Independence (12 page)

Just g
ross.

"I see you had an interesting night."

I turned to look at her as I pulled my shirt over
my
head. She was all sprawled on the bed like she belonged there. God, did she ever belong there. She smiled. "You're dressed already?"

"Yep. Get up, gorgeous. I've got plans for us."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Mmhmm." I swooped in, hovering over her on my arms, and kissed her easily. She combed out my hair with her fingers.

"You need a haircut
."

"I thought you liked the shag?"

"I love it, but it's going a little overboard, surfer boy." Her mouth grinned. "Besides, don’t you want to look amazing for our wedding photos?"
I stilled and waited. She just continued to smile up at me like she had no secrets at all. Finally she laughed. "I know you're planning to hand me over to your mom and Gran tonight. You did manage to fall asleep for a few minutes last night and I felt like being nosy."

I felt my smirk.
"You little sneak."

"Mmhmm," she agreed and ran her hand through my hair again. "I'll get dressed."

"Did you see everything?" I asked her softly. "Did you see where we're going?"

Her brow scrunched in confusion. "No. Where else are we going?"

"Get dressed.
I'm glad we washed your clothes last night before bed. We should, uh," I started and waited a breath, "bring some of your stuff here."

She tried not to think about the house I was supposed to buy for her, but she couldn't help herself. I
saw the struggle in her and glanced her way to see her with her knees drawn up as she chewed on her thumb nail. There was a little smile sitting on her lips. Her hair was tussled and it hadn't escaped my notice that she hadn't even tried to fix it at all when she woke. She was
that
comfortable with me, here, in my home.

It made me grin like a fool.

"I love that grin,"
she confessed and tilted her head a bit. "
What does that mean?" she asked, pointing to my shirt.
"What's with all the ducks?"

"
You don't know?
"

She shook her head. "And what's with the pink duck?
"

"I'm n
ot telling."

She laughed and I
soa
ked it
up
like a sponge
.

When we emerged from the bedroom, Kyle and Lynne were just coming out, too. I avoided eye contact and asked Kyle how he got here. He said he drove my truck since I had his Dad's car. I told him I was taking the truck back a
nd we were leaving. I tossed him my keys. He tossed me mine and hovered them in the air using his ability just out of my reach. I lifted an annoyed eyebrow at him.
I
heard Kyle's chuckle as I jumped to grab them
, but I just grabbed Maggie's hand and towed her out the door, yelling for Kyle to lock up when they left.

Maggie giggled all the way down the steps from my apartment at me, but I just kept on going.
I dialed the center to see who was there. I told her I was on the way and she said she'd be waiting. "Thanks, Honey," I told her and hung up. Maggie gave me a 'What
the
?' look, but I blocked her from my mind and fought to keep a straight face.

"So, this is your truck," she said coyly. She drew her finger down the front end. "Does she have a name, too? I'm surprised Lola puts up with you cheating on her like this."

"H
a. Ha." I grinned and opened her
door. "As a matter of fact, she does have a name." I took Maggie's hand and helped her into the side door. Even I had to admit
, it was a big truck. "And Marlana
isn't jealous. She knows how to share."

I shut the door, but could still hear Maggie's laughter as I walked around to my side. I hopped up inside and actually felt a sigh of relief. It had been forever since I'd driven my truck. Maggie had never even been in it. I glanced over to see her watching me. One of her feet was up in the
seat under her and he
r
head was tilted
to the side.

My mouth said, "
You are so gorgeous
."

She smiled and looked down at her shoe, then back to me.
"You're so good at that."

I grabbed her around the thigh and dragged her to me. "What's that?"

She lifted her hand and let her fingers smooth down the side of my face.
She sucked on her bottom lip
, but still managed to smile. The girl had no idea
how
gorgeous and sexy something so simple could be. And then she said, "You're so good at making me feel like I'm the only girl in the world."

I chuckled softly. "Didn't you know? You are."

She closed her eyes and pressed her nose to mine. "That sounds like good wedding vows to me."

"You'll get to read my vows soon enough. You
've still got them
, right?"
"Right in the obsidian box you gave them to me in." She leaned back just far enough to give me a look. "Really, that was just mean. You can't give a girl your vows and tell her not to read them." I just shrugged smugly. "I'm supposed to write my vows to you, too, right?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah, but we don't read them out loud at the wedding." She gave me a curious look. "The vows are for us. We read them, by ourselves, the night before the wedding. No one else hears or sees them."

"So what are we going to say at the wedding?"

"We won't say anything." I felt myself grin. "It's not a traditional wedding, Maggie. The wedding is, from what I've been told,
a showering of blessings. The wedding isn't for us to pledge our love for each other, I think it's pretty obvious that imprinted couples love each other. And it's blaringly obvious that you're head over heels for me." She giggled. "It's for our family
to
give us the best start possible by being there on our first day as a real couple."

"That sounds beautiful. Your mom, she…" A picture played in Maggie's h
ead from when Mom showed her
wedding day. "She showed me their wedding day with everyone surrounding them." She looked me straight in the eye. "I can't wait." She grinned gorgeously. "Caleb, I can't wait. Let's get married tomorrow."

