Chapter 21

21

Autumn

We're off to Memphis without a hitch, we've managed to keep our wedding news at bay. I originally planned to call them straight away, but I quickly realized I would rather tell my parents and gran in person. Of course Anton knows, but I know he'll keep it to himself until we get there. I don't think Anton will have too many qualms with Beau, they've met here and there over the years I've known him, and heard me talk about him. So it's not exactly like I've married a stranger.

However, when we're finally at my parents' place after a three hour drive, we pretty much launch straight into it after we're served some sweet tea and shortbread on my parents back porch. Gran has come around to see us, so at least we don't have to recap it all over again. Anton hasn't arrived yet.

Mom almost drops her teacup when she sees the wedding bands and knows we're not joking. She almost chokes. "You what?"

"Yes, it must come as a shock, I know." Beau tries to fill in the gaps, especially when my dad sits there unmoving. "But we're in love, Mr and Mrs Davenport. Autumn and I couldn't wait a second longer."

"But you've only been dating a few weeks?" My dad scrunches his brow. I've been told dad and I have similar features, it's in our eyes. Mine are the same blue as his and he's definitely the reason for my olive complexion.

Looking at his concerned face now though, his lips in a firm line and his hands on his hips, I can see that from Beau's point of view he can be pretty intimidating even if they've always gotten along. That was obviously before Beau married his daughter without his knowledge.

"But we've known each other for several years now," I say. "It was just a whirlwind romance, Daddy. I'm so happy." I even throw my arms around his neck as he reciprocates my hug, patting me on the back.

Gran turns to Beau with a surprised smile on her face. "You're married?" She gasps.

We both hold up our left hands as if to say, ‘guilty as charged'.

"Autumn, what brought this on?" Gran asks, the perplexion on her face showing as her eyebrows knit tightly together.

"Well, Beau and I have been friends for years, Gran, and we started dating a few weeks back, quickly realizing how we've had these feelings for a very long time. We just never acted on them."

She raises her eyebrows in surprise and looks alongside her to where Beau sits. He gives her an almost shy smile.

"It's true," he says. "The more time we spent together, the more we realized."

"It's just so soon!" my mom chimes in. "I mean, Autumn, didn't you think to talk to your family first?"

"We got caught up in the moment, Mom." I don't know how many times a person can go to Hell in one lifetime, but I'm sure to be getting a one way ticket at the rate I'm going.

"Getting caught in the moment is a far stretch from marrying someone!" She flicks her head towards Dad. "Say something, Chase!"

Chase Davenport, the most renowned and respected real estate tycoon the south has ever seen, sits back as I pull away from him and back to my seat. He's contemplating Beau with his forefinger and thumb pressing into the side of his face.

"You love my daughter?" he says simply.

I see Beau's Adam's apple bob. "I do, sir." He nods once. "More than anything. And I promise to look after her with everything I have."

My throat runs dry again listening to his words, because I believe them. I know fake wife or not, that's exactly what Beau will do.

"Well, I think a cause for celebration is in order," Gran says as she pats Beau on the arm. She can be a hard woman, but fair most of the time. She seems to be taking it well. However, my mom, a tall, wiry woman with similar long hair to mine in the same chestnut color, is not convinced, not one bit. I see she's scowling and her eyebrows pull together more harshly than Gran's did, while her lips have formed an angry pout.

"A celebration!" She balks as she looks at her mother. "You have to be joking!"

"Finally my beautiful granddaughter is married. I never thought this day was going to happen," Gran says. "So, yes. I think a celebration is a good idea. Chase?"

Dad finally unfolds his arms across his chest and gives Beau a firm pat on the back.

"Just be good to her," he says, shaking Beau's hand. "That's all I ask."

Beau blinks and presses his lips together. "Always, Mr. Davenpo?—"

"Chase," Dad corrects, before Beau gets the words out.

I glance at Dad, surprised. Again, the fact Beau isn't a stranger could be softening the blow.

"I don't understand why you didn't tell us!" Mom insists.

"I'm so sorry, it's my fault," Beau jumps in. "Mrs Davenport, our whirlwind romance took us by storm. We went away together last weekend, and I asked her to marry me. We didn't want to live in sin, you see."

"We were trying to do the right thing," I add.

"I think your mother and I are just upset that we didn't get to see our only daughter actually get married," Dad goes on. "Right, Ruth?"

Mom is still pouting and not looking one bit impressed, her arms tightly crossed over her chest. "Correct," she says shortly, then turns to me. "We need to talk in the kitchen, now!"

