She curled into him. He wrapped his arms around her and made slow, wet circles on the small of her back.
“Happy wedding day, soon-to-be, Mrs. Kincade.”
A slow, sexy smile bloomed on her lips. “I love the sound of that. Say it again.”
“Mrs. Kincade,” he repeated, kissing the space between her breasts.
She hummed her satisfaction and ran her fingers across his shoulder blades. Cool drops of water slid down his back.
“Do you think this double wedding thing is crazy?” she asked.
He smiled. “Em and Michael are like family. I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate.”
Em and Lindsey had each traveled to much of the world—Em, as a renowned violinist, and Lindsey as a sought-after photographer. Two weeks ago, they both craved the English delicacies of mincemeat pie and Yorkshire pudding. They had invited Jenna and Zoe over and spent the day baking and watched the BBC’s version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth.
Nick had just returned from a trip up in his Skyhawk with Ben, Sam, and Michael when the girls informed them they were going to have a double wedding just like Lizzie and Jane Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. A small tiff broke out between the men over whether he or Michael was the most like Mr. Darcy. Nick was adamant. He was no Mr. Bingley. But all discussion ceased when the girls handed each of them generous slices of Victoria sponge cake.
A few calls later, they had booked the pavilion in the Langley Park Botanic Gardens, found an officiant, and secured a cake from Langley Park’s beloved local bakery, and that was that. Double wedding. Except instead of two of Miss Austen’s British virgins getting married, they had two very pregnant women. Pride and Prejudice 2.0.
Nick would have married Lindsey in a drive-through wedding chapel if that had been what she wanted—anything to help her cope with the nightmare she had survived.
The hours after Lindsey’s abduction and Brett’s death were frightening and taxing. Their priority was the baby. Brett had injected Lindsey with something to knock her out, and they had to make sure that the baby was safe and healthy. Lindsey spent several tense hours hooked to monitors as the medical staff drew blood and watched and waited. After twelve grueling hours, and numerous visits from the on call obstetrician, both baby and mother were deemed to be in good health.
So when Lindsey said she wanted a double wedding with Em and Michael, he didn’t hesitate to say yes.
“We probably need to get going,” she purred into his ear.
“Weddings do seem to run more smoothly when the bride and groom show up,” Nick teased.
Lindsey played with a wet curl on his forehead. “I still can’t believe I agreed to an afternoon wedding. The light at sunrise or sunset would have been so much more romantic.”
He laughed. “Do you know what it’s like to try and wake you these days?”
She splashed him with a handful of water. “I’m not that bad.”
He gave her a dubious grin.
“All right, all right. I concede that I may be a little testy in the morning.”
“A little?”
She got him with another handful of water.
He took her wrists and held them behind her back. “When was the last time you stayed up past seven? Last night, when we were sitting on Michael and Em’s porch, Michael and I went in for beers and came back to you two snoring on the porch swing.”
“That swing is pretty hypnotic,” she replied, then her eyes went wide. “I was not snoring.”
He winked. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me—and Michael.”
She narrowed her gaze and leaned in. “You know, this hands behind the back in the bathtub could be fun.”
Fucking amazing pregnancy hormones.
Unfortunately, they did need to get married, and someone who wasn’t incubating a child needed to get this show on the road.
“Come on, soon-to-be, Mrs. Kincade.” He craned his neck and searched for his watch. It had been hastily removed and thrown on the floor when she had pulled him into the tub. “The Teddy-cab arrives in less than half an hour.”
“Tell me about this Ted. I’ve seen him around town, but I’ve never really met him,” Lindsey said, rising to her feet.
Nick swung his body out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her shoulders. “Ted’s the resident astrophysicist or astrologer. I’m not sure which. But the guy’s crazy smart. He works at the bike shop in town, and everybody seems to love him.”
Lindsey nodded. “He just seems a little…”
“I’m right there with you, Linds,” he said and bent down to retrieve his watch. He shot up when she grabbed his bare ass.
He parted his lips, but Lindsey cut him off.
