Epilogue

*Three weeks later*

I stood with my hands on my hips in the middle of the living room, surrounded by pieces of furniture and open boxes. Gazing around the cluttered room, I let out a tired sigh. Who would have ever guessed that Jonathan and I had that much stuff? His apartment had seemed so small and I only had the things I’d taken with me when I’d moved out of my father’s house and into Jonathan’s apartment.

Wiping an arm over my forehead, I walked into the kitchen to get a cloth to wipe my sweat soaked skin. Then I grabbed a cup from the counter and filled it with water from the sink before sitting down at the breakfast bar to take a break.

As I sat there, I looked around the kitchen, amazed that Jonathan and I had come so far in so little time.

The two of us had managed to find this two story house nearly a week after we’d returned from our honeymoon. Since we’d already met with a realtor long before the wedding, there were already several houses waiting for us to choose from when we’d returned.

This four bedroom, three bath house with a balcony that ran the length of the house, and a kidney shaped pool in the yard had been perfect for the kind of future the two of us were planning.

Granted, our life together had started the moment we had said our vows to one another, but now we were living it. I smiled to myself as I thought over the last few weeks since Jonathan and I had returned.

Three days after we had closed on the house, Jonathan had returned to work with his father. So far, he was loving it. Now that David respected his son and gave him all the space he needed to be his own man, Jonathan had begun to thrive. Still, he was here during the nights and weekends helping to move things into our new home.

And during the times he wasn’t here, someone else usually was. Our new home was rarely ever empty of people as new furniture and other things were brought in. Some days found David, Darryl, and Danny all arguing about where a huge piece of furniture should go. Other days found Alishia and Sarah helping me open boxes and putting things away. Still other days found Elise, my mother, or Samantha giving me advice on what colors looked best in what rooms.

At least that’s the way it was during the days. The evenings were then spent having dinner at someone’s house or out at a restaurant. I had already managed to have dinner in my new home surrounded by the huge family that made up Jonathan’s and my life. Both of us loved being able to share our happiness with our loved ones. However, even our families knew when it was time to leave the two of us alone. Everyone knew the two of us still liked celebrating our new marriage alone together.

I sighed as I closed my eyes. Things had certainly been busy during the three weeks Jonathan and I had returned home. And it had started the moment the two of us had stepped off the plane.

The first thing I had found out was that my father had been giving my mom a hard time with the divorce. Mom had intended to just take everything owed her according to the prenuptial agreement she’d signed, but when Daniel had gotten his lawyers to try to find a loophole, she’d started to get defensive.

It turned ugly when Daniel got his lawyers to claim that she had manipulated her children and used them to stab him in the back. His lawyers were doing their best to make mom look like a conniving bitch and Daniel like a naïve man who had only wanted to do right by his family.

Mom had finally had it with Daniel, so Danny had once again gotten lawyers from his firm to handle the case. It was only days ago that mom’s lawyers had managed to get the house, the cars, the restaurant, and her share of money awarded to her. The icing on the cake had been when mom got full custody of Samantha and promptly surrendered all rights to Kevin. She said it was only fair that Daniel reaped what he sowed.

Daniel had spent every moment he had trying to get Danny, Samantha, and I to talk to him. He’d tried to find ways to get us on his side, but nothing had worked. I had disowned my father and Kevin the moment I’d found out that they had known what Mark intended to do to Jonathan. So, when I returned from my honeymoon to find my father begging me for forgiveness, I turned a deaf ear to him. To me, my father was dead and my younger brother had gone with him.

Danny and Samantha had also cut ties with Daniel and Kevin. Danny had cut his when he’d been going through the mess with getting his bond money. Samantha cut hers when she had to sit and watch Daniel’s lawyers spread lies about our mother. Samantha knew it was Daniel that had put them up to it and that had been the last straw for her.

As soon as she was able, mom had put the house up for sale and she and Samantha were now happy in the town home they lived in. She had sold all of the cars and split the money between Danny, Samantha, and I. As for the restaurant, mom decided to keep it until Darryl graduated from culinary school and took it over.

None of us knew where Daniel and Kevin were and no one cared, so long as they stayed out of all of our lives. Mom, Danny, and David had gotten the lawyers to make sure that the two of them could never cause problems for any of us again.

Of course, the other thing that had been waiting for both Jonathan and I when we’d gotten off the plane had been news about Mark. He had been sitting in jail ever since he’d tried to shoot Jonathan that day outside of the restaurant. However, he hadn’t been quiet about it. He’d tried to get his parents to help him get out and get back to me, but his mother had immediately seen the wrongness of it. It had taken stern warnings from her to keep his father from helping him.

When that had failed, he’d tried to get his lawyer to dig up dirt on Jonathan. He tried to prove that Jonathan had set Mark up so he would end up in jail, out of Jonathan's way as he swooped in to take advantage of me.

Again, that plan had failed, especially since Jonathan, me, and other witnesses to Mark’s behavior testified against him. In the end, he had been convicted of attempted murder and confined to prison for up to 50 years.

That was pretty much the downside of returning home from the honeymoon. The upside was all of the good news and new opportunities that sprung up. One of the good things was that Sarah had announced that she was going to college too. She was going to study fashion design with the intention of designing costumes for the movie industry.

Then, last week, she and Darryl had announced more good news. The two of them had become engaged. As happy as all of us were for them, they said they were going to wait until Darryl had finished culinary school before getting married. That way, he could take over the restaurant from my mother and make it his own.

It had made me laugh the way Sarah had explained it. She had said she wanted to wait, but not that long. In other words, she could wait for Darryl to graduate, but she couldn’t wait until she graduated from design school.

The other thing that had turned out well was Samantha’s new school. She had been enrolled into an exemplary school and had started two weeks ago. Jonathan, Alishia, Danny, and I had all been at the townhouse waiting for her to get home from her first day of school so that she could tell us all about it over cake and ice cream. The smile on her face as she’d looked between all of us and mom, who had picked her up from school, had been priceless.

Turned out she liked the school because everyone was smart like her and she found herself having to keep up with everyone. It was a challenge and Samantha discovered she liked challenges. Plus, she had also found out that one of her friends from her old school was going there too. Still, Samantha had talked on and on about all the things she thought were cool about her new school.

Two weeks later, she was already spending time in extracurricular activities like the Young Scholars club, which was for kids who loved words just like she did. Of course, Jonathan and I had both grinned when she’d told us she was a member of the Science club and the Mathematics club. And Sarah had beamed proudly when Samantha assured her that not all of her activities were so nerdy since she also signed up for art and choir.

I already knew that I would be seeing less of my sister than she had originally planned, but I wasn’t complaining. I was extremely happy for her and proud that she was making an effort to stand on her own.

Besides, I was going to be pretty busy too. My first day of college was going to be this coming Monday. I had already signed up for my classes and paid for them. Jonathan and I were planning on going to the campus the day after tomorrow to look it over and finish buying the rest of my books.

Other than school and studying, I was going to continue to make this place into our home. I decided that I wasn’t going to work during my first year of college and Jonathan had agreed with me.

However, I had already let David know that I was willing to work in his firm when I started my second year of college. He was already working with the school in setting everything up for me next year. So, for now I was concentrating on being a new wife and a new college student. Next year, I’d add to my dreams.

The sound of the front door closing startled me out of my musings.

“Beautiful?”

I grinned as the sound of my husband’s voice came floating from the hallway. “I’m in the kitchen!”

I made my way into the living room to see Jonathan tossing his suit jacket on top of some boxes while he loosened his tie. He gave me his usual smirk as he said, “God, I missed you!”

I giggled and made my way into his arms, allowing him to pull me in for a kiss. As it ended, he only pulled away enough to lean his forehead against mine. His lips continued to brush over mine as he spoke.

“I’ve got some good news.”

“Really?” I whispered.

“Um hm,” he whispered back before kissing me again.

When he pulled back again I asked, “What is it?”

His smile grew wider as he said, “You’re going to be an aunt.”

My eyes went wide at that. “Oh my God! Alishia is pregnant!”

At Jonathan’s nod, I laughed and hugged him tight. He returned the hug since we both knew Danny and Alishia had decided to go ahead and try for a family instead of waiting.  Daniel’s treachery had affected my brother hard. Danny had decided that he was going to do whatever made him and Alishia happy. He knew she wanted children and now that they could afford it, there was no point in waiting. Lucky for them, there was no need to wait so long before Alishia had conceived.

