by Regina Duke
Mr. Chen spoke up so that Bart, Zinnia, and Woodsy could hear over the murmuration of the guests, “She says the opening is over. She says you did not hold up your end of the arrangement.”
Zinnia was horrified. “But that’s so unfair!”
Woodsy slapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh my God, Bartsy, you didn’t tell her parents what’s going on?”
Zinnia frowned. “Bartsy?”
Bart was wringing his hands. “I didn’t mention it because, after all, we are engaged and we will be married soon.”
Lily clapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “No one told me your showing was dependent on getting married first.” She looked to Mr. Chen. “Are you really going to end the opening before it even begins?”
“My wife owns the gallery,” he said meekly “Her wishes are paramount.”
Woodsy turned to Bart and jabbed a finger at his chest. “Did you hear that?”
Bart took a step back. “Yes, I heard him.”
Zinnia positioned herself between them. “Take your hands off my man, and back the hell up. You were supposed to be the great organizer! It never occurred to you to warn us that you hadn’t straightened this out with the Chens? Some gallery manager you turned out to be. You wait right here so you can’t mess anything else up. And where is Rose?”
Rose waved from behind a crowd that was four bodies thick. “Back here, Zin!”
Zinnia glared at Woodsy. “I’ll be back. Make yourself useful. Pour champagne for the guests.” She plunged through the crowd toward Rose. When she reached her, she grabbed the handles of her wheelchair and pushed her toward the front door.
“You still have my big purse tucked down next to you? Bless your heart. I knew I could count on you. Just a second.” She dug into her purse and retrieved one of her small sketch pads. “Where’s my pencil? Oh, there it is. I have to go catch Mrs. Chen.”
“Her bodyguard sent someone to fetch her car,” said Rose. “It was the only thing they said in English.”
“Thank you!”
“Let me come with you.”
“No. I need you to corral my parents and keep them from saying anything else inappropriate.”
“I’m on it,” said Rose. “Go now! I just saw a long black limo pull up to the curb!”
Zinnia went. It had begun to rain, and the lights from all the marquees up and down the street were reflected in the wet pavement. She made a mental note to paint that when she got a chance.
Rose was correct—Mrs. Chen’s people were climbing into the car, preparing to leave. She assumed that Mrs. Chen was already inside, most likely in the back seat. She stood in the rain, opened her sketch book, and began drawing furiously from memory. She had two images ready as she approached the car. The final door on the far side was slamming shut as she pressed the page up against the window where she hoped Mrs. Chen was sitting. The car began to move, and Zinnia trotted alongside for a few feet, still pressing her drawing against the glass.
Just as she began to despair, the driver hit the brakes. The car was halfway into traffic and a taxi honked at the limo. The rear window opened slowly, and Mrs. Chen peered out at her and she spoke in Mandarin.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Zinnia. “I don’t speak Chinese. All I can do is this.” She let her pastel race across another blank page and showed it to Mrs. Chen.
“Aaahhh!” Mrs. Chen’s surprise battled with admiration. She snapped orders to one of her bodyguards. He jumped out and opened the back door, waving Zinnia into the car.
“Oh, thank you. Um, xie-xie.” At least she’d remembered the word for thank you. She climbed carefully into the car, trying not to drip on Mrs. Chen. It was dark except for the light from the marquees. Mrs. Chen uttered a few syllables and the interior lights of the limo came on. She smiled at Zinnia and gestured for the sketch book and the pencil. Zinnia handed them over.
Mrs. Chen’s expression had segued to amused confusion as she used skillful strokes to create her own characters. She showed them to Zinnia, asking with her eyes if she understood.
Zinnia studied the characters for a moment, then smiled. “Yes, I understand.” She took her turn with the sketchbook and filled two pages in her unique, quirky style. The rest of Mrs. Chen’s entourage were leaning close to watch and smiling with surprise.
At last Mrs. Chen spoke to one of the young men in the car, and he translated for her: “What plans do you have with artist Bart?”
