“You’re going to have to show me what to do, because I’ve never done this before,” Sam sighed. “Can you do that?”
Jordan nodded, and pulled Sam down onto the bed beside him. Sam kissed him with all the longing he’d felt over the past three months. He realized though, he wasn’t longing for Arianna, really. He was longing for the idea of Arianna. He was longing for someone who loved and cared about people so much that she killed to protect them; that she killed monsters. Wasn’t that what Jordan had done when he had Margo Tremblay killed? Didn’t he do it to protect the one he loved?
He knew that Jordan would always love Arianna, and that was fine with Sam. Sam would always love Arianna too. And maybe Jordan still loved Vince. Sam would never love Vince, and would never share with Vince.
He looked down into the light brown eyes of Jordan Stewart, and thought, maybe. If Arianna and Jordan wanted him to. After all, he never thought he’d fall in love with a man, either.
“Thank you, Arianna, for keeping me sane back there,” Damien said as he stared into the eyes of the only woman he’d ever loved. “I can’t believe I just about threw my life away. For what? Jordan Stewart?” He shook his head. “I’ll find another way to beat him.”
Arianna closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. What did she have to do to stop this feud between them?
“Anyway, I should be thanking him,” he said as he touched her cheek. “If it wasn’t for him my life would be so different. My mother would be free, and I’d still be with Helena. If he’d only known then that what he was doing would bring us together.”
“Yea, funny how things happen like that,” Arianna said through gritted teeth.
He took her hand and held it. “It was fate,” he said. “We were meant to be together.” And then he kissed her. “Everything is going to be great now. We should get married as soon as possible. We’ll find a lawyer for my father, and get you a wedding dress while we’re in DC, and then we’ll go back to Canada and get married. You can pick out a dress for Isabeau. And we’ll bring your mother up from Ohio.”
She couldn’t believe he was making wedding plans at that moment. He beat up Vince, knocked Sam out with one blow, threatened to kill Jordan, and he turned it off so quickly. She stared at him again and wondered how he could do it. She wanted to crawl up in bed and cry her eyes out. She wanted to run, and run, and keep running. She wanted…
“I can’t wait to get you in the hotel room.” His eyes twinkled when he said it. “I can’t wait to make love to you chouchou, with all this adrenaline coursing through my veins.” And he grabbed her hand and placed it on his crotch. “You’re going to get all that when we’re in bed, you little whore.”
She bit her lip, and thought of the baby growing inside her. God she hoped it was his, she thought. At least he was a good father, and he would never do anything to hurt Arianna or his baby. But what if it wasn’t his baby? Arianna couldn’t think of that now.
“Can we get married at the ranch,” Arianna asked. “I don’t think a big wedding is appropriate.”
“We can get married wherever you want, mon amour.” Damien’s soft, gentle tone was back again.
Epilogue
Arianna stood staring in the mirror. She thought back, just for a moment, to the bedroom that Jordan had decorated for her. That was a pipe dream now, she thought as she saw the light wood paneling and the antique four post bed in the bedroom she and Damien shared. Her wedding dress, a simple long sleeved dress from a famous designer, still fit even though her tummy had quickly grown over the last two weeks. She gazed at the dress they found for Isabeau, it matched hers perfectly but it was a soft cream color like the roses they would both carry.
“You don’t have to do this,” Charlotte said as she gazed at her daughter. “You don’t have to…”
“Shhhh, mother,” Arianna said as she smiled at Isabeau. She watched and heard everything Arianna did.
“Ari, it’s not right, you don’t.” But Arianna gave her an icy stare that would put out a fire. “Do you love him, Ari?”
“Yes,” she said. And she meant it. She would love Damien Tremblay, she told herself.
“But what about?”
Arianna’s jaw clenched. “Just go downstairs, mother. Please. It’s time.”
Arianna helped Isabeau down the staircase. Damien and Julien stood by the huge fireplace in the grand sitting room, along with the Justice of the Peace. A storm brought snow the night before, and a blanket of white covered the ground outside the picture windows. It was as if nature was decorating for her.
There were only a handful of people in attendance besides her mother; mostly staff at the ranch and a few of Damien’s closest neighbors. Their closest neighbors, she reminded herself.
Although Isabeau had practiced what she would do, the dress and the people distracted her, and she ran toward her father.
Arianna’s eyes followed Isabeau, and lighted on Damien. He quickly picked his daughter up and held her against him. He wore cream pants and a cream vest with a white shirt. He looked incredible. He was too handsome to be believed. And holding Isabeau, with Julien beside him, he looked perfect. He smiled an angelic smile, and when she arrived by his side he took her right hand and held it.
He placed little Is to his side as they exchanged their vows to love each other til death parted them, and placed the rings on each other’s fingers. His eyes shined like diamonds as he gazed at her. He seemed so happy.
“I love you, Mrs. Tremblay,” he said with his soft, musical voice.
“I love you too,” she responded.
“You may kiss the bride,” the Justice said. And he reached down and kissed her like he did on the island, full of hope for their future, and love.
Hopefully the love was enough to destroy the other feelings that he felt. But more than that, she hoped this baby was his, because she couldn’t live with herself if she married him while she was carrying Jordan’s baby. Or… she couldn’t allow herself to think it. What if it was Vince’s? He would hate her.
She couldn’t face that thought. She smiled up at him and tried to be happy. She tried really hard.
“Now you’re my real maman,” Isabeau squealed after Damien kissed her. Arianna bent down and gathered the little girl in her arms and picked her up to kiss her. Yes, this could be worth it, she said to herself. It could be worth everything that she’d lost. Damien kissed her again.
“Congratulations,” Charlotte said as she walked toward her daughter. “You do look happy.”
“I am happy, mother.” She said as she squeezed Isabeau. “I am.”
The End
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Epilogue
The Executioner 2: Love, Lies, and Revenge (The Executioner Series) Page 19