Dad for Charlie & the Sergeant's Temptation & the Alaskan Catch & New Year's Wedding (9781488015687)

by Stewart, Anna J. ; Sasson, Sophia; Carpenter, Beth; Jensen, Muriel

  THE METHODICAL PART of him was remembering her tense behavior on the plane. That small space you couldn’t escape without a parachute had to be even more frightening than an elevator car you knew would stop in seconds. He regretted attributing her tension to a more normal fear of flying.

  But deep down he knew some fears could not be explained or wished away, and he put both hands on her shoulders, saying quietly, “Just relax. You’re out now. We’re about to go into this big, airy room with views of the river, so there’s nothing to confine you or to be afraid of.”

  While people wove around them into the dining room, her eyes were huge and turbulent, as though the emotional storm she’d just endured wasn’t quite over.

  She nodded, expelling a deep breath. “Right. I’ll be fine in a minute.”

  The elevator’s second set of doors opened and he glanced up to see most of the Manning-Palmer family. “Good,” he said quietly, “because here they come.”

  “Please don’t say anything. Nobody knows.”

  He dropped his hands and said firmly, “Don’t worry. Our secret.”

  * * *

  CHAOS REIGNED FOR a good ten minutes. Love, energy, laughter and pre-wedding excitement raised the decibel level in the corridor to deafening. There were hugs among the women, back-slapping among the men, and the children jumped up and down in joy. No one would have guessed that they’d all seen each other less than twenty-four hours ago.

  The Mannings and the Palmers snaked through the dining room in a long parade as the hostess led them across the room to a table in a far corner set up for ten.

  Sarah, Jack’s wife, began to suggest that couples sit opposite each other, but the children had already chosen places. Soren, a slender, fair-haired ten-year-old, grabbed a frosty pitcher of water and started filling glasses. Rosie, a year younger, with glossy black hair, wide brown eyes and a busybody attitude, took a basket of rolls and distributed them to the bread plate at every place.

  Ben suggested to Soren that he not fill the glasses to the top and Corie handed Rosie the small tongs that rested beside the basket. “At the foster home,” Corie explained as they sat, “everybody helped put the meal on the table.” She smiled at the children. “Good job, guys.”

  Cassie felt a new sense of comfort at being part of this warm, loud group, but also a new insecurity she hadn’t experienced when she’d been with them in Texas. Then, she’d thought her old childhood bugaboo had been beaten. Now, as she watched how confident everyone seemed, she realized she was a little broken. Jack and Corie had had more difficult lives than she’d led, yet she was the one with a leftover emotional tic.

  “Hey.” Grady pulled a chair out for her and guided her gently down. “They’re much less alarming than the noise they make,” he said quietly, about to take the chair beside her when Jack shouldered him out of the way.

  “You had her company all the way over on the plane,” he said, pointing him to the chair on the other side of him. “And I understand she’s staying in your loft.”

  “She is. Turns out, she’s a great cook. I had crepes with blueberry compote for breakfast.”

  Jack laughed. “Saved from your own bachelor cooking until the wedding. Thank you.” Jack accepted a menu from a formidable-looking fortyish waitress with a crisp black-and-white uniform and dyed red hair styled in a topknot and bangs. She distributed menus like she was dealing cards, listing off the details of the salmon special. She looked around the table and asked gravely, “Who poured the water?”

  Soren raised his hand worriedly. “I did.”

  She nodded. “Well done.” And walked away, promising to be right back to take their drink order.

  Everyone laughed at Soren’s relieved smile. Ben ruffled his hair and caught Corie’s eye. She sat with Rosie at the end of the table on the opposite side. Their shared look spoke of love and happiness.

  Cassie looked away and found Jack struggling for composure. He must have caught the look and was probably overcome to see his sister so at peace. She watched him reach for his glass of water, already empty, and handed him hers.

  “Here,” she said.

  But Soren had already foreseen the problem. “I got it, Aunt Cassie,” he said, coming around the table to lean over Jack, reach for the pitcher and refilling his glass.

