A Long Goodbye (27 page)

I waited impatiently in the foyer, ringing my neck with my hands trying to release some tension. Who knew how her father would react, or if he changed her mind about me? I had a feeling the latter wasn’t true, but still I was wrecked with worry.

Ten minutes of pacing was when she finally burst through the glass doors to the office. Tears rolled down her face, along with her mascara, as she flew into my arms. “I take it, it didn’t go so well?”

She shook her head and cried into my chest. “I can’t believe I thought he’d change for me. What was I thinking?”

I brushed her hair back and behind her ears. “Baby, I just want you to be happy. Whatever it takes, I’ll do it even if it means we wait a while to get him on board before you put that white dress on,” I told her, hoping to stop her from crying and give her some hope.

Amy came around and handed off a tissue, witnessing the whole thing. “I’m sorry, honey,” Amy told her, and then disappeared.

“No, Dane. He’s not winning. I won’t let him. I want to get married on your mama’s farm, on the big back porch overlooking the fields and I want to do it soon before anything else happens.”

I cocked my head. “Like how soon?”

“Do you think we could pull this together before Halloween, before it starts to get a chill in the air?”

I choked on my own spit. “Baby, that’s less than four weeks away.”

“I know that,” she yelled at me as if I was moron for doubting her.

“First thing we need to do is go return that rock to Trevor and then we’ll go visit my church and see about getting the Reverend.”

She nodded and smiled. All her tears disappeared once I agreed to her proposal. Deep down I was happier than a pig in shit knowing that she was going to be my wife in less than a month. But I also wanted to give her the world, so I knew I had to get her old man on board, whether I wanted him there or not. It was just a matter of getting him to finally cave in, at least for one day.

Before we went to Trevor’s, Amy and Grace called more places than I knew existed to get the ball rolling. I wanted to give her a proper wedding, but I was on a budget for the time being, and Grace was going hog wild with preparations that were scaring the hell out of me. And only an hour had gone by.

“Grace, baby, can I talk to you?”

She looked up from the phone book, happily. “Sure, Dane.”

I held out my hand until she took it. I pulled her into my chest. “I want to give you a big, fancy wedding, but I don’t know if I can swing whatever you’re doing.”

She frowned, but stood up on her tiptoes. “It’s okay, Dane. I’m paying for it.”

“Hell, no you are not,” I bellowed, not able to believe what she just said.

She threw her hands on her hips and got that look on her face. “I have my own money and if I want a seven tiered vanilla cake I’m going to have it, Dane Woods and you are going to let me have it.”

I held up my hand to stop her. She shook me off. “No, you listen to me, Dane. I’ve been planning and imagining my big day for as long as I can remember and your stubborn man pride is not going to ruin it.”

I grinned, loving when she told me off. “C’mere and kiss me.”

She cocked her head. “Can I get what I want without you fighting me every step of the way?”

“I’ll give in to this one thing, since it’s your big day, but, baby, don’t expect to be paying for anything else.” I paused waiting to see her reaction, but she kept a straight face. “Now get over her and stop making me wait for those lips.”

She smiled. “Fine.” And then she kissed me good and long, making me want to take her in my office to live out one of my fantasies.

Two hours later and we were standing in Trevor’s office waiting for him to come back from a meeting. When he opened the door, he didn’t look surprised, so I assumed his secretary told him we were waiting.

He walked past us. “I already heard the bad news. Excuse me if I don’t pass on my congratulations to y’all.”

Grace stood up and placed the ring on his desk. “Trevor, I am sorry that I did all this. I should never have agreed to marry you. I don’t love you and I know you don’t love me, but the one thing I do know is that I’m going to marry Dane in a few weeks. I hope you understand I couldn’t live the lie I had been. I hope you can forgive me.”

In that one second, I felt bad for the guy. Hurt was written all over his face, but then he fixed it back to his scowl. He laughed. “Ashton, I hope you have a happy life living in squalor because that’s what you have to look forward to marrying him.”

I stood up quickly, slamming my hands on his desk. “Grace is going to live a good life with me you mark my words, Trevor. I love her and I can promise you she’ll never go without, and never, ever be lied to, cheated on, or used as a pawn the way you would have. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a wedding to plan.”

