WHERE WE LEFT OFF…
“Dinner was amazing, sweetheart,” Taylor complimented. “I love it when you cook.”
“Oh yeah? You think your family liked my cooking?” Victor asked, peeking out of the kitchen.
“They loved it, babe.”
Taylor walked around her living room, picking up empty beer bottles and tossing them into a trash bag. They were cleaning up after her and Victor’s informal engagement party.
When she purchased her house, she never would have believed that the very first event that she’d be hosting in her home would be her engagement party. Their official engagement party would be held at the governor’s mansion where they’d met. Taylor would be lying if she were to say that she was looking forward to celebrating her engagement with a bunch of strangers. However, she was marrying the governor, so she would have to acclimate herself to his lifestyle.
“Taylor, we really could’ve hired a cleaning service to do this!” Victor shouted from the kitchen.
“Um-mm, I don’t like people touching my stuff.”
Victor entered the living room, tossing a dish towel over his shoulder. “That’s funny because you never seem to mind when I touch your stuff,” he teased.
“That’s cuz you know how to handle my stuff.”
Victor chuckled and hugged her from behind. “It’s wonderful how well our families got along,” he remarked.
“Yeah. And, oh my God, did you see the sexual tension going on with Luc and Bella?”
“Not to mention Linc and Kenyatta,” Victor grumbled.
“Lord, have mercy,” Taylor sighed. “Oh, and our mothers… together, they’re gonna be trouble. They were practically planning our wedding without us. And your dad…” Taylor giggled. “He thinks that because of me, you’ve got the black vote on lock.”
“Yeah, but he might be right about that. The old man knows his politics,” Victor muttered.
“You wish.” Taylor laughed. “Shit, I’m a cop. You might lose a few black votes.”
“As long as I have you, sweetness, it doesn’t matter.”
“Aww, ba-byyyy,” Taylor purred.
Taylor sighed and closed her eyes, relaxing against his solid body.
“Gimme this bag. Come here,” Victor said, taking the garbage bag and leading Taylor to the sofa. “Sit. You’ve been running around all day, making sure that this party turned out okay. You must be exhausted.”
“Naw, baby, I’m good,” Taylor assured.
“Sit.”
Taylor sat and looked up at him with wide eyes. “Should I bark and roll over next?”
“Later,” he quipped, tossing a bottle into the bag.
Taylor chuckled. Victor was right. She had had a busy day. Hell, she’d had a busy year. It had been two months since Victor asked her to marry him. She was just barely coming to terms with everything that had happened the months before, and now she was about to jump right into wedding-planning mode. It wasn’t that she was unhappy about her engagement, she just wished that they could have a small ceremony or maybe a destination wedding. She could use a little quiet.
Taylor quietly watched as Victor cleaned. She leaned back against the pillows and thought of all the things that she and Victor had never discussed; one of those things being her job. Victor had never hidden his desire for Taylor to take an inside job if not quit altogether. She had no intention of quitting, but she did realize that security issues and the press were going to be a hurdle. Since Victor put the beautiful diamond on her finger, it seemed as if they purposely avoided such conversations.
“Taylor, are you okay?” Victor asked, snapping her out of thoughts.
His voice was filled with concern as he sat next to her.
“Um, yeah…Yes, I’m okay.”
“What’s on your mind? Talk to me.”
Taylor sighed and leaned against him. Victor wrapped an arm around her and massaged her shoulder.
“Victor, it’s been a crazy year; the shooting, the media, Maria getting shot, me getting shot, Gore, Candace, you shooting Candace. It’s a lot to process. Now, we’re getting married.”
“Is it too soon?” Victor asked with a sad look in his eyes.
“No. No, baby. It’s not too soon, but… okay…Where are we gonna live? And what about my job?”
“Well, where do want to live?’
“Shit, I just bought this house.”
“Okay, then we’ll live here.”
Taylor narrowed her eyes and asked, “Really?”
“Yeah. I like your house. We’ll have to make some security provisions, but I’m comfortable here.”
“Oh, Victor, you are so fucking awesome,” Taylor cooed, climbing into his lap.
“You say that now. But when the subject of the police department comes up, I’m sure you’ll change your mind.”
“Okay, then we won’t talk about that today.” Taylor chuckled.
“Good idea. Listen, with all the hell that you’ve been through, I just wanna give you some of the peace and security that Candace took from you. That part of your life is over. Now, well concentrate on our future. Candace couldn’t take that away.”
“See? That’s the thing, babe.”
“What’s the thing?”
“The whole time we were in Candace’s house, she never once copped to shooting me. She was shoutin’ from the rooftop about how she shot Maria, but she didn’t mention me or Collier at all.”
“Hmm…” Victor contemplated. “You sure?”
“I’m positive. So, that leaves the question: how was Candace connected to Collier?”
“She wasn’t.”
Taylor jumped from Victor’s lap at the sound of a female voice coming from her hallway. The beautiful, blonde intruder was standing between Taylor and the weapon that was in her bedroom, so Taylor prayed that the woman wasn’t armed with the intention of killing them both.
“What the fuck are you doing in my house?” Taylor hissed.
“I came to congratulate you on your engagement to my husband,” she said in a sugary but icy tone.
“What?!” Taylor gasped.
She turned to Victor just as he was slowly rising from the sofa. His normally tanned face had turned as white as a sheet, and he seemed to have stopped breathing. Taylor grabbed his arm when he stumbled slightly forward.
“Victor?” Taylor whispered to him, before shouting, “Who are you?!” at the blonde.
“S-she…she’s,” Victor stuttered. “Her name is Rosemary…Rosemary Creed. She’s my wife.”