Post by thaddeusduke on Jan 15, 2023 16:23:53 GMT -5
Last night I dreamt of my father. It was neither the first time, nor will it be the last. Much has been made by me over the years of our relationship, or lack thereof. While we were contentious at best when he was alive, after his passing, I started to feel sentimental. I started to cling to the few things that we did together, or things that he held dear. For instance, the hand drawn portrait of me given to him by a fan that he displayed proudly. Or the Lincoln we built. Or the picture of three generations of Duke's standing in the place that was built (or rebuilt as the case may be) with our blood, on our backs, holding championship gold.
The House That Duke Built.
Since the day I became a father, wrestling has stood a distant second place to my family and that will never change. In the time since my father's death I sometimes wonder if ending his life was the right thing to do. He murdered my mother, there's no doubt about that. What he didn’t know is that his own father was plotting against him. Maybe… just maybe I should have shown restraint. Maybe I should have given him the leniency that he never showed my innocent mother. Ignorance though, does not equal innocence.
In my deep seated desire to be the opposite of him, in my haste to bring to an end the constant turmoil and pain over my mother's murder, I became him. And a big part of me regrets it.
It took me a long time to realize that despite my efforts to be the exact opposite of him, my life, and me in general, are a melting pot of both my mother and my father. All the good, all the bad and everything in between… everything I am, is because they were who they were.
This New Years Eve is a special one. A year ago, after ending my relationship with Adi Gold, I embarked on a journey of self discovery that saw me turn into a bit of a playboy. Nearly every night that I didn’t have my children, was spent in the arms of a different woman or a different man as the case may be. I don’t mention this because I’m proud of it, I mention it merely to reflect on just how much I’ve grown as a man, as a husband, as a father over the course of the last twelve months. Truth be told, I’m really not that proud of the playboy reputation at all.
Sitting on the bar with my High Life in hand, all of the noise, the music, the talking seems to ‘mute’ as I look across the gathering. It's as if time almost stands still. So many people showed up for Lauren and I tonight. There’s the usual suspects like Seb Bryce and Sloane Taylor who I would die for. Toddy and Austin Ramsey who, at least in Toddy’s case, has been a very close confidant over the last year plus. But there’s others here too. Like Jason Cashe and Josslyn Spencer. James and Atty Raven were even here for a little while before they had to get to the Rabbit for Atty’s show. Same as Holly and Katie Anderson. Some others too. Several just didn’t have a hole in their schedule to make it work and that’s okay.
‘Those that were able to make it,’ I think to myself as I scan the open floor plan, ‘and those that couldn’t, are…’ my eyes settle on one couple in particular.
“Family.”
His voice startles me as I look to my left, my father sits upon a barstool. Sebastian Duke has been dead and buried since May. Yet here he is, live and… in the flesh, so to speak. Again, my head turns away and lands on Theo and Brianna Pryce. My uncle and his wife. It’s the very first time he's been in my house.
“Yeah,” I agree with him. “Family.”
“Your Uncle Theo isn’t anything like me,” my father informs me.
“He’s enough like you.”
“My brother is business oriented, Thaddeus,” he interjects. “You’re family oriented, same as me.”
“You didn’t have a family,” I argue as I turn my head back to him.
“Oh, but I did boy,” he insists. “Over the years, I watched them all die on my watch. Same as you.”
While it makes me cringe, maybe he’s not all that inaccurate. I remember standing graveside countless times when I was young. We buried a great number of my fathers closest friends.
“Theo will want to talk business with you real soon,” he suggests. “Do your old man a favor and hear him out.”
Business? What business would he… oh.
“Man I dunno,” I protest. “I’m not sure that’s what I…”
“We built that house, Thaddeus,” he interrupts. “Theo… me… you… And that house needs you back.”
It wouldn't be the first time they called on me since my departure.
“How’s the boy?” he asks, referring to Frankie.
“He’s okay,” I say with a smile, glancing across the room at him talking almost in a freeze frame with his mother.
“And that Easton kid?” he asks. I look at him. “Did you show him what happens when you mess with a mans family?”
For a moment, I think back on it all. How it started between Easton and I, and how it ended. I wanted to create a star. Easton had all the tools, he just didn’t know how to use them. I’m the type of guy that when I show up, people are paying attention. That’s what started it. Easton, a rookie, with all the right tools and all he needed was a real spotlight shining on him.
