Kate's Forever (Thistle Do Flowers Book 1)

by Christina Butrum

  “Could’ve fooled me, since this was your idea,” she said, jabbing him with a playful elbow.

  “Who’s idea was it? If I remember right, we were both here at the same time, but you were here before I was,” Jordan said, playfully jabbing her back.

  “True, but who was here before whom today?” Kate asked, raising a brow in his direction as they walked across the street towards the park. “You can’t fool me. There’s something up.”

  “Nothing’s up, I swear.”

  “Uh-huh, whatever you say.”

  The weather in Iowa was perfect during spring into early summer. There were plenty of rainy days, but today wasn’t one of them. The sun was shining brightly, casting its rays down, providing enough warmth to block the chill of the gentle breeze.

  Downtown was a nice location, next to the park, and with a decent view overlooking the Mississippi River. Kids chased their friends around the nearby playground in fits of laughter. Dogs barked while they waited impatiently for their owners to throw a ball—seeming to switch their choice of preferred toy every two seconds.

  Distractions were endless in the park, but they were the good distractions. They were the kind of distractions you wanted to get lost in. Kate stood next to the oak tree, lost in thought as she stared off at the family of three—a mother, father, and their toddler—introducing him to the playground where they were rewarded with the boy’s excited laughter.

  Jordan’s arm gently surrounded her as they stood next to the oak tree, “Perfect here, isn’t it?”

  Devon was setting up his equipment, preparing to take their picture as they stared off in awe at the activity buzzing around them. “Yes, it is perfect.”

  She shifted in his arms, looked up at him, and met his gaze long enough for Devon to catch their pose. “You two are pros at this!” Devon said, smiling with excitement. “These pictures are going to be magnificent. You just wait and see, Kate, you’re going to love them!”

  “Can you turn into each other?” Devon asked, motioning for them to face each other as he continued to snap pictures at random. “Perfect. Look at the love you two share. It’s radiating in this session.”

  Kate had to give props to Devon. He was outgoing, spunky, and wanted nothing but the best for his clients. If she were to need pictures in the future, she would hire him for sure. His upbeat personality mixed with the park’s charm provided the flawless setting for pictures.

  “Okay, Jordan, I need you to come stand over here,” Devon said, directing Jordan with his hands to stand a few feet from Kate as he handed him a bundle of flowers that he had pulled from his prop bag. “Now, act like you’re going to surprise her, walk up to her with your surprise and I’ll take the shots.”

  Kate smiled because Jordan was admirable as he walked towards her holding a bouquet of flowers that reminded her of the day he had saved her from chaos at Thistle Do not so long ago. Flowers were a sweet reminder of their connection—their chemistry had taken them to a whole new level. Flowers gave the promise that something better was yet to come.

  She kept her focus on Jordan as he shortened the distance between them, one step at a time. His eyes locked onto hers, and in them she saw the mix of feelings she currently felt—desire, hope, love, excitement—she was enjoying this moment, regardless that it was for the local event and a chance to win the contest. There was nothing left between them that others didn’t already know. They were falling in love, or in her case already fell, and they were building their relationship from the ground up. Creating memories one day at a time, beginning with a simple favor of his that had started it all.

  “Kate,” he said, keeping his eyes on her, he closed the gap between them as he handed her the flowers. From a short distance away, Devon continued to snap pictures of this moment. Kate’s heart beat hard against her chest as the thought of something more was about to happen. Brushing it off as just vibes from Jordan standing so close, the desire between them mixed with the intense emotion they had shared in the last few weeks, she kept her eyes on him, smiling excessively as she waited for Devon to holler out for them to change their pose.

  But Devon never said anything, instead, he moved closer, getting a better angle of what was happening in front of her. She held onto the flowers Jordan had handed to her as he knelt down on one knee. To her delight, they weren’t fake prop flowers at all; they were real, and smelled as though they were freshly picked from the woods out back of Jordan’s house. Tears blurred her vision as he dug a small box from his pocket. Covering her mouth with her hands, she let out a short whimper as tears fell, silently streaking cheeks. “Jordan, oh my God,” she whispered.

  “Kate,” he said her name again, this time with more definition in his voice. “Since the day I met you, I just knew that you were the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Granted, you were distracted and digging in that purse of yours when we met, but I just knew that I had to know you, to be your friend, to love you, and to be your forever.”

  Tears streamed, makeup streaked, she was sure she was a hot mess for the camera to capture, but right now, she couldn’t wrap her thoughts around what Jordan was actually saying. “Jordan,” she whispered, her voice soft, as it, too, was lost in this moment.

  “And since that day, and the many to follow after, I knew I would one day love you,” Jordan said, his eyes still locked on hers as he held his pose in front of her. Opening the box, exposing the glistening ring inside, he said, “And that one day I would ask you, will you marry me?”

  Her heart raced as thoughts swarmed, it was then that she knew this had been what he had been planning all along. The early arrival to Devon’s Photography, not answering her text messages... he had been busy putting this all together.

