GROOM UNDER FIRE (19 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Tanya found it hard to focus on the wedding plans the others were discussing in Mrs. Payne’s sunbathed sunshine-yellow office. She could only hear Cooper’s voice ringing in her head from the message he’d left on Stephen’s phone. She’d been with her friend when he’d played his voice mail. “I need you to draw up my divorce papers...”

He’d promised that he would end their marriage. And Cooper Payne was a man of his word. She felt like a hypocrite—planning a wedding while her own marriage was ending.

Rochelle nudged her shoulder. “I need your opinion,” she said. “You’re my maid of honor.”

“Matron,” Mrs. Payne corrected her. “Your sister is married, so she’s a matron.”

She wasn’t going to be married much longer if Cooper had his way.

Rochelle giggled. She did that so often now, since she was giddy with happiness. “If only she were a little more matronly, I would look better.”

“You’re going to look beautiful,” Tanya assured her. “You are beautiful. Radiant even.”

Rochelle blushed. “You’re a good matron of honor.”

Tanya had been so touched that her sister had asked her, that she was making an effort to end their resentment and misunderstandings and finally form a real sisterly bond. To ensure Rochelle’s happiness, she had to put aside her own pain and loss.

“I’m so happy for you both,” she said.

Rochelle leaned over and squeezed Tanya’s hand. “You could be this happy, too.”

“I just told you, I’m happy.”

“For me and Stephen. I want you to be happy for yourself,” Rochelle said. “Tell Cooper how you feel about him.”

She had. But she’d just cowardly whispered the words in his ear. “It doesn’t matter...”

“Why not?”

“Because he doesn’t feel the same.”

“How do you feel about my son?” Mrs. Payne asked with a big smile that suggested that she knew exactly how Tanya felt about Cooper and that she had probably always known.

“How do you?” a deep voice asked. And his tone suggested that he did not know.

He must not have heard those words she’d whispered in his ear that night. “I told you,” she said.

“When I was sleeping...”

So he had heard her.

“But I still told you,” she insisted. “What about you?” She gathered the courage to finally ask what she’d been dying for years to know. “How do you feel about me?”

And she held her breath, waiting for his answer.

And waiting...

* * *

H
EAT
CLIMBED
INTO
Cooper’s neck as he realized all these women were staring at him. His mother. His sister. Her sister. And Tanya...

She had really said those words; he hadn’t just imagined them. She loved him.

“I heard you tell Stephen the same thing,” he said.

“I do love Stephen. But like a friend,” she clarified. “Not like Rochelle loves him. Not like he loves Rochelle.”

And then he got it. “It’s their wedding you’re here planning.”

Rochelle grinned. “You thought she was planning a wedding to Stephen. She’s not a bigamist.”

“He called Stephen to draw up divorce papers,” she shared with her sister.

“He wouldn’t do it until I came here and talked to you,” he admitted.

“So you’re only here because of Stephen.”

He was losing her. He felt it, felt her slipping away. “When you said those words to me, did you mean them the same way you said them to Stephen?”

She made him wait. Her body tense, lips pursed as she considered whether or not to answer him. He didn’t blame her if she didn’t. He’d just told her that he only came here to get divorce papers drawn up. It would take a lot of courage for her to put herself out there first. But Tanya was much stronger than she looked.

“I have never felt about you like I do Stephen,” she said. “You and I have never been just friends. At least not on my end.”

“Not on my end either,” he admitted.

She waited again.

And he hesitated. He had never been a coward before. He hadn’t hesitated to join the Marines. He hadn’t hesitated to engage in combat. But he hesitated now because Tanya could hurt him more than any bullet or bomb. She’d said the words, but that didn’t mean they had a future together. “Your grandfather was right all those years ago. I had nothing to offer you. I have nothing to offer you now either.”

“Yes, you do,” she said. “You’re just not willing to offer it.”

“I have no money.”

“I don’t either,” she reminded him. “I’ve been fine without money.”

“Then why were you going to marry Stephen to collect it?”

“She had plans for the money,” Rochelle answered for her. “She was going to help people.”

Of course she was. No wonder he loved her so much.

