What Were You Expecting? (11 page)

“In this case? I hope not.” He rubbed his chin. “If they ever suspect…”

“We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.”

“I want you to know…no matter what, Maggie, I’m here for you. Legal advice, friendship…more than friendship—whatever you need…”

Her eyes widened. “
More
than friendship? Beck, I’m gettin’ married today.”

“That’s why I wanted to say it now. Before.” His warm brown eyes reached out to her across the desk. “I’m just trying to say that if you ever need anything, Maggie, anything at all, I hope you know that I would—”

“You’d what?” asked Nils, who had slipped quietly back into the room.

Beck looked up, his cheeks flushing with surprise. “I—I was just telling Maggie that if she ever needs anything, I’m here for her.”

Maggie twisted in her seat to look back at Nils, who stood in the doorway of Beck’s office, taking up every inch of space. His Arctic eyes narrowed at Beck momentarily before he glanced at Maggie. She smiled at him and his face softened, though he didn’t smile back. “I’ll look after Maggie.”

“That’s good,” said Beck, a hint of challenge still lingering in his voice. “Lucky man to call her your
wife
.”

Nils looked back at Beck with hard eyes, but to Maggie’s relief he didn’t wince or grimace. He nodded once and then hooked his thumb toward the waiting area. “Should we get started? Tessie’s car just pulled in.”

Beck got up from his desk, gesturing to the door, and as they left his office, Maggie felt Nils’s hand on the small of her back. Possessive. She fought the urge to lean back into his hand, reminding herself his gesture was more for Beck’s benefit than hers.

A slightly overweight, tall, blonde woman stood next to Emma Branson’s desk with her back to Maggie, and Maggie stiffened instinctively, bracing herself to meet Nils’s ex-lover and not to lunge at her neck. She didn’t want for her face to betray her with a petty, ridiculous show of jealousy over a man who really didn’t belong to her, regardless of what they were about to do. As they approached, Tess turned around, and Maggie was instantly disarmed when she saw that Tess was holding a small child in her arms, a little girl who looked around one year old.

“Oh!” Maggie exclaimed, smiling at the blond-haired, brown-eyed baby. “She’s so bonny!”

Tess grinned at Maggie proudly, readjusting the child in her arms and straightening the little pink hair bow on top of her head. “This is Joey. Joey, meet Maggie. Maggie’s getting married today.”

“Hello, Joey!” said Maggie, reaching out a hand to Joey, who grasped onto her finger with surprising strength.

Maggie smiled at the baby, but her glance flicked back up to Tess’s face just in time to see her lift her gaze and focus over Maggie’s head. Tess’s face softened with tenderness and her voice was soft and warm when she added, “She’s marrying Nils.”

Nils’s hand dropped from Maggie’s back as he sidled up beside her, leaning forward to kiss Tess on the cheek. It made Maggie’s stomach lurch and she fought the urge to yank on his arm and pull him away from this other woman, this intruder who’d touched her man’s body, known the weight of it over her as she loved him, as she shared something with him that Maggie longed for so desperately.

“You look good, Tessie. Marriage agrees with you.”

“I’m lucky,” she said, giving him a small, wistful smile. Her bright blue eyes seemed misty when they returned to Maggie’s face. “I hope you’ll be as happy as I am.”

“Thank you,” answered Maggie, trying to control her feelings before she embarrassed herself. Anyone could sense the obvious bond between Nils and Tess. It was the specific intimacy shared by people who’d given and taken the most intimate parts of themselves with one another. He’d touched this woman’s body, run his lips over her skin, maybe looked into her eyes as he fused his body with hers. The way he’d kissed her on the cheek was so natural with none of the halting awkwardness apparent when he touched Maggie. His voice was so tender as he spoke to her. It made Maggie’s heart clench and her stomach roll over. Was it possible he still had feelings for this Tess? Was
she
what stood between Maggie and Nils? It made Maggie want to burst into tears and run from the room to see his connection to this beautiful, buxom blonde woman.

And she may have…if she hadn’t suddenly felt Nils’s fingers reach gently for hers, clasping her hand in his and then rotating his hand to lace their fingers together. She looked down at their hands first then lifted her gaze to his face where he clenched his jaw, still looking at Tess, as though he was telling her something.

Tess was staring at their hands in amazement. “Oh!” A lovely smile spread across her face, brightening her already pretty features as though she was seeing something beautiful or miraculous. “Nils,” she breathed with wonder in her voice.

Nils cleared his throat awkwardly. “Can we get started, Beck?”

“Of course. Let’s go into the conference room. It’s just a little bigger and we can sit around the table in there.”

Maggie took a seat next to Nils, puzzling over the odd exchange that had just occurred. What had made Tess so happy? That Nils and Maggie were holding hands? Why did such a simple act make her look so amazed? So surprised? Maggie’s curiosity was piqued, and—if she was honest—it bothered the hell out of her that this woman knew his secrets, knew far more about him than Maggie feared she ever would.

***

He shouldn’t have grabbed Maggie’s hand, but he felt her whole body tense up beside him as he kissed Tessie on the cheek and he wanted to reassure her—to let her know that whatever had existed between him and Tessie was long gone. She deserved that much.

But, Tess, who was the only person in the world to whom Nils had ever confided the details of the tragic summer he lost Veronica, had jumped to conclusions as he reached for Maggie’s hand. Wrong conclusions. Part of him longed to set her straight,
No, Tessie. Maggie and I are just friends. You know as well as I do why we can never be more than friends.

