Calling Kupid (Kupid's Cove Book 1) (26 page)

“Did you get a feel for her take on it?”

I nodded, a smile on my face. “She said if I’m staying, she’s staying, as long as Flynn is willing to sell the business to Remington.”

He threw his head back and laughed, then kissed my neck noisily. “After that little trip we took today, I can promise you he’s willing to sign on the dotted line.”

I swatted him with my good hand. “You’re wicked, Mr. Armstrong, but I love you.”

“I love you, too, but I like to think of it as being a shrewd businessman. I need someone like Flynn on my team. In fact, I need Flynn running my team of maintenance people. It’s less for me to worry about it.”

I stroked his cheek and kissed him again. “I still think you’re pretty wonderful for asking him. By doing it you broke the ice with Freddie and that made our discussion easier for me.”

“Good, that was my plan.” He winked, then loosened his tie and kicked off his loafers.

“Have you decided whether you’re going to buy this resort yet?” I asked, leaning back on the pillows.

He shook his head. “I really don’t think so.”

“Why?” I was surprised by the change in his demeanor. “Is it not a good investment?”

“Oh no, it’s a great investment. It’s turnkey for me, but with everything that happened...”

“You mean with Graham?”

He leaned back on the bed and blew out a breath. “Yeah, with Graham. It’s bad enough I had to bring you back here for your recovery. I can’t ask you stay here ever again.”

“Why not?” I took his hand and twining my fingers in his.

“It’s where you were shot!” he exclaimed sitting up.

I sat up, too, and tried to calm him. I rubbed his arm and kissed him, to remind him I’m still here. “This resort is also where I got engaged and made love to the man I want to spend the rest of my life with for the first time. Those are the things I will remember, not the rest of it.”

“Really?” he asked skeptically.

“Really, but I understand if you don’t want to buy the place for personal reasons. Of course, you can buy it on paper and have a manager run it. You have plenty of other properties to take care of.”

He nodded and ran a hand over his face. “Yeah, I need to think about it. Everything is in shambles right now and without Graham, I don’t know where to start to sort it all out. I need someone good with books to help me.”

I cleared my throat and he looked at me. “I happen to know someone like that.”

“You do? Who? Seriously, I need the help.”

I laughed and shook my head at him. “Well, I might be slightly overqualified, but then again my law degree might come in handy when it comes to straightening out the shambles your office is in.”

He leaned over and kissed me. What was meant to be loving and gentle turned into a blazing fire very quickly. He pressed himself into me until he remembered my condition and then tore his lips from mine.

He ran a hand through his hair and then dropped it. “Sorry, forgot to control myself.”

I took his hand. “Hey, you seem really out of sorts. Want to tell me about it?”

“Talking about Graham is still hard for me.”

I put my arm around him and held him, rubbing his back up and down. “I know and I’m sorry. I know you were very close to him.”

“I saw him yesterday,” he whispered.

I leaned back. “Really? You said you were taking care of business.”

“I was. It was personal business, but it had to be taken care of.”

“I would have gone with you.”

“You would have, but I didn’t want you to see him. I didn’t know if I could handle seeing him.”

“Where is he?” I asked.

“He’s in jail in Maui right now. Hawaii has waived their right to try him and he will be extradited to Illinois soon. He’ll be charged with multiple felony charges, arson, and three counts of attempted murder.”

“I’m so sorry, Gideon.” I felt terrible that the man he once trusted with his life had betrayed him like this. “Those things he said, about being your brother. Are they true?”

He held my hand and looked anywhere but at me. “No, they aren’t true. We ran a DNA test to be sure, but there was no match. I didn’t need a test to tell me that. I knew my father. He wouldn’t have stepped out on my mom.”

“Then why did he believe it to be true?”

“His mother filled him with hate for us. It turns out that she was a druggie who used pain medication to get high. When my father refused to fill the scripts for her, and turned her into the cops, she hung all her problems on him. She told Graham everything that was wrong with their life was my father’s fault. She went on to fabricate the lie that my father was also his father. She told him repeatedly that when my father died, he was entitled to half his estate. Graham instilled himself into my life and when both my parents were gone, he struck. He’s been planning it this whole time. To think I trusted him with my business and treated him like a friend rather than an employee.”

