by Erin Wright
“Yes.”
“How long have you been dating?”
“It’ll be a year next month.”
“And Sugar Anderson is an employee of Gage Dyer’s?”
“Yes.”
“Is Sugar Anderson a good friend of yours?”
“Yes.”
“That is all,” the attorney said, sinking into his seat behind the defendant’s table.
What
The
Hell
What was that supposed to prove? Did he change his mind halfway through? Did he give up? Has he realized that he doesn’t have a snowflake’s chance in hell of getting his client out of this one?
But almost as soon as the attorney’s ass hit the seat, Rat Bastard shot to his feet.
“Do you know who I am?” he shouted at the judge, and this time, Cady couldn’t help herself. She looked at him – his pummeled face, broken and distorted in ways that even the best plastic surgeons money could buy were unable to fix. After the attack, Sugar had showed Cady a picture of him back when they’d dated while in high school. Cady could objectively tell that he’d been a fairly cute guy at the time, although she’d honestly had a hard time seeing it. She just couldn’t look past what she knew he’d become.
But now…finally, his face matched his soul. Blotchy, twisted, veins broken; a mask of hatred and anger. His attorney was tugging on his hand, but Rat Bastard yanked it free. “If you won’t defend me, I’ll do it myself!” he yelled, turning to face the judge, shoulders heaving. “I am Richard Schmidt, Jr., son of the judge for Long Valley County, Richard Schmidt, Sr. You cannot treat me like this! My father will—”
“Your father will do nothing at all,” the judge said, his voice ice cold. “Your father has been using the power of his seat to protect you for far too long. He has kept you from feeling the consequences of your actions, turning you into a spoiled, nasty human being.”
“I have done no such thing!” a man yelled from the audience directly behind the defendant’s table, also jumping to his feet. Cady just stared in disbelief. Did this sort of thing happen all the time in courtrooms and she just didn’t know it? She’d always thought of trials as being placid affairs – staid and straightforward and full of motions to do things that she couldn’t begin to understand.
Not this shouting affair.
“Judge Schmidt, you will be quiet or I will have you removed from the courtroom!” the judge thundered, banging his gavel. “You are treading on thin ice – based on the situations I am finding in this case, I have already recommended a thorough review of your record to the state judicial board. I would not count on being a judge too much longer. And you, sir,” he said, turning back to Rat Bastard whose chest was heaving with anger, his face almost purple from rage, “you will sit down and you will not interrupt these proceedings again. This is not your father’s courtroom and I will not have you disrespect it.” He banged his gavel again, as if to emphasize what he’d just said, and then turned to his bailiff, as if trying to regain his footing.
“Where were we…” he asked rhetorically.
“I do believe you were about to dismiss Ms. Walcott from the stand,” the bailiff said, a twinkle in his eye.
“Right you are!” the judge said with a chuckle. “Ms. Walcott, you can step down now.”
With a shuddering sigh of relief, Cady walked down the handful of steps to the main floor of the courtroom, her knees weak. She was just wondering if she was going to lose all capability to walk and simply collapse on the floor in a mess of jelly and nerves – wouldn’t that be embarrassing – when the judge called for a recess, to “let everyone regroup.” Gage was almost instantly beside her, his arm around her waist, and she felt herself melt into his side.
Again. He was there for her again – through thick and thin. Through the good times and the bad.
How had she gotten so lucky?
Feeling a bit like a swooning-prone actress from the 1940s, she looked up at him through heavy-lidded eyes. “I did it,” she mumbled, her steps faltering. If she didn’t know any better, she would guess she was drunk.
Drunk on relief – was that a thing?
“You did,” Gage said, pulling her to his side and squeezing her tight. “I asked the state prosecutor and he says that you’re done. I still have to testify, but not until next week. You ready to go home?” They were already heading outside, into the weak spring sunshine.
