Authors: Lauren Dane
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Giving Chase
Maggie walked into the conference room at City Hall and total silence fell. “Hi, everyone. I brought the spreadsheets from last year’s auction, I thought they might be helpful,” she said, trying to keep a professional tone in her voice.
Kyle took a seat away from the table and pulled out a book. He attempted to pretend he didn’t want to run interference for her with the Historical Society members seated around the table. All of whom looked at her with shock and pity.
“I’m glad you’re here, honey,” Maude Sheckley said and got up to hug her. “I’m glad you’re all right.”
“Thank you, Maude. I am too.” Maggie said softly.
In the following moments, every member of the Society got up and gave Maggie a hug and the tension was broken. People were laughing and joking around when the click clack of high heels on the wood hallway greeted their ears. Suddenly, the talking stopped. Polly swept into the room, gave Maggie a quick kiss and went to her seat at the head of the table, gave her hair a fluff and threw her massive purse down.
“Evenin’ all. Did Maggie tell you that she’s now engaged to my son, Kyle?”
The room once again erupted in chatter and Maggie smiled as she showed off the ring. Kyle gave them all a wave and went back to his book.
They discussed the auction and other Society business and finally adjourned at eight. Kyle accepted hugs and congratulations from
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everyone and finally reached Maggie and his mother. “You ladies hungry?
I’d love to take my two best girls to dinner.” Maggie froze up. She hadn’t been out of the condo much in the last two weeks. She worried about facing the townspeople.
“Honey, this is your home. People here love you. I’m starving, let’s go to The Sands and get some food,” Polly said gently.
“All right,” Maggie said taking a bracing breath.
It was late enough that the place wasn’t full to the seams with patrons but still had plenty of folks inside. Ronnie Sands, the owner, got them into a booth and squeezed Maggie’s hand. “Hi, honey, good to see you.” She looked down and saw the ring. “Oh my! Is this what I think it is?”
“Ronnie, this lovely woman has agreed to marry me. Am I lucky or what?”
“Isn’t that wonderful! Congratulations you two. When’s the day?”
“He only asked me on Christmas and then…well, anyway. We haven’t even discussed it yet,” Maggie said and Ronnie’s face softened.
“I was hoping that we could do it in late spring,” Kyle said.
“Ooh! Good idea, the weather will be so pretty.” Ronnie grinned and looked to Maggie. “Shall I get you all the usual?”
“Sounds good. Make my fries extra crispy, please.”
“Of course, girl. I’ve been serving you fries for a long time. Be back in a bit with your food and teas.” She winked and headed back to the kitchen.
“Where should we have the ceremony?” Kyle asked.
Maggie narrowed her eyes at Kyle. She did not want to do this with an audience. But he was just so damned excited about it, she couldn’t really be mad at him. “If we do it in late spring, say after Mother’s Day, we could easily do it outside.” Maggie hoped Polly would rein in her impulse to take over.
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“Hmm, yes that could be nice. We could do tents for the reception.
Where though? We could use the park I suppose.” He had the sense to look a bit chastened as he saw her narrowed eyes.
Oh well, in for a penny, may as well be in for a pound. Maggie took a deep breath. “Or your parents’ back yard. It’s over an acre.” She looked to Polly. “That is, if it would be all right with them.”
“Honey, you’re too good to be true!” Polly exclaimed, clapping her hands.
“But, Momma, remember that this is
our
wedding, yeah? So we’d love your
help
and appreciate your
advice
but Maggie and I need to make a lot of decisions for ourselves.” Kyle squeezed Maggie’s hand beneath the table.
Polly snorted. “Of course! I won’t try and take over.” It was Maggie’s turn to snort and she tried to pretend she didn’t and Polly just laughed. “Okay, so you know me well, dear heart, but I promise, I do know what it is like to be a bride and I’d never want to take that joy from you. But I do want to tell you that I consider you a daughter. And well, I know that your own momma is a fool so please come to me whenever you need a hand all right?”
“Thanks, Mom, I appreciate that so much.”
“So the Saturday after Mother’s Day at Mom and Dad’s house. We have a date and a place,” Kyle said.
“I’d like to get my dress made, which doesn’t leave much time seeing as how it’s already January. Dee’s mom just finished making her dress and it’s amazing. I wonder if she’d make mine? I’ll have to talk to her about it. We need to talk guest lists and color schemes and flowers and food. We need to deal with the invitations and the rentals for the tents as well. Oh my, so much to do.” Maggie broke out a pad and a pen and Kyle watched smiling as she and his mother started talking all of the details over.