“So, are we all getting together to celebrate tonight?”

Jonathan sighed and slid his arms tighter around me. “No. They want to wait until this weekend.” He nuzzled my neck, “I’m glad. I wasn’t really looking forward to going out tonight.”

I pulled back to look into his eyes. “Oh, if you’re tired, I can call mom and tell her not to come over and help me…”

He placed a finger over my lips, “I already called her.”

I lifted an eyebrow, “You called my mom and told her not to come over?”

He smiled, “I asked her if I could have a romantic evening alone with my wife.” He chuckled before saying, “And she told me exactly what to do to make it as romantic as possible.”

I stared at him for a moment before I laughed softly. “She’ll never learn will she? She still doesn’t understand that you don’t need any advice on how to be the most perfect, passionate, romantic husband a girl like me could ever dream of.”

Jonathan swung me up into his arms as he made his way towards the hallway, leading to the master bedroom.

Looking down into my eyes he said, “You’re wrong. I’m a perfect, passionate, romantic husband for a woman like you. Only you. And beautiful, you are my dream.”

I smiled as it hit me. I wasn’t doing something that was out of the ordinary. It was something that was more exciting. Something perfectly natural. Something that wasn’t a dream or anything.

I had found home.


THE END

Chapter 35

Imagine the surprise Jonathan and I got when we thought we were being rudely awakened at seven in the morning after our wonderful wedding night! Jonathan was already out of bed and mumbling under his breath when the knocking at the front door finally penetrated my subconscious.

I rolled onto my side and groggily asked, “Who is it?”

Jonathan grumbled, “I don’t know, but they had better have a really good reason for disturbing us this early in the morning when they knew we just got married!”

My frown matched Jonathan’s as I slid out of bed and hastily pulled on some clothes before joining Jonathan in walking to the front door.

The moment he yanked open the door, we were greeted with a chorus of “Surprise!”

I stared at the small group of people as Jonathan rolled his eyes and retorted, “What? You guys can’t possibly have gotten more sleep than we did! We left earlier than any of you did!”

My mother laughed, “Of course we didn’t! We just wanted to come and see you off on your honeymoon, that’s all.”

“Mom, our flight doesn’t leave until 10am, it’s seven!”

Elise shook her head, “Nope, the flight leaves at 9.”

“So you two should march back inside and take a quick shower and get dressed,” finished David.

“We’ll pack your stuff in the car while you do,” added Danny.

“And we’ll drive you to the airport,” announced Samantha.

“And if you hurry up, you just might be able to eat some breakfast before we go,” said Alishia.

Jonathan and I didn’t have a chance to say a word as Darryl and Sarah began pushing the both of us towards the bedroom as everyone continued to give us instructions.

“Oh my God! Jonathan look at the view!” I exclaimed as the car wound it’s way up the driveway towards the quaint Italian villa our parents had rented for us for the week.

Jonathan nodded as he gazed at the same view, “I know! I still can’t believe they did this!”

I giggled, “We should have known they wouldn’t have let us plan our own honeymoon!”

Jonathan gave me his familiar smirk as he said, “Well, I’m not complaining. I like their plan much better.”

I laughed at that.

He was right. Jonathan and I had decided to rent a hotel in Hawaii on the beach for a week, since we really didn’t have time to make any real plans and the Hawaii honeymoon was a package deal. However, neither one of us had known that while our mothers were planning the wedding, they were also planning the honeymoon with the help of Alishia and David.

Together, they had managed to find the two bedroom rental out in the lush green Italian countryside with the Dolomite mountains not too far away. It really was a beautiful sight. All of the green fields surrounded by huge lush green trees and the magnificent mountains sprinkled with snow.

It was indeed a surprise as Jonathan and I took our shower together then ate the breakfast our mothers had prepared for us while David, Darryl, and Danny had packed our bags in the car.

As soon as we were done eating, all of us piled into three cars and they took us to the airport where they checked us in to another flight to Italy instead of Hawaii. We had thirty minutes to spare in which Jonathan and I gawked and hugged and gave our thanks to everyone for putting this together and loving us so much.

Soon, we were on the plane on our way to Italy, making two stops before we were escorted to a chartered car that took us the hour and thirty minutes to reach the villa that would be our home for the next seven days and seven nights.

As the driver unloaded our bags and took them to the main bedroom, Jonathan and I took in the sights of the house.

From the moment we walked in, we noticed the rustic feel of the place. The entire building was made of stone and the living room which we’d just walked into was a prime example.

In the middle of the room, acting as a divider was the rust colored couch with a low, rectangular coffee table in front of it. The table was made of a pale wood with a glass top and set on an oblong plush rug. In the wall in front of that was the stone fireplace with the same pale wood making up the high mantel and the master bedroom door to the right of it.

Behind the couch was a long buffet table made of the same pale wood and glass. Against the far wall, to the right of the second bedroom’s door, hung a tapestry which seemed to depict a long ago Roman battle scene. At the corner of the wall next to the bedroom door was the beginning of a hallway.

As soon as our bags were in the bedroom, the driver came out and spoke to us with a heavy Italian accent. “Your bags are in the bedroom. Here are the keys to the house. The kitchen has been stocked as requested. And the bedroom and the bathroom. If you need anything else, the phone number to call for service is next to the phone in the kitchen.”

Jonathan and I both nodded as the driver handed Jonathan the keys. He gave us a huge smile, “Anything else I can get you two?”

We shook our heads as Jonathan said, “Thanks.”

He nodded, “Very well then, have a wonderful week.” As he made his way out the front door, he added, “Enjoy your honeymoon and congratulations!”

We waved to him as he walked to his car and left.

As soon as Jonathan closed the door, I squealed and launched myself into his arms. “Jonathan! I love this place!”

He laughed as he hugged me, “You haven’t even seen the rest of it.”

“Well, come on then, let’s go see it!”

I tugged his hand and we walked to the second bedroom’s door to look in. The double bed was set against the window that looked out of the front of the house and the bathroom was at the far end of the room. There was a small closet in the front corner of the room next to an equally small desk. Against the wall opposite the bed was a long, low dresser with photos of the countryside framed on the wall.

We left the room and walked down the hall, entering the door on the right which was the kitchen. Along the wall to the right were the appliances interspersed with cabinets and drawers. A pantry was in the far wall and more cabinets surrounded two picturesque windows on the left wall. There was a small stone island with a wooden top in the center of the kitchen.

We walked back out of the room and into the door on the other side of the hallway, which was the dining room. A tall buffet table was at the other end of the room and a table big enough to fit six comfortably sat in the center. Another tapestry filled the wall separating the room from the living room and this one depicted a feast of some kind. On the opposite wall were two doors that opened wide to give a great view of the oblong pool in the back and the mountains in the distance.

Jonathan had opened the curtains that hid the doors and thrown open the doors so that we could see the view. As we stepped out onto the pool area, we saw the above ground Jacuzzi to the right.

It was a strange sight to us because, while the pool looked every bit a part of the place with the same types of stones made smoother for the pool; the Jacuzzi was very modern. It was surrounded by a very modern wooden screen to provide some privacy from the surrounding area. Still, we both knew we’d be taking advantage of that Jacuzzi while we were there.

We stood there for a few minutes, enjoying the view before Jonathan tugged me back inside and closed the doors. As he closed the curtains, I made my way back into the hallway, towards the living room. Jonathan caught up with me and we made our way to the bedroom door next to the fireplace.

As soon as we neared it, Jonathan swung me up into his arms. I laughed as I slid my arms around his shoulders before leaning in to kiss him. That was the way we entered the master bedroom which would be our home for the next seven days.

Jonathan moaned into my mouth as I continued to kiss him while he made his way into the bedroom. Slowly, I pulled my lips from his giving his bottom lip a lick before turning my head to look around the room. Jonathan growled at that and took two more steps before he tossed me on the bed and pounced on top of me.

I laughed as he leaned down and took my lips in his, devouring me. I let him lean me back against the mattress as his lips left mine and proceeded to lick and nip at my neck. I gave a little sigh and tilted my head back to give him access as my eyes fluttered open.

It was then that I really saw the room. The king sized bed frame was made of wood that was the same pale color as before, only the legs and poles around the bed seemed thick and massive. Beautiful figures were carved into the poles as well as on the headboard set against the far wall from the entrance to the room. The bed was positioned in the center and there were hand carved night stands on either side of the bed.

