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“Go, Mom.” My voice is steady and hard. My hands are shaking and ice cold.
She whirls, heading for the door. “I need to get home, anyway. Jessica has a hair appointment today.” She’s trying to make it sound like leaving is her choice, but we all know the truth.
Cole beats her there and opens the door for her, not gentlemanly like he does for me, but rather so he can glare at her as she walks past. I get the feeling he could spout off some details Mom would rather keep private, kinda like he did with Samantha’s dad, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t have to fight this battle for me. I’ve done it on my own this time.
And it feels good.
Still, when Cole closes the door behind Mom and immediately rushes back to me, I fall into his embrace. He holds me, running a soothing hand up and down my back as I let all of the emotions I’ve held back for years escape. The tears are bitter and hot as they track down my cheeks. But as many bad memories as there are, I also remember the few good times too. They were like beacons of hope during the darkest times. But those exceptions don’t change the truth.
“You okay?” Cole asks after a while when my sobs subside. He moved us to the couch some time ago, and I’m sitting sideways in his lap with my head on his shoulder.
I sniffle and nod. “I’m sad, but also, I feel . . . free?”
It’s the closest I can come to describing the chaos in my mind and the tornado in my heart.
He’s quiet, thinking that over, and then finally says, “I can’t imagine how hard it was to stand up to her, but you did it. I’m so proud of you.”
I know he loves me, but his being proud of me feels good in a different way.
“I’m proud of me too,” I whisper.
And that feels best of all.
CHAPTER 30
JANEY
“You swear you’re not kidnapping us and taking us to a mass burial plot in the woods so you can be the sole heir of Dad’s company?” Kyle questions Cole with one brow lifted high and one brow dropped low. He sounds like he might be serious, but I can see the laughter in his eyes.
“Is that an actual concern?” Gabriella laughs, but she looks at me in alarm.
It’s a valid question. We gave everyone less than two weeks’ notice, rented a party van for transport, and now, we’re bumping along a dirt road with trees scraping the sides of the vehicle. Plus, it’s Cole, and while the family knows what he does now, the hitman jokes haven’t stopped.
“No, of course not,” I reassure my boss-slash-friend. “Just your everyday, run-of-the-mill destination wedding.”
That’s not exactly true. Cole and I decided we didn’t want to wait and didn’t want a big fuss. I actually got the idea of where to get married from Samantha and Chance choosing their club as their venue. Which is why we’re on the way to the cabin. Not the small one Cole and I shared, but rather the larger, fancier one Mr. Webster rented.
“In the middle of nowhere,” Kyle adds, not helping Gabriella feel more comfortable.
Thankfully, the dirt road dead ends into the driveway for the cabin, and I shout, “We’re here!”
We climb out of the van and walk up to the front door, waiting while Cole unlocks it and welcomes everyone inside. It looks exactly like it did through the binoculars—warm colors, lots of greenery, and . . . wait a minute . . .
“How’d you do this?” I ask Cole, looking at the charcuterie spread laid out on the oversized kitchen island.
He smirks and drops a big, fake, conspiratorial wink. “I’ve got people.”
A simple answer, but remarkably true now. Cole does have people. An entire family, in fact, who are excited to be here for our special day.
I didn’t call my parents to tell them about the wedding. Actually, I haven’t talked to them since Mom showed up on my doorstep and probably won’t. It hasn’t been that long, not really, but being no-contact has been such a relief. I just let go. Which sounds easy and sometimes is. I’ll have week after week when I don’t think about them at all. And then something will remind me, and I’ll have to decide again . . . don’t call. And that’s hard.
But it’s not worth ruining my happiness for, and that’s what they’d do. The price to be a part of that family is too high, and I won’t trade my joy for theirs.
People who are happy that I’m happy are here, surrounding Cole and me as we take a big step toward forever, and that’s what I want.
“Okay, go get ready, you two,” Miranda orders as she shoos Cole and me off to separate bedrooms. “Gabriella, can you help me with the champagne?”
