Ties That Bind

by Heather Huffman

  “Ah, are we to that already?” Kate took a deep breath. “I’d almost put it from my mind.”

  “Is something wrong?” he nearly came out of his chair, itching to be at her side.

  “No, no, just a case of nerves,” she sought to calm him. “It’s just that it occurred to me today—with a little help—that I’ve been living as if life shouldn’t move forward. Anyway, I wanted to ask you tonight if, well, what do you think of the third weekend in June for our wedding?”

  “You want to set a date?” He seemed to be holding his breath.

  “Yes. That would give me six months to plan after the Christmas party, and would give Jessica time to fit into a bridesmaid dress.”

  “I think June sounds perfect,” he broke into a grin. “I’d like that very much.”

  Gavin’s mood was much lighter after that. Kate’s was, too. There was another moment of tension when Gavin suggested canceling dinner with John and Vicky rather than have Kate out two evenings in a row. He quickly backed off of that one.

  When he would have tucked her into bed and gone home, Kate insisted he stay with her. Just as he’d done what seemed so long ago, he stretched out beside Kate on her bed and held her close.

  “You really were beautiful tonight,” he whispered against her temple.

  “Thank you,” she conceded. “You really are devastatingly handsome.”

  “Devastatingly?”

  “Don’t question my adjectives.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And no cracks about me being old.”

  “Should I just be quiet now?”

  “I do have a favor to ask…”

  “Anything.”

  “Good…”

  “Almost anything,” he quickly corrected.

  “I was hoping you wouldn’t catch that…”

  “The favor?”

  “I miss my dog.”

  “No.”

  “Gavin…”

  “Too dangerous.”

  “I miss him. You were the one who said dogs were amazing healers of the soul. And I bet he’s worried about me. Please, Gavin?”

  “He’s so big and unruly, he could hurt you still.”

  “And I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. So what? I want to see my dog.”

  “I’ll think about it,” was all he would promise. “I really should go.”

  “Since when are you the responsible one?” Kate teased. “Don’t worry, Dad’s sound asleep…”

  “I was more worried about your dog than your dad.”

  “Right, right…” Kate frowned. “I want to move home.”

  “Nice try. You do remember it’s on the fourth floor, right?”

  “Then leave Ty here when you bring him tomorrow.”

  “I said I’d think about that.”

  “Right. So anyway, bring his dishes and leash when you bring him tomorrow. I’ll talk to Tara, but I doubt she’ll mind.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “And then sometimes, just sometimes, you can stay stretched out with me like this. You won’t always have to get up and leave.” Kate missed him beside her at night more than she could say. The nightmares were always worse without him. No matter how many times Jack rushed to her bedside, it wasn’t the same as having Gavin there. Not to mention she felt horribly guilty about waking Jack and Tara up virtually every night. But Gavin was in her arms now, and that was worth the effort of shoving unpleasant thoughts out of her mind.

  “The idea has merit…” his voice trailed off as Kate began to trace his jaw line with feathery kisses and the occasional flick of the tongue.

  “Don’t you miss this just a little?” she whispered against the base of his throat, her hands finding their way under his shirt to stroke his bare skin. At his sharp intake of breath, she knew she’d somehow managed to rekindle the fire. He gathered her in his arms with the urgency she’d so desperately missed, kissing her until the world dissolved again and there was nothing left but the two of them and the heat that clung to the air around them.

  His lips broke from hers to trace their own path along her throat; his hands hungrily explored her body as if they’d starved for the feel of her skin under his. Satin under burlap.

  Kate knew she’d missed his desire. What she hadn’t realized was how much she missed her own. Now, the need for him curled its way around each and every fiber of her being. Of its own volition, her body arched into his. Her hands sought to pull him even closer as he ravaged a trail of kisses along her skin. His lips had just reclaimed hers when the moment was shattered by the harsh overhead light.

  “Oh, wow… sorry,” Jack flipped the light back off and sprinted from the room.

