K. Lynn - Reciprocity

“Guilty.”

I gasped in shock and pulled back. “My God, what am I marrying?”

He eyed me sideways, his lip twitching up. “Prince Charming, remember?”

I scoffed. “This is one fucked up fairy tale.”

Nathan nodded, then he turned toward me, his eyes softening as he pulled me closer. “Yes, it is, but it’s ours.”

“Oh, by the way, I ran into someone who knows you when we were at the bridal shop.” I’d forgotten all about it.

His brow quirked. “Yeah? Who?”

I wracked my brain trying to remember his name. “Mack something. Said you met back when you were working on the Marconi case.”

Nathan swallowed hard, and set his sandwich down as he turned away from me. His profile didn’t stop me from seeing the color leave his skin. My stomach dropped, and a sickness washed over me. The air around him had become so thick that I was certain Drew and Caroline noticed his abrupt change in demeanor.

He only had that reaction when the Marconi were brought up.

“What else did he say?”

It’d been an innocent run-in, or so I thought. “Congratulations. That’s it.”

He turned back to me, his lips twitching into a forced smile, but his eyes couldn’t hide the combination of anger and dread.

“So, did you hear about Blackwell?” Caroline asked. “Seems he’s all the scandal with that intern Tara.”

I turned to look at her, mouthing a “thank you” as Drew jumped in, steering the conversation away and saving our peaceful lunch as much as possible.

When Nathan came to my office at the end of the day, I could tell he was off. His agitation was seeping through in the expression on his face and the fidgeting of his hands. The silence as we climbed into the car and headed home was a dead giveaway that something was wrong.

I waited, knowing he’d spill when he was ready. It was better to wait and let his mood settle. About ten minutes into our drive, he opened up, but not on the subject I was anticipating.

“Adam’s trying to get a plea bargain,” Nathan said.

I turned in my seat to face him, stunned. “What?”

“I got a call this afternoon.” Nathan’s gaze never left the road, but his anger was evident by the grip he had on the wheel and the clenching of his jaw.

“He’s trying to get out of it.” Of course he would. His demented mind blamed me for all the hardships in his life. “How much will this push the trial out?”

“Depends on how long the prosecution lets it go until they put their foot down and say no.”

“They will say no, right?” I asked, nervous that the prosecutor would deal. If they did, Adam could serve much less time.

Nathan nodded. “With his priors, they’re not going to go easy on him.”

I let out a relieved sigh. “Hopefully they won’t let it go on too long. I want this over with.”

Nathan reached over and squeezed my hand. “It’ll be over soon. That fucker will be in jail, and we won’t ever have to think of him or see him again.”

“It’s not soon enough.”

“I know.”

It was not the news I wanted to hear. We were leaving in a few days for our wedding, and it was souring the mood. The only reprieve was that there was more time for me to prepare for telling a courtroom of people the events of my life with Adam. At the same time, I was ready to get it over with.

My future awaited me, and I would live it, with Nathan, to the fullest.

My hand clamped onto Nathan’s as the airplane engines geared up, and my eyes sealed shut as it rocketed down the runway. I was tense as the wheels left the ground, but I was able to relax after a few minutes.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that.” My grip loosened, and I let out a long breath.

His thumb ran across my fingers. “At least we found a direct flight, so we don’t have to do it again today.”

“Yes, very happy about that.”

“Just relax, Honeybear. In a few hours, we’ll be on the beach.”

I pursed my lips. “Good thing I brought my tablet so we can watch movies and take my mind off the fact we’re over thirty thousand feet in the air.”

He smiled and kissed my shoulder as he leaned over to pull out our earbuds while I let out a long breath.

Thankfully there was very little turbulence through our entire flight. However, finding all the baggage we brought along with the seven people we traveled with was a pain. Half an hour later, we found everything and everyone, and were off to the Divi resort where we were staying. It was a little cramped in the van that came to take us, but we managed.

George and Sarah, Caroline and Ian, Andrew, Teresa and Armando all accompanied us, whereas Jack Holloway and Darren Morgenson would arrive the next day with their wives. Unfortunately, Noah and his wife, Camilla, were unable to come.

