Society Weddings (Corrigan & Co. Book 11) (8 page)

“Thank you for my flowers, E.”

“You’re welcome. I love you, Mama.”

“I love you, too.”

“You look beautiful, Cowgirl.”

“It’s all the diamonds in the necklace my
husband bought me. They’re blinding you.”

“Nothing outshines you. Happy
Anniversary.”

“Happy Anniversary.”

The ceremony is short, since we’re just
reaffirming things. One of the stable hands leads our horses to us
after we walk back up the aisle. Caleb’s mom hands me my boots and
I lean on him as I change my footwear. “I like the heels, but I
have so many fantasies about you and your boots,” he whispers in my
ear.

“More?” I ask, because my boots have been
used in many places and positions over the last year.

“I don’t think I’ll ever stop fantasizing
about you.”

“You say the sweetest things.”

“Remember that when I’m rough with you
later.”

“That’s when you’re the sweetest.”

“Woman,” he says in warning.

“Man.”

“Get on your horse. We need to go to the
reception.”

“In the barn. With the hayloft.”

“Tegan Hall, get your ass on the damn
horse.”

I just laugh and do as he says. The guests
will be taken back in the carriages they rode in on, but we hold
hands as we ride next to each other, just like we’ve done countless
times. I can’t wait to see what the barn looks like, but I’m not
willing to rush this. Especially when I still have his present to
give him.

The barn is nothing short of spectacular.
There are branches mixed with twinkling lights wrapping around the
support beams, dried pink and white flowers along the loft
railings, and white tables all over. There was always a large open
area in front where business meetings took place, but the whole
place has been taken over for the wedding. I know they took the
horses to the auxiliary stable, but I don’t know how Stella got it
to smell so nice in here.

I don’t dwell on it as I go over to look at
our cake. Just like everything else, it’s perfect. Dark pink with
frosting that looks like rope around some layers, and shimmery
circles on others. The topper is a statue of a man and a woman on
their horses, holding hands like Caleb and I just did.

“Everything is so perfect, Cal.”

“Thank God. I wanted it to be that way for
you.”

“I want to give you your present. Can we go
upstairs?”

He looks at me with an eyebrow raised. “I’m
not sure we can do that with everyone here. You do like to
scream.”

“Shut up. That’s not what I want to go up
there for.”

“No?”

“Well, I wouldn’t turn it down, but no.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Once we get up there, I make him sit down,
and then I climb on his lap. “What I have to give you isn’t
something you can see. Yet.”

“That’s not cryptic at all.”

I take his hand and move it to my stomach.
His eyes go wide, and I nod. “Yes. I’m pregnant. Almost two
months.”

“I…this…next to you and E, this is the best
present I could ever receive.”

“I love you Caleb Hall.”

“And I love you, Tegan Hall. Thank you for
the gift of you and our children. I promise to work hard to show
you how much I love you for the rest of my life.”

“I promise to love you back. Now, I think I
saw a mouse, so maybe you should make me scream.”

Jade

“I got a hold of some more of your fighter
friends. They can’t wait to come out for the wedding.”

“Cool,” Nate says. Something in his tone
tells me it’s not in fact, “cool.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No, J. We’re good.”

He turns and kisses me sweetly, but it
doesn’t change what I feel. “Do you not want to get married?”

He pauses for so long that I almost take the
ring he gave me two months ago off my finger. It doesn’t look like
a typical engagement ring, and I love it even more because of that.
It’s got a large, square, chocolate diamond with rows of white
diamonds crossing over it, and then flowing into a platinum band.
He said I was his forever. Now I’m afraid he’s changed his
mind.

“I want to marry you,” he finally says. “I
just…”

“What? Say it, Soldier.”

“Nothing. It’s nothing,” he says, kissing me
again in an attempt to get me to drop it.

I
can’t
drop it. Something’s wrong, and
he’s not telling me what it is. We’ve been through so much; I
thought there were no more secrets, but I guess I was wrong.
Thoughts start to swirl through my head. I imagine prettier and
sexier girls. Women who would be more girly than I am, and look
better on his arm. Does he want them?