Home. Such a gorgeous word. She rolled it around and around in her mind, pushing it, poking at it. It’d just been a year ago when she’d not known what “home” really meant. She’d been alone – no family, hardly any friends to speak of, and a broken-down building in desperate need of repairs.
And now…she did have a home. With Gage. After Rat Bastard attacked her five months previously, Gage had moved her in with him and she’d never left. She still had a lease on her basement apartment; was still paying the rent, but she’d decided to ignore all of that until after the trial was done. She could make decisions then.
But she realized that her heart had been making decisions when she wasn’t looking, because when Gage had said “home,” she hadn’t thought of her apartment. She’d thought of the two-story Craftsman where they’d laughed and loved each other over the past five months.
“Yes, please,” she said finally. “I would love to go home.”
“Good. Because I have a surprise for you.”
“Oh! What’s the surprise?” she asked, climbing up into the passenger side of the truck with the help of Gage. At least her arm wasn’t in a cast any longer. The day she’d been able to get that off…that’d been a glorious day.
He hurried around to his side and slid into place. “You suck at surprises, you know that?” he said mildly, starting the engine and backing out of the crowded parking lot. The small, tight parking lot was not large-truck friendly. They should’ve driven her Jeep, but getting ready to leave for Boise that morning, Cady had known that there was just no way she could drive, either there (from nerves) or back (from relief that it was finally over).
“The whole point of a surprise,” Gage said, finally maneuvering his truck out onto an even more crowded one-way street, “is that you don’t know what the surprise is beforehand.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, and then unbuckled her seat belt and slid over to the middle seat. Crowded and uncomfortable as it was sitting over the hump that ran down the middle of the truck, it was still better because then she could sit right next to Gage. She pulled on her lap belt and then snuggled her head down onto his wide, muscular shoulder.
“I’ve almost forgiven you, you know,” she said mildly, the nerves and adrenaline fading away, leaving her feeling like a wrung-out dishrag.
“Yeah?” he said with a chuckle. “For what?”
“For being so damn muscular. I used to want to only date guys my size—”
“—So you were hitting up the 12 year olds in junior high?”
“—Buuutttt,” she said, a little louder, drowning out his teasing laugh, “I’ve decided that you being strong has some advantages after all. Like beating up assholes in dark parking lots.”
“I’m glad you could see your way to appreciating my muscles,” Gage said dryly.
“Plus, I’ve spent my whole life not eating pickles because I couldn’t get the lids off the jars! I’ve been missing them…”
“I’d offer to stop at the grocery store on the way home to buy some just so I can demonstrate my amazing pickle-jar-opening skills, but there’s a surprise waiting for you and I want to see your face first. Then I’ll buy 12 jars of pickles from the Stop ‘N Go and wow you with jar after jar of the stuff.”
“Very kind of you,” Cady said dryly, burying her head down further, feeling her eyes fluttering shut. “I can’t wait.”
And then she was gone, drifting in the land of slumber, feeling at peace with the world with Gage by her side.
Epilogue
Gage
He rolled to a gentl
e stop in the driveway of his house, looking down at the sleeping face of Cady, her long eyelashes dark against the paleness of her skin, her curls going every which way.
And then, the snoring. She had the most adorable snore on the face of the planet, as far as Gage was concerned, although she was convinced he was teasing her when he told her that she snored. He couldn’t blame her too much for that – teasing Cady was his second favorite thing in the world, behind making love to Cady – but still, he was tempted to record her one night and play it back to her, just so she could hear herself.
Okay, Gage, it’s time. He pulled his cell phone out of its dashboard holder and sent the pre-planned text to the predetermined list, patted his pockets, and then with a feeling of regret at waking Cady mingled with happiness that she was his to wake, he gently ran his fingertips down her face. “Hey, Sugar Plums,” he whispered softly. “Time to wake up.”
She surfaced slowly, stretching and blinking before finally registering what he said and bolting up right. “We’re at your house,” she said, peering eagerly through the dashboard to look at his home, as if the surprise was going to be painted across the side of it.
