Long Road Home
Page 24
She was wearing a pale pink dress. It dipped down far in the front, giving me a delicious and inviting look at her cleavage. It curved around her hips and ended a couple inches above her knees. Her hair was pulled back at one side by a clip that shimmered when the sun hit it.
They weren’t real diamonds, though they looked it. It was the only jewelry she wore, that tiny little fake-diamond clip in her hair and I knew she was only wearing it because it had once been Tillie’s. The rest of her, including a specific finger on her left hand, was bare.
I was going to change that soon. I wanted to give us time to get settled, but there were no doubts in my mind that Destiny was mine. Someday soon, she’d be mine, and I wasn’t fucking around with a yearlong engagement like Rebecca had done. We’d get married first chance I could whisk her and Toby away. Not to Vegas, but to the Caribbean somewhere. We’d take Rebecca and Cooper. Her friends, Allison and Drake. Toby would come, and that was all I needed.
Destiny and Toby. My wife and my son. My family. One I also planned on expanding as soon as Destiny accepted the ring I was going to give her in the next few months.
But today, we were celebrating my sister and Cooper’s wedding. The crowd cheered as they kissed. The music started playing as they pulled apart. I met Brooke, Rebecca’s matron of honor, at the top of the altar. I held out my elbow and she slid her hand in as we made our walk back down the aisle.
As I passed Destiny, she blew me a kiss.
We’d almost been late for the small wedding. I was so undone with how beautiful she’d been in that dress when she’d gotten ready this morning, I’d hauled her off to our master bathroom where I’d planted her against the counter, dropped to my knees, lifted her skirt and yanked down her panties. I’d feasted on her, spurred on by the pleasured moans escaping her throat, sweet little mewls she made when she was trying to be quiet.
When I was done, I’d adjusted myself, grabbed her hand and hauled her ass out of the house she was making our family home before we’d miss the ceremony completely.
“You should be careful,” Brooke whispered next to me. “You keep staring at Destiny like you can see her naked, you might accidentally burn her clothes off.”
“And that’d be bad?”
She bumped my hip with hers. “I don’t really need my man seeing her naked.”
I thought of any man seeing Destiny besides me and smoke almost bloomed from my ears. “Point taken.”
We reached the end of the aisle where Rebecca and Cooper were standing, laughing and kissing and so entwined together they looked glued together.
Their wedding had been small. Only twenty of their closest friends and family. They’d been married before with disastrous results for both, so this wedding was small and intimate. Cooper’s sister, Katelyn, was there, kissing Rebecca’s cheek and hugging her new sister. His parents were both there, his dad shaking Cooper’s hand and hugging Rebecca. Then his mom.
Then I was there, doing the same thing.
“Congratulations,” I said to Cooper and because I could, said, “Be good to her or I’ll kick your ass.”
“You wish you could.” Cooper grinned, slapped my shoulder.
I pulled Rebecca into my arms and then cupped her cheeks with my hands. “Woman, mom and dad would be so happy today.”
She covered her hands with mine. “For you, too. Your son. Your woman. They’d be happy for both of us.”
I still wasn’t sure Mom would approve of Destiny and I being together. I also didn’t give a fuck. “Let’s pretend that’s the truth.” I winked at her and turned, right as Destiny came with the rest of the guests toward where the family had congregated.
We were on the deck to the house. Rebecca had decorated the area herself with twinkling white Christmas lights, too much lacy, netting crap, and a white tent which kept the cake and booze covered.
Beyond that by the patio, the deejay was setting up.
We’d party all night long.
Mostly I was looking forward to getting Destiny home, Toby tucked into bed and asleep, then ripping his mom’s dress off her hot little body.
Then the real party would begin.
I stopped thinking of that when Toby came running up. He grabbed Destiny’s hand and pulled her toward the family so suddenly she almost tripped on her feet.
“I’m okay,” she said, laughing and grinning. She shook her head at Toby, said something to him I couldn’t hear and as they reached us, Toby reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“Can we do it now?” Toby asked, jumping on the balls of his feet.
Destiny glanced at Rebecca who was standing just behind me. She rose her brows and whatever reaction she gave Destiny made her suck her bottom lip in between her teeth.
