Destined to Love (Starting Over Trilogy Book 3)

by Brenda Kennedy

  “True, but 6:30 p.m. is a great time. With the time change and it getting dark earlier, this will be a perfect time for a wedding.” Lilly smiles.

  “Everything is all finalized. It’s all a waiting game now. I just wish I knew where we were going on our honeymoon so I knew what to pack.”

  Mason has taken this week and the next two weeks off from work. The entire office is closed and the employees are thrilled. He said his staff said they have never been off for the holidays before and they are looking forward to spending the holidays at home with their families. Some of his staff flew to be with their families out of state; some are going on cruises while the others are staying home. Mason has arranged with another doctor to be on call for Mason during his time off, and Mason will return the favor sometime during the summer.

  Mason

  Everyone leaves, and Angel and I unwrap one gift each. Aunt Maria and Uncle Raùl left two presents under the tree before they left. I hold my gift. The card reads “To Mason. From Santa. Please open on Christmas Eve.” I smile, open it, and see a pair of Christmas sleep pants with green elves and a new white tee shirt. Angel’s gift card reads “To Angel. From Santa. Please open on Christmas Eve.” She opens her gift and sees that it is a new red eyelet nightgown.

  “Another tradition?”

  “I’m a traditional girl, but I didn’t expect this tonight. They surprised me with these. If you don’t want to wear those, you don’t have to.”

  “And break tradition, not on your life.”

  While Angel is in the bathroom getting ready for bed, I place all of her Christmas gifts under the tree. I want them to be already under the tree for her in the morning. Just like if Santa had brought them.

  She walks out of the restroom with her makeup removed from her face; her hair is in a high ponytail, and she is wearing her Christmas nightgown. She is stunning to look at. I pull the covers back for her to get in. She crawls over the large bed until she is resting in the crook of my arm. She smells like peaches and cinnamon.

  I inhale her and she laughs. “You always do that.”

  “I know. I used to secretly inhale you, but now I just do it openly. I hope I don’t do it in public. That may creep some people out.”

  “I inhale you, too. It’s a very relaxing smell and it always calms me.”

  “We are just two creepy people in a pod, aren’t we?” I laugh.

  “Yeah, I guess we are. Good night, Mason.”

  “Sweet dreams, Beauty.”

  The next morning I wake up to the smell of coffee. I already know without looking that Angel is up.

  I pull on my shirt and walk out into the living room. The tree is lit, the fireplace is on, and Angel is on the couch covered up with her mother’s quilt. She is holding her cup of coffee and staring at the tree. I don’t think she sees or hears me.

  I slowly walk over to her, and she looks up.

  “Merry Christmas, Beauty.” I sit down next to her and she leans into me and I open my arms for her. “Why the sad face?”

  “Merry Christmas, Mason. I’m just thinking of where my life was this time last year and where I am today.”

  “That’s why you look so sad?”

  “No, I just wish my Mom and Dad were here to see me, to meet you. They would love you.”

  I hold her close and rub my hand up and down her thin cold arm to warm it. “I believe they can see us. I also believe they are watching and looking over you.”

  “I believe that, too. I just miss them.”

  “I know you do and I am sorry.”

  “I wish they were here for our wedding. Can you believe that in six days, we’ll be married?”

  “I can, Mrs. Myles.” I also beam. “We’ll be married and you’ll be all mine forever. It’s so close yet feels like it’s so far away.”

  “It’s close, I hope we can get everything done.”

  “Angel, let me get a cup of coffee, then you can open your Christmas gifts. I want to take one day at a time, and today we are celebrating our first Christmas together.”

  “I’m sorry, I have a lot going on in here.” She points to her temples.

  I laugh and stand to get myself a cup of coffee. “My girl never rests.”

  When I return with my coffee, Angel is sitting on the floor near the tree holding a gift. She smiles and she looks like a child on Christmas morning. I sit in front of her on the floor and cross my long legs to mimic hers.

  She hands me the small silver gift with a huge grin. “Open it.”

