by C. C. Piper
Did you get the money yet?
That was it. That was all he said. The timestamp said he’d sent it this morning before I’d even gotten ready to go to the casino.
Was that all I was to him? A goddamn piggy bank?
Infuriated and full of foreboding, my finger hovered over James’ name. Maybe I should just get it over with. I’d have to pay the piper at some point. At last, I opened his texts.
Message one:
I hope this is some sort of joke.
Message two:
Emma?
Message three:
Okay, you’re really scaring me now. I know you’re at the hospital, but I’m going to call you anyway.
Message four:
I’m coming down there. We have to talk about this.
And then last but not least, he sent this:
I love you, and I don’t want a separation or a divorce. Whatever is upsetting you, I’m sure we can work through it. I need you to contact me, Emma. Please.
It was the please that sliced through my heart like an axe. Instead of hating me like I’d expected, he seemed confused more than anything else. I wished I’d never met him, just so I wouldn’t have had the chance to injure him like I had. Again.
Overwrought and worn out, I buried my face in my pillow and wept.
23
James
As much as Emma’s text had thrown me for a loop, what worried me even more was her total radio silence once she’d sent it. I knew she’d been upset by what happened to her brother, but it still made zero sense for her to basically end things between us. Especially over a text. It didn’t feel real.
But after a couple of hours had passed, I was forced to conclude that she wouldn’t be contacting me anytime soon. Giving up on concentrating on work, I contacted Charlie.
“Are you still there at the hospital?”
“Yes, sir. I’m parked in one of the side lots.”
“So Emma hasn’t asked you to take her anywhere else?”
“No, Mr. Carter.”
Blowing out a breath, I gritted out, “All right, thanks.”
Jumping to my feet, I hurried out to my garage. Typically, I had someone drive me where I wanted to go so I could work while in the car, but I had my own wheels too. Sliding in behind the steering column of my rarely driven Aston Martin, I roared down to Henderson Memorial. Too anxious to stand idle in the elevator, I raced up the stairs two by two.
I needed to see Emma and suss all this out.
When I arrived, however, the woman I loved was nowhere in sight. Her brother was situated in his bed, the upper half of his body angled upwards as he sipped water through a straw.
“Evan, hi. We haven’t officially met, but I’m the guy your sister married, James Carter.”
His swollen eyes widened by a tiny degree. It was probably all he could do.
“Have you seen her today? Has she been in?”
Slowly, he shook his head.
“Do you know where she might be?”
He shook his head again, but even though it was hard to tell with all the damage, his features seemed pinched. If I had to guess, I’d say he was lying to me.
I stepped closer. “Look, this is important. If you know where she is, you need to tell me.”
He continued to hesitate, and annoyed, I leaned over him until I was right in his face. “You may not know much about me, but I know a lot about you. Like that you keep gambling and hanging out with the wrong people. Like that you owed fifty thousand dollars to those people, which caused Emma to steal from me. Like that you’ve fucked up again, and now owe them an additional fifteen thousand. That sound about right?”
I’d snarled all this at him, and by the end, I had the front of his hospital gown in my fist. I wasn’t the threatening type, but I was so irate over his cavalier treatment of his own sister, that if he wasn’t already battered, I might’ve clocked him myself.
Agitated now, Evan gestured toward the nearby table the nurses brought meals on. I handed him the contents on top of it, a notepad and pen. He scribbled something out and showed it to me.
She’s in danger.
“Emma?”
Yes. That’s why she has to get the money. They told me if they don’t get their money by Monday, they’ll kill her in front of me.
Jesus Christ.
“Who told you that? Who’s after you?”
Some heavies who work for Benny Margioni. He’s a local bookie.
“Where would she go to secure this sort of money?” She hadn’t gone to me, obviously. We had an inauspicious history there that she was probably still sensitive about. But then as I considered her options, I realized I already knew.
I left before Evan could answer.
I scanned the casino, one of the direct competitors of The Oleander. It was well-established but much shabbier, a place that brought out the fringe element in Vegas. But no matter how hard I looked, I didn’t see Emma anywhere. I approached the blackjack table to speak with a guy in a long-sleeved white button-down and black vest.
“I’m looking for a woman,” I began, but before I could complete the description, he chuckled.
“Ain’t we all, mack?”
“This one…” This one is my wife. “She’s in her mid-twenties, has long light brown hair to her waist, hazel eyes, a great figure, and a beautiful face.”
“Eh, I mighta seen her.” Keeping his hand obscured by the table, he thrust out a beefy paw, palm up. So that’s how it was going to be. I slipped him a fifty. “She was here about an hour and a half ago. Jabbered to this one guy and then another. Thought she’d take one into a bathroom stall to take care of business, but she didn’t. Stayed for a long time but left alone.”
“Right,” I muttered, not stomaching his intimations very well. Still, he’d told me what I most needed to know.
She wasn’t here. And though she’d been dropped off at the Henderson Memorial, she hadn’t gone to her brother’s room. So that left only a short list of likely locations she might go.
