Chapter 29

Twenty-Nine

Damon

The next couple of days flew by, and people would talk about how I could not stop smiling. I knew that I was probably the happiest guy in the world.

I was sitting in my office, trying to go through a pile of paperwork, when there was a knock at the door and my brother walked in. That caught my attention; McCrae never thought he had to knock. He was followed by Noah and Canyon and Dylan. Which surprised me, because Dylan didn’t come home that often.

“Looks like trouble just walked in my door.” I leaned back and crossed my arms, trying to frown.

McCrae pointed at me. “See, I told you guys he couldn’t frown.”

All of them took a seat, and Dylan grinned. “I thought I would come home for a bachelor party, being that the wedding is this weekend. Thanks for calling, bro.”

I gave them all a wide grin. “Well, I guess someone told you.” I stood and moved around the desk to give Dylan a hug. “I’m sorry. It’s been crazy, and I should’ve called.”

Dylan laughed and said, “That’s okay. I am just happy for you guys. Seriously.”

McCrae cleared his throat. “Kayla is going to watch the boys tonight, and we are going to go out on the town. Do some wild stuff.”

Noah frowned. “Not too wild. I’m married.”

Canyon grunted in agreement. “We have search and rescue in the morning. And I expect all of you to be there.” He pointed at Dylan. “No getting out of it, saying you don’t live here.”

I had honestly forgotten about search and rescue. “I’m not sure about tonight. And I’m not sure about search and rescue tomorrow.” I had a certain woman on my mind.

Canyon shook his head. “I have already convinced your woman to join search and rescue. So she will be there tomorrow, and I already asked Mom and Dad if they would watch the boys.”

I threw up my hands. “I guess you guys have it all figured out.”

They all started laughing, and I couldn’t help but laugh with them. There was something about being with my brothers that made me happy. Of course, I was happy being with Kayla as well, but my brothers and I were tight.

Dylan moved toward the door. “I’m going to go say hi to Isla.”

“Me too.” Canyon followed.

I would have stopped them, since they could just wait for twenty minutes before we got off, but I was feeling happy.

McCrae pointed at me. “This shows how happy you are. You’re not even enforcing work hours.” He smacked me on the back.

I grunted at him. “I’m enforcing them for you. Get back to work.”

McCrae shook his head and followed my brothers. “Too late. We’re having a visit with Isla.”

They all filed into dispatch, and I heard Isla talking to them and laughing. I heard Mrs. Friendly laughing too.

I walked into the small dispatch room, and Fred rolled his eyes. He was a man after my own heart; he liked to finish work.

Mrs. Friendly opened her arms and hugged me. “Just so you know, I’m invited to your wedding Saturday.”

I gave her a hug and then widened my eyes at Isla. “Of course you are.”

Isla laughed and then came at me and gave me a big hug and a kiss.

I didn’t think I would ever get used to having the woman of my dreams in my arms.

“Of course, you have to be there,” she told me. “You’re my groom.”

I laughed and kissed her again. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing that.”

McCrae made some funny sounds and acted like we were teenagers. “We’re going to the chapel and he’s going to get ma-a-a-rried,” he sang out.

I kissed her some more and couldn’t wait for Saturday.

Later that night, I climbed into bed and called Isla. The big night on the town had ended up just being cards at the back of Jim’s pizza place. Which had been fun. My father had shown up as well, along with a couple of other friends from around town. But the truth was, there was nothing I wanted to do but talk to her.

“Hello?” she said.

“No knocking tonight? Nothing out of the ordinary?” I wouldn’t tell her that I checked the cameras every ten to fifteen minutes. My brothers didn’t even razz me about it. I think they were checking as well.

“Quiet tonight. Actually, your mom came out and we painted together. It was delightful.”

I wasn’t going to tell her I already knew that.

“You already knew that, didn’t you? Because you saw us on camera.”

I let out a long sigh. “Am I going to get in trouble for telling you I did?”

“Of course not. In two days, we are going to be staying at the house together.”

A shiver ran up my spine. We talked about going on a honeymoon, but neither of us had a lot of money. She had a house that we could stay at for a couple of days by ourselves, so we would do that. “Sounds perfect to me.”

She let out a light hum. “And to me.”

Both of us were silent for a little bit.

“So what did you guys do for the big bachelor party?”

I told her about the exciting night of cards and the people who had come. She wanted to know all about what we talked about and who won at cards and what kind of pizza we had. I loved it. I shared every detail.

“Can I talk to you about something else?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“I just want to tell you how glad I am that we waited for intimacy until marriage. Because I want to have things perfect between us. I want to have God in our lives. I want to have our home centered on the Lord just like your parents do. I want to teach our children.”

“I want that too.” How could I tell her that she inspired me to be better? “You’re amazing. I’m grateful that you are someone I look up to.”

“I look up to you too.”

“With all that you’ve gone through and the faith you have, I really do appreciate that. I want goodness in my life.” I didn’t want to compare her to my ex-wife, but I couldn’t help myself. “Missy was not that good. She wasn’t focused on God, and I sort of let myself go in the faith department. Since you’ve been back, I want you to know I’ve been praying. Morning and night, just like a kid. I have found myself praying throughout the day. For you. For my boys. For my family. That I can be a good police chief. And I think it has helped me. And that is because of you.”

She sniffed, and I knew she’d be crying.

“No more crying,” I scolded her.

She laughed. “I’m crying happy tears. I love you.”

“I love you too.”