by T. L. Haddix
Stacy bit her lip. “Could I see that one? The white gold with the three rows of diamonds?”
“Of course.” The saleswoman pulled the ring from the case. It was subtle and understated, exactly as Stacy had described. Three rows of diamonds encircled the ring, small chips on the outside, larger stones on the inside. Even though the inner stones weren’t very large, they glowed. Gordon had also seen enough quality jewelry in his life to know that the ring wasn’t a cheap imitation. When she slipped the ring on her finger, it was a little loose.
“Let me see if we have that in a half-size smaller,” the saleswoman said.
Stacy was turning her hand this way and that, but she was biting her lip.
“Don’t you like it?”
“I do. But it’s more than I wanted you to spend. A lot more.”
Gordon turned the tag over. The ring was forty-five hundred dollars. “Do you want it?”
Stacy looked up at him. “That’s not the point.”
“That’s exactly the point. You don’t want an engagement ring. Splurge a little on the wedding band.”
“We have it in a six.” The saleswoman held out the ring. “Try it on. It’s a comfort-fit band. Just over one carat, total weight.”
Frowning, Stacy slipped off the too-large ring. Gordon took the smaller ring from the saleswoman and gently held Stacy’s left hand, slipping the ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly. “See, it likes you. Wants to go home with you.”
“I don’t know.”
He glanced at the saleswoman. “Give us a minute?”
“Take your time.” She put the other rings back in the showcase before walking away.
For a minute, he watched Stacy play with the ring. “Talk to me.”
“It’s gorgeous. But it’s forty-five hundred dollars. For a ring.”
“I’m sure we could find at least thirty other rings in this store that are three or four times the cost of that one.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s not the point.”
“Okay. What is?”
“Galen.”
He crossed his arms. “Look, I can afford the ring. I have quite a healthy little nest egg saved up from my salary when I was with the Bureau. I didn’t have much to spend it on—my car, groceries, utilities, student loans. I’m not a frivolous person. And unless it has escaped your notice, I’m going to be practicing law. Not a profession known for making paupers of its practitioners. So if you want the ring, we’ll get the ring. It’s obvious that it speaks to you. It looks right on your hand. Your choice.”
“Do you like it?”
“I do, actually. I think it suits you. Matches what’s on the inside.”
She teared up and had to swipe away the wetness. “Silly Galen. You’re sure it’s okay?”
“It’s more than okay. Now that I know you want it so much, unless you find another ring you can convince me you love just as much, that ring is going out the door with us.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded, and he ran a finger down her cheek.
“That was easier than I thought it would be. Thank you for letting me buy you this ring.” He kissed her hand. “Now, let’s find me one to match. Think they make that in my size?”
Her startled laughter drew the saleswoman back. “Everything okay?”
Stacy reluctantly handed her the ring. “We’ll take it.”
Choosing his wedding band was fairly simple. Gordon already knew what he wanted—brushed palladium with carved edges. It complemented Stacy’s ring quite well.
“That’s it?” she asked, surprised.
“That’s it.”
He could see her mentally comparing the two price tags. His was a fraction of the cost of hers. He tapped her gently on the nose. “Stop that. This is the ring I want. Yours has diamonds, and that makes it more expensive. I don’t want diamonds.”
“How’d you make that decision so quickly?” Her voice was suspicious.
He shrugged. “Chase has one similar to this, and he left the brochure lying around in his car. I picked it up last fall and looked through it.”
When Stacy and the saleswoman seemed skeptical, he frowned. “What? It was a long car ride. We were on our way down here to get something for the wedding. I like what I like.”
“If you’re sure that’s what you want…”
“I am.”
“Then I guess we’re good to go.” Stacy looked at the saleswoman, who smiled.
“I’ll get these boxed up and meet you at the register.”
When she was taking their personal information to put in the system for the warranties on the rings, she frowned. “Your name sounds so familiar to me.” She looked at Gordon. “Why is that? Have you been in here before?”