“I know, I know. No more hanky-panky. Time to get ready for here comes the bride, and all that.”
“And all that,” he echoed, gazing into the eyes of the girl he had loved since he was sixteen years old.
A thunderous knocking sound emanated through the Foursquare.
“Nick!” Lindsey called out, putting the lipstick back into her makeup bag.
“It’s probably just Ted. Are you almost ready?”
“Just about,” she answered.
They had thrown out almost every wedding convention. While many brides didn’t want their groom to see them until they walked down the aisle. She wanted Nick by her side every step of their wedding day. She stood back and assessed herself in the floor length mirror. For being thirty-seven-weeks pregnant, she didn’t look half bad.
She and Em had gone wedding dress shopping with the girls. Their first day on the hunt ended with uncontrollable giggling as a fussy bridal attendant adorned Em with several giant white bows in an attempt to hide her pregnant belly.
Luckily, Rosemary, who truly was Langley Park’s most beloved person, had a former student who was a top seamstress in the Kansas City area.
Lindsey’s custom-made, satin wedding dress with an Empire waist and delicate off the shoulder cap sleeves flowed seamlessly over her pregnant belly. An intricate sash with pearls, seed crystals, and sapphire blue beading matched her engagement ring. She turned from side to side. The adornment sparkled in the summer light streaming in through the shutters.
Nick’s quick footfalls padded up the stairs.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” she said, drinking in her soon-to-be husband, absolutely killing it in a tailored suit and tie.
She grabbed her camera and took a picture. If a guy with a bike taxi weren’t waiting on their front porch to take them to their wedding, she would be stripping her sexy groom out of that suit and dragging him back into their clawfoot tub.
“Before we leave, I wanted to give something to you.”
“Nick, you shouldn’t have,” she said, running her index finger down the line of his jaw.
“It’s not new. It’s not even a gift.” He wasn’t teasing or being silly. His expression was somber.
“What is it?”
He led her downstairs and opened a small box on the foyer table.
There, sparkling in shades of orange-gold, green and white, was the sunflower hairpin Rosemary had given her the day of the fundraiser. The fundraiser she had missed the day she’d nearly died by Brett’s hand.
It had been twelve weeks and two days since she had stood at the edge of the bluff near Rachel and Rory’s rock. She’d started attending an abuse survivor support group at the Rose Brooks Women’s Shelter. The counselors explained it wasn’t abnormal to count the days. They described it as a coping mechanism. A way to help her mind put time and space between the events of that day.
It had been a couple of weeks since the FBI last contacted her. Twenty agents had watched as Brett tried to pull her over the edge with him. There was never any implication made that she had done anything other than fight to survive. But the agents had questions—lots of questions.
Brett was a key player in an opioid ring that included international suppliers and spanned several
states. They had been using Camp Clem to store drugs, money, and a treasure trove of forged prescriptions. Hundreds of arrests were made.
Lindsey had surrendered the canisters of film from her old Nikon documenting Brett’s abuse to the FBI. They offered to allow her to view the pictures, but she declined. She didn’t need to see the gashes and bruises. She had lived it, and she had survived it.
“The pin!” she said, meeting Nick’s blue gaze. “How did you get this?”
His eyes shined with emotion. “I knew you were upset that it was lost at Camp Clem. I’d mentioned it to the FBI’s victim liaison, but I never thought anything would come of it. I figured it fell into the lake. But yesterday, a messenger delivered it. I thought it was some kind of sign, having it returned the day before our wedding.”
She traced the tiny sunflower petals. “My mom,” she whispered.
“Yeah, your mom,” he replied gently, wiping a tear from her cheek.
“Will you?” She handed him the hairpin and turned her head. Nick secured it in her swept-up waves of chestnut locks she’d fashioned into a twist.
“It’s perfect.” He tilted her chin to meet his gaze. “I love you. I will always love you, Lindsey.”
“It’s just the beginning,” she said, lost in his blue eyes.
A loud knock at the door startled them.
