by Casey Hagen
Lathan struggled with his bow tie. It was the fourth damn time he’d tried to tie it, and the thing was still crooked.
With a deep laugh, his father took the fabric from his inept hands. “Relax, son.”
“Easy for you to say; you’re not the one hoping the woman you love will show up to a wedding after she made it perfectly clear she wouldn’t marry you. Jesus, when I hear it out loud, it has disaster written all over it.”
His father smiled. “You spooked her, but I watched that young lady, and she’s built from strong stuff. She’ll be here.”
“I hope you’re right.”
His father tightened the bow and stepped back. “Your mother almost didn’t marry me.”
Lathan glanced away from the mirror to his father. “Seriously? What happened?”
His father looked pained. “It was stupid, and it doesn’t make me look very good.”
Lathan laughed and took a chair. He pulled out the one across from him for his father. “Hey, I had to get it from somewhere. Spill it.”
“I tried to tell her she couldn’t get a convertible. Worse than that, she was using her own money, and I, like an idiot, thought I had a right to tell her no.”
A convertible? That was it? “What was the big deal about a convertible?”
“I’m rather fond of that mind and personality of hers and would like it to remain intact. All it would take is one careless driver to end her life.”
“That could happen anyway, even without a convertible.”
Bradford raised a brow. “Yes, just like Jack could get hurt on any given day doing her job. And your job is to love her despite the risks.”
“Yeah, I got that, just too late is all.”
Bradford looked at his watch. “I guess in a few minutes we’ll know for sure. Time to go, son. Let the chips fall where they may.”
The yard was filled to the brim with people, most of whom this time around were family and friends. A few close associates from the office were also in attendance. They would all stand witness to his humiliation. The damn confidence he wore as a shield failed him as he stood there under a microscope.
Ah, moments of social anxiety.
Their family minister smiled as if the bride wasn’t late. “No worries, my boy. The bride is never on time.”
“Good to know.” So basically, he didn’t have to feel humiliation for, oh say, another thirty minutes or so.
Awesome.
Sweat started building in his collar. The ringing in his ears was new. He should probably get that checked. He scanned the crowd; where the hell was his Aunt Edie. The last thing he needed was her pulling any of her antics today of all days. Her babysitters just sat there in their garden chairs without a care in the world.
Great.
Much to his relief, just moments later, the little troublemaker came scooting up the path, the path that he hoped to see Jack walking up. She gave him a wink and shuffled over to her chair.
Harp music started, and a lump formed in his throat. They were going to play wedding music to highlight his humiliation. Could the day get any worse?
“Look, Father O’Malley, maybe we should just—”
Father O’Malley smiled over Lathan’s shoulder. “Lathan, you should turn around; you’re missing your bride.”
He snapped his head around so fast it was a damn wonder it didn’t roll right off his shoulders. Jeremy escorted Jack up the path. Her long hair fell in waves down her back. The dagger tattoo that had fascinated him from the start was prominently displayed by the strapless gown. She was perfect, absolutely perfect, and she was here.
Jeremy stopped a couple feet away and waited. Jack finally looked him in the eye, and the smile on her face was unlike anything he’d seen before. He’d never forget it.
It would always be the first time she wordlessly told him she loved him.
“Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” Father O’Malley asked.
“I do,” Jeremy answered. He shook Lathan’s hand and leaned in. “She fights dirty… you sure you want to do this?”
“Never been more sure of anything in my life.”
“Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He kissed his sister’s cheek and handed her off to Lathan.
It was the right time, it was the right order of things, but these people, they didn’t know what he had been through hoping for her, waiting for her. He framed her face with his hands, rubbed his thumbs over those high cheekbones, and took the briefest taste of those lips of hers.
“Lathan, we’re not at that part yet.”
“I don’t care.”
“Oh, before I forget.” She reached into her bouquet and pulled out his key.
He took the key and raised a brow at her. “You drove my car?”
She dropped a hand to her hip and gave him a look he had a feeling he would be seeing from her for the next fifty years or so. “Since you weren’t capable of getting your car home, I took care of it. Say ‘Thank you, Jack.’”
“Thank you, Jack.”
She patted his cheek. “See, was that so hard?”
He took that hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “Say it. Before we say “I do,” I want to hear you say it.”
“I love you,” she said.
“Well, it’s about damn time,” Lathan said. He took the bouquet out of her hands and handed it to Father O’Malley. “Here, hold this.” He bent her clear over in front of their family and friends and kissed the sassiness right out of her.
For the moment, at least.