I shake my head to try and clear it as I
stand up. No. Nate’s not like that. If he says he loves me, then he
loves me. Period. He. Loves. Me. And no way would he cheat on
me.

If it’s not that, then I don’t know what it
is. I just know that if he won’t tell me, I’ll go crazy sitting
here with him. “I’m going to head out for a little while.”

“Where are you going?”

“I honestly don’t know. I just need to get
away from you right now. We’ve had too many secrets in the past,
and I can’t deal with you keeping something from me. I’ll calm
down, and be back, but it’s just better if I go.”

“I don’t want to hurt you. Telling you will
hurt you,” he says, coming to stand in front of me.

His eyes are pleading with me to stay, but
his mouth won’t form the words. We both know that I won’t stay
unless he tells me what’s wrong. I just can’t.

“Not telling me is hurting. I’ll be
back.”

“Tonight?”

I reach up to cup his cheek with my hand.
“Yes. I’ll be back tonight.”

“I love you, Angel.”

“I love you too, Soldier.”

I walk out the door, willing myself to be
strong. I’m a strong woman. I can handle whatever he’s having
trouble with. I thought by now he’d realize that, but apparently he
doesn’t. I finger the ring absently as I descend to the main floor
and then the garage. I’m almost to my car when I realize there’s no
place I want to go right now. At least no place I can drive to.

I go back to the main floor and head
outside. My horse is in the barn, and I need him right now. Nate
gave me Cherub, and I know I’ll feel his love for me when I’m with
my other boy. A horse is no substitute for a good man, but it’ll
have to do for now.

* * *

Nate

“I fucked up,” I tell my friends when they
get to my place. I called them for help, because I really need it.
I don’t know what to do right now.

“Seriously? You’re getting married in a
week,” Aiden reminds me.

“That’s kind of the problem.”

“Wait. Do you not want to marry Jade?” Darcy
asks, looking like she might punch me. She was my friend first, but
she loves Jade, too.

“I want to marry her more than anything I’ve
ever wanted in my life.”

“You just don’t want the wedding,” Matt
says.

I hang my head, because she’s hit the nail
right on the head. I love Jade, and I want her to be happy, but I
don’t think I can go through with this big spectacle she’s
planning. Every fighter her dad knows, plus my fighter friends,
military acquaintances, and Society friends she could track down
was invited. I just want it to be me, Jade, our close friends, and
her dad. That’s it.

“No. I don’t.”

“Have you told her?” Theo asks me.

“I can’t. She’s so excited. She wants this
wedding.”

“I’m pretty sure she wants you a whole hell
of a lot more than she wants the wedding. And at least you only
have one,” Darcy tells me.

“No one’s forcing you to marry the prince,”
I remind her with a smirk.

She flips me off. “I love him. I’ll endure a
fucking royal wedding, and anything else I need to do in order to
be his wife. If this wedding is too much for you, maybe you’re not
as committed to Jade as you think you are.”

I jump out of my chair and get in her face.
“I love you, Darce, and I would never hit a woman, but don’t you
dare ever even suggest that I don’t love Jade more than the next
breath I’m about to take. I’d do anything for her.”

“Anything except for the wedding,” Jake
says, raising an eyebrow at me.

Fuck. He’s right. It’s not like she’s asking
me to take a bullet for her—which I would. She wants to walk down
the aisle in a pretty dress, and proclaim her love for me to a few
hundred people. What guy wouldn’t want his girl to do that? It’s
time for me to stop letting the ghosts of my past control my
future. I need to find Jade, and make this right.

“Okay guys, thanks for the pep talk. I’ve
gotta go.”

They all file out except for Darcy. “I’m
sorry, Nate. I didn’t mean to piss you off. I just needed you to
see that you’re being an ass about this.”

“I know, Darce. I shouldn’t have gotten in
your face. Thanks. For everything.”

“Anytime. Now go get your girl.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I will the elevator to go faster, but when
it reaches the ground floor, I realize that it’s not my car I
should be running to. She’s not going to go out driving to clear
her head. She’s going to go hang out with her horse. The one I
bought her because she joked about wanting a pony. I shake my head
at my stupidity again. I gave her a horse, but I can’t give her a
wedding. I truly am an idiot sometimes.