  I set my coffee down, take the gift, and shake it, and she laughs. Carefully opening the gift, I uncover a beautiful wooden case. I run my fingers across it and feel its smoothness. I carefully open the box and inside is a velvet bag. Inside the bag is a set of beautiful writing pens. There is also a business card that reads Turning Red Woodturnings by Eric Laudenbacher. I pick up one of the two pens and run my fingers over it.

  “This is beautiful.” I look up at Angel and she is smiling. “Is this wood?”

  “It is, the pens can be made of exotic or native woods, acrylics, or antler, and everything is turned on a wood lathe. I chose hickory wood for you. I hope you like it.”

  “Angel, I love this. What a thoughtful gift. How did you find these?”

  “When I went to Ohio with Sara and Brea, we went to an art show at the Secrest Auditorium in Zanesville. Eric, who makes these pens, described great detail everything that goes into making these. He was very nice and very informative. He takes great pride in making these so I bought you, your Dad, and my uncle a set. I also bought a set for Carl.”

  “Thank you very much. We’ll need to get the website address so when I use up the ink up we can get more pens.”

  “They have replacement cartridges so you can reuse them.” She smiles.

  I open the pen and scribble something on the used wrapping paper. “It writes nice, too.” I hold up the paper and Angel laughs. Angelica Hope Myles.

  I look under the tree and reach for a red wrapped gift and hand it to Angel.

  “Your turn.” I hand Angel the box and she smiles before she shakes it.

  “I just love Christmas.”

  “I can see that, now open it.”

  She tears the wrapper off, then she removes the lid to the square jewelry box. She picks up the silver charm bracelet and shakes it. She smiles when it jingles. She lowers it and begins to look at each charm. I watch her as she smiles and fingers each charm.

  “Mason?”

  “Beauty?”

  “This is from our first year together, isn’t it?” she asks while touching the sailboat charm.

  “It is.”

  “Is this a Pandora Bracelet?”

  “No it’s different. It’s handmade from a woman and the charms were handmade just for you. Her business is called Noodle Noo and her name is Missy MacKenzie Swain.” Missy is a friend of mine and her business, Noodle Noo, is the nickname her parents gave her when she was a little girl. Even today, they still use it.

  “You told her what to add to this and she did? This is so beautiful. She does great work.”

  “I think so, too. She was very easy to work with.”

  She smiles and carefully looks at each charm: a high-heel shoe with a bow on the back, a wine glass, a bottle of Scotch, a few book charms of her favorite books, a sailboat, a dolphin, and an engagement ring.

  “I thought you could add more charms or books to it, if you wanted.”

  She looks up at me. “I love it, thank you.” She holds her tiny wrist out for me, “Would you mind?”

  I take the bracelet and fasten it to her wrist.

  She smiles and shakes her wrist. “I love this sound.”

  “There’s a spinoff from that gift. Do you want it now?” I hand her another gift and she smiles.

  She opens the box and reveals small picture frame charms. She picks up the first charm and it is a picture of her mother. She holds it to her heart and begins to cry. “Oh, Mason,” she says before lunging
into my arms.

  “Don’t cry, Beauty,” I say, stroking her long hair.

  “I love you — you are the most thoughtful man in the world.”

  “I love you, too. Look at the rest of them, there’s more.”

  Angel sits down and empties the box of charms out on her lap. The charms include a picture of her Aunt Rosie, her father, grandparents, and a cousin who died very young. I also included my grandparents’ photos with them.

  “I don’t understand. If these are charms, why aren’t they on my bracelet?” she asks wiping her teary eyes.”

  “These are charms of our deceased loved ones. I thought, if you wanted, you could add them to your wedding flowers or include them on the ring bearer’s pillow, or something like that.” I lift her chin with my fingers. “Knowing you like I do, I thought you would want to include them in our wedding.”

  “That is a great idea, I never thought of that.”

  “I can’t take all the credit; Missy MacKenzie Swain came up with the idea. I just had to come up with the pictures.”

  “I think I love her.” Angel laughs and sniffles.

