Cole (The Leaves) (29 page)

“Open your eyes, baby.” Her beautiful grey eyes met mine and the smile in them was undeniable. “I have a surprise for you.”

She looked over her shoulder to see what I’d done. “Oh, Cole.” She squeezed her eyes closed but it didn’t stop the little tears falling down her cheeks.

The entire floor was covered in fake snow. Yeah, it was silly and corny but no matter what, I wanted her to have snow. “Sit up, baby.” I leaned over and grabbed breakfast which consisted of everything bagels from our favorite place downtown and two huge vanilla lattes.

“This is perfect. Thank you so much. What time is it?”

I grabbed my phone and told her, “You have half an hour.”

“What?! Cole that’s not nearly enough time. I need time! I’m a girl, I’m a quick girl but this is my wedding day!”

“Anika?” I said in a soothing voice. “Clam down, everything is already done and you know it.” My soothing voice was not doing what it was supposed to.

“But I had plans for you this morning. We didn’t make love yesterday and I wanted to, you know, wake you up with my own kind of special breakfast where I eat you.”

She was panting but I started laughing. “Anika. Stop talking. Eat your bagel. I told you, I have big plans for us at the cabin. Waking up with you, this is exactly how I wanted to start today and it’s just going to get better. And just so you know, yesterday morning is not something I’m going to forget… ever.” I loved this girl and her nervous energy.

We ate our bagels, we kissed, we drank our coffee, we kissed, she got dressed but explained she had to wear Ugg boots because, “I don’t want a sock line and I can’t wear thongs because it’s too cold and I can’t wear my Chucks without socks because I don’t like having sweaty feet in shoes like that.”

I wasn’t sure why I needed this explanation but I got it.

My mom had called to say she would be out front with the car but she wasn’t going to come in. She would just honk. The beep sounded and we stood behind the closed door, about to part ways until she walked into my arms to become my wife.

“So much I want to say to you, Anika.” I held her face in my hands. “I love you, it’s not nearly enough but those are the only words I have.”

“Me too, baby. Me too.” She closed her eyes and put the weight of her head into my hands, “Oh! I almost forgot!” She reached into her giant bag and pulled out the jewelry box I’d seen before. “I’m going to call you from the room, before I walk down the aisle. I want you to put this box in your tux jacket. Answer your phone and then open it when I tell you, okay?”

“You sure you don’t want me to wear whatever’s in here?”

“I’m sure. I better go. Kiss me Cole Carlyle.”

She closed her eyes and leaned into me and I kissed my beloved and soon to be bride. “God, how lucky I am.”

“I’m the lucky one, Cole.” She smiled brightly and opened the door.

“Anika…” I began. I knew something was going on and still hadn’t been able to ask her.

“Cole. It’s okay. Everything is okay. I’ll see you in three hours. Don’t be late.”

“Love you, baby.”

“I love you too.”

***

“What the fuck, Dad?” I was furious. My father had just taken me away from, well, all the guys hanging out: my future father-in- law, brother-in-law, best friend, Nico… what the fuck was going on?

“Cole, don’t argue with me. Let’s go up to the room. Now.”

He had a hold of my arm so tight I was sure I’d have a bruise. “Let go of my fucking arm, Dad.” I demanded.

“When we are in that room, I’ll let go but not a moment before. Now please, be quiet.”

“I’m not a fucking kid, you asshole. Now tell me what the fuck is going on?” I couldn’t yell because there were people everywhere, eyes everywhere. The last thing I wanted was to make a scene.

Before I knew it, the door was closed and locked behind me. My father, making a quick inventory of the room grabbed a chair and wedged it under the lock of the door… the only entry in. He then went to the window and checked the locks and came back toward me. “Stay away from the window, Cole.”

“It’s happening. He’s here.” I stated.

He said nothing, just paced and took his phone from his pocket, “Talk to me.” He said. It wasn’t his normal commanding way. He was scared. I could hear it in his voice.

“Dad… Anika?”

He held up his hand for me to wait. It was one of those times that I knew, no matter what I wanted, he was doing what needed to be done just as he did when she was abducted.

