Atonement (27 page)

The hunky, pissed off looking guy said, “I’m looking for a Ms. Reese Stanford please.” He was checking his watch like he didn’t have time for any of our crap, and he was holding a brief case in the other hand. No one budged. I think we were all stunned, and worried now that we had done something wrong.

I finally stepped out of the crowd. My voice sounded small, and barely came out a whisper. “I’m Reese Stanford. What…what can I help you with?” I stepped up to him. This guy was very handsome, but very intimidating. I couldn’t imagine what he could possibly need with me.

“Yes, ma’am.” His voice was authoritative and a little intimidating. I have some business I need to discuss with you. If you could step over here for a moment Ms. Stanford. I’m sorry to interrupt your,” he looked around at each of our twelve or so surprised, and concerned faces, “your party.” He raised his eyebrows once, and had what looked like a little smirk, but then it just as quickly vanished. I wondered if that was the only humor he would be expressing. “Ms. Stanford, there is an issue with some paperwork that was filled out recently, and we can’t proceed until you sign. If I’m not mistaken, I think you need to have this paperwork pushed through pretty quickly, so I need you to take care of this today.” He was so monotone, and so…serious. I couldn’t imagine what he was talking about. The other girls had all gathered together, and I could hear their whispers behind me.

“Sir, I’m sorry, but I don’t know of any time-sensitive material I need to sign. Maybe if you could wait for another time…”

He interrupted me sternly, “I assure you, this is VERY important paperwork. Is there a wedding that is getting ready
to occur soon Ms. Stanford?” He asked. “Because, I think you failed to sign the prenuptial paperwork correctly, and a certain Mr. Tate Justice needs to have you sign it to process it quickly.”

“I’m sorry Mr…”

“Hard-ness…Hugh Hardness,” he said.

“Well I’m sorry Mr. Hardness,” I blushed at his name. I was reaching out to grab the document. “I didn’t intend to sign a…” Immediately I had a pair of handcuffs flicked on my wrist, and anchored to the chair I was standing near. I was frozen for a brief moment until it dawned on me. I gasped. I had been had!

“Chloe!” I hollered. “What have you done?” I was laughing now. Hoping in fact it was the joke I thought it was, or I was oh so wrong.

“Yes, Ms. Stanford, someone has done something, but it wasn’t Chloe.” He looked over at Chloe, cocking his head to the side, probably just realizing how gorgeous she was. He reached in his very tight pant suit pockets and pulled out a note. Then with the slyest of grins, he handed it to me. Opening it up to read, my face went from white to red in a matter of seconds.

“I gasped. It was from Tate!” The note read:
‘Gotcha! I’m hoping you didn’t figure this out too soon. I would have loved to have seen the look on your face. I wanted you to know that I love you, and I was just hoping you would now have further proof that I am, in fact, a changed man. I trust you, and although you
are
mine, I don’t want to be over-possessive of you ever again. Trust…that’s what we will have forever moving forward. Enjoy the show…just not too much…and absolutely, positively NO touching! By the way, there’s no way in hell we will have a prenup. Capiche!

While I was mortified over the trick he just played, I was even more convinced that Tate was mine as well. I wish he was here for me to show my LOVELY gratitude! The show was in fact very…um, enjoyable, but mostly heat inducing! ‘Mr. Hardness’ (what a terrible fake name), was a great crowd buzz. He knew how to move to his music he had blasting from his iPhone, and he had obviously been severely warned NOT to touch me at all. I didn’t even slip dollars into his, um, well what would have been underwear if there had been more fabric. I gladly let Chloe do all of that hard work. She enjoyed every minute of it. Everyone was having a ball! What a great treat. I don’t know that I had ever been more surprised…not so much by the stripper, but by who had reserved the stripper. Tate continued to amaze me. I was so LUCKY! I know I had a permanent stupid grin on my face.

The night was fantastic! The drinks, the gifts, the stripper, the limo, the dancing, and the crashing at 4 am. It was the time of my life. And, luckily I didn’t over-indulge. I remember every wonderful moment! Now, I couldn’t wait to hear about Tate’s evening. My face fell a little just thinking about it. I had to have trust though…after all, if Tate did what he did, I could be at ease with him having fun. At least I hoped so.

{Tate}

I heard all about Reese’s night last night in the cabin with her girls; the letters and the gifts. I know Reese is a lucky chick to have such great friends. And, while she didn’t tell me exactly what Chloe had given her, the fact that her voice got all husky
when she was telling me about the, um, toys, I couldn’t hold it in. I needed Reese. Oh God, I needed her so bad! Arrgh! I wasn’t sure I could hold out one more week. I was damn sure worried that our first
time
was going to be too quick. I had already decided I would have to find a way to take care of
things
beforehand, like maybe in the shower or something. I had to. If not, our first time would be, well…shit, she might not even remember it for how fast it would be. I laughed, but the reality was, I sometimes felt like I would release just looking at her!

The guys had picked me up around 7 pm. We had Finn’s cousin Blake drive us all around in a van my buddy Jack had rented. I was psyched. Guy time, man that is something I haven’t had enough of lately with my crazy school and baseball schedule.

Finn had a full cooler of beer in the back of the van. It was him and seven guys already whooping and hollering as they pulled in my drive. I was cheezing like a Cheshire cat. I couldn’t believe this was a bachelor party for ME! Was I crazy for asking Reese to marry me? Hell No! I couldn’t believe I would have her forever after next weekend. Ahhh, my heart rate doubled just thinking about it.

