Darkest Love (27 page)

Annie liked the new self-employed, independent-academic Rain Mistern very much. Sex in the morning, naked breakfasts, peace and quiet when he retired to the study to work on a new bestseller: what more could a girl really ask for?

Rain's rock-hard bicep, ripped harder than ever after all those adventures in Sivu, bulged under his sleeve when he raised his own glass. “To my wife, who always had her head together and who stood by me…” He choked up. “…while I got myself together.”

Oh, God.
A big fat tear gathered like an ocean swell in Annie's eyes, blinding her.

“Awww.” A great coo rose up from the crowd, and then a laugh that Annie had to join in with, there was so much warmth in the sound. Boy, how differently your colleagues treated you when you were no longer seen as a lapdog for a man. Annie smiled down at the tear that had fallen onto her wedding dress, silently thanking her makeup artist for insisting she wear waterproof mascara.

“Thank you, too, everyone,” she said into the microphone. “I have always stood by Rain. But what people don't know…” She tossed her head. “…is that he has always stood by me. It was hard keeping our love secret for all those years, but we thought it was better to keep people guessing…” She grinned at her new husband. “…than to confirm we were having an office romance.”

A titter went up all around. Rain squeezed her hand. They had agreed on that line before the wedding, and Annie hoped it hadn't come out sounding uppity, or like they had something to hide.

Annie left the microphone podium and let Lily adjust her train. “Well done, Ann,” the other woman whispered, looking pretty in her coral-colored bridesmaid dress. “You deserve this.”

The women hugged, and then Lily stepped away, letting the bride chatter and smile with all the people shooting comments from around the table. She struggled to remember names. Rain had insisted on inviting a Titanic-load of mutual acquaintances, even people Annie could swear she had never met.

The only person
not
there was Mandy Paulson, who had reportedly scoffed when she heard about the wedding. She refused to believe it could possibly be happening, and when an invitation showed up in the mail, she politely declined. Then, by all accounts, she had retired to her bedroom for a solid weekend of Netflix, wine and crying.

Annie felt twice as queenly as Sola ever would. A line formed at the wedding party table and Rain and Annie took turns receiving congratulations, pecking the cheeks of great aunts and research students and professors and school friends alike. Anne didn't bother to keep an eye on Rain's body language. He was still permitted to flirt with women in their open arrangement but Annie trusted he would have enough class not to do so at the nuptials.

It appeared to be so. Every time she glanced over, Rain's kisses looked discreet and his hands were on the recipient's arms, not hovering near a waist or a hip or a bust. There were grips, not caresses. Words, not nightclub-style one-liners. Embraces, not gropes. And short little bursts of non-leering eye contact.

The only uncomfortable moment came late, as Kathy Mistern gave her new daughter-in-law a peck on the cheek.

“I can't believe Rain fit into his suit in the end. Those tropical adventures put a new milk-crate of muscle on my boy. He probably had some scuffles with those tribesmen while he was dilly-dallying with that princess.”

Annie closed her eyes, trying to force a laugh. How like Mrs. Mistern to mention the princess sex rumors at Annie's wedding. “I agree he's put on some kilos, Mrs. Mistern. And I wouldn't say the fit is too tight. A snug fit is fashionable now.”

She kept it short. Rain had warned Annie about his mother.

Kathy Mistern regarded Annie with a cold eye. Her icy gaze shot up and down Annie's dress with zero wedding warmth. It was more like she was searching her daughter-in-law's outfit and bearing, looking for mistakes. Annie felt a chill in her blood.

In time–hopefully–Kathy would warm up to her.

Annie tried to grin, but her heart sank at the sight of the woman's skeptical, almost sneering face. She knew what was behind that: Rain had probably told his mother some of the details of their time together. About all the years when Annie had chased him, the years when he wasn't interested.

He had probably told his mother that she was too trashy.

Oh, if only people would shut up!
You never know how things will pan out.
Soon Kathy Mistern had stepped aside, and her sneering was a distant memory. As the funky seventies music wafted from the stereo, and the first dance began, it occurred to Annie that she had never been so happy.

“You have dropped many jaws, Mrs. Mistern,” Rain whispered to her as they slow-danced, barely aware of the coos and claps of the surrounding crowd. Annie and Rain had eyes only for each other. “The jaws of all your detractors. The jaws of the scandalized Kaamo. The jaw…” He winked. “…of my disbelieving mom.”

“You used to tell her I was a slut, didn't you?”

Rain looked at her in surprise. Annie warmed as he threw his eyes up, breaking her gaze for the first time since the dance began, and laughed a hearty laugh.

“I probably did.”

“Can't you imagine how she feels now that we're married?”

Rain slipped a finger under Annie's chin, cocking her face up, and kissed her. “I really don't care what she thinks. I don't care what anyone thinks. I have learned that from you. If you hadn't ignored them…” He gazed around, using his eyes to gesture at the crowd. “…we wouldn't be together. And if you weren't kinky enough to break down my walls, and get in here…” He tapped his chest with the clasp formed by their fingers. “…we wouldn't be together.”

Annie's heart fluttered as he cocked his bicep, raising their hands so she could twirl around. She flew backwards as Rain dropped her into a low dip. He held her there for a second, hand on her back, letting her enjoy the view of his face haloed by a brilliant chandelier. Annie sighed with pleasure; the crowd cheered.

“From now on, I'm doing things Annie Childs-style. I don't give a shit what people think.”

The lovers danced on into the evening, bumping against the new couples that shimmied onto the dance floor. Annie and Rain wound their way around elderly shufflers and pointy-elbowed disco fans and clumsy couples who must have had four left feet between them. They wound around tenure competitors and former lovers and disbelieving gapers and islands of rose petals tossed by an errant, rebellious flower girl. They picked up the pace for dance tracks, stopped to embrace great aunts, locked back together for slow-dances and fielded the odd question about Kaamo royalty. They swooped sugar-high children into their arms for happy swaying sojourns and soothed insecure girls with a compliment or two. They attended to everyone who fell into view, but their eyes locked back together each time, as tightly as their arms.

In their hearts they were undistracted; they had eyes only for one another.

Melody Tweedy is an author who loves to explore the dark side of love.

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