by Shirl Anders
Hell, he was a goner, he thought, watching her talking to Angel and Justice, who looked glued to each other’s side.
Finn had heard through the Redrock grapevine that Justice was indeed serious about tying the knot with Angel, and he had moved her into his home, but hadn’t gotten her to the altar yet.
A big fist pounded Finn’s back, making him turn to see Link.
“Hey, buddy,” Link said, offering a handshake, which Finn took.
Link was dressed in a tux that looked as if his bulky muscle was about ready to bust out of it. Finn saw Caval prowling up from behind Link. Caval was dressed much like Vincent, only his suit was white silk, and the Native American markings were embroidered white against white. In contrast to his brown skin and straight black hair, it was striking.
“You have some extra room for a couple of bachelors?” Link asked.
Finn smiled as the group turned to include the new arrivals, and his gaze tracked back to place his woman. His eyebrows rose slightly when he found her and he saw that she was excitedly hugging a tall, statuesque, and stunning black woman.
“Whoa, who is that?” Link asked, behind Finn’s shoulder.
Finn could only mutter a non-answer as he started off toward Coco, while the orchestra played an Elton John song.
“Finn! This is Patty Ann!” Coco exclaimed, grasping his arm to pull him closer.
He was amazed, because he’d never thought Patty Ann would look like a supermodel.
“Special agent! Oh my God, we finally meet, honey,” Patty Ann said.
Finn smiled. She had a Southern accent just like Coco, and she pulled him in for an embrace as if they were long-lost friends. She seemed genuine for as beautiful as she was. After they disengaged, he wrapped himself around Coco, and he saw Patty Ann’s eyes light up with excited approval.
But before they could get further acquainted, over his right shoulder, Link said, “Introduce me.”
Finn held on to Coco as she laughed and she introduced Patty Ann to Link. Link was like a homing device on Patty Ann, but Finn was interested to see Patty Ann was not trying to evade Link. In fact, Patty Ann looked very interested, and before they could talk, she rushed off to dance with Link when he made the brash suggestion.
“Oh my Lord,” Coco whispered in Finn’s ear as she pressed all her curves against him. “I’ve never seen Patty Ann look at a man like that before, baby. Usually she brushes them off in seconds.”
Her words tickled and warmed his ear as he turned to catch her mouth for a hot little kiss, then he said, “Don’t know Link well, but he was like a heat-seeking missile the second he saw her.”
Coco laughed as he held an arm around her waist from behind. “Wouldn’t that be something,” she declared.
After that, the night was magical and they danced, drank a little too much, and had a blast laughing and talking with their friends, until it was time to go to Cabe’s after-party. Everyone declared the charity ball a huge success.
“I can’t believe Cabe did this,” Rusty announced again.
It was Finn’s understanding that Cabe had planned the party as a surprise for Rusty. Cabe had gone ahead to their house on the lake, where the after-party was being held, while the tipsy ones who were invited to the party all fell into the waiting limos.
Rusty ended up in the limo with Tess, Vincent, Zeb, Carly, Patty Ann, Link, Caval, and at the last second Tag showed up to pile inside, so Finn pulled Coco up onto his lap for more room.
“I finally got away from some last-minute things at WTSF,” Tag said, while Vincent glared at him. Tag threw up his hands. “You put me in charge. Let me handle it!”
There were interested murmurs at this bit of gossip, and Tess giggled and said, “He put Sam in charge of Redrock Casino too, so now his new son and I have more of him!”
There was clapping and congratulations going around, while Finn held Coco, and she whispered in his ear, “I think she has more to tell him. You only glow like that over one thing ... a baby.”
He looked at Coco with raised eyebrows, and then they both looked back at Tess with speculation.
In Coco’s ear, he whispered, “Not one drop of alcohol tonight.”
Coco nodded, but then Rusty exclaimed, “Oh my freaking God, look at my house, people!”
There were lights everywhere, making it appear as if Rusty and Cabe’s house was twenty stories tall in the dark as they drove up to it from the long driveway. But then the perception began to change the closer they got, and Finn thought it was nearly as if the lights were behind and above the dark structure of the house.