Finn yelled out right when they pulled up, his fists in the air. “Woo! Are we ready to party? Although, I do have a reputation to uphold, I’ll be a groom before you know it, and my bachelor party will be next!”

“I know man, I heard!” I said climbing in the van. They were already handing me a drink. “That’s awesome…you and Elle. Reese said she was deliriously happy man, I’m happy for y’all too.”

So, needless to say, since Finn was on cloud nine, we had congratulatory drinks for both of our good fortune. Before long I was relaxed and enjoying the dueling piano bar. I always loved those comedy, piano challenges. They really could sing too. As we were finishing up our wings, my phone pinged.

Tate, I thoroughly enjoyed

my lap dance. You picked a

hot one! I’m impressed. He

felt nice too. But, I’m sure not

as good as you ;)

Love – your wife to be

What the hell! It was funny for a second, but he ‘felt nice’? I was calling that company right now and giving them a piece of my mind. Then my phone pinged again.

Did I say he felt nice? I

meant Chloe thought he

felt nice. Lol. I’m still just

impressed you ordered it and

allowed it. You’ve come a

long way baby! I love you!!!

Now that was more like it. I had given them specific instructions not to touch her, and I compensated them VERY nicely for that refrainment. I wasn’t happy about my fiancé seeing so much skin on a man other than me, but this one time wouldn’t
kill me. I texted her back how I was glad she enjoyed it…JUST this one time though!

We went to a few bars, I ended up getting pretty wasted. I won’t lie, everywhere we went, the guys were hollering that I was a bachelor on his last weekend of freedom. Dang if I didn’t have girls left and right think they could change my mind for me. Some girls are just sluts. The old saying is true, there are girls you marry, like my Reese, and there are girls you, well you know…like a ton of girls tonight. Geez, they should know how it makes them look.

Around 2 am I had gotten a picture texted of Reese. Shit she was hot! It was a sultry picture and she said she was just thinking of me. I was sure it was sent for one of two reasons. That picture got my mind off the other chicks around, and made me look at her gorgeous face on and off all night. It was weird really, sometimes when I got wasted, I got pretty hyper, but tonight I was just mellow. I was relaxed, and ready for this week to pass in a blur. I wanted Reese all to myself, and I wanted her now.

he time had come. Tomorrow I would become Mrs. Tate Justice. I can’t lie, I am nervous. I hadn’t been able to eat anything since yesterday at lunch. I was hoping this was normal, surely most brides got jittery and felt like hurling the day of their wedding. Shoot, maybe Tate was feeling this way too.

We were all staying at Emerald Isle, most of us at Elle’s house, and others at neighboring houses. The rehearsal dinner had been beautiful and so sentimental. Of course it was extravagant. Tate’s parent’s had paid for that. They had it in Beaufort, of all places. The Mason House was a home from around 1900 that had been totally restored. It was an enormous, southern colonial home, overlooking the water. You could see all of the yachts docked, as well as others coming and going. Maybe that’s what had me unsettled. I think I was looking out at the water more than I should have. I kept checking to make sure John’s yacht wasn’t docked.

I had gotten a couple of really sad and desperate texts from him this week. He had also Facetimed me, and left me messages. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t talk to him. He knew I had made my decision to marry Tate. I needed him to respect
that and walk away. The hard and really scary part was I was worried that was why I had such butterflies on the day of my wedding. Was I making a mistake? No, I had been manipulated and betrayed by John. I had to keep that in the front of my mind. It doesn’t matter how much you want a person, you can’t just take them when they are attached to someone else. You can’t make them be yours by changing the fate of their future. This was good. I was psyching myself up to be hurt and angry by John still. Time had taken some of that away, but I needed it to still be there. I needed to not ever want him again. I suddenly felt flushed, and when I turned to grab my water, I landed face to face with Tate. He had been staring at me with a serious look. That was why I hadn’t eaten since yesterday.

He whispered in my ear to walk downstairs and take a little stroll. It was weird really. I hadn’t been to Beaufort with Tate before. We had never experienced all of my favorite things about Beaufort…the docks, the view of the ships, the restaurants and quaint shops, all of it. I should have protested when they chose to do the dinner there, but I was too excited. I truly thought I could squash any memories before they had a chance to rise.

I was wrong.

“Reese, I knew better…I can’t believe I agreed to have the dinner here.” He looked off to the side, “where you met him.” He still hated saying his name. Oh no, I was making him upset.

“No, it’s fine. I’m sorry Tate. I didn’t mean to upset you, I just …well, I just was worried he would be here somewhere. I was thinking how much he hurt me. I know he regrets it.” I stopped and walked over to the edge of the
docks. Tate followed me and then pulling him close to me I nuzzled my head in his chest. “This is good actually, I’m replacing memories, you know, swapping them out.” I leaned back and smiled at him. “He texted me this week, and called, I never answered him. He was just trying to get me to rethink…things. I didn’t feel a need to keep telling him the same thing over and over. I am in love with you, and am happily going to be married to you for a lifetime.” I said to Tate. I had told him about the run-in, literally, with John a couple of months ago. I had also told him how John saw my engagement ring, and I had broken down and told him about our wedding plans.