In thirty minutes Mia and Liam would be saying their wedding vows with Jack standing for Liam, and me, the only bridesmaid for Mia. I had to walk back down the aisle with Jack after the vows had been said, which I was dreading. I wasn’t sure I had it in me to walk beside him without touching him, or without breaking down in floods of tears.
I’d cried buckets. I’d even broken down on the phone speaking with my dad. He wanted to get the next plane down to me, but I wouldn’t hear of it and I promised him and Mom that I’d go home next week. Dad had told me they were supposed to be flying to Hawaii, but he was going to get the flights altered and they’d go a week or two later, depending on what flights they could get. To say I was surprised was an understatement. I was shocked to hell.
I’d also come to the conclusion that although I’d been the one wronged, it was stupid to punish us both the way I was. I loved him. I loved him with all my heart and wanted him in my life if he still wanted me. Mia had laughed when I’d asked her if she thought he still wanted me.
After the wedding I planned on getting Jack on his own and telling him how much I missed him and still loved him. I just hoped I wasn’t too late.
“Thalia, you look gorgeous,” Mia told me coming back into the room. I was wearing the dress we’d picked out when I thought she was marrying Jack. My hair had been curled by the hairdresser, and had jeweled pins keeping it on top of my head, with some loose locks around my face and neck.
It was the first time I’d seen Mia in her wedding dress, and she was totally stunning. She’d admitted to Liam that the dress she’d chosen had been for him, and that it was the only way she could get through the ordeal. I think we’d all had tears in our eyes when she’d admitted that to him, Liam included.
Mia’s dress was white lace with a fitted bodice that flared out from her hips. It was off the shoulders with short sleeves. She looked like a princess, and I couldn’t wait to see Liam’s face when he saw her. I just hoped I wasn’t distracted with the best man.
“You are seriously going to have the groom’s tongue on the floor. You look amazing. Is Donovan still giving you away?”
She grinned at me while shaking her head. “No. Not anymore. Daddy came to the house this morning and apologized. He said he just lost it when Liam abandoned me three years ago. He said he’d been thinking about little else these past few days and realized how crazy it all seemed. It was the first time I’d ever seen him embarrassed. He plans on apologizing to you, just so you’re warned.”
“Wow. What a hell of a week.”
“Come on. I have a groom downstairs who might be starting to get a bit nervous if he doesn’t see me soon.” She grinned pulling me towards the door.
I laughed. “There is no way he’d ever think you’d changed your mind. Just no way.”
As we walked down the hallway towards the stairs all that could be heard was the swish of our dresses as we walked, and the violin music coming from outside near the specially built gazebo where the wedding was taking place.
Butterflies were flying around in my stomach as we walked downstairs towards Mia’s father, who was waiting at the bottom for his daughter. He saw me and looked nervous.
As he took hold of Mia’s hand, he turned to look at me. “Thalia, I owe you a huge apology.” He paused, gulped, looked out through the window then met my gaze again. “I wasn’t myself, although there isn’t really any excuse for the trouble I caused between you and Jack. I’m sorry, and I hope that we can put it behind us, especially today for my daughter’s wedding.”
He certainly sounded like he meant the apology. “Apology accepted.” I held my hand out to him, which he took and shook gently.
“Thanks Dad. Now I have an appointment with my groom.” Mia took her dad’s elbow and dragged him towards the patio doors, then looked over her shoulder at me, winked, then asked, “You staying there?”
“Guess not,” I mumbled.
Mia and her father walked out into the garden in front of me, so after they came to a stop, I slipped in front of them and waited for the music to start. My stomach quivered with nerves and excitement, and then hearing the music my legs carried me up the aisle.
Halfway up the aisle I worked the courage up to look at Jack, and when I did, I met his eyes that were so full of love for me. He was so handsome in his formal wedding suit; my knees felt weak and my panties were wet. I couldn’t look away.