He was trying to figure it out when Coco started bouncing on his lap in excitement. “Oh lordy, that’s behind the house, I think,” she exclaimed.
“Is it?” Rusty asked, gasping, with her eyes wide and her fingers over her mouth, as they all looked.
“He fucking outdid me,” Vincent growled, and it was a strange comment that none of them understood. But then they did understand what he announced next, “It’s a damn yacht.”
“Yacht!” Rusty squealed, and then she was bouncing, as Finn’s brow went flat trying to figure out if Vincent was correct.
Just then, the limo pulled through the area before the side of the house, and it became clear that it was a huge damn boat out in their local lake.
“You can’t put a yacht in our lake,” Carly declared.
Zeb added, “I thought it’d be too small for a boat that big.”
“Apparently not!” Rusty said excitedly. Then she was whispering “ohmygod”.
Coco squeezed him. “I think this is more than an after-party,” she said.
“Damn straight,” Vincent said.
Then the limo stopped before it had reached the front door, and there were men and women in tuxes opening the doors. The minute the doors opened, they all heard the music.
“Is that Rascal Flatts song ‘Bless the Broken Road’?” Patty Ann asked.
To which Rusty cried, “It’s our song!” Rusty was scrambling out of the limo before Finn and Coco. Then Finn heard her saying, “I like country; he likes rock and roll. This song gets us both! Oh my God, I love him!”
“Tell me the real Rascal Flatts is not on a yacht behind this house on our lake,” Finn said, mostly to Coco.
“I love your friends!” Coco declared, as he helped her out of the back of the limo.
They all saw Rusty looking like an angel or fairy in the moonlight and the other lights strung over every inch of a luxury yacht floating in the water from the back of their lake house.
“It’s not actually Rascal Flatts,” Caval informed them, as they walked toward the yacht. “But damn, this is a wedding if I’m not crazy. Oh wait, I am damn crazy.”
“Still, boss,” Link said, while holding Patty Ann’s hand, “it’s a wedding.”
“Not one word,” Tess said, practically jumping up and down beside Carly, who was doing the same thing as they walked.
“He kept it a total secret!” Carly said.
But then they both looked at their husbands for confirmation, who simultaneously raised their hands, and each growled, “Hell no. We knew nothing.”
Finn chuckled. “Got a whole yacht into the lake where you both live close to. That’s brilliant.”
They both laughed.
“Well, see,” Tess said, “Rusty was having a hard time making any choices for the wedding, so it looks like Cabe took over.”
Nineteen] Love Takes Flight
The wedding...
Coco stood next to Finn, holding his hand as they looked up at the full side of a luxury yacht. It was gleaming white under the golden lights strung over the side railings, masts, and windows. There was a red carpet, a pier, then stairs leading up to the boat from the shore of the lake. Music played from all sides of the luxury vessel, and it looked magical.
Finn hugged her against him. “Now that is love.”
Coco knew her eyes sparkled when she looked up at Finn and nodded. He dipped his head fo
r a soft kiss, then they both watched Rusty glide up the stairs, with Cabe standing at the top waiting for her. She and Finn paused while making their way to the red carpet leading out to the pier, to watch Cabe catch Rusty’s leap into his arms. Then he lifted her and swung her around in the moonlight.
Coco squeezed Finn’s arm. “Oh my Lord, sugar, it’s just so...” she said wistfully.
Finn cupped her waist from behind. “Let’s go watch these two get married,” he said.
When they reached the pier, Caval prowled up to her side and grasped her elbow, so she had Finn on one side and Caval on the other, while Finn held Patty Ann’s elbow on his other side, so their high heels could make it over the planks without catching. She saw Finn give Caval a chin nod, which she took as giving Caval permission.
She looked back at Patty Ann and winked, so Patty Ann mouthed, “Hotness.”