“Jonathan! Look how beautiful it is!”

Jonathan mumbled against my neck, “Mmmm, you are beautiful.”

I slid my hands between our bodies and pushed him gently, “No, Jonathan. Look at the room.”

“Later,” he mumbled as his hand slid underneath my shirt to cup my breast.

I gasped at the sensation, but continued to tug at his wrist. “Jonathan, wait! We haven’t finished looking at the place.”

Jonathan finally lifted his head look enough to look into my eyes as he whispered huskily, “I’ve seen enough. Right now, I really want to start my honeymoon by making love to my beautiful wife.”

I started to pout, but Jonathan beat me to it when he slid his hand into my hair, dipped me back, and gave me the kiss that always made me breathless. The one he knew made me go liquid in his arms.

I gave up fighting as my arms slid down his chest, curling my fingers into the waistband of his pants before lifting his shirt up. He moved away from me long enough to let me toss his shirt away before moving closer to me again.

After that, we both made short work of our clothes and soon we were under the covers enjoying our honeymoon.

Jonathan and I hadn’t left the bedroom again until the following day when hunger finally woke us up. We’d spent the rest of the evening and night in the bedroom, christening every surface we could think of. Starting out in the bed, we’d soon moved to the desk that was against the wall to the right of the bed and made love both on the desk and in the chair.

After that we’d moved to the rug in front of the fireplace in the front right corner of the room and I’d lain on the rug while Jonathan started a fire. By that time, it had grown dark outside, so we’d enjoyed laying there surrounded by firelight and relaxing. Eventually, we’d started to make out again before Jonathan positioned our bodies so that our hands and mouths would pleasure each other at the same time.

When we’d recovered from that round, we decided to take a shower and ended up with Jonathan taking me against the wall, which was always one of my favorite ways to make love to him. He knew I loved the way he felt so long and thick in that position.

After that, we’d barely managed to dry off as we tumbled back into bed and curled up under the blankets to fall asleep.

When we woke up later, the fire had banked, so Jonathan built it up again and I opened the curtains to the doors on the left wall so that we could see the mountains in the distance. Luckily, the moon and stars were bright enough to see them somewhat. So, Jonathan and I got under the covers again, with him behind me, spooning me. We lay on our sides gazing out at the scenery and just enjoyed being close to each other.

Soon, one thing led to another and we were making love once more in the bed. It was late that night when we finally collapsed against the mattress, both of us too exhausted to go on. As Jonathan fell asleep besides me, I got up to draw the curtains closed before climbing back into bed with him. The moment I moved to his side, his arms automatically hugged me close to his body and he buried his face in my hair.

I fell asleep with a smile on my face and my fingers interlaced with his.

After making a quick breakfast of eggs and toast, we ate our meal on the small round table that was near the doors to the back in our bedroom. With the curtains opened wide, we enjoyed our breakfast and the view.

While I took our remains back to the kitchen and cleaned up, Jonathan put our things away in the dresser that was against the wall opposite of the bed and in the closet that was to the right of the dresser. After I’d finished in the kitchen, I helped Jonathan put away the rest of our things before we got dressed and went for a short walk outside in the field.

We took a blanket with us and found a nice spot beneath some trees to rest. Lying on the blanket in the shade, we talked about the highlights of our wedding and how surprised and thrilled we still were that our family had planned this for us.

I asked Jonathan if he wanted to stay there the whole week or if he wanted to see if there were places we could visit nearby.

“It’s our honeymoon, Alex.” He reached up and slid his fingers through my hair. “Not a vacation. I don’t want to do the tourist thing and hit up all the local attractions. We can do that some other time. I’d rather spend the week lost in you.”

I smiled as he pulled me down against him and gave me a sweet kiss.

When he pulled away, he added, “I also think we should use this time to talk more about our future and what we both want.”

I nodded, “Yes. What we want for ourselves and for each other.”

He nodded in agreement.

I leaned in to rub my nose against his, “Plus, there’s also the added bonus of having you entirely to myself with absolutely no interruptions.”

He laughed at that. “Oh, I so totally agree.”

“Good. So, let’s start now.”

Jonathan quirked an eyebrow before sitting up and looking around. I laughed at that, knowing he was trying to see if the place was secluded enough. Judging that it was, he pulled me into his arms and we both giggled as we began to undress each other again.

After spending the afternoon riding my husband in the shade of huge evergreen trees and resting a bit, we returned to the house to make a light lunch of sandwiches and a side of fruit. Then after napping again, we woke up just as the sun began to fade and went out to take advantage of the Jacuzzi.

The next day we slept in, made and ate brunch, and spent the rest of the day lounging by the pool and talking. Every so often we’d take a dip in the pool and a few times we even played and splashed around.

When the sun began to set, we went inside and took a long hot shower together, but managed to just bathe and not have a repeat of my favorite water sport.

We got out and decided to make a full dinner together. As the food sat warming in the kitchen, Jonathan and I returned to the bedroom and got dressed in outfits we’d packed just in case we’d go out somewhere fancy.

Returning to the kitchen, we began to take the food into the dining room and set it all out to have a romantic formal dinner together.

After we ate and returned everything to the kitchen, we moved to the living room where Jonathan hooked up his I pod to a double set of headphones and we danced to the music there.

The next day, we went for a longer walk into the surrounding field and trees, making sure we could still see the house in the distance. We found a field of flowers and sat down on the blanket to enjoy the light breeze and talk some more.

We actually took a nap out there before we made our way back to the house and made lunch.

We spent the rest of the day lounging in the living room. It never seemed to amaze us at how fast time went by when we were simply lying around, talking, or making each other laugh.

We ended the night there on the couch and on the rug in front of the fireplace after Jonathan had moved the table. I had retrieved a blanket from the bedroom and we’d spent the night in front of the fire in the living room.

The next day Jonathan woke me up saying he had a surprise and took me into the dining room where he’d arranged for us to have breakfast.

Turned out the surprise was for us to have breakfast on each other and then finish off making love on the dining table.

Needless to say, after that, we both needed a shower to get the sticky mess off of ourselves. Still, we giggled and laughed all the way through the shower.

That night, we slept in the other bedroom even though it was rather small since Jonathan and I had decided we wanted to see if we could succeed in christening all of the rooms in the house.

We went for another walk the next day and ended up chasing each other around the nearby field before deciding to head back and cool off in the pool.

We swam for a bit, then sunbathed and talked a bit drinking lemonade that Jonathan had made.

After that, we got back in the pool and got frisky with each other. Our splashing and playing in the pool soon turned heated and before long, Jonathan and I were making love in the pool. Our swim suits had been tossed haphazardly and we ended up just skinny dipping for the rest of the day.

I took a shower first while Jonathan cleaned up, then while he showered, I started dinner. I was standing at the island, with my back to the door when Jonathan came in. After I’d gotten out of the shower, I simply put on one of his buttoned up shirts and nothing else.

Jonathan always liked seeing me in his shirts, so the moment he saw me standing at the island with my back to him, he moved behind me and pulled me back against him.

I giggled when his lips began nibbling at my neck, “Jonathan! Dinner first, remember?”

“Mmmm, no I think I’d rather have an appetizer,” he mumbled as his hands slid under the shirt.

I leaned even closer to him as his fingers slid thorough my folds and began caressing my clit. I slid one arm around him, fingers disappearing into his hair as his other hand moved to cup my breast.

Turning my head so that I could kiss him, I whispered, “No, let’s start with dessert.”

Jonathan moaned an agreement as I turned in his arms and he lifted me up onto the counter, pushing our dinner out of the way.

I slid my arms around his shoulders as he moved to stand between my thighs while I hooked my ankles around his legs. Our lips met once more and Jonathan slowly began to unbutton the shirt before sliding his hands over my bare skin.

As he took my breasts in his hands and began to knead them, I slid my hands down his bare chest and nimbly undid the front of his pants. His lips moved to my neck and I tilted my head back to allow him access.

I slid one hand inside his pants and began to stroke him as his mouth moved down to take a nipple in his mouth.

“Oh Jonathan,” I moaned as his teeth and tongue teased the hardening bud.

The more he loved my breast, the more I stroked him in my hand until I could feel his hot breath quickening against my skin.

Jonathan moved his mouth to my other breast while I used both hands to push down his pants and underwear. In the end, I used my feet to push them the rest of the way down and Jonathan cupped my rear in his hands to bring me to the edge of the counter.

