Gatsby Wolves, Vol. 4

Kade had a lot of things he was worried about, but it was hard to think about them when his wife looked the way she did. He was always spoiling her with new dresses and jewelry, but this one took the cake. She could hardly keep Kade off of her. He still had a hand proudly on her waist as they walked into the Rose and the Raven like he was proudly showing her off, but he was surprised to find the club completely empty.

It was lit up with candles and dim mood lighting. Before he could ask what was going on, Celine had already gone to the back and fixed him his favorite drink at vampiric speed, handing it to him with a grin.

“What’s going on here?” he asked. “Are you proposing? You know we’re already married, right?”

“Something like that,” she said.

She moved to the piano and sat down on the bench, then patted the spot next to her. She then took some folded sheet music out of her purse and set it up.

“I need accompaniment,” she told him.

“I’m a little rusty,” Kade warned her.

“No, you’re perfect.”

Kade gave her a kiss before looking at the sheet music, testing a few notes before he started to play. It was a slow but beautiful tune, and Kade was sure it was one of the ballads Celine had been working on. When she started singing in that velvety voice, Kade quickly realized how personal the lyrics were. This song was about him and everything the two of them had been through. By the time the song ended, Kade felt a pain in his chest again. This time, it wasn’t from a whistle.

“You okay?” Celine asked.

“I’m great,” he said with a smile. “I just didn’t think I’d ever love another person this much.”

She seemed relieved that he liked the song, so much so that he took her back to her dressing room for a little ‘private time’ before dinner. They were half an hour late to their reservation, much to the annoyance of the hostess at the restaurant. They hardly got any sleep that night, but Kade figured it was alright. It had been a while since Emelie was away and they had some time to take care of each other.

As light spilled into the room in the early morning, Celine was curled up in Kade’s arms in bed. Somehow she still looked like a goddess, while Kade was a shaggy mess. He made a sad attempt at pushing his hair back and she just laughed, brushing her fingers through his hair.

“Amazing you still try to tame this mess,” he said.

“I don’t think I can tame anything about you,” she said. “Domesticate, sure. Tame? Never. Especially not after last night.”

She squealed when he reached down to tickle her sides.

“You wouldn’t like me as much if I was tame,” he said.

“Hm, probably not.”

“No one thought we’d last this long,” Kade told her. “But here we are. Do you remember when we first met? What I said?”

“Kade, not this again,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Everyone likes to remind me about the drink I threw on you.”

“Well, yes, there was that,” he chuckled. “It was a strawberry daiquiri. That’s not the point, though. Do you remember what I said to you, which made you throw the drink?”

“No, I don’t.”

“I said you looked like my first wife.”

She quietly looked at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. At the time, Kade was being sleazy when he said it and she had been genuinely offended. No one expected it to come true, including them.

Eventually they had to drag themselves out of bed and get started on breakfast before Tillie brought Emelie home. It was hard to stay focused, and they suddenly sprang apart when the front door opened and Emelie marched in, holding her bag and sporting an intricate braided hairstyle that her Aunt Tillie must have done for her.

“I had the best day ever,” she announced, dropping her things on the floor. “We made a blanket fort and we got to stay up all the way until 10 o’clock!”

“That sounds great, my love,” Celine said, hugging Emelie.

“What did you and Daddy do?” she asked.

“We played Scrabble and maybe made a new baby,” Kade muttered into his cup of coffee.

“Kade!” Celine scolded.

“A new baby?” Emelie gasped. “Is it a baby sister? Mimi has a baby sister and I want one too.”

“Why don’t you go put your things back in your room?” Celine said quickly. “Then come down for waffles.”

Waffles seemed to be what it took to distract Emelie, who ran upstairs as fast as she could. She nearly fell down the stairs with all her things with how excited she was. Celine stood up and gave Kade a hard punch in the arm.

“You are the absolute worst sometimes,” she said, shaking her head.

“Yeah, but do you love it?”

“Whatever.”

“Say you love it.”

“I love it.”

“Damn right you do.”