Submit and Surrender

epilogue


The christening was beautiful. Adra fought to hold back tears, and then, after a while, she just gave up. The tears came, and they started a kind of cascade effect, until she and Lola were both quietly crying, and Adra could have sworn that there was something in both Ford’s and Roman’s eyes.

Oh yeah. And they were Godparents.

She and Ford. Godparents. It felt…

All of it felt real.

And Adra was happy. So happy, in fact that she’d taken a little moment for herself, at the party Roman had thrown for his daughter at their hotel, just to take in the whole scene. She was looking at a huge hall full of people she loved, and her life was practically perfect. Seeing Roman and Lola and baby Emma, seeing how happy they were, seeing Ford and knowing he was hers, she felt like she was boiling over with this…energy. This happy knowledge of the potential all around her. She could barely contain her excitement. Which was maybe why she was sort of hiding in the corner, just a little bit, while watching from behind one of those huge floral displays.

She knew it was weird. She also should have known that Ford would find her no matter how weird she got or where she hid.

“I checked out all the other floral arrangements first,” he said into her ear. “Third time’s the charm.”

Adra smiled, and sighed as he wrapped his arms around her.

“We only needed two tries,” Adra said.

“Three.”

“What?” Adra said, turning to look up at him. “I did not screw up twice.”

“We should have taken a shot the first day we met,” he said. “I thought I was being smart. Coworkers, and all.”

“So we’re even on screw ups?”

“Nice try,” he said, squeezing her tight.

Adra’s sigh turned to something a little more urgent sounding. Any time he touched her, she felt that need start to build. Not that she minded, but they weren’t at Club Volare; they were at a very nice hotel.

Still, though.

“What about your brother,” she said, desperate for a distraction.

“What about him?”

Adra had been spying on Gavin, too. Specifically, Gavin and Olivia. They always seemed to be very aware of each other’s movements in a way that seemed very familiar to Adra. Any time the two of them came into each other’s orbit, they seemed to…gravitate to each other. And now that they were talking? Adra doubted they were aware of anyone else in the room.

“Look at him with Olivia,” she said.

“Yeah, he’s got it bad,” Ford said. “I actually haven’t seen him like that before.”

“She told me that her next movie is shooting in Louisiana,” Adra said, and then stopped speaking, suddenly, when Ford’s hand slid across her stomach.

“Hmm,” he said.

“Something about tax credits and vampires,” Adra said, breathless as Ford spun her around and against the wall.

Ford looked at her.

“Vampire accountants?” he said. “That sounds boring as hell.”

“No, the vampires aren’t…” Adra’s eyes half closed as Ford pulled her hips toward his. “Oh God, shut up, the vampires aren’t accountants, the film gets tax credits. What are you doing?”

“Shut up, huh?” he said, smiling.

He put his leg between hers.

“Ford…”

“Yeah?”

He swept her hair to the side, and let his fingers trail down her neck. Adra was about to lose her mind. She had one very pressing idea she needed to get out before that happened.

“Didn’t you say the next club would be in New Orleans?”

“Yeah,” he said.

He kissed the delicate skin just below her ear and her knees buckled, just a little bit.

“Oh dear God, just get your brother to go to New Orleans,” she said, grabbing his lapels. “Don’t you see?”

Ford pulled back slightly, and let his eyes rove over her body.

“I see that you’re getting flushed,” he said. “I see that your pupils are dilated. I see that your breathing is fast and shallow. Why the hell would I be looking at anything else?”

Adra stared up at him, willing him to touch her again, willing them to be suddenly very much in private.

“Am I supposed to be able to answer that?” she said.

“Don’t worry about Gavin,” Ford said. “Worry about what’s going to happen to that dress.”

“Not here,” she said, barely able to breathe.

He grinned. “I could just give the order.”

Oh God. Instantly wet.

“But we have the rest of our lives for public sex, and right now, I want to take my time,” he said.

Adra put a hand on his chest and froze.

The rest of our lives…

She swallowed, and met his eyes. He would be the brave one again.

“I meant that,” he said.

“I know,” she whispered. “Me too. Only…”

“Only what?”

Her heart thudded in her chest like it was trying to escape, and that happy energy roiled inside of her, looking for a way out. She had to just say it. She needed to say it.

“Only I don’t want to wait,” she said.

