“What is this?” I didn’t have the patience for their games. If this was some sort of scare tactic to get Julia to give up on seeing Johnny and come back to them, I was done.
“A huge standoff happened while you were in Florida.” I didn’t know how he knew we were in Florida, but that was beside the point.
“What does that have to do with us?”
John looked at Julia. “This happened in Mexico. They’d been looking for these guys for years, and they finally received a tip on where to find them. They surrounded the house when gunfire started coming from inside. The police had no choice but to open fire back. All of them were killed.”
Julia looked up from the papers. “Are these the guys?”
John nodded. “They’re all dead. The rest are locked up. The head honcho was in the house, as was his second and third in command. There’s no one left. It was a huge victory for law enforcement.”
“Who called in a tip?”
The pieces of what he was saying were all falling into place. This must be the group Johnny had been talking about. They were all dead? Johnny’s dream had come true.
“I saw your brother last week.” They couldn’t have shocked me more if they started spewing green stuff and had their heads turn completely around.
Julia gasped. “What? Johnny did this? But he said . . .”
“Your father did it,” Aileen interrupted. “He convinced Johnny to tell him the truth. He called in his contacts and gave them the tip that took down the entire group.”
“Johnny is free?” Julia jumped up. “You did this for him?”
“He’s not free yet,” Aileen explained. “But it’s in the process. While you were gone, we met with the DA down there. They have to verify some things, but we’re hoping it will be soon.”
Julia turned back to me. “Carter. He’s going to be free! It’s over! It’s really over!” I stood and folded her into my arms.
“Thank you,” I mouthed to them over her head. They both nodded.
“We also wanted to tell both of you how sorry we are. Julia, we completely overreacted. We’re determined to make things right with both you and Johnny.” John looked at me. “Your words caused us to re-evaluate some things, namely our priorities. What you said was right. Thank you for having enough gall to stand up to us, and for being there for Julia. We have a lot to make up for.”
Julia turned to look at them, her mouth open and her eyes wide. “Really?”
“We were wrong to do what we did with Johnny all those years ago, and we just repeated the mistake with you, Julia. Carter, the reason I liked you from the time you walked into my office is because you remind me of myself at your age. Now, I know that you’re a much better man than I’ve ever been. You have true character, son, and I’m glad that you and my daughter have found each other.”
“Do you want to tell them?” I whispered in her ear. She nodded.
“Carter and I are engaged,” she announced, holding her hand out for them to see.
Aileen started crying immediately, pulling Julia into a hug. I could hear her whispering how sorry she was over and over into Julia’s hair.
“Congratulations, son. I couldn’t be happier about that.” John shook my hand, then pulled me in for a quick hug. “There’s something else I wanted to ask you.” He cleared his throat. “Both of you.”
Julia pulled away from her mom. “I want to ask both of you to come back to GSJ Designs. Carter, I think we can call your internship over, and I’d like to offer you a job. Julia, you and Carter can work together just like your mom and I have our entire lives. It’ll be a real family affair.”
Julia’s eyes met mine across the room. Is that what we wanted? After everything, did we want to work there? I wasn’t so sure.
“I appreciate both of you stopping by here and giving us this great news about Johnny. We’re happy where we are in our lives right now. We’ll talk about your offer and let you know.” John looked shocked, but when I saw Julia beaming, I knew I’d said the right thing. They might’ve finally admitted they were wrong, but John, at least, still liked things to go his way. Old habits died hard, I supposed. It was a beginning, though there was a long road ahead. Words were just that: words. They needed to prove to me that they weren’t going to hurt my girl again. That, and I enjoyed working with Colorado Cares and thought maybe that was where I belonged, alongside my beautiful fiancée.
Julia paced back and forth, wringing her hands. I knew it was futile to ask her to stop or to come here and sit with me. She was a wreck. The day was here. After two months of paperwork, court dates, and lawyers, testimony and evidence analyzation, Johnny was being released. Her parents were sitting across from us, neither of them saying a word. Things had been better with them over the last few months, but not perfect. I had the feeling Julia was going to make them work hard for their relationship with her, and I was glad. For her, she wanted to see if they accepted Johnny back into their family and how that dynamic would change things. I didn’t blame her.
Spring was in the air, and I was glad. I’d frozen my tail off with my first Colorado winter, and though it wasn’t nearly over, there were times we could feel a warm breeze and know we would see better weather soon. Learning to ski (or fall) had become an enjoyable activity Julia and I had started doing together. With fewer work hours for both of us, she’d been introducing me to the Colorado activities.
We’d both decided against going back to work for GSJ. My internship was up last month, and I officially took an architect position with Colorado Cares. It wasn’t nearly as much money as I would’ve made with GSJ, but that was okay with me. Julia and I were working side-by-side almost daily, and I loved every second of it. We still spent a few Saturdays a month volunteering on building the houses, and we’d met more amazing families like the Williamsons that our jobs had directly affected. It was beyond rewarding.
A door buzzed, and Julia jumped, turning towards the sound. Her parents stood, and I followed. Johnny walked out of the door, wearing a pair of dark jeans and a black shirt Julia had bought for him in Colorado. He had a leather jacket over his shoulder, and he held a bag of what must have been his personal belongings. His hair was way too long, and he had a full beard, but I knew Julia would take care of that immediately.
