by Jacie Floyd
Clay narrowed his eyes. “That depends on whether or not you plan to do right by Gracie.”
“That’s why I’m here. Think I have a shot?”
“Good as any,” his cousin prophesied. “And you just caught her. She’s going back to Hartford this afternoon.”
“She’s in the carriage house packing,” Tanya revealed. “Good luck.”
Dylan rushed up the stairs with his heart beating in his throat. MacDuff woofed a welcome before he knocked.
Gracie opened the door holding a wedding bouquet in her hands. A spark of hope flared in her beautiful brown eyes that widened in disbelief. “What?”
All his carefully planned speeches flew out of his head. “What’s with the flowers? You’re not going to marry Baxter, are you?” Logically, he knew there was no way. Emotionally, he worried.
A hint of a smile tilted the corners of her mouth. “Would that be a problem?”
“Hell, yes, that would be a problem.” He pushed past her and into the apartment. “I know him, Gracie. I know him and his kind too well. I used to be his kind! A self-centered, two-timing player. He won’t care about making you happy. He just wants you to make him happy. If you’re willing to marry someone like him, marry me instead.” Well, crap. That hadn’t come out right.
She laughed. He hadn’t expected that, but he had bungled the proposal pretty badly. Laughter and Gracie were an irresistible combination.
“I caught the bouquet at my cousin Marley’s wedding yesterday.” She stuck the flowers into a vase on the counter. “I was considering whether to take it with me or leave it here.” She turned to him and placed her hands on her hips. “I’m not marrying Baxter, but thank you very much for the moving proposal. Maybe you should try again. This time expand on the part about how you won’t be a good husband. I want to hear all about that before I make my decision.”
Encouraged despite his ineptness, he shook his head. “I’ll try to be a good husband, Gracie. I’ll try to be all the things you want and deserve. But you should know up front, I might not live up to your expectations. Or mine. But I love you. And I’ll try every day of our lives to make the good side of the scale outweigh the bad. Will you trust me to do that?”
She wrapped her fingers around his out-stretched hand. “I love you and I’ll trust you to do that.” She looked happier but still wary and uncertain. “But that wasn’t the only obstacle standing between us.”
“What else?” he asked, eager to dispose of all her worries.
“I have a career I love,” she said. “I won’t be a decorative fluff-ball of a wife, you know, ordered up on a whim for photo opportunities, social activities, and mindless sex then set aside to arrange flowers in the parlor till you’re ready for me again. Maybe for the mindless sex, but the rest of it, no.”
He took a step closer because this one was easy. “I’d never stand in the way of your career. It’s one of the things I love about you most. And the round of partying grew old a long time ago. Now, most of my social activities are charity events, and except for the Bradford Foundation activities, we can attend those or not—your choice.”
He swept her into his arms, thinking he’d shown admirable restraint not to kiss her the second he saw her, but she held him at arm’s length. “Hang on.”
“What else?”
“Your job is in New York. Mine is in Hartford. Where would we live?”
He frowned, because this one was a little more difficult. “With the Internet and conference calls, I can work from anywhere most of the time. My brother-in-law has decided he’d like a job with more regular hours. He’s joining Grandfather Steadman’s firm, which will allow me more time away from the office.
“We can live in my house in Hartford if you want, so that’s a non-problem. Sometimes I’ll need to be in New York, so I’ll keep my apartment there. But I’ll arrange those visits around your schedule whenever possible. If you’d rather live somewhere other than New York or Hartford, we can. Like Paris. Or London. Or here.”
“Here? In East Langden?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know the whole town would like for you to open a practice here. And I’ve been thinking about things we could do with the Old Maine building. Like start a co-op for the local carpenters and craftsmen. Maybe other vendors would like to participate, too.”
“You’d do that?”
“It makes sense. It wouldn’t be like giving them their old jobs back, but it might help supplement their incomes or their retirements. Boost the local economy.”
