Unexpected Vows

by Paige, Victoria

  “It’s just easier for the kids …” She was looking everywhere but at him.

  “Kate,” he called, making sure he had her eyes before he continued. “It’s fine. This place needs a woman’s touch.”

  She laughed. “I wouldn’t call melamine plates ‘a woman’s touch.’”

  “Purple and green?” he said with amusement. “I’d probably go with a boring navy blue.”

  “Nothing wrong with that—” Her words cut off when their eyes locked.

  “I’m hungry.” Liv’s announcement interrupted their moment of easy companionship.

  “Cheese?” Kate’s eyes lingered on his a tad longer before they settled on her daughter.

  “Yes, please.”

  Colt cleared his throat. “Josh?”

  The boy studied the food before him, mouth in a flat line. For a sinking second, Colt thought he didn’t like pizza. “Pizza’s gonna get cold, bud. That’s a travesty.”

  Liv giggled. “I know that word.”

  Kate ruffled the girl’s hair.

  “I can’t decide what I want to try first,” Josh said gravely. “What if I can’t finish two?”

  Colt’s mouth quirked at the corners. “Believe me, you can. Why don’t you start with the cheese?”

  “I think I’d prefer pepperoni,” he replied.

  “Pepperoni it is,” Colt said as he transferred a hot slice onto the boy’s plate.

  “How can we finish all this pizza?” Olivia asked as lines creased her forehead.

  “Hmm.” Kate glanced at him. “How soon is too soon to introduce them to cold pizza?”

  “Didn’t Colt just say cold pizza was a tra-ves-ty.” Liv articulated each syllable with an emphatic nod of her head.

  “You and I need to work on our communication,” Colt teased their mother. The children giggled as Kate slapped the back of her hand across his chest. He bent over the boxes of gooey pies and selected the pepperoni one.

  Kate sat cross-legged in front of the coffee table and nodded to the side. “Got your beer in the bucket.”

  “Damn, woman, can you be any more perfect?” he muttered as he pulled a bottle of amber ale from the depths of the ice. He twisted the cap off and let the cold drink wash down his throat.

  “Colt said a bad word,” Livy stated matter-of-factly while blowing on the cheese pizza and taking a bite.

  “Should we start a swear jar?” Kate asked the kids. “I bet we could have enough in there to pay for college by the time you guys are old enough.”

  “Planning long-term now, are we?” Colt shot her the side-eye.

  A blush stole up Kate’s cheeks. He returned his gaze to the TV, took a swig of the beer, and let her spin in her little freak-out. That had been his “Operation Get Kate” tactic. His woman needed a nudge to see what was right in front of her. “Have you guys decided on a movie? There are a couple of new releases this week but I think the latest of The Avengers is available.”

  “Ms. Katie said we were watching The Princess Bride,” Liv said through a mouthful of pizza. Meanwhile, Josh was already reaching for his second piece. “So good, so good,” the boy mumbled under his breath.

  “Slow down, Josh,” Kate laughed. “You polished off that first slice like Pac-Man.”

  “Who’s Pac-Man?” the boy asked.

  Kate winced. “Never mind. Generation gap.”

  “The Princess Bride is an old film.” Colt frowned. “I’m sure it’s available but …” He paused when Kate held up a disc. “Where did you get that?”

  “Cassie.” Her dazzling smile diminished his curiosity about how The Avengers would deal with the Infinity Stones and increased his favorability of watching a tale about a princess and a farm-boy-turned-pirate. Alongside that sentiment came the disturbing thought that he remembered the plot of The Princess Bride.

  “You’re frowning.”

  Colt gave himself a mental shake. “Trying to remember when I’ve last seen that movie.”

  “Probably with a high school sweetheart,” Kate quipped.

  She’d hit it right on the head. He coughed into his beer.

  “I’m right, aren’t I?” Her eyes danced with mirth.

  He gave her a lopsided grin. “Yeah.”

  If Colt remembered right, he’d been fifteen years old at the time and had been trying to impress the school’s head cheerleader who was two years older than he was. He couldn’t even remember her name … Claudia? Carla? All he remembered was a redhead with freckles and great tits.