I strode through her woebegone apartment complex, my eyes constantly searching for any glimpses of my wife. I needed to speak to Emma, to see her. Though it wasn’t that late, the sun had set, casting the environment into poorly lit shadows. There was no doorbell, so I knocked on her front door.
No one showed up to answer it.
“Emma?” I called out, pressing my ear to the wood and listening for signs of life. “Are you home?”
I could make out sounds from other apartments nearby. The drone of a television, the buzz of music issuing from the upper floor, the shriek of an unhappy infant, the yipping of a small dog. Ordinary noises. But the feel of the place wasn’t ordinary. Evan had been assaulted here, and now that I knew Emma’s life had been threatened, it didn’t feel safe. She wasn’t safe.
I banged on her door again. “Emma?”
From inside I heard a shuffling. Then, after what was probably seconds but seemed like an hour, the metallic clinking of a chain being slid along a track. The door creaked open, and there she was. Her lovely face was red and puffy as if she’d been crying recently, but after being perplexed by her vanishing act, seeing her alive and in one piece was a massive relief.
Without asking for permission, I pulled her into my arms. She stayed rigid initially, as if resisting me, but I didn’t give up. I couldn’t.
“You scared the bejesus out of me,” I whispered, breathing her in. The citrusy sweet essence of her rose to surround me and having her close again caused a lump to fill my throat. I cleared it.
Christ, Carter, get a grip.
“You have to go,” she rasped out, her voice rough.
“I’m not going anywhere without you.”
“James—”
“No,” I interrupted her. “Don’t argue with me. It’s dangerous for you to be here. Those thugs your brother is involved with are planning to come after you. You need to come home with me.”
She glanced up at me, her eyes enormous in
her face. “But Evan…”
“Evan is safe. They have security in the hospital. I’ve asked Charlie to set up a vigil outside his room as well. He’ll be protected, but you need protection too.”
“You don’t understand. This is my problem to fix not yours. It’s my responsibility to take care of this. Evan needs me.”
“Evan needs to quit depending on you to take care of his messes,” I told her firmly. “This has gone too far.”
“But I’m all he has left. I have to help him.”
“Getting him off the hook time and time again is not helping him, Emma. He’s keeping you from living your own life but only because you’re letting him. It’s time for him to face his shortcomings and straighten out his life. You can’t do that for him.”
Her face crumpled. “He’s an addict. He started taking drugs right after our parents died. I thought he’d cleaned himself up, but I was wrong. I’m failing him.”
“The kind of help he needs isn’t the type you can provide. That doesn’t mean you’re failing him. That means it’s time to bring in some professionals, some people who are trained to assist people like him.”
“I checked into that already. I can’t…” But I knew the woman I loved well enough to know what she was going to say.
“It seems you’ve forgotten that you’re no longer alone in this.” I held her face in my hands. “I can make whatever arrangements need to be made. There’s a highly rated rehab facility less than an hour from here. Once he gets out of the hospital, I’ll make sure he has a place there.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’ve done nothing but steal from you and wreak havoc on your life.”
“Untrue. Granted, it’s been a bumpy ride, but I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. Getting drunk in the casino that night couldn’t have been a coincidence because it brought me everything I needed. It brought me you.” She started to sob outright, but for the first time since opening her door, she relaxed fully against me, her arms holding on tight.
And it was then and only then that I knew everything would be okay.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
Emma
The toughest thing about life was that it was unpredictable.
I sometimes wondered if I’d had a chance to prepare for the more harrowing blows beforehand that maybe it wouldn’t have been so terrible. Maybe I could’ve sidestepped some of the worst stuff altogether, or maybe made a choice that would turn what felt like a head-on collision into a fender bender instead.
But that’s not how life worked.
It would always be unpredictable. All we could do was hold on and pray for the best.
Luckily, I now knew specifically what the best looked like.
For me, it looked like this particular moment.
I marched steadily toward the most stunning man in the universe. And better yet, he was staring at me with love in his eyes.
Once I reached him, the touch of his hand holding mine sent wonderful shockwaves of electricity along every inch of my body. I couldn’t have stopped beaming at him if I’d tried. Not that I would try. Attempting to put aside my love for this man had been a bad habit I’d once had. A stupid one. Thankfully, I’d broken that habit for good.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the eternal union of James Edward Carter and Emma Hope Morris,” the minister spoke into the crispness of the sixty-degree environment of the villa’s patio.
James had teased me when he’d discovered my middle name a few months ago. He told me such a name meant I must be a closet optimist, even if it was buried deep deep down. I bopped him on the arm for that little comment. He’d kissed me on the temple and chuckled.
“Love is one of the gifts of human existence,” the minister continued. “We are made of love, and it feels good to express love, but sometimes we get caught up in the minutiae of life and forget that. Seeing two people bound by holy matrimony reminds us of the truth, however. That if we let it, love will fill us and ease our burdens. Love is support, kindness, passion, and friendship. Love is everything.” The minister turned to look at us. “Now the bride and groom will exchange vows they’ve written themselves.”
