Parker Security Complete Series

by Camilla Blake

  Chapter 30

  Gwen

  We stayed on the Cape for a few more days. Both Brandon and Ashleigh worked in the public school system—he taught high school history and Ashleigh was a literacy specialist at the elementary school—so they were both off for the summer, which meant we were able to spend considerable time with them. We spent another day at the beach, then the following day did a trip to Provincetown, where we ate freshly made saltwater taffy and climbed the Provincetown Monument, then hung out at Herring Cove Beach for a bit, which was at the very tip of the Cape. We visited Commercial Street, which had a very similar feel to the Castro in San Francisco, and made me, quite unexpectedly, feel a pang of homesickness. I took some pictures and texted them to Austin, because I knew how much he’d like it out here, and Drew gazed around at one point and said, “I can definitely see why Ryan would vacation here.”

  The day before we were going to leave, I finally found myself alone with Brandon. If I was going to say anything to him, now would be the time to do it. I had the feeling that if I didn’t do it now, I probably never would.

  “It’s still so crazy to me that you’re here,” he said. “I never thought it would actually happen, that I’d see you here. Geez. You were just a kid when I left.”

  “I know. It was a while ago.” I shifted my weight, tried to ignore the slightly uncomfortable feeling in my gut. I should just keep my mouth shut and enjoy the reunion, do like Drew said and leave the past alone. But I couldn’t. “I do have a question for you,” I said slowly.

  “Yeah, of course. What’s up?”

  “Why didn’t you bring me with you?”

  Something like sadness washed across his face, which was then glossed over with a smile. “Gwennie,” he said. “I couldn’t have done that. I wanted to, trust me. I didn’t want to leave you behind, but that would be kidnapping. You were a kid. I could’ve been thrown in jail if I took you. And I knew that Grace was there and she would watch out for you. And Joshua wasn’t going to marry you off.”

  “But how do you know that?” I asked. “Did you talk to him about it?”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “He might’ve, if I hadn’t left.”

  Brandon looked at me and didn’t say anything for several seconds. “I understand if you’re upset with me,” he said. “You have every right to be. So much time has elapsed now that I sometimes think back on it and wonder if I could’ve done things differently, but I realize the only reason I’m thinking that is because time has made me forget how bad it was. I mean, not completely—nothing could make me completely forget that. But I do sometimes think back on it all, and Joshua doesn’t seem so bad. I know that’s not the truth, though, not at all. So I did what I had to do, and you did what you had to do. Unfortunately, sometimes those things don’t align how we’d like them to. And if I caused you any pain, Gwen, I am truly sorry and wish I could take it back. Because you know that isn’t what I wanted to do, ever.”

  I could tell he meant what he said, and that there had been a whole lot of stuff going on that I had no idea about. And I didn’t want to hold that against him, didn’t want to relive all that old pain and confusion I’d felt in the days, weeks, months, years even, after he had left.

  “I know you didn’t want to,” I said. “I appreciate you saying all that, though. This whole thing has just been... really confusing in some ways. I had always hoped that I’d see you again, but I also didn’t want to delude myself and I had kind of accepted that it probably wasn’t going to happen. Can... can I tell Grace? She’ll want to know.”

  “You can,” he said. “Maybe let her know that I’ll give her a call at some point. I would like to talk with her. Just because I haven’t been in touch doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about you guys all these years. That’s the real truth of it. Even if you tell yourself you’ve got to put someone out of your mind, you don’t really, because you’re focused on them, just in a different way.”

  I wasn’t sure I totally agreed with him about that, but I wasn’t going to argue. “Grace will be so happy to hear from you,” I said. “I can all but guarantee she’s going to want to come out for a visit.”

  “Really? She would travel all this way? That doesn’t sound like the Grace I remember.”

  “I’d say she’s changed now that Joshua is dead. I think she’d be more than happy to do a little traveling, to see a different part of the world. Especially if it meant that she was going to get to see you.”

  ***

  The goodbye was tearful, as I had sort of been expecting, but in a happy way, with lots of hugs and kisses and promises to stay in touch. Everyone had exchanged phone numbers. I barely used social media, but I was following Ashleigh’s Instagram and Brandon’s Twitter now.

  And then, just like that, we were back on the road, driving toward Boston, to the airport and the plane that would fly us back across the country to the other coast.

  “So... are we just supposed to get back to our regular lives?” I asked Drew as we sped along the highway. “I mean, am I just supposed to get in touch with Laurel and tell her that I’m back and I can start teaching classes again? Because that almost seems weird.”

  Things had, in effect, worked out how we’d wanted—we had found Brandon and Ashleigh. We had all reconnected and were now going to maintain regular contact. Both Drew and I had put any resentment toward them behind us. It felt as if something profound had shifted, something big. Yet now I was just supposed to get back to my regular life? That seemed like an impossible task.

  “Something like that,” Drew said. “I hear what you’re saying, though, I do. I don’t want to say it feels like a letdown, because it’s not at all, but it also doesn’t seem like we’re just supposed to go back and resume our normal lives.” He frowned, glanced at me, and then glanced away quickly when I met his eye.