EPILOGUE
The Choice
JACK KNEW LATHAN WAS GOING to do it. He was going to give her an out. If the past year being married to the man had taught her anything, it was that he was a fair man, one who followed through with his word.
Now, all she needed to do was to make sure she didn’t take his head off when he offered her a divorce.
Deep breaths.
She found him in his office. His fingers flew over his keyboard as he glanced between two large monitors. Gina’s voice came over the speakerphone as they went over the schedule for the next few weeks. Jack took the opportunity to soak him in, something she did more often than she liked to admit.
They had bought a house in Tallulah Cove just a month after their wedding. Jack insisted that they rent, but Lathan wasn’t having it. He wanted a space they could make their own, and if they divorced, they would sell it.
With Everett’s help, he had built a loyal team around him, allowing him to work from home most days. With all that extra time, he’d surprised her with his cooking skills and had dinner ready for her every night since they married.
As if she needed another reason to stay...
He had supported her and her business. He had become her best friend, her confidant, her happy place, and finally, she understood the kind of love her father had for her mother. She understood why he never managed to shake the hold her mother had on him, because Lathan had the same hold on Jack.
There was no way she was giving him up. In fact, the minute he handed her divorce papers, she would tear them in half, and then, she had some news of her own.
He ended the call and finally noticed her leaning against the doorframe. He smiled, that larger than life smile of his, but when he glanced down at the papers in front of him, his smile slipped.
“We need to talk, you and I,” Lathan said.
She made her way into the room and took the seat across from him. If he was going to be professional, she would follow suit, for a moment. “Yes, I believe we do.”
He picked up the papers and paused before handing them to her. “Your freedom, if you’d like to take it.”
She scanned page by page, taking her time, torturing him a bit. She raised an eyebrow at the settlement he offered her: the house and three hundred and sixty-five million dollars. One million for every day they had been married.
Seeing that figure gave her that much more satisfaction when she looked him square in the eye
, and with a quick flick of her wrist, she tore the divorce papers in half.
His chest heaved with the breath he had been holding. “So, I take it you’re not completely sick of me yet?” he asked.
She stood and circled around to him. After spinning his chair toward her, she climbed into his lap, and tucked her face into her favorite spot, the curve of his neck, just below his ear. “Not sick of you, not even a little bit. Do me a favor…don’t ever think of the word divorce again.”
He brushed the hair from her face and kissed her forehead, and Jesus, her heart sighed with the sweetness of it. This was what it felt like to be completely loved.
“Anything you want, Jack. It’s yours.”
She kissed his cheek and brushed her lips over his ear. “You mean that?”
“With my whole heart, yes.”
“There’s something I want.”
“Name it.”
She pulled back and held his face in her hands. She pressed a soft kiss to his lips and looked him in the eye. “You’ve amazed me with the way you’ve cared for your employees, your family, your friends…I want to see how you would care for a baby. Our baby.”
He cupped her face and held his forehead to hers. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I better be. I’m already pregnant.”
He straightened and searched her eyes. “You’re positive?”
She shook her head and smiled. “Three tests, three sets of double lines.”
“So you ripped up the papers because you’re already pregnant?”
“Lathan, I did so well to not bite your head off when you handed me those papers. Don’t be a moron by pushing me over the edge now.”
He grinned and wrapped a hand around the back of her neck. “You love me.”
She took his hand, kissed his palm, and laid it over her heart. “You’re in deep, in here. Love doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
ABOUT CASEY HAGEN
Casey Hagen pens her snarky, passionate stories from the salty air of Kennebunk, Maine. She’s a born and raised Vermont native, a New England girl to the core, with Ben & Jerry’s in her heart and real Vermont maple syrup pumping through her veins.
She’s the proud mother of three girls and a new, first-time grandma with an insatiable addiction to Fall Out Boy, and a new, rather concerning obsession with tattoos and piercings. Can you say “cool grandma?”
The inked and pierced grandma spends her time tucked away in her office, coated in cat hair, alternating between tearing her hair out trying to find the perfect words and being one step ahead of her three scheming fur babies she is positive are plotting her demise with every swirl around her ankles at the top of her office stairs.
She loves writing stories about real people, with complicated histories, relatable everyday problems, and giving them the hard-won happily-ever-afters they deserve.
And she thanks every last one of you who picks up one of her stories.
Casey is done talking about herself in the third person.
*Casey out*
Find the Tallula Cove Series here:
Tallulah Cove
The Novellas in Order!
Tallulah Heartbeat
Tallulah Nights
Tallulah Trouble
Tallulah Bargain
Tallulah Speed
Tallulah Homecoming
Tallulah Crush
You can find me online at
www.CaseyHagenAuthor.com
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