Meredith looked up at the sun and then at Dickie and said something that caused the older man to put an arm around her shoulders. The bride to be rested her head on his shoulder briefly before the two of them started toward the beach.
From an outsider looking in, the whole scene might seem weird but to Greg he understood the whole story and was happy that Dickie could be there for the young woman on her special day.
Unafraid and glowing like the beacon from a lighthouse, Meredith stepped onto the boardwalk in a light crème colored sleeveless gown that looked like it might have been made from some type of crinkled linen fabric that hit her just below the knee.
It was unusual and stunning against her sun bronzed skin. Looking back quickly Greg watched as a grin broke out on Chuck’s face when his gaze met Meredith’s.
Love, happiness and forever were etched on the faces of the young couple and as Meredith made her way down the aisle Greg looked down at Carla standing next to him. On Carla’s face shown pride and a bittersweet smile. So Greg gently placed his hand on her shoulder to support her as she watched her only daughter be given away. She glanced at him again with a question in her eyes.
Leaning down Greg said quietly against her hair, “I have no doubt he sees her… she was right.”
With that Greg handed the soft hearted woman he loved another tissue. He no longer felt like he was competing with a dead man’s memory but instead hoped to win the same affection from Carla that she’d held for her first husband.
The fact of the matter was for the first time he felt how much the man had lost that day in addition to his life. This was one of those irreplaceable moments but if he were in Doug Johnson’s place, he’d be here. So there was no doubt in Greg’s mind that the man was here, in spirit if not in body.
The ceremony went off without a hitch and neither the bride nor the groom promised to obey the other. This caused several snickers including one from Carla who at some point during the ceremony had slipped her small hand into his.
When Nathan Patterson proudly announced the newly wedded couple the cheers from the crowd were heartfelt, loud and followed by laughter at Gretchen who was dancing around in her excitement.
Tables had been set up underneath a single large awning further down the beach. After congratulating the happy couple the guests walked along the beach and found a table to sit at for the reception. It was a slightly informal affair but beautiful and definitely represented the couple well. As evening fell paper lantern globes were lit which added to the romantic feel of the night.
Chuck and Meredith were all smiles and laughter as they made their way from table to table visiting with guests and family. After sharing a dance together on a makeshift dance floor that the guys had also put together because sand was a little tricky for Meredith to maneuver around on, Chuck danced with Gretchen while Meredith showed off her dancing skills with Tommy. Soon enough, the entire wedding party was up dancing. It was hard not to be taken in by the happy couple until you forgot yourself and joined right in on the fun.
Greg was able to get Carla to dance with him after she introduced him to her former in-laws who smiled approvingly at him. While he had hoped to hear from Sergeant Miller before the couple left for their honeymoon, it wasn’t looking like that was going to happen. Now that the money had been found and Jarrod had pled guilty to a lesser charge to avoid potentially doing even more time, Greg had hoped to get the funds released so he could present it to Chuck and Meredith as a wedding present.
Knowing that the majority of the funds were there would be a real relief to them both but knowing how the law worked Greg didn’t want to open his mouth until he had the money in his hands.
Though Carla refused to ride with him, Greg rode his new custom motorcycle with the group when they left the beach house to take the newly wedded couple to the airport. Carla instead drove her car that was loaded up with the luggage along with Gretchen and the boys who insisted on coming along to watch the airplanes.
Tommy had taught Dana to ride and she would be bringing Tommy’s bike back from the airport while he rode Chuck’s bike. Sherri had offered to keep both Melody and the newest addition to the clan while they were gone.
By the time the airplane actually taxied out for takeoff all three kids had to be woken up to watch. This resulted in Gretchen having to be carried out of the airport by her dad after insisting she was too tired to walk. Ben was also looking like he was about to fall over but Greg knew his shoulder couldn’t handle the stout little guy.
Saving him from having to admit that fact or even say anything, Bobby stepped up instead and hefted Ben over his shoulder. Matt had insisted on walking and by the time the group made it back to the beach house Greg insisted that the boys and Carla stay there with him for the night.
The boys were asleep in the spare room before the last car pulled out of the driveway. It had been a great day and he knew that Carla was tired so he offered her one of his t-shirts and she was also asleep within minutes.
He lay awake for a few moments enjoying the feeling of her leg draped over his and her slender arm across his chest. To have this every night was just a dream up to this point because it had never been the right time. Would it be the right time now?
When he awoke to the feel of her in his arms, it was even better than having fallen asleep with her. She had felt good in his arms even back in New York the first time she’d spent the night with him. This third time had him realizing that he couldn’t let her leave again with shoes in hand.
“Are you awake, beautiful?” he asked quietly.
“Yes… I was just lying here enjoying you before I get the boys up for breakfast,” she whispered against his chest. “You feel amazing… so warm.”
“You could have this every morning… all you have to do is say the word,” he replied. “Marry me, Carla. Give me a chance to make you happy.”
Sighing heavily she said, “If only it were that easy.”
“Why isn’t it that easy?” he asked.
Looking up at him she said, “Becca didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?” he replied.