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Kyle and his brothers moved all of Maggie’s belongings out of her house and she put it on the market. In the meantime, he and Maggie looked for a place of their own and soon found a four bedroom near the river that they fell in love with.
Maggie went to counseling both alone and with Kyle for a while to deal with what happened with Alex. It helped a great deal.
The invitations went out in March and Alex’s trial approached.
Maggie prepared her students for finals and decided on a caterer, she had dress fittings and chose flowers. Kyle converted the first floor bedroom into an office space for both of them. He chose tuxedos with his brothers and asked Shane to be his best man. Maggie asked Edward to walk her down the aisle with her own father. She wanted them both to give her away. Cecelia and Janie were not invited.
The trial happened to fall on the week of spring break so Maggie planned to be there every day. Kyle also took time off and the entire Chase clan and Tom Wright were there to support her although Maggie couldn’t attend until after she testified, the same with the others.
Testifying was awful. It was fine when the prosecution was examining her but when Alex’s attorney got up it was just horrible. He tried to twist her words, to make it seem like she’d led Alex on and that she’d run away with him on her own instead of being kidnapped. He also tried to make it seem like the bruises were due to rough sex and not assault.
Thank goodness Edward and Peter had helped her by doing a little role play and showing her what it would be like before the trial. She managed to keep on task and to not let herself get too riled up. The other women that Alex had stalked when he was a student at the University of Georgia testified to his behavior.
Alex did not testify in his own defense as Edward told her he probably wouldn’t. The defense case was relatively short and was
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essentially an argument that everything that happened was consensual.
Which—in light of the testimony from the women who’d been stalked by Alex, her own testimony, the pictures and medical testimony of her injuries, signs of struggle at her home, and the testimony of the police who came to the cabin and saw her screaming and trying to fight him off
— seemed ridiculous.
It only took the jury forty-five minutes to come back with a guilty verdict and Maggie sobbed in relief. Liv and Dee and a great many other people from Petal had come out to the trial and they all burst into applause and the judge had to pound his gavel to shut them all up.
The sentencing phase would be decided by the judge and he scheduled a hearing the following week to hand down his decision. When they returned, Alex was sentenced to seven years in prison. Edward explained that was pretty good considering but Maggie snorted, wishing he’d be in prison for life.
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The morning of May twenty-third arrived and Maggie awoke smiling.
It was her wedding day. She spent the night at Liv’s place and Kyle was at his parents’. Dee came over first thing and brought breakfast while Liv did their hair.
“Phone for you, hon, it’s your husband-to-be.” Liv handed the phone to her and she went back to artfully pinning up her curls and lacing flowers and ribbon through it all.
“Hi honey! Not having second thoughts are you?” she asked with a laugh.
“Hey, Red, no way. Although I just want to say, yet again, how stupid I think it was to make me sleep alone last night. I haven’t slept alone since November. I don’t like it.”
“Stop whining. It’s the last time you’ll have to. I didn’t want you to see my dress until the ceremony. I want it to be a surprise.”
“Okay, I’m sure it’ll be worth it. I sure do love you, Red.”
“Me too, baby. I have to go. Liv’s doing my hair and the phone is in the way. I’ll see you in an hour.”
“Can’t wait.”
Maggie hung up and sighed. “He’s so wonderful.”
“Oh lawd! I thought the weekly Arthur is wonderful updates were bad!” Liv joked.
“Are you talking about my boy?” Polly flounced into the room.
“Hey, Mom. Of course we were talking about Kyle. My, don’t you look pretty!”
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“Thanks, doll. What can I do?”
“I’m done here. Let’s help her get into the dress.” Maggie’s dress was antique white silk and satin. Sleeveless, with tiny embroidered French blue flowers along the neckline. The back had a small vee in it with the same embroidered flowers. It gathered into a pleat at the small of her back and the material flowed down and made a modest pool of silk as a train. She opted against a veil and chose to wind flowers and ribbon in her hair. Her bouquet was of silver roses and white magnolias. As a present for Kyle later, she had on a gorgeous cream colored bustier and garter set underneath with pale silk stockings.
Dee and Liv wore French blue dresses of mid-calf length and the groom was wearing a dove gray morning coat with his tuxedo.
“Look at you, girl,” Liv whispered as they got her all fastened inside of the dress and she stood before the mirror.
Maggie smiled as she looked at them all. “We sure do clean up nice.”
“I almost forgot. Here.” Polly handed a velvet jeweler’s box to Maggie.
“This is from Kyle.”
She opened the box and softly gasped when she saw the pair of sapphire and diamond earrings inside. The note said,
something blue and
something new
. She put them on and they sparkled in her ears.
