All Mine

by Lisa Renee Jones

***

  Since dinner isn’t until six, we pretty much have a lazy morning and afternoon, and come five o’clock, I’m in black dress pants and black sweater, and Carrie is in a skirt with a red sweater, and thick tights I complain about. “I can’t get to you,” I say, pulling her to me and cupping her backside under her skirt.

  “It’s Christmas dinner. You don’t need to get to me. And by the way, you’re staying at Gabe’s tomorrow night, right?”

  “What? Why?”

  “We can’t see each other the night before the wedding.”

  “I don’t approve. No. I’m not staying at Gabe’s.”

  “It’s a luck thing.”

  “We don’t need luck. I don’t believe in luck.”

  “Okay,” she says. “Tradition.” She twists out of my arms and grabs her coat. “You’re staying with Gabe tomorrow night. This is not up for discussion.”

  “Your father will be here.”

  “And that means what?”

  “You’ll need me.”

  “I always need you,” she says. “Which is why we’re doing tradition right.”

  We argue this point on the ride to Cat and Reese’s and it’s pretty clear that I’m losing. I’m staying with Gabe. We arrive at Cat’s to have Gabe answer the door. “Merry Christmas and dad struck again.” He toasts us with his glass and turns and walks into the apartment.

  Carrie and I give each other a look and head inside. We find Reese, Cat, and Gabe, at the island, staring at a box. “It came right before you arrived,” Cat says, looking at me. “From dad.”

  “Is it a Christmas gift?” Carrie asks.

  “He doesn’t do gifts,” Gabe says, finishing off his drink. “Mom did the gifts.”

  “Well, open it,” Carrie nudges.

  “That’s what I said,” Reese interjects. “They won’t do it.”

  “Nope,” Cat says. “Let’s eat.”

  “And drink,” I say. “Definitely drink.”

  “Thirty-year scotch this way,” Gabe says, motioning me toward the other room, obviously wanting to talk.

  “You have to open it,” Carrie says, grabbing my arm. “All of you. Get it over with so he isn’t looming over the evening. All of you, right now. Open it.”

  I know Carrie. We’re opening that box. I walk to the island and grab the damn box. “I’ll do it.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  Carrie

  I watch as Reid opens the box from his father and we all wait for whatever nasty blow awaits inside, most likely something similar to the whiskey he’d brought us with a double meaning. Reid pulls out a Styrofoam package from inside the box. He sets it down and opens it and we all gasp. Inside is a stunning crystal star. My eyes go to my ring and then to Reid’s face.

  “It’s mom’s tree topper,” he says. “We haven’t seen it in years.”

  “She got it in Italy,” Cat says. “I’ve wanted this for so long. I asked him for it.”

  Reid and Gabe exchange looks, but neither of them have any warmth about them. “Maybe it’s a peace offering,” I suggest. “Maybe he’s feeling human and alone on Christmas.”

  “He’s not human,” Gabe says. “Not even close. I wouldn’t read too much into this.”

  “Shall we put it on the tree?” Reese asks, looking at his wife.

  “Yes. Please.”

  “Do you want to invite him to dinner?” he asks.

  All three siblings say no at once and that hurts my heart. Their father is not a good person, but Christmas is not a time to be alone. Reid kisses me. “I’m going to help get the star up.”

  “Your ring!” Cat exclaims rushing around the counter to my side. “Oh my God,” she says again, taking my hand. “I know what this symbolizes.” Her eyes go to Reid’s. “All that time I thought you were cold, but you were just hurting inside.”

  “I’m here now,” he says “Right here, with you all.”

  “I know,” she says. “And I’m glad.” She looks at the ring. “You know what it means, right, Carrie?”

  “Yes. I know. I’m honored to wear this ring.” She hugs me and it’s not long before we are drinking eggnog, staring at the crystal star on top of the tree. There are smiles and tears, then gifts and food. There is so much family and goodness in this room.

  The evening is wrapping up and Reid and I are standing in the kitchen, making Baileys and coffee when Reid’s cellphone rings. He pulls it from his pocket and looks at me. “Your father.”

