Forever Lucy by Terri Anne Browning
“They went to Cole’s for the afternoon,” he said as he climbed behind the wheel. “The old man’s new girlfriend has baby fever right now. Cole’s hoping he can use my babies to burn that out of her. If not, he’s probably going to break it off with her.”
My eyes widened. “Cole Steal a father again at his age?”
Drake laughed. “Stranger things have happened. But he doesn’t look his age. Hell, I don’t even know how old the fucker is. But he’s probably made a deal with the devil for immortality.”
“That’s possible,” I snickered softly. After the meltdown I’d had earlier, it felt weird to laugh now, but it was kind of cathartic.
As Drake drove us back to Paul’s, he called Lana to let her know we were coming. I didn’t hear anything my sister was saying, but from the tight look on Drake’s face, I knew he wasn’t pleased. Anxiousness churned in my stomach the closer we got to the shop. I had reacted poorly, but at least no one but Lana had seen exactly how badly I’d taken Mom’s dress.
At the shop, Drake pulled in behind Lana’s minivan and turned off the truck. “You cool with this?”
I nodded, but I wasn’t completely sure I was being truthful to him. That was my family in there, though, and I knew I had to put my foot down over my wedding dress or I would regret it. “Let’s go,” I told him in a voice that, thankfully, didn’t tremble.
The receptionist was still at the desk when we walked in. She gave me that same megawatt white smile before her gaze fell on the man behind me. Then that smile became something else entirely. “Mr. Stevenson,” she murmured in a sultry voice to match the sexy smile she flashed at him.
“Ma’am,” he said with a nod, but he barely even glanced at her. With a hand at the small of my back, he urged me back to where I’d left my entourage after trying on the second dress earlier.
“Maybe if you three calmed down for five seconds and actually allowed her to make a few decisions on her own, she wouldn’t have to run off to get your fucking attention.”
I froze at the sound of Dad’s booming voice. “What’s he doing here?” I whispered to Drake.
“Lana called him. She thought having Jesse here would make this easier for you.”
I took a moment to absorb that and realized my sister was right. I felt relieved Dad was going to be here. Drake nudged me forward again, and we walked a little farther into the shop until I saw Dad towering over Mom, Natalie, and Aunt Emmie. But as my dad’s bald head came into view, I realized he hadn’t come alone. He’d brought Nik and Devlin with him, and the other two men wore unhappy expressions as they glared down at their wives.
Crap, I hadn’t meant to cause a fight between the three couples.
“Hi, Lucy!” Trinity called out from the other side of the room where I could only assume Jenna had taken the girls while the dads tore into the moms. I waved a little shyly as all eyes snapped to me. “Yay! You’re still wearing the tiara. Does that mean you’re going to try on more dresses?” she asked excitedly.
“Umm, yeah. I think I’m going to,” I told her in a small voice, just then realizing I still had the tiara on my head.
Dad broke away from the group of parents and stomped over to me. Before I could tell him how sorry I was, he wrapped his arms around me. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, Daddy,” I whispered.
“Good.” He pulled back enough so he could look down at me. “We had this talk before, Lu. You ran off without Marcus with you.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I wasn’t thinking very clearly.”
His ever-changing brown eyes were the darkest I’d ever seen them, giving him the look of a Hollywood-style demon. “I’m just glad you went to Drake’s.” He shot his friend and bandbrother a thankful look. “Thanks for taking care of my baby girl, man.”
“She’s my baby too,” Drake shot back.
“I’m sorry for running off like that, Daddy. I didn’t mean to cause trouble. Please don’t be mad at anyone but me.”
Dad’s jaw clenched. “You are never any trouble. Ever.” He kissed my forehead. “Now, I want you to go over there and tell those three to cool their shit. This is about you, not them.”
I bit the inside of my bottom lip but nodded. “Okay, Daddy.”
