ChapterThirty-Four
Sunny turned left, then right in front of her mom’s full-length mirror, satisfied that the empire waist and flowing skirt of the wedding dress hid the bulky bandages still covering her wound. In fact, the simple dress, with its crossed satin bust and lace cap sleeves, would have been one she fell in love with even without the need to hide her bandages with the flowing skirt from the bodice. She twisted again and cringed when a sharp pain shot across her abdomen.
“I still can’t believe you stumbled on a terrorist group in the middle of nowhere.” Sunny’s sister, Lena, walked through the door, carrying two bottles of water. “I mean, it’s like you’re a magnet for trouble.”
Sunny gasped. “I’ll have you know, trouble rarely finds me. It’s the rest of you that can’t seem to stay away from it.” Come to think of it, it seemed like the Rebel family had a knack for finding danger. “I’m just glad we stopped the plan before it could get past the testing phase. I still can’t believe they could’ve eventually shut down the nation’s communication.”
“Yeah. I wish I could’ve been in the Oval Office when the President received that report.” Lena shook her head. “Rafe calculated the reach of the device mounted to the top of the drill, and all of Alaska’s and the Yukon’s communication would go dark if they had turned the thing to full capacity. Place two more of those things in the lower forty-eight and all the US is blind.”
“Crazy. I’m just glad it’s done and don’t want to think about it anymore.”
Sunny didn’t want the nightmare of the attack to darken her wedding day. She rose to her tiptoes and craned to see across the lake to where the ceremony would happen, wondering when they’d be ready for her. Her stitches pulled, and she sucked in a hiss of pain.
“You know, you can wait.” Lena’s eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Sunny. “The man’s had goo-goo eyes for you since you threw yourself at him in the airport back in Kentucky.”
“That was acting, you know, to play the part you needed us to so you could whisk your husband away on a honeymoon.” Sunny crossed her arms over her chest, careful not to bump her wound. “And he wasn’t all goo-goo eyes.”
Lena handed Sunny a bottle of water. “I know Davis Fields, and that man was nuts over you from the beginning.”
Sunny’s cheeks warmed at the declaration.
“Which makes me know for a fact that he’s not going anywhere.” Lena set her bottle on their mom’s dresser lined with pictures of the family growing up. “You can wait, heal up completely, get to know each other outside of a stressful situation.”
Sunny huffed a laugh. That was the understatement of the year. Lena took Sunny’s bottle, set it down, then grabbed both her hands. Sunny’s eyes widened. She couldn’t remember the last time Lena let down her tough-as-nails exterior. Had marriage softened her, made her less intimidating?
“You don’t have to worry that he’s going to disappear on you,” Lena said, her voice soft and caring.
She squeezed Sunny’s hands, making her nose and eyes tingle. Shoot. She blinked to keep the tears at bay. She’d actually put on make-up, and, even though it was waterproof, she didn’t want to risk it running down her face.
“Besides, if he did, he knows I’ll track him to the ends of the world and make him pay in slow, agonizing torture for hurting you.” And there was the Lena Sunny loved.
Sunny laughed, gingerly pulling her sister into a hug. “Thanks, Lena, but I’m not marrying him now because I’m worried he’ll leave. I’m marrying him because I can’t spend another day apart from him.”
She stepped back and shrugged, looking out the window toward the lake. The clear, forget-me-not blue sky promised a beautiful, dry day. The rains the week before had filled the stretch of land between her parents’ cabin and the jutting Alaska Range beyond with wildflowers. She always imagined she’d get married on the top of some mountain somewhere, but now she realized just how perfect having the ceremony here, where love had raised her, would be. Her face hurt with the width of her smile as she turned back to Lena.
“If my siblings and the last year have taught me anything, it’s that life is short.” Sunny had watched the heartache Lena had lived through when her first fiancé, Ethan, had died and how Gunnar had put happiness on hold, thinking he could either have duty or love, but not both. “I want to spend every moment I can being Mrs. Sunniva Fields.”
“Good, because it’s time for you to get a move on.” Tiikâan strutted into the room.
Sunny squealed and rushed to him. “I didn’t think you were going to make it!”
His embrace, while tight, wrapped around her carefully. So, someone had updated him on her status. She smirked. No secrets in her family.
Lena patted her shoulder as she left. “See you out there.”
“So, baby sis, you’re really ready to tie the knot?” Tiikâan stepped back, his gaze scanning her face.
“Absolutely.” Sunny beamed at him, bouncing on her toes. “How are you even here? I thought you weren’t going to be able to get away.”
His cheek flexed and eyes hardened before he curtained whatever bothered him with a smile. “I convinced the boss lady she could survive without me for a day.” He glanced at his watch. “But we’ll have to get this ceremony on a roll if I’m going to see you get married.”
“You can’t stay?”
“I’ve only got an hour before I have to head back to the disaster I’ve gotten myself into.”
“Is it that bad? I thought you were just flying people back and forth to the work site.”
“It’s fine.” He tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “Let’s just say guiding hunters is a lot less drama than corporate execs, but the money is going to set me up to expand my guiding business exactly like I want to.”