Blessed (Book 2, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (20 page)

“He’s willing to wait until I graduate,” I told her, “but the more we’re together, the less I want to wait that long.”

“Well, baby, only the two of you can make that decision, but you have my blessing to marry him whenever you want. As long as you don’t have any doubts about spending the rest of your life with him, I don’t see any reason for you to wait. You let me know when you want to have that wedding, though,” Utha Mae said. “I’d like to help with the expenses.”

“It’ll just be something small. I don’t have many people to invite.”

“Just let me know, baby,” she said, patting my hands resting on the table. “I wouldn’t mind having a few of my friends there to watch you walk down the aisle in a pretty white dress.”

“I’ll let you know what I decide. I’m still thinking about it.”

Brand drove up to Utha Mae’s trailer almost thirty-five minutes later. I knew he must have cheated a little, since it normally took an hour to drive from Lakewood to Dalton. Utha Mae didn’t comment on his fast arrival. She probably assumed he sped all the way from Lakewood in his eagerness to see me.

“Now, you take it slow going back,” she said to Brand, wagging a finger at him.

“Yes, ma’am,” Brand replied, opening the passenger door for me. After he closed the door, I waved goodbye to Utha Mae.

We didn’t say anything to each other. When we got on the highway heading toward Lakewood, Brand phased us to his driveway and parked in front of his house within a few seconds.

He took one of my hands into his own and phased us to his living room couch.

“Can you forgive me?” he asked, squeezing my hand gently.

“I already have,” I reassured him. “But you have to promise that you’ll never call me foolish or stupid again. I won’t put up with that sort of abuse.”

Brand winced at my use of the word. I was sure even he knew you could abuse a person just as much with words as you could with actual physical harm.

“I promise to never let those words pass my lips again when referring to you. I was just mad about letting Robert get away from me and took it out on you. I know it was wrong of me, and you have to know I didn’t really mean what I said. I can only beg you to forgive me for acting like a complete idiot. I let my worry for you overshadow everything sometimes, including my common sense. When you do things that put your life in danger, like talk to Robert, or even what you did this morning with Mr. Landry, it makes me crazy, Lilly. I don’t want you to take unnecessary chances with your life.”

“But if I hadn’t taken those chances, we wouldn’t have the new information about my mother, or know that Robert is conjuring up some convoluted plan. I know you worry about me, but you need to trust me. I don’t plan to die anytime soon. If you haven’t noticed, I’m fighting for my life as hard as you’re fighting to keep me alive.”

“I know.”

Brand looked so remorseful for what he had done. I couldn’t stand to see him continue to punish himself for something he’d already been forgiven for.

“Why don’t we just forget about everything for now and try to enjoy the rest of the night?” I suggested, pulling him to me.

Brand held me to him. I could feel him start to relax, finally realizing that I had, indeed, forgiven his transgressions.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I think Brand was still feeling guilty the next morning, because he brought me breakfast in bed when I woke up. Carefully arranged on a beautiful wood-carved serving tray was a crystal bowl filled with some of the largest and reddest strawberries I have ever seen, with a smaller bowl of whipped cream beside it. There was a plate full of freshly-baked croissants on a crystal plate, with a single red rose in full bloom lying across it. It occurred to me that it was the first flower Brand had ever given me. I picked it up and held it to my nose, breathing in its sweet aroma.

“Where did you get it?” I asked, letting the silky petals tickle the tip of my nose.

“It’s not fall everywhere in the world,” he reminded me with a crooked smile as he leaned down and gave me a kiss. “Now sit back,” he half-ordered, half-teased, sitting on the side of the bed.

When he picked up one of the strawberries and dipped it into the whip cream, I realized he intended to feed it to me. As he brought the strawberry to my lips, I opened my mouth and bit down through the middle of it, feeling the sweet juices of the firm, ripe fruit and smooth texture of the cream mix in my mouth.

Some of the cream and juice clung to my lips. I was about to wipe my mouth with the napkin on the tray when Brand said, “You won’t need that.”

He leaned in towards me, bringing his lips down to mine, and slowly kissed away all traces of the cream and juice from my mouth. It was then that strawberries and fresh whipped cream became my favorite things to eat, forever replacing pizza at the top of my list. I moved the tray down a little from over my lap and sat with my legs folded underneath me.

“Is something wrong?” Brand asked, not understanding what I was doing.

“No,” I said, picking up a strawberry and dipping it in the cream. “You need to eat breakfast, too.”

A pleased grin spread across his face as I brought the strawberry to his lips.

I’m not sure how long we sat there feeding each other strawberries, but I do know it was one of the most romantic and intimate moments of my life.

