Unbreakable (Unrestrained #4)

by S. E. Lund

  We picked up Ken and then Dave and drove to the small jewelry shop located on a side street close to Ethan’s in Midtown. I went inside and picked up the carefully wrapped box and returned, smiling.

  “What is it? Can’t we see?” Ken said, excited about the whole business, the expression on his face like a little boy expecting to see a frog or lizard.

  “You’ll have to wait to see it at the wedding. I’ll have to find Kate before the ceremony and give it to her.”

  “Bad luck to see the bride before the wedding,” Dave said, shaking his head.

  “Hogwash,” I said, and smiled. “I saw her less than twenty-four hours ago, so if it’s true, we’re already done and we haven’t even married yet.”

  “Just sayin',” Dave said and grinned.

  We arrived at Ethan’s penthouse and the limo dropped us off at the front entrance. The three of us piled into the elevator and straightened our suits and ties, smoothing our hair, and generally primping. I rang the bell at the entryway and Christie answered, her face flushed. She looked frenetic but smiled when she saw us.

  “Oh, it’s you guys,” she said and smiled. “We were wondering where you were.”

  “We’re here with only the second most important person of the day,” Dave said and grinned. “We have the groom all ready and waiting to marry his bride.”

  We entered and Christie pointed to the living room. “Guests are sitting down already,” she said, her voice breathless. “If you need it, you can use the spare bedroom in the back and the main bathroom is for you guys. Kate will be using the master bathroom in her parent’s bedroom.”

  “Thanks,” I said and we proceeded to go back to the spare bedroom, which had a sign taped to the door. Groom.

  “That would be me,” I said and opened the door. We went inside and Dave went right to the mirror on the closet door and checked himself out.

  “We got about ten minutes to spare,” Ken said. “If you’re going to give that to Kate, you had better do it now.”

  I nodded and took in a deep breath. “No time like the present.”

  Then I left the room in search of my bride.

  I slipped out of the spare bedroom and went down the hallway to Ethan and Elaine’s bedroom, expecting to find Kate there but instead, she was hopping down the hallway to the main bathroom, her skirt held up. While I watched, she seemed to get stuck and fell against the wall, muttering under her breath.

  When she turned around and saw me, I knew she’d be upset that we actually laid eyes on each other, but I wasn’t going to let her superstitions prevent me from giving her my gift.

  I smiled. The first time I ever saw her, she almost fell into my arms. Now, a few moments before our wedding, she was still falling.

  Just as I fell for her.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Kate

  A year to the day that I met Drake at my father's fundraiser, I was in my parent's bedroom at their apartment on Park Avenue.

  The master bedroom was decorated in a sparse Zen décor but today, it was crowded. My father sat in his wheelchair and presided over the final touches to my 'costume' for the day – a floor-length white wedding dress with a corset-style bodice and a sweetheart neckline, the sheath covered in French lace, the skirt A-line with a long pleated train that spread out behind me a full five feet, tiny satin-covered buttons down the back. It was far more than I had wanted, especially for a small ceremony at my father's apartment, but he had his ways of convincing me. He helped me pick it when Drake and I returned from Africa.

  "What do you think, Daddy?" I asked, turning around in a circle in front of him. When he got tears in his eyes, and covered his mouth with a hand, I knew I made the right choice.

  "Beautiful," he managed, blinking his eyes.

  "Oh, Daddy…" I went to him and kissed his cheek, taking his good hand in mine and squeezing. He'd never recovered the full use of his left side, the paralysis lingering longer than we anticipated but he was getting therapy for it and had been making slow progress month by month. His name had been removed from the ballot, but he was determined to try once more in two years.

  He wouldn’t walk me down the aisle, but he'd wheel me and that was good enough for me.

  When we were alone, I sat on the bed beside him while he sat in his wheelchair, adjusting his cuffs.

  "What did you and Drake talk about before he left Manhattan to return to Nairobi? I never did ask you and Drake won't tell me."

  My father tilted his head, a faraway look in his eyes.

  "He told me to get better. That I was too young to kick the bucket just yet and that he didn’t want to lose the only father he had left." He turned to me and smiled softly. "He said a bunch of other really melodramatic stuff that men of our nature don't really like to admit to, stuff about love and family and loyalty, and all that crap. You know."

  I smiled and shook my head. "You’re both old softies at heart."

  "I'll deny that to my dying day," he said and laughed.

  Outside the bedroom, I heard the harpist start to play music, signaling that the few guests who were attending must be arriving.

  "Guess it's almost time," my father said. "Better finish up your primping and preening. Take a pee before we get started."

  I smiled and stood up, deciding to take his advice.

  As I waited to use the en suite bathroom, I thought about the wedding. I had insisted that we not get married in church as I no longer considered myself a practicing Catholic. My father was initially upset, but he finally gave in.

  We would have less than a dozen guests, most of them friends of my father's and colleagues from Doctors Without Borders. Nigel and his partner were attending as was Dave Mills. Michael had flown in from Nairobi the night before, but strangely, Claire had been unable to come.

