by Grace Kagni
She did as she was told and within minutes the jet was airborne. She felt exhilaration along with fear in her gut but luckily it passed quickly as she started to feel sleepy.
Liam reclined her chair to a sleeping position and then covered her with a blanket. “Sweet dreams, Baby Doll.” Then he got up and went to the desk to work.
Milania slept the entire flight and when it was time to land, Liam had a hard time waking her up to get her to sit for the landing. Her mind was foggy and she slurred her speak, telling Liam the half pill was too much for her. He would need to get something else for the return trip.
After the plane had landed, Liam accompanied her to the hired car mostly because she couldn’t stand on her own. They went straight to their suite at the Miller Hotel and Resort, and he left her on the bed to sleep off the rest of the sleeping pill as he went off to his meetings.
When Liam returned to the suite in late afternoon, he found Milania still sleeping which worried him so he went to see if she was okay. He crouched down by the bed and looked at her beautiful face as she slept peacefully. She seemed okay but she hadn’t had anything to eat all day so he decided to wake her to go out for dinner. The air outside would do her good.
“Wake up Sleeping Beauty,” he whispered. He waited for her to open her eyes and when she did, he grinned at her confused face.
“Are we already in Las Vegas?” She sat up, yawning as she stretched her arms out.
“We sure are and it’s nearly dinnertime.”
“Dinner? Have I slept all day?”
“You sure have, Baby Doll. How about you get up and go rinse your face. Then get ready to go out. I’ll show you the city by night,” he grinned at her excited expression when he mentioned sightseeing.
“It won’t take me long to get ready,” she said, getting out of bed.
“No rush, Sweet Pea. I still have to shower and change.” He walked out of her bedroom and she was alone.
She could still smell his scent lingering in the room. She closed her eyes a moment to take in the wonderful scent before she went to rinse her face.
~~~
The air was cool outside when they stepped out so Milania tied the scarf around her neck to stay warm.
“Are you warm enough, Baby Doll?” he asked when he noticed her shiver.
“I am, thank you. I’m starving so where are you taking me for dinner?”
“There’s a great restaurant down the strip that makes the best food I’ve ever tasted.” He grinned at her surprised expression.
“Better than Italian food?”
“Okay then second best food,” he grinned.
They walked to the restaurant and went inside. It was packed and Milania feared they wouldn’t get a table but what she didn’t know was that Liam called ahead to book the table the moment he knew he’d be in Las Vegas.
She looked around at the décor and noticed it was Latino Americano. The scent emanating from the kitchen was sweet and spicy - a good combination. They sat down at their table and studied the menu. Milania was excited with the different food and didn’t know what to try so she let Liam order for her since he’d been there other times.
He ordered a bottle of red wine to go with the meal and when the food arrived, they savored every bite until it was all finished. Milania had a couple of glasses of wine, which was more than she usually had but she felt good and relaxed.
After their meal, they walked out to see the city. She had never been to a place like that so she wanted to go into some of the clubs to see what was inside. There were shows going on so they sat down at a table in one and watched as dancers moved before them. They ordered drinks and felt relaxed for the first time in weeks. They left to go to another club where there was karaoke and with another drink, she got up to sing. He was in heaven. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He was letting himself go more than he normally would and was enjoying watching Milania loosen up as she had one more drink.
He knew it was time to go back to the hotel because they’d both had way too much to drink so he took her hand to lead her outside. As they were walking, she saw a chapel and wanted to go inside to see what it was like. She’d heard of couples getting married in minutes in these little places of worship and she wanted to see what the fuss was about so they walked in and took a seat.
Chapter Five
Milania’s head was pounding when she woke up the next morning and as she turned in bed, nausea suddenly found it’s way to her throat. She sat up abruptly as she felt the nausea worsen and saw Liam sleeping beside her. Why was he in bed with her? No time to think as she ran to the bathroom to throw up.
Liam woke up feeling his head shouting at him. He opened his eyes and then shut them again. Then he heard a door slam shut so he opened his eyes again and sat up. Scattered on the floor were Milania’s clothing as well as his. He was completely nude and by the looks of Milania’s bra and panties on the floor, she was too. What happened the night before? He shut his eyes a moment to try to remember but all that came to his mind was Milania singing at the karaoke bar. It made him smile until he opened his eyes and realized she wasn’t going to be pleased with what went on last night.
He could hear her throwing up in the bathroom so he got out of bed to put on his boxers. Then he went to the fridge to pull out a bottle of water to take a tablet. On the counter, a document attracted his attention. It was a marriage certificate with both their names on it. They got married last night? He tried to remember the facts but his mind was too fuzzy.
Liam went back into the bedroom and waited until there was silence in the bathroom to knock on the door. “Milania, are you okay?” There was no answer.
“Baby Doll, can I come in?” he asked.
“Go away,” she said, barely audible.
