The weight of him crashed through the atmosphere and pressed down on my chest. Saturating my senses.
How on earth was I supposed to handle this? It felt cruel and unjust. Like the world was out to end me. Every fear and hope and wound I’d ever sustained whirred and whipped and rebounded in a bid to annihilate.
All at the same damn time.
One hand wrapped in her fiancé’s, Emily lifted her other, her words carrying on the slight breeze as they made their way down the pathway, “Hey, Violet. Sorry we’re a few minutes late.”
I waved in welcome and tried to make my voice match the feeling. “No worries at all. I was just wrappin’ up prepping for tomorrow.”
“I hope we’re not interrupting.”
“Nope. This is what I do. Besides, you know I wanted to be a part of this.”
It was only half a lie.
Her smile was soft as they made it to the bottom of the hill. The second she got to where I stood, she wrapped her arms around me. “Thank you. Thank you a million times. I am so excited. I can’t even tell you what this means to me.”
I hugged her back and breathed in her sweetness, clinging to the memories of why I’d grown so attached to her. “Oh, you don’t even need to explain. I can feel it radiating from you.”
A thrill traveled her spine, and she pulled away so she could gesture to the man who stood like a guardian at her side.
Oh, was the man intimidating. Different than Richard, though. Screaming of a fast life and big city. Covered in ink.
The man left no question he’d seen a thing or two.
None of that held a smidge of importance, though.
He might look her opposite, like she’d said, but there was no denying the devotion that poured from him. No denying their connection. The man her match. “Violet, I’m so happy for you to officially meet my fiancé. Royce Reed. Royce, this is Violet. One of my favorite people in the world.”
She looked back at me when she said it.
My heart panged.
Did she have to be so sweet?
His onyx eyes raked over me like they were searching for a secret. Peeling back my layers to see what was hidden underneath.
What he didn’t know was I didn’t have them.
I was an open book.
My heart written on my sleeve just as clear as the ink on his flesh.
Out in the open and visible for anyone to see.
I guessed that was why I’d made it so easy for people to take advantage of me.
A flashfire of severity gobbled up my skin.
There was nothing I could do but glance at the dark figure that slowly made his way down the path hedged in lavender.
Face chiseled, every distinct, glorious line glinting in the shimmering light of the fading day.
A beautiful invader.
A harbinger of treachery.
I should have recognized it before.
Not ever again.
Royce offered me a tattooed hand, drawing me back from the shadow that was descending. “It’s nice to meet you, Violet. I’ve heard a ton about you. My girl said there was no chance we could do this without you, so we can’t do it without you.”
I shook his hand. “I’m honored to be a part of it.”
Melanie suddenly came pushing around Emily, her dark brown ponytail swishing around her shoulders. “Um, excuse me. Can we get the pleasantries over with because this girl needs hugs.” She gestured frantically at herself. “I haven’t seen my Violet in way too many years. I’m over these withdrawals. Gimme some Violet.”
She came at me like the powerhouse she was, and she threw her arms around me and squeezed me with all her might. She squealed low and jumped a little before she pulled away. “I can’t believe we get to plan a weddin’ together. O.M.G. Is this not the best thing in the world?”
Was it necessary to interject that I thought it was a horrible, terrible, bad idea or should it be plain obvious?
It wouldn’t have made a difference, anyway, because she was rambling on before I could get in a word. “I told this one right here she was done for the second she met Royce.”
She swatted in the direction of Emily while she simultaneously swooned, pressing her other hand over her heart. “I mean, you should have seen her the mornin’ after she met him. She was walking around like she’d gotten struck upside the head and had a halo of stars dancing around her. You can’t instantly hate someone that bad without loving them. And let me tell you, she hated him.”
“Hey now,” Royce rumbled with a slight, guilty chuckle.
Melanie kept right on. “She told me I was out of my mind when I started hunting for bridesmaids dresses that very morning. She should have known better than to question me. I mean come on, we know who’s the genius here.” She gestured to herself. “I called it. I think I’m the one who deserves the credit. They wouldn’t be together if it wasn’t for me.”
A giggle slipped free.
I’d almost forgotten how over-the-top Melanie was.
Fun.
A joy that lightened the dark.
Emily rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah, it was all you, Mel. I would have forgotten all about him had you not kept up with your pesterin’.”
Royce wrapped his arms around Emily from behind, murmured at her cheek, “Forget about me? No chance I would let you.”
A blush pinked her chest, and you could see them falling into the other.
My spirit danced and shivered, shaking in a way it hadn’t in so long. I pinned a smile on my face and tried to forget the man standing twenty feet in the distance who I could feel washing through the atmosphere. Wave after wave of that deep, stark severity.
A chill taking to the air.
Mabel cleared her throat.
I jerked my attention to her.
Our gazes tangled for a beat.
In that second was a thousand apologies. Endless understanding and boundless sympathies.
“Mabel.” I managed it on a whisper. Throat quivering.
She edged my way. Carefully. Her arms wrapping me tight the second she got to me. “I missed you, Violet.”
