Chapter 23.

'When the world around us is crumbling down, it's you that anchors me.'

Tanner I can't take my eyes off her. She's so beautiful standing next to Sophia, smiling. She's always been easy for me to read, but this is just undeniable happiness for her dad. Stephen has been like a second dad to me practically my whole life, and I feel completely honored to stand up with her for him. The Pastor is speaking, but all I can think of is that in one month, she's going to be my wife. Having my dad up here is cool, too. Stephen and Sophia kept their wedding small and comfortable; about twenty-five people are here. I glance over at Lyrics and my stomach drops when our eyes meet.

She mouths, "I love you."

The room becomes silent to me and I mouth back, "I love you, my Lyrics."

Just then I hear, "I now p.r.o.nounce you husband and wife." The room applauds and Stephen plants a kiss on Sophia. Lyrics wipes away the happy tears rolling down her cheeks and gives them both a hug.

Sophia is all smiles when she says, "Okay y'all, it's party time!

We're back at Stephen's house and everybody is having a great time. The DJ announces that it's time for the first dance. Stephen and Sophia head to the center of the room and Forever and Ever, Amen, by Randy Travis begins to play. I can't remember a time that I've seen Stephen so happy. Normally, he has a bit of a scowl on, but not today. Crazy what love will do to you.

When the song ends, Lyrics whispers in my ear, "We need to pick a song for our first dance."

Immediately I say, "That's easy, I Thought I Loved You Then by Brad Paisley." She pulls my face to hers and kisses me on the cheek.

She says, "That is absolutely perfect."

As I'm dancing with Lyrics I feel my phone vibrate. I pull it out and my heart nearly stops. I don't recognize the number on the text but it's undeniable who sent it.

There's a picture of the front of our house and it says, "I warned you not to f.u.c.k with me. You know people, well so do I. Wouldn't mind having another go with you and I will definitely enjoy seeing that pretty little farm b.i.t.c.h of yours being enjoyed by a couple of not-so-nice guys."

Rage bubbles up inside me and I feel like I'm gonna puke. The thought of Lyrics getting hurt is too much to digest.

Lyrics can see something is wrong and she says, "What is it? What's wrong?" It's hard to get one word out, I am so mad all I can think about is killing her. How sick is she? Lyrics grabs my hand and says, "Please just show me the text." I shake my head no as I quickly try to locate Anthony. Lyrics asks again and says, "Tanner, I'm not gonna crumble. I want to know what that crazy b.i.t.c.h texted you. I know it was her. I can see the horror on your face." Just the thought of her going through what I went through, except way worse, fills my eyes with tears. I hand her my phone and she grabs my hands and says, "Not gonna happen. It's time to get the police involved." I know she's right, but I don't want to give her any chance to beat the charges.

I tell Lyrics, "Let's see what Anthony has to say first, okay?"

I tap Anthony's shoulder and apologize for breaking up the slow dance he has going on with Sophia's niece. I hand him my phone and he flips out. He signals to Lorenzo and then tells me he'll see us when we get home. I ask him, "Should we come with you?"

He firmly says, "No. We'll leave now, you two stay and enjoy. I sure hope she's still around. I'm ready to end this c.r.a.p now. Somebody gave her your address and you can believe they're getting a visit, too."

Anthony says, "Do you know how to shoot a 44? I want to give you a piece just in case."

I smirk and say, "Bro, this is Texas. I learned how to shoot guns as soon as I could hold one. We are well-armed here. I'll bring some of my guns home when we leave. Please find her. She's threatening my girl. I can't have that."

Anthony says, "n.o.body, and I mean n.o.body, is gonna lay a hand on that angel of yours. I'd put a bullet in your head if you ever laid a finger on her."

I shake his hand and say, "Would never happen, bro. That girl, man, she's my everything. Thank you so much for being here for us. You'll never know how much you're appreciated." I stop him as he's leaving and ask him, "Dylan thinks I should go to the police. What do you think?"

He says without a crack on his face, "Let's not include them; it only complicates matters."

I nod and say, "That's the answer I expected."

My brother comes up to me and asks, "You alright, bro?" I haven't really included him in on all this but I could see the concern on his face. I tell him what the text said and he begins to fidget. Brent can't wrap his head around this, but he says, "This girl is off her rocker. Y'all can stay with us for as long as you need to. She's dangerously crazy."

"Yeah she is. Anthony and Lorenzo just left to our house. If she's there, they'll handle it." Brent raises his eyebrows and says with a look of horror, "Kill her?"

I say with zero expression, "I hope so."

Brent asks, "Why don't you call the police and let them handle it?"