“I’m coming in,” he opened the door and found her face down on the floor. “Oh, Baby Doll, are you okay?” He bent down to pick her up and carried her to the bed. Then he covered her with the blanket and went back to the bathroom to get a wet facecloth. He crouched down by the bed as he placed the facecloth on her forehead. Gently he moved some wet strands of hair from her face and waited for her to say something.
“What happened last night?” she asked as she kept her eyes shut.
“I don’t know, Baby Doll, but there’s a marriage certificate in the living room.
She opened her eyes to look at him. “A what?”
“It seems we were married last night,” he confirmed.
The wave of nausea came back and she threw off the blanket to run to the bathroom again.
He went into her bedroom to get a nightgown out of her bag and then waited for her to finish in the bathroom. When he didn’t hear any more movement, he knocked before going in.
She was curled up in the corner of the bathroom, shivering so he went to her and placed the nightgown over her head before he picked her up and brought her back to bed. Then he went to his side and got in beside her, pulling her close. “Close your eyes and try to sleep, Baby Doll. I’m not going anywhere.”
His scent and the sound of his heartbeat lulled her to sleep and she slept in his arms until it was mid afternoon. When she awoke, he wasn’t in bed but she found him washed and dressed on his computer in the living room.
“Good morning, Sweet Pea. Are you feeling better now?”
“I am,” she said, taking the marriage certificate from the table to look at it. “So we really got married?”
“Yes, we did.”
“I finally got married and not only do I not remember my wedding day but I don’t remember my wedding night either,” she said sadly.
“We’ll have a proper wedding when we get back and as for the wedding night, I’ll make it up to you.”
“Is that why my body aches?”
“I don’t know, Sweet Pea, but I’ll make sure we’re both awake next time. I don’t remember it either and believe me I would have paid attention if I hadn’t been so drunk,” he grinned.
“So this
is it? We’re married?” She put the certificate down on the table and went to sit on the sofa.
He got up and walked over to sit down beside her. “No, this is not it. It’s simply a piece of paper that says we’re married. We’ll have a proper wedding and a honeymoon as you deserve. Give me a few days to arrange everything. I would imagine you’d want the wedding to take place in Italy.”
“It would be nice but I would understand if you prefer to hold it here since most of your family is in the US.”
“Listen, it’s too early to call Rome but in a little while, we’ll call James and Serena to give them the good news and get the ball rolling. In the meantime, we need to get you an engagement ring to start and choose some wedding bands.”
“Why aren’t you trying to get the marriage annulled? I don’t understand why you’ve accepted it so easily?”
“Annulled? I’ve been waiting for the right moment to talk to you about the future and now that fate has brought us together by marriage, I’ll welcome it with open arms. Baby Doll, you may not realize it but I’ve fallen in love with you and want to keep you close to me. I promise to be a good husband to love and protect you always.” He was pouring out his soul for the first time in his life and it felt right. She was the one for him.
“How do you know I won’t drive you mad? I’m not an easy person to live with,” she whispered.
He took her face in his hands and brought her lips to his. His kiss was tender and soft. When he pulled away, he placed his forehead on hers. “I’ve wanted to do that for so long and now that you are my wife, I can do it anytime,” he grinned. “Are you hungry?”
“Actually, I am. Can we order some food?”
“Yes, certainly Mrs. Miller,” he grinned at the sound of it.
“Oh, I have a new name?”
“Yes, the woman takes the husband’s name in the US. Do you mind?” he asked.
“No, I don’t mind if it makes me your wife,” she grinned.
“Are you happy?”
“I am happy,” she smiled. She loved Liam but couldn’t find the courage to tell him just yet. “I’m going to have a bath in the large tub while you order some lunch.”
“I like the sound of that,” he grinned but knew he needed to give her time to get to know him intimately.
She turned to look at him and saw him grinning. She knew she couldn’t stop him and was grateful he gave her some time alone.
They went out after lunch to look for an engagement ring and after having looked at more than one store, Liam purchased the ring she wanted. She didn’t want anything expensive but he wouldn’t buy anything that wasn’t worthy of her hand. They found matching wedding bands too and he was about to put it on when she told him the bands needed to be blessed.
“They need to be blessed? We’re already married so why do they need to be blessed?”
“Wedding bands are blessed during the ceremony and since we didn’t have them at the time of our wedding, they need to be blessed before we could put them on.” She would not put on the band and there was nothing more to say about it.
“Okay then I’ll keep them safe until we are married in Italy,” he placed them in his pocket.
When they got back to their suite, they called James and Serena who were surprised but happy to hear their news.
“Have you planned on a date?” James asked.
“Not yet but we will decide soon. It could be a New Year’s Day wedding. It would give us a little time to make the arrangements,” Liam said.
Serena insisted on helping Milania plan the wedding and as soon as they hung up, Liam called the rest of his family. Dalton and Tessa were enthusiastic about having another family wedding. They were also looking forward to spending more time together, giving them the opportunity to get to know Milania better.
“So it’ll be a New Year’s Day wedding?” Tessa asked. “I like it already.”
