by Wade, Maddie
“Couldn’t embarrass my girl now could I,” he said with a wink.
“Thank you for doing this and for loving me and supporting me. I hope you know how special you are to all of us,” she said wanting him to know that he wasn’t losing her. Reg had lost enough when his wife and son died.
“You don’t have to thank me for that, it was the easiest thing I ever did. You and Noah have been my saving grace. I love you so much, Skye, and so does your Aunt Tilly.”
Skye was used to messages from her dead aunt, Tilly. Reg conversed with her as if she was still amongst the living. It would have been easy to dismiss as an old man’s wishful thinking except on more than one occasion she had warned them about something, and it had come true.
“I miss her,” she said of the wonderful woman who had loved to bake with her.
“Me too, girl, me too. But I know she’s happy because you found a love like we had. I know we fought and still do, but she was my soul mate and every day without her hurts less ’cos I know I’m one day closer to seeing her. That is what you have with your Nate. He loves you like it is the blood in his veins. You’ll be happy, and one day you’ll look into your daughter’s brown eyes and wish for her what I do for you—and that is for her to be loved and be happy.”
Skye was crying by the time he had finished the outpouring of love and emotion from the man who had been by her side in her darkest hour showing her how lucky she was. Throwing her arms around him she hugged him, and he held her tight before pulling away.
“Now let’s get you wed, so I can get out of this monkey suit,” he said, levelling the high emotion in the room. Handing her the bouquet of cream roses and pink peonies, he offered her his arm as he led her from the room.
They rode the lift in silence, words unnecessary, her tummy was fluttering wildly but not with nerves—with excitement. Then they were standing outside the room, and she could hear the hum of voices. Lizzie organised the bridesmaids so that everyone walked in how they had practised. The music started to play, and the voices hushed as the door opened. Paige and Riley went first, followed by Natalie and Katarina. Kanan and Roz looked as proud as any parents in the room. Lucy and Lizzie were next then Lauren and Lacey.
Then it was her turn, she saw Celeste and Zin, Emme and Shane, Will, Zack and Ava, Megan and Daniel. Noah and Dane looked dashing, and Mimi and David looked at her with such love. Then there were her parents who smiled at her as she passed them with almost no emotion. Finally, there was Nate his gaze on her, complete love and devotion on his face. His eyes were full of tears as he tried to fight the emotions he was feeling. She felt tears burn her eyes as she smiled at him.
Reg handed her over to Nate and stepped to the side. Nate held her hand tight, and she could feel the shake in it as he used the back of his hand to dash away first his tear, then one of hers.
“You look so beautiful,” he said gruffly.
“So do you.” And he did. In a three-piece grey suit with a white shirt and pink tie and rose buttonhole he looked so handsome that it was hard to catch her breath.
The registrar began, and Skye was ready to say the words that would tie her to this man for all eternity.
“I believe Nate and Skye have written their own vows. Nate would you like to go first?”
Nate turned to her and took both of her hands in his strong ones. “Skye, from the first moment I saw you I knew my heart belonged to you. I like to say you stole it, but the fact is, it was always yours. I just hadn’t met you to know it. You are my best friend and the love of my life, and I promise to always love you, and honour you, to respect your strength and spirit. I will also try and remember that not everything in the fridge is for me to eat.” The room erupted with laughter at his words.
“I believe Nate has some words for Noah too,” the registrar said, and Skye looked at Nate not expecting this.
He crouched down towards Noah and held his shoulders. “Noah, it wasn’t just your mum that I fell in love with that day. You are the son of my heart. I love you so much, and I promise to be the best father I can be. I might mess up sometimes, but I hope you know it will always be done with love for you at the forefront of everything I do. You will always be my first-born son, and I will always be your dad. Today we become official, but we became a family long before today. I love you, Son.”
Skye wept openly as did half the room as Nate said his vows to her and Noah. He slid the ring onto her finger, and she couldn’t resist—she leaned and kissed him as the room cheered.
