The Rock Season (30 page)

“Nancy would have been six months old by now,” I said quietly.

Aaron was still holding my hand and I felt him flinch. I smiled at him, but my attention turned to my best girlfriend.

“Six months ago I thought I was never going to be happy again. I didn’t see a future. Maryland, you helped me heal more than you’ll ever know, and I’m grateful for you. And Aaron, I know everything happens for a reason and while I still don’t think I know why she was taken from me, I know that you were put in my path all those months ago because you were meant to see me through this and to hold my hand.” I looked down at our hands intertwined. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express to you just how much you mean to me and how grateful I am to the Fates for bringing us together.”

Aaron started to tear up and pulled on my hand to bring me closer. I leaned over so he could kiss me tenderly. We could have easily gotten lost in each other, but Shireen cleared her throat.

“Stevie, we are all just as grateful that you were brought into Aaron’s life. Into all of our lives. You’ve been here to see us through an incredibly dark time as well, and we’re grateful you’ll be here to see us through yet another dark period. But this,” she said, gesturing to our hands still clasped, “this wedding, this marriage, will give us all something positive to focus on. I’m just so happy to have you as part of our family.”

I stood and walked over to her and hugged her. She couldn’t know how much her words affected me. How I managed to find not only the perfect man, but one that came with a wonderfully supportive mother and family…

The love-in broke up shortly after. Maryland and Mike were headed back to his place. They and the girls were going to spend Christmas together and then they were going to go up to Alaska to see her mother. Upon returning they were going to see about getting remarried.

“About freakin’ time,” I muttered.

Mike snickered and Maryland smacked my butt. “Watch that saucy mouth of yours, Red!” She kissed me goodbye and I watched them drive off together.

I closed the door and turned to find Aaron and I alone in the room. I kind of felt shy all of a sudden. I had so many questions. He sat in his chair by the window and smiled contentedly.

“You look just like the cat who ate the canary,” I joked as I moved to his side and knelt down.

He brushed my hair back with his hand and said, “I think I finally know how he felt.”

I rolled my eyes and put my head in his lap with my arms around his waist.

“This is the best birthday ever,” I said, feeling sleepy and overwhelmed all of a sudden.

He massaged my scalp and neck gently and I heard him sigh. “You deserve best birthdays, love. I plan on making every birthday your best ever.”

I turned to look up at him. “You are a bit of an overachiever, aren’t you?”

He laughed. “Where you are concerned, there is no overachieving. You deserve only the best. I hope I can do that for you.”

I smiled up at him and said, “I know we have so much to talk about and so much to think about…Tonight can we just hold each other and revel in the complete awesomeness of this moment?”

“I am completely in favor of that.”

I stood and handed him his crutches.

“Will you stay with me tonight,” he asked hesitantly.

I stretched up to kiss him and said, “If it’s ok with you, sleeping in your arms would complete this perfect day.”

He looked relieved as he made his way backwards up the stairs. I knew he was going to have a rough road ahead with the cast off, but it had to be better than this.

We made our way to Grandma Samadi’s room, which felt a little weird. It was one over from his parents and right next to his brothers. I was glad he wouldn’t be here long. My mind was churning with so many thoughts! How was this going to work? Was he going to want to get married sooner or later? Where would we-

McShane

I could practically see the smoke coming from Stevie’s ears. I hobbled over to her and took her chin between my fingers.

“I know there’s a lot to talk about, but all I really care about tonight is that you’re here with me and you said yes. The rest can wait as long as it needs to. So let’s get out of these clothes and into bed so we can get in some hard-core cuddling before we crash.”

I got the giggle I was hoping for. I watched with longing as she removed her jeans and sweater. I silently cursed my damn cast because I wanted to be inside her so badly and as much as I loved her being on top, and this is such a caveman thought, I wanted to claim her properly.

“I really can’t get this damn cast off soon enough,” I finally said and watched as she crawled onto the bed. She laid on her side with her head resting on one hand. I just stared. She truly was heavenly. Finally, I made my way to the side of the bed, sat down and pulled off my shirt and shorts. I pushed myself backwards enough to get my leg onto the bed and then took a bit to get myself into a lying down position. Once I did, I let out a huge sigh and opened my arms for her to be near me. I felt at peace. This was right.

We were both too tired to do anything other than whisper to each other. She seemed surprised, excited, nervous, and happy. It was all I could want. We whispered until after midnight and fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

The next week went by quickly and we barely had a moment alone together. Christmas was a lively affair as we had all of the McShanes and the Samadis over, including Aziz and Nasreen. Nasreen was indeed very beautiful, as Aziz had been boasting. She was painfully shy, however, and remained very quiet throughout the event. Stevie and Mom tried their best to include her, but I knew we could be very overwhelming.

We put in a call to Grandma McShane and told her the good news on Christmas Day and she sobbed on the phone.

“Bless you two! I am so very happy for the both of you. I’m sorry your grandfather isn’t with us to see this.” She told us she wanted to come home after the New Year ‘to help with the wedding.’

I looked to Pops, who shook his head and said, “Again, I tell ye, do what ye like. We’ll be fine.”

Stevie and I hadn’t really talked much about a wedding yet, and I was a little afraid to bring it up.

For Christmas we exchanged concert tickets. She bought us tickets to see Halestorm in San Francisco at the Warfield and I bought us season tickets for Shoreline… with a little help from Tyson, of course. I planned to take her to every bloody show she could possibly stand to see since I’d pretty much ruined the fall and winter season with my busted leg. She just called me an overachiever again and rolled her eyes.

“Aaron, other than you being in pain and the trouble the twins have had, I wouldn’t have changed this time together. I’ve been perfectly happy just being with you.”

I squeezed her hand. “That’s good, because you’re kind of stuck with me now.”

She grinned triumphantly and it made my heart soar. She really was right there with me.

My appointment to get my cast off was the Friday before New Year’s Eve. Stevie and I went together and I assured her that she was in trouble as soon as I could use my damn leg.

She giggled like crazy and said, “You better hope you can catch me.” She helped me down from the cab of her truck and I pulled her in close to me.

“Oh, I’ll catch you, you can be sure of that. And when I do-”

I whispered the rest against her neck and ear and she melted in my arms.

“God, I’ve got goosebumps just thinking about it,” she purred. It was just another in a long line of moments with her where I found myself thinking how grateful I was to have her in my life.

Once inside the doc’s office, he looked at my latest x-rays from a week ago. He was pleased with my healing and sawed the damn thing off. I got the first look at my leg in two months. He was also pleased there didn’t appear to be much atrophy to the muscles and told me he thought I should be able to put weight on it after about a week or so of mild exercise. I still had to wear a brace but he encouraged me to take it off whenever I wasn’t up and about.

“Take it slow, McShane,” he said. “The better care you take of your leg, the less likely you’ll end up with severe arthritis in that knee, although one out of four patients does develop arthritis.”

“Thanks, I will definitely take it slow.”

Stevie looked concerned, but pleased. On the way out she held the doors for me and then opened the truck door.

“We should celebrate,” she said quietly.

I swung her up in my arms, careful not to put too much weight on my leg, which actually only felt a little stiff and not too sore.

“Aaron Ali Salaam McShane,” she scolded, then kissed me enthusiastically.

“Damn right we’re going to celebrate, woman.” I proceeded to tell her how many ways and how many times I was going to take her as soon as I got her alone.

She groaned in my arms and her eyes fluttered shut.

“Oh, but wait! I have some news,” she said with an excited smile. “I wanted us to both have some good news.” I set her down, my curiosity growing along with an almost painful erection.

“I received an email from one of the agents we sent my manuscript to. She says she wants to represent me and she already has a publisher that is interested in my novel. Aaron! I’m going to be a real author!” There were tears in her eyes as she bounced on the balls of her feet.

My heart was bursting for this amazing woman. “You are incredible. I’m so happy for you, love. I knew you could do it.” I kissed her softly and felt her still bouncing with excitement.

“So how are we going to celebrate all of this,” I said, resting my forehead against hers.

She stared up at me for a long time and when she finally spoke, my knees buckled.

“You’re sure?”  

She nodded firmly, letting me know she had no reservations.

Later that night we called my folks from our hotel room. We hadn’t even bothered to go home. We drove straight to the Oakland airport from the doctor’s and caught the next flight to Vegas.

“Son, we missed you at dinner. Everything go ok at the doctor?”  

I was grinning so widely I thought my face was going to crack. I gazed lovingly down at my new piece of jewelry and cleared my throat.

“Pops? Remember what you said to me, about me and Stevie?”  I waited a beat for him to catch on, which didn’t take long. His chuckles started out quiet and then became full-bellied laughter.

“I’ll be damned. She stole you away, did she now? Well, I’m glad. Yer Ma and I are so happy for ye both. I love you, Son. Don’t worry, we’ll hold back the masses and let ye two have a nice time together, but we will be having a reception here. This is cause to celebrate.”

I thanked him for all of his wise words. Without them, I certainly wouldn’t be here right now. I’d likely still be stuck up in my apartment without my goddess. My Goddess.

Stevie

Aaron couldn’t stop smiling and my heart was pounding. I couldn’t believe we had just eloped! I sent a picture to Maryland earlier of our hands and matching wedding bands together. She shot back simply that she would be tanning my behind when I returned and that I better rock his world tonight. I loved my best friend! I knew she would get a kick out of our wedding pictures. We’d opted for the KISS Hotter Than Hell Wedding Chapel at the Monster Mini-Golf course, which I promised Aaron we would go back and play when his leg was better. We chose the “Forever” package and were married by a Paul Stanley look-a-like. We felt he was more romantic than the Gene Simmons guy, who kind of scared the crap out of me. We had so much fun. It was almost anticlimactic. Once I told Aaron that morning that I wanted to get married right away, we clung together, bawling like babies, and professed our undying love for each other right there on the sidewalk outside the doctor’s office. I didn’t want to live another day without being married to this incredible man I’d shared so much with.

Aaron, my husband, hung up the phone with Pops, my father-in-law and I couldn’t help the giggles that started up.

“We really did this, didn’t we?”  

His smile was that of a predator. “We did, Mrs. McShane,” he growled at me, starting off another round of giggles. He stopped at the end of the bed in our ridiculously expensive suite at the Hard Rock Hotel. He crooked his finger at me to come closer as it still wasn’t safe for him to crawl yet on his knee. He was getting around remarkably well. He claimed his arms were so relieved to not be on the dumb crutches anymore, even though he was still wearing a brace.  He even carried me across the threshold of our room.

“I can’t wait one more minute to be inside my beautiful bride.”

I stopped just out of reach of him and started to slip off my long, black dress. He licked his lips as I removed my black bra and lacy panties. When I was naked before him, he grew serious and I could see tears collecting in his eyes.

“Stevie, love, I swear to you that I am going to take care of you for the rest of our lives and do everything in my power to make you happy.”

I smiled up at him and reached my arms up to him. “I know you will, silly. That’s why I married you! Now why don’t you start with the making me happy part. Like really happy.”

McShane

So after kissing my way up her shapely thigh, leaving no freckle unsucked or unlicked, I found myself in my happy place and proceeded to do my best to make her just as happy. I could really get lost in the juncture of her beautiful thighs. I could spend the rest of my days with only the taste of her on my tongue, the smell of her on my skin, and the sounds of her pleasure in my ears. I planned on spending a lot of quality time right here. She was mine, now, for life. I felt like I’d just won first prize at the school spelling bee, grabbed the last Golden Ticket, and won the damn Lotto all at once! I was a lucky bastard and I thanked my lucky stars she consented to be my wife.

“Oh, husband of mine,” she crooned after her second orgasm, “let me love you.”

I was still humming our wedding song, “Forever” by KISS, of course!

She smiled up at me dreamily. “I love it when you sing to me. You have such a beautiful voice, Husband.”