DINNER WAS A HUGE SUCCESS and Meghan was feeling mighty pleased. She’d done pretty damn okay with her first formal gathering. Of course, the part where an impromptu wedding took place, which pretty much changed the vibe from family get-together to raucous celebration hadn’t hurt.
The food was fantastic, the atmosphere joyous, the company—outstanding. It was tremendously satisfying to sit across from her best friend and sister-in-law and watch her happiness radiate as one by one, the entire assemblage made their way to the beaming couple for a chance to congratulate them. It was so perfect that she wanted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
Finally, after everyone else had paid their respects, Alex and her took the two aside for a private moment. As Meghan and Tori clung to each other, they watched the two old friends embrace as brothers.
Only a Justice wife could possibly understand the profound exchange happening in front of their eyes.
“You did well, my brother,” Alex choked out while they were still in mid-embrace. “I’m proud of you, man.”
As they drew apart, Drae nodded his head solemnly and put his hand on Alex’s shoulder.
“You’ve always made me want to be a better man,” Drae murmured. “You were there for me during a bad time,” he added. “And I’ve never forgotten how important your support was to me then and now.”
Boys! she thought with wonder as they watched them shake hands while she and Tori tried to hush their sniffles.
Alex hurried to Tori and lifted her off the floor in a fierce bear hug. Spinning her around, he laughed aloud and told her what a wench she was for stealing the heart of his best friend.
“It’s purely selfish on my part, too,” he added. “By marrying this son-of-a-bitch, you kind of have to stay around, and I don’t have to lose the best assistant I’ve ever had.”
Meghan hooted a laugh and put her hand through Draegyn’s arm. “Drae,” she drawled with a smirk, “did you ever wonder how two whirlwinds could make for calm seas?”
He chuckled and shook his head.
“Well, somehow it works that way for these two.”
Meghan jolted when Tori snorted a laugh and stuck her tongue out at her. Typical. She’d been under Tori’s sometimes caustic but always interesting spell from the start. The girl was one-of-a-kind.
“You may want to take back that bit of snark in a few minutes, sis,” Meghan teased.
“Oh, as if,” Tori challenged.
“OKAY,” RIA MUTTERED TO CARMEN as they each stood near the doorway to the dining room. “I think they’re coming back. Is everything ready?”
Carmen looked across the room to where Betty and Stephanie were engaged in a deep conversation. Betty looked up briefly to nod quickly as Carmen gave the thumbs-up.
“We’re good,” she muttered.
As the foursome came around the corner with Drae and Tori leading the way, Ria and Carmen moved into position. Across the room, Betty was standing and Stephanie was holding hands with Calder, who was in on what was about to go down.
Like the crack drill sergeant she sometimes had to be around this crew, Carmen announced, “Okay, mis amigos. Ladies and baby onto the terrace for dessert while you gentlemen can go to the study for brandy and cigars.”
“Don’t we get any dessert?” Drae bitched. “I’ve been waiting for that pumpkin pie.”
She raised an expectant eye toward Alex, who immediately stepped forward and smacked the sexy secret agent on the shoulder. “Come on, dude. I’m sure they’ve got pie for us, right ladies?” he asked with wide eyes.
Ria pooh-poohed all of them with a shake of her head. “You’ll find everything you need in the study. Now run along, boys.”
Like the Pied Piper of fable, Carmen quickly shuffled Tori to the front of the group of ladies moving toward the doors to the terrace. She saw that Meghan was poised to open the wide doors that had Spanish style shutters on the outside.
With Tori and her mother side by side, Meghan threw open the doors and pushed open the shutters to the dazzling scene set around the terrace. Tori and her mother gasped, and Carmen knew they’d managed to pull off a maneuver of surprise that rivaled anything the Justice Brothers could have come up with.
“VICTORIA! OH, MY HEAVENS, SHUGAH,” Stephanie chirped excitedly when what was unveiled before her eyes finally starting making sense.
The entire Valleja-Marquez Villa terrace was overflowing with every imaginable Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle decoration. Everywhere there were green balloons tied with yellow, green, red, and blue streamers. Light green Japanese paper lanterns with felt masks and eyes hung everywhere.
