Give in to Me (36 page)

I pressed my hands to my thighs and took another deep breath. “Okay. I’m ready.”

She came to my side and held my hand as I stood from the bed on wobbly legs. “Just wait until you see the flowers. They’re really beautiful.”

“The flowers?”

Jordan smiled weakly. “That’s what they say at times like this, don’t they?”

I saw how hard she was trying to be mature at that moment and appreciated it. “I feel like I’m in an episode of some TV melodrama. I know you want to say something snarky or crude, so go for it.”

Her shoulders relaxed, and she smiled broadly. “Thank God! I’ve been tiptoeing around for hours, unsure I should be myself. You’ve been so quiet since returning from Venice, so I wasn’t sure you were up for the full version of me.”

I smoothed the back of my dress and rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to pretend ever, Jordan. Venice was tough, but I got through it. I’m tougher than I look.”

She raised her eyebrows in faux surprise. “Tough, huh? Wait until you get out there and melt into a puddle of girliness when you see your soon-to-be husband.”

Jordan wasn’t wrong. On normal days, seeing Tristan in a suit he wore to work made my knees weak. Seeing him in a tux waiting for me at the altar might make me fall over. “Tell me. How’s he look?”

“Totally badass with that eye patch. Leave it to him to get a black leather one.”

“I meant in the tux, Jordan. How’s he look in the tux?”

As she buzzed around me tugging and fixing my wedding gown, she chuckled. “Like he was born to wear one. The guy looks more comfortable in a tux than other guys do in jeans and a T-shirt.”

Her words took me back to the first time I saw Tristan dressed in a tux and then to that night of the book signing at his hotel. She was right. He wore formality so well, but I knew who the man beneath the clothes was. I knew his passions and his fears, his darkness and his light.

I finally could say I knew Tristan Stone.

Jordan stood back from me and smiled at what she saw. “But when he sees you in this dress, oh, he is going to fall apart. You look stunning, honey.”

I looked down at the gown I’d marry my dream man in and nodded. “I hope so. That’s the point, right? It won’t be much of a honeymoon if the groom doesn’t like how the bride looks.”

My gown felt more incredible than anything I’d ever worn. White satin that hung like it had been created just for me, it was classy and gorgeous and everything I’d always dreamed I’d be. Now, as I stood in the bedroom I shared with the only man I’d ever truly loved, I finally was that woman in my dreams.

After smoothing my veil over the back of my head, she pulled the ends out near my elbows and let them fall against my arms. One last tuck of a stray hair behind my ear and she was done. “All set. You ready to become Mrs. Tristan Stone?”

I didn’t know why, but I began to tear up at those words. Mrs. Tristan Stone. They said the third time was a charm, didn’t they? Looking away, I said, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m crying like a crazy woman.”

“It’s okay, Nina. This is a big deal. Just think of it this way, though. After all you and Tristan have been through, getting married is going to be like a walk in the park. Or more like a walk in the garden on a beautiful summer night.”

Jordan laughed at her joke about where the wedding was to be held, and I rolled my eyes. “Funny. And by the way, not to make you nervous or anything, but you look pretty incredible yourself in that dress. Maybe tonight’s the night Gage asks you out.”

She smoothed her hands down over her hips and slinked toward the door. “Oh, by the way, I can report that those muscles are real and there’s no sex with bugs.”

I thought about what she just said and laughed. “You’re terrible!”

Turning her head, she peered over her shoulder at me. “Nothing terrible about it.”

“How? Jordan, did you…?”

She winked and then shook her head. “Not yet, but he stopped by my apartment one night last week. We had a nice time together.”

“Take it easy on my bodyguard, okay? He saved my life.”

Jordan dropped the sexy act and nodded. “I would never do anything to hurt him, sweetie. It’s not everyday I have a chance with a hero.”

“Okay. Then you have my blessing.”

A knock at the door ended our serious moment, and she opened it to Gage standing there. With a smile, he asked, “Did someone order a hero?”

A blush raced up her cheeks, and Jordan turned to look at me with a silly grin. “Mental note to self. Hearing and skulking—expert level.”

“Nina, it’s time. You ready?” Gage asked, sneaking a look at Jordan.

“I am. Jordan, you ready?”

She nodded and held out her hand to take mine. Squeezing it, she whispered, “I love you, Nina. Now go marry that sexy man so we can have champagne and cake.”

“And dancing,” I added. Looking past her at Gage, I asked, “Do you dance?”

Flashing us a charming smile, he winked and said, “A little. Enough to get by.”

I couldn’t help myself and joked, “Saves damsels in distress, has superhero hearing, and he dances?”

Jordan shook her head and walked out mumbling, “Let’s go, Cupid. Tristan’s waiting.”

Gage laughed as she passed, and when she was out of earshot, said, “She’s a handful. I’m wondering what you’ve gotten me into.”

“Nothing you can’t handle.”

From the back of the house the sound of the harpist playing the wedding march filtered through the open windows of the bedroom signaling it was time to go. Gage held out his hand for mine and gave me a gentle smile. “You’re on. If we don’t get out there, Tristan’s going to think you’re not showing up.”

I took his hand and laughed. “We’ve had enough of that. I’m ready.”

The stone pathway to the garden lay before me, the final walk to Tristan and our new life together. In my hand, I held my bouquet of pink and white roses straight from our garden. Tied with a baby pink ribbon, it was simple and just what I wanted for my big day. With Gage’s arm linked in mine, I gazed down the pathway at Tristan as he waited for me stunning in his black tux, his expression a mix of anticipation and love.