“Nope. My mother-in-law shops here, though. Sandra Guthrie?”
Her eyes widened. “Oh. That’s it. Sandra’s one of our best clients. You’re Mallory’s husband.” She blushed, casting a worried glance at Stacy, as she realized how her words had sounded.
Gordon’s smile was gentle. “I was married to Mallory, yes. But as of today, I’m Stacy’s fiancé. And later today, I’ll be Stacy’s husband.”
As he said the words, he realized that he really did think of himself as belonging to Stacy. He ran his hand down her arm, as if to reassure himself she was really with him. He thought it might take the next fifty years to convince himself she was real, and he was looking forward to every minute.
CHAPTER 31
WHEN THEY REACHED THE COURTHOUSE shortly after two o’clock, Stacy was a nervous wreck. She thought she still looked pretty calm, but inside, she was nearly shaking to pieces. They went to the clerk’s office to obtain their license, and Stacy stayed very quiet as Gordon started the process. When the clerk asked if he’d been married before, and Gordon had to provide a copy of Mallory’s death certificate, Stacy felt like crying.
She didn’t regret her decision to marry Gordon at all. But she would be going forward with him, and Mallory wouldn’t. She would never have his children or watch him grow old. God willing, Stacy would. She thought a brief prayer for the other woman, then it was her turn to answer the questions.
Marriage license in hand, they headed to the office of the judge who would be performing the wedding. On their way upstairs, they ran into Chase and Annie.
“There you are!” Chase greeted them, snapping their picture. “Dang, you both clean up pretty nice. Who would have thought it?” He touched Stacy’s arm. “You look nervous. He didn’t twist your arm about this, did he?”
“No. The decision was mutual. I’m a little unsettled, that’s all. I’ve never done this before.”
“Perfectly normal. It will be over before you know it. Here, every woman deserves a bouquet on her wedding day. I hope you like them.” Annie stepped in, opened a box, and handed her a bouquet of pink and white roses and dewy soft pink peonies that was exactly what Stacy would have chosen if she’d had the time. Tied together with soft, lacy ribbons and dotted with baby’s breath, the arrangement was so soft that Stacy was almost afraid to breathe on it.
“It’s stunning. Thank you so much.” She had to tear her gaze away from the flowers, suddenly shy as she looked at Gordon. “That’s what you meant, on the phone earlier.”
“He has his own little bouquet,” Chase said. Annie handed him a small box, and Chase pulled out a matching corsage, which he pinned carefully to Gordon’s lapel. “There. Now you match.”
“Indeed they do,” said a soft voice from behind them. Stacy turned to see a tall, polished blond woman approaching, wearing a bright smile. “Hey, sweetie.”
“Sandra.” Gordon embraced her. “Thanks for coming.”
“Where else would I be?” She turned to Stacy eagerly. “Oh, you’re a doll. I’ve been wanting to meet you for months now, ever since Galen was moping around on the cruise. I’m Sandra.” She held out her hand, and Stacy shook it.
“Sandra, this is Stacy Kirchner,” Gordon said
when Stacy couldn’t respond. He rested his hand at the base of her neck and gently rubbed. “She’s a little nervous.”
“I would be, too! You probably haven’t given her time to think all day. Has he? Oh, the two of you are going to produce some gorgeous babies.” Sandra’s hand flew to her mouth, and she grimaced. “I’m sorry. That was presumptuous.”
Her remark broke the ice, and Stacy let her laughter escape. “You’re fine, and thank you.”
“They already have one gorgeous baby,” Chase interjected. When Sandra turned astonished eyes to him, he nodded sagely. “Chloe. She looks like Gordon.”
Sandra inspected him. “Galen, is there something you haven’t told me?”
Gordon scowled at Chase. “Chloe is Stacy’s cat. This joker is Chase Hudson, and his wife, Annie. They drove down from Leroy.” He checked his watch. “Kids, it’s time. Much longer, and we’ll be late.”
As they walked to the judge’s office, Stacy thumbed through her phone for a good picture of Chloe. She showed it to Sandra. “That’s my girl. She has green eyes.”
