“Travis has a couple of friends on the police force,” he told her. “I was thinking of having one of them access your driver’s license. Your current address had to be on it.”
She nodded. That made sense. “Simple plan.”
“Those are usually the best.” He could feel his heart singing. “Nothing wrong with simplicity.”
“No,” she agreed, “there certainly isn’t.” She pretended that she didn’t want to jump his bones right this minute. “So, aside from leaving salads out overnight, what else have you been up to?”
“I can’t remember,” he told her honestly. “My days and nights were filled with missing you.”
Right back at you. She wiggled into place beside him. “You don’t have to miss me anymore.”
“Not ever again,” he swore. “Marry me.”
She did her best to look innocent as she asked, “How do I know you’re not marrying me for my ability to make salads?”
Brushing his lips against hers, he laughed. “I’d marry you if you couldn’t boil water.”
She sighed, relieved. A part of her had been afraid that he wouldn’t take her back. That she’d wounded his pride by going off with Baylor, even if it had been for all the right reasons. “Then I guess it must be love.”
“Let me take the guesswork out of it for you.” With a sweep of his hand, he sent the salads and the tray that held them onto the floor. The table was now cleared. And ready for them. He planted her on top of the table.
She kept her arms around his neck. “You really do love me.”
“Forever and always,” he whispered.
Her eyes were gleaming as she told him, “I can live with that.”
“Yeah. Me, too.” Each word was separated by a long pause during which time he kissed her.
And then he stopped talking altogether. There were more important things to do. And he did them.
Epilogue
She’d been here before. Looking into a mirror, seeing herself as a bride, just like this. But back then, she’d been wearing a designer wedding gown fit for an heiress to an empire. Fit for a symbol. The money the gown had cost would have fed a third-world village well for six months, if not longer. She’d given the gown away to a secondhand store, refusing to even entertain the idea of wearing it today, on this, the most important day of her life.
No, Venus amended, the second most important day of her life. The first had been the night she had met Trevor. Because if Trevor hadn’t come into her life just when he did, she wouldn’t have been reborn, wouldn’t have been this unbelievably happy—never mind that she would have drowned. The woman she had been had only managed to sleepwalk through life.
The woman she was now savored every sight, every sound, every feeling that came her way. And, most of all, she savored the fact that she was going to be Trevor’s wife. Not only was she marrying a wonderful man, but along with him, she was getting the first real family she’d ever known. A family that already cared more about her than the one she’d been born into.
“Tears?” Kate asked, slipping into the back office of the restaurant where her about-to-be daughter-in-law had chosen to change into her strapless, floor-length wedding gown.
Venus automatically took the handkerchief that Kate held out to her and nodded as she dabbed at her eyes. “I didn’t realize you actually could cry when you were happy,” she said with a sniff.
Taking back the handkerchief, Kate carefully wiped away a small dark smudge beneath one of Venus’s eyes. “Yes, but don’t cry too much. You don’t want to spoil all that lovely makeup before the photographer finishes immortalizing you.” Kate stood back as far as the small, crammed space allowed her to, taking in the full view. “You look beautiful.”
Venus took a breath to steady the jangle of nerves, nerves of excitement, of anticipation. “I feel beautiful,” she replied.
Kate smiled. “Love can do that to you.” Strains of the wedding march were heard, starting to play in the distance. Time to go.
Just as she thought it, there was a soft rap on the door.
“Come in,” Venus called out just as Kate finished smoothing out the edges of her veil.
Bryan peeked in. In lieu of a father, or walking down the aisle by herself, she’d asked him to give her away. He’d beamed as he agreed.
“Ready?” he asked.
The answer escaped before she even thought to say the words. “Oh, yes.”
“Then let’s get this show on the road,” he urged, presenting his arm to her.
“No butterflies? No last-minute escape plans?” Travis teased as he leaned against the doorjamb of the supply closet. His eyes were on Trevor. Kelsey was busy making and then straightening his tie.
“Why would I want to escape?” Trevor asked. “I’ve been waiting for Venus all my life.”
“So it’s official, then? She wants us to call her Venus instead of Gemma?” Trent queried, standing on the other side of the doorjamb. Between him and Travis, they framed the doorway like identical bookends.
“She is Venus,” Trevor replied. “Gemma is just someone she used to be.” He smiled to himself. No matter what her birth certificate said, she would always be Venus to him. That she agreed and actually wanted him to call her that only made him that much more sure that they belonged together.
He had no idea how he’d managed to get so lucky, but he wasn’t about to rock the boat by wondering about it. He was just eternally grateful that she had come into his life and that something had drawn him to the beach that evening.
The same beach where they were now getting married.
“Hey, stop fussing over his tie and let’s get a move on, unless you want to miss the sunset,” Mike warned, adding his body to the already crowded area.
Kelsey released her fingers from Trevor’s tie just in time. Half a second longer and she would have undone it again. Trevor turned quickly in response to his older brother’s urging and immediately headed out the door. The whole idea behind getting married on the beach was to have the sunset as a backdrop. He wanted to make this as memorable for Venus as possible.
As for him, it would have been memorable even if they were to say their vows crammed inside a cardboard box beneath the San Diego Freeway overpass. The memorable part would be saying “I do” to the only woman he’d really ever loved.
Taking his position by the priest, with Mike acting as his best man, Trevor stood with the sun directly behind him. It looked like a red ball of fire preparing to slowly sink into the ocean. His attention was fixed on Venus as she came to him, lighting up his heart with every step she took.
Even as the music played and the words that would pledge them to one another before God and the state of California still waited to be said, he mouthed, “I love you,” to her.
Trevor smiled broadly as he saw her lips silently move to echo the words back to him.
In his heart, they were already married.
THE BRIDE WITH NO NAME
Copyright © 2008 by Marie Rydzynski-Ferrarella
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[Kate's Boys 02] - The Bride With No Name Page 16