“I’m so sorry, Gideon. Your father was just doing the right thing and then this happened. He would be horrified if he knew.”

He ran his hand down his face again. “Yeah, he would be. He used to tell us stories about some of the crazies he ran across. I think it was the reason he left Chicago when he did. It was becoming dangerous to work in a big pharmacy.”

I held his hand and asked the question I didn’t want to ask. “Will we have to testify?” I didn’t even care about myself, but I didn’t want him to have to go through it.

“If he pleads not guilty then yes, we will. Chances are he’ll plea down and plead guilty to lesser charges. There were too many witnesses, and the bullet they found in the tree, with your blood on it, matched the gun in his hand. He’s going down; it’s just a matter of how long he wants it to take.”

“Did you talk to him?”

“They didn’t want me to, but I did. He was a much different man when I faced him yesterday. His lawyer is calling for a psychiatric evaluation. He may have a mental illness, but he knew exactly what he was doing.”

“I trust that you’ll keep me in the loop about what happens.”

He bounced my hand on his. “Of course I will. I’m so sorry for dragging you into this. I don’t want you to have to relive this nightmare, so I’m praying he pleads guilty and goes away quietly. He will be a very old man when he gets out, if he gets out. We’ll never have to worry about him again.”

I hugged him to me and kissed the crinkled area by his eye.

“Why do you always kiss me there?” he asked, his arm holding me to him.

“It’s the part of you that first caught my eye. It seems like the one place where the years of stress and pain have accumulated. I kiss you there to release some of the tension in your face.”

“I love you; do you know that?”

“You’ve mentioned it a few times.”

He laid me back on the bed. “I think you should rest for a bit before dinner. I can see you’re starting to sink.”

He flipped around and lay on the bed, resting me on his chest in a way we found didn’t bother my arm. “That’s a very good idea,” I agreed.

I snuggled in and he pulled a blanket up over us, turning the light down low. I felt his lips on the top of my head and I smiled, my eyes heavy.

“I arranged a trip for you to go see a special lady with Freddie this weekend. She’ll make sure you have the wedding gown of your dreams. When you’re done there we’ll go ring shopping.”

“Sounds wonderful,” I sighed, concentrating on his hand rubbing my arm.

“Where do you want to get married?” he asked quietly.

I looked up at him, a lazy smile on my face. “I was thinking at the beach with the water around our ankles.”

“This beach?” he asked surprised.

I reached up and touched his face. “Our beach.”

Valentine’s Day One Year Later

“Are you nervous?” Freddie asked as she helped me into my dress.

I slipped my bad arm into the dress carefully, so I didn’t pull something I shouldn’t.

“I suppose I should be, but I’m not.”

“I wasn’t nervous. Maybe because it was only you, Rem, and the minister there, but whatever the reason I was just ready to get married and start our life together.”

I turned to hug her carefully. “That’s exactly how I feel. I’m a little nervous about my arm. I don’t want to do anything to hurt it.”

“Flynn will hold your good arm and I’ll keep my hand at your waist, you’ll be fine. The stitches are out and the doctor said you can do more with it now, right?”

I nodded. “He said to take it slow and no heavy lifting, but to do the range of motion exercises like they showed me. I’ll just be careful so I don’t fall.” I laughed a little and turned back to the mirror to adjust the traditional white ruffle muumuu we had picked out on Saturday. It was light years away from a traditional wedding gown, but it was exactly what I wanted when I saw it. Our relationship began on a beach in Hawaii, so it was only fitting that we get married there as well. I wanted to wear something that told him just how much I treasure our time here.

“I have something for you,” Freddie said.

I turned back around and she was holding a box in front of her.

“What did you do?” I asked, rubbing my hands together.

She set the box on the bed and motioned to it, “This is your something new and something blue. I decided it was okay to combine them.”

I lifted the lid and what lay inside was breathtakingly gorgeous. I reached in and lifted the flowers from the box. “What is this?”