I walk into the stable and find her in the
stall with Cherub. He’s lying down with his legs folded up under
him, and she’s hugging him as she sobs. I didn’t know my heart
could hurt any more than it did when she sent me away, but it does
now.

Cherub sees me and lets out a neigh, while
bearing his teeth to me. Jade’s eyes fly open, and they go wide
when she sees me. “Behave, Cherub. That’s your daddy.”

“He’s definitely a mama’s boy,” I say,
trying to lighten the mood.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, trying
to hide the tears she wipes away.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

She needs to hear it, and yeah, I need to
say the words. “I didn’t want people staring at me.”

A look of horror crosses her face, and I
know she understands now. “Oh God, Nate. Why didn’t you tell me?
You should’ve told me. I knew you were hiding things, and I
thought…”

“What did you think, Angel?”

“Honestly, at first, I thought you wanted
someone else, but I knew I was wrong. Then I just didn’t know what
to think. All I could think about was that there were secrets
again, and the last secrets nearly destroyed both of us.”

“There’s no one else. Never anyone else. I’m
glad you realized it, but I’m sorry you even thought that for a
minute. Or even seconds. I love you so much, J.”

“I love you, too. I’m so sorry about the
wedding. I should’ve realized it wouldn’t be okay.”

“It
is
okay. You’re not asking me to
strip down, or parade around in front of some horny
women.”

“Well, all of my friends are pretty horny.
Just not for you.”

“True. I mean it, though. I
can do this. I
want
to do this.”

She gives me one of the smiles that are mine
alone. “Meet me at my car in five minutes, okay?”

“You want to go out?” I ask. It’s Sunday,
and we’re both in t-shirts. I have on ratty jeans, and she’s
wearing yoga pants.

“Trust me, Soldier.”

“Always, Angel. Always.”

* * *

Jade

I know what I need to do. I grab the
envelope from our apartment, and rush back downstairs. Nate is
waiting by my car. After opening my door for me, he slides into the
passenger seat, and I drive.

“No, Jade,” he says when he sees where I’m
going.

“Yes.”

“You deserve more than this.”

“I only care about marrying you. I don’t
need the big wedding. I just need you.”

I pull into the driveway of the drive-thru
wedding chapel, and he grabs my arm. “We don’t have the marriage
license.”

“What do you think I needed the five minutes
for? I obviously didn’t change.”

“You’re sure about this? I meant it when I
said I was okay with the wedding.”

“I’m sure. My dad may want to kill us, but
he’ll understand. So will the girls.”

“Thank you. I’ll make this up to you
somehow.”

“There’s nothing to make up. We’re getting
married. That’s all that matters to me. I shouldn’t have let things
get so out of control. I just...I got caught up in all of it.”

“We could’ve changed, you know. I would’ve
put on my tux, and you could’ve worn your pretty dress.”

“How do you know it’s pretty?”

“You’d be in it. How could it not be
pretty?”

“I think I’m swooning in this car.”

“Seriously, though. Do you want to go back
and change first?”

“No,” I tell him honestly. “We’re not fancy
dresses and tuxes. This is us, jeans and yoga pants. I won’t deny
that I was looking forward to being a girl for a day, but I like
that we can just be us.”

Nate looks me up and down. “Angel, you are
always a girl. And I fucking love every inch of you.”

“I love your inches, too. Now let’s get
married so I can take you home and play with him.”

“He’s very happy that you’re thinking about
him right now.”

“He always is.”

“True.”

He grabs my hand and kisses it as I put the
car into gear and drive up to the window. I hand over our license,
and Nate’s credit card, because he insisted on paying. Less than
five minutes later we’ve said “I do,” placed the rings I grabbed on
each other’s fingers, and kissed as man and wife. I can honestly
say I’ve never been happier in my life. I don’t need a dress, or a
cake, especially now that I know Nate would’ve been uncomfortable.
I have him, and that’s everything I need.