“I met this young lady on a flight from Austin to L.A. six years ago. We were sitting beside each other. She was heartbroken and in tears, because she had caught her boyfriend cheating on her.” His words were accusatory as he fired them at Jason. I was still too shocked to say anything, to defend Jason and explain. I hadn’t expected a man who I hardly knew to come to my defense like this, from one of his important clients who he’d known for years no less. Then Bob’s eyes went wide in understanding. He knew. Bob knew about Jesse.
Before he could say anything else, I snapped out of my stupor and said, “I’ll explain, but do you think we can take this someplace else?” I could feel Rose watching us with interest and I bet she was soaking up every ounce of information she could get. I didn’t feel comfortable with her knowing anything about Jason and my personal life. Who knew what she would do with that information?
Bob lifted his arm in a gesture for us to walk into his office and we did. We all sat down at the table that was set up with sandwiches and drinks for lunch, and I explained what had happened. I wouldn’t have thought that I would ever explain Jason’s and my story to anyone outside my closest friends and family, especially not Jason’s lawyer, but I somehow felt obligated to. Bob had been kind to me. He had worried about me and had tried to help me when I had been at, what I thought then, my lowest point. Deep emotions, easily readable, flitted across his face as he listened carefully to every single word I said: shock, anger, disbelief, sadness, grief, then joy, happiness, and relief.
“I cannot tell you how glad I am that your story has a happy ending. I’ve thought about you often over the years, Loreley, and if I’d had your name or phone number, I would have checked up on you.”
“Thank you, Bob. I’m sorry I never called. So much happened so fast—”
His hand came up and he interrupted me. “No need to explain. I’m just grateful that everything got cleared up and you’re happy, even though I’m sorry it took so long.” He gave me a warm and fatherly look. “And you,” his eyes turned to Jason, who hadn’t said a word this whole time. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions out there. I know you’re a good man and I should have known better.”
Jason nodded at him. “No harm done. Believe me, you’re not the only one who’s blamed me for what’s happened.” My head whipped around, not at his words, since they were true, but at the tone he said them in.
“Stop.” I ordered. “Don’t do this.” Jason clenched his jaw but said nothing. “You demanded I forgive myself. Well, guess what? I demand you forgive yourself, too. If there’s one thing I have learned in therapy it’s that you can’t turn back time and change things. What’s happened, happened, and there’s absolutely nothing either of us can do about it. We were both young and did what we thought was right. I won’t let you blame yourself for one more second. Let it go.” There was no doubt in my voice that I would follow through on my silent threat.
Jason’s jaw had unclenched and he was smirking at me. “All right, baby. I’ll let it go.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Promise?”
“Promise.” He squeezed my knee in assurance.
“Good,” I said and looked back at Bob.
“She doesn’t give an inch, does she?” He was amused but seemed proud at the same time.
“Not when it’s about something that’s important to her,” Jason confirmed through a smile.
“It’s good you have a woman who keeps you on your toes.”
“She certainly does that,” Jason muttered on another squeeze. I raised an eyebrow at him and he chuckled.
“Now, let’s get down to business. Maggie gave me a list of things you need and I’ve added a few points myself. First off, I think congratulations are in order. Your marriage certificate will be ready in a few hours. It would normally take a few days at least, but I pulled some strings. So you’re good to go on that front.”
“Thank you, Robert, I appreciate it.”
“Now, don’t be offended, but I have to ask this as your lawyer. Have you thought about a pre-nup?”
“No pre-nup,” Jason answered instantly. I looked at him. “Are you sure? I’ll sign anything you want.”
“You thinking of leaving me?” Now it was him who cocked an eyebrow at me.
“No,” I replied immediately.
He turned back to Bob and said, “No pre-nup.”
“All right. We’ve put a rush in with the bank as well. Your new bank and credit cards should be here within a day, Loreley.”
“My new bank and credit cards?”
“What’s mine is yours, literally and legally, in a few hours.” Jason said.
“Jason, I don’t need—”
“No, Loreley, I’m not discussing this. I know you don’t need all the blitz and bling, but there’s no way you’re fighting me on this. I’ve let it go once. I’m not going to do that again.”