"That girl will seduce her way out of it. She knows no limit and I'm not gonna chance her slipping through the system. My plan was to just make it so she couldn't work as a model anymore. She brought it to this level by threatening Dylan. So yes, I want her eliminated."

Brent nods and says, "I'm here for y'all, no matter what." I give him a hug and tell him how much that means to me. We walk over to Lyrics and Ca.s.sie, and I wrap my girl up and let her know everything is okay. I feel her body relax the closer I hold her. The funny thing about our families being so close is that within a minute, the whole family is gathered around us, leaving the rest of the guests to dance, eat, and drink.

Stephen says, "That girl don't know who she's messing with. Threaten my daughter, I'll put a nice shiny bullet right in the side of her skinny little head. You don't threaten my family."

Dad chimes in with, "Text her back and tell her to meet you somewhere. She ain't seen true rednecks in action yet. You know my buddy, DC down the road, he's got himself a nice deer lease about two hours from here that is littered with wild hog. Those hogs will leave nothing of her behind."

Mom says, "Call DC, hun. She's done! Threaten my babies, oh no. G.o.d bless her when I get my hands around that chicken neck of hers."

Sophia says with a horrified look on her face, "What kind of family did I just join?" We all begin laughing and the laughter grows louder and harder.

I say, "None of us are murderers, which is why Chip sent his cousin to protect us. Let's get back to celebrating this beautiful marriage now." As a group, we head to the dance floor and Stephen taps my shoulder and asks if he can have this dance with his little girl. Of course, I immediately side step, leaving room for him to cut in. I love the way she looks at her daddy. She's always looked at him like she was looking into the eyes of her hero.

We decide to stay the night at my parent's house and leave tomorrow. Lyrics brings over two shots of whiskey and two beers and says, "Since we don't have to drive, let's do this."

I take the drinks and I say, "Go!"

She totally beats me.

I smile and say, "d.a.m.n girl, you're getting too good at this."

She winks and says, "I had a great teacher."

I text Anthony and let him know that we'll be staying the night.

He texts back, "Good idea. No sign of any trouble here and when we reviewed the videos, we didn't see anybody come up the driveway."

I text back, "Weird. Thank you."

It's about 10:00 p.m. and most of the guests leave and it's just family and old friends left. Everybody begins cleaning up and putting furniture back where it belongs. Ca.s.sie and Brent put the kids to sleep and then we all gather around the table and Sophia says, "Hey y'all, we got that game, Cards Against Humanity from Sandy and Bob, let's play. I hear it's a hoot." She's right, this game is a blast.

It's a little after 2 a.m. and Mom says, "Alright guys, let's go and let the newlyweds consummate this marriage."

Sophia says, "Oh sit down, honey, we already did that why y'all were dancing earlier."

We all crack up and Lyrics says, "Gross, Dad!"

He says as he's trying to hold back his laughter, "Sorry, kiddo, she's telling the truth." I reach across the table for a fist b.u.mp and Sophia is first to fist b.u.mp me and then Stephen. I couldn't ask for a better family. To say I hit the jackpot with this one is an understatement.

I stand up and say, "I'm wiped out. Congrats you two, and welcome to this crazy family, Sophia."

I look at Lyrics and she says, "I'm gonna turn in as well. Love you all."

Mom says, "We'll be home soon, kids." I give her thumbs up as we walk out the door to go next door to the house.

When we walk in the house, the spot above the fireplace that has pictures of Tucker and Brooke hanging up catches my eye. I walk over to it and point at the open spot and say, "Right here is where our baby's picture will hang." I don't even know why I said it, it just came out as if it were a fact.

Lyrics slides up behind me and wraps her arms around my waist as she says, "Oh yeah? Is it a boy or a girl?"

Without hesitation, I say, "It's a baby boy and he has blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He has my lips and his mama's nose." I am starting to freak myself out; I can't imagine what she is thinking. No clue why that vision came to me, but it was clear as reality. I pull her against me and tilt her head up as I kiss her soft loving lips. I say, "You are and have always been my anchor, you know that?"

She smiles and says, "Yes I know that. Likewise."

Not sure why I'm so emotional but I say, "No, Dylan, seriously it's always been you. Why'd I wait so long to figure out that you have always been so much more than just my best friend? No matter what has gone on around me, you've always been there to lean on. I love you and can't wait for you to be Mrs. Dylan Staff. That name suits you perfectly."

"I'm counting down the days, babe. Hey, you don't already have a name picked out for our son, do you?"

