Landon's Desire (Book Three of The Pulse Series 3) (36 page)

She leaned towards Landon as he smiled. “I got that right, right?”

“Yes Mrs. Ward,” he nodded, with a smile.

“Landon?” she smiled and held her hand to his cheek. “Call me mom.”

He grinned. “Thanks…mom.”

“Over my dead body will you be going,” Emmitt started.

Patrice sharply poked her index finger against Emmitt’s chest. “You will not deny me seeing my baby boy get married, you may be my husband Emmitt Ward, but you will not take away my right as a mother, to see my son marry the
man
of his dreams.”

She stormed off in the direction of the elevator, closely followed by Emmitt with his tail tucked between his legs. He turned and scowled at them both as Carl raised his hand and waved with a nasty smirk.

“I almost enjoyed that,” Carl said, taking a sip of ice water from his glass. “There’s only one thing that would have made it better.”

“What’s that?” Landon hesitantly asked.

“If your mom had been here to set his ass straight,” Carl laughed.

“That would have been something to see,” Landon reached for his hand. “I think our moms will get along well.”

“I think we should get dinner to go,” Carl wiggled his brow. “I’d like to see that tattoo of yours in action.”

“I like the way you think,” Landon grinned. “By the way, what’s your middle name?”

“Why?”

“I should know, don’t you think?”

“Jasper.”

Landon held his fist to his mouth and guffawed. “I had a dog named Jasper.”

“Fuck off!”

TWENTY-FOUR

~ You Are Cordially Invited ~

~ To Witness the Joining Of ~

Landon Kyle

&

Carlton Ward

At

Kelleher Rose Garden

***

Have you seen my blue topaz cufflinks? C

They are where you left them. L

And where is that, smartass? C

Grumpy on your wedding day? That sucks! L

Tick Tock! C

On the fireplace mantle. L

Thank you! C

??? what’s wrong? L

I’m lost without you. C

It won’t be long now. L

I love you! C

I love you more! See you soon. L

Mikala had insisted on following all the old fashioned wedding superstitions etcetera and not being together the night before the wedding was top of her list. Therefore, Landon spent the night in her guest room listening to Emma fussing for most of it.

“Now she sleeps,” Landon grumbled, staring into the bassinet, where Emma lay sound asleep. “She’s got a set of lungs on her that would wake the dead.”

“She takes after her mother,” Mason laughed, filling two coffee cups to the brim, handing one to Landon.

“Very funny,” Mikala snapped, as she came into the room. “Who’s phone went off, I can’t find mine,”

“It was Carl, he needed help finding his cufflinks.”

“You’re not supposed to be talking to him before the wedding.”

“It was texting, that doesn’t count,” he blew steam from his cup and took a cautious sip.

Mikala laughed, “He’s not dressed already is he?”

Landon shrugged.

“The man’s eager,” Mason said. “Probably been dressed for hours,”

“Speaking of, I better get in the shower, you boys keep an eye on Emma?”

“Sure thing,” Landon looked over at the bassinet. “She’ll help distract me, you got Tums anywhere?”

“You okay Lando?” she asked.

“Nervous stomach, that’s all.”

“Not going to back out are you?”

Landon shook his head, “No fucking way.”

***

Carefully draping his tuxedo jacket over the back of a kitchen chair, Carl pressed the button on the coffee machine to brew a fresh pot, then tucked a tea towel into his collar and smoothed the wrinkles along his chest.

His stomach was causing him distress as it churned with nervous excitement. He searched the kitchen cupboards for antacids to give him some kind of relief. He gave up and decided to check in the bathroom instead with no luck. Knowing there had to be a bottle downstairs, since he always kept plenty behind the bar, he tore open the door and stopped in his tracks.

“Are you alone?” his father asked. “I really think we should talk.”

“I have nothing more to say,” Carl told him, as he turned his back and walked into the kitchen.

Since his father was showing no signs of leaving, he took two cups from the cupboard and set them on the counter, filling them both with coffee. He placed them on opposite sides of the table and sat.

“Then you can listen.”

“Do you think it will make a difference?” Carl asked. “It won’t change the fact that I’m gay and I’m happy with who I am and what I am.”

Emmitt let out a heavy sigh and clasped both hands around his cup. He stared into the dark brown liquid and blinked several times.

“Can you forgive me for being a fool, for far too long?” his father asked.

Narrowing his eyes with his brows drawn together, Carl stared at his father in shock without a word. He was incapable of forming anything coherent and feared he’d start babbling nonsense.

“I’m an old man from another time, a time when anything other than normal was unacceptable.”

“Normal?” Carl scoffed.

“You know what I mean.”

“Where is this coming from?”

Emmitt finally looked up at Carl. “Your mother and I had…a talk. She made me realize some very important things.”

“Such as?”

Carl sat up a little straighter readying himself to hear what remarkable revelation that had affected his father so dramatically. That caused him to be sitting across from Carl at his kitchen table with a cup of coffee in his hand, ready to reveal some sort of miraculous epiphany.

“You are my only child,” his father said. “I may not like that you are gay…that you have sex with men.”

“One man, Landon,” Carl corrected him and his father met his cross gaze.

“Yes well, I may not like it,” he reiterated, “but as your mother pointed out, it’s not my life and none of my business who you chose to sleep with. She also pointed out that it’s been long enough that our family has been torn apart…by my pigheaded stupidity.”

Carl swallowed back a lump in his throat. “Are you and mom coming to my wedding?”

Emmitt smiled, taking Carl totally by surprise. The last time he saw his father’s face it was twisted with hatred and disgust. Carl waited apprehensively, he wanted to pinch himself to see if he was dreaming, making up a happily ever after in his mind for some strange reason.

His father stood and held out his hand, Carl stood staring at it. “I’m sorry son.”