“I’m not sure I can follow that, so I’m just going to speak from the heart,” she said when it was her turn to say her vows.
“Nate, I will never forget the day we met. I was the lowest I had ever been, alone and despairing of what the future held.” He squeezed her hands, and she smiled to banish the pain of that time. “You looked at me, and it was if a sign had been sent, you were my life raft in a violent storm. You became my friend and my everything. I love you more with every moment we share, with every touch, with every breath I take. I promise to always be by your side when you need me. I promise to love you, honour you, and spend my life showing you how much you mean to me.”
The rest of the service passed in a blur as they signed the register with Dane and Lacey as witnesses. Then the service was concluded, and when Nate kissed her, it felt as if everything had changed and yet nothing had changed. They were a unit now, and she felt the flutter in her belly as his mouth touched hers with passion and love, ownership and demand, and she knew as long as she lived her stomach would flutter when this man walked in the room.
They walked back down the aisle as husband and wife with Noah holding onto his father’s hand.
Chapter 8
Walking into the reception room as the master of ceremonies introduced them as Mr and Mrs Jones was one of the proudest moments of his life. He couldn’t believe he had blubbed like a baby, but when he had seen Skye walking towards him, emotion had gotten the better of him. Now he couldn’t wait to get her alone and really make her his wife.
Snow had begun to fall outside the windows and the air of magic that came with snow and the feel of Christmas Eve permeated the room. But then it may have been all the love he could feel from his friends and family. Never in his life could he remember being surrounded by such love.
He took the Champagne he was handed and set it down as he pulled out a chair for Skye to sit. The pictures had taken nearly an hour, and while he couldn’t wait to see them, he was glad to finally finish with it as Skye had been shivering with cold. They would be spectacular shots though as the room, and the grounds looked stunning in the snow.
He sat with his hand on Skye’s lower back as the last course was cleared away. He couldn’t stop looking at her. Her face was continually smiling, and he had never seen her looking more radiant.
“How come you’re not drinking?” he asked as he nodded at her tonic water.
She blushed and dropped her head. “I can’t face it,” she responded, and he bit back a smile. She had been pretty sick yesterday, in fact, he couldn’t remember seeing her so ill.
“Poor baby,” he said curling his hand in her nape and kissing her soundly as catcalls came from the table to the left of them where his friends were sitting. He smiled against her lips. “Want to get out of here for an hour after the speeches are done?”
“I like how you think, Mr Jones,” she replied.
“I like how you feel, Mrs Jones.” He loved the giggle that came from her at his words. He saw Dane stand up beside him and heard the tinkle as he banged a knife against a crystal glass.
“Everyone, can I have your attention please,” he began, and good-natured jeering started. “Yeah, yeah, calm down you lot,” Dane said to the group with a grin. “Now most of you know me. I’m Dane, and I’ve known Nate for quite a few years. Nate is one of the most loyal, hardworking, solid men I have ever known, and I’m proud to be able to work with him, but I’m even prouder to call him my friend. When he asked me to be
his best man, I was truly humbled and shocked. I asked him why me and he said I would know when I met his other friends. Now, having met them, I do.” A ripple of laughter went around the room at the joke.
“Seriously though, Nate is one of those men who makes lifelong friendships wherever he goes because he is one of the most real men I have ever met. He is also one lucky son of a gun to have found Skye—am I right? Look at her. She’s absolutely stunning and at the risk of getting my ass kicked, I have to say—you’re a good guy, Nate, but you are punching with Skye.”
Nate looked at Skye as she blushed, and he discreetly shot Dane the finger. Not that he didn’t agree with him. Skye had a beauty that was beyond stunning, she was breath-taking.
“But much as I would love to sit here and talk about Nate and Skye all night, we have a couple of others who would like to say hello.”