She took it from my hands and placed it on my head. “It’s a traditional haku lei. You’ve seen women wearing them at parties and luaus?” she asked as she adjusted it. “Most Hawaiian brides wear this instead of a veil because of the wind near the ocean.” She finished her adjusting and then turned me to the mirror.

The flowers on the lei were tipped blue with white centers. They were nestled in small green ferns to finish the arrangement.

“It’s so beautiful, thank you, Freddie. I’m touched that you picked it out for me.”

She hugged my waist and rested her chin on my good shoulder. “Actually, I made it. I snuck in a class on how to make them yesterday. It was so much fun. I wanted to surprise you, so I didn’t offer to take you, but we need to attend one of them together, when we move here.”

I took her hands in mine. “I would love to take a lei making course with you! I still can’t believe we are moving to Hawaii.”

She laughed and rested her hands on her belly. “Me, either. I’m so glad it all came together as nicely as it did. You can help Gideon get his business situation figured out, and I’ll make a home for my little family while planning the agency. It feels right.”

“It sure does. It’s hard for me to even remember how miserable I was a few months ago when I was writing that horrible personal ad.”

She snickered and patted my face. “I think this worked out much better.”

There was a knock on the door and she rubbed my arms. “Are you ready for this?”

I nodded and she went to the door, pulling it open to see her very handsome husband dressed in a beautiful navy aloha shirt with colorful parrots sitting in the palms. It matched Winifred’s navy muumuu with colorful flowers.

“Hello, you beautiful bride,” he said, coming over and kissing my cheek. “Your groom is waiting for you, but he’s very nervous.”

I took his arm and picked up the lei that lay on the bed. “Why is he nervous?” I asked as we walked out the door and rode down to the lobby in the elevator.

“I think it might have something to do with his wedding gift. He says it’s a big deal to pick the right one for a bride on their wedding day.”

“Really? I didn’t know I was supposed to get him a wedding gift. Now I feel terrible.”

Flynn shook his head. “You aren’t. It’s a tradition that the groom gets the bride something to start their lives together. I think he’s just a little nervous that you won’t like it, but I know better. He loves you so much, Kate. You two are going to be as happy as Winnie and I are.”

I took a deep breath as we approached the sandy beach. I had been down to the spot of the shooting several times over the course of the last week. Gideon wasn’t so sure it was the best idea, but I refused to let the incident spoil the beauty of the space and the memories it held. For me, this beach was the day my life began. I was going to take the next step tonight on the same sand, with the same man.

I stopped at the edge of the wooden walkway. The moon was shining across the water, leaving a moonbeam a mile wide. There were bamboo tiki torches lining the path to where Gideon stood waiting for me. To the side was a group of musicians playing The Hawaiian Wedding Song as I approached. Winifred hugged me and urged me forward, toward the man who was waiting for me just a few feet away.

He wore a white aloha shirt, white cotton pants and was barefoot in the sand. He had a lei draped across one arm, the same as I did, and never took his eyes off me as I approached. He was gorgeous in the light of the moon, the flames dancing in the lens of his glasses. I wanted to pinch myself to see if this was all some kind of beautiful dream.

“It’s not a dream. You deserve this, sis,” Freddie whispered.

I lifted one side of my lips in response as we stopped in front of Gideon. The same minister that married Flynn and Freddie a year ago stood next to him. He shook hands with Flynn and hugged Freddie as Gideon and I stood holding hands, our eyes locked together.

When the music faded away, the minister motioned to Flynn and Winifred to give him the leis. He held them up and said, “May the exchange of these leis be the new beginning of your lives woven together through all eternity. They are an unbroken circle that represents your commitment and devotion to each other.”

Gideon took the lei that matched the one in my hair. “Please wear my lei as a symbol of my never ending love,” he whispered, kissing my cheek. “Aloha.”

I took the second lei from the minister and repeated the words, kissing the corner of his eye just below his glasses, whispering, “Aloha.”

The minister looked to Winifred and Flynn. “Is it you who gives this woman to be honored and cherished by this man?”

“It is,” they said in unison.