“You’re too good to be true.” She began kissing him then with such delicious enthusiasm that their clothes disappeared somehow. They were both naked within minutes.
“How’d that happen?” Bending his head to her neck, he breathed in her scent, her essence, her Gracie-ness.
“One of the miracles of love.” She slipped her arms around his neck.
“I think I’m going to like this love business.”
“Oh, you are.” She rubbed herself against him. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“Speaking of miracles of love...” Now it was his turn to take a step back. “Do you know yet if we made a baby or not?”
Her smile grew wary. “Does the answer to that question have any bearing on your proposal?”
“Nope,” he assured her, rubbing his palm against her tummy. “The only difference will be in timing. If you’re knocked up, I want to get married next week. If you’re not, we can wait until next month.”
She bit her bottom lip. “What if I still don’t know?”
“You want to have kids sooner or later, right?”
“Right.”
“I vote for sooner. Let’s get busy and increase our chances.” When she laughed, he scooped her up in his arms. Heading toward the bedroom, he tripped over her luggage. “Oh, yeah,” he said after he’d regained his balance. “Tanya and Clay told me you were going back to Hartford.”
“Not right this minute.” She cuddled closer.
“But when you go back, how are you going to get there?” He sat down on the bed, keeping her in his lap.
“I bought the Fleming’s Blazer. I’m going to drive.”
“No, you’re not,” he contradicted.
“I’m not?”
“I want to take you in the Gulfstream. Will you trust me to take you up?”
He thought she’d refuse straight out.
She drew back to look him in the eye. “It’s irrational, but you know I’m afraid to fly.”
“Hey,” he said, letting her have some space to think about it, “I’m afraid of commitment. You won’t be taking a bigger leap of faith than I am.”
Her tongue peeked out of the corner of her mouth while she considered. Damn, but he’d missed that tongue.
“Is this a condition of the marriage?” she asked. “Fly or be damned?”
“There are no conditions. I love you and want to marry you, no matter what. I have a ring in my pocket and everything.”
He looked around for his pants, but they were in the other room. No way was he letting go of her now. The ring had been in his family for two hundred years, it would keep for a little while longer.
“There will be times in the future,” he said, returning to his original point, “when our schedules won’t sync. Sometimes, we’ll have to decide to do something together or separately, based on logistics. I’d like to think we’ll travel together as much as we can. Sometimes that might mean flying. But the choice is yours. Which will it be? On the ground or in the air? Together or separately?”
She smiled the smile he loved the best, the one he hoped their children would inherit, and she gave him the answer that filled him with optimism and certainty about their future.
“I think,” she said, covering his face with kisses, “the sky’s the limit.”
Epilogue
Four months later…
“Hold still, Dylan!” Natalie accidently pricked him with the hatpin. “The photographer’s trying to get
a picture. Somebody went to a lot of trouble to make sure your boutonniere looked just right. You can give me five seconds to get it pinned to your lapel so it doesn’t fall off during the ceremony.”
“I can give you all the time you need.” He smiled down at her, unable to contain his joy at having her with him today. “Thanks for helping. It’s almost like having Mom here.”
“She’s here in spirit.” Natalie tapped a finger on her heart and then on one of his cuff links. “Dad, too.”
“Maybe they are.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze.
From the bridal suite at Liberty House he looked out at the activity below. It had taken three months longer than he wanted it to, but today it was finally happening. A stunning sun beamed down on everything. Tents covered the dance floor and the dinner tables. Wedding planners, florists, caterers, valets, and who knew who else bustled about. The railing from Gracie’s apartment over the carriage house and every stationary object he could see were festooned with ribbons and lace. Her grandfather and Reverend Peterman waited for her at the bottom of the steps.
When he and Gracie had talked about what kind of wedding they wanted, he said she should have whatever she wanted. He only cared about two things. He wanted to kiss the bride at the end of the ceremony. And he wanted the bride to be Gracie.