Adra didn’t think she’d ever see Ford look this close to stunned ever again. She tried to savor it, but the words, once she’d said them, didn’t want to let her go.

“I don’t want to waste anymore time. I don’t want to wait to be married to you,” she said. “I want it to be yesterday. I want it to have been always. I just…Ford, I want to be married to you.”

He blinked at her.

Then he kissed her.

Then he took a step back, breathing hard, and looked at her again.

“You’re sure?” he said.

“Yes,” she said. “Please, yes. Whenever you want, whenever you think we’re ready, I—”

“Stay right where you are,” he said. “I mean it. Do not move. That is an order.”

She knew what he was about to do. She grabbed his hand.

“You’re sure?” she asked him. “You’re sure of me? I mean, I’m the crazy pants who tried to break up with you, I—”

“I’ve known for a long time,” Ford said. “Just tell me you’re sure, and it’s done.”

“Yes,” she said. “I’ve never been more sure of anything, if we’re being honest.”

And she was. It was possibly the only thing she’d ever been certain of in her entire life.

Ford smiled down at her, the happiest she’d ever seen him.

“Then I’m gonna marry you,” he said. “Right now.”

“This isn’t too crazy?” she said, laughing.

“I don’t care if it is,” he said. “No more waiting.”

He came in for another kiss, this one deeper, longer, the kind of promise that made Adra’s mind shut down and her body spring to attention.

“I love you,” Ford said, pulling away reluctantly. “Do not move.”

As if she could walk after that, anyway.

She watched him with what she was sure was a stupid smile on her face. She watched him marshaling Gavin and Roman to do whatever needed doing, watched him whisper something to Lola, who tried not to scream, and instead just hugged him. Watched him work like a man who just couldn’t wait any longer.

In less than thirty minutes, he’d tracked down Reverend Bob.


Reverend Bob himself seemed somewhat surprised to be at a famous hotel, and made it known that he usually did these kinds of things at his own church, because that’s where his African gray parrot Murray was most comfortable. For special occasions, however, Murray would travel, as he had today. He was sitting somewhat impatiently on Reverend Bob’s shoulder.

Truthfully, Adra was pretty transfixed by the parrot. Reverend Bob explained that Murray was what set him apart from the other same day, same hour marriage licensers and full service wedding providers in the state of California, and Adra believed him. The parrot, besides having several key lines of the traditional vows memorized, seemed to have an intense interest in her hair.

“This is really happening?” Adra said, dodging Murray. She couldn’t stop smiling.

“Yeah,” Ford said. He had his own big, goofy grin. “You can always divorce me later if you want. I won’t tell Murray.”

“Don’t you want a prenup?” she said. “You know, lawyer-code, or whatever it is?”

“I don’t do prenups,” Reverend Bob said, frowning.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ford said, smiling. “She’s got all of me anyway.”

“Well, who are the witnesses?” Reverend Bob asked. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

They had five witnesses, though only two were necessary, and only four could sign anything, anyway. Olivia, who seemed almost as swept away by Volare as Adra was by Ford, and Gavin, who was grinning just like his brother, and then Roman and Lola, who were too happy to say “I told you so,” and of course, little Emma, who was sleeping. Either Roman and Lola had hit the baby lottery, and that child slept better than any child in the history of children, or they were going to have a sleepless night. They didn’t seem to care.

So much of the ceremony, such as it was, was a blur. Adra didn’t really register much, except for the maybe overly amorous parrot, besides Ford. She just…couldn’t tear her eyes away from Ford. Now that she had him, now that she’d woken up to what was right in front of her, she just didn’t want to let go.

“You’re getting a real wedding, if you want it,” he said. “I mean big. The whole deal.”

“I do,” she said. “To all of it. I do, I do, I do. Let’s be married.”

“And I’ll marry you every day for the rest of our lives,” Ford said. “Just to prove it to you, I’m going to put this guy on retainer.”

Reverend Bob perked up.

Adra laughed as she dodged Murray the parrot, who was trying to claw at her hair again.

“I’ll end up with a bird living on my head if you do that.”

Ford drew her close, away from parrots, from distractions, from the rest of the world.

“You are the love of my life, Adra,” he said. “I want to spend every day I have on this earth showing you what that means.”

“You already have,” she said quietly. “Now kiss your wife, please.”

He did.

THE END