The Secret Wedding Wish

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Janey knew that look. It meant two things. One—break it up, before anyone else witnessed the public display of affection. And two, she and her mother were going to have “a talk” the first chance Helen got.

  “Not too happy about catching us kissing, was she?” Thad murmured, not quite sure what to make of Janey’s mother’s reaction, as Helen headed back inside the Inn.

  Trying to feel thirty-three instead of oh—thirteen—Janey linked her arm through Thad’s as they ascended the semicircular staircase that led to the grand covered portico that comprised the entrance to the century-old inn.

  “She just worries about me,” Janey explained as diplomatically as possible as they stepped inside the marble-floored foyer.

  Helen didn’t want to see Janey hurt again, any more than Janey wanted to be disappointed by getting too quickly—and too passionately—involved with the wrong man.

  “JANEY, MAY I HAVE a word with you?”

  Ah, darn. She had been hoping to avoid this until morning, at the very least. Trying her best to disguise the tension in her slender frame, Janey continued folding the box that would hold the top of the wedding cake—which would be frozen and eaten in celebration of Molly and Johnny Byrne’s first anniversary as tradition dictated. She smiled at her mother as if she didn’t know what was coming. “Really nice reception, Mom.”

  “Thank you. I thought so, too.” Helen stepped nearer as the Inn’s wait staff cleared tables and the DJ carted out his sound equipment. At the far end of the grand ballroom, the Byrne family and Molly’s parents were loading stacks of unopened wedding presents onto carts for transport home to await the newlyweds’ return from their four-day honeymoon in Bermuda. “I didn’t know you were actually dating Thad Lantz,” her mother continued in the same way-too-casual tone.

  I am far too old for this, Janey thought, resenting the third degree. “You mean you thought I was just kissing him?” Janey asked sweetly, subtly warning her mother this was a path they did not want to take.

  Helen raised a brow, even as Janey wished—too late—she could take back the prickly note in her voice and the defensiveness in her attitude. Janey didn’t know why—Helen got along famously with all five of her sons—but this mother-daughter-conflict-thing was something they hadn’t quite worked out of their relationship. Janey wished her mother would trust her a little more in the romance department. Not that, Janey admitted ruefully to herself, she had yet ever done anything to deserve said confidence. Before Ty, she’d had a string of rebels without a cause and various other losers to her credit. To the point her brothers had teased her about being a “bum magnet.” But her relationship with Thad Lantz felt different. It felt real, and grown-up and genuine in a way no other romance ever had. It felt as if she and Thad could actually have something lasting.

  Helen continued regarding Janey soberly. “I just—I wouldn’t want to see this end badly,” she concluded finally.

  Janey’s self-confidence eroded inevitably once again. “And you think it will,” she retorted as she slid the cake top onto the small crystal serving platter.

  “What I know is that Thad hasn’t been serious about anyone for long since his divorce from Renee. His mother is a friend of mine and Veronica’s said many a time that Thad never got over losing his stepson, Bobby.”

  “So I heard.” Janey was really beginning to get irritated now. As if she didn’t have enough doubts and misgivings all on her own.

  As Janey slid the protective freezer wrap over the cake, Helen continued, more gently now. “I know Chris adores him. He talks about him all the time when he is with me.”

  To me, too, Janey affirmed, aware that up until now she had figured that was a good thing.

  “If you didn’t have a son, I would say let the chips fall where they may.” Helen reached over to assist as Janey put the cake in the gift box. “But you do, and he could get hurt here, too.”

  “So what are you suggesting, Mom?” Janey closed the top of the box and regarded her mother impatiently. “That I sneak around and hide behind corners?”

  Helen watched Janey tie a white satin ribbon around the box top, to ensure it stayed closed. “All I am suggesting is that you slow it down. Get to know him first, as a friend.”

  Good thing her mother didn’t know she had already made love with Thad, even before their first date, Janey thought guiltily as she picked up the gift box.

  “Everything okay here?” Thad asked amiably as he came up to join them.

  Helen exuded the steel-magnolia smile she gave all Janey’s potential suitors from the time Janey was old enough to date. “I was just advising my daughter not to wear her heart on her sleeve,” Helen retorted gently as she looked Thad straight in the eye, the warning on her face unmistakable. “Don’t let her feisty exterior fool you. My daughter has one of the most vulnerable hearts around.”

  THEY TOOK A SHORTCUT through the formal gardens to the far side of the parking lot, where Thad’s SUV was located.

  Once they were alone, Thad touched Janey playfully on the nose, not the least bit intimidated by the genteel-voiced cautioning. “Your mom’s tough, huh?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Janey sighed. “When it comes to her brood of six, my mother doesn’t mess around.” And that left Janey feeling oddly protected, even as she resented her mother’s interference in her blossoming love life.

  Thad grinned, his ardent glance roving her upturned face. “Well now I see where you get it,” he murmured as he took her hand in his and squeezed it tightly.

  Feeling comforted by his touch, Janey wrinkled her nose at him. “What do you mean?”

  Thad paused in the shadow of the roses. The sweet fragrance of the flowers surrounded them. He looked down at her tenderly. “You’re the same way with Chris. You think anyone is hurting or misleading him—or even has the capacity to do it—and watch out!”

  Janey flushed self-consciously as she dug the toe of her evening sandal into the brick path beneath them. The skirt of her chantilly lace dress swished softly around her thighs as she moved. “Well, I don’t know why she thinks you would hurt me.”