“Hey, yeah,” came a voice from outside. “This sounds like a profoundly touching moment. I just want you to know, I’m stoked to be sharing it with you guys.”
“Why is there a surfer dude on our doorstep?” Lindsey asked.
Nick shook his head. “That’s the Teddy-cab.”
Lindsey chuckled. “We should go.”
He took her hands. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. She was okay.
Another knock. “Hey, you two? Are we still on for getting hitched?”
Nick opened the door. Ted sported an easy smile and a shirt that read, Math: Everybody buys 37 watermelons, and no one asks why.
“I decorated the Teddy-cab.” He gestured to a mountain bike attached to a two-seater cab covered in white bows.
“Ted,” came Em’s voice, calling up from the street. “There’s four of us. How are we going to fit in here?”
Ted ran a hand through his scruffy hair. “Co-adding.”
Michael joined Em at the Teddy-cab. “Not all of us are versed in astrophysics, Ted.”
“Right,” the man answered, walking toward his pedicab. “So, like when there are stars that are too far away to see, we pick one for reference, and then we do this awesome thing that takes extra images with shorter exposure times. We stack them up to make crazy long exposure times, and then you see way more stars.”
Lindsey and Nick joined Michael and Em on the sidewalk.
“You’re essentially telling us you extend exposure time and stack images to see stars that aren’t apparent in a single frame shot?” Lindsey asked.
“Yeah, but way more complicated,” Ted replied.
“You’re suggesting I sit on Nick’s lap and Em sit on Michael’s?” she continued.
“I mean, you could do it the other way around,” Ted answered.
“You want Michael sit on me?” Em asked.
“Yeah, technically we’re all just molecules bumping around on this crazy planet. But I see what you’re saying. Doing it that way might not be comfortable.”
Lindsey met Em’s gaze, and the women broke into laughter.
“Everybody, ready?” Ted asked. He flicked his thumb against the bike’s silver bell, and the familiar “ting, ting” sound skipped through the air.
“Let’s do this,” Nick said.
The men climbed in the cab and she and Em, with Ted’s help, maneuvered their bodies to sit atop their respective grooms.
“Here we go,” Ted called out, pedaling furiously.
Lindsey wrapped her arms around Nick’s shoulders and held on tightly.
“Jesus, Ted,” Em called out. “Can’t you do anything about the bumps?”
She was right. It was like being tossed around in a jumpy castle.
“He can’t hear you,” Michael said. “He’s got his earbuds in, and he’s listening to music.”
“Whose idea was this?” Em asked, laughing.
Lindsey smiled at her friend. “I’ll give you a hint. She knows this city like the back of her hand.”
Em snapped her fingers. “It was Zoe!”
“Horse and carriage would have been very Jane Austen,” Lindsey continued. “But just about every smell makes us nauseous, so Zoe suggested this.”
“If Zoe ever gets married, we’re sending her out in this contraption,” Em said, wrapping her arms around Michael’s neck as they hit a bump and bounced.
Ted pedaled the cab up Aster Road and turned into the Langley Park Botanic Gardens. Cars weren’t allowed on the grounds, but the pedicab sailed smoothly through the gates. Ted strummed the bike bell and patrons moved to the side to let them pass.
He stopped at the pavilion. The guests were already seated, but everyone turned when they heard Ted’s bell.
Sam met the cab, opened the door, and chuckled. “If this doesn’t look like a shotgun wedding, I don’t know what does?”
Lindsey took Sam’s hand, and he helped her out. “You look beautiful,” he said with a wide grin and kissed her cheek.
Lindsey met his gaze, but a sharp pain shot through her stomach, and she bent over to catch her breath.
“Are you okay, Linds?” Nick asked.
“Yeah, I think it was just the bumpy ride.”
Em met her gaze. “I feel it, too—a sharp little pulse.”
Lindsey nodded.
“You guys are a little late,” Sam said, apologetically. “The minister said we needed to get started as soon as you arrived.”
“Is everything ready to go?” Nick asked.
They had decided on a simple wedding. No bridesmaids. No best men. A gathering of friends and family and the four of them at the altar. But between Michael and Em’s close friends and family, everybody at the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Airport, it wasn’t very small.
“Roger, that,” Sam said with a wink.
Sam nodded to a woman holding a violin, a friend of Em’s from the symphony. Michael and Em had chosen the music for the ceremony. The hauntingly romantic first notes of “Chopin’s Nocturne 20” sailed through the air.
Nick took her hand. “Here we go.”
He led her up the steps of the pavilion. All heads turned to watch the couples walk down the aisle. Terry looked handsome in trousers and a dress shirt. She had only ever seen him in overalls. His daughter stood next to him, smiling and holding her father’s hand. Kathy and Neil Stein waved. Em and Michael’s fathers sat together with Em’s mother and a lovely older woman, Eunice Teller, who was wearing a tiara. Sam squeezed into the chair next to Zoe, who was seated by her brother, Ben, and her niece, Kate. Jenna wiped a tear and waved from her place on the opposite side of her step-daughter. Nick’s mother sat with his great aunt and Rosemary. The other guests waved and smiled at them as they passed by on their way to the altar.
Surrounded by ivy, winding its way lazily along the beams of the outdoor pavilion, foxglove and sunflowers looked on as she held Nick’s hand and met his gaze.
The officiant grinned at the couples. “Dearly beloved…”
Em bent over and let out an audible breath.
Lindsey joined her, squeezing Nick’s hands and leaning into his chest. The cramping from the bumpy bike ride hadn’t subsided.
“The baby?” Nick asked.
“I think so,” she answered.
Lindsey glanced at Em. Her friend’s face mirrored her discomfort.
“We need to speed this up,” Michael said, eyeing the officiant.
“The thirty-second version,” Nick added.
The man’s head bobbed back and forth between the women.
“Have they gone into labor?” he asked.
“Yes,” Lindsey
and Em yelled in unison.
The guests released an audible gasp.
The officiant produced a handkerchief and patted his forehead. “Okay, Lindsey, do you take Nick to be your husband?”
“Yes, please hurry,” Lindsey breathed. The contractions were coming faster.
“And, Nick.”
“Yes, yes,” Nick echoed.
He turned to Em and Michael and sped through the same micro vows.
“Rings?”
Nick and Michael looked at Sam.
“Got’em,” he said, tossing a ring box to each groom.
Nick slid the delicate wedding ring onto her finger, and Lindsey followed suit.
“By the power vested in me,” the officiant paused. He looked like he was going to faint.
“Blah, blah, blah! Are they married?” Sam called out.
The man shook his head. “I now pronounce you man and wife.”
“Are you ready to go have a baby, Mrs. Kincade?” Nick asked, smiling down at her.
She released a tight breath. “I don’t know if I’m ready, but little banana certainly is.”
“We need a car,” Michael called.
Everyone had parked a good fifteen minutes’ walk from the pavilion. It was only a quick drive, from where they were. If they could take the lake trail, it would only be a five minute’s journey.
Ted strummed the pedicab’s bell three times.
Nick cupped her face and gazed into her eyes. “You ready for another wild ride?”
Nick gazed at his daughter, swaddled in a pink blanket, cooing in his arms. With blue-green eyes just like her mother, the infant stared up at him and yawned.
“It’s a lot of work being born, isn’t it little banana?”
Skylar Claire Kincade was born less than an hour after they had arrived at the hospital. Five minutes later, William Noland MacCarron entered the world.
The door to their hospital room opened.
“You guys mind if we join you?” Michael asked, carrying his son while Sam and Zoe wheeled Em’s hospital bed into their room.
Nick chuckled. “Of course! But is this even allowed?”
“Zoe’s dad pretty much runs the joint. Anybody that gives us trouble can go mess with him,” Sam said, maneuvering Em’s bed next to Lindsey’s.
The Complete Langley Park Series (Books 1-5) Page 76
