Indelible Love - Emily's Story (49 page)

“Honey, do you know that by the end of
our honeymoon, you will have crossed off half my bucket list
already?” I commented while dancing.

“My goal is to cross them all off for
you, although I don’t think I can send you on a trip with some
random man. Maybe I can somehow arrange for you to have a meal with
him when we visit New York.”

“Do you know that you are the most
amazing man?”

“That’s why I’m married to the most
amazing woman.”

Everyone joined us on the dance floor
but Jake and I might as well have been in a room by ourselves. We
noticed no one. We broke into another one of our endless embraces
and didn’t notice Max attempting to dance with me. We had tuned
everyone out.

“Excuse me, may I cut in?” I heard but
didn’t pay attention.

A little louder the voice repeated,
“Excuse me, may I cut in?”

Our lips parted, annoyed. It was Max
chuckling at our annoyance and smug that he finally got our
attention.

Jake hesitated and warned, “Briefly.
I’ll be right back to claim my wife.” He winked and tried to walk
away but I quickly whispered a favor in his ear.

“As if it isn’t bad enough that I have
to watch you make out in front of me, must you whisper to one
another while I’m standing right here?” Max jokingly complained.
“Em, you look gorgeous!” he added with his boyish grin.

“Thanks, Max. I’m happy to see you
here.”

“I’m glad to be here and thrilled to
see you so happy. Is this what you imagined married life to
be?”

“It’s better than anything I’ve ever
imagined. Thank you. I owe a lot of this to you. I thank you for
loving me for four wonderful years. Much of who I am is thanks to
our relationship. I learned so much from you. I truly wish you the
same kind of joy.”

Max leaned closer and hugged me. “You
know I’ll always love you, Em.”

I wanted to reciprocate, but saw Jake
return with his sister. I turned to Jane. “Um, Jane? Do you mind
changing partners with me? I’d like to be back in my husband’s
arms.” With this, I leaned over and kissed Max on the cheek and
whispered, “I love you too, Max. Debt repaid.”

I fell back into Jake’s arms and
watched the happily surprised Max and Jane dance with one another.
Jake looked at me with an appreciative smile.

“You are the most incredible woman in
the entire world!” Jake exuded with joy. “Thank you for putting a
smile on my sister’s face.”

The evening wore on, and we finally
got to my wedding gift for my husband—the fireworks. Everyone sat
in chairs laid out on the grassy field. The DJ announced to
everyone to look out for Jake’s wedding gift during the fireworks
display. Jake kept distracting me with his lips and I had to force
him to watch the show.

“Honey, your wedding present is coming
up. You need to pay attention or you’ll miss it.”

“What does that mean?”

I gave him a stern look and pointed to
the fireworks display.

Toward the end of the display, I saw a
happy face light up and this was my cue to have Jake watch his
present on display.

“Here it comes,” I announced to
everyone with excitement.

There lit the letter I,

Then came the shape of a
heart,

Then the letter U,

Then they spelled out JAKE one by
one.

Afterward, they shot off many more
hearts and big explosions to end the display.

Our guests all clapped and cheered for
us. Jake had an incredulous look on his face. This time, I leaned
over and kissed his shocked lips and declared, “I love you,
Jake.”

“How did you do that? That was the
coolest present ever!” Jake said, as his family members gathered
around us.

“It wasn’t easy. Once I got the name
of the company in charge of the display, and after numerous calls,
I finally got the name of the owner of the company. I called and
begged him daily, asking him to add this to his show. He refused me
for two straight weeks. Eventually, I wore him down and he agreed
to do this for me under a few conditions:

I am to never call him again,
and

I am to never give his information out
to anyone.”

I also told Jake, “I also promised him
excellent heart care if he ever needed it. I promised him just
about everything, but our first child.” Everyone chuckled at this
last comment and we all went out to the dance floor
again.

By 10:00 p.m., Jake badgered me to
leave the reception so we could get on to more pressing
matters.

“Jake, we’re not leaving already. I’m
only getting married once. This reception is amazing. I don’t want
it to end yet.”

“Then, can we go upstairs to our
bedroom for a little bit and come back and rejoin the party?” He
looked like a child begging for candy. I waited for the “please,
please, please” to happen.

“No. I can’t exactly get in and out of
this dress easily. You’ll have to wait. What are a few more hours?
We’ll be together for a lifetime.”

He let go of me and walked away
pouting. I grabbed Nick and Doug and danced with them
instead.

“What’s with Jake?” they both
wondered.

“Oh, he wants to move on to the next
portion of our wedding,” I answered giggling.

They both understood a little too well
what I conveyed. By the end of our dance, all the cousins played
keep the bride away from Jake the rest of the night. Everyone, man,
woman, and child, wanted to dance with me to keep us from leaving
for our wedding night. The aunts and female cousins also did a good
job keeping Jake occupied.

By 3:00 a.m., I wanted to leave.
Pretending to give into Jake’s pleas I whispered in his ear, “I’m
ready.” He was more than ready.

Most of our guest started eating and
drinking again. The party continued as Nick put our suitcase in
Jake’s car and we showed our appreciation to Jake’s parents and
Aunt Barbara.

