by Lane Hart
Tears ran down Kate's face as she looked down at her hand and then gave Tom another hug.
"Thank you. I'll take care of it and maybe give it to my daughter someday. If we have a girl," she said with a smile, while wiping her eyes.
"So what have you two been up to? Actually sleeping?" Sam asked, trying to lighten the mood. "I don't think we heard you up on the sixth floor last night."
"Sam," I warned and smacked his arm. "So should we tell them our plan?" I asked Tom.
"Joselin and I are going to be leaving soon. I don't know how long we'll be gone but we'll definitely be back before the baby comes."
"What? You're going to be gone for months? Why? Where are you going?" Kate asked.
"We're going to find what spells we can for you, and eventually the baby, to use. Hopefully we'll find one that will let you live as long as him," Tom told her as he nodded toward Sam.
"Oh. Wow," she said. "But they're still going to be looking for you. What if someone recognizes you?"
"I don't think that will happen, but even if it does this woman can make them forget all about me."
"I can wipe the memories from everyone we talk to, so we should be fine."
"Thank you," Sam said. "You have no idea how much this means to me. Even if you never find one, I appreciate you both trying."
"I wish it was as easy for you as it is for me to live forever sweetie," Tom told Kate, and I wondered again if he was considering the idea. Sam caught it too and smiled at me as he raised an eyebrow in question. I just smiled back and shrugged in response.
"Alright, well I'm sure everyone could use some more sleep. Kate, are you ready to head back to our room?" Sam asked as he started pulling her toward the door. "You guys will come back for the wedding, right?"
"Of course. When are you thinking?" I asked, looking back and forth between them.
"I don't know. We haven't had a chance to discuss that yet," Sam said. "Soon I hope." He smiled and kissed Kate.
"Soon," she agreed with a nod.
They looked at each other a moment before Sam raised an eyebrow and asked, "Now?"
"Now," Kate responded without a second of hesitation. "Today. I'm ready, but are you sure you are?"
"Hell yes," he assured her before kissing her again. "You can find a dress if you want, I'll find someone to marry us, then I'll see you on the beach before sunset?"
"Are you guys serious? You're really going to get married today?" I asked them. Tom seemed surprisingly calm about the whole idea.
"Sure," Kate said. "You two are the only ones we want to be there with us. You're here, so why not? I know without a doubt I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Sam."
"I've been waiting eighty-four years to marry you, and I don't want to wait any longer."
"Joselin, will you help me find a dress?" Kate asked. I was so happy I almost cried again.
"Of course! Tom, will you help Sam find a minister or someone to do the ceremony? Don't forget the ring too," I reminded them.
"Damn, thanks. I didn't even think about the wedding bands. But that'll be easy," Sam said.
"And Sam, find something nice to wear. Please don't show up to your wedding in jeans. I'll grab a camera and then you'll be all set. Well, except for the something borrowed, something blue, something old, and something new, but we'll work on that."
"If anyone knows what needs to be done it's be the woman who's been married ten times," Sam said as he laughed.
"Tom, what do you think?" I asked him since he'd been so quiet.
"I'm a little shocked, but if this is what you both want then there's no reason to wait," he said with a shrug.
He knew all too well that the future wasn't a given, and I remembered him saying that he never got the chance to marry Liz.
"Alright, so Kate are you ready to go shopping?" I asked her.
"Yes! Let's go."
"I'm going to miss you, but the next time I see you, you'll be my wife," Sam said with a huge grin. Then, he kissed Kate to the point it was uncomfortable to be in the same room with the two of them.
...
Tom
I couldn't believe I was actually helping plan my daughter's wedding on the spur of the moment. But God knows I'd never be the one to tell them to wait. I always regretted that I hadn't been able to marry Elizabeth, and officially make her my wife. All because I was an idiot for marrying that bitch, then having to wait a damn year to divorce her. I had no idea I wouldn't get a year with Elizabeth.
