Just Jayne

by Ripley Proserpina

  He narrowed his eyes and stepped so close to me I could see the shades of blue in his eyes. “I want you to have things,” he said. “I have so much money that our grandchildren won’t be able to spend it all. And you have three pairs of jeans and three dresses. I love you and want you to have all the things you deserve. I can buy you beautiful things. If you let me.”

  “But I know you don’t like my style. You’ve said so a thousand times.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I love you, Jayne. You’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever laid eyes on. But your jeans are at least a decade old, and every time I see them, all I can think is that you didn’t have what you needed and so you made do. Let me take care of you, Jaynie. Please.”

  He was so earnest. I played with the bandage on my hand, making sure it was still in place as I struggled to figure out what to say to him. Clothes didn’t represent those things to me. I didn’t look at my jeans and think that they were old because I was poor. Or that my black pants were boring. They were just pants. “Ten,” I said. “You’re thinking way too much about what all this means. If you want to buy me something, let it be something I’ll wear.” I reached for the leather pants. “I might not be able to get into these after we leave the store.”

  He sighed. “Fine.” He dropped a kiss on my forehead and left. “Wrap it all up!” he yelled. “We’re taking it all.”

  I quickly gathered the few things that I knew I’d wear and the one thing I knew he’d like. Walking out of the room, I deposited them into the salesman’s arms. “Just these. Not the rest.”

  Ten was waiting for me and spun me around. When we’d first started our trip, he’d been silent, flashing me nervous glances. It was so unlike him, I’d made a point of drawing him out of his shell.

  We hadn’t yet spoken about what he’d said to me last night. A couple of times, I thought about bringing it up, but he was so happy, bringing me from store to store, that I hated to ruin our time together.

  Hurrying down the street, I focused on not tripping on the cobblestones and cracked pavement. I wanted to look around, take in London like I hadn’t been able to do when I got here for my interview, but Ten was moving too fast.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “Surprise,” he said and then turned abruptly into a store.

  “Jayne!” Sophie squealed. She made a move to take my hand, but the only one free was wrapped in gauze, so she jumped up and down instead. “Close your eyes!”

  “You heard her,” Diego’s amused voice said. “Close them.”

  I did. Ten lifted my hand and kissed it gently before releasing it. The cool kiss of metal slid along my finger and over my knuckle to settle onto my ring finger.

  “Open them,” Klaus directed.

  “Holy cow.” A beautiful blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds sat on my finger. “It’s beautiful.” It was. It was unlike anything I’d pick for myself, but somehow exactly what I wanted. “I—.” My throat tightened and I cleared it. “I love it.”

  “Jayne Burns.” It was like they planned it, one after another they got down on one knee. It was more than I could handle. Even though they’d already proposed, and I’d already accepted, this was different. This was a dream made real. These beautiful, talented men wanted me.

  “Jayne…” Ten spoke, which surprised me. Lee usually spoke for them all. “Jayne will you marry me?”

  I got it then. I could only marry one of them, and Ten would be the one to whom I was legally bound in marriage.

  “And me,” Klaus said.

  “Marry me, amor,” Diego said. “Let me love you the rest of our lives.”

  “I can’t live without you,” Lee said simply.

  Tears I hadn’t expected to shed spilled from my eyes. Go with it, Jayne. Stop thinking this isn’t real. They want you. No more doubt. Accept it. “I’ll marry you,” I said to Ten, and then I smiled at all of them. “Yes.”

  The waning light filtering through the car window made my ring sparkle. I kept holding it up, turning it this way and that to see the color. One way, it was a clear ocean blue and the other, a deep, impenetrable navy.

  “You like it?” Sophie asked.

  “I love it,” I said, folding my hands on my lap. “Did you pick it?”

  She shook her head. “I had a different one. The diamond was huge.” She held out her hands like she’d caught a fish. “But when we showed the picture to Ten, he said that wasn’t you. It had to be classic.” Gesturing with her hand as she said the word, she sighed. “I can’t wait until I get sparkly jewelry.”

  “Someday,” Diego said.

