Chapter 18 Penelope #2
“I have my own vows as well,” I lied, squeezing Jamie’s hand.
He didn’t need to know that these words were from the darkest, deepest part of me.
I recaptured his gaze and didn’t falter or lie when I said, “It’s always been you, Jameson.
Always in the back of my mind at night, in my chest, expanding with my lungs in the morning, when the sun would warm the earth.
You were always in my dreams when I thought of forever.
However long you give me, I will happily accept. ”
His eyes searched mine as if he were silently asking if it were true, or if I was posturing, just like he was for our audience.
Members of the Chaos Kings and the Stone Riders.
People who needed to believe that this was real.
I, like him, gave no implication whatsoever on whether I meant the words or not.
He’d given me the world today, only to remind me it was manufactured and on loan. One day he’d belong to someone else, and I would simply be a fulfilled promise, checked off a list.
Natty knew how to throw a party.
The Drip had been completely renovated with strung-up lights, paper lanterns and a spread of food that had to have taken her hours to prepare.
There was a three-tier cake decorated with edible flowers, matching the ones in my bouquet.
Callie and Laura were already helping get people moving down an assembly line to eat.
Red was behind the counter too, mixing drinks.
Jamie’s hand was caught tightly in mine as my eyes watered and I waddled forward until I was hugging Natty in a tight embrace.
“You did all this?”
She hugged me back and laughed. “Red, Laura and Callie all helped just as much as me.”
Pulling back, I searched her face in a silent question. Hers softened as she pulled my hand up to her chest.
“Penny, it’s your wedding day. Regardless of your reasons, you’ll remember this one for the rest of your life. It’s worth creating a beautiful memory out of it.”
Jameson’s hand skimmed my back as he stood close. People walked up to him with a handshake and clap on the back, but his grip wouldn’t leave my waist.
More people swarmed us with well wishes and then Margie King was in front of me with tears in her eyes and a warm smile on her face.
“Penelope,” she breathed and then pulled me into a hug. “I can’t tell you how happy this has made me. How badly I needed a little bit of joy in my life, and I am beyond excited to meet this little guy.”
She pulled back and looked down at my stomach.
I didn’t have words or even the ability to breathe.
With a hopeful expression, she asked, “can I feel him?”
I nodded, relishing the warmth of Jameson at my back and the way his mother’s warmth seemed to be soaking into me. I’d always assumed Margie was stern and cold, more like Gene. I had no idea this treasure of a woman was inside. The baby kicked right as her palm shifted, and her grin was instant.
“Jameson, feel this.” She reached around me and grabbed his hand, pulling it over my stomach. It made it so he held my waist with his left hand and reached over me with his right, so I was completely cocooned by him.
I wasn’t prepared for him to feel my son kick. Not that Jamie had ever been mean toward me regarding the pregnancy, but it was Luke’s baby. I didn’t ever anticipate that Jameson would care, even after his statement about raising him that he’d made to his club.
“He’s going to be such a strong kicker,” Margie said, completely beaming.
Jameson’s fingers pressed lightly into the spot his mom had been as if he wanted to feel the kick as well.
“I’m going to have to come back down here once he’s born, so you have some help.”
Jameson removed his hand. “Mom, don’t freak her out.”
“That’s not necessary at all, Margie. I’m so flattered, but we wouldn’t have anywhere to put you, it’s such a small cabin.”
Margie just waved us both off. “Jamie will put me up somewhere, but I’m not missing a single second with my new grandson.”
So many emotions flooded me as I stood there smiling at Margie. It felt like stepping into a dream, one that couldn’t be real no matter how badly I wanted it to be.
How was she just accepting this? There’s no way anyone would just jump on board this fast, knowing their son was going to be stuck raising another man’s child…unless…
The realization cut through me painfully fast.
Margie must be in on the farce and helping Jamie build up the image that we were genuine in our feelings. She was merely part of the play.
Hurt tried to break through the haze of joy that I’d been swept up in all day, but without proof, I just wouldn’t let it. For now, I’d tuck away my assumption and hope for the best. At least until I had the chance to find a wildflower and press it into my journal with a wish.
