The Davis Years (Indigo)

by Green, Nicole

  Jemma was at a loss for words. She couldn’t believe she was actually starting to feel sorry for Tara.

  Still staring at Branson, Tara continued. “I don’t touch the hard stuff anymore. That’s how I lost the first baby and how I lost Davis. I wouldn’t do that stuff anymore.”

  Jemma couldn’t hide her surprise.

  Tara smirked. “What? Davis hasn’t told you why we divorced?”

  “I guess I never asked,” Jemma said, too stunned to think of anything more to say.

  She laughed bitterly and turned her attention to the toddler. “Branson! Get out of that before you kill yourself.” She ran over to her son, who was tottering on the entertainment stand.

  Tara put Branson on her hip and turned to Jemma. “So are we done here?”

  She stood and studied the scene before her, trying to come up with something else to say that might convince Tara to listen. Nothing came to her.

  “’Cause I have a son to try to control, and there’s nothing you can say to me that won’t be a waste of both of our times.”

  “You shouldn’t try to ruin Emily Rose’s life just because you screwed up your own.” She hadn’t meant to come off like that and put Tara on the defensive because she knew that wouldn’t get her anywhere. She didn’t know where all of the emotion was coming from all of sudden, but she was feeling really angry and hurt. Suddenly, she was taking the situation very personally. As if not succeeding meant both she and Tara had failed Em Rose.

  “What the hell do you know? I don’t have to listen to a word you say. I don’t care about any of them, and I’d punch her again before I apologize. Fuck my family and fuck you. Get out, get out, get out. Out of my house!” Tara shouted. And then Jemma realized Branson added a new word to his vocabulary as he shouted it and clapped his hands with glee. “Oh, shit, don’t say fuck, Branson. For fuck’s sake.”

  “You’re horrible, Tara. Emily Rose really should cut you out of her life. I hope she’s able to.”

  “Get out!” Tara screamed at her all the way to the door.

  Jemma looked back over her shoulder to tell Tara something else about how evil she was and saw tears in her eyes. Jemma closed her mouth, stunned. When Tara slammed the door in her face, Jemma didn’t try to get her to open it again.

  She crossed the parking lot, stumbling in the direction of Davis’s car, feeling disoriented. Thinking about the things Tara had said.

  “Tara was going to have your baby? She lost it?” Jemma sank into the passenger seat.

  “She lost it doing crank.” Davis didn’t act surprised that she knew.

  “That must’ve been hard,” Jemma said. “That’s why you guys broke up?”

  Davis leaned back against his seat, but kept his head turned toward her. “That. And the cheating. And the lying. It seems like it was always something with her.”

  “Did you love her?”

  “I . . . good question.” Davis spread his hands over the steering wheel and looked at them instead of her. “Should we get back?”

  “I guess. Yeah.”

  “You get what you wanted from her?”

  “No, I really don’t think so.”

  “Not surprised,” Davis murmured as he pulled the car out of a visitor’s spot.

  Neither was Jemma, but that didn’t make her frustration any less.

  “This wedding has to happen, Davis,” Jemma said. Of course she wanted Emily Rose to be happy, but something even stronger than that was driving her now. She felt guilty for giving Emily Rose so little over the past six years. She had to be able to give her this one important thing. There had to be a way. Besides, if it couldn’t happen for Emily Rose, what chance did anybody have? Jemma was tired of sad endings. There were enough of those going around already.

  “You know, you never asked me to try,” Davis said matter-of-factly.

  Jemma looked up at him. “Huh? Try what?”

  He laughed, turning out of the parking lot. “To talk to Emily Rose. I mean, I was married to the terror that is Tara. I probably know her best outside of her family. Em Rose and I got to be pretty cool back when we were in-laws whenever she was home from New York. Even if we haven’t talked much since. Maybe I could say something to her to bring her out of this.”

  “Thank you.” A huge weight lifted off Jemma’s chest. She leaned over and slipped one of her arms between his back and the driver’s seat. She wrapped the other around his waist and locked her fingers together. “This has to happen for her. I want her to be happy.” She rested her head on his shoulder.