  “You won’t even let me get my ears pierced,” she grumbled.

  Diego lifted his eyebrows and widened his eyes, staring at me. “Help,” he mouthed.

  “I didn’t get my ears pierced until I was eighteen,” I said. “So, you don’t have to.”

  “I want to,” Soph said. “When I’m nine. On my birthday. For my birthday.” She lifted her eyebrows at Diego, looking so much like him I almost gasped. She had to be his. Now that I thought about it, they had so many similar gestures and looks, that it was obvious.

  DNA test or not, Sophie was Diego’s.

  Did he know? He must have suspected. How could he not look in the mirror and see her reflected back at him? Same curly hair. Same dark eyes. Except… Lee was teasing her about jewelry and his eyes glittered like hers. Those eyes could very well be his.

  And her bluntness. That was pure Ten.

  Soph crossed her arms, annoyed at Lee’s teasing and glared. That glare? That was all Klaus.

  Nature versus nurture. She was all of theirs.

  The house was lit up, every room illuminated as we drove up. “Looks like a party,” I observed.

  “No party,” Lee said. “We’ve had enough of those for a while.”

  Rogers snorted from the front seat as he stopped the car. He’d barely rolled to a stop before Mrs. Foster came outside. She was dressed casually, more casually than I’d ever seen her, and looked exhausted. But happy. The woman was beaming.

  “Hello, hello!” she cried as we got out. She came to me and kissed my cheek. “Welcome, Jayne.”

  “Thank you,” I said, a little confused.

  Until we walked through the door.

  Gone were the awards and gold records. The leather couch and the pinball machines. The manor hall had been transformed into a flower garden. Garlands hung over the rails and along the mantel. Huge bouquets of pale pink roses sat on every available surface, and a long, white aisle had been added to lead to the fireplace.

  It was the perfect place for a wedding.

  Struck dumb, I stared at everything. It was overwhelming, but also simple. If I could have articulated the perfect decorations, this would have been it.

  “We don’t want to wait,” Lee said.

  “Look!” Sophie cried, pointing behind me. I turned and in walked Ten, holding a huge white box.

  “Hopefully you like it,” he said. He played with his lip ring as he put the box down on a table. “If you don’t, we’ll fly something in tomorrow. Whatever you want. But I saw this, and it had to be for you.”

  With shaking hands, I lifted the top. “Oh, Tennyson,” I breathed. It was absolutely perfect. Afraid I’d somehow muss the fabric or stain it with my bandaged hand, I looked to him. “Can you hold it up?”

  He nodded and unfolded the dress. Made of satin, the long-sleeved dress draped around the shoulders and collarbones.

  “It looks vintage.”

  “It is,” he said. “1930s. I know it’s simple, but it just… I could see you in it. Standing pale and lovely. And I don’t care if it isn’t tradition for the groom to see the wedding dress. I love you, and I wanted you to have something perfect.”

  “It is,” I whispered, overwhelmed. “Just like this hall. And my ring.” I lifted my gaze to him, smiling through my tears. “Just like you. It’s absolutely perfect.”

  Ten laughed in relief.

 
“Don’t forget the veil,” Mrs. Foster said. She peered inside the box. “May I?”

  I nodded, and she pulled out a long lace veil in the same shade of white as my dress. “I picked the veil,” she said. “Ten sent me a picture of the dress, and I knew right away what should go with it.”

  “Thank you.” I placed my dress carefully in the box before going to her and kissing her cheek. “Thank you so much.”

  “You deserve all the happiness in the world, Jayne,” she said, smiling, but it only lasted a second. Her gaze went to the guys and her smile trembled a little. “I pray you’re happy.”

  That evening, we had a big raucous meal in the kitchen, and I got the sense that I was looking at my future. All of us together. Eating. Laughing. Sophie chattered a mile a minute. The security guards came in and out, grabbing sandwiches or making tea before going back out to their rounds.

  It was lovely and homey, and it made my stomach clench happily. I could get used to this. You deserve this. That wasn’t a thought that went through my mind very often, but it did now.

