The Last Daughter (Tales of the Scrimshaw Doll) (14 page)
Read The Last Daughter (Tales of the Scrimshaw Doll) Online
Authors: Jessica Ferguson
Tags: #Contemporary, #Suspense
“That was when he was a creepy weirdo. Now he’s your brother.” He smiled. “I like him because he was raised in hell and survived, and seems normal. Because he made the decision to look for you. If it wasn’t for him, neither one of us would be here.”
She gave him a weepy smile. “Because of the Mudwing family, you’ve lost your home and everything you own. You’ve lost a small fortune, Trent. And because of me, you have a horrible black eye.”
“You can give me a black eye any day of the week.” He put both hands on her shoulders. “You have to know, I didn’t lose the most important thing in my life.”
“That Mont Blanc fountain pen in the original box?” she teased. “You found it?”
“Why did you bring that up? I’d forgotten all about it. Now I’m really sad!” He winked and pulled her close. “If anything had happened to you, life wouldn’t be worth living. I love you, Rayna. I love you more than you can possibly know or understand.”
A warmth grew inside her; a completeness that she’d never felt until that moment. She knew from the calmness swamping through her that her life would be good from that moment forward.
“Oh Trent. I love you too.”
He shifted in his chair. “I have a gift for you.” He pulled a rolled paper from his back pocket.
“What’s that?”
“Take a look.” He stood and spread it in front of her. He had to hold down the curved edges. “Louis gave it to me. It’s the architectural plans for the house. We can rebuild if you want. I know you loved the place, and I’m willing to—”
“No, Oh Trent, no.”
“No?” He looked at her as if he wasn’t sure what she was saying.
She smiled and shook her head. “I love you more than anything in the world. More than that house.”
Trent let go of the house plans. With a fluttering sound, they rolled back into their tubular form. “Spell it out for me. What are you saying?”
“Remember when I said that Person acted a little strange when I told her we were having the wedding there?”
He nodded.
“She didn’t want me to marry in that house. If she was willing to sacrifice herself for me—for us, then I don’t believe we should rebuild it.” Her voice broke, and Trent pulled her into his arms.
“Then I’d say she loved you very much, in her own strange and twisted way. Okay, we won’t rebuild, and obviously we won’t be getting married in that house. So, let’s get married today. Now.” He looked at his watch. “This minute!”
Rayna smiled. “I feel sad. I can’t think of anything worse than marrying into the Mudwing family.”
He took her chin between his fingers and caressed it. “You aren’t marrying into the Mudwing family. You’re marrying into the over-sized, always-hyper, weird-in-their-own-way Jones family. When you meet them, you might regret ever meeting me. That’s why we need to marry now.”
His face grew serious. His brows hovered low over his eyes as he stared into hers. “I want you now, Rayna. I don’t want to spend another night with Louis, away from you. I want to hold you in my arms tonight and wake up with you in the morning. I want to start our lives together. Now. This second!”
She put her hand on his cheek and kissed him. “We’ve started our lives together, Trent, at midnight little more than eleven weeks ago. Now, it’s time to live and love the details.” She put her lips next to his ear. “Me, you...and Tiva.”
He kissed her back. “And Tiva.”
A word about the author...
Jessica Ferguson is a novelist and co-editor of
Swamp Lily Review, A Journal of Louisiana Literature & Arts
. She is a staff writer for
Southern Writers Magazine
.
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