There was no doubt in my mind that Sam and Kate would make each other happy forever. It also helped that Elizabeth had seen a premonition of them together, so I knew they were going to be fine. Now that I'd met Joselin I was starting to think I might be fine, too.
"You seem almost too okay with this," Sam said, breaking the silence on the walk to the parking lot. We were going in search of a wedding band, and a chaplain or minister. Anyone we could find on such short notice.
"I regret not being able to marry Elizabeth before I lost her. I knew without a doubt I wanted to be with her forever just weeks after we met. You and Kate love each other, so what is there to worry about?"
Sam came to an abrupt stop in the hallway. "Damn, that's so fucking unfair. If anyone deserved a long and happy life it was Liz. She was ..."
"A sweet, beautiful, innocent angel?" I offered.
Sam rubbed a hand through his hair. "Yeah, that pretty much summed her up."
"You know, you and I are more alike than I'd like to admit."
"How's that?" he asked with a grin. "Both of us are jackasses that ended up with women we could never deserve?"
I laughed. "Yeah, that and I asked Liz to marry me at sunset on the beach in North Carolina."
Sam's jaw dropped before he responded. "Shit, great minds think alike, and all that nonsense."
I laughed. "Yeah, not to mention that both of us were geniuses for hiding in plain sight, and succeeding in not getting noticed. I mean a D.R.A agent having a daughter that's a witch is about as unlikely as finding a vampire working in a blood bank."
Sam chuckled. "The D.R.A. had a really shitty day the Friday they took me in and found out about you and her. Not that they'd ever admit either of those things to the public."
"Of course not. You wouldn't believe the idiotic things I saw when I worked there. And I sure as hell don't miss it."
We climbed into Sam and Kate's Mazda, then started our search for a church and a jewelry store.
"So, you and Joselin, huh?" Sam asked as he drove.
"Yeah."
"I think it's great. She's put up with too many bastards over the years. And even though you're about to become my father-in-law, I'll beat the shit out of you if you hurt her."
"I don't think you'll have to worry about that. But if I was that stupid, you wouldn't be the first person to beat the shit out of me. Kate's uncle Jason punched me more times than I care to remember when Elizabeth found out I was married."
"Yeah, Liz told me and Joselin about your wife. Kate doesn't even know about her, does she?"
I sighed. "I've kept everything from Kate. But I loved her mother as much as you love her. So losing her, well, as you can imagine, talking about her is just not something I can do. Hopefully soon I can tell Kate about Elizabeth."
"Hopefully. She looks so much like her ... I haven't told her either. I wasn't sure she'd want to know I asked out and got turned down repeatedly by her mother."
"Elizabeth obviously had better taste than Kate," I joked with him.
"Obviously, and thank fate for that. Okay I think Gema is gem in Spanish so let's try this place," he said as we pulled up to the storefront.
Sam looked through the wedding bands and decided on the plain silver one to match her solitary.
"You'll need a size four," I told him and the lady behind the glass counter pulled out the smallest one in the ring holder.
"You sure? Yeah, that looks right. We'll get that one, thanks," he told the clerk and she wrapped i
t up before heading to the register.
While we were standing at the counter Sam reached over and grabbed a silver necklace with a heart shaped locket hanging from an Angel Caller display.
"What's an Angel Caller?" he asked the young clerk.
"Here," she said, handing him a card with a saying typed on it. "It's a Mexican bola, or harmony charm. A pregnant woman puts one of the colored bolas in the pendant and wears it low on her stomach. It makes a soft chiming sound the baby can hear in the womb. It provides a sense of comfort and security to the baby when the mother wears it through the pregnancy, and then after the baby is born. Legend says that angels once gave the bola chimes to loved ones as a way for them to call them whenever they needed the angel's protection or comfort."
"That's actually kind of perfect for my soon-to-be-wife," Sam told her. I was thinking the same thing, especially since I knew Kate's mother had always been her guardian angel. "Can you wrap one of these up too, with the saying?" he asked.