Hesitantly, I started toward Mom and the others, but it wasn’t until I felt Dad and Drake on either side of me that I finally felt confident enough to do what I had to do. Aunt Emmie and Natalie both wore contrite expressions, but it was the look on Mom’s face that had me faltering. There were tears in her eyes and shame.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” Mom burst out in a voice that trembled. “I didn’t mean to take over your dress like that. I just…” She broke off, and that only made me mad.
“What? Wanted me in your dress? And I don’t mean just the dress you picked out. I mean your dress, Mom. That dress was something you would have worn, not me. Have you forgotten everything you ever knew about me? Because you sure as hell act like it.” Her chin trembled.
“It isn’t like that, baby. I swear—” she began, but I didn’t give her a chance to explain.
“You know what, it doesn’t matter,” I lied then turned my gaze to the other two. “The dresses you picked out were beautiful, but nothing like what I would ever want for myself. Not once did any of you so much as ask what I wanted. Now, if you want to stay and see what I do pick, I would like that. I love you all and want to share this with you. But if you can’t suck it up and let me at least make this decision for myself, then the door is that way.”
Natalie moved so fast it nearly gave me whiplash when she hugged me. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to hijack this experience from you. Somewhere between making this appointment and actually showing up for it, I lost sight of whose day it was.” She leaned back and offered me a trembling smile. “I want to stay, if that’s okay.”
“I would love that.”
“I’m sorry too, Lucy,” Aunt Emmie said as she hugged me from the side. “I didn’t mean to make it seem like you only had those dresses to choose from. The three of us just kind of had a bet on whose dress you would like more or maybe even pick one of them.”
My brows shot up, and I met Natalie’s eyes. “I thought you were against making bets of any kind?”
Pink filled her cheeks, and she lowered her gaze to the floor when her husband bit off a curse from several feet away. “Trust me, I remembered quickly all the bad things that happen when people do that, and it won’t ever happen again.”
“Hey, you’re back!” Kin cried happily as she, Lana, and Paul appeared from the other side of the shop. Each of them had at least four dress bags in their hands. “You okay?”
I shrugged. “I overreacted. I’m cool now, though.”
“Great. You ready to try on some dresses? Between your sister and me, we grabbed every dress that fit what we talked about. And I mean every dress. There’s at least a dozen more already in the dressing room.” She pushed between me and the other two women and wrapped an arm around my neck to give me a hug. “Come on, babe. Let’s go try these on.”
“Here, Lucy,” Lana handed over her dress bags. “Kin is going to help you and Paul. Take your time. Try on as many as you want and have fun with it.”
Excitement started to bubble up inside me for what felt like the first time all day. Between my sister and Kin, I knew they would have gotten all the possible dresses I would ever want to even attempt trying on. If the other three had done this, then the day would have been perfect. Practically dancing, I turned to kiss Dad on the cheek. “You’re not leaving, right?”
Uncertainty flashed in his eyes. “Only if you want me to stay, honey. I thought this was a girls only thing. But I want to see you in your pretty dress.”
“No. I want you here. Please? I want to know what you think of the dress I pick out.” I glanced around at the other three men who looked doubtful about their place in the shop. “I want you all to say. Especially you, Mr. Cutter.” The older version of my fiancé blinked at me in sur
His face relaxed into a smile, making his dimples pop. “Lucy, that boy of mine will like whatever you pick, even if it’s a sack. I’d like to stay though. But only if you start calling me Devlin. Hell, girl, you’re going to be my daughter-in-law.”
I scrunched up my nose at him but realized it was finally time to let go of the one thing I had always used to tease him with. “Fine. Devlin, will you please stay?”
“Yeah, honey. I’ll stay.” He shot his wife a look. “Someone’s gotta keep this one in line.”
“Thank you.” I turned my gaze on Nik and Drake. “Please?”
Nik shrugged like it didn’t matter to him, but his ice-blue eyes couldn’t hide his pleasure at being asked to stay. “I don’t mind staying, Lu. Whatever you want, kid.”
“I’ll be happy to stay,” Drake assured me and caught his wife around the waist. “It was too damn quiet at home anyway.”
