Just Let Me Love You (22 page)

“Fucking crazy,” I murmur when all the paperwork is complete.

The whole time, though, I am smiling like crazy. I mean, shit, my own business. Wow! Who would’ve thought this former felon could turn his life around to this extent?

I would have never dreamed of such good things. But the true credit lies with one person. And it’s not me. It’s Kay.

She doesn’t like to hear it. She believes I would’ve succeeded with or without her, but she couldn’t be more wrong. She is my rock, my balance. Kay is golden, and if I hadn’t already married her, I’d do it all over again today.

Speaking of which…

Following my late-afternoon business meeting with Nick and our new business attorney, I return to the farmhouse. I find Kay on the back porch, lazily swinging to and fro.

I take a seat beside her and give her a peck on the cheek. “Hey,” I say.

“Hey,” she replies, reaching over to take my hand. “How’d it go with Nick?”

“Great.” I sit up a little straighter and proudly proclaim, “You are now looking at the president of Gartner Contracting.”

Her arms fly around me as she tells me, “This is so incredible, Chase.”

“It is,” I agree, and pulling back so I can see her, I add, “Now that everything is coming together, we should talk with Father Maridale about that church wedding.”

“You’re right,” she says. “His not knowing we’re already married is starting to feel weird.”

“Nobody in Harmony Creek knows,” I remind her.

“Uh…” She looks away.

“Kay?” I prompt.

She glances over at me sheepishly. “I may have mentioned something to Missy this past weekend.”

I’m kind of surprised Kay told Missy our secret, but I have no room to talk since I divulged the same info to my brother back in Vegas.

But does any of that really matter?

The way I see it, now that some time has passed there’s no reason to keep our Vegas marriage a secret for much longer.

I relay this exact line of thinking to Kay, and she says, “True, but I think we should still talk with Father Maridale first. He’d be upset if he heard the news from someone other than one of us.”

I agree, and the next morning, bright and early, we speak with Father Maridale. We find him in his office in the rectory. He’s not mad or upset when he hears our news, but he is rather surprised.

“Oh, okay,” he says, looking a little dejected.

He sure perks up, however, when we tell him we still want to have a church wedding at Holy Trinity.

“That’s wonderful!” he says, glowing. I swear there are tears in his eyes. Kay and I tell him that we don’t want to wait too long, and we all conclude a December wedding would work out best.

December is only two months away, but we plan to keep things small and intimate. I don’t foresee planning on such short notice to pose a problem.

“You sure you don’t want something big and fancy?” I ask Kay, just to be sure.

“No way,” she assures me. “I like our plan just fine.”

I feel the same way. I’m glad our nuptials will reflect our relationship—a relationship defined by a pure and simple love.

Kay

D
ecember rolls around and with it comes the wedding. I’m beyond happy. Well, happy except for one thing—I’m still not pregnant.

“Be patient, Kay,” Missy says to me consolingly the morning of the ceremony.

She is in the church with me, helping me into a beautiful ivory lace wedding gown. We have the anteroom all to ourselves. “It will happen,” she adds confidently.

“Easy for you to say,” I reply, Motioning to her not-quite-so-flat belly, I lament, “You’re already three months along.”

Yep, that’s right, Nick knocked up Missy…again. Only this time, it was planned. They were hoping for a baby to help ease the pain from the loss of their first one. And their prayers were answered.

In the meantime, despite tons of sex, I am still waiting for a single missed period.

“Don’t worry,” Missy assures me. “You’ll be seeing that little plus sign on the stick soon enough.”

“I hope you’re right,” I reply with a sigh.

Twenty minutes later, I am making my way down the center aisle of the church. The interior of the chapel is beautiful, aglow in soft candlelight. Among the modest gathering of guests in attendance are the ones who matter the most to me and Chase—Will, Abby, Greg, and my parents. Missy is my Maid of Honor. And Nick is Chase’s Best Man.

The four of us, now bound by friendship, convene at the altar before a smiling Father Maridale.

“We are gathered here today…” Father begins, and I can’t help but smile and smile and smile.

God, I am happy
.

This isn’t the first marriage ceremony for Chase and me, but already this one feels much more real than the one in Vegas. Don’t get me wrong—that one will forever be special in its own right. But this one is amazing, surrounded as we are by our loved ones in our hometown. Who knew this would feel so incredibly special?

Not to mention, Chase in a superbly fitted black tux is all kinds of hot.

I squeeze his hand and venture a glance up at him from under my veil. He winks at me and sends me a soul-touching smile.

All I can think is:
I love this man.

After the ceremony, a reception is held at the diner. Management was more than happy to oblige us when we first asked. They closed early and decorated the place just for us.

I have a plain napkin saved from one of the first lunches with Chase, and I hurriedly snag a pretty maroon one. This one, inscribed in gold, reads:

Chase and Kay

December 7

My husband catches me slipping my souvenir from our wedding day into my clutch, and he asks, “What are you up to, Kay?”

He drapes his arm around my shoulders and when he leans in close, I breathe in all that is Chase Gartner—a little soap, a little trouble, and a lot of virile male.

“Nothing,” I reply. “I’m up to nothing at all.”

I
am
up to something, though—a surprise for my beloved. The napkin I slipped into my clutch—as well as the plain white one I saved from the summer—is an integral part to my plan. If all turns out the way I’m hoping, I know it will be amazing to see Chase’s face when I gift him with this surprise. But the timing will have to be right. In any case, I don’t want to blow it now.