  Jack pretended to frown at him. “Am I going to have to tip you?”

  Soren, his blue eyes alight with the teasing attention, spread his free hand as though the answer should be obvious. “Corie said I did a good job, and the waitress said ‘well done.’ And she’s a professional.”

  Laughter erupted again and Jack grabbed him and gave his shoulder a gentle noogie while he giggled. Grady reached out to save the pitcher.

  The waitress returned to take their drink orders. Soren went back to his place beside Ben and everyone got serious about studying the menu.

  During lunch, Sarah, a slender woman of medium height, with light brown hair and blue-gray eyes, held up her Caribbean-blue napkin.

  “Is this the shade you were talking about for the wedding?” she asked Corie.

  Corie nodded, opening her napkin. “It is. In silk. Or charmeuse, it’s even more beautiful, with a softness you can’t quite get in paper. I wish we had time to make dresses for all of you. I think the best thing to do is just wear your favorite dressy dress. I’m wearing one I made for myself.”

  “That pretty pink one with the quilted look?” Helen asked. A comfortably plump woman with a warm smile, she was Ben’s natural mother and Jack’s adopted mother.

  Corie shook her head. “I’ve been designing a new line, something different—less street chic and more…” She smiled as she thought. “More…elegant. The two of you can just wear whatever dressy dress you have that you love the most. I’ll have to find something for Rosie. The guys are renting suits because neither has one! Helen knows the owner of the rental place and set up an appointment for them in the car on the way over.”

  “I’ll try to find a dress in this color,” Helen said. “It’s so pretty.” She stuffed the napkin in her purse. “What else can we do to help? You must be overwhelmed with just a few days to plan while adding two children to your household.”

  “I am, a little.” Corie sat quietly, everything about her remarkably calm. Cassie thought she seemed too small and fragile to be able to deal with so much, but she knew her sister had lost her father at twelve, escaped a cruel and negligent stepmother shortly after that, and finally found serenity because of an accidental meeting with a woman who ran a foster home and took her in.

  Corie had spent the time since then working as a waitress while studying to be a designer, and helping her foster mother stay afloat financially. She so deserved to be happy.

  “But,” Corie went on, “life with Ben is so much more wonderful than I ever thought I’d know. And the kids are going to be an adjustment for both of us, but I know it’ll work in the end. They’re both great.” She laughed lightly. “I hope you don’t mind that your dinner rolls were manhandled. Or rather, Rosie-handled.”

  Helen dismissed that with a shake of her head. “Of course not. I think we all grew to love both of them while we were visiting you in Texas. They’re precocious and seem happy with their new lives. But they’re not going to leave you much time to get ready. Seriously, how can we help?”

  “I’m not sure where to start,” Corie admitted. “I thought knowing I had a dress to wear was a forward step.”

  Sarah took a notebook and pen out of her purse and smiled from one to the other. “You’re right. The dress is very important, and I love that it’s one you designed yourself. So why don’t Cassie and Helen and I divide the rest of the duties?” She made a few notes in her book. In her management persona, she was impressive, and they all waited quietly for her to give instructions.

  “How many people?” she
asked.

  “Fifty, tops,” Corie replied. “Some friends of Ben’s from the police department. Some neighbors. That’s it.”

  “Good. That’s manageable. Have you thought about where to have the ceremony?”

  Corie made a face. “I called the church while we were still in Texas, and they’re already booked. And there’s so much going on in most of the venues around town because of New Year’s Day.”

  Cassie got a sudden inspiration. “What about Grady’s house?”

  Corie’s eyes widened. “I haven’t seen it. And, anyway, would he want an invasion of fifty?”

  “It’s gorgeous,” Cassie said feelingly, remembering the comfort she’d felt in it last night, despite his mother’s dislike of her. She loved the lodge-like atmosphere, the log walls, the standing columns in the living room, the vaulted ceiling and the loft’s turned railing. She explained all that to her companions. “What would be more perfect around here than a wedding in the woods?”