Kissing him on the cheek, I let Kin pull me back to the dressing room. As soon as the door closed behind us, I expected my best friend to start asking questions, but she stayed completely mute on the subject. Paul acted like my earlier meltdown hadn’t even happened as he started sorting the dresses.
The two had me sit as they took dresses out of their bags. Each one was more beautiful than the last, and they took my breath away. I wanted to try them all on, wanted to see how each and every one of them looked on me.
“This one is the pièce de résistance,” Paul said with a wicked look on his handsome face. “If I had known this was the style of dress you were looking for, I could have pulled it this morning and had it waiting for you.”
“Let me see,” I begged in a breathless voice.
As soon as he unzipped the bag, I ached to put it on. My fingers shook as I stepped into what, to me, was a piece of bridal perfection. Paul showed Kin how to do up the back, but I knew even before the last lace-covered button was in place, this was my dress. The trumpet-style gown had ivory Chantilly lace over nude sparkle net and cashmere chiffon. There was Venice lace over the bodice which had a V-neckline and an open back. The long, lacy sleeves were sheer but would cover the scar on my wrist that I wanted to keep hidden from the world.
“Holy shit,” Kin breathed as she stepped back to take a better look at me in the mirror. “Lu, you’re glowing.”
“Let’s show your family,” Paul suggested, and I nodded excitedly.
“Wait.” Kin stopped me. “Lana wants you to wear the shoes.”
Laughing happily, I stepped into the kick-ass glass shoes that my sister and Nevaeh had bought for me. She was right. These sexy as sin shoes would have gone with anything I might have picked, and they were perfect with the dress I was now wearing.
“You two go on out,” Paul encouraged as he opened the door for me. “I’m going to grab a veil that will look magical with the dress and be right with you.”
Out where I had left everyone, they were all still talking animatedly. I heard Drake’s deep laugh as he swung Arella up into arms, and with one arm under her back, let her bend backward to do a headstand. “Again, Daddy!” she squealed as she landed on her feet and started jumping up and down. But then her blue-gray gaze caught sight of me, and her eyes got as big as an owl’s. “She’s so beautiful.”
“She’s a real princess!” Trinity squealed, and every eye turned to look at me as I paused before reaching them. Jenna and Mia lifted their heads from where they had been playing with something on their phones, and both their mouths fell open. Behind me, Kin fixed the chapel-length train, while my gaze went straight to Dad. His brown eyes skimmed over me from head to toe and I saw his throat bob, but he didn’t say a word.
“My son is one lucky sonofabitch,” Devlin muttered.
“Wow, Lucy.” Aunt Emmie, who never gushed over anything, was suddenly doing just that. “That dress is perfect, honey.”
The others seemed to think so too, voicing their approval with stunned expressions still on their faces. But there was really only one opinion I truly wanted, and he had yet to say a single word. “Daddy?” I whispered, feeling a little uncertain now.
He shook his bald head and swallowed hard one more time. “You look beautiful, Lu.” He crossed the distance that separated us. As he drew closer, I saw the tears he was unable to hide. At the sight of his tears, my own eyes flooded with them. “You look just like an angel.”
“Lucy, baby,” Mom appeared beside us just as Dad reached me. She took one hand as he took the other. Right then, in that moment, I was so happy that I let go of what had happened earlier. There was no place for dark thoughts or hurt feelings. I wanted to share how happy I was with her. “You look gorgeous, honey.”
“Here we go,” Paul announced as he came over to us, a simple lace veil in hand. Standing behind me, he took the tiara off my head and replaced it with the veil. “There. Now, we have our bride.”
I had no idea how I looked with the veil on, but from the way my parents were looking at me, I knew it must have been a good thing. Dad cupped Mom’s elbow and pulled her into his side as Paul walked me over to the trifold mirror.
“Oh,” I whispered, stunned by the girl in the mirror before me. Just as Kin had said, I was glowing. “Is that really me?”
Lana came up behind me, a trembling smile on her face. “Well?”