She laughs and I get a very serious look on my face as I say, "His name will be Zachary but we'll call him Zach." Her mouth drops open and I can't help but laugh. I say, "I'm just kidding, but I do like that name."

She smiles and says, "I do too. Looks like we are gonna have a Zachary someday."

I take her hand and say as I lead her to the bedroom, "Can we try for him right now?"

She says, "Practice makes perfect, and I want our baby to be perfect." This night is turning out a whole lot better than I thought it would.

Chapter 24.

'Your love gives me the strength of a million horses.'

Lyrics Two weeks have pa.s.sed since the wedding and the threat and not one more word from her. Tomorrow I'm meeting with the seamstress for the final try-ons. She wouldn't even send me a picture but she told me that I'm gonna freak out over it. I'm so excited. Tanner insists that either Anthony or Lorenzo goes with me. I haven't been able to pee without somebody standing guard. I know it's no use arguing as he won't give up. I say, "Lorenzo can come, he's less mafia-looking. I don't want to scare her." Tanner agrees and so do the guys.

With everything that's gone on, it's been d.a.m.n near impossible to plan a proper wedding. It's not like we have a ton of friends anyway. I mean, it's always been Tan and I. Today, I'm gonna send email invites even though the people that are coming already know about it. We never got around to sending out proper invitations. I'll order the gazeebo, chairs, tables, and linen. April 25th seemed so far away and now it's only two weeks away. Oh, and I should call the florist, too. Shoot! I forgot about food! I'll call Mom. I'm sure she'll know what to do.

Mom picks up and says, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Well, I forgot about food at the wedding." Mom cracks up and I don't think it's funny at all. I'm starting to panic as I realize that the wedding is literally in two short weeks.

Mom says, "Don't worry, baby, I recently got back in contact with an old high school friend, and she has a catering company."

"Will she have a problem coming to Austin?"

"Actually, I think she lives in Austin now."

I take a deep breath and say, "I knew you'd know what to do."

"That's what moms are for, kiddo. I'll call her and then call you with what she can make."

"Mom, just pick whatever you think we should have. I think there'll be about fifty guests total." Mom says with pride, "Okay, sweetie, I'll let you know as soon as I know."

"Thank you. Love you. You're the best."

"Love you too, baby girl."

When I hang up, I get on my laptop and the first thing I see is an interview with Jennifer. The headline reads, "Jennifer Temple Throws a Tantrum While in Austin TX." Against my better judgment, I open the interview and read it.

Interviewer: Jennifer, I haven't seen you around much these past months. What's going on?

Jennifer: Well, even a girl like me needs a break every now and again.

Interviewer: Good for you. So, let's get to the good stuff. The rumors about you and Tanner Staff, who's a local here in Austin TX, were those just rumors or was there some romance there?

Jennifer: Tanner was nice, but despite his best efforts, he's just not my type. He really tried so hard, and his southern charm at times was hard to resist. I normally don't kiss and tell, but we did have one night of hot romance. You probably saw the pictures that somehow got leaked to the media.

Interviewer: Do you know who leaked the photos? I heard through the grapevine that after that long GAP shoot, you had a problem with the photographer and he's made it difficult for you to get hired. Is that true?

Jennifer: Truth is I wouldn't want to work with any of those photographers anyway. You really think some n.o.body photographer could keep me from doing what I do best?

Interviewer: I wouldn't exactly call Chip Capricio a n.o.body photographer. He is one of the most sought after photographers in the business. What is the issue with you two?

Jennifer: Well, it sure isn't s.e.xual that's for sure.

Interviewer: So, what happened between you two?

Jennifer: I think he has the hots for Tanner and is mad at me for breaking his heart.

Interviewer: So, the rumors I heard of you having Tanner Staff drugged and beaten aren't true at all?

Jennifer: I'm through here.

My stomach is in knots. I click off the site and can't believe the lies I just read.

Tanner walks into the room and says, "Whatcha doin? Wanna go on the boat for a while?"

"Just reading some s.m.u.t and I'd love to go for a ride."

The four of us get on sweatshirts and walk out to our boat. Where we go, they go now. It's April in Texas so you never know if it's gonna be hot or cold. Today is perfect, 70 degrees with a nice breeze.

Lorenzo says to Tan, "Would you teach me how to do the wakeboard?"

Tanner laughs and says, "You don't do the wakeboard, you just wakeboard. Get out there, bro, you can totally do it." Tanner opens one of the bench seats and pulls out a wetsuit and throws it to Lorenzo. "It's probably a little long but your beer belly will even out the length." I say, "It's a nice beer belly, don't worry about it."

Lorenzo says, "Hey man, we can't all be GQ models."