"My afternoon is now clear."
"I'm glad," she said, moving forward and slipping an arm around his waist. "What about tomorrow?"
"All the way to Christmas." He put a finger under her chin and lifted her face so that he could look into her eyes. "How are you feeling?"
She smiled and put a hand against his cheek. "In love. And excited."
His eyes turned serious as he stared into hers. "We can slow down."
A knock sounded at his door. Melody stood on her toes to kiss his mouth. "No need," she said, and moved to answer the door.
A dark haired man with a goatee stood there with a leather satchel in one hand and a coat draped over his other arm. "Hello," he said, "I assume you are Melody." He spoke with a strong Scottish accent.
"I am. And you are Mark," she said, stepping back to give him room to enter. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine." He set the bag at his feet and hugged her before turning to James. "Brother, it's good to see you." The men shook hands and hugged. James took Mark's coat and hung it in the closet by the door. "I saw Kurt and Morgan in customs. We waved across the room, but did not get a chance to speak. Something about them already being U. S. Citizens I'm sure."
"He called while I was on a conference call, so I didn't speak to him. I did leave him a message to meet us here."
"Ah. So the ceremony will happen once they arrive?"
"That's the plan," Melody said. "Can I offer you a cup of coffee?"
"That would be lovely." Mark sat on the sofa while Melody went to the kitchen to get the brewed pot. "She is beautiful," he said to James.
"Inside and out," James agreed. He fielded a text from Kurt.
ALL OK? STUCK IN CUSTOMS.
With a smile, he replied.
MEL & I GETTING MARRIED. COME TO APT NOW.
He knew Kurt and Morgan would be beyond jet lagged, but he knew they would want to be there, too.
"Kurt and Morgan should be here within the hour," he said to Melody when she returned with the carafe of coffee.
"Awesome. " She poured three cups of coffee then sat in a chair facing the couch. "I wouldn't want to do this without them."
"Nor I." He looked at Mark. "How is everything in London?"
"Cold and wet. It's nice to escape for a bit."
"James said you're here for two weeks. If you'd like, I can get you tickets to my concert."
Mark shook his head and smiled. "I am actually here just over a week. I will be leaving the 31st. I conduct an annual New Year service that I don't want to miss."
Melody smiled. "I understand. I'll be in London later in the year. Hopefully, it will work with your schedule."
With a nod, Mark said, "I look forward to it."
She chatted with Mark, happy to get to know this man that James loved so much. When the doorbell rang, her stomach did a nervous flip. What would Morgan say?
Before James could even get to the door, it flew open. Morgan rushed in, arms up, and headed straight for Melody. "I can't believe this! I'm so excited!"
Melody laughed. "I was so worried you'd say I was moving too fast."
"If it was anyone but James, I probably would." Morgan hugged her tight, then turned to James who had just greeted Kurt. "You've given me the best wedding slash Christmas present on the planet," she said, hugging him.
Kurt shook hands with Mark. "Brother, it's good to see you. I saw you at customs, but didn't want to relinquish my place in line to come over and say hi."
Mark laughed. "Understood." He looked around at the small crowd. "Are we ready, or do we need to wait?"
Melody moved over and stood next to James, slipping her arm around his waist. "I'm ready."
James hugged her, tight. "I think we're both ready."
¯¯¯¯
CHAPTER 18
MELODY rolled over on the bed and realized, through the haze of sleep, that she was alone. She reached further and did not feel James' body. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around the bedroom of her hotel suite. His clothes still lay draped over the chair in the corner, but the gym bag he'd packed before leaving his apartment last night wasn't sitting next to the chair anymore.
She looked at the clock. Six? Who woke up at six?
Apparently her husband. With a groan, she sat up, automatically clutching the sheet against her bare chest. The silly grin that covered her face the entire day before returned. She slapped both hands against her cheeks, rubbing the tired muscles, aching from such a bright smile. Could she be happier? Honestly, she didn't think so. And after the first good night's rest in weeks, she felt energized.
With a giggle, she bounded out of the bed and rushed to the shower. Married! She and James were married!
After the beautiful ceremony conducted by Mark, she and James had ordered Thai takeout then spent the evening with Morgan, Kurt, and Mark, celebrating long into the night. James had packed a few bags and they left Mark at the apartment and went back to the hotel.
James had been so patient with her. She was nervous, and he understood that. But he had slowly and patiently made love to her with such beauty and gentleness that it had taken a long time to quiet the songs in her head enough to fall asleep.
She tried to summon some tiny bit of apprehension at marrying a man she'd known for such a short time, but nothing came. She knew a lot of that had to do with Morgan and Kurt and their closeness for this man she now called her husband. She also knew that it had a lot to do with the fact that she had abided in him every day for four years, even when she didn't know his last name. She hoped every day that he would find a way to get in touch with her. And now they were bound in matrimony — one in the sight of God and their friends.
Love filled her heart, overflowed and spilled through her entire soul, giving her a sense of completion, of oneness that she couldn't explain.
They'd slept all night long, wrapped in each others' arms. Blissfully slept. Solidly slept. Melody rubbed her cheeks as she smiled again.
