"Jackson, are you ready? Gwen's plane arrives in an hour. We need to get a move on or we're going to be late."
I cursed under my breath before I swiped my wallet off of the bedside table and slid it inside my back pocket. After the cake-tasting and lunch yesterday, we went to see a few bands. Out of the six that we saw, Harper loved two of them. I didn't mind either one. They were both pretty talented and would suit the wedding well. When Harper told me to pick which one I liked, I replied to her that it was going to end up being a case of eeny, meeny, miney, mo. Didn't matter though. It was what came after that that now had me walking out of my bedroom and straight to where Harper was waiting for me in the kitchen.
She was putting some of the clean dishes away when she turned and saw me in the archway. "Hey. You ready?" When I didn't say anything, she sat the plate she was holding down on the counter. "Something wrong?"
Was there something wrong? Bloody hell, but that was the understatement of the century wasn't it? Besides the times we were apart, and the passing of my mum, keeping this secret from Harper was one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with. When I woke up this morning, with her soft naked body in my arms, I knew I wouldn't last another day without telling her the truth. Which brought us to right-fucking-now.
I cleared my throat once. Then twice. And a third time. "Princess, there's something I need to tell you. Something...There's something that I've done."
"That you've done? That doesn't sound good." She looked away from me, her eyes dropping to the blue plate. "Were you with someone else?"
My mouth dropped open. "What? No! Fuck no. I would never do that. Ever."
In all fairness, I couldn't be offended that her mind went there. She knew who I was before we met. Add that with me saying that I've done something wrong, it wasn't surprising that that's where her mind went. But fuck, did it still hurt.
"Then what is it?" she asked softly. Even though her voice was steady I didn't miss the hint of fear in it.
I inhaled a deep breath before I confessed, "I went to see your mum."
Her lips parted slightly. She blinked repeatedly. Then the expression on her face was more confused than angry. "You went—when? When was this?"
Tell her everything, I told myself. "Before girl's night. I went there because I knew you were still hurting after you tried to invite them to the wedding. I wanted to—to, I had to do something to try to get them to be there. I'm so sorry that I went behind your back, Harper. I was just hoping that—"
"I can't believe this!"
Ah, there it was. Fuck. Fucking motherfucking fuck. I knew the minute I decided to even go see her mum that this was going to backfire—and I had no one to blame but myself.
"Jackson, I specifically told you not to get involved with the issues between my parents and me. Not only did you ignore that, but you weren't even going to tell me!."
She knew me a little too well. "I know. I know and I'm sorry." I ran a hand through my hair. "What can I do, princess? What can I do to make this right? To get you to forgive me?"
I would do anything she bloody wanted me to. I would gladly sleep on the couch. Or at Ayden's, if that's what she wanted. Hell, I would get on my needs and grovel. Anything. I would do anything for this women.
I waited patiently while she paced around the kitchen. I knew we were already on a time crunch to pick up Gwen from the airport, but I couldn't rush this. Even though it seemed like hours before she finally turned and came to stand in front of me, it had only been a few minutes.
Her brown eyes met mine and the pain in them told me she already knew the answer to the question she was going to ask. "I take it by you not telling me sooner that it didn't go well?"
"No, princess. I'm sorry." It went fucking horribly.
Her eyes teared up and it killed me. "What did she say?"
Yeahhhhh. I might have decided to be smart and tell her the truth, but I wasn't going to go that far. "It doesn't matter. Nothing she said or didn't say matters, do you hear me?"
"Jackson—"
"No," I said sternly. A tear slid down her cheek as I cupped her face. "Whatever she said doesn't matter. Like I told you before, she doesn't deserve you."
That's when it dawned on me—the hidden truth that nagged at her. Even though she never really voiced it. Not in this way. "Princess, look at me." She did. "You are not without a family. You have me. I am your family. And Lanie, Nate, Ayden...all of us. We aren't going anywhere. Do you hear me? You will never lose them. Or me."
