Man of Honor (Passion in Paradise Book 4) (52 page)

After several hours,
Zeke had grown both weary and impatient.  Exchanging a look with Wrath, he’d
waited until the other man had disappeared into the trees with his biker
brethren before approaching Frankie again.  Tired, bloody, and more than a
little disgusted things hadn’t gone the way he’d hoped, Zeke had fisted his
hand in Frankie’s hair and jerked the man’s head upright one last time, calmly
asking him for the names of the men that had hurt Honor.  When the beaten man
had merely stared back at him with cold eyes and smiled, silently defiant and
confident in the knowledge that the fine, upstanding sheriff would never
actually end his life despite his threats, Zeke finally lost the battle with
his conscience, pressed the barrel of the gun to Frankie’s forehead and pulled
the trigger at point blank range.

“I
did
kill
him,” Zeke confirmed, admitting it to her out loud for the first time ever.  “I
did, and I’d do the same thing again tomorrow if I could find the other two
fuckers that hurt you.  But that night… when I came to tell you that at least
another
one
of those animals could never hurt you again, you looked up
at me with those big blue eyes and I could see your despair.  I could feel your
pain.  And it gutted me.  Do you remember how long I stood with you on that
porch, staring into your eyes?”

“A really long time. 
I remember thinking that maybe you’d fallen asleep with your eyes wide open,”
she reminisced with a faint smile.

“Nah, baby, I wasn’t
asleep.  You were waking me up.  Way down deep inside my soul, you roused
something powerful.  You awakened part of me that had been restin’ dormant,
waiting for just the right woman to stir it up.”

“That so?” she
murmured.

“Yeah, that’s so. 
Something else happened, too.  You showed me something special in those
captivatin’ eyes of yours, darlin…something incredibly special.  I got a
glimpse at something I wanted more than I wanted to take my next breath,
Honor.”

“What?” Honor
whispered.  “What could you see in my eyes that was so special?  I was
miserable, Zeke.  Miserable and lost.”

“And yet, I still saw
my future swimming before me in that bottomless gaze of yours.  I saw it plain
as the nose on my face.  You.  Me.  And you were holding a little baby girl
that had eyes that could break me in two the same way yours do.  I knew that
night where my future resided, sweetheart.  Right here with you.”

Honor bit her lip as
she took a deep, shaky breath.  “You heard what the doctors all said, Zeke. 
Children…babies might not be possible for me.  What if with all the damage
those men did… only having one ovary…I might not be able to… God, Zeke, now
that I have you… really
have
you, I don’t want you to give up on me if I
can’t…”

“Children
are
possible, doctors be damned,” Zeke declared firmly, cutting off her worries. 
“I saw it, Honor.  I don’t believe in a lot, but I believe in what I saw that
night to the bottom of my soul.  God showed me my future in your eyes, and that
future is with you.  I know it as well as I know my own name.  It might take
some time, but it’ll happen.  And it’ll happen because I fell in love with you
that night, standing right back there on that porch with you six years ago,” he
stated decisively, pointing toward the wooden steps at the back of the house. 
“I been fallin’ a little more every day in every way since then.  Giving up on
you?  Baby, that was never an option for me.  I just had to wait to share all
this with you until you could see what I’ve known for years.  We were meant to
be.  We’ve had to travel a painful, broken road to get to where we are, but I
wouldn’t have missed a single moment of the walk, baby, because every step I
made took me toward you.”

Honor stared at Zeke
for a long minute as the fireworks reached a crescendo, blue, red, green and
white sparks exploding over the horizon.  But neither of them so much as
twitched.

“A baby girl?” Honor
choked as tears spilled down her alabaster cheeks.

Zeke nodded,
tightening his arms around her. “Yep.  Your eyes.  My hair.”

Honor squeezed her
eyes shut as she shuddered in his arms, overcome with emotion.  “We’ll need a
boy, too,” she finally managed to say through her tears.  “Being an only child
would be boring.”

Burying his own wet
face in her neck, Zeke could only nod. “Whatever you want, Kitten.  I’ll always
do my best to give you whatever you want.”

“I want a matched
set,” she wept, turning so that she could push her face against his chest and
clutch his waist.

“Then we’d better get
started on a wedding, because I’ve got some work to do here,” he growled into
her mouth as he guided her back down in the bed.

