Chapter FourteenIan
Chapter Fourteen
Ian
Finally, the day has come for Nora and Jack to tie the knot. A tinge of jealousy takes me by surprise. I’m not upset that they’re getting married, it’s more about the fact that I’m not. The last time Claudia spoke with Calista, she didn’t even ask about me while I want to know every damn detail of her life and have my men reporting back to me.
My man calls me for an early morning report. “Sir, she doesn’t leave her father’s house often and if so, it’s with one of her brothers or her parents.”
“That’s good. Any non-familial males making an appearance?”
“Yes, but we can’t get into the house to check.”
“Good work. I’ll get the rest of the intel another way.”
Before I can call her father, he calls me. “Hey, tell your pricks to keep their distance. My men almost nabbed them today when Calista caught wind of their presence and was frightened.”
“Frightened?” I snarled. The fact that she’d been upset by them makes my blood boil. He should shoot them in the fucking kneecaps for that.
“Yes. She’s aware that my men were there, but the extras were unknown, and she was worried that it was trouble. She told me when she got home today after an outing with her brother. Now, us men are aware of their presence, but I won’t have my daughter scared, unless you want me to tell her that you sent men to keep an eye on her because you don’t trust my men to protect her.”
“It’s not that.”
“No, you want pictures and recaps of her day,” he says with a chuckle.
Sir, I promise that I’m not trying to undermine you or even be perverted.”
“Calm down—I know. You need it for your peace of mind, especially with your father out there.”
“Exactly.”
“Any luck?”
“Not anything my brothers will divulge. They are worried about my recovery.”
“I’m sure they are, and so is Callie.”
That’s news to me. “Is she?”
“She won’t outright admit it, but you’re the only reason she wants to return to Chicago.”
“She will, soon.”
“Good. Now that that’s settled, I have messaged you the time and location of the event. It’s formal, and you can bring your family if you wish,” he informs me.
“Thank you, I will.”
He ends the call, and then I finish getting dressed for the wedding.
When I exit my bedroom, the house smells incredible, like a bakery in full swing. I know that Claudia is running all of her baking out of the house, so it normally smells fantastic, but today is a little extra. My movements are so much better after weeks of physical therapy that I no longer need my cane. I head downstairs, and the smell grows. I knock on the kitchen door, not wanting to collide with anyone, and Connor opens the door. “Good morning. Damn, who knew you cleaned up well?”
“Fuck off. So that is what smells delicious.” I stare at the three-tiered cake that Claudia is delicately adding roses to the bottom layer of.
“I can’t wait for a taste.”
“At least there is someone here who appreciates my work.”
“I appreciate it, trouble. Hell, save one of those bags of frosting for later, and I’ll lick it off your body.” He slides up behind her.
“Get away before I spray you with this frosting.” Connor wisely backs up. “If this cake is ruined, it’s on you.”
“I’m not getting on Nora’s bad side.”
“Amen to that. Then we have to deal with Jack.”
“Who has to deal with me?” he says, coming into the kitchen as well.
“Boys, it’s getting a little crowded.”
“Well, I’m hungry,” I grumble at the same time that my stomach does.
“Ugh. Sarah is picking up breakfast and will be back in five minutes. You can grab some coffee, though.” Each of us goes to the fully brewed pot and grabs some.
“So what are you doing here, Jack?”
“Trying to avoid sneaking in on my wife this morning.”
“She’s not your wife yet,” I tease.
“Don’t be jealous because you still have to wait.”
“Why you got to be an asshole like that for? Hurting my feelings and shit,” I say, pressing my hand to my chest. My brothers crack up, laughing at my misery.
“So what time are you guys leaving tomorrow?” Jack asks.
“Well, if you can have the private jet ready by ten, that would be great.”
He nods and says, “Sounds good to me. I’ll let them know. Is it just the three of you?”
“No. We’ll take two guards with us, and we have three already there.”
“So it’s going to be a full flight home?”
“I wouldn’t say full. The plane fits up to thirty people.”
“That’s fair enough, but how much shit is she bringing with her?”
“Probably not much more than she took with her to begin with. Her apartment’s here.”
“Yeah, and she’s been there for over a month. Your guys told you that she goes shopping a lot with her mother.”
“I suppose that’s true, but you know damn well the plane holds plenty.”
“You’re right. I’m just fucking with you because I’m nervous as shit.”
“What the hell are you nervous for?”
“Let me see… every time I’ve tried to marry Nora, something’s come up. Yes, it hasn’t been that long since we’ve been together, but it doesn’t matter. I feel like something’s going to go wrong.” He slams the coffee pot hard into its slot on the maker.