“Chuck used the money from the sale of his first two paintings to pay off the mortgage on the house. I can’t just move them out and you in. The original lease on his apartment is up now and the landlord wants him out. Even Becca’s continued threats to take that judgmental bastard to court can’t buy Chuck more time now that the lease is up. I feel like I need to let them stay at the house as long as they want or need to after they spent every dime they had to help me out. Do you understand that?” she said. “It has nothing to do with not loving you and not wanting to be with you but I feel like I should either give them the house and find a place of my own first or… something.”
“Is that why you keep turning me down?” he asked in disbelief.
“That and…” she said and then quit talking and instead snuggled up closer to him.
“Tell me, Carla. Whatever it is I’ll do what I have to in order to be with you,” he persuaded.
“I know you’re not in law enforcement anymore but you’ve simply replaced one danger with another one and I can’t bear to lose another husband… I just can’t,” she explained in a rush.
“Hey… hey… what makes you think I’m in any danger?” he asked.
“Your motorcycle! You ride it really well, I can see that… but other drivers…” she said. “I saw that guy pull out in front of Bobby yesterday and I… if something happened to you,” she finished in a whisper.
“Life is one big game of chance, Carla. There are no guarantees. The only thing I can promise you is that as long as I’m on this earth and you want me… my heart is yours. How long I’ve got on this earth isn’t up to me. I have to believe that because there is no other explanation on why instead of killing me that bullet only messed up my shoulder and forced me out of a job. I should have died that night… you heard the doctor before they took me back to surgery,” he said. “That motorcycle…
those guys at the shop… they have given me another option besides carrying a gun and a badge. I like working at the shop and I love my bike. If you love me then you have to love my hopes, dreams and goals too… even if they change from time to time. I love you because you’re a middle aged mother of three… four… going to college for the first time.”
Even though Carla didn’t reply her heart was listening… he could feel it. He only hoped that for once instead of busting his balls in court, his sister’s chosen profession would benefit him.
Becca had more money than she knew what to do with. Yet instead of living in this amazing beach house, she was content to live in a little plat house that was smaller than the living room of her old apartment in New York. That concept amazed him more than her offer to sell him the beach house for what she still owed on it.
“Becca offered to sell me this place. In fact she offered me an amazing deal on it. I’m thinking about taking her up on it. I realize it’s only two bedrooms and not nearly big enough for two growing boys but do you think it might be big enough for Chuck and Meredith?” he asked.
“What are you saying?” she asked after rolling off of him and then poking him in the ribs.
“I’m saying if I bought this place for them, wouldn’t that make you guys even? A house for a house?” he laughed. “How cool would it be to look out your back door and see not only the ocean but the very beach you were married on?”
A beautiful smile lit up her eyes which then dropped to his mouth when he returned the gesture. He would never ever grow tired of her staring at his mouth as long as he lived. Rolling over on top of her, he then wedged himself between her shapely legs. Reaching down he pulled the t-shirt she’d worn to bed up so that he could taste one of her beautiful breasts. When he had her writhing beneath him, he pulled back from her.
“Is that a yes, Carla?” he asked before sucking a pebbled nipple back into his mouth.
“Greg… please…” she whispered.
“Answer me. If I take Becca up on her offer for this house and then give it to Meredith and Chuck, will you take me in then?” he whispered after releasing her breast again. “I’ll essentially be homeless if I do that.”
“Yes… yes I will take you in if you do that for them… now please don’t make me beg you for it,” she whispered against his good shoulder while trying to position his hips where she wanted him most.
Her squirming body beneath his own forced him to grit his teeth in order to keep from caving in and taking her. A firecracker was what she was. She wasn’t going to do that to him this time. Not until he had his say and got some answers from her… got a commitment in return.
“How do I know you won’t just kick me to the curb? I could end up paying rent on a park bench or for the basement apartment under a pier at the beach,” he teased. “If you married me... then I’d feel safer. How about it, Carla? I dare you… marry me.”
“I’ll marry you this afternoon if you will please just…” she whimpered against his neck while lifting her hips up toward him.
“Do you mean that?” he asked, forcing her to be still by putting more of his weight on her.
Raising her head up she looked first at his mouth and then into his eyes before kissing him. When she finished with him and laid her head back against the pillow she said, “You forget my father is a judge in this town and can perform marriages… so yes I mean it.”
“No big wedding… with all the fancy stuff women usually want?” he asked.
“The only thing I want right now is you between my legs,” she said. “If you want all that stuff since you’ve never been married before that’s fine but it’ll take longer.”
“God, Carla… hearing that kind of stuff coming out of your mouth makes me crazy,” he said, leaning his forehead against one slender shoulder.
“Oh yea? Prove it, Detective,” she whispered into his hair.
Moving forward he slid his good arm under her body and around her waist and lifted her bottom up to better position her to take him. Then in one steady move he pushed into her. Feeling how ready her body was for him had him nearly losing it.
Instead he again forced her to be still beneath him. Over and over again he brought her to orgasm while refusing to follow until he just couldn’t do it anymore… until there was no turning back. She was his… finally.
