by Anne Conley
“You may kiss the bride.”
Her mind had been in a happy fog throughout the entire ceremony, going through the motions of putting rings on fingers, mechanically. The preacher’s words, though, broke through the fog, and as Luke’s hands warmed the sides of her face, his lips dipped towards hers, and they kissed for the first time as husband and wife.
She didn’t want it to end. She encircled her hands around his waist and clung to him as she deepened the kiss. Elvis let out a “Uh-huh” and Marilyn whooped gaily, as they clung to each other in an attempt to show each other they would never let go again.
They spent the rest of the week in bed, with few exceptions, one of them being Luke’s journey to retrieve Kathy’s money. She wasn’t sure how he did it, and he didn’t immediately tell her. She had to pull out every trick she’d ever learned, and she wasn’t sure he ever told her the entire story. Kathy was happy to see her savings back in her hands though, and was even gladder to have Luke back by her side.
After their initial frantic make-up sex, Kathy had told Luke her whole sordid story about trying to find a baby daddy. To his credit, he only appeared angry once, when she told him about Darrin and how he had tricked her. The rest of it, he listened to with a look of disbelief on his face, mingled with a few chuckles at her expense, shaking his head absent-mindedly.
When Luke told her that the entire break-up had been a poorly calculated gamble he’d been taking, she felt like hitting him all over again.
“So, we didn’t have to do any of this? You were going to propose on Valentine’s Day anyway?” She remembered Jessie telling her that, but thought it was a last ditch effort on Luke’s part.
“I told you neither of us were blameless.” He cradled her in his arms. “I bought some of Jessie’s land at Thanksgiving and was trying to get everything ready, the business, our house, all of it, before I proposed. But you were so damned insistent that I shit or get off the pot, and when you gave me that ultimatum, I told you to go, hoping I could still get it all together before you found someone else.” He squeezed her between his arms, hard. “But I didn’t count on that red-headed temper of yours. I didn’t realize I’d piss you off so badly.”
They were laying in the enormous bed, empty room service dishes at their feet, Kathy wrapped in Luke’s embrace. Night had fallen, hours ago, and as she looked out the window the lights of the strip twinkled. It fairly illustrated her previous dilemma. Without Luke, her view was titty bars and street-walkers. With Luke, it was a fairy tale of roller coasters and theme hotels.
“What would you have done if I’d followed through with my plan?” She asked, quietly. Kathy honestly wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer, but at the same time, she did want to know.
He sighed, heavily, turning her body to face his. “I really don’t know. I love you, Kathy. I probably still would want to be with you.” His fingers played with a tendril of her hair. “I would be pissed that you slept with some other guy, a random stranger, but I wouldn’t be able to blame you. I drove you to it.” He rolled over and looked at the ceiling. “I would like to think that I would still want to marry you and raise his child as our first one.” The words gritted out from between his teeth, as if they were difficult for him to say.
Epilogue
Six week later
“Kathy, you didn’t! Seriously?” Allyssa’s eyes were wide and her mouth was a barely contained grin. Kathy didn’t know Allyssa well, but she was friends with Jessie and apparently hadn’t heard the whole story.
“Honestly, I thought it was a great idea at the time.” Kathy would prefer to not have to re-live her stupidity every time her friends came around, but it was their official wedding celebration, and of all the times to tell the story, now was appropriate. Maybe she wouldn’t have to tell it again.
“Tell her about Darrin,” Amy prodded, a wicked gleam in her eye. Of course, her sister loved hearing about the ultimate stupid. Kathy supposed it made her feel better about her own sheltered, perfect life. Amy married her high school sweetheart and never did anything stupid. Ever. Well, maybe that one time, but even that had turned out perfectly for Amy.
Their parents had just left, along with most everybody else and it was just the girls now: Kathy, Amy, Jessie, Allyssa, Renae, and Claire. Their respective husbands and boyfriends, along with a few other guy friends were in the backyard, around a small bonfire, talking about guy stuff.
