“For a spy, your fishing skills are a little obvious.” She smacks my arm, and I pull her close. “Our friends, and my family will be in the barn for the reception.”
I realize that was the wrong thing to say. “The barn? Let’s go to the loft so you can make me scream.”
“And you can see the decorations in there?”
She shrugs. “Don’t you want to put your mouth on me and make me scream? It’s been so long.”
“You’re the one who made me sleep in the guest room the last two nights. You missed all of those screaming opportunities.”
“I’m not going to win, am I?”
“Not a chance. You’ll love everything. I promise.”
“I know I will. Between you and Stella, it can only be great.”
“Ethan helped, too.”
“About him. What are we going to do with all his interest in sex?”
“Just be there when he needs us. He’s about to be a teenage boy. Being curious is natural. I’m just glad he wants to know the truth from us.”
“I know you’re right, but he’s my little guy.”
“Who’s almost as tall as you.”
She bursts out crying then. “I don’t want him to grow up.”
Whoa. I pull her into my arms, and rub her back. “He has to grow up, darlin’, you know that. You also know our boy loves you more than anything.”
“He loves you too,” she says, sniffling into my shirt.
“I know he does.” I do know that. We had a rocky start because he thought I would hurt her again, and he’ll protect Tegan to the death. Once he realized I would do the same, and I stopped being an ass to her, we’ve been as close as my own dad and I are.
“I’m a mess.”
“Yeah, but you’re a sexy mess, and I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
The doorbell rings, and I smile. “That’s your girls. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Wait, what? I was going to let you back into bed with me tonight.”
“You’re seriously killing me.”
“So stay.”
“It’s the night before our wedding.”
“We’re already married, and I’m not superstitious.”
The doorbell rings again. “Let me do this right for you. Please.”
“Fine. Get out of here before I take you to the floor right here.”
I kiss her hard and then force myself to run to the door. I let them in and head next door to my parents’ ranch. Ethan is waiting for me in the driveway, and I smile at him as I get out of my truck.
“Waiting for your dear old dad?”
“You’re not that old yet.”
“Thanks, kid.”
“Can we go look at everything? Grandpa said we had to wait for you.”
“Sure. Let’s see what magic Stella made happen.”
We see the rows of white chairs when we enter the clearing bordering the creek. There are also some hooked thingies in the ground that I think flowers will be hanging off of. Right in front of the pier is a white structure with white fabric, which is where we’ll renew our vows. It’s simple, but beautiful.
“Wow. This is perfect. Mama’s gonna love it.”
“Stella knows what your mom likes.”
“So do you. I really like that you’re doing this for her.”
“I’d do anything for her. And you.”
“I believe you. I’m glad you’re my dad.”
“Me too, E. Me too.”
* * *
Tegan
“Am I going to get to see my dress anytime soon?” I ask Stella, pouting a little.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“When your hair and makeup is done, Mrs. Impatient.”
I stick out my tongue at her, but then turn serious. “Thank you for doing this.”
“It was Caleb’s idea, and he helped me pick a lot of things.”
“You made it happen.”
She shrugs. “You’re my best friend. Of course I want you to have your dream wedding.”
“Just like you did.”
“Yep. We’re some lucky bitches.”
“That we are.”
“Hey, no tears yet,” Reina says, coming up and enveloping us both in a group hug.
She’s got her bridesmaid dress on, and I absolutely love it. It’s a deep pink strapless dress that looks like it’s made of flowers and petals throughout the fitted top, and short, flared skirt. I look down and start to laugh. “I never thought I’d see the day when Reina Corrigan had cowboy boots on her feet.”
“You make me sound like an uptight bitch,” she says, laughing along with me.
“Nah. Just classy.”
“These boots are classy.”
They really are. The bridesmaids are all wearing white and silver cowboy boots. I wonder what Stella has planned for me. If I’m being totally honest, I don’t want to wear boots. I did that once, and I had always thought I wanted to do it at the creek, but I don’t. I want pretty shoes for the ceremony, and my everyday worn brown boots for the reception. That’s my new dream.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have boots,” Stella says with a smile.
“What?”
“I know you better than anyone, except Caleb. You want shoes this time around. Maybe boots later.”
She really does know me. “You’re the best, Stell.”
“Back at ya, Teeg. I think you’re ready for your dress.”
I stand up as she opens the bag, and pulls out the perfect dress. It’s chiffon, yards and yards of white chiffon. The top is strapless and gathered. Actually, nothing on the dress is smooth, with the exception of the dark pink band of satin at the waist. The bottom is swirls of chiffon all the way to the ground. There’s a long veil that will flow to the floor as well.
“I love it. I love you. Thank you so much.”
“Love you, too.”
Stella helps me into everything, having to fight the zipper a little because I’ve gained a few pounds. She just shakes her head and says she should’ve measured me. Once the dress and veil are on, I slip into the pink satin shoes she has for me. She hasn’t given me any jewelry, and I guess I don’t really need it, but I feel like something is missing.
