Fateful 2-Fractured (15 page)

“Danielle, you look absolutely
breathtaking,” her mother said as she fastened the pearl necklace
that she and Grandmother had worn at their weddings around her
neck. The family heirloom completed her pearl-themed ensemble.
Danielle smiled and touched the cameo hanging from the pearl
strand, and slid her fingertips down to the pearl-drop hanging from
the base of the setting. She also wore the pearl earrings that
Ethan had given her.

“Are you ready, Danielle?” Nadia asked while
inspecting Danielle’s hairpins to make sure they all securely held
her curls in place.

“I’ve never been more ready,” she replied,
hiding the fact that she was worried about Celeste or Lucas
crashing the ceremony.

Brianna set a pair of beaded shoes down in
front of her and Danielle slid them on. After a few more
adjustments to her train, the ladies escorted her from the
room.

Her father beamed down at her as she took
his arm. “I’m so proud of you, princess,” he whispered, and then
kissed her on the cheek.

“Thank you, Daddy.”

Danielle’s vision blurred with the
tears she’d managed to fight off earlier as she approached Ethan
who was standing at the front next to the bishop smiling.
Struggling to blink them away, she clutched her bouquet and her
father’s arm tighter.
Please don’t make a
mess of yourself before the ceremony even starts!

Focused on Ethan, she barely noticed
the music playing as her feet moved across the petal-covered aisle.
Ignoring the many guests she sensed seated in the pews on either
side of her, Danielle returned his smile.
Stop being so emotional!
she thought irritably
as she shoved an escaped tear from her cheek.

Her eyes widened when she realized—as she
got closer to her groom—that she was setting his emotions off as
well. He said nothing, though his love-drenched gaze said
everything.

Their eyes locked as Ethan took her
hand and that same familiarity washed over her. This was meant to
be,
they
were meant to be.
They’d been together before this life began, and would continue
long after that, whether they were living on Earth or in Heaven. It
was something she knew deep down, something she couldn’t question
because it could always be seen when she looked into his blue
gaze.

Danielle swallowed as the clergyman began.
The whole experience felt like a dream. She said “I do” when she
was asked, and so did he, but it all went by in an unbelievable,
and wonderful blur. Until the bishop said, “You may kiss the
bride.” Her focus then landed on Ethan’s handsome mouth,
anticipating the kiss that sealed the deal.

The crowd of friends and relatives sighed,
cheered and wept, as they generally do at weddings when the groom
kisses his bride, and then she was whisked away with Ethan to begin
the reception which was to be held at their new home amongst the
ruins.

After they arrived, her mother bustled up
the train of her dress so that she and Ethan could begin their
first dance together. The music rose into the air as Ethan took her
left hand into his right, and placed his other at the small of her
back. After soaking in the look of pride and happiness surrounding
his expression, a line formed between her eyebrows when she noticed
that the melody was that same strange mix of historical music
touched with that earthy fairy twist she’d heard when they got
engaged. “Same band?” she asked.

“I thought it fitting.”

“Yes, it fits.” She traveled his face with
her gaze again, then said, “I love you, by the way.”

“I certainly hope so, because if you
don’t, it’s too late now. There’s simply no escape because
I’ll
never
let you
go.”

With her mouth lifting into a soft smile,
she looked up at him and shoved any worries lurking in the back of
her mind aside.

He dropped his mouth to her ear. “When I saw
you walking down that aisle on your father’s arm, I swear, my heart
stopped beating again.”

Danielle moved her hand to his chest. “I
still feel it thumping away—okay, so it would still be thumping
away because it’s daylight, but you get my meaning...”

“I don’t think you’d like being married to a
cursed man.”

“True. I remember how cranky you were right
after you’d, er … eaten. Now, after a meal, you’re such a happy
guy.”

Ethan chuckled closing the distance between
their bodies while he pressed on her back, and then kissed her.

As he left her lips and went for her neck,
she giggled and tipped her chin to the side, then blinked when a
moving light caught her attention. Her gaze landed on the shifting
lights amongst the roses that adorned the ruins surrounding them.
She wondered how they were showing up so well in the daylight. Yes,
they were in the shade, but….