He nodded and opened his Bible. “The word of God tells us that of faith, hope and love, the greatest is love. I concur on that matter, but I always try to find a unique verse that embodies the love of each couple I marry. For you I chose,
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love
.”

“Ephesians 4:2,” I whispered.

“It is one you are familiar with?” the minister asked and Gideon squeezed my hands as he held them.

“It’s one of my favorites,” I answered, never taking my eyes from the man I love.

“Then it is one you will have no trouble remembering when times get hard. Be humble. Be patient. Be gentle. Be with each other. Love each other. If you do those things, you will always find your way out of the hard times.”

He reached beside him and took a wooden bowl, holding it in his hands. “It’s time for the ring exchange. If you would go together and gather water in this bowl.”

He handed us the bowl and we walked to the edge of the ocean, scooping together until the water filled the bowl and spilled onto our hands.

We carried it back to him and he set it on a small stand next to him. He picked up a Ti leaf and dipped it in the water, then began to chant while sprinkling the rings with the water. “Ei-Ah Eha-No. Ka Malohia Oh-Na-Lani. Mea A-Ku A-Pau. May peace from above rest upon you and remain with you now and forever.”

He handed a ring to Gideon. “The water has washed any challenge to your relationship away and brings a brand new beginning to you as husband and wife. It is especially poignant for that to be true for you and Katie, as you have had your fair share of hindrances thus far. Now, when you put the ring on her finger, it is a new beginning.”

Gideon accepted the ring and smiled, nodding at the minister’s words. “One year later I stand on a beach, the ocean waves breaking behind me, and I am given the chance to finish what I started that night. Back then, I didn’t know you would be my eternity, but with this ring, I vow to you, I am. I promise to love, protect, honor, cherish, trust, fight, and kiss you all the days of our lives.” He slipped the ring on my finger and held it to his lips, kissing it gently. “
O ku'u aloha no 'oe
. You are indeed my love.”

Without taking my eyes from him, I accepted the ring from the minister and held it up. It was a matching teak wood band, polished smooth. “One year ago tonight I was convinced if I walked out into that water and disappeared no one would miss me. Then you sat down next to me and told me you would. You didn’t know me, but the words you said were what I longed to hear. The words you said tonight I repeat as my solemn vow to you. With this ring I promise to love, trust, honor, fight, and kiss you, all the days of our lives.” I slipped the ring on his finger, “
O ku'u aloha no 'oe
. You are indeed my love.”

“Gideon and Katie, you are united as husband and wife. Go forward on your life journey together in love. May you keep the covenant you made today and comfort each other, share joy, console in sorrow, and trust your whole life through. With the blessing of everyone here tonight, and by the power vested in me by almighty God our Lord, and the state of Hawaii, I take great pleasure in pronouncing you husband and wife. Gideon, you may now kiss your bride.”

Gideon pulled me into him and held my cheek, his eyes misty while tears ran from mine. “Aloha my beautiful wife,” he whispered then his lips captured mine.

Gideon

“I’m so glad that’s over,” I said, guiding Katie down to the water from the patio where we had shared a wonderful fresh seafood dinner with Winifred and Flynn.

“You’re glad our wedding is over?” she asked teasingly.

I kissed her temple. “No, I mean I’m glad we’re finally alone. I have something I want to give you.”

“You do?” she asked, holding my hand.

“It’s a tradition for the groom to give his bride a gift.”

“Flynn mentioned something about that. I didn’t know about that tradition.”

I kissed her nose. “That’s because you’re a bride.”

She tossed her head back and laughed with abandon. It filled my heart with joy to know how happy I made her. We walked towards a large heart in the sand made with flower petals. There was a wooden sign in the middle of it.

“What’s this?” she asked, picking up a flower petal and holding it to her nose.

“It’s my wedding gift to you.” I pointed at the sign with a cloth covering it. “Go ahead.”

She pulled the cloth off the sign. It was heart shaped and had Cupid’s arrow stuck in the middle.

“Kupid’s Cove,” she read aloud. “What does that mean?”

I took a piece of paper from my shirt pocket and handed it to her. She read it to herself by the light of the moon then looked up at me.

“You bought this resort for me?”