August 18, 2016 –
The I Don’t Care Cafe

3:30 pm

Honor

“So, after Pastor
Wilcox finishes performing the
very
conventional ceremony you’ve
chosen…”

“Harmony, will you
let it go.  There is nothing wrong with a traditional ceremony with traditional
vows,” Honor remarked with a glare at her eldest sister.  Honest to God, she
loved all her sisters, each one special to her in a different way.  But today,
Harmony’s specialty seemed to be irritating the dickens out of her.  She’d
already made her decision about what kind of religious service she wanted for
her marriage to Zeke, and she wasn’t budging on it.  Zeke agreed with her and that’s
all that mattered.  The Wicked Witch of the Wedding World could shove a broom
up her butt!  She was going to recite the same vows her momma had said to her
daddy and that’s all there was to it!

“But think how unique
this could be, Honor.  
Everybody
is writing their own vows these days,
sis!” Harmony pled her case hopefully.

“I didn’t,” Patience
interjected as she lifted her son, Granger to her shoulder to pat him on the
back. 

Harmony narrowed her
eyes at Patience.  “You got married in your freaking pajamas.  Your opinion
doesn’t carry any weight regarding Paradise’s wedding of the year!”

“They were yoga
pants,” Patience retorted on a hiss. 

Harmony rolled her
eyes.  “Faith, you’re usually the voice of reason.  Back me up here,” she
requested with a look toward the second oldest McKinnon daughter.

Looking from a
determined Harmony to a resolute Honor, Faith quickly shook her head.  “I think
Honor’s got you on this one, Harm.  Not only is she the bride, but I don’t
think our baby sister is the type to get up in front of… what was the guest
list count again?” she asked Honor.

“Last tally put us
just over three hundred people,” Honor answered unhappily.  “My simple,
uncomplicated wedding day is turning into a cast of hundreds.”

Turning back to
Harmony, Faith raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, I don’t think our little sister is
gonna stand in front of hundreds of folks and talk about her feelings,
Harmony.  She can barely talk to
us
about how she feels for Zeke.”

“I love him.  I can
say that, easy as pie.  But saying your own vows requires a certain level of
detail that I’m not comfortable expressing in front of my doctor, the mailman,
and Old Lady Winslow,” Honor huffed.

“Honor, we have to
have this many guests otherwise you’re gonna alienate half the population of
Paradise,” Harmony contended, not for the first time.  “You and Ezekiel are
like Snow White and Prince Charming, honey.  Everybody’s been waiting to watch
how the fairy tale ends.”

“My life is not some
kind of children’s story – certainly not a fairytale,” Honor growled.  “And my
wedding is a beginning, not an ending,” she added a bit petulantly.

Holding up a hand,
Harmony nodded.  “You’re right.  It is a beginning.   If you’re more
comfortable having a traditional ceremony, then a traditional ceremony it shall
be,” she proclaimed, pausing for a moment to clear her throat.  “As I was
saying, after the ceremony concludes and the Pastor pronounces you man and
wife, we have a decision to make.  Would you rather release doves or butterflies
as you exit the venue…”

“The venue?” Honor
scoffed.  “You can say the barn, Harmony,” she pointed out with a chuckle.

“I keep hoping you’ll
change your mind and move the wedding to somewhere not quite so….”

“Rustic?” Maggie
supplied helpfully, entering the conversation as Honor watched her lean forward
to grab Patience’s daughter, Harri’s, pacifier from the Donald Duck diaper bag
next to her high chair and offer it to the crowing baby with a look most
closely identifiable as desperation.  Because as much as Margaret Winstead
loved her nieces and nephews, she was
not
a baby person.  Or a child
person.  And probably not even a teenager person, Honor thought with a small
smile.

“I was going to say
dirty, but rustic will work,” Harmony returned with a sigh, sharing a
frustrated look with Maggie.

“It won’t be dirty
after Zeke finishes the restoration project,” Honor assured her with a smile. 
“It’s going to be perfect,” she claimed dreamily, a smile pulling at her lips
as she thought of her new favorite place on Earth.

“C’mon, sis.  Even
I’m confused about why you’re so determined to have the nuptials in that old
barn.  It was almost falling down before Zeke started work on it.  What made
y’all wanna restore it anyway?  It’s not like you and the sheriff are gonna
become farmers anytime soon,” Patience pointed out as she shifted Granger into
Faith’s arms and took a fussy Bronson from Aunt Orla’s arms.

“Can’t you crazies
read between the lines?  That barn symbolizes something important for your
sister and her man,” Aunt Orla declared as she took a sip of her sweet tea. 
“Plus, I’m willin’ to make a cash bet right here and now that the mighty
stallion in question mounted this shy young mare for the first time in one of
them stalls inside that very barn,” she added with a wink at a blushing Honor.

“Auntie!” Honor
hissed with burning cheeks as she looked around the table with wide eyes.  She
loved her aunt like a second mother, but today, she’d happily have her
committed to the nearest funny farm for her knack for always seeming to know
exactly what she’d been doing.  It had been inconvenient when she was a child,
but now it was just flat out humiliating.

“Holy shit!  That’s
it!  You two did it in the barn, didn’t you?” Patience laughed, pointing at
Honor’s bright red face. 

“Ohhhh, dirty deeds
done in the barn!  You got my time in the walk-in freezer with Cain beat,”
Faith giggled.

“Well, now, that puts
a new light on things,” Harmony murmured with a grin.

“My, my, my,” Maggie
breathed.  “Stall sex sounds simply divine.”

 “We were in the
hayloft!” Honor replied, clapping a hand over her mouth when she realized she’d
just confirmed everyone’s suspicions.

“Even better!” Maggie
praised.  “Tell us everything!”

“No detail is too big
or small,” Aunt Orla added with an eager nod.

“I am
not
sharing
any details with y’all, big, small or any other size.  Suffice it to say that
the barn is a place that I treasure.  I want to get married there.  Zeke agreed
to restore it for me so that we could say our vows there.  And
that
is
the only detail that you nosy gals are gettin’!  Now, what’s this nonsense
about birds or butterflies, Harmony?”

“Which of them do you
want released after the ceremony?  Butterflies would be cheaper, but the doves
are soooo much more elegant.”  It was beyond obvious which choice Harmony was
hoping Honor would choose.

“Not if the bird
craps on the bride’s head,” Patience pointed out with a smirk.

“We’ll go with the
butterflies, Harm.” Honor chose quickly. 

Harmony’s face fell. 
“Fine,” she grumbled, making a note on her legal pad before taking a deep
breath.  “Now, it’s time to talk about your wedding party, and this time, you
aren’t going to make an escape until you choose a Maid of Honor to stand with
you.  Zeke’s already chosen Ice as his Best Man, but you’ve yet to name your
Maid of Honor.  You and Zeke indicated that you only wanted one person each
standing up with y’all and it’s time to choose that person, sis, so that you
can choose the dress she’ll be wearing.”

Honor had known this
decision would have to be made sooner or later and she’d known it would be
difficult.  She hadn’t wanted a huge wedding party because she’d always found
them pretentious.  On the other hand, the last thing she wanted to do was
offend anybody.  And she was terrified she would.  She’d been agonizing over
the decision for weeks, but she still wasn’t any closer to making up her mind
now than she’d been a month ago when Zeke had asked Ice to be his best man over
supper one night.  “This isn’t fair,” she mumbled.  “Zeke only had
one
brother.  Making up his mind was a breeze.”  Looking from Harmony to Faith to
Patience to Maggie, she sighed and shook her head.  “I have three blood sisters
and another that’s a sister in our hearts,” she decreed, gesturing to a faintly
smiling Maggie.  “It’s impossible for me to choose just one of you.  It would
be like asking a parent to pick her favorite child.  It can’t be done!”  Honor
threw her hands up in the air.  “It just can’t!” she cried.

“Child, calm yourself
before I hold your nose and pour some of Jethro’s moonshine down your throat
the way I used to make you swallow your cough medicine when you were a little
‘un,” Orla warned as she reached into the pocket of her apron and pulled out a
handful of tooth picks.  All eyes watched as the old woman made a show of
counting out four toothpicks and breaking the tip off one of them.  Putting her
hands underneath the table to get them in order, she finally lifting one hand
and pushed it into the center of the round table where they were all seated. 
“Alright, girls,” she said, looking around at everyone except Honor, “Get in
here and grab a toothpick from my hand.”

Honor held her breath
as each woman leaned forward, one after the other, and chose a skinny toothpick
from Orla’s closed fist until none remained. 

“Now, hold ‘em up. 
Short stick stands up with Honor at the wedding,” Aunt Orla decreed.

“Not me,” Harmony grinned
after she took a look at her unbroken toothpick.

“Me either,” Faith
added, dropping her toothpick to the table and looking around at the other
women.

“I’m out,” Maggie
announced with a little shake of her vibrant red head..

“Looks like it’s you
and me, baby sister,” Patience declared with twinkling eyes as she held up the
broken toothpick.  “Don’t you worry about a thing.  Your bachelorette party is
going to kick
ass
!”

“Oh, crud,
”
Honor
muttered.  “No naked men, Pitty Pat,” she quickly mandated, instantly knowing
her older sister was mentally flipping through a catalogue of strippers.  It
wouldn’t be hard for her to locate one given the fact that their bartender,
Verlena, had been what she delicately called an ‘adult entertainer’ once upon a
time.   Seeing her siblings crestfallen expression, Honor quickly added, “You
know Zeke wouldn’t like it and neither would Abel.”

“You say that like
it’s a deal breaker,” Patience pouted.

“Let’s put a pin in
the bachelorette party and go back to the dress.  What do you want Patience to
wear, Honor?” Harmony asked, tapping her ink pen against the yellow pad
impatiently.  “You chose sapphire and antique rose as your wedding colors. 
Which would you prefer she wear?”

“Ohhhh…say sapphire,”
Patience begged, momentarily distracted from all thoughts of muscled hunks
dancing around in thongs.  “Raleigh, over at the hair salon, suggested an idea
for aqua-inspired highlights that would ROCK that color dress!”

“Go for it,” Honor
agreed with a smile at her excited sister.  If there was one thing Patience
McKinnon Turner LOVED, it was a new hair color to highlight her blonde, chin
length tresses.  The wilder, the better.  “My only request is that the dress be
at least knee length.  Any shorter and it’ll look weird next to my full length
wedding gown in the pictures.”

Faith snapped her
fingers.  “Speaking of pictures, I spoke to Ben Atkins when I went into
Dawson’s Studio to pick up the baby’s nine-month photos, and he said that he
still needs to shoot that engagement photo for you and Zeke if you want it in
next week’s Sunday edition of the paper.”

Honor’s nose curled
distastefully, but she nodded at her sister.  She hated the idea of having to
pose like a mannequin for a picture, but she knew it was also the most
expedient way to invite anyone that they might have missed mailing an
invitation.  Since Zeke was an elected public figure and she owned a business
in town, neither one of them could afford to offend anybody.  She should be
grateful that Ben had reminded Faith about the photo.  He was one of the most
in demand photographers in the state.  The man had won awards for some of the
photographs he’d taken of the Smoky Mountain Range.  But since Ben and Zeke had
become friends when the off-duty Sheriff had stopped and helped the stranded
photographer out last winter when the guy had gotten a flat tire in the middle
of a snow storm, he’d offered to take their wedding pictures for free as his
wedding present.  All they’d be responsible for was purchasing their final
pictures, and Honor certainly wasn’t going to turn her nose up at that generous
gift.   “I’ll ask Zeke what his schedule will be like tomorrow and call Ben in
the morning.”

“What about the
wedding dress?  Have you called Violet yet to schedule your fitting?” Maggie
asked, frowning when Honor narrowed her eyes at her.  “Uh oh, I smell a lecture
coming on,” she drawled, rolling her bright green eyes.  

Honor nodded,
relieved there was finally something mentioned that she
had
actually
handled already.  “Yep.  I go in next Monday.  I still can’t believe you went
and bought my wedding dress behind my back, Mags.  I told you it was way too
expensive,” Honor chastised, shooting the red-haired woman a stern, reproving
look.  God’s truth, she loved Maggie Winstead as much as any of her sisters,
but the woman had entirely no sense when it came to the value of a dollar.  Old
money on both her mother’s and her father’s side kept the woman flush with
cash, and the long and short of it was that Mags could buy and sell practically
anyone and everyone in Paradise if she wanted to.  In spite of that fact, the
fiery vixen still worked as Patience’s husband, Abel’s, para-legal and office
manager.  It was not because she needed the paycheck, but because she insisted
she’d miss all the good gossip if she quit her job – and losing her pipeline to
all of Paradise’s juicy scandals was simply not acceptable to Maggie.