“Suzanna Marie!” I heard someone shout at me as Cade and I started to walk to our seats. Cade was holding my hand and he squeezed it a little bit harder when he heard my name being called. Looking toward the front of the room, I saw the culprit. It was Callie’s Aunt Gail. Oh my goodness, that woman had to be one of the funniest women I’d ever met in my life. She was in her late fifties and had just recently married husband number five or was it six? I couldn’t really keep track of them anymore. She was very petite and had the most beautiful bouncy white hair I’d ever seen. Her new husband had moved her off to Vermont or somewhere like that, so I hadn’t seen her in quite a long time.
“Aunt Gail!” I pulled Cade with me and released his hand just as we got to her. She threw her arms around me and caught me in a big ole bear hug. I could smell the alcohol on her breath. She had a tendency to imbibe a little too much. When we were teenagers and Aunt Gail would visit, Callie and me would sneak into her purse and take nips out of her flask.
“Well, Suzanna, you gonna introduce me to this luscious piece of man meat you dragged up behind you?” Leave it to Aunt Gail to make me blush. I assumed that Callie had filled her in on what had been going on with me, because she knew Branch and she knew that Cade was definitely not him.
“Aunt Gail, this is a friend of mine. Cade Walker meet Aunt Gail.” I swear to God, I could almost see her panties melt down her legs when Cade leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek.
“Pleasure’s all mine, Aunt Gail.” That damn drawl could bring any woman to her knees.
She finally brought her gaze back to mine. “Um, that man is a keeper, sweetheart. And believe me, if there’s one thing Aunt Gail knows it’s the opposite sex. That Branch was an asshole. Cade Walker is a man. A real man…a man’s man. Don’t you dare let him slip away.”
I just smiled as Cade and I walked away and took our seats across the aisle. “That was just sad.”
“What?” Cade asked with that damn smirk on his face.
“The fact that you melted that poor woman’s panties right in front of her new husband. For shame on you, Cade Walker.”
He chuckled and laced his fingers through mine.
The barn filled up pretty quick. It was a very short ceremony. They recited the basic wedding “I do’s” and it really couldn’t have been any more perfect.
Callie of course wore white, ha! She joked from the day she lost her virginity, when we were fifteen years old, that she would burst into flames when she walked into the church with a white dress on her wedding day. I laughed to myself thinking it was probably safer for her to get married in a barn.
Her sister wore a lime green, short halter dress. Walt and his brother wore jeans, black dress shirts, and lime green ties. I couldn’t believe Callie made them wear ties. That cracked me up. They had those ties off quicker than she said “I do”.
After the ceremony, the altar was moved out and that area was turned into the dance floor. Everyone sat around eating barbecue and listening to the band play all of Callie’s favorite country music. I kept looking around the room, just waiting to hear someone say something about me. I caught a lot of people staring and a couple of times I was pretty sure they were whispering about me, but I was having a good time and my confidence was coming back to me, damn it. Let them talk. I could handle whatever they needed to dish out. I am Suzanna - hear me roar.
Our seats for the reception were at the same table with Callie’s cousin, Meg, and Aunt Gail and her new husband, Bob, who I learned was from Vermont and actually owned a company that made maple syrup. They were a hoot. Cade was really enjoying himself and that made me so happy. Weddings didn’t really seem like his thing, but this one had been pretty fun. Cade always liked Callie and he knew what she meant to me.
“So who wants to hear a maple syrup joke?” Bob asked everyone at the table.
Nobody really responded, so Cade said, “Let’s hear it, Bob.”
“You’re my kind of man, Cade. Here goes: A family of moles had been hibernating all winter. One beautiful spring morning, they woke up. The father mole, let’s call him Bob, stuck his head out of the hole and looked around. ‘Mother Mole!’ He called back down the hole. ‘Come up here! I smell honey, fresh made honey!’ The mother mole, let’s call her Gail, ran up and squeezed in next to him. ‘That’s not honey, Bob, that’s maple syrup! I smell maple syrup!’ Now the baby mole was still down in the hole. He was sulking all about and then he said, ‘I can’t smell anything down here but molasses.’ Get it? Do you get it? Mole asses…molasses?” Bob was laughing hysterically and pretty soon the entire table had joined in. Cade’s deep, belly laugh was like music to my ears. It’d been a long time since I heard him that happy. This was shaping up to be a pretty great night.