I won’t say I was entirely innocent. I wasn’t. I fucked with his head, I fucked with his matches. But I also don’t regret it. He crossed a line that should never have been crossed and it cost him. The fans he loved, hated him for it. The match with me that he so desperately wanted by the end of it all, saw him staring up at the lights when the bell rang.
“Easton wasn’t trying to hurt him,” I reply to my father.
“Does that matter?”
“Does it ever?” I ask in response.
“I distinctly remember drivin’ behind enemy lines to bust you out of that Polish prison camp after your plane went down,” he reminds me.
Ancient history, but he’s not wrong.
“Your wife,” he says with a nod in Lauren’s direction. “I never did get to meet her.”
“Lauren is,” my voice trails off as I consider how her and I started barely a year ago. “The most incredible woman I’ve ever met in my life.”
“Then do right by her,” he suggests.
Saying nothing, I just look at him.
“You’re a billionaire that gave her a peasants wedding, son,” he reminds me.
He’s right. Our whirlwind romance unfolded so damn fast that just before I ended my fathers career, her and I wed in a quick impromptu ceremony at the Velvet Rabbit here in New York. The intent was to have a real wedding later, but we never really got around to it. We hardly even knew each other. Three weeks at best and we tied the knot. A big part of me was afraid. I have always lived my life as if I were already on borrowed time and here I was with three kids and a woman that depended on me. I was starin’ down the barrel of my own mortality as the war was winding down. I wanted to protect her. If anything happened to me, she was set up for the rest of her life.
“What did you have in mind?” I ask him as I continue to watch my wife and son frozen in mid-laugh. They grew so close so quickly. Making her his legal mother was the best decision I could’ve made. She would and has killed to protect him.
“The same thing you’ve been thinking for the last few months,” he finally answers as my eyes gaze upon Sebastian and Sloane. “Sebastian. The irony of his name isn’t lost on you is it?”
“Not even a little,” I say with a chuckle.
“How are you with the… temptations?” he asks while gesturing toward Sloane Taylor.
“Sloane is a doll and I love her to death,” I sidestep the actual question.
“Do you realize how dangerously you tread near the precipice?” he asks.
“It’s just for fun,” I reply to him. To be honest, I’m not even sure if I believe me. In a different world, one with the absence of a Sebastian and a Lauren, I do believe that Sloane and I would have hit it off famously just like we did in this one. I believe that in that world, had we pursued a romantic relationship, it would last a lifetime.
That is not the world we live in. I’m convinced there are people out there that hope and pray that Sloane and I would cast away the things that stop us from taking our flirtation off of social media and putting it behind closed doors. Some people live for the misery of others. They don’t cheer Sloane and I on because they think that’s who should be together. Literally zero of the people actually involved, truly think that. Things are the way they are because that’s the way they were meant to be. All four of us are okay with that. We’re all incredibly happy in our lives the way they were meant to be. I wouldn’t change any of it. Neither would she.
“What do you think all of it does to him?” he asks, referring to Seb.
“He just plays his part,” I insist. “Actin’ like a scorned lover.”
“Does he?” he questions.
“Do you have any regrets?” I ask him, perhaps foolishly, in an attempt to change the subject. Sebastian Duke didn’t live life with regret.
“Another time, Thaddeus,” he says as I look at him.
A loud pop comes from across the room which grabs my attention. The room is live-action again and I turn to my father only to discover that he’s gone. “Thanks for comin’ Dad,” I say aloud to myself as I hop off the bar with a joyful tear in my eye and a smile on my face. Upon landing, Seb’s eyes catch mine and I nod to him.
It’s ten minutes to midnight.
Which means it’s go-time.
Not waiting for Seb, I advance into the hallway to the armory. Punching in the access code, I enter as the door closes behind me. With the room dark, I stand in reflection for a few moments before Sebastian and Frankie enter. Frankie is quick to flick on the lights.
“You ready mate?” Seb asks.
“Yeah,” I say quietly. “I was just thinking.”
“About what?” Frankie asks.
“My dad,” I answer him with a hint of sadness.
“Time Thad,” Seb urges me. For the moment, I don’t care. Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel differently, but right now, I pull my best friend into a hug. If my father is right and Seb isn’t ‘playing a role’ then I’m so freakin’ sorry. Truth is, I love this man like a brother. No man on the planet is held in higher regard.
“I love you,” I say to him as I back off a step.
Quickly I remove my hoodie from my back and the jeans from my ass. Even quicker still, I pull on the medieval royal garb from my collection. The shirt, the velvety crimson pants. The gold lined with crimson royal jacket. Quickly, I pull on the riding boots complete with spurs then take a deep breath.
