Beautiful Life: The Carpino Series (21 page)

Oh, and the pastor who’s going to marry us tomorrow. 

Apparently Tony grew up going to his church, although he hasn’t gone regularly the last couple of years.  From the sounds of it, Tony had to convince him our marriage is a good thing, a long time coming, I’m not pregnant and we don’t need counseling to make sure we both know what we’re getting into.  Tony sighed and said, “It was a long conversation, gem.  It’s a good thing you’re marrying an attorney.  It felt like I was convincing judge and jury.” 

Then we went to the grocery store for Rosa.  When Tony grabbed her grocery list out of my hand to move us along faster, he frowns at me and asks, “Who is this Rosa, anyway?”

“She’s my new friend,” I defend her.

“But, isn’t she old?  Shouldn’t we get her healthy stuff?” he asks, perplexed by Rosa’s grocery list.

“She has blueberries on the list, Tony.  And dark chocolate is supposed to be healthy,” I throw back at him, knowing it’s a stretch.

“Leigh.  This is her list:  fudgesicles – only the generic brand and none of that fat free crap, blueberries – no matter the price, dark chocolate M&M’s, a box of sweet pink wine and a good trashy romance novel.  This is not a grocery list.  She wants cheap ice cream treats on a stick, expensive fruit that’s out of season, liquor, chocolate and porn.  Who is this woman?” he asks.

I tip my head and frown at him, “It doesn’t matter what she wants.  These are the things her kids refuse to buy when they shop for her.  She’s eighty-five and she wants it so we’re going to get it.  She only drives to church these days because she doesn’t like navigating the grocery store parking lot, that’s why we’re here.  Grab a basket, Tony.  We’re getting everything on that list.”

“Okay,” he sighs.  “We’d better go to the porn aisle first, we don’t want the full fat fudgesicles to melt.”

“Stop it,” I say grinning.  But he’s right so I head the books and magazines.

“What’s she into?” Tony asks.  “Vampires, love triangles…oh look.  Here’s a cowboy with no shirt on and he’s wearing chaps carrying a whip.  Maybe she’ll get some western porn with BDSM in the same book.  It’s like a buy one get one free.”

“Tony!” I yell, but I’m laughing now trying not to think about what kind of trashy romance Rosa might like. 

“I’m just trying to move this along, Leigh.  I hate grocery shopping,” he mutters.

“I’ve noticed,” I say, reaching in front of him to grab a book with snake skin print high heels with handcuffs on the front and toss it into his basket.

“So, you’re going with the BDSM?” he smirks.

“I’ve heard it’s good.  Don’t judge a book by its cover, Tony Carpino.”

After getting the rest of the groceries, we picked up Finny and headed to Rosa’s house.  We had a fun afternoon visiting with my new friend and playing with Finny.  Tony left us for about an hour to run an errand, but was back before I could miss him.  Rosa was taken with Tony, like I knew she would be and mock threatened me that if she wasn’t so old, she would “steal him out from under my stockings”.  She proceeded to put Tony to work and told him she needed her screens put back on her windows for spring.  Tony worked around Rosa’s house while she and I chatted about her family, Tony’s family and I told her all about Tina. 

When it was time to say goodbye, I told Rosa I would pick her up on my way home from work on Wednesday and she could eat dinner with us.  However, she wouldn’t let us leave before she made Tony put his name and number into her cellular phone, “just in case,” she explained.  Tony did this grinning and then kissed her on the cheek before we left to which Rosa exclaimed, “Okay, I don’t care how old I am.  I’m gonna steal him out from under your stockings!”

Now it’s late and we’re ready for bed.  I decided I want Gabby there tomorrow, so I had a phone call to make.

I look up at Tony who’s standing next to the bed with his arms crossed grinning down at me.  I’m sitting Indian style and Finny’s head is in my lap.  I’m scratching his ears while on the phone with Gabby, but I’m biting my lip trying to suppress my smile (or…excitement) about tomorrow. 

My excitement surprises even me.  If I ever had to guess Tony would ask me to marry him and demand it happen the next day, I would never in all my life expect to be excited.  I’d expect to be freaked out and worried I was going to screw up Tony’s life the way all things with me tend to end up.  But I’m not freaked out, I’m happy and actually feeling like this is the best thing that could have happened (which it is). 

“Gabby, I’ve got to go.  Can you meet us tomorrow?  It’s over the lunch hour, we hoped you would both be free,” I pause, listening to my BFF who hates surprises try to demand to know why we need a favor from she and her new husband tomorrow at noon, meeting us at an undisclosed location. 

