Page 43

Rebecca

S ix days later, they were back in Portland. Mitch had been given a guest bedroom in the Stark suite to change into his tuxedo. It was also an opportunity to see what Victoria had purchased for him.

Rebecca, who had visited a salon that morning for a trim, wore her hair in an updo.

She wore a Stark hotel robe and was in another bedroom, looking through a rack of wedding dresses in her size from Trudel’s Wedding Boutique.

The salon also sent Trudel and two seamstresses to make sure they could personally fit her.

They knew what to do and were fussing over the bride.

“I hope Mitch likes what I found for him. It was a lot of fun.”

“Mom, thank you…seriously…more than I can say. I don’t know how we can thank you.”

Victoria hugged her daughter. “I loved every minute of it. Now, let’s find you a dress worthy of that sweet husband of yours.”

Rebecca was drawn to an off-the-shoulder satin gown that fit her like a glove, but in a good way.

She was still self-conscious of her baby weight.

She especially liked that there was a little flower detail at the bottom of the dress with delicate chiffon petals and that there was a veil to match that had the same flowers on the edge of it.

After Trudel helped her into it, Rebecca asked her mother, “Okay, this is a contender. What do you think?”

“It is perfect. I love it,” Victoria said and dabbed away a few tears. “It is the one I picked out for you earlier.”

Rebecca smiled at her mother. “You know that when we return from Saint Barts, we are going to start house hunting.”

Victoria looked like she could barely hold her excitement as she smiled and asked, “May I start looking for you?”

“Yes, please. And keep in mind, we are going to ask you to help us decorate it.” Rebecca knew how much this pleased her mother. Over the last year, everyone had been there for her, but it was so wonderful to see how close they had become.

At 4 p.m. that afternoon, Rebecca was handed a bouquet of white dendrobium orchids.

Then, both Rebecca’s parents walked her down the makeshift aisle, which was lined with trees and twinkle lights, in one of the elegant hotel ballrooms to where Mitch and her cousin Spencer, a newly ordained officiant, waited.

Adam and Melinda were in the audience with their baby A.J.

from New York. Spencer’s parents sat next to them, having flown in from Texas.

Mitch smiled when he saw her and then raised her veil to kiss her.

Alex sat in the first row, next to his parents, and held baby Emily.

When it came time to exchange rings, Rebecca slipped a new platinum band on Mitch’s finger.

It was an exact duplicate of what he had lost in Iraq, but she’d added one little detail: the date of their first meeting when they were younger, as well as the phrase, “ It was love at first sight ,” to the inside of the ring.

Rebecca hadn’t been alone in adding a little something.

Mitch had added the phrase, “ To my Bex. I Will Love You Forever, Your Husband, ” to the inside band of her emerald engagement ring.

They dined on lobster tails and Beef Wellington, as well as drank sparkling cider for the bridal couple—in homage to their baby—before they were given a key to the honeymoon suite, which had been decked out with rose petals and a crib.

Two days later, they left for Saint Barts.

***Mitch***

They honeymooned in St. Barts and managed to have a lovely, relaxing time, making the most opportunity of Emily’s frequent naps. Thanks to Garrison’s assistance, they had a private beach and pool in their own little individual vacation bungalow, which they rarely left during their two weeks’ stay.

The nightmares that plagued Mitch since his escape started to become a thing of the past. He was finally starting to believe that he was home and not living a nightmare.

Much of the clothing Victoria had purchased for them for their trip never left their suitcases. By the time they returned to Portland, almost a month after Mitch’s escape, he had gained weight and looked tan but had no tan lines, and he was looking forward to the next phases of their life.

“Do you think we will ever curb our lust and stop making love at every opportunity?” Rebecca asked. It was the first night they slept in their new house, in their new bed, and had just christened the room by making love.

“First of all, there are twenty-one rooms in this house, and I thought we said we would christen each of them, which I’m looking forward to.”

“I am, too,” she said as her hand gave his butt a little squeeze. “Make no mistake. I have an addiction, and it is you.”

“Good, and second,” he said after giving her a few kisses that traveled down her body and touched every sensitive spot he knew she liked, “I think we are making up for all those years apart when I was in London, and then Iraq. Maybe by, like, our eighth anniversary or so, we will have tamed our mutual horn dog for each other.”

“I really hope not,” she said with a smile. “I think I love you more each day.”

“Me too, Bex. I’m a lucky man to have been given the gift of you,” he said, and his hand traveled over her skin and lingered where his lips had been earlier, which took her breath away.

Later, after they had made sure the room was not only christened but they had re-consummated their relationship for a second time that night, Rebecca’s voice grew edgy.

“I have to say this because if I think about it, I don’t know what to do with my anger. I haven’t forgotten about Lucien Donovan,” Rebecca said.

“Things are in play,” Mitch said as he kissed her lips and tried to make her forget what they had been through. She kissed him back but then put a hand on the side of his face and made him look at her.

“I want to know what you mean by things are at play. We don’t have secrets from each other, and that answer isn’t cutting it for me,” she said, and it didn’t matter that they were naked, holding each other and that he was thinking of ways to distract her. She wasn’t going to be distracted.

Mitch sighed, admitting defeat. “You’re right. I don’t mean to not tell you. You’ve just been through a lot yourself, so I’ll tell you. I just don’t want you to worry. And I certainly don’t want you to kill him. Okay? I mean it.”

“Okay,” Rebecca said, but she sounded disappointed.

“The State Department is going after Lucien, and I’ve hired an attorney in London. He is looking over my original employment contract. You have one, too. Do you remember it?”

“What I remember is that it was a large contract,” she said as her hand gently rubbed his back.

“There was a little clause buried deep inside it. It basically is written that if there was an abduction situation, the company, Donovan Security, would pay up to five million pounds in ransom if requested. They have insurance for just such an event. It is like hole-in-one insurance at a golf tournament. They insure against the possibility. You know, what are the odds? Get a hole-in-one, win a car, so the insurance pays off the amount of the car but only costs a few hundred dollars to buy a policy.”

Rebecca scooted away from Mitch and turned on her side to face him.

As was their practice, they hadn’t turned off the lights when they made love, so just like he could see every nuance of pleasure on her face when he was bringing passion to her, he could see the anger there now.

Stark anger was not to be underestimated.

“Are you kidding me?” she asked. “Did he keep the money?”

“I don’t know if he was ever paid on my kidnapping, but this is going to be a big deal. It might ruin the company. I know we don’t need the money, but the fact I missed Emily’s birth and caused you such pain, well, he has to pay for that.”

“Damn. Straight. What if they had killed you when he refused to pay? My darling, my baby…the love of my life,” she said and started to cry. He pulled her close and kissed her until she forgot everything but the feel of his body rubbing against hers.

Six months later, Lucien Donovan settled the lawsuit for twenty-seven million pounds.

Mitch gave the money, less his legal fees and one million pounds, to the families of the men who had perished during the attack, where he had almost died.

Rebecca actually paid back the life insurance on Mitch that she had placed in trust for Emily.

On the same day Mitch added one million pounds to Emily’s trust fund.The fallout, the way it played in the press, did not do Lucien any favors.

His company declared bankruptcy the following year.

Rebecca’s old boss, Bruce, picked up a lot of new clients when he started his own security company shortly after Donovan Security shut its doors.