“She does rather resemble Gordon,” Sandra responded with a smile. “I hope I didn’t embarrass you. That’s the last thing I wanted to do. The words just slipped out.”
“I wasn’t offended in the least.”
They waited outside the office while Gordon went in. He came back a few seconds later. “She’s ready. She’d like to talk to Stacy and me for a couple minutes first, though. Ready?”
“I guess.” She handed her bouquet to Annie with a nervous look, then followed him into the judge’s chambers. A matronly woman who looked more like someone’s grandmother than a judge greeted them with a smile.
“You must be Stacy. Congratulations on your engagement.” She shook Stacy’s hand. “I’m Brooke Harrison. I wanted to have a few words with you before we get down to business. Tell me about yourself. Gordon’s been incredibly tight-lipped. I didn’t even know you were engaged,” she scolded him.
“That was a recent development.”
She tilted her head. “How recent?”
“This morning.”
Her eyebrows shot up, and she looked back at Stacy, her gaze going quickly to her belly. “Are you pregnant?”
The impertinent question raised Stacy’s hackles a little, and she straightened. “No, ma’am. We decided to not waste any more time on something we both wanted.”
“That’s efficient.” She interviewed them for a few minutes, until she was satisfied they knew what they were doing. “Well, kids, you’re both of seemingly sound mind, and you’ve brought me the appropriate paperwork. If you’re ready to proceed, so am I. You brought witnesses?”
“Yes, my former mother-in-law, as well as my future law partner from Indiana and his wife,” Gordon told her.
“So you are going to go into practice. Good. Shame it’s not on this side of the river, but still. I’ll let them in, give you a minute to yourselves.”
Gordon let out a breath. “You still okay?”
Stacy straightened his tie, causing him to smile. “I may fall apart at any moment. But I’m okay. Are you?”
He kissed each of her hands. “I may throw up.”
“What? You look as cool as a cucumber.”
“How cool is a cucumber, actually? And no, I’m scared to death. I’m terrified you’re going to come to your senses and run out the door.”
“Not going to happen. You’ll have to trust me on that.”
He nodded. “As much as you’ve trusted me the last couple of weeks, I think I can return the favor.”
Judge Harrison showed everyone in and closed the door. “Let’s do this.”
For the next few minutes, Stacy’s entire focus was on Gordon and the judge. The ceremony wasn’t the quickie she’d feared it might be, but was instead profound. The intimacy of their surroundings increased that impression. Almost before she knew it, Judge Harrison was pronouncing them man and wife.
“You may kiss your bride. Congratulations, you two.”
Gordon touched her face with hands so gentle that they tickled. Stacy snorted, then laughed, and he responded with a wide grin.
“Hello, Mrs. Gordon.”
“Hello, Mr. Gordon.”
He gave her a chaste kiss, then pulled her in for a giddy hug. “We did it.”
“You certainly did,” Chase said, snapping away with the camera. “I have the evidence right here. Congrats, both of you.”
When Gordon pulled back and looked down at her, he was almost glowing. If that glow was any indication of how happy he was inside, they were off to a good start. It matched how she felt, which was so far beyond where she ever thought she’d be.
After the ceremony, everyone went to Sandra’s house for a celebratory dinner. Chase and Annie left around seven, and Gordon and Stacy shortly after that.
Sandra hugged Stacy before they left. “I can’t tell you how it feels to see him so happy again,” she told her. “He’s more at peace with you than I’ve seen him in a long time, maybe ever. But that’s a discussion for another day. Welcome to the family, Stacy.”
As they pulled onto his street, Stacy told him what she thought. “I like Sandra.”
“Good. She adores you already. I knew she would.” He flashed her a satisfied smile.
“I’m glad. I’m so tired. What do you want to do tonight?” She let her head fall back against the headrest as he pulled the car into the garage.
Gordon got out and came around to her side of the car, holding the door for her. “I want to take my wife inside and get you out of this dress.” He fingered the lace bodice. “Which is gorgeous, by the way. Did I mention that?”
