Zane & Lucky's First Christmas (Forever Love, #5) (13 page)

Chapter 12

Lucky

“Let’s sing another song.” Skylar was giddy with excitement and I shared a smile with Zane as Noah and Skylar started another chorus of “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

“You guys aren’t getting tired yet?” Zane peered at them in the rearview mirror and then squeezed my knee. “We should be there in about another hour or so.”

“Awesome.” I smiled at him, before yawning. “I can’t believe you surprised me with a family trip to Napa.”

“I thought it would be something you’d enjoy.”

“It is.” I smiled happily. “It’s the perfect way for us all to relax after the last two weeks.”

“Thanks for inviting me guys.” Robin chimed in from the backseat. “I’m happy to be included in family trips. I’ve been dreaming of this day for years.” She laughed. “Only I was ten in the dream.”

“Better late than never though.” Noah kissed her on the cheek and she nodded happily. “Though you really didn’t need to bring 3 suitcases for a weekend trip.”

“You know us girls,” Robin rolled her eyes at Noah. “Can’t go anywhere without an assortment of clothes.”

“Typical female.” Zane threw in and they all laughed.

“So what’s the plan for the weekend?” I wondered aloud. “I’m curious what we’re all going to do, seeing as Skylar and I can’t drink alcohol.”

“I have some things planned.” Zane’s eyes sparkled at me and I knew he was keeping a secret from me, but I decided to be patient.

“And when will I know of these plans?”

“Tomorrow morning.” He grinned. “You’ll know all about them tomorrow morning.”

“I know the plans.” Skylar squealed and I saw Noah’s hand fly to her mouth and cover it before he whispered something in her ear. I looked over at Zane and witnessed him giving Noah a quick death stare before pulling into a gas station.

“Let’s fill up one last time and then we can be on our way again.” Zane hopped out of the car and then stuck his head back in. “Uh, Robin do you think you could help me with something for a second. I want to make sure I didn’t leave something important at home.”

“Sure,” She hopped out of the car and then I turned to look at Noah.

“Okay, what is going on?”

“Nothing.” He said too innocently.

“Uh huh,” I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t born yesterday. I may be a little slower to walk because I’m pregnant, but I’m not slow period.”

“Lucky, I can’t say a word and neither can big mouth Skylar here.” He made a face. “I’m sorry, but Zane would kill us if we ruined the surprise.”

“He better not
be throwing me a baby shower.” I moaned. “I don’t want to lug a bunch of a toys back home from Napa.”

“I can’t say a word.”

I glared at Noah and Skylar and she giggled as I made faces at them. I hated and loved surprises. I hated not knowing what was going on, but loved the fact that someone had taken the time out to do something for me without me knowing. Only I wanted to know what was going on. I had no idea what Zane could have planned for me. Whatever it was, he had been super quiet about it. In fact, I had only known about this trip for two days. And there was no way he could have planned anything big in that amount of time. Unless of course, it really was just a family trip, but for some reason I highly doubted that.

“You’re not getting sex for a year if you’ve planned something crazy, Zane Beaumont.” I hissed at him as he got back in the car. “I mean it, not for a whole year.”

“You can’t keep your hands off of me, Kinky McLucky.”

“You want to bet?”

“Hmm,” he grinned at me. “I bet you a years worth of dishes that you’ll be all over me tomorrow night.”

“Really?” I laughed. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

“I’m sure.” He leaned over and kissed my nose before restarting the car. “I’m willing to risk it.”

“If you think I won’t abstain for one night to get out of a years worth of dishes, then you are a fool.”

“I’m willing to take my chances.”

“You’re on.” I sat back smugly. There was no way I was going to lose this bet.

“Oh Lucky. I can’t wait to see your face tomorrow night.” He laughed confidently and I stuck my nose back at him.