  Sarah looked enthused. “What do you think, Corie?” She turned to Cassie. “Since you’re right there on the spot, Cassie, would you be in charge of decorating?”

  She frowned, as though having second thoughts. “Shouldn’t we ask Grady first?”

  “Ask me what?” Grady, Ben, Jack and Gary, Ben’s father and Jack’s adopted father, grouped together at the other end of the table, had been talking architectural restoration. Construction was Gary’s business and restoration was Jack’s. Grady, leaned around Jack to find out what was happening.

  He looked from woman to woman, his expression growing more concerned as their smiles widened. “What?” he asked warily.

  “Can we have our wedding at your house?” Corie asked him with a little trepidation. “The church and every other venue in town is booked for New Year’s Day.” When he stared at her in surprise, she added, “Cassie says it’s gorgeous.”

  His eyes went to Cassie, who met them with a smile in hers. “Well, it is,” she insisted. “Can they?”

  “Ah…sure.” At the resultant cheers and applause, he added quickly, “But it’s just a log house. Pretty basic. No frills and fussy stuff. Only two bathrooms.” He turned to Ben. “Aren’t weddings all about frills and fussy stuff?”

  Ben shrugged. “Don’t know. Never had one before.”

  “They’re not.” Sarah placed her notebook on the table and her pen at an angle on top of it. “They’re about having a cozy place where the wedding couple can surround themselves with family and friends and really enjoy the day. After all, they’re promising to spend their lives with the person they love the most, come hell or high water. We can bring in a few Porta Potties.”

  There was a moment’s silence when she’d finished. Then Soren asked Ben, “Hell or high water? What does that mean?”

  “It means if you have bad times, you’ll still stay together.”

  “Oh. But, hell? I mean, if you go to hell, you’re already dead, right?”

  “Sometimes things can feel so bad,” Corie said, “that it’s like hell has come to you while you’re still alive. But you know that you’ll get over it if you stay with the people you love.”

  “And high water is like a flood,” Rosie put in, always sure of what she knew. “Because people get really discouraged when a flood comes and gets their house all messy. But if they clean up together, it’s not so hard.”

  Sarah nodded. “I couldn’t have said it better.” She smiled across the table at Grady. “What do you think?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to see it first?” he asked.

  “It is a beautiful place,” Ben said. “Of course, I’ve mostly played poker there and not paid attention to how ‘gorgeous’ it is.” He emphasized Cassie’s word. “But, maybe you should see it first, Corie.”

  “I’d like to,” Corie said. “But if it’s gorgeous to Cassie, who’s seen some of the world’s most gorgeous places, then I don’t think there’s any question.”

  Grady cast a glance at Cassie that she couldn’t quite read. But she guessed it suggested payback later. “Good,” he said. “We’ll go after lunch.”

  Before they left the restaurant, Helen volunteered to be in charge of food for the reception.

  “Perfect,” Sarah said. “And we can all help with that. Can you make that sausage and pasta casserole Ben and Jack love so much?”

  “Of course. I’ll put a menu together and we can all go over it and add or subtract.”

  “Great. I’ll get invitations out by email and phone and, together, Cassie and I can arrange for flowers.”

  The major questions answered, Sarah closed her book and set it aside again just in time for the arrival of lunch.

  * * *

  “I DIDN’T CLEAN up the breakfast dishes,” Cassie whispered to Grady as they walked out to the car. The family had split into the groups that had ridden together.

  “I did.” He aimed the key fob at the truck to open the doors.

  “We can make coffee, but do you have milk for the kids?”

  He pulled open her door and replied with what sounded like slightly strained good humor. “No. But had I known eight people were coming back with us, and that you were going to volunteer me to host a wedding, I’d have tried to be better prepared.”

  She stopped before slipping onto the passenger seat and tried to analyze the look in his eyes. “Are you angry?”

  “I’m never angry,” he replied. “But I’m not crazy about surprises, particularly those that involve something like a wedding.”