“What do you mean, you’ve let it go once?” I was confused. I couldn’t remember a single time where he had offered to pay for something and I didn’t let him. Having grown up with alpha men all around me, I had always understood that that was part of who he was.
Jason sighed. “I wasn’t going to bring this up since it’s a moot point now, but it’s been bugging me. Loreley, why did you return the royalty money I sent you?”
Huh? Now I was even more confused. “What royalty money?”
“The money I sent you when we got our record deal. You wrote most of the songs on that album with me, and I sent you a cheque for the royalties. Twice.” He was annoyed.
“I never got a cheque.”
“Loreley—” I could tell he was getting angry now. But so was I, so I cut him off. “I swear, Jason, I never got a cheque from you. I was trying to get a hold of you, but never got a response. Don’t you think that if I’d gotten that cheque from you, I would have somehow followed that trail to get an address or a phone number or something? I don’t know if I would have taken the money from you. I was mad and heartbroken and wanted to hate you, but I would have tried harder if I’d had anything to go on.” At the end of my rant my voice was almost a shout. Jason was taken aback by my sudden outburst.
“You never got it?”
“No. I didn’t.” I snapped.
“That something I need to look into?” Bob asked, interrupting our stare down.
“I don’t know yet. Maybe. Probably.” Jason sounded pre-occupied and lost in thought. Then he turned his eyes back on me and apologized. “I’m sorry, baby. I could have handled that better.”
“So you believe me?”
“Of course I do.” He picked up my hand and kissed my knuckles. “Forgive me.”
“All right,” Bob said, getting back to business. “You’ll let me know if you need me to dig a little deeper. Let’s move on for now. You wanted to know about changing your son’s name.” Jason’s attention snapped back to Bob, as did mine. “It’s not a problem. As long as your name is on the birth certificate and the mother agrees, which I assume she does, it shouldn’t take all that long. All I need is a copy of the birth certificate and both your signatures on the bottom of this form.” He passed a form across the table and Jason stared at it. It was a request for a name change and looked pretty straightforward to me. But Jason didn’t move to sign it. He just kept staring at it.
“Honey,” I asked. “You okay?” My bad mood from a few seconds ago was forgotten.
“Yeah,” his whisper was hoarse. He cleared his throat, but still didn’t move. I slowly pulled the form to me, picked up a pen, and signed it. Jason followed my every move.
“Here, your turn.” I moved the form back to him and saw his hand shaking as he picked up a pen. “Jesse Sanders,” he whispered again, reverently this time. I had known this meant a lot to him, but until now I hadn’t realized just how much.
“Jesse Sanders,” I repeated, my voice shaky. I watched with tears in my eyes as Jason signed the form and handed it back to Bob. Then he grabbed my hand under the table and gave me the biggest and most loving smile I had ever seen on his face.
“There are a few other matters we need to discuss in the near future, Jason. As requested, I’ve looked into the Courtney situation and I need to give you an update on that. And your new contract with the record company is coming up, but we’ll discuss those things at another time. I’m sure you’ve got lots to do this afternoon, so I’ll let you go.”
We all got up and Bob moved around the table to embrace me in another hug. “I’m so very happy for you two.”
“Thank you. For everything.”
“Any time, dear. And now that I know how to contact you, you’ll have to come and meet my daughters.”
“I would love to.”
Jason and Bob shook hands and we left the office. Rose was still sitting at her desk, but neither Jason nor I paid her any attention.
“So, what’s next?” I asked when we were sitting in the back of the SUV again and Frank was driving us through the city.
“Maggie is meeting you so you can find a dress. I’ll go and get the rings and your surprise and I’ll meet you at the house in two hours.”
“I don’t get to pick out my own wedding band?” I asked.
“No. I’m a man. That’s my job.” His voice was resolute.