I grabbed hold of Grace’s hand, and pulled her with me and out the door before he could say anything else.

“Dane,” she whispered once we were in my truck.

“Yeah, baby,” I asked, turning to look at her.

“Don’t you listen to him, okay? He’s wrong. I love the farm and I can’t wait to live there with you.”

“I’ll see about getting us a place of our own.”

She grabbed my arm. “Don’t you dare. I want to raise our kids there, be a family there. I already talked to your mama about it. She’s tickled pink.”

“You want to live on the farm forever?” I asked skeptically, since part of me always wondered if what I had to offer was good enough.

“Do you love your farm?” She asked.

I shook my head. “This isn’t about me, Grace.”

She smiled widely. “I love the way I feel on the farm, the love, the warmth, just everything about it. Please don’t take that away from me? I’ve never had anything that really felt like home to me. Your mama’s house does.”

I grabbed her and hauled her across the seat. “I love you so much.”

“Good! Now take me home. I have a wedding to plan and I want to call back one of the schools back that called me while I was at the beach.

Grace had gotten a call about interviewing for a first grade teaching position about a half hour away. I hated it being so far, but she was over the moon about the possibility. The current teacher was pregnant and had been placed on bed rest, and they were looking for a replacement for the rest of the year.

~~~

Two weeks had gone by and Grace was officially going to become a teacher, starting mid-November. She was gone for the day with Lu shopping for new clothes since teachers apparently need to dress a certain way and she didn’t have a proper thing. I had a hard time believing that, but I let it slide.

Over the last two weeks, my brother’s and I fixed up the barn to make it a larger space to live in. We actually had walls now that separated our room from the rest of the place. We knew we were going to move to the main house within the year, but we wanted our privacy to start with and then we’d take over my old room.

My nerves were rattling around inside of me as I pulled up the long driveway. Grace hadn’t heard nor seen her father since her big announcement and since the wedding was coming up quickly, I knew I needed to step in.

My mama got her land back signed under her name when Winslow sent over his right hand man from his office. Once we went over it, we handed over the envelope and never heard a word from Bill. It was time to end that. Grace put on a real good show that she wasn’t bothered by his lack of support, but I knew better.

My knuckles rapped on his front door, loudly. It took him a few minutes, but he answered. “It’s not a good time, Son.”

“I just need a minute, Sir. It’s about Gra-I mean Ashton.”

He opened the door wide for me to step inside. “Say your peace and go.”

“We’re getting married the Saturday from next and Ashton really wants you to walk her down the aisle. I know you don’t like me, and I’ll be honest, I have no idea why. I’m a good man. I think I’ve proven myself to be a damn good citizen, and most importantly, I love her with all my heart and I will until they put me in the cold hard ground.”

“I’ll think about it,” he answered, still holding the door open.

“That’s it?” I said, pissed off that he could just blow her off like that. “She doesn’t deserve this and you know it. She’s been an amazing daughter her whole life, can’t you see to it that she gets one thing done right by you?”

A creak from another room stopped me. I turned to the noise and my mouth dropped open. “Mama what are you doing here?”

“I had Amy drop me by. I wanted to talk to Bill alone about Grace.”

“Why? Mama I have this,” I yelled frustrated.

She stepped up to me, quickly kissing my cheek and then walked to Bill. “Bill, do yourself a favor, don’t be a jackass your whole life. Do this for Ashton, regardless of how you feel about me, or my boys. Do it for her.” Then she walked out, hopped in my truck. I guess I was giving her a ride home.

I walked over to the door. “Sir, please come? It’ll make everything perfect for her.”

I took my very quiet mama home a moment later. I couldn’t believe she was there, but it proved one thing to me that I already knew. She loved my Grace.

CHAPTER 49

ASHTON

I slept like a baby in Woody’s old boyhood bed last night. He was not too happy with me when I left his side after we made love, but I insisted since we were getting married the next day.

