DADDY AT THE ALTAR

by Claire St. Rose

  Feeling a sense of accomplishment and freedom from her own neglect, Ariana got in her car and stared at her phone. She needed Vince right now. She checked the time, deciding it wasn’t quite too late, and dialed his number. “Hello?” he answered through a yawn.

  “Did I wake you up?” she asked, disappointed.

  “No, I’m just suffering from the sins of my recent past and feeling a little less awake than usual. It’s nothing a cup or seven of coffee wouldn’t fix. What’s going on?”

  She hesitated. “Are you home?”

  “I am. You want to come over? I’ve got brownies, too.”

  She moaned. “Chocolate anything would be phenomenal right now.”

  She could hear the smile in his voice as he told her, “Come on, then. Just don’t judge the state of the house or my state of dress. It’s been a hell of a day.”

  Ariana wasn’t worried about it. If she got her way, he wouldn’t be dressed at all for very long.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  Her first impression of his house was that it was humble and masculine, with a feminine touch here and there. Ariana assumed those were the last traces of his late wife. She didn’t begrudge him that; she knew the story too well, and while Vince had loved her, they hadn’t been meant to last. Ariana didn’t have any concern that Kristi Larson’s memory affected her connection to Vince.

  The next thing she noticed was Vince’s attire. He was in a pair of worn flannel pajama pants with a typical checkered pattern and a t-shirt that looked as old as she was that literally said, ‘ Oldest Shirt in the World. ’ She shook her head but followed him, as he insisted on taking her to the spare bedroom.

  As she stepped inside, she gasped. While outfitted with all the necessary equipment—just like a hospital room—to monitor her father’s vitals, keep him bandaged and moving, and dose him with medication, it was also luxurious. It had dark chocolate sheets and fluffy pillows, and the walls were covered in a soft ecru paint and bore landscapes with ocean and mountain views. There was even a sound machine in the corner that quietly imitated gentle waves washing on and off shore.

  Beside the bed was a table with a book, which would be great to read to her father, and there were several more lined up neatly on a small bookshelf, all in men’s taste. Ariana was tired of crying around Vince. All she could think was that she was going to wash him away or drown him in her constant river of salt water, but she couldn’t help the sting in her eyes, as she turned and leaned into him, resting her ear on his chest where she could hear his heartbeat.

  “I don’t know how to thank you enough for this, Vince, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay you. This is more than I ever imagined. I thought maybe a hospital bed with some decent sheets and a couple of pieces of equipment.” She couldn’t say anymore through her aching throat.

  Vince closed his arms around her, rocking her side to side. “Well, I’ve also had the bathroom fixed up so he can roll into the shower and his nurse, or you or me, can help him get clean. Plus, there’s a wheelchair on its way. It will be delivered before we get here in the morning. It’s the only piece of equipment I couldn’t get today.”

  “How did you pull all of this together so fast?” she asked, incredulous. He’d even renovated his bathroom in one day.

  She felt him chuckle, the rumble in his chest soothing. “I have a lot of contacts. Sometimes it’s good to be associated with a club like mine.” She lifted her head and gave him a suspicious glance, wondering what sort of contacts he’d worked with. His grin broadened. “A lot of people have the same fear of our reputation that you do, Ariana, and when we say ‘jump’, they ask ‘how high?’ Even though I’m a big softie at heart, I’m glad people think of me as a badass sometimes.”

  Ariana smiled despite her emotions. “You know, I don’t think you’re all that much of a badass anymore.”

  He feigned offense, and his hands crept down her back, squeezing her ass while he gazed down at her with mischief dancing in his eyes. “I bet I could change your mind.”

  Her whole body tingled at the thought of the things he could do to her in bed. “I dare you,” she challenged, squealing as he lifted her over his shoulder and carted her to his bedroom.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  That was a nice distraction , Vince thought, as he lay on his back with Ariana curled against his side, her head tucked in the crook of his shoulder. She’d been wild and ready, and she’d blown him until he had to turn her on her stomach and bury her face in the pillow to keep her from finishing him that way. He needed to be inside her, especially since he had no idea how she would react to the news he had to share.

  “Are you awake?” Ariana’s voice was quiet and sleepy. From her even, shallow breathing, Vince was surprised she was awake.

  “Yep,” he answered, tucking his free arm behind his head, as he stared at the ceiling, wishing right now that he had a ceiling fan to dry the sweat coating his body. “Why?”

  “Are you going to be here tomorrow when we transport my father?” She yawned, and it brought a smile to his face. Vince loved that he could satisfy her into a virtual trance.

  He hesitated. “I’ll be here until around three or so, yes.” He felt her relaxed body stiffen, and Vince knew it was time to have the difficult conversation.

  Slowly, she sat up beside him and stared down into his eyes in the darkness. Her hair was mussed, and even in the lack of light, he could see the rose of her flushed cheeks and the dark circles at the peaks of her breasts. He reached up and toyed with one nipple, and she hissed in a breath but pulled back. “Where are you going after that?”