Carl shook his father’s hand and was surprised again when his father yanked him into a long held hug, several minutes later they pulled apart.

“I should go and let you get ready,” his father offered. “Three o’clock at Kelleher Rose Garden, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I love you, son.”

Tears started to well up in Carl’s eyes and he blinked them back with a smile. “I love you too, dad.”

Watching the door close, he waited until it clicked and then ran for his phone.

Have I got a wedding surprise for you! C

***

A rose Arber covered in lovely fragrant red and white roses welcomed Carl when he arrived. Mikala stood smiling and held out her hand. A violin started playing
All of Me
and Carl blew out a long-drawn-out breath. They walked through the Arber where Landon stood waiting with a perfect bright eyed smile holding out his hand.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Wait,” Carl whispered, as his eyes mapped Landon from head to toe. “I want to remember the way you look and that smile on your face, always.”

The photographer stepped forward and snapped a shot. “Saved for eternity, Babes.”

They had chosen matching classic black tuxedos with horizon blue vests and ties. A single soft white gardenia boutonniere graced their lapels and Landon couldn’t stop himself from bending in to give Carl a gentle peck on the cheek.

A few flashes, and another memory was saved.

“Ready?”

“Ready,” Carl reiterated.

Hand in hand, they walked along a small path until they came to the first row of seats, where Landon’s mom sat to the left all dressed in soft yellow with a gardenia corsage and gave them a tiny wave. Landon’s eyes followed the direction of Carl’s, to the right side. They widened when he saw Emmitt sitting with Patrice and there was an actual smile on his face.

“Surprise,” Carl whispered.

Landon tilted his head in question. “What the fuck happened?”

“Later,” Carl said.

The music stopped and the minister stepped forward.

“We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Landon and Carlton,” the minister started.

Carl increased his grasp on Landon’s hand, panic setting in his chest, not hearing a thing the minister was saying for fear he had forgotten his vows. He was holding his breath the entire time. Landon raised Carl’s hand to his mouth and kissed his knuckles until he loosened his hold and took a deep cleansing breath.

“I, Landon, am ready to take you, Carl, as my husband, to live together with you in a growing marriage relationship. I vow to be partners in life in such a way that together we will meet every situation of life; the peaceful and the chaotic, the routine and the exciting, the sorrowful and the joyful, the threatening and the inviting. I will love you, affirm you, and commit myself to you in a marriage relationship as long as we both shall live.”

“I, Carlton, ask you, Landon, to be my husband, as my friend and my love. On this day I affirm the relationship we have enjoyed, looking to the future to deepen and strengthen it. I will be yours in plenty and in want, in sickness and in health, in failure and in triumph. Together we will dream, will stumble but restore each other, we will share all things, serving each other and our fellow humanity. I will cherish and respect you, comfort and encourage you, be open with you, and stay with you as long as we both shall live, both freed and bound by our love.”

Carl sighed, happy he had not stumbled or forgotten his vows.

“Landon, do you take Carlton to be your one and only, for all the days of your lives, forsaking all others, until death do you part?”

“I do,” Landon winked.

“And Carlton, do you take Landon, to be
your
one and only, for all the days of your lives, forsaking all others, until death do you part”

“I do,” Carl smiled.

“The rings?”

Choosing not to buy new bands, they had a small diamond embedded into their existing bands as a symbol of their wedding day.

“The wedding ring is a symbol of the vows you have taken here today...a circle of wholeness perfect in form. The unending circle of a ring is a sign of fidelity, the pledged faithfulness of a couple to each other. These rings mark the beginning of an unending journey together filled with wonder and surprises, laughter and tears, celebration and joy. May these rings glow in the warmth and happiness of you both.”

Once their rings adorned their fingers, Carl held his hand out to see it for the first time, it was breathtaking.

The minister continued. “There may be times filled with happiness, sorrow, tears or laughter, whatever it may be, remember love has given you wings; your journey begins today; Landon and Carlton, if there is only one thing you remember of this marriage ceremony, remember the love that brought you here today, it is only love which can make your marriage a glorious union, and it is by love that your marriage will endure.”

I love you
, Carl mouthed.

I love you more
, Landon mouthed.

“Landon and Carlton, as you have consented together in lawful wedlock and thereto have pledged your faith to each other, and have declared the same by joining hands and giving and receiving of rings and exchanged your first gifts as a married couple and by the powers vested in me by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I now pronounce you are now married!”

“Well?” the minister looked from one to the other. “Kiss each other!”

Landon took Carl’s face in his hands and stopped short of his lips, then whispered, “Thank you.”

Carl grinned at him confused. “For what?”

“For making me the happiest man on earth.”

“I beg to differ,” Carl teased. “I am the happiest man on earth.”

“Kiss already!” Mikala yelled from her seat.”

And their lips pressed together, in a long smoldering kiss to end all kisses.

Click, click, click.

More memories saved!

***

A groom and groom sat atop a three tier wedding cake, holding hands with their legs dangling over the cakes edge, their heads turned to each other with smiles on their faces. It was humorous but beautiful, the frosting a soft mocha color with black bowties wrapped around each layer.

Their friends had outdone themselves turning
Pulse
into a tasteful reception venue. There were white gardenias and blue streamers everywhere. Tulle hung from the ceiling with glowing fairy lights setting a tranquil atmosphere and the DJ played a quiet refined mix of music while dinner was served.

“What’s with your father?” Landon asked, handing Carl a glass of champagne, while his glass contained the usual, ginger ale.

“He’s asked me to forgive him, I think he’s really going to try,” Carl said. “I also think my mom may have given him an ultimatum.”

“Probably more like a death threat,” Landon joked.

They laughed as they walked to the dance floor and gazed into each other’s eyes, holding tight and swaying to the slow beat.