A loud huff followed by the sound of her icing bag hitting the counter causes us to turn to look at Claudia, who is clearly pissed off. “What is going to go wrong is if you guys don’t get out of my kitchen right now, I’m going to hit you with some cake frosting.”
“We’re going, we’re going. Damn, you’re sexy when you’re angry,” Connor says, smirking as he leaves the kitchen with us.
“She’s going to pay for that shit later, isn’t she?” Jack says, chuckling as he lifts his drink to his lips. I shake my head and then drink from my cup before we enter the living room.
As we take a seat, Connor smirks and then says, “Oh, yes, she is, and it’s going to be so much fun.” He rubs his hands together, biting down on his lip.
“So how much time do we have before we have to be at the church?” I ask.
“We have two hours, and then it’s time for the reception at your house,” Jack says.
My house is the farthest back from the front gates, and it has a large unused ballroom. Hell, most of my house is unused, so we decided it was best to have it there. The caterers and the decorators are heavily at work. This is the last day that I’ll be staying at Connor’s place. My strength is almost back to normal as is my flexibility. Still, I need more time, even though we don’t have it. When it comes to our enemies, we have no idea when they’ll strike.
“Good, then we need to get you ready.”
“Cain,” Claudia shouts from the kitchen.
Connor’s out of his seat and into the kitchen. We follow and see the dog licking a dropped bag of icing.
“Damn it, Cain. Come here.”
“Please tell me you have more,” Jack says.
“Yes, I do, and hopefully it’s enough because I haven’t even gotten ready yet, and making more will cut into my time.”
“Do what you have to. We still have to leave by eleven forty-five.”
“Thanks. Now get him out of here before he sends the cake onto the floor.”
“Come on, boy. Let’s go take a walk.” I led him out back to the yard. “Run amok, now.”
I check my watch and see we have plenty of time before the wedding begins, but just in case, I set a timer. After that’s complete, I take a look at the gallery on my phone and the fifty pictures of my beautiful Calista. She’s perfection.
With each image I scroll past, I relive the moment I first saw her in the club. I didn’t want a soul to breathe around her. Yet, she’s in the largest, most populated city in the world where men can speak to and get near my woman. Her father gave me all the hope I needed. The way she screamed my name plays in my head. Calista moaning my name has kept me going for the past six weeks. I can’t wait to see her again, to hold her, and I’m not letting anyone else get in the way.
“Hey there, Ian. It’s time to get rolling.” I check the time on my phone and am stunned. I’ve been daydreaming about Calista for over forty minutes.
“Thanks,” I sigh, closing the app and then tucking my phone into my suit jacket.
“How are you feeling?” Connor asks.
“I’m good. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough.”
“I’m sure it can’t.” He clasps my shoulder and gives me an understanding nod. There is a team of people to help load the cake into the catering van so that it’s set up for our return. Today should have about two hundred guests. I’m not looking forward to any of it, but it might give us a chance to find out more about my missing target. The second we have a lock on his whereabouts, he is a dead man.
“Sorry I’m late with the food,” Sarah says, hustling into the room. “The caterers are outside and waiting for the cake. They stopped me to ask questions that I don’t have answers to.”
“Thanks for this,” I say, taking the bags from her.
“Not a problem. It’s such a special day.”
“Where’s Connor?”
“He’s helping Claudia get ready.”
“Oh, yeah. Helping, all right. He better make it quick,” I say as I roll my eyes and chuckle.
“Come on—you know it will be over quick,” Jack teases.
“They’ll be down fast because she doesn’t want her cake to be ruined.” We nod, and then Cain comes up to me, rubbing his head on my bad leg.
“Whoa, no, Cain,” Jack yells, trying to shoo him away.
I wave my brother off because I’m good. Frankly, it’s a good test of my strength. “Come here, boy.”
“Ian, your suit. Nora is going to finish the job if you show up with dirt on your suit.”
“I need to hurry up and scarf this down because I don’t have a lot of time to get ready,” Jack says, opening the bags like a starved man.
“Where is your suit?”
“It’s in Connor’s office so it’s away from the dog. Can I use your room to change in?”
“Sure, why not?”
“I want to make sure I have everything I need.” He runs his hand through his hair. “Shit, I feel like I forgot something.”
“I’m sure we can get it with no problem at all.” We both eat quickly, avoiding conversation so that we can get a move on.
“Excuse me, but is Claudia around?” Sarah asks.
“We’re coming,” Connor shouts from the stairwell, buttoning up his dress shirt. Claudia scurries behind him in a pretty pink dress that she and Nora picked out.
Jack’s phone rings, and he answers it while chewing on a bite of his breakfast sandwich. “Hey, what’s up? Yeah, come get him. No, better yet, Connor’s going to come get him.”
“What’s going on?” I ask when he hangs up.
