When I’m done, I sit next to Drake. He takes my hand in his and holds it tight as people continue to talk about her.
A knot that I hadn’t realized was still there starts to loosen and relax as the memorial goes on. There’s peace where once there was just anxiety. I can forgive her for everything I thought she screwed up. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes. We just have to remember to love the people who are only human.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Something weird is going on. Yes, school will be out tomorrow for Christmas break. Yes, some students have taken off early to go to various destinations.
But as I make my way to my classroom, the halls seem too empty. I was running fantastically late this morning since I’d overslept. The bell will ring in about two minutes. And there are about half of the students there should be.
And those that are milling about are dressed up. Like, nicely dressed up. Like in prom dresses, and suits.
Have I missed something? Is there some kind of dance right after school? I can’t remember anything in the school newsletter.
“Taylor,” I say as I nudge him with my elbow as he’s about to pass. He’s a senior in my second period Ancient World class. “What’s going on?”
He just gives me this little smirk-smile thing and keeps walking down the hall without answering my question.
I give him a confused look over my shoulder as I continue down the hall.
I get to my classroom, stashing my stuff behind my desk and start writing out the lesson material we will be going over in World History. The warning bell rings and I’ve nearly finished writing everything out when the tardy bell rings.
Not a single student of mine is in the classroom.
I pick up my phone to call down to the office when there’s a sudden scratching static sound coming from one of my drawers.
“A messenger and helper has been sent to your classroom,” a voice cuts through the metal drawer. Drake. I pull out the walkie-talkie he snuck under my desk so long ago. “Please let her assist you and follow her with haste as soon as you’re ready.”
“What do you have planned, Mr. McCain?” I say into it.
“Something you’ll never forget,” he says. “Over and out.”
The line goes dead.
And just when it does, Hannah appears in my doorway.
“Good morning, Miss Ray,” she says with the most ridiculous smile.
She’s wearing the same dress she wore to the drill team formal. Her hair is done in perfect ringlets and she’s actually wearing sparkly heels. And draped over her arm is a huge dress bag.
“Hannah,” I say, looking up at her from under my lashes as a smile forms in one corner of my mouth. “What is going on?”
“Just the most amazing, romantic thing ever,” she says with a sigh as she walks into the classroom and shuts the door behind her. “But I can’t say anything more or it will be ruined.”
“I don’t know if I like this,” I say, watching as she lays the dress bag across two desks. “Where is my class?”
“You’ll find out soon,” she says. With a dramatic sweep, she pulls the most fantastic dress I’ve ever seen from the bag.
It really is like a gown straight out of a princess movie. It has a fitted sweetheart bodice, adorned in jewels and glitter. The skirt is pure tulle and it is huge. The entire thing is soft pink and looks like it was pulled right out of a cloud at sunrise.
My hands cover my mouth and a swarm of butterflies start a race in my stomach.
“I’m here to help you get ready, Miss Ray,” Hannah says with glee in her voice.
My eyes jump up to her and a disbelieving chuckle erupts from my chest.
We spend a good thirty minutes getting me ready—for what exactly, I don’t know. Hannah laces me up into the dress and she’s well prepared. She whips out a curling iron and with a speed I didn’t know was possible, has my hair curled. She also braids some of it up into a complicated up-do, letting the rest cascade down over my left shoulder.
“Do you approve?” she asks, holding up a mirror.
“It’s amazing,” I say, observing myself. I’m practically glowing. And I really do look like a princess. “But seriously, what is going on?”
Hannah shakes her head. “Nope, not spilling the secret.” She crosses to my desk and grabs the walkie-talkie. “Little Blue to Prince Charming, the pumpkin is leaving the cottage.”
“What?” I laugh, unable to hold back a smile.
Hannah just winks at me as Drake’s voice comes back over the radio. “Copy that. Operation Ever After is a go.”
The line goes quiet again.
“Right this way,” Hannah says. She props the door open and holds a hand out into the hall dramatically.
I give her a hesitant look and take a step toward the door in the glittery heels she provided me.
The second I step out into the hall, string music starts softly playing. I look up at the overhead speakers and give a laugh.
“What is going on?” I say to no one in particular. Hannah just grins and loops my arm through hers.
She leads me down the hall, around the corner, and I finally figure out that we are headed for the main gym when the doors come in sight.
Someone with an artistic hand took huge rolls of brown paper and covered the doors, drawing on them to make them look like the doors to some grand castle. Two senior boys stand beside them, both wearing suits. When I get closer, they reach for the handles, and pull the doors open for me.