They cut the beautiful white cake with dark green ivy cascading down the sides, and did the obligatory shoving of cake down each others throats. Then came the bouquet toss. When Callie’s sister caught it, her boyfriend turned white as a sheet and his eyes darted all around the room. I’m almost positive he was trying to find the quickest exit out of the barn. Poor guy. I think that was the funnest part of the evening...well, it was up to that point.
“Wanna dance, hon?” Cade asked as one of my favorite songs started playing.
Amazed
is such a beautiful song. I smiled and nodded as he took my hand and led me to the dance floor. He pulled me close to him and my breath hitched. I hoped he hadn’t felt it, but when I looked up and he was giving me that smirk, I knew. He felt it.
We danced close through the entire song. I had my head buried in his chest and I never wanted to come out. He smelled so good and he felt even better. I started having flashbacks to the times we made love. He always made me feel so beautiful and so wanted. At that moment, I realized something as I was standing in the middle of the dance floor dancing with this gorgeous cowboy - he was the only man who had ever made me feel truly loved. Branch had never even come close. I think I always knew he didn’t have any feelings for me, but especially not love.
Cade bent his head down and started running his nose along my cheek. We were swaying with the music, the song had long since changed, but we didn’t care. I didn’t want to let go of him. Hell, I couldn’t let go of him. He whispered in my ear, “You always smell so damn sweet.” Then he placed a soft kiss below my ear.
“You smell good too,” I whispered as I rubbed my nose along his chest before placing a light kiss there. I caught his gaze and that look was there. He wanted me as much as I wanted him. He was looking at me like he did when he made me writhe with pleasure beneath him. Yep, that’s what I thought “writhe with pleasure beneath him”.
“Let’s go home, Suzy Q,” he said as he started to pull us off the dance floor and toward the door.
We had already said our goodbyes to Callie and Walt as they headed off on their honeymoon, so there was no reason to stick around.
Making our way to the truck took a bit. I mean we were parked out in the back forty. As we made it to the truck, Cade pulled me toward him, “You have no idea how bad I wanna kiss ya. Please tell me I can kiss ya, Suzy Q?”
“I don’t know. Can you, cowboy?” I asked as I tried my damnedest to return that sexy smirk he kept giving me.
“Well, hon, I think we both know I can.” He placed his lips on mine. All these years I had dreamed of feeling Cade’s mouth on mine and now I couldn’t get enough him. He slowly slid his tongue into my mouth. He wasn’t kissing me like he had before. He was being very careful, like he was afraid he would hurt me or I would break if he wasn’t gentle. So I put my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. I plunged my tongue into his mouth and by the time we broke away from one another, we were both panting.
“Holy hell, Suzy Q. That was fuckin’ amazin’. I really think we should do it again. Ya know, just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke - a onetime thing.”
“I couldn’t agree more, cowboy.” I tugged on his collar and brought his lips down to mine. This kiss was sweet. We were exploring each other and feeling how far we could go and still feel safe. I honestly didn’t know how I could ever not feel safe with Cade. That man had been saving me ever since we were nine years old. I loved him and I wasn’t gonna lose him this time. I was not his sister and by God he wasn’t gonna see me as one anymore.
We finally parted from each other and decided we’d better head home before people saw us and really started talking.
~Chapter 21~
Cade~
The weddin’ had been bearable, but the reception was fuckin’ perfect. I had let that shit with Branch happen, and I would never forgive myself for it, but like hell would I let her slip away from me this time. I was gonna make sure she and Izzy B were happy for the rest of their damn lives. Nobody would ever hurt them again.
When we got back to my place and walked inside, somethin’ just didn’t feel right. I don’t know how the hell to explain it. Somethin’ felt off. Clay wasn’t around anywhere. We walked upstairs to my bedroom and Clay was in bed. There were four empty bottles of beer on the nightstand. What the fuckin’ hell? I left him here to watch Izzy B and he got drunk and fuckin’ passed out?
I started shakin’ him, tryin’ to get his ass to wake up so I could beat the shit out of him. He finally started to come around and then I heard it. Suzy Q was yellin’ from the bedroom Izzy B was supposed to be sleepin’ in.
“Where is she? Clay, where’s my baby?”
I shook Clay harder. “Wake the fuck up! Where’s Izzy B? What the hell did you do?”
