Independence (26 page)

Her mouth
had
never tasted better.

She let
me control her and I just couldn't stop. The feel of her lips, the smell of her cherry blossom perfume, the grip of her fingers in my shirt. Gah… I forced my lips to let go and looked at her as I barely pulled back. "I didn't say it yet, but…hell… you are so beautiful. And that
dress is possibly the sexiest
thing I've ever seen."

"I'm glad you like it. I wore it for you," she said and smirked up at me. "You're welcome."

I laughed and pressed my nose to hers. I breathed her in.

"All right, you two," Gran spouted from behind us. "Make out later. Especially since we're all just standing here waiting for you to finish smooching. I'm ready for some cake."

We burst out laughing. I nodded to Gran. "Thanks, Gran. Way to stay on top of things."

"Don’t sass me, boy." She grinned and pushed past my uncle to reach us as everyone dispersed. She cupped my cheeks . "You're married," she mused. Her e
yes took on that sheen that said
tears were next. I balked in shock. Gran was crying for me?

"Ah, Gran." I hugged her to me. She fit under my chin like Maggie. "Don’t cry, come on."

"You're just
so
grown up." She leaned back. "A man now, with his own wife and house and life. Pretty soon, you'll be giving me great grandkids and -"

"Hold your horses, Gran," I said
laughing
, stopping that train right there.
Maggie was smiling, but her blush was a clear indicator.
"
Let's just worry about cake for now, OK?"

"Good idea." She patted my cheek and strutted away
toward Kyle, to give him the same speech I assumed
, her bare feet small in the grass.

I turned back to Maggie. "First it's having the "No sex" talk and now it's the "Grandkids" talk. The woman switches gears quicker than a five speed."

Maggie giggled. "She's just happy. So am I."

"So am I," I repeated in a growl. I pulled her up to mee
t my lips and kissed her good
. When we finally moved into the garden where the food was, I saw that all the married couples had lingered and we
re
currently making good use of the dark garden corner. Especially Jim. Way to go, Mr. Masters….

Maggie slapped my arm and rolled her eyes. "Eew."

"What?" I laughed.

"Come on, Mr. Jacobson." She tugged my arm as she walked backward. "Dance with me."

"No," I said.

She looked startled before hearing my thoughts about my wanting to give her a present. "What kind of present?"

"This kind." I took the guitar from Uncle Max and sat in the chair he vacated. The yard was filled with white lights
in the trees
,
looking like stars right above us,
but other than that no other decorations. I thoug
ht it was kind
of hilarious how Maggie hated that sort of thing. And it wasn't my family's thing either. She fit right in.

She
knelt down on the
grass at
my feet and looked at me like I was a rock star. I played the song that I wrote, a slow, steady, strumming rhyth
m and sang the words in my mind
just for Maggie to hear.
My vows that I made a song with.

You're amazing.

Today
you'll be mine in every way,
every sense, every second,
but I know that no matter how tight I hold you,
it'll never be close enough.

No matter how long or hard or passionately I kiss your lips,
it'll never be sating.

You're my soul-mate,

my reason to keep pulling air into my lungs,
my gorgeous significant that fits in my arms
and my life perfectly,

my whole life, my love, my partner in crime,
my very heart, my amazing girl.

She had cried a lot already today and I hated to be the reason she
w
as doing it again. But she reached up and put her arms around my neck, the guitar between us.
"Thank you."

"Don't thank me." I sat back and set the guitar aside as I stood and pulled her elbows to help h
er stand, too. "I love you
."

"I love you
,
"
she replied in a whisper.

I took her and put her hand on my shoulder, while taking the other in mine. My palm pushed against her lower back and I pressed her to me. My body hummed and told me to touch every piece of skin that I could see. I tried not to let it consume my thoughts, I tried to keep my hands to myself, but I'd find them wandering along her back, caressing down her bare, tan shoulder, linking and lacing our fingers as the skin I touched buzzed with eagerness.

When she started to shiver in the warm night air, I knew I had to stop. She wasn't cold and if I didn’t watch it, I was about to embarrass myself. So I focused on the surroundings and let Maggie's thoughts guide mine as she watched her Dad and Fiona. She bit her lip and tried not to cry again. And then Kyle bumped my shoulder. He
had Lynne wrapped up in his arms like a cocoon. He glanced between us and gave me a knowing look.

Things always work out, his look seemed to say.

He and Maggie shared this look, too, that spoke volumes of their past. Of the way Kyle chased her when she wasn't his. About how life finally got right when he decided to let Maggie go. I wasn't surprised when she let me go to hug him. He gripped her tight and I heard his thoughts as he was thankful for unanswered prayers. He loved Maggie, that never changed, but it was the
way
that he loved Maggie that had made the transition. I used to be envious of their past, how he knew so many things about her, but not anymore. Maggie deserved to have a friend like Kyle. He was a good guy and he was going to make a great husband.

When they let go he hugged me next, patting my back in a brotherly way. He whispered in my ear, "If only Rodney were here with us."

I felt my chest jerk. God help me, it hurt to know that he wasn't here and he should have been. I nodded and he gave me knowing look. "Yeah," I muttered. "
That cowboy knew how to party."

Kyle laughed and nodded once. "Yeah."