“Do we need to call Erin and let her know we’re here?” I asked to no one in particular. Erin and her family had gone down a few days in advance due to her vacation schedule.

Sarah turned around from the seat in front of me. “She said she’d meet up with us when we see the coordinator at three.”

I nodded and looked out the window. The weather was much different than the cold winter in Indiana. The sun was shining and the palm trees were blowing in the sea breeze. Flickers of blue ocean appeared between buildings, and I could almost taste the salt in the air.

When we arrived at the resort, I couldn’t help but smile. It was perfect—the exact image that appeared when I told Nathan I wanted the beach—sun, sea, and salty air. It reminded me of one of the happiest times of my life and would forever be a reminder of the happiest day of my life.

Nathan squeezed my hand and smiled down at me. I grinned back, then launched myself at him. He laughed, stumbling back a bit as he lifted me off the ground.

He kissed my neck. “Are you happy?”

“So happy.”

“Me, too.”

We checked in, and, by some luck, were able to get into our rooms right away. One of my bags went to the room I would share with Nathan, but for tradition’s sake, I was spending the eve before the wedding with Caroline, and Nathan was sharing with Ian.

Nathan had insisted we do our honeymoon to the extreme and splurge on a suite. I wasn’t about to complain.

We agreed to meet for lunch at the buffet after getting settled, and I headed in the opposite direction from Nathan. Caroline took my hand and smiled, swinging our arms between us.

The first thing I did when we entered was unpack my dress and hang it up in the closet.

“Hmm, we may have to have it pressed,” Caroline said as she looked it over. Her eyes scrutinized it as she pulled at the fabric and released it. “I’m sure the hotel can do it. We can ask Marie when we meet with her.”

It did have a few wrinkles and was looking on the limp side. After all, it had been stuffed in a suitcase for the last eight hours.

I shut the closet and moved over to the sliding door that led to the balcony. The second I stepped out, I was hit with the warm sea breeze and the salty tang in the air. My hair blew around my face, and I sighed as I soaked in the warmth.

“Thank you for picking the beach.” Caroline bumped my shoulder. “I needed a vacation.”

“Thank you for coming.”

“Wouldn’t have missed it for all the tea in China.”

“You don’t even like tea.”

She shrugged. “Okay, how about all the stars in the sky?”

My lip twitched. “The stars are in space.” She huffed and pinched my side, making me cry out.

“I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. How’s that?”

I leaned my head on her shoulder. “Better than you could imagine.”

Meeting with the event coordinator, Marie, went smoothly. She was a petite brunette with a curvy figure, round face, and wide, bright green eyes that stood out against her tanned skin. Her bubbly and open personality set me at ease the moment we met.

She’d done a great job asking all the questions in the few short weeks before the wedding and rolling it all together in time. Granted, I wasn’t a bridezilla. I let her fill in a lot of the blanks. In the end, I had a feeling she liked having the freedom to plan a wedding for a bride who wasn’t so specific on every single detail. Especially with the short timeline.

Marie snapped her binder closed and stood after going over everything with us. “All right, I’ll see all of you back here in two hours for the dress rehearsal. Hopefully you can round up the men by then.” She snickered and waved as she headed back to her office.

I was so happy to have her. She’d made the whole process so much easier and kept me from having a panic attack.

“The boys will probably be at the pool bar,” Erin said with a roll of her eyes. Her skin was pink from playing in the surf with her boys, and she had raccoon eyes.

Caroline snorted. “It’s always five o’clock when you’re on vacation.”

“We should find them before they get trashed and sun-baked.” Sarah sighed and smiled at me.

I wondered if Nathan was having a drink as well. After my accident, it was only some wine here and there or a margarita at Erin’s—our Friday nights were a long gone thing of the past. Though, the reason we stopped was due in part to all the medications we were on, along with therapist directions. In the end, it was a good thing for both of us, but it was vacation, so I suspected we’d be partaking quite a bit more than normal.

Teresa slipped her arm in mine and smiled. “Come, mi niña, let’s find them.”

As we walked through the lobby, I couldn’t help but take notice of how…different things were. Four women were paced with me, talking to me. I was involved and part of the group. In fact, I was the center of attention. It was surreal.