Courted by Trouble: A Courting Romance (In Hyacinth Book 3)

by Bree Cariad

  After taking a long shower to get rid of the airplane stench, she changed into one of her own creations as it helped her to feel like herself. “You look good,” he told her before they left the room. John had planned it so that they met in a private dining room of a local restaurant. As the two of them followed the hostess through the rows of tables and chairs, Stephanie’s heart beat faster and faster. “Everything’s going to be okay,” Chris encouraged in her ear. “If you need a stress reliever, just imagine all the fun Dory’s having at my expense back home.”

  Huffing out a laugh that didn’t hold much humor but showed she was grateful for the attempt, she nodded.

  “They are through that door right there,” the hostess told them, pointing to a large wooden door.

  “Thanks.”

  Chris tightened his hold on her hand and opened the door, pulling her through behind him. The private room was large, probably meant more for large business lunches than strange family reunions. There were several people in the room, two sets of elderly couples, a woman a few years older than she was holding a baby in her arms, a man who looked like the male version of Stephanie, and a man in his early forties who stood up at their entrance. Even with Chris in front of her, his eyes locked on hers and she felt a pang as she looked into them. This man was Taylor Trundle. He was older than in the photos she had seen, but just like so many men, he had gotten better looking as he aged.

  “Stephanie?” he said in a voice that was slightly hoarse

  “Hi.” She knew it was a stupid word, but she had no idea what to say.

  He took a step forward and Chris held up a hand to stall him. “She’s not ready yet.”

  “Of course. I’m sorry. I’ve been waiting nineteen years to see you and you didn’t even know I existed until recently. Let me introduce everyone.” Everyone consisted of her brother, future sister-in-law, niece, and grandparents. It was amazing how much her mother’s mother looked like her. Stephanie assumed that would be how she would look when she was in her sixties. At least that was something to look forward to. The woman was still beautiful.

  The weekend went much better than she had hoped. Whenever she started to feel overwhelmed, Chris stepped in, but otherwise let her feel her way. While strangers, Stephanie did make friends with her brother and his fiancée and started a friendship with her father. That would take some time to build into anything else. At brunch Sunday morning before they flew out, she got up the courage to ask the question she wanted to know. “Why did she take me?”

  “I don’t think we’ll ever know,” her grandmother Sadie said sadly. “She never left a note. Jeanie began to act strange when we found out Taylor was alive. She kept you with her constantly. The day we found out he would be home soon, you disappeared. At first we were sure she would bring you back. But she never did.”

  “We hired private investigators,” Taylor added, “but somehow Jeanie was able to disappear entirely. She didn’t leave a trace.”

  “I think,” Stephanie said, hazarding a guess, “it’s because you were looking for Jeanie Alverson. She passed herself off as Jessica Avery. And she told people I was a year older than I was.”

  * * * * *

  “Did it help?” Chris asked softly on the ride home. As Hyacinth came closer, she had dozed for the most part.

  “I think so. I’ll always wonder why, I suppose, but maybe it doesn’t need to matter. And while they’re technically my relatives, my real family’s in Hyacinth.” That was one thing that came to her as she had said goodbye to her new family. She may come to love them at some point, but the people who truly loved her and whom she loved in return weren’t biologically related. Christopher, Dora, Cami, the Covingtons, people who had stayed with her and helped her ride the tempest the last two years had been for her. They were the people who truly mattered.

  He squeezed her hand. “I love you, you know.”

  Looking over at him, she smiled. “I know. I love you, too.”

  Before they were even out of the car, the front door open and Dora pelted out into them. “Welcome home!” she squealed.

  A wonderful meal waited for them and as they ate, Chris teased her. “So, is the inn still standing?”

  She beamed. “It’s not just standing, most of the rooms are finished and we have our first reservations.”

  Slightly startled, he stared at her in awe. “Well done, Dory.”

  Her answering grin just made Stephanie melt. Leaning on her boyfriend, she closed her eyes. Home. This was home.