“Looking for this?” she asks, holding up a necklace made up of diamond and gemstone flowers. The flowers are all different colors, and it’s just adorable. Obviously expensive, but still sweet.
“Wow. You even got me the perfect jewelry.”
“Nope. Your husband got you the perfect jewelry.”
“I’m so lucky.”
“So is he,” Jade tells me, hugging me from behind before putting my veil on for me.
Alex hands me a bouquet of roses, lilies, and wildflowers done in shades of pink, white, and green. “Caleb again?”
“Ethan.”
My heart is so full right now. For my guys, my friends, and Caleb’s family. I really am lucky, and I’ll try my hardest to never take advantage of any of them.
We walk out to the creek, and then I’m walking down the aisle on the arm of Caleb’s dad. Ethan is the best man today, and so both of my boys greet me when I reach the end of the aisle.
“Thank you for my flowers, E.”
“You’re welcome. I love you, Mama.”
“I love you, too.”
“You look beautiful, Cowgirl.”
“It’s all the diamonds in the necklace my husband bought me. They’re blinding you.”
“Nothing outshines you. Happy Anniversary.”
“Happy Anniversary.”
The ceremony is short, since we’re just reaffirming things. One of the stable hands leads our horses to us after we walk back up the aisle. Caleb’s mom hands me my boots and I lean on him as I change my footwear. “I like the heels, but I have so many fantasies about you and your boots,” he whispers in my ear.
“More?” I ask, because my boots have been used in many places and positions over the last year.
; “I don’t think I’ll ever stop fantasizing about you.”
“You say the sweetest things.”
“Remember that when I’m rough with you later.”
“That’s when you’re the sweetest.”
“Woman,” he says in warning.
“Man.”
“Get on your horse. We need to go to the reception.”
“In the barn. With the hayloft.”
“Tegan Hall, get your ass on the damn horse.”
I just laugh and do as he says. The guests will be taken back in the carriages they rode in on, but we hold hands as we ride next to each other, just like we’ve done countless times. I can’t wait to see what the barn looks like, but I’m not willing to rush this. Especially when I still have his present to give him.
The barn is nothing short of spectacular. There are branches mixed with twinkling lights wrapping around the support beams, dried pink and white flowers along the loft railings, and white tables all over. There was always a large open area in front where business meetings took place, but the whole place has been taken over for the wedding. I know they took the horses to the auxiliary stable, but I don’t know how Stella got it to smell so nice in here.
I don’t dwell on it as I go over to look at our cake. Just like everything else, it’s perfect. Dark pink with frosting that looks like rope around some layers, and shimmery circles on others. The topper is a statue of a man and a woman on their horses, holding hands like Caleb and I just did.
“Everything is so perfect, Cal.”
“Thank God. I wanted it to be that way for you.”
“I want to give you your present. Can we go upstairs?”
He looks at me with an eyebrow raised. “I’m not sure we can do that with everyone here. You do like to scream.”
“Shut up. That’s not what I want to go up there for.”
“No?”
“Well, I wouldn’t turn it down, but no.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Once we get up there, I make him sit down, and then I climb on his lap. “What I have to give you isn’t something you can see. Yet.”
“That’s not cryptic at all.”
I take his hand and move it to my stomach. His eyes go wide, and I nod. “Yes. I’m pregnant. Almost two months.”
“I…this…next to you and E, this is the best present I could ever receive.”
“I love you Caleb Hall.”
“And I love you, Tegan Hall. Thank you for the gift of you and our children. I promise to work hard to show you how much I love you for the rest of my life.”
“I promise to love you back. Now, I think I saw a mouse, so maybe you should make me scream.”
Jade & Nate
Jade
“I got a hold of some more of your fighter friends. They can’t wait to come out for the wedding.”
“Cool,” Nate says. Something in his tone tells me it’s not in fact, “cool.”
“Is something wrong?”
“No, J. We’re good.”
He turns and kisses me sweetly, but it doesn’t change what I feel. “Do you not want to get married?”
He pauses for so long that I almost take the ring he gave me two months ago off my finger. It doesn’t look like a typical engagement ring, and I love it even more because of that. It’s got a large, square, chocolate diamond with rows of white diamonds crossing over it, and then flowing into a platinum band. He said I was his forever. Now I’m afraid he’s changed his mind.
“I want to marry you,” he finally says. “I just…”
“What? Say it, Soldier.”
“Nothing. It’s nothing,” he says, kissing me again in an attempt to get me to drop it.
I can’t drop it. Something’s wrong, and he’s not telling me what it is. We’ve been through so much; I thought there were no more secrets, but I guess I was wrong. Thoughts start to swirl through my head. I imagine prettier and sexier girls. Women who would be more girly than I am, and look better on his arm. Does he want them?
I shake my head to try and clear it as I stand up. No. Nate’s not like that. If he says he loves me, then he loves me. Period. He. Loves. Me. And no way would he cheat on me.