  “What is it with us and our fathers walking in at inopportune times?” Kate closed her eyes in frustration. Gavin chuckled ruefully.

  “You’re going to be the death of me,” his voice was ragged.

  “Same here,” she wanted to pick up right where they left off, but could hear Jack rustling around in the kitchen.

  “June?”

  “June.” It suddenly seemed very far away.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  In the light of day, and without the rush of desire fueling her thoughts, Kate knew that June wasn’t so very far away at all. Now that she was confident she could walk down the aisle at her wedding, she began adding goals to the initial one. For starters, she would dance. Maybe not the electric slide, but she would dance with Gavin at their wedding. And she would be free of her canes.

  For the moment, the thing most pressing on her mind was the fact that Gavin had called to say he was on the way with Ty. She sat in the great bay window that graced the front of the mansion, watching for Gavin to pull up. She still wasn’t used to seeing him in the dark gray Audi Q7. It was pretty, and the engine hummed just as happily as the Roadster’s had, but he’d gone from their smallest car to their largest. Because—as she’d heard many times in the past weeks—it was safe. As the shiny new SUV was pulling up, Kate could see that Ty had his nose to the window as eagerly as she did.

  His entire body quivered with excitement when he saw Kate, but he seemed to know instinctively to be gentle. It took Gavin about half an hour and a hundred reassurances before he relaxed his grip on Ty’s leash.

  “Are you sure you’re up to going out tonight?” he pursed his lips when he noticed the circles under her eyes. “Why don’t we see if John and Vicky would be willing to come over for dinner instead?”

  “Sure,” Kate conceded quickly, mostly because she didn’t want to leave Ty so soon. “Are you going to let me help cook?”

  “I could. Or I could ask Jack’s cook to do it and we could find another way to pass the time,” he twirled a strand of her hair around his finger, his eyes seeming to drink in the sight of her.

  “I like that option,” she flushed under his gaze. “But I’m going to regret letting myself get so lazy after the wedding when I have to go back to taking care of myself.”

  “Well, we do have a housekeeper,” Gavin reminded her. “So you can still be a little lazy.”

  “Good to know.”

  Gavin took care of calling their guests while Kate went to see if Tara and Jack would be joining them and to speak to the cook. Gavin’s plans for Kate might have been less than saintly, but Ty kept crawling closer and closer to Kate and she didn’t have the heart to make him get down, so they wound up lying there talking. To Kate, life didn’t get much better than being snuggled in between Gavin and Ty. The poor dog seemed like he couldn’t be close enough to her and she felt bad for not pushing the issue sooner. She couldn’t remember the last time Gavin wasn’t trying to take care of her or see to some need, when he last just spent time with her. She had missed him so much; she wasn’t at all ready when the McKinseys pulled up.

  After warm greetings all around, they joined Tara and Jack in the dining room where a veritable feast waited for them. Conversation flowed and Kate realized that somehow she and Jack had seemed to have found their balance. In
fact, she was actually enjoying his company again. They were even acting… like father and daughter. He didn’t even scowl at the mention of Blue Valley when Vicky thanked Kate for the fourth time for treating them to a weekend there.

  “It was the least I could do,” Kate reassured her again. “The offer is a standing one. I’ll even baby-sit for you one of these times.”

  Gavin merely arched an eyebrow at that one and a grin tugged the corner of his mouth. He was undoubtedly picturing a two and four-year-old in Kate’s pristine apartment.

  “You know, you really don’t have to fuss over us so much,” John nearly blushed. “I was just doing my job that night. I mean, well, you don’t have to keep trying to repay me. I’m happy I was there to help.”

  “I know we don’t have to,” Kate frowned a little. “We want to. We don’t mean to embarrass you, though.”

  “I think she’s just trying to get out of babysitting now,” Gavin whispered loudly to Vicky.

  “I can’t say I’d blame her,” Vicky shook her head at the thought of her children.