  “What?” I asked.

  He opened his mouth but then closed it, made a fist and tapped it against the steering wheel. Still didn’t say anything, though, which only made my curiosity grow.

  “I get the feeling there’s something you want to say.”

  He gave me a sidelong look, a smile threatening to appear. And then I realized—he was nervous. Whatever he was about to say, or wanted to say, was making him nervous.

  “Just tell me!” I said with a grin. “I mean, come on—after everything we’ve been through, I really don’t think there’s anything you could say to me at this point that could surprise me.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, yeah? I bet what I’m thinking right now probably would.”

  Now I was really curious. “Try me.”

  He sucked in a big breath of air, his shoulders coming almost all the way up to his ears before they relaxed again. “Let’s get married.”

  I stared at him, then burst out laughing. “Ha ha. Yeah—right.”

  He laughed, too. “I know. But... actually I’m serious.”

  My laughter stopped and I looked away, out the windshield. I bit my lower lip, not sure if I should take the bait and believe him—what if I did that and he just started laughing and said it was a joke?—or laugh it off. I was inclined to do the latter, of course, but I’d be lying if I said my heart hadn’t leapt a little when he said it, joke or not.

  “Okay,” Drew said. “See, that wasn’t the response I was hoping for.”

  “No, it’s not bad! I’m just... kind of shocked.” And I was—that he would say something like that, because it seemed so completely out of character for him. It was strange that, technically, I hadn’t known him that long, yet I felt as if I knew him so well. But it was more like he was just being honest with me, that he felt like marrying me. And I could do with that information what I wanted—I could let it freak me out, I could tactfully tell him that I appreciated the sentiment but that it was way too early for talk of anything even remotely close to that, or I could tell him I felt the same way. In other words: Yes.

  “Let’s do it, then,” I said. “If you’re
really serious. If that’s what you want to do.”

  “It is. Which I know sounds crazy. But the past few weeks have been crazy. Unbelievable, almost. And so why not continue that just a little bit longer? I don’t know what it is, but I feel like I can just be myself around you, that you already understand who I am.” He shook his head, looking off into the distance with something of an expression of wonder in his eyes. “I know how crazy it sounds, I know that people would say I’ve got it bad and to wait until the honeymoon phase is over—all that shit—but I don’t care. Who cares what they think? Who cares what the rest of society thinks about how long you’re supposed to wait to advance to various milestones in a relationship?”

  I knew it was crazy, of course I did. But everything he was saying made sense. Had I ever felt anything remotely close to this with anyone else? No. Was it true that we hadn’t known each other that long, that our relationship had had a somewhat strange start? It was, but did it even matter? If anything, everything we’d already been through had just served to bring us together, make us even closer.

  And I knew some people who had done things the normal route—dated for a while, got engaged, then got married—and then ended up divorced a few years later. There was no guarantee, when it came to relationships, whether or not you were going to stay married. Sometimes, it seemed, marriage could change things for the worse, but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it simply wasn’t true in this case.

  Chapter 31

  Drew

  We had a small ceremony in the Marin Headlands, nothing fancy or too extravagant, just Gwen, myself, Cole, Jason, Lena, Ben, and their significant others for my side; Austin, Jill, Laurel, Grace on Gwen’s side; Ashleigh, Brandon and the kids, and a justice of the peace. Gwen wore a strapless ivory-colored dress, which she said she’d got at the same store she got the dress she wore on our first date, which I could still remember perfectly. She looked stunning, of course, but she could’ve worn a burlap sack and looked just as good to me. I had a suit on, minus the jacket, instead opting to wear a turquoise tuxedo vest.

  And I knew, as I stood there under the setting sun, holding Gwen’s hands in mine while the woman we had chosen to marry us spoke about what a gift true love is, that I had, without a doubt, made the right choice in asking Gwen to do this when I did. Sure, we could’ve dated for a few more years and then tied the knot if we wanted to, which would’ve been the more socially acceptable route, but it really didn’t matter to me what other people thought. There had definitely been surprise when I’d returned and told people we were getting married. Okay, there had been more than surprise—there had been outright disbelief—but that hadn’t lasted for too long. They knew it wasn’t something I would joke around about.

  After the ceremony, we went to Stella Brookshire’s parents’ house, where we were holding the reception. Stella was Cole’s girlfriend, and her parents owned one of the finest houses in the city. They were in Europe right now but had been more than happy to offer up the place, perhaps in anticipation of Cole becoming their son-in-law in the not too distant future.

  Cole and Stella had taken care of the catering, which was all set up when we arrived. The food was laid out buffet-style in the dining room, which had French doors opening into their backyard. Few people in the city could boast a backyard like the Brookshires could, with its landscaped gardens, Japanese maple trees, and bamboo grove.

  “Look at you,” Jason said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look happier.”