She wanted a wedding that was small, intimate, fun, and casually elegant. And somehow they had ended up with all this.
Once Gracie’s grandmother, the wedding planner Natalie recommended, and Dylan’s assistant had gotten involved, Dylan had bowed out of the planning unless his input was requested. Gracie had spent most of her weeks in Hartford working, and weekends in East Langden overseeing the wedding decisions. His only contributions were fitting in as much time with Gracie as possible, ordering a new tux, securing Wyatt and Ryan as best men, buying a ring, and planning the honeymoon. Which would be at a location that was remote, luxurious, private, and impossible for anyone but them to find.
Wyatt and Kara were guests at Liberty House for the weekend and had arrived the day before. Ryan had been delayed, but Dylan figured the Maserati roaring up the drive signaled his arrival. Both best men were now present and accounted for.
“You look fabulous.” Natalie smoothed out a non-existent crease in his jacket. “Now I have to make sure my family looks presentable before I check in on the bride. Josh and Maggie are apt to go from fashion plates to throw-up machines at a moment’s notice. If this thing doesn’t start on time, all bets are off.”
“I don’t care who spits up on whom, just make sure you’re all there. I’m not doing this thing without you.” He kissed her cheek. “Take the photographer with you when you go. He should be taking pictures of Gracie not me.”
“She’s got her own team, recording her every move.” When Natalie opened the door, Wyatt, Kara, and Ryan entered. His sister greeted them with a wink. “Stunning. All three of you. You, too, Kara. No wonder the tabloids go crazy when you attend black-tie events together. Let the photographer stay and get a picture of The Brotherhood. Gracie will thank me later.”
“No kidding.” Kara went over to give Dylan a hug. “People trip over me to get to them. But the groom is looking especially handsome today. I may be having second thoughts about my choice.”
“Too late,” Wyatt said, gripping her arm. “Dylan’s taken now, you know. And so are you.”
Dylan shook hands with both men. “I’ll always think of Kara as the one who got away.” He slipped his arm around her waist. “If Wyatt hadn’t shown up to stake his claim when he did, I might have made a play for you myself.”
Wyatt tugged her back to his side. “You did make a play for her, several times, and she always turned you down.”
“I hadn’t turned the full force of my charm on her yet. But once I knew you were interested, I backed off. In honor of The Brotherhood.”
“Speaking of which.” At the bar in the corner of the room, Ryan popped the cork on a bottle of champagne and then filled glasses. He brought the drinks over and passed them around. “To The Brotherhood.”
“Take a picture,” Dylan instructed the photographer, “then wait for us in the foyer.” They all clinked and drank while the photographer snapped away.
After he departed, Kara distributed kisses and hugs for all three men. “Happy day for all of you. I’ll go see if Gracie or her grandmother need help so you guys can talk about manly things.”
Dylan stopped her for a lingering kiss at the door. “Don’t go too far.”
“It’s just you now, buddy,” Dylan said to Ryan. “The last bachelor in the Brotherhood. You’ll have to party-on without us.”
“I always expected Ryan to be the first one of us to get married,” Wyatt said. “And Dylan to be the last.”
“Maybe now that you two are off the market, I’ll have a fighting chance with the ladies.” Ryan refilled their glasses.
“Yeah, that was the problem,” Dylan agreed, returning to the window. “We were too much competition for you.”
“What are you waiting for anyway?” Wyatt asked. “I highly recommend it.”
Ryan joined Dylan at the window. “You and Kara didn’t get married for almost four years after you met. I guess I can take my time.”
“Of course, you can,” Dylan agreed. “Take all the time you need, but when it’s right, you’ll know it. And if you need any help meeting someone, my brother-in-law Linc has a cousin you might like.”
“I’ll do my own hunting.” Ryan turned from the window. “It looks like your Aunt and Uncle have arrived. I’m surprised you invited them.”
Wyatt lifted his eyebrows. “I’m surprised they showed up.”