I sigh, putting my cup down. I knew this was coming.

"Ruth," Dad warns. I'm glad he seems to be on our side, even if he's still wary. It's not every day your only daughter comes home married.

"She's my daughter too, Chase. The only one I have!" She fires a look at Beau as she stands and whirls around. I slink out of my chair and give Beau an exasperated look as I follow her toward the double doors off the back porch that lead back into the house. I hear Beau continue chatting to Gran and Dad before I walk back inside.

As soon as we're inside she closes the door and whirls around to face me.

"What in God's name do you call this?!" she hisses.

"Mom, please, let me explain!"

"You've got about five seconds to do that, missy!"

I blink up at her. She's taller than me and can be very intimidating when she's like this. She's not going to just let this go. "Mom, I'm thirty-three years old, please remember that."

"That has nothing to do with it. I had no idea you even had those kinds of feelings for this man, much less wanted to marry him." She waves her arms toward the patio doors in his direction.

"Well, as we said, it's been brewing for a while and it all happened so fast. It's not like he's a stranger, Mom."

"So that makes it ok? Running off in secret… My God, you're not pregnant, are you?"

"Mom! No!" I flush, shocked that she would even think that would be the reason.

"Can you blame me for asking that?"

"It's as Beau said, we wanted to do the right thing and not live in sin. I wanted to do things right with him this time around."

"And again, running off to get married in secret seems pretty extreme to me!"

"Well, it's done, and I love him." I remain firm, folding my arms across my chest.

The thing is, I'm not even pretending anymore, so at least I can stop feeling guilty about that part. This past week being at his place with Bruiser has been an absolute dream. We're getting along better than ever, and he's not really messy and has been very attentive and just fun to be around.

It's safe to say, I'm having a ball with this and I have absolutely no regrets. So I'm not going to be made to feel guilty about it. I know everyone is upset they didn't get to witness the wedding, so that part I understand. But we're here now, and we can't go back in time. So it is what it is. I just wish for once Mom would be happy for me about something.

"So, that's it!" She throws her hands up in the air.

"What do you want me to say, Mom? I'm sorry you found out like this. But it's something we wanted to do spontaneously."

"I don't understand you, Autumn. You had a perfectly good suitor all lined up with Michael. Then you break up with him, and a couple of months later you're married to Beau Bassett! What can he even offer you? He's some accounts keeper at a bourbon distillery for Heaven's sake!"

I stand there stunned like she's slapped me in the face, and a part of me feels like she has because tears immediately spring to my eyes. Mom has always had the ability to get me unglued in a matter of seconds, and throwing in my cheating-ex, Michael, is just a low blow. "How can you say that?" I finally find my voice, but it sounds small, and I'm more than aware of it. "Michael cheated on me, Mom! You know that!"

She tsks and I look up at her. "So you think it's acceptable for me to put up with that, just to keep the respectable family name by marrying some rich asshole!"

"Don't you start raising your voice and cussing at me, young lady!"

"What do you expect!" My voice is definitely rising but I'm hardly yelling at her. "And for the record, Beau is more of a man than he will ever be."

"Anyone can have a slip, Autumn. I'm sure Michael didn't mean to do what he did, he was so apologetic to us when we saw him."

My eyes bug wide. "What!"

She tries to wave it off with her perfectly manicured hand. "I just wish you'd tried to work things out, that's all I'm saying."

I place my hands on my hips, my temper now at the surface and about to bubble over.

It's only Dad's voice that stops me. I didn't even hear him come in.

"Ruth!"

She turns to look up at my dad and he gives her one of his ‘I mean business' looks. My dad sure does know how to handle her. She backs off, slightly.

"We have a young man out there that's clearly in love with our daughter. Now, we can accept it and welcome him in because it's done, or we can keep bringing up the past which is obsolete anyway."

I blink up at my dad, the tears actually brim past the surface and fall down my face. I wipe them away fiercely as my heart races ten to the dozen. I cannot believe my own mother brought up Michael and is making him out to be a real charmer, insinuating that I should have stayed with him even after what he did! How dare she! And talking about Beau like he's some piece of dirt on the ground because he works at his family's distillery. I'm so ashamed of her right now.

"Thanks, Daddy." I touch his arm but make my way past them to find Bruiser in the den, scooping him up into my arms and giving him a cuddle. I find his carry case and pop him back inside. Then I head back outside where Beau is politely talking to Gran. They both look up at me and stop when they see my upset face and the fact I'm holding Bruiser's case. "Beau, we should go. I'm sorry, Gran, I just can't?—"

Beau immediately stands and reaches for me pulling me into his arms.

