Empires Fall (MidKnight Blue Book 2)

by Sherryl Hancock

  “You take all the time you need, we’ll be here when you come home.” Her voice was soft, and supportive, and Rick smiled warmly, thanking the God above once again that she was his mother.

  “Thanks, Mum.”

  Midnight came out of the bathroom as he hung up. He smiled at her. She looked disheveled, but incredible.

  “C’mere,” he said, beckoning her.

  She walked over to the bed, and stood, with her hands on her hips.

  “Everything okay on the home front?” she asked.

  “Yep,” he replied. “By the way, what did the doctor say this morning?” He asked as he reached for his jacket, his eyes on her. She sat down on the bed shrugging.

  “Nothin’ much, just a cold.” She watched him as he pulled something out of his jacket pocket. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the box he held.

  “This?” he asked. “Oh, I wanted to show it to you …” He shrugged nonchalantly as he opened the box.

  Nestled inside was a ring of emeralds and diamonds. It was a marquee cut emerald, with diamond and emerald baguettes inset into the gold band. It was the most beautiful ring Midnight had ever seen.

  “Wow!” she said, staring at it. “It’s beautiful! It looks antique, is it?” she asked, her eyes shining.

  Rick grinned at her. “It is, as a matter of fact. It was my grandmother’s and she left it for me, when she passed away.”

  “Wow, that’s cool. I’d just like to have grandparents,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  “Well my grandmother, she left it for me, and said that I was to give it to the woman I married.” He looked at her pointedly then. “I want you to have it,” he said, his voice was very soft.

  Midnight looked up at him, not sure she had heard him correctly. “But Rick, she said the woman …” She stopped as a slow smile spread across Rick’s face, and he nodded when understanding dawned on her face. “You want me to … but you …”

  Rick laughed. He took the ring out of its box, took her left hand in his, and placed the ring on her finger, looking directly into her eyes. “I’m asking you to marry me, Midnight. I want you to be my wife.”

  Midnight stared up at him for a full minute. “I … you …this …”

  “Yes, this. I want you to marry me,” Rick said smiling at her apparent fluster. “Will you?”

  Midnight blinked a couple of times. He could see her mind working through what was happening, and he sensed something else. But then when she smiled and nodded to him and said a simple, “Yes,” and he promptly forgot everything else, and hugged her to him.

  They began kissing and nothing else existed. His hands touched the body he had grown to love so much. He felt her respond to his touch, as his own body responded to her. Their lovemaking was slower this time, more gentle, although as was common with them, it grew in intensity as they reached their climax together. And as they laid in each other arms, Midnight smiled up at Rick.

  “Well, I guess, there is one little thing I should share with you … now …” she said, her tone holding hint of mystery.

  “What?” he asked suspiciously.

  “Well, the doctor told me that I have a cold, and something else … something that won’t go away as easily …”

  “And what is that?” Rick asked, worry starting to cloud his eyes.

  Midnight touched his cheek, grinning at him. “Well, it’ll go away, eventually, in about eight months.”

  It was Rick’s turn to stare at her dumbfounded. Then as understanding started to dawn on him, Midnight started to laugh.

  “Midnight, are you telling me that you’re pregnant?” he said, his voice indicating that he wasn’t even daring to hope.

  “You got it,” she said, grinning at him.

  “A month?” he asked then, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

  “Oh believe me, that was the first thing I made him verify, no more than a month, Sorry, love, it’s yours.” For a moment he’d worried about Daniel Robbins, and the possibility that it had happened then. Midnight knew and understood that.

  “Sorry, my ass!” Rick said, smiling at her as he pulled her into a fierce hug. Then he pulled back and gave her a suspicious look. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

  “I … well I wasn’t really planning on telling you tonight … but since we just got engaged and all … I thought you should know …” she said, sounding a little evasive.

  “When were you planning to tell me?” he asked seriously.

  She looked up at him, hoping she hadn’t just screwed up. “Well, maybe when we got back to the states. I don’t know, I was waiting for the right time, I just didn’t want …”

  “Didn’t want what?” he asked, almost sharply.

