Stand-In Groom bob-1

by Kaye Dacus

  As he walked out the door, Anne rearranged her pillows and curled into her favorite position. She yawned and closed her eyes. Ah, sleep.

  If what they wrote in the paper is true… Forbes’s words bounced through her mind. What had they written about her in the paper? The feature they’d done on her after the article in Southern Bride had been extremely complimentary and had driven most of this summer’s business. But with whom had the reporter spoken last night?

  Her head throbbed. She wouldn’t worry about that now. She needed sleep. Sleep. She tapped her fingers on the mattress. Sleep. Yes, that’s what she needed.

  One professional photographer had been allowed in last night. George said Cliff’s publicist, that very nice young woman named Tracie, would choose certain photos from inside the party to be released to the major entertainment magazines. Anne hoped she wasn’t in any of them. She hated what the camera did to her already large frame.

  Stop thinking about it. Sleep!

  How many messages would she have on her voice mail at work? After the Southern Bride article, she’d changed her home number and kept it unlisted. But not only was her cell phone number on her business cards; she’d bought a display ad in the Yellow Pages this year. She was the only one out of the five planners listed in the category who’d done so. She was also the only one to ever be featured in a regional magazine. Or to have her own office in Town Square, just a few doors down from the store that did the most bridal clothing business in town. How much was this kind of national exposure going to grow her clientele?

  She tossed onto her other side. She already had the answer to that in her appointment with Alicia Humphrey in a few hours. The girl was by no means a major star like Cliff, but her fiancé’s latest film had won several awards at this year’s independent film festivals. Buzz had already started about the possibility of an Academy Award nomination for best director. At least, that’s what she’d heard most often last night.

  What if Alicia wanted Anne to come out to California to meet with her? She rolled onto her back and stared at her high, whiteplaster ceiling. No. Not even for a client could she board a plane. In this day and age, technology should allow her to do whatever necessary from here. Baton Rouge was only a two-hour drive, so that was no problem. But she had to make Alicia understand that Anne Hawthorne would not be flying anywhere.

  All possibility of falling asleep again gone, Anne pushed up into a sitting posture and reached for the newspaper. The article contained mostly fluff. A truncated guest list. The reporter should have stayed later, as the most interesting names weren’t on it. A reference to the Mardi Gras–themed decor with Pamela Grant and the Delacroix Gardens Nursery & Florist both mentioned. Excellent, free publicity for her vendors. When she found her name, she took a deep breath before continuing on.

  The event was planned and executed by Bonneterre’s own Anne Hawthorne, an event planner whose business, Happy Endings, Inc., is well known throughout Louisiana and the Southeast. Hawthorne has planned many high-profile events, such as the mayor’s inaugural ball, the annual Bonneterre Debutante Cotillion, and the society wedding of Senator Hawk Kyler’s daughter Aiyana Kyler-Warner.

  “I totally relied on Miss Anne for everything,” bride-to-be Landry said. “She talked to me about what I wanted and then did everything just like I imagined. No, even better than I imagined.”

  Hawthorne, a Bonneterre native, first appeared in the pages of the Reserve twenty-eight years ago as one of five survivors of a commuter plane crash that took the lives of twelve others, including her parents, world-famous photographers Albert Hawthorne and Lilly Guidry-Hawthorne.

  According to sources, Hawthorne and Ballantine knew each other as students at Acadiana High School and UL–Bonneterre. Neither Hawthorne nor Ballantine could be reached for comment.

  “Nor am I likely to comment.” She tossed the paper aside. At least they hadn’t written anything negative about the event or her company. She climbed out of bed and winced as her sore feet hit the hardwood. She hadn’t even worn heels last night, and her feet still ached.

  Thank goodness she’d set the coffeepot up without changing the timer before climbing into bed in the wee hours. She poured a cup of the chocolate-caramel-pecan-flavored brew, stirred in half-and-half and sugar, and padded across to her giant chair-and-a-half. Cradling the blue ceramic mug in her left hand, she grabbed the TV remote and clicked the TV on. The screen came to life showing CNN Headline News.