I fought the pricking of tears.
And I wondered if she could feel the loss that echoed from the middle of me because she just drew me in tighter. Held me for the longest time before she edged back and brushed back a piece of hair that was whipping around my face. “I never should have been gone so long.”
My head shook. “That was on me.” The words cracked.
I’d lost track of the number of times she’d tried to reach out. After everything went down with Richard. When my sister went missing. With Daisy, offering help. When my mama had fallen ill.
Every time.
Unfailing.
I’d ignored each one because I couldn’t fathom the pain of having to be in her space again. A sharp, gutting reminder of what I’d lost. But I guessed it’d come to the point where it hurt even worse being fully without, the vacancy too much to ignore, and I’d ended up at Emily’s engagement party like a lost soul searching for its home.
Mabel brushed the pad of her thumb along my jaw.
Soft affection.
I wanted to weep.
When Emily cleared her throat as if it might be enough to break up the tension, Mabel reluctantly released me.
Emily held her hand out for the girl hanging in the periphery. “Violet, I want you to meet Maggie. Royce’s sister. Soon to be mine.”
Affection rolled from her tongue as she gestured to the timid girl who couldn’t be more than nineteen or twenty. Dark, long hair, her eyes the same color as Royce’s though they shined with something soft and innocent.
Beautiful.
Sweet.
A calm emanated from her. Her gift an ushering of peace.
“Maggie, this is Violet.”
“Hi, Violet. It’s so nice to meet you.” She stepped forward, her attention darting all over. “You grow flowers?” Awe flooded from her voice.
I smiled. “I
do.”
“Wow, that has to be the coolest job in the world.”
My smile widened, and I turned my gaze out to the acres of fields that grew behind us. Rows and rows of the flowers that were raised with love.
Blood, sweat, and tears.
“It is. But it’s not that easy. It’s a ton of work. Sometimes I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into.”
“I bet.”
“I can’t take all the credit, though. I have help.”
“I should hope so,” she said with a small giggle before she was coming forward and hugging me. Not as if we were the oldest of friends. But as if we were gonna be.
God.
How could one moment be so perfect and horrible?
But my mama had always told me that was life.
Filled with grace and beauty and light.
Worn down by evils and tragedies and afflictions.
Your joy dependent on which you allowed to hold most in your heart. Which were given most residence and respect.
Me?
I was going to cherish this.
This restoration.
This revival of love that I’d found in these people.
Hell, I was even going to be cordial to those who didn’t deserve it.
When Maggie stepped back, I lifted my chin to the man who lurked like the off-putting memory of a bad dream halfway down the path.
A perfect storm. Chaos in the midst of the serenity I had found.
“Richard.” I tried and failed to make it sound as if I didn’t mind that he was there, and he’d come a few steps closer. And there went my stupid eyes, immediately searching through the rubble on his flesh, seeking that tiny reminder he had tattooed on the inside of his wrist.
A violet.
I’d wondered if he would have erased it.
But it was there.
Hidden within the designs that whispered of brokenness and horrors unseen.
He grumbled a rough sound. The rumble of it rippled across my flesh, those eyes the color of a spruce severe and acute. So sharp he might as well have been touching me.
I shook myself out of it. There was no chance I could go traipsing into those memories that wanted to climb into my consciousness. To remind me of what it’d felt like to be wrapped in those arms and loved by that body.
What I needed to remember was how it felt to go without. What it was like to live in his aftermath.
“Well, we should head out to look at the layout.” I started down the trail that led to the spot where we hosted weddings, taking on the persona of the event planner I used for our clients as the group followed behind. I gestured to our lush surroundings. “Since the last time you were here, we’ve added a multitude of new features to make this one of the state’s most sought-after wedding destinations. A private drive to the tree loops around the north of us with a parking lot. It also gives easier access for deliveries. We do have a large tent for the reception, tables, chairs, as well as a dance floor. You will have to contact someone for the linens as we don’t supply those, as well as any food and beverages.”
Melanie whipped out an iPad, totally on top of it. “Tables. Chairs. Tent. Dance floor. Check, check, check. Mabel and I will procure the linens. Royce, get us on the hook of an amazing band, yeah? Someone yummy and sexy at the front. Yes and please and thank you.” She mumbled the last before her attention shifted back to me. “I’m assuming you can provide the floral arrangements?” she asked with a quirk of her brow.
I let go of a light laugh. “Yes, we can definitely provide the floral arrangements. In fact, we insist on it.” I sent her a wink.
We wound down through the rows of flowers.
Roses.
Lilies.
Lilacs.
A whole acre of poppies.
Daffodils and tulips.
I tried not to fumble when I saw Saul out working in the distance with a couple of other men on our team, the way he glanced our way in longing, worry, and speculation.
Like he could just…feel it. The turmoil I was in.
Goodness.
I couldn’t deal with it all.
We wound down one hill and up another before we finally broke into the meadow where our weddings were held.
A whimper clawed at my throat when the gorgeous site came into view. It struck me every time. But somehow—somehow—this evening it was different.