"Sure," she said with a smile, and then went to work wrapping his purchases.
"I told Joselin I owed you an apology," I said to Sam when we got back into the car.
"Oh really," he laughed. "This should be good."
"I'm sorry about what I said to you the day we met. I was pissed at being in the position that Chris had put me in. And it would have been a hell of a lot easier to take you in if you had been an evil vampire, instead of someone that actually cared about my daughter."
"I didn't blame you. I knew you were just doing what you had to do to make sure she was safe," he said with a shrug. And that was how I knew Sam would always do right by Kate, even if it meant sacrificing his own life.
"So, we just need to find someone to officiate and get you something to wear, then we'll be all set for a wedding."
Chapter Twenty-Four
Joselin
Kate had gone into the dressing room of the little boutique to try on the last of four dresses she'd picked out. They were all so pretty, and she looked great in all of them.
"So, this is the final one. What do you think?" she asked. She smoothed down the sides while standing in front of the mirror. This one was the only white one she'd tried on, and it looked perfect.
"They all look great, but I think this one is my favorite."
"Mine too," she said with a huge grin. "I feel like this one is more of a wedding dress. I didn't think I wanted to go all traditional with white but ..."
"It's the one?" I asked. The dress was a sleeveless chiffon, with a crisscross V-neck and high empire waist. The length fell just above her knees in the front and a little longer in the back. The thick band at the waist was covered with beads and sequins that took it from casual to dressy.
She turned to look at all the angles in the mirror, still smiling. "Yes, this is the one. It's even better than what I had in mind."
"It looks great. Have you decided what you're going to do with your hair?"
"Well, with the beach wind I was thinking of maybe an up-do," she said, pilling her hair on top of her head to try it out with the dress.
"That's probably a good idea, and I think there's a salon right around the corner. We'll head there, then pick out Sam's wedding band. What about flowers? I can try and find some while you're doing your hair," I offered.
Kate's eyes watered as she nodded.
"What’s wrong? Are you okay?" I pulled some tissues from my purse and handed them to her. She gently wiped at her eyes before she answered.
"I love Sam, but I just don't feel like I deserve to marry him after what I did-"
"Oh Kate, you know he feels like he doesn't deserve you either. Sam loves you more than anything, and I can tell he's already falling in love with the baby too."
Kate shook her head and more tears ran down her cheeks. Crap, I'm not helping make this better.
"I still worry that when I'm all huge and pregnant, or when the baby's born, Sam will realize he can't handle it, and then he'll leave."
"Oh sweetie, that is just your own crazy guilt talking," I told her as I gave her a hug. "Sam is not going anywhere. He was only upset when you found out because he was jealous. It's not easy to deal with the fact that we can't have children with the ones we love. Sam never wanted that until he met you, so he's just trying to handle what he thinks he'll be missing out on sharing with you. But soon he'll realize that this is his baby too."
"I wish it was his."
"I know, but this is the next best thing. He's going to be there, raising him or her with you, and loving them just as much as he loves you."
"I hope you’re right. I'm sorry I'm such a mess. I'm definitely not getting cold feet. I've never wanted anything more."
"Good. Then let's buy this dress and get you ready for a wedding! What color and type of flowers do you want me to find for you?"
"Blue and white, with maybe some greenery? Whatever you can find. Thank you so much for your help with all this."
"I love being able to help you and Sam. Anything you ever need I hope you’ll just ask."
We finished up in the store, and I even found a sleeveless blue floral dress to wear. Then we got back into my Mustang and headed for the salon.
"So," Kate started, then paused. "You and my dad seem um, happy with each other."
I couldn't help my smile. Even though we hadn't been apart long, I already missed Tom. Especially after spending every minute of the last few days with him.
"Yeah, I like Tom. He's, I don't know. It's like I've known him for years, not just days. He's a really nice guy."
