He tangled his hands in my hair and brought my lips to his in a soul claiming kiss. “I love you, Fiona, more than you will ever be able to understand. I’m going to love you every day of my life and every day of my next one.”
I gave him a sheepish grin. “You gotta pen?”
He raced around the kitchen pulling open random drawers until he came across one with a pen and then he threw it at me.
No…you didn’t misunderstand that. He actually threw it at me.
I was able to catch it even though I was laughing so hard I almost fell off the counter. I signed all his documents wondering if my signature would be valid. I was laughing so much that my signature didn’t quite look authentic.
My laughter dwindled when I saw how serious his face was. “What’s wrong?”
His brows drew inward. “You signed the pre-nup without even skimming through the pages.”
I flapped my hand at him like I was shooing away fly. “I didn’t need to. Everything you have you’ve accomplished without any help from me. You should be able to leave the marriage with everything you entered into it with. Besides,” I lifted a shoulder, “it’s not like I’m starving or anything.”
Damien picked up the pre-nup and flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for. “Here, read it.”
I rolled my eyes and let out a sigh. “Dami-”
“Just read it. Please.”
I took the document out of his hands, began reading and then I really almost did fall off the counter. I snapped my head up and it was like I was having an out of body experience. “You are certifiably insane! Just when I think I’ve reached the bottom of your crazy, you amaze me with just how much more cracked in the head you seem to be.”
“Can we go back to where you just tell me you love me?”
“Damien! I’m serious!”
“So was I,” he mumbled under his breath.
I started slapping his chest with the pre-nup. “This states that in the event of a divorce that I get everything! Are you fucking high? Do you do drugs? Is that it?”
The asshole really started laughing at me then.
I started pushing at him. “Get away from me.”
“Wait, Halloween, just wait a sec.” I turned my head away from him as I crossed my arms over my chest. “Awe, baby, don’t be mad. We’re getting married tomorrow. Let’s not go to bed angry.”
“Sarcasm? Seriously?”
He started nibbling soft, sweet kissing down my neck. “Fiona, if we ever get a divorce, it’ll be because I did something so horrible that you could no longer love me or live with me. If that happens, you deserve everything I have.”
“But, Dam-”
“Shhh, baby, here’s the thing. I know I’ll never do anything to make you want to leave me, so it’s not really as big a risk as you think it is.” He finished with the kisses and brought his emerald stare to meet my wet one. “We’re going to be forever, Fiona. We were always going to be forever.”
I let Damien take me to bed and every touch, every kiss, every word was better than I ever thought it could be.
My heart, my mind and my soul were all finally settled.
I lay in bed, wrapped up in Damien’s arms as the steady sound of his breathing filled my ears. I was exhausted, but too excited to fall asleep.
I was getting married tomorrow to a man who I never knew as a girl, would come to mean everything to me. The boy with the dark hair and fiery green eyes. The boy who made me cry because he didn’t know how to love me. The boy who engulfed my childhood is now the man who is promising me forever.
I may still feel unsure from time to time, but at least I will be able to look back and know that I didn’t miss out on the love of my life because I was scare.
I snuggled closer to Damien and closing my eyes I fell asleep thinking I can’t wait to see Vicky kick his ass when I tell her he made me marry him without her.
Epilogue
I told Fiona she didn’t need to make a big deal out of it, but as always she didn’t listen.
After about five years of marriage, she finally started getting a grasp on how much she meant to me and so she started getting braver and braver over the years. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, she is always her most magnificent when she’s showing her back bone.
It didn’t help that the kids knew she was my kryptonite, either. They worked as a little team to wrap me around their fingers. I never minded it though. As long as Fiona was happy, all was right in my world. I had to chuckle when I’d think about the few times the kids would upset her or disappoint her. My wrath at them upsetting their mother was only unleashed a handful of time before they realized I was serious about my shit when it came to my wife.
I love my kids very much, but if you ask my children who I loved more, them or Fiona, they would unanimously say their mother.
Hands down.
“G-Pop! G-Pop!”
I turned around just in time to catch my third youngest grandson in my arms. We may be celebrating my 60th birthday, but I didn’t have one foot in the grave just yet. “Hey Monkey Boy, whatcha doing?” I asked as I placed him on my knee.
“Huero and Boo Boo won’t let me play with them and The Girl is boring.” I chuckled. Fiona had given me two beautiful healthy kids. We had our daughter, Lucy, who was the oldest and then our son James who was the youngest.