Nate turned when he saw the TV screen on the opposite side of the room come to life, and three of his oldest friends filled the screen. Dai, Reece, and Jake were still stationed and couldn’t get leave but they were on the screen, and he felt his face split into the biggest grin.
“Nate, get out of the way, I want to look at your bride, not your ugly assed face,” shouted Dai. Nate glared at his friend, but it was all for show as he moved aside so Skye could see.
“Oh man, you are punching,” Jake called, and everyone laughed at the repeated insult. “Seriously though, mate, we wish we could have shared your day with you, but you know how it goes in the sandbox. We wish you both all the happiness in the world. When we get home, we’re coming for cake.”
“I’ll make you anything you want,” Skye said from beside him.
“Damn, I wish I’d met her first,” Reece said with a chuckle.
A few more heartfelt words were exchanged between them, and the call was concluded. As the speeches wound down, Nate was on a high, this day was going down as one of the best.
He kissed Skye softly on the mouth as people began to go to the bar for drinks, revelling in the taste of her on his lips. He felt her soft hand against his chest and smiled. He had taken off his jacket and despite not carrying a weapon and feeling naked, he knew by the fact that a lot of his Fortis colleagues and especially the Eidolon team had left their jackets on, that they were carrying.
“I’m going to pop to the little boy’s room and then I’ll get us a drink,” he said as he kissed her bare shoulder making her shiver with desire.
“Okay, can I have a sparkling apple juice?”
“Sure can,” he replied as his mother moved in closer to Skye and they began to chat. He saw William and Margaret sitting on their own at the table to the right of them and felt a tiny bit sorry for them, they looked as if they’d realised they had missed out on such a beautiful woman. It wouldn’t change them though, people like them rarely changed.
Moving through the lobby of the hotel he stopped short as he saw detective English and several uniformed police officers walking people out of the hotel. His gut clenched as every instinct he had went on alert. He jogged over to the man who was frowning but looked happy to see him.
“Hey, what’s happening?” Detective English held his radio in his hand and listened as reports were coming through that they had a negotiator en-route but that the snow was making it difficult and it could be several hours. Nate didn’t like the words negotiator, it implied a level of shitstorm that he didn’t want at his wedding.
“English, this is my wedding day, and my entire world is in that room, so either you tell me, or I’ll find out anyway, and we’ll have a big fucking problem.”
English sighed. “We have a hostage situation on the tenth floor. A man has taken his ex-girlfriend hostage and is making loads of demands. We know he’s armed as he’s been seen on the CCTV leading her to the back elevator, but we have no idea what he has in his room.”
“Fuck,” Nate spat angrily, his mind instantly going to the man from last night. He turned as he saw Zack and Alex striding towards him.
“Talk to me,” Zack said, his face a hard mask as he took control of the situation like the true leader he was. English seemed to realise he was out of his depth and instead of clamming up he brought the three of them up to speed on what they knew.
“Do we know who the hostage or hostage taker is?” Alex asked.
“No, but I have one of the uniforms trying to get the CCTV to our tech guys.”
“Not to be rude but we have everyone you need here. I can get our guys on it, and we also have a trained negotiator inside,” Zack said as he settled his hands on his hips.
Nate was watching the comings and goings and saw Daniel come out of the reception room and stop dead.
He left Zack and jogged over to him.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“They have a hostage situation on the tenth floor. We need Will and Decker out here and maybe Blake, Jack, Zin, Simon, and Jace. Can you let the rest of the team know but tell them not to let on too much? I need them in there protecting the civilians in case this goes to shit.”
“Of course. I’ll send them out.”
He watched Daniel go and was about to turn around when Skye came out looking worried.
“Hey, have you seen Lacey? she asked. “I can’t find her anywhere, and I haven’t seen her for over an hour.” Nate felt the coil of dread knot tight in his belly. He saw Skye look behind him and her face went from mildly worried to flat out frightened. She gripped his arms as he wrapped his around her back. “Nate, what is happening?”
