Stiff_A Graves Family Romance

by Kim Linwood

  “I haven’t made any plans yet, but I’m not kidding when I say you have me. I can run my future empire just as well from Wittville. Internet makes everything possible. So long as you’re here, I will be too.” He brushes a strand of hair out of my face before leaning down to kiss me. It takes me exactly a microsecond to get over my shock and throw my arms around his neck and kiss him back.

  After we separate, he looks down at me with soft eyes. “How are you doing now?”

  “Much better.” I sigh, feeling a little guilty for being so happy today, but knowing Maria would be ecstatic to hear how things are going. “I’m going to miss her.”

  “Of course.” He rolls again, pulling me with him and partly onto his chest. His arms go around me, holding me close until I relax and rest my head near his shoulder. When he speaks, the rumble is right in my ear. “I remember when Grandpa Graves died. About fifteen years ago. I was um… eleven, I think.”

  I caress his side, not being sexual anymore, but comforting, I hope. We all lose people.

  “He was a character. He had Axton’s head for business, but Bran’s sense of humor. A bit of a wildcard, but hardworking as hell. He and Dad were close even though they butted heads all the time. Mom went back to work for a while after I was born, and I spent a lot of time with him and Grams. We got along really well. My maternal grandparents died before I was born, so I never got to know them, but here was this guy who’d played and joked around with me since I was a baby. By that time, he’d passed the day to day running of the business over to Dad, so he had the time to spend on us kids.”

  Carter’s chest is just begging for a kiss, so I place one there. “He sounds like he was a great man.”

  “He was. And smart. I was crushed when he passed away, but before he did, he told me this: we all leave our mark on this world, and those with the biggest hearts leave the deepest marks when they go. They’re filled with the love and memories they created when they were alive, and so long as those memories are shared, they’re never truly gone. That’s what Maria would want you to do. Remember her and let the love she shared with you shape everything you do in memory of her. She’ll always be right here.” He puts his hand over my heart.

  Tears are running down my cheeks, but I manage to pull myself together enough to give him a teasing look. “That’s my boob.”

  “I’m working on showing my love for you,” he says with a lusty grin. “Is it working?”

  I move, straddling his hips and grasping arms. My nails dig lightly into his skin. “Want me to leave a few marks?”

  “Be my guest,” he growls out, thrusting upwards to make it obvious he’s not just teasing.

  Which is good, because neither am I.

  39

  Sadie

  “I still don’t understand why I couldn’t just pick you guys up at the airport.” I glance at the time. Carter ran out of the office to finish a few last minute preparations for the new grand opening party but he should be back soon to take me to lunch. Meanwhile, Zoe’s driving Mom and Dad back from the Stinson airport.

  Mom makes a dismissive shushing sound at the other end of the line. “You’re so busy with the grand opening. Dad and I didn’t want to bother you. And Zoe doesn’t mind. Do you, dear?”

  “Nope! No problem, Mrs. W. Tell Sadie to chill. She’ll see you soon enough,” Zoe yells in the background.

  “See,” Mom chides. “Besides, her hearse has way more room for luggage than your little hatchback.”

  That’s true. “Fine, but I’ve missed you guys.”

  The front door chimes, and a few seconds later, Carter’s standing in the door to my office. He leans a shoulder against the frame. “Is that your parents?” I nod. “Say hello for me.”

  “Carter says hi, Mom.”

  “Ooooh, I can’t wait to meet him face to face. I’ve gone through all his pictures online, but it’s not the same.”

  “Mom!” My face flushes even though Carter probably can’t hear her. Oh, God. My mother cyber stalked my boyfriend. I can’t tell if I’m mortified or impressed at how social media savvy she’s become since starting their RV vlog. Maybe both. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you in a few hours, okay?”

  “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away, honey, I promise. Love you, kiddo.”

  We hang up and I grab a tissue off of my desk to blow my nose. I might be a fully grown adult with a home and business of my own, but knowing I’ll see my parents soon is making me emotional.