  Thad tucked a hand beneath her chin, and lifted her face to his. “Maybe she sees the way you look at me when you think no one is looking.”

  Janey flushed all the more, warming everywhere his glance touched, and everywhere it hadn’t. “I don’t—”

  “Yes,” Thad murmured, heedlessly ignoring the warning they had just received from her mother and taking her into his arms once again, “you do.” He tunneled his hands through her hair, burying his fingers in the thick chestnut silk. “But that doesn’t explain why your entire family seems to think you can’t be trusted to make the right decisions about much of anything on your own.”

  Afraid they would start kissing again if they stood that way much longer, Janey took Thad’s hand and led him over to one of the stone benches that lined the path. “You noticed, hmm?” she said as she sat down, urging him to do the same.

  Thad nodded as he settled beside her.

  Janey turned so their knees were touching. “I’m afraid it goes back to my youth.”

  Thad covered their clasped hands with his other palm. His eyes connected with hers and held. “What did you do—besides elope with someone you barely knew—that was so wrong?”

  Trying not to think how much she liked the tantalizing scent of his aftershave, Janey shrugged and avoided his penetrating gaze. “Oh, a little bit of everything,” she sighed, turning her attention to the full moon shining down upon them. “There was the time when I was fifteen when I got it into my head that I should cut my waist-length hair to a mere inch and dye it the most godawful color of red you ever saw. I cried for days when I saw the results,” she recollected with a bantering smile meant to disguise the way she felt.

  “And then there was the time I accidentally dented my brother Cal’s car and decided to fix it myself with putty and paint, so I wouldn’t have to tell anyone what I’d done. Needless to say after I was done with it, the
repairs ended up costing twice as much. Or there was the time when I was a senior in high school and I overslept and missed the bus, so I decided to drive myself to the marching band competition in Virginia and got hopelessly lost in the mountains and ran out of gas. I was grounded for three months for that one.”

  A teasing grin curved the corners of his lips. “You were a little wild, weren’t you?”

  “Until I got pregnant with Chris.” She swallowed around the sudden tightness in her throat, rose as gracefully as she had seated herself. “Since then, I’ve made a concerted effort to look before I leap,” she told him firmly as they continued down the path to the cars.

  Thad wrapped a comforting arm about her shoulders. “To the point you’ve forgotten how to take chances?”

  Janey whirled to face him. Unable to ignore the bait, she defended herself hotly, “I still take chances. I moved back here. I started my own business.” If that wasn’t taking risks, she didn’t know what was.

  Thad said tenderly, “You know what I mean.”

  Yes, she did. “I took a chance with you, too.”

  The way he looked at her then, she knew he was thinking about the wonderful way they had made love. And that he wanted to do it again every bit as much as she did.

  Unlike her, he did not seem to have any reservations about doing so.

  “I know you did,” he said gently, scoring his thumb across her lips, before continuing in a voice that melted her resistance. “And, just so you know? The first chance we get, I’m going to show you why you did.”

  Chapter Eight

  Janey woke Saturday morning buoyant with the knowledge that Thad fully intended to make love to her again the first chance he got. That carried her through the busy morning and afternoon as she finished and delivered four more wedding and groom cakes to the appropriate Raleigh and Chapel Hill hotels. She returned home around five to find Chris grinning from ear to ear.

  “What’s up with you?” Janey asked curiously, as she set the mail down on the kitchen table. He looked as happy as if he’d just been drafted to the NHL.

  “My summer school teacher, Ms. Havelock, called and came by with my papers and unit tests. She said she didn’t think I should have to wait until I came back from hockey camp to see them.” He thrust them at Janey proudly.

  Janey looked down at the papers. There were red A’s slashed across the top of every single homework paper, and an A-plus on his unit tests for five and six.

  “Wow,” Janey said, stunned. She was used to seeing A’s on Chris’s other work. Never his math. In math, he always seemed to struggle just to get a passing grade. She looked at her son, so proud of his accomplishment she could burst. “This is wonderful, Chris.” She hugged him fiercely.

  “So can I go celebrate?” Chris asked.

  Janey set down her car keys and shoulder bag. She cast an eye at the answering machine. No messages, she noted with disappointment. “Where do you want to go?”

  “Out with my friends. There’s the new Star Wars movie playing in Raleigh, at the megaplex, and Tommy’s dad said he would take all of us to the movie and then out to get pizza and play video games. The thing is, we won’t be back ’til real late, like between midnight and one on account of he has to drop all six of us off one by one.”

  It sounded like quite an evening. “You realize you have to go to hockey camp tomorrow.”

  “I’m all packed already.” Chris pointed to the gear stacked neatly in the corner of the living room. “And sign-in isn’t until three.”

  Given how hard he had been working, Chris deserved the reward, Janey knew. “Okay. You need some money?” She took out her billfold.

  “Nope.” Chris pulled a twenty out of his pocket. “Coach Lantz paid me for working this week, so I can use this for tonight and apply the rest—’ Janey watched as Chris pulled several other bills out of his pocket “—toward my camp fees if that is all right with you.”

  PROUD OF THE WAY her son was handling his newfound responsibility, Janey waved goodbye to Chris and his friends as Tommy’s dad backed his van out of the driveway.

  Smiling to herself, Janey went upstairs and ran herself a bubble bath. Stripping off her clothes, she sank into it, and thought about what she might wear that evening should Thad call and ask to see her.

  She was still deciding when she got out of the tub.

  Concluding it was silly to even think about it, since she didn’t know where she was going—or even if she was going out at