Zinnia swallowed hard. She could reproduce many symbols but the pressure of trying to make sentences out of them was too much. Her mind went blank…until her favorite song began playing in her ear. She smiled sweetly as she thought of Bart, then pretended she was at choir practice and began to sing.
The others listened in rapt attention, until one of the young men nodded vigorously and joined in. A moment later, another began singing, and then another. Zinnia was thrilled. They all knew the song—a hit by the Chinese-American rock star whose album she had memorized. The love ballad she was singing was famous in San Francisco as the wedding song of choice for every young Chinese-American bride.
* * *
Bart was on pins and needles. He tried to be polite as he worked his way to the front of the gallery, but his patience was wearing thin. He could still hear Woodsy explaining to Mr. Chen that it would be a public relations fiasco to tell their important guests to leave. Maybe Bart should have packed Zinnia and Rose up and taken them back to Colorado when Rose hurt her ankle. But he’d already prepared the big surprise of having their parents come to New York for the opening. It’d never occurred to him that Mrs. Clausen would feel the need to clarify their marital status.
By the time he reached the glass wall, there was no car in sight. His heart sank when he realized there was no Zinnia either.
Rose’s voice piped up behind him. “I need a horn on this wheelchair. Zinnia ran out to talk to Mrs. Chen.”
Bart spread his hands. “But they’re gone.”
Rose wheeled up to the glass and peered down the street. She squinted into the dark. “Is it my imagination? Or are those backup lights moving toward us?”
Bart looked. “Thank goodness! You wait here.” He charged out the door and reached the curb as the rear door swung open.
“Zinnia! Are you all right?”
She was singing that weird song from her iPod, and Bart was surprised to see Mrs. Chen and her body guards singing along as they exited the vehicle. He raised one eyebrow at Zinnia.
She finished the last stanza with the others and they all applauded each other. Breathless, she greeted him. “Hi, Bart. I think we have it all worked out.”
Mrs. Chen spoke to her translator who told Bart, “She understands now. Zinnia is in love with Mr. Bart and you will get married soon. All is okay.” Mrs. Chen spoke again, and he nodded and translated, “She wants champagne before it is all gone.” He bowed tidily.
Bart slipped his arm around Zinnia’s waist. “I don’t know how you pulled that off, but after seeing you paint, I know that miracles are routine for you.”
Rose took advantage of Mrs. Chen’s group re-entering the gallery to wheel herself out the door. “Are you two going to stand out here making a spectacle of yourselves? You’re getting soaked. Isn’t there some kind of regulation about making out in public?”
Lost in their kiss, the lovebirds did not respond.
EPILOGUE
Five months later…
Bart and Zinnia knew their wedding would be lovely because Rose and Lily had help in the person of Woodsy who—notwithstanding the tongue lashing she’d received from Zinnia in the gallery—was very good at organizing and spending other people’s money and was grateful to Bart for recommending her to Ashley Garrison. They’d hit if off right away, even though they bickered over every little decision.
Lily had been splitting her efforts between the wedding and remodeling her house. Hers and Bernard’s. The paper Bart had given her before he and Zinnia left for New York was a promise t
o buy them the house. They were now the grateful owners of a fixer upper. Now that it was theirs, they spent long hours repairing and painting and planting a garden.
After Bart’s successful New York show—he discovered later that his father had purchased the serene landscape of their upstate New York home for ten times the asking price—he and Zinnia were in great demand, both socially and artistically. Although she’d chosen to maintain a low profile at the opening, Bart talked about her talent and her work everywhere they went, so much so that she was accepting almost as many commissions for portraits as he was for abstracts and landscapes. It turned out that Pembroke Hazen was proud of his artistic son after all, and several of his business associates wanted their own estates memorialized on canvas.
The weeks and months flew by, until one morning Rose called to remind Zinnia of the date. “Hey Zin! You and Bart better get your bags packed and come home to Eagle’s Toe.”
Zinnia pulled her eyes away from the portrait she was working on and made a face at the phone. “What day is today?” she asked.
