"I bought you this," I tell him, holding it up so he can see it.
It"s a platinum wedding band with eight small diamonds embedded on the front in two rows of four. I have it looped through a slim silver box chain necklace.
"I didn"t think you would want to wear it on your finger," I tell him, leaning in towards him to put it around his neck. "Not until the wedding anyway."
The carousel begins to slow down because my putting the necklace on Mason"s neck was Faison"s cue to bring it to a halt.
I take one of Mason"s hands. "Come on. Everyone is waiting to know what your answer is."
"I feel confident they already knew what my answer would be," Mason teases.
I smile. "True. But, we"d disappoint them if we didn"t say anything."
Mason follows me and we stand on the edge of the platform. Everyone in attendance is waiting expectantly to be told Mason"s answer.
"He said yes!" I tell them.
Everyone claps and you can hear well wishes all around.
Mason leaps off the platform and helps me down. We"re immediately swallowed up by people telling us how happy they are for us and asking when the wedding is. I try to tell as many people as I can that we will just have a small wedding. They seem disappointed. After dragging them all into the arrangement for the proposal, I begin to feel bad.
Finally, I stand back up on the carousel platform and tell everyone gathered, "Like I told most of you we just plan to have an intimate wedding but you"re all invited to the reception afterwards. We haven"t set a date but I will let you know when it is. It"s not like we don"t all know what goes on in this town anyway."
This seems to placate everyone and I don"t feel as bad.
Eventually, Mason pulls me back into the house for a private moment.
Holding me in his arms he asks, "Considering what the first of your surprises was, will I be able to survive the second one."
I realize it"s a good question.
"Pretty sure," I say, really having to think about it.
Mason lifts his eyebrows at me. "Pretty sure? You don"t sound too confident."
"Worse case scenario you have to phase," I say.
"Curiouser and curiouser," Mason says. "And when will I be able to have my second surprise?"
"Well, we have to be naked first."
A slow grin spreads Mason"s lips. "I"m completely fine with that condition."
I look out at the people milling about my backyard. "I don"t think they"ll miss us while we go get matches do you?"
"No," Mason says, "I don"t think they will. Do we have to go somewhere in particular for your surprise?"
"On the island where the beach house is. It"s warm there."
"Would you mind if we stopped by my villa on the way. I need to pick something up."
"Sure."
We phase into Mason"s living room at the villa. He walks over to a decorative cabinet on the side wall and opens one of its doors. He pulls something out and walks back over to me.
"I bought this a while back because I thought it looked like something you would like," he tells me. "When you said you weren"t sure if you wanted to get married or not, I put it here for safe keeping and hoped I would be able to give it to you one day."
Mason bends down on one knee before me and opens the small brown velvet box in his hands. Inside is a beautifully simple pear shaped diamond solitaire ring. I say simple. The diamond was the size of a quarter, and if I had to guess, I would say it was at least 10 carats.
"You"ve already beat me to the punch but I thought maybe we should confirm things on both sides anyway. Jessica Mich.e.l.le Riley, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife, to have and to hold on Earth and in Heaven?"
I smile. "Yes I will, Mr. Collier. I most definitely will."
Mason places the ring on my finger and I instantly feel its weight.
I look at the sparkling diamond. "You couldn"t find something bigger?"
Mason looks confused by my question until I start to giggle.
"If it"s too big, I could always get you something smaller."
"No. I"m just teasing. Now, as for your second surprise, can you think of somewhere on the island where we can be completely naked and alone and preferably high?"
"High?"
"Like on a mountain high."
"Yes, I can think of a spot," Mason says uncertainly.
"Then let"s go."
Mason phases up to the top of a gra.s.sy knoll overlooking the ocean. The warm sea breeze blows through the strings of my heart lifting my love for Mason like notes of a love song.
We take our coats off and toss them on the ground. Mason pulls me to him and slips his hands underneath my sweater sweeping it off in one quick motion over my head. He pulls me to him for a smothering kiss while using his wonderfully dexterous fingers to release the hooks on the back of my bra. He slips the straps down my arms and tosses the unneeded undergarment to the gra.s.s at our feet.
I push back from Mason.
"Get naked," I order, making quick work of the rest of my clothing.
Mason smiles and does what I tell him without asking any questions.
Once we"re completely devoid of clothing, I wrap my arms around Mason"s shoulders.
"Hold onto me," I tell him. "Don"t let go."
I roll from the back of my heels to the tips of my toes and fly us into the air. Mason quickly wraps his arms around my waist. When we come to a stop, the bright full moon seems so close I feel like I can touch it. Mason chances a look down to where we started and smiles.
"This certainly brings new meaning to the mile high club," he says.
"And have you made it into that club already?" I ask.
"No," he looks back at me. "This will be a first for me."
"Well I"m glad I can find things which are a surprise, even to someone of your elderly age."
"Elderly, uh?" Mason says as he moves one of his hands from my back to in between my legs. He groans when he finds how ready I am for him.