“I wouldn’t count on seeing anything other than me sleeping.” I winked at him and turned around and saw Robin and Noah laughing their heads off. “I don’t know what you two are laughing at! Imagine keeping a secret from a pregnant woman, for shame!”

“Lucky, don’t try and pressure them into saying anything. I told you already, we’re going on a family trip.”

“Uh huh.” I rolled my eyes. “Sure.”

“If I was you, I’d sit back and relax my dear.” Zane squeezed my knee and I decided to take his advice as I was starting to feel very sleepy.

***

The sunlight pouring through the window woke me up. I stretched out and opened my eyes slowly, feeling relaxed in the warm comfortable bed. I reached over for Zane and felt dismayed when I realized he was no longer in the bed with me.

“Good Morning, my love.” Zane’s face bent down to kiss me as he handed me 12 single stem red roses.

“Good morning,” I kissed him back eagerly and tried to pull him down on the bed with me, but he shook his head and sat down on the edge of the bed instead. “What are the roses for?”

“The roses are for you, to show you how much I love you.”

“How sweet, thank you.” I stared into his blue eyes and felt a twitter of excitement.

“I wrote something for you.” He took my hand in his and cleared his throat. “I wrote this for you a few weeks ago. I wanted to sing it to you the morning of our wedding so you could know how much you mean to me. I wanted the day to be perfect.”

“The day of our wedding?” I asked confused, but he kissed me to shush me.

“I love you, I love you. More than words can say. I need you, I need you. More and more everyday. I’ll cherish you, I’ll cherish you, in every single way. I’ll protect you, I’ll protect you, as if you were made of clay. I’ll watch you, I’ll watch you, like the sun rising in the bay. Just love me, please love me and that will keep all my worries away.”

“Oh, Zane, you wrote that for me?” I stared at him in amazement, with tears of joy falling from my eyes as I pulled him towards me. My heart was bursting with happiness and I wasn’t sure I was ever going to be able to stop smiling.

“Lucky Starr Morgan, I think I fell in love with you the first time I saw you dancing in Lou’s diner. You definitely wormed your way into my heart the first time you smiled at me. From the moment you entered my life, I’ve felt more alive than I’ve ever felt before. You’ve made me complete in ways that I never knew existed. When I wake in the morning, I check to make sure you’re breathing before I do anything else. And when I see your chest rise, my own heart can start beating. You’re as important to my existence as the oxygen in the air. You’re my everything, Lucky and I want to marry you so that I can spend the rest of my life trying to prove my love to you.” Zane then got down on the floor and looked up at me with tears in his eyes. “I’ve done this once before, but I want to ask you again. Will you marry me, Lucky?”

“Of course, my love. Oh, Zane.” I jumped out of the bed and held him to me as I showered him in kisses. “You’ve already made me so happy. I didn’t know you could make me even happier.”

“I want us to get married today.” He grinned at me impishly. “If you’ll have me. I planned a wedding for us today.”

“You did what?” My mouth fell open with shock. “Wait what? How did you do that?”

“I have to admit it was hard.” He laughed. “Really hard. But I had some help.”

“Who helped you?”

“Leeza.”

“
Leeza.” My heart broke as he said her name. “You asked Leeza? You did that for me?” I knew how much he must care for me if he had contacted Leeza.

“Yes, and she’s here.”

“What?” I almost shouted. “What do you mean?”

“She flew in early this morning. Noah went to pick her up. Along with Sidney and Betty.”

“Sidney and Betty are here?” My eyes grew wider and I thought I was about to cry.

“Yeah.” He smiled at me boyishly. “I hope that you’re not mad.”

“How could I possibly be mad? Oh, Zane, I can’t believe you did this for me.”

“I even bought two dresses for you.” He walked over to the closest and opened it. There were two beautiful cream dresses on hangers with an assortment of other clothes.

“How did you get these dresses up here? I didn’t see them in the car.”

“I had them driven up by courier.”

“Driven up?”