“There was a lot of debate about it.” Dylan fingered the cuff links on his French cuffs. “They’re family. That’s the only way I can explain it.”
“Good enough.” Ryan clapped him on the back in support of the decision.
There was a tap on the door, and Marissa, the wedding planner, stepped inside, “Oh, my.” She put her hand to her chest as she looked the three men up and down and sighed. “I’ve been doing this job for twenty years, but you’re the best looking wedding trio I’ve ever seen. You ready?”
“Let’s go.” Dylan headed for the door, but hesitated and stopped to shake hands with his best friends. “Thanks for being here today. Which one of you jokers wants to handle the ring?”
“Better be Wyatt,” Ryan said. “He’s used to keeping tracking of one.”
Wyatt grunted and dropped Gracie’s ring into his pocket. “Huh, you’ve got all those Super Bowl rings. Where are they?”
He shrugged. “They’re in storage somewhere.”
Dylan picked up his step, eager to take his place, and greet his bride.
Gracie slipped into her sparkly shoes and accepted her bouquet. She shouldn’t be nervous, but butterflies were keeping her stomach aflutter. So much had happened in such a short time, she could hardly catch her breath.
And she was marrying Dylan Bradford. She would have never seen that coming.
They’d had a whirlwind four months and still had many details to work out. Most of the issues were little things though. Like money, family, and careers.
They were building a house on the Bradford property that had brought Dylan to Maine. Together, they were repairing an old building to open as a children’s clinic in East Langden where Gracie would see patients. Dylan was rehabbing the Old Maine Furniture Factory to run as a co-op for the town vendors and craftsmen. And for Gracie’s sake, he and Clay maintained a cautious friendship.
And the pre-nup! He wouldn’t let her sign one, even though she knew someone with wealth like his should have insisted.
“Are you afraid I’ll someday leave you and take all your money?” he asked her when she brought up the subject. When she laughed and said no, he said, “And I’m not afraid you’ll do that either. You won’t even take the things I want to give you.”
But he wanted to give her so much! He wanted to pay off her schoo
l loans. Buy her a new car. Remodel the carriage house at the B&B. Take her shopping. Take her travelling. Buy her stuff on a level she couldn’t even grasp.
But his heart was in the right place, and her negotiating skills were strong. She knew they’d work out a compromise eventually.
For now, she had a wedding to get to and a honeymoon to enjoy. She’d chosen Clay and Tanya to stand up with her as bridesmaid and bridesman. Clay had been her best friend for so long, she wouldn’t have excluded him on the most important day of her life. Gran had already taken MacDuff in his basket and gone down to be seated. The wedding planner had gone to get the groom in place. Clay waited to escort her down the stairs and deliver her to her grandfather. She had asked David to walk her down the aisle, but his health was still uncertain and he didn’t enjoy being the center of attention. She hugged Clay and Tanya tightly. “I wish you both all the happiness in the world,” she told them.
“You, too,” Tanya said, dabbing at tears.
“I didn’t think this would work out for you,” Clay said, tugging on his ear. “I’ve never seen you happier. But if he hurts you, I’ll break his face, again.”
“No more of that!” Gracie patted his cheek. “You’re friends now.”
“Yeah, right,” he grumbled, but he smiled when he said it, so Gracie hoped the idea would grow on him.
The garden looked like a wonderland. She’d been taking peeks at the preparations from her window. And the ever-efficient Marissa had been reporting on the completion of each task. No major mishaps yet.
As her something old, Gracie wrapped the chain with her dad’s dog tag and her mom’s charm around the stem of her bouquet, to have something of them with her on this special day. Her something blue was the sapphire necklace Dylan’s gave her the night before. After a final tug on her veil, she gave Tanya and Clay one last hug and set off to meet her groom.
As she came around the corner of the carriage house with Granddad, MacDuff jumped out of his basket and trotted over to accompany Gracie down the aisle.