Married! Melody Mason Montgomery. Mrs. Montgomery! Married!
¯¯¯¯
JAMES kept a steady six-minute-mile on the treadmill while he watched C-Span on one television and the European stock market on the other. The mood of his company had quieted down. The work pace had slowed a bit with the approach of the Christmas holiday.
He had cleared his schedule on what would otherwise be typical work days so that he could take time off the rest of the week and celebrate his nuptials. He wanted to spend every minute he could with Melody before the real world reasserted itself — before her tour started and before his business once again demanded his nearly constant attention.
He took a moment and intentionally thought about Angela. Doing so no longer brought a pang of hurt or longing, just a momentary missing of her presence. He felt certain she would be happy for him. Melody filled his heart in ways he didn't think would ever have been possible again.
He had planned on proposing to Melody on Christmas Eve, not in a warehouse surrounded by toys and clothes for a children's home. He certainly hadn't planned to propose and then get married that very same afternoon. He'd thought they'd get to know each other even more, move slowly, with more sure footing. But, it all felt so perfect and not for a second did he feel like they'd done anything they weren't supposed to do.
It surprised him how strongly he felt for her, how he longed to protect her and make her feel safe no matter what the outside world threw at them.
A small part of him felt apprehensive about her super stardom. He didn't know exactly what that would bring. He knew she anticipated they would have to weather a lengthy media storm. She'd promised him that Hal would work at keeping it as minimally disruptive as possible.
At four miles, he slowly started cooling off. He rolled his head on his shoulders and looked at the weight machine, but felt absolutely no desire to spend the next forty-five minutes lifting weights. Instead, he wanted to find himself back in bed beside his bride.
His
wife. What a thought. He missed her for four years, thought of her every single day. Now she was his. Bound by love and in the presence of God and their closest friends.
He grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from his face. Checking to make sure he still had the room key, he slung his gym bag over his shoulder and left the hotel gym.
This early, the hotel was still quiet. He rode alone in the elevator and encountered no one in the halls. Moving as quietly as possible, he unlocked the door with the key card and slipped into the main room of the suite.
He was surprised to see Melody up, wearing a white cotton robe, curled up on the couch, feet tucked under her, hair piled on top of her head scribbling away in her notebook. She didn't look up at him when he came in, so he assumed she was so focused on transcribing the music in her head that she didn't hear him.
He went to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water and chugged half of it while standing in the small kitchen area. Then he recapped it and put the half empty bottle back in the fridge.
She looked up when he sat next to her. For a moment, her eyes were dazed and unfocused. Then she smiled a slow sexy smile that made his heart start pounding hard in his chest.
Melody put the cap back on her pen and tossed the pen and notebook onto the coffee table in front of her. She turned her body so that she faced him, on her knees on the couch.
"Hi, you," she said, moving toward him. She swung a leg over his lap so that she half straddled him. "How was your workout?"
He could smell the scent of the soap on her skin. He slipped his glasses off and set them on the end table next to the couch .He put his hands on her waist as she leaned forward and looped her arms around his neck. "I just ran a few miles. I didn't feel much like working out."
She leaned forward and gave him the briefest whisper of a kiss. "Oh?" Heat surged through his body as her lips ran across his jaw line and down the side of his neck. "Not up to it this early?"
"No," he growled, scooping her up as he stood. "I think I might need to go back to bed."
"Marvelous idea," she said, then laughed as he carried her back to the bedroom.
¯¯¯¯
AFTER breakfast, Hal called to tell Melody that he'd arrived at Morgan's house as they arranged. The newlyweds dressed and headed to meet the rest of their family at the warehouse, where they spent the entire day with Kurt, Morgan, Mark, and Hal assembling bicycles and scooters, sorting clothes and toys, and wrapping gifts for all the kids in the home. Morgan purchased twenty-seven Christmas stockings and employed fabric paint to carefully label them with each child's name. They filled stockings with apples, oranges, candy canes, and chocolate bars, as well as fun little toys. Hal placed neatly folded single one-hundred dollar bills in little gift boxes and put one in each stocking.
They worked until late that night. Back at the hotel and bone weary, Melody and James fell asleep in each others' arms close to midnight. At nine o'clock Christmas Eve morning, Kurt and Morgan woke them with strong coffee and fresh pastries.
After picking up Mark, they all rode together to the warehouse and supervised the loading of the pallets and boxes onto the truck. Kurt drove Morgan's SUV, and the truck followed as they made their way through town to the children's home. As they rounded the last corner before reaching their destination, Melody felt her heart sink.
Somehow the press had gotten wind of their plan and a crowd of reporters and photographers waited for them at the gate to the home's drive when they arrived. Melody tried forcefully to stifle her irritation, but the last thing she wanted was for this to turn into a publicity stunt. She saw Hal in his car and called his number. "Was this you?"
"We have a tour starting in a little over a week, Melody. This was Patterson's idea. He knew what you were doing this morning."
"How?"
"I don't know. I swear I didn't tell him, but he already knew. Let's put a positive spin on this. This is a good thing. Slow news day. You could top the human interest stories nationwide. Now, turn that frown upside down, paint on your public smile, and get out there and throw the sharks some chum."