  I smiled, pretty sure I couldn’t remember a time that I had felt better. What had I been thinking all those years, spending so much time alone, not hanging out with people? Playing in a band anonymously with a fucking balaclava over my head? While it had all seemed to make perfect sense at the time, I could see now how much I had been missing out on, how much I had really closed myself off to the social part of life that I had dismissed as being unimportant.

  “Thanks, man,” I said. “I am happy. And I’m happy that you all could be here with us to celebrate.”

  “There’s really nowhere else we’d rather be. And, hey—I wanted to apologize.”

  I looked at him in surprise. “What the hell for?”

  “Just... just for being so against what you were doing. I don’t know why I was being like that, other than it is still painful to think about. But that was pretty selfish of me, because it’s not like I was the only person affected by this situation. Ryan was my brother, sure, but Ashleigh’s your sister, and now, because of you, I know a little bit more about my brother’s situation and why he did what he did. And even though that’s not going to change anything, it does help. So... thank you.”

  “I thought this was an apology,” I said, smiling. I patted him on the shoulder. “There’s no need for any apology, or any thank yous, either. Really. I mean it. I know you were just voicing your concerns because, well... you were concerned. As you should’ve been, because I know that the whole thing sounded crazy. But it worked out. Finally something worked out.”

  That wasn’t entirely true, though, I thought. The finally. Because that would insinuate that things hadn’t been working out, and as I looked around at all the people who had gathered here with us to celebrate our day, I realized that things had worked out for a lot of people. For the four I worked with, people I really did consider my family; things had worked out for them—for Jason and Emmy, Lena and Shep, Cole and Stella, Ben and Teagan. I could see how happy they all were. As happy as I felt now with Gwen.

  Everyone danced and drank and ate food. I was getting myself another glass of champagne when Ashleigh came over and stood next to me.

  “I really have you to thank for all of this,” I told her. “If Brandon’s uncle hadn’t gotten ahold of your journal so Gwen could find it, I might not have ever met her.”

  “See?” Ashleigh said, and she laughed, and I could tell she was a little buzzed from the champagne she’d been drinking. “Everything happens for a reason. I know you were all mad at me about the way I left, and you absolutely have a right to be, but—”

  I grinned. “I knew there was going to be a but.”

  “But,” she continued, “like you’re telling me now, if I hadn’t done that, we probably wouldn’t be standing here in this amazing house celebrating your marriage. Whose house is this, anyway? Because it’s seriously the most amazing place I’ve ever been in.”

  “The Brookshires. They’re clients, actually. And Cole is going out with their daughter, Stella.” I looked across the lawn to point them out, even though Ashleigh had already been introduced. Cole and Stella were messing around with the smartphone dock. Some eighties hits had just been playing, coming out of speakers strategically hidden up in the trees, making it feel as if the music was coming not just from around you but also above. I felt an overwhelming sense of well-being as I stood there and watched all of them, content because I could see how happy they were, both to be here and just to be with each other, and also I was standing there with my sister, having a conversation with her, this person I had thought I might never see again.

  And Gwen. She was talking with Jason, Emmy, and Grace, but she caught my eye when I was looking over there and she smiled. I winked at her and smiled back, then she came over. Ashleigh gave her a hug.

  “I’m so unbelievably happy for you guys,” she said, wiping at her eyes as her and Gwen pulled apart. “I really am. I’m sure a lot of people thought you were crazy for getting married so quickly, but I could tell the second I saw you guys together how perfect you are for each other—and, honestly, I didn’t think that you could be married soon enough.” She wiped at her eyes again. “I’m sorry—I usually never get emotional like this. But just the fact that this is happening, and then on top of it that Brandon and I and the kids get to be here...” She took a deep breath. “It’s really more than we could ever have asked for. Brandon and I were talking about it on the flight over, just the way things work out. And sometimes things don’t seem to work out at all and e
verything seems against you, but every so often things seem to fall in such perfect synchronicity that you just have to believe it was meant to be. That’s how I always felt with Brandon, and I know that you guys have that same feeling.”

  “I’m just so glad that both of you could be here,” Gwen said. “It’s like all these things are happening that I never thought would happen, but it really is the most incredible thing.”

  Luca started yelling for Ashleigh from across the yard, so she gave us both a hug before hurrying off, leaving Gwen and I standing there. This person I hadn’t even known four months ago yet was now married to.

  “So, I get to be Mrs. Gwen Parker now,” she said. “I like it. I never liked the last name Lillie, for obvious reasons. I had thought about changing it before, but then I’d have to come up with another one and I just couldn’t think of another last name. But Parker? I’ll take it. It sounds good.”

  “It does sound good,” I said, putting my hand on her back, feeling the warmth and energy radiating from her. She turned toward me and I leaned down and kissed her, slowly, extravagantly, thinking of all the things I was going to do to her—and hoped she would do to me—once we were alone.

  My wife. The phrase sounded completely foreign yet also exactly right, and I knew my sister was right: whether or not you believed in some higher power or a greater universal consciousness or whatever the hell you wanted to call it, there really were some things that were just meant to be.

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