Authors: Sabel Simmons
Callum rose and pulled her from the
chair. He sat down and pulled her down on his lap. He folded his
arms around her and smoothed his hands down her back. He kissed her
lightly on her temple.
“Come now, Baby. Stop
crying. It’s not good for the babies if you’re so upset.”
“I’m … sob … not … sob … upset.”
“Okay, you’re not upset.”
Callum wiped the tears tenderly from
her cheeks and kissed her softly on her lips. Over and over again until her
lips turned into a smile. She leaned back from him and look into his
eyes.
“Callum, I can’t sign that contract.”
He stiffened. His lips tightened
and his body turned into a statue.
“Why not?”
“You are a business man. One of the
best there is. How can you draw up a contract where you are the only one that
stands to lose?”
“Oh, but you see, my love. I
have nothing to lose and so much to gain. Jenna, I know you love
me. How is it that you do not know the same of me?”
“You … you love me?” Her eyes
shone as bright as diamonds.
“Jenna, good lord woman, how can you
not know! Why else would I have broken my engagement with Shelly? I
realized I wanted to share the rest of my life with you and I wanted the rest
of our life to start as soon as possible. Do you know, my love that I
totally forgot about her existence or the engagement until she arrived at the
castle? Jenna, you took my breath away the first day you arrived here.
You did not let up, not once and I thank the Lord every day that you
didn’t. I love you, my beautiful painter.”
“How did you know I love you?”
“From the first you gave yourself to
me without any reservation, without holding anything back. You are
too passionate, too honest to give so much of yourself without love.
Every time I touched you, I gave you my love, just as I felt you giving it to
me. With every kiss, with every caress and with every look into your beautiful
golden eyes.”
Jenna took his face between her hands
and looked deep into his eyes. She recognized the warmth, the passion and
the tenderness she has seen so many times flash in his eyes. How could
she not have realized the love he so openly offered? How could she have
been so blind not to see?
“I do love you, Callum McGregor.
So much it scares me. I need you in my life more than I need the air that
I breathe! Thank you, my love. Thank you for not giving up on me!”
“There was no chance of that, Baby.
Now, as you so rightly pointed out … up you get.”
He pushed her up and got up from the
chair. He pushed her back in the chair. He went down on his knee
and took her hand in his. He wiggled his eyebrows and her tingling laugh
filled the room.
“Little painter of mine. I need
to share the rest of my life with you. As the contract so rightly
stipulates to share everything I own, including all the children we have,
forever and until eternity without any reservation. Jenna Burkes,
beautiful love of my life, will you marry me and share our beautiful future
together?”
“Oh
you wonderful man! I need you in my life to make me whole, to hold me and
love me even when I am mad at you. As you so justly said and how I have
felt from the first time you kissed me, I need you to fulfill me. Yes,
Callum McGregor, I will marry you as our contract says, forever and until
eternity!”
“They
would have loved her, Megs.”
“Oh, Callum, they would have adored
her! And they would have been so proud of you! You restored the
castle like you promised Mom and you married the heart that beats inside you.”
“I wished they could have been here
today … and to have met our twins. That is the only regret I had over the
years … that they were gone before I could share my forever after with them.”
“I am sure they are sharing it with
you, Callum. Just like my Evelyn, they live in your hearts forever, to
share in your happiness. I do not profess to take your father’s place,
son, but I am overjoyed that I am gaining you as a son. I could not have
chosen a better man for my little girl … actually … I did choose the best man!”
Callum frowned at Devon that joined
them and rose his eyebrows. Devon chuckled.
“What do you think, McGregor?
Jenna is the best there is and a senior level Manager at the Smithsonian.
We have never sent her on private restoration projects. She was only
supposed to come and do a time evaluation for the project, and start up until
the team arrived. But when she phoned me the second day, I knew I did the right
thing to send her here.”
“Then it seems I am to be forever
thankful to you. I am honored to call you Pops from now on.”
They shook hands. Devon drew him
in his arms and hugged him. They separated after a slap on the
shoulder. Devon turned away and wiped a tear from his eyes.
“She is late, Megs. Do you think
she changed her mind?”