  “I didn’t want … ” she started again, sighing. “I didn’t want you to ask me to marry you, because of this.” She gestured to her stomach, still flat as ever. She prayed he’d understand what she meant. “I wanted your love, not your sense of duty.”

  Rick looked down at her for a long moment, then a slow smile crossed his face. “So I beat you to the punch, did I?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Babe, I love you, I would have married you either way.”

  “Well, I guess I know that now, since your mother doesn’t even know.”

  “You didn’t tell her either?” he asked, surprised his mother hadn’t pumped her for the information after leaving the doctor’s. His mother was slipping.

  “Nope, she was very nice about the whole thing. I think she might suspect though, because doctors don’t usually run blood tests for common colds.” Midnight grinned. “I think you’re in trouble, Mr. Debenshire.”

  “That’s okay, as long as I get to have you in the end, I don’t mind.” He looked down at her. “What’s say you and I get married when Joe and Randy do,” he said, watching her for her reaction.

  She looked up at him, suspicion clear in her eyes. “You little shit, you had this planned all along, didn’t you?”

  “Well sort of. I hoped and I wanted to ask you at dinner, but the timing was wrong, with all the shit this afternoon and all, but then tonight, it just worked out.”

  “Okay … so have you talked to Joe about impeding on his wedding, what about Randy?”

  “Yes, I talked to Joe, and Randy’s okay with it too.”

  “Great so everyone’s in on it but me, huh?” Midnight replied, smiling ruefully.

  “Just us three.”

  “Okay, I think I can live with that.”

  They lay together silently for a while. Midnight was thinking of a song that Rick had been playing in the car on the way to the restaurant that evening.

  “Rick,” she said softly.

  “Hmmm?” he answered. His eyes were closed, he opened one eye, just barely.

  “That tape you were playing on the way to the restaurant, who was that?”

  “Def Leppard, why?” He closed the eye he had opened.

  “Well that song, that talks about not being able to stop the feeling of love … What’s it called?”

  “It’s called ‘Hysteria,’ ” Rick said.

  “I like it.”

  “Yeah, I like it too, makes me think of us. How we both seemed to fight these feelings.”

  “’Cause we were both chicken shits,” Midnight said, chuckling as she did.

  Rick laughed softly too. “That’s pretty accurate, yeah.”

  “Do you think it would be a cool song to play at the wedding for our first dance?”

  He was happy to hear her talking about the wedding already. He opened his eyes looking at her “A rock song? At a wedding? Is that traditional?”

  “Well,” she said, laughing, “I’m not exactly the traditional type bride, and I don’t think you,” she said pulling at one of his long brown curls, “qualify for traditional groom of the year either.”

  He laughed. “Yeah I guess that’s true enough.”

  Chapter 8

  The next day Anabelle and Robert Debenshire
were very happy to add their son’s engagement to the celebrations taking place that evening. Anabelle hugged Midnight warmly. Robert hugged her too, to everyone’s surprise. Robert Debenshire was a loving man, but he wasn’t given to emotional gestures. He was just so happy with his son’s choice. Katherine was still fuming over the scene at Harrods, but the other three sisters congratulated Midnight and Rick warmly.

  That night at the engagement party, Katherine found solace with Teddy Anne, who was Rick’s ex-fiancée. Teddy Anne was a tall dark-haired blue-eyed model type. While very pretty when made up, she paled in comparison to Midnight who looked absolutely breathtaking in a black gown that accentuated her delicate features perfectly. Her copper-blond hair was pinned up, with ringlets dropping in silken tendrils around her face and down her back. She had used more makeup than she usually did, accenting her gold-green eyes with just the slightest touch of emerald-green shadow, and hunter-green eyeliner.

