Wedding Knight (An Impossible Series Short Story) Read Online Free PDF Page A

myself in return. I will care for you and share with you all of life’s joys from this day forward. I give you my hand. I give you my love. I give you myself.”
    The corners of my eyes stung, and I did my best to blink away the strange sensation. To distract myself from it, I brought my lips down on hers again. The officiant sighed, and several women in the crowd giggled.
    “There will be time for that in a few minutes, if you could just wait,” the man entreated.
    I released Lydia’s lips, grinning unrepentantly. The ceremony resumed, and somehow I found myself with a ring on my finger and the officiant finally giving me permission to kiss my bride. A loud cheer rose up around us as I took her mouth. I had to remind myself that her family was watching, and I managed to restrain myself from doing more. I could claim her as I truly desired later tonight.
    “Time to exit, Smith,” Clayton prodded me in an undertone. “Unless you plan to fuck her on the altar.”
    An excellent idea. But that could wait.
    Convention dictated that I do some stupid celebratory dance down the aisle beside my bride, but instead I swept Lydia up in my arms and carried her out. My friends whistled, and delighted women’s laughter filled the room. I ignored them all and strode out of the ballroom into the adjoining reception space. I would’ve simply carried her straight up to the honeymoon suite and fucked her senseless if she hadn’t stopped me.
    “Smith,” she said breathlessly. “Our guests.”
    “They can wait.”
    “No, they can’t,” she declared, her countenance so serious that it gave me pause.
    “Is everything okay?”
    She smiled up at me. “Better than okay. But you should put me down so we can greet our guests. There’s someone you’re going to want to see.”
    “All right.” I set her down on her feet just as a mass of people began to push through the doors into the reception room, all of them heading straight toward us. I sighed. We were trapped now.
    Later, I reminded myself. I could more than make up for this delay later.
    Lydia and I smiled and shook dozens of hands as our friends and her relatives came to congratulate us. Just when I thought there couldn’t possibly be anyone else, Lydia reached for me.
    “Smith. Our special guest is here.”
    I turned away from her uncle to greet the final guest, and my stomach did a funny flip. She looked different than I remembered. Older. Harder.
    “Mom?”
    “Smith,” she said my name stiffly, and my chest tightened. The last time she’d spoken to me, she’d been screaming that I’d killed my father. I might not have delivered the killing blow, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t responsible.
    I felt Lydia tense beside me as anxiety gripped her. Automatically, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her soft body against mine, a silent reassurance that she was under my protection. If my mother had come here to ruin my wife’s beautiful day with her righteous anger…
    “Congratulations, son,” Mom said, her gaze dropping to the floor. “I’m happy for you.”
    “Carol spoke with me before the ceremony,” Lydia said quickly. “We agreed to catch up when you and I get back from our honeymoon in Italy. Won’t that be nice?” There was a note of uncertainty in her bubbly tone.
    I looked at my estranged mother. “You don’t have to—”
    “I want to,” she cut me off, her jaw firming with steely determination. “I want to be part of your life, Smith. If you’ll have me.”
    My eyes burned for the second time in an hour. “Of course…” I swallowed hard. “Of course I will.”
    Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around me. Even though I was a foot taller, the warmth of her love enveloped me completely. After everything I’d done, my mother still loved me.
    But could she ever forgive me?
    “Lydia is a lovely girl,” she whispered. “She’ll be good for you.”
    “She is,” I agreed, my voice strangely rough. “Mom, I…”
    “We can talk about