Cameras whizzing and recorders whirring, a group of reporters descended on the SUV. Melody grimaced at James. "Some days I really wish people would mind their own business," she said.
He squeezed the back of her neck. "The price of fame, I imagine."
The truck sat idling behind the vehicle, unable to move forward due to the crowd. Melody fluffed her hair, eased into a practiced smile, and opened the back door. She felt James get out of the car behind her.
Microphones were shoved at her, and questions hit her like raindrops in a hurricane. With an inner sigh she decided the only way to get rid of them would be to appease them. The first question she heard and decided to answer came from a local reporter. "Miss Mason, what made you decide to do this wonderful deed?"
"A long time friend and fellow charity supporter of my mother's approached me at my home church a few weeks ago. When she told me about the home, I could not help but do my part. This home is full of children who can't be with loving parents, for whatever reason, during Christmas. My heart almost broke in two when I thought about it. I realize that material possessions can't replace a family, but it might make this one day a little brighter for these boys and girls. God sent His son as a gift to us, as a sacrifice and redemption for the bondage of our sins. My small act pales in comparison to what God did for me and for you. I just want to give back."
Melody told James once that a lot of people didn't like her because she hadn't had to struggle to make it in the business, but he wasn't prepared for the viciousness in the tone of the reporter who asked the next question. "Melody Mason, don't you find the timing of this expedition suspicious? Hoping the coverage of this staged little charity event might spur next week's concert ticket sales to be completely sold out?"
James' hand tightened on Melody's waist, but she squeezed it in silent warning. "Why Ryan Haggarty. I didn't realize the terms of your release allowed you to travel outside of Nashville. When did you make bail?"
Some of the other reporters chuckled at the outsider in their midst, well aware of the libel charges Haggarty faced from the owner of the Tennessee Titans.
"Well, Miss Mason, I heard there was some hot story about you, and couldn't wait to come in person to report on it. Do you intend to answer my question, or are you going to ignore it like you do so many?"
"Yes, I intend to answer it." She walked up and stood in front of him, the toes of her red and green rhinestone boots hitting the toes of his wingtips. "In the first place, I didn't call you — someone else did. I did this for someone I love, and am sorry and a little ashamed that I didn't think to do it every single year all of my life.
"Second, the timing of this little charity event, as you so graciously put it, couldn't be helped, because it happens to be Christmas Eve. Thirdly, I don't need to boost my ticket sales. It's my understanding that the New Year's show is already sold out and has been for days, now. Fourth, the only reason I stopped to talk to any of you is because you are all blocking the street and keeping us from delivering these presents we brought for these children. I figured the only way to get you to move out of the way so these little boys and girls can have their Christmas would be to give you what you came for since you don't seem to have the decency to just let us deliver these gifts."
She stepped back, dusted off her hands, and smiled at the other reporters just as sweetly as she'd been taught by her southern belle mama. "Now, I'd like to introduce y'all to my husband, Mr. James Montgomery."
She turned around, facing James, and grabbed his face in her hands. She kissed him long and full. Cameras rolled and flashes went off. He pulled her close and whispered in her ear, "What was that for?"
"I just wanted to give them something to report other than me losing my temper," she said before she kissed him again. "That Haggarty over there really gets my goat. Hey! Let's get these gifts delivered."
After that, it took little effort to get t
he reporters to clear the entrance. James and Melody slipped back into the back seat and Kurt moved the SUV through the gates. The big truck followed behind. The Director met them outside and gave the truck driver directions to the back of the home where a back porch could be used as a temporary loading dock. In no time, they had the truck unloaded and distributed the presents to the kids.
Melody and Morgan teared up spontaneously as they watched the joy on the children's' faces as the presents kept coming inside. Melody watched the interactions between the children and the adults. The staff at the home were kind, loving people, and it was obvious that the children who had been there for a while trusted them.
Leaving everyone to their reveling, Melody pulled the director aside at one point in the afternoon to smuggle in the stockings. Those would wait, so that the children would have something to open in the morning.
By the time they left, the reputable press had mostly given up and gone home. A few paparazzo lurked on the corner, perhaps hoping Melody or someone in her party would stumble out in a state of intoxication or half dressed, despite the fact that it wasn't Melody Mason's style.
Morgan and Kurt went back to their house while Melody, James, and Mark went out to dinner. She told James what she wanted to eat, and while he raised a questioning eyebrow, he followed her directions and they ended up at a barbecue restaurant that advertised the best beef brisket in Atlanta on the neon sign.
"Aren't you worried you're going to get mobbed here?" he asked her. "I'm sure that the clientele at this establishment knows who you are. And, you've always been so careful not to go out much in public."
Melody held her hand up to be helped out of the car. "If I'm careful and low-key it should be okay. By the time anyone gets up the courage to ask me if I'm who they think I am, we'll be gone. Besides, I'm not dressed for anything else," she said, indicating her jeans and Christmas sweater with the green and red boots. As she spoke, she twisted her long black hair into a loose bun at the base of her neck, and pulled a pair of large dark framed glasses out of her purse.
A Melody for James (Christian Suspense) Page 17