Chapter 41: Lydia

“Are you sure you want me to publish this?” Julian asked one more time.

“Yes.” Drake and Lydia responded in unison.

“It’s a story that will make your career Julian, and it’s a story that needs to be shared. It’s our story, and it’s time the world new the truth.” Lydia responded.

“Okay,” Julian said with a sigh, “How about I let you read the draft, and then you can tell me what you think.” Julian responded, still hesitant on posting the article.

“I’m sure whatever you’ve written will be fine,” Drake replied, as he handed Julian the original contract that he signed with Lydia, “And here, you can use this a proof that your allegations are true.”

Drake had blacked out some parts of the contract, like the amount of money he’d bought Lydia for, and the minor stuff, like Lydia’s body was free use to him, etc. etc. HE didn’t want their story to seem raunchy, but he did want to be as truthful as possible, he didn’t want to leave any wiggle room for Dianne’s master plan.

“Okay,” Julian replied once again, “The story will be up by six tonight. Hopefully you’ve decided to stay in for a quiet night.”

“A quiet, but busy night.” Lydia responded. “We have a funeral to finish planning for, and a wedding to prep. Oh and please, if you have spare time, Drake and I will be holding a small wedding ceremony here at the house, we would love for you to attend. And feel free to bring along a photographer friend. I also want you to be the first to break the news of our marriage.”

A smile appeared on Julian’s face, “I don’t know how my life became so blessed, but I am incredibly lucky to have the two of you in my life. And of course, I’ll attend your wedding. Even without the bribe, I wouldn’t miss it.” Julian replied as he gave Lydia a quick hug before kissing both sides of her face, and blowing air kisses Drake’s way, “I’m rooting for y’all.”

When Julian leaves, Lydia glances over at Drake, who’s poured himself a glass of scotch, neat, “You aren’t having second thoughts are you?” She asks.

“Never,” Drake replies, “I just feel like a shit brother. Samuel and Madilyn canceled their wedding. They booked a flight so they can get here first thing in the morning. They want to help us with any backlash, and of course Madilyn said she wouldn’t dare miss our wedding. You’re her new sister and she wants to be there for all of your big moments.”

Lydia felt a warmth in her heart as a smile appeared on her face. She was never able to experience having a sibling, but she could see now how wonderful it was to have someone in your corner.

“Samuel’s also upset I kept my investigation into Amelia’s disappearance from him. He told me that he wasn’t the baby brother, I pictured him being anymore, and that Amelia’s disappearance changed his life too. Not because he was close to her, but because he was close to me. He said when Amelia left, I closed out everyone, including him, and that he doesn’t want me to shut that door again.” Drake whispered, as he tried to talk through the pain of a broken guilty heart, as he took a sip of his scotch.

“Drake, we can’t change the past, but we can better our future. Dianne and Gregory will never be our family, but that doesn’t mean we have to push out Sam and Maddie. They’re our family now, and family takes care of each other.” Lydia replies as she walks across the room and takes Drake’s hand into hers, “Now lets plan our wedding, and make sure there’s room at the alter for another bride and groom. I know it’s not the Bahamas, but I still wouldn’t mind sharing the day with our family.”

Drake nods his head agreeing with Lydia’s statement as he already begins to feel better. He’s glad he’s voiced his concerns to her, it’s hard opening up to someone after nearly a decade of keeping everything feeling to himself, but he’s found that opening himself up, eases the stress and anxiety that he’s had to put up with in the past.

Lydia pulls out two notebooks, one labeled wedding and the other labeled funeral. The funeral preparations were already finished. Lydia had dropped of her mother’s blue sunday dress to the mortician and asked that he gives her a natural look, and loose beach curls. The mortician nods and gives Lydia a pat on the back, hoping to ease some of her pain, Lydia returned a small smile, before she left the funeral home.

Lydia went over her checklist for the funeral once more, before she closed the notebook with a heavy sigh. “Well the funeral is done, lets look over the wedding preparations. I’d like to stick with a simple theme, but we don’t want it to be too sparse either, our else people will think we’re faking it as a publicity stunt.”

“ I was thinking a country chique theme. The materials would be easy to find, and I can have a few laborers put it together, while we are at the funeral.” Drake replied.

