Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
“I’ll see you at the altar tomorrow, Calamity.”
I smiled, rubbing my face along his jaw, before saying, “I’ll be the one in white.”
If I’d known I was going to live this long, I would’ve taken better care of myself.
—Quaid to his dad
QUAID
She wore red.
Not pinkish red.
Blood red.
She looked magnificent.
The dress itself was bright red with red lace, but flowed down into a white train that was beautiful and fit her completely.
She walked toward me with her father escorting her, and I felt my chest expand.
Mine.
She was mine.
“Hey, Calamity,” I said when she finally got to me.
She beamed. “Hey there, Hot Cop.”
“You’re not wearing white,” I teased when I held out my hand.
She placed her hand in mine, then moved until her belly was pressed into mine.
I felt the kick of our son between us and realized I’d miss that when she had him.
I loved the feel of him moving.
Ever since that day in the ambulance, I felt like I had this tie to him that not even his mom shared.
I couldn’t wait until he was here, and I could hold him in my arms.
Even more, I couldn’t wait to hold them both in my arms as I finally got to take a deep breath and revel in the fact those two vile creatures disguised as doctors didn’t take them away from me.
Her dad let her go, and it was only us standing up there, listening to the preacher start his spiel.
Ellodie and I ignored him as we continued to speak.
“I hate to tell you this, but I’m not a virgin,” she admitted. “And I like red better. It can hide stains.”
I snorted. “Maybe if you were more careful about your hot dog eating…”
“Who takes this woman to wed?”
I jerked and said, “I do.”
“And do you…”
There was more talking, more agreeing, and then the pastor, who took us at our word of fast is best hastily pronounced us man and wife.
I pulled her in close before he could tell me I could kiss her, and said, “You’re mine to the world now, Calamity. What are you going to do about it?”
She threw he arms around my neck and said, “I guess kiss you anytime I want, Hot Cop.”
She was sitting on a camping chair, dressed in leggings and one of my old DPD sweatshirts, with her feet in Auden’s lap.
Auden was drinking a beer and talking to Gable about the security protocols at the hospital. The ER director was forced to enact them after another gang shooting had happened while Ellodie had been out on medical leave.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous that they waited that long.” Gable was agreeing with Auden. “That little girl could’ve been seriously hurt. It’s amazing to me that all it took was someone with clout to point a magnifying glass at the issues with the ER for things to get changed.”
“Agreed,” Auden said. “Ellodie, are you sad that you won’t see these new protocols in action?”
Ellodie’s gaze caught mine as I walked up to her before she said, “I’m actually happy. I still have some friends there. I would hate for them to have to deal with anything scary.”
“You know what’s scary?” Gable asked as he was throwing darts across the room at the dart board that Garrett was retrieving. “That it was the mayor’s granddaughter. That woman is terrifying. I hate going to meetings where she’s in attendance.”
“She’s not that bad.” Garrett admitted.
The rest of my family was scattered around.
Mom and Dad were talking to Ellodie’s parents, and Hollis was trying to get her kid away from Quinn to allow Shayne—her best friend—to hold the baby.
Atlas was talking in a corner with Sage, who was waving her hands in the air and arguing with him about something.
Probably her new job at the police station, if I had to guess.
“I got you a wedding present,” Ellodie said as she held her hand out to me, something large and silver barely concealed by her palm.
I opened my hand, and she dropped a watch into my outstretched fingers.
I took it, then gasped when I saw what it was. “You found it!”
“A Submariner Rolex, circa 1992,” she confirmed. “I’m not sure the significance of the date, and it took me for-fucking-ever to find, but I got it. I was returning a, erm, missing watch of the ER director’s. I might or might not have kept it until he was willing to fix the security in the ER. When he did it, I thought I’d return it via a good Samaritan kind of thing. But while I was at the jeweler, I saw that. I remembered you talking about it with your brothers while I was hurt and grabbed it from the jeweler after he called the ER director to tell him he found his watch.”
I took my old watch off and then slipped the new one onto my wrist, excitement thrumming through my veins.