  “I know.”

  “I’m sorry Tara hurt you.”

  Davis didn’t say anything, but he put his free arm around her.

  Once they returned to the church, Davis went to find the Bradens and update them. Jemma went back to the dressing room.

  Emily Rose barely looked up at her. “You went to see her? Waste of time, right?”

  Jemma shook her head. “Emily Rose, she’s not what’s important today.”

  Emily Rose was quiet for a long time after that. Finally, she said, “Tara ruined it all. Ruined everything. And she didn’t even apologize. She never will. She doesn’t care. She’s probably so happy right now. She couldn’t stand it that maybe I could do one thing—one thing—better than her. She failed at marriage so she had to make sure I never made it to the altar. I hate her.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “Why not? It’s true. It’s okay ’cause she hates me, too. What other explanation is there for this?”

  Jemma could think of a few, all having to do with Michael and none appropriate to mention at the moment.

  “I don’t know,” Jemma finally said. “I wish I had a better answer than that, but I just don’t.”

  “Well, I can hate my sister if I want to.”

  But Jemma didn’t see hate anywhere in Emily Rose’s expression. All she saw was pain.

  Emily Rose said, “I’ve been betrayed. Betrayed by everyone who’s ever pretended to love me.”

  “I’ve never betrayed you. Your parents never have. Carolina doesn’t seem like the betraying type. Or Meg.”

  “Well, you guys never pretended to love me. You always have.”

  Jemma smiled and threw her arms around Emily Rose. “I want you to talk to somebody else before you make any final decisions about calling this wedding off.”

  “Huh?”

  “Just one more person. Please? This is an important day and I really want you to make the decision that’s going to make you happiest.”

  Emily Rose shrugged and turned to look out of the window behind her.

  When Jemma came out of the room, Meg and Carolina attacked her. Just then, Davis walked around the corner.

  “Emily Rose is melting down. She almost destroyed her dress. She found a pair of scissors . . . oh, it wasn’t pretty. Most of the guests are coming back in an hour. Or at least they said they would. Some have started their own cocktail party at the open bar at the community center. I think Ms. Fletcher wants to cut off our heads, and Michael has been drinking. Please tell me you can fix this.” Carolina said all of this in one breath. Jemma was amazed and impressed.

  “Well, there’s good news and bad news,” Jemma said, squeezing Davis’s hand after he offered it.

  Carolina crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. “I have just spent the last three hours with Bridezilla from hell. The good news better outweigh the bad.”

  “The bad news is Tara is not going to apologize. The good news is Davis is going to try to talk to Emily Rose.”

  “Davis?” Carolina gave Davis a skeptical look. Meg seemed to understand a little better.

  “Yeah, that might work,” Meg said. She turned to Carolina. “Did Emily Rose ever tell you about Davis being her sister’s ex-husband?”

  “She told me her sister had an ex-husband . . .” Realization seemed to slowly dawn on Carolina. “Davis—you—Tara? Wow. All the things I never knew about Emily Rose. Didn’t know her sister was
a crazy drunk who’d punch her in the face the day before her wedding. Didn’t know about you and Tara. Hmm. You think you know a person.”

  Carolina’s last words particularly stuck with Jemma.

  “We all have things we don’t like talking about, I guess,” Jemma said. She put a hand low on Davis’s back and looked up at him. “You ready?”

  “Yep,” Davis said. He kissed her forehead. “Wish me luck.”

  She hugged him close. “All of it in the world.” She looked up and found him smiling down at her. It was one thing to know she still cared for him. Falling in love with him all over again was another thing altogether. And it was something she was in danger of doing. Especially if he kept looking at her like she was the center of the universe.

  She tore her gaze away from his and gave him a gentle push in the direction of Emily Rose’s makeshift dressing room. Ignoring the curious eyes of Carolina and Meg, she watched Davis disappear into the room.