  He took the DVD from Kate and walked over to the entertainment center and popped the disc into the player. “Didn’t think this movie was during your time?” He knew it had been already on tape by the time he’d watched it.

  “It’s timeless,” Kate said. “Besides, down in Colombia, we didn’t get the original films.”

  “Why, Ms. Foster,” Colt mocked as he walked back to the leather sofa and slouched into its comfy cushions, and continued, “You mean you watched pirated ones?” He looked at the twins. “Kids, cover your ears. Your mother is about to admit a crime.”

  Liv did as they were told, but Josh, probably knowing that Colt was jesting, continued to chomp down on his pizza.

  “Remember VHS?” Kate asked, pulling Liv’s hands from her ears. “That’s the format we had there. Sometimes we’d get a movie recorded over another movie. One would finish and we’d get the tail end of the other one.” She grinned at a memory. “Pet Sematary—we watched a lot of Stephen King—the tape was missing the ending. Matt got so pissed he hurled a bottle of beer at the TV. Good thing his aim was off and he didn’t wreck the screen.”

  Colt chuckled as he swiped his phone and switched to the app for the universal remote, tapping the buttons to power up the required electronics.

  Josh looked up from his pizza. “This one will have an ending, right?”

  “Of course,” Kate assured him.

  “Shh … the movie is starting,” Liv said.

  As the opening scene unfolded, Kate picked herself up off the floor and joined Colt on the couch. He forced his muscles to relax and kept his eyes on the film. He bit into his slice of pizza and took a pull of his beer. For the past two weeks, he’d been living the dream of starting a family with the woman who’d been in his heart for a long time.

  “Ugh,” Josh said, looking over his shoulder at the adults. “It’s not a kissing movie is it?” he said, paraphrasing the child actor on screen. “You said there’d be sword fights.”

  “Patience, my boy,” Kate said.

  Olivia scowled at her brother, but didn’t say anything. Josh shrugged and continued watching. The movie progressed and the kids were drawn to the odd team of the Sicilian, the Giant, and the Spanish Swordsman.

  Then the man in black appeared.

  “That’s Westley!” Liv exclaimed.

  This time it was Josh who shushed her.

  Kate’s body shook with controlled laughter, her hand resting on Colt’s thigh as she leaned into him.

  Colt had his arm at the back of the couch—a classic move any man learned in high school. And in another classic move, he lowered it around her shoulder and settled Kate deeper into him.

  She didn’t resist. In that moment, there was nothing sexual about their closeness. With the kids just a few feet away, lust was the farthest thing from his mind. But there was a cocoon of intimacy that shrouded their family of four. Something had shifted, not only in his dynamic with Kate, but with the kids as well.

  They felt like home.

  Josh started laughing at the Battle of Wits scene. Colt chuckled, not at the movie, but at the varying reactions on everyone’s faces.

  “I have a new word,” Olivia declared after the demise of the Sicilian. Not waiting for anyone to ask what, she continued. “Inconceivable.”

  The Princess Bride held the kids’ rapt attention while Kate split hers between the movie and the children, answering their questions as needed. He thought some of the humor went over an eight-year-old’s compre
hension, but the twins seemed to keep up. As for him, it wasn’t a film he’d watch on his own, but he sure didn’t mind having Kate tucked into him while he enjoyed her feel and fragrance. He pressed his mouth to the top of her head.

  When the movie reached its romantic conclusion, Josh declared it okay. Liv was more enthusiastic—clearly her mother’s daughter—and Kate thought it was still good, but confessed it didn’t have the same impact it once did.

  “Okay. Time for bed,” Kate declared, hustling the children from where they’d been lying on the floor—on stacked pillows for company.

  “This was the most fun I’ve ever had,” Josh said, looking at Colt. “Can we have pizza for breakfast?”

  “They’re learning bad habits way too early,” Kate muttered with Liv already hanging off her side in a sleepy dance.

  “Sorry, buddy, I don’t think your mom is up for that,” Colt said even if he didn’t want to point out that she had fed them Pop-Tarts on more than one occasion.

