by Lynn Hunter
Perfect. She never thought she would ever think so, but her life was perfect.
epilogue.
Lily stood in the master bedroom. It was now the room she shared with Sam. Her mom wanted to trade places with Lily when Sam moved in. Lily thought she was going to move in with Glen but she wanted to stay. Call her selfish but she wasn’t ready for her mom to leave yet.
It was her wedding day and they were going to have a small ceremony in the yard. She couldn’t imagine doing it anywhere else. Sam wanted to marry immediately, but Lily was insistent on a spring wedding at home.
“You look beautiful, Lily.” Her mom adjusted her dress around her protruding belly. She wore a simple light pink baby doll dress with flowing material that came to her knees. It was sleeveless with a scoop neck that gave just a hint of cleavage. Not that she could hide it unless she wore a turtleneck. Her breast seemed to double in size the past few months. With any luck, they would stick around.
She laughed. “I look like a whale.” At seven months pregnant, she definitely looked silly waddling around in a wedding dress, but, she couldn’t be happier.
A knock sounded at the door right before Sam barged in and stopped abruptly. “Wow.” His eyes heated making Lily blush. She couldn’t believe she could still blush after everything they did together. Her round belly and swollen ankles didn’t seem to calm his passion. In fact, he couldn’t seem to keep his hands off her. Not that she was complaining. Her eyes ate him up. He wore tan dress slacks and a light blue dress shirt with his sleeves rolled up to expose his muscular forearms.
“I have to talk to you.”
“Don’t be long.” Her mom left the room shutting the door softly behind her.
Once alone, Sam paced back and forth. “What’s wrong?” She asked.
He faced her and ran a hand through his hair. “Did I force you to marry me?”
Seriously? “Uh, I think that was your plan.” She motioned to her swollen stomach.
His face was serious and he didn’t smile.
Placing her fists on her nonexistent hips, she glared. “You’re going to marry me, Sam. Don’t make me take you down and drag you to the altar. I’m tired and I already missed my nap.”
The corner of his lip quirked and he wrapped her in his arms. “I love you, Lily. I know I bullied you into this.” He murmured.
“Yes, you did.”
He pulled back and gave her a hard look. “That’s not funny.”
She patted his hard chest. “I love you too, Sam. I can show you how much but you would have to help me down and back up again.”
He chuckled. “I want you to marry me because you love me, not because I forced you.”
“Do you doubt how I feel?” Surely not. Every day she tried to do or say something to show how much she loved him. Sheesh, men were so insecure.
“Just tell me what I want to hear so we can get married. You made me wait this long,” he rubbed one of her curls between his fingers. “I thought you might be giving yourself time in case you changed your mind.”
Lily’s heart caught. Why did he keep that worry from her for months? She cupped his jaw and ran her finger through his short beard. “I love you, Samson Fuller. I want to marry you. I can’t imagine my life without you.” She tugged his face down for a kiss. “I know what I want and you’re trying to keep it from me. Wait until I tell this baby how I had to drag his father down the aisle because he was a big chicken.”
Johnathan spread the word to everyone in a fifty-mile radius that he was getting a baby brother. As a matter of fact, he was probably downstairs reminding everyone in case they didn’t notice her pregnant form.
“Oh yeah?” His voice grew husky.
“I want you, Sam,” she whispered, “and cake.” After the morning sickness ended she found she craved sweets…all of them.
His eyes brightened. “At the same time?”
Heat climbed her neck. “Maybe,” she nudged him to the door, “Come on, let’s go.”
He stopped at the door and turned to her. “When you marry me, Lily, it’s forever.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
When he didn’t smile, she grew serious. “I wouldn’t change anything about our relationship.”
“You’re happy with me?”
“Not at the moment, since you’re trying to get out of marrying me.” She walked past him to the door grabbing his hand. “Come one, big boy, let’s go get some cake.”
“After we get married.” He reminded her.
“Right, married first, cake second.” She pulled him down the stairs. Sam might have dragged into a relationship but she was walking beside him into the future.
Say Please
Rick and Candace
Coming Soon
Oh no, here he comes. Candace searched frantically around the yard. There had to be somewhere she could hide. The sun was setting on the reception and the lights they strung up for Lily and Sam’s wedding were twinkling brightly.
