by Lucy Gage
“I was wrong. He didn't play me for a fool. I found out months ago, but I wasn't about to tell you that because I knew how you felt about the situation. And I didn't think he'd want me back after the way I treated him.”
“Oh, and if you treated him so poorly, what is he doing here? At your sister's wedding, of all places?”
“Well, Mom, he didn't want me to be alone when I found out that my darling sister was sleeping with my ex-boyfriend. And that they were engaged. Not that anyone else seemed to care about my feelings.” Her mother kept silent, lips pursed. “Your silence is very reassuring. Get used to him being around, Mom. He's not going anywhere. And get used to Liam. He'll be with me all the time, now.”
“Why would you need a bodyguard all the time, Emily? You live here. No one comes here.”
“Yes, well, that could all change, but the point is that I'm with Rob, now. Permanently. Which means Rob will be here. And if there is one thing I've learned this year, it's to expect the unexpected. Reporters will show up anywhere to get a story.”
“What do you mean, permanently? You don't intend to marry that man, do you?” Gail said under her breath.
“What if I do, Mom? Will you disown me? Because that would be a huge mistake on your part. Rob is one of the best people I've ever met. You'd be lucky to know him, not because he's famous, but because he's wonderful. The sooner you accept that I'm with him, the better off you'll be. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to eat my food before it's cold.” Emily turned on her heel and left her mother speechless.
She went back to the table and Rob gave her a look that asked if everything was okay. Because he could read her so well, she tried to convey that it would be.
Eventually.
The conversation was lively, with Aunt Laurie still astonished that she hadn't picked up on Rob's identity before. Even Liam laughed.
Rob got suddenly quiet and Em looked up to see why. Josh loomed at their table while he stared at them.
“Josh. This is my boyfriend, Rob. And you remember Liam, our friend and bodyguard.”
“Hi. Nice to see you both. Em, can I talk to you for a minute?” He looked uncomfortable. Good. He should be.
She stood and kissed Rob again, gave him a look to say she was sorry. He squeezed her hand as she left and continued his conversation. Liam looked at her like he wanted to follow and she shook her head.
When they were in the same hallway where she had spoken to her mother, Em crossed her arms over her chest and said, “What do you want, Josh?”
“What are you doing with that guy?”
“I'm sorry, is it hurting your feelings to see me with him? Because if it is, then good. You're the absolute last person on the planet who has the right to comment on who I'm seeing or not seeing. I'm in love with him and he's in love with me. I don't really give a damn what you think. You dumped me, remember? And then you slept with my sister.”
“I dumped you after you slept with him!”
“No, you made an assumption about something without getting the truth from me. Like a video on the internet meant more than the five years we spent together. I didn't sleep with him until after you broke up with me. I felt like I owed it to you to make it official first, out of respect for our relationship. But you wouldn't know anything about having respect for our relationship, would you?”
“Emily...”
“Don't, Josh. If you want to be with Annie, and the two of you love each other, that's fine. But don't try to pretend that you care about more than your own ego. I never meant to hurt you when I fell for him. If you had as much respect for me, you could have at least told me about you and Annie before you dropped to your knee and proposed to her in front of all our friends and family yesterday. At least Rob wanted to make sure I wasn't hurting when that happened. He flew across the country to ensure I wasn't alone.”
“How'd he know? We didn't tell anyone.”
“You're forgetting the tabloids have been tailing me for months, Josh. Annie and I look enough alike that they thought she was me. Rob's assistant found out and she told him. He came here yesterday to make sure I was okay because he couldn't catch me on the phone. Which is more than I can say for you or my sister.”
“I'm sorry, okay? We should have told you we were together a long time ago. There was never a good time.”
“It doesn't matter anymore. It's done. But you have no right to an opinion on who I can and cannot be with, do you understand me? None.” She was on the verge of tears.
“Em, is everything okay?” Liam asked.
