Waking Up Wed

by Christy Jeffries

  Drew took in the full beard and graying red hair of the older guy and decided this was one angry papa he did not want aiming a shotgun in his direction. But he had been raised right after all, so he stood up to meet the upcoming onslaught head-on.

  “Dad, this is Drew.” Kylie stood up as well and grabbed his arm, pressing her body against his side and pasting a huge grin on her face. “I’ve been dying for you to meet him.”

  More like dying of shame, but Drew wasn’t going to contradict her. He swallowed his shock, happy that at least she was no longer wallowing in a puddle of despair. In fact, she seemed to be putting on quite the show of happy newlywed, gushing with happiness and squeezing his biceps.

  “Hello, sir. I’m Lieutenant Commander Andrew Gregson. I’m glad we got the chance to meet before the reception started.” Drew stuck out his hand, hoping Kylie’s dad would take the hint that other guests were now filing into the ballroom and would bear witness to any potential scenes.

  “Is Captain Cracker Jack here really your husband?” Mr. Chatterson was a behemoth of a man and all kinds of fired up as he eyeballed his new son-in-law. Drew couldn’t blame the man for his anger, or his confusion, but Drew’s forearm would soon get sore from holding it outstretched for so long.

  “Dad, please,” Kylie said when it became apparent that her father wasn’t going to accept Drew’s handshake. “People are looking. Don’t make this any more awkward than it already is.”

  “Oh, Jellybean, you don’t even know the definition of awkward. Try finding out from some tipsy busybody that my only daughter—my precious baby girl—robbed my dear, sweet wife of the opportunity to see her walk down the aisle.”

  Drew lowered his hand, because obviously Mr. Chatterson wasn’t quite ready for social niceties.

  “Dad, I’m sorry about that. Mom, I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

  Drew fought the urge to not do a double take at Kylie’s words. How could she make it up to her parents?

  “It’s actually a pretty funny story,” Kylie continued. “We got married on a whim because the thought of waiting for a long engagement just seemed as if it would take forever, and we’re just so crazy in love that we couldn’t stand not to make it official.”

  “How long have you two known each other?” The man was right to look skeptical. Kylie was a horrible liar, but maybe that was just because Drew knew the truth. He decided to jump in and help her out.

  “Not that long, sir, but it was love at first sight.” His statement might not be any more honest than hers, but they must have felt something at first sight back in Reno. Why else would they have done such a crazy and reckless thing? To prove his claim, either to her parents or to himself, he leaned toward Kylie and placed a light kiss on her cheek.

  She smelled like the gardenias in her forgotten bouquet, and it was all Drew could do not to pull her closer. Yet despite the intimate gesture, her face remained frozen, her fake smile firmly in place. But the pink color stealing up her chest and neck gave her away.

  She’d felt it, too.

  Unfortunately, they weren’t alone, where they could explore this possible attraction further. In fact, they were knee-deep in the most undesirable conversation ever.

  Mr. Chatterson did not look even slightly appeased. At least they were of the same height, so even if Drew couldn’t pacify the man with his words, he wouldn’t cower from his sheer size.

  “Dad, you’re overreacting,” Kylie said, and it dawned on him that the dramatic apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.

  “Bobby.” The smaller woman spoke up and nudged her husband’s arm, nodding toward her new son-in-law. The older man finally reached out. Drew met his crushing grip, which gave no indication of Mr. Chatterson’s willingness to back down. His wife intervened again by physically separating the men’s fingers.

  “Well, Andrew, I’m Kylie’s mom, Lacey Chatterson.” Mrs. Chatterson, dressed in an expensive and conservative pantsuit, was apparently the voice of reason in this family. “Why don’t we all find our seats and get to know each other better?”

  Kylie’s father’s shoulders deflated a bit. He must have realized his wife wasn’t really asking a question or even making a suggestion. She was issuing an order.