Jonathan pushed the shirt off my shoulders and I shrugged it the rest of the way off before wrapping my legs around his and pulling him back to me.

Our lips met in a heated kiss, my hand going between his legs to grip him and guide him to my opening. With a serrated moan, Jonathan slid deep inside of me and took my hips in his hands to steady me.

I lifted my head to look into his eyes as he began to slowly slide in and out of me. “Jonathan.” I moaned, “Oh Jonathan, you always feel so wonderful.”

He nodded as he panted, his eyes boring into mine. “Yes, I love being inside of you beautiful.”

I smiled and tightened my hold on him.

“God! Alex! What you do to me, beautiful!”

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders again and held him close as we both picked up our pace. As I felt myself nearing the end, I tilted my head back and closed my eyes enjoying the feel of my husband as he made love to me.

“Jonathan, I’m close…oh I’m so close.”

“Me too, beautiful.”

I gasped as he hit the perfect spot, then threw my head further back and let out a serrated cry as I fell apart in his arms.

Jonathan held me tight, his face buried in my chest as he continued to pound inside of me both prolonging my orgasm and bringing his on.

The moment I heard him cry out, “Yes! Alexxxx!” I gripped him close and milked him until he slumped against me, completely emptied.

We stayed that way a few long moments before he slowly lifted his head to give me a tender kiss on the lips.

I sighed as he pulled away and cupped my cheek in his hand.

“I love you, beautiful.”

I leaned my forehead against his and whispered, “Love you too.”

We shared a smile before he helped me down and we put our clothes back on before salvaging dinner.

On our last full day there, we spent most of it in the master bedroom watching the sun rise, eating breakfast in bed, making love, and chasing each other around the room.

We took a nap and woke up to take a short walk before going back to our bedroom to watch the sunset and have a light dinner. After dinner, we packed up our things then relaxed in front of the fireplace in the bedroom.

When things started to heat up again, we moved to the bed and spent the rest of the night enjoying the feel of each others bodies. Even with the slow, pleasurable love making of the night, we still managed to get enough sleep so that we could get up in time to meet our driver.

Jonathan and I had gotten up early enough to take a shower and eat breakfast before the car arrived to take us to the airport. Still, we both slept most of the plane ride home.

I frowned as Jonathan and I walked into the airport holding hands. Only David and Elise were there to greet us when I had known mom and Samantha were supposed to be there too.

As the two of them came up and hugged us, asking us if we had a good time I interrupted.

“Where’s mom?”

Elise cast what looked like a worried look at David as he answered, “She’s with Danny and the lawyer.”

I narrowed my eyes, “Right now? I thought we’d already straightened out the bond mess.”

David shook his head, “No, it’s about Daniel.”

Jonathan slid his arm around my waist as I stiffened “What about Daniel?” I growled.

David sighed, “He tried to get his lawyer to make things difficult for Laura, but they’re handling it.”

“What?”

Elise nodded as she patted my arm, “It’s okay, Alex, they’re handling it. Your mom wanted us to tell you she’d see you later this evening.”

Before I had a chance to say anything else, I heard my name called out. Turning around, I saw Sarah walking swiftly towards me with Darryl in tow. All of us saw the frantic look on my best friend’s face.

“Alex! There’s something you should know!”

“I know, my mom is dealing with Daniel’s lawyer…”

Sarah shook her head, “No, girlfriend.” She glanced at Jonathan before looking back at me and giving my arm a gentle squeeze.

“It’s about Mark.”

Chapter 34

*July 25th, The Wedding*

When the knock sounded on the door, all heads in the room turned towards it. I rolled my eyes as everyone stood there in complete silence before hiking up my skirts and walking over to answer it.

“Hi, Alex,” greeted Elise as she entered the room. Her eyes went wide as she took in the sight of me in my wedding dress. “Oh you look so beautiful! Jonathan is going to love it!”

I smiled, “Thanks Elise.”

I made my way back to the dressing table where Sarah was trying to finish curling Samantha’s hair and Alishia was frowning over my veil.

Alishia shook her head, “I don’t think you should use the white pins with the veil Alex, they don’t seem to be that sturdy.”

“I know Ali, but the black ones will stand out too much.” I replied.

Elise walked up to Alishia and looked down at the veil, “Let me see.”

Alishia handed the veil to Elise who looked at it for a few moments then lifted it to my hair. “It’s supposed to go like this right?”

Alishia nodded.

“Okay then, why don’t we maneuver some stands of hair like this. Then place the veil over her hair like this and fasten it to the hair strands with some black pins here. And use the white pins along the outer edges where it’s okay for them to be seen.”

As Elise finished fastening the veil to my hair, Alishia grinned. “Wow! That works out really well Elise! You’re a life saver!”

I chuckled at Alishia’s relief. “Thanks, Elise. You saved Ali from stressing too much.”

Elise grinned at my comment as Alishia gave a mock pout.

The door opened once more and my mother walked in with a grin. “I’m not sure who is more nervous, the groom or his father.”

Elise laughed, “I know! You’d think it was David who was getting married with the way he was running around the house this morning. In fact, I think it’s all that running around he was doing that made Jonathan nervous.”

I turned to look at Elise, “What was he running around for?”

Elise shrugged, “He was just trying to make sure all the guys were up and getting ready to make it to the church on time. I think he wants to make sure his son doesn’t miss the chance to marry you. He’s looking forward to calling you his daughter.”

I grinned at that. David had already been calling me his daughter over the last couple of months leading up to the wedding. At first, he’d do that and follow it with a muttered comment such as, “Even if her good for nothing real father can’t accept the fact that she’s nearly perfect, I can,” or “Daniel McCain’s loss is my gain.”

He’d been doing that until both Jonathan and Elise had told him to stop with the Daniel McCain bashing because it was driving everyone insane and we’d all gotten the point by now. Still, David continued to boast to everyone who’d listen that he had the best daughter a man could ever hope to have.

Not only did he treat me well, but he’d treated my sister and mother well when they’d stayed in his home for a couple of weeks. Once my mother had gotten the ball rolling for a divorce from dad, she’d gotten her money together and rented a two bedroom townhouse for her and Samantha to move into.

In between moving into the new townhouse, helping me with my wedding, and divorcing dad, she’d also gotten together with Danny and I and told us about the bond money that our father had never mentioned to us before.

She had been right. Our father had set up a bond for each of his children when they were born. That meant that Kevin and Samantha had one too, but the stipulation was that we couldn’t touch it until our twenty first birthday.

However, dad had not mentioned it to Danny because he’d gone and married an ex-model whom dad was wary of. Thinking that Alishia would take Danny for all he was worth, my father refused to tell Danny about his money.

For me, he was waiting until my twenty first birthday to tell me about mine. Of course, he was watching me to see what decisions I’d make by that time. We all knew without a doubt that he would have handed it over with glee if I’d married Mark.

Needless to say, Danny was livid when he found out the reason our dad hadn’t told him about the bonds. It wasn’t the money that Danny was upset about since he was going to get lots of it from his job. It was the way his father viewed Alishia. All this time Danny had thought his family had accepted Alishia, only to find out his father looked down on his choice of a wife.

So, Danny took the case to one of the lawyers at the firm and they began the process of getting dad to release the bond to Danny and to get the terms changed so that I could receive my bond for college.

Danny had gotten his money the moment the lawyers took the case to a judge, but my case was still in negotiation. It was more paperwork than any other reason why my bond had not been awarded to me yet. The lawyers had said that the judge was all in favor of giving me the money to use as college tuition since most bonds were generally meant to help with financial situations such as the one I would soon be facing.

Once all that was being worked on, Danny got the lawyers to make sure Samantha’s bond was still intact and under mom’s protection until Samantha turned twenty one. This way, dad couldn’t touch it once the divorce was final.

It was no surprise that Danny, David, and Jonathan made it clear that my father was banned from making an appearance at my wedding. If he did, there was security waiting to arrest him if he so much as set foot on the grounds of the church and reception hall.

Another knock soon sounded on the door and Terry stuck her head in to tell us that they were ready to begin the ceremony. I gave her a quick hug before she returned to the church to take her seat next to Zach as my wedding guests.

The rest of us walked out together and began getting in line for the procession as my mother and Elise looked me over one last time. Once they were satisfied that all was well, they quickly made their way to their seats at the front of the church.

My mother sat alone, waiting for Danny to join her once he’d walked me down the aisle and Elise sat next to a still nervous David.