  A thin chain of gold suspending a deep emerald heart sparkled at her throat, and emeralds sparkled at her ears. Rick had given them to her earlier in the evening, calling them an engagement gift. The Debenshire family had been waiting in the front room when Midnight had entered. Rick had stood staring at her speechless, he had always considered her beautiful, but on this night she was absolutely gorgeous. Midnight had laughed at his reaction, as the rest of the family told her how beautiful she looked, except for Katherine of course, who had stood back and said nothing. Rick had taken her aside, touching her gently as if she were made of glass, and told her over and over how incredible she looked, how much he loved her, and then he had handed her the box that contained the emerald heart and earrings. He had made a point of not making them too extravagant, knowing Midnight would refuse to accept them if he did.

  Now in the grand ballroom of the Royal Windsor Hotel, Rick stared at his bride-to-be from across the room. Midnight was standing with Joe and Randy, laughing at something Joe had just whispered to her. Joe had been overwhelmingly happy to hear about Midnight’s acceptance of Rick’s proposal. Joe had told Rick he really didn’t know if she would accept, he had said that it wasn’t that he didn’t believe Midnight loved Rick, but he had said, “She’s just not into that commitment stuff, ya know?” But Joe had been very glad to find out he was wrong.

  Rick watched Joe and Midnight interact, and he thought again of their conversation the night before. He was now very happy they had gotten their feelings out into the open, it had taken a huge weight off his heart. Rick had hated feeling like he did about their relationship, he felt like he was betraying his best friend by thinking the way he had, and he had felt horrible hiding his feelings from Midnight. Now everything was cleared up and he felt like everything was going to go right for them now.

  Rick was about to join Midnight, Joe, and Randy when his mother approached him.

  “Richard, could I have a quick word with you, dear?”

  “Sure, Mum, what’s up?” Rick answered smiling at his mother.

  “Well, I didn’t know if you and Midnight had talked about the wedding. I mean other than actually deciding to get married and all …” Anabelle hesitated looking at her son.

  “Well, no we didn’t really, I guess. We’ll have to here soon, why?”

  “I was just wondering, do you think Midnight would take it the wrong way if I offered to help out? I have been through this with Deborah, so I know what all is involved …” It was obvious she didn’t want to interfere, or put her two cents in where they weren’t wanted.

  “No, Mum,” Rick began, his eyes going to Midnight again, “I think that would be great. Maybe Deb, Mandy, and Allie could help too. I know Night likes them.”

  “That’s a good idea. You don’t think she’ll mind?”

  “Well, as long as you let her make all the decisions. She’s used to that you know. I don’t think she’d mind at all. In fact she’d probably welcome it. Planning weddings isn’t really her forte.” His eyes trailed over to Midnight again. Joe and Randy had moved to talk to someone else and he saw Katherine, with Teddy Anne in tow heading toward Midnight. He wanted to get over there, but he didn’t want to be rude to his mother.

  “It’s settled then,” Anabelle said, smiling as she put her hand on her son’s arm. “I’ll try to talk to her tonight about it.” She tightened her grip on Rick’s arm, looking directly into his eyes. “I think you made a very wise choice there, Richard. She is a very special girl, and very beautiful too. You make a handsome couple.”

  “Thanks, Mum,” Rick said, glad that his mother obviously liked Midnight a great deal. He saw Midnight looking up at Katherine, a blank look on her face. Then he saw a familiar look cross her face. It was look she gave people who made the mistake of taking her for a fool. She was obviously doing fine with Katherine this time.

  Midnight wasn’t altogether surprised when Katherine approached her with a dark-haired woman in tow. Midnight was almost sure that this woman was the fabled Teddy Anne. Rick had told her about Teddy Anne the night before. They had talked about a lot of things last night. Rick told her that he and Teddy Anne had been engaged before he left England. His parents had wanted him to get married, and since he couldn’t stand most of the society types he had dated, he had opted for Teddy Anne.

  Teddy Anne was the closest thing he had been able to find to a rebel in London society. She did things that made her stand out in a crowd. She was a little on the wild side. They had been a good pair, Rick told her. They got into all kinds of mischief together. He had decided that if he had to marry someone, she would at least be a little more fun than one of the stoic, impeccably groomed dolls of English society. He had eventually decided that marrying her would be a mistake too, he didn’t love her. He liked her, but there was no great love there. So he had broken it off with her right before he had gone to America. He had described her to Midnight, and now Midnight was sure that the woman standing beside Katherine was her.