Luke had bought some property that adjoined Jessie’s goat farm, in addition to a couple of acres of her small farm. Kathy suspected Jessie was going to get rid of the goats completely, as it was getting tedious to go out and tend to them every day, now that she was married to Connor and living in town. She had hired a couple of high school kids to help her out, but Kathy could still see the writing on the wall. Selling a small portion of it to Luke was just the first step.
Luke had spent the first month of their married life fixing up the old house for their wedding soiree. Kathy loved watching him work on their home, just like she always knew she would. Strength radiated off him, as he replaced sheetrock, shingles, and gutters.
Her eyes trailed to where she had last seen him, out the kitchen window, and saw he was looking at her with a sexy smirk on his face. With the windows open to the early Spring air, he could probably hear them.
“Honestly, I don’t know the whole story, ‘cuz Luke won’t tell me how it ended, but there was this guy, Darrin, the only normal-seeming one of the bunch that I interviewed…” Kathy sincerely hoped this was the last time she would ever tell this story.
Luke was standing a little ways away from the rest of the guys: Connor, Bryan, Dalton, Max, Les, and Brent were all talking quietly around the fire. An occasional laugh would rise over the low murmur of conversation, but for the most part, they were all staring into the flames, lost in their own thoughts. Les had brought his guitar over and was strumming it absently, pausing from time to time to drink from his beer bottle.
Luke felt a touch of pride swell inside as he remembered what had happened with Darrin. It wasn’t one of his finest moments, as a man, but he’d done what needed to be done to get most of Kathy’s stuff back. His fingers absently twirled the wedding band on his fingers as he recalled that night, six weeks ago.
Kathy pointed Darrin out to him, playing black jack at a table in the corner. For a moment, Luke repressed the urge to beat the guy right there, but knew that getting himself kicked out of the casino wouldn’t solve anybody’s problem, so he decided to stick to his plan. Kissing Kathy, he sent her back up to the room where he’d had a surprise waiting to distract her. She loved expensive lingerie, and he hoped it would keep her busy while he did what he intended to do to this creep.
Luke joined Darrin at the table, and over the course of the next hour, they played, Luke winning and losing until he’d almost broken even. When the other two guys left for greener pastures, Luke sidled up next to Darrin and offered to take him to a private high stakes game at his “friend’s house” in the desert. His entire plan hinged on them getting alone in his rental car, and if the guy was as street-smart as he should be, Luke would have to go on to plan B. But apparently, the drinks he’d bought the table had worked, or else the guy was already looped when Luke had sat down, because remarkably, Darrin agreed.
They left and got into the rental car, Luke’s heart pounding with thoughts of this guy man-handling his wife. He knew he was putting himself in a dangerous situation, behind the wheel with Darrin in the passenger seat.
“You aren’t going to rob me, and leave me for dead in the desert, are you?” Luke joked, half-heartedly, watching his response carefully. An uncomfortable laugh on his lips.
Darrin looked at him, shock obvious on his features, before replying. “I wasn’t planning on it. I’d rather play poker, man.” He laughed a small chuckle, fiddling with the collar of his shirt. Luke relaxed and started the car.
They made small talk, and once the city lights were behind them on the interstate, Luke pull
ed onto a side road that his map had shown led off into the middle of nowhere. He reached under the seat and pulled out a handgun he’d bought that afternoon at a gun show he’d found. He hoped to God he didn’t have to use it.
Darrin’s eyes bugged out when he saw Luke rest the gun on his lap, pointed at him easily.
“What the fuck, man?” He’d stiffened up, and clutched his hands into fists.
“Don’t try anything, Darrin. I just want answers. I’m not the killing type, but I’m mad as hell right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let me find someplace we can talk.” Luke drove until there were no cars and he pulled off the road, killing the lights, immersing them in total darkness. He turned in his seat seeing Darrin’s pale face clearly in the darkness. Moonlight reflected from the whites of his wide eyes, and Luke saw them darting around. He reached into his pocket and turned the recorder on his phone. He’d set it up earlier so all he had to do was slide the screen awake and push a button. He prayed he’d pushed the right one. It was something he’d been practicing all afternoon.