He dropped the bag and caught Julia, turning her in a circle as she sobbed. “Johnny! You’re out. It’s over. It’s all over. You can come home now.” We’d decided to offer Johnny a bedroom in my apartment, since all the guest room held was Julia’s shoes. No kidding.
I saw the tears streaking down his face. I remember Julia saying she’d never seen him cry in her life. “Jules. I can’t believe it.” I knew the feeling he was having. Well, okay, not really. But I knew the feeling of wanting to sob over the love this woman had for me. She did everything with all of her heart.
He put her down and reached over and shook my hand. “Carter. Great to see you, brother.” We hugged tightly. “Thank you for taking care of her.” I nodded, emotion too thick in my throat to answer.
The Gibbons stepped forward and hugged their son, which made Julia sob harder. I held onto her shoulders as she watched her family reunite; exactly what she’d wanted for all of these years.
“Let’s get out of here,” Johnny said, slinging his arm over Julia’s shoulder. “What do you say, pipsqueak?”
Julia smacked him. “Oh no, you don’t.”
“What?” Johnny grinned. “I can’t call my baby sister pipsqueak?”
“No. No, you can’t.” She didn’t mean it, and we all knew it.
“First order of business. Some real damn food. Anyone object?”
Julia laughed. “We’ll get you whatever you want to eat if you promise that the second order of business is cutting this mop you call hair and this monstrosity of a beard. You’re a real citizen again. Let’s make you look like one.”
“Deal.” Johnny rubbed his beard. “I might miss it.”
“I won’t,” Julia said. She reached
up and rubbed my chin. “See Carter’s? That’s acceptable. Looking homeless isn’t.”
Johnny grabbed her hand. “What is this, little sister?” He grinned over at me, and I nodded.
“I’m getting married,” Julia said. “The wedding is going to be in Florida in a few months. Want to come?”
“Do I want to come? Hmm, let’s see. I thought I was going to look at the walls of a cell for the next nine years, and now you’re asking me if I want to go lay on a beach and look at chicks in bikinis? No, I don’t think I can make it.”
We all laughed, reaching the SUV we’d rented from the airport. While the Gibbons family had a long way to go, I knew they were on their way.
“I’m in Florida,” I explained. “There’s a lot that has happened over the last few months. I know I haven’t talked to you since I moved, and the whole story is for a different time. But most important, I met someone, and we’re getting married. That’s what I’m doing here. I wanted to know if you were interested in coming to our wedding. It’s going to be out on Sanibel at the Beach Club, so I—-”
“Carter, I’m so happy for you,” Ronan interrupted. “I can’t wait to hear all about what’s been going on in your life over the last year. Sounds like it’s been a busy one. Thank you so much for calling to invite me. I’d love to come and meet your beautiful bride.”
I knew how Ronan felt about Sanibel, and the Beach Club in general, but I’d also felt like it would be wrong of me not to at least ask if he wanted to come. Most of it was Julia’s idea, my better half. I’d been torn about wanting to see him, especially with it being my parents’ happy place. But when Julia had reminded me that though Ronan wasn’t my blood, he’d been my family for a long time and families forgave each other, I knew she was right. I couldn’t forget what he’d done, but I had to be the bigger person and move on. That meant allowing him to be a part of the best day of my life.
“I’ll send you an email with the time of the ceremony. It’s small, just family and friends.” So you’ll be very uncomfortable, I wanted to say.
“Great. Thank you, son. I appreciate it.”
I wanted to tell him not to call me son, but it wasn’t worth the effort of getting upset. I knew just because we didn’t share blood didn’t stop him from caring about me, but it was just hard. Damn hard.
“I’ll see you this weekend, Ronan.” I hung up, and Julia smiled.
“I’m proud of you,” she said. “That was the right thing to do.”
I blew out a breath. “If my parents can handle it, I can. Right? Anyway, I’m not going to stress over it. This is our day. Yours and mine. In two days, you’ll be Mrs. Carter McIntyre.”
“I can’t wait,” she said, holding out her hand. “I can’t wait to see that band there that shows everyone I’m yours.” Julia picked up my left hand. “And the one that will be right here on your finger. We’re getting married, Carter! Isn’t that crazy awesome?”
“It’s beyond awesome.” We were sitting on the porch in the condo we’d rented for our time here. We were going to stay here for a few days after the wedding before heading back to Colorado. We’d flown in for Hayden and Karrie’s wedding in Fort Lauderdale last week, and we’d been here ever since.
“Let’s play a game,” she teased.
“Now what?” It was so fun playing with her, and the prize was always worth it.
“It’s called, ‘What’s This Song?’” We’d been having a lot of fun choosing music for our wedding and reception, and I was getting pretty good at it.
“I like this game,” I rubbed my hands together. “What do we get?”
Julia went to the mini bar and took out two shot glasses and a few small bottles of liquor. “If you get it wrong, you have to take a shot. And you don’t get to pick what it is.”
Uh oh. This reminded me of another night, long ago. “Is this a good idea?”
