Judging Judas (Tarnished Saints Series Book 3) (8 page)

“Don’t worry about J.D., she’ll come around,” he told him. “Thanks, Pete. I’ll take Laney down to the county clerk’s office in Paw Paw tomo
rrow and we’ll get a license. But there’s a three day waiting period. Will you still be here then?”

“I’ll make
sure I am, Jude. This is something I won’t believe til I see it with my own eyes. We all had bets you’d be the one to never marry after you got cold feet the last time.”

“Well, you’re going to lose that bet because in three days time I’ll
legally have not only a wife but a daughter.” J.D. let out a scream and Judas heard her mention his name. “That is, a daughter who hates me,” he added with a shake of his head.

“Well, we’d better get going,” said Pete.
He opened the front passenger door to the squad, but Judas stopped him.

“
Pete, I was hoping you’d sit in back with J.D.”

“What?” He lo
oked over to the girl and then back to Judas. “You want me to play Daniel in the lion’s den? Now what kind of a welcome home is that for me?”

“I was hoping you’d put the fear of God in her on the ride over.”

“And just how are you expecting me to do that?” he asked, running a hand over his blond beard.

“I don’t know. But I figure there’s got to be something she’s afraid of, and it certainly isn’t me.
Besides, I was hoping to talk with Laney on the way there.”

Pete let out a breath, made a face and just nodded.
“Okay, I’ll do it. But I just want you to remember that if I need any kind of favors involving the law in the future, you owe me one.”

“Thanks,” said Judas, slapping Pete on the back. Then he looked up toward the women. “Come on, Laney, we’ve got to go. And bring that beautiful daughter of ours, as I have someone who wants to visit with her on the way over.”

* * *

Laney looked up to the camera attached to the rear view mirror as they drove, watching J.D. sulking in the back seat, and Judas’s brother, Pete trying his hardest to talk to her though it was obvious she wanted no part of it.

“So Pete’s a minister,
” she said.

“He is. And hopefully by the time we get to the diner
, J.D. will have found a new religion.”

“
He doesn’t look like a minister.” She felt a little intimidated around him, as he was a good two inches taller than Judas and had a rugged outdoorsman look to him. And he was dressed a little casually for a rehearsal dinner in his jeans and t-shirt with the cut-off sleeves that showed off his huge tattoo in the form of a cross. But then again, she noticed everyone around here was dressed very casually, and she felt out of place because she was wearing a sundress.

“Good,
I think it’s working,” said Judas, glancing up to the camera once again.

“What is?” she ask
ed, trying to see what he meant by turning around to look through the window that separated the back seat from the front.

“Don’t turn around, she’ll know we’re watching
her,” he said. “That’s why I turned on the camera.”

“What’s Pete doing?” Laney asked, looking into the camera again and squinting.

“They’re comparing tattoos,” he told her.

“They’re what?”

“It’s ok Laney, it’s giving them a common bond. Now I just need to find one as well, because if not, J.D. is never going to accept me as her father.”

“Well, just give her time.”

“We don’t have time. In three days we’ll not only be married but also be one big unhappy family all living together.”

“Three days
?” she asked, her voice going up an octave. “So soon?”

“Yep, Pete is go
ing to marry us while he’s in town.”

This surprised her
, as when she agreed to the marriage she had no idea how fast it was going to be happening. “So . . . then we’ll be staying at the cabin tonight? Together?”

His eyes swept down her
body slowly, causing a delicious shudder to travel through her. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what being with Judas again was going to be like.

“I’ll stay in the back room at the
station until we’re legally married,” he told her. “I’ll talk to Thomas about you two staying in the cabin right away, but I’m sure he’ll have no problem with it. Laney, you’re not having second thoughts about this, are you?”

“I . .
. no. Are you?”

“Not at all.”

“So . . . you’re not going to walk out on me again, are you?”

“If I could go back and change that, you know I would.”

“No, I don’t really know that.”

“Well, I’m telling you, and you’ll just have to believe me. I want this, Laney. I want us to be a family like we should have been years ago.”

“I guess I’m just concerned. After the last time and all.”

“Sto
p judging me, already. You have no idea who I am anymore. The old Judas who walked out on you at the altar was a scared boy who was tired of trying to gain favors in his domineering father’s eyes. That’s in the past, now you need to let it go. I want this marriage, I swear I do.”

“Is that
. . . all you want?” she asked boldly, feeling her legs shaking, waiting for his reply.

“No, that’s not all.” He
looked at her out of the corner of his eye as he drove, and said the words she’d been longing to hear for such a long time. “I want you, Laney. I want to be your husband the way it should’ve been before I made the biggest mistake of my life.”

“Do you mean that
?” she asked anxiously. “Do you really want . . . me?”

“If you don’t believe me, then I guess you’l
l just have to wait til we’re married and I’ll prove it with more than words.”

If she wasn’t frightened by the thought of intimacy with this man b
efore, she certainly was now. And she had no idea how they were going to have any kind of decent wedding night with J.D. staying in the same house.

* * *

It was late
that night by the time they were finished and drove back to Thunder Lake and the cabin that would be their new home. They’d attended the rehearsal dinner in town, and Judas had done everything in his power to try to make amends with his brother Levi, but the air was still thick between them. Of course, all he had to do was tell him he could keep the damned goats on the roof and the ill feelings between them would have been softened, but Judas couldn’t do that. He had complaints from people of the town and it was his job to do what he thought was the best thing to make everyone happy.

