In the lonely and cold, dark, and damp cell, she decided that when she was out of here and through this mess, she’d move closer to home and begin taking botany classes. Online if she could, because she had the best lab imaginable at Lindleyi Manor. She’d obviously stay on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi, she didn’t want to land in jail again for taking Jax and Kent across state lines.
Ha! What an effin’ joke!
Working out the custody thing would be challenging, but she thought they could figure something out. Maybe they’d alternate full weeks instead of split weeks. She had some money saved, and the proceeds from the house would get her started. She was certain she could work in the family business and make ends meet. She must have just had to hit rock bottom before realizing that she needed to go home.
Maybe after she discovered herself—who she really should have been—she could reach out to Dom. It was doubtful but she could hope that such a wonderful man would then still be available and want her. Calli sighed and curled up on the hard bench—exhausted from everything but somehow feeling better about the forward direction. Hopefully, Jax and Kent would be okay with the decision. She’d wait until summer so Jax could graduate first, but she thought Kent would like it better there—being around the greenhouses and the science. Just like her father, he’d always loved the science behind the family business.
She’d just dozed off when the clattering slide of the metal bars brought her rudely awake, and she sat up straight. A female officer, she thought the one she’d met at reception the night of Bennett’s DUI, motioned a stranger dressed in a navy-blue suit into the cell. The young officer with the severely tight bun left without a word and without closing the door, but the man came in and sat on the bench beside Calli.
“Calli, my name is Karl Gordon.” He was tall with sandy hair and a long face. “You may know my friend and colleague, Joe Cates.”
Recognition hit her. Lawyer Joe. Dom’s lawyer. “Yes. But that doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
“Joe called in a favor. If you’re okay with it, I’ll be your lawyer in the matter. I’ll just need you to sign a client-attorney agreement.” He dug in his bag. “I have it here.”
“Mr. Larson, I appreciate you coming down here and all, but this matter is just petty. The DA should be here in the morning. I’m sure they’ll take care of it without me having to hire a big defense lawyer.”
“My fees are already paid. So the hiring has already been done. I just need you to sign here.” He cocked a half smile while holding the paper to his bag and handing over a pen.
Puzzled, but too tired to worry over it, Calli signed. She’d figure out how to pay him back tomorrow.
“Great,” said the lawyer. “Let’s get you out of here so you can sleep in your own bed tonight.”
Just then, the severe young officer returned with Calli’s purse and clothes. “There’s a toilet there.” She pointed to a door right outside the opening.
Calli ducked inside and changed quickly, leaving the gray clothes in a pile on the floor. Rejoining the lawyer, they walked through the same room where she’d met the boys the night after Cinderella and toward the lobby of the Minneapolis Police Department. She dug in her bag for her phone so she could call for a Ryde and was watching the cars drive around the screen as they made it into the waiting area.
“Mom!” Kent called her attention from the phone.
Standing in a huddle were her two boys and Dom. She dropped the phone and ran into their collective waiting arms. Dom—her Dom—wrapped his arms around all three of them. Calli looked up at his piercing, light-green eyes, once again fighting back tears.
Chapter 37
Eighteen months later
Calli
Callista Linnea Lindley stood on the balcony of her bridal rooms in Neuschwanstein Castle overlooking the Alps. The dress she wore looked every bit like Ella’s in the final scenes of the Broadway production of Cinderella. Yes, it was her second wedding, but in this one, she was having the wedding she’d imagined when she was a child. Dom would be in a white tux with a gray vest that matched his eyes. She couldn’t wait to see him dressed for the role of Prince Charming.
Neuschwanstein castle, the inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, was also one of the many that inspired Cinderella. It felt ideal for her own personal fairy tale, and the fact that the name of the castle meant “New Swan Stone” was just magical. King Ludwig II’s dressing room on the third floor had been appropriated as Calli’s bridal room. Of course, she wasn’t allowed to use the historic furniture, but the wedding planners brought in a temporary vanity that melded with the décor beautifully. The artwork on the ceiling depicted a garden bower with vines climbing a trellis to an open sky. Seats were covered in violet silk and embroidered with gold, and the view over the valley was simply magnificent.
Cat, Calli’s sister, came in and pinned her hair with the heirloom sapphires handed down in their mother’s family for six generations. Their mother was at her side wearing lacy midnight blue.
“Calli, darling.” Isabelle held out her arms with a wide smile on her face. As she came closer, her eyes lowered shamefully. She took her daughter in her arms and whispered, “I was wrong to have pressured you so hard to stay with—well, you know. We don’t need to soil this day with ghosts from the past.”
Calli melted at her mother’s long-awaited acknowledgement and admission. She came away from her mother, shifting the layers upon layers of white tulle as she did so, and held her mother’s hands.
“You are the epitome of sophisticated beauty,” said Isabelle. “You were pretty on your wedding day all those years ago, but I don’t think you could have looked this radiant when you married before. Today, darling, you are the woman you were meant to be. And Dom is who you are meant to be with.”
Calli’s heart was full. She’d been elated when her family accepted him with open arms as if he’d been a part of them for as long as they could remember. Alder and Dom had talked cars like they were old friends. Jon had given him all sorts of marital advice, whatever that meant. And to hear her mother—though not quite apologizing—admitting her errors in how she’d considered Bennett was music to her ears. She looked deep into her mother’s glistening brown eyes, the ones she and Cat had inherited. “Mom, thank you. Everything about this day is ideal. I love you and Dad, and I am so elated that Dad has accepted me back into the business.”
“He was waiting for you, darling. He has been waiting for you for twenty-something years.”
Cat joined in the hugfest. “Calli, Mom’s right. You’re radiant. And you were always meant to follow in the family business. You were the one who hung on his every word as a child. It’s just right.”
Jon’s wife, Meg, carrying their baby in her arms, poked her head into the room. “The boys are ready and heading up to Singers’ Hall.”
Calli took a deep breath and let it go loudly as her best friend, Jordan, came into the room behind Meg. Her friends Tory and Trina trailed. All three wore the silver empire-waisted dresses Calli had chosen for the bridesmaids. Chiffon flowed around the three women as they came to Calli’s side.