Coup De Grâce (22 page)

I smiled.

Yeah, I did.

“Guess maybe one of us needs to learn control,” I surmised, sighing in appreciation when the man at my feet rubbed a particularly good spot on the heel of my foot.

“Hey, I noticed that Dr. Jones name was scraped off the paint at the door this morning when I went to my appointment,” Reese said before she took a drink of her Dr. Pepper.
All eyes turned to hers, and her eyes widened in alarm. “I’m not pregnant! It was just my yearly pap, I swear!”

When all eyes stayed on her, she held up two fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

“Scout’s honor is three fingers, not two,” I replied helpfully.

“Well, whatever it is, I just had my yearly. I got my tubes tied after the little hellion arrived,” Reese promised solemnly.

That was the truth.

Her son
was
a little hellion. J
ust like his daddy, that boy was.

“Yeah, they took his name off of everything,
” Memphis said. “Printed new business cards. Changed the signs out front. Painted over the wall with his face on it.
Updated the website. Anything with ‘Jones’ on it was probably burned.”

I didn’t doubt that.

After Dr. Jones was killed, they found evidence linking him to nearly every crime scene in his house. The clothes that he wore. The gun that he used. Hell, even the dog that he took with him.

He sure was arrogant, but in the end, justice was served for those officers, their wives, and the children.

“That’s not a surprise. They’d had to do a lot of ass kissing to keep most of their clients. The only thing they had going
for them was that they dominate
the area. We’d have to drive to Dallas to find a doctor in our network,” I told them all.

Mercy made a sound of agreement. “Same here. We’re using Miller’s insurance, and they wouldn’t accept anyone else unless we wanted to pay nearly twice as much for out of network.”

I grimaced.

“Let’s change the subject to something better. Nikki doesn’t need this on her wedding day,” Blake yawned loudly.

I snickered.

“Tired, Blake?” I asked teasingly.

She rolled her head in my direction. “Yes. That man of mine doesn’t care that my hours aren’t the same as his. He only sees my ass in the air and wants to touch it. Then touching leads to
other
things. And then I’m out two hours of sleep. Sleep that I needed because his baby seems to think I’m a superhero, demanding all this energy, food, and drink.”

“You’re not having a boy. Boys are horrible,” Reese said, closing her eyes and smiling fondly at something only she could see.

“Boys aren’t horrible.
But, I do feel fine,” Lennox said.

We all rolled our eyes. Lennox thought that everything was ‘fine.’

She loved being pregnant…most likely because her first pregnancy was a breeze, despite the complications from when she was hurt by a deranged woman.

She just had no clue how bad a pregnancy could be because she was always floating on cloud nine with the unicorns, her glowing skin, and ample energy.

She was still in the ‘I have a positive pregnancy test’ stage. The stage where she was floating on air, and loved to put on pregnancy clothes.

Clothes she didn’t need yet.

“Hey, what color are you doing?” The man between my legs asked.

“Purple and pink,” I said. “Alternating.”

He rolled his eyes.

Pietro was used to my quirks.

I’d been seeing him every two weeks for a year now.

He knew all about Michael. Knew all about my family. Knew about my love of color. My job. The new home Michael and I were building.

A home that should be done very, very soon, in fact.

“Why do you always get the muscled guy who has good hands?” Georgia asked, narrowing her eyes.

I shrugged. “I found him first.”

“Ladies, ladies. No need to fight over me. I’m just loyal to my girl here,” he teased.

“Nikki delivered his baby. That’s why he loves her so much,” Georgia informed the rest of the ladies.

I did. He was my second baby.

Him and his wife, Trudy, had been contemplating a home birth over a hospital birth for over six months before they’d finally decided to call my mentor, Annalise, in for an evaluation.

And three months later, I’d delivered my second child ever as a midwife with Pietro at my side.

Twenty minutes later, I was done and heading to get my hair and makeup done when I was called by our contractor.

“You’re officially done!” Alex crowed.

I screamed. “Yes!”