  I did, though. My entire life, I hadn’t been wanted and now I was. Four talented, beautiful, complicated men wanted me, and I was so jaded by my life that I couldn’t accept it.

  Well. I was officially accepting it. I was turning over a new Jayne leaf, one that was grateful for the good things in her life and not one that waited for the other shoe to drop.

  “So what time am I getting married tomorrow?” I asked.

  The guys went silent all at once, and then, one-by-one, huge smiles broke out on their faces. “As soon as we can,” Lee said. “Marriage certificate arrives early. Lawyers even earlier.”

  “Why lawyers?” I asked. Grateful for good things, don’t wait for the other shoe to drop.

  “Because you’re going to be our wife, not our employee. And you’re going to be part of this…” Diego looked around. “Controlled chaos.”

  “I love chaos,” I said. Leaning across the table, I held out my hand to him, and he took it.

  “I love you,” he said. From the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. Foster wince. She seemed wary of the whole thing. Maybe she thought I was acting too impulsively. It certainly wasn’t like me to throw caution to the wind.

  Sophie yawned hugely, and Diego laughed. “Time for bed, mija.”

  “I’m not tired.”

  Rolling his eyes at me, Diego stood. He grabbed his daughter around the waist and she laughed. “Bedtime.”

  “I want a bedtime song.” She pointed at the guys. “All of you.”

  They glanced between each other before standing. “You got it.”

  Sophie, hanging under Diego’s arm, punched the air. “Big Balls!” she said.

  Klaus’s eyes widened, and he turned to face Tennyson. “You did this.”

  “AC/DC is classic.” He shrugged. “I won’t apologize.”

  “Pick something else,” Klaus said to Soph.

  They left, arguing all the way down the hall.

  I stood and started to gather dishes. Mrs. Foster touched my arm. “I can do this, Jayne.”

  “It’s no problem,” I told her, but she looked pointedly at my hand and I sat.

  She worked in silence for a while, loading the dishwasher and placing leftovers in glass containers.

  Sighing, Mrs. Foster shut off the tap and leaned against the counter. “Jayne. I want to talk to you.”

  I sat back and pulled my hands into my lap. “Okay.”

  She linked her hands together. “Jayne, I’ve struggled with this. You’re so young. And all told, from what I know about you, not very worldly. I don’t think you know what you’re getting yourself into.”

  “I do,” I argued. “They love me, and I love them.”

  Mrs. Foster shook her head. “Men like Klaus, Tennyson, Diego, and Lee… they are used to getting whatever they want.”

  “You think I was a challenge.” It was becoming clearer what she thought I was to them.

  “I think that you come here, strong and innocent, and you stand up to them. You care about Sophie. You’re a novelty.”

  “And novelties wear off.”

  Mrs. Foster dropped her arms and reached for me. She grasped my arm, squeezing gently. “You’re a beautiful girl, Jayne.”

  I scoffed.

  “I know you think you’re not, but when you get that fire in your eyes? Of course they’d fall for you. But you don’t know them, sweetheart. Not like I do. I want you to reconsider this.”

  “Reconsider marrying them?”

  “Yes.” She didn’t mince words, and she held my gaze. “You’re so young, Jayne. There’s plenty of time for you to get married and live a simple life. They’re not simple boys.”

  Because I was a simple girl? There was one overwhelming reason I couldn’t do what she was saying. Even if I wasn’t the right choice for them. Even if we were completely mismatched. Even if I was being foolish. “I love them.”

  Sighing, she stepped away from me. “I expected you to say that, but I hoped…” As she turned away from me, I thought I heard her whisper, “I had to try.”

  But I could have been wrong.

  Mrs. Foster left me, and I stared after her. Her words had hurt, but she hadn’t said them to be cruel. I trudged up the backstairs and to my floor. The moonlight shone through the windows, illuminating the dark hallway. I stopped at one of the tall windows to look up at the night sky. It was clear and star-filled.

  A good omen.

  I refused to believe anything else.