After breakfast, I phased back to my apartment to shower and change clothes. Tara was sitting in the living room, watching a movie on TV.

“Hey, girl,” she said as I sat down beside her. “How did things go yesterday?”

I filled Tara in on everything that had happened the previous day. She seemed to agree with Brand in thinking I was foolish to put my life in danger twice in one day.

“You need to be more careful,” she scolded. “You’re half-human, you know. You ain’t immortal just because you got some angel blood running through your veins.”

“I know that, but you can’t argue that what I did wasn’t useful.”

“I don’t care, Lilly Rayne Nightingale. You let the angels take the chances. They can survive flying bullets, but you can’t. And what the heck were you thinking, talking to that Robert? You need to keep away from him. He ain’t nothing but a bag full of trouble.”

I didn’t want to talk about it anymore, so I changed the subject.

“How did your day with Malik go?”

“We had fun.”

I waited for her to say more, but she didn’t. “That’s all I get? No details?”

Tara shrugged. “We rode around and I showed him where things were. He took me to lunch at Chili’s, and we went and saw a movie. That’s about all there is to tell. We had fun, though. I liked talking to him. We’re going out again today. He said he wanted to see the college, so I thought I’d take him around campus and show him where I work and stuff, nothing major.”

“Well, I’m glad you get along with him. From what I know, Malik’s going to be in our lives for a very long time.”

“Oh, yeah, we’re fine. I like him good enough.”

Seeing that I wasn’t going to be getting much else out of Tara, I left her to watch the rest of her movie and took a shower to get ready.

Brand and I didn’t really have anything in particular planned for the day. We had to wait on the private investigator to wade through the one hundred Anna Millers she found born in Indiana the same year as my mother. I hoped it wouldn’t take her long to discover which one had been my mom and where my grandparents were, if they were even still alive. That thought hadn’t occurred to me until now. What if they were dead? People died in accidents and from diseases all the time.

No, I wouldn’t let myself entertain a negative thought like that again. Brand said we would find the answers we needed, and I trusted his judgment.

After I got ready, Tara was in the kitchen, making some tea.

“I have a question for you,” I said, standing against the kitchen counter, uncertain to how she would react to my query. “What would you think about me marrying Brand now?”

“What, like today?”

“No,” I said, smiling and shaking my head, “but soon.”

“This got anything to do with what Faust told you about having two months?”

“Sort of,” I admitted. “I just don’t want to waste any time with Brand, no matter how much time that might be, whether it’s a hundred years or just two months.”

“You might as well marry the boy,” Tara said. “You’re practically married as it is. You spend all your time with him day
and
night.”

“Would you think any less of me if I did it now?”

“Girl, you worry too much about what other people think. You need to make that decision for yourself. Don’t worry about me or anybody else. But, if you gotta know what I think, I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t do it.”

“Thanks,” I told her, giving her a hug. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Die an old maid,” she said, sticking her tongue out at me. “Just don’t forget who your best friend is after you marry Mr. Wonderful.” 

“Like you would let me,” I replied, rolling my eyes.

“That’s true enough. Someone has to keep your feet on the ground.”

Now that I had the blessing of the two people whose opinion meant the most to me, I was having a hard time seeing any reason not to marry Brand as soon as possible. What I told Tara was true. Whether I only had two more months or a hundred years of life left, I knew I wanted to spend my remaining days with Brand, as his wife.

Tara and I received an unexpected guest soon after our talk. Will stopped by to see how things were going. I filled him in on what had happened since I last saw him, after our encounter with Faust. He seemed to be in league with everyone else, and told me I needed to be more careful.

“Let Brand do the dirty work,” he said. “You don’t need to put yourself in danger like that, especially with Robert. You know a little bit about how cruel he can be, but you don’t know the whole story.”

“Then why don’t you tell me? Malcolm called him a sadist, and Brand acted as if he hated him even before I told him what he’d done to me. What exactly has he done in the past?”

“He likes to watch people suffer, Lilly. It’s what he gets off on. He doesn’t just hunt down his prey, like most of the Watchers who gave into their bloodlust. He hunts them down then plays with them. He likes to torture people as much as he likes sucking the life out of them. Robert isn’t someone you want to mess with. He’ll find your weaknesses and use them against you to cause you the most pain.”

“Well, we know he’s planning something. I guess we’ll just have to be as prepared as we can.”

“You just stay away from him,” Tara told me as she stood up from her chair at the kitchen table. “I need to go get ready. Malik should be here soon. I made some fudge in case you need some. It’s in the fridge,” she told me as she made her way to her bedroom.