The music coming through the overhead speakers is overwhelmed by the actual high school orchestra picking up with a dramatic, dreamy song. They are standing just to either side of the doors in the gym.
It takes my eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light, but when they do, tears prick at my eyes.
Waiting just inside for me, is Armando. He wears a tailor fitted tuxcedo, and a smile that could outshine the sun. He extends his arm, and I loop mine through his.
“Armie,” I say. But my eyes have shifted to the rest of my surroundings and I don’t have any more words.
The gym has been transformed into a ballroom. Some kind of Christmas light chandeliers have been hung from the basketball hoops. Even more twinkle lights are strung all along the walls, they crisscross across the ceiling. The entire space is sparkly and romantic.
And there must be nearly every student and teacher gathered in the gym. The space is overflowing and packed with bodies. Everyone is dressed beautifully, wearing gowns and suits.
Despite how crowded the room is, there is a perfectly clear path to the middle of the gym.
A huge smile starts forming on my face as my eyes look down the line.
There’s an archway of some sort set up in the center. There’s greenery and flowers wound through it. The biggest light chandelier of all hangs right over it.
And standing under all of that is Drake.
My feet pull me automatically toward him, Armando’s arm still around mine. My smile grows bigger and bigger as I walk toward Drake, hundreds of eyes following me as we walk.
Drake’s gaze fixes on me and he can’t seem to contain his own grin as I approach. He’s dressed in some kind of costume suit. Tight white slacks and high black boots. A red suit jacket with gold trim and buttons, and even the shoulder fringe things. Dark blue cuffs and a golden sash goes over his right shoulder and loops over his left hip. He looks like he just walked right off the page of a fairy tale.
Finally, I stop in front of him. Armando presses a kiss my temple and walks to the edge of the crowd.
“What is going on?” I say again through a laugh and an insanely huge smile.
“The greatest love story ever told,” he says. He takes a step toward me, placing a hand on my cheek. I bite my lower lip to keep my face from breaking with the world’s biggest smile.
My eyes leave Drake for just a few moments and take the scene around us in once again.
There are so many familiar faces watching us. I see Lake thr
ough the crowd not far away. Mr. Scott smiles brightly. Principal Riker shakes his head with a smile when I catch his eyes.
And then, back a ways; I see Robin, Robert, Sage, and Kale. Robin is snapping pictures like crazy. And standing just behind Armando is Dick and Skylar.
My eyes shift back to Drake.
His eyes are intense and bright and so full with the possibility of what is to come.
He lets go of my cheek and his hand slides down to mine. And ever so slowly, he drops down to one knee.
All those emotions I’ve felt in the four months since I met this man well up inside of me.
“Kaylee,” he says. His voice fills the huge space and not a breath competes with him. “I think we both knew this moment was coming from the first time we met. Me and you. Always. That was always the way it was meant to be. We took a rocky road getting here, and I’m sure there will be more potholes along the way.”
My heart breaks out into a sprint and everything around us fades away.
“But I don’t want to do this thing called being a human being with anyone else. I want you by my side, always. I want to make a life and a home and babies with you.”
We both laugh at that, and the crowd does too.
“But right now I want to ask you a question,” he says, the smile on his face growing more serious.
Once again the room is dead silent.
And the smile on my face…
“Yes!” I squeal, barely able to keep from bouncing up and down on my toes.
Drake laughs, a smile over taking his face. “You have to let me ask the question first.”
Everyone around us burst into laughter.
“Hurry up,” I say, hardly able to contain myself.
Drake just shakes his head and a lopsided smile takes over his face. “Kaylee Ray, will you marry me?”
“Yes!” I shout the second the words leave his mouth. My arms wrap around him as I throw myself at him, nearly sending us both to the ground. My lips drop to Drakes and he kisses me long and hard as he stands, for a moment, lifting me clean off my feet. As my toes once again touch the ground, I feel him reach into his pocket and draw something out.
I break away from his lips to see the box as he opens it. He pulls out a ring and I hold my finger out.
It isn’t huge. It’s quite simple actually, a white gold band with a row of diamonds embedded into it. A bigger diamond sits in the middle, and on either side, two other slightly diamonds frame it.
It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
I look up into Drake’s eyes, feeling as if I will explode into a million stars. He smiles before his lips find their way to mine again.
And the room erupts.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
SIX MONTHS LATER
Drake sets the box in the corner and wipes the sweat from his brow. “That’s the last one.”
I pat the floor next to me. He gives a little smile and sits beside me.
The house is four blocks from his parents and six from the high school. It’s not very big. Three bedrooms, two of which are tiny, and one bathroom. The old hardwood floors will need to be refinished some time. The yard needs the serious attention of a weed-whacker. The mailbox is hanging from its post by just one nail.