I pulled her body flush against mine and tried to whisper comforting words to her. I hated when she was in pain. More so, I hated when I was the one who caused it. As she cried softly against me, I had to contain the urge I felt to go back to her parents' house and convince them to come to the wedding. But I wasn't going to. Not this time. They needed to grow up. Hopefully one day they would.
"Thank you," she said and took a step back. "Yes, I'm still pissed that you went behind my back and didn't tell me, but I know why you did it."
I sighed with frustration. "I just want to make you happy."
"I know, Jackson, and I love you for it." With a shuttering breath, she wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. "We really should get going. Gwen's going to be waiting on us. Ready?"
She stood there with her hand outstretched to me. Goddamn, I loved this woman. I laced my fingers with hers and brought them to my lips.
"I'm more than ready, princess."
As we all sat around the dinner table, I knew that my dinner idea was a good one. The five of us sat in a large booth at one of Harper's favorite restaurants. After we picked Gwen up and went home for a few hours, I had Ryan and Danielle meet us. Gwen was more than surprised and loved it.
"Danielle dear, how are you feeling?"
Danielle wiped at her mouth with a napkin and swallowed her food. "I'm actually feeling really good today. "I'm just out of my first trimester, so my morning sickness is almost completely gone. I woke up today with so much more energy, too."
"That's great," Gwen beamed. "I was so excited when Ryan called me with the blessed news." She arched a brow at her nephew. "However, I am still cross with him about not coming to visit me more."
We all laughed at that and Ryan rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"I'm sorry about that, Aunt Gwen. I promise that Danielle and I will come to visit you more. Before the baby gets here and after."
"That's what I wanted to hear," she said with a smile. She glanced over at me and Harper. "And you two should plan to come at the same time. That way the five of us, soon-to-be six, can all spend time together."
"That's a great idea," Harper exclaimed. "And this time it will be longer than a few days." She tugged on my arm playfully. "Jackson promised to show me more of the sights next time."
"Yes, I did. But there are other places I want to take you, too. Other places in Europe."
Harper raised her brows. "Are you talking about...backpacking through Europe?"
I shrugged a shoulder before glancing to my brother who nodded at me with a knowing smile. "Sort of. Ryan and I talked and we would like the five of us to travel through Europe and see places like Greece, Paris, Italy...And we want to do it before the baby comes."
Harper was so surprised, she couldn't even speak. Danielle's eyes teared up. And Gwen, well...she was already crying.
"That sounds so amazing you guys," my aunt said through choked sobs. "I've always wanted to see those places."
Ryan grinned before he kissed his wife on the head. "Consider it an apology, Aunt Gwen. I've missed you and this is a great way that we can all spend time together. You can get to know Harper and Danielle more, too."
"I can't believe this," Danielle whispered. "When would we go?"
Ryan tucked her hair behind her ear. "After Jackson and Harper's honeymoon. We'll meet in London and go from there."
"Wait," Harper interjected, "this trip through Europe isn't our honeymoon?"
I knew she was going to ask that. When I first talked to Ryan about this trip through Europe, he asked me the same question: was this Harper's and my honeymoon? The answer to that was simple...
"No," I answered and reached into my pocket. "For our honeymoon, princess, I wanted to go somewhere just the two of us—somewhere that I know you've been wanting to go."
I handed her the paper I printed before we came here and I watched nervously as she opened it. As her eyes scanned the page, they first went wide with surprise. Then they started to water. When she finally looked over at me, her smile was worth...everything.
Harper's voice came out barely louder than a whisper. "Really?"
I took her hand in mine. "Really, princess. I know how much you wanted to go back after the wedding. I thought two weeks would be perfect. Just you and me."
Danielle and Ryan smiled as the watched us. Gwen was...still crying. Thank God they were tears of joy. And Harper...
She leaned into me and pressed her lips against mine. "Bora Bora...here we come."