A huge American Elm sat at the far end of it. Stoic and proud. Its branches were thick and stretching wide, the leaves full. The entire area was surrounded by lush vegetation.
It was like stepping into Eden.
Paradise.
One I’d been cast from.
Keep it together, Violet. You can do this.
I forced myself into a semblance of normalcy when there wasn’t a thing about this that felt normal. Still, I smiled and said, “I recommend sunset for the ceremony. Right about now. The view is breathtaking.”
“I already know what will be stealing my breath.” Royce proclaimed it just loud enough for everyone to hear.
I glanced at my sweet friend, at the way she sighed.
Joy spilled out for her. At the happiness she had found. It got mixed up with the hurt that wouldn’t go away. The hurt that felt all the more profound with him standing in the backdrop.
An unwilling participant. The strain blistering through the air and searing our flesh. I wouldn’t be surprised if the two of us combusted right there. Nothing left of us but the ash getting carried away by the wind.
“It’s perfect,” Emily whispered, taking in the view.
“Over here to the right is the best place to put up a tent if that’s what you’re planning for the reception. Unless you decide to have that in town?”
I’d gone over the options with her on the phone two days ago, and she’d said she would give it thought and make a decision by this evening.
Emily glanced at Royce, the two of them sharing a private conversation before she turned back to me. “No. I think everything taking place here is perfect. More than perfect. A dream come true, honestly. I can’t imagine a more beautiful setting in the entire world.”
“I think it’s perfect, too,” Mabel agreed, her face tipped toward the waning sky as if she were taking in the last rays and picturing the most joyous day for her daughter.
“Um…is there even a question? It has to be here. I can feel it.” This from Melanie.
I started to reply only to pause when I sensed the whip of energy in the air and a rustle in the branches above.
My attention darted up to the tree, and I peered through the leaves, praying I was imagining things. That the direction my worry went was unwarranted.
Getting riled up for nothing.
But no.
My instinct was spot on because dark eyes stared down at me, her smile bigger than her surroundings where she was high up in the towering tree.
My heart bottomed out, and a blaze of fear went streaking across my skin. “Daisy. What do you think you’re doing up there?”
“Hi, Mommy! I’m just checking out the weddings plans for your friend. Hi, are you my mommy’s friend? You gonna get married?” she shouted from where she had climbed about halfway up and then out onto a thick branch, the child leaning over it and peering down.
My little daredevil.
Emily giggled though it was in discomfort. “Why, hello there. Are you supposed to be all the way up in that tree?”
Emily shot me a worried look.
“Oh, my,” Mabel wheezed.
“No, she is most definitely not supposed to be all the way up in that tree,” I scolded, my words meant for Daisy.
She knew better.
On top of that, I’d told her to stay in the house with her papa while I worked. The last thing I needed was her getting in the middle of this.
Getting close.
Involved.
Mixed in with the people who I had lost.
I couldn’t handle it.
“Get down, right now.
And be careful when you’re doing it,” I all but hissed, trying not to point to the ground and stamp my foot, or worse yet, break down and cry.
I could feel the surge of concern.
The way the air shifted and shook.
A shimmer of protectiveness.
I gulped, squeezed my eyes, tried to pretend that the man wasn’t there.
Encroaching.
Coming closer.
“Ahh, Mommy. You’re no fun. None ats all. Dontcha know life is supposed to be fun and full of the adventures? ’Sides, Papa said you used to climb this tree all the time. Never listenin’ to a word you were told.” She said it like I was the troublemaker.
“Do you like adventures?” She was back to talking to Emily who was still staring up at her.
“Yes, I love adventures. But you must be careful when doing them,” Emily encouraged her.
Daisy started to climb down, talking while she did, “Like a weddin’ adventure?”
“Yup.”
“You need a pretty flower girl? I got new pretty shoes. You wanna see? I put them on so I could shows you. And I’m the best dancer. You think you want me to be in your weddin’ like my mommy?”
I pressed my hand to my forehead. Oh, god, what in the world was she doing? Wearing her dress shoes up there and inviting herself to be in a wedding?
You are so gonna be in time-out, I silently shouted.
“Oh, oh, well,” Emily stammered, trying to hold back a laugh. “I’m sure you would make such a pretty flower girl, but guess what? Royce has a little girl who is just about your age, and we were hoping she might get to be the flower girl as long as everything works out just right. But maybe you could help with everyone getting signed in on the guest book? I bet you would be great at that and so pretty doin’ it.”
Daisy squealed, her excitement a torpedo through the air. “Yes! I would be so good at that, I’m bettin’. I got a dollar. I’m so excited. You wanna see my shoes? I can get different ones if you want me to, but I like these ones the best!”
She started to rush, coming down fast.
My pulse spiked.
“Daisy, be careful!”
And I wondered if I’d seen it coming all along because that was the same second the slick sole of her shoe slipped off the branch she stepped down onto.
The child losing footing.
Losing hold.
Falling into You: A Falling Stars Stand-Alone Romance Page 10