“It's fine, Liam. I'm coming back to the table.” She glared at Josh, turned on her heel again and left.
Liam guided her as he had done so many times before, with his hand lightly on her back. He leaned close and said, “You sure you're okay?”
Emily took a breath and nodded. She refused to cry about Josh and Annie. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
Liam rubbed her back lightly and sat down next to her. Rob looked concerned, so she tried to convey that she was okay. Or would be. At some point.
He squeezed her hand under the table, and she smiled.
Rob could make anything better just by being there.
The rest of brunch, Em was spared interaction with her family outside the people at her table. Eventually, Liam talked to Nina, and Emily could see that he really did like her. She smiled to herself. Well, well. Maybe it would benefit Liam to be stuck in Maine for a little while. Nina owned a home in Portland not far from Emily's apartment.
As the brunch ended, they said goodbye to the guests who were leaving that day. Since Em had anticipated helping with final clean-up, she'd paid for an extra night in her room. It meant another night with Rob, hopefully without outside interference.
Nina had planned the same as Em, but Meg had to leave for a conference the next day and didn't even stay for brunch. Given that Annie was newly engaged, Emily hoped that her younger sister didn't still plan to help. She had no desire to speak to Annie at the moment.
Liam disappeared to help Nina with something, which Em suspected was getting naked in Nina's hotel room.
Before Charlie and Dan headed back to their room to pack, Emily introduced Rob to the two of them. Dan chatted with Rob while Em pulled Charlie aside.
“Thank you for letting Rob and Liam be here.”
“You're right. I owe you, Em. I'm so sorry I never said anything to you. I should have tried harder yesterday, but I was so busy, it was impossible to get away. I was hoping she'd tell you herself. Or that they'd tell you together. I didn't expect you to hear it from Rob.”
“Neither did I. But I'm glad he came all this way to tell me. We're...” she hesitated. She wanted to tell Charlie about the engagement, but they had decided to wait. She had made that request herself. So she resisted.
Charlie made an assumption. “Back together?” Em nodded. “Did you...reconcile?”
Em laughed. “Yes. We made up for lost time.”
“Like a few times?” Charlie whispered.
“Like a box worth of condoms,” Emily whispered, eyebrows raised.
“Wow.”
“Oh, wow never quite covers it with him. Wow is kissing. Appropriate words don't exist for the rest.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Rob asked as he snaked his arms around Emily.
“Just girl stuff,” Em said, trying to sound innocent.
“Uh oh. I always worry when you say that. It usually means you're saying things that will embarrass me.”
“Trust me, it always means that,” Dan said. “Time to get moving. See you two at the lake? We'll be back next week.”
“Hopefully. It was great to meet you both,” Rob said. Charlie and Dan walked away, hand in hand. “I like him.”
“Everyone likes him. He's one of those guys that very few people don't like. They adore each other. The two of them are unshakable.”
He turned her to face him. “What about the two of us? Are we unshakable?”
“No one is perfect. And I love you, flaws and all.”
“I love you. I missed you. So, so much.”
“I missed you too. Let's not do that again, okay? I hate being apart from you.”
“Agreed. Lucky for you, I've got the type of job that travels well. I should be able to come with you on location.”
“About that...we should talk more later. I've got news. It can wait though. Let's just concentrate on this for now.”
She agreed and kissed him quickly.
When most of the guests were gone, Emily brought Rob to meet her father.
“Daddy, this is my boyfriend, Rob.”
“Nice to meet you, Rob. Say, do you think you can help me carry some of this stuff out to Dan's truck?”
“Absolutely, Mr. Ward.”
“Great. Grab what you can. And call me Tom.”
The two men left, her father chatting amiably. Her mother appeared at her elbow. “Your father likes him, apparently,” Gail said, seeming annoyed.
Emily looked at her mother in disbelief. “Yes, well, Daddy tends to reserve judgment for when he actually knows someone. He doesn't rely on tabloids to supply him with information.”