“Look, Finny needs me, I’ve gotta go.  Will we see you tomorrow or not?”

I smile up at Tony as I hear her begrudgingly give in to meet us for an unknown favor at noon tomorrow. 

“Thanks!  I’ll text you the address.  See you then,” I disconnect before she has the chance to beg or argue any more. 

“Nice,” Tony’s grin turns into a smile.

“I feel bad,” I say, looking down at Finny who seems to be in doggie heaven, sprawled out over my lap getting a doggie head massage. 

“Why do you feel bad?  There’s no way she could keep her mouth shut,” Tony drawls.

“Yes she would have,” I defend my friend.  “I feel bad because we’re doing this without your family.  I wasn’t kidding when I said your mom will hate me.  I think they’ll be hurt, us doing this, getting married on the sly.”

“They’ll understand.  If they don’t, they’ll get over it,” he says, putting a knee to the bed to climb in beside me.  Finny moans as the bed moves, disrupting his massage. 

“I know, I still can’t help but feel bad,” I say.

“Don’t worry,” he says, pulling me up the bed and away from Finny. 

I feel his hands dip under his t-shirt I’m wearing and move up my bare back.  He rolls me into the bed fitting himself in between my legs.  He pulls my t-shirt up and yanks it over my head. 

“You know they say it’s bad luck to sleep together the night before your wedding.  Or see each other, or something like that,” I say, smirking at him.  I know there’s no way he’ll sleep away from me tonight. 

“You think after our last year we could have more bad luck?  After what you went through and me being shot?  No way will we have bad luck after going through all that and finally finding each other.  I’m feeling pretty lucky, Leigh,” he mutters as he lowers his head to my neck working his way down to my breast and at the same time I feel his hand dip into my panties.  He looks up at me grinning, “Plus, I’m hoping to get lucky.”

I smile back and tease, “Tomorrow you’ll be mine, officially.  Rosa won’t be able to steal you out from under my stockings.  I was a little worried when she wanted your number today.”

“Jealous?” he mutters before pulling my nipple into this mouth. 

“Maybe,” I breathe as he slides a finger between my legs, circling my clit just hard enough to start warming my body.

He pulls his head to me, his lips hovering over mine and murmurs, “Tomorrow.”

I can’t help but melt into him as I agree softly, “Tomorrow.”

I shrug my suit jacket up my shoulders and put what I need in my pockets.  Lifting my leg to balance it on my office chair, I yank up the cuff of my trousers to fit my ankle harness on my leg and insert my gun.  As I’m standing, my phone vibrates in my pocket.

“Jude,” I answer.

“Hey,” he starts but gets right down to it.  “I just got off the phone with my buddy at the PD.  They sent someone yesterday to visit Preston Briggs.”

“And?”

“I don’t know what to think.  They got to him at his office after he had his meet with his attorneys and the DA.  He’d already signed the deal to plea to a lesser charge.  He almost went apeshit when he found out what they were questioning him about.  Said he was glad she’s gone, doesn’t give a shit about where she is, what she’s doing plus a lot of other shit I’m not going to tell you because I don’t want you to go apeshit, too.  He was adamant he isn’t stalking or threatening her.  My buddy said the officer who visited him said he was so convincing, even he believed him.  I don’t know what to tell you, Tony.   It’s all on record, if they ever prove it’s him it’ll be considered a violation of his probation.  He knows he’ll do time.  It just doesn’t make sense.”

I sigh, “I agree.  It doesn’t make sense, but I don’t know who else it could be.”

“Have you told her yet?” he asks.

“No, I’m about to do that, although you don’t know how badly I don’t want to.  She has a shift at the hospital tomorrow, I don’t think I’ll be able to get her to back out of work and she needs to be aware.  I’m going to call security at the hospital so I have to tell her.  There can’t be anything between us, especially not now,” I explain.

“What does that mean?”

“I’ll explain later,” I say.

“Okay.  I’ve got shit to get done before we meet at lunch.  You know you’re driving my wife crazy asking us to meet you and not telling her why.  Don’t do that shit again, I bear the brunt,” he explains, exasperated. 

I smile at the thought of a secret being kept from my cousin, “She’ll live.  See you at noon.”

“See ya,” he says.  I disconnect and move out of my office to find Leigh.

I walk through the family room and around the corner to my bedroom.  Our bedroom.  The thought of this being our house, our bedroom, our bed should make me smile.  But the thought of what I have to do next is keeping me from smiling about anything at the moment. 

Until I round the corner and see Leigh. 