We all heard the music begin and I gave a thumbs up to Samantha since she was the first bridesmaid to walk out. She gave me a smile and turned to walk down the aisle.

When Samantha neared the halfway mark, Alishia gave me a quick hug and wished me luck before she too walked down the aisle.

Samantha was met near the end by her escort who was one of Jonathan’s old modeling friends and the two of them walked the rest of the way and parted at the steps. Alishia’s escort was another one of Jonathan’s modeling friends whom she was also familiar with.

Once Alishia neared the end, Sarah turned to me and smiled. “Well, girlfriend, this is it! You are going to be Mrs. Jonathan Parker very soon.”

I chuckled, “I know! I can’t wait!”

Danny laughed, “That was a hint, Sarah! Don’t keep the lady waiting! Get going Ms. Maid of Honor!”

Sarah gave me a hug before walking down the aisle towards Darryl who was waiting for her near the end as Jonathan’s best man. As the two of them walked to the end together and parted, the wedding march began.

Danny held his arm out to me and smiled, “Well, little sister, this is it. You ready to become Mrs. Parker?”

I linked my arm with his and beamed, “Lead on, dear brother, lead on.”

The ceremony went off without a hitch.

I was aware of Jonathan’s eyes on me every step of the way as Danny walked me down the aisle. Danny then shook Jonathan’s hand and placed my hand into his before going to sit next to my mother.

As I recited my vows to Jonathan, I saw the tears sparkling in his eyes and felt the way his fingers curled around mine. It wasn’t until he’d slid the ring on my finger that tears welled up in my own eyes.

And when the priest pronounced us husband and wife, my mother and Elise were both sobbing softly. David kept pretending he had something in his eye.

The kiss Jonathan gave me when the priest said he could kiss the bride was enough to leave me breathless and made my heart soar. In that kiss I could tell how much he loved me and how happy he was that I was now his wife. I only hoped that he could tell how happy I was to be his wife and to have him as my husband.

Finally we made our way back down the aisle as applause surrounded us and followed us into the foyer. We moved into the room where the bridal party had been in before the ceremony to wait for the guests to leave the church so that we could take pictures.

As we stood in the room, Jonathan caressed my cheek and whispered, “You look radiant, beautiful.”

I smiled, “And you look gorgeous, handsome.”

Jonathan grinned at that.

I wasn’t kidding. He really did look gorgeous in his Armani suit. Granted, I had to beg and plead with him to wear the suit because he was just going to get a ready made less expensive suit off the rack. But I convinced him to go all out and wear a designer label since I was going to wear one and we only got one wedding.

It was the one indulgence I had insisted upon because I wanted the pictures of us together to look good. And I knew from experience that putting Jonathan in Armani would guarantee that.

My dress was an off the shoulder, antique ivory gown with a wrap around skirt by Vera Wang. I’d picked it because I’d known it would go well with the traditional looking black and white suit that Jonathan was going to wear.

It was a few minutes before the door opened and Alishia stuck her head in to tell us that we could take pictures now.

After our mothers had fixed us up again and the pictures had been taken, Jonathan and I left the church and climbed into the limousine that would take us to the reception hall. The driver drove us around for a bit to allow the rest of the guests and wedding party to get there before us.

Jonathan and I didn’t waste any time as we set about to promptly mess up all the hard work that had gone into making us look good. He was practically pulling me into his lap as our lips and hands tried in vain to reach through layers of clothing in search of skin.

I moaned into his mouth as his fingers pushed past the skirt and skimmed over my lace covered mound.

He growled the moment his fingers moved under the lace and dipped into my folds, discovering how ready I was for him.

As he stroked me, my hands went down to the front of his pants, trying in vain to get them open and give us both the relief we wanted.

Jonathan leaned back slightly to give me some room to work and happened to glance over my shoulder as he did.

“Alex, beautiful, we have to stop.”

I shook my head in denial as I continued to work on his pants.

Jonathan removed his hands from me and took hold of my wrists. I looked up at him and saw that disappointment in his eyes mirrored what I felt.

“We’re near the reception hall, beautiful.”

I turned my head to see that he was right. We were about two blocks away.

With a sigh of regret, I moved off of him and we both began to right our disheveled state. As the limo came to a stop, we looked each other over before Jonathan leaned down to kiss me quickly.

“We’ll continue this later, Mrs. Parker.”

I grinned as I felt my heart flutter at his proclamation. “Looking forward to it, Mr. Parker.”

When we entered the reception hall, hand in hand, everyone stood up and cheered us on. Jonathan and I made our way through the hall waving, smiling, and thanking those who stopped us to give their congratulations.

Once we were seated at the main table and surrounded by our wedding party, the meal was served. It was a five course affair completely arranged by Elise and my mother. Jonathan and I had nothing to do with it since we’d both said all we’d wanted was to be husband and wife and go on a week long honeymoon.

David had supplied the wines and other spirits for the evening, as well as the champagne that would come out when the cake was cut.

I barely made it through the main course and Jonathan managed to eat portions of all the courses. Of course, he’d done the smart thing and only eaten about half of each portion before the next one was served like most of the others who were there.

Sarah and Darryl both went through the entire five courses as if there was no tomorrow and Alishia only ate the appetizer and salad before she was full. She said she was saving room for the cake as was Samantha.

Once everyone was given ample time to finish the last course, the band started up and we were asked to begin the night by doing the first dance.

So Jonathan held out his hand as he stood up and smiled down at me. “May I have this dance, beautiful?”

I slid my hand into his and allowed him to help me up. “Of course.”

We walked to the middle of the floor as the music began and Jonathan took me in his arms. Needless to say we both promptly lost ourselves in each others eyes as we moved to the music.

As others began to fill the floor, Jonathan and I continued to dance with each other. Jonathan leaned in and whispered, “Did I mention how beautiful you are in that dress?”

I giggled, “Yes, but I don’t mind.”

He kissed my temple, “Well, you are. You took my breath away when you walked down the aisle on Danny’s arm. I couldn’t believe you were going to be all mine.”

I lowered my head to his shoulder and brushed my lips over his neck. I whispered, “I am all yours, Jonathan. Always.”

I could feel him tighten his hold around my waist as we continued to move around the floor. We were both content to just hold each other as the song began to wind down.

Once a new song started, others began to come up and dance with us. Danny was the first to dance with me, followed by Darryl, then David. My mother danced with Jonathan first, then Elise followed by Sarah. One by one we danced with those who shared in our happiness of the night.

When we finally got a breather, Jonathan and I sat down for a while as we continued to have people come up and congratulate us. Neither one of us had any idea that all these people knew us and were that excited about us getting married. There were people from David’s company, Jonathan’s friends from modeling, people from my class, and others that worked in my father’s restaurant that had come to know me. Others were people that our parents knew or were guests of the wedding party.

Jonathan and I really didn’t mind that the wedding had turned out to be huge, all we’d cared about was that we were able to go through with it. That in the end, we were married and happy. So, everyone there seemed to be enjoying it as much as we were and we couldn’t have asked for more.

Later in the night, Jonathan and I cut the cake as the champagne was opened and distributed throughout the place. We had the first bites, feeding it to each other with smiles on our faces.

As the other slices made their way through the crowd, Darryl stood up and made his speech as the best man. “Here’s to Jonathan, my older brother for finally finding his place in life and finding an incredible woman to be his wife. Here’s to Alex, for making an honest man out of my big brother.” He stopped as others laughed at that. “But most of all, here’s to a long, happy life for the two of you. May you both have lots of joy, laughter, and love together forever. Because if you don’t, Sarah is gonna make my life a living hell.”

We all laughed as we raised our glasses and took sips before Sarah stood up to give her speech. “Alex, girlfriend, I’m glad you found your way and stood strong about what you wanted in life. I’m glad that Jonathan is someone you wanted to help support you in your choices. And Jonathan, girlfriend, I’m telling you now, Alex is a very special woman so you’d better treat her right. If I ever find out that you broke my best friends heart in any way, you’re going to lose your girlfriend status and I’m kicking your ass!”

More laughter erupted and Sarah waited until it died down to continue. “Seriously, you two are the most perfect couple I’ve had the privilege to know. You genuinely care for each other, support each other, and seem to understand each other well. So, I too hope that continues to hold true for the rest of your lives together. Here’s to a long, perfect life for you two.”

