Olivia stood up. “Will that woman be there?”
Brian folded his arms across his chest. “Paige is a part of our lives now. So more than likely she will be with us. Paige and I are getting married. Just remember, you walked out on me.”
“And I tried to walk in again and you wouldn’t let me. Now this woman is taking over my old life.”
Brian shook his head and walked away. She’s like a brick wall, he thought as he walked out of the courthouse.
When Brian arrived home, Paige and Mickey were on the porch looking like a Norman Rockwell painting. He was sitting beside her while they read together. For a moment, Brian just sat in the truck looking at them. The scene was so peaceful and serene. She was the stability in his life that he needed after the turmoil Olivia had caused.
Brian knew that he couldn’t have a better wife. Most women would not have taken to Mickey the way Paige had. Most women definitely wouldn’t have put up with Olivia’s drama.
But Paige wasn’t most women. She was an extraordinary woman who had a heart the size of Texas. Sometimes people came into a person’s life at the right time. He knew her presence in his life was one of those instances. Just when he had sworn off women and decided that he would never allow another woman to enter his heart, she had zoomed into his life. Brian didn’t know what he would do without her. He couldn’t imagine not having her around him. Paige was his port in the storm. With a feeling of contentment, Brian got out of the truck and walked over to them.
“Daddy!” Mickey exclaimed as he leapt from Paige’s lap. Brian wrapped him up in his arms.
“Hey, champ,” he said as he watched Paige stand up and walk over to them. She placed her hand on Brian’s shoulder.
“How did everything go?”
Brian smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “Like clockwork,” he replied with a smile. “Mickey, run inside and get washed up. We’re going to McDonald’s so Mommy can say goodbye.”
Mickey nodded and headed inside. Brian turned to Paige who was full of questions.
“So, you’re going to let her see him?” she asked.
“As long as it’s supervised. I don’t know what’s going on with Olivia, but I can’t deny that she’s his mother. She’s going back to Atlanta and Mickey needs to see her.”
Paige nodded. “You’re right. I guess this is the best way to make sure she doesn’t just go off and leave him again.” She reached out and stroked his cheek. “You’re extremely generous with your ex-wife.”
“He loves his mother and I think she loves him even though it’s been nothing but drama lately.”
“That’s really big-hearted of you, Brian. I’m sure Mickey will appreciate seeing his mother again.”
“You’re coming with us, too.”
Paige shook her head. “My presence will only make a tense situation even worse.”
“But you’re a part of this family now,” he said.
“And when she comes to visit in the future, I’ll be there, but this is a moment that Olivia and Mickey need to have without me,” she said. Brian kissed Paige on the forehead. “We should be back by four-thirty or so.” She nodded and headed inside. Brian walked behind her, watching her hips sway. Paige oozed sensuality just doing everyday things. Unable to resist being so close to her without touching her, he lifted her into his arms and planted a passionate kiss on her. He buried his fingers in her wild hair as he held her. Paige placed her hand on his chest, pushing back from him.
“Kiss me like that again and you won’t be making it to McDonald’s,” she said breathlessly.
The thump of Mickey’s feet down the hall stopped Brian from replying.
“I’m ready!” Mickey said imitating the cartoon character SpongeBob Squarepants.
Brian let Paige go and smiled at his son. “Let’s go, then,” he said. Mickey looked up at Paige. “Are you coming too?” he asked.
She shook her head no. “I’ll see you at dinner,” she said before kneeling down and kissing him on the cheek. The three of them headed out the door together. Brian pinched
Paige on the behind as he and Mickey skipped to the truck. He couldn’t be any happier than he was at that moment.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Olivia waved to Brian and Mickey as they walked over to the McDonald’s play land area.
“Mommy,” Mickey said, rushing into her arms. She hugged him tightly and visibly fought back tears.
Olivia turned to Brian as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Olivia,” he said flatly.
“Thank you for bringing him to see me.”
They sat down at a wooden picnic table. “Mommy, do you have to go back to Atlanta?” Mickey asked.
She nodded her head. “My job is there. Maybe one day you and your daddy will come visit me again.”
Brian clinched his jaw. He wasn’t ready to think that far ahead.
Olivia would have to prove herself over the next few months before Brian would even consider visiting her again.
“Mickey,” Brian said as he reached for his wallet. “Why don’t you go inside and order a Happy Meal.”
The little boy smiled broadly as he took the five dollar bill from his father. When he was inside the restaurant, Brian turned to Olivia.
