Just Let Me Love You (Judge Me Not #3)(52)

“I think it’s a great idea,” I reply.

“Then I think we should do it,” Chase says.

And that is how Nick and Chase reach an agreement to go into business together—outside the diner where my relationship with Chase first started, where two broken people found a love that made them whole.

Sometimes things really do go full circle, one beginning leading into another.

And so it goes…





Chase



I set up my new business with Nick Mercurio—my unlikely, but somehow great-fit business partner.

“Fucking crazy,” I murmur when all the paperwork is complete.

The whole time, though, I am smiling like crazy. I mean, shit, my own business. Wow! Who would’ve thought this former felon could turn his life around to this extent?

I would have never dreamed of such good things. But the true credit lies with one person. And it’s not me. It’s Kay.

She doesn’t like to hear it. She believes I would’ve succeeded with or without her, but she couldn’t be more wrong. She is my rock, my balance. Kay is golden, and if I hadn’t already married her, I’d do it all over again today.

Speaking of which…

Following my late-afternoon business meeting with Nick and our new business attorney, I return to the farmhouse. I find Kay on the back porch, lazily swinging to and fro.

I take a seat beside her and give her a peck on the cheek. “Hey,” I say.

“Hey,” she replies, reaching over to take my hand. “How’d it go with Nick?”

“Great.” I sit up a little straighter and proudly proclaim, “You are now looking at the president of Gartner Contracting.”

Her arms fly around me as she tells me, “This is so incredible, Chase.”

“It is,” I agree, and pulling back so I can see her, I add, “Now that everything is coming together, we should talk with Father Maridale about that church wedding.”

“You’re right,” she says. “His not knowing we’re already married is starting to feel weird.”

“Nobody in Harmony Creek knows,” I remind her.

“Uh…” She looks away.

“Kay?” I prompt.

She glances over at me sheepishly. “I may have mentioned something to Missy this past weekend.”

I’m kind of surprised Kay told Missy our secret, but I have no room to talk since I divulged the same info to my brother back in Vegas.

But does any of that really matter?

The way I see it, now that some time has passed there’s no reason to keep our Vegas marriage a secret for much longer.

I relay this exact line of thinking to Kay, and she says, “True, but I think we should still talk with Father Maridale first. He’d be upset if he heard the news from someone other than one of us.”

I agree, and the next morning, bright and early, we speak with Father Maridale. We find him in his office in the rectory. He’s not mad or upset when he hears our news, but he is rather surprised.

“Oh, okay,” he says, looking a little dejected.

He sure perks up, however, when we tell him we still want to have a church wedding at Holy Trinity.

“That’s wonderful!” he says, glowing. I swear there are tears in his eyes. Kay and I tell him that we don’t want to wait too long, and we all conclude a December wedding would work out best.

December is only two months away, but we plan to keep things small and intimate. I don’t foresee planning on such short notice to pose a problem.

“You sure you don’t want something big and fancy?” I ask Kay, just to be sure.

“No way,” she assures me. “I like our plan just fine.”

I feel the same way. I’m glad our nuptials will reflect our relationship—a relationship defined by a pure and simple love.





Kay



December rolls around and with it comes the wedding. I’m beyond happy. Well, happy except for one thing—I’m still not pregnant.

“Be patient, Kay,” Missy says to me consolingly the morning of the ceremony.

She is in the church with me, helping me into a beautiful ivory lace wedding gown. We have the anteroom all to ourselves. “It will happen,” she adds confidently.

“Easy for you to say,” I reply, Motioning to her not-quite-so-flat belly, I lament, “You’re already three months along.”

Yep, that’s right, Nick knocked up Missy…again. Only this time, it was planned. They were hoping for a baby to help ease the pain from the loss of their first one. And their prayers were answered.

In the meantime, despite tons of sex, I am still waiting for a single missed period.

“Don’t worry,” Missy assures me. “You’ll be seeing that little plus sign on the stick soon enough.”

“I hope you’re right,” I reply with a sigh.

Twenty minutes later, I am making my way down the center aisle of the church. The interior of the chapel is beautiful, aglow in soft candlelight. Among the modest gathering of guests in attendance are the ones who matter the most to me and Chase—Will, Abby, Greg, and my parents. Missy is my Maid of Honor. And Nick is Chase’s Best Man.

The four of us, now bound by friendship, convene at the altar before a smiling Father Maridale.