  “I have some club business to take care of, and I’ll be out of town for a day or two,” he told her. After the feebs had left, the club had sat down to vote and decided they needed to find a new storage facility. There wasn’t much they could do on short notice, so a couple of his guys had suggested that they use a family member’s barn outside of Spokane as a temporary solution.

  Vince had volunteered to lead the trip, which would take about seven hours, considering that the mountain pass would probably be difficult to drive after the storm that had blown through last week. He also had to count the time it would take to securely load the paper and printed money, as well as time to stop for fuel and to get everything unloaded across the state. They were going to leave at dark and return in the dark. It was the safest way to avoid notice by the FBI and their enemies.

  “Club business. That’s all you’re going to say?” She was irritated, and Vince groaned internally. “I don’t want all the details, and I don’t want to know about things that could be construed as illegal. What I do want to know is if there’s danger involved.”

  Vince scowled. “Ariana, you realize that your job is dangerous, right? You could pull that bus over and go to help someone who pulls out a gun to shoot you. Or you could get run off the road. Or get a guy on PCP in the back of the ambulance who breaks out of restraints and beats you. Why is it any different?” He needed her to understand and stop giving him hell. He knew he didn’t deserve Ariana; but, if she continued to be so anxious about things, he’d have to let her go. He wouldn’t be the reason that Ariana died, as he was with Kristi. He couldn’t lose someone else like that. He would rather walk away and be alone.

  “I get that, Vince, and I’m not telling you not to go. But I’d like to know if there’s a chance I’ll get a phone call telling me that you’re in the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. Or worse, behind bars because you shot someone.”

  He couldn’t help but chuckle. “So, me being locked up rates as more unbearable than me dying in a hospital bed. Have I told you how much I love your logic?”

  She smacked his arm. “You know what I mean, Vince. Stop playing games and give me an answer.”

  He rubbed his face. “I’m just transporting stuff with my boys. There shouldn’t be anyone on our trail, and we’re not doing anything particularly dangerous.” He didn’t mention the visit by federal agents to the clu
bhouse being the catalyst to the trip. After all, Ariana specifically said she wanted to know nothing about the legality of the matter, or the lack thereof.

  Her shoulders slumped. “Okay, if you think it’s relatively safe, I won’t sit here and fret and twiddle my thumbs while you’re gone.”

  That was good to hear, but Vince couldn’t leave it alone. “Ariana, I love you, and I want you. However, if you really feel you’re not cut out for my lifestyle and can’t handle the way that I live, I understand, and I won’t be angry if you want to leave.”

  Her eyes shot daggers, burning him like beams of light that brightened the room. “Vince Larson, I know what you’re thinking. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but your wife, may she rest in peace, was weak. She had a weak character. Can’t you see that I’m too strong to succumb to the behavior that caused her death? If I ever felt like you and your wild ways were too much for me to handle, I’d start with counseling, and if there was no choice, I’d leave. But hear me now. Don’t ever pull away because you’re afraid I’ll be a repeat of your past.”

  Vince stared at her, long and hard, thinking that she was right. She wasn’t anything like Kristi. The only thing they had in common were the gentle, compassionate touches, and perhaps the fact that they loved him enough to forgive him his hard life. But that’s where it ended. While Kristi forgave him for it, she couldn’t cope with it. Yet, here Ariana was, having nearly ended it when he was behind bars, after pulling back when he had been on the road and not answered her calls, and she was still naked and caring, like a goddess drenched in moonlight.

  And that description made him think harder. Even Kristi hadn’t provoked poetic thoughts and comparisons like Ariana did. He let his eyes caress her, and he stroked the top of her thigh with the back of his hand. “Why do you care about me so much, Ariana? You wanted nothing to do with me the night we met. What changed your mind?”

  Her expression was full of something light that filled Vince with hope for the future. “I let go of my preconceived notions and took a chance on the glimpse of what you were inside. I found a good man with a big heart that betrayed the hard, unforgiving exterior. And the more of that I saw, the more I knew I loved you, regardless of the image you portrayed.”

  He was so overwhelmed with emotion at her sincere and vulnerable explanation that Vince couldn’t stand it. Quirking a lopsided grin, he quipped, “So, it had nothing to do with my muscles and my handsome mug?”

  She rolled her eyes and leaned down to kiss him. “It might have had a little to do with those incredible eyes of yours that are like tunnels straight into your soul, and maybe those hands of yours because they drive me mad.”