  40

  Jayne

  It took me a long time to fall asleep. Part of me thought that one of the guys would come to me. We’d done—and were doing—everything else in a nontraditional manner, why wouldn’t they show up on the night before our wedding?

  The door between my room and Sophie’s was open, just a crack, and once I crept to it to listen to her deep, even breathing. Diego was there as well, and I smiled. An open book lay on his chest. Assured they were fine, I went back to my bed and snuggled under the cover.

  There was no reason to be anxious. Tomorrow would be the best day of my life. Turning onto my side, I brought my hands under my cheek so I could stare at my room. Where would I sleep tomorrow night? How would our wedding night work?

  I had a sudden flash of me with all of them at once, and I squirmed. Technically, I was marrying Ten, so I wondered if he’d use that to his advantage. We’d have to make it fair.

  It would be important that I divided my time between the guys equally. And tomorrow, it would be even more important. Maybe my name would be linked to Tennyson’s on a marriage certificate, but I was binding my heart to all of theirs.

  Eyelids heavy, I drew the blanket a little higher under my chin. I was just between the state of awake and dreaming when I heard a slow creak.

  In the moments that followed, I was certain I’d fallen asleep and was experiencing that phenomenon when a dream felt so real, you would swear on your mother’s soul that you were awake.

  My body was turned toward the window when I heard the door open. Footsteps creaked across my floor, coming closer and closer to the bed. It wasn’t the footsteps of one of the guys. They never tried to be quiet. Their treads were heavy or shuffling, and I’d never seen them tiptoe anywhere.

  Instinctively, I shut my eyes. I couldn’t say why. I suddenly became a child filled with the belief that if I couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see me.

  The footsteps moved around the end of my bed, coming closer and closer to me. All of my focus went to breathing evenly and not twitching. If a stare was a physical thing, then I felt it on my face. Breath wafted across my face, blowing the fine strands of my hair across my nose, but I didn’t move.

  I couldn’t say how long I stayed there, unmoving, the heat of another body close to mine, but it felt interminable.

  Then they gasped and moved away. As they moved toward my wardrobe, I managed to open my eyes a slit.

  This had to be a dream.

 
; A woman I’d never seen—tall with wild curls tangled down her back—lifted my veil onto her head. She shuffled across the carpet to the window and I shut my eyes again. Wake up. I wanted to wake up and end this nightmare. Wake up.

  Fabric tore, closer to me, like a dare. I kept my eyes closed. They wouldn’t catch me looking. As long as I was asleep, I was inconsequential and not worth their attention.

  She shuffled across the carpet again. The door to the hall creaked and then shut quietly, and I knew intuitively, that I was alone again.

  I opened my eyes and sat up in bed. Everything was still in its place. My wedding dress hung on the open wardrobe door. My door was closed, but Sophie’s was still open a crack.

  Slipping from bed, I went to our doors and peered into her room. There was her dark head, almost hidden beneath blankets, and there was Diego, asleep on top of the covers next to her.

  Nothing had happened—I’d merely had a vivid and disturbing dream.

  The wind whipped across the estate, slamming loudly into my windows and shaking the glass in their frames. Shivering, I jumped into my bed again and pulled up the covers. This time when I closed my eyes, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

  The next morning, the sun shone through the windows. It was warm, and when I opened my eyes, I rolled to my back and stretched my arms above my head. My hand was still sore, but not so bad I felt I had to wrap it again.

  The events of the previous night nudged me, but I pushed them back.

  Today was my wedding day.

  I pushed my blankets back from the bed and with more energy than I thought I’d ever woken up with, I hurried through my morning routine. As I dried my hair, there was a knock on the bathroom door and Lee’s face appeared around the edge.

  “Good morning.”

  I turned off the hair dryer and set it next to the sink before walking into my room. He leaned toward me, kissing me gently. “Good morning.”

  “How did you sleep?” he asked. His hair was wet, and he was dressed comfortably. Our ceremony wasn’t until a little later, and we still had to meet with the lawyers. It wasn’t like I was going to sit in a meeting in my wedding dress, but I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one who had the same thought. “How’s your hand?”