“Is that—?” She captured his gaze with
hers.

He smiled wider and she could see the lights
twinkling in his eyes, they were so bright.

Ethan steered her closer so she could get a
better look. The lights flickered like real fireflies as they
appeared to move on their own … no, not fireflies, fairies!
Danielle sucked in a breath when she recognized little Alora
amongst them with her tiny mouth on a golden flute and her fingers
tapping along the top edge of it. The fairy stopped playing, and
lifted a finger to her lips.

Looking over her shoulder to make sure her
mortal relatives hadn’t seen this, Ethan spoke softly in her ear,
“They’ll never see them. Don’t worry.”

“But the music—”

“Is coming from the band over there.” He
winked.

She recognized the vampires from the ball as
Ethan tantalized her neck with soft words and more kisses as he
took her about the waist and moved her back to the dance floor.

They fed each other bites of wedding cake
after her bridesmaids had pulled their ribbons. She knew from the
look on Ethan’s face that he couldn’t bring himself to smash the
messy confection into her face, and she couldn’t do it to him
either.

Danielle was surprised to find it wasn’t as
bad as she’d thought it would be. This fruitcake was lighter than
how she remembered that horrible stuff her grandmother liked. And
realized Ethan had made certain of that when she saw the knowing
twist of his lips. She couldn’t help but smirk, however, at the
look of ecstasy on his face as he tasted it. Apparently wedding
cake wasn’t something he’d tried yet. After licking his fingers
clean, he eyed her sugar smeared thumb and finger with a hungry
gaze. He captured her wrist gently and raised them to his lips. She
laughed as he removed the mess from her skin as well.

Danielle tossed the bouquet not caring who
caught it, but was pleased to see that it was her friend, Mandy,
who did. The smile on Mandy’s face told Danielle that her friend
was ironically pleased with the idea.

Ethan looked just as hungry to remove the
garter with his teeth as when he’d eyed her cake-covered fingers.
Danielle was too embarrassed by that to even notice which man
caught it.

When her girlfriends from Colorado smothered
her with hugs, she lipped a “thank you” to Ethan just as he was
wrangled into a conversation with her mother that, it seemed, he
wasn’t fully interested in, but he was being polite and listening
regardless.

“Oh, D’, we’re so happy for you,” Lindsey
said.

“Yeah, but does this mean you’re not coming
back to Colorado?” asked Mandy.

“No, I’ll be back. Ethan bought a home there
too. It isn’t far from my parent’s.”

“Really? You really did manage to snag a guy
with money.” Mandy bumped her hip into Danielle’s.

Danielle blushed. “He does all right for
himself,” she said, trying to sound modest, and added, “I plan to
sell paintings to make my own money.”

“But you don’t need to.”

“Actually I think I do
need
to.” She lifted her hands to
her chest. “For me. I’d like to have funds that are mine and not
all his.”

“Good for you. Because I think I’d just take
advantage of what he has. Does he have any brothers?” Lindsey
asked, not hiding the fact that she was eyeing Ethan’s backside
right in front of her.

“I’m afraid not,” Danielle replied. “And
quit ogling my man, would you? I’m standing right here.”

Lindsey winked, and of course Danielle knew
her good friend was only teasing, as she frequently did.
“Congratulation’s, D’, I’m really happy for you.”

“Thanks, Lind,” she replied, and hugged her
friend.

“How about a hug for your one and only?” a
male voice said from behind her, and she knew that voice as well as
any.

She threw herself into his arms. He lifted
her feet from the ground, gave her a spin, and a big kiss on the
cheek.

“This had better be your one and only
brother, Danielle, or I’m afraid I’m going to have to deck this
bloke with his hands on my bride,” Ethan said, going for a menacing
tone.

She and her brother, James, laughed and then
James set her feet on the ground, but didn’t release his hold.
“You’d better take care of my sister, or I’ll have to smash your
British face in.”