  He chuckled, grabbing her waist and pulling her to lie on top of him. “I guess we have that in common then—although your talented lips shouldn’t be left out of that thank you speech.” To punctuate that statement, he kissed her, long and hard, and the only reason he didn’t drill her again was that he knew they only had a few short hours before they had to be at the hospital to bring her father home.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  Ariana’s wrist ached, as she finally signed the last of the documents the hospital used to cover their asses, as they released her father with a trunkful of meds and scripts. She would have thought they’d be a little less hesitant since he was going home with his daughter, who was a paramedic halfway through med school and a full-time nurse. However, she saw the hesitation on their faces as she entered his room, as they were disconnecting their machines.

  “I assume you want the IV taps left in,” Kendra, the forty-something nurse with the pleasant smile that Vince had hired, asked.

  “Yes, please. We’ll be changing them every few days, but I want to be able to get him hooked up quickly back at home.” She stopped, her mind reeling that she’d just referred to Vince’s house as home . She supposed, in a way, it was. She’d be spending a hell of a lot more time there, after all.

  “That works for me; but, I’d suggest changing them tomorrow morning. Whoever has been in charge of this hasn’t even cleaned them properly in probably a week, much less changed them out.

  Bristling, Ariana tried to ignore further evidence of abuse. When this was over, she was filing a lawsuit against this hospital, and when she won that lawsuit, she’d have the money—and the medical license—to come in and revamp this hospital into a place where you could trust people to care for your loved ones in your absence. It would become a place where there was more treatment going on than gossip.

  She took her father’s bony fingers in hers and stroked them until he stirred. “Dad? I need you to wake up for just a minute, Dad. Can you hear me?”

  He made a small noise and nodded his head almost imperceptibly. She touched his forehead, feeling the fever burning through his body. “Dad, we’re going to move you. You’ll be in the back of an ambulance for about twenty minutes, and you’ll get jostled around a little. You won’t have your pain meds dripping, so it’s going to be uncomfortable for a while. Are you following me?”

  He nodded again and coughed. “Where are we going?” he rasped. “Am I dying?”

  “Not today, and not for a while if we can help it,” Kendra called out from behind them.

  Ariana gave her father a reassuring smile, as he opened his eyes to squint at her. “No, we’re going to take you somewhere so you can be more comfortable and have constant care.” She motioned for Kendra to come over. “This is Kendra. She’s going to be a full-time nurse for you, and I’ll be there a lot, too. When neither of us are there, you’ll have Vince.”

  “Where?” he asked again. “Can’t go home.”

  He was right, and that pissed Ariana off. However, she pushed it down to deal with at another time. “No, we’re not taking you home. And I don’t have room in my apartment, but Vince was nice enough to fix up a room in his house. There’s all the hospital equipment, and you can even go into the shower in your wheelchair. Kendra, Vince, and I are going to keep you cleaner, healthier, and better medicated.”

  She saw a tear form in one of his eyes, and she nearly broke. “Ariana, I don’t have enough money for this.”

  “It’s alright, Dad. You aren’t paying a dime.” He started to protest, but she stroked a hand over his cheek to calm and quiet him. “It’s being handled. Remember, someday, I’m going to be a rich and famous doctor, too. Anything I borrow or spend now, I’ll be able to pay back with a single check.”

  “And most of it, she’ll never need to pay back, Dr. Powell.” Ariana looked up at Vince, as he stepped into the room, and she stared. She’d become accustomed to the days he was in normal garb, and she still felt a bit shocked every time she saw him in his ratty but fitted jeans, dark t-shirt, Iron Claws jacket, and motorcycle boots. Today, he even had a bandana tied around his head, his hair falling over it in thick locks, and his eyes were dancing. “It’s on me, Doc.”

  Ariana’s love poured from her and filled her, as her father reached out weakly for Vince’s hand, bringing his and Ariana’s together in his lap. “Ari, you chose well. I told you to think it over.”

  “Great, Dad. It’s a perfect time for ‘I told you so,’” she quipped, sarcastically. “But yes, I chose well, and I’m not going to give up this time.”

  Her father turned to Vince. “I want to call you my son.”

  Vince put on his most charming smile. “Well, I have to do a little more work here to earn it, but I would be honored if you thought of me that way.” He stared across at Ariana, and her heart melted. She didn’t need her mother or her sister. These two men—and perhaps Sal—were her family, and that was enough for her. There was more love filling this room than had ever existed in that whole museum of a house she’d grown up in.

  She backed up, seeing the orderlies coming to wheel her father out. “I’ll meet you by the ambulance, Dad. I’m going to ride with you.” She watched him go, leaning against Vince for support. She couldn’t wrap her mind around how much better her life was with him. Two months ago, s
he thought she was as happy as could be. Sure, she had issues with a few people spreading rumors, but other than that she’d existed without problems in her solitary world.

  But now, she saw how miserable she’d been, and aside from that, she couldn’t have done this for her father without his help. She barely managed her own finances as it was.

  “Hey, Ms. Powell, why don’t you ride with Mr. Larson? I’d be more than happy to ride with your father and make sure he’s as comfortable as possible on the way,” Kendra offered.