Forgiven (Book 3, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (15 page)

“Thank you,” I said to her while she put the necklace on me.

“They belonged to my mother,” Abby
sai
d
with a sad smile
.  “I think she would be really happy Dad found someone to share his heart with again.  He’s been so lonely all these years.  I’m just happy he finally let someone in.”

I hugged Abby and said, “Thank you for making me a part of your family.”

My mother and Utha Mae stepped in
to the room
.  The smile on my mother’s face made me wish I had a camera in my hands to keep the picture forever.

“Oh sweetie, you look beautiful.”

Utha Mae reached into her handbag and pulled out two tissue
s
: one for her and one for my
m
om. 

“Take it Cora,” Utha Mae said, “you know we’re gonna need it.”

“Is it my turn yet?” Malcolm asked, coming into the room after
them
.

“I gave her something borrowed,” Abby told him.

With a smile, Malcolm put his hand inside the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out a blue garter belt.

I just rolled my eyes at him.  “I should have seen that one coming,” I laughed.

Tara
and Abby helped me hold my dress up while Malcolm knelt and slid the garter belt up my left leg to mid thigh.

Malcolm sighed. 
“Would you like it higher, dearest?”

I laughed.  “No, that’s quite high enough.”

Malcolm stood up and kissed me on the cheek.  “I truly am happy for you, even if you chose the other guy.”

“Thank you for being here,” I told him.  “You’ll never know how much it means to me.”

“I think I do,” Malcolm
replie
d, trying to smile.  “And if he doesn’t make you happy,
you know where to find me
.”

All of a sudden, Malcolm let out a yelp and started to rub the back of his head.  When he turned around, I saw Utha Mae standing behind him holding her purse like a billy club.

“No talk like that,” Utha Mae told him sternly.  “Lilly’s made her choice just like I did wh
en I married
my Harry. Now
move on over
, I have something old I need to give
my baby
.”

Utha Mae stood in front of me.  “I
hope you know how proud I am of you
, baby.  I told them I wanted to give you something old.”  Utha Mae opened her purse and brought out a silver bracelet with a heart
shaped
charm attached to one of the rings.

“My Harry gave me this on our wedding day.  Every year he would add another charm to it to mark something special in our lives.  I took off all the charms except for this one because that’s how he first gave it to me.  Now you tell Brand he has to add on to it for you during your life together so you can remember all the special moments when you get to be as old as me.”

With age trembling hands, Utha Mae put the bracelet around my right wrist.  I hugged her close afterwards.

“Thank you, Utha Mae.”

“We just figured the dress would count as something new,”
Tara
told me.  “So don’t expect anymore surprises.”

“I won’t,” I told her.

There was only one thing, or person, who could make the day anymore complete and I knew I would just have to forget about Will coming to wish me luck in my new life with Brand.  It made me sad that I wouldn’t be able to share one of the happiest days of my life with my best friend but knew his feelings for me would prevent it.

Finally, it was time for the ceremony to begin.  Malcolm and I stood at the front of the church behind the closed doors
leading in
to the sanctuary.  I held my bouquet of red roses, white calla lilies, and red holly berries in one hand while Malcolm held my other
hand
in the crook of his arm.  Just as the wedding march began to play and the door
s
to the sanctuary opened, I felt a light touch on my
left
shoulder.  When I turned to see who it was, Will came to stand on the other side of me, offering his arm.

With no times for words, I took his arm and let the other two men in my life walk me down
the
red rose petal strewn isle, both giving me their blessing to marry the man of my dreams.

Once inside the sanctuary, I finally saw Brand for the first time that day. 
It felt like my heart dropped down into my stomach
he looked so gorgeous
. 
He was dressed in a black tuxedo standing between Pastor Ryan and Abby smiling at me as I walked down the isle to
meet
him. 
I felt like I had a million butterflies in my stomach by the time we reached the alt
a
r.

“
Who gives this woman
to be wedded to this
man
?” Pastor Ryan asked, looking pointed
ly
at Malcolm and Will.

“We do,” the
y
said in unison, letting go of my arms
so I could
walk
away from them
and
begin a new chapter in my life as
Brand’s
wife.

As Pastor Ryan began to tell us how we were entering into a blessed union, his voice seemed to veer to the background of my mind because all I could think about was the man standing in front of me.

Brand’s soft gray eye
s twinkled with his happiness and I knew this day would be the first of many happy days to come for us.  He was everything I always needed but never knew I did.  He made my life whole and h
el
d no doubts about his love for me.

“Lilly,” Brand said, bringing me out of my reverie.

“What?” I asked, smiling up at him in my euphoria.

He smiled at me and whispered, “This is the part where you say ‘I do’.”

I looked at Pastor Ryan and saw him nodding his head urging me to say those two little words.