“Tell me about Kathy.”
“Kathy who? I don’t know a Kathy.” Darrin started squawking petulantly. Luke lifted the gun.
“Look, I don’t want to be here all night. Just tell me about her. Do you do that to women regularly?”
Darrin’s eyes closed, and he leaned his head back on the head rest of the car, expelling a shaky breath. “No, man. I don’t. I prefer to win my money. But she made it so fucking easy. She set herself up for it. A total dumbass wouldn’t have taken advantage of that level of stupidity.”
Luke swallowed his anger at the man, and pushed the gun into Darrin’s face. He hadn’t taken the safety off, but he would never know that. Not in the dark. Surely. “Just tell me what happened.”
“She ran that ad in one of the Vegas online places, the one about paying some guy for sex so she could have a baby, and I answered it. I’m always looking for easy ways to make a little extra cash, you know?” Of course, it hadn’t been difficult to find the guy at a gaming table, the ultimate illusion of easy money. “In the interview, I noticed that all of the other guys were complete assholes and she told me stuff she shouldn’t have, like the fact that she wore all her money in one of those tourist belt-things…It was easy. I told her where I would be later, and she actually showed up. She let herself go off with me alone; it was a piece of cake to just take the money I knew she had. She didn’t even fight me, man. I could have done so much more. Honestly, I think she wanted me to do more, she was giving off the signals you know? I let her off easy—”
Luke had shoved the gun under the man’s chin. “Did you do anything else? Did you put anything in her drink? Did you touch her?” He didn’t recognize his own voice, or the ease with which he held the gun to this guy’s head. Luke chose not to dwell on that.
Franticly, Darrin shook his head, eyeballs trained on Luke’s hand with the gun. Luke knew he had the power in this situation now. If Darrin had a gun, he would have pulled it by now, so he pushed the man’s head back with the tip of the gun, pressing on the grip to activate the laser sites, watching it light up Darrin’s face with an eerie red glow.
“Get out of the car.” It wasn’t difficult for Luke to sound menacing. Listening to this asshole talk about Kathy like she wasn’t worthy of touching made him madder than the fact he’d taken all her money.
Darrin swallowed hard, shifting the gun slightly and closed his eyes before slowly opening his car door and sliding out. Luke followed him, keeping the gun trained on the man’s face. At one point, he looked like he would make a run for it, but he must have known he didn’t stand a chance against Luke, and he didn’t.
“Lose the knife.” He watched Darrin’s eyes widen before he slowly extricated his pocket knife from his pants pocket and tossed it into the darkness.
“I didn’t come here to kill you, Darrin.” They were standing outside the car now, and Luke emptied the gun, putting the bullets into his pocket before tossing it back into the driver’s seat of the car. “I came to get Kathy’s money back. You stole her savings. Her security.”
Darrin had visibly relaxed when Luke had rid himself of the firearm, and his easy-going manner returned. “I don’t have it, man. I’m sorry. It’s gone.” He held his hands out in a placating gesture which was lost on Luke.
“Okay, let me rephrase that. Kathy’s my wife. We live in Texas, a community property state. So you stole MY money. I want it back,” Luke growled. He didn’t want to pull this card. It was Kathy’s money, but this guy was scared of him, not Kathy. As it should be.
“Look man, I don’t have it—” Luke interrupted him with a well-placed punch to the nose, causing blood to erupt over Darrin’s white polo shirt. The man whimpered through his hands, eyes wide and disbelieving. Luke followed up with two quick punches to the gut, doubling Darrin over with wheezing breaths. A chop to the back of his neck brought him to his knees, and Luke kicked him once, for effect, silently thanking his father for putting up the punching bag in the garage when he and Connor were teenagers.
Luke reached into his pocket. “Let me tell you something.” He re-played Darrin’s “confession” for the man, and watched his reaction. His shoulders slumped in defeat. “You messed with the wrong woman. She may be naïve, but she’s got a lot of people watching her back, and you are going to give me her money, or I’m taking this to the police and you’ll go to jail. Las Vegas PD doesn’t like people who prey on tourists.”