We slowly made our way, passing boughs of baby’s breath hanging by deep pink ribbons from shepherd’s hooks above tea light lanterns to guide us on our way down the stone pathway. Jordan stood to the left of the minister in her gorgeous peacock blue gown holding her own bouquet of baby’s breath she chose herself, and candles of all sizes stood flickering soft light behind the altar

Jensen, Maria, and Tristan’s assistant Michelle and her husband sat watching Gage and me as we moved closer to the moment he’d give me away. His strong arm held me stable, even as my knees shook from nerves, and then I saw Daryl. Dressed in a black tux similar to Tristan’s, he stood at his side as his best man, an odd but understandable choice. Still sporting his mountain man style, he looked like he’d gotten that bushy red hair of his cut and even taken an inch or two off his prized beard for the occasion. He smiled one of those rare Daryl smiles that lit up his features and made me want to giggle.

We were quite a group.

Finally, we reached the end of the pathway and Gage leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. With a simple smile, he handed me to Tristan, and he took my hand in his, giving it a small squeeze. In that moment, nothing else in the world mattered but us and the life we were about to embark on. I looked up at him and saw in his face everything would be all right.

We faced the minister in front of us and listened as he began the ceremony. “We’re gathered here together to celebrate the joining of Tristan and Nina. We rejoice in the love of this man and this woman and wish them happiness. Marriage symbolizes the joining of two hearts, each person retaining their own individualism as both travel their path together.”

Tristan squeezed my hand as the minister announced we’d written our own vows, and we turned to face each other. I pulled the sheet of paper I’d written mine on from the silk satchel around my wrist, and when I looked back at him, I saw he had nothing in his hand.

Searching his face, I tried to understand what was happening. Had he changed his mind? Fear tore through me, but he simply smiled at me and began speaking.

“Nina, I tried over and over to write my vows last night, but I never found the right words. I woke up this morning and tried again, but still nothing came. I decided I’d just say what was in my heart when it was time, so I hope this comes out right. All my life, I’ve had whatever my heart desired, and I thought I was happy. Then I lost everything and happiness became something I believed I’d never be lucky enough to have again. I lived like that until one day I was convinced I was meant to be alone. Then one night I met you, and from that moment I’ve been happier than any man could hope to be.”

He stopped for a moment as I struggled to hold back the tears. This man who said so little most times was standing there in front of our friends confessing his love in a way only he could. My heart swelled at how tender and sweet his vows truly were. Straight from his heart, they were him.

“I promise to be the one who makes your days brighter. When the rest of the world can’t or won’t see who you are, I will. I can’t promise I won’t make mistakes, but I can promise that you’ll never doubt I love you more than my clumsy words can ever say. I love you, Nina.”

I covered my mouth with my hand, whispering, “Oh, Tristan” as the tears I’d held back finally began rolling down my cheeks. “That was beautiful.”

He silently nodded and gave me a tender smile. I looked at my vows I’d written the night before and suddenly wanted to give him the honesty he’d given me. Stuffing the paper back into my satchel, I held his hand and said what was in my heart.

“Tristan, I love you. You’ve shown me a world more incredible than anything I’d ever dreamed of. And I’d give it all up as long as I had you by my side. If tomorrow all we had were the clothes on our backs and each other, I’d still be the happiest woman on Earth because I’d be with you. I wouldn’t trade a moment we’ve shared for anything in the world. I promise no matter what you’ll always be my knight in shining armor. And someday, when we’re old and gray, I’ll look back on our life together and know the night I met you was the luckiest night of my life.”

With a small smile, Tristan showed me my words touched him like his had mine. We stood there silently, looking at one another like there was no one else in the world at that moment but the two us.

The minister looked at Daryl and Jordan and asked, “The rings?”

We turned and took the rings from them and the minister said, “Repeat after me. I pledge to you my love and my life.”

Tristan and I said those words together and gave each other the rings that symbolized our union. All that remained were the minister’s final words.

“May you keep the vows you made here today. May you comfort each other, share each other’s joys, and support each other in times of trouble. By the power vested in me by the State of New York, I pronounce you Husband and Wife. Tristan, you may kiss your bride.”

Cradling my face in his hands, Tristan pressed his lips to mine in a gentle kiss and whispered in my ear, “I love you, Mrs. Stone.”

“It’s about time. I thought you two would never get here,” Daryl joked.

I leaned around my new husband and shot his best man a dirty look. “I’ll take that as your congratulations.”

Jordan piped up with a comment that put him in his place, and I saw Gage smile at her, probably wishing he had said it. As everyone around us hugged and kissed me and shook Tristan’s hand, I thought for a moment how much I wished my father had been there to share this with us.

Performing her maid of honor duties perfectly, Jordan corralled the guests to the table in the garden where the reception was to be held. When they had all moved away, Tristan still stood there, looking down at me in that special way that told me he had something on his mind.

“What’s wrong? I see that tiny pout you make when something’s wrong.”

“It’s nothing. I was just thinking about my father and how much I wished he could have been here.”

Tristan pulled me close in his arms, and I knew he felt the same. After all that had happened, our love had finally helped us put our families’ pasts behind us.

“Somewhere, our mothers are smiling,” he said with a wink. “You know how mothers are.”

I reached up and gently ran my fingertip over the edge of his eye patch. “I guess I got my pirate after all.”

“I guess you did, at least until the doctors say my eye’s better. What do you say about letting this pirate escort you to the reception and maybe later I’ll make you walk the plank.”

“Was that a joke, Mr. Stone?” I asked with a smile, knowing he was working hard to make me forget my sadness over my father missing the biggest day of my life.

He shrugged and said, “It happens sometimes. I don’t know what kind of pirate that makes me, though.”

Holding his face in my hands, I kissed him long and deep. “It makes you my pirate, and that’s the best kind there is.”

“I have a surprise for you,” he said quietly. “Close your eyes.”

I shut them tight and let him lead me ten steps before we stopped. I heard our guests whispering and Tristan said, “You can open them now.”