If it’s not that, then I don’t know what it is. I just know that if he won’t tell me, I’ll go crazy sitting here with him. “I’m going to head out for a little while.”
“Where are you going?”
“I honestly don’t know. I just need to get away from you right now. We’ve had too many secrets in the past, and I can’t deal with you keeping something from me. I’ll calm down, and be back, but it’s just better if I go.”
“I don’t want to hurt you. Telling you will hurt you,” he says, coming to stand in front of me.
His eyes are pleading with me to stay, but his mouth won’t form the words. We both know that I won’t stay unless he tells me what’s wrong. I just can’t.
“Not telling me is hurting. I’ll be back.”
“Tonight?”
I reach up to cup his cheek with my hand. “Yes. I’ll be back tonight.”
“I love you, Angel.”
“I love you too, Soldier.”
I walk out the door, willing myself to be strong. I’m a strong woman. I can handle whatever he’s having trouble with. I thought by now he’d realize that, but apparently he doesn’t. I finger the ring absently as I descend to the main floor and then the garage. I’m almost to my car when I realize there’s no place I want to go right now. At least no place I can drive to.
I go back to the main floor and head outside. My horse is in the barn, and I need him right now. Nate gave me Cherub, and I know I’ll feel his love for me when I’m with my other boy. A horse is no substitute for a good man, but it’ll have to do for now.
* * *
Nate
“I fucked up,” I tell my friends when they get to my place. I called them for help, because I really need it. I don’t know what to do right now.
“Seriously? You’re getting married in a week,” Aiden reminds me.
“That’s kind of the problem.”
“Wait. Do you not want to marry Jade?” Darcy asks, looking like she might punch me. She was my friend first, but she loves Jade, too.
“I want to marry her more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life.”
“You just don’t want the wedding,” Matt says.
I hang my head, because she’s hit the nail right on the head. I love Jade, and I want her to be happy, but I don’t think I can go through with this big spectacle she’s planning. Every fighter her dad knows, plus my fighter friends, military acquaintances, and Society friends she could track down was invited. I just want it to be me, Jade, our close friends, and her dad. That’s it.
“No. I don’t.”
“Have you told her?” Theo asks me.
“I can’t. She’s so excited. She wants this wedding.”
“I’m pretty sure she wants you a whole hell of a lot more than she wants the wedding. And at least you only have one,” Darcy tells me.
“No one’s forcing you to marry the prince,” I remind her with a smirk.
She flips me off. “I love him. I’ll endure a fucking royal wedding, and anything else I need to do in order to be his wife. If this wedding is too much for you, maybe you’re not as committed to Jade as you think you are.”
I jump out of my chair and get in her face. “I love you, Darce, and I would never hit a woman, but don’t you dare ever even suggest that I don’t love Jade more than the next breath I’m about to take. I’d do anything for her.”
“Anything except for the wedding,” Jake says, raising an eyebrow at me.
Fuck. He’s right. It’s not like she’s asking me to take a bullet for her—which I would. She wants to walk down the aisle in a pretty dress, and proclaim her love for me to a few hundred people. What guy wouldn’t want his girl to do that? It’s time for me to stop letting the ghosts of my past control my future. I need to find Jade, and make t
his right.
“Okay guys, thanks for the pep talk. I’ve gotta go.”
They all file out except for Darcy. “I’m sorry, Nate. I didn’t mean to piss you off. I just needed you to see that you’re being an ass about this.”
“I know, Darce. I shouldn’t have gotten in your face. Thanks. For everything.”
“Anytime. Now go get your girl.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I will the elevator to go faster, but when it reaches the ground floor, I realize that it’s not my car I should be running to. She’s not going to go out driving to clear her head. She’s going to go hang out with her horse. The one I bought her because she joked about wanting a pony. I shake my head at my stupidity again. I gave her a horse, but I can’t give her a wedding. I truly am an idiot sometimes.
I walk into the stable and find her in the stall with Cherub. He’s lying down with his legs folded up under him, and she’s hugging him as she sobs. I didn’t know my heart could hurt any more than it did when she sent me away, but it does now.
Cherub sees me and lets out a neigh, while bearing his teeth to me. Jade’s eyes fly open, and they go wide when she sees me. “Behave, Cherub. That’s your daddy.”
“He’s definitely a mama’s boy,” I say, trying to lighten the mood.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, trying to hide the tears she wipes away.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
She needs to hear it, and yeah, I need to say the words. “I didn’t want people staring at me.”
A look of horror crosses her face, and I know she understands now. “Oh God, Nate. Why didn’t you tell me? You should’ve told me. I knew you were hiding things, and I thought…”
“What did you think, Angel?”
“Honestly, at first, I thought you wanted someone else, but I knew I was wrong. Then I just didn’t know what to think. All I could think about was that there were secrets again, and the last secrets nearly destroyed both of us.”
“There’s no one else. Never anyone else. I’m glad you realized it, but I’m sorry you even thought that for a minute. Or even seconds. I love you so much, J.”
Society Weddings (Corrigan & Co. Book 11) Page 6
