by Susan Stoker
Marrying Emily
Delta Force Heroes, Book 4
Susan Stoker
Stoker Aces Publication
Contents
Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Also by Susan Stoker
About the Author
Blurb
Few people know better than Delta Force soldiers that life is unbearably short and achingly precious. So Cormac Fletcher isn’t waiting one more day to marry the love of his life, Emily. Fletch has already adopted her daughter, Annie. Now it’s time to officially make Emily his too.
Emily understands just about every woman experiences a few wedding snafus—but they’re usually not of the harrowing, life-or-death variety. Fortunately for her, a guest list full of Delta soldiers and SEALs will make this an event to remember—for both Emily and the uninvited guests trying to ruin her special day.
**Marrying Emily is the 4th book in the Delta Force Heroes Series. It can be read as a stand-alone, but it’s recommended you read the books in order to get maximum enjoyment out of the series.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by Susan Stoker
No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.
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Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover Design by Chris Mackey, AURA Design Group
Edited by Kelli Collins & Missy Borucki
Manufactured in the United States
1
Emily smiled at her daughter as she nervously and excitedly paced back and forth in the small room. Her white flower girl dress billowed around her with every step, her black combat boots peeking out from under the hem as she walked. She refused to have her hair styled, and the long, dark blonde locks cascaded down her back in artful disarray. The blue bandage on her elbow stood out brightly against the white of her dress, not quite covering all the scrapes she’d gotten that morning after falling on the sidewalk in front of the church. She’d been running around like the wild little girl she was and had tripped.
Luckily, Coach was there to pick her up and find a Skylanders bandage in the church’s first-aid kit.
“She’s beautiful,” Rayne murmured from next to Emily, obviously also watching the little girl.
Emily turned her head to look at her friend. She wasn’t sure how close their friendship would be when she’d first met the other woman, but now she couldn’t imagine her life without Rayne in it. It was amazing how quickly her circle of friends was growing. She could talk to Rayne concerning her worries about Fletch and his job as a Delta Force operative, and now that Coach had a serious girlfriend, they had another person in their fold as well.
Harley was a video game designer and she’d easily won over Annie with her computer-geek speak. Emily had a feeling Annie would be wanting to follow in the other woman’s footsteps when she got older…if she didn’t become a soldier.
Mary was also a frequent visitor to their house. She was a bit brash, but it wasn’t hard to see it was all a front, and that she was hiding a lot of emotions beneath her gruff exterior. But she loved Rayne unconditionally and would staunchly defend her against any slights. That made Emily love her all the more.
All three women were currently in the room with her. As her bridesmaids, it was their job to keep Fletch away so he didn’t see Emily before the ceremony. And he’d tried. Three times.
The first was when they’d arrived at the church. They’d piled out of the limo after getting their hair done at a fancy salon and Annie had spotted Fletch first. She’d screamed his name and had torn off toward him, her arms outstretched.
Mary had grabbed Emily’s arm, swung her around in an Oscar-worthy move and shoved her back into the limo before Emily even knew what was happening.
“What are you doing out here?” Rayne demanded, her body blocking the door to the limo that Emily had just disappeared into. “You know you aren’t allowed to see Emily before the ceremony!”
“Hey, ladies,” Fletch drawled, holding Annie in his arms on his hip. “I just wanted to make sure you got here all right without any issues.”
“We’re here and we’re good,” Mary told him, “so you can just go…wherever…and let us get inside and continue getting ready.”
“It was sooooo boring!” Annie declared. “All mommy did was sit there and sit there and sit there while the lady played with her hair.”
Fletch chuckled and kissed Annie’s temple. “She did, huh? And what about you?”
The little girl shook her head vigorously and repeated, “It was boring.”
“She tried,” Harley commented. “But even I have to admit…it was boring.”
Fletch took a step to the side, but Mary copied his movements, blocking his view of Emily…even though there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d be able to see anything past the deeply tinted windows on the vehicle.
Rayne reached out for Annie and told Fletch, “Go on now. We have things to do. You’ll see Emily soon enough.”
Annie allowed the other woman to take her out of Fletch’s arms, but wiggled in Rayne’s grasp. She put the little girl down and everyone smiled as she raced off toward the church, yelling Coach’s name.
The second time Fletch had tried to sneak in to see Emily, Harley caught him. He was lurking outside the room where they were getting makeup applied, trying to get a glimpse of his fiancée. She slammed the door in his face and made all the women laugh.
The third time, Annie caught him. He’d been inside the women’s restroom, waiting for Emily to need to use the facilities so he could sneak a peak…and probably a kiss or two. By then, the little girl had caught on to his game and had screeched in mock-fright and pushed him out of the room. Her little hands on his butt as she scolded him.
Now it was twenty minutes until the ceremony was supposed to start. They were all dressed, made-up, and were simply killing time.