  “Oh, we’ve been invited over to the Covingtons for dinner on Thursday,” Dora said as they did the dishes.

  “Good,” Stephanie yawned. “Cami should be back from her barf-a-thon.”

  “Her what?” Chris choked, putting the dishes away.

  “Jerod took her roller coaster riding.”

  “Oh, right. Roller coasters are fun.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Ah. Come on,” he teased. “Tall hills, rushing down at sixty miles per hour…”

  “Turning upside down,” Dora said.

  “Throwing up,” Stephanie added with a giggle.

  When he left, she had a hard time letting him go. Even though they had stayed fully clothed, she had slept in his arms every night they were in Montana and she was going to miss that. “I’ll miss you,” she whispered.

  “Me too,” he murmured into her hair. Looking up he added, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Miss Dora.”

  “Definitely.”

  After the door shut, Dora opened her arms and hugged Stephanie. “I’m so happy for you.”

  “Why? Because I found my family?”

  “No. Because you’re happy. Chris has settled you down, not in a bad way,” she rushed on to say. “But as long as I’ve known you, it always felt like you were searching for something. Since he started courting you, it’s like you found what you were looking for.”

  * * * * *

  Dinner at the Covingtons was loud and fun. Everyone was in a celebratory mood, it seemed. “Dora! Stephie!” Cami squealed as the three of them walked in the door. She ran into Stephanie’s arms and held her tight. “I’m so glad you came.”

  “How were the roller coasters?” Stephanie teased as Chris greeted his uncle and Cami turned and hugged Dora.

  “Wonderful. We had so much fun. There was one that went into a corkscrew and we hung from the rail so it felt like we were flying through the air. We rode that one ten times.”

  “You’re crazy, you know that, right?”

  Charlotte announced dinner and they went in to the dining room, the jovial mood practically bouncing off the walls. Stephanie was pretty sure there had to be an announcement coming. She wondered if Cami was pregnant and kept her eyes on her friend as her husband pulled out her chair for her and then sat down next to her. Drake sat next to his mom and Stephanie took a seat next to him with Chris at her side. Dora sat next to Chris which put her at the end of the table, but nobody commented. Dora had always been the shyest of them and she didn’t know Jerod well.

  “How’s the B&B coming?” Drake asked once they started to eat.

  “Fantastic,” Chris said enthusiastically. “We’re not only set to open on time, but we already have reservations because my amazing partner is on top of her game.”

  “Who’s your partner?”

  “I am,” Dora said with a small smile.

  “You’re already taking reservations?” Jerod enquired. “My sister’s coming out for Labor Day weekend. If you aren’t full, I’d love to have her there as she’ll refuse to stay at the house.”

  “Aunt Kimmie’s coming?” Chris said in surprise. “Great.”

  “Why won’t she stay with you?” Stephanie inquired, hoping Cami’s sister-in-law wasn’t the kind of trouble Chris’s grandmother was.

  “She’s afraid to be a bother,” both Jerod and Chris said at the same time.

  “The last thing Kimmie would want,” Jerod added while shaking his head, “would be to put Cami out in anyway.
No matter how many times my lovely wife assures her she would love to have her come and stay.”

  Conversation flowed through dinner and as the plates were removed and a deep chocolate cake was delivered to the table, Stephanie hummed in interest. Charlotte made the best cake.

  When Alex cleared his throat, she turned in his direction as his wife cut pieces and handed them out. “We want to thank everyone for coming tonight. There are two amazing things happening. One was planned from two weeks ago, the other we just found out about.”

  “What’s been planned for two weeks?” Cami asked quickly.

  “You’ll find out soon,” he told her. “Jerod, she still needs patience.” His son-in-law just smiled. “We consider Stephanie and Dora family, which is why we are happy everyone could be here for this.” Alex sat down and Stephanie wondered what was about to happen. There was a buzz in the air and as Jerod looked over at Chris, she followed his gaze only to find her boyfriend looking straight at her.