  I cough and clear my throat.

  “Oh, I love you, more.” She laughs and sniffles again.

  “I would hope so.”

  We open the rest of our gifts and get ready to go to Maria and Raùl’s for Christmas dinner. Carl and Josephine will also be there. We have dinner and exchange gifts before heading to my parents’ house for yet another dinner and another gift exchange.

  “Mason, I think you should tell me where we are going on our honeymoon.”

  “You do, huh?”

  “I do. It’s my honeymoon too and I need to know what to pack. I appreciate the surprise, but I want to make sure I have the right clothing and things.”

  “Angel, for our honeymoon, I made reservations at the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota for a week and then we are flying to Puerto Rico for another week to spend some time with your extended family.”

  “Oh, Mason, have you talked to my family?”

  “I did with the help of Raùl and Maria. Their accent is pretty heavy and as you know, I don’t speak Spanish.”

  I throw my arm around him and kiss him.

  “They are pretty excited to see you again.”

  “It has been years since I have seen them. Thank you so much.”

  The week flies by, I am responsible for picking up the tuxes and wedding rings, and Angel is responsible for picking up her wedding dress and flowers. I meet with Raùl and we go over some wedding plans with Maria. I get only one chance and I want to make sure I get this right.

  Later that night, Angel and I are going over some last-minute wedding details.

  “Angel, do we have a wedding song?”

  “Oh, no. We don’t have a song.”

  “We need one, right? Something to dance to.”

  “We don’t have a song. Have we ever danced to a slow song?”

  I pour her a glass of diet Pepsi. Our wedding is in two days, and she has lived on celery, carrots, and diet soda. “We danced to some at Brea and Vincent’s wedding.”

  “Oh, what about ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perri?”

  “I love that song. I think it’s perfect.”

  “Yay, we have a song,” she says, sitting on my lap.

  She adds, “This time tomorrow, I’ll be staying at my Aunt and Uncle’s house.”

  “I was wanting to talk to you about that. What if you stay here and I promise I won’t look at you?”

  “No, I don’t believe you. No seeing the bride before the wedding.”

  “I don’t want to be apart from you,” I say, wrapping my arms around her waist.

  “Me, either, we haven’t been apart in months. I’m going to miss you.”

  “Me, too, it’s going to be a long two days.”

  “Just look at the end result,” she smiles.

  I look up at her. “You’ll be mine, forever.”

  “There’ll be no getting rid of me.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  After the rehearsal dinner the following day, I drive Angel home to her Aunt and Uncle’s cottage. Supposedly, the groom seeing the bride on her wedding day is bad luck. Maybe people worry about the honeymoon getting started early. I put the car in park and get out to open Angel’s door. I reach my hand in and she takes it. She stands tall and confident.

  “You know, I like all of your traditions except this one.”

  “Me, too. This is harder than I thought.”

  We start to walk towards the front door. “You know, we haven’t slept apart in a long time. I hate returning to the beach house without you.”

  “I hate staying here without you. But tomorrow night, we’ll be Mr. and Mrs. Mason Myles.”

  I smile and Angel leans into me and I wrap my arms securely around her. “Husband and wife forever.”

  “I can’t wait — you are my dream come true, Mason. I can’t believe we are counting down the hours.”

  “I know I need to let you go, but I don’t want to.” I kiss her on the tip of her nose.

  “It’s almost midnight.”

  “Are you going to turn into a pumpkin?” I tease.

  “No, but we will have years and years of bad luck.”

  “I doubt that.” I kiss her goodnight. “Get in there and I’ll get your things from the car.”

  “I love you, and I’ll see you at the altar tomorrow.”

  “I love you, more, and tomorrow can’t come fast enough. Get in there before I change my mind. Sweet dreams, Beauty.”

  “Goodnight, Mason,” she says, walking into the house and closing the door behind her.

  I go to the car and remove her overnight bag, her makeup case, and a garment bag. When I walk into the house, the clock on the wall reads 12:01.

  “Is Cinderella hiding?” I laugh while placing everything on the dining room table.