“Oh, no! That is why I came to
find you! She is ready and here I am yakking away! She probably
thinks by now you’ve changed your mind!”
Just then the twins came running down
the stairs, shouting at Callum.
“Aunty Jen is coming and she is
angry. You said she is not allowed to see Uncle Call yet, Mom! She
said if you changed your mind she is going to castrate you. What does
castrate mean, Uncle Call?”
Callum laughed and his heart beat
warmly. He stopped Megan that started running up the stairs.
“It’s too late, Megs. She’s
already here. Oh … Lord! She is exquisite!”
Jenna looked like sunshine wrapped in
gold. The bottom of her dress was flowing white with a long slit up to
her thigh. The bodice of the dress was made from white and gold
lace, glittering with Swarovski crystals. The only part that had a lining
was over her breasts. The rest of her chest and arms were enhanced only
by the see thru lace. She turned slightly and he gasped. Her
back was completely bare. Her hair was taken up in loose curls. She
absolutely took his breath away. He noticed she wore the amber diamond
earrings he gave her for her birthday.
She ran down the stairs and only
stopped when they were toe to toe. Her eyes flared with heat. Her
voice husky with an angry rasp.
“McGregor, it is the bride’s
prerogative to be late for her wedding! Are you trying to steal my
thunder?”
His hands closed around her waist and
he drew her hips against his. His eyes adored her and the heat dwindled
from hers to be replaced by another type of heat.
“What is this about castrating your
soon to be husband, my love? Do you think you could postpone that until
after our wedding night?”
“Well … seeing as you look so
smashingly sexy … I might just consider it.”
“Jenna Burkes … you take my breath away.
There has never been, nor will there ever be, a more exquisite bride as you!”
“I give up with you two! Can’t
you do anything right? Can you please let her go so I can get her back in
there? We can at least try to finish this wedding properly!”
“Hey, I am the innocent here!
She is the one that could not wait to be in my arms!”
Jenna wrapped her arms around his
waist under his jacket. His eyes heated up and then he gasped when she
grabbed his ass and slammed him against her. Her smile was sweet innocence
when she felt his rock hard shaft against her stomach. He growled in her
ear. His fingers clamped around her hips.
“That was cruel, little painter!
How am I going to survive until all the guests are gone?”
“Well … I found this little room next to
the cellar … we could always slip away after the ceremony!”
“Oh, we will most definitely slip
away!”
“Mommy … Aunty Jen is pinching Uncle
Call’s bum!”
“Caitlin!”
“But she is! I also saw it!”
Connor tried to protect his sister.
Jenna blushed and Callum
laughed. Megan just shook her head and pulled Jenna behind her up the
stairs.
“If you are not waiting for me in that
aisle in two minutes, McGregor … Ronan is standing by with a very blunt knife!”
Callum was waiting for her when she
walked down the aisle on her father’s arm. The ceremony was beautiful and
tears ran freely as they each said the vows they wrote themselves. Their
love was beautiful to see.
The twins proudly joined them in the
front with the rings. Connor twiddled his thumbs and kept whispering in
Caitlin’s ear. She just shook her head. Eventually he could not keep it in any
longer. He pushed his jacket back and slammed his fists in his
waist. He ignored the priest and scowled at Callum.
“Enough already! No more ya-da-ya-da-ya-da!
Uncle Callum … you may kiss the bride!”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sabel Simmons is a pseudonym for Isabel
Oosthuizen.
After years of just work it was a 2014 New Year's
resolution to start writing again and now that she did, she has so many stories
to tell, she writes one after the other. She enjoys and thrives on the freedom
writing offers and started at school with highly imaginative essays.
She was born in small town Vereeniging, South
Africa, but lived most of her live in Pretoria, the Capital City.
In the early nineties she published two Afrikaans
novels that were reprinted twice and remained on library shelves for 15 years.
She is a BCom graduate in Business Management and is the MD of a training
company. She writes as a hobby, something she has not had the time to do since
the 1990's.
She has two lovely children and four gorgeous
granddaughters. She lives in Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa with her second
husband, Leon, the love of her life, and Roxy their sixteen year old Jack
Russell.