She has her back to me holding on to the antique pine chest, slightly bent sliding a spiked heel onto her foot.  I have to stop in the doorway to take in the sight of her.  She’s in an icy blue dress, so icy it’s barely blue.  It fits her perfectly, like a glove from her elbows to her knees.  If I didn’t already know what she looked like naked, it would make me envision her almost as perfect as I know she really is.  The back of the dress V’s deep into her back showing a bit of her milky skin below the fall of her hair, cupping her ass flawlessly. 

After sliding on her other shoe, she stands and starts to move before shrieking, “Tony!  Quit sneaking up on me!”

I don’t apologize because I can’t talk from seeing her from the front.  Her dress hugs every contour of her body with another V in the front dipping low, giving her more of a cleavage than I know she really has.  The neckline fits wide, barely hanging on her shoulders and fits her like a glove to her elbows.  The icy blue looks perfect on her fair skin and makes her emerald eyes stand out brighter than normal.  Her hair falls as perfect as usual but with a little more curl and her makeup is a bit heavier. 

“Honey?” she calls for me.

Not moving from my spot in the doorway, I say, “I’ve never seen you look more beautiful.  I’ll never forget this moment, Leigh.  Ever.”

Her eyes close and open slowly as she pulls in a deep breath smiling softly, “Thank you.”

“Tomorrow’s here,” I go on.

“It is tomorrow,” she agrees with a small smile.

“You know I love you,” I say.

She tips her head while giving me a little frown and answers simply, “Yes.”

“I have to tell you something before we go.”

“You’re acting weird, Tone.  What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to tell you, especially not today.  Not now,” I go on.

“Honey--” she starts to move toward me but I put my hand up, halting her in her spot. 

“I received an anonymous letter yesterday.  Not just a letter, a threat.  It was meant for me but it was all about you,” I explain.

Frowning, she asks, “What do you mean, a threat?”

“It was a note, threatening to take you away from me.”

“What?” she asks on a breath.

“Because I took something from them,” I finish.

She immediately turns her head to the side while wrapping her arms around her middle.  Shaking her head slowly like she’s trying to make sense of it, she finally jerks her eyes back to me and says, “But you didn’t take me away from Preston.”

“I know.  Maybe he sees it differently.”

“You said he’ll go to jail if he violates his probation.”

“He will.”

“He signed the plea yesterday.  Why would he do this now?” she asks.

“I have all the same questions you do.  But for now, I don’t want you going anywhere by yourself and I’ll need to talk to security at the hospital before you go to work tomorrow since I’m sure you’ll insist on going to work.”

“I can’t go anywhere by myself?” she asks, shocked by my demand.

“No.”

“Maybe you misunderstood.  Let me see it,” she demands.

“No,” I answer again.

“No you didn’t misunderstand or no I can’t see it?” she asks in a hard voice, giving away her frustration.

“No to both,” I answer.

“Why not?” she asks, well on her way to being pissed.

“Because it’s killing me to tell you any of this and I don’t want you to have a visual in your head.”  I do my best to soften my voice before telling her the rest, “Leigh, there were pictures.”

“Pictures of what?” she demands, all the way to pissed now.

“Pictures of you.  Some of you and I together.  All from Sunday.  Someone was following you outside your apartment when you were alone and us walking Fin.”

I see her body almost jerk with surprise and she reaches out to hold onto the dresser, shocked by what she’s learned.  She takes a moment, processes it and all of a sudden her face turns hard when she asks, “Wait.  When did you get this threat?”

“Yesterday,” I answer immediately.

“Yes, you said that already.  When yesterday?” her voice rises.

I narrow my eyes on her and say, “Yesterday morning.”

Pulling herself up to full height she says, but it’s more of an accusation, biting out my name, “Before or after you insisted we get married today, Tony?”

After a beat, I feel my jaw get hard.  Finally I answer, “Before.”             

She closes her eyes and I can see her take in what seems like the biggest breath she’s ever taken.  She’s pissed I kept this from her, which I knew she would be.  She’s probably feeling controlled, managed, everything bad she’s felt the last four years before she was with me.  I’ve never wanted to make her feel that way, but I’m not sorry I’ve kept it from her and won’t apologize for keeping her safe.

“Gem,” I call for her. 

She immediately opens her eyes, but looks down and to the side avoiding me.

“Look at me, Leigh,” I demand.

She finally turns her hard face, full of anger while trying to hide her hurt, giving me her emerald eyes.