  Chapter 12

  When Davis entered the room, Emily Rose’s head jerked up from where it had been resting against her knees. She wore shorts and a hoodie and sat on a low bench that ran against the far wall beneath the windows. She hugged her knees to her chest. Davis sat down on the bench a few inches from her feet.

  “They sent you?” Emily Rose’s voice was a little rough, and that wasn’t the only sign she’d been crying. Her face was red and puffy and she had a box of tissues on the windowsill next to her. She clutched a crumpled one in her fist. “I wasn’t expecting them to make you take a turn at trying to get me out of here. Oh, and you’re wasting your time, by the way.”

  “Maybe.” Davis shrugged, leaning back against the wall, still looking at her.

  “So you guys went to see Tara. A big waste of time, right? I could have told you that.”

  Davis smiled, but didn’t respond to her comments. Instead, he said, “You remember what you said to me right after Tara and I got married? We were standing on the steps out in front of town hall.”

  Emily Rose laughed and her face grew redder. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

  “You shouldn’t be. You were right. But say it. Out loud. What you said to me.”

  “I said she had better be worth all the lying you had to do to yourself to marry her, but I didn’t think she was worth much, really, either way myself.”

  “Yeah. You did,” Davis said, still smiling.

  Emily Rose removed her feet from the bench and moved closer to Davis. “And? Your point is?”

  “No, she didn’t apologize. And yes, she’s a bitch. But she doesn’t hate you, Emily Rose. She’s not out to destroy your life. Not the way she sees it, anyway. She has . . . a lot of issues she needs to work through. We both know that. And unfortunately, she won’t take any help with them. But you know what else?”

  “What?”

  “She had better be worth all the lying you’ll have to do to yourself to walk out of here today without marrying Michael. But I don’t think she’s worth much, really, either way myself.”

  Emily Rose laughed and punched his shoulder lightly. “Hey, Davis Hill, you’re not allowed to use my words against me like that.”

  “I think you’re a great person. And you’re also very important to Jemma. And she’s the most important person in the world to me no matter what’s happened or what will. For those reasons, I want you to be able to let go. Let go of Tara until she deserves to be a part of your life. If she ever does,” Davis said quietly, patting the back of her hand, which lay on the bench.

  “She doesn’t have any hold over me.”

  “Then why aren’t you married right now? Why aren’t you at your reception instead of sitting on a bench in this hot little room?” Davis asked.

  “Michael doesn’t want to marry me.” She bit her lip and opened her palm. She looked down at the huge diamond ring she’d twisted backward on her finger.

  “You know, I was talking to Michael earlier while we were all waiting to see what the hold-up was. And he was really excited. Nervous, but excited. Chad said he was shocked when Michael became a one-woman man. And that he knew when that happened, you were special. Michael agreed.”

  “But all this week, he’s been acting so weird.”

  They both looked up at the sound of Michael’s voice. “Because I’ve been stressed. And I’ve been an idiot.”

  “Michael.” Emily Rose stood. “How long have you been in that doorway?”

  “Once I realized Jemma and Davis were back, I poked my head in the door, but you guys were having such an intense conversation, you didn’t notice. So I stood here, eavesdropping for a while.” Michael came into the room. He was still wearing his tux, but no bowtie. “I’ve been worried about finding a job. You would think these things would be easy for an NYU MBA, but not so much. Mom’s been really crazy—”

  “I know she doesn’t like me. She must be thrilled about all this.”

  “Em, this day isn’t about her or your sister. And that’s why I left like an idiot earlier and went out to that bar. I was so frustrated that I couldn’t make you see that. But Chad talked some sense into me—he’s good for that—and I’m back now. To say that no matter who, what, when, or where, I’m here for you. And whenever you want to get married, whether it’s today, tomorrow, or next decade, I know where you can find a groom. If you’ll have me.”

  “How do I know you’re not lying to me?” She chewed her bottom lip, looking uncertain, but like she wanted to go to him at the same time.