  “That’s weird,” I say. “I’m afraid to know what this is.”

  He answers it on speakerphone. “James,” he greets.

  “Just calling to tell you Merry Christmas and to assure you I’ll be at the wedding with nothing but support. I love Carrie. I’ve fucked up a lot but I’m not making this one of those fuck-ups. You take good care of her and all will be good between us.”

  “Let’s call that a deal. Merry Christmas.”

  “Merry Christmas, dad. I love you,” I chime in.

  “Merry Christmas, daughter. I love you, too. I’ll see you both tomorrow.” He hangs up.

  Reid pulls me close and hugs me. “Our wedding will be perfect.”

  And I do believe it will be.

  ***

  I oversleep the next morning and jolt out of bed. Reid tries to grab me and pull me back but I don’t let him. “I have my dress fitting. I’m late. So very late.” I dart toward the shower. “Can you call Mia please?!” I dart for the shower and I’m suds-ing up when Reid appears in the doorway. “Mia says you have time. She pushed everything back two hours.”

  “Oh thank God.”

  He tries to enter the shower and I press my hand on his chest. “No sex. Not until tomorrow night.”

  “What? No.”

  “It’s bad luck,” I say. “Really bad luck.”

  “I have never heard of bad luck sex before the wedding.”

  “You can’t even stay here tonight.”

  He climbs into the shower and presses me against the wall, his thick cock pressed between my thighs. “Tonight is a long way off.”

  “Reid,” I whisper. “We can’t.” But his mouth is already on mine, and he is touching me, this man that is going to be my husband. Just thinking about being his wife undoes me. I can’t hold back. I kiss him back and we are lost in each other, wild, crazy. He’s pressing inside me and pumping hard and fast. It’s like we feel like this is the last time we will ever fuck when we have a lifetime. But it’s not about this being the last time. It’s about that new bond we’re about to seal, that ultimate commitment.

  When it’s over, we sink to the floor of the shower and we end up laughing and talking. I’m in heaven with this man and a shower that’s getting cold, but with the promise of a steamy hot wedding night.

  ***

  Hours later, I stand in the fitting room of the boutique with Cat and Mia, elated over how stunning the dress looks now perfectly fitted. Cat walks up to me and hands me a jewelry box. “Something borrowed. This was my mother’s. I’d be honored if you wore it and so would she. She so wanted Reid to be the Reid he is now with you. And it matches your rings.” She opens the box and displays a gorgeous ruby and diamond necklace.

  I gasp and so does Mia at just how gorgeous it is. “It’s stunning,” I say. “And yes. Please. I’d love to wear it, but you keep it until right before the wedding, please. Keep it safe.”

  “You keep him safe.”

  “I will,” I promise, and I reach for her to hug her.

  “No!” Mia, Cat, and the seamstress shout. “Don’t mess up the dress.”

  We all laugh when a male voice fills the room. “Wow. Wow. Wow.” My eyes lift to the mirror to find my father standing there. “My daughter is gorgeous.”

  I try to turn and again Mia, Cat, and the seamstress shout, “No!”

  “I’ll come to you, honey,” my father says and in just a few steps he’s standing by my side. “Even prettier up close.”

  “Thank you, dad. Let me go change and we can ta
lk. That means you have to go out of the room.”

  He holds his hands up. “Got the message.” He backs out of the room and the seamstress and Cat both help me out of my gown. A few minutes later, I’m back in jeans and a T-shirt. I hug Mia and Cat. “I need to spend some time with my father. I’ll call you both later today.” I look at Cat. “Reid is going to try to stay at the house tonight. Can you and Gabe work some magic and get him out of there?”

  Cat laughs. “Oh yes. Two siblings against one always wins. Even against Reid Maxwell himself.”

  “I know you can do it,” I say, and hurry forward.

  I find my father in a chair in the store. He quickly stands up when he sees me. “How did you know I was here?”

  “Your future husband told me. We shared coffee and talked. And I met the furry kids, as Reid called them.”

  I smile. “I love that he called them that.”

  “He was very human.”

  “Very human?”