“She doesn’t need the money to help people,” he said.

Rochelle nodded in agreement. “But there actually is some left. Stephen found Mr. Gregory’s offshore accounts. And there’s already been an offer on Grandfather’s house.”

Tanya turned toward her sister, her brow furrowing with confusion. “Who would want that thing?”

“A funeral home.”

She laughed in delight.

She would inherit some money now since she’d married before her birthday. Would it be enough to put her out of his league again?

“I don’t need money,” she said as if she could read his mind.

He actually had more than she or his family probably realized. Because he’d needed very little to live on, he’d invested what he’d been paid, and given the bonuses for every time he’d re-upped, it had mounted.

“What about love?” he asked her. “Do you need love?”

Her breath audibly caught and her green eyes widened with surprise and hope. “Do you...?”

“Love you?” He nodded. “Only with all my heart and soul.”

“Well, if that’s all...” She jumped up from her chair and threw her arms around his neck. She pressed a kiss to his cheek and his chin and his nose. “I love you! I love you!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Nikki said, feigning disinterest despite her sparkling eyes. “Tell us something we haven’t all known for years and years...”

Cooper laughed. “I want to do it again.”

“What?”

“I want to marry you again,” he said.

“Another wedding?” his little sister asked. “It’s like you know someone who owns a wedding chapel or something...”

“Yeah, it’s like...”

His mother chuckled as she always had at the teasing bickering of her children. That was why they’d started doing it so much—to make her laugh.

Tanya pulled out of his arms. “We can’t!”

And panic clutched his heart. Had she changed her mind? Did she not feel strongly enough about him to marry him again?

“We can’t infringe on Rochelle’s day,” she said. “This is her time.”

“Finally,” Rochelle murmured. “We’ve both taken our time getting here. How about we walk down that aisle together?” she asked Tanya. “We’ll give each other away to the men we love.”

* * *

T
WO
BRIDES
AND
two grooms stood at the altar. There were two best men—so identical in their black tuxes that it was impossible for Tanya to tell one from the other. Until Parker winked at her.

She and Rochelle shared a maid of honor. Nikki juggled both their bouquets. Tanya’s was simple and small—just a bunch of yellow roses—while Rochelle’s was a trailing mass of colors and textures.

Rochelle’s dress was also nontraditional—short and ruffled and the same blush as the color on her smiling cheeks. Since Rochelle had had time to find that dress, Tanya might have been able to find a new one, too.

But there was only one dress she’d wanted to wear on her wedding day. And thankfully the paramedics hadn’t damaged it. She wore Mrs. Payne’s—Mom’s, as Penny now insisted she call her—beautiful beaded lace gown.

Tanya had worried during the few shorts days it had taken Mrs. Payne
—Mom—
to pull together the weddings that she was infringing on Rochelle’s day. But her little sister was happier than Tanya had ever seen her. And so was Stephen as he slid his ring on her finger.

Then it was Cooper’s turn. He took her hand in his. Her skin tingled from his touch—and from the intensity of his blue eyes as he gazed down at her.

“With this ring, I thee wed,” he repeated as he slid a gold and sparkling diamond band onto her finger.

She marveled at the beauty of it. She had known Cooper since they were both kids, but the man could still surprise her. Like when he added his own vows: “I will love and protect you for the rest of my life, Tanya Payne.”

Tanya Payne.

“I love the sound of that,” she murmured. “I love you. Always have and always will. You are my best friend. My soul mate. My everything...”

Cooper blinked his thick lashes as if he, too, was battling tears. Of emotion. Of love.

“I now pronounce both couples men and wives,” Reverend James said with a chuckle.

Stephen kissed his bride. And Cooper lowered his head to Tanya’s, his lips pressing tenderly against hers in such a sweet and gentle kiss that tears sprung to her eyes.

“There’ll be more kissing later,” he promised her in a whisper for her ears only.

She couldn’t wait for later. The reception passed in a blur of eating and dancing and laughing. This was the wedding she had always wanted. And it was all the sweeter that she was able to share it with her sister, her friends and her new family.