Of course, then again, when did he
ever know a damned thing about making people happy? He’d never been able to make his father happy, and now he had a daughter who hated him more than anything.

He stopped
the squad car and looked into the rear view mirror to make sure Laney was still following him in her little green bug, and that she hadn’t gotten lost in the dark on the backwoods roads. She was there, right behind him.

They’d stopped by her new shop
earlier on the way here so she could pick up some clothes for her and J.D. and also have her own vehicle to get around in.

He
got out of the car and walked over and opened the door for Laney. He then walked over to help his very pregnant daughter exit the small, tight car, but J.D. shook her head, refusing his proffered hand and just struggled on her own.

“Have it your way,” said Judas, feeling like he was never going to bond with her.

“Oh, this is cute,” said Laney looking at the cabin that would in a few days be theirs.

It was a
one-storey cabin painted forest green with a wrap-around porch and a flat wooden awning that jutted far out over the back porch. There was patio furniture on the deck and also a chimney from a wood-burning fireplace jutting from the roof.

It was small, but could have rooms added on easily. And in the distance in front of the cabin, through the dark was the outline of Thunder Lake.

The cabin next door to theirs belonged to Levi and his family. Judas wasn’t exactly sure that was the best idea, but since this was the only available cabin at the time, he figured he would take it rather than have to wait for the tourists to leave.

“Thomas gave me
the keys,” he said, digging them out of his pocket and handing them to Laney. Her hand clamped over his as she took them, and her skin felt so soft that it about drove him crazy. He remembered those hot summer nights when they were just teenagers. They’d actually made love for the first time in Old man MacAllister’s barn. He’d almost caught them, thinking they were stealing his chickens and they’d just gotten dressed again when he’d appeared at the door to the barn with his rifle.

Now Judas realized
, that was probably the incident that alerted their parents they were having sex in the first place. Maybe they should have been more careful.

“Damn, I feel as
fat as a pig and this baby is kicking me like a son of a bitch,” said J.D. as she got of the car and slammed the door.

Yep, he should have been more careful al
l right. Judas went to the trunk and pulled out a couple of small suitcases, and led the way to the house.

“I’m so tired, I think I’ll sleep all day tomorrow,” said
J.D. as they entered and Judas flicked on the lights.

“Sorry, but th
at’s not going to happen,” he told her. “You need to be over at Thomas’s to watch the kids at eight in the morning so he and Angel can get ready for the wedding. Levi’s twins will be there too since he and Candace will be busy preparing the food for the reception. I hear the whole town is invited.”

“What?” she spat. “I never get up before noon. No, I can’t do it.” She shook her head defiantly.

“That’s part of the community service, or did you forget?” Judas asked her.

“I’ll drop her off, don’t worry,” said Laney.

“It’s close enough that she can just walk, but I’m not worrying, because I’ll be here for both of you at quarter to eight,” he said with a smile.

“Both of us?” asked Laney with a questioning look on her brow.

“We need to get our marriage license tomorrow,” he told her.

“But I have so much to do at the antique shop. I don’t know if I’ll have time.”

“Sounds like an excuse to me,” said Judas. “I’m not working tomorrow, so I’ll help you at the shop after we get back from the county clerk’s office, if we have time before we go to the wedding.”

“I didn’t know I was invited,” said Laney.”

“To the county clerks office?” He cocked his head to the side and smiled.

“You kn
ow what I mean.” She gave him a scolding look.

“Well,
I told you, Thomas invited the whole town to his wedding. Of course you’re invited.” He looked at J.D. “You are too,” he added.

“To do what?” J.D.
asked. “Babysit?”

“Thomas’s
kids are pretty self-reliant and don’t need much looking after so you’ll be able to have fun as well. I’ll have Daniel introduce you to some of his friends since you’re all around the same age.”

“Good,
then maybe I’ll be able to enjoy myself with a drink or even dance. That sounds like something I can do.”

Judas didn’t know if she was
being facetious, but hoped she wasn’t serious about the drinking part. Because if he found out his seventeen-year-old pregnant daughter was drinking, there would be hell to pay.

“I’m going to bed,” J.D.
said, and entered the bedroom off the kitchen and slammed the door.

“I don’t know how you do it,” Judas told Laney. “She is more than a handful.”

“That’s why I meditate. To keep calm in all situations. Have you ever tried it?” She grabbed a hold of the crystal hanging from around her neck and held it up for him to see.

“Me? Meditate. I don’t get into that swami stuff.”

“There’s nothing swami about it. Maybe I’ll have to teach you how.”

“Great,” said Judas, knowing tomorrow was going to be one hell of a day
in more ways than one.

Chapter 8

Laney spread the napkins over the top of a box, and pulled up two chairs as she unloaded the contents from the bag atop
it. She’d gone with Judas to register for their marriage license this morning and everything was starting to seem so real. They had a few hours before they had to get ready for Thomas and Angel’s wedding, and she figured they’d have some breakfast as well as move some things around the shop since Judas volunteered to help.

“I hope J.D.’s doing alright,” she
said, opening up the bag wondering what Judas had picked up when they’d stopped for gas earlier at Kramer’s Gas Station.

“She’ll be fine. Th
omas’s kids are young but very disciplined and know how to take care of themselves. She really doesn’t have to do much. I just figured it’d be better if we knew what she was up to rather than to leave her alone.”