"Sweetheart," I hear Gran but I pull away from Beau and grab his hand.

"We have to go," I say. "Talk to you later, Gran. Tell Anton I'll talk to him later, too."

I let go of Beau and swiftly make haste out of sight to the side of the house, where we cut through to get to the front without going back through the house.

Beau is practically jogging to keep up with me. "Autumn!" he says as he reaches for me again once we're at the front of the house. I swing around and run into his hard chest, it stops me in my tracks.

I inhale his sweet, sexy scent and look up into his concerned baby blues.

He lifts my chin with his finger. "Baby, stop, tell me what happened."

"Not here," I say, glancing back toward the patio area. But no one is coming after us. Hopefully Dad is still giving Mom a few choice words in the house, and poor Gran, I just left her sitting there.

"Yes here!" He backs me slowly to the wall and holds me there, looking down, lifting Bruiser's cage out of my hand and placing it on the ground for a moment. His other hand slides to my hip.

I'm a little out of breath and upset, but I know I need to calm down. "She just… She just…" I want to scream at how that woman makes me feel sometimes. Nothing I do is ever good enough, nothing.

"Calm down, Autumn Leaf . We're in this together."

His words soothe me so much, they're smooth like velvet and seem to have a knock-on effect to my core. Everything about him is sexy and smooth. Our eyes lock, and my sadness slips away for a second. In fact, it feels like the world stops as I do something crazy. Reaching up I push my hands against his broad chest and without any further hesitation, I press my lips to his before he can even say a word, or before he can stop me. I make an urgent noise in my throat, and at that point I don't care how crazy it is. I need him. I need him so much.

Beau makes everything better. He makes the darkest storm feel like sunshine and rainbows just by his presence alone. He takes the darkness away with his soft touch and his kind words.

Maybe that's what I love about him most. I also love the way he's being right now, so attentive and sexy as he looks down at me with intense eyes. Like there's nothing he won't do for me. I'm starting to wonder if it's positively true that we both really do have the same feelings for each other.

When did we actually stop pretending? Maybe it's been real all along.

If he's shocked, he doesn't show it. In fact, his hand reaches up to rest against my cheek as his lips match mine and move with me, soft, tentative, and warm.

That's Beau to a tee, he's all those things. But I love how I feel safe too, like nothing can hurt me when I'm in his strong arms. He may be soft in some areas, but he can be protective and assertive in others when he wants to be. And that's the kind of man I need.

He's the yin to my yang.

Our lips move in a slow, warm dance for a minute or so until he seems to realize himself and pulls back a little, breaking our connection. I stare up at him breathless, my cheeks feel flushed and my center is throbbing so bad. "Beau," I murmur.

"We should go," he says.

I nod, reaching down to pick up Bruiser's case. I don't want them coming after us and having another confrontation with Mom. Once is enough for one day.

I watch him as he sucks in his bottom lip, like he's tasting me on his lips. I swallow because lips are just a whole other world that I want to get more acquainted with.

He takes my hand and pulls me from being plastered against the wall and escorts me to the passenger side of the car where he opens my door.

Neither of us say anything about the kiss when we get in the car and I let Bruiser out to sit on my lap. I dab my eyes as he starts up the engine and I reach behind me to put Bruiser's case onto the backseat.

I tell him about the fight on the way home as a distraction and what Mom said. He can't believe it either. We still don't say anything about the kiss. And I'm not sorry one bit, or regretting it.

"Your mom was probably just in shock," he says as we pull up at the Airbnb we booked in no time. We already knew staying with my parents wasn't going to be an option. "Granted, it doesn't explain why she loves your ex so much."

It's typical of Beau to try to put a positive spin on it and make things better. I love that part about him, too. "Yes, she probably is in shock, but she clearly doesn't approve of us, only that asshole. I'm sorry, Beau."

He shakes his head. "You don't have to be sorry about anything, Wifey. You haven't done anything wrong. She'll come around, I'm sure of it."

I smile a little weakly as we walk up to the entryway of the lovely townhouse and Beau unlocks the door. I step inside and turn to face him as soon as he gets in the doorway. "Beau, I enjoyed kissing you just now," I say, because I can't hold it in any longer. I take another step closer to him, as I let Bruiser run free into the hallway, because I need to feel his arms around me.

I need him close. He doesn't seem to realize how much I need him.