“There’s a hostage situation on the tenth floor.” He heard the gasp and felt her heartbeat speed up as he held her to him. “All we know is that a guy has taken a woman hostage.”
“Lacey!” she said her voice panicked.
“We don’t know it’s her,” he cautioned.
“I do, I know it here,” she said putting her hand over her heart.
Nate didn’t answer because he had the same feeling and he didn’t like it one bit.
Chapter 9
Once Skye was calm, she had insisted Nate stay behind and help figure this out. Her worry for her friend trumping the fact that this was her wedding day.
“Nate, if that is Lacey up there, then there’s nobody else I want looking out for her than you and the team. There’ll be plenty more days for us, but if something happens to her while we’re down here having a good time, I’d never forgive myself.”
“Okay mi cielo,” he said tucking a curl behind her ear as Will, Zin, Decker, and Jack walked out. She lifted again and kissed him hard, and he felt all her worry in that one kiss.
He watched as she walked away and was greeted by a smiling Lucy. Lucy’s eyes met his, and he knew she knew. The nod she gave him told him that she would look after Skye. He turned to Will who was waiting, his hands on his hips, the black three-piece suit and grey shirt working as the perfect backdrop to the tattoos that now covered his entire neck and the backs of his hands.
“Talk to me,” he demanded as he lifted the laptop that was by his side and motioned towards the now empty reception desk. English had informed them that they had positioned uniformed officers on each floor and had locked everyone down.
“Hostage situation on the tenth floor, a man has taken a woman hostage.”
“Fuck a duck,” Will spat as he opened the computer and started typing like his fingers were on fire.
“Do we know who?” Zin asked.
Jack turned as Zack and Alex moved in behind him.
“No, but Lacey is missing.”
“Isn’t she the model friend of Skye’s?” Decker asked.
“Yeah, she is,” Nate nodded.
“Okay, I’m in,” Will said pulling up the CCTV for the hotel.
“English has given us unofficial authority to work this as we see fit as it looks like their resources are not going to be here for a few hours, and we might be their best option,” Zack said as they all peered over Will’s shoulder at the CCTV.
“Time frame?” Will aske
d.
“Within the last two hours. He took her out the back-fire exit and up the service lift according to an eyewitness.” Alex said.
Will tapped the keyboard and narrowed down the time frame, speeding up the frame, so it moved quickly until a man came on the screen. Nate could practically feel the barely sheathed aggression from the men that watched as the man from the night before pushed Lacey into the service lift. She fell, and he grabbed her, pulling her by her hair as he held a gun on her.
“Motherfucker!” Alex bit out.
Jack turned to Zack, his eyes assessing as he tilted his head in a silent question. “You want Fortis to run point on this or are you happy for Eidolon to do it?”
“You run it, but I want to be involved. My first priority is Ava and Riley. If shit goes down, I need to be there to protect them, but I won’t stand back and do nothing.”
“Understood,” Jack said as he turned to Nate. “You want in on this?”
“Not really, but she’s Skye’s oldest friend so how do I walk away?”
“Fine, you’re in. We’ll keep it to just us for now although I might ask Blake to help. He has a wealth of experience with tricky extractions working for SO14 for so many years. It isn’t like her Maj hasn’t had her fair share of close calls.”
“Will, you going to be a grown up and play nice with us or you still sulking?” Jack asked with anger in his voice.
Will’s eyes flicked up from his laptop, and he glared at his brother with open hostility. “Don’t be a dick, Jack. I have never been anything other than professional—unlike you just were.” The put down was warranted, but Nate didn’t care at the moment. He wanted this done so he could go back to his new bride.
“Pack it the fuck in you two. This is my wedding day, and I want this dealt with. If you can’t put aside whatever this bullshit is between you then fuck off and send out someone who can,” he snarled.
The men went silent, and then Will grinned a shit eating smile. “Fuck, Nate, I didn’t know you had it in you.” and the tension was broken.