And heck, he liked touching Maggie. It calmed his frayed nerves for his skin to be flush with hers. The closer they came to saying their wedding vows, the more his stomach flip-flopped with second thoughts. Maybe he should have let Paul do this for her. But what if he started noticing sunnier smiles between them? What if their fingers started touching more frequently, more deliberately as one of them dealt the cards for euchre? What if one day he realized that what had started as a green-card marriage had somehow become a real marriage before his eyes? He couldn’t bear it. He’d want to die. So, selfish bastard that he was, he’d practically forced her to choose him.

She pulled him down in the chair beside her, leaning toward him to whisper in his ear. “Are you okay?”

“Just fine.”

“You seem nervous.”

She was so close to him, suddenly he didn’t feel nervous. He felt electric with her breath brushing his ear for the second time in an hour. He felt like bellowing at Beck and Tessie to get the hell out and pinning Maggie to the conference table, biting her ear and running his tongue along the freckles on her jawline, making her whole body bow into him as he kissed her until they both saw stars.

“Just remember. Two friends. One green card.”

“Yeah.”
Friends. Yeah, right.

She drew back and tilted her head to the side, smiling at him reassuringly as she squeezed his hand.

Beck had taken the seat across from them, flanked by Emma, who was holding her granddaughter, and Tess, who smiled back at Nils knowingly. He pursed his lips and looked away.

“Okay, folks, we’re going to get started.” Beck opened a glossy paperback to a bookmarked page, smoothing it flat on the table before him. “This is a standard civil ceremony. No bells and whistles. Just your basic wedding vows. Unless you wanted—”

“Sounds good,” interrupted Nils.

“And you have the ring?”

“The ring?” squeaked Maggie.

“You need at least one,” explained Beck.

“Well, I…” Maggie slipped her hand out of Nils’s and laid it on the table, looking down at the gold Claddagh ring on her fourth right finger. “It’s an Irish weddin’ band.”

“Perfect,” said Beck, holding out his hand. “Can you slide it over to me? I promise I’ll give it back in a second.”

As Maggie drew the ring down her finger and pushed it lightly across the table, Nils’s heart fluttered. The ring that had always assured him she was free would now remind him that she was his wife.
That man needs to bed me or wed me…
He drew a shaky breath. This was real. This was happening. He was actually
marrying
Maggie.

Beck cleared his throat before beginning. “Okay. Here goes. We are gathered here in the sight of God and the presence of these witnesses to join together this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony, which is an honorable estate and is not to be entered into lightly or inadvisably, but reverently and discreetly.” He paused, looking up at Nils, then Maggie. “Nils and Maggie, have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage?”

“Yes,” said Maggie.

“Yes,” said Nils.

Beck nodded and looked back down at the book. “I require and charge you both to remember that love and loyalty alone will prevail as the foundation of a happy and enduring home, which will be full of joy and will abide in peace.”

Nils listened to the words, discomfort uncurling in his gut and making his chest feel tight as he thought about the words “happy and enduring home.” He glanced at Maggie, at her freckled face, and wished he could take her hand again, be soothed by her warmth, be reassured that what they were doing wasn’t wrong.

Beck interrupted his thoughts by looking up at him. “Nils Lindstrom, will you have this woman, Maggie Campbell, to be your wedded wife, to live together in the estate of matrimony? Will you love her, honor her, and keep her in sickness and in health and forsaking all others so long as you both shall live?”

Nils cleared his throat, looking briefly at Maggie’s profile again, knowing in his heart that despite his inability to share Maggie’s bed or be a real husband to her, it didn’t change the fact that he would love her and honor her for the rest of his life. He knew that if she was ever sick, if she ever needed him, he’d race to her side. He knew there would never be another woman who could possibly threaten the claim she had on his heart. He knew that he wasn’t lying when he answered, “I will.”

Under the table her fingers touched down on his thigh, scrambling lightly against the soft denim, searching for his hand. Without giving it a moment’s thought, he gently covered her hand with his.

“Maggie Campbell,” asked Beck, “will you have this man, Nils Lindstrom, to be your wedded husband, to live together in the estate of matrimony? Will you love him, honor him, and keep him in sickness and in health and forsaking all others so long as you both shall live?”

Her voice was soft and clear. “Aye. I will.”

“Okay, Nils,” said Beck, sliding the ring back across the table to Nils. “You’re going to put this ring on the fourth finger of Maggie’s
left
hand and repeat after me.”

Nils took the tiny band between his fingers and shifted in his chair to face Maggie. Her face was pale and serious as she held out her left hand, which trembled, suspended, between them. He lifted his other palm flush to hers and carefully slid the gold ring onto her finger, pushing the little gold heart closer and closer to her own heart. He shouldn’t have raised his eyes to hers, but he did, and her bright green eyes captured his, holding them hostage as he repeated after Beck, saying the words that would make her his wife.

“I, Nils…”

“I, Nils…”

“…take you, Maggie…”

“…take you, Maggie…”

“…to be my lawfully wedded wife.”

“…to be my lawfully wedded wife.”

He kept repeating after Beck, lost in Maggie’s eyes, helpless and undone by the simple fact that he meant every word he said.

“To have and to hold from this day forward…”

“…for better, for worse…”

“…for richer, for poorer…”

“…in sickness and in health,”

“…to love and to cherish…”

“…until death do we part.”

Love and cherish until death. Until death. There was no fiction in the words he’d spoken, and though he’d live his life without the warmth of her legs tangled with his every night as he slept beside her, at least he wasn’t a liar. Yes. He would love and cherish Maggie Campbell for the rest of his pitiful life.

“Okay, Maggie. Because you don’t have a ring for Nils, I’m going to ask that you please remain holding hands as you say your vows. I, Maggie…”

Only once did his eyes slip to her lips, to watch her say the words “my lawfully wedded husband” which leveled him for a moment as he realized—on some level, paper or not—he’d just crossed the threshold from belonging to no one, to belonging to someone. It made a shudder pass through his body and he looked back into her eyes for reassurance.