from his head to his toes. He took her in his arms, and dipped her. Her lips were slick under his, lip gloss mucking up the perfect moment. It took all the restraint he had in him to put her back upright and step away. When he did, he saw the tears shinning in her eyes and smiled.
“I’m so glad Jim’s best man couldn’t walk you down that damn aisle.” He whispered into her ear.
“I’ll never need something borrowed again,” Adrianna grinned as she kissed him a second time.
About the Author
Lexi Ostrow has been in love with the written word since second grade when her librarian started a writing club. Born in sunny southern California, she's spent time in various places across the country and is so excited to be settled in New Orleans for as long as the Coast Guard will let her family be there. Wife to a Coastie, mom to a far too adorable newborn, and a menagerie of pets, she couldn't think of a better place to spin fantastical worlds.
Lexi has been a writer in some form or another since she was old enough to read. Getting her degree in creative writing and her master's in journalism she couldn't wait to get a chance to put her fantasies down on paper. From paranormal romance to thriller there isn't a genre she doesn't love to spend her time reading or writing. With her BA in creative writing from UCR and her MA in multi-media Journalism from Emerson College, she's ready to take on the literary world one novel at a time.
Reading and writing are her first loves, but her passion for shopping, love for yummy food and her love for all her many pets are not far behind. Lexi is an enthusiast Whovian and DC Comic Show lover who isn't afraid to talk someone's ear off about them. She hopes to help other readers fall in love with reading and even writing as she did.
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The Wedding Gift
by Gemma Brocato
Chapter One
Dark clouds shifted over the sun, dulling the late afternoon light. With the ominous colored blockage came haunting memories of the dingy, gray eternity Gage Cassidy had been trapped in when the building he’d been working on in Mosul had collapsed. Or rather, when it had been bombed to shit by rebels and then fell down around his ears.
Branches of a nearby tree rubbed together…the creaking, snapping sound grated on his eardrums. It was an eerie reminder of the sounds made by the concrete walls and steel beams barely supporting the jumbled, terrifying weight above him.
The dismay reflected in Elle Sweeney’s gaze after their most recent argument had been almost as crushing. For the first time since he’d returned, he wondered if his fiancée might actually leave him, his phobias and the God-awful nightmares. He’d turned into a morose bastard after the bombing. She hadn’t signed up for a life where the smallest sound could launch his over-the-top reaction. His heart rate escalated until it seemed the muscle might break through his ribs.
Unable to bear his thoughts, or the creaking sounds overhead, Gage leaped to his feet and sprinted away from the bench where he’d rested. Feeling sorry for himself and wishing the goddamn panic attack would ease was asinine. Running along the river trail probably wasn’t helping his heart rate. It was, however, symbolic of the past few months when he’d been trying to run away from a problem he couldn’t fix.
As a captain in the engineering battalion, he’d been assigned to aid in rebuilding the in
frastructure in Iraq. His deployment was coming to an end and he and Elle had been making plans for his return stateside in two months. On the day of the bombing, he’d led his squad from the illusion of safety at the base camp and into the dangerous inner city. That month, they’d been assigned to work on an Iraqi government building. A job not entirely popular with local insurgents.
He’d been on the first floor when the top five stories caved in on him and his crew. Fortunately, he had been under an area with steel reinforcement. The walls had still tumbled down around them but he’d been spared. Two privates, Connors and Griffin, who’d been on the first floor with him, hadn’t been as lucky. The seven other members of his team had been working on the third level and none had survived.
Gage kicked up his pace along the trail, speeding away from the demons that never let him rest. He cranked the volume on AC/DC’s Highway To Hell, hoping to drown out the voices in his head.
Connors had been partially compressed beneath thousands of tons of debris. His anguished screams had lasted two agonizing minutes. The man’s shrill pleas for help…for his mother…still infiltrated Gage’s dreams, jolting him awake in a heart-pounding rush, drenched in sweat. Griffin had suffered a traumatic brain and spinal cord injury when a steel beam had broken free of its mooring. The beam had plummeted, scoring a direct hit to the man’s shoulders and neck, landing across his back. He was in a VA hospital back in Maryland.
Miraculously, Gage had escaped injury. But he’d been trapped under the wreckage, forced to listen to Griffin’s labored breathing for the longest forty-three hours of his life. That’s the amount of time it took rescue workers to dig them out. The pool of Connor’s blood had seeped along a crevice—soaking Gage’s BDUs in sticky, coppery smelling, dull reddish-brown. Hours with no food and little water had dehydrated him, made him hallucinate conversations with his dead and dying comrades.