  “You are so rude to me,” Kate stuck her tongue out at him.

  “That’s classy,” Jack scolded Kate.

  “Sorry, it’s genetic,” Kate shrugged prettily and batted her eyelashes at him.

  “You know, John’s right, though. You don’t owe us anything,” Vicky assured them.

  “Well, we see it differently. And we like you; we enjoy doing things for you,” Gavin said.

  “I don’t know how you do it, Vicky,” Kate pursed her lips in thought. “You’ve always been so calm about the chance John took in saving me. I don’t even want to think about Gavin being in that kind of danger. I’m too selfish.”

  “The way I see it, being a police officer is as much a part of John as his brown eyes,” the look Vicky gave her husband spoke of her unending love for him. “If he’s going to be good at what he does, he’s going to be in danger sometimes. I can’t let the thought of losing him someday waste one minute of the time we have now. So we just grab hold of this life we’ve been given with both hands and if tragedy strikes, we’ll take it one day at a time.”

  “Live it for all it’s worth, eh?” John flashed his dimples at his wife and gave her a wink. Kate found Gavin’s gaze. He seemed to be thinking the same as she—they both could learn something from John and Vicky.

  The evening ended early since Vicky still had to drive the babysitter home. Not that Kate minded; she was more tired than she was willing to admit to Gavin. Jack and Tara headed out for the evening. Kate wondered if they were really restless or just trying to give her and Gavin some privacy. Either way, she was glad to have the house to themselves.

  Kate changed into pajamas, glad that the days of needing help for basic hygiene were behind her. Gavin took Ty for a walk. She missed her walks with Ty, but realized it wouldn’t be long now. She knew they were back before she saw them; Ty’s nails were loud on the marble floor of the foyer. Kate smiled to herself and finished brushing out her hair before joining them in the front room.

  She stopped short at the door, blinking back the tears that had sprung to her eyes. One of her favorite CDs played softly in the background. The room was lit by candles and a fire that crackled merrily. Gavin stood in front of the fireplace, a bouquet of gerbera daisies and roses in his hand.

  “What’s all this?” Kate moved slowly towards him.

  “I guess what John and Vicky said just got me to thinking,” Gavin handed her the bouquet of flowers. “All those days, watching you so lifeless in that hospital bed, something in me just kind of snapped.”

  Kate buried her nose in the flowers, inhaling their sweet perfume and looking up at Gavin with expectant eyes.

  “When you woke up, I was so grateful. I felt like… I don’t know… like I had to be sure to protect you, to not squander the gift I’d been given.”

  Kate gently set the flowers on the mantle so she could take Gavin’s hands in hers.

  “But I think I wound up, well, squandering the gift I’d been given.”

  “It’s easy to go on autopilot in a crisis situation,” Kate spoke from experience. “Lucky for me, I had this incredibly sexy photographer to bring me back from the brink.”

  “Do you think the incredibly sexy event planner in my life could do the same for me?” He pulled her to him.

  “I don’t know who she is and if I see her I can’t be responsible for my actions…” Kate teased. Gavin growled low in his throat, his mouth silencing her. He kissed her in a way that made the rest of the world melt away again, and Kate wanted to weep with relief. By the time he tore his lips away from hers, her entire body was trembling from the currents that ran through it.

  “You crazy girl, when will you ever realize how much I love you?”

  “Lucky for both of us, we have forever for you to convince me,” she kissed his chin lightly. “And I will always be here to pull you back from the brink.”

  Epilogue

  Kate resisted the urge to bang her head against the wall as Jessica, Liz and Tara fussed over her. Hadn’t she tried to avoid the big to-do? Her nerves couldn’t take much more of this.

  “Is there anything on the radio besides Hootie and the Blowfish?” she blew a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and glared at the radio.

  “Just commercials,” Jessica shrugged apologetically. “I have to feed Elizabeth. I’ll put a CD in on my way by.”