“Are…” Seb begins but stops as a smile creases his lips. “Are you nervous?”
Looking at him, I say nothing, but emit a chuckle.
“Seriously?” Frankie interjects with a laugh. “You’re literally already married!”
“I know, I know. It’s just…” my voice trails off. “Hell, you know Lauren! She has a tendency to not fully grasp the weight of certain things right away.”
“Dad!” Frankie grabs my face with both hands and squeezes while I’m knelt down buckling the one boot. “She loves you. Also, she’ll be too confused to make an ass of you.”
“Lads got a point,” Seb points out as Frankie lets go of my face.
“Okay how’s my hair?” I ask as I stand upright and buckle the sword belt around my waist.
“Great as usual,” Seb answers.
“Something feels out of place,” I fret. “It needs to be perfect.”
“Let me see,” Seb says as I bend my neck forward. “You look ridiculous,” he says with a playful slap in my face.
“I know, right!? It’s so awesome.”
“She’ll love you.”
He fixes a few strands and I head for the door with my two best men trailing me. In the hall, just before it empties into the open plan of the main floor of the penthouse, I stop. Frankie and Seb continue on. The plan is to wrap this up before the clock strikes midnight.
“Can I have your attention please!?” Seb calls out. Sloane quickly mutes the music right on cue. All the talk and chatter falls silent. All eyes are on him.
“Mrs. Duke,” he says in his most exaggerated British accent. Lauren stands near the steps in front of the opened bay doors leading to the balcony.
“What?” she asks as she furrows her brow in one of her more quizzical expressions.
“Might I present, your husband?” he announces me.
“Huh?” Lauren utters.
Stepping from the hallway I try to ignore the eyes on me. I definitely look ridiculous. I feel ridiculous. But at the same time, she deserves a little pageantry.
“Baby what are you doing?” she asks. My eyes stay trained on her though I can see the subdued excitement threatening to burst from Sloane out of the corner of my eye. I truly admire her restraint.
“Why are you wearing that?” she asks as I quietly make my way through the crowd of gatherers toward her.
Approaching her, I grab her hands with my leather riding glove clad hands.
“Lauren,” I begin. To be clear, I knew I was going to say something, but I wasn’t sure what. So, the pressure is on. Everyone in the room, I've tuned out. I don't see them, I can't hear them. It's as if Lauren and I are the only two people that exist right now.
“When we started this marriage, I was not the man you deserved. You know that, I know that. All of New York knows that,” I smile.
“What’s happening right now?” she asks as her eyes meet mine.
“That first day you arrived here for dinner and… well… it just turned into a hot ass romp over on the bar… then the floor… then the steps… the hot tub, etcetera… I knew I loved you. I don’t know why, I don’t know how. But I just wasn’t able to be the man you deserved.
“I’ve lived my life with one person after another leaving me and I was afraid. I was scared to death that you’d leave me like my parents did. My grandfather. Parents. Past lovers. Friends. So I started trying to push you away. I slept around because I figured you’d be gone soon anyway so why not speed up the process.
“But you didn’t go anywhere. The more I fucked around, the more I flaunted it in your face, the more steadfast you grew in wanting to stay. In wanting this to work.
“You are the most incredible women I have ever met in my life. So…”
With her hands in mine and a tear in my eye, I lead her slowly up the steps and out onto the balcony. I drop to one knee.
“Baby,” she says quietly. “What are you doing?”
I can see the tears welling up in her eyes. But you know Lauren, it was just dust.
“You deserved a better man and I intend to be that man,” I tell her as I pull the sword from its sheath. Long, sharp and chrome, the city lights shine brightly against its blade. Along the blade, ‘Lionheart’ gilded in elegant script.
“Lauren Agnes Duke,” I say as I lay the sword across my palms. “Will you marry me all over again?”
I’m late. The ten second countdown has begun.
“But aren’t we…” she begins but I cut her off.
“Dammit Lauren, just answer the question,” I say with a chuckle. “A real wedding this time.”
I just love her so damn much. I have no idea how that happened. She’s been my biggest supporter when I’ve needed it. She never hesitates to knock me off of my pedestal when I’ve needed that. She has been an excellent mother to Frankie and Talon and Caty. Literally no one saw that coming but me. Probably not even her. I saw it from the very beginning when she first met Frankie. I saw it when she executed a man for conspiring to kill our son. I saw it when she cried any time I brought up her and I having kids.
I knew she wanted it more than anything.
I also know she can’t carry children.