Gail scoffed, “Emily, there has to be an element of truth to the things they report or else they would be sued for slander.”
“Really? Are you sure about that? Because suing for slander only happens if someone wants to sue. I didn't sue when they said I slept with Rob and, at the time, it was a lie. Not that you wanted to hear what I had to say. So don't try to pretend you understand because you don't. Until they print something false about you, Mom, you have no clue.”
“Well, if it was a lie, why didn't you sue them?”
“Because it didn't matter! The only people who actually cared if it was true didn't believe me, anyway! My point is, your assumptions that everything you read is either true or partially true are uninformed. Believe what you want about Rob, but I know the real man, and he and his family have treated me better than my own has in the past year. Think about that.”
The shock of her harsh words registered on Gail's face. Em turned away from her mother, ready to stomp off, when she was brought short by her mother's shaky voice.
“Emily.”
She turned back, glaring. “What?”
There were tears in Gail's eyes. “I'm sorry. For all of it. For not supporting you, for making you feel like you had to stay with Josh when you were clearly unhappy, for judging Deac...I mean, Rob, without really knowing anything about him. But I'm especially sorry for keeping your sister's secret. It shouldn't have been like that, at your expense. I thought it was the right thing to do at the time, but it wasn't.”
“I'll get over it, Mom. Just not yet.”
“Do you love him?”
“Rob?” Her mother nodded. “Yes. So much that I'm not sure what it was I ever felt for Josh, but I wasn't in love with him. You need to learn to be okay with my relationship. Rob isn't going anywhere. Don't make me choose. You won't like my decision.”
“I won't, Emily. I'll try harder.”
“Good. Here he comes with Daddy. Start now.”
“Princess!” Tom said, kissing Em's cheek. “This fellow of yours is one hell of a guy. He managed to pack everything inside of Dan's truck bed and got the tonneau cover to latch.”
Emily laughed. It didn't take much to impress her dad, he was such an easygoing guy. “I'm sure Dan and Charlie will be glad to hear it.” She grabbed Rob's hand and kissed his cheek. “So, Daddy, now that everything is packed and cleaned up, we're headed into Bar Harbor.”
“Will we see you at the house before you head back to L.A., son?” Tom asked. Emily smiled. Her father really liked Rob or else he wouldn't have called him son.
“I'm actually going back to Minnesota. I was hoping Emily would come with me.” Rob looked at Emily, who was surprised but pleased. She squeezed his hand in answer. “But, yes, before we leave I'd love to stop by your house.”
“Well, then we'll see you soon. Just give us a call when you're headed our way. If we've got time, I'd love to take you on the boat.”
“That sounds great, Tom. Emily has told me how much fun she had on the lake as a kid. We'll make time to visit.”
They turned to leave and Gail's voice caught them.
“Rob?”
He looked at her and smiled, his expression curious. She put out her hand for him to shake.
“I just wanted to say that it was nice to finally meet you. And to thank you for being so supportive of Emily.”
Rob was gracious. “It was nice to meet you too, Mrs. Ward. And I wouldn't have it any other way.” He looked at Emily then. “She's my whole world.”
He gave her the grin she fell in love with all those months before. She kissed his lips sweetly and gave him a look that said the feeling was mutual.
“Please, call me Gail. We'll look forward to seeing the two of you at the lake then. Will it be in the next couple of days?”
Emily was surprised that her mother gave Rob permission to use her first name. She was more contrite than Em realized. It was unusual. Em would have to discuss it with Charlie later.
Rob looked at Emily again. “Actually, I'll be here for a couple of weeks. I have some things to do while I'm here. I'm hoping the magazine will give Emily some more time off when I'm ready to head back to Minnesota.” Emily knew she looked confused, but she was sure he would tell her later.
