Chapter 37
COLT
Valentine’s Day.
The words felt surreal. I watched Hallie, her mother, Hallie, and April walk out of their apartment building. They were all dressed in pink. Apparently they had color coordinated things. All but Hallie piled into the back of the limo.
Hallie walked directly into my arms. “Thank you,” she said. “You didn’t have to do all of this.”
“I wanted to. It’s your wedding day. It should be special.”
“You are special.”
“I love you,” I said and kissed her forehead. “I’ll see you at the altar. Get out of here. I think we’re breaking rules about seeing each other before the wedding.”
“It’s only if I’m in the gown,” she said.
“Oh? Is that so?”
She grinned at me, her face already flushed with excitement. “You’d better be there.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I kissed her quickly, then pulled back before I could be tempted to climb in with them. “Now go. Get pampered. You deserve it.”
She climbed in with her friends. I heard the laughter and the unmistakable sound of the champagne being opened. The driver closed the door, nodded at me once, and then climbed into the driver’s seat.
I watched the limo pull away, carrying my bride-to-be off for a morning and afternoon of mani-pedis, hair, makeup, and whatever else women did before their weddings.
My wedding.
Our real wedding.
I turned to find Frankie standing behind me, her phone already out and recording.
“Getting sentimental?” she teased.
“Maybe.” I grabbed my coat from where I’d left it on the porch railing. “Come on. We have work to do.”
Hallie had invited her to spend the day with them, but Frankie insisted she needed to help me.
There was still some tension there. I got it.
Frankie was looking out for me. She wasn’t in love with Hallie, so she didn’t have the same understanding of the situation as I did. And I believed Hallie. I trusted her.
We picked up my tux from the dry cleaner.
“Are you going to feed me or am I supposed to starve until your wedding dinner?” Frankie asked.
I smiled. “You’re hangry.”
“I’m hungry.”
“You could have gone with them,” I said. “I could have picked up my own tux.”
She rolled her eyes. “When have you ever picked up your own drycleaning?”
Good point. “My driver knows where the place is.”
She shook her head. “Someone needs to make sure you don’t get cold feet and run.”
Much to Frankie’s amusement and embarrassment, I had the driver take us through a McDonald’s drive thru.
In our limousine. It was cold and wet out and I wasn’t interested in being in public.
The story of my canceled wedding was still pretty big news.
No one knew we were still getting married but just out of their sight.
I liked that. I liked that it was just for us. The people that mattered would be there.
With our quarter-pounders, fries, and sodas in hand, the driver started on the trek out to the Hamptons.
I’d spent the last two days orchestrating this, coordinating with vendors, bribing people to drop everything and make this happen.
Last-minute, on actual Valentine’s Day? The bribes weren’t cheap.
Frankie had helped. She never complained. Never lectured, but I knew she was still a little apprehensive. She was a good sister.
We ate our greasy food and worked on the final details. When we pulled up to the beach house, I saw that every dollar had been worth it. The property had been transformed.
Heated glass enclosures wrapped around the back porch and spilled out onto what would have been the snow-covered beach.
It was the most obnoxious billionaire solution for having a wedding in the Hamptons in February, but I didn’t care.
Hallie deserved something magical, and if that meant spending an obscene amount of money on temporary structures and industrial heaters, so be it.
Spread the wealth, right? I couldn’t take it with me. And Hallie deserved something nice after what we’d been through together.
“Holy shit,” Frankie breathed as we got out of the car. “Colt, this is incredible.”
“Yeah?” I looked at her, suddenly nervous. “You think Hallie will like it? Should I have gone with a bigger enclosure?”
“She’s going to lose her mind.” Frankie was already filming, panning across the setup. “Whoever you hired did an amazing job.”
We walked through the enclosures together. I inspected every detail. The ceremony would take place on the back porch, the same porch where Hallie’s father had hung that crooked screen door. I specifically told the crew not to fix it. Hallie loved it just the way it was, squeaky and lopsided.
The porch itself was decorated with candles in glass hurricane lamps—hundreds of them, creating a warm glow even in the afternoon light. The color scheme was silver, gold, and a light sand color that matched the beach beyond, with occasional pops of dark green from winter foliage.
Everything was elegant. Classy. Perfect.
“Talk me through it,” Frankie said, still filming. “What made you choose this place?”
“Because it’s Hallie’s,” I said simply. “This house is everything to her. Her father built half of it with his own hands. She has memories in every room. When she talks about it, her whole face lights up.” I touched the crooked screen door gently.
“I wanted her to get married somewhere that matters. Not some fancy ballroom in Manhattan that would have been about me. This is about her. About us.”
Frankie’s eyes were suspiciously bright behind her phone. “That’s really sweet, Colt.”
“Don’t get sappy on me.” But I was smiling as I continued through the space, checking sight lines and making sure the aisle was clear.
The chairs were simple white folding chairs that would seat about thirty people. Not the two hundred we’d originally planned. Just family and close friends. The people who actually mattered.
“How did you even pull this off in two days?” Frankie asked.
She had helped with a lot of the planning, but not all of it.
And the video she was creating was for Hallie for later.
Frankie was interviewing me. One day, ten, twenty years down the road, I wanted Hallie to watch the video and know how much I loved her.