Lily insisted on a spring garden wedding at the farmhouse where she had grown up in and it was as charming as a fairy tale. All the chairs were moved to make way for a dance floor. For the last thirty minutes, she covertly watched Rick. But mostly she stayed close to the buffet table to help or refill it if needed.
Her son and Lily’s son, Johnathan, were playing tag around the makeshift dance floor. She briefly thought about grabbing her son and making tracks to the car to avoid Rick but that would spoil his fun. The music turned from upbeat to slow and sultry and she read the intention on Rick’s face. Not caring how it looked, she turned and fled for the safety of the house. If anyone asked she would say she needed to use the bathroom…for the rest of the night. She didn’t care in the least if it looked cowardly. Most everyone here knew she was pathetic. She could see the pity in their eyes when they looked at her.
Candace didn’t get three steps before a large warm hand snagged hers. Not now. She Immediately halted.
“Where are you off too?”
His deep voice sent a shiver down her spine. Please leave me alone. “The house,” she whispered not looking up.
“I want to dance with you.”
It was an act. She knew he was pretending to be nice and easy going. She knew what he wanted, what they all wanted. She didn’t say anything hoping he would lose interest and move on. She saw him dancing with his coworker, Willa, earlier. Maybe he would find her again. The seemed to get along well. She stared at his booted feet. They were big. Did he have to special order shoes? He must, she’d never seen feet that big. In fact, she’d never seen anyone as big as him, ever. He was huge and had bulging muscles everywhere. His clothes were stretched to the limit to contain him. Why would someone want to be that size? She grudgingly admitted he was handsome in a scary bad guy kind of way. Not many people could pull off a shiny bald head. How did he get his head that shiny anyway?
“Dance with me.”
He started pulling her toward the dance floor. Or dance grass. Fear made her go cold. She wanted to yank her hand away. Would he get angry? What if she just said no? There were other people around, it’s not like he could drag her away. She tried to force the words out of her throat but they got stuck and came out as a whimper.
He stopped immediately and faced her. She was so pathetic. Why couldn’t she just be normal and dance one dance and walk away?
“Look at me, Candace.”
Much to her dismay, but not surprisingly, she quickly raised her head to do as he requested but couldn’t quite meet his eyes. Her gaze hovered around his nose. Old habits die hard. Or they never die. Tears burned behind her eyes and she wanted to lash out at him for putting her in this situation.
His thumb slowly caressed the back of her hand. It always started with a gentle touch.
“Are you scared of me?” he asked.
His tone of his voice suggested he wasn’t trying to influence her answer but she wasn’t fooled. If she said yes, he would say she was a coward and grow angr
y. If she said no, then he would give her a reason to be afraid of him. Her heart started beating so fast, she knew he could probably hear it.
“Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want to dance.”
What? Was he serious? He was playing with her. He held her hand tightly. Not tight enough to hurt, but she couldn’t get away if she pulled. Candace was all too familiar with the touch. Her eyes dropped back to his boots.
“Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want to dance, Candace,” he repeated.
She licked her lips nervously. Anxiety fluttered in her belly. Slowly, her eyes climbed up his body past his wide chest to his thick neck and stopped on his square jaw and stubborn chin.
His thumb resumed the caress on the back of her hand. “Almost there,” he murmured.
She swallowed hard and lifted her gaze to his mouth and along his blade-like nose. Finally, she met his sea green eyes that were startling paired with his dark skin.
Drawing in a calming breath, she blurted, “I don’t want to dance.” The words felt wrong on her lips, but she was proud she got them out. It almost made her feel giddy.
His eyes warmed and he let her fingers slip from his. Confused by the loss she felt, she just stood there like an idiot staring at his beautiful eyes.
“I’m sorry I tried to drag you out here without asking first.”
She just nodded. Why wasn’t she getting the heck out of here?
“You look beautiful today, Candace.”
She dropped her gaze to her simple black maxi dress. “Um, thank you,” she whispered.” You look nice too.” She wasn’t just polite. He wore dark blue jeans and a white dress shirt that complimented his caramel colored skin.
“Thank you.” His smile grew a little wider.
Were they having a conversation? She needed to get out of here before he changed his mind. “Well, have a fun evening.” Was that a polite parting line?
“You too.”
Candace looked around for Derek. Seeing that he was still safely with Johnathan, she turned to the house. She needed some private time to revel in the fact that she said no for the first time ever.