  “It’s for your best friend in the whole world. You said you were as close as brothers.” She added with a small smile, hoping to rid him of that remote expression, “And that it made you and I almost related. So, I’m sorry I mentioned it without asking you first, but we’re family, so to speak. That’s what you said.”

  * * *

  SHE WAS WORKING HIM. That was an unusual experience, and he couldn’t help the inclination to let the moment stretch to see how far she’d go. Celeste had never bothered with feminine wiles; she’d either planned things her way without explanation or apology, or she’d simply ignored what he’d wanted to do. This blatant attempt to manipulate had a certain charm.

  “I know what I said,” he replied, having a little trouble keeping a smile off his face, but he felt it was important that he try. “But it is my home. You might have consulted me first. It was hard to say no with your entire family waiting for an answer.”

  “Did you want to say no?”

  He had to answer honestly. “No. If you don’t get in the truck, they’re all going to get there before us.”

  She grinned as she stepped up gracefully. “I doubt they’ll break in.”

  He pushed the door closed, walked around the hood and climbed in behind the wheel. He didn’t want to notice that the new yellow sweater gave her a golden look, and that her scent made the truck smell like a flower shop.

  Everyone was standing around, looking up at Grady’s house, when he and Cassie arrived. He pulled onto the grass beyond the driveway so their guests would be able to back out again.

  They were all smiling. He took a good look himself, trying to see it with new eyes without considering what it meant to him on a personal level. It looked large and strong, simply constructed, tall firs gathered along the sides, a shelter in the mysterious woods. The property opened onto a deep meadow in the back for about a hundred yards, then the forest closed in. It was the last place he’d have thought of to have Ben and Corie’s wedding.

  He unlocked and threw his door open, holding it to let everyone pass through.

  He followed them into the great room, where Sarah, Corie and Helen stood in the middle and looked around.

  “Isn’t it magnificent?” Cassie asked. “I mean, imagine what we can do. What if we got a few floor chandeliers to make a walk
way for the bride, then, maybe, a hanging one right above where you’ll exchange vows?” She moved forward to stand under the loft railing. “Maybe about here. Then tulle or something gathered like bunting on the railing and down the stairs. And we can trim everything with flowers.”

  Corie clasped her hands beneath her chin. The warrior woman who’d done so much to save her foster mother’s home and the children in it now looked younger and less troubled than he’d ever seen her in the few weeks he’d known her.

  “Oh, Grady,” she said on a whisper. Had he wanted to resist hosting the wedding, the tone of her voice would have changed his mind. When Ben went to stand behind her and put his arms around her, both of them looking around delightedly, he knew it had to be the best wedding ever held in a log home. With noble self-sacrifice, he accepted that he was probably going to hate the process but he’d do his part to make it perfect for them.

  He leaned toward them. “It rents for a thousand a night, a couple hundred more if you want chairs and whatever those chandelier things are Cassie talked about.”

  Cassie turned to smack his arm. “Stop it,” she said. “Standing chandeliers. Instead of hanging from the ceiling, they’re on a stand. It’ll be so beautiful.”

  “Where are you going to get all this stuff?”

  She gave him a superior smile. “I have connections. I can have it all here in two days. I’ll make the calls tonight, and it’ll all be delivered the day after tomorrow, One-Day Air being more like two days from Europe.”

  Corie turned to her with a pleat between her eyebrows. “Cassie, it doesn’t have to be extravagant. I don’t want you to go through all that tr—”

  “It’s no trouble.” Cassie cut her off as Sarah closed in to put an arm around her shoulders. “Let me do this for you. Since Grady’s in agreement, we’ll make it memorable. I mean, how many times does a woman get married?”

  “Three. Four,” Grady answered without making eye contact.

  This time Helen swatted his arm. “Once, if you’re as much in love as Ben and Corie.” Then she tucked her hand in his arm and hugged it. “Oh, Grady, this is going to be wonderful. It’s so nice of you to offer your home.”