  “Yes.”

  “Yes?” he asked, rising to his feet and wrapping her in his arms before lifting her up.

  “Yes!”

  “Yes!”

  Spinning her around as the camera captured the moment she would remember for the rest of her life. The day that Jordan Hughes asked her to marry him, and had caused her to thank God for helping her find her forever.

  * * *

  The excitement over their engagement hadn’t ended, that day in the park. It had continued on throughout the week when the news had found its way to Jessica’s ears and on throughout the rest of the town. The local newspaper dedicated the front page to a newly engaged couple—having no doubt the town would know who it was without so much as a glance at the paper. The headline read “The Engagement Le Claire Saw Coming Before It Happened.”

  It was only a matter of time before the guys would be all over it and giving him crap for being so cheesy. He would take the brunt of the jokes because he was proud of what he had accomplished. He had followed his gut instinct, and for the first time in a long time, something had actually gone according to his plan. Nothing had faltered and nothing had given him away. Two perfect opportunities had been tied together to provide him with enough time to propose to the woman who had stolen his heart from the moment she had been so distracted from digging through her purse that she had slammed into him.

  He would allow his buddies to give him crap all day long because, at the end of the day, he was content with how cheesy he had been in order to pull off a proposal like one from a movie.

  But right now, he had work to get done before taking Kate on a little vacation. He had talked to his parents and they were excited to meet her. They were a bit upset that they hadn’t yet met her, but were happy to hear that they’d finally be able to. Meeting his parents wasn’t the only thing he had planned for her though.

  “Hey, I hear it went fairly well,” Paul said, holding up the paper, showing Jordan the front page. “It says here that photography credits are given to Devon’s Photography, but the props are given to you. They’re saying it was just like a movie. So, tell me, was it like Hallmark?”

  “Get out of here and let me see that,” Jordan said, nudging Paul as he grabbed the newspaper from him.
There it was, sure enough, the article that had claimed the front page like the whole town had said.

  “You’re telling me that she never caught on to what you were up to?”

  “Not at all,” Jordan said, folding the paper before setting it down on the desk. “I had to think fast the day we were both in Devon’s shop, but it turned out okay. And even when we were walking across the street to the park, I could’ve sworn that she was going to bust me like she always does, but nope. She had no idea.”

  “Well, man to man,” Paul said, scooting his chair away from the desk. “That was honestly the cheesiest thing you could have ever done, but I’ll give you credit for pulling it off as well as you did.”

  * * *

  With all of the excitement about the proposal and the contest, Kate had forgotten to tell Jordan about her interview. His brother had followed through with his word and had gotten her job back for her. She would be forever in his debt.

  Knowing that Jessica was impatiently waiting to hear the details of everything, from the job to the engagement, Kate parked in the lot next to Thistle Do and walked inside.

  Jessica was dusting the shelves and rearranging the area when Kate pushed through the door. The smell of lemony pledge furniture polish and Windex assaulted her senses as soon as she stepped in.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, startling Jessica, who hadn’t heard her walk in because she was too busy jamming out with earbuds in.

  Grabbing her chest and throwing the dust rag at Kate, Jessica yanked the earbuds out and asked, “Why do you gotta scare me like that? Shit, Kate, I about had a heart attack.”

  Laughing at Jessica’s melodramatic reaction, Kate held up her hand in order to show Jessica the reason she had stopped by. She had a million and one things to do today, with the need to pack for the weekend away with Jordan taking priority. But since she was in the area, she’d decided to stop for a quick visit.

  “I can’t believe he actually went through with it,” Jessica said, a smirk on her face. “I told him I didn’t think he’d be able to pull it off, but he sure proved me wrong.”

  Confusion scattered across her thoughts. “Wait, what?”

  “I owed him for helping you with Thistle Do. It was the least I could do,” Jessica said, taking a step back from Kate with her hands raised in defense. “I thought it was cute how determined he was to make it perfect.”

  Jessica walked to the desk, grabbed the newspaper, and handed it to Kate. “Plus, I think you two have a decent chance of winning this photo contest. Have you seen this? They put you two front and center.”

  Taking the newspaper, Kate couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She and Jordan were just two ordinary people, but the amount of attention the community was giving them made her feel special.

  “I should’ve known you were up to something,” Kate said, pointing a finger at Jordan as she threw clothes into a suitcase lying on her bed. “All this time I had that feeling... like something was going on... but I couldn’t put a finger on it. You all were working together.”

  He was impressed that Jessica had kept it a secret for as long as she had. If she hadn’t, things wouldn’t have gone as they had, and Kate wouldn’t have been surprised. It would have all been postponed to a future date.

  “My parents are excited to meet you,” Jordan said, grabbing her overstuffed bags from the bed and carrying them towards the door. This was the last of the surprises he had planned for her. He knew that it wasn’t fair to tell her last minute about meeting his parents, but it was the last bit of the surprise he had in mind.

  “Did you just say parents?” Kate hollered after him. “You didn’t tell me that I would be meeting your parents.”