Stephanie couldn’t help but laugh. While other little girls were all about the Muppet babies, as a preschooler, Tori had been mad for the Ninja Turtles and her dad had fed the fascination. The day Carmen and she had lunched and the kindly housekeeper had been all full of questions about Tori as a kid must have been a fishing expedition.
“It’s a baby shower!” Tori cried with delight. “A Ninja Turtles baby shower! Oh, my God, you guys. This is the best!”
“Better than a surprise wedding?” Lacey teased.
Tori covered her mouth with her hands as tears shimmered in her eyes. “This is all too much,” she whispered, but Stephanie was having none of it.
Draegyn’s grand gesture was what romantic stories were made of and the love being shared by this wonderful group of women was what friends and family were supposed to be about. No way was she going to stand by while her daughter tried to downplay the massive avalanche of support and love coming her way.
Putting her arm around her only child as she led her toward a garishly decorated turtle shell throne studded with swords, she spoke quietly so only Tori would hear.
“You’ve made an amazing family here, darlin’ and nothing could make an old Southern mama happier than knowing her baby girl is in such good hands. Draegyn, that shit, earned himself an all-occasion pass for going over and above in the romance department and your women friends just want an opportunity to celebrate you, honey. It’s awfully sweet. Let’s enjoy ourselves and make a few more memories, hmmm?”
“ALRIGHT. SOMEONE GOING TO TELL me what the fuck is going on,” Drae asked, exasperated and annoyed. Somehow, and with amazing efficiency, he and Victoria had been separated and swept along in opposite directions until she was somewhere else and he was holed up with just the men. Something sucked and he wanted to know what it was.
Cam pressed a glass of ice-cold champagne in his hand and chuckled. “This is your unexpected bachelor party and dude’s baby shower all rolled into one.”
“What,” he snarled.
“Well, we didn’t know you were going to pull a wedding out of your ass St. John,” Calder sniped, “so we aren’t exactly bachelor blow-out prepared.”
Cam added, “But we did put five seconds of thought into what to do with your egotistical ass while your lovely wife giggles and cries her way through a surprise baby shower.”
Drae was confused. What? “Baby shower?” he asked. “A surprise?”
Brody smirked at him and drawled to everyone present, “I thought his analytical skills were supposed to be legendary. Looks like a giant tool right now.”
Alex started passing around cigars and laid it out like instructions for a five-year-old’s art project. “Yeah. Surprise baby shower. Presents, chick stuff.”
Cam slapped him one between the shoulder blades, griping, “Welcome to the banished husbands club, bro.” Imitating an old-time radio announcer he quipped, “Your manly-man services are not required at the present time.” With a hearty chuckle, he pushed Drae into Alex’s big leather chair joking, “So shut up and sit the fuck down.”
“Amen,” to that Ben snickered. “You the man until the ladies gather. Once a hen party starts, fuhgeddaboudit.”
Drae glared at Alex for a second but the man was grinning at him like this was the funniest shit ever. Even though he and Victoria had been legally married for months, they’d skipped over the wedding part of things. Until he’d gone and done it, he hadn’t known how saying his vows in front of the family would affect him. He’d just been married for fuck’s sake and his possessive streak was having a field day. Woman. His. By his side. Now.
“She’s fine,” Alex assured him. “Now relax.”
Addressing everyone, he said, “Looks like we got a full country boy dessert spread set out for us,” Dad announced with a jerky nodding gesture to the back of the room. “And enough brandy and cigars to last all night. The champagne is to start things with a toast for this sorry motherfucker.”
“Since I’ve been married longest and have a crop of grown-up kids, I get to start!” Ben testified with his hand in the air.
“Draegyn St. John, you are a piece of work. After the first time we met, I told my Ria that you were going to be trouble. And I wasn’t wrong…”
Drae scowled while murmurs of agreement could be heard around the room.
“But then Tori Bennett came ‘round in her sensible shoes, ugly glasses, and messy hair, and you hit a wall at Mach 5. Gotta’ tell you Drae, it was amusing as all hell to watch.”
He had to chuckle. Every word was true. Mr. I’ve-Got-Pussy-In-Every-City-Worldwide was stopped dead in his tracks by the most unlikely of females. These guys must have had a never-ending laugh at his and Victoria’s antics.