  Carter comes over and gives me a hug. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to go pick them up.”

  “It’s not your fault. Just a schedule thing.”

  He hums noncommittally. “Ready for lunch?”

  “Yeah, I’m starving.”

  His car’s parked out front, but just as I reach for the door handle, Carter stops me. “Wait. I have a surprise.”

  I grin and search his face for a hint. “What kind of surprise? Is it the kind where you whisk me off and have your wicked way with me?”

  “Damn, I wish I’d thought of that.” He gives me a delightfully dirty smile and winks. “But no, it’s the kind where I need you to trust me for a few minutes. Can you do that?” Carter holds up a slip of black fabric that looks suspiciously like a blindfold.

  “Of… of course.”

  “Good,” his voice is low and sexy.

  Whatever his surprise is, maybe there will be time for a little fooling around.

  I was right, it is a blindfold, and he winds it around my eyes before helping me into the car and buckling me into the passenger seat. When he starts driving, the first few turns are easy to follow, but then I lose track. From the sound of the tires and the flow of traffic around us, it sounds like we’re on the highway, which is strange.

  “Where are we going? We need to get things ready for tonight.”

  “Trust me, remember?”

  We chat about the plans for the party as he drives. It’s been a month since Graves took over the parlor and Carter started working from Wittville. It took some adjustment, and we still butt heads now and then, but we make a good team. Everything is set to officially launch the first of Carter’s new line of funeral homes. A grand re-opening for a funeral parlor might sound like a strange idea, but with both of our families in the business and so many connections in the community, we decided it would be a fun way to start things off.

  After driving for a while and a few more trips on and off the highway, the car starts to slow and gravel crunches beneath the tires. At first I wonder if he took me back to the cemetery where we had our picnic, but the driving pattern was all wrong for that, and I can still hear traffic.

  “Wait here, I’ll help you out.” Carter’s door opens and closes. More crunching gravel under his feet as he walks around the back of his car, then a blast of warm summer air hits me as my door swings open.

  He takes my hand so I don’t fall. The ground beneath my feet feels rough, which fits with the sound of driving on a rocky surface, but not with how much traffic I’m hearing.

  “I’d say watch your step, but I guess I’m watching for you,” Carter jokes as he leads me away from the car. It’s a little disquieting. In the car, I at least had a sense of where I was. A point of contact. Now I’m being led around in the open, and any sense of being anywhere is gone.

  In a few steps, the surface changes to grass. “Seriously, where the heck are we?” I turn my head back and forth, but aside from a little glow around the edges of my blindfold, I can’t see a thing.

  He chuckles, but doesn’t let up. “We’re just about there. Okay, stop. Put your hand here, and step up. Can you feel it?”

  I reach out and he helps me grab onto a metal railing, and then step up onto something. Maybe some sort of platform? It doesn’t feel like a regular floor, but I’m too confused to even guess at what’s going on.

  “Hang on.” His hand goes around my waist. That’s all the warning I get before the ground starts moving.

  “Oh my God!” I cling to the
railing with both hands and hold on for dear life as we lift up into the air. There’s a machine whirring below us, then it cuts out and we come to a clanking stop.

  “Are you ready?” There’s a lot of anticipation in his voice, wound up like a jack in the box.

  “I’m way past ready, but if you take this off and I’m standing on the edge of a cliff, no jury will hold me accountable for pushing you.”

  Carter laughs as he works the knot behind my head. “Well, hopefully it won’t come to that.”

  The blindfold comes off. Sunlight blasts my face so suddenly I can’t even see where I am until I blink the spots out of my eyes. As the world comes back into focus, all I see is Carter. Well, his face at least, and it’s huge, like a billboard.

  I blink again.

  It is a billboard. A very familiar one at that. Still covered by Carter’s face, but no longer redecorated. And this time it’s not an advertisement for Graves Funeral Homes. It’s just Carter’s smiling face and next to it, in huge letters… Oh my God.