“This is it,” I told her with a slight catch in my voice. “This is the dress I’m going to marry Harris in.”
Holy shit. That realization hit me square in the chest, and I sucked in a sharp breath. This was the dress I was getting married in.
“Dude, you crying?”
I found Nik and Drake in the mirror and saw my brother-in-law wipe at his eyes. “I’m not crying, man. You’re crying.”
Lana rolled her eyes. “They’re all crying,” she whispered so no one else could hear her. “Baby, there isn’t a dry eye in this place right now. You’re going to have Harris on his knees the moment he sees you walking down the aisle.”
“What do we all think?” Paul asked from behind me. “Is this the dress?”
“Definitely,” Dad told him. “Wrap it up. We’re taking it with us.”
“That’s not how this works, Jess.” Aunt Emmie informed him. “He orders the dress from the designer, and then she comes in for fittings.”
“What? But it looks perfect on her. I want this one,” Dad grumbled. “Why can’t we have this one? Does it cost extra or something? Because I’ll pay whatever the hell he wants.”
“The dress will be made to her specific measurements,” Natalie tried to explain. “And we can make any changes she wants during the process.”
“No changes,” Dad commanded. “I want it just the way it is.”
“Let’s let Lucy make that decision, babe,” Mom told him, patting his hand.
Dad had a sheepish expression on his face as he came up beside me. “You want any changes made, Lucy?”
I shook my head. “Nope. I love it the way it is.”
“And you’re a hundred percent sure you want this dress?” I nodded. “Okay, then, we’re taking this dress.”
“No, Daddy,” I said with a laugh. “This dress has been tried on who knows how many times. I want a brand-new dress. One that only I’ve put on.”
“Oh.” He seemed to chew that over for a second, then nodded. “You’re right. You’re getting a brand-new dress. Made just for you.”
Lana hid her grin as she pretended to fix my veil. “You have that man tied so tight around your finger, it might fall off,” she said with a soft snicker.
“And I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Dad said as he nudged her out of the way so he could stand in front of me. “Anything else you want, Lu? Just say the word, and it’s yours.”
“No, Daddy. This is perfect.” I gave him a tight hug. “Thank you for everything.”
“Anything for my baby girl.”
“One thing down. Forty-nine hundred and ninety-nine things to
If only everything could have stayed that way.
Chapter 5
Harris
September
The tension in my head was going to make it explode off my shoulders, and these four blond chicks were about to witness it firsthand. For once, it wasn’t because of something the Blonde Bombshells had done.
I had to admit I had questioned how well an all-female rock band would do in my club, even with the talent I had seen the first time they auditioned. There had been five of them then, but with Peyton’s drama girl bullshit, I had given them the choice of kicking her to the curb or following her when I banned the bitch from my club. Fortunately, both for them and me, they had decided their future in the rock world was more important than the skank. Because I hit a small jackpot when I had decided to give the Blonde Bombshells a weekly gig. The four were sex on legs, and while London, Genesis, and Aubree were talented as hell, it was Roanna who kept the customers fighting to get in on Thursday nights.
That chick had a talent I had never seen before, and because of it, I extended their one-year contract into two. I hadn’t even accepted auditions for their spot because I didn’t think there was another band out there that could draw the crowds they did.
“If you think I’m going to put up with sexual harassment in my club, you’re dumber than you look,” I snarled at the man before me. “I don’t know what you were used to at the last club you bartended at, but here, if you say shit like that to anyone I employ, I’ll lay your ass out then have Tiny throw you in the dumpsters out back.”
The guy lifted his hands in mock surrender, a grin on his face, but he couldn’t hide the nervousness in his eyes. When one of my bartenders quit without notice the week before, I’d had to hire someone to fill the position in a hurry. Todd had come with a good reference from the last club he’d worked at, but now I was wondering what kind of seedy-ass place that was. I’d just walked onto the main floor where the Blondes were practicing their new song before their show later that night, to find Todd talking to Roanna like she was a hooker he wanted to take out back.