Chapter Seven
Calla
I woke up when the truck bounced onto the dirt road, which meant we were headed up Gabe’s driveway.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I didn’t think I would sleep the whole way.”
Honestly, I felt as if I had a hangover. My eyes were gritty and my head felt foggy. Jetlag was such a bitch. I hated it, but no matter how hard I tried, I’d never been able to avoid it.
“It’s okay. You needed the sleep.”
Rubbing my eyes, I sat up in my seat, taking in the sight of the tall trees lining the road. Bora Bora had been beautiful, but home was stunning. I loved the mountains, more than I’d ever thought I would or could. The mountains were home. My home—with my husband.
“Does Gabe know?” I asked.
“Know what?”
“About us? Getting married?”
“Nope. I figured it would be best to tell him in person. I take it Holly doesn’t know either?”
“No, I wanted to tell her in person as well. She’s going to be pissed though, she’s the one that thought I needed a big, fancy wedding. Hopefully, she won’t be too mad about her wasted efforts for too long.”
He guffawed. “She’ll get over it. It was up to us. After all—our lives—our wedding.”
“I know, you’re right, but Holly has essentially been running my life for the past five years. She is like my guardian in a lot of ways,” I laughed. “Until you came along, it was me and her.”
“I understand, but I really think she’ll be okay with it. It’ll be one less thing she has to worry about.”
Gabe’s cabin came into view. The man must have seen the headlights and opened the front door. Evie and Casper came bounding out, barking and yipping in excitement. I jumped out of the truck and scooped up my dog, lavishing her with kisses and telling her how much I missed her. Casper was a bit more dignified, but did manage to get in one good swipe with his tongue across Jake’s face.
“Dammit, Casper. Haven’t we talked about this?” Jake groaned.
“Bout time,” Gabe hollered from the porch. “Took your sweet time, didn’t you?”
“Have you ever flown around the world in less than a day?” Jake shot back. “Miss me that much?”
“I figured you two stopped to do some kissing or something,” he grumbled. “And hell no. I didn’t miss you a bit. It’s been nice not having your ugly mug around.”
I laughed. “We did plenty of that on the plane.”
“Calla,” Jake said my name with a warning tone in his voice.
“You better hurry up and get in here,” Gabe said, ignoring my comment. “Holly’s been dying to talk to you, driving me absolutely fucking batty yammering on about how much she needs to talk to you, as if I’m chopped liver or something.”
I quickly rushed up the steps and inside the house to find Holly reclined on the sofa, her casted foot raised up on a pillow.
“There you are!” she exclaimed.
I rushed to her side. “Oh, Hol. Are you okay?” I cooed. “That looks like it hurts.”
“I’m fine. It was simply a fracture and nothing serious. Gabe has taken excellent care of me,” she said with a smile.
I grinned. “I bet he has. Spill.”
I could hear Jake and Gabe out on the porch. Holly kept her mouth shut, and when the screen door opened, and Gabe walked inside he glanced at her with an expression that screamed lust. My mouth fell open as I looked to Holly. She was blushing furiously. Gabe grabbed a couple of cold beers out of the fridge and headed back outside.
“What the hell was that about?” I shrieked. “Did you guys…?” I asked, not saying the word.
She smiled. “Yes. A lot, actually.”
“Oh my God! Moving a little fast, don’t you think? You never have sex with a man you barely know,” I said in astonishment.
Her cheeks turned a dark shade of red. “I couldn’t help it.”
“I’m not shaming you, but it is so unlike you.”
She took a deep breath. “Then what I tell you next is really going to shock you.”
I stared at her, waiting for her to tell me she was pregnant. “We’re getting married. Tomorrow!”
I couldn’t respond. I stared at her, blinking. My mouth opened and closed but no words came out. “What?”
“We want to get married. Tomorrow. We waited until you got back. Gabe is a very traditional man. He wants me to stay here with him, but he says he refuses to live in sin.”
I burst into laughter. “But you’ve had sex?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. He’s funny like that.”
“Well, I’m happy for you. I knew right away there was something between you guys.”
“No, you didn’t. I didn’t,” she argued.
I shook my head. “Oh yes, I did. I’ve been plotting all this time on how I was going to get you two together.”
“I didn’t think he was my type. He is a bit older than I am, but I don’t know, I can’t explain it. He just makes me feel so, so,” she waved her hand in the air, “what’s the word I am looking for?”
I smiled. I knew exactly what word she was looking for. “Whole? Complete? Happy?”
“Yes! All of that! Like my heart just knew he was the one. Is that how it was for you and Jake?”
I chuckled. “Well, I don’t know if it was my heart that knew early on, but it eventually caught up to the other parts of me.”
“I don’t need the details. I read about them, and soon enough, I expect millions of other readers will get all the dirty details,” she teased.
I shook my head. “No, the book is fiction, based on real events, but you have to know I would never so blatantly talk about my personal life in my work.”
“I know, I know. So, wedding, tomorrow, you’re going to be there?”