It was a lame attempt to make it all OK, but it was all we could
do
.

We danced, and everyone else danced, and Bish and Maggie danced
,
and Maggie and her Dad danced
,
Maggie danced with Haddock,
and I danced with Jen. I could tell from using Maggie's gift that Jen still had no idea about the house. I grinned and had to give Bish props for doing a good j
ob with keeping it secret. I kne
w how hard it was.

I looked around at the chaos. The next time a wedding happened in this back yard, I'd be officiating, because I was the Champion now. I was glad that Dad had gotten to perform a service though. He deserved to.

So, then
we did the traditional
cake eating\feeding thing for Maggie, Lynne and Jim's sake, but that wasn't something we usually did at our weddings. And then w
e did our Virtuoso traditional dance.
It starts
with the bride in the middle, or brides in this case, and the men circle her, link arms and 'protect' her as we do our footwork of leg over right and then back again before kicking your foot right and back again. It was an old folk dance our ancestors started. It was a mix between all sort
s of cultures. While each of
the men takes turns going to the center and dancing with the bride in a circle once before going back to his spot and letting the next man have a turn. Once again
,
I thought these dances were stupid. Just like at the Reunification where they swap wives for dances for the night, I just got married and I didn't freaking want to share her. But as I watched her dance with all of my uncles and cousins, my annoyance melted away and my laughter replaced it. Especially when Uncle
Mike made
an ivy vine crawl up and wrap
itself around Maggie's arm before attaching it to his, effecting handcuffing her to him. She laughed so hard and giggled it carried over the music.

All I could do was stand there and watch her.

W
hen it was Dad's turn with Maggie, he took all the salt shakers from the picnic tables and dumped them over the girls' heads
high enough so that the grains
floated
down
. It fell around us all like sand or snow. It was so cheesy, but I could tell that Maggie and the rest of the girls were mesmerized by it.

A
fter we ate
dinner
and
more
cake
,
and everybody was thinking about heading ou
t, I sprung the news on them
that we'd gotten a call from Marcus. I told them I had made reservations at the cottages for us like I told Maggie I would.
I instructed them all to get the bags that I knew they had already packed for their honeymoons and meet us there in an hour. Kyle was the only one who grumbled, but he did as we asked. Bish was disappointed. He was looking forward to springing the house on Jen tonight, but understood that everyone's safety was first priority. The rest of the Jacobson clan w
as on lockdown at Dad's, per my order.

I had to make sure everyone would be safe while we were gone and Dad's house was the safest and biggest place.
No one grumbled about my order either. Those Jacobsons were all about a party. And Mom was ecstatic to have people to cook for.

We waved and said
our goodbyes. Mom cried and fussed over me and then cried and fussed over Maggie. There was no throwing rice, no party favors, no changing of outfits, though we did put some shoes on.

Bish and Jim rode together while Kyle rode with Maggie and I.

I had to turn on the radio pretty loud to cover up the smacking noises of Kyle and Lynne making out in the backseat. Maggie thought it was hilarious and giggle
d
into my arm
my arm half the way and then I thought she'd sleep, but her fingers kept moving along my arm and fingers. She was
absolutely calm. She was c
a
l
m
er
than I was.

It made me pause, made me wonder what the reason was for her calm.
Instead of making me feel better, it made me worry.

I stoppe
d at the light before the cottages
and I felt her palm on my cheek, making me look at her.
She didn't say anything, but she didn't need to. The small, honest smile that sat on her lips told me she was just happy…and ready.

I checked us in, gave them their keys and tried not to be awkward when I gave Jim his. He wouldn’t look me in the eye and it took a lot not to groan at the elephant in the room as we all stood around and pretended that we weren't all about to
be
on our honeymoons.

"So what now?" Bish asked as we stood between our cars in the parking sand.

Jim gasped under his breath and Kyle laughed at the insinuation.

"I meant…what now like tomorrow. Not…right now…" he mumbled, embarrassed. But really, all you could do was laugh.
Bish started and the rest of us followed.
Once we stopped laughing I answered him, my hand wrapped around Maggie's.

"We're going to hide out here. I used an emergency credit card that Dad has that's not traceable to us. We just need to stay low for a while until we figure out what to do about Marcus."

"So we could be here for like a week?" Lynne asked.

I nodded. "Maybe more."

"Sweet!"

"Well
,
I think we should check in with each other regularly just to make sure everything's fine. So…tomorrow, let's meet up at lunch?" I su
ggested. I tried to act totally
cool and casual, but everyone saw right through it.

"Yeah. Lunch," Kyle agreed in a snicker. "That ought to be
plenty
of time."

"Shut up, Kyle."

The silence stretched. The awkwardness was so thick I was choking on it. I tried to think of something, anything. But I felt like anything I said would translate to Maggie's dad and brother as, 'Can't wait to bone, Maggie.'
So I kept my mouth shut. The thick silence was better than the latter.

Leave it to Kyle to not give two craps about any of that. "Well, goodnight!
Sleep tight,
" he said brightly and practically dragged a giggling Lynne away.

That was my cue.

"We'll see you tomorrow, Dad," Maggie said softly. She hugged him around his middle. "I'm really happy for you," she whispered.