  Sadie Williams, will you marry me?

  Underneath the letters is an empty white box with a stippled border.

  My ears start ringing and my heart thumps so hard I can feel the pulsing in my veins. “Carter…”

  When I turn to look at him, he’s kneeling beside me with a little black box in one hand, and a can of spray paint in the other. “You already know what’s coming, but just so I can say I did this right…” His smile looks confident, but there’s anticipation, maybe a little anxiety his eyes. “Sadie Williams, will you marry me?”

  I look around, waiting for someone to pinch me. We’re standing up on one of those construction lifts like they use to wash windows. It’s been raised high enough to be on level with the platform beneath the billboard. Below us, traffic zooms past, though some of them are slowing. We’re making a spectacle of ourselves.

  “Don’t leave me hanging here,” Carter jokes, shifting to his other knee.

  My hand shakes as I take the spray paint from him. Considering how we started, I’d never have guessed that I’d one day end up here, getting proposed to on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, surrounded by trees, gawking locals and the mountains I’ve grown up in.

  Yes or no?

  I pop off the top, not having to think long before answering, not really.

  Carter watches silently as I lean forwards and start to write. Just to be sneaky, I start my Y looking a lot like the beginning of an N, but it quickly becomes obvious what I’m saying. As soon as I finish the S, Carter’s on his feet and his arms are around me. He lifts me up and I cradle his face in my hands as I stare into his deep, brown eyes.

  “Just so I can say I did this right, the answer is yes.” Then I close the distance between us and kiss him for all I’m worth.

  A car honks from the highway, and then another. Before long, it sounds like a traffic jam in New York City, with a massive chorus of different honks, some short, some long. Our kiss devolves into a fit of laughter. We break apart and turn to see traffic moving at a snail’s pace and several cars pulled over with people taking pictures and probably video of his proposal.

  “We’re going to be hearing about this for a long time, aren’t we?” I ask, wanting to hide, but lifting my arm in a shy wave that’s returned from more than one car window.

  “I certainly hope so, but we aren’t quite done.”

  “Oh?”

  Carter holds up the small black box. “You forgot something.”

  “Oh!” I take it from him, knowing that whatever he picked will be perfect. The ring is unimportant compared to promising our lives to each other.

  I’m not sure what style I’m expecting. Maybe something flashy and modern, but it’s anything but. It’s a gold band with braided details leading up to a modest solitaire diamond.

  And I’ve seen it before, many times.

  “Where did you get this? When did you get this?” I take the ring out of the box and inspect it in amazement. It’s cleaner and polished up, but it’s my maternal grandmother’s engagement ring. I remember it well from all the times my mother let me try on her jewelry. It’s the ring my grandfather brought with them from Scotland and proposed with as soon as they landed safely in the United States. They both died when I was little, but I remember them fondly, and I know from all of her stories how much this ring means to my mother.

  “You didn’t think I’d do this without talking to your parents first, did you? As soon as I decided to propose, I knew I wanted something special, and when your mother told me about this ring, I knew it would be perfect.”

  “It is,” I whisper, holding the delicate band in my hand. Carter helps to slip it onto my trembling finger. “It’s perfect. I can’t believe you did all this. I had no idea!”

  “It wouldn’t have been much of a surprise if you did, now would it?”

  “When did you decide?” The ring sparkles in the summer sun as I twist my hand back and forth, getting used to the sight of it on my finger. Engaged! It hardly seems real.

  “I called your father the day after Maria’s funeral,” he explains as he bends down to open up a basket I hadn’t even noticed. It’s full of food and there’s a miniature bottle of champagne in a cooling bag.

  “I… you… “Words fail me.