“That was her brother. John’s going a little bit stir crazy over there, and Nora’s trying to get dressed but he doesn’t trust anybody else.”
“Is your truck out front? Or did you walk?”
“It’s out front.” Jack tosses him the keys, and he rushes out. John’s car seat is in his truck. We should all have a spare, now that I’m thinking about it.
“Good. We can have a nice picture with all you boys together.” Claudia waves a digital camera around.
“Hopefully,” I mutter, knowing she’s going to have a hard time getting the picture she wants. “We all know that it’s going to be hard for John to sit still and take a photo.”
“Well, we’ll get what we get,” she adds. That’s a great way to look at it. Whatever photo we manage will be worth remembering. A smile comes to my face thinking about it.
“I’ve got to change.” Jack goes into the office and grabs the travel bag with his suit and heads up to the bedroom, while I relax on the sofa waiting for everyone to return.
“So are you okay?” Sarah asks.
“Yeah, why?”
“You look sad.”
I give her a fake smile and say, “No, I’m good.” I’ll be even better tomorrow.
“Please let me know if you need anything.” She turns to Claudia and says, “Mrs. MacNamara, can I have a word with you? The catering company has questions, and I don’t know what to tell them.”
“Well, let’s get them answered so we can party all night long.” She leaves the room with Sarah, and they meet with the catering crew who comes back in a minute later with a large empty cart for all the desserts and the cake that Claudia made.
“It’s almost too sad that we have to wait for the desserts.”
Claudia comes toward me and places a cupcake in my hand. “Here you go.”
“Thank you for spoiling me.” She’s been absolutely amazing to me since I was hurt. She smiles and gives me a hug.
Just then, Connor walks in and snarls. “What the hell is going on?”
“Calm down,” she says.
“You give a hug and a cupcake? That’s bullshit.”
“You’re the one who doesn’t like sweets, but you get all my kisses. Well, almost all of them.” She leans down as John runs to her legs, giving them a squeeze. She kisses his cheek.
“You all get yourselves together,” Jack grumbles, running down the stairs. “We need photos and then to get to the church,” he adds, looking handsome and nervous at the same time.
I reach out and take my brother’s hand, and then he spots my cupcake. “After the pictures.” Claudia snatches it from my hand and puts it on the mantel where John can’t reach.
I sit him on my lap, and he thankfully doesn’t try to slide off. Jack and Connor flank my opposite sides, behind the sofa.
Claudia moves behind the coffee table and then says, “Smile.” We all do, but John is focused on my lapels. She calls his name, but he doesn’t acknowledge her. We’re able to snap our fingers and get him to look forward for half a second.
“That’s good,” she says. “I’ve got enough shots.”
“Great, because we have to get going.”
“Come on, John.” I get up with him in my arms, and everyone is looking on with curious expressions. “What?”
“You are moving so well now. You’d hardly know that something happened to you, if we weren’t familiar with you.”
“Thanks. It’s due to all of your help.”
“You’re welcome, little bro, but it’s not just us. You wanted to get better, and that’s what did it,” Jack says, giving me a one-armed side hug.
“We better get going. I haven’t even helped Nora at all.” Claudia is completely frazzled.
“Girl, you just did all the baking, and she has her sister-in-law. As soon as we get to the church, you can meet with her in the bride’s room,” Jack says.
We hop in two different vehicles with added security leading and following us. Once we reach the church, Connor can’t keep Claudia in the SUV. She’s out before it comes to a stop.
He panics and jumps out after her, but there are guards at the entrance, and he calms down. We are on alert at the moment, and her excitement could have been dangerous. Jack Senior could be anywhere with his allies lurking in the shadows. We have many other crime families coming today. The enemy list is small, but it could grow into a war if something should happen.
“She’s going to give me a stroke,” Connor says as we enter the church.
“What happened?”
“She wanted to get to Nora as soon as possible.” He rolls his eyes while smiling.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Jack orders. We all walk into the nave to a large gathering of friends and associates. Nora’s family that were invited are at the front on one side while the rest gather around in the other pews.
We receive smiles as we reach the front. John is with Jack until the music begins and then Connor scoops him up. The doors open, and Nora walks toward the altar on her brother’s arm. Jack swallows hard, and we all smile as John shouts, “Mama.”
The wedding guests all sigh and cheer as he pushes out of Connor’s arms and runs up to Nora, who takes his hand. “Come on, walk me to Jack,” she says.
The ceremony is beautiful. Every moment made me ache for Calista and the day she would stand beside me, promising me forever. My hand presses on my breast pocket where the ring sits, waiting for Calista’s finger.
Despite Jack’s apprehension, the wedding and reception go off without a hitch, and everyone loves Claudia’s cake. When I return home for the night, I take some over-the-counter pain meds and go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day until I finally see my woman.