  “Off to bed, kiddos,” Kate repeated. It had taken her a few days to get them ready for bed without micromanaging them. After lecturing the twins about keeping their room tidy, she’d left them mostly to themselves. She said, “Since they probably lived in a sterile environment before this, what’s a little harm in exposing them to germs?”

  Still, Colt had an agency-approved cleaning service come in and clean the ranch house. Prior to that, Cassie and Lucas did all the cleaning until they’d both moved out, then Colt had taken over. But with TAC taking most of his time, and to prevent Kate from murdering the kids over a dirty bathroom, it was best to outsource that part of housekeeping.

  Colt picked up the pizza boxes from the coffee table. “I am curious,” he started. “Why The Princess Bride?” He entered the kitchen and began wrapping the remaining slices in foil.

  No answer.

  When he glanced at her, she was massaging the back of her neck, frowning.

  “Kate? You okay?”

  She blinked at him as if confused. “Uh, yeah, just a weird spasm in my neck.” Her lips quirked. “Must be how I was sitting to watch the movie.” She picked up the cushions off the floor and put them back in place. “Did I miss a question?”

  “I was just curious why The Princess Bride?”

  “It was a fairy tale that didn’t take itself too seriously,” she said finally. “It was funny.” She picked up the lap blanket and held it against herself then looked at him. “It’s about courage and true love.” There was a faraway look in her eyes before she looked down and gave a short wry laugh. “It’s stupid.”

  Leaving the kitchen, he moved to her and clasped her shoulders. “Don’t say that. No matter how tough Chrysalis wanted to make you, you were—and are—still human with hopes and dreams.”

  “I did have a dream,” Kate sighed. “But it died when Chrysalis burned down.”

  His brows cinched together. “You regret shutting it down?”

  She took a step back, eyes widening. “No. That’s not it. It’s everything that followed after that. My time at Quantagen took away my free will, even the will to dream.”

  “Because they threatened you with Piper?”

  “Yes,” she whispered, and then as if snapping out of her melancholia, she smiled. “No time to dwell on the past, right?” She looked down the hallway toward the kids’ room. “I better check on them to make sure they’ve brushed their teeth and changed into pajamas.”

  Before she ran away from him he caught her hand and pulled her close. “It’s okay to dream again, Goldilocks.”

  “I know.” Kate stood on tiptoes and feathered a kiss over his lips, then she backed away slowly, letting their fingers slide to the very tips until the distance forced them to let go.

  Nothing seductive, nothing suggestive, but everything sweet.

  Colt was all right with that.

  15

  Colt

  The following morning, after his first round of training at the kill house, Colt retreated to his office to check on a shipment of cartridges and realized he had two missed calls from Kate and two voicemails.

  Hey. I’m taking the twins to Peach Meadow Fall Festival. Livy wouldn’t shut up about it. Convinced Millie to come with us. I’ll call you when we get there.

  Colt smiled. Liv must have seen the flyer in the mail the other day. The next voicemail was ten minutes later.

  It’s me again. Just picked up Millie. The twins said they would love it if you could join us. Might be an all-day affair. Call me if you want to meet up later.

  Peach Meadow was an hour away in Harris County, a scenic town between Atlanta and Edington, and was a popular site for county fairs and concerts. Their Fall Festival was famous across the state and attracted people from all over, especially Atlanta.

  Colt checked his schedule for the day. The morning sessions were where he was needed the most while the afternoon ones could be handled by either Cassie or Lucas.

  He caught Lucas coming out of the shooting range. “Hey, man. Need a favor.”

  Lucas emitted a mock sigh and an exaggerated slump of shoulders. “You’re playing hooky again.”

  Colt barked a laugh. “How did you know?”

  “Well, you do this almost every day.”

  Lucas was exaggerating, of course. “Try having eight-year-old twins sprung on you.”

  This time it was the younger man who chuckled. “No, thanks. How’s Kate coping?” There was a smirk on his face.

  “She’s coping just fine,” Colt replied, remembering their brief talk the night before.