“Is it now?” I muttered under my breath, knowing by his tone that there wouldn’t be any room for me to argue. Jason was a man and as such he had a strict set of rules as to what was the man’s job and what was the woman’s job. He didn’t mean it in a sexist way, that for example the woman was only relegated to housework or any such nonsense. No, he had a code that he thought any man should follow and respect, as should the woman who belonged to him. He reminded me of Cal in that sense. He was of the mindset that a man should always take care of his woman, as in hold the door for her, pay when they went out to dinner or whenever they were together really, drive when they were both in the car—though that one I knew would be a point of dissension on a regular basis since I loved driving my girl—make sure she was safe and protected and taken care of at all times. Men like Cal and Jason were providers and as their woman you’d be advised to never undermine them in that way. I hadn’t expected Jason to choose our wedding rings by himself without me having a say, but I trusted him and knew that he would make the right choice. He had good taste, as proven by the engagement ring that was sitting on my finger. And it was kind of romantic if you thought about it.
“Yes. Don’t worry. I’ve got it covered.”
“All right,” I gave in. That earned me an approving smile and a quick kiss.
Frank pulled over and stopped in front of a fancy looking store. It was a bridal shop and Maggie was waiting for me on the sidewalk, grinning and waving.
“In only a few hours you’ll be Mrs. Sanders for real. Now go find me a dress that I can’t wait to rip off of you.” Jason kissed me again, softly this time. I giggled against his lips and he gently pushed me towards the door that Frank was holding open for me.
“See you later,” I said over my shoulder as I got out of the car and went to meet an overexcited Maggie.
“Later, Mrs. Sanders,” I heard before the car door was closed and the SUV disappeared into traffic again.
A little over two hours later, Maggie parked her car in front of Jason’s garage. We had gone to three bridal stores only to go back to the first one and buy the first dress I had tried on. I had known pretty much from the second I had seen myself in the mirror that it was the one, but Maggie insisted I try on more. And more. And more. She had been so excited about everything and had chatted constantly that I didn’t have the heart to tell her no. And I’d had fun. I wasn’t really into fashion, especially not dresses, but even I had to admit that it was fun dressing up in gown after gown after gown. In the end, I had stuck to my guns though and had chosen the dress that was the most me. It was a simple flowy chiffon strapless A-line dress with a lace trimmed sweetheart neckline and a twisted empire front with tiny gold beading. It was gorgeous and I was absolutely in love with it. It was long enough to cover my feet—I had opted out of shoes and would go barefoot, it was a beach wedding after all—and the first layer had a slit that went all the way up my legs in the front. The back had a short sweep train. The dress was simple but beautiful: the perfect dress for a beach wedding. And compared to the other prices I had seen that day, this one had been a steal. I had decided that I would keep my hair down. It was wavy naturally and would look great with the simple vintage tiara-like band and the matching earrings we had found. I couldn’t wait for Jason to see me in it.
“Great, the Wicked Witch of the West is here. Prepare yourself for a bitch attack,” Maggie muttered under her breath. I looked around and saw another car parked off to the side of the driveway, closer to the front door.
“Who’s the Wicked Witch of the West?”
“Dana.” Ah. Dana. After what Nathan had told me, I wasn’t looking forward to meeting her, especially not today, but since she was here and inside the house it looked like I wouldn’t have a choice.
“Any advice?” I asked Maggie. Maggie had been Jason’s assistant for a few years now and must have had countless encounters with Dana during that time. I liked Maggie. We clicked and it wouldn’t hurt to hear how she thought I should handle the woman that had a thing for my man and worked closely with him. She was going to be a part of Jason’s work life if I liked it or not and I needed some inside advice. Maggie looked at me out of the corner of her eyes and bit her bottom lip, hesitating.
“I know she’s got a thing for Jason. Nathan told me.” I informed her.
“Oh, good. I didn’t want to be the one to break it to you,” she said, seemingly relieved. “She’ll try to rile you up, get a reaction out of you, at least when Jason’s not looking. Don’t let her, it just gives her more ammunition.” I nodded, understanding.
“Is she gonna throw herself at Jason in front of me?”
“I don’t think so. She’s never too obvious about it, but there’s no doubt that she thinks Jason will come around and want her. It’s like she’s waiting in the shadows for him to be ready to settle down or something. She won’t be happy to see you here and she’ll be even unhappier when she sees the way Jason looks at you.” Great. I wasn’t sure if I could succeed in not letting her rile me up if she thought she had a claim to what was mine.
“Don’t worry. I’ll try my best to be your buffer. She hates me and vice versa, so it’s no skin off my nose if she comes after me.” Maggie stated.