  “As much as Drew and I would love that,” Kylie said, “we’re seated up at the head table. Maybe after dinner we can come over and talk to you guys and explain our whirlwind romance. It’s really quite a humorous story.”

  “Well, I’m not laughing,” her dad said, his eyes not leaving Drew’s face, as if sizing him up for future reference. “And you’d better figure out a date during the baseball off-season that we can set for the proper wedding.”

  What proper wedding?

  The sound of glasses clinking saved them from any further appraisal. Kylie grabbed Drew’s arm to pull him toward the dance floor, where the DJ was introducing the bride and groom and the rest of the wedding party. This was the second time she’d pulled him away from an uncomfortable situation tonight, and he was actually starting to get used to her long fingers touching him.

  “It looks as if word spread pretty quickly,” he whispered to her as they lined up near Mia and Alex Russell, one of the groomsmen.

  If Drew thought Mr. Chatterson’s looks could kill, it was nothing compared to the stink eye Kylie’s friend Mia was directing his way. He’d seen suicide bombers looking friendlier right before launching themselves at Marine ground forces.

  And there stood Cooper, his eyes lit up and his fist planted firmly over his smirking mouth. Drew knew their friends all had a million questions, and he wished to God he could have been the one to explain things to everyone. But heck, he couldn’t even explain the situation to himself.

  Kylie was standing tall, but her skin was flushed so pink, he could barely make out the few scattered freckles along her shoulders.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered back. “I didn’t mean for anyone to find out, especially not my family. I panicked when I saw my parents and didn’t want them thinking I messed up. I know I kind of went overboard with the whole crazy-in-love bit back there, but there’s no way Mia and Maxine will buy it, so we’ll have to come clean with them, for the most part. Just don’t tell anyone we were drunk when it happened. If we can ride this out for tonight, I’m sure we can come up with a good story so that nobody is the wiser when we announce later on that we’re divorcing.”

  Divorce? He hated the sound of that word. He didn’t know why. Logically, he knew it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to him, yet he didn’t like the idea that he’d made a mistake. A reckless and impulsive mistake.

  Unfortunately, there was no getting around it as they clearly couldn’t stay married.

  But at least he could move back to Boise at the end of summer when Luke returned from deployment. Kylie’s life was here in Sugar Falls, and he didn’t want her disgraced while he was in town. He wasn’t going to have to live or work among these people or otherwise deal with the fallout from their divorce. Or, hopefully, their annulment. So as much as it went against every controlling instinct in his body, he’d sit back and let her drive this crazy train in the way she saw fit. For now, at least.

  When the DJ finished the introductions, they took their seats at the head table. The second Cooper and Maxine fixed themselves into their adjacent chairs, the bride leaned toward them and simply said, “Spill it.”

  And to Drew’s shock, Kylie did just that. She told the small wedding party—including Mia and Alex, who came to stand behind them to hear the story better—about the night in Reno and how they’d gotten carried away and woken up with the marriage license and no memory of the night’s events. Hadn’t she just asked him not to tell anyone they’d been drinking?

  Thankfully, she left out the more intimate details of how they awoke and how he’d barely been able to keep his hands or his eyes off her the following morning. Seeing her body in the clinging bridesmaid dress, he still was having a hard time not physically responding to her.


  “So what are you going to do?” Mia asked, continuing to stare at Drew as if he were an undercover spy sneaking into enemy territory.

  “Well, originally we thought we’d just keep it a secret. But now we kind of pretended to everyone else that we were in love. It might’ve saved my reputation for the time being, but eventually we’ll have to address it head-on and make it go away.”

  “Like get an annulment?” Maxine asked, and Kylie’s telltale blush crept even farther up her cheeks.

  “Or a divorce or something. We’d have to figure out what our legal options will be.”

  Again, the D-word hit him like a punch to the gut. Drew was trying to keep his opinions to himself, just like he usually kept his private life to himself. After all, since Kylie would be the one dealing with the social aftermath of their situation, he should probably let her take the lead on explaining things to everyone.