“I want to be civil to you when it comes to Mickey.”
“I appreciate that.”
“But there are going to be ground rules. You’re going to have to respect Paige. She’s going to be my wife.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Fine.”
“I mean it. And let’s be honest. Our marriage was over long before you left.”
“I know,” she replied. “I guess I was jealous of you. I mean, you’d made a name for yourself and there I was just a housewife with my mother telling me that I was destined for more than just being your wife. After hearing her in my ear for so long, I bought into it. That’s no excuse for anything that happened, but that’s the truth.”
“And you never thought of talking about this with me years ago?”
Olivia shrugged her shoulder. “I don’t know, I resented you and I didn’t think you would listen.”
“Have I ever...Never mind, that’s water under the bridge.”
Mickey returned to the play area with his Happy Meal, interrupting Brian and Olivia’s conversation.
About an hour later, Mickey and Brian walked Olivia to her car. The little boy reached out to hug his mother.
“Mickey, I’m so sorry,” Olivia said. “I’m sorry about everything that happened, but I love you.”
“I love you too,” he replied.
She turned to Brian. “I’ll call you next week to talk about visitation.”
He nodded and placed his arm across Mickey’s chest. They watched as Olivia drove away and for the first time since the divorce and custody hearings, Brian felt as if everything would be all right.
“You ready to go home?”
The little boy nodded and they headed to the truck and home to Paige.
Paige paced back and forth on her front porch waiting for Brian to return. In her heart, she knew Olivia had done something to upset Mickey.
I just wish she would leave and never come back. Maybe I should have gone to McDonald’s with them.
Paige perched herself on the edge of porch, swinging her legs back and forth. She hated waiting. Seconds later, Brian pulled into his yard. Mickey leapt from the truck and ran across the street into Paige’s arms.
“Hey, darling,” she said as she hugged him. She looked over Mickey’s shoulder at Brian. “How did everything turn out?”
“Surprisingly well,” Brian replied.
Mickey pulled at his dad’s pant leg. “Can I go inside and watch cartoons?”
“Sure,” Brian said. “Care to join us?”
Paige immediately obliged and they headed across the street to Brian’s house. Once the trio was inside, Mickey parked himself on the sofa and Paige and Brian went into the kitchen to talk.
“Olivia’s gone?” she asked.
“Yeah. We talked about what went wrong between us and how we got to this point.”
Paige held her breath, praying that the next words that came out of Brian’s mouth weren’t that he and Olivia were going to try their marriage again.
“I told her that I want a civil relationship with her because of Mickey, but she’s going to have to respect the fact that you’re going to be my wife and a part of my life.”
“I’m sure that didn’t go over well.”
“I don’t know if it was because Mickey was there or not, but Olivia actually did handle everything well. All I know is, you and I have a future to look forward to and Olivia isn’t going to be a problem for us anymore.”
Paige flung herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. God, please let him be right.
EPILOGUE
Two weeks later, Brian, Paige, Mickey, Gabrielle and Patrick were in Myrtle Beach waiting for Paige and Brian to become husband and wife. What a way to end the summer, by embarking on a new life, Brian thought as he counted down the minutes until Paige would be his.
He and Paige were in separate rooms at Kingston Plantation.
Brian looked up at the clock on the wall in his room for the fifth time in five minutes. He and Mickey needed to get ready.
“Champ, are you done in the bathroom?” Brian hadn’t been nervous when he married Olivia, but something about this wedding was different, magical.
Patrick placed his hand on Brian’s shoulder. “You still have time to run, my brother,” he joked.
“Not on your life,” Brian replied. He and Patrick had been slow to warm to each other during the planning of the wedding, but now they had formed a tentative friendship.
When Brian first contacted Patrick about marrying Paige, Patrick had told him that if he hurt his friend again he was going to have to deal with him.
“You two are rushing into this marriage and I don’t think I can stand by and support this mistake,” Patrick had said.
“This isn’t a mistake.”
“Brian, you didn’t see Paige when she came to Nashville earlier this summer. You had her twisted because she didn’t know if you were going back to your ex-wife. And I’m not convinced that you’re not going to wake up tomorrow and go back to her for the sake of your son.”
Though Brian had understood Patrick’s apprehension, he hadn’t appreciated his attitude.
“Look, man, I love Paige. What happened before was a misunderstanding. She got over it. Why can’t you?” Brian had complained.
“Maybe I need to come down there and see how things are for myself,” Patrick had said.