“Was it weird meeting Fletch’s parents?” Rayne asked.
Emily immediately shook her head. “No. I thought it would be. I mean, who meets their future in-laws the day before they marry their son? But they were extremely down-to-earth and super friendly. They apologized for not being able to make it to Annie’s adoption ceremony, and were totally sincere about it too.”
“Why couldn’t they be there?” Harley asked.
Emily turned to the newest member of their girl posse and smiled. Harley’s hair was in a dramatic up-do with baby’s breath placed here and there. She had a few tendrils framing her face and the navy-blue spaghetti-strap dress looked amazing on her tall, lithe frame.
“His mom was in the hospital. I guess it was some sort of infection that had gotten into her lungs.”
“But she’s okay now?” Mary demanded.
Emily mentally chasti
sed herself. Mary was extremely sensitive when it came to hospitals and other people being sick. Rayne didn’t talk about it much, and Mary never brought it up, but they all knew about Mary’s bout with breast cancer. Emily wondered if there was something more going on with her, but now definitely wasn’t the time to bring it up.
“She’s okay now,” Emily reassured the other woman. “They wanted to come sooner, but it never really worked out and Fletch didn’t want them traveling if his mom wasn’t a hundred percent.”
“Makes sense,” Rayne replied matter-of-factly. “What did they say when they met you though? Seriously, you weren’t freaked out?”
“I was,” Emily contradicted her earlier statement, “at first. But Annie was there. And since she doesn’t really have any grandparents, she was over-the-moon excited to meet them. She broke the ice between us easily.”
“Oh man,” Mary said softly, not wanting Annie to overhear. “She can get a bit exuberant.”
Emily chuckled. “That’s the understatement of the year. The second they got out of the car and Fletch said it was okay, she ran toward them, threw her arms around his mom’s waist and called her Nana. Then she turned to his dad, did the same thing, and called him Papa. I don’t even know where she heard those nicknames. The looks on his parents’ faces was priceless.”
“He’s their only child, right?” Rayne asked.
Emily nodded. “Yeah. I swear to God I saw tears in his mom’s eyes. After that, meeting me was a walk in the park.”
The women chuckled.
“I can imagine,” Rayne said.
“So they spent the afternoon at our house yesterday and slept in the apartment over the garage. They’re staying at a hotel tonight. They said they didn’t want to impose on our wedding night.”
“You seriously aren’t going anywhere tonight? I figured you’d for sure go to a hotel in Waco or something,” Mary said, her eyebrows raised in question.
Emily shook her head. “No. We decided we wanted the reception to be as low-key as possible. No huge party or anything. And since we’re having it at the house, we didn’t want to have to drive anywhere afterwards.”
“But you are going on a honeymoon, right?” Harley asked.
“Oh yeah.” Emily smiled huge, thinking about it. “In a couple months, we’re going down to Big Bend. It’s isolated and there’s a lodge that has the cutest little cabins. They don’t even have Internet. So we can be totally alone and not have to worry about anything.”
“Is Annie going too?” Mary questioned, looking over at the little girl who was playing with a dozen or so small green Army men on the windowsill and muttering to herself.
“She wanted to, but Fletch’s parents offered to come back here and stay with her,” Emily told her friends.
“And she was okay with that?” Harley asked.
Emily raised her eyebrows and opened her eyes wide, as if to say, “Are you kidding me?”
The women laughed.
“She’s okay with that,” Harley pronounced, a grin on her face.
“Yeah. She already has them wrapped around her little finger. Spending four days with her new nana and papa is high on her list of awesome things to happen in her life. So yeah, she’s more than okay with it.”
“Have you talked about having more kids?” Mary asked in a serious tone that sounded off somehow.
Emily shook her head slowly. “No, not really. I mean, I’m pretty sure Fletch wants more, simply because he’s so good with Annie. But I don’t think I’m really ready for that yet.”
“Take it from me, don’t wait. You never know when you’ll lose the chance to have kids forever.”
The room was silent after Mary’s pronouncement. The pain in her tone was clear and the agony on her face was heartbreaking.
“Mary,” Rayne began, but before she could continue, there was a loud knock at the door.
“You all about ready in there?” Beatle called out.
Annie left her toys on the windowsill and raced for the door. Before she could throw it open in abandon, Emily quickly called out, “Ask who it is first, baby.”
Even though it was obvious who it was, Beatle’s southern drawl easily recognizable, Annie paused at the door, her little fingers on the knob, and practically yelled, “Who is it?”
“It’s Beatle, sprite,” came the reply.
Annie wrenched open the door and screeched, “Bug man!”
She’d seen him earlier that day, but every time she saw him, she greeted him the same way.
Beatle smiled and held out his arms as Annie leapt into them. He hefted her up and held her tightly as he turned to the ladies. “It’s almost time.”