  “…confirmed all the rumors when he announced yesterday he is getting married.” The picture cut away from the cutesy reporter to footage of Cliff’s press conference. She smiled to see George in his butler-esque stance behind him. If George agreed to go into business with her, he’d never have to debase himself the way she’d seen him do with Cliff several times yesterday.

  She clicked up one channel. MSNBC. Same story, same footage. Click. Fox News. Different news story—but then the scroll at the bottom of the screen ran the announcement. Click. Regular CNN. A repeat of Larry King Live from earlier in the week—with the announcement of Cliff’s engagement in the scroll at the bottom. Click. E! Entertainment Television. The True Hollywood Story of Cliff Ballantine. Couldn’t be all that “true” since they’d never interviewed her or Aunt Maggie, his employer for four years. Click. The Style Network. The fashion critique of a movie premiere event last night—and chatter between the hosts about the engagement announcement “a few minutes ago.” Click. Bravo Network. A repeat of Inside the Actor’s Studio featuring Cliff.

  Okay, maybe she needed to go to a different set of channels. She punched in the number for TBS. They usually ran romantic comedies on Saturday mornings. Commercials. She sipped her coffee. Hopefully something that would put her to sleep. The movie came back on. She squinted to read the caption in the lower right corner. “You’re watching Mountebank.”

  She nearly threw the remote at the TV. Cliff’s first movie. The one that had made him a star and her a nobody. She jumped out of the chair, crossed to the armoire-style entertainment center, and grabbed the blue box of the extended edition of Return of the King. Nothing like the Battle of Pelennor Fields and the destruction of the ring to get her mind off things—

  “Anne, it’s you!”

  She glanced down at the TV. Cliff’s face, ten years younger, filled the large screen. She recognized that expression. She’d seen it when he suggested they get married.

  “Anne, you’re the one I love. You’re the one I want to marry—”

  She turned the DVD player on, mercifully sending the TV to a blue screen while she inserted the first disc.

  No wonder he’d gotten that part. He already had the fake emotions—and the lines he had to say—down pat from practicing on her. She slouched down in the deep cushions of the big chair.

  What would his marriage to an overweight, provincial, hometown girl have done for his career ten years ago? He’d spent the past decade creating the image of a happy-go-lucky bachelor, only too happy to have a different starlet on his arm at every red-carpet event he attended. Women turned out in droves to see his action-adventure movies on opening night. Would he have become such a phenomenon with Amazon Anne on his arm at every event?

  No. She sighed. Not only would she have hampered his rise to megastardom, she would have hated all the attention; and being honest with herself, the stress of living in the public eye would have driven a wedge between them. She was woman enough to admit they would have been divorced within a few years.

  He had an ulterior motive for dating her all those years. Could he be marrying Courtney now to improve his image? He’d gotten lots of press about being a playboy, gracing the cover of several magazines as the Bachelor of the Year multiple years running. Which was fine as long as he made action films. According to several conversations she’d overheard last night, Cliff wanted to be “considered for dramatic roles.” He’d never get those roles and garner an Academy Award nomination as long as he lived a life worthy of the cover of the Enquirer. And h
e’d wanted to win that particular award ever since she’d known him. He’d even practiced his acceptance speeches on her. “I’d like to thank the Academy, the wonderful casting agent who had the foresight to choose me for this role, the fabulous screenwriters who wrote this role with me as their model, the director who took my advice on every scene….” She’d laughed then, not truly understanding the size of his ego.

  Did Courtney really comprehend what she was getting herself into? Could the poor girl ever hope to compete with Cliff’s first love—himself?

  The struggle between good and evil on her TV screen no longer interested her, and she turned it off. She needed to have a heart-to-heart with Courtney Landry before things went any further. If the girl got in over her head and ended up brokenhearted when Anne could have done something to head it off…

  She went into the kitchen and grabbed her cell phone from her purse. She scrolled down to Courtney’s name and hit the button to dial.