“When she flipped you the bird and took off, I thought you got what you deserved for being such an asshat.”
At the asshat reference, Drae saw Alex and Cam snigger. “Wait,” he grumbled. “I thought this was a toast—not a roast.”
“Where you’re concerned, St. John,” Calder yelled out, “it’s always going to be a little of both!”
Ben nattered on, finally beginning to loft his champagne. “But you showed us all how the road to love can be messy instead of like a Disney movie. You and Victoria bring the spark that keeps the Justice Family fire burning. She’s an awesome lady, and for reasons some of us don’t fully comprehend, she loves your sorry ass…warts and all. So here’s to you, my friend, as you head off on the most important mission of your life—as a husband and soon-to-be father. Good, luck, God Bless, and remember—no matter how wrong she is, the wife is always right.”
The champagne was perfectly chilled, just the way Drae liked it. He wished Victoria was also enjoying his favorite Bolinger as well, but he knew that champagne wasn’t on the approved-during-pregnancy list. The idea of pounding thousands of dollars of bubbly as he slowly stripped his nubile bride until all she was wearing were the diamonds he’d just given her set up a pounding in his groin. A naked wife and the possibility of licking champagne off her luscious body was another scenario to add to his growing honeymoon bucket list.
Everyone got a shot at him with a round of ribald toasts that definitely brought the laughs. The second bottle had been cracked and consumed by the time they moved on to the dessert table. Ria had truly outdone herself. Drae spread his arms wide and threatened bodily harm to anyone who tried to bogart the pumpkin pie.
As men were known to do when no women were around to scold or roll their eyes, they made quick work of devouring the sweets, along with an entire tub of homemade whipped cream, then broke into the brandy and began lighting the celebratory cigars. It was a good time, and though he’d rather be with Victoria, Drae relaxed and enjoyed the camaraderie of his brothers and family friends.
“OH, MY GAWD!” TORI CRIED for the hundredth time as she ripped open package after brightly wrapped package filled with baby gifts and naughty bits for the new mommy.
“I love it,” she giggled enthusiastically when she pulled a tacky, gaudy infant onesie emblazoned with the famous Las Vegas sign from the bright tissue paper.
Her mother held up the card and read, “For my maid-of-honor. What happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas! Kisses and Hugs, Love Shawn.”
“Awww,” she sighed. “That was so sweet.”
“She wanted to be here, Tori, but she and Garry are in Vancouver where he’s filming. Did you see her on the cover of Style Rage magazine? Bet that non-outfit raised a lot of eyebrows.”
“She’s a sweetheart,” Tori assured Lacey. “Not anything like the dumbass shit that gets printed about her. Not all models are airheads.”
She wiggled in her seat, trying to find a comfortable spot. Her tummy felt heavier than usual. Maybe because she’d royally pigged-out on the Thanksgiving feast? Probably. Pretty sure she was going to be regretting the excess later, Tori grabbed the straw tumbler filled with ice water that she was keeping nearby and took a couple of gulps. She didn’t know why by the cold water seemed to be easing a bit of the twitchy tightening that was distracting her.
What is Draegyn doing, she wondered. Even though she was having a blast surrounded by all the women she loved and a bunch of Ninja Turtles, Tori was fixated on her husband. Her actual, in sickness and in health, husband.
Staring at her new rings was becoming a guilty pleasure. There was something incredibly sexy about knowing that her super-cool husband had spent time with a jeweler searching for what he wanted. What he thought she’d want. Didn’t he know that a paper cigar ring would have been just as memorable and romantic as a set from Cartier?
Tori never put much stock in all the fascination people have for relationship bling. A ring just wasn’t on her list of things she just had to have. I mean, after all, she had Draegyn and that was enough. More than enough, in fact. She never doubted his passion for her. Okay, maybe that was a new spin on her pregnancy narrative because she had been a hormonal mess at one point and imagined all sorts of horrifying scenarios involving her 007 and a bevy of model types.
But when she had her head screwed on right, Tori knew what was real. They were a classic mess and their relationship would always be full of more sarcasm and wildfires than lovey-dovey shit. Now that they’d declared their vows before family though, it seemed very, very real instead of the by-product of a conversation over breakfast.