We weren’t sure if it’d be done in time, seeing as I’d been so nitpicky about everything.

I’d had to choose the tile, the paint, the stain for the wood floors in the kitchen, cabinets, counter tops.

I’d wanted to be a huge part of everything, and I was.

Which annoyed the hell out of Michael.

He was all for customization, but I didn’t think he knew what he was getting into when he offered me the huge book of paint chips.

But he knew now.

“That’s great!” I exclaimed. “What do you need from me?”

“Nothing. I just dropped it all off at your parent’s place. The keys are yours, my dear!” Alex informed me.

I smiled. “Wonderful. I’m so happy, thank you so much, Alex.”

After hanging up, I immediately called Michael.

“Guess what!” I said, bouncing up and down in excitement. “They finished!”

Michael’s smooth, deep voice sent shivers through me. “That’s good,
baby. He said he’d do it.”

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the way it felt to listen to his voice.

The way joy spread through me. The way I couldn’t wait to wrap my arms around him.

My fiancé and soon to be husband.

“You catching anything?” I asked after I composed myself.

“Sun. That’s about fucking it,” he growled. “But that’s the way of it, isn’t it?”

I agreed. I hated going fishing, just for the sheer fact that we never caught anything.

Or maybe we would had I any patience.

“Well, I just wanted to tell you that. Go back to catching your sun,” I said softly, as Pietro made his way into the room with his huge package of bobby pins, hair rollers, and other odds and ends to start fixing my hair.

“Okay, baby. Love you,” he murmured.

“Love you more.”

The moment I saw him as I walked down the aisle, a smile burst over my lips, and my hand came up to cover my mouth.

“Oh, my God,” I said, turning to Georgia with wide eyes.

Her eyes were filled with her own tears of laughter as she caught a look at my man as well.

“Jesus,” I said, shaking my head. “What the hell is wrong with that man?”

He wasn’t lying about catching sun.

He caught a whole lot of it.

Georgia snorted, and my father gave out a strangled laugh of his own.

“Let’s get you to him, honey. He’ll think you can’t handle him for better or for worse if you’re not careful.”

Georgia was the final one to leave, and I was left with my father.

“You look beautiful, baby,” he said softly.

I smiled at him, seeing the truth in his eyes.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I told him. “I’ll still see you every Sunday for lunch after mass.”

He smiled. “I know. You’re just my first little bird out of the nest,” he said, running his hand over my hair and smoothing back a stray curl that’d fallen from a pin.

“Nico was your first little bird,” I said laughingly.

He shrugged. “Nico can take care of himself. You’re my first girl. And you’ll no longer have my name. You’re the first bird I’m setting free.”

Hugging him tightly, I let him go and turned to face the now closed door.

“Alright, I’m ready,” I said with a nervous sigh.

“He’ll be good to you, baby. You’ve tamed the beast,” he said before the attendants opened the doors to the church.

I looked up at him, and I caught the first flash of a camera as it captured the moment forever in time.

“I know. But he tamed my beast,
too. Let’s do this.”

With a smile, he offered me his arm, and I placed my hand delicately on his sleeve.

“I love you, papa,” I told him.

He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Love you too, baby.”

I could already hear my mother crying, as well as my bridesmaids.

“Jesus,” my father said in despair. “It’s like an estrogen fest in here. It’s choking me.”

I brought my flowers up to cover my snorted cough at those words, and turned to face my future husband once again.

Man, these would be some
horrible
pictures.

But I’d cherish them for the rest of my life.

We finally made it to the end of the aisle, and my eyes connected with Michael’s.

I barely caught the words as the priest asked the words, “Who gives this woman to this man?”

My father’s deep voice said, “Her mother and I do,” and suddenly I was in Michael’s arms.

“Michael,” I said trying not to laugh. “Why wouldn’t you wear any sunscreen?”

He shrugged, grinning unrepentantly. “I was just worried about which fishing poles I was going to take. Not about anything like sunscreen.”

I raised a brow at him. “What exactly did you expect to happen?”