Being as fortunate as we were, both kids were able to go to college and pursue their dreams. James ended up starting at the bottom of G&C and now was CEO along with Will’s oldest son, Brian. He wasn’t married yet, but his girlfriend was serious and she was a sweet, sweet girl. We didn’t pressure them. We weren’t those kinds of parents. Whatever made them happy made us happy.
Lucy had fallen in love and put her degree in psychology on hold to give us four wonderful grandchildren. Sure her plan was to give her husband four beautiful and healthy kids, but they were just parents, we were grandparents. Our titles held more power. She had every intention of returning to school to finish her degree, but even if she didn’t, her husband was solid and took very good care of his family.
Thirty-two years later, our lives were just years and years of endless blessings. And I never regretted one second of the life I lived.
“So what do you want to do since they boys are being meanies and you don’t want to play with your sister?”
He wrinkled his little nose. “I can’t play with her. She doesn’t do anything but sit there and move her arms and legs all over the place. She’s boring, G-Pop.”
I carried him over to one of the chairs on the patio as I looked out at my family barbequing, swimming in the pool and visiting. “Well, she’s just a baby, there’s not much she can do.” Our grandchildren ran the age range of eight, six, four and three months. Lucy had given us three boys and a baby girl.
“Well, she’s still boring,” he complained.
“So what do you want to do?”
He sat in my lap with his little legs dangling over my thighs looking up at me. He looked just like Lucy. “Tell me a story.”
“What kind of a story? A scary story or a happy story?”
His eyes rounded with the best idea he’s had in all his four years of life. “Can you tell me a story that is scary and happy?”
I widened my eyes at him. “I sure can.”
“Okay, but just tell me. The Brothers can’t hear it since they won’t let me play with them. This is my story, okay, G-Pop?”
Christ, this kid. I laughed. “Okay, Monkey Boy, this is just your story.”
“Okay,” he snuggled up to me, “I’m ready.”
“Once upon a time there was this little boy who was sad all the time because he lived in a dark, dark castle. Then one day he was walking in the woods and he saw a little girl who was so beautiful she made all the darkness go away. He didn’t think she would like him because he was so sad, but she did more than end up liking him. She ended up loving him and protecting him from the darkness.”
Playlist
Dollhouse – Melanie Martinez
Saving Me – Nickleback
Back In Black – AC/DC
Beautiful Soul – Jesse McCartney
Animals – Maroon 5
She – Live
The Heart Won’t Lie – Reba McEntire
Hysteria – Def Leppard
Standing Still – Jewel
My Love – Justin Timberlake
Pretty Girl – Sugercult
Right Here – Staind
Take Me To Church – Hozier
Feenin’ – Jodeci
Could I Have This Kiss Forever – Whitney Houston
Angel – Aerosmith
Take A Message – Remy Shand
Unwell – Matchbox Twenty
Fallen – Alicia Keys
I Shall Believe – Sheryl Crow
Runaway – Live
About the Author
M.E. Clayton works fulltime and writes as a hobby. She is an avid reader and, last year, she decided to trade in some of those reading hours to try her hand at writing her first book. With much self-doubt, but more positive feedback and encouragement from her friends and family, the Seven Deadly Sins series was born and a hobby she is now very passionate about. When she’s not working, writing or reading, she’s being pampered by the best husband in the world, having heart to hearts with her son, giving her daughter life advice or spending time with her grandchildren If you care to learn more, please read M.E. Clayton’s Smashwords Interview at https://www.smashwords.com/interview/MonClayton
Other Books
Please visit your favorite ebook retailer to discover other books by M.E. Clayton:
The Seven Deadly Sins Series (In Order)
Catching Avery
Chasing Quinn
Claiming Isabela
Conquering Kam
Capturing Happiness
Stand Alone
Unintentional
In Enemy Territory
Contact Me
I really appreciate you reading my book and I would love to hear from you! Now, unfortunately, because I do have a fulltime job and a family I love spending time with, at this time, I’m afraid it would be very hard for me to maintain a multitude of social media sites. Therefore, my only contact information, as of yet, is available through Smashwords and Facebook. Here is my social media coordinate:
Favorite my Smashwords author page: https://www.smashwords.com/interview/MonClayton
Like my Facebook author page: https://facebook.com/claytonbooks
In Enemy Territory Page 19