Rose laughed. “That’s what I figured. You’re so wrapped up in your new life…It happens to be July fourteenth. Bart’s father is sending a limo to pick you both up to take you to the airport. Be on that plane or your mother will never talk to you again.”
Zinnia smiled. “We’ll be on it,” she said. “And thanks for everything, Rose. Without you and Mom—and I never thought I’d say this—Woodsy, we’d still be thinking about who to invite.”
They spent the fifteenth packing and the sixteenth traveling. On the morning of the seventeenth, Zinnia was surrounded by a bevy of well-dressed women and men (all of whom claimed to have known her in high school) as Lily and Rose attempted to pull her aside for a few moments in order to fasten her veil. The church was packed, and Zinnia was surprised at how many family members she’d managed to accrue while she’d been in New York. Rose and her parents were certainly family. A major crisis had been averted for Zinnia when she learned that Chester’s father had taken it upon himself to let the couple know that Chester and Zinnia were both his. Chrissie and Chester didn’t seem to care, and at the wedding, Chrissie looked about to pop with baby number three. Timmy was fidgeting and Percy was running her hands through the rose petals in her basket as Lily and Rose hustled Zinnia into a quiet room in the back of the church.
Lily said, “You’re the bride, my dear. You shouldn’t be out there mingling until after you’re married.”
“Really, Mom? I’ve known these people all my life. Why pretend I’m going to be a big surprise to them?”
Rose was on her phone, agreeing, then disagreeing, and finally relenting. “All right, all right. Send him back.”
Lily held up both hands. “No groom before the ceremony! We can’t tempt fate like this.”
“It’s not the groom,” said Rose quietly. “Chrissie says someone wants a few moments with Zinnia.” She opened the door.
Bernard Clausen looked more handsome than he’d probably ever thought possible, bundled into a tuxedo with a cummerbund that almost restrained his belly. Lily touched Zinnia’s hand. “I’ll be right outside.” She and Rose left the room.
Zinnia stood awkwardly, not quite sure what to do with her bouquet.
Bernard cleared his throat and croaked, “You look fantastic.”
“Thank you, Bernard. You look amazing, too. I guess clothes do make a difference, don’t they?”
Bernard nodded, rubbing his hands on his trousers. “Your mother and I had a little talk last night.”
“I see.” Zinnia knew that stringing sentences together wasn’t Bernard’s strong suit. It suddenly occurred to her why he liked to have a beer before engaging with the family. It loosened his tongue. This morning, however, he was on his own in the speech department. She decided to help him out a bit. “So what did you and Mom talk about?”
Bernard’s color deepened. “She told me…you know…that you figured out….” He dipped his head to one side to indicate all the unstated details he’d discussed with his wife.
Zinnia nodded. “It’s okay.”
Bernard grunted. “So…” His eyes grew moist. “Everything okay? Between us?” He pointed back and forth between them, his roughened hands in sharp contrast to the silk cuffs of his shirt.
Zinnia felt her heart swell. All this time she’d been worried that she’d lose her temper or say something mean, and instead, she was overwhelmed with soft feelings for the man she’d assumed was her father all those years. She sniffed back a tear. “Everything’s okay.”
As if he needed to explain, Bernard bumbled on, “You were the strong one. You never really needed me. When the others came along, I could tell they wouldn’t make it on their own.” He paused. “You were a beautiful little girl, and now you’re a beautiful bride.”
They stood, neither meeting the other’s gaze. When Zinnia felt she could speak without squeaking, she said, “You’re wrong about one thing.”
He looked surprised. “What?”
“I do need you. Today’s my wedding day, and it wouldn’t be perfect without…without my dad to walk me down the aisle.”
Bernard’s face crumbled with emotion, but after a second or two, he sucked it all back in. “Guess I better not blubber on the suit,” he said. “It’s a rental.”
Zinnia giggled. A moment later, she rushed to embrace him. “Thanks for everything, Daddy.”
Bernard was all feelings again, but he managed to mutter, “I love you, Zin-Zin.”
After a few seconds, they separated. Zinnia wiped her eyes. “It’s a good thing I don’t wear much makeup.”