  “Thank you,” Kate wanted to hug her but knew she’d get yelled at if she moved. She breathed a little easier when the Pogues filtered through the speakers overhead.

  “I can’t wait until you see Gavin,” Liz smiled knowingly. “He looks completely dashing. Of course, Gaston’s been fussing over him all day. He seems very determined that you have the perfect groom.”

  “That’s what’s getting me through this torture session,” Kate made a face at Liz, which instantly earned a rebuff from Tara, who was trying to powder her nose.

  “Look who I found outside,” Jessica returned with Elizabeth in her arms and Ellen, Sarah, Nicole and Jill in tow.

  “We won’t stay long,” Sarah promised.

  “We just wanted to wish you luck,” Nicole added.

  “And tell you that you look stunning,” Jill beamed at her.

  “Thank you,” Kate smiled at the women, almost wishing that she and Gavin had more time to stay in London than the month they would be spending there in the fall for Gavin’s photography exhibition.

  “I am so happy for you two,” Ellen squeezed Kate’s shoulders.

  “I’m so happy you could be here,” Kate gave her an impulsive hug and Liz sighed heavily in disgust.

  “You know the wedding is starting soon,” Liz reminded her. “Could you please hold still so I can finish your hair?”

  “I’m the bride; they won’t start without me,” Kate reminded her playfully.

  “There’s always a first time,” Liz teased back.

  “We’ll go now,” Ellen patted her hand. “And you do look beautiful.”

  Kate thanked them again and did her best to hold still. They had done a good job, and the ivory and silver dress was stunning. The halter-style top fit her curves perfectly and the skirt formed a graceful bell. The beadwork was simple, the low back adorned with a line of tiny buttons. As Tara pinned the veil in place, Kate felt the last pieces of her fairy tale falling into place.

  Tara, Jessica and Liz each took one last look in the mirror, making last minute adjustments to their raspberry chiffon dresses. The empire waist and tea length A-line skirts were chosen in case little Elizabeth had arrived too late for Jessica to wear a closer-fitting dress. Of course, they hadn’t been necessary but Kate liked the light, airy look they lent the day. Jessica disappeared to take Elizabeth to Ryan while Tara and Liz ushered Kate to meet Jack at the door.

  “You’re a beautiful bride,” he took her arm in his. “I’m only sorry your mother isn’t here—I guess it’s a little unfair, isn’t it? That I am.”

&nbs
p; “There’s no time for that today, Dad. I’m just happy to have you walk me down the aisle,” Kate rested her head on his shoulder for a moment.

  “Katie,” he tipped her chin up with his finger. “I’m glad Danielle didn’t listen to me.”

  “Thanks,” Kate smiled a little ruefully at him. And then the music was playing and her friends were walking down the aisle between the rows of white chairs that lined the immense lawn.

  Kate’s breath caught when she first saw Gavin. Dashing was exactly the word she would use to describe him in his gray cutaway tuxedo. But it was the look in his eyes that took her breath away.

  She knew in that moment and without a doubt that she was his entire world just as he had become hers. The crowd seemed to be waiting for her to move. She’d been so captured by him she’d forgotten it was her turn to walk. His mouth twitched into a grin. She smiled back and took the first step into a future of love and laughter.

  ###

  About the author:

  Heather Huffman lives in Missouri with her husband and their three sons. In addition to writing, she enjoys spending time with the family horse and their pack of rescued dogs. A firm believer that life is more than the act of taking up air, Heather is always on the lookout for an adventure that will become fodder for the next novel.

  Connect with me online:

  Blog: http://www.heatherhuffman.blogspot.com

  Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/HeatherHuffman

  Facebook: Facebook profile

  Acknowledgements

  Michael Plaut, thank you for the wonderful descriptions you provided to help bring Kate’s world to life!

  Emily Cain and Elaine O’Brien, thank you once again for your amazing proofreading services, your support, and your encouragement. You’re both wonderful!

  Steve Stark—you've made my life brighter. Thank you for that.