I took my place to the side, turned to wait for Mia, but still couldn’t look away from Jack. I took Mia’s flowers from her, and then turned towards the front, while I tried to get my emotions under control, because I was seconds away from blubbering.
Chapter 63
Jack
Standing next to my brother, my eyes were only for Thalia as she walked down the aisle towards us. She nearly brought me to my knees. She made eye contact and then stayed focused on me. I’d let her see everything I felt for her in my gaze, and I’m pretty damn sure she let me see what she felt for me, which filled my heart with hope that not all was lost. God, I loved her.
Liam nudged me, which had me turning to face the front with him.
My brother was getting married in front of me, and all I could think about was the woman standing on the opposite side of the bride to me.
She was stunning, and I’d missed her like crazy these past couple of days. I know I’d spent time away from her before, when I’d been trying to do right and not get involved with her. But after sharing our beds, I couldn’t sleep without her. She was there under my skin and in my heart. She was there to stay and I planned on telling her that after my brother finished saying his vows.
Yesterday I‘d gone to the bank and retrieved my grandmother’s engagement ring, which I planned on sliding on to Thalia’s finger before the day was over.
Mia also had an engagement ring from my other grandmother, my father’s mother, to wear so both ladies should be happy.
“Jack, where the fuck are you? Ring,” Liam whispered under his breath.
Shit. I quickly reached into my jacket’s inner pocket and retrieved both wedding bands. “No sweat.” I handed them over and caught Thalia, looking at me with eyes full of mirth.
I winked at her, and watched her whole face light up.
“Will you get a grip,” Liam whispered again.
“Hurry up,” I grumbled, which Mia heard and chuckled.
Not long after, Liam was kissing the happy blushing bride, and walking back down the aisle with her. Then it was my turn to walk Thalia down the aisle behind the happy couple. I held my arm out to her; she slid her arm through mine, and offered me a smile.
I grinned back, unable to get my vocal cords to work. I pulled her in closer as we walked down the aisle, the bottom of her dress wrapping around my legs, keeping us together.
No sooner had we reached Liam and Mia, the photographer was pulling us all away for photographs. Something I’d been looking forward to because it would mean I’d get Thalia in my arms again, even, if it were only for a short while.
The photographer had other ideas of course and kept dragging us apart; Thalia on one side of the branch, and me on the other. Why we had to be separated by a fucking tree branch was beyond me. I had to keep reminding myself that it was Liam’s day and to keep my mouth shut.
The photographer finally announced that he’d finished for now so with a huge sigh of relief I walked over to Thalia. She turned and watched me approach with a nervous smile on her lips.
Having her hands in mine made me want to jump for joy, and I realized I couldn’t wait another minute. “Please come and talk to me. I was going to wait until later, to get you alone, but I can’t. I need to talk to you now. Please come with me.”
She had tears in her eyes. “Phoenix, I’d go anywhere with you,” she whispered.
She used ‘Phoenix’. She hadn’t used Phoenix since I’d been a bastard to her. I moved in to kiss when we both froze, having heard my mom shouting at us.
Inhaling I caught her scent as I dr
opped my forehead against hers. “We can talk later, but please tell me you’re not going to leave me. I’ll go anywhere as long as we’re still together.”
“Oh Phoenix. I love you, and I don’t want to be without you. I really want to make this work between us.”
I took her face into my hands and brought her flush with my body, sealing our lips together. “I love you. I promise I’ll try not to be a bastard to you again.”
“Jack, put Thalia down.”
We both grinned as I turned to my mom, “Yes, ma’am.”
“And no sass. You’re not too old to go over my knee.”
The horror I felt at hearing my mom’s comment obviously showed on my face, because Thalia tried to hide her laugh behind her hands and wasn’t very successful.
“Thalia, honey. Would you mind popping into the house and the room Mia used? She forgot to slip something up her leg before she left.”
“Ah, okay,” Thalia said grinning as we watched my mom walk back the way she came.