  “Yes, Mason, she is,” Maria says, smiling.

  “I thought she would be.”

  “I can hear you,” Angel yells from the other side of the bedroom door.

  I smile and walk over to the bedroom door. “Angel?”

  “Yeah,” she whispers.

  “I’m leaving; call me if you need me or if you want to talk.”

  Angel cracks the door slightly and reaches her hand out for me. I take it and lift it to my mouth to kiss it. Leaning my head into the door, I whisper, “I love you so much.”

  “I love you, too,” she says, sniffling.

  “Don’t cry, Beauty, not today.”

  She laughs and sniffles. “They’re happy tears, but I’m going to miss you.”

  “Me, too. I’ll be at Mom’s tomorrow, supervising the setup. Call me when you are on your way, and I’ll make sure I’m hidden.”

  “Ok, I love you.”

  “I love you, more.”

  “Don’t forget my luggage and the garment bags for the honeymoon.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Goodnight, Mason,” she whispers.

  “Sweet dreams, Beauty.” I lift her hand and kiss it again. I run my lip across her knuckles and kiss her again. I reluctantly let go and she retracts her hand inside the bedroom and closes the door softly. I stay there with my head resting against the door. I am waiting for I don’t know what.

  “Mason, it’s for only one night,” Maria says softly.

  I turn around and I realize how pathetic I look. I stand tall and square my shoulders. “She is a hard woman to stay away from.”

  “We think so, too.”

  “Keep her safe until tomorrow, will you?”

  “Mason, she’ll be fine. We won’t even leave the house.”

  “Thank you,” I say, walking over to hug her. “Have a good night and thank you, again.”

  “Good night, and we’ll see you tomorrow at your parents’ house.”

  “Yes, you will. I am marrying the woman of my dreams in a few hours. Call me if you need anything.”
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  “Mason, go so I can come out already.” Angel laughs from the other side of the bedroom door.

  “I love you, too, and I’m going,” I tell Maria. “She’s so bossy and we aren’t even married yet.” I laugh.

  “I can hear you.”

  “Ok, ok, I’m leaving.” I leave, smiling. God, I love that girl.

  I drive home and walk into a too-large empty home. I decide to have a nightcap before bed. I go into my closet and pull on a hoodie. I inhale — the hoodie smells like Angel. I inhale again. Man, I really do have a problem. I soon realize this is the hoodie Angel usually wears. After I pour myself a nightcap, I open the lanai door and smile.

  “What are you two doing here?” I ask Vincent and Donovan, who are sitting at the outdoor table playing cards.

  “What took you so long?” Donovan asks, slamming his cards down and then yelling, “Blackjack!”

  “Sorry, I didn’t realize I was hosting a party tonight.”

  “Sara and Brea are with Angel, and Arturo is spending the night with his grandparents. So, this is your bachelor party. As per your request, no strippers. Get some chips and we’ll have what you’re having.” Donovan nods to my glass of Scotch.

  “This is nice; my two best men are throwing me a bachelor party.”

  Raùl and Carl come walking up from the beach. “Don’t start the party without us,” Carl laughs.

  “This is a nice surprise.”

  “Well, Angel is having a slumber party, compliments of Sara and Brea, so we came over here to get away from all that giddiness,” Raùl says as he takes a seat at the round outside table. “Texas Hold ’em?”

  “Now you’re talking,” Vincent says, shuffling the cards.

  “Cigars?” Donovan, asks.

  “Got ’em, Cuban at that,” Raùl smiles.

  “My man,” Vincent smiles.

  I walk back into the house and put some pretzels in a bowl and open a can of mixed nuts. I grab two bottles of Scotch and some glasses before heading back outside. I make two trips outside before I take my seat at the table.

  At 3:00 a.m. I finally call it a night and stumble to bed. I text Angel and realize just how drunk I am.

  M: I love you and in 15 hours, you’ll be all mine.

  I wake up to the smell of coffee, talking from the other room and my phone alerting me about a text massage. I check my phone first in hopes it’s Angel.