“Now for something borrowed,” Polly said, “as well as old.” She handed her a velvet pouch and Maggie opened it and a diamond bracelet came out. “My mother let me borrow this on my wedding day and then she gave it to me when I had Shane. So today, you’ll borrow it from me.
And when you and Kyle have your first child, it’ll be yours.” Maggie fanned her face. “Oh lord, you’re going to make me cry and ruin Liv’s make up job! Thank you so much!” Edward and Tom waited on the front porch as Liv, Dee, Polly and Maggie arrived.
“You look beautiful, hon.” her father said.
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Edward kissed her cheek and winked at Polly. “You sure do. Kyle is a lucky boy.” He called for Matt and Marc who were going to walk with Dee and Liv. She’d asked Polly to be her matron of honor and Shane came to escort her. All three Chase brothers looked at her and cracked grins.
“Wow! You look amazing, Maggie. Absolutely gorgeous,” Marc said.
“I’m an idiot,” Shane grumbled and Polly nodded and patted his arm.
“You look beautiful, Liv,” Matt said and Maggie smiled at the chemistry that always brewed between those two.
“Let’s rock, people,” she said and they all went to the back doors and the music started as Polly and Shane walked out, followed by Liv and Matt, Dee and Marc.
Suddenly the music changed and she put her hands in the arms of her escorts and stepped outside and everyone stood. She looked out at the gathered crowd of friends and neighbors and then, up to the arbor where Kyle stood, smiling at her.
Kyle’s heart stopped when she stepped out onto the back porch. Her dress molded to her body, her hair pinned up in artfully reckless curls and filled with flowers. She looked fey and wholesome and yet earthy and sexy all at once. And she was all his. Her smile flashed at him and he began to breathe again.
Both Tom and Edward placed her hand in his and the rest of the ceremony went by in a haze. Kyle pushed the platinum band onto her finger until it slid home against the ring she already wore and spoke the words that bound their lives together under civil law. She spoke the same words back as she slid a matching band onto his finger.
The minister, who’d married Polly and Edward and presided at the baptisms of each of the Chase children, smiled at Maggie and Kyle and gently turned them to face the crowd of friends and family. “I’d like to introduce Kyle and Margaret Chase.”
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Kyle’s arm encircled his wife’s shoulders and he steered her back into the house for a few brief moments of silence and solitude. “I love you, wife,” he said, kissing her lips.
“And I love you, husband,” she murmured back.
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Six months later
It was a Friday night and Maggie, Liv and Dee were all at their usual table at the Pumphouse. Dee was drinking a Perrier because she was six months pregnant with the child she and Arthur conceived the night of Maggie and Kyle’s wedding.
Maggie watched Kyle as he bent over to take a shot, hooting as he made it and smacking Shane in the head with the tip of his pool cue. He turned around, feeling her gaze and shot her a look of total unadulterated lust and longing. Her pulse quickened and she smiled wickedly, raising her glass to him in promise.
“Oh god, the two of you!” Liv muttered.
“What?” Maggie asked, laughing. “You expect me to have that in my bed and not have this look on my face?”
“Point taken. I should go, my sister is coming in from Crawford in an hour and I want to pick up my house a bit.” Liv’s sister Bea was coming to stay with her for a while, licking her wounds from a bad break up and a lost job. Maggie smiled when she saw Matt cock his head and give Liv a wave and Liv blush and wave back.
“Night then, Livvy. You know, Matt isn’t dating Nancy anymore.”
“That so? Huh. Perhaps you and Kyle should have a barbecue, you know, a Thanksgiving thing. Give Bea a chance to get back into the swing of things in Petal again.”
“And you a chance to hang out with Matt?”
“Something like that.”
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“All right. I’ll call you with the details.” Dee shoved herself out of the booth and Liv helped her stand up.
“Arthur is here to pick me up, I’ll see you later.” She kissed them both and went to her husband who was waiting patiently at the door.
Maggie turned and walked through the crowd to where the pool tables were. She hopped up on a high stool, watching Kyle who tossed his cue to Matt and grabbed her. “Night all. See you Sunday,” he called out and pulled Maggie out the front door and practically shoved her into the car.
“Now, I was thinking, Red, that there was a back road with our name on it. I just happen to have the sleeping bags in the back, along with a picnic basket full of food and some sparkling cider. What do you say, wanna neck under the stars?”
She leaned in and caught his lips with her own, pulling his bottom lip between her teeth. “Mmmm hmmm. I’ll follow you anywhere. I might even let you get to second base.”
He threw his head back and laughed and they drove off, heading for that country road.
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