I wrap one of my legs around his hips to give him ample room as he slowly guides himself into me, always the gentleman and giving my body time to adjust. I then wrap my other leg behind his as the breeze from the ocean twirls us in the air as we ride the ever rising waves of our pa.s.sion.
Chapter 15.
The next day Mason and I decide to go see Lilly and Brand at their home in Lakewood. Mason tells me Lilly has a ring that will let us control the jinn Faust and force him to give us Balaam"s staff.
Lilly and Brand"s home is a large grey cypress house with a dark green tin roof and matching shutters on the windows. There is a wrap around porch with white rocking chairs and hanging potted plant hangers filled with a variety of winter greenery. The yard is immaculately maintained with tall crepe myrtles, hawthorn bushes and a blacktop circle driveway out front.
Mason knocks on the door and Brand answers it dressed in a pair of jeans and short sleeve dark blue polo shirt.
He smiles at us and as always, I"m instantly put at ease.
Brand holds his hand out to Mason. "Good to see you, Mason. You too, Jess. Come on in."
Just as I would expect from anywhere Lilly and Brand lived, the inside of their home is warm and cozy. The first floor has an open floor plan with lightly stained cypress walls and exposed beam ceiling. There is a staircase to the right of the entry way leading to a second floor and loft area visible from the first floor. To the left is a living room with a wall of gla.s.s looking out onto a picturesque lake. In the center of the gla.s.s wall is a beautiful river rock fireplace. Three light brown leather couches are situated across from each other in front of the fireplace. There is a large chandelier made of deer antlers hanging from the cathedral ceiling.
From the entry, I can see that they have a full house. Malik and Tara are sitting at the dining room table which is situated on the opposite wall from the front door. Tara is holding a baby in her arms and cooing to it. She looks over at us and waves. I wave back.
Malik is thumbing through something on his computer tablet. Sitting on stools at the kitchen island are Caylin, Will, Tara and Malik"s son and a blonde haired boy around the same age as Will that I don"t know. Malcolm is in the kitchen pulling out a tray of what looks like chocolate chip cookies from the oven.
Malcolm lifts a dubious eyebrow as he sniffs the cookies and looks at the kids.
"I"m not sure any of you are worthy of my cookies. What have any of you little heathens done for me lately?"
"Oh, papa," the blonde boy I didn"t recognize says, "please give us a cookie. We"ve been waiting forever."
"Patience isn"t always a virtue, my dear grandson. Sometimes it has to be learned. Think of it as a life lesson."
"Stop teasing them," I hear Lilly say.
I look up the staircase and see her walking down, shaking her head at Malcolm like she"s having to discipline him like one of her children.
"But it gives me so much pleasure, dearest," Malcolm complains.
Lilly lifts a delicate eyebrow at Malcolm. And that"s all it takes apparently. The next thing I know, Malcolm is stacking the cookies on a plate and sets it on the counter in front of the kids.
When Lilly reaches us, she hugs me and I feel a happy warmth infuse my heart telling me how much joy Michael gains from seeing his daughter again.
"It"s so good to see you," she tells me. She pulls away and looks at both Mason and I. "I"m so sorry we couldn"t make it to your house last night. Mae was colicky and we just couldn"t come. But I heard everything went as planned."
I nod. "It was perfect."
"No small thanks to me," I hear Malcolm say from the kitchen area.
"I couldn"t have done it without you," I agree.
"Malik!" I hear Malcolm bark. "Dishes!"
Malik groans and puts his tablet down on the table.
"I never should have made that bet with you," Malik complains as he walks into the kitchen area.
"No," Malcolm agrees with a smile, "you really shouldn"t have."
Tara giggles from her seat at the table. "Maybe you should have come up with the perfect name yourself. Then you wouldn"t be his kitchen boy."
I see Malcolm grin as Malik begins to wash dishes in the sink.
"What"s the baby"s name?" I ask, curious to know.
"Ella," Tara says. "It means "beautiful fairy"."
It was perfect.
"Lilly," Mason says, bringing our attention back to the task at hand, "we came to see if we could borrow King Solomon"s ring from you. Do you still have it?"
"No," Lilly says, looking troubled. "Why would you need it?"
"We need to get something from Faust. I thought it would be the easiest way to gain his cooperation. Do you mind me asking where it is?"
"I was going to return it to King Solomon"s tomb but before I could G.o.d asked me for it."
Mason looks troubled by this information. "Do you know what he wanted with it?"
Lilly shakes her head. "No, he didn"t say. All he told me was that he needed it to complete something. That"s all I know."
"Well, we"ll find another way to get what we need from Faust," Mason says but I hear the uncertainty in his voice. He was counting on the ring to make it easy for us. Now, he will have to think of something else.
"Do you have time to stay for a little while?" Lilly asks me.
"I really wish I did," I tell her, truly wanting nothing more than to stay and just be with her, not only for Michael"s sake but for mine too. There"s a peace which emanates from Lilly that I"ve never encountered before with anyone else. She simply makes you feel good when you"re around her. There"s really no other way to put it.
"I just have too much to do today. Maybe when everything is over, we can spend more time together. I really would like that if it"s possible."
"I would like that too, Jess."