“It just may be. I still need to call mother and father but I will do that right now.” Liam hung up and called his parents to tell them of his news. They were extremely surprised and wondered what was the reason for the rushed marriage. He explained he had been thinking of their future together and it was the right time to get married. After wishing him and Milania all the best, they said goodbye and waited for news on where and when the wedding would take place.
“Sweet Pea, you’ve called Serena to give her the good news. Do you have anyone else that you need to call to invite to the wedding?” Liam hoped she had more than one friend at the wedding.
When Milania thought about it, she told him of her friend, Rachael Moore, in Vernazza. She hadn’t spoken to Rachael since the flood and she wasn’t sure if she was okay.
“Do you have her number?” he asked.
“I lost my phone with all my numbers in the flood.” Her face was sad a moment, wondering how her friend was.
“Can you give me more information about your friend? All I would need is her date of birth and home address. I can have someone search for her.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “We’ll find her, Baby Doll.”
“I can do that,” she wondered where Rachael was and if she was okay.
They ordered room service and cuddled on the sofa when they watched a movie. She fell asleep during the movie so he carried her to bed when the movie was over. He pulled her close and fell asleep, happy for the first time in a long time.
During the night, Milania woke up with the sound of moaning and when she realized Liam was having another nightmare, she wasn’t sure what to do. She stayed immobile for a little while but when he started to swing his arms in the air, she realized she needed to wake him but not like the last time. She slipped out of bed without any problem and then grabbed for her pillow. As she walked over to his side, she turned on the dim light on the night table and then stepped back before throwing her pillow on him.
He woke up in a confused state and looked around. When he saw Milania standing by the bed, he looked at her from head to toe to see if she was hurt in any way. “Did I attack you again?” Worry was marked on his face.
She walked to him and took his face in her hands. “You didn’t hurt me.”
He pulled her close and rested his head against her body as relief washed over him. “Thank God.”
“It’s okay. You’re going to be fine.” She stroked his hair as she spoke softly to him.
“I’m sorry I’ve put you through this. I never meant for this to happen,” he whispered.
She knelt down to look at him in the face. “We’re in this together now. You saved me from the flood so let me help you as husband and wife should do.”
“Baby Doll, you’re being here, holding me like this is helping,” he kissed her softly on this lips. Her presence was a healing process for him. It would take a while for him to fight away the demons but he was sure he would succeed. It was only a matter of time.
“Well, since we’re awake, why don’t you fill me in on your life. I mean, your family owns one of the biggest luxury hotel chains in the world so how, when and why did you end up in the army? I want to know the missing pieces of my husband’s life before I met him. I need to know.” She needed to know if the marriage had a future. She wanted honesty and trust.
“Come sit on the bed with me,” he said, pulling himself up onto the pillows. They sat leaning against the headrest as he told her his story. “After I graduated from Stanford University, I worked for the Miller Corporation for six years before I felt I needed a change. A friend had enlisted in the army and convinced me to do the same. The next three years I spent in and out of places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.” He took a breath and ran his fingers through his hair before continuing. “One day as my team was out on a mission, we came upon a terrorist cell that was about to attack a local market so we needed to stop them. Many people died on that day and half of my team didn’t make it back in one piece. Three of the terrorist had blown themselves up with explosives. I disarmed the fourth terrorist by killing him
but before doing that, he slashed my leg with a knife to try to stop me.”
He pulled her close again and held her tight as the scene from that day came back like it happened that morning. He shivered and then continued. “I was sent back to the US to rest and recuperate. When it was time to reenlist, I decided to leave. I’d had enough of the army and felt it was time to return to the real world but when I did, I brought demons back with me which took months if not a couple of years to completely disappear.”
“Then you rescued me and the demons came back. I’m sorry to put you through this again,” she whispered.
“Baby Doll, I would fight a thousand demons to have you by my side so please don’t ever say sorry about this again.” Then he pulled her down the bed to cuddle before turning off the light. “Let’s try to get some sleep.”
They awoke late the next morning to a bright and cold day. As they were up during the night, they had breakfast in bed and relaxed as they talked more about their past. He told her about his childhood after she told him about hers. They started to get to know each other and only after their first few days of marriage did they start to bond as a couple.
They stayed in Las Vegas a full week as Liam’s meetings dragged on to find solutions to their marketing problems. When it was finally time to return to Malibu, Milania was sad to leave. They got on the plane and went home to their normal life. When they arrived home, Liam picked her up and carried her into the house. “It’s a tradition for the groom to carry the bride over the threshold of their home.”
“Yes and there are other things that traditionally happen which we haven’t been able to do but I’d like to change that tonight.” She trusted him and knew he would not hurt her so as soon as he put her down, he kissed her tenderly.
“I promise to be gentle with you tonight,” he whispered as he shut the door.
She went up to their bedroom and as she entered the room, she looked at it with different eyes than before. She would be sharing his bed tonight and that made butterflies dance in her belly. This was now her house. She had a husband, a house and a family.