“Good. Yes. Update me every minute. If I don’t receive an update every minute I will assume something is wrong. Text, call I don’t give a fuck but do one of those.” He ended the call. “I told you I would fix this, Cole. I promised Anika neither of you would be affected by anything else. We were prepared for any and all eventualities; one of those scenarios is in play and being dealt with…”

“Anika!” I screamed.

“Is safe. She has two agents in the room with her and one outside the door.” His phone rang. “Yes. Oh God.” He held up his hand to me again, knowing I would want to know what the fuck was happening. The call was ended. “He took David downstairs. Serena is here. She was in hiding.”

I crouched down and put my hands over my face. “Fuck…” I let out on a quiet exhale.

The phone rang again. “Yes.” I watched his face change over the course of what felt like an eternity but was only a few minutes… excruciatingly, long minutes. A knock came at the door. There was a rhythm to it though. Dad went to it, motioning for me to stay back against the far wall. He made a similar knock, a different one followed and he removed the chair. He slowly opened the door and Olaf was inside with us.

“Cole, my friend, it is over.” I fell to the wall behind me and slid to the floor. For weeks I had worried. I believed my dad would do everything he could to prevent harm coming to Anika or myself, but the worry was always there like a fucking snake ready to strike.

“Stand up, son. You’ll wrinkle your suit.” He smiled at me, the confidence he usually had was firmly back in place. His phone rang once again and he moved away to have a conversation he did not want to me to hear.

Olaf stood next to me as I rose to my feet and hugged me when I was fully upright. It wasn’t the most macho of things we had ever done, but Olaf and I had a history. I held his hand when his father was dying. He had come back from, God I couldn’t remember where he was but he had to take four planes and travel a total of thirty-three hours when I attempted suicide. Then there was that time in Berlin with those four women during a launch party for something or other… but he knew my pain, I knew his and a hug between us was more than alright; it would have been an insult to push him away. “David had his hand broken. He won’t be able to play at the reception.”

“She’ll know something happened, Olaf. Anika’s smart. She already figured out that Serena and Joe were still out there, or Joe was anyway.”

“Cole, Serena. She finished it.” The finality of his words sent a chill through me.

“Did you see it happen, Olaf?” My poor friend had seen his share of fucked up shit and I hated he might have seen this.

“No, but I heard it. It’s over, Cole. This is my hotel and it’s an old one with catacombs and tunnels. No one will ever know of this save the people that were in that room and none of them will ever talk, I promise you that. It’s over, Cole.”

Not a minute later, there was a knock at the door. My father rushed over, opened it and in walked all the men that were previously downstairs. We all just stood there, my father making everyone move to the sides so he could quickly get out. David walked over to me, his hand bandaged. The room was heavy with silence but David was smiling. “This is what should have happened in the first place, Cole.” He pulled me closer and we walked toward the window. I hesitated for a moment but when I realized my dad was gone; the danger was gone and continued.

I wasn’t sure what to say, I mean, I didn’t have the whole story, but luckily David sensed this. “Cole, listen to me: this is your day, you and Anika, and I can’t imagine how nervous you must be regardless of what happened today.”

“What did happen today?” I interrupted.

“Well, we all had a conversation about that and decided that is something you and Anika don’t need to know. Ah, that reminds me, Nico wants to talk to you though. Cool guy.”

“Yeah, he is.” I stood there, stunned and without the ability to speak. David patted me on the back, a smile never leaving him as his dad; also smiling led him away with a gentle nod to me. I got it, everyone was happy. Life was going on and no one wanted whatever had happened to mar the occasion.

I stood there knowing Nico was on his way over to me when something caught my eye outside. I looked at the unmistakable sight of Serena. She stood outside a black town car, darkened windows and lifted her head. Her head turned to my window and she held her hand up, palm out and then laid it on her chest. Almost like she was saying a pledge. Then she turned her body to the side and repeated the same thing. Just then, my phone rang. I knew immediately it was Anika.

“Cole?” Her voice was a whisper.

“Anika.”

“Are you seeing this?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“It’s over.” She said softly.

“Yes. It’s over.” I paused. “Are you alright? Should I come to you?”

“No, Cole. I’m fine. I told you. Our happiness… our revenge. But to tell you the truth, I don’t even feel that. I just feel relieved.”

“Are you sure.”

“No more worrying, Cole. No more looking over our shoulders. We can breathe again.”

“I love you, so much.” I closed my eyes.