  I felt bad that Dawn wasn't attending, but we hadn't been able to reconcile, despite how happy I was with Drake. It was a hole in my life that would never be filled. Lara attended, demanding to have some role, since it was she who selected Drake for me based on my profile at FetLife and met me to discuss my “research”.

  I had wanted to spend the previous night at my father's so Drake and I could follow protocol and not see each other for the 24-hour period prior to our wedding, but Drake wouldn't hear of it.

  "I said I didn't want us to be separated again, and I want it to stay that way," Drake said when I suggested spending the night at my father's. "To hell with your silly superstition. I'm a scientist, and there's simply no convincing evidence that allowing the bride and groom to see each other before the ceremony leads to a failed marriage."

  "But it’s a tradition!' I protested.

  "It's a tradition based on a time when the bride and groom had never even seen each other and was intended to prevent one or the other from running off in horror when they did. We've both already seen every single naked inch of each other so there's no fear of that. Besides, look what happened to my first marriage. We followed all the rules."

  I couldn't argue. Drake had a traditional wedding with Maureen, and had been apart for the night before the wedding. It did nothing to protect their marriage.

  I relented and stayed with him the night before the ceremony, but I made it a point to not look at him that entire evening and when we made love, he blindfolded me, which, luckily, was not a departure from the norm given the nature of our bedroom games. Drake tried to make me look him in the eye, but I was successful in avoiding it, studiously keeping my eyes squeezed shut even when he tickled me, making me silly with laughter afterward.

  I got up really early the day of our wedding, didn't even look at him once my eyes opened, and careful slipped out of the apartment we now shared before he woke up. I knew that if I didn't, he'd forced me to look in his eyes to make a point.

  I didn't want to take chances with Fate, as much as I knew he was right.

  So it was that I hadn't seen Drake for almost twenty-four hours when our late afternoon ceremony at my father's apartment appro
ached. Elaine, Heath's wife Christie and I had been sipping champagne cocktails while we dressed, to take the edge off our nerves, and so once Elaine was finished with my hair, attaching the veil to a clip in my up do, I had to use the washroom.

  Christie was inside the en suite, so I slipped outside the bedroom to the main washroom down the hall, holding my dress up so I didn’t trip over it, but I stepped on the tulle and I fell against the wall trying not to rip it, my dress bunched up around me.

  "Oh, Damn…" I muttered as I tried to free my foot from the fabric.

  It was then Drake appeared, ruining my plans to avoid seeing him until I walked down the aisle. All I saw was a flash of sober black, a white bow tie, black shiny hair and blue-blue eyes beneath thick black lashes, but it was enough to know it was my husband-to-be. The man who could still take my breath away, he was that gorgeous.

  I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut.

  "Dammit!" I said, covering my eyes with a hand. "I didn’t want to see you yet!"

  "Well, nice to see you, too, Ms. Bennet," he said, his voice filled with humor. "Falling over in the hallway, are you? I don't see any high heels on you this time. Or any bloody knees and hands but I do hope you're wearing some nice garters and stockings…"

  I grinned at the reference to that first time we met, but kept my hand plastered over my eyes so I couldn't see him. "Only my usual deft footing to blame, I'm afraid. Please go away so I can go to the washroom without seeing you."

  "You already saw me," he said and bent down, freeing my foot from the hole I had made in the tulle despite my efforts to avoid it. Then he stood and took my hands in his, prying them away from my eyes. I kept my eyes shut regardless. "If you’re right, you might as well accept that our marriage is over, and we might as well break up right now."

  I opened my eyes at that, only to see his huge grin.

  "I knew that would work," he said and held me out at arm's length. Then, he turned me around in a circle, the train of my dress twisting so that I had to bend down and fix it. When I stood back up, the train in my hand, his eyes moved over me, stopping on my cleavage, which the strapless bodice was unable to entirely keep restrained. He made a little sound in the back of his throat when I fixed it, pulling the bodice up a bit to cover myself.

  "Is that better?" I asked, adjusting my breasts.

  "You look…" he said and shook his head slowly. "You look like you're covered in icing sugar and ready to be licked all over. How will I make it through the night?"

  I smiled, pleased that he approved. "Do you like it? My father picked it out."

  Drake clicked his tongue. "The man has wonderful taste." Then he moved closer to me, his arms slipping around my waist, pulling me against his body. "Speaking of taste, I want one…"

  Then he kissed me, his mouth covering mine, his lips warm and soft. His touch sent a thrill through my body, igniting a fire in me that I knew wouldn’t soon burn out. His hand slipped over top of my dress, up from my waist to my bust, his fingers tracing the upper curves of my breasts.

  "It's a beautiful dress, but to tell you the truth, I can't wait to strip this off you."

  Then he reached into a pocket and pulled out a white jewelry box with a white ribbon tied around it.

  "Here," he said. "Your neck is bare."

  "As you commanded," I said. The previous night, he'd instructed me not to wear my collar. I wondered why at the time, but now I knew. He had something else for me to wear.

  "I had to sneak past the guards to get this to you before the ceremony."

  I took the box and untied the ribbon, my fingers trembling. Inside was a necklace in white gold, the necklace encrusted with tiny diamonds, a large red teardrop diamond dangling from the center.