“I didn’t want them to get lost in the mail.” He laughed. “I wasn’t going to let the post office ruin our special day.”

“Oh, Zane. I love you.”

“And my dad is here.” He looked at me nervously. “I spoke to him this morning. He made it up last night.”

“Your dad is here.” I sat down on the bed in real shock. “Your dad as in, Jeff Beaumont is here?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I called him when you got back from the hotel. I knew it was important to you.”

“Only because I felt it was important for you to work things out with him.”

“I know.” He nodded. “So we spoke and he admits that he made a lot of mistakes. I invited him to the wedding. He just got back from Singapore.”

“Oh wow.”

“I don’t know why, but I’m nervous.” He laughed. “I hope he doesn’t ruin our big day.”

“He won’t.” I clenched my fist. “Not unless he wants to deal with me.”

“You’re going to be my protector?”

“Of course, my love. No one messes with a pregnant woman.”

“I love you, Lucky.”

“I need to tell you something, Zane.” I reached for his hand. “I tried to find your mothers letter. I wanted to give it to you as a wedding present, but the private detective, he couldn’t find it. He said he tried everything he could. At one point, I thought he had a good lead, but it turned out to be nothing. I’m sorry. I really wanted to be able to give that to you.”

“That’s okay,” he kissed my forehead. “The thought is what counts.”

“I know, but I really wanted you to have something from your mom.” I felt tears rushing to my eyes as I saw the tinge of disappointment and sadness in his face. “I shouldn’t have brought it up, but I wanted you to know that I tried.”

“That’s why I love you, Lucky. You would do anything to make me happy. You make my heart full, my love. Yes, I wish I knew my mother or had something of hers, but I don’t feel less than because I don’t. I still feel whole because that is how you make me feel, every second of every day.”

“Oh, Zane.”

“So are you ready for
Leeza to come in?”

“You’re leaving?” I asked disappointed.

“I can’t see you in your wedding dress, it goes against tradition.”

“Oh.” I pouted. “When will I see you again?”

“At the ceremony.” He smiled at me tenderly. “The next time we see each other you will become my wife.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“So do I.” He kissed me again and I kissed him back passionately. “If you don’t stop kissing me, the wedding may be delayed.”

“I don’t mind, my husband to be.”

“Of course you don’t, but I’m not letting all my hard work go to waste.” He slapped my bottom and gave me one last kiss, before pulling away. “Now I’m going to Noah’s room. Leeza, Robin, and Skylar will be in here soon to help you get ready.”

“Okay.” I grinned at him, unable to stop myself from smiling in complete and utter happiness.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.” I watched him walk out of the room and then sank back onto the bed, trying to comprehend everything that had just happened. I was still in shock. I couldn’t believe that Zane had planned the wedding for me. I knew how much effort that must have taken and I hugged myself as I realized that I was marrying the most perfect man in the world.

***

There was a simple altar in the middle of the field. I held the white peonies in my hand and watched as Skylar skipped up the aisle throwing petals onto the grass, looking back at me every few seconds with a huge smile on her face. I stood waiting for her to reach the front and surveyed the beauty of my surroundings. It was perfect, absolutely perfect. Everything about the moment was perfect. The sun was shining, there was a light cool breeze. There were some birds chirping and there was a fragrant smell in the air. But the most perfect part was that Zane was there standing next to the priest with a huge smile on his handsome face, waiting for me. Noah stood next to him, looking just as handsome and he gave me a huge grin as I started my procession down the aisle. Zane’s eyes lit up with joy as I did a little dance down the aisle, caught up in the music. Robin and Leeza shimmied in front of me as we made our way down the aisle and Zane and Noah laughed as Skylar started dancing as well.

I grinned at Leo and the Johnson’s as I passed them and nodded as I noticed the handsome older man sitting in the front row. I realized that he must have been Zane’s dad and I grinned at the knowledge that Zane was going to be just as hot when he got older. I had really won the jackpot.