“Cade, what do you mean? I don’t know. Where is she?” Clay seemed really out of it. Little bastard was shit-faced. I couldn’t believe I was stupid enough to trust him with Izzy B.
“Get your ass outta bed. We need to find her. Now. It’s dark outside and she’ll be scared,” I yelled at Clay as I ran out the door to Suzy Q. She was on the floor lookin’ under the bed hollerin’ for Izzy B.
“Cade, where is she? What did Clay say?’ I didn’t want to tell her what the little bastard said. He didn’t even remember he was here watchin’ her.
“He’s gettin’ up. He’s gonna come help us look for her.” That’s when I heard Clay holler from downstairs.
“Cade! Oh my fuckin’ God! Cade!” I flew down the stairs and saw Clay standin’ by the island in the kitchen. He was holdin’ a piece of paper in his hands.
I grabbed the paper from his tremblin’ hands. In horrible chicken scratch it said:
They are mine. I will take both of them back real soon, but for now I’ll settle for this one.
Oh my fuckin’ God was right. Branch had taken her.
“HOW THE FUCK DID YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?” I screamed at Clay as I slammed him up against the counter.
“Cade, I swear to God. I don’t know what happened. I only had one beer. I swear to God, Cade. I would never...my God, don’t you know how much I love her? I would never let anything happen to her.”
Clay was tearin’ up, I could see how bad he felt, but that didn’t change a damn thing. He let this happen. I turned around just as Suzy Q took the note from the island and read it. She dropped to her knees and started sobbin’. I ran to her and scooped her up into my arms.
“He’s got my baby, Cade. He took my baby girl.” She was sobbin’ so hard she was convulsin’.
“I’ll find him, darlin’. I’ll get her back. I promise.” I would do everything in my power to find that baby girl and then I was gonna kill that fuckin’ bastard for everything he’d done.
There was no way we could call the police. With Branch’s connections to the Police Department, they wouldn’t be any damn help to us. I called Cord and he was roundin’ up the rest of the Walker boys to get over to my place.
“We’ll find her. Think about it, hon. Where would he take her? Any special place he would go to hide out with her.”
She was still shakin’. The sobbin’ had stopped, but she was beside herself. “I don’t know, Cade. I don’t fucking know. Why would he take her? He doesn’t even like her, Cade. He’s gonna hurt her, because he knows how bad it’ll hurt me and you.”
I was scared out of my fuckin’ mind, because she was right. Branch was crazy and I wouldn’t put it past him to hurt Izzy B to get back at us.
I carried Suzy Q into the livin’ room and sat her down on the couch. I wrapped her up in a blanket and then I took my phone out of my pocket and called Larry. I explained the situation to him and he was gonna have the farmhands ask around town to see if anybody knew where Branch would take her.
About that time, Cord, Cole, and Colt walked in. The twins went into the kitchen to try and console the little bastard that let this happen. I couldn’t even fuckin’ look at him. I wanted to rip his head off.
Cord grabbed my arm and had me walk with him to the hallway. “Cade, you need to calm down. You won’t be any good to anybody if you’re freakin’ the fuck out.”
I knew he was right, but the thought of that monster with my baby girl, I mean Izzy B, made me sick. “He’s gonna hurt her, Cord. He knows how bad it’ll hurt Suzy Q. He’s gonna fuckin’ hurt that baby girl. We have to find her now.”
Cord shocked the shit out of me. He pulled me into a hug and said, “We’ll find her. I called Lisbeth, she’s gonna talk to her mom and see if she has any idea where Branch could be. When we find him, you need to back the hell off and let me handle it, understand cuz?” He asked as he released me from the hug and took a step back.
I was so pissed off and scared that I was shakin’. “I’m gonna kill him. I need you to understand that he ain’t makin’ it out of this alive. Do you understand
me
, cuz?”
“Cade, all that’ll do is get your ass thrown in jail.”
“And I will go away with a big fuckin’ smile on my face,” I said with a chuckle that even I knew sounded crazy.
He slapped me on the shoulder. “I won’t let that happen.”
Yeah, well we’d see about that. That bastard was gonna die and good Lord help him if he hurt Izzy B before I got to him.
We headed back into the livin’ room and the house phone started ringing. Cole hollered for me and I walked toward him. “It’s Lisbeth. She said they think Branch went to visit family in Oklahoma. They got a cousin in Tulsa. They think he’s headed thataway.”