As everyone raised their glasses again, she added, “Because if you don’t, I’m gonna make Darryl’s life a living hell!”

Once more everyone erupted into laughter and applause for Darryl and Sarah’s speeches.

The rest of the night seemed to pass quickly as we continued to mingle and dance among our family and friends.

The celebration was still in full swing when Jonathan and I decided to take our leave and return to our apartment. We were catching a plane early in the morning for our week long honeymoon, but we both wanted to enjoy our wedding night before we got some sleep.

As we got ready to leave, Jonathan removed my garter and tossed it to the group waiting for it. It was a sight to see Darryl leaping into the air and snatching it away from the guy in front of him. It was like a scene out of a football game! Needless to say he beamed as he came down with the garter firmly in his hand and immediately made his way to Sarah for a congratulatory kiss.

I threw my bouquet next and Samantha was the one to catch it. My mother congratulated her, but made sure she understood that she wasn’t to marry until after she’d graduated from high school.

After that, Jonathan and I waved goodnight to everyone and climbed back into the limousine to return home.

I stood in the middle of the bedroom watching Jonathan remove his suit.

The minute we were inside the apartment, Jonathan had begun to remove his clothes while walking me back towards the bedroom. My arms had been locked around his shoulders as we kissed passionately.

Once Jonathan was undressed, he came to me and caressed my cheek with one hand. I smiled and looked up into his eyes as his hands moved down my neck and over my shoulders.

He leaned down to give me a slow, sweet kiss before moving behind me. He slowly worked the buttons of the dress loose, baring my skin. As he did, he slid his fingers over me, making me close my eyes as shivers of desire moved through me.

Slowly he pushed the dress down my body, letting it pool around my feet. His fingers moved up my legs, over my lacy thong, and up my back. Placing his hands on my shoulders, he turned me around to face him and allowed his eyes to roam over me.

Lifting his gaze back to mine, he spoke in a husky voice. “God, beautiful, I still can’t believe you’re mine.”

I gave him a tender smile before taking his hand in mine and lifting it to my lips. I kissed the ring I had placed on his finger, then placed it on my hip. Leaning forward, I covered his lips with mine and whispered, “I love you, Jonathan Parker, my husband.”

Jonathan made a sound deep in his throat, somewhere between a whimper and a groan, and pulled me to him. He deepened the kiss and swung me into his arms, carrying me to the bed.

I lay back against the sheets as Jonathan moved over me, his hands never still. Soon his lips moved over me, in the wake of his caressing hands. I pressed my breasts to his chest as he reached beneath me to undo the clasps of my strapless bra. As his hands caressed, his lips kissed and sucked on my breasts.

He moved from one to the other, giving them both equal treatment and making me purr in contentment. As I buried my fingers in his hair, he made his way down my body. He stopped to nuzzle my stomach and dipped his tongue into my navel a couple of times as his hands stroked my sides.

Moving lower, he curled his fingers around my thong and slid it down my hips and thighs in an incredibly slow way. His mouth followed the path of the thong as I lifted my hips to ease the removal. Pressing kisses along my hip and down my leg, he soon began to nibble on the inside of my thigh as he tossed the scrap of material over his shoulder.

As he settled his body between my legs, I widened them to give him room. He nudged the inside of my thighs a bit more before blowing over my wet mound. As more shivers ran through me, Jonathan licked me from back to front causing me to lift my hips in the air.

I gasped as his tongue slid through my folds and dipped inside of me. He slid his tongue deftly along my walls as he lifted a hand to caress my clit. My hands grasped his head as my legs widened and I lifted my hips to get closer to his mouth.

My thighs began trembling as I could feel the end nearing. Arching my back, I could feel Jonathan’s tongue slide out of me and begin licking my clit, while his fingers moved to where his tongue had been. As he began pumping his two fingers in and out of me, he took my clit into his mouth and began gently sucking.

Jonathan increased the thrusts of his fingers and kept pace with the harder sucking of his mouth on me. I came with a scream as my thighs clenched his shoulders and my body spasmed with my climax.

As my body slowly came down from its high, Jonathan remained where he was, leisurely kissing and licking my folds, my thighs, and my stomach. He waited, watching me as my body relaxed against the sheets and my breathing began to return to normal.

Lowering my gaze to him, I held my arms towards him. “Come here, Jonathan. I want you inside of me.”

Jonathan smirked and kissed the inside of my thigh before sliding his body up mine. As our lips met, I rolled us over until I was pressed against the full length of his body.

I slid my lips from his and kissed my way from the corner of his mouth, down to his neck. Nibbling my way over his shoulder, I ran my tongue over his collarbone before dipping it into the hollow at the base of his throat.

Jonathan moaned as my hands wandered down his chest, nails scrapping over his nipples. I slid down his body as I kissed my way over his chest. Stopping to lick and suck on his nipples, I straddled his thighs and took him into my hands.

I stroked him slowly as I continued to move my mouth down his body until he could feel my breath on his cock. Jonathan slid his hands into my hair as I licked the head like a lollypop.

His eyes were glued to my mouth as I slowly took his length into it. I tightened my mouth around him and slid my hands over his thighs. As I began to knead his thighs, I sucked him in earnest.

Jonathan let out a growl as his hands gripped my head harder and urged me on. I used my tongue to swirl around his cock and pressed it against the sensitive underside of the head. Jonathan threw his head back and croaked out an, “Oh, fuck!”

As I slid one of my hands to his balls and began to massage them, Jonathan removed trembling hands from my head and gripped my shoulders. Forcefully, he tugged me away from my feast and pulled me up his body.

I pouted, but otherwise didn’t complain as I licked my lips. That motion caused Jonathan to groan.

“Beautiful, you are killing me.”

I smiled as I raised up to my knees and slowly sunk down onto him. “No baby, I’m bringing you to life.”

Jonathan settled his hands on my hips as I began to find a rhythm of riding him. His hands helped with the pace and his hips lifted to meet mine.

I arched my back as his hands slid up to cup my breasts. Using my knees as leverage and my hands that were now clasped around his forearms, I picked up the pace. As my body bucked against his, I whimpered in protestation. I was so close, but I wasn’t reaching the end.

Jonathan responded by wrapping his arms around me and rolling us over until I was underneath him again. As I lifted my legs and wrapped them around his hips, he rose up to his hands and began thrusting hard into me. That was the perfect angle for him as he slid in and out of me, pushing me over the edge.

I dug my nails into his arms as I screamed his name in bliss and tightened my legs around his hips. That was all Jonathan needed to roar my name and spill his seed into my welcoming body.

We clung to each other as our orgasms washed over us and left us sated and drowsy.

I knew I’d fallen asleep when I felt Jonathan slide off of me and spoon me into his body. As he slid the covers over us and I moved closer to him, he wrapped his arms around me.

“Goodnight Mrs. Parker, love you.”

I smiled sleepily. “Night, Mr. Parker, my love.”

Chapter 33

A few days after Jonathan and I had told our friends and family about our wedding, David came over to our apartment.

I opened the door with a smile, “Hi David, Jonathan isn’t here right now.”

He nodded, “That’s okay. I actually wanted to talk to you. Do you mind?”

I shook my head, “Not at all, come in.” I stepped back to let him in.

As he sat down on the couch, I closed the front door and walked over to him. “Can I get you anything?”

“No thank you. I’m good.”

I nodded and sat next to him on the couch. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

He gave me a smile as he said, “I heard that you got accepted to the state university in the city.”

I nodded, “Yes, I start at the end of August.”

“Well, congratulations Alex. It is a fine business school you will be attending.”

I smiled, “Thanks, David.”

He nodded, “There’s something I wanted to discuss with you. After Jonathan came to me and said he would be helping you with school finances with the money he’s already saved up, plus the money he will earn when he goes back to work for me I thought there could be another way to help the both of you out.”

“Really? How’s that?”

“Well, I know it may be too early since you haven’t even started school yet, but I was wondering if you have an idea of where you’d like to work when you graduate.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I know I will look for something locally, but I haven’t looked around at the possible places yet.”

He nodded, “I thought so. Well, I would like to be the first to offer you a place in my firm if you’d be interested.”

I stared at him in shock. “In your firm?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“David, are you sure you know what you’re asking? It’s like you said, I haven’t even started school yet. How would you even know if I can do it?”

