Page 36 of Protecting Her

“You thirsty?” he asked, and I nodded. “I’ll get something then.”

He came back with two bottles of mineral water, and we both drank them almost empty. “When do you want to get married?”

“I don’t know.” I could only blink at him. “Shouldn’t we wait a little while?”

“I’m not going to force you into anything, but I’d do it tonight if we had someone to sign the papers.” He laughed, and I grinned.

“Well, I’ve not done much properly in my life, so I guess I shouldn’t start now. But I would like a proper wedding, with a dress and flowers. You know, all of that kind of stuff.”

“I think I can wait a few months. You’re right, you should have what you want. I get you in the end, so it doesn’t matter to me. So long as you’re happy, Ember.”

“I want you happy too,” I protested and leaned over to look in his eyes. “It’s not just about me, you know? You have to be happy too.”

“I’ve got you, and one day, your last name will be Thompson. I’m more than happy, Ember. I’m complete. I didn’t know how fractured I was until you came along. But you made me whole, baby. I don’t need anything else.”

Let’s just say I could have done an aw for the entire world.

Ember

Three Months Later

I put the cap on my lip gloss and looked in the mirror. Not bad. I probably should have made more of an effort to put on makeup, but it was our wedding day. I didn’t want to look like something I would never be in the pictures.

I’d had a makeup artist do my makeup the day before, to show me what they planned to do, and I’d sent them home. I didn’t like it. Oh, I looked good enough, beautiful even, but it wasn’t the woman Kevin proposed to that stared back. It was the singer on stage look, as I thought of it. Not me.

We’d been through some rough times since I’d gone back to Nashville. Graham had popped up and tried to make me pay him back for my plane ticket to England. When I got done explaining my side of the story to the DA, and told him about the drugs Graham had stashed in my guitar case, the matter soon dropped. He’d also wanted to claim authorship of a couple of my songs. I didn’t think so, even if they were about what a douchebag he was; he had no part in writing them, they were all mine.

Kevin’s legal team had handled it all well, and like I’d said, when I mentioned drugs, Graham soon shut up and pissed off back to Kentucky. He’d lost some teeth, lost weight, and his hair was long and dirty. I didn’t miss him a bit, not even a little drop. He’d been a mistake from the word go, and now I was about to put him behind me.

“You alright?” Sarah asked as she came into the room. She looked beautiful in a deep red satin. It was still winter, almost Valentine’s Day, so I’d chosen dark colors for the wedding. We were getting married on Kevin’s father’s estate, a giant pile of wood and marble that I still couldn’t get used to. The place was in North Carolina, and Kevin had his private jet pick Sarah and I up to bring us here.

“I’m fine. Thanks. Thank you for this. You’re my only real friend, you know?” I smiled a wobbly smile, and she glared.

“Stop that. I’ve met the other new Thompson brides, you know? I think you’ll get along just fine with them.”

“Yeah, Jessi and Laura are really nice. I don’t know how they ended up with those brothers of Kevin’s, but if either brother is like Kevin; well, I guess there’s a side the rest of us don’t see, isn’t there?”

“There must be. That Trent guy terrifies me, you know?” Sarah adjusted a dark brown curl then turned back to me. “It’s almost time. Let’s get that dress on, shall we?”

We turned to the dress. It was ivory lace with a satin underlay. The arms were a softer lace, but they went all the way down to my fingertips in a point. It was almost an old-fashioned style, but it was updated by a skirt that wasn’t too puffy. The train was long, ten feet, but it came free of the skirt, so I didn’t mind it too much. The wedding pictures would be stunning.

I felt kind of silly, stood there in my underwear in front of Sarah, but she’d been a friend to me from the moment we’d met. I’d invited Pam down, but she’d had to work, but she did send us a nice present and a thank you. I’d gone back to the diner before we’d left New York and got her number. I had a job in line for her that would change the world for her and her children.

But that was all for after the wedding. Today, I was a bride, and I’d stop plotting out other people’s lives if it killed me. Sarah had to stand on a chair to lift the dress over my head, and it fell down around all of my curves and lines without a wrinkle. The tailor had done her job perfectly. I smoothed the lace down and looked up at Sarah.

“It’s perfect isn’t it?” I asked, my gaze dewy again.

“It’s amazing, Ember. Just like you.” She wiped a tear away beneath my eye, and I saw her smile had a wobble to it. Emotions weren’t just affecting me then. They had her too.

“Come on, before we turn into two sodden old maids,” she finally said, and I rushed to find my shoes. A soft, white Italian leather confection of a shoe was the choice I’d made for my wedding day. Expensive as all get out, but Kevin hadn’t cared.

Sarah applied the final touch when she pinned the ivory lace veil to my head, and we walked out of the room that had been set up as our station. Emily joined us with a smile and all of three of us headed toward the back garden. Flowers from the greenhouse adorned white lace as we walked out to a tunnel that led to an area with a small pond, a gazebo, and a dozen or so chairs. It was mainly Kevin’s family, but I didn’t mind. They would be my family soon enough.

For a moment, the little girl in me wished my parents were here too, but I knew I was better off alone. They’d have raided the bathrooms looking for pills in medicine cabinets, and probably would have stolen the silver to sell off for more drugs. No, I was much better off.

My head came up a little more, and I walked down the aisle alone. That didn’t bother me either. I was a strong, independent woman, except for when it came to Kevin. I needed him like spring flowers need the rain. He was my life and all I wanted.

After our honeymoon, I would start on my album, and in the spring, I’d go on tour. Just to the hotel bars for now, but in the summer, we were heading to Europe for music festivals. And yes, one of the stops was to visit London again. Kevin said I deserved a second go at England, and I had a feeling he was right.