But this house is ours.
“I can’t believe we have our own house,” Drake says as he looks around the living room. There are boxes stacked everywhere. I can’t even see the fireplace, there’s so much stuff everywhere.
“Pretty amazing, right?” I say with a satisfied smile as I look it over too. There’s a crack in the wall by the fireplace, but the inspector insisted it wasn’t a foundation issue. I kind of love that crack. It reminds me of the past and everything we’ve overcome.
“Yeah,” Drake says, snaking an arm around my shoulders. “It kind of is.”
It’s warm inside since it’s the middle of June. School finished four days ago and we closed on this house two days ago. It took us two months to find just the right house. Something that felt right and seemed like home. Somewhere where we were sure we wanted to raise our future kids.
“How are your feet feeling?” he asks, giving me a little squeeze.
I look up at him, placing a hand on his cheek and pressing a kiss to the other one. “Toasty warm.”
“Not feeling like running off on me tomorrow?”
“You knew you didn’t even have to ask that question,” I say as I twist around, swinging one leg over the both of his, and straddling his lap. I wrap my arms behind his head, nudging his nose with mine.
“I know,” he says with a little smile, gently pressing his lips to mine.
“Tomorrow,” I say wistfully as I look into his eyes. “It’s felt forever away the past six months, and now here it is.”
“You still sleeping at Armando’s tonight?” he asks, wrapping his arms around my waist. He looks very comfortable and relaxed.
I nod. I have an overnight bag in the car, along with everything I will need to get ready in the morning. My dress is already at his condo. And tomorrow Armando will walk me down the aisle. “You staying in your old room?”
Drake nods. “Dad cleared his stuff off the bed so I have somewhere to sleep.”
Which is important, since we both let our apartments go last week. And we agreed neither of us would sleep in the house until we were married.
“Is Lake still leaving right after the wedding?” I ask, feeling my heart sink.
Drake bites his lower lip, his expression falling, and he nods. “He heads for boot camp the next morning.”
“I wish I knew why he was doing this,” I say, shaking my head.
Lake has been different the last two months. Where he used to be cocky and arrogant at times and always cracking a sarcastic joke, he’d been more serious. He seemed darker, like something was weighing his mind down. But he never talked about it.
And then three weeks ago he announced to the family that he’d joined the Marines. The only reason he hadn’t left the second he got his diploma is our wedding.
He is Drake’s best man.
“Mom’s still pretty upset about it all,” Drake says.
“Can’t blame her,” I say with a sad smile. She hadn’t handled the news well. First she was angry. And then she cried. And then she was angry again. Now’s she’s numb over it.
“Hopefully the wedding serves as a good distraction,” Drake says, pressing his lips to mine.
“I need to make sure I tell Sage thank you again,” I say to his lips. “A barely graduated college student shouldn’t have the money to pay for our wedding already.”
“She said she wanted to give us the best ever wedding gift—the wedding,” he chuckles. “Trust me, she can afford it. She told me how much she made in stocks this year.”
I shake my head and chuckle.
The shadows stretch across the floor, the hour edging toward nine o’clock.
“We should be getting some sleep,” I say. “We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
“No one will care if I look like I didn’t get any sleep,” he says with a smile. “They’re all going to be looking at you.”
“But while everyone is looking at me, I’ll be looking only at you,” I say with a kiss.
Drake’s hands run over my back, hugging me tight to him.
That’s about all it takes to make the firecrackers go off in my blood. Our lips meet at the same time and Drake uses his momentum to roll forward onto his knees for a moment, and then my back is flat against the floor.
One more day feels too damn long.
Drake’s lips trail to my neck. I let my hands snake up under his shirt and slide over the toned muscles of his back.
“I know I technically can’t say this until tomorrow,” he says, his voice breathy as he looks down at me. “But I love you, Mrs. McCain.”
“I like the sound of that,” I say quietly as I brush my fingertips over his cheek. “And I love you too.”
A half hour later
, we stand in the doorway, hand in hand.
I look over my shoulder, back into the house. The next time we step foot inside it, it will be our house as husband and wife. It will hold our future.
This is the beginning of our fairy tale.
And I know we will live happily ever after.
KEARY TAYLOR grew up along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where she started creating imaginary worlds and daring characters who always fell in love. She now splits her time between a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest and Utah with her husband and their two children. She continues to have an overactive imagination that frequently keeps her up at night.
Please visit www.KearyTaylor.com to learn more about her and her writing process.
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Keary Taylor, Ever After Drake
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