“If it’s even possible, I love you more.” She giggled.

“I can’t wait to see you. What are you wearing under your dress?” I thought I might as well make it interesting.

“Are you alone?”

“Nico’s standing behind me.” I looked over my shoulder but he was keeping a respectful distance.

“You’ll like what I’m wearing underneath… did you remember your gift?”

“It’s in my pocket. Do you want me to open it now?”

“What time is it?”

I looked at the phone then put it back to my ear. “We have ten minutes. Are you going to be one of those fashionably late brides?”

“No, Cole. I’m about to bust through this wall like the Hulk to get to you. But I like my dress and I want you to see it so I’m going to wait the ten minutes. Leave your phone on.”

“Okay. I love you, Anika. Can’t say it enough.”

“Me too, baby. See you soon.”

“See you soon.”

It was almost one of those,
You hang up. No, you hang up
. Moments, but we both had things to do, or I did. I turned around to see Nico had a tentative smile. “Hey Cole.”

“How are you, Nico?”

He didn’t answer. Who knows what kind of shit he just witnessed but I couldn’t think about that. “Listen, when you guys get back, I’d like to do something for you both. You think you could give me call and let me know when? I’m going to close the shop that night. I’ll have my regular guy, Jonny and my dad. My mom’ll be there too.”

“Uh, sure, you want to give me a hint? I trust you, but I know Anika doesn’t exactly like surprises.”

“I promise, Cole. She won’t mind this surprise.” He smiled. Something I’d never seen him do. He was the opposite of me physically: solid, blonde hair and a very dark tan (I was pretty tan but his hair made the contrast more noticeable). I was about to say something else but my dad threw the door open and bounded into the room stunning everyone from an already awkward silence to an even more awkward silence if possible.

“It’s time!” He smiled. Everyone just kind of stood there not sure who should go first maybe? But my dad took care of that. “David, Gus, Olaf, Cole… in that order. John, you’re with me. Tattoo man (Nico), Red (Rusty), Abe, Anthony get your asses in some chairs. Let’s go.”

David Parker turned to me, “Your dad is kind of a bad-ass isn’t he?”

“Kind of.” I smirked.

“All ready for the big night, Cole?” Olaf asked as I followed him out the door.

“You wish it was you going to that cabin in the woods with me, don’t you Olaf?” Yeah, we were going to beat this joke to death.

“I’ll be sobbing into my pillow while I bite it, remembering your giant co-”

“Olaf, are you insinuating my son has had his di-”

“Do you guys always talk like this?” David asked.

Olaf and I were laughing so hard we had tears coming out our eyes. “No.” I was able to get out.

Just as my dad was about to open a door to what was a small mission-style chapel, he turned to all of us. “You walk in there, everything else is in the past. This is your future. You don’t worry about anything else, understood?” He addressed me.

My smile faltered but was soon replaced by a new one, “Yes Dad, understood.”

“Good. After you, gentlemen.”

Anika

I leaned against the window, holding my phone against my chest and my hand flat against the window. Serena and I had had our moment and it was done.

I was free.

I had already shed my past with the painting I created for Cole and me. It would stay there, in our cabin. I couldn’t wait for him to see it. Then he would know I had healed completely. I only had two more things to do: one, call my future husband and two, marry him.

I watched the car pull away and wondered if she was happy. I felt this enormous pull to reach out to her, call her, maybe invite her over for drinks, but I doubted our paths were ever going to cross again. I had never been a particularly religious person. I read a book about that Bear Grills guy who was saying he’d never met an atheist at the top of Mt. Everest. I understood his point. Whatever or whoever had been looking after Cole and me, I was thankful. So I took that opportunity to close my eyes and send up a simple prayer of thanks. I had a lot to be thankful for, that was for sure.

“Anika, dear?” Trish approached me along with Jeannie. “Jeannie has a little something for you.”

“I wore this garter when I married your dad. It was my mother’s so it’s vintage. It can be your something borrowed and blue, but I would like you to have it.”

She presented me with the most beautiful and ornate garter I’d ever seen. There was nothing remotely cheesy about this thing. I had never even thought about wearing one. “It would be an absolute honor, Jeannie. Thank you.” I gave her a light hug, careful not to scrunch the beautiful floral corsage on her lapel.