“Let us know when you'll be in our area then. We'd love to have you.” Gail hugged Emily and whispered I love you. She told her mother thanks, and she knew it was understood that it was for more than just the invitation.
They said goodbye and went back to their room so Emily could change into better walking shoes. Before Em could take off the stilettos, Rob shut the door, pressed her against it and kissed her.
“Not yet,” he said, and he peeled off her dress. He growled, “I've been wanting to do that since I walked out of the bathroom earlier.”
“Miss me, did you?” she asked as he kissed her neck and ran his hands along her body.
“Every single second we were apart. It's going to be a while before we make up for lost time.” He groaned, “Damn. We don't have any more condoms.”
Emily laughed. “We have one more,” she said. She opened her purse and took out the lone condom that had been in there since the last time she saw him in L.A. She looked at the date and it was still good. “I couldn't get rid of it. Just in case.”
Rob laughed and kissed her shoulder. “Hoping to run into some well-endowed stud?”
Em wrapped her arms around his neck. She looked at his mouth before gazing into his blue eyes, kissing him passionately, claiming him as her own.
“Only one. I seem to recall he mowed me down outside a toy store once. I was hoping the universe would bring us together again.”
“We should thank the universe for granting our wishes.”
“How should we do that?”
“I vote that we love each other for the rest of our lives.”
“Second. It's unanimous.”
“Oh, good. I was afraid I'd have to overrule.”
“You think you have that power over me?” she teased.
“Never. I think I finally found my true partner.”
“So did I.”
When their wedding day arrived, Emily expected to be nervous and freaking out, but she felt surprisingly calm. Rob had relocated to Maine for Emily and to film his directorial debut. That Friday, everyone coming from far away had made it safe and sound to their house in Harpswell, Maine. To Emily's surprise, Rick had flown ahead to New York to bring Grampa Deacon to JFK, where the two of them joined the rest of the family for the last leg of their trip.
But the best surprise had been her dress. She asked Christopher to bring something in cream, mostly because she wan
ted it to be a dress she might have worn to any of Rob's events to divert suspicion. They hoped to fool the paparazzi and pretended this was a housewarming event. Though, given that they now lived an hour north of Portland in an entirely inconvenient place for reporters, it was unlikely that anyone would show up.
Christopher didn't listen, but what he brought couldn't have been more perfect. It was a white, Oscar de la Renta dress in a crepe fabric that had red flowers embroidered on it. It hit just below the knee and was sleeveless but wasn't strapless. It fully covered her chest and disguised the fact that her breasts were a little larger. She hadn't quite gone up a cup size yet, but Christopher had obviously realized they were bigger when he did her last fitting. He created a beautiful, silver fabric belt for the waist and he brought the stunning, sparkly, silver, peep-toe, sling back, $3,700 Louboutins that Charlie had joked would be her shoes for the Fluxus gala.
Em didn't even have to ask – the red, of course, was a tribute to that first dress he put on her. Christopher, it seemed, had recalled how much Rob liked her in red. And stilettos.
Left to her own devices to choose her wedding dress, Em might not have considered this one, but it was just right. Anyone who saw her in this dress wouldn't guess she was about to be married, and yet, it was perfect for her to wear to marry Rob.
Em didn't ask prices, but while getting ready, Charlie joked that Emily's wedding clothes probably cost the same as her entire wedding. Smirking, Christopher didn't respond.
He had put a bug in Reggie's ear that this was likely to be a wedding, and he'd told her about the dress so she could plan Em's makeup. Apparently, at her last fitting, he'd guessed she was pregnant. When she called about the dress, he put two and two together. Without asking, he planned her wedding attire for her. He even brought Armani for Rob, recalling Emily's reaction to her fiancé on New Year's Eve.
It was a perfect and wonderful gift from their stylist.
The morning of the wedding, the Harpswell house became a beehive of activity. Between brunch, the seven Deacon kids, wedding preparation, clam bake setup and the arrival of Emily's family, activity was constant.