What lengths I was willing to go to for her.
“I made a lot of phone calls. Spent a lot of money. Called in a lot of favors.” I shrugged. “When you’re Colt Jesson, people tend to move mountains. If you pay them enough.”
“Modest as always.”
“It’s not modesty. It’s reality.” I moved to the end of the aisle, where I would stand and wait for Hallie. The view from here was perfect—the ocean beyond, the house behind, Hallie walking toward me down an aisle lined with candles.
My heart skipped a beat. In a few hours, this would be real.
“So,” Frankie said, lowering her phone. “Ring check?”
I pulled the small box from my inside jacket pocket and held it up.
“Let me see,” she demanded.
I flipped it open playfully, angling it away from her phone’s camera, then snapped it closed before she could get a good look.
“Colt!” She pouted. “That’s not fair.”
“Life’s not fair.” I grinned at her. “Don’t worry. You’ll see it soon enough.”
“You’re the worst.”
I pocketed the ring box and checked my watch. Guests would start arriving soon. And Hallie would be here in about an hour to get ready upstairs while I stayed down here, keeping the ceremony space a surprise until the last possible moment.
“I’m glad you came around,” I said to Frankie as we headed back toward the house. “About Hallie, I mean.”
She was quiet for a moment. “I’m still processing everything.
The lies, the original plan, all of it.” She paused.
“But when you called me that morning, after you’d been on the phone with Hallie at four in the morning, and you told me what happened—how she stayed on the line with you, how she didn’t push, how she just… was there—I realized something.”
“What?”
“That she loves you. You. Not the idea of you or your money or your status. Just stupid old messy you. The broken, complicated, occasionally infuriating you.” Frankie bumped her shoulder against mine. “And anyone who loves you that much deserves a second chance.”
My throat tightened. “Thanks, Frankie.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I’m still going to be watching her like a hawk for the first year of your marriage.”
“I’d expect nothing less.”
We went inside the house, and I was struck again by how much work needed to be done. The place really was falling apart. But it had good bones. And with Hallie’s vision and my resources, we’d make it beautiful again.
We’d already talked about how we’d split our time between Manhattan and here, how we’d restore the house together, room by room, making it ours while keeping all the parts that mattered to her.
It was going to be our project. Our home.
I headed upstairs to the small bedroom that had been set up as my prep space. My tux hung on the door, freshly pressed. Everything I needed was laid out and ready.
I got dressed methodically, then adjusted my bow tie in the mirror, trying not to let jitters spook me too much. My path was clear. I was getting married. To Hallie. The woman who taught me to love again.
She had suggested a pre-nup, in case there were any lingering doubts about her motives for marrying me, but I declined. She was it for me. There were no other options. If she left me, she could take all my money.
I wouldn’t care. It would be losing her that did me in. The thought still felt surreal.
Me. Married. A husband.
No one was going to believe we actually got married. Not that I cared what anyone thought. It was all about me and Hallie. We knew what was real.
Downstairs, I heard voices as guests started arriving, a few of my close friends and business associates who’d been able to make it on short notice. The Valenteen board members had been uninvited. This wasn’t about business anymore.
“Knock, knock.” Frankie’s voice on the other side of the door got my attention.
“Come in.”
She walked in and held up a bottle of whiskey and two plastic cups. “Thought you might want to calm the jitters.”
“I don’t have jitters. Mostly.”
My sister smiled. “Well, I do. Drink with me.”
I laughed and watched as she poured some of the whiskey into the plastic glasses.
“To your wedding,” she said, raising her glass.
“To new beginnings,” I added.
We clunked glasses and drank.
“Mom and Dad would have loved to be here,” Frankie said softly. “They would have been so happy for you.”
I thought about my parents. About my father’s stern face and my mother’s warm smile. About how they’d loved each other through everything, through illness and loss and the daily grind of building a life together.
“Dad would have given me shit for doing this so impulsively,” I said.
“Probably. But Mom would have loved Hallie. She always wanted you to find someone who made you laugh.”
“Hallie does, yeah.” I smiled thinking about her. “She also drives me crazy, puts me in my place, and makes me want to be better.”
“That’s how you know it’s real.” Frankie set down her glass. “I’m happy for you, Colt. And I’m sorry for how I reacted when I found out about the revenge plot. I should have given you both a chance to explain.”
“You were protecting me. I get it.” I put my arm around her shoulders. “You’ve been protecting me since Lauren died. But Frankie? I don’t need protecting anymore. I need this. I need Hallie. I know better than anyone that love is a risk. No more being scared.”
“Good.” She leaned her head against my shoulder. “Just promise me you’ll be happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”
“I promise.”
We stood there for a moment. I felt grateful for her.
For everything she’d done for me over the years.
For being there when I fell apart. For helping me put the pieces back together.
Things were changing. Hallie would be my rock now.
I understood that it was going to be an adjustment for Frankie, but I also hoped it meant she could worry less about me and have her own life.
“I can’t wait to start off on a better foot with Hallie,” Frankie said. “We need a do-over. I was so awful to her.”
“She understands. And honestly? You’re going to fall for her just like I did.” I squeezed Frankie’s shoulder. “She’s impossible not to love.” I paused. “Just don’t stand her up on a beach date. She really doesn’t like it.”