“That sounds absolutely wonderful. I’ve always loved country themes.” Lydia stated, before she became distracted by the pinging coming from Drake’s phone as well as her own.

They looked towards the clock on the left hand side of the room. It was Six O’ Five. Julian’s story would have hit the web just five minutes ago. No wonder, their phones were going crazy. Drake’s PR Representative was texting him over and over again.

***Drake, what the hell were you thinking?***

***Give me a call right now***

***I think I found a loophole to smooth this over****

***DRAKE ANSWER YOUR DAMN PHONE***

***Fine, be that way, but don’t say I didn’t warn you, I won’t lose my job over this***

Dianne had also been psycho ringing Drake like crazy going off and off about how he tarnished the Whittenberg name all for a stupid slut, yada, yada, yada. Drake texted Samuel that he would be off the grid for the day and provided him with the address where he was staying with Lydia, and then he smiled at his fiancé before turning off his phone, once again proving to her, that he didn’t care what the public thought.

Lydia on the other hand, couldn’t help but constantly checking her phone. She was constantly receiving alerts that her name was being used and every time Lydia received the notification her heart skipped a beat, but to her surprise the majority of the comments were positive. Women from all over were praising her for doing whatever it took to care for herself and her mother. They were also posting their congratulations to her recent engagement, and some of those comments stated they would go through Drake if they wanted to buy a new house.

Eventually Drake took Lydia’s phone from her hand, placing a gentle kiss on top her head.

“Yes?” She asked smiling up at him.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go to the office with me. I wanted to introduce my fiancée with the rest of my staff. You’ve already met Grace, but there is a few others plus the board, that I would like you to meet.”

“Of course, I’d love to meet everyone who helps your business run. Just give me a minute while I freshen up. Do you think they’ll be in the office still?” Lydia asked while she walked into the bathroom off to the right.

“Yes. I scheduled a meeting for eight tonight. I wanted to go over the way business will be handled now that our story has been released.” Drake replied.

“Oh, okay, well lets get going then.” Lydia replied as she walked out of the bathroom. Her outfit smoothed over and her makeup freshened up.

“You look as beautiful as always my love.” Drake stated, kissing her hand and walking her out the door, leading her to the passenger side of their rented Challenger, before opening her door and letting her in.

It only took them half an hour to get to Drake’s work location. Lydia was amazed by the beauty of the office. Drake’s office took up the entire fifth floor of the building, and everything looked sleek and polished. Upon exiting the elevator, there was a large white desk, that was decorated in Harry Potter paraphernalia, making Lydia grin. Grace was sitting behind the desk, smiling up at Drake and Lydia as they entered the building.

“Err.. Grace, I like what you did with the place.” Drake says, trying to keep a straight face.

“My son showed me the movies, and what can I say, I’m hooked. I even took the Quiz on Potter and it turns out I’m a Slytherin. Who would have thunk it?” Grace replies.

“That explains so much.” Lydia mumbled under her breath, “If you loved the movies, you should read the books. They’re amazing, and they left out one of my favorite characters, Peeves. And I just feel like they didn’t portray Ginny very well in the movies. Like not only is she beautiful, but she’s also extremely smart, and an incredible dueler. She had a crush on Harry when they first met at the train station, and she’s been in love with him since he rescued her from the Basilisks, but you didn’t get to see Harry’s relationship with her grow at all in the movies. One minute he was kissing Cho Chang, and the next Ginny.” Lydia replies to Grace before clapping her hands over her mouth, embarrassed that she let her Harry Potter obsession out.

“I knew I liked her.” Grace responds as Drake chuckles, pulling Lydia down the hall, guiding her towards his office.

“So this is where you work?” Lydia asked, as she ran her hands over his desk, while Drake closed and locked the door behind him.

“What are you doing Drake?” Lydia asked when she heard the door lock, and watched as he prowled towards her like a lion stalking its prey.

“Trapping a beautiful woman in my office.” Drake responds as he pushes Lydia up against his desk, making her fall back and land on her ass, putting her in a sitting position, before pushing in between her legs. 

***AUTHORS NOTE: Two more chapters will be added by Tuesday at the latest. I am currently working on them now. Thanks for your patience with the updates. I appreciate each and everyone of you Xoxo-Marriah***