I laughed and cupped her cheek. "I can't believe you went from finding the idea of marrying me ridiculous to begging me."

"I'm begging," she whispered. "I've waited long enough to start my life."

I nodded, feeling those words to my bones. "We'll tell them tonight t
hat we want to have the dedication
this weekend."

"Well, you are the boss now."

"Technically, you are," I countered.

"I'll let you be boss for the day," she said cheekily
,
and laughed when I grinned in challenge.

"Stop distracting me, gorgeous. I'm trying to take you somewhere."

She laced her arm through mine and leaned her head against my shoulder. "
Take me anywhere."

My veins practically sighed inside
of
me. I kept a hand stuck between her t
highs and put the truck in reverse, cursing Kyle for his horrible parking job
.
I put us in forward.
Her mind was a peaceful haze of all sorts of thi
ngs, but the most important thing to me right then was the fact that she was willing and eager to go anywhere I wanted to take her. She didn't need to know where it was
,
or why we were going there, she was just happy to be with me.

After we dro
ve for a while, I pulled into the parking lot and barely suppressed my grin. This was it. My girl was here and I was about to lay all of my cards on the table. I kissed her forehead
and hoped that I had her pegged as well as I thought I did.

I parked in the back of the lot and opened t
he door, pulling her out my side of the truck. Her eyes
held a curious suspicion, but she never said a word.
When I swung the door to the community center open, I felt it when her understanding hit her.

She turned to look at me just as I was bulldozed right in the guts by eighty five pounds of sixth grader. "Caleb!"

That alerted everyone to our prese
nce. I looked around the faces and
most of them were kids I'
d seen before, but a few new ones hung back, unaware of who I was.

"Caleb!"

I turned and smiled. "Honey, hey."

Maggie scoffed and laughed. "This is Honey?"

"This is my Honey," I joked and accepted Honey's kiss on my cheek.

The older
woman laughe
d. "Don't get cheeky
, Caleb."

"How's everybody doing?" I asked. They all answered at once, jumping up and down and trying to get my attention.

Then one question was louder than the rest. "Who's she?"
I smiled and saw Maggie's nervous smile in return. I quirked a brow at her.

Kids intimidate you?

There's so many of them.

There's only eight here tonight, babe.

And they all look like they want to murder me for taking you away from them for so long.

I shook my head at her. "Guys, this is Maggie. Now, I know I haven't been in for a while and I don't know what Mrs. Honey told
you
, but Maggie and I are…getting married."

"Eeew!" the kids rang out.

That made Maggie laugh. I laughed, too, and pulled her to me. "It's not e
eew."

"Does that mean you aren't going to be our teacher anymore?" Will asked.

"Well…" I glanced at Maggie. It was time. "Actually, I'm not going anywhere."

That got her attention. I waited for her disappointment or worry or….something. See, she knew I wanted to be a teacher, she knew I wanted to go to Arizona
and start up the centers there, too
,
and
she knew I didn't want to work with my father, but she never thought I was actually going to go against him. She didn't try to wonder about what we were going to do one day for jobs or houses. My family had so many traditions and I hated - really hated - to be the one who broke them, but if I was going to lead
our people and be the Visionary'
s mate along with being myself, then I had to do this.

I had to make my own choices and live my own life. And that didn't include working for Jacobson Buildings and Things.

I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but I just wanted to show you first. To let you see what this was all about.
I looked at the kids as they waited.
These kids…some of them have no one. No family that cares or can afford to keep them out of trouble. Some kids, this is all they've got. And some kids just have a hard time with math and I can help them with that. I want to-Are you kidding me?

I stared at her. She was
good at keeping her mind blank now. So good at keeping her every thought private from me.

I'm sorry. I should have told you, but…

You think I want you to work for your father?

I jolted
. Don't you?

I want you to do what makes you happy.

But with this job there's…traveling all over the state and maybe even the country
if I have my way
. There's no
guarantee of
stea
dy incomes and schedules
. It's seasonal,
sometimes good, sometimes bad. It may fail all together. I…

"Have y'all missed Caleb?" Maggie asked, never taking her eyes from me.

"YES!" the kids said.

"Do y'all want him to stop coming in and helping you?"
"NO!"

I will follow you to the ends of the earth, Caleb Jacobson. You have to know that by now.

Woman, you are about to get kissed in front of all of these kids if you don't stop being so amazing.

They love you.
She smiled and picked up a painting from the table. "Who did this?"

"Me!" Molly said and grinned. "You like it?"

"Yeah, I do!" Maggie agreed through a laugh. She sat down at one of the tables and
picked up a green marker. "And green in my favorite color
,
so the
fact that you drew a green times-table
is awesome."

Molly and some of the others sat down with her and they loved her immediately. I stared at the back of her head
as
she interacted with my kids. I felt the weight lifted from me. I had been worried that she'd want me to be happy, obviously, but wanted me to not upset the family with not following the tradition. I thought she was going to try to talk me into doing both, but letting someone run the centers for me.