“Duh, of course I am.”
She leaned back and smiled.
“Oh, by the way, Jake and I got married before we went on what we now refer to as our honeymoon,” I blurted out.
“You did what?” she shrieked.
“We’re still willing to have the reception, but I wasn’t excited about a big wedding. Neither was he,” I explained gently.
She giggled. “I know what you mean. I’m sorry I was pushing it on you. I don’t want that either, which is why we are going to get married right here tomorrow with just you guys and one of Gabe’s old Army guys performing the ceremony.”
“Wow. I’m so happy for you. So, tell me about the ankle. Jake said you tripped and fell? He said Gabe felt guilty because he got you drunk?”
I hadn’t believed the story, but figured as long as Holly was okay, I wouldn’t worry about the details.
I watched as she blushed all over again. “I did trip. I wasn’t necessarily drunk. I tripped over your dog.”
“Gabe had Evie at the lodge?”
Holly shook her head. “No. I was here.”
Nodding, I was beginning to understand a bit more. “You were here?” I prompted.
She sighed. “I was here. We had dinner at the lodge, then we came back here. One thing led to another, and when I got up to get a drink of water, I tripped over Evie and broke my ankle. Gabe felt terrible about it, even though it wasn’t his fault. It was my own clumsiness that did it.”
“Have you been here the whole two weeks?” I asked.
“Yes. He did take me into town to get some things, but said he didn’t want to leave me alone. I tried to tell him it wasn’t that serious and I was perfectly capable of managing on my own, but the man in stubborn. He takes me up to the lodge so I can use their wi-fi to check email and make phone calls. The man has to get me some kind of internet. I cannot live here if I can’t even make a damn phone call,” she muttered.
“Jake is going to be getting satellite. Maybe Gabe can as well.”
“He’s looking into it.”
“Soooo,” I dragged out the word. “What are you going to wear?”
“I picked out three dresses. You have to help me decide which one to wear.”
I clapped my hands. “Yes! Where are they?”
“I’ll get them,” she said moving her foot off the pillow.
“No, I can do it. Rest.”
“I’m really okay. The doctor said I could do some walking. I need to move, or I am going to have bed sores on my ass,” she complained.
“Fine, but if Gabe comes in and sees you off that couch, I’m telling him I told you not to.”
She hobbled into Gabe’s room and returned with a bag draped over her arm. “Be honest,” she said, unzipping the bag and pulling out the dresses.
“That one,” I said, without hesitation.
“You think?”
I nodded. “Absolutely. It’s gorgeous. It suits you. The length will cover your cast.”
She smiled and looked at the light blue sundress. “It was my first choice, too.”
“Has Gabe seen it?”
“No. I told you he is very traditional. He didn’t want to see it before tomorrow.”
I smiled. “That is beautiful. I love that he is old-fashioned.”
“It really is.”
“I know he was married before,” she said quietly.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I had hoped she knew, but I certainly didn’t want to bring out that skeleton since it wasn’t my closet. “I’m glad he told you.”
“I’m happy, Calla. Truly happy.”
“And I am so happy for you. Now, tell me the rest of the details. Is there anything else I can help with?” I volunteered.
She shook her head. “Nope. It’s going to be really simple. I’ll have a small bouquet of wildflowers. We are going to do it right out front in the front yard, which happens to be a beautiful forest. There aren’t going to be any chairs, so you’ll have to stand. There’s not going to be any music. Nothing.”
I could see her vision. “It sounds absolutely perfect, in fact, I’m a little jealous. I can’t wait to see it.”
“Will you take a picture for me though?” she asked.
I laughed. “Of course I will. You have to have a picture!”
“Should I leave my hair down or put it up?”
I looked at her dress and then back at her. “Down, but you know what would be really pretty?”
“What?”
“A crown of flowers. You will look like the perfect woodland nymph.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“You ready to go home?” Jake’s voice boomed through the door.
“Stay out!” I shrieked, grabbing the dress and stashing it back inside the garment bag.
The men stayed outside.
“It’s clear,” I said, when the dress was safely tucked away.
Jake came inside and gave Holly a hug. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you. I hope we’re not stealing your thunder, but to be fair, we didn’t know we were,” she chided Jake.
“Sorry, I told Calla we should wait, but she insisted.”
I gasped. “Jake! You liar! I can’t believe you just threw me under the bus like that!”
He chuckled and wrapped his arms around me. “Can we please go home now?”
“Absolutely. Turns out we have a busy day tomorrow.”
“Good night you two,” I winked at Holly.
We walked out of the cabin, our two dogs already at the truck waiting for us. They seemed just as anxious to get home as we were. I think all of us were looking forward to sleeping in our own beds.
“Stop,” he said, before opening the door to the cabin.
“What’s wrong?”
“I want to carry you over the threshold,” he said, with a grin.
“Jake, you already carried me over one threshold.”
“That didn’t count. This does,” he said, bending down and picking me up.
I screeched before wrapping my arms around his neck and holding on. Once inside, he put me down and kissed me.