Standing across the room from her, still in our original positions, I look deep into her eyes and try to convey my message, “This should be no surprise to you.  I told you I would support you in whatever you want, whatever you need,
unless
I was worried about your safety.  Well, I’m worried about your safety.  You and I come together with checkered pasts, Leigh.  Four months ago I was shot so it goes without saying, when I come home from running at seven in the morning and find a threat on my doorstep with photos of the woman I love, the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, the woman I plan on making babies with, that’s going to set me off.  I will always do what I think is necessary to keep you safe, I don’t care how pissed you get.  When I read a note yesterday that only contained a few words but was big enough, massive enough to threaten to take away everything I want in this world, all I could do was see you in my head.  I saw you bruised, battered, swollen and broken in every way.  I could feel you shaking in my arms again from the nightmares you couldn’t escape.  I saw the shell of yourself you became after being at the hands of that man.  And to learn someone was following you, watching you?  That you were exposed to some sick fuck who wants to hurt you when you were by yourself?  That someone could mark your body and soul again, causing you pain?  The thought of you experiencing any pain makes me crazy Leigh.  The only reason I’m telling you now is because when I stand before God and make you mine in less than an hour, I want nothing between us.”

Looking more exasperated than anything, she pulls in a lung full of air to say quietly, “You should have told me yesterday.”

“Maybe so.  But when I walked in to tell you yesterday, you looked happy, healthy, sitting in my kitchen in my shirt while talking to your dog and I decided I couldn’t wait another day to have you forever.  You can’t deny it, Leigh, I would have married you eventually but after coming home to that threat on my doorstep, I couldn’t make that happen fast enough.  If I could have married you yesterday, I would have.”

“But getting married isn’t the way to deal with this.  This isn’t something to rush into,” she says shaking her head.

“I disagree.  I won’t apologize for how I handled it and not telling you.  This is me.  This is who I am and what you can expect from me as a husband.  I think I’ve proven I will not control you or your life.  You know I love you.  In an hour I hope you’ll let me prove to you how much I love you and want to keep you safe forever.  It’s up to you, but it’s time to decide what you want. I’ll be waiting for you,” I say pinning her to the spot while watching her war with her own head. 

Not wanting to, but doing it anyway, I turn to move out of the doorway, leaving her to make her choice. 

I can’t blame her for being pissed because I kept it from her and I can’t make her marry me today, I can only hope she sees where I’m coming from.  I lean against the counter, cross my feet and wait.

I wait.

And I wait. 

I’m sure my head is causing time to stand still, but I swear it’s been forever.  I drop my head, closing my eyes thinking this is it.  It was too much for her and she either doesn’t trust me or she’s not ready. 

The clicking of spiked heels on wood floors make me jerk my head up and I see her moving out of the bedroom with her eyes on me.  Guarded and carefully blank emerald eyes.  I watch her move, loving the way she moves and praying today is the day I get to watch her move toward me like that for the rest of my life.  As she brings her graceful body to me, almost eye to eye in her heels, she puts a hand flat against my chest and stands there looking at me a beat.  Finally, she leans in slowly to put her lips on mine. 

Pulling back enough where I can still feel her words on my lips, she says softly, “We don’t want to be late.”

I close my eyes in relief and lean my forehead to rest against hers. 

“Tony,” she calls.

I raise my hands to her hips pulling her close and open my eyes.

“Please don’t keep anything from me again.  Even for a day.  You can protect me all you want, but honey, keeping things from each other?  That isn’t us,” she says, throwing my words back at me.

I lean into kiss her one more time and say, “Fair enough.”

“Fair enough,” she agrees.  Tipping her head she asks, “You ready to be my husband?”

“I can’t wait, Leigh.”

“Well then.  We should go.  I don’t want to give you too much time to think about who your mother-in-law is going to be.  I’ll be the one having to convince you to marry me,” she says with a small grin.

“Sweetheart, it’s just a bonus marrying you on the sly that I don’t have to deal with Sheila today,” I say. 

“Shall we go?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I say before kissing my soon to be wife one more time before she’s officially mine.

*****

“What?  You’re getting married now?” Gabby not quite screams but still says way too loud for the tiny old chapel we are standing in the back of. 

“You’re serious?” Jude asks.

“Who else knows?” Gabby keeps on.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” Jude asks, but is looking straight at Tony.

“Jude!” Gabby says smacking him in the arm then turns back to Tony.  “Your parents don’t know?”

“It’s genius,” Jude says again to Tony.  “And I get to wear jeans to your wedding.”

“Would you stop,” Gabby smacks him on the arm again to which Jude grins down at her.  She turns back to me and asks, “You’re really doing this?”