  “I’m a dance teacher, not a lawyer,” Mia started. “But I’m pretty sure you can get an annulment as long as you didn’t consummate... Oh, no.”

  The look on Kylie’s face must have given them away, because the ladies looked at their friend in shock, and Alex made a beeline straight toward the bar. But Cooper sat back in his chair and laughed until tears ran from his eyes.

  “Oh, this is too good.” Cooper’s shoulders shook as he said the words. “Kylie and Saint Drew are married.”

  “You call him that, too?” Kylie asked.

  “Everyone back on the base called him that. The guy doesn’t get flustered. Ever. He’s too calm and respectable for that. Gregson has a heart of gold, the tolerance of a martyr and the lifestyle of a monk.”

  “Really,” Drew finally spoke up. “At a time like this, you two feel the need to compare descriptions of me?”

  “No offense,” Kylie said. “It’s just that you’re so perfect and so nice to everyone. Even to that horrible Marcia and Elaine. Maybe if you hadn’t forced me to stand there and make polite conversation with them, we wouldn’t have let the cat out of the bag in the first place.”

  “Are you seriously blaming me for the fact that you were two seconds away from completely losing your temper and I was trying to be supportive?” The throbbing in Drew’s neck was picking up speed, and he suddenly wondered if this lodge had a meditation room—or, at this point, a boxing speed bag—so he could go decompress and relieve some tension.

  “How do you know I was about to lose anything? You don’t even know me!”

  “Uh-oh,” Cooper said in a singsong voice, but not before her words hit their mark. “The newlyweds are having their first tiff.”

  Maxine made a shushing sound and pushed her husband’s tuxedo-clad arm. The chief of police almost fell out of his chair, which would have made Drew smile if he didn’t already feel as if he was three seconds away from punching his best friend himself.

  “Uncle Drew!” The twins picked that moment to run over from the designated kids’ table behind them. “Is it true that you married the tall lady that Aiden hit in the face?”

  “I didn’t hit her.” Aiden shoved his brother. “You hit her. You always try to blame me for everything.”

  “Boys.” Drew turned in his seat to break up the potential skirmish. “I thought we agreed that both of you were to blame for that incident.”

  He hated rehashing last night’s video-game drama, but it was better than having to answer the eight-year-olds’ questions about his unanticipated marriage and what it could potentially mean for them all. This past week, he’d found out that his nephews had a penchant for changing the subject on a dime and losing interest in an activity quicker than he could say “Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.”

  “But you did marry her, Uncle Drew?”

  “Is she gonna be our aunt now?”

  “Is she gonna come live with us at the cabin?”

  “Will she bring more bubbles with her?”

  The rapid-fire questions just went to show that the one time he actually wanted to divert the boys’ attention, they decided to hold on tenaciously like a heat missile on target launch.

  He looked at his wife, hoping she would have some answers, because he sure as heck didn’t want to be blamed for saying the wrong thing.

  “Hey, boys.” Kylie motioned them over. “Did you see that they’re going to have a chocolate fountain after they cut the cake?”

  Alex Russell’s father and grandfather came over to congratulate the bride and groom and temporarily distracted the rest of the wedding party. Meanwhile, Drew listened to his nephews’ squeals as Kylie spoke with them about all the marshmallows and fruit and edibles that would be stacked by the fountain.

  He couldn’t believe the instant rapport Kylie had with the boys. Aiden and Caden were cheerfully animated as they talked to her. She listened attentively, nodding her head as if their opinion on the proper skewering order of treats was the most important discussion she would have this evening. For the first time in the past hour, he found himself grinning.

  He’d probably been just as smitten with her that evening in Reno. At the time, he had blamed his reaction to her on everything from the amount of alcohol he’d drunk to the amount of time he’d gone without a date. And maybe now, with the boys being so starved for female attention that any caring woman was a novelty for them, he could argue that his tenderness toward her came from a sense of gratitude.