Coco had told her friend about the breed of men she had found, and now Patty Ann was getting hit with it. And Patty Ann was leaning closer to it, as she was doing to Link on her other side. Coco knew Link was cool, but she had discovered he was a gentleman too by the way he treated her friend.
Once they reached the stairs, Caval went ahead of them, and Coco said, “Thanks, sugar.”
Caval’s eyes, which were more devilish in the lighting, turned back as a slow smile spread on his lips. “Got to find me a sweet one,” he said, before he turned back.
She blushed as Finn held her waist from behind and helped her up the stairs in her heels. At the top of the stairs, there was a tuxedoed gentleman who offered her a hand to bridge the distance from the stair landing to the boat. Just making it that far, she could see the yacht was very luxurious.
“Can’t figure out how he got this damn boat on this lake,” Caval said, while a young lady, also in a tux, started handing each of them glass candle holders with lit candles in them.
“The lake’s too shallow for it,” Finn said to Caval, who nodded.
Coco tucked her Prada clutch under her arm to hold the candle, and when she rounded the back of the boat to where it opened up onto a large deck, she saw two dozen people standing with lit candles. With the candles lit against the moonlight, it looked even more spectacular than the amazingness of being on a luxury yacht.
On the rear of the deck, there was an arch, which was filled with white gardenias, plus there were bouquets of them intertwined along every inch of the railing. Their smell filled the air as Rascal Flatts played through speakers from somewhere above them.
Coco heard Tess saying, “I was wondering whose wedding all the gardenias from my shop were going to. The order just said ‘boat wedding.’ I couldn’t imagine what that meant, but I was too busy with the charity ball flowers to look into it.”
Patty Ann moved closer and hugged Coco’s arm on that side, while Coco leaned against Finn. Just then, Cabe stepped up under the arc of flowers, and everyone quieted.
“As you can see, I’m hoping to marry the love of my life, Rusty Jean Harper,” Cabe said.
Laughs and murmurs of approval sounded around the entire group gathered.
“I think she is agreeing, as I sent her to get ready,” he said. Then he added, “Hope she shows up.”
“She will,” Tess called.
Cabe nodded to Tess with a smile. “She wants you to stand with her Tess, if you’ll go help her.”
Tess’ answer was a best friend’s squeal, then she kissed Vincent before she hurried off.
“Guess that means yes,” Cabe said. Then he got somber. “Now I need to ask my best man if he will stand by me. Vincent?”
“Honored,” Vincent answered, and then he moved to stand beside Cabe.
They shook hands and hugged briefly, while Coco, Finn, Patty Ann, and Link leaned against the railing. Across from them Carly leaned into Zeb, who stood next to Justice, who held Angel’s hand. Tag was next to Angel, and Coco saw Jagger and Blue were next to him.
She looked at Caval and saw he was looking at Jagger and Blue. But he didn’t look tense at all, so she thought he didn’t necessarily disapprove, because she could see, now being closer to her, that Blue was exotically beautiful. Quite a contrast from Jagger’s edge.
“I’m not real traditional,” Cabe said to everyone. “So even though I’ve gotten you here on false pretenses, I’m really glad you are here to see us get married.” Everyone clapped, then Cabe added, “There will be a party after, so I didn’t completely lie—”
Just then the music changed to the wedding march, and Cabe stopped speaking to look at the doors being pulled open from the middle of the deck.
“Oh,” Coco sighed, and Finn hugged her tighter for a moment as they all watched Tess start the wedding march.
But all of the guests’ happy exclamations were for Rusty behind her. Rusty still wore her beautiful white Sherri Hill dress, but now she had on a veil and held a huge bouquet. Plus, Coco noticed right away Rusty’s expensive heels were gone and replaced by cowboy boots.
That was so like Rusty. Tears sprang to Coco’s eyes, and luckily, Finn had a handkerchief in the classy outfit he was wearing. He took her candle so she could dab her eyes. It was so beautiful watching Cabe and Rusty get married. It was the most magical thing Coco had ever seen. She was pretty sure most of the women watching were crying by the end, especially after the original vows Cabe and Rusty had spoken to each other.