He gave me another smile, “I trust my son, Alex. Jon was always really good at what he did and he always had an eye for seeing the competition. So, when he told me about how good you already are at accounting, I thought it was perfectly natural to offer you a position in the firm. Whether you do accounting or bookkeeping, you’ll have a place there. Plus, you can work your way up to a management position if that’s what you want to do.”

I arched an eyebrow, “So you’re saying you’ll have an open position in four or so years?”

He chuckled, “I’m saying that if you want to start interning when school starts, you can do so. I know I can work with the school to make arrangements for you to start interning with my firm as soon as possible. Even if you don’t want to stay there, it’ll help to have experience, plus I can arrange for the pay you earn as an intern to go towards your school payments.”

“Wow,” I whispered.

“Now you know you don’t have to agree to it Alex. Even if you don’t want to accept this, Elise and I will do everything we can to help Jonathan and you pay for your expenses. I just thought I’d help you out not only with the expenses, but with some experience for you. And you don’t have to make a decision right away. I mean, before school starts if you want to start working then, but if you want to wait a little longer, that’s fine too. No matter what you decide, I’ll find a way to make it work for you.”

“Thank you for the offer David. And you’re right, I do want to think about this for a while before I give you an answer.”

He nodded, “Not a problem. I just wanted to make the offer now, so you would have some time to think about it.”

I nodded.

“Okay, well now that that’s done, there’s one more thing I’d like to give you.”

I chuckled, “Why am I beginning to think Jonathan put you up to this?”

He grinned, “Trust me, he didn’t. He did tell us about the things he’s been trying to do for you and of course Elise and I decided we’d help out. You are going to be family after all, so it’s only natural for us to take care of you the way we try with our sons.”

As I chuckled again he said, “Jonathan told me about the situation with your dad and the car he gave you.”

I rolled my eyes, “He did, did he? Did he also happen to mention the struggle I went through when my father was trying to buy me a car in the first place?”

He grinned, “Yes. He said you tried to convince your father to get a reasonable car and not something flashy or expensive like everyone else in your family had.”

I nodded, “Yes. That’s why I left the car with my father. It’s his and I don’t want anything to do with it.” I sighed, “Although I know I’m probably going to have to look into getting a second hand car soon otherwise I’m going to drive Jonathan crazy with having to take me places or pick me up.”

“Well, you won’t be driving him crazy any time soon.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “What did you do?”

He stood up and dangled a set of keys as he said, “Why don’t you come outside with me and take a look.”

As I followed him to the front door I said, “Oh David you really shouldn’t have done this. I was going to wait and get a used car, one that would be good enough to get me around until I could afford to get a new one. I didn’t think…”

I stopped the moment we’d made it outside and David motioned to the car a few parking spaces down from the apartment.

“David!” I whispered.

He gave me a smile, “I hope it’s not too far out of your range.”

I slowly shook my head as I continued to stare at the car. It was a red Toyota Camry. And just looking at it, I knew it was at least two years old, but still looked relatively brand new.

As we walked over to it, David filled me in. “I figured you’d like the Camry and I decided not to get a brand new one for you, even though there was one on the lot that kept tempting me. Anyway, this one is two years old and has five hundred miles on it. I had it checked out and it’s still in very good condition, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”

I nodded as I looked the car over.

“So what do you say, Alex?”

I sighed, “David, you really didn’t…”

“I know, but you do need a car since Jonathan will be going back to work soon.” He shrugged, “Think of it as an engagement present from Elise and me.”

I laughed, “An engagement present huh?”

I turned to look at the car again. I couldn’t help but be amazed at how astute David truly was. He’d known exactly the kind of car to get for me. This was not a flashy, expensive car. It was a used car, in fairly good condition, and it was very economical. Exactly the kind of car I would have gotten for myself.

Finally I turned and looked at David with a smile. “I love it David. Thank you.”

He grinned, “So, you’ll take it?”

I nodded, “Yes, I would love to have this car. It’s perfect.”

He chuckled and dropped the keys into my hand, “You’re welcome.”

Jonathan slid his arms around my waist and leaned over me, pressing a kiss against my neck as we walked out of the restaurant.

I giggled and leaned back against him. “Dinner was wonderful, Jonathan.”

He chuckled and whispered into my ear as we waited for the valet to bring the car. “Can’t wait to get home and have some dessert.”

I turned around in his arms and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “Hm, and I would love to share it with you, handsome.” I whispered as I tilted my head back in invitation.

He gave me his trademark smirk as he leaned down to kiss me. Just as his lips met mine, we heard screams and I felt something whiz by us.

Jonathan and I looked up at the same time, but it was Jonathan who saw Mark first. He was running towards us, pointing a gun. Jonathan didn’t hesitate to push me behind him.

We all heard the sound of the gun going off again and I felt Jonathan push me down to the ground as more screams rent the air. I could feel Jonathan stumble back against me, but as I looked up at him, he was already running towards Mark.

This time I was the one who screamed as I watched the scene play out in front of me in horror.

Mark had been trying to aim the gun at Jonathan through the crowd of people he was maneuvering through. Jonathan had been dodging thorough the crowd too, making it hard for Mark to aim at him. But there was suddenly an opening in the crowd and Mark aimed. A split second after Jonathan lunged at him, Mark pulled the trigger. Just as I screamed, Jonathan dodged the bullet and grabbed Mark by the waist, lifting him up and slamming him down into the pavement.

I scrambled to my feet and ran towards the two of them as Jonathan kicked the gun out of Mark’s hand and pounced on him when he’d tried to get up.

“Jonathan! Stop!” I yelled as he began to pummel Mark.

I knew better than to get in the way, but Jonathan wasn’t listening to me. Mark lifted his hands and tried to get in a few swings. I could see some of his hits connecting, but they were no where near as effective as the ones Jonathan rained on him.

As I continued to hover around the two of them, Mark reached up and dug his fingers into Jonathan’s left shoulder. Jonathan screamed and wrapped his hand around Mark’s wrist, attempting to pull his fingers away. It was then that I noticed the blood covering the front of Jonathan’s shirt.

“Jonathan!” I gasped as Mark shoved him off of him and tried to scramble up.

Just as Mark got to his feet and prepared to lunge at Jonathan, voices intruded.

“Freeze, Police!”

Everyone froze as the police made their way among us, trying to find out what had happened.

With my heart in my throat, I turned to look at Jonathan. He was still laying on the ground where Mark had shoved him, his eyes closed in pain.

“Jonathan?” I whispered as I moved towards him.

A police officer stepped in my way. “Don’t move, ma’am.”

I looked up at him, “Please, he’s my fiancé and he’s injured!”

“He’s not the one who had the gun, it was the other one. The other one shot him.” The police officer and I turned to see a group of people standing behind a line of police officers among whom one of them had spoken.

“Are you sure?” asked the officer.

Several heads nodded and one of the men spoke, “Yeah, that guy” he said as he pointed to Mark who was getting handcuffed, “came charging in here pointing the gun at the other guy and her. The other guy managed to get the gun out of his hands before he could do anymore shooting.”

The officer nodded and stepped back, allowing me to go to Jonathan. As I stumbled to his side and knelt down besides him, I could hear the sound of an ambulance approaching.

“Jonathan?”

He opened his eyes to look up at me. “Alex?”

I smiled as I ran my fingers through his hair, “Hold on, baby. The ambulance is on it’s way. You’re going to be okay.”

He gave me a small smile and threaded his fingers into mine as he closed his eyes once more.

“Alex?”

The sound of my mother’s voice made me look up from the seat in the waiting room where I sat. She was walking towards me with the rest of my family trailing behind.

“Mom!” I cried as I got up and rushed into her open arms. She held me close, hugging me and letting me take comfort in her arms.

I pulled away and Samantha came to give me a hug as my mother asked, “How is he?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know yet. They are still working on his wound.”

“What happened?” asked Alishia.

I sighed as we all took a seat in the waiting room. “We were leaving the restaurant that we had dinner in when Mark came at us with a gun. The first shot missed us and Jonathan managed to push me to the ground before Mark got the next shot off. Unfortunately that shot got Jonathan in his left shoulder.”

As everyone gasped Danny asked, “How bad did it look?”

“By the time I’d noticed it, the front left side of his shirt was soaked. But that was after he’d ran after Mark, dodged the next shot, picked Mark up, slammed him into the ground, and proceeded to pummel him.”

I looked up at my mother as I added, “Even then, I didn’t notice until Mark managed to dig his fingers into Jonathan’s wound before shoving him off of him.”

