Safe Harbor (The Lake Trilogy, Book 3) (29 page)

Maybe Eliana or Pop or Nana Grace will have an idea. I’ll have to wait until Sunday night to ask them. Eliana and Wes are in Hickory until then. Pop said that if Wes was going to be part of their family, he had to understand the family business, which was fine with Wes. He’s a lot like Luke and Will. He loves working with his hands like that and from
what Claire said about Eliana’s texts, he has a real knack for it.

That’s it!
I know exactly what I’m going to give Will!
Oh, my gosh! It’s perfect!
He’s not the only one who can remodel and build a gift from the ground up!

“How’s the packing coming along?” Luke asks, gently knocking on the doorframe to my room.

“Fine, I guess. There’s really not that much to pack. It’s mainly just clothes and books,” I say as I resume sorting clothes and packing. “I haven’t heard an update lately. Any word from Wes on which of Meyer’s guys took care of those two jurors?”

Once Meyer died all of his current henchmen disbanded. I imagine they’re all just trying to start over somewhere new with a clean slate.
Wes had always been able to contact them, but has had a hard time finding a few of them since they all disappeared into thin air. So far none of the guys has admitted doing either job, and the ones he’s connected with don’t know where the others are. Luke even got Agent Croft and his team involved. Since jury tampering was shuffled in amongst all the charges against Meyer it wasn’t a stretch for them to take on the investigation.

“Nothing yet,”
Luke tells me.

“It’s
not right. If we could just find the second juror’s body, his family would at least have some closure. Has Wes told the other guys that? Do you think they’re covering for whoever did it? I feel so bad for his family. I remember how unsettling every day was when I thought Will was missing and didn’t know where he was,” I say. “What was his name? I feel awful calling him juror number four all the time.”

“
His name was Albert Blasi. I’m sure Wes has expressed that our intention is to help the family find some peace. Wes said that the guys know he wouldn’t be looking for whoever did it to get him in trouble. He’ll keep looking. You know how relentless Wes is,” Luke says with a small smile. “And Agent Croft said his best agent is leading the team on this. Agent Lassiter is apparently the best of the best.”

“
Well, that’s good. Oh, hey…I need your help with something. Do you know who Will used to remodel the house?” I ask excitedly as I think about the plans brewing in my mind.

“Yeah…the same designer who helped with the basement, and a contractor friend of ours. Why?”

“Do you think they can give me a blueprint for a project by the end of the week?”

“What’s going on, Layla?” Luke
asks curiously.

“I have an idea for Will’s wedding gift, but I’m going to need your help while we’re gone. Can you help me? Please?”
I won’t be able to pull this off without Luke’s help.

“Of course. I’ll get you their numbers,” he says.

“Thank you so much! I’ll fill you in after I’ve spoken with them. I have to make sure they can do it first. Oh, it’s going to be so great!” I’m giddy with excitement as I consider my plan. Will is going to flip and I’ll finally get to be on the giving end of a ridiculously over-the-top gift!

“
You have ten times as many clothes as when you first got here…thanks to my wife no doubt!” Luke chuckles. He moves a box from the bed to the floor and sits in its place. “Are you…are you sure you’re ready for this, Layla?” Luke asks. He looks nervous and a little sad.

“Why would you ask m
e that?” I ask. I know Luke isn’t questioning if marrying Will is the right thing, but it’s the first time he’s raised a question like this.

“Well, you two are still really young and there’s no reason to rush into anything,” he says softly. I look in his eyes and see that his questioning is not about my age or how long Will and I have been together. It’s about letting me go.

I’ve seen this look in Claire’s eyes several times over the last few months. With every wedding-related appointment or conversation she’s become a little emotional. She’s given me another letter she wrote to Penny, and one she wrote to me. Because of her direct involvement in the wedding planning, I think Claire has had a little more time to ease into the idea of me leaving. Luke has not been eased into anything and I think he’s just realizing it now.

I sit next to him on the bed and take his hand in mine. “I’m going to miss you, too.”

“Thank you for not letting us send you to that stupid boarding school.” Luke wraps his arms around me and I hear the sniffing of him trying not to cry. “When I think of what I would have missed out on…”

“Oh, yeah…it’s been a grand time of being forced out of your job and moving out of state to protect me, faking deaths, getting kidnapped, hiring personal security, and defending my fiancé’s crazy ex-girlfriend for killing his father. Good times,” I say with a little laugh just to keep myself from crying, too.

Luke looks at me and smiles
while trying to hold back his tears. “I don’t regret a single moment of it. Layla…losing Penny was the worst thing we’ve ever experienced. When…when you lose a child like that, well, there comes a point when you realize that all the things you were looking forward to are never going to happen. We never helped her learn how to ride a bike, or taught her how to tie her shoes. We never taught her how to read, or even got to potty train her. I never got to yell at her to get off the phone or turn her lights out and go to bed, or kick a boy out when it he had stayed his welcome. There were no slumber parties or science fair projects. There would be no more family meals or the elation of watching her open up Christmas gifts again.

“But then you came to us and…you changed everything. You brought back so much of what we thought was
lost forever. And now I’m going to get to walk my daughter down the aisle.” Luke can’t hold back the tears anymore and they begin to stream down his cheek. “If you had let us ship you off to that boarding school I would never have known this kind of joy.
You
are my daughter, Layla, and I would relive every second of these last three years.

“I know you’re going to lite
rally be around the corner, but…I’m having to let you go. I’m going to walk you down that aisle and put your hand into Will’s and he’s going to be responsible for protecting you from that point on. I don’t know if I’m capable of letting go again.”