  “He’s a beast in war and business. Today I finally saw him as a real person. The person marrying my daughter.” He wraps his arm around me. “Do brides eat? I hear there is starvation before weddings or that is what Stella told me.”

  “Salads and water and is Stella here?”

  “She is, but she thought we needed some private time.”

  And so we do. We share lunch and talk for two solid hours about his new life and mine. For the first time in longer than I’d realized, I feel connected to my father. In my heart, I want this for Reid with his father, but I know that’s not possible.

  “Reid’s father is horrible. He knows it. It hurts him and his siblings. Don’t make them him. They aren’t. You attacked their livelihood and you went at Reid personally. He’s a survivor and why would you want me with anyone who isn’t?”

  “Message received. He’ll be my son even if he hates me like he does his own father, but I’ll make him like it.”

  I laugh and he walks me home, leaving me for the rest of my wedding eve.

  I walk into the door and Reid is there with Gabe by his side. “I’m getting him out of here,” he says. “We’ll wrestle him out if we have to.”

  Reid grabs his overnight bag. “I’m going. I don’t like it, but I’m going.”

  He walks to me, drops his bag, and tangles his fingers in my hair, kissing me, a long, deep, passionate kiss. “We’ll have phone sex tonight. Technically that won’t break your rule.”

  I laugh and Gabe says, “Hey, hey, hey. My ears. And if you do, shut the damn bedroom door.”

  “We aren’t doing that,” I say. “No sex at all until tomorrow night.”

  Reid presses his cheek to mine. “We’ll see about that, wife.”

  My stomach flutters and he pulls back to look at me. “Just testing how that feels on my tongue. And I like it.” He winks and heads for the door.

  A few beats later, I’m alone for my wedding eve, but only for the night. After tomorrow I will never be alone again. I’ll be that man’s wife. And he will be my husband.

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  Carrie

  Once Reid has left the apartment, Cat and Mia show up and bring gifts, dinner, and support. We chat for two hours, and then I’m alone. When I finish my pre-wedding mask and a hot bath, I snuggle into the empty bed that is only empty until Kesha and Nikki join me. My cellphone rings, and with a glance at the caller ID, I see it’s Reid calling, so I pick-up.

  “Who wrote these traditions?” he demands. “Because the groom being miserable in a bed that isn’t his own sucks.”

  I laugh. “Like you haven’t stayed in a million hotels over your career.”

  “And wished for my own bed every time and that was before you were in it.”

  “This is good luck. Play the game.”

  “There are plenty of games we can play that don’t involve us in different beds.”

  I laugh. “And we have the rest of our lives to play them. Go to bed, Reid. You need your beauty sleep.”

  “What are you saying? I look like shit or something?”

  “Stop,” I laugh again. “Go to bed, my future husband. I need my beauty sleep.”

  “You’re beautiful already, baby,” he says. “Let me come home.”

  “No. I love you. Goodnight. I’m hanging up.” And I do. I hang up.

  My phone buzzes with a text: I love you, too, and I cannot wait to call you my wife.

  I text back: I cannot wait to call you my husband.

  ***

  I wake on the morning of my wedding to another call from Reid. “I miss you and home.”

  “We miss you, too,” I say as Nikki pants in my face.

  “I’ll see you soon. I love you,” His voice is a low, raspy tone.

  “Yes,” I say softly, my heart squeezing with the love I have for the man. “I’ll see you soon and I love you, too.”

  We disconnect and my nerves are all over the place. I try to control them with a run that Nikki comes along for. It doesn’t work. I’m a mess. Cat and Mia are back at my apartment not long after I arrive and we are off to the spa. My father picks me up there and we have coffee and it’s good. It’s really good.

  “Where are you going for your honeymoon?” he asks.

  “Honeymoon? I don’t know. I guess we aren’t. This happened so fast I never even thought about it. As it is, we ended up with forty guests, cake, flowers, and a dress all in ten days.”

  “Well, if Reid is worth the salt he now seems to be, I suspect he has a plan.”

  I relax into that statement. He’s right. Reid will have a plan and that my father of all people knows this makes this moment all the better.