  He was a man of science and normally didn’t listen to gut instincts, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that his reaction to her was caused by none of those things. It was just Kylie.

  There was definitely something about her that attracted people. And there was also something about her that had his normally out-of-control nephews thinking she was next best thing to chocolate-covered marshmallows.

  He couldn’t help but appreciate her sweet and nurturing way with the boys. Heaven knew the twins could benefit from having someone like Kylie in their lives. And to be honest, Drew could use the help supervising them.

  “Seriously, though, I gotta ask.” Cooper, having finished talking to the Russell men, leaned in and spoke quietly. “Kylie and Saint Drew? How did you manage to make that happen?”

  “I have no idea,” Drew answered honestly.

  “Well, how are you going to fix it?”

  Kylie stood to walk the kids back to the designated children’s table, and he heard her explaining how the servers were going to be bringing them chicken strips. She told them if they promised to wash their hands afterward and wait until all the other guests got a turn at the fountain, they’d be able to dip treats to their hearts’ content.

  Drew shook his head.

  “I have no idea,” he repeated.

  He watched her retreating backside clad in the form-fitting satin dress and thought he could get used to watching her successfully manage his nephews. Heck, he could get used to simply watching her...

  * * *

  Kylie had avoided the dance floor and her parents for most of the reception. But she knew her stay of execution was temporary. She planted herself in her seat throughout dinner, the champagne toast and the cake-cutting ceremony, biding her time and trying to figure out how to deal with this stupid situation she’d gotten herself into. It was one thing to get married to a stranger, quite another to pretend she was madly in love with him.

  Damn. She’d really bitten off more than she could chew this time. But she wouldn’t dare allow her mom and dad to think that she didn’t know what she was doing or that she couldn’t handle this on her own.

  When she was growing up, her parents had always told her that she let her impulsivity and her independence get the best of her. As the baby, with four protective older brothers, the family joke was that Kylie was quick to make a decision, and quicker to do things by herself, refusing to let anyone of them help her. Ever. When she was three years old, they were on a winter holiday and Kevin tried to lace up her snow boots so they could go outside sledding. She told him she could do it herself and she did. The problem was, by the
time she’d finally gotten them knotted on tight enough, it was already dark and her brothers were coming inside for dinner.

  She’d brought this mess on herself and, as they said in the pageant world, sometimes the best way to deal with an uncomfortable situation was to fake it until you made it.

  “We have a special request for the newlyweds.” The DJ made the announcement as the bars to a new song came out through the speakers. Kylie looked at the bride and groom, who had been talking to some guests across the room but were now looking at straight at her. “But not the chief and Mrs. Cooper,” the DJ said into his microphone.

  When the guests began to mumble to each other, she realized why everyone was turning in her direction. Oh, no. It couldn’t be. Who would’ve requested this song? She prayed the guy wasn’t going to say what she thought he was going to say.

  But when the opening notes to the love ballad came on, she knew.

  “So please welcome Dr. and Mrs. Gregson to the dance floor to celebrate their recent marriage.” She had no idea where her new husband was or even if he wanted to be found. He must have thought she was completely nuts for wanting to pretend their marriage was real.

  All the guests were looking at her and probably assuming the exact same thing: Kylie Chatterson can’t even get her own husband to dance with her. She thought about ducking into the ladies’ room, but how could she when all eyes were on her? By the time Michael Bolton began the opening lines of the song, Kylie couldn’t take the stares anymore. She was about to turn and run when she felt that velvetlike steel hand on her for the second time that day.

  “I guess we better give the crowd what they want,” Drew said as he tugged on her elbow, forcing her to stand, and then escorted her toward the dance floor. She looked down at his hand and saw that his gold wedding band was now on his finger. Where had that come from? She could’ve sworn she hadn’t seen it earlier, during the ceremony.

  “Did you set this up?” She didn’t mean to sound accusatory, but her friends wouldn’t have pulled a stunt like this.