"Seeing how he is with you is just so unexpected. I've never seen him even look at a woman," she laughed. "When he'd come pick me up at school or show up for a meeting or whatever, the other girls' moms would be all over him. Not just the single ones either. He acted like he didn't notice, and maybe he really didn't."
"I bet. He thinks he's an old man, and I'm pretty sure he has no idea how women see him."
"I'm glad he's happy with you. I felt bad leaving him all alone when I left for school, and then his suicide attempt on the highway scared the shit out of me."
"I think I sort of understand where he was coming from. He misses your mother so much he was just tired of living without her."
"Well, hopefully he doesn't feel that way anymore. I really hope you've changed his mind."
"Me too," I told her honestly. I just met Tom, but I didn't know what I'd do without him.
I dropped off Kate and within a few minutes I had her a beautiful bouquet of hydrangeas, white roses, lilies and interspersed eucalyptus.
When I went back into the salon they were putting the finishing touches on Kate’s hair. They'd pulled it all up, pinning large curls into a bun.
"You look beautiful, Kate. With your dress you're going to look perfect."
"Thanks,” she smiled. "So all that's left is finding Sam's ring."
"Yeah, we've covered the something old, new and blue. Your ring was your mother's, your dress is new, and your flowers are blue. If you'd like you can borrow my diamond earrings.”
“That would be great. I still can’t believe that in a few hours Sam and I will be getting married.”
I was glad to see excitement instead of tears in her eyes.
…
Tom
Neither Sam nor I would be caught dead in a suit, but we’d compromised with dark dress pants and white button down shirts.
Sam had rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, and his hair didn’t stand a chance from the times he’d ran his hands through it.
“Are you ready to go on down?” I asked. We’d looked it up and sunset tonight would be at six-forty-six. It was six-thirty.
He nodded but didn’t move.
“Sam, what’s the problem? I know you love her and want to marry her.”
He sat down on the edge of the bed in my and Joselin's room, his head in his hands.
“I feel like, I don’t know. Like she should be with someone who … she’s just so young a
nd I don’t know if I’ll be all she ever wants. I’ve never even held a baby before, so what kind of father will I be when I don’t know a damn thing about taking care of them. Or how to take care of Kate. Oh fuck.”
I let him ramble, getting it all out of his system.
“Sam, the fact that you think you’re not good enough or right for her shows how much you love her. You want to do what’s best for her, and I know you always will. And Kate’s a smart girl, even if she is young. She wouldn’t marry you if she wasn’t sure she wanted to be with you forever,” I told him.
I walked over and looked out the glass door of the balcony. The sky over the ocean was darkening and soon they’d miss the sunset, but I knew they didn’t really care what time they got married, only that they did. I couldn’t help but think about that first sunset on the beach with Elizabeth. The decisions we made, how much we loved each other. Kate may have even been conceived that day, but Elizabeth had already seen her.
“Elizabeth wanted a baby more than anything. We couldn’t wait to have a family together. She was so great with kids, and I knew she was going to be a great mother. I just never imagined I’d end up raising Kate without her. I’d never held a baby before I delivered Kate. That night … not only did I lose Elizabeth, but at the same time I had to figure out how to deal with my grief and be the father Kate needed me to be. It actually came easier to me than I thought. The way Kate looked to me and depended on me to keep her safe and fed and happy, made me want to do whatever I could for her. You’ll be that person for your son or daughter, and they’ll love you for it, unconditionally and without hesitation, because that’s all they know how to do. Then you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them.”
Sam was still sitting on the bed, staring at something I couldn’t see on the blank wall in front of him. I never thought I’d be giving a pep talk to an eighty-four-year-old vampire to marry my nineteen-year-old daughter. I wanted Kate to be happy, and I knew she would be with him. I almost told Sam about Elizabeth’s premonition of the two of them ending up together with a family, but I didn’t want that to persuade him. I wanted him to decide this all on his own.