  Midnight looked at Katherine, and smiled, a cool smile.

  “Midnight,” Katherine said, managing to make her name sound inferior. “I’d like you to meet Theodora Emerson.” It was obvious she was watching for some kind of reaction from Midnight.

  Midnight looked at Teddy Anne and inclined her head slightly, her eyes not leaving the other woman’s. “Nice to meet you,” she said, keeping her tone level.

  “Katherine has told me a great deal about you,” Teddy Anne said. She accent made her sound very sophisticated, but her eyes sparkled with sarcasm.

  Midnight’s gaze didn’t even flicker. “Really? That’s strange, she knows absolutely nothing about me.” Her smile remained on her face, and she was happy to note that Katherine’s waivered. Teddy Anne looked surprised at Midnight’s words.

  “Well she told me that you and Richard are engaged,” Teddy Anne said, having recovered quickly.

  “I see,” Midnight responded, leaving no room for further comment.

  There were a few moments of silence as Teddy Anne and Midnight looked at each other, neither one willing to be the first to lower her eyes.

  “Teddy Anne was engaged to Richard, before he left for America,” Katherine said conversationally, but it was obvious from the way she watched Midnight that she was expecting it to be a surprise to the younger woman.

  Midnight didn’t say anything for a long moment. She kept her face composed in a look of superiority. Her catlike eyes shifted from Katherine to Teddy Anne, then she smiled a lopsided sardonic smile. “You should have held on to him when you had the chance.”

  Teddy Anne’s mouth all but dropped open at Midnight’s statement. She made a startled sound, as her blue eyes widened slightly at Midnight. But again, she recovered quickly and her face took on a knowing, haughty look. She shook her head, as if about to address a dull-witted child.

  “Don’t be too confident, dear,” she said, her eyes staring down at Midnight. “I can take him back, all too easily.”

  Midnight looked calmly at Teddy Anne, her lips curling in derision. “
Go ahead and try,” she said challengingly.

  Teddy Anne looked at the younger woman in open surprise, as did Katherine. After a few moments, a triumphant smile crossed Teddy Anne’s face. Midnight only stared at her calmly, the picture of serenity and confidence.

  Teddy Anne looked around the room, seeing Rick heading toward them. She moved to intercept him and put her arm through his.

  “Richard Debenshire, you haven’t danced with me once this evening,” she chided, her voice sweet and affectionate.

  “Can’t have that, can we?” Rick said smoothly. They made their way to the dance floor, and Rick caught a fleeting glimpse of Midnight watching him, a confident smile on her face. He knew something had just transpired between his bride-to-be and the woman he now held in his arms.

  After a few moments, Teddy Anne moved her hand up to the base of his neck possessively, as she always had when they were dating. Her eyes gazed up at him. “I’ve missed you terribly,” she said, her voice petulant. “And you never even called me. I thought we were closer than that.” Her voice turned seductive on the last part.

  “Things got a little complicated in America,” Rick said apologetically. “But I’m here now,” he finished, his smile warm.

  “Yes,” she said, her fingers stroking the back of his neck, “with a fiancée no less.” She said the word “fiancée” as if it didn’t mean anything to her, just another word for girlfriend.

  “Well,” he said, moving his lips closer to her ear, “I was under the impression from our last parting words that you never wanted to see me again. What was it?” His voice took on her sophisticated tone. “A cold day in hell before I’d see your bed again?” His tone was playful.

  “Well, you can’t blame me for being angry with you, the way you broke things off, without much of an explanation …”

  “I know,” he said. “I was a bit of a shit, wasn’t I?”

  “Yes, Richard you were … but I’m willing to forget about it …”

  “You would be?” he said surprised. She shuddered as his lips brushed her ear. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek.