“What’s that?”
“All we have to do is ask her, Nick. She’s a grown woman. She’s smart enough to make up her own mind. Why do you assume she hates me?”
I stop and watch their reactions.
“She does hate you,” Nick finally answers. “She doesn’t want this.”
“So let’s ask her.”
“Ask me what?”
The three of us turn our heads up to the voice. She’s standing at the top of the stairs in that gorgeous silver gown. Her hair is exactly as it was coming out of the shower. Wispy and unkempt. She has no makeup on that I can see. I’ve never seen Harper in makeup. And on her feet are the cutest little silver shoes. She steps down, flashing them at me, making me smile.
“Fucking adorable.”
“What?” the Admiral asks, turning to me.
“Your daughter, Admiral. She’s so sweet and adorable, I can’t stand it.” I sigh as she comes down the steps, blushing and smiling.
And then she notices her twin.
“Nick!” Her feet fly down the steps now, and then she runs across the polished wooden floor so fast I’m afraid she’ll slip and fall. I almost reach for her as she goes past.
But I come to my senses and let them have their moment.
She flings herself at him. He laughs and all the animosity in the room disappears as he catches her in a hug and swings her around so her dress flares at the bottom.
I might die, that’s how fucking cute this girl is.
She peppers her brother with kisses and they talk excitedly for several minutes. “Where have you been? Why did you leave? What were you doing?”
And it hits me at this moment, that these two are talking in some kind of code.
She knows why he left. She knows what he was doing.
And his answers are just as interesting. “All over.” “I had business.” “Nothing you need to worry about.” Because they say nothing and everything at once.
We all know why he left. The better question is, why did he come back?
But it’s not the time or place for that question. This is our night.
“You guys were talking when I came downstairs,” Harper says, the excitement from seeing Nick still in her eyes. “What were you saying?”
I look at the Admiral. He nods at me.
I take Harper’s hand and pull her close. She’s too at ease, so I need to put her back on alert. “Harper, you’ve been with me for several days now. And when I brought you here, you said you would never love me. But I think you’d have to agree that things have developed between us. I think you’d agree that being my promise isn’t as bad as you first thought.”
“I do enjoy being with you, Vincent.”
Jesus, we are playing for keeps right now. It needs to go off perfect. “And it’s no secret that we were to be wed. So instead of having the ceremony tomorrow at the party, we thought a nice quiet ceremony tonight would be in order.”
She squints her eyes.
“Marry me, Harper. I’m asking you to marry me.”
She shakes her head and I almost have a heart attack.
“That’s not how you ask a girl to marry you.”
Nick and the Admiral chuckle out some atta girls, and I nod and drop to one knee. The Admiral hands me a silver velvet ring box and I open it in front of her. “It’s your mother’s ring, Harper.” She looks up at her father and I see tears forming.
“It is,” he confirms. “Vincent asked for it yesterday. I keep it in the safe on the yacht. It’s the only thing I have left of her. And now it’s yours.”
I have a little stab of guilt that I’ll murder this man tomorrow. But it passes when Harper looks down at me and whispers, “Yes,” as she pulls me up off the floor. “Yes.”
And then I take her mouth, right there in Vincent’s living room.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Harper
His kiss is so passionate I blush. And when he pulls back and whispers, “I love you,” in that soft and tender way that makes me doubt all the stories about the people he’s killed, I melt.
He melts me.
He pulls me out of my life and places me in his.
There’s a ceremony. Just the three of us and the Company minister attend. I hear the words. I say the words. But the only thing on my mind is James. He is the only thing I see.
The room is massive. The setting extravagant. There are flowers in my hand. A perfect bouquet of short stemmed white roses wrapped in silver ribbon. James holds both my hands in his while the minister talks. He asks us things and we say yes. And then, just before the minister is about to complete the ceremony with a kiss, James puts up a hand and says, “Not so fast.” He turns to me and smiles. I am the only thing he sees. “It’s not over yet, Harper.” I glance at my father and see a look of confusion on his face. But I trust James, so my attention is right back to him. “I waited twelve years for you. I’ve imagined this moment happening so many ways, but this one,” he leans into my ear to whisper, “lionfish. This one is the perfect way to end all that waiting.”
He pulls back just a few inches, so my father and brother can hear us now too. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. And I promise you won’t regret choosing me.”
James. I almost say it, but I stop myself before it slips out. So I lean in, just like he did, and whisper, “You’re mine, Fenici. If you go anywhere, I will hunt you down.”
He wraps his hand around my neck and pulls me towards him, laughing into my hair.
The minister takes over in our silence and tells James to kiss me.
As if he needed permission.
He kisses me like no man should kiss a girl in front of her father.
He kisses me like a husband.
When that’s over, he takes my hand and leads me outside onto the patio. It’s bustling with workers setting up for tomorrow, and there’s no music, but he draws me close, his hands on my waist as we sway slowly. He brings my head to his chest and breathes a sigh of relief.
“I’m sorry it was such a long wait. I hope this night makes up for time lost. I can’t promise you that you’ll never fall, Harper. But if you ever need me for anything, I’ll be there. I’ll catch you. I’ll fix it. And if we ever have to be apart, always know that we’re together.” He lifts my wedding ring to his lips and kisses it. “We met years ago. We drifted apart to become these two people. And now we’re back together. One soul, cut in half, reunited.”
“All we have to do is ask her, Nick. She’s a grown woman. She’s smart enough to make up her own mind. Why do you assume she hates me?”
I stop and watch their reactions.
“She does hate you,” Nick finally answers. “She doesn’t want this.”
“So let’s ask her.”
“Ask me what?”
The three of us turn our heads up to the voice. She’s standing at the top of the stairs in that gorgeous silver gown. Her hair is exactly as it was coming out of the shower. Wispy and unkempt. She has no makeup on that I can see. I’ve never seen Harper in makeup. And on her feet are the cutest little silver shoes. She steps down, flashing them at me, making me smile.
“Fucking adorable.”
“What?” the Admiral asks, turning to me.
“Your daughter, Admiral. She’s so sweet and adorable, I can’t stand it.” I sigh as she comes down the steps, blushing and smiling.
And then she notices her twin.
“Nick!” Her feet fly down the steps now, and then she runs across the polished wooden floor so fast I’m afraid she’ll slip and fall. I almost reach for her as she goes past.
But I come to my senses and let them have their moment.
She flings herself at him. He laughs and all the animosity in the room disappears as he catches her in a hug and swings her around so her dress flares at the bottom.
I might die, that’s how fucking cute this girl is.
She peppers her brother with kisses and they talk excitedly for several minutes. “Where have you been? Why did you leave? What were you doing?”
And it hits me at this moment, that these two are talking in some kind of code.
She knows why he left. She knows what he was doing.
And his answers are just as interesting. “All over.” “I had business.” “Nothing you need to worry about.” Because they say nothing and everything at once.
We all know why he left. The better question is, why did he come back?
But it’s not the time or place for that question. This is our night.
“You guys were talking when I came downstairs,” Harper says, the excitement from seeing Nick still in her eyes. “What were you saying?”
I look at the Admiral. He nods at me.
I take Harper’s hand and pull her close. She’s too at ease, so I need to put her back on alert. “Harper, you’ve been with me for several days now. And when I brought you here, you said you would never love me. But I think you’d have to agree that things have developed between us. I think you’d agree that being my promise isn’t as bad as you first thought.”
“I do enjoy being with you, Vincent.”
Jesus, we are playing for keeps right now. It needs to go off perfect. “And it’s no secret that we were to be wed. So instead of having the ceremony tomorrow at the party, we thought a nice quiet ceremony tonight would be in order.”
She squints her eyes.
“Marry me, Harper. I’m asking you to marry me.”
She shakes her head and I almost have a heart attack.
“That’s not how you ask a girl to marry you.”
Nick and the Admiral chuckle out some atta girls, and I nod and drop to one knee. The Admiral hands me a silver velvet ring box and I open it in front of her. “It’s your mother’s ring, Harper.” She looks up at her father and I see tears forming.
“It is,” he confirms. “Vincent asked for it yesterday. I keep it in the safe on the yacht. It’s the only thing I have left of her. And now it’s yours.”
I have a little stab of guilt that I’ll murder this man tomorrow. But it passes when Harper looks down at me and whispers, “Yes,” as she pulls me up off the floor. “Yes.”
And then I take her mouth, right there in Vincent’s living room.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Harper
His kiss is so passionate I blush. And when he pulls back and whispers, “I love you,” in that soft and tender way that makes me doubt all the stories about the people he’s killed, I melt.
He melts me.
He pulls me out of my life and places me in his.
There’s a ceremony. Just the three of us and the Company minister attend. I hear the words. I say the words. But the only thing on my mind is James. He is the only thing I see.
The room is massive. The setting extravagant. There are flowers in my hand. A perfect bouquet of short stemmed white roses wrapped in silver ribbon. James holds both my hands in his while the minister talks. He asks us things and we say yes. And then, just before the minister is about to complete the ceremony with a kiss, James puts up a hand and says, “Not so fast.” He turns to me and smiles. I am the only thing he sees. “It’s not over yet, Harper.” I glance at my father and see a look of confusion on his face. But I trust James, so my attention is right back to him. “I waited twelve years for you. I’ve imagined this moment happening so many ways, but this one,” he leans into my ear to whisper, “lionfish. This one is the perfect way to end all that waiting.”
He pulls back just a few inches, so my father and brother can hear us now too. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. And I promise you won’t regret choosing me.”
James. I almost say it, but I stop myself before it slips out. So I lean in, just like he did, and whisper, “You’re mine, Fenici. If you go anywhere, I will hunt you down.”
He wraps his hand around my neck and pulls me towards him, laughing into my hair.
The minister takes over in our silence and tells James to kiss me.
As if he needed permission.
He kisses me like no man should kiss a girl in front of her father.
He kisses me like a husband.
When that’s over, he takes my hand and leads me outside onto the patio. It’s bustling with workers setting up for tomorrow, and there’s no music, but he draws me close, his hands on my waist as we sway slowly. He brings my head to his chest and breathes a sigh of relief.
“I’m sorry it was such a long wait. I hope this night makes up for time lost. I can’t promise you that you’ll never fall, Harper. But if you ever need me for anything, I’ll be there. I’ll catch you. I’ll fix it. And if we ever have to be apart, always know that we’re together.” He lifts my wedding ring to his lips and kisses it. “We met years ago. We drifted apart to become these two people. And now we’re back together. One soul, cut in half, reunited.”