Will and I were alone for the first time since our talk by the lake. Even though he had been totally out of line, he was still my friend. I felt like I owed it to him to tell him I had changed my mind about waiting to marry Brand. I didn’t want him to hear it from Tara, and I wasn’t sure how often he kept in touch with Utha Mae. I planned to tell Brand my decision that day, and was pretty sure he wouldn’t be keeping it a secret from anyone.

“Will, I think we need to talk.”

“Have you thought more about what I said?” The look of hopeful expectation on his face was something I wasn’t expecting to see. I thought I had made my feelings about his suggestion plain, the last time we discussed the subject.

“Not really,” I admitted, and watched his hope visibly fade. “I need to tell you that I plan to marry Brand soon.”

“What happened to waiting until you got out of college?” The snide way he made his remark made me wonder if it would be a waste of my time to try to explain my reasoning. Did he even deserve such consideration?

“I don’t want to wait,” I said, trying not to let his open disdain upset me. “There will never be anyone but Brand for me and, with everything that’s going on, I don’t want to waste any more time. I want to be his wife for whatever time we might have left together. Can you understand that?”

“You don’t have to rush into anything, Lilly,” he pleaded. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”

“I know,” I tried to put as much confidence into the statement as I could. “But it doesn’t matter. Brand’s the only one I see myself spending the rest of my life with, no matter how long or short might be. I don’t see any point in waiting any longer.”

“Why don’t you at least wait until we figure everything out and have things settled once and for all? It would give you more time to be with him and know for sure he’s the one you want. It just seems like you’re rushing things, Lilly. How do you know you’re not just making this decision because of the stress you’re under? Maybe you should wait and make sure it’s really what you want.”

“You’re just not getting it, Will.” Why was he making this so hard? “I want to marry him. I would want to marry him, even if things were perfect and we had all the time in the world to be together. Everything inside me tells me this is the right thing to do and the right time to do it. All of you keep telling me to trust you to save me from what might happen. Now you need to listen to me and trust that I know what I’m doing. Marrying Brand is what I’m meant to do. I know it. I have no doubts about my decision.”

Will let out a heavy, defeated sigh, his shoulders sagging.

“I always thought we’d be together, Lilly,” he murmured so low I had to strain to hear him.

“I’m sorry, Will.”

Even though he had tried his best to cast doubt in my mind about Brand’s true feelings for me, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Will. He was still one of my best friends, and I didn’t like to see him in pain. Nevertheless, I knew it was the right decision to let him know where things stood between us. Maybe now he could put his fantasies about us having a future together behind him. It was better to have him know there wasn’t a chance I would change my mind than linger around, hoping I would choose him one day.

“It’s my own fault,” he said, apparently finding the whole situation ironic. “I’m the one who kept pushing you away after we kissed that night. If I had been stronger and taken a chance on us, things would be different.”

I didn’t say anything. It was hard to know what would have happened if Will had declared his love to me then. I wondered if what he said was true, though. In my heart, I felt like what Will had done then was the way it was meant to be. It was my destiny to find Brand and fall in love with him. He was my soul mate. He was the one I was meant to share my life with.

“I’m not sure this is the right time to ask you to do this,” I said, wondering if I should wait to make my request, but wanting to give Will time to think about it before giving me his final answer. “Since I don’t really have a male relative to do the job, I was wondering if you would give me away at the wedding.”

“I don’t know if I’m strong enough to do that, Lilly Rayne,” he shook his head at me, as if I had just asked him to jump the width of the Grand Canyon. “That’s a lot to ask.”

“Think of it as your wedding gift to me. You’re part of my family, Will, and you always will be. I hope you’ll still be a part of my life, even though our relationship isn’t exactly the way you thought it would end up. It would mean a lot to me if you did it.”

“Let me think about it.”

“That’s all I ask.”

At least he hadn’t given me an emphatic ‘no’.

Will left soon after, coming up with an excuse about schoolwork.

I called Brand and asked him to come over to the apartment. I wanted to wait around until Malik arrived to collect Tara. It was odd. I actually
was
starting to feel a connection with Malik, even though I didn’t know him that well.

While we were waiting, I thought I should mention to Brand and Tara the house Malcolm gave me.

“He built you a house?” Brand acted as if he was certain he had heard me wrong.

“What kinda house? Where is it?” Tara asked, excited by the idea of me owning my own home.

I described the house as best I could, and told them it was somewhere in Colorado. I hadn’t even thought to ask where it was exactly.

“How did he design and build a house in such a short amount of time?” Brand asked.

“Well, I suppose it’s like you always say; people will do anything if you wave enough money in their faces,” I replied.