When the euphoria that was wrapped around his brain so tightly that it was making him dizzy began to fade, he could hear the television on downstairs. Carla must have heard it too at the same time. Instead of the reaction he expected out of her, which was to run out on him, she giggled softly against his arm.
“We’re guests in your house this time… I’d like eggs and toast and some coffee,” she said around her smile before kissing his arm.
After a quick shower he left her still lying there in his bed running her torturous hands down a body he wanted to taste yet again but couldn’t. Instead he headed downstairs to make her breakfast and coffee. God, he was whipped even worse than Chuck ever thought about being. The guys didn’t need to know that though. Then deciding to grow a set as Tommy had so delicately put it, he fished out his cell phone. While getting the coffee started he called Edna Jackson to get Nathan Patterson’s phone number and then immediately dialed it after hanging up.
When the judge answered his phone and Greg informed him who he was the old man said, “I was wondering when I’d be hearing from you. You didn’t waste any time did you?”
“No, Sir, she said yes and I’d like to take her up on that today if that’s possible. Just in case she changes her mind and decides to string me along a little longer instead,” he finished breathlessly.
“I’m going to have to make you wait for a couple more weeks myself then, Detective. For two reasons… one because Meredith will never forgive me if she isn’t here to witness it and second because having your anniversary the day after your stepdaughter’s anniversary is just weird, for lack of a better term,” Judge Patterson laughed. “Besides, I have a golf outing this afternoon. I’m doing all I can to fix my reputation since, unlike myself, a certain ruthless detective couldn’t let a criminal just walk away. Two weeks from today and she’s all yours. You also might want to go downtown and get a marriage license.”
“Yes, Sir, and thank you,” he replied and disconnected the call.
“I take it Daddy said yes?” Carla said, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind.
“Yea… in two weeks!” he muttered with disappointment thick in his voice.
“Good… that’ll give you time to ask the boys’ permission,” she said against his back.
“You’re going to make me work for this aren’t you?” he smiled, glancing back at her.
“Uh huh, now where’s that coffee?” she smiled.
The two weeks waiting for Chuck and Meredith to get back from their honeymoon in Florence was the longest two weeks of Greg’s entire life. Then knowing how anxious he was to get things moving along, Carla had insisted that he not say anything until after they’d had a chance to tell them all about their honeymoon. She was damn good at driving him crazy both in and outside of the bedroom.
Gretchen had begged to stay overnight with them so she could see her beloved Chuck. It felt like a year had passed while he, the boys and Gretchen waited for them to get back from the airport. Matt was happy to videotape Greg trying to make dinner while Ben ran head first into the oversized couch in the living room over and over again. Gretchen kept trying unsuccessfully to get Ben to stop it which seemed to have just the opposite effect.
Just as Greg thought he couldn’t wait another minute for them to get home, especially once dinner was finished, he heard Ben yell, “They’re here!”
Even Matt left him to go and record the newlyweds coming in the door instead. Forcing the eagerness Greg felt back down into the pit of his stomach and continuing to set the table while the happy couple and Carla made their way into the house was a lesson in self-control. Would Chuck and Meredith be h
appy for them? Would they accept him into their family? Everyone knew about it but them. Carla was obviously growing a little nervous at their reaction too based on the look she gave him upon entering the kitchen to help him finish up dinner.
The noise from the front of the house had grown to a nearly deafening level when he suddenly heard Gretchen say excitedly, “Mr. Sanders and Ms. Carla are in love, my Chuckie. I heard Mama and Aunt Becca talking about it. I wasn’t listening in… I just heard Mama talking instead of the television and that’s what they said.”
“You’re being nosy, Gretchen!” Ben said angrily.
“Shut up Bennie! I wasn’t talking to you!” Gretchen said angrily.
“Hey, both of you knock it off,” Chuck said. “Gretchen, we already knew that but you were being nosy and I’m pretty sure both your mama, Ms. Becca and Ms. Lilly have talked to you about that. Now you go on in there and apologize to Mr. Sanders and Ms. Carla.”
Greg and Carla stared at each other nervously until Gretchen appeared in the kitchen with Ben right behind her. Ben stood rigidly behind the little girl with his arms crossed over his body wearing a look that said he was clearly in the right while Gretchen was very, very wrong. Then he loudly said to Carla, “Gretchen has to apologize for telling Meredith and Chuck about Mr. Sanders wanting to marry you!”
Chapter Fourteen
“Is that true?” Meredith asked Carla.
“Why don’t we sit down and have some dinner and talk about it,” she replied.
“Oh, Mama! That’s so great! I may owe Charlie a hundred large now but I don’t care! I’m so happy for you!” Meredith squealed while hugging Carla tightly.
Glancing at Greg, Carla watched Chuck smack him on the back as a big grin spread across his face. “Congratulations, man! When’s the big day?”
“Come on let’s sit down and eat while we talk,” Carla again interjected.
Two hours later a decision had been made to go ahead and move Chuck and Meredith into the beach house the following weekend. This would give Greg and Carla a week to settle in together before actually exchanging vows. The weekend after that would be used to finish preparations for the auction event the group had been planning and organizing. Then the last weekend of the month was the actual date for the dinner and raffle of the painting.
Unexpected Ride Page 18