“Are you the boyfriend?”
The question surprised Luke. She’d told this asshole about him? He nodded slowly, wondering what she’d said.
When Darrin slipped his hand inside his pocket, Luke took a step back, getting into a ready stance. He knew he carried the knife, but didn’t know what else he might have in his khaki pants and didn’t want to be caught unaware. His fists came up in front of his face, ready to attack. Darrin tossed him a roll of bills, but he didn’t catch it, his eyes not leaving the man in front of him.
“Can I ask you something?” Luke nodded, still watching him. “Why did you let her go and do something like that?” His posture had relaxed and he was the easy-going frat boy again. Luke wasn’t fooled. “She’s a sweet girl, and she’s got a banging body. I mean, if she was mine, I never would have let her get away from me.”
Luke relaxed his posture, but he still watched the guy, not answering. “Let me ask you something. You’re a decent looking guy. Why did you answer the ad in the first place?”
Darrin shrugged. “The women here are all used up. I saw a chance at something with someone who wasn’t from around here, and I thought it might be a good deal. I wasn’t the only one there with that in mind.”
“Then why didn’t you try anything?”
Another shrug. “She’s hung up on you. Anybody who had a five minute conversation could see that. And I had fifteen. None of the answers measured up to some hidden criteria in her mind. She was comparing everyone’s answers to you.” Darrin looked Luke up and down, and Luke felt a flush of something inside him.
“Get back in the car, asshole.”
Relief radiated off the man in waves as he got back in the car and buckled his seatbelt. Luke picked up the wad of money from the ground at his feet and got into the driver’s side, putting the gun back under the seat.
“So, we’re cool now?” Darrin asked hesitantly.
“No. We are not cool. I told you I didn’t bring you out here to kill you. I still have the recording and my gun, so if you try anything, you’re either dead or going to jail. So shut the fuck up.” He started the car and turned it around.
“Thanks for not leaving me out there. It gets really cold at night.”
“I said shut the fuck up,” Luke gritted out, and thankfully, Darrin did.
When they got back to the city, Luke pulled over to let Darrin out of the car.
“Uh…can I have cab money? This is a pretty bad area.”
“You did
n’t leave Kathy with cab money. You walk, asshole. You still have a phone, frat boy. Call for help, and hope your friends get to you before they do.” Luke pointed to the two homeless men ambling toward them and squealed tires in his haste to leave Darrin alone in the warehouse district. He was going back to Kathy.
An elbow in his ribs brought him out of his recollection, and Luke saw Bryan standing next to him. “You gonna come back to us? Or are you going to watch them through the window all night?” Luke had meandered over to the kitchen window, where he watched Kathy talk to her girlfriends, telling them her version of what had happened in Vegas. He hadn’t realized he’d moved. Kathy was wearing the dress she’d gotten married in, a cream slip of satin that showed off her stunning legs. It was an off the shoulder affair that showcased her collar bones, and dipped low, letting Luke clearly imagine her perfect pleasure pods. He swallowed the anticipation of licking a path between them.
“I think it’s about time you guys left. I’m ready to be alone with my wife.”
Bryan cracked a grin and turned to the rest of the guys. “Honeymoon apparently isn’t over. We’ve been given the shaft, boys.” Good-natured grumbles accompanied clinking bottles hitting the trashcan, as the men gathered their things to leave.
Connor came up to Luke, who was still watching in the kitchen window. “Hey, man. Congratulations again. I’m glad everything got straightened out.” Connor clapped Luke’s shoulder affectionately before they hugged. “I’m not sure what you did to deserve that hero-worship she heaps on you, but you’re one lucky man.”
Luke shrugged. “I did what you would have done man. I just got her out of a bind.” He followed Connor in as everybody said their good-byes. He fielded more than his share of congratulations, as well as a few admiring looks from the girls, wondering what Kathy had told them.
When everybody had gone, Luke gathered Kathy in his arms and planted a smoldering kiss on her lips, as always reveling in her sweetness, the aftertaste of wine, and the softness of his wife. His wife. His.