With a grimace, I said, “I don’t want to know.”
Thalia rolled her eyes and giggled. “Get your mind off those body parts. Your mom was referring to something the groom removes with his teeth.”
I chuckled, and whispered in her ear, “I know what you mean now, but I can still remove your panties with my teeth.” I straightened up and checked my jacket covered my hardened cock, which was stiff as a fucking spike being so close to her; talking about her panties. “Fuck. You go do what mom asked, and I’ll go back over there. If I come upstairs with you, we won’t be seen for a while, and,” I pulled her in tight to me, “we will talk soon in private.”
After a quick kiss I watched her rush to the house while I walked back over to the wedding goings on, but detoured slightly when I spotted Ryder standing on the outskirts with a beer in hand.
Chapter 64
Thalia
As I rushed towards the house my heart felt light as a feather. The huge rock that had been holding it down had disappeared, and I wanted to jump for joy.
I knew it was my own fault we’d been apart these past few days. But I was hurt, and although my first instinct had been to throw myself at him, I couldn’t do that. I needed to think the whole thing through, which I’d done, constantly since I’d said goodbye to him in the forest.
Callie had also told me on more than one occasion how stupid I was being, because I had a hot-as-hell guy confessing his love for me and I was being a stubborn bitch! Eventually, I’d agreed, and then turned the tables on Callie and got her to confess what Reece had done to her. They hadn’t spoken since, and Callie was trying her best not to look in Reece’s direction, but Reece didn’t seem to have that problem, and openly stared at my friend. I started to grin, and decided I needed to talk to Phoenix and find out about Reece’s connection to Dahlia.
With my face displaying an even bigger grin than the bride, I dashed into the house and ran upstairs to the room Mia had dressed in and retrieved the bride’s garter from the dressing table. How the hell had she forgotten to pull that on? I rolled my eyes and exited the room.
Back downstairs, I pushed through the patio doors and came face-to-face with Rebecca.
“What the hell are you doing here? Haven’t you caused enough trouble?”
She just stood staring at me, which made me feel uncomfortable.
“I wanted to apologize. I shouldn’t have gone to Lewis,” she said looking around her.
I heard the words, but I didn’t believe her. She didn’t look sorry at all. I stayed silent to see what she said or did next.
“Mia invited me. She told me I could be a guest providing I apologized to you and Jack, and didn’t cause any more trouble…Jack’s waiting for you by the river.”
“What?”
“I apologized to him, and told him I wanted to apologize to you, so he asked me to point you in that direction,” she said pointing over her shoulder.
I frowned, not sure I believed her.
“Don’t be long. He looked nervous. I think he has something to ask you, so I wouldn’t keep him waiting. He’s across the water.”
With that, she started to walk off. “Wait.” I ran up to her. “Can you give this to Mia?”
“I can do that.”
“Thank you.”
She walked towards everyone, so she obviously hadn’t been lying about the invite to the wedding.
Ugh. Okay. I couldn’t see Jack so perhaps she was being truthful about that as well.
Changing direction, I picked up the front of my dress, and started to quickly walk, nearly running, in the direction that Rebecca had pointed. I still had my doubts, but looking back I could just make her out talking to Mia.
As I walked through the trees towards the river, I started to get a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I could hear the sound of the rapids as I walked closer, but as yet, I hadn’t caught sight of Phoenix.
What did he want to talk about? To ask me? While I was walking I just prayed I didn’t step on any snakes. I shivered at that thought. Then smiled when I remembered what had transpired after the rattler episode.
Not long after I broke through the trees and all I could see was the water swirling and crashing against the rocks and embankment. The noise was deafening. Liam had told me about this part of the river, about how ferocious it really was, but this was the first time I’d seen it. Rebecca had said Jack was across the river, and all I could see to get across was a small bridge that didn’t look too safe.