He shrugged and fell silent when the priest started to give us a blessing.

I looked shyly at the man I was seconds away from pledging my life to, and I knew this would forever be one of the best memories in the world.

“I love you, Michael,” I said soft enough so that only he could hear.

“I love you, too,” he replied back, uncaring that the pastor gave him a dirty look.

He didn’t have anyone to please except me, and the same went for me.

We no longer wanted to worry about anyone but ourselves and what it would mean to each of us.

And that’s the way we would do it from now on.

Nobody needed to know why Michael was tatted up head to toe.

Because we only lived by one motto now.

And that was to live and let live.

Five hours later

“Michael! I’m too big!” I yelled as Michael’s hands went around my waist as he opened my door. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

He ignored me, sweeping me up into his arms and walking steadily towards the house.

“You forgot to close the door to the truck,” I said lightly, wrapping my arms around his neck and leaning my head against his face.

“I’ll get it later,” he murmured.

“Later…like tomorrow later…or later like later this night later?” I teased. “Because we live in the woods now. There’s no telling what’ll be in the truck come morning.”

Michael knew I was right.

He’d had this new house of ours built in the boonies with absolutely nothing around. Literally, the closest Wal-Mart was forty minutes away, if that tells you anything.

“Fuck,” he growled, turning on his heels and walking back to his truck.

“You could put me down,” I suggested lightly when a light sheen of sweat started to dot along his brow.

“I’m fine, Nik. Quit worrying,” he muttered just before slamming the truck door closed with his boot covered foot.

It slammed closed with a bone shattering thud and he turned on his heel to head back towards the house.

“You really don’t look fine,” I said laughingly.

“Nikki,” he gave me ‘the look.’ “I’m fine. I can bench press three hundred and fifty pounds and squat twice that. Trust me, I’m okay.”

“You can squat seven hundred pounds?” I asked
skeptically.

“Yes,” he answered.

“With your legs?” I countered.

He shot me a look, and I shut up.

There was no way he could squat seven hundred pounds. That was unheard of.

He was in a good mood, though, so I wouldn’t pester him about it…today.

“How are you going to get the door open?” I asked once he reached the front door.

A set of keys fell into my lap from where he’d tossed them from his hand across my back.

“It’s the pink key,” he said, a smile in his voice.

It was indeed pink. With purple flowers on it.

I assumed that one was mine, but whatever.

“Why didn’t we just go in through the garage?” I asked while I unlocked the door.

He grunted.

“Because I’m supposed to carry you over the threshold. It doesn’t work the same way if I carry you through the garage,” he muttered, sounding slightly breathless.

“Okay,” I said slowly, drawing the word out. “Whatever you say, my dear.”

He pinched my ass just as I swung the door open, causing me to jump and squeak, followed by him cursing.

“Hurry up and carry me over before you break your back,” I squealed.

“I’m not going to drop you!” He roared.

I had to smother a laugh as the moment he walked through the door, he unceremoniously dropped me to my feet and walked off towards the kitchen.

“Hey!” I said indignantly. “You were supposed to carry me up to our room and ravish me!”

Wasn’t that how it worked in movies?

My husband must not have gotten the memo.

“Where are you going?” I asked, following behind him.

“To get something to eat. That dinner we supposedly had was shit,” I heard him mutter from in front of me.

I smiled as I ran my hands over the walls.

They were beautifully done.

As were the floors and ceilings.

We’d gone more ‘home and country’ rather than modern.

We wanted our house to be warm and inviting, and our contractor accomplished that to a T.

When I breached the door to the kitchen, I found Michal standing at the fridge with his head stuck in it.

“We don’t have any food in there,” I muttered. “What do you think you’re going to find?”

He backed out of the fridge with turkey, cheese, mustard, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and mayo, causing my brows to shoot up to my hairline.

“Where’d that come from?” I asked in surprise.

He shrugged.

“If I had to guess, your parents or mine. Whatever, I don’t care. I’m just glad there’s food. I can’t believe you expected me to live on so little,” he muttered.