Stanton Completely (Stanton, #3)

by T.L. Swan

“Natasha, you have been the biggest blessing in my life and it’s one that I can’t carry on without.” He fusses around in his pocket and my eyes widen when he pulls out the biggest ring I have ever seen. I hold my hands over my mouth in shock. Is this happening? “I didn’t even know what true love was until I met you. You are the only woman I have made love to, the only woman I have loved…will ever love. I need you to marry me.”

I’m with my love and we are getting married. Anything from here on out is just icing on the cake.

“What about me, am I beautiful?” Cameron asks. Bridget looks at him flatly. “No, you’re an idiot.”

“It’s an early wedding present for you.” His eyes light up and he pops two tablets from their foil and hands them to me. I kiss him gently and take them. He holds it in his hand and looks at it, deep in thought. “Open it,” I say. He frowns. “Open it. I want you to open it.” I smile. He kisses me gently and slowly opens the wrapping. I hold my breath as I wait for his reaction. Joshua frowns at the contents of the present and his eyes flick to me. “These are your contraceptive pills.” He frowns. “I know. I won’t be needing them anymore,” I reply nervously. His eyes widen. “You won’t?” he whispers. I shake my head as I smile.

She rushes and grabs me in an embrace and holds me as I drop my head onto her shoulder. “I couldn’t keep her safe. I couldn’t keep her safe,” I whisper.

Joshua shakes his head. “This is my fault. I should have protected her. It was my job to keep her safe.” He screws up his face as his tears fall with the rain. “I should have protected her. It was my job!” he cries out into the rain. “Natasha!” he calls out. “Where are you, baby?”

The policeman directs his conversation directly at me. “The coroner’s report has come back from the crime scene, Mr. Stanton.” I lift my chin as I prepare myself. “The search has been changed from one for a missing person to a body retrieval.” I stand still, unable to react. “There were over three and a half liters of blood on the boat and it has been ruled that nobody could survive that amount of blood loss.” I close my eyes as my world comes to an end. “I’m sorry, Mr. Stanton, but your fiancée has been ruled deceased.”

“I would like to make a toast.” My thoughts go to the toast I was supposed to be making at our wedding and I blow out a deep breath. “My darling Natasha, today could have been a monumental day in our lives but instead I am sitting in a bar drinking your favorite drink and discussing your burial status.” My eyes tear up. “I desperately wish we were drinking tea and celebrating our news,” I whisper. The boys both frown. “What news?” Cameron asks. “Natasha’s period was due today. We were trying for a baby,” I reply on autopilot.

“And when you do, Cameron, it is going to be my hands that kill them,” I whisper. “Two wrongs don’t make a right, Joshua,” Adrian whispers, mortified. I hold his eyes with mine. “No, they don’t, but they can make me able to live with myself. She didn’t deserve this. She wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Joshua, where are Natasha’s diaries?” she asks. I shake my head. “No, I’m not handing them over. Don’t ask me to.” Her face drops. “So, you do have them then? This will prove you’re innocent,” she whispers. “Natasha would not want you in prison like this. You need to be with your family. Please Joshua.” I shake my head. “Her words die with me,” I whisper. “Her words die with me.”

“You make me sick, Natasha Marx.” She sneers and something inside me snaps, I close my eyes and pull the trigger three times. She falls to the ground as she starts to bleed. “My name is Natasha Stanton, bitch,” I whisper. I stand over her and gasp for breath, the gun drops from my hand to the ground with a thud and I fall to my knees next to her body.

Cameron grabs his brother in an embrace. “We found her, we found her,” he whispers into his hair. “It’s over, everything is over. You can come home.” “She’s alive,” Joshua whispers again as his eyes flick between the two of us in disbelief. “She’s okay?” he gasps. He holds out his arm for me to join them and the three of us stand in an embrace as we let our emotions overload together for the first time since this tragedy began.

The gates open. “Here he comes,” Ben says. “Just stay in the car.” My heart jumps through my chest as I see him come through the gates and I can’t stop myself. I fling open the car door and run through the parking lot toward him. He sees me, drops his bag and I jump into his waiting arms. And he holds me, and finally my tears break the dam and I sob into his neck.

“I’m here, baby,” I whisper into his neck and he pulls me tighter into him. “I’m here.”

He grabs my face between his hands and stares at me as if not believing this is true. “I’m here, babe,” I whisper. His eyes fill with tears and he pulls me onto his lap and buries his head in my shoulder with his arms so tightly around me that I can hardly breathe and without a word he breaks into full-blown sobs.

He was going to rot in prison rather than have my diaries read out in an open court.

“Dad,” I whisper and instantly the tears block my voice. “I wish you could be here today, Dad…and I know you would be if you could.” Bridget’s bottom lip starts to tremble, and I pause again. “I just wanted to thank you…for everything. For bringing me into this world…for showing me what true love was by the way you loved Mum…and for saving my life. For never leaving me in that room alone. I know it was you who saved me.” The lump gets really big in my throat and I hesitate. Mum sobs out loud, unable to hold it in any longer. “My dream has come true, Dad. He loves me and today I am marrying him.” I sob as I start to ugly-cry. “Your empty seat will be at the table next to Mum’s,” I whisper. and Brock drops his head as a tear rolls down his face. “I promise to make you proud, Dad. I’m going to be such a good wife.”

“Do you, Joshua Stanton, take Natasha Marx to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?” His eyes hold mine and my heart stops. “I do,” he replies.

“Do you, Natasha Marx, take Joshua Stanton to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?” I smile broadly. “I do,” I reply.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”