Chapter 9
CHAPTER
NINE
Cruz
“She’s good for you,” Sadie says as she sidles up to me at the reception, bumping my shoulder with hers like she’s always done. It’s one of her ways of showing her brother affection. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this way with anyone. You’re practically vibrating with happiness.”
“She is, and I am,” I confirm as I watch her moving through our family and friends, giving hugs and accepting their well wishes and congratulations.
“How is she doing, really?” she asks, her voice quieter.
“She has her good days and her bad ones, but on the days that things get overwhelming, I help her with it as best as I can,” I admit.
“I know it’s a process, and she’s got a great therapist now.
The one thing that was looming concerned him possibly pushing for rights, but getting married will put a pin in that and he won’t ever know.
” While we promised that only Dex and Jolie would know the truth, Sadie knows the story because she’s the one I called that night when I needed to know what I should do to help her.
I’m close to both of my sisters, but Sadie and I are what our mom calls Irish twins, so she’s always been my confidant for secrets.
“Good. Okay, I’m going to grab another plate of food. Dex’s grandmothers can really cook, can’t they?” she queries.
“I suspect once we announce that we’re having a baby, which we’re waiting to do until she’s in the second trimester, they’ll be bringing food across the road,” I say.
I can see it now, our fridge will be stocked so full that we’ll run out of shelf room to store the piles of food they’ll be serving us.
We may need to add a second fridge to our home with those two bestowing us with the fruits of their labor and using their love language to show us how much they care…
food, it’s always about food with those two amazing women.
Not that I’ll complain; those two women are goddesses in the kitchen. No matter what kind of food they make, it’s delicious and filling. I mentally add on to my current workout so I don’t end up gaining too much weight.
“How’s work going?” she probes. “Do you miss being a nurse anesthetist?”
My chuckle is mirthless as I retort, “What do you think?”
“I’m sorry, it was a stupid thing to ask,” she says, her face falling. “Do you think the attorney you’ve got will be able to push for a review of your case or even a new trial?”
“I’ve sent her everything she’s asked for, but she hasn’t let me know how we’re going to proceed. I know her goal is to get it expunged, then file a lawsuit for compensation, and also get my license reinstated.”
“God, that would be awesome,” she whispers, emotions clogging her throat. “I’m sure you feel like you’re spinning your wheels working in a warehouse. Plus, the money’s nowhere near the same.”
“It’s not, but thanks to the investments I had before I went in, I’m not in any danger of being broke and penniless,” I admit, forever thankful that I had that insight as I tried to cushion my accounts for when I retired.
“In fact, we own the house outright, thanks to the account Mom set up for each one of us when they adopted us. I didn’t have student loans to worry about and it’s been sitting there building interest. The worst part about all of this is my parole officer.
He treats me like I’m a drug addict and I have to take a piss test every single time I go in.
Despite the fact that I’ve never done any illicit drugs, he insists it’s part of my parole.
Not only that, but he does a lot of surprise visits.
I swear he’s looking for something that’ll violate the conditions of my parole so he can send me back to prison.
Ms. Butler is looking into that as well because it’s almost bordering on harassment at this point. ”
“What a jerk!” Sadie exclaims. “Well, let’s change the subject and talk about your new house as soon as I get back with a refilled plate and freshen my drink.
” She scuttles off and I chuckle. Sadie is the middle child, but you’d never know it from her behavior; she acts as though she was the first born.
She’s feisty, often opinionated, and she champions the underdog on a regular basis.
“Hey,” Mindy softly says as she reaches my side. “You okay over here? You’re not regretting this, are you?”
Looking down at her, I smile. With the help of Jolie, her mom, and Dex’s sisters, she found a beautiful calf-length cream colored dress.
It’s a somewhat simple design but on her, it’s fantastic.
I’m not much for fashion and honestly, when she’s knocking around in sweats or lounge clothes, I’m just as attracted to her as I am when she’s all dolled up like she is today.
“I’m fine, kitten, and no, I don’t regret a single thing,” I tell her. “You look beautiful, Mindy, and once we get our pictures back, I plan to put one over the mantle.”
“I don’t deserve you,” she murmurs, looking down at her fidgeting hands.
Reaching out, I pull her close and kiss her temple.
I’m always aware of her slight aversion to touch now, but with me, she tends to lean into me.
In fact, when we kissed after we were married, I was worried that she’d freak out.
Instead, the somewhat chaste kiss we shared was more intimate than if we had sucked each other’s face off.
“You deserve the world, Mindy, and I plan to ensure that happens,” I reply. “Do you think we can sneak away any time soon and go home?”
While there’s still stuff that has to be brought over from our duplexes, the majority of the house is set up, including the primary bedroom.
I don’t expect sex tonight, or any time soon in reality, but I want to be alone with her so I can take her pulse and make sure she’s okay, because these last few weeks, especially this one, have pushed her out of her comfort zone so many times.
She’s put on a brave face, and maybe she is okay, but I need to ask for my own peace of mind.
“I don’t see why not. We’ve done pictures, cut the cake, danced, and even survived the toasts from everyone,” she muses, giggling.
Yeah, the veiled threats from her brother, as well as Jolie, were expected, but they honestly shouldn’t worry or be concerned. As long as I have breath in my body, nothing bad will hit her again.