He hurried around and slid her into his arms, carrying her to the front porch over her laughing protests.
“The surprise is, I have working legs,” she said gaily, running her fingers through his hair as he carried her. “It’s not much of a surprise to me, but it seems like it is to you.”
“Now you tell me,” Gage grumbled, as if she’d been holding out on him all this time. He fumbled with the door knob – he’d intentionally left it unlocked when they’d left for Boise, knowing what they’d be coming back and doing, but even with it unlocked, his hands were slick with sweat.
What if she doesn’t like it? What if she says no? What if? What if? What if…
He finally got the door open and Cream Puffs came bounding over, dancing, barking happily, tongue lolling out of her mouth as if she hadn’t seen them in years and years.
“You goofy girl,” Cady said, sliding out of his arms and down onto the floor. “I just saw you this morning.” But still, she was intentionally holding her face within range of Cream Puffs’ tongue, as if inviting the dog to give her a face bath.
An invitation the dog was all too happy to say yes to.
Gage stood behind her, discreetly looking around. It looked amazing in the house – way better than it had any right to. Of course, putting Sugar and Emma in charge of decorating always meant the results would be better than he could ever hope to do himself. He saw one eyeball peeking around the corner at them, a long brown braid dangling below it and he shook his head silently.
The hair and eyeball disappeared. Gage let out a tiny sigh of relief.
“Are you okay?” Cady asked absentmindedly. “That was a big sigh…what the hell?!” she yelped, staring at the wall behind Gage’s head. There, Sugar and Emma had hung the last family portrait Cady and her parents had done before leaving for their trip. An exact replica of Cady’s smile graced an older woman, but Cady’s golden brown eyes were from her father.
Golden brown eyes that were now staring up at Gage in shock. She scrambled to her feet and then reflexively looked around the house, as if searching for other changes.
And other changes there were. There were her school pictures, twelve photos arranged in an oval around the large senior picture in the middle. There was the end table she’d made together with her father. There were the throw pillows on the couch she’d bought when she’d moved out on her own and wanted to feel oh-so-grown-up now that she had her own place that she could decorate. It should’ve felt crowded, adding Cady’s stuff in with his, but of course, the talents of Emma and Sugar were at play, not to mention that Gage had always been horrible at actually decorating. Finally, his house had that woman’s touch that made it feel like a home.
Their home.
“Cady, will you move in with me?” he asked, digging frantically for the key in his pocket. “I never want your home to be somewhere else. I want you to spend tonight, and every night, here with me.”
He held out the key towards her, which was just when Skittles decided to make his presence known. He let out a loud meow, alternating between rubbing against Cady’s legs and hissing at Cream Puffs, who seemed to be delighted to have a friend to play with.
Not surprisingly, Skittles didn’t seem to return the feeling.
“How…when…” Cady shook her head, as if trying to clear it of cobwebs. “We were together in Boise!” she burst out. “How did you get all of my stuff over here?”
“Magical fairies,” Gage said, at the same time that Sugar and Emma piped up, “Us!” as they burst around the corner, apparently incapable of hanging back any longer. “Although, I like the name ‘magical fairies,’” Sugar said to Emma seriously. “I think we should go with that instead.”
Gage was shooting death rays at the two of them as Cady squealed with delight. “So this is why you guys couldn’t be at the courthouse!” she said, throwing her arms around one and then the other in turn. “I thought it was bullshit that you guys couldn’t bring someone else in to run the bakery for a few hours.”
“We just shut it down completely,” Sugar said, waving her hand dismissively. “Put a sign on the door, stating that we were busy trying to put Richard Schmidt behind bars. The assholes in this town who don’t like it can stuff it. I don’t want to sell them donuts anyway.”
Gage cleared his throat, and then when the girls didn’t seem to hear him, he cleared it again, louder this time. Emma and Sugar both looked guilty – as they damn well should – and backed off. He’d told them not until—
“Will you move in with me?” Gage repeated, holding out the key again.