She isn’t what everyone thinks she is. They see Sahara. Those that know her, those that are in her life… they see her as Lauren. Fun loving, kind hearted, not nearly as dumb as she lets on. Sahara may be hated and despised, but Lauren… is surrounded by love. She deserves a better man than she’s had and that’s what she’s gonna get.
The House That Duke Built.
Since the day I became a father, wrestling has stood a distant second place to my family and that will never change. In the time since my father's death I sometimes wonder if ending his life was the right thing to do. He murdered my mother, there's no doubt about that. What he didn’t know is that his own father was plotting against him. Maybe… just maybe I should have shown restraint. Maybe I should have given him the leniency that he never showed my innocent mother. Ignorance though, does not equal innocence.
In my deep seated desire to be the opposite of him, in my haste to bring to an end the constant turmoil and pain over my mother's murder, I became him. And a big part of me regrets it.
It took me a long time to realize that despite my efforts to be the exact opposite of him, my life, and me in general, are a melting pot of both my mother and my father. All the good, all the bad and everything in between… everything I am, is because they were who they were.
This New Years Eve is a special one. A year ago, after ending my relationship with Adi Gold, I embarked on a journey of self discovery that saw me turn into a bit of a playboy. Nearly every night that I didn’t have my children, was spent in the arms of a different woman or a different man as the case may be. I don’t mention this because I’m proud of it, I mention it merely to reflect on just how much I’ve grown as a man, as a husband, as a father over the course of the last twelve months. Truth be told, I’m really not that proud of the playboy reputation at all.
Sitting on the bar with my High Life in hand, all of the noise, the music, the talking seems to ‘mute’ as I look across the gathering. It's as if time almost stands still. So many people showed up for Lauren and I tonight. There’s the usual suspects like Seb Bryce and Sloane Taylor who I would die for. Toddy and Austin Ramsey who, at least in Toddy’s case, has been a very close confidant over the last year plus. But there’s others here too. Like Jason Cashe and Josslyn Spencer. James and Atty Raven were even here for a little while before they had to get to the Rabbit for Atty’s show. Same as Holly and Katie Anderson. Some others too. Several just didn’t have a hole in their schedule to make it work and that’s okay.
‘Those that were able to make it,’ I think to myself as I scan the open floor plan, ‘and those that couldn’t, are…’ my eyes settle on one couple in particular.
“Family.”
His voice startles me as I look to my left, my father sits upon a barstool. Sebastian Duke has been dead and buried since May. Yet here he is, live and… in the flesh, so to speak. Again, my head turns away and lands on Theo and Brianna Pryce. My uncle and his wife. It’s the very first time he's been in my house.
“Yeah,” I agree with him. “Family.”
“Your Uncle Theo isn’t anything like me,” my father informs me.
“He’s enough like you.”
“My brother is business oriented, Thaddeus,” he interjects. “You’re family oriented, same as me.”
“You didn’t have a family,” I argue as I turn my head back to him.
“Oh, but I did boy,” he insists. “Over the years, I watched them all die on my watch. Same as you.”
While it makes me cringe, maybe he’s not all that inaccurate. I remember standing graveside countless times when I was young. We buried a great number of my fathers closest friends.
“Theo will want to talk business with you real soon,” he suggests. “Do your old man a favor and hear him out.”
Business? What business would he… oh.
“Man I dunno,” I protest. “I’m not sure that’s what I…”
“We built that house, Thaddeus,” he interrupts. “Theo… me… you… And that house needs you back.”
It wouldn't be the first time they called on me since my departure.
“How’s the boy?” he asks, referring to Frankie.
“He’s okay,” I say with a smile, glancing across the room at him talking almost in a freeze frame with his mother.
“And that Easton kid?” he asks. I look at him. “Did you show him what happens when you mess with a mans family?”
For a moment, I think back on it all. How it started between Easton and I, and how it ended. I wanted to create a star. Easton had all the tools, he just didn’t know how to use them. I’m the type of guy that when I show up, people are paying attention. That’s what started it. Easton, a rookie, with all the right tools and all he needed was a real spotlight shining on him.
I won’t say I was entirely innocent. I wasn’t. I fucked with his head, I fucked with his matches. But I also don’t regret it. He crossed a line that should never have been crossed and it cost him. The fans he loved, hated him for it. The match with me that he so desperately wanted by the end of it all, saw him staring up at the lights when the bell rang.
“Easton wasn’t trying to hurt him,” I reply to my father.
“Does that matter?”
“Does it ever?” I ask in response.