She nodded. “It is. Because even if we don’t remember tonight, I’m going to take advantage of you and know that I did and it’ll be okay.”
I laughed. “Good plan. Okay, you go first.”
Julia grabbed her phone. “Song title and artist. And you get the first ten seconds of the song lyrics to guess.”
Oh boy. This could get hard, fast. “Ready?”
I nodded. “Ready.”
The chords of the song started, and I knew immediately it wasn’t her favorite, Carrie Underwood. It was a man, and it was country. She’d played this song and said she wanted it at our reception. His name was . . .
“Brantley Gilbert, The Best of Me,” I said, slamming my hand down. “YES!”
She laughed. “Yup. You save yourself from drinking this time. You pick one.”
I picked up my phone and searched. I couldn’t do the same ones she always heard me play. I hit a song and sat back, knowing she was losing. She tapped her fingers on her lips, swaying her body from side to side.
“It’s . . . Coldplay . . . that guy’s voice is predictable. The song is . . . Sparks!”
“Damn! I thought for sure I had you with that one.”
“Maybe we’ve just had enough time listening to each other’s music to start learning them,” she said. “I have another fun idea.”
“A different game already? You have game ADHD.”
Julia shrugged. “I want whatever is going to get you naked the fastest.”
“Well, honey, all you have to do is ask and that can happen.”
She shook her head. “Let’s play Truth or Dare.”
“We better go inside for this,” I said. “I don’t think the rest of the beach wants to see what I’m going to do to you during this game.”
We moved our game inside, and needless to say, there were two winners that night.
Today was the day I was marrying Julia. I’d never looked forward to something so much in my life. I straightened my tie in the mirror, grinning at myself when I remembered Julia tying my bow tie in the dressing room what seemed like forever ago. She’d purposely wanted me to have one for our wedding, for memories’ sake.
“You’re . . . Ronan is here,” Hayden said, interrupting my daydream. “He wants to see you for a second. I told him you’d come out. I didn’t think it was a good idea for him to come in.” His eyes slid over to my dad, then back to me.
I nodded. “Okay. Did my mom see him?”
“Your mom was talking to him. I’m pretty sure Blake was purposely staying away.” I looked back over at my dad, who was helping Jackson with his jacket while Gretchen bounced on her heels in excitement next to them. She took her role as the flower girl very seriously.
Sighing, I turned back to Hayden. “Okay, I’ll go see him. Thanks, man.”
The second I stepped out of the door and heard it click behind me, I saw Ronan turn the corner and walk towards me. What had he been doing, waiting in the shadows?
He smiled as he reached me. “Carter,” he said. “You look so handsome. I can’t believe you’re getting married.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. Julia had helped me so much with coming to terms with what had happened and deciding to move forward, but still felt awkward having him here with my mom and dad.
He reached his arms out and grabbed me in an embrace, surprising me. He’d never been a very affectionate person. I could probably count on one hand the numer of times I remembered him hugging me in my lifetime.
“Thank you,” I said finally, backing up out of his arms. I smiled at him, feeling sweat dotting my forehead. My eyes darted around the hallway.
Ronan sighed. “Carter, I know this isn’t easy. I wanted to be here for you today, despite everything. No matter what, I do love you.”
I studied him, the age lines in his face and the gray peppering his hair making him look much older. It was obvious that his lifestyle and stress was catching up to him.
“I know you do,” I admitted. “Thank you for wanting to be here. I’m not even sure what our relationship is or what I want it to be, but I am glad you wanted to come.”
>
He nodded. “I talked to your beautiful bride.”
My eyes snapped to his. “What?” When had he seen Julia?
“She asked your mom to bring me in to see her,” he explained. I narrowed my eyes at him, waiting for a further explanation. “She’s something else, son.”
I gritted my teeth, wanting to lash out and tell him to stop calling me his son. But Julia’s face flashed through my mind, and I breathed out and relaxed. He was the one that was alone. He was the one that would never allow himself happiness. Not me. Not anymore. Today was the beginning of my new life with Julia, and that meant I had to try to put the past where it belonged.
“Yes, she is,” I said finally. “What did she say?”
“That you’ve been working through things, trying to accept and move on from what happened . . . what I did,” he explained. “I know I can’t take it back, Carter. God knows I wish I could. But if we could find a way to have some sort of relationship, anything at all, I would love to be a part of your life in some way.”
My chest constricted. My girl, she’d changed my life in so many ways. I knew what I needed to do here, for Julia, for our life together, but most of all, for myself.
I nodded. “I’d like that, Ronan.”
He looked surprised, and I didn’t blame him. “Really?”
“Yes. I don’t ever want to hurt Blake, but I know he’d never tell me not to be a part of your life. You raised me, and even though I don’t agree with the way you did things, I know that you care about me. As long as you don’t expect me to call you ‘Dad’ and be your son, we can be a part of each other’s lives.”
Ronan nodded. “I’m sorry for calling you son. It’s a habit. I’d like it if we could start over, as friends. Or something. Whatever you would like to call us.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “I need to get in there and get ready to marry my girl.” I reached out my hand, and he glanced at it before shaking it firmly.
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