We danced, ate, and drank for another three hours. By the time the night wound down, I was barefoot and exhausted. Even the flats were becoming too tight with my swollen ankles.
It was close to eight when that steady presence at my back shifted in front of me, tugging my hand into his.
Jameson looked as tired as I felt as he pulled me behind him, pushing through our little celebration.
It had started with maybe fifty people from the wedding but had grown significantly as the night went on.
I didn’t miss that Jameson took us through the back to where he’d parked his truck.
I wondered if that had to do with the still tense relations in town due to the online activists.
They’d mostly waned over these last few weeks, from what I understood, but I could sense the clubs were still on alert.
I pushed the thoughts away as I took in the tall white truck before me.
Someone had decorated his windows with pink and blue markers, the words, “Just Married,” covering every free inch, along with images of wedding bells and… yep, penises.
Jameson helped me into the passenger seat while a few people spilled out of the coffee bistro, clapping and yelling for us.
I noticed most of them, surprisingly, were members of the Chaos Kings.
It seemed that Jameson’s plan had worked.
The second we said I do, his side of the hall had erupted, and then I was hugged, smiled at, and called their new Queen of Chaos.
I felt a warmth begin to glow in my sternum, but I tamped it down. These same men had treated me like garbage mere days before. It shouldn’t have taken a fucking wedding to earn respect or even to just be treated civilly.
With both of his hands on the wheel and a look over his shoulder, Jameson veered us away from Rose Ridge. We passed the city limits and kept going until we’d cleared the neighboring town of Pyle and the farmland surrounding it.
“Where are we going?” I rubbed the silk still covering my stomach. Thankfully my dress was comfortable. I’d found something cheap and easy to alter, with the right paneling—the dress stretched for me while still looking gorgeous.
Jamie flicked a smile over at me. “West Burling.”
My mouth dropped. “Everything there is extremely expensive…it’s where all the people who don’t want to live in Richland go. All the elite upper class with tax brackets that we couldn’t—”
His hand came over and gripped mine. “I know.”
With a steady gaze on the road, and a gentle hold on my hand, I let his words settle and decided I wouldn’t ask anything more and just let the night unfold.
West Burling crept up nearly forty minutes later, and as much as I hated myself for it, I sat forward in my seat as I took in the tall buildings all lit up and the beautiful moon—white sidewalks all tailored with iron lampposts and twinkle lights.
People were walking down the street in and out of shops, holding shopping bags while laughing together.
Women wore sleek bobs with glossy hair that shone under the bright signs, their false lashes and perfectly-manicured nails lit up under the soft lighting of their cell phone screens that likely cost more than my whole car.
Top of the line phones and smart watches, purses and shoes.
Most of the people I saw were in their late forties to early fifties.
They were the wealthy elite who probably thought they were slumming it by not living in Richland.
I nearly laughed as I wondered if they called this town small or quaint.
Jameson kept going until we were pulling into a half loop in front of an enormous hotel, several stories high. The entrance was all lit up and the glass door gleamed as someone ran out to greet us. Jameson jumped out of the truck and talked with them, then walked over to my side, opening the door.
“Welcome, Mrs. King, we’re very glad that you chose The Heights as your honeymoon destination.”
My stomach flipped, which resulted in another hard kick from my son.
Mrs. King.
All the words seemed to fly so effortlessly as Jameson held my hand and helped me step down from the truck. I smiled at the man wearing a red velvet blazer, his gold name badge gleaming under the lights.
“Thank you, Kenny.”
He smiled, giving me a blush. “Your suite is all ready for you, please allow me to bring your things up and park your vehicle.”
Kenny handed Jameson a ticket of some kind, while Jamie handed off our keys, and then the valet gestured toward the parting glass doors.
I had never been in anything so nice. The marble floors looked like glass under the lights, and there was a fountain in the lobby with ceilings that I had to tip my head back to see.
Everywhere I looked, there was more opulence than I had ever dreamed of.
We stopped by a desk only briefly to get our room key, which was on a small circular key fob and then Jameson was guiding me toward a set of elevators.
I didn’t dare say anything out loud, not about how nice this place was or how he was able to afford it…
or the biggest question of all, why on earth he was treating this like a real honeymoon.