I reach up and wipe the tears staining Luke’s face.
“I’ve lived the last three years experiencing moments I never thought I’d have. Some of them were because I believed Gram when she told me I wasn’t worthy of them, others because I didn’t have a dad or a mom to share them with me. This is one of those moments. Here I am, sitting with my dad as he tells me how hard it’s going to be to let go of me on my wedding day. Who says we have to let go, though? Why do we have to walk away from each other just because I’m getting married? Yes, Will is going to be my husband and I trust him to take care of me, but…why can’t we all just keep taking care of each other? So let’s not act like the moment I meet Will at the altar that the life you, Claire and I have as a family is somehow over. Let’s savor it as the moment our family gets bigger, because all I know is that the more of us there are, the stronger we become.”

I sit there for I don’t know how long, being held by my
father in his warm and protective embrace. I wonder how long he’s been sitting on this, shoving these feelings down. I imagine as a parent there comes that moment when you realize your baby isn’t a baby anymore. There are probably lots of these moments actually. The first time you let go of the bike and they ride on their own. The first time you watch her pull out of the driveway in the car alone. The days you watch her walk across the stage at her high school and college graduations. And, of course, the day you walk her down the aisle to the new man in her life. Luke and Claire have only gotten to have one of these big moments with me so far, and now they’re getting ready to have a second in three weeks’ time.

Perhaps it seems a bit cruel or unfair that they haven’t gotten to enjoy more of those moments with me before I get married. Or…maybe…knowing Luke and Claire as I do, they’re just grateful that they had any moments to share with me in the first place. I know that’s how I feel. I’m grateful for these last three years
, however insanely rollercoaster-like they were. I’m grateful because it was during this time that I was able to relinquish the guilt and sorrow and finally be held in loving, caring arms. I was able to lay down the weakness I had accepted for myself and take up a suit of armor made strong through the love of Luke and Claire and Will.

As awful as the
last eight years of my life was at times, I know that I am better and stronger for it. We’re all stronger than we were three years ago…and I wouldn’t change a single thing that made it that way.

“Well,” Luke says as he finds a way to release his hold on me. “I suppose I should let you get back to packing.” He stands and pats my shoulder before moving toward the door.

“You know, Dad…maybe I could leave my winter and spring clothes here. I mean it’s not like I’m going to need them tomorrow or anything. I’ll just come back and sort through all that stuff later. Do you think that’d be ok?” I smile.

Luke sighs and smiles back at me. “Yeah,
that’d be great.”

It’s going to be a chillier weekend than I thought it would be and I feel badly for Gwen and Caroline in their short, strapless bridesmaid dresses. I opted to put them in the same dress even though they both looked stunning in all of the dresses they tried on. This
one though…this one just spoke to me. It’s the perfect shade of pale yellow. It’s gathered in the bust and the chiffon layered skirt is so romantic…and looks glorious next to the grey suits Chris and Tyler are wearing. Putting them in the same dress also seemed like a more traditional move for the traditional bells and whistles wedding Will is giving me.

T
he rehearsal and rehearsal dinner are tonight and I’m nervous as Will and I park the car and walk toward Lingle Chapel. It all seems so surreal.

“Are you ok?” Will asks as he takes my hand.

“I’m just holding my breath, that’s all,” I tell him. “We’ve had so many setbacks…I think I’ll believe this is really happening when we walk back down the aisle together.”

We approach the doors to the chapel and Will takes both my hands in his. “Believe it, babe. This is it. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. Tomorrow you’ll wake up as Layla Weston, but go to bed as Layla Meyer.”

I shake my head and sigh. “I’m so happy. I want you to know just how truly happy I am.”

“We’ve worked hard for this, Layla. Climbed mountains and
fought dragons. And we won. Nothing is going to keep me from marrying you tomorrow. Nothing.” Will leans down and kisses me, holding me to his lips by the nape of my neck. It’s warm and smooth and my stomach flips as I realize that after today, we’ll have no reason to stop. An electric current of excitement shoots through me and causes both Will and I to take a half step back and gasp.

“You felt that?” I ask, biting my lip.

“I did. What was that?” Will’s eyes are big and excited.

“That, I guess, was my body responding to the realization that tomorrow…um…well, that tomorrow night is…you know…the night.” I blush with slight embarrassment and Will lifts my chin so our eyes meet.

“Are you nervous?” he asks sweetly.

“I have moments,” I tell him in the biggest understatement ever.

“If it’s any consolation, I’m nervous, too,” he says.

“
Then I guess we’ll be nervous together, which, I think, will make me a lot less nervous,” I giggle.

“C’mon…let’s go practice for our
official wedding,” he says taking my hand and opening the door to the chapel.

We’re greeted with cheers from our friends and chastisement fro
m our mothers about being late. Before I can even give Will a quick kiss Claire scurries me, Gwen, Caroline, and Luke to the back of the church where we are instructed to wait in the foyer. Claire is a little tense right now. I’ve never seen her like this, but…her daughter has never gotten married before. It’s a good thing I’m going with the flow. I can imagine the clashing between a mom like Claire and bride who is total involved with all the details of her wedding.

Linda, the wedding director
, is a thin woman with shoulder-length brown hair and bangs. She’s smiling from ear to ear and it’s clear that she loves her job. She situates all of us in order that we’ll walk down the aisle. Gwen will go first, followed by Caroline.

“Then we’ll close the doors. That way when it’s time for you to walk,
Jimmy and I will open the doors and it’ll be the grandest of entrances!” Linda says. The pianist starts to play and Linda nods to Gwen to start walking. “Not too slow, but not too fast either, dear. Ok, now when you see her get to that pew riiiiiiiight there, that’s when you go,” she says nudging Caroline to start walking.

“How ya holding up, Dad,” I say to Luke as he clutches
the hand of my arm that is hooked in his.