Into the Storm (Signal Bend #3)(97)

He was still standing near the front door. Isaac came up behind him and hooked his arm over Show’s shoulder. “Tryin’ to make your getaway, brother?”

“Nah. Just checking in.” Isaac pulled on his shoulder, and they walked back to the bar.

oOo

It stormed hard through the night, but by morning it had passed, and the sky was blue and dotted with white, puffy clouds. The rain had burned off some of the late-August humidity, too, and the day was fine.

Everything was soaking wet, though, and the creek had topped its banks, as Show predicted. So he was standing in the gazebo next to the good Reverend, Isaac at his flank.

Fewer than twenty people were there for the wedding—all the Horde, the B&B staff, and the feed store staff. Shannon wanted small, and small she got. Her uncle was too ill to travel, and Holly would not yet hear of the girls returning to Signal Bend even for this, so the only family present were all wearing black leather. And whatever Lilli was wearing. Lori Mortensen was on Gia duty inside the inn during the ceremony.

The barbecue was another story, with the whole town coming, and setup for that was already underway.

Show could hear the vague sounds of people milling about on the front grounds. Every now and then, somebody would come around the building for a peek at what was going on in the back, but they respected their wish not to have the town tramping all over Lilli’s fancy garden.

Lilli came through the back door, wearing a pretty blue dress with thin straps over her shoulders. Show had never seen Lilli in a dress, but she looked lovely, her long, dark hair loose down her back, caught off her face with a clip. She walked down toward the gazebo unaccompanied by music, and she didn’t carry any flowers. That seemed fitting, actually. The thought of Lilli holding a bouquet of posies was a little absurd. She stepped up into the gazebo and stood across from Show and Isaac.

Shannon came out of the house alone, and stood on the porch. Show’s heart stopped and then picked up again with a painful thump. Her blazing hair was piled up on her head, loose tendrils curling over her shoulders. Her dress was white and plain, skimming her knees, the top low-cut, hugging her breasts and tied behind her neck. From what he could see of the front, he thought her back must be bare. His cock stirred, and he shifted uncomfortably. It would not do to get married with a raging boner.

She carried a bouquet of blue flowers. He didn’t know what they were, but they were pretty. Some kind of wildflower, maybe. They matched her eyes. Then she took a step, and he noticed that she was wearing flat little white shoes that…sparkled. They sparkled. He smiled. Glamourpuss.

At first, Show thought she was going to walk toward him in silence, and that made his heart hurt a little —everything was almost too low key to celebrate her the way she deserved. But then he saw Billy, a kid who worked at the feed store and had a bar band he and some friends were trying to get off the ground, standing at the foot of the porch steps, an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder. Show hadn’t noticed him before.

Billy began strumming. Show didn’t recognize the song at first. And then he realized he did. He knew it.

Billy was playing it more softly and slowly than the original, but it was a song Show knew well. He smiled, the lyrics rolling through his head.

He guessed they had a song. He hadn’t known they had a song.

When she finally got to the gazebo, he went forward and held out his hand. She took it and stepped up.

“You’re beautiful, Shannon.”

She beamed at him, her blue eyes glittering as brightly as her shoes. “Nice shirt.”

He was wearing a pleated tuxedo shirt under his kutte.

oOo

They were putting off any kind of a trip until the winter, when Shannon’s work was quiet, so they just went home while the party was still in full swing.

The house was so different now. Almost unrecognizable. Comfortable in a way he wouldn’t have thought possible. Home.

They’d just come through the front door, and Shannon was standing in front of him. He put his hand on her bare back, the light coils of her hair tickling the back of his fingers. At his touch, she dropped her head a little and sighed sweetly.

He bent his head to her shoulder and kissed her porcelain skin. “This dress is something else.”

She turned her head to his. “I have something else, too. Upstairs.”

“Silky?” He skimmed his hand over her hip.

She nodded. “And lacy. What there is of it.”

“Excellent.” He swept her into his arms; her little sparkly shoes fell off her feet. She laughed and hooked her arm around his neck, wrapping her other hand around his beard and pulling him close for a kiss.

“Come on, Cinderella.” He headed upstairs to their bedroom, to their bed.

This. This woman in his arms. The way she looked at him. The way she made him feel. This is what he’d wanted, all his life. What he’d needed. Someone to need him. To want him. To know him. Someone he could need and want and know in return. Shannon had come into his life when he was lost in a storm of grief and loss, when the unendurable pain of it had driven him to hollow numbness. And she, too, had been empty, in her own way. They filled each other up.

This. This was love. This was forever.

It hadn’t been too late.



THE END