  "Oh, my God, Drake." I held the box up, the diamonds sparkling in the light.

  "Come here," he said and pulled me into the bathroom and in front of the large mirror. He took the necklace from the box and went behind me to place it around my neck. The large diamond hung below my throat.

  "It's beautiful," I whispered, barely able to speak.

  "Look at yourself," he said, his face next to mine. "You're beautiful, future Mrs. Katherine Marie McDermott Morgan."

  I smiled at him in the mirror. He seemed really pleased that I decided to take his name and keep my father's as well. I realized that it was the perfect compromise. It touched me deeply that he wanted people to know I was his wife.

  "Hopefully, every man you meet will think this necklace is just an indulgent extravagance on my part, but this is your new collar." He adjusted it on my neck. "Now you'll truly be mine," he said, his voice soft.

  "I already was yours, Drake," I said, choking up.

  I looked at my reflection – my hair was done in a soft up do, the veil behind me, the necklace around my throat, the lace of my dress catching the light. Drake stood behind me, his eyes moving over my reflection, his expression one of pure possession. He moved his hands over my shoulders and down to my hands, threading his fingers through mine, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror.

  Then, he released my hands and slowly turned me around, pulled me into his arms and kissed me. If I had any lingering doubts about how Drake felt about me, and about our future together, they dissipated like fog on a warm summer morning.

  He'd broken all his rules for me, to be with me, to have me.

  I was his and he was mine, completely.

  “We have to get back,” I said and tried to pull out of his arms. He held me tight.

  “Just one more moment,” he whispered. His arms tightened around me, his face pressed into my neck, his lips on the skin beneath my ear.

  I gave in and hugged him back, my emotions almost overwhelming me for a moment. My eyes teared up and when he pulled back, he smiled.

  “Oh, Katie,” he said softly. “I hope those are tears of happiness, or we’re off to a rocky start…”

  I almost burst out in tears at that. “Of course they are,” I said and quickly wiped the tears off my cheeks. “I’ve never been so happy in my life.”

  “Me either,” Drake said. “I wanted to see you before the ceremony to give you the necklace and to say one last time before we are married that you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Every day when I see you in the morning, when I wake up and you’re the first thing I see? I thank God, the universe, Fate, Karma, and whatever else put us together. For the first time in my life I see a happy future for myself and it’s all because of you.”

  “Oh, Drake,” I said and hugged him once more, my tears starting again. “If you keep talking like that, I’ll be a mess for the ceremony.”

  “Sorry, but it’s the truth,” Drake said. Then, he tickled me, his fingers digging into my ribs, under my armpits and I squealed like a child, my tears drying up, replaced by laughter.

  “That’s better,” he said and smiled widely, leaning over me as I tried to get away from his hands. “I want a happy bride, not one with tears on her face. I want you smiling, thinking of our life together. Our night at the Ritz, and our honeymoon in Nassau.”

  I took in a deep breath and let him embrace me once more. “I’ll be smiling.”

  He kissed me once more, warmly, deeply, his arms circling my waist and pulling me against him.

  “Now, we better go to our appointed corners so we can be on time,” Drake said and let go of me. He adjusted his suit jacket and tie and then smiled. “I love you, Ms. Bennet.”

  “I love you Doctor Delish,” I said and waved my hand at him. “See you in five minutes.”

  He slipped out the door and his face was the last thing I saw, his blue eyes and smile making my heart flip.

  I felt he was already mine, but the ceremony would cement it.

  I turned to the mirror, adjusted my new necklace and then I went to get married.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Drake

  Everything went off without a hitch.

  Ken turned to me and checked his watch. “Time to walk the plank,”
he said with a grin. “At the end, you gotta jump in. Any last minute reservations, get it over now.”

  I shook my head. “Not a chance,” I said and laid my hand on his shoulder. “More determined than ever.”

  I turned to Dave. “You’re not going to offer any objections on the basis that you wanted Kate for yourself?”

  Dave laughed and shook his head. “Wouldn’t work, and besides, I like my job.”

  Joking over with, the three of us left the spare bedroom and made our way to the living room for the ceremony. There were about fifteen people in attendance besides those in the ceremony itself. Ethan and Kate were not in the living room yet, but Elaine was already seated in the front row, looking beautiful in a pale blue dress.

  Dave sat on the groom’s side of the aisle, and Ken and I went to the front of the room where our officiant, Steve McLean, a man in a sober black suit and tie, waited, his hands folded and a smile on his face.

  We stood at the front of the room and waited while the harpist played something light and airy, the few guests we had all smiles. Finally, the music changed to the Here Comes the Bride piece and everyone in the room turned, including Ken and I. Kate was in the entrance with Ethan beside her in his wheelchair.

  She looked absolutely perfect. The necklace I gave her only moments earlier sparkled in the light, her eyes were bright, and a smile graced her beautiful mouth. Ethan looked overcome with emotion, his face flushed, but I knew he was happy. I felt incredibly lucky that a man like Ethan wanted me for his beloved daughter. Fathers tend to be overly protective of their baby girls and so winning his trust was a privilege.