“I don’t know how to thank you for
this amazing wedding and reception. You two could go into the
wedding business. We’ll make sure to bring back a huge gift for
both of you from our honeymoon.” We kissed all three of them and
sprinted from our house to the car without getting too much rice in
our hair. I chose to stay in my wedding dress even though Gram
brought me a trousseau from London. We hugged everyone good-bye and
left for our hotel near the airport.

During the ride over to the hotel,
Jake couldn’t stop talking about our wedding night.

“Which negligee did you bring?” Jake
asked with a puppy dog look.

I decided to be coy and not give him
any straight answers. “Oh my gosh! I forgot to pack the negligees.
I only brought my flannel pajamas,” I answered nonchalantly. I also
yawned and said, “I’m exhausted. I couldn’t sleep a wink last
night. Aren’t you tired?”

Jake gave me a
you can’t be serious
look.

I turned my head toward the window and
held back a laugh.

“You can sleep on the plane all you
want tomorrow.” Jake’s voice sounded like a pleading.

“Will you allow me to sleep on the
plane tomorrow, or will you be making out with me again in front of
ten strangers? I tell you what. I’ll give you a choice. You can
have your way with me tonight in private with my full
participation, or you can try to have your way with me tomorrow on
the plane, with me fighting you the whole way. Your choice.” I knew
the obvious answer but I thought I’d put it out there and hear his
response.

“I pick tonight! So answer me, which
negligee? Is it that red one that I picked out in London? It’s not
that boring white one Gram picked out, is it?”

Jake kept bobbing his head from me to
the road often enough to make me nervous so I gave in.

“I’ll give you two clues. Tonight’s
outfit was not purchased in London, but you’ve seen it
before.”

It took him all of two seconds to
figure it out.

With way too much enthusiasm he
shouted, “You kept that one from Paris? The one that was supposed
to go to Sarah?” His grin was from ear to ear.

“Possibly,” was my only
answer.

I looked out the window reveling in
our conversation and thinking how just a few weeks ago, I was alone
in Japan. Funny how life had a way of untangling itself for the
best.

Jake reached over to hold my hand and
asked what I was thinking.

“Are you OK? Am I making you nervous
about tonight?” He, himself, sounded nervous.

“I’m fine—a bit scared, but happy to
be here with you.” I leaned over to kiss his cheek. I knew that
this was where I belonged, as Mrs. Jake Reid.

“Sweetheart, you have nothing to be
afraid of. Although it was frustrating at times, I’m thrilled you
have been with no one else. I consider it a real honor to be your
first and only man.” He held my hand till we got to the
hotel.

With some difficulty getting out of
the car in a wedding dress, I surfaced to a throng of cheers from
hotel guests. Jake checked us into the honeymoon suite and we
walked hand in hand up to our room. When we arrived, Jake stopped
me right outside the door as he opened it with his keycard. He
grabbed the Do Not Disturb sign and hung it on the doorknob with a
heavenly grin. He lifted me up and carried me over the threshold.
We gazed into each other’s eyes knowing this was just the beginning
of our happily ever after.

Thank you for
reading
Indelible Love—Emily’s
Story
. This is my first self-published
novel and I had so much fun dreaming up the Reid family. If you
enjoyed this love story, I would be most grateful if you could
write a kind review on the e-bookstore from which you purchased
this story, or Goodreads. Word of mouth, and a good review for
self-published authors like me, help tremendously. If you’d like to
write to me personally, here are all the ways to contact
me.

www.dwcee.com

www.facebook.com/DWCee

www.twitter.com/DWCee_

I’d love to hear from you and I’ll try
my best to answer all your questions.

The following is a taste
of
Indelible Love—Jake’s
Story
. Hear his version, starting from the
moment they meet to the family they create after the wedding. The
first chapter is included. Also included are
Entwined
, a stand-alone novel,
and
Indelible Lovin’—Max & Jane’s
Story
, the continuation of the Reid family
story.

Chapter 1
Chance Encounter

Exhausted! That was the only word that
came to my mind after working an eighteen-hour shift. I was sure it
was illegal for anyone to work so much, but in these life-and-death
situations, I suppose I had no choice. This was the life I had
chosen as a heart surgeon. Though, I probably would have been
better off working at a different hospital. The chief purposely
worked me harder to prove to others that he was not showing any
favoritism to his nephew.

Hungry. That was another word that
never left my mind when working so much. My stomach grumbled from a
lack of food, as I’ve had one meal all day and it was almost
midnight. What were my options? Drive home and stop by a fast-food
joint on the way? If I hit the freeway now, I should be able to
reach my house in the Valley in twenty minutes. Or, go to Mom’s
down the street and hope that she had food in the fridge? I decided
to forgo both options and stop by the market to pick up a protein
shake before heading home.

Walking into the store, the most
beautiful woman walked by and I couldn’t help but follow her from
afar. She turned into one of the aisles and started looking for
cereal. I paused to stare. She was gazing intently at the boxes in
a peculiar way. It was comical how serious this decision was for
her. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her
porcelain skin would put dermatologists all out of
business.