Mom fastens the back up. “I always dreamed of your wedding day. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. At least we have this moment.”
I look over my shoulder. She covers her mouth with her hand and bursts into tears. I turn and we cling to each other.
“I’m sorry, my darling. I don’t want to spend our last hours together crying. I don’t want to waste one minute on tears and sadness. I want to be happy. Will you be happy today? Please, for me.”
I squeeze her hands, and nod, feeling desolate inside.
She wipes her eyes, and looks at me. “You’re so beautiful.” She runs her fingers through the curls at my temple. “My beautiful, strong daughter. You will be strong, won’t you?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“Good. Oh, but one thing.”
Mother moves to retrieve the jewelry box hidden in the top drawer of my dresser. Surprisingly the IRS took nothing from my room, so they didn’t get the jewelry box that mom had always kept hidden from Drake in here.
She takes out the necklace her mother gave her when she was married to my father, and carries it to me. I lift my hair and she fastens it around my neck. It encircles my collarbone closely. A ring of flowers in delicate gold. It’s worth thousands.
We stare at my image in the mirror.
“You look lovely, baby girl.”
My eyes fill.
“It’s time to grow up, Kami.”
She pulls me to the bed and we sit. She places the jewelry box on her lap.
“Luckily the IRS assumed Drake had hocked all my jewelry as his scheme spun out of control, so they never went searching for this.”
I nod.
“I have something for you. I was going to tell you on your eighteenth birthday, but it’ll have to be now. Your grandmother left you something before she died. I’ve kept it hidden safe in the bottom of this box all these years.”
“What is it?”
“Money she’d saved for your wedding dress. Dress money, she called it.” Mother covers a sob with a laugh and pulls a crumpled envelope from under the velvet tray that lifts out. “Cash in an envelope. Who does that? God love her. She never trusted banks.” She places it in my hand. “There’s five thousand dollars in it. Drake never knew about it or he’d have found a way to steal it. I’m lucky I was able to hide my jewelry from him. And now it’s yours. That’s your emergency money. Use it sparingly understand? And if you need to pawn the jewelry, go to Teller and Sons in Atlanta. They knew your grandmother. They’ll give you a fair price. Don’t lose it, Kami, especially the sapphires. They’re worth the most.” She gives the box to me, her hand lovingly brushing over the inlaid pearl design.
“Daddy gave you this for your first anniversary, didn’t he?”
She nods. “Promise me you’ll take care of it. It’s all we have left.”
“I will. I promise, Mother.”
We hear a car pull up outside in the circular drive. Mother stands and moves to the window. “They’re here. It’s time.”
I feel my stomach sink like a rock.
CHAPTER FIVE
Saint—
I pace in the kitchen, wondering what’s keeping me from bolting for the door.
Three years I’ve been planning to get my patch. I’ve been a hang-around, then finally a prospect, and now it’s all within my grasp. Deviating from the plan now could screw things up, and Kami isn’t part of the plan.
Everything inside me is screaming this is insanity, just like Kami did. So why am I still here? I sigh. Knowing what I do of her desperate situation can I really walk away now, tell her I’m out and leave her to whatever fate deals her?
I know I’m not that kind of man.
I hear heels clicking on the staircase and I walk out of the kitchen to see Barb coming down. The front doorbell rings and she holds up a finger.
“Give me just a minute.” She makes a beeline for the entry, her heels clicking on the glossy floor, echoing through the empty house.
She swings the big door open and two people enter, a well-dressed woman carrying a briefcase and a garment bag. With her is an elderly man.
“Judge Harlan, thank you so much for agreeing to come.” Barb shakes his hand. “Please come in.”
“I only have an hour to spare. Where are we doing this?”
Barb holds her arm out toward the back of the house. “I thought perhaps out in the rose garden. It’s a beautiful day.”
“Of course. They’ll just need to sign the license first,” the judge says.
The woman hands the garment bag to Barb. “Thirty-four long, you said, right?”
“Yes, that should work. Thank you so much for picking it up. Please both of you, let’s move to the kitchen and I’ll get you a coffee. It’ll only be a few minutes to get everything ready.”
She leads them my way.
“Judge Harlan, this is Santos Chaves. Santos, Judge Harlan will be preforming the ceremony today. And this is my attorney, Alice Martin.”
I extend my hand and shake the judge’s. “Judge Harlan. Thanks for doing this.”
He squints his eyes at me like he’s judging my character as I stand before him in my dark jeans and faded denim shirt. His eyes fall to the ink on my forearms, and I wish I’d rolled my cuffs down. He releases my hand and I extend it to the attorney. “Miss Martin.”
“Pleased to meet you.”
Barb hands me the garment bag. “I took the liberty of having Alice pick this up. I guessed your size. I hope it will do.”
I take it, the reality of how quickly this is all moving washes over me. “Thanks.”
She takes my elbow and guides me to a door. “There’s a guest bath here you may change in.”
I leave them as she’s leading her guests toward the kitchen. Kami is still upstairs, so I go in and close the door. The guest bath is the size of my mother’s kitchen and the fanciest thing I’ve ever seen, all creamy marble and gilt. I pull open a tall cabinet, hang the bag over the top, and zip it open. Inside is a black suit of impressive quality, along with a white shirt and silver tie.
I whistle.
Five minutes later, I’m standing before the large mirror. I run a hand down my chest. It fits like it was custom made for me, the quality fabric hanging perfectly across my shoulders and chest. The pants are a bit loose, and I had to struggle to get the hems over my biker boots, but they look okay.
I hardly recognize my reflection.
I leave my folded jeans and shirt on the counter, and head out to the kitchen. When I enter, the three of them are sitting, and paperwork is spread out on the table.
“Well, my goodness, Santos. Don’t you look stunningly handsome in that suit?” Barb stands and walks over, looping her arm in mine and leading me over. “We just need your signature.”
I bend and sign the papers.
“I thought we’d go out to the garden for the ceremony. I’ll just go up and bring Kami down.” Barb smiles at me, then exits.
There’s awkward silence in the kitchen after she leaves, so I wander back to wait by the bottom of the staircase, my hands in my pockets.
I’m lost in thought when I sense movement and glance up to see Kami standing on the landing looking utterly gorgeous like Cinderella come to the ball, and I’m speechless.