Parker twirled her around the dance floor. “This wedding’s been kind of boring,” he complained with a teasing grin. “Nobody’s gotten kidnapped, shot at or poisoned.”

Tanya blew out a breath of relief that none of those things had happened. Because usually those things happened to her or Cooper. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she teased back as the Payne family—
her
family—loved to tease. “It’s been the most exciting day of my life.”

Cooper tugged her out of his brother’s arms and swung her up in his own. “It’s about to get more exciting,” he said, “we’re heading off for our honeymoon now.”

Stephen and Rochelle had already left—eager to start the life together that had nearly been denied them. She forced back the guilt and regret. The past was over. Everyone was safe and happy.

“I hope you packed some of that sexy lingerie,” Cooper said.

“Oh, I have something special for you,” she promised.

“You’re the something special,” he said.

She clasped her arms around her husband’s neck as he carried her up the steps from the lower-level reception hall. He passed through the vestibule and headed down the outside church staircase to the street.

Logan and Nikki stood on the steps, leaning against the railing. Laughing, they flung handfuls of birdseed at them as Cooper and Tanya passed. Parker followed behind, tossing it down on them like rain. An SUV waited at the curb. Across its back window someone had scrawled
Just Married
in chalk. And strings of pop cans had been tied to the back bumper.

“Damn you all!” Cooper playfully yelled at his family.

Tanya laughed, happier than she had ever been.

Until the shots rang out...

Cooper ducked low over Tanya, protecting her with his body and the SUV that he shielded them both behind. But his family—their family—stood on the front steps yet, exposed.

Tires squealed as the car from which the shots must have been fired sped around the corner. She wriggled out of Cooper’s arms and turned back.

Logan covered Nikki on the stairs. But Parker was gone.

“Parker!” Cooper yelled his name as he hurried over to the stairs. A hand rose from the thick shrubs on the sides of the stairwell. He clasped it and pulled his brother from the foliage. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, brushing off his tux and their concern. “Logan knocked me over after pushing down Nikki.” He turned toward his twin, as if waiting for the smart-alecky comments they continually threw at each other.

But Logan said nothing but sorry. He said it to his brother and sister and then he turned to Tanya and Cooper. “I’m sorry...”

Tanya shook her head. “I thought it was over. Mr. Gregory is dead.” But maybe he hadn’t been working alone.

“This isn’t about you,” Logan assured them all. “This is about me. And revenge...”

“You know who it is,” Cooper said.

He nodded. “And I’ll take care of it. You two leave for your honeymoon.” He hugged them both then pushed them toward the SUV. “Leave before the police get here. You’ve given enough reports during the past week to last a lifetime.”

Cooper obeyed his brother and helped Tanya into the passenger’s seat before sliding behind the wheel himself. She clutched his arm. “Are you sure?” she asked. “If you want to stay and help him, our honeymoon can wait.”

“Our honeymoon waited too long,” he said, “because of my stubbornness and pride.” He glanced back at his family. “They trusted me to take care of myself while I was in the Marines. I trust Logan to protect himself and the others.”

His brother waved them off as Cooper pulled away from the curb. Tanya stared back at them and she couldn’t help worrying that it might be the last time she saw them.

Cooper took her hand in his and entwined their fingers. “They’ll be okay,” he promised her. “They’re Paynes.”

She smiled.

“And so are you,” he said. “You are my wife.”

“It’s real,” she said with a sweet sigh of relief.

“We’re still going to consummate it,” he teased. “Over and over again...”

She laughed. He was right. His family could take care of themselves—they’d been doing it for years. And now she and Cooper would spend the rest of their lives taking care of each other. “I love you.”

“I’m not sure I heard you,” he teased, probably in reference to that first time she had uttered those words to him in a whisper.

So she shouted, “I love you!”

“Married a few hours and she’s already yelling at me,” Cooper remarked to himself.

Tanya laughed again as she envisioned their future together, as she had so many times when she’d been a teenager. But now it wasn’t just a fantasy; it was real. They probably would yell at each other from time to time. But they would have laughter, too. And given her job and his, they would probably have danger, as well. But as he’d promised, he would keep her safe. And she would make certain that he always knew how much she loved him—even if she had to shout it.