Sure enough he came and the moment he saw Paige and Brian together, he’d known they were meant to be.
He was pleased that he was going to be a part of the ceremony today, which would unite his best friend with the perfect man for her. Mickey walked out of the bathroom, dressed in khaki shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, looking like a mirror image of his father. Brian buttoned the last button on Mickey’s shirt and then smoothed his son’s shorts.
Standing up, he said, “All right, I think we look good.” Mickey nodded.
“Paige is going to be proud,” Patrick said as he adjusted his own Hawaiian shirt on his broad shoulders.
Brian kneeled down in front of his son and placed his hand on Mickey’s shoulder. “You know what your job is, right?”
The little boy nodded. “When the preacher asks for the ring, I give it to you, right?”
Brian nodded, then kissed his son on the cheek. Glancing down at his watch, Brian sighed. It’s almost time to make Paige mine.
A light tapping on the door jolted Paige awake. She had dozed off while waiting for Gabrielle. Quickly, she opened the door and Gabrielle walked in.
“It’s about that time. Have you gotten the dress back from the cleaners?” she asked, breezing through the room.
“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”
“Not on your life,” Paige replied. “It’s just, God, I’m so nervous. I keep waiting for Olivia to jump out of a corner and bring everything to a halt.”
“That’s not going to happen because I would bury her deep inside a sand dune if she tried anything. Think happy thoughts.”
Paige took a deep breath. “I’m thinking happy thoughts.”
“Good,” Gabrielle said and walked into the bathroom to get the dress, which was a vintage white sundress that she and Paige had found on a shopping trip to Columbia.
Paige had grown to love Gabrielle like she was her blood sister. They shopped together and spoiled Mickey together. Sometimes they’d gain up on Brian about things —especially when it came to ice cream. Paige had been able to find a friend in Gabrielle who she hadn’t expected.
Crossing over to the mirror on the closet, she looked at her reflection. The woman staring back at her was ready to get married. Her golden eyes were filled with happiness and they sparkled with excitement. She ran her fingers through her wavy hair and smiled. Today was her wedding day.
Gabrielle laid the dress on the bed and removed the plastic covering. “Are you ready to put this on?” she asked.
Paige inhaled sharply as she nodded. She picked the dress up and unzipped it, then in one fluid motion stepped into it. Gabrielle zipped the back and then spun Paige around to see her full reflection.
“You look beautiful. Do you need help with your makeup or anything?”
“I’m fine. You just go and get dressed,” Paige said, needing a few minutes alone to get herself prepared emotionally.
Just as the sun began to set, Paige emerged from the hotel dressed in the white sundress. She had a yellow rose tucked behind her ear. The setting sun cast a glow around her. Brian and Paige locked eyes as she looked to where he, Patrick, Mickey, and Gabrielle were standing. The minister stood in the center of the group with his back to the ocean. The rolling blue water crashed against the shore, turning the brown sand grey.
Slowly, she walked across the sand toward Brian. Each step brought her closer and closer to the man she loved, to the little boy that she would love as her own and to unyielding happiness.
When she reached him, he grabbed her hand and kissed it. “Beautiful,” he whispered.
Heat rose to her cheeks under his compliment. Brian had called her beautiful before, but today it seemed more special. More meaningful.
“Dearly beloved,” the minister began, “we’re gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony.”
Paige looked into Brian’s eyes and tears spilled down her cheeks as the minister continued his service. She stroked Brian’s cheek as the minister asked her to repeat the words after him.
“I promise to honor, cherish, and love Brian Jackson with all my heart,” she said. “I will forsake all others and keep only unto him.”
The minister turned to Mickey and smiled. “Young man, the ring, please.”
Mickey pulled the gold band from his pocket and handed it to the minister with a smile on his face. The minister handed the ring to Brian. “Now repeat after me,” the reverend said. “With this ring, I thee wed.”
Looking into Paige’s eyes, Brian smiled, slipped the ring on her finger and said, “With this ring, I thee wed.”
Then he asked Patrick, Paige’s man of honor, for the ring. He took it and handed it to Paige and gave her the same instructions he’d given Brian.
“With this ring, I thee wed.” Her voice wavered with emotion and tears slid down her cheeks as she slipped the ring on his finger.
Before the minister could say, “You may kiss the bride,” Brian had already taken Paige into his massive arms and kissed her long, hard, and deep. Gabrielle and Mickey applauded as Brian lifted his new bride into his arms.
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Another Chance to Love Page 23