“I distinctly remember drivin’ behind enemy lines to bust you out of that Polish prison camp after your plane went down,” he reminds me.
Ancient history, but he’s not wrong.
“Your wife,” he says with a nod in Lauren’s direction. “I never did get to meet her.”
“Lauren is,” my voice trails off as I consider how her and I started barely a year ago. “The most incredible woman I’ve ever met in my life.”
“Then do right by her,” he suggests.
Saying nothing, I just look at him.
“You’re a billionaire that gave her a peasants wedding, son,” he reminds me.
He’s right. Our whirlwind romance unfolded so damn fast that just before I ended my fathers career, her and I wed in a quick impromptu ceremony at the Velvet Rabbit here in New York. The intent was to have a real wedding later, but we never really got around to it. We hardly even knew each other. Three weeks at best and we tied the knot. A big part of me was afraid. I have always lived my life as if I were already on borrowed time and here I was with three kids and a woman that depended on me. I was starin’ down the barrel of my own mortality as the war was winding down. I wanted to protect her. If anything happened to me, she was set up for the rest of her life.
“What did you have in mind?” I ask him as I continue to watch my wife and son frozen in mid-laugh. They grew so close so quickly. Making her his legal mother was the best decision I could’ve made. She would and has killed to protect him.
“The same thing you’ve been thinking for the last few months,” he finally answers as my eyes gaze upon Sebastian and Sloane. “Sebastian. The irony of his name isn’t lost on you is it?”
“Not even a little,” I say with a chuckle.
“How are you with the… temptations?” he asks while gesturing toward Sloane Taylor.
“Sloane is a doll and I love her to death,” I sidestep the actual question.
“Do you realize how dangerously you tread near the precipice?” he asks.
“It’s just for fun,” I reply to him. To be honest, I’m not even sure if I believe me. In a different world, one with the absence of a Sebastian and a Lauren, I do believe that Sloane and I would have hit it off famously just like we did in this one. I believe that in that world, had we pursued a romantic relationship, it would last a lifetime.
That is not the world we live in. I’m convinced there are people out there that hope and pray that Sloane and I would cast away the things that stop us from taking our flirtation off of social media and putting it behind closed doors. Some people live for the misery of others. They don’t cheer Sloane and I on because they think that’s who should be together. Literally zero of the people actually involved, truly think that. Things are the way they are because that’s the way they were meant to be. All four of us are okay with that. We’re all incredibly happy in our lives the way they were meant to be. I wouldn’t change any of it. Neither would she.
“What do you think all of it does to him?” he asks, referring to Seb.
“He just plays his part,” I insist. “Actin’ like a scorned lover.”
“Does he?” he questions.
“Do you have any regrets?” I ask him, perhaps foolishly, in an attempt to change the subject. Sebastian Duke didn’t live life with regret.
“Another time, Thaddeus,” he says as I look at him.
A loud pop comes from across the room which grabs my attention. The room is live-action again and I turn to my father only to discover that he’s gone. “Thanks for comin’ Dad,” I say aloud to myself as I hop off the bar with a joyful tear in my eye and a smile on my face. Upon landing, Seb’s eyes catch mine and I nod to him.
It’s ten minutes to midnight.
Which means it’s go-time.
Not waiting for Seb, I advance into the hallway to the armory. Punching in the access code, I enter as the door closes behind me. With the room dark, I stand in reflection for a few moments before Sebastian and Frankie enter. Frankie is quick to flick on the lights.
“You ready mate?” Seb asks.
“Yeah,” I say quietly. “I was just thinking.”
“About what?” Frankie asks.
“My dad,” I answer him with a hint of sadness.
“Time Thad,” Seb urges me. For the moment, I don’t care. Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel differently, but right now, I pull my best friend into a hug. If my father is right and Seb isn’t ‘playing a role’ then I’m so freakin’ sorry. Truth is, I love this man like a brother. No man on the planet is held in higher regard.
“I love you,” I say to him as I back off a step.
Quickly I remove my hoodie from my back and the jeans from my ass. Even quicker still, I pull on the medieval royal garb from my collection. The shirt, the velvety crimson pants. The gold lined with crimson royal jacket. Quickly, I pull on the riding boots complete with spurs then take a deep breath.
“Are…” Seb begins but stops as a smile creases his lips. “Are you nervous?”
Looking at him, I say nothing, but emit a chuckle.
“Seriously?” Frankie interjects with a laugh. “You’re literally already married!”