Amy, Catherine, and Lu were all dressed in a beautiful shade of lavender as they helped me get ready. Lu and I found the most beautiful dress one afternoon at this little boutique almost an hour away. It was perfect the way it hugged my figure, and accentuated Dane’s favorite part of my body. I just hoped the Reverend didn’t mind getting a full view of my cleavage as he read the sermon.

The windows were open and I could hear the sound of the violin playing outside and the voices of people in the backyard. I was putting the final touches on my make-up when the room went suddenly quiet. “What’s wrong? Is it my dress?” I whipped around, spinning, looking for a tear, or make-up on the backside of my dress when I spotted him.

“Dane… Get out,” I screamed. “It’s bad luck.” I ran behind Mrs. Woods curtains.

He held out his hand. “Come here, I got a surprise for you.”

I shook my head like a crazy woman. “No. Dane. Give it to me after the wedding,” I yelled out. “Mrs. Woods can you please get your son out of this room.”

Lu threw her hand to her mouth. “Oh, shit,” she cried.

My Daddy walked in a second later. “Sugarplum.” He smiled.

I froze for a heartbeat, but then ran to him with open arms forgetting about everyone else. “Daddy, you’re here.”

He held on to me tightly. “I couldn’t miss seeing you get married. Dane came by and I realized what I’d be missing. If you’d still have me, I’d love to walk you down the aisle.”

I nodded into his chest. Tears flooded my face and I knew I ruined my makeup. “Oh, shoot, Dane.” I pulled away. Dane had his back to us. “I would love it, Daddy.” I stepped out of his embrace and walked until I was standing behind Dane. I leaned over his shoulder. “Don’t turn around, okay. I just wanted to kiss you and tell you that I love you for doing this for me.” I kissed his cheek. Dane never turned around, but I could tell he was smiling.

“Oh, and, um, I’m going to need to fix my make-up, so tell everyone I’m running late.”

“But it’s worth it, right?” Dane asked.

“It is.”

Dane left and headed outside to wait for me at the end of aisle as I finished getting ready.

Daddy held out his arm for me to take just as the music cued for my entrance. I always thought I’d be nervous walking down the aisle, with all those eyes on me, but I wasn’t. Dane was at the other end waiting on me. His smile never left his face and his eyes stayed fixed on me as I made my way toward him.

He looked exactly how I was feeling. I felt so much love and happiness that nothing could take this moment away from me.

The Reverend started the sermon after Dane told me how beautiful I looked. We had just gotten through the vows when we were asked for the rings. I hadn’t seen what he had gotten me and I was so excited to put it on my left hand. I didn’t care if it was a plastic ring out of a cereal box.

Dane took my hand in his. “Baby, I have something special for you. I hope you don’t mind, but your father wanted you to have it.” Dane slipped the most beautiful ring on my finger that I instantly recognized as my mother’s ring. It had been in his jewelry box since the day she died.

My hand was shaking; heck, my whole body was shaking as Dane placed it on. I swore I was done crying, but they weren’t listening, because tears streamed down my face.

“Hell, here she goes again.” Lu laughed from behind me.

Dane swiped them away just as it was time for me to place a ring on his finger. Once I did, the Reverend didn’t even have a chance to declare us married, before Dane picked me up and kissed me.

EPILOGUE:

THANKSGIVING DAY

“Dane, hurry up. Everyone should be here in a few minutes,” I yelled upstairs for Dane to finish bathing our two daughters, Annabelle and Lily. We’d barely been married a full year when I discovered that I was pregnant with Annabelle.

I planned on keeping my teaching job and Catherine was going to sit for Annabelle during the day, but at my six-week check-up, I was told that I was carrying another baby. The first thing I wanted to do was run home to kill Dane. I told him that we weren’t supposed to be having sex, but he wouldn’t listen. Although, I didn’t put up too much of a fight. The second, I knew I couldn’t go back to work. I couldn’t leave two babies for Catherine to take care of. I called and gave them with the news that I wasn’t able to come back once my maternity leave was up. Besides, I hated the idea of not being there for every little laugh, gas bubble, or step that they would be taking. I wanted to be home for my babies.

So, now we have two beautiful little girls who Dane has so high up on a pedestal that I feel bad for whoever wants to date or marry them someday. Because I sincerely believe that he thinks that there is no man out there that will ever measure up to his little princesses. He even once told me he finally understood my daddy wanting to keep him away from me.