“Then let’s go. My family is staying here to give us privacy for a few days, and as soon as my parole officer allows me to travel, we’re taking a real honeymoon.
I want to take you to Turks and Caicos, Mindy, because it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen, so I can share that beauty with you,” I say.
“I can’t believe Jolie snuck over here and did this,” Mindy says, her hands on her hips as she looks around at the primary bedroom.
There are lit candles, thankfully the ones with batteries not actual flame, scattered around the room, and the romantic vibe that the flowers plus the lights is giving off has me discreetly adjusting myself.
“Don’t give her too hard of a time. I think because we can’t go anywhere, she wanted to at least make sure you had the romance of a honeymoon suite,” I reply. “What if we get changed and check the kitchen to see if Maria and Josephine left us a little something.”
She snickers because she knows about my sweet tooth at this point, and even though I had a small piece of wedding cake, it wasn’t enough to satisfy my craving. “Can you unzip me, please?” she asks, turning so her back is facing me.
Reaching out, I move her hair to the side so it doesn’t get caught in the zipper.
She’s got a fancy updo thing and the only reason I know the correct term is because of my sisters, and I don’t want to pull it out until she’s ready to take it down.
Grasping the pull, I start sliding it down, my breath catching in my throat when I see how raw looking her skin appears.
“Mindy?” I quietly ask as I finish my task. “Kitten, what have you done to yourself?”
“What do you mean?” Her tone is a bit defensive and the last thing I want is to argue with her, especially on our wedding day, but this is concerning.
How did I not notice? She’s been wearing long sleeve shirts and either jeans, sweatpants, or lounge pants, so her skin wasn’t exposed per se, but that’s not a valid excuse as far as I’m concerned. “Mindy, the skin on your back that I can see is raw and chafed.”
Her shoulders fall and I see them start to shake. Turning her around, I pull her into my arms, uncaring that the dress is now pooled at her feet and she’s standing there in some kind of lacy undergarment that has my pulse increasing even more.
Now’s not the time, asshole, my brain shouts.
“I… I still feel so disgusting and dirty,” she mumbles. Honestly, it’s a good thing she’s in my arms because otherwise, I wouldn’t hear a word she was saying.
“Have you shared what you’re doing with your therapist?” I gently question. “If not, I think you need to do so because she’s there to help you through what happened, Mindy.”
She shakes her head, and I catch a whiff of her scent. At this rate, I’ll be taking a freezing shower, not just a cold one. “Not yet.”
“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do. I know you’ve got lotions and shit, are any of them unscented?”
“Most of them are, why?” she asks.
“Because I’m about to check you over and make sure you haven’t got anything going on in the areas you can’t see, then I’m going to put lotion on you so your skin heals, kitten.”
Some areas were so raw, they had started forming scabs, but thankfully, I saw no sign of infection.
Even though I’m no longer practicing medicine, I still have a full medical kit, because I had the wound wash, skin barrier cream, and light gauze to cover the worst areas.
The rest just needed lotion. After we were done, she got into something a bit more comfortable while I took my cold-ass shower and handled a pressing need that seeing, holding, and smelling her created in my body.
As I put together a tray of the desserts that Maria and Josephine made for us, including a smaller version of our wedding cake ‘so we could have more than a bite’ according to the note, she’s making our drinks.
“So, you’re off the next two days?” she asks as we carry everything into the den, which boasts my seventy-five inch television and a comfortable couch with recliners on each end.
I set everything down in the middle, which folds down while she puts our drinks in the cup holders. “Yeah, figured we could do a little more unpacking and decompress from this past week. I know it probably got a bit overwhelming to you. What do you think?”
“I like that idea. I have the next week off from work, so I can continue puttering and before we know it, the house will be done,” she replies.
“I think we should be able to get the last of the stuff from our places on Monday before I have to go back to work,” I tell her as I pick up the remote and hit one of the streaming services I have. “Do you know what you want to watch?”
“You’ll think it’s silly, but can we watch Sweet Home Alabama? It’s kind of a comfort movie for me,” she replies.
“Sounds good to me.” I’m a closet romantic, not something I’ve shown many because there wasn’t ever anyone I wanted to expose that side of myself to, but my sisters set the stage for what type of man I want to be and I’m going to utilize that with Mindy; she deserves it.
She wakes up as I carry her to the bedroom since she fell asleep halfway through the movie. Since I’ve never seen it before, I watched the rest before shutting everything down so we could go to bed. “I can walk, Cruz,” she protests as I breach the door of our bedroom.
“And I think there’s a tradition somewhere that I’m supposed to carry you through doorways,” I reply as I make my way to the side she’s claimed as hers. “Pull the comforter down for me, please.”
She shakes her head but does as I ask and I soon have her ensconced in bed. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure. I’ll be right back, I’m going to check to make sure the house is locked for the night.”
“Okay.”
Leaning in, I kiss her forehead and say, “Go back to sleep, Mindy, and put whatever thoughts are running through your head out of there. This is us, this relationship will move at the speed that you’re comfortable with, okay?”
“Mmhm,” she mumbles, already sliding back to sleep, her breath evening out before I’ve made it out of the bedroom.
It doesn’t take long to do what my mother calls a ‘reset’ and soon, I’m sliding between the sheets, extremely aware that she’s mere feet away. But, I’m a patient man, so I curl up on my side to face her and will myself to sleep.