  “Stephanie, when I moved to Hyacinth, I wasn’t sure what I was doing to be honest. Jerod told me about the town and values and I will admit that’s what attracted me. However, I never expected to run into a red-haired beauty so quickly. Or to fall for her.” Standing up, Chris pushed his chair back and knelt down. “Sweetheart, I love you and want more than anything for you to be my wife. Will you marry me?”

  Nodding even while unable to speak, Stephanie watched him pull a small box out of his pocket. “I can’t afford the ring you richly deserve,” he said quietly. “One day, I will.” He slid the thin gold band over her finger and she gazed down at the emerald on it.

  “I love it,” she whispered. It was unique, just like she was. “And I love you.” He kissed her softly and as he pulled back, she caught Dora’s eye. Her friend was crying. “You too?” she said, taking the handkerchief he handed her to wipe her face.

  “Are you kidding?” Dora said, sniffling. “All my friends are happy. I couldn’t be any happier.”

  As he pulled his chair back to the table, Chris wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. She beamed and as Jerod cleared his throat, everyone turned their attention to him.

  “Congratulations,” he said with a smile. “May you two have as much joy and happiness as Cami and I have.”

  “Here! Here!” Drake agreed, eating a big piece of cake.

  “I asked Chris if it was all right if we shared our news as well. I didn’t want to take away from your engagement but he felt it was perfect. Cami and I found out on Monday that we’re expecting a baby.”

  Now Stephanie truly understood why there was so much excitement. An engagement and a baby announcement. As she looked over at Dora, all she saw was happiness on her friend’s face, but in that moment, Stephanie sent up a little prayer. “Please, God, help Dora find her Mr. Right.”

  The three months until their wedding rushed by. Cami helped her with her wedding dress. While Stephanie designed it, she needed the help to fit it correctly. She went for something a little more traditional than Cami had, but used the southern belle design with the modified hoop skirt she had come up with the winter before. In the meantime, Dora and Christopher opened their bed and breakfast, Hyacinth Inn, and were so busy that half the time Stephanie joined them there for lunch and dinner just so she would see them.

  “Here’s to Stephie and Chris,” Dora said at her bachelorette party. She and Cami had kidnapped Stephanie and they were currently curled up in the downstairs living area of Cami and Jerod’s home.

  “Excited?” Camille asked, lying on her side. Her baby bump had been growing and at five months pregnant, she was quite large. A month back they found out they were having twins, and Stephanie and Dora had gathered all sorts of items for their friends’ baby room when it was put together.

  “Very. It will be nice not to have to say goodnight every night and watch him walk out the door.”

  Grinning, Cami nodded. “I think it’s great you two are staying there at Dora’s place.”

  “It just makes sense,” Dora said in her most sensible tone. “I have the room, their house isn’t ready yet, and I would be bored living there all by myself. I wish they were able to take a honeymoon, though.”

  “Me too,” Stephanie agreed, “but with the new business, there’s just no way. We’ll have four days to ourselves which will be rough enough on you.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Dora said with a grin. “The second string chef is kind of scared of me.”

  Giggling that anyone would ever be afraid of their quiet friend, the conversation dipped and curved as they laughed and joked about old times and their futures. By the time Dora and Stephanie lay down on the mattresses that had been laid out for them and Jerod came down to take his wife to bed, Stephanie realized she was absolutely perfectly happy. It was a wonderful feeling.

  Epilogue

  The new Hyacinth Inn was packed with guests, all there for Christopher and Stephanie’s nuptials. Sitting in the beautiful building that would one day be her home, Stephanie fidgeted. She could hear the laughter and voices of all the guests and wished she could be out there with them. But that old wives’ tale about the groom not seeing the bride before the wedding kept her trapped. Besides her relatives who had come, Christopher’s relations were there as well, but she was most happy knowing her family from Hyacinth was here.