  Carter straightens up and takes me in his arms again. “Sadie, I knew you were special from the moment I laid eyes on you, and I knew you were going to be mine from our first kiss. When I told you I loved you, I meant it. We both have strong personalities, and we’re going to clash sometimes, but the way I feel with you isn’t like anything I’ve ever experienced before. With you I know I can be myself, but it’s more than that. You make me want to do better. Be better, and there was no way in hell I was going to let that go.”

  And then he kisses me, and I know he’s right.

  Together, we can accomplish anything.

  40

  Sadie

  “Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” Carter yells out to the crowd assembled on the parlor’s front lawn.

  I’m standing next to him, nervous in spite of knowing nearly everyone here. Maybe it has something to do with the empty space on my finger and the ring burning a hole in my pocket. I’m desperate to tell everyone, but I want to make it through the ribbon cutting before our other news gets out.

  Zoe looks around and presses two fingers to her lips, letting out a whistle that could stop traffic two streets over. “Hey! We’re trying to do something here!” Then she smiles and smooths down her skirt—something she hardly ever wears. “Go on.”

  It works. Everyone’s attention focuses on me and Carter. Everyone but Brandon, that is, who seems to be assessing Zoe with a mix of amusement and annoyance. She’s been ignoring him since Carter’s family showed up, turning on her version of charm for everyone but him. I’m not quite sure what her game is, but if she’s trying to get his attention, she’s got it.

  Carter looks out at everyone and holds up a giant pair of gold scissors. “Welcome and thank you for joining us. Today, we open the newest addition to the Graves family.” He sends me a sly grin, knowing that the parlor isn’t the only one joining his family today.

  Our families aren’t really mingling, Mom and Dad are standing with Zoe, Kenny and the rest of the Wittville crew while Carter’s family is mostly sticking to themselves. Carter’s parents look like they are ready to attend a black tie event. Axton is wearing a suit like Carter, Dani is a bright spot in a frilly hipster dress, and Brandon looks almost as relaxed as Kenny.

  Except while Kenny’s jeans and t-shirt were probably plucked off his floor this morning, Brandon’s are obviously designer and fit him perfectly. Something I’m sure Zoe’s noticed.

  “What are you waiting for?” Carter’s grandmother says loudly. Liz, her partner, puts a hand on her arm and shushes her, but his grandmother just rolls her eyes. “What? At our age there’s no time to waste, and someone promised me cocktails.” She give
s Carter a pointed look and he laughs.

  “Well, on that note, will you do the honors, Sadie?” He hands me the scissors.

  I hold them up, giving them a few test snips with a grin.

  “I hereby declare the Williams Funeral Parlor, a Graves Family Business, officially open.” Then, with the sound of Kenny playing a drumroll on his thighs, I slice the ribbon stretching between the pillars of the front porch. A cheer goes up—mostly from my side, but not entirely—as the severed ends of the ribbon flutter down.

  I turn to our little crowd. “There are refreshments inside that may or may not include cocktails. Please come on in.”

  Carter puts his hand at the small of my back and guides me in, and then everyone else follows. Aside from the offices and the more sensitive areas, the parlor is open for everyone to see the changes we’ve made. I’m excited to see what my parents think of the updates. We worked hard to keep the unique, homegrown feel while giving everything a much needed facelift. When they both nod approvingly, I feel a moment of relief.

  The reception room is set up for the party, with streamers and balloons along with an open bar and a huge spread of food provided by Lena. And of course flowers everywhere, arranged by Josie.

  “Astrid!” Lena yells from the lawn as a small, blonde blur pushes past.

  “I’ll get her,” Dani says with a laugh. There might not have been a lot of mingling yet, but Carter’s bubbly little sister has somehow already been adopted by Astrid as a new big sister.

  We stand together as everyone else flows in. Carter’s grandmother hangs on Axton’s arm. They stop in front of the paintings Carter insisted we hang. I’m still self-conscious about them, and having someone study them like they’re in a gallery makes it even worse.

  “Are these yours, dear?” she asks. “I remember my grandson saying something about how talented you are. I figured he was biased, but you do have quite the eye for color.”