“Me, too.”
She laughed.
“Let’s go get you married.” He paused at the door. “Don’t tell your mother I almost got the suit wet.”
“I won’t say a word.”
He put a hand on the doorknob. “One question—why is the band Chinese?”
Zinnia managed to look completely serious as she replied, “They wrote the wedding song.”
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Other Books by Regina Duke
Colorado Billionaires — Contemporary Romance
The Wedding Wager (Colorado Billionaires, 1)
The Wedding Hope (Colorado Billionaires, 2)
The Wedding Venture (Colorado Billionaires, 3)
The Wedding Belle (Colorado Billionaires, 4)
The Wedding Guest (Colorado Billionaires, 5)
The Wedding Toast (Colorado Billionaires, 6)
The Wedding Gift (Colorado Billionaires, 7)
The Wedding Deal (Colorado Billionaires, 8)
The Wedding Veil (Colorado Billionaires, 9)
The Wedding Song (Colorado Billionaires, 10)
Colorado Billionaires Boxed Set (Contains novels 1, 2, and 3)
Colorado Billionaires Boxed Set (Contains novels 4, 5, and 6)
Colorado Billionaires Boxed Set (Contains novels 7, 8, and 9)
Colorado Billionaires 8 Novellas (Contains: Sunny’s Christmas, Krystal’s Christmas, Christmas Angel, Love Again, Twice the Joy, Jingle Bell Magic, Jingle Bell Wedding, Jingle Bell Romance)
Colorado Billionaires Christmas 2014 (Sunny’s Christmas, Krystal’s Christmas, Christmas Angel)
Colorado Billionaires Christmas 2015 (Jingle Bell Magic, Jingle Bell Wedding, Jingle Bell Romance)
Love on the Lazy B: Love Again, Twice the Joy (Two Colorado Billionaires Stories)
Now and Forever Romance Series — One-Hour Reads
June Bride (Now and Forever Romance 1)
Chapel of Love (Now and Forever Romance 2)
The Christmas App (Now and Forever Romance 3)
The Christmas Sweets (Now and Forever Romance 4)
The Christmas Light (Now and Forever Romance 5)
The Christmas Beau (Now and Forever Romance 6)
Labor of
Love (Now and Forever Romance 7)
Silver State Romance — Contemporary Romance
North Rim Delight (Silver State Romance, 1)
The Woof in the Wedding Plans (Silver State Romance, 2)
Calin’s Cowboy (Silver State Romance, 3)
Silver State Romance Boxed Set (Contains novels 1, 2, and 3)
Paranormal
My Vampire Wedding
Sugar Rising (Mindflesh Saga, 1)
Hope Eternal (Mindflesh Saga, 2) COMING SOON
Strange Tales — Shorter reads by Regina Duke and K.B. Woods
Song of the Elephant Lady (A Short Story) (Strange Tales, 1)
Garden Variety (A Short Story) (Strange Tales, 2)
Where Shiny Ones Love People (A Short Story) (Strange Tales, 3)
Aid and Comfort (A Short Story) (Strange Tales, 4)
Face to Face (A Short Story) (Strange Tales, 5)
Trickster (A Short Story) (Strange Tales, 6)
Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Strange Tales, 7)
Good Dog (Strange Tales, 8)
Stillhunter (Strange Tales, 9)
Other
Self-Help for Writers: Being Your Own Cheerleader
Loving the Sensitive Dog
If you enjoy Regina Duke’s books, you will love Sandra Edwards’ romances and paranormals.
Also look for Stevie Lynn’s forthcoming urban fantasy and paranormal.
About Regina Duke
USA TODAY Bestselling Author Regina Duke writes sweet romance, cozy mystery, and paranormal. She lives in the High Desert with her three dogs, and when she’s not writing she’s playing the piano and enjoying her friends. For more info on Regina’s books, visit her website: ReginaDuke.com.
Visit the author at her author page http://www.amazon.com/Regina-Duke/e/B005KB08YM or email her at [email protected].