Could I do this? I moved slightly closer to the bridge and looked down. My heart felt like it was about to beat out of my chest. There was something wrong. Phoenix wouldn’t wait across the water for me when he knew how afraid I was of deep water.
Chapter 65
Jack
Since I’d watched Thalia walk up to the house, I hadn’t been able to remove the grin from my face.
I’d joined Ryder who was standing on the outskirts of the guests with a beer in hand. It was also the first time I’d seen him in a suit as well, which is what I’d put his annoyance down to. Until I’d stood next to him, that was, and noticed whom his eyes were focused on. Dahlia.
“Ryder, you need to stop with the scowling every time you see Dahlia. It’s going to piss Reece off.”
“If he’s with Dahlia, he shouldn’t have been spending his nights fucking your woman’s friend.”
I took a deep breath to try and calm down. I knew he had a thing for Dahlia, but he’d never touched her. He had it in his head that she was Reece’s, and until recently that’s what Donovan and me had thought, but now I wasn’t too sure.
“What’s going on with you and your girl? Did you finally pull your dick out of your ass and do something about her?”
I roared with laughter. He had a way with words.
“We’re back together, but we’ve not had a chance to talk properly with the wedding and all. I’m going to take her somewhere tonight so we can talk.”
He took a gulp of beer. “Are you sure talking’s a good idea, considering it’s talking that got you in the dog house to begin with?”
“Not this kind of talking.”
He paused with the bottle to his mouth, and raised an eyebrow. “The naked kind?”
“The proposal kind.”
Well, that was a first. The marine was speechless.
“Fuck.”
Maybe not.
“Hey Jack. Where’s Thalia?”
I turned and watched Mia walk towards us.
“She went inside the house to retrieve something for you to tease my brother with or so Mom said,” I said watching Mia blush.
She frowned, looking around her. “She didn’t bring it to me though, Rebecca did.”
I froze when I heard the bitch’s name. “Rebecca,” I managed to spit out.
“She came over to the house to apologize with her mother. My mom, of course, accepted. Eventually I agreed she could come to the wedding with her parents as long as she apologized to
you and Thalia, and promised not to cause any more trouble.”
That was so not good. I paced back and forth a couple of times, trying not to panic, but failing miserably. “I need to find Thalia,” I looked directly at Ryder.
“You said she went to the house so let’s start there,” Ryder said. “Mia, you go and tell Liam what’s going on. Check with Callie to see if she’s seen her, and then get Donovan and Reece to check around the barn.” Finished issuing orders, he turned and started heading towards the house.
“Ryder wait. When Rebecca brought me the garter,” she blushed, “I asked her where Thalia was and she said she’d gone off to meet Jack.” Mia had tears in her eyes.
“Okay, what’s with the church meeting?” Reece asked. We all turned to see him standing not too far away with Donovan and Callie, and between the two of them stood a nervous looking Rebecca.
I lost it. “Where the fuck is Thalia?” I was practically nose-to-nose with her as I yelled the question. I felt like strangling the bitch, and if anything had happened to her there’d be hell to pay.
“I told her you wanted to see her, and that you were waiting by the…river for her.”
“You fucking bitch,” I roared.
Rebecca burst into tears. “I’m sorry.”
I turned away before I did something I’d never done before; hit a woman.
“Which part, Rebecca?” Ryder asked.
“The bridge.”
God no. I turned and started running towards the bridge. The bridge that I’d been meaning to replace, but hadn’t gotten around to. I could vaguely hear Ryder yelling something about paramedics, but I wasn’t stopping for anyone. I needed to get to my girl, and just prayed she was still on land.
I ran so damn fast I had a hell of a stitch in my side, but as I broke through the trees, I came to a stop on the bank and shouted for her. I couldn’t hear a damn thing though with the racket the rapids made.
Walking closer to the bridge there was still no sign of Thalia, until I stood on the edge and looked down.
My heart dropped. “Thalia,” I shouted.
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