“I know, I know. It’s just…” my voice trails off. “Hell, you know Lauren! She has a tendency to not fully grasp the weight of certain things right away.”
“Dad!” Frankie grabs my face with both hands and squeezes while I’m knelt down buckling the one boot. “She loves you. Also, she’ll be too confused to make an ass of you.”
“Lads got a point,” Seb points out as Frankie lets go of my face.
“Okay how’s my hair?” I ask as I stand upright and buckle the sword belt around my waist.
“Great as usual,” Seb answers.
“Something feels out of place,” I fret. “It needs to be perfect.”
“Let me see,” Seb says as I bend my neck forward. “You look ridiculous,” he says with a playful slap in my face.
“I know, right!? It’s so awesome.”
“She’ll love you.”
He fixes a few strands and I head for the door with my two best men trailing me. In the hall, just before it empties into the open plan of the main floor of the penthouse, I stop. Frankie and Seb continue on. The plan is to wrap this up before the clock strikes midnight.
“Can I have your attention please!?” Seb calls out. Sloane quickly mutes the music right on cue. All the talk and chatter falls silent. All eyes are on him.
“Mrs. Duke,” he says in his most exaggerated British accent. Lauren stands near the steps in front of the opened bay doors leading to the balcony.
“What?” she asks as she furrows her brow in one of her more quizzical expressions.
“Might I present, your husband?” he announces me.
“Huh?” Lauren utters.
Stepping from the hallway I try to ignore the eyes on me. I definitely look ridiculous. I feel ridiculous. But at the same time, she deserves a little pageantry.
“Baby what are you doing?” she asks. My eyes stay trained on her though I can see the subdued excitement threatening to burst from Sloane out of the corner of my eye. I truly admire her restraint.
“Why are you wearing that?” she asks as I quietly make my way through the crowd of gatherers toward her.
Approaching her, I grab her hands with my leather riding glove clad hands.
“Lauren,” I begin. To be clear, I knew I was going to say something, but I wasn’t sure what. So, the pressure is on. Everyone in the room, I've tuned out. I don't see them, I can't hear them. It's as if Lauren and I are the only two people that exist right now.
“When we started this marriage, I was not the man you deserved. You know that, I know that. All of New York knows that,” I smile.
“What’s happening right now?” she asks as her eyes meet mine.
“That first day you arrived here for dinner and… well… it just turned into a hot ass romp over on the bar… then the floor… then the steps… the hot tub, etcetera… I knew I loved you. I don’t know why, I don’t know how. But I just wasn’t able to be the man you deserved.
“I’ve lived my life with one person after another leaving me and I was afraid. I was scared to death that you’d leave me like my parents did. My grandfather. Parents. Past lovers. Friends. So I started trying to push you away. I slept around because I figured you’d be gone soon anyway so why not speed up the process.
“But you didn’t go anywhere. The more I fucked around, the more I flaunted it in your face, the more steadfast you grew in wanting to stay. In wanting this to work.
“You are the most incredible women I have ever met in my life. So…”
With her hands in mine and a tear in my eye, I lead her slowly up the steps and out onto the balcony. I drop to one knee.
“Baby,” she says quietly. “What are you doing?”
I can see the tears welling up in her eyes. But you know Lauren, it was just dust.
“You deserved a better man and I intend to be that man,” I tell her as I pull the sword from its sheath. Long, sharp and chrome, the city lights shine brightly against its blade. Along the blade, ‘Lionheart’ gilded in elegant script.
“Lauren Agnes Duke,” I say as I lay the sword across my palms. “Will you marry me all over again?”
I’m late. The ten second countdown has begun.
“But aren’t we…” she begins but I cut her off.
“Dammit Lauren, just answer the question,” I say with a chuckle. “A real wedding this time.”
I just love her so damn much. I have no idea how that happened. She’s been my biggest supporter when I’ve needed it. She never hesitates to knock me off of my pedestal when I’ve needed that. She has been an excellent mother to Frankie and Talon and Caty. Literally no one saw that coming but me. Probably not even her. I saw it from the very beginning when she first met Frankie. I saw it when she executed a man for conspiring to kill our son. I saw it when she cried any time I brought up her and I having kids.
I knew she wanted it more than anything.
I also know she can’t carry children.
She isn’t what everyone thinks she is. They see Sahara. Those that know her, those that are in her life… they see her as Lauren. Fun loving, kind hearted, not nearly as dumb as she lets on. Sahara may be hated and despised, but Lauren… is surrounded by love. She deserves a better man than she’s had and that’s what she’s gonna get.