  Lucas scratched his jaw contemplatively. “Kate has always been an amazing older sister. She let us do what we want as long as we adhered to certain rules, but we knew she’s always there to catch us when we made a mistake.” He paused. “Josh and Olivia? Their needs are very different from ours. Kate has already sacrificed so much and, if she’s being forced—”

  “She’s not being forced into anything,” Colt cut in before the other man pissed him off. “She made that clear the night she introduced the twins to you guys. She’s been given the facts and, because the children are hers, she was offered the responsibility first … Well, I was, but, like her, I could’ve said no.”

  He snorted. “Say no to the admiral? Who are you kidding?”

  Colt sighed because there was a degree of truth to those words. “Look. She has me, okay? Have I ever let you and Cassie down?”

  Lucas’s face turned sheepish. “No, you haven’t.”

  “Then please give us the benefit of the doubt not to fuck this up. Your sister is doing the best she can. The situation is unique, but these kids deserve the same chance as everyone who’s come to Misty Grove. God knows they need a helluva lot more guidance and so do we. But we’re the adults in this situation. No one should be making this any more difficult than it is. Kate and I are taking this one day at a time.”

  “Kate and I?” her brother repeated, raising a brow. “You’re saying it as though you and Kate are a couple?”

  Colt grinned and clapped Lucas on the back. “One day at a time, man. One day at a time.”

  * * *

  It was almost noon when Colt left TAC. He called Kate and her phone rang seven times before she answered. The background was noisy.

  “You on your way?” Kate asked without preamble.

  “Just leaving.”

  “What?”

  “I’ll be there in an hour,” Colt spoke loudly into his phone.

  “Text me. Can’t understand—Liv, put that down! Shit. Gotta go.”

  She hung up.

  Colt chuckled as he turned onto the road from the parking lot. Olivia was impulsive. She’d pick up a rattlesnake out of curiosity if she could. Judging from her talkativeness recently and her propensity to learn new words, Colt would say her speech was back to normal. The twin’s check-up at the NEST was scheduled the following Wednesday in DC. Kate suspected Liv had been traumatized when they separated her from Josh. Whether the damage was physical or
psychological, the little girl was finally at a point where she either had re-learned how to speak or she was comfortable expressing herself verbally.

  Traffic was light as he passed the town of Edington. He arrived at Peach Meadow in forty-five minutes. Seeing the signs for the festival, he drove into the designated parking and waited for the event staff to tell him where to park his pickup.

  Deep azure skies with not a cloud in sight, the autumn sun cast the surroundings in a warm glow. A perfect day for the festival. Leaves had started to change color. Green and yellow competed for space on trees with the occasional crimson splash taking over. Colt stepped out of his vehicle and inhaled the crisp autumn breeze, a welcome respite from Georgia’s humidity. The aroma of funnel cakes and smoked meat assailed his nostrils and his stomach grumbled. He shot a quick text to Kate as he walked alongside the wave of people entering the event. It was Friday and everyone seemed to share his idea of taking the afternoon off.

  He passed a couple of Buckland County cruisers parked near the festival entrance and figured they were asked to help maintain security. The grounds were a sea of tents of all colors and sizes interspersed with various food trucks. Country music blared from the speakers as well as a cacophony of announcements from various vendors. Stopping at the first tent which sold festival memorabilia, Colt checked his phone for a new text.

  There was none.

  Awareness prickled his skin and an unsettled feeling grew in his gut. The Southern rock song from a nearby vendor grated in his ears, the strings of the guitar amplified poorly by the speaker. The crowd doubled in size, people walked en-masse—an undefined quantity of threats. Teaching at TAC honed in his awareness as he cataloged the passing herd of humanity—three people with backpacks passed him; two people wearing coats incongruent with the weather.

  He pulled up the tracking app on his phone.

  Just then, an object torpedoed his gut.

  “Jesus,” he grunted, nearly dropping his device while his other hand captured the offender.

  “Gotcha!” a voice squealed followed by a merry giggle.

  He lifted the squirming bundle that was Olivia, swung her under his arms, and started tickling her.