“Yes!” Cady shouted, throwing herself at him. Cream Puffs yipped and danced; Skittles hissed and pounced, landing on the dog’s side. Cream Puffs took off like a shot, yipping in pain, Skittles holding on for dear life, and they heard a thunk and then a crash as they skittered together into the dining room.
“We’ll go take care of that,” Emma said with a grimace, grabbing Sugar’s hand and dragging her towards the dining room.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” Cady murmured, pressing kisses all over his face between every word. “I’m even starting to love surprises.”
“Oh good,” he said, allowing himself one kiss on her lips before dropping to one knee in front of her. “Because I have something else to ask you.” He dug in his other pocket, pulling out the intricate engagement ring, the swirls and interlocking hearts reminding him of Cady’s hair. In the center sat a giant emerald.
“Cady, will you marry me?” he asked, holding up the ring between thumb and forefinger.
Please God, please God, please God—
“Yes!” she said in a strangled voice as he slid the ring onto her finger. He was thrilled to see that it fit perfectly. He’d asked Emma and Sugar to take her shopping at a cheap costume jewelry shop in the Boise Mall. They were supposed to find some new fun jewelry to wear, and get her to try on rings while she was there. Report back on the proper size to him.
After all of their help in making it happen, he could almost forgive them for interrupting his proposal.
“It’s so beautiful,” she whispered, staring at her finger and then up at him. Her huge brown eyes were filled with tears, but they were happy tears. With any luck at all, those would be the only kind of tears she’d ever shed on his account again.
As they kissed, Gage was dimly aware of the stream of people coming into the house, oohing and aahing over all of the hard work that Sugar and Emma had done, there to celebrate Cady’s time on the witness stand and her moving in with him and their engagement. It’d been a risk to ask people to show up to a party that was to take place just minutes after he proposed to Cady – what if she’d said no?! – but it had felt right. He knew she’d want to see all of her friends and customers from the smoothie shop – people who could celebrate her big day with her,
even if her parents couldn’t.
Finally, the catcalling and wolf whistles got too loud for even Gage to ignore and he regretfully broke off the kiss, suddenly regretting inviting half of Sawyer into their living room. If they’d been by themselves, he could’ve taken Cady upstairs and shown her just how happy he was that she said yes, but as it was, he was pretty sure people would notice if they disappeared.
“Congratulations, son,” Mom said, appearing at his side and pulling him into a big hug. “You found a keeper. And you,” she said, turning to Cady to give her a huge hug too, “welcome to the family. Now I have two daughters I can dote on.”
Their first meeting seven months ago, when his mother had pulled Cady into a hug, she’d had a look of ‘What the hell is going on here?’ on her face, and had hardly known what to do. Now, she enthusiastically hugged her future mother-in-law back. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I would love to have a mom again.”
Then his dad, not much for emotion, pulled Cady into a bear hug of his own. “Welcome,” he said gruffly, his tough Marine Corps façade cracking just a little. “Glad to have you.”
Gage grinned a little to himself. In his father’s world, that was practically a speech.
Grandpa hugged her and kissed her on the cheek, and then it was Grandma, her steel-gray hair pulled back in its tight bun like always. She looked intimidating as hell, but Gage knew that was her resting bitch face at work. She wasn’t nearly as scary as she appeared to be, especially when she liked someone.
It just took her a while to like someone, was all.
“Welcome to the family,” his grandmother said formally, but eschewed Cady’s proffered hand for a hug instead. “You’ve got a really special man here,” she said softly into Cady’s curls. “Take care of him for me.”
Gage, who wasn’t much for being emotional, felt a bit choked up at the sentiment. His grandmother was finally giving her blessing on their relationship.
He didn’t know how much he’d wanted that until it had happened. His grandmother had taught him how to cook; had had the belief in him that he could succeed when they sold the bakery to him; had helped him pay for culinary arts school. He’d wanted that side of her – the loving, sweet, caring side – to be the side she showed Cady, too.