“Tomorrow.”
She smiled up at me. “Tomorrow what?”
“I want you to marry me tomorrow in Kentucky.”
“What about blood tests, waiting periods and a marriage license?”
I held up my hand and ticked off each point with a finger. “Kentucky doesn’t require a blood test, has no waiting period and we can get a marriage license in the morning by applying at a County Clerk’s office.”
She looked to the side for a moment, her eyebrows raised in surprise, before meeting my gaze again. “You sound awfully familiar with how weddings work in Kentucky.”
“I might have looked it up when I was planning our route home,” I mumbled, and this time it was me who looked away.
Her laughter rang out loudly in the car and I couldn’t stop myself from bringing my gaze right back to her. “You should have started your proposal with that information. It would have gone a long way towards convincing me you were serious if you’d planned this out before we had sex,” she teased. “Unless this is a plan you use for all the women you save.”
Her voice sounded like she was still joking, but the look in her eyes worried me. “This is the first time I’ve ever planned, or even thought about, my marriage to anyone. It’s you. Only you.”
The breath she must have been holding whooshed out. “Good,” she murmured. “That’s good, but what about identification? I didn’t think to bring any with me for my kidnapping.”
Turning in my seat, I dug through the front, zippered pocket in the suitcase Morgan had packed for me and found the envelope I’d had Hadley’s parents send to his home. I opened it and pulled out her driver’s license, birth certificate and social security card.
“Those are mine!” she gasped, grabbing them from my hand. “How did you get them?”
“I called your parents and told them I might need them as part of your rescue.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Aren’t you the guy who had a fake passport made for me without me even having my photo taken for it?”
“Yes, but this needs to be real. I refuse to leave any doubt as to the legality of our marriage.”
“It sounds like you thought of everything except for what I’ll wear and who will marry us.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket, checked my text messages and found a reply to the message I’d sent right before we landed to an Army buddy who lived in Kentucky. “A friend of mine knows a retired judge who will be happy to officiate our marriage.” I jerked my thumb towards the bag in the back seat. “And I’m pretty sure you’ll find a couple dresses in there for you.”
Her gaze darted to the bag and then she moved her seat back all the way down to lean across it and open the suitcase, then pulled out three dresses, two were white and one was cream. “I can’t believe you managed all of this in the middle of rescuing me from kidnappers in the Nicaraguan jungle. You don’t happen to have a secret superhero identity, do you?”
“That depends.” I waggled my eyebrows at her and lifted a piece of white lingerie out of the suitcase. “If I did, would it improve my odds of seeing you in this?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “I’ve never worn anything like it before.” A growl rumbled up my throat, making her giggle. “But I’m pretty sure you could talk me into it since I’ve done a lot of things with you that are new to me.”
“I want you to do all those things with me.” Especially the ones involving lingerie went without saying.
“Then let’s go cross the biggest one off the list and get hitched.”
How quickly she forgot I might have already knocked her up. It was cute how she thought it was the biggest one, but to me becoming parents was at the top of the list. I couldn’t wait to see her belly round with my child. If she wasn’t pregnant already, I’d have to do my best to correct that once we made it to the safety of my penthouse condo.
I was a man of action,always had been and it had served me well in the past. Things were bad at home when I was eighteen, so I enlisted to find a way out. I’d flourished in the Army, finding my niche and serving my country. When I decided a total separation after ten years was the right plan for me, I held firm during my talks with my career counselor, my supervisor and my OIC. It didn’t matter how often they told me another ten years would buy me a retirement—I had a feeling I wouldn’t make it and would be dead by then. Without a college degree and with a unique set of skills I’d picked up during my time in the military, I knew I needed a plan for success. I reached out to Morgan, and with his help my security business was born. The rest was history, as they say.
Each of those decisions led me to this point, as I stood beside the most gorgeous woman in the world and faced the retired judge who would marry us. My buddy arranged for a couple of witnesses, too. All we’d needed to do was grab a license and show up. I’d made a quick detour to a florist’s shop when I’d noticed Hadley looking at it with longing out the window of the car as we drove past. I was rushing her into this marriage, possibly taking advantage of her when she was vulnerable from the kidnappingand killing a man to keep me safe, but I wanted this ceremony to be as perfect as possible for her because this was the only time she’d get married. It was one and done for her. Once she was legally mine, I wasn’t letting her go.
I listened avidly as she repeated after the judge, promising to share her life with me from today forward. Then it was my turn, and my voice rang clear and true as I spoke the words which were truer than any others I’d ever said.
“I, Brecken Kane, take you, Hadley Gresham, to be my wife. I will share my life with you, building our dreams together, supporting you through times of trouble, and rejoicing with you in times of happiness. I promise to give you all of my respect, love and loyalty through the trials and triumphs of our lives together. This commitment is made in love, kept in faith, and made new every day of our lives.”
By the time I was done, tears streamed down her cheeks. She’d managed to make it through her vows without crying, but hearing mine made her weep.
“Are you exchanging rings?” the judge asked.
Hadley’s fingers trembled in my grasp as she shook her head, her cheeks pinkening. I released one of them to dig in the pocket of the suit pants Morgan had packed for me and retrieved a small black box. Thumbing it open, my gaze darted up to Hadley’s face when she gasped. Her eyes were locked on the ring, a flawless diamond solitaire set in platinum. It was bigger than I’d expected, but that wasn’t a surprise since Morgan had picked it up for me. My best friend wasn’t exactly known for being subtle, something for which I was deeply grateful when I spotted the look of wonder on my precious girl’s face.