Even Patty Ann had to use Finn’s handkerchief.
Then they were married and Cabe kissed his new bride. There were many cheers, added to hoots and hollers.
Next, Vincent presented them. “Mr. and Mrs. Santos!” Everyone clapped. Vincent said, “I offer a blessing to two good people. On this land of my people, my ancestors see you. Now they see you are one and they are pleased. The eagle soars high over your union and represents a new beginning for both of you, a new life, and a new family together.”
To this, Tess added, “And we love you!”
At that point, everyone was finding places to set their candles so they could move forward and congratulate the newly married couple, while, strangely, the attendants started handing out cigars. Even to the women.
Coco said, “No thank you.”
The nice young man in a tuxedo said, “It’s a tradition, ma’am. Cabe wants everyone to have one.”
Patty Ann and Link had wandered off, and Coco found herself beside Carly, who said, “Oh it’s the gift of tobacco. Vincent had this at his wedding. It is a very cool thing Native Americans do.”
So that was how Coco found herself on a yacht, in the middle of a lake that should be too small for it to fit, standing in a circle of her awesome new friends, surrounded by candles, music, and moonlight, while puffing on a cigar.
She took a few light puffs, as Vincent told them the significance of giving tobacco at weddings among “the people,” as he called them. Vincent also told Cabe how he felt about Cabe having the gift for his wedding.
“Brother of my heart,” Vincent said gruffly.
Cabe slapped Vincent’s back as they puffed on their cigars, and then the talk turned to Zeb asking, “How’d you get this damn boat on our lake, man?”
Cabe held Rusty against his side, while she lightly puffed on her cigar, with funny faces each time she did it, while Cabe looked sheepish. “I bribed someone who could do it into raising the water level of the lake.”
Hilarity and coughing ensued as everyone laughed and some of them inhaled too much smoke.
“That’s fucking brilliant,” Vincent said.
But then Cabe admitted, “It can’t go anywhere. There is enough channel from here to where we put the yacht in the water. Barely. We were sweating it the entire time we moved it.”
That made everyone laugh harder, while Rusty jumped Cabe, who caught her, and her legs went around his waist.
“I love you!” she exclaimed, as Cabe held her aloft, and then he twirled them both.
That started the dancing, as everyone started to put out his or her cigars and moved on to champagne
or beer. She and Finn went to get one of each in the main salon, where they also found a really cool automatic picture booth, like one they would have at carnivals or fairs.
Before they got their drinks, Finn pulled her into it, and then set her down on his lap. He insisted on kissing her through the first set, until she knew her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were glowing. Then they took some cutesy pictures, which they laughed over, and next they got serious. Those were her favorite, because she could see that they looked so good together, it was amazing.
Why was it she had ever thought she didn’t fit Finn? That was crazy.
“Man,” he muttered, looking at the last set of pictures as they sat cuddled together. “You are so damn gorgeous.”
Coco kissed him on the cheek, moving toward his mouth, as she mumbled, “And you are so damn sexy, sugar, you twist my panties.”
He laughed against their kiss. “Is that a Southern thing, ‘twisted panties’?” he asked, after he’d pulled back to look at her.
“It sure is, baby,” she said, then she got really brave, because everything was too perfect not to. “I’ve decided it means to me that I think I am falling in love with you.”
Finn stilled, and then his aura got hotly intense, as he said, “I know I’m falling in love with you, Coco.”
She squealed and she kissed him hard. When she pulled back, she said, “I know it’s awfully soon for us to feel this way, but—”
Finn finished for her. “When you know, you really know it deep, and there’s no doubt you found the love.”
Twenty] Meant To Be
Months later...
“Babe, you got more than will fit in the truck I rented,” Finn yelled, because Coco was upstairs from where he stood.
Finn looked up the stairs when Coco came into view. She had on jean shorts, a halter top that had drawn his gaze all morning, her hair was pinned up with some of it falling free, giving her a tousled look, and she wore these wedged sandals that had to be three inches high. To move in—