I thought of the many, many things my husband had done for me since I’d married him. He’d been unendingly helpful and generous. After taking me back to the villa, he’d secured a spot for Evan at the rehab facility he told me about. Things had then become exceedingly difficult for my brother.
He’d gone straight from Henderson Memorial to the Tranquility Wellness and Rehabilitation Center. Only after his arrival did all the pain medication wear off and the withdrawal symptoms set in. Since narcotics are basically poison to the system, clearing them out was a painful process. I’d visited him once, and sweating and vomiting, he’d screamed for me to leave. Not exactly a peaceful family moment.
Yet, he was here with us now.
And though he would always be a recovering addict, he was also clean and sober. He’d gone into intense counseling, and I even joined him for a family session twice a week. We spoke of heavy topics like loss and mourning, and of not judging that process, even if it meant that there was some uncomfortable weeping involved. We began the process of healing together. Now, our sibling relationship was much healthier as was my relationship with myself.
It took a while for me to realize how much I hated myself for not being strong enough to stop Evan from descending into a perilous lifestyle. I had tried to replace my parents, but that was impossible. I understood that now, that I’d held myself up to an impractical standard far too high to attain. And once I began to forgive myself, I became a much more Zen and cheerful person.
And wife.
My breath caught in my chest as I prepared to say my vows. I’d agreed to go first. “James, if anyone would’ve told me not too long ago that we’d wind up here face to face with all our loved ones in attendance, I would’ve laughed in their face. I was cynical, lacked faith in myself and others, and was frankly, a bit of a bitch.”
The crowd laughed. I could admit that these weren’t the most typical of vows, but they came from the heart.
“But now, I get it. You helped me get it. The past several years have been dark for me, but you became my light at the end of that tunnel. No matter what I threw at you, you showed me tenderness, patience, and unconditional love.” My voice broke then, and my eyes filled. Dammit. I’d hoped to forego the waterworks, but oh well. “And for the rest of our lives, I’m going to do my best to give you the very same. I love you.”
James’ smile took over his entire face. Those incredible blue eyes of his had grown undeniably wet, but since I was already a blubbering mess, I wasn’t going to call him on it. Besides, I’d never admit this out loud, but him being so moved by my words made my heart glow with happiness.
“Emma,” he began, his voice croakier than usual. “Before I met you, I’d begun to doubt that I’d ever find someone who’d want me not for my money, but for myself. Yet, you did. While our introduction was pretty out of the ordinary, and we had some rocky moments, when it came down to it, we couldn’t do anything but be together.”
“You have overcome so much. You are strong, courageous, and unsinkable. For every knock-out punch you received, you always got back up. You never once gave in to defeat. You’re the kind of person who is willing to sacrifice anything and everything for those you love, and watching you refuse to surrender made me want you all the more. You made me fall for you, and no matter what the future holds, I’ll never stop.”
I was crying harder than ever now, but I couldn’t help it. Besides, wasn’t losing it at your wedding a rite of passage or something?
“Do you have your rings?” the minister asked, and though James’ friends Mauricio and Richard were standing up for him, it was Evan on my side of the aisle who handed them over.
I specifically requested my husband that we give my brother this honor. I wanted to demonstrate my trust to Evan, to let him know
I believed in him no matter what. I didn’t know to this day why Benny Margioni’s men had backed off, but I did know that those men, as well as Benny himself, were rumored to have left Vegas to go to Atlantic City instead.
I had my suspicions that both my husband and probably the Wish Maker were involved, but I never brought it up. As long as those thugs were no longer hassling my brother, I had only one thought to spare for them.
Good riddance.
Our professional lives had flourished alongside our personal ones; it almost felt as if they’d been linked somehow. James succeeded in opening a restaurant in Los Angeles. It’d instantly become the next up and comer and was already developing a dedicated customer base.
Taking James’ advice to heart, I’d finished up my last freelancing project so I could explore becoming an illustrator of children’s books. I just completed an entire picture book all by myself, and it had already garnered a significant amount of buzz. I started to develop my next book shortly after finishing the first one.
I found being in love to be extremely inspiring.
“The ring is a symbol of everlasting love. The circle is a perfect representation of something that is eternal, without beginning and without end. What is was and ever shall be. Now, James, take Emma’s hand and say, ‘With this ring, I thee wed.’”
“With this ring, I thee wed,” he said, the look in his eyes full of meaning. Technically, we’d now been married for seven and a half months already, but maybe because we’d been saving our rings for this ceremony, this was the first time it felt official.
I reciprocated, and then the minister said the words I’d been so anxious to hear. “What has been brought together in holy matrimony, let no one rip asunder. I now present to you James and Emma Carter. You may now kiss the bride.”
James surprised me by tipping me to the side and giving me a lip-smacking that was so heated it almost wasn’t fit for public consumption. But I didn’t mind. I loved him, and he loved me. All was right with the world.