As my mother frowned Alishia asked, “How did Mark know to find you at the restaurant?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know. Jonathan and I decided to go eat there on the spur of the moment.”

Samantha piped in, “Maybe he followed you two there?”

“Maybe. I was never aware of being followed.”

My mother shook her head, “I thought this whole thing with Mark was over with. I just talked to his mother the other day and she said Mark seemed to be over you.”

I nodded, “I thought so too, mom.”

“I don’t get it though,” said Alishia, “Why would Mark try to shoot you if he wanted you back?”

“He wasn’t trying to shoot Alex, he was trying to kill me.”

We all turned to see Jonathan leaning against the door frame, his left arm in a sling.

“Jonathan! Oh thank God you’re all right!” I exclaimed as I rushed to his side.

He slid his good arm around my shoulders and kissed my forehead, “I’m fine, beautiful. It wasn’t deep.” He turned to look at the others and said, “Mark was aiming the gun at me. I saw him aim it directly at me when he shot me and the first bullet that missed, it was aimed at the spot I’d just shifted away from.”

“What! Someone tried to shoot my son!” boomed David’s voice from the hallway as he and Elise came into the waiting room.

Elise immediately went to Jonathan’s side and he gave her a hug when I stepped away to let him. “Oh, Jon!”

“I’m all right, mom.” He looked up at his father, “I’m fine.”

David pursed his lips to keep from saying anything, but Elise said, “Who tried to shoot you?”

“Mark,” I replied.

David’s eyes went wide, “Your ex? I thought that was over with? How did he find you?”

“We don’t know dad. I think he followed us there. We decided to go out to dinner at the last minute.”

“So, why was he after you?” asked my mother, “He was supposed to be over you.”

“He said if he couldn’t have Alex, she wouldn’t have me either.” replied Jonathan.

I looked up at him, “What?”

Jonathan nodded, “He said it the last time he tried to aim the gun at me, just before I kicked it out of his hand. He muttered it so low that I almost didn’t hear it, but I did.”

“Okay, so why now? I mean, he’s known that you and Alex have been an item all along.” stated Danny.

“That, I don’t know.” said Jonathan.

“Maybe he was responding to your engagement?” replied David.

All heads turned towards him as silence descended. Finally I shook my head, “But we haven’t told anyone outside of the family yet.” I looked at Elise and my mother as I added, “And none of the invitations have been sent out yet, right?”

They both nodded, until my mother’s eyes narrowed. “Unless…”

We all looked at her as I asked, “Unless what?”

“Kevin! Come down here this instant!” my mother yelled as we all followed her into the house.

My father heard her yelling and came out of his office grumbling, “Really Laura, must you…”

He stopped when he saw all of us behind him. With a frown he asked, “What’s going on?”

As Kevin came down the stairs, my mother turned to glare at him. “When was the last time you spoke to Mark?”

“Huh?” asked Kevin.

“You heard me! When, Kevin!”

Kevin rolled his eyes, “Yesterday I guess.”

“You guess?” hissed Danny. “If I were you, I’d have more respect towards our mother before I knock some sense into you!”

“Fine! Yes, I talked to him yesterday!” he snapped.

“Did you tell Mark about Alex and Jonathan being engaged?” asked my mother.

My father rolled his eyes, “What difference does it make? Everyone knows they’re engaged.”

My mother turned to look at him, “Not everyone. Only the people in this room and Darryl and Sarah know about it. We haven’t sent out the invitations yet so no one else should know.”

Kevin shrugged, “So what if Mark knows, everyone will know when you send the invites out.”

“Mark attacked Jonathan today, Kevin!” I shouted.

Kevin turned to me with a sneer, “Well apparently it wasn’t that bad of an attack.”

“Jesus, Kevin! Mark had a gun!” roared Danny.

“What?” whispered my father.

I turned to him and nodded, “Yes. We were leaving a restaurant a few hours ago and he came with a gun.” I indicated Jonathan’s shoulder behind me. “He shot Jonathan in the shoulder before Jonathan kicked it away from him and beat him down until the police arrived.”

My father turned to look at Jonathan, shock in his eyes. “Good lord!”

Kevin frowned at my father, “I thought Mark was supposed to be a good shot?”

My father cringed as every one of us turned to look at him. My mother hissed, “Daniel, tell me you didn’t have anything to do with this!”

There was a pause before my father swallowed. Finally he said, “I didn’t know he was going to try to kill Jonathan.”

“But you knew he was up to something!” I growled.

He turned to look at me. “I knew Kevin told Mark about your engagement. And Kevin said Mark was upset about it. I didn’t think anything about it until Kevin came home last night mumbling about something.”

Danny growled at Kevin, “And what were you mumbling?”

Kevin swallowed, “Mark said he was tired of everyone thinking of Jonathan as the perfect saint. He said he was going to go talk to the guy and make him tell Alex she was better off without him.”

My mother yelled at my father, “And you knew this! You knew he was going to talk to Jonathan?”

“I thought he was going to talk to him. I didn’t think he’d try to kill him.”

“God dad! This is Mark! Did you honestly think he’d want to talk to Jonathan? He’s never had anything civil to say to Jonathan before!” I screamed.

“Maybe he wouldn’t have talked quietly, but he said he was going to talk. All I heard was what Kevin told me. There was no indication that he was going to kill the man!”

David stepped up to my father then, “Look, I don’t know where you come from, but where I come from, if Kevin had come home mumbling something like that. And knowing what I know you know of this Mark, the warning bells would have definitely gone off in my head.”

My father frowned, “You don’t know Mark, he’s not…”

“Don’t you dare start defending that boy again, Daniel! He’s not your son!” snapped my mother.

“He may not be my son, but he’s just as good.”

Now it was Jonathan’s turn to step up to him, “You know something Daniel McCain? You are a real piece of work. Did it not occur to you that whatever Mark had planned could have involved Alex? Did you not hear what she said?” he hissed. “He put your daughter’s life in danger too! She was right there when he tried to shoot me the first time!”

“Mark would have never harmed Alex.” my father snapped.

“You son of a bitch! If he had hurt Alex, I would have kicked your ass!” roared Jonathan.

“I’m kicking your ass just for good measure,” snapped David.

Before either one of them could make a move, my mother walked up to my father and slapped him.

Silence descended in the room as we all stared at them. My mother’s voice came out in a deadly whisper, “How dare you put our daughter’s life and the life of the man she loves in danger like that. Have you no morals?”

My father just looked at her as the shock wore off, he finally whispered, “Laura, I…”

“Save it, Daniel! Whatever justification you have isn’t going to save you this time. You have gone too far! Mark my words Daniel McCain, I will tell your two oldest children the truth about the money you set up for them when they were born and why you never told them. Danny and I will get it all back from you before you know what’s hitting you.”

She turned to glare at Kevin. “And you. I have never been more ashamed of a child I bore than I am about you! How could you have possibly have come from the same place as my other children! You and your father deserve each other!”

She looked over her shoulder and snapped, “Sam, go back a bag, we’re not staying here tonight.” Turning back to my father she hissed, “If I never see either one of you again, it won’t be soon enough!”

As she stormed up the stairs to get her stuff, Elise looked at the rest of us, “I’m going up to help her and ask her to stay with us since we have lots of room.”

I nodded, “Thanks Elise.”

David turned to glare at Daniel, “I’m going to wait with the car, but if Laura needs help…”

“You go ahead, David.” interrupted Danny, “I’ll help mom.”

I turned to Jonathan and slid a hand over his cheek to get his attention, “Will you go wait with your dad while I help Sam?”

“Alex…”

“Jonathan, I’ll go with her.” said Alishia.

Jonathan nodded, “Thanks, Ali.” He looked down at me and smiled, “I’ll wait in the car, beautiful.”

I smiled and gave him a kiss before watching him walk out of the house with his dad. I turned back around and started walking up the stairs.

“Alex…” I paused on the stairs without turning around.

“Don’t. Whatever you have to say, just don’t. Because everything that comes out of your mouth just gets uglier and uglier.” I stood there for a moment before I resumed walking upstairs to help Samantha.

Danny stood at the bottom of the stairs and spoke. “I hope you’re proud of yourself dad. I hope everything you did for Mark was worth all of this. I’m sure he’s going to enjoy the visits you’ll be paying him while he’s in prison for attempted murder.”

Without another word, he and Alishia went upstairs and left my father alone with Kevin, the only family he had left.