“I most definitely do,” I said loud enough for the whole congregation to hear.

There were few
a
laughs but I didn’t care.  I was marrying Prince Charming and I wanted t
he
world to know he was all mine.

My mother hired a photographer to take pictures after the ceremony.  After almost thirty minutes
of posing
, we were finally allowed to go to the reception hall to partake of the food and festivities.  To be honest, all I wanted to do was take Brand home and finally put an end to having to take cold showers.  But, I knew how hard Utha Mae and her friends had worked to provide food for everyone in attendance and couldn’t bring myself to
do something so selfish.

A small band had been hired to play some music and Brand and I were directed to start the first dance.  A familiar song began to play.

I smiled up at Brand.  “This is the first song we ever danced to.”

“I thought you would remember,” he said, bending down to kiss me on the lips lightly.

I remembered it well.  It was
Time in a Bottle
by Joe Crocker. 
It was playing the night we danced in the gazebo
right after my car accident
.

Brand began to hum the tune in my ear and I remembered what a beautiful singing voice he had.

“Will you sing to me later?” I asked him.

“If it would make you happy, Mrs. Cole.”

I smiled.  “It would make me very happy, Mr. Cole.”

“Then your wish is my command.”

After the prerequisite toasts to our marriage and cutting of the cake, Brand made good
on
his promise to sing to me and asked one of the band members if he could borrow an acoustic guitar.

When
Brand
stood up to the microphone
,
he said, “My wife has requested I sing her a song.  I think she’ll remember this
one
because it was playing the first time she ever told me she loved me.”

Brand began to strum the
strings of the guitar and sing.  I did indeed remember the
song
.
  The first time I told Brand I loved him was permanently etch into my memory as one of the most glorious nights of my life.  After I declared my love, we spent the first of what would become many nights in his bed holding, kissing, talking and laughing with one another.  He knew this song held a special meaning for the both of us and I reveled in his though
t
fulness.  I could remember lying in bed that night asking
him what the name of the song was
and he told me it was Afterglow by Inxs.

Brand changed the
lyric
s up slightly to make it more personal
,
but I could tell from the way the girls at the reception were riveted
by him they all wished they were me, even
if
it was only for one night. 

By the end of the song, I felt desperate to finally get Brand home and didn’t see any reason for us to stay
longer than we had to
.

“You’ve got to throw the bouquet and Brand has to throw the garter belt or we’re gonna have a mad crowd Lilly Rayne,”
Tara
said, refusing to let me leave before we did those two things.

Tara
gathered all the single women together
,
and I tossed the bouquet over my shoulder not really caring who
m
might catch it.  When I turned around, I met the stunned eyes of Tara now holding my bouquet
squarely between her hands like it had just landed there of its own free will. 
I
glanced at
Malik
sitting at
one of the
table
s
and saw
a slow smile spread across his face
.
  I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking.

Brand
made quick work of taking my garter belt off and throwing it into the crowd of single men.  Apparently the belt
had a will of its own and journeyed back to its
original owner.  Malcolm held
the blue garter
to his noise and inhaled
deeply while
giving me a wink.

Now that our duty
as the wedding couple
had been done, we made our goodbyes and got into Brand’s car to drive away from the church.  As soon as we were far enough away, Brand phased us to his driveway.
  Grabbing one of my hands,
he
phased us directly to his bedroom.

We fell against one another drinking
in each other
s
lips like we w
ould die of want
.  Reluctantly, I pulled away just to take a breath.

“I have to get out of this dress,” I said, turning my back to him for his help.

Brand lowered the zipper
with one hand while
letting his other hand trail down my back as more of it was revealed to him.  I held the dress in the front
against my chest
so it didn’t just fall to the floor.  After the zipper was down, I felt Brand’s hands slide inside the opening
seeming intent to pe
e
l the dress off me,
but
I
turned around before he
could
explore
any
further.

“Give me one minute,” I said to him, bringing his lips back to mine for another kiss to tide me over before I went to the bathroom to prepare for the rest of the night.

I reluctantly pulled away and walked to the bathroom.  Before entering I turned and said over my shoulder,
“Stay in your tuxedo
.
”

“You know things would go much faster if I disrobed while you’re in the
re
,
”
he said.  “Or are you planning to torture me all night?”

“I don’t want fast,” I told him.  “I want to do everything I’ve always wanted to do to you for the past few months.  And one of those things is undress you
myself
.” I smiled at him.  “Just do what I ask, I promise you’ll like it.”

Brand smiled
back
and bowed at the waist to me, “Whatever your heart desires is my command.”

When he stood back up the
hunger
he held for me smoldered in his eyes
silently telling me
I should probably hurry up or he wouldn’t be able to keep himself from just throwing me down on the bed as soon as I reappeared.