Stacy shook her head. “No, you didn’t. But I figured you liked it from the looks I’ve been getting all night.”
“I love it. I love what’s in it more, though.” Closing the door, he backed her against the side of the car and kissed her. Stacy wound her hands inside his shirt, clinging to it for support.
“Still tired?”
She took a few moments to process the question. “Um, I could go to bed.” She let her hands fall below his belt, telling him exactly what she meant without words. To her surprise, softness replaced the hot desire in his eyes.
“We’re married.”
She smiled. “Yes, we are. How’d that happen?”
“If I still believed in God, I’d say it was a miracle.”
“Sounds about right to me. I love you.”
“I love you back.” He carefully picked her up. Once they were inside, he didn’t stop until they were in the hall outside the bedrooms. “Which room?”
Stacy would have been more comfortable in the guest room, but she thought he needed her to choose the master, so she did.
“You’re sure?”
She nodded. “Yep. As long as you are.”
He kissed her again, then carried her inside. As he laid her down on the bed, Stacy pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. The trouble with her mother and the departmental mole whispered across the back of her mind, but she ignored it. She would get only one wedding night, and she intended to make the best of it.
CHAPTER 32
THEY WERE ON THE ROAD by seven the next morning. After an hour, Stacy felt awake enough to talk. “Tell me about your brother.”
“He’s mean, and he’s ugly, and I don’t think you’ll like him.”
She goosed him in the ribs. “Which means he’s probably a sweetheart.”
“He’s okay. Seriously, he’s a good kid. A good cop, great father. Much better than our dad, I’ll tell you that.”
“What about his wife? What’s she like?”
Gordon sipped his coffee before he answered. “He’s not married. He got involved with Emma’s mother, realized they weren’t a good fit, and then discovered she was pregnant. Rachel was a drug addict.”
“Oh, no. Was that part of Emma’s health issues?”
“Yeah. Garrett did everything he could to keep Rachel clean during t
he pregnancy, and to her credit, she tried to stay clean, but there was a lot of residual damage to her system. She’d used for years, and it didn’t get out of hand to the point that people knew about it until right after she met Garrett. He recognized the symptoms and staged an intervention with her family. He was terrified Emma would be born an addict, but other than being two months premature, she was okay. Time will tell if she’s going to pay for her mother’s addiction or not.”
“Poor kid. Does Emma ever see her?”
He shook his head. “No. Garrett’s had full custody since Em was born. Rachel walked away from the hospital without looking back. She OD’d last April. She was gone before the medics even got to her. Garrett was one of the first responders.”
“Poor man, that had to be rough.”
“He’s dealing with it. They weren’t together as a couple, hadn’t been since before Emma was born. But she was still the mother of his child, and I think he blames himself somewhat.”
“If he’s anything like you, I’m not surprised,” she told him. “So were you a good big brother?”
Chagrined, Gordon told her that he wasn’t. “I never laid eyes on him until he was six. I was an angry teenager when I went back there. Even so, he adored me. I didn’t want to be bothered by him. I wasn’t mean to him, but I didn’t want anything to do with him. Fortunately, he hasn’t held that against me as an adult.”
Stacy stretched, her left hand drifting lazily down his arm, then back up to rest on his shoulder. Her ring sparkled against the dark shirt he was wearing, and she smiled.
“You look happy,” Gordon said, seeing her smile.
She pursed her lips. “You know, I am. This thing with Pam is still hanging over us, but I almost don’t care. If she and her partner weren’t wreaking such havoc, I don’t think I would care. How old is Garrett?”
“Twenty-seven. I’m ten years older than him.”
“Would it make me too much of a Pollyanna to say that I wish I knew some single, caring woman to set him up with?”
Gordon laughed. “No. If you can figure out who and how to do it, I’ll help. He’s a good man. I know he’s my little brother, and I’m biased, but I’d love to see him happy. And Emma deserves a good mother.”