No need for me to worry. Chase is too busy whispering sweet nothings in my ear, which is rather distracting. With his warm breaths tickling enticingly at my skin, I whisper back, “Let’s get out of here soon.”

Our families, who are all staying at the farmhouse, pitched in and bought us a suite at the only hotel in town. We intend to christen it with our love tonight.

Plans are placed on hold, however, when Will saunters over.

“Hey,” he begins, “what are you two crazy lovebirds up to?” Mock-punching Chase’s arm, he adds, “You’re not planning on cutting out early at your own reception, are you?”

“Actually—” Chase begins.

I quickly interject, “No, no, not at all. We’re staying.”

Chase groans, and I remind him, “We’ll be alone soon enough.”

“True,” he murmurs under his breath.

Will, never one to miss a thing, laughs. “Good to see nothing has changed with you two,” he says.

We head back over to our bridal table, which is just a large booth—the very same one Chase and I used to eat lunch at during our early diner days. Missy is on one side, seated next to her younger cousin, a girl about Will’s age named Emma. Emma is pretty and perky, and her eyes light up when she looks up and notices a very good-looking Will heading to her table.

“Bro,” Chase says in a low voice to his brother. “I think you have an admirer.”

“Yeah! Wedding hook-up.” Will pumps his fist. “Cool.”

“Hey”—I smack his arm—“that’s Missy’s cousin. No funny stuff.”

Will is a heartbreaker, just like Chase. Well, like Chase used to be. Oh, Chase is as gorgeous and hot as ever, don’t get me wrong, but he’s not breaking any hearts these days. He’s all mine.

Will and Emma can’t stop sneaking peeks at one another. Oh, they think they’re coy, but it’s quite obvious. I’m happy, though, to see Will has moved on from Cassie. He’s been playing the field, becoming quite the ladies’ man, according to Chase. But he’s a good kid.

“I’m just teasing around,” Will says sheepishly at the exact second we reach the booth.

“Hi,” Emma says, smiling brightly as she looks up at Chase’s brother.

“Hey,” Will replies all nonchalant.

I shake my head. “He’s just too cool,” I whisper to Chase.

He rolls his eyes.

Meanwhile, Missy introduces Emma to Will.

She then slips out of the booth, and says, “I’m going to go find Nick. Emma, why don’t you stay here and talk with Will for a while.”

“Sure,” Emma replies.

“Cool,” Will agrees, his nonchalance faltering.

“Guess we’re the designated chaperones,” I murmur to Chase.

He laughs as we all clamber into the booth with Emma. “Guess so.”

We all talk for a while and conversation flows easily. After some discussion of the ceremony and how good the food is at the reception, Will tells Emma about his plans for college.

“I want to go into graphic design,” he says, watching this girl he’s obviously smitten with for her reaction.

“That sounds very interesting,” she replies. “Do you have any experience in that sort of stuff?”

“Actually,” Will says proudly, “I do have experience, lots of experience, in fact.”

I glance over at Chase as Will starts to detail his comic book projects to Emma. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Chase as contented as when he watches his younger brother—this new, got-my-shit-together Will.

Will’s issues were close to destroying him just a few months ago, but with Chase’s determination and commitment to never again let his brother down, he has managed to save Will. And by saving Will, Chase has found an inner peace of his own, an inner peace that transcends the peace he’s found with his father, and the peace he’s working at with his mom.

Chase places his hand over mine. “What’s this feel like to you?” he asks.

Will and Emma are now engrossed in their own conversation, so I am able to focus solely on Chase.

He seems so serious, so I ask, “What do you mean?”

His blue eyes, twinkling in the glow of the festive lighting, meet mine. “I mean”—he waves his hand around—“just everything. What’s this feel like to you?”

I look around. My parents are laughing and talking with Abby and Greg, Missy and Nick are dancing, and all the other guests are enjoying themselves—eating, talking, having fun.

“It feels like a fresh start for all of us,” I say to Chase.

He nods, and replies, “Yeah, it sure does, babe. We’re starting a whole new chapter in our lives today.”

I couldn’t have said it any better than that, so I just smile and nod.

And that is the point where we fully turn the page on our old lives.

Chase

A
t our wedding in December, I told Kay we were embarking on a whole new chapter of our lives. And these past couple of months we’ve done exactly that.

Life is still good—better than ever, in fact—when Valentine’s Day rolls around.

The only hiccup is that Kay is
still
not pregnant.

Everything else in our lives is stellar, though. My contracting business with Nick has taken off, and even with the bad weather—it’s been an exceptionally snowy winter thus far—I have more jobs than I know what to do with. I’m thinking I’ll probably have to hire someone to help out by the time spring rolls around.

Me, supervising employees. Hell, Jack Gartner would be proud.

Other things in my life are good, too. I hear from Will often. In fact, just yesterday he called to tell me he’s planning on coming out to Ohio this summer. He stayed on after our wedding and spent Christmas break with us. It was a great time.

Anyway, I’m thinking since my brother will have his driver’s license by the summer, he can drive out here if he wants. He’ll have two options, too—drive the car from Mom (that fancy Challenger I discovered in the garage out in Vegas
is
for his birthday, just as I suspected), or he can drive Dad’s old Indian motorcycle across the country.