  No answer. Her voice sounded so young in her voice-mail greeting. “Hello, Courtney, it’s Anne Hawthorne. I hope you enjoyed yourself last night. You looked beautiful, and everyone in America loves you already. I know—I saw it on all the news channels this morning. Listen, I wanted to schedule a time for the two of us to go to lunch this week. We’ve never really had a chance to sit down, just the two of us, and chat. We’ve got some big events coming up that I’d like to get your ideas for. So just give me a call.” She left her cell, home, and office numbers and hung up.

  Out of curiosity, she called into her voice mail at work.

  “Ms. Hawthorne, hi, my name is Alaine Delacroix—you’ve worked with my family at Delacroix Rentals and Delacroix Nursery many times. I’m the social scene reporter with Channel Six—” Anne skipped forward and listened to the first few seconds of twenty-three more messages—all from reporters wanting exclusives about the wedding. She deleted them with no remorse.

  She needed to go to her office and get her planning calendar. She hadn’t picked it up yesterday morning as she didn’t need it for the engagement party. But for her meeting with Alicia in an hour, she’d need it. So much for a leisurely shower.

  She hopped in and out, put a little bit of makeup on so she didn’t look like death warmed over, and drove to the office with the convertible top down so her naturally straight hair would be dry enough to pull into a clip at the back of her head.

  She deactivated the alarm at the keypad just inside the back door. She didn’t bother turning the lights on and passed through the dark hall into the front office, lightened enough to see from the bright sunshine outside. Shadows passed in front of the windows. Lots of people out shopping today.

  She grabbed the leather planner and glanced out onto the sidewalk. Several people stood outside her storefront. People with huge cameras strung around their necks. Good thing they didn’t have the back entrance covered.

  She slipped out the back door and speed-dialed George as she drove down the alley.

  “Good morning, Anne.” His voice had an early morning, gravelly quality that sent shivers down her spine.

  “You sound like you just woke up.”

  “Not exactly. I have to keep regular hours when I’m with Mr. Ballantine. Early morning is the only time I get to myself to read the Bible and spend time in prayer.” He yawned and begged her pardon. “Did you get plenty of rest this morning?”

  “Not exactly. Jenn, Meredith, and Forbes practically beat down my door at seven forty-five, wanting to make sure I was all right, waving the newspaper under my nose. I couldn’t go back to sleep after that.”

  “You need to get away somewhere they can’t find you.”

  “No kidding. Hey, speaking of not being found—I had to run up to the office to grab something for a meeting, and there were photographers hanging out on my front porch.”

  “At home?”

  “No, at the office. They didn’t see me. I went in and out the back. But I think you and I need to sit down with Tracie and come up with a game plan for how I’m supposed to handle the phone calls and paparazzi on my front stoop.”

  “Yes, we do. They’ll lose interest as soon as Cliff leaves for New York Tuesday. Or if not lose interest, all you’ll have to deal with is the phone calls, as the photographers will follow him.”

  “Pictures of me aren’t worth much, I gather.”

  “Not without either Cliff or Courtney with you. But that’s good, yes?”

  “Definitely.” She turned into the hotel parking lot. “I’m at my appointment, so I’d better go.”

  “You’re working?”

  “Remember Alicia Humphrey? She wanted to sit down before she leaves for California this afternoon.”

  “Oh. Good for you. I’ll talk to you later.”

  He sounded less than enthusiastic, but she didn’t have time to ask why.

  Toodles? You, too? No, I love you….

  She went with “Toodles” as if she were an old school friend. Oh well. She’d known going in that she needed to take this slowly. And, although empirically she’d thought forgiving Cliff would come easily, seeing him last night sent her back to square one without passing Go or collecting two hundred dollars.

  An hour later, she dialed George as the elevator doors shut.

  “How’d your meeting go?” he asked by way of greeting.

  “Why didn’t you forewarn me?”

  “Didn’t want you to think I’m a spoilsport.”

  “Her third engagement in less than two months? Is she trying to beat out Elizabeth Taylor for a most-broken-relationships award?”

