Unforgivable

He smiled as we pulled up to the traffic light. He leaned over and kissed me slowly.

“I know I won’t want you to stop,” I whispered. “You’re right, we’ll be fine.”

Chapter 4

Six weeks were gone in a blur. Linda certainly earned her pay because every single day it seemed she and I were working together to make this wedding flawless. Early on Micah and I discussed the bridesmaids and groomsmen for the wedding. Although we both had plenty of people to choose from, Micah felt it would have been an odd blending of two worlds, Palm Beach socialites walking the aisles with mafia men wouldn’t work well. We finally settled on a rather untraditional arrangement. He asked David, to be his best man, and I asked my mother to be my maid of honor. I asked Giorgio if he would mind walking me down the aisle, but when the time came to join the families by the giving away of the bride, my mother would be the one to speak up and give me away. Kimmy would be the flower girl and Mom and David would hold the wedding rings until the moment of exchange.

I invited my Pensacola friends, but the only ones who could make it were Kevin and Carlie. I was disappointed Jewels couldn’t make it, but she said her parents wouldn’t bring her nor allow her to travel alone. Ryan was still here with his mother in Palm Beach, planning to return to Pensacola a week after the wedding to complete his senior year. He seemed a bit relieved when I told him Jewels wasn’t coming down. He said they had basically broken up for the summer, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to see her right now. I didn’t like the idea of his being alone, so I offered to fix him up with one of my other friends, just for the wedding of course, but he politely refused.

All seemed to be going well until David and Giorgio flew in the week before the wedding for the rehearsal. We invited them both to stay at the house. But it shocked me when David started to flirt with my mother! And, what was more shocking was Micah didn’t seem to think it was a big deal. I stole a few private moments with Micah after dinner that night, pulling him out to the garage and into my car to vent my frustration.

“Baby, David is 29 and your mom is 35, they only have one more year difference between them than we do.”

“She’s my mother!”

“Well, she is hot.”

“Micah!” I couldn’t mask my shock, “you never said you thought my mom was hot.”

“Leese, I’m crazy in love with you and I think you are the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever met, but even you said your mom was beautiful.”

“Beautiful is beautiful-not hot.”

“You’re beautiful and hot.”

“But-but she’s my mother and he-he…”

“Is mafia?” he stated raising his eyebrows at me.

“NO-he drugged me! And, let’s not forget, tried to shoot me.”

He started to laugh, and then leaned across the leather seat and kissed me, “That was under totally different circumstances, and he does know how to behave when he isn’t trying to save my ass or yours for that matter. We both owe him.”

“Mom isn’t payment,” I hissed.

“I’ll tell him to cool it and we’ll leave the rest up to your mother.”

“Ah! Well then that means I have to have a talk with her,” I growled, my frustration level rising.

Micah sighed, “Baby, do you really want your mother to know what happened between us before I proposed?” I could see a small amount of worry in his eyes.

I calmed. He was right. I couldn’t tell Mom what to watch out for with David. And, he was being impossibly polite and charming (a side to David I’d never seen). “Just please do me a favor and let him know Kimmy picks up on things quickly, and I would prefer he didn’t make passes at Mom, especially with her around.”

“Deal. Besides, I don’t think he’ll get too forward with Dad here. Now if he were here alone, I think we’d have a problem.” He gave me one more quick kiss and suggested we go back inside and stop ignoring our guests.

We walked in to find Giorgio enjoying a card game with Kimmy in the dining room and Mom and David were out by the pool having a glass of wine. Damn wine! I knew I should have thrown it out. But I couldn’t deny she was actually having fun. She was smiling and laughing, her eyes sparkling with life and happiness. I remembered her motto about only getting one opportunity to live life. Suddenly, I felt bad for trying to take away a chance for her to feel attractive to someone, even if it was David. I could only hope neither one of them would fall for the other-it could get weird; my step-father-brother-in-law? That was a little creepy.

The next day we drove down to show them the monastery and to rehearse. I brought Mom, Giorgio, and Kimmy in my car; Micah and David followed in the Corvette. When we arrived, Micah had a constant sheepish look on his face as we went through our rehearsal, and I was beginning to wonder exactly what he and David had been discussing on the way down to North Miami. But his face changed when we took everyone on a tour of the grounds and buildings; he was beaming from ear to ear as his father mentioned multiple times that the church was outstanding and beautiful. He had impressed his father and that, I knew, was something very important to him.

We returned home and went out for lunch and then Micah used my car to take them back to the airport.

I wanted to see if Mom was interested in talking about David, but she was off to pick up the shoes she had dyed to match her gown, then she and Kimmy were going to the salon for haircuts and to get their nails done. It sounded like a fun girls-afternoon-out, but I had my day of pampering already scheduled for the day before the wedding, so I stayed at home and waited for Micah to return.

When he came home, I got the distinct feeling he was trying to avoid me.

“I’m going to take a shower,” he declared as soon as he realized we were alone.

“Why? You had one last night and I haven’t done anything to make you run for it,” I teased, wrapping my arms around his waist.

He kissed me quickly and tried to slip from my grip, “I’ll be back down in a little while.”

“Good,” I replied, my suspicions getting stronger, “then we can discuss David-and Mom.”

His face lost color as the slight smile he had melted away, “Wh-why? What did your Mom say about him?”

“She’s avoiding me, like you’re trying to do. What did David say to you on the drive to the church?”

“Leese, do you remember when we were in the Inlet Motel and you thought I’d gone out and done something you didn’t want to know about? Do you remember what you said to me when you thought I was getting ready to confess?”

“Yeah, I said… Aaah!”

“Baby, there are some things you really do want to remain ignorant about.” He was giving me a very sympathetic look, “And besides, we’re getting married in six days and I was hoping they would be six happy days.”

“Exactly what did David tell you?” There was no way he was getting away from me now. I had to know what it was he didn’t want me to know.

Micah put his hand on the back of his neck and rolled his head as if he was suddenly stiff, “Well, he used a lot of four letter words.”

“What!”

“Yeah, he used like, want, need, and-and love several times. I don’t know what the women in this family do to the men in my family, but I’m afraid he is crazy about your mother.”

“But all they did was sit out by the pool and talk.”

He gave me a strange look.

“That was all they did, right? We were the last ones to go to bed.”

For someone very large, he started to get small in a hurry, “Remain ignorant, remember.”

“She didn’t-they didn’t-”

He cringed. “Baby-”

I put my hand over my open mouth, “Did he drug her?!”

“No,” he offered quickly, “It was absolutely consensual. Don’t flip out on me, please.