  The door opened and Dora slipped inside, smiling. “How are you holding up?”

  “Is it time yet?”

  “Almost. Chris is about to go crazy, too. He wants to get the wedding and reception out of the way so you two can be alone for a while.”

  Smiling, Stephanie nodded. At first, they had planned to spend their wedding night at the inn before going home the next day. But Charlotte Covington came up with a better idea. It seemed they still owned that small cabin Stephanie had lived in for a year. They outfitted it with a large bed and plenty of food and she and Chris would spend four days there. It seemed fitting that the building where she had gotten her life back together would be the perfect way to start out their marriage.

  Except for her dress, the wedding itself ended up being free. The Covingtons donated the floral arrangements, Kathy’s parents had pitched in for the invitations, Chris owned the inn so they didn’t have to pay for it, and as for the food… It felt like the entire community pitched in as everyone brought a dish. Chris’s aunt was a minister and had offered to perform the ceremony for free as well.

  “I’m glad the weather decided to play nice,” she whispered as the waiting was getting on her nerves. The sun was out and the wind had calmed down yesterday. It kind of felt like a spring day. Fall was playing hookie just for them.

  A knock on the door was instantly followed by Cami sticking her head in. “Everyone’s taking their seats, Stephie. Five minutes and you don’t have to wait anymore.” She turned to Dora. “Have you seen some of the single guys who are here? Wow. Chris knows some great looking guys.”

  Dora just rolled her eyes. “Go sit down.” After a wicked grin, Cami left and Dora shook her head. “She’s gonna drive me nuts.”

  “Why?” Stephanie asked, standing up.

  “I’m the last of us to be single. I think she’s decided it’s her mission to help me find someone.”

  “Well, she’s so pregnant she soon won’t have the time or the oomph to do it,” Stephanie said only half paying attention. Her hair had grown out quite a bit since she had originally had Cami cut it, so two weeks before she had it cut again and had the stylist add more green highlights. Personally she thought Camille had done a better job, but they still looked good. Patting her ‘do into place, she looked in the mirror someone had put in what would be her living room when she and Chris had the chance to finish it.

  Dora slipped out while she stared at her reflection. A few butterflies fluttered in her stomach but they were definitely for excitement and as the door opened she turned and smiled.

  “Ready?” Alex Covington asked.

  “Definitely.” She
had asked the man she felt was more like a father than anyone ever had been to walk her down the aisle. Thankfully he accepted because she wasn’t ready to ask Taylor and walking down by herself would have been scary. Both Kathy and Cami had commented that if it hadn’t been for their fathers holding them back, they would have dashed to their groom’s side.

  The large tent that was erected, as with autumn weather you could never tell how it would turn out, looked sturdy and welcoming as they walked inside. Both sides of the tent were filled with people but she only had eyes for one. Standing at the end of the aisle in a gray, pin-striped suit was her groom. His eyes locked with hers and she barely even noticed the people watching her as she walked toward him. As they reached the end of the aisle, Alex Covington hugged her and handed her over to Chris before taking a seat next to his wife. Her bridesmaid Dora took her bouquet as she turned to face him.

  They had asked for a short ceremony as neither one wanted to drag it out. Kimmily Kinsley did just that. After welcoming everyone to the celebration, she gave a short talk on marriage before going directly to the vows. Stephanie had considered doing their own, but there was something time-honored about using vows that had been repeated by couples for decades, maybe even centuries, of time. Hearing Chris repeat that he would love, honor, and protect her made her heart speed up and when she promised to love, honor, and obey, his eyes glowed.

  Jerod, Chris’s best man, handed the rings to Kimmie and in no time at all, Stephanie wore her wedding band.

  “Everyone, I’m very pleased to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Triton. Huzzah!” Kimmie shouted.

  Half the audience jumped at her yell, but his family shouted “Huzzah!” back making her and Chris laugh.

  “All right,” Kimmie said with a twinkle in her eyes. “Are you going to kiss her or not?”