  George chuckled. “You never know. He could be ‘the one.’ You know how it is with those Hollywood types. So quick to move on to greener pastures…”

  “Is that going to happen to Courtney? Is she ‘the one’ for Cliff, or is she just ‘the one for now’?” She climbed into the car and started for home.

  “Do you mean, is he using her to gain something? I’m not certain. If he were just looking for a token wife to, say, give him a more serious image, there are a lot of other women out there he could have chosen. He’s opened himself up for some fierce criticism from the public by announcing he’s engaged to a woman half his age.” He sighed. “You know better than I how people marry for many reasons other than love. I do believe he cares for her. I know she cares for him.”

  “Will caring be enough, though?”

  “Let me pose this: What’s more important in a marriage? Being madly in love or having a strong friendship based on mutual respect and admiration?”

  Anne had the funny feeling he wasn’t talking about Courtney and Cliff anymore. “I’m not married. I can’t answer that.”

  “Oh, you know the answer. You surprise me, Anne. I thought after so many years of working with couples—especially with as much counsel as you provide them—you’d have lost some of your ideals of romanticism.”

  Her heart thudded in her chest. What did he mean? Could he just be playing devil’s advocate, as he did so often? “I think the best marriages are built on love that grows out of that strong friendship and mutual attraction.” She’d seen the failure of too many couples’ marriages because they’d fallen madly in love but never taken the time to get to really know one another. “But I want to be madly in love with the man I respect and admire when I get married.”

  His pause grew so long she checked to make sure she hadn’t lost the connection.

  “Well, how does a romantic dinner at a restaurant overlooking the lake sound as a start?”

  Chapter 24

  Anne watched Meredith over the rim of her iced-tea glass as she took a sip. She’d just finished spewing all the shock, anger, hurt, confusion, excitement, and flutterings of the past forty-eight hours. Fortunately, the second-story veranda at the Plantation House restaurant was empty except for the two of them. The sound of the river below and the light breeze rustling the ancient oak trees worked in tandem with Meredith’s calm presence to soothe Anne’s spirit.

  “It s
ounds like George really is in love with you.” Meredith pushed a chunk of tomato to the edge of her salad. “I know he would have told you about Cliff if he could have. I admire him for being a man of his word.”

  Warmth wrapped around Anne. “I do, too. And there’s one other thing. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to have lunch with you before I see him again tonight.” She put her glass down. “I’ve asked George to become my business partner. Now, I know I’ve always told you that I want you to be my partner—”

  Meredith held up her free hand, a smile playing about her lips. “And there was always something in my heart that kept me from saying yes. It’s not that I don’t trust your ability as a businesswoman. And we’ve always enjoyed working together. But every time I would get to the point of agreeing, something held me back. Don’t you see, Annie? God knew I wasn’t the right partner for you.”

  “I hadn’t looked at it that way.” She smiled, skin tingling. “It’s always so much easier for us to see how God works in others’ lives than it is in our own, isn’t it?”

  Meredith grinned. “You know the family is expecting him to come to lunch tomorrow, right?”

  “I’ll have to find out his schedule now that his employer”— Anne cleared her throat and winked—“is in town. Who knows what all Cliff will have him doing.”

  “Speaking of, are you going to try to talk to Cliff about—well, about what happened between the two of you?”

  The euphoria from thinking about George vanished. “I know I need to, but every time I think about it, I start feeling sick to my stomach. I don’t want to dredge up the past if it’s going to make him resent me and possibly fire me as the wedding planner. I can’t do that to Courtney.”

  “Do you think he’s told Courtney about y’all’s relationship? I mean, really, she was only eight or nine years old when that happened, so it’s not like she’s a contemporary who would know that the two of you even dated.”

  “And now that the media knows about their engagement, they’re bound to start digging into Cliff ’s history for dirt about past relationships. All it takes is one or two people outside of our family to mention we dated, and the reporters will be beating down my door wanting all the details. Can’t you just see the headlines?” Anne held her hands up as if framing the words on a marquee. “ ‘Movie star Cliff Ballantine hires ex-fiancée to plan his wedding.’ Wouldn’t that make great publicity?”