Her hand settled on Toby’s shoulder as she focused on me. “Okay. So I know I said I wouldn’t keep anything from you ever again.”
She’d said that. The night before she’d gone back to Texas after our fight, I’d made her promise. I trusted her now, but she’d given me cause for that to be difficult. I needed that from her. Maybe someday I wouldn’t, but us moving on healthily meant, for now, I needed it.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Well, I lied.”
My hands went to my hips. Behind me, I vaguely heard Rebecca whisper, “Calm down, tiger.”
I didn’t.
Destiny smiled, tucked a piece of her hair not held back by that pin behind her ear. “So, it’s a good thing. And I cleared it with Rebecca and Cooper because Toby wanted to do this today.”
“Destiny. What is it?”
I took in Toby, still bouncing on his feet. Destiny’s grin. Whatever this was wasn’t bad. I relaxed a bit and looked at Toby.
“Whatcha got in your hand?”
He jerked it out to me, grinning so wide I was fighting back my own. “Look!”
He practically shouted the word. My head shook. Behind me, Rebecca’s hand settled at my back. My gaze went to Destiny.
She nodded. “Look. You’ll like it.”
I unfolded the paper and once it was opened, it took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. Then I recognized the seal. It was a photocopy. A little bit blurred.
My heart thundered against my chest and I squeezed my eyes closed to fight back the sudden onslaught of emotions.
Toby, unable to wait, shouted again. “It says you’re my dad! You like it?”
With laser focus, I read the area. Jordan Roger Marx. Father.
“Shit,” I muttered and shook my head. I looked at Toby. “You want this?”
He grinned back at me with no hesitation. “Yeah, I mean, you’re my dad! And now it’s official like. And I can call you it. Isn’t that awesome?!”
It was. It was so fucking awesome my chest felt like it was going to explode.
Behind me, Rebecca sobbed. Around us, people clapped.
I did the first thing I thought of which was surprising because it didn’t feel like I was thinking at all. I pulled Toby into my arms, lifting him despite his size and I held him to me. “Yeah, son.” I choked over the word. He squeezed my neck and hiccupped. “Yeah, son,” I repeated. “I’m really damn glad to be your dad.”
“Oh God,” Destiny cried. She flung her arms around both of us, tucked her head next to Toby’s and together, all of us lost the hold on that emotion. I set Toby down, still held him, and I hugged my woman who would soon be wife come hell or high water. And we stayed that way. Our first family hug until I could pull myself away.
I pressed my hand to Destiny’s cheek and grinned. “You’re marrying me.”
“Are you asking?” she asked, hiccupping over her cries.
“No. I’m letting you know when I give you the ring I’ve already picked out, you’re going to say yes and at Christmas or Thanksgiving, whenever we can get away, you’re marrying me. And then we’re having more kids.”
She turned her face, kissed my palm. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
Nex
t to us, Toby gave a fist pump. “Awesome…Dad.”
And fuck. That was the sweetest thing I’d ever heard. I beat back the burn firing in my chest and turned to Destiny. “So, you going to answer or cry all day?” I teased her.
“Of course I’ll say yes. I’ll give you anything you want, Jordan Marx. I love you.”
I slammed my mouth to hers, kissed the hell out of her and the small crowd around us cheered.
I didn’t pay attention to any of them. I spent the rest of the night celebrating my sister’s wedding and my soon-to-be-formal engagement with my son and Destiny.
It had been a long road. It was a harrowing one. One that wasn’t always filled with sunshine and happiness but darkness and determination. But we’d made it. That long road had led us to here…to my family.
For the first time in my life, I was finally home.
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About the Author
When Stacey Lynn isn’t conquering mountains of laundry and fighting a war against dust bunnies and cracker crumbs, you can find her playing with her children, curled up on the couch with a good book, or behind closed doors, imagining the next adventures she’ll soon write.
She lives off her daily pot of coffee, can only write with a bowlful of Skittles nearby, and has been in love with romance novels since before she could drive herself to the library.
Stacey Lynn lives with her husband and children in North Carolina.
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