A shadow passed over Ethan’s jovial
expression, and Danielle knew it was because he was still troubled
by the fact that he couldn’t protect her by himself any longer. She
watched his face darken further as three guards, posing as his
family, passed by, inadvertently reminding him of his weakness. Her
friends and family had no idea that pretty much
all
of the guests on Ethan’s side of the family
were really just their security detail. They’d pumped up their
guard just for the wedding. Clearly worried that Celeste and Lucas
could have heard about it and then attempt something, just as
Celeste had at the shower.

Ethan laughed, and then clapped his new
brother-in-law on the back, rather roughly. She understood he was
really just attempting to cover up what she knew was secretly
irritating him.

“Mind if I dance with the bride?” Danielle’s
father asked having no idea that he’d just unwittingly broken up
the rising tension.

“Be my guest,” Ethan said. His tone sounded
much more gracious than the tight line of his lips told her he was
feeling. Twisting to face her, he said, “I’m going to get something
to eat. So if you need me, that’s where I’ll be, darling wife.”

With the way he breathed the new endearment,
Danielle’s heart melted, and she wanted to follow him instead of
waltzing with her dad, but succumbed to her father’s wishes when he
took her hand and began leading her to the dance floor.

Still lost in what felt like a fantasy dream
world, she danced with Dad, but kept her eyes on her new husband,
hoping he was okay. He seemed all right, if she was correctly
interpreting the grin on his face as he piled his plate with a
little of everything he’d chosen to be served at the reception. It
seemed Ethan was a comfort eater….

After her father and then her brother had
finished guiding her through two songs, she made her way back to
Ethan, and then had to smile because he was emitting his usual
happy hum while he ate.

“How are you? Are you doing all right?” she
asked, sitting down next to him at the table he was seated at.

“I’m brilliant. Elated. Why do you ask?”

“I thought my brother’s comment upset
you.”

Ethan’s eyes shifted to the guards standing
within a few feet of them, pretending to not be guards. “It
didn’t.” He paused, considering his fork as if the flatware was
suddenly highly fascinating, then said, “Oh, very well, it did
trouble me … a bit. However, it is what it is. We can’t change it,
and I don’t want to. I like what we have here, Danielle. I’d make
the same choice if I had to do it over. If I hadn’t, I would
have—”

Ended my life.
“I remember.”

“It’s better this way. I’m sticking by my
decision.” He bit into an hors d’oeuvre, putting a momentary end to
the conversation.

“How’s the food?” she asked, deciding to
change the subject all together.

“Excellent,” he answered while loading a
mouthful of his chocolate wedding cake onto his fork. “And that’s
another reason why I wouldn’t change things.” He slid the cake into
his mouth and moaned with pleasure.

The sudden movement of many shadows moving
quickly through the woods drew her attention and then her eyes
widened. Her hand landed on Ethan’s. He followed her riveted gaze
and she felt him tense as well. “What’s happening?”

The guards nearest to them moved
together to block their view, or
hide
them. She didn’t know which it was, or
perhaps it was both. She watched as the tallest man lifted his hand
to his ear while he listened, then nodded. He looked at them and
said softly, “Don’t worry, they’ve handled it.”

“Handled what?” Danielle asked.

After a sharp shake of his head, Danielle
realized the guard wouldn’t tell them any more than that. Panic
rolled through her veins, chilling her. All of her friends and
family were here. How could they protect them all? “Was this a
mistake?”

Ethan didn’t look completely convinced as he
offered words of comfort. “It should be fine. I made sure that all
of your friends and family were in a hotel owned by one of Beon’s
closest friends. And the security there is tight. Plus some of them
go home tonight, while the rest leave tomorrow morning.”

Attempting to distract her, she suspected,
Ethan added, “Dance with me.” Actually it was more like a command.
He stood and tugged her to her feet as well, then enveloped her in
his arms and nudged her toward the dance floor again.

“But—”

“Shhh…” he muttered, tightening his hold and
lifting her feet from the ground. “Even if immortals try to harm us
or your family, other immortals are protecting all of us just as
fiercely. Please, darling, this is our day; I want you to enjoy it.
In fact, I insist that you enjoy it.”