Page 87 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

I smiled at my man and nodded my head. There was no way I could ever be with another man, but in a way, there was someone else.

‘Well, I guess that’s one way to look at it,’ I said with a smile on my face as I placed a hand over my stomach that was still pretty much flat. I didn’t look pregnant yet, just like I had some water weight.

Drew let out an audible sigh and I looked up to his face, seeing the color drain and his eyes full with hurt. I reached out to him and took his hand, placing it on my stomach. ‘There’s someone new in both our lives.’

He looked at me with confusion written all over his face, clearly I was going to need to spell it out for him, ‘In my belly, there’s a baby.’

I saw his eyes look to my stomach and his lips mouth,Baby, as in questioning what I had just said.

‘Our baby?’ he whispered, reaching down and placing his hand over mine that was protectively holding my stomach.

‘Yeah,’ I whispered back, and his face broke into a wide smile that reached his beautiful eyes, eyes that I hoped our child would inherit.

‘All the more reason for you to show up tomorrow,’ he leaned down to kiss me as he moved to a kneeling position over me. ‘What about sex…’

‘We are all good, I checked with my doctor. And with Google,’ I snickered.

And now, walking towards the man of my dreams, all I could do was look at Drew staring at me in awe as I walked towards him, tears forming in both of our eyes I realized. He took my hand as soon as I was in arm’s reach of him, pulling me closer to him. ‘You look incredible,’ he whispered to me.

‘You clean up well yourself.’

‘Ready?’ the justice of the peace asked us. We both looked to her and nodded.

‘Dearly beloved,’ she started. ‘We are gathered here today to witness the union of Andrew Cameron and Jessa Cahill.’ At those words, I got a surreal sensation. I was getting married to the man of my dreams. The man who I had promised I’d end up with.

We opted for traditional vows, as I knew I’d never been able to get through delivering my own given my emotional state due to my raging hormones. He knew what was in my heart, and I knew his, as our hearts merged long ago. It was intimate and ours.

After the short ceremony, we had photos taken on the grounds of the villa while the chairs were repositioned and a large table with table setting for 18 was arranged. We had a catered and served sit-down meal at a long outdoor table. My parents were paired at one end, my grandparents at the other. Drew and I sat in the middle of one side with his side of guests, and my guests on the other side.

The five-course meal consisted of mine and Drew’s favorite comfort foods. There were no fancy plates or foods that were hard to pronounce. We had a small two-layer wedding cake that we cut up and served for dessert. As it was informal and not traditional, there was no reception, no dancing, and no games, which I was completely fine with. We all sat around the table, chatting, eating, drinking and laughing for hours. It was only when Drew’s niece fell asleep in her father's arms, looking uncomfortable from sitting so long, that we decided to call it a night.

I hadn’t been interested in getting a hotel suite. None of that mattered, so long as Drew and I were able to be together. I was content to have our first night as husband and wife at the villa.

CHAPTER 30

JESSA

It was a clear, sunny day at the end of February when we landed in Boston on my father’s jet at the private departures terminal. When we came to a stop and the engine shut down, I saw Abby exit the terminal with two men in police uniforms and two other men—one young, one older—in cheap-looking suits. I assumed they were detectives, and the officers were here to arrest me and Breton

I looked to Drew, who took my hand and kissed my head, seeing the officers walk towards the plane. The flight attendant opened up the small door. As much as I had been preparing myself for this, I still felt nauseous, and it had nothing to do with the pregnancy, which my family still didn’t know about.

‘You got this, sweetie,’ my father said from across the table, when he noticed what I had been looking at.

I glanced over to Breton, who didn’t seem too concerned. He’d been pretty relaxed about the whole thing. He and Abby didn’t seem to think we’d end up in jail.

So long as we really played up that I was the victim here after all, and the police did a shit job investigating Josh’s death. This was the most sensitive and political part of the whole plan and the one thing that posed a snag to our plan—we didn’t know how they would react to some civilian doing their job and actually solving the crime.

Breton and I had essentially done their work for them and proved my family right when we kept insisting that my brother’s death wasn’t an accidental overdose or even a suicide.

Breton stood, taking his wallet out of his back pocket, and handed it, along with his phone, to his mother. I had very few things with me; aside from my carry-on suitcase, the rest of my things from England were already at the beach house I was hoping to share with Drew soon, if not tonight.

Abby walked on to the plane, and I saw the four others waiting at the bottom of the stairs. The younger man in the suit saw me looking at them through the window and nudged his partner with his elbow to look up to where I was. I felt like a caged animal at the moment and turned to look away, back to Abby.

‘Is there media?’ Amber asked.

Abby shook her head. ‘No, the DA is waiting to interview you guys before making any public announcements.’ She looked to me and Breton. ‘So maybe hold off on releasing the statement?’

‘Sure, I’ll get Zoe to coordinate with you and take directions from her,’ Amber nodded in agreement. ‘But I’ll proceed with letting staff know first.’

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