His eyes locked on Emily and she could easily see the appreciation in his gaze before he mumbled, “Fletch is a damn lucky man.”
Emily blushed. It was silly, but she couldn’t help it. Out of all of Fletch’s teammates, she knew Beatle and Blade the least, but she knew she was safe with them…with all the guys. As was her little girl. All of Fletch’s teammates had babysat Annie at one time or another.
“Thanks,” she told him somewhat shyly. “But I think you have it backwards. I’m the lucky woman.”
“Whatever,” he murmured, then turned his attention back to Annie. “You ready? Where’s your basket?”
Annie’s head spun around to look for the white, flower girl basket she was supposed to carry down the aisle. If Beatle hadn’t been holding on to her tightly, she would’ve wrenched herself out of his grasp and fallen to the ground. But Beatle, like all the men, was used to her abrupt mannerisms, and kept her from hurting herself.
“It’s over there!” Annie said, pointing toward the window where she’d been playing.
Beatle gently put her back on the ground and told her, “Well, go grab it. It’s almost showtime!” Then he looked back up at the women, specifically Emily. “Fletch has been waiting a long time for this day. I’m pleased as I could be for him, Emily.”
“Thanks,” she said, standing up and walking over to her fiancé’s teammate. “Thank you for all you’ve done for me and Annie. I know it can’t be easy to look after her. She’s a handful.”
Beatle shook his head. “Not at all. She’s a delight. I love watching her face light up with excitement when we take her to the base and let her play on the obstacle course. Or when we crawl around in the dirt pretending to be soldiers on a battlefield. She might not be your typical girly-girl, but she has the biggest heart of any child I’ve ever met. You’ve done an amazing job in raising her to be exactly who she is, rather than who society wants her to be.”
Emily’s eyes welled up with tears. It hadn’t been easy being a single parent to the precocious little girl. She was too smart for her own good, and it had been an extremely tough road for a while. But with Fletch and all his teammates’ attention and love, Annie was growing up to be confident, happy, and outgoing…all while keeping her own sense of self. Emily didn’t exactly look forward to when she was a teenager, but she hoped and prayed she’d continue to be the joyful child she was today.
“Thanks, Beatle. That means the world to me.”
“You’re welcome. Now…shall we go put your fiancé out of his misery? I swear to God he’s been grumpy as a pissed-off alley cat. He’s not happy he hasn’t seen you today. In case you didn’t know.”
Emily laughed and carefully ran her fingers under both eyes, wiping away the errant moisture, thankful for the waterproof mascara the makeup artist had insisted on. “Yeah, I think I got that.”
They both smiled at each other.
“Come on, baby,” Emily called to her daughter who was fiddling with her basket by the window.
Annie came running over to her mom and leaned against her side heavily. Emily put a hand on top of her head and smiled down at her lovingly.
Rayne came up on one side of Emily, and Mary on the other. Harley stood next to Mary. Emily looked at her friends. “Let’s do this so we can get on to the party.”
They
all grinned and nodded.
Emily then looked back up at Beatle and gestured to the door with her head. “Lead on, Bug Man. I’m ready to become Mrs. Cormac Fletcher.”
2
Fletch fidgeted in the tiny room behind the altar. He couldn’t pace, there simply wasn’t enough room. Not with all of his teammates crammed in there with him. Ghost, Coach, Hollywood, Beatle, Blade, Truck, and the newest member of their clan, Fish, were all watching him with varying degrees of humor, jealously, and delight. The humor because they hadn’t seen him this discomfited in a long time, if ever. Jealously, because in a few minutes he’d be tying himself to the woman he loved body and soul, and he wasn’t afraid to admit it. Delight for the same reason.
Fish simply looked uncomfortable. It had been Truck’s idea to invite the former operative. Dane “Fish” Munroe had belonged to a Delta Force team that had been ambushed over in the Middle East. His arm had been blown off, and Truck and the rest of the team had hauled his ass out of the middle of the destruction and to safety…saving his life in the process.
Fish had been medically retired out of the military because of his injuries and was currently in rehab. He was pale and held himself stiffly. It was obvious he wasn’t sure exactly why he was even there in the first place, but Truck had stubbornly browbeat the man until he’d agreed to attend. And not only that, but to stand up as one of the groomsmen. It wasn’t hard to see Fish was adrift. He’d not only lost part of his arm, but his entire close-knit Delta team and his job too.
So Truck had sort of adopted the man. Visiting Fish at the rehab clinic down in Austin every chance he could, talking about his lost teammates, and generally trying to engage him. Having him attend the wedding was just one more way to try to bring him back to the land of the living.
Fletch cocked his head to the side and tugged on the collar of his shirt. The dress blue Army uniform was one he didn’t put on often, but he hadn’t considered wearing anything else on his wedding day. His friends and teammates were also in theirs, and he had to admit they all looked sharp.