  “Have I ever?” he said. “Besides, I’m still here, right? Through everything that’s happened today, look where I’m standing right now. The only place I want to be.”

  She took a tentative step forward. “The only place?”

  “The one and only.” He held out his arms. “I love you, Em Rose. That’s how it’s always gonna be.”

  “I love you, too.” She ran to Michael, hugging him. Then she sprinted out of the room, holding his hand and shrieking that the wedding was back on.

  She stuck her head back into the room, beaming. “Thanks, Davis.” And then she was gone again.

  Jemma walked slowly into the room while Michael, Emily Rose, Carolina, and Meg talked in the hallway about guests, the preacher, and the reception.

  “What in the world did you say, Davis Hill?” Jemma asked, reaching for his hands.

  “All things magical,” Davis said, putting his hands in hers.

  “Apparently.” She kissed his lower lip, letting her lips linger over his.

  Davis put his arms around her waist and stared into her eyes. He’d never tell her what he was thinking because he didn’t want to scare her off. If he did that, he wouldn’t get the few amazing days he wanted to have with her. Still, he didn’t know how he was going to handle her leaving. From where he was standing at that moment, he couldn’t think of a way to possibly be okay with letting her go. Again.

  ***

  With a little teamwork, everything came together. Jemma and Davis helped Meg get all of the guests back and find the preacher while Carolina helped Emily Rose finish getting ready. Michael and Chad spent almost the entire time arguing with Ms. Fletcher, but when that was done, the three of them managed to salvage most things for the reception at the community center. There was not going to be an ice sculpture, though, and the chocolate fountain had overheated and stopped working, so that was a no-go as well.

  Emily Rose was gorgeous in her flowing, backless halter ivory dress and tiara surrounded by baby’s breath and gardenias. Her makeup really was fantastic. Carolina was good—she’d wanted to be a makeup artist at one point, and, judging by her work, she probably would have made it. Still, Emily Rose wasn’t disappointed that they hadn’t been able to get the photographer to come back. She was paranoid about her face.

  Jemma and Davis sat next to each other at the ceremony, holding hands and whispering to each other. Wedding guests who didn’t know them kept commenting on what a gorgeous couple they were. Jemma tried not to get used to hearing
that, but it was hard. She liked hearing it. Worse than that, she liked believing it.

  Everyone seemed relieved to make it to the reception. They were skipping dinner—the caterers had given up on them already. The Bradens and a couple of their friends had made a nice spread out of the finger foods the caterers had left behind and added a few dishes of their own. Everyone seemed more interested in the open bar, though.

  The bride and groom were announced and Emily Rose floated in on Michael’s arm. Everyone stood to watch the first dance and Jemma pressed her hands to Davis’s shoulder and stood on tiptoe to reach his ear so she could whisper to him. “You know, this might not have happened without you.”

  Davis put his arm around her waist and whispered to her. “Yeah?”

  “You’re kind of like a hero.”

  “Kind of?”

  “Kind of.”

  “I’ll take it.” Davis grinned and nuzzled her nose with his, Eskimo-kiss style.

  “This day really was something like magic,” Jemma said, placing her hands low on Davis’s waist.

  “You’re something like magic,” Davis said, pulling her closer, placing his forehead to her cheek. She closed her eyes and her heart jumped a little when she felt his lips against her eyelids. They slid into the next song after the first dance was finished.

  Jemma pressed her face to his shirt and breathed in the sharp, clean scents of his cologne and laundry detergent. She was aware of every move his body made against hers, but she was most aware of his fingers. At first intertwined with hers, fingers playing gently against fingers. Then, she felt his fingertips moving up and down her spine through the thin fabric of her mint green dress. Next, they moved through her hair, exploring several individual braids. They seemed to be drinking in memories independent of the rest of him. On her shoulders, sending pleasant chills all over her body and through to the center of her. Then, back to her fingers.

  “What’s that line from Romeo and Juliet? Let lips do what hands do?” Jemma murmured the words huskily into Davis’s ear.