  The frustration and excitement twisted on her face. He knew that she couldn’t be mad at him for too long. Heck, she wasn’t even mad at him right now. He could tell because the smile that she trying so hard to hide was emerging. “Don’t worry, they’re going to love you, along with the rest of my family.”

  Kate poked her head out into the hallway and narrowed her eyes at him. “The rest of your family?”

  “Yep, they’re waiting for us right now actually.”

  “Okay, I have no problem with that,” she said. “I really hope they like me.”

  The last thing he wanted her to worry about was whether they would like her or not. “You have nothing to worry about. They’re going to love you.”

  “Are there any more surprises that I should know about?” Kate asked him on her way out the door. She had the last two bags she had packed in her hands as she walked to his truck.

  “They would no longer be surprises if you knew about them,” he said, tossing her bags into the backseat of the pickup. The look she gave him told him that he’d better be joking, which he was. He was all out of last minute surprises, for now.

  Turning the key, the truck grumbled to life. He looked over at her sitting in the seat with that smile on her face that had broken his barrier down not that long ago. “Are you ready?”

  “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  With that, he backed out of her driveway and headed toward the highway. They needed to hurry if they were going to catch their flight to their surprise destination.

  * * *

  Arriving at the airport, Kate didn’t ask questions. She was confident with his word that there would be no more surprises. He had promised her that his family was going to love her and with that, her nerves had settled and she was ready to relax.

  Sitting next to him on the plane, she turned to face him. “I have one of my own surprises I haven’t told you about.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yep.”

  There was no doubt that he would want to hear about it. She had yet to tell him about the school’s decision. She had wanted to tell him immediately after the interview, but other things had happened. She smiled at the memory of that day. It was definitely the best day of her life.

  “I got a job.”

  She had his attention. He turned his head in her direction and asked, “You got a job? Where?”

  “Well, you know how you talked to someone about doing you a favor?”

  “My brother?”

  She nodded. “Let’s just say...”

  “He really did get your job back?” The excitement radiated on his face. She could tell he was more than happy his brother had actually followed through with it, and even more happy that she got the job. “That’s great!”

  “Yes, I’m beyond ready to get back into a classroom,” she said.

  “When do you go back? Fall?”

  She nodded once again. “I’ll be in your brother’s classroom the start of the new year, and by next year I’ll have started to work toward my own classroom.”

  “That’s amazing, Kate.”

  Leaning in for a kiss, she said, “And one more thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You are unquestionably the better looking one of the two.”

  “Ha, that’s what I told you wasn’t it?”

  Nodding, she reached a hand behind his head and pulled him in closer and kissed him—hard. She had waited all day for this uninterrupted time together. She couldn’t wait to get where they were going.

  Knowing that she expected to meet his parents, and knowing she was actually excited about it, made him feel whole. Feeling as though he had finally met his other half, his other part of life that he had been missing all along, Jordan watched her sleep in the seat next to him.

  He wanted nothing more than to kiss her and make love to her. She was going to be a beautiful wife and a wonderful mother one day, and he was more than willing to make that happen, and soon.

  Wanting to sleep, he closed his eyes, but his nerves were restless and his excitement to get where they were going was through the roof of the airplane. With less than an hour until they reached their destination, he decided against sleep. Instead, he stayed awake, thinking about their future together, as he continued to watch her slee
p.

  * * *

  A rough jolt woke her and she caught him with his eyes on her. Smiling, she asked, “What was that?”

  “We’ve arrived at our destination.”

  Standing, Jordan assisted her with gathering their things from the compartments above their seats. “I feel like I slept a long time. How long have you been watching me sleep?” she asked him, wiping her mouth in case she had drooled while she had been asleep.

  “Not that long,” he answered. Grinning, he leaned in and kissed her forehead. “You’re so beautiful.”

  “Should I be worried?”

  “Not at all,” he said, following her out of the plane and into the airport. “I don’t always watch the victims sleep, sometimes I caress them and make love to them the way they like me to.”

  Laughing, she turned to face him. “Now that’s just creepy. You shouldn’t talk like that. Someone might take you seriously.”

  When she turned back in the direction they were headed a sign notified her where they had landed. “Florida? You never told me that your family lives in Florida.”

  Catching a glimpse of his smirk from the corner of her eye, she had a feeling there was something else he wasn’t telling her. Within the last week, she had learned—from experience—when he was up to something. Right now was one of those times that she could almost tell that he was hiding something from her.

  Instead of answering her though, he kept pace with her as they walked through the airport terminal in the direction of the baggage claim. Thoughts of the last time she was at a baggage claim crossed her mind. Arizona was quite a distance from Florida, but the thought was hovering. Jordan had given her the update that her ex had been found and was taken into custody with no questions asked. It had been more than a few days since she had last worried about him, but that was only because Jordan had been there for her, encouraging her to get through it one day at a time. She imagined court dates were in the near future, but so was Jordan, and he had promised to be there with her through it all.