  ***

  I arrive at Rockefeller Center with Cat in a hired car. The venue has a private room set-up for us, and my seamstress and Mia, as well as a make-up artist, are all waiting for me. “Are you ready?!” Mia exclaims when she sees me like she hasn’t spent the better part of the past twenty-four hours with me and this is her first chance to see how I’m feeling.

  “I’m so ridiculously nervous,” I say, rubbing my cold hands together, and letting someone, I have no idea who, take my coat. “Why am I so nervous?”

  Cat laughs. “Wedding jitters are normal.” Mia hands me a glass of champagne. “Drink. This will calm your nerves.”

  “Or make me fall into the room.”

  “You have time.”

  “Before I fall?” I tease.

  “We won’t let you fall,” Cat promises, pointing at a chair next to the make-up artist, where I sit down and she hands me the champagne. “I’m about to get married to the biggest asshole and the best man I’ve ever known.”

  Cat giggles. “That’s quite the way to describe him.”

  “The love of my life,” I say, tipping my glass up.

  There’s a knock on the door and Cat rushes in that direction. “Oh yes!” she exclaims to whoever she greets. “Thank you!” She turns to face me with a white box in hand. “Your bouquet.” She hurries forward and sets it in my lap. I open it to find the lily and white rose mixture I chose and it’s perfection. Just the way everything should be the day you marry the love of your life.

  Cat kneels in front of me. “I’m going to give him this.” She reaches into the pocket of the jacket she’s wearing and holds up an envelope that reads, “To my son, Reid. To be read on the day you get married.”

  ***

  Reid

  I have no fucking clue how I make it through the day. I’m a nervous wreck and I don’t get nervous. I pace the small room they have set-up for me, and Gabe pours me a shot of whiskey. “The good stuff. I brought it to calm you the fuck down.”

  I take the glass and down it when there’s a knock on the door. I’m so damn anxious that I pretty much bolt in that direction and open it to find my sister. “Is everything okay?”

  “Of course, it’s okay. I have something for you.” She motions me inside and I back up.

  She walks in the door, shuts it, and holds up an envelope with script
in my mother’s handwriting scrawled across it. My throat thickens. I can’t breathe. I take it from Cat and walk to the window overlooking the rink and the tree. “What the hell is it?” Gabe asks.

  “A letter from mom to Reid, for the day he gets married,” Cat says.

  I don’t turn around. I stare at the script and stare some more. The idea of opening it tears at my heart. “I’ll open it tonight,” I say turning to face Cat and Gabe.

  “It’s meant for before you say your vows,” Cat insists.

  “I need to wait,” I say. “If I read this now—” My voice cracks, when my voice never fucking cracks. I stuff the letter inside my jacket. “I’ll read it tonight.”

  “Read it now,” Gabe insists. “If that’s what Cat believes mom wanted. Read it now.”

  “It is what she wanted. She left me a letter that gave those instructions.”

  I inhale a hard-earned breath again and let it out. I pull the letter from my pocket and turn away from both of them again. Somehow I get the envelope seal lifted and I pull the piece of paper out of the envelope to read:

  My dearest son Reid,

  You were the first child I brought onto this earth, and then you became my world. In you I saw the possibilities, the purpose, the reason I was on this earth myself. You, my son, shifted something inside my soul. As I watched you grow, I saw the future. Life hardened you, though, somewhere along the way and I fear I failed you, that I didn’t nurture you enough. That I didn’t love you well enough or good enough.

  My greatest wish for you today is that you have found that love in a wife you will cherish. That she is your best friend. That she is your partner in life. That friendship you share is a gift. Protect it, nurture it. Never take it for granted and remain loyal and faithful.

  If you are reading this, then I’m not with you on this very special day, but know that I wanted to be, that it would have been, and is through this letter, my greatest pleasure to be here with you, if not in body, in spirit. I’m here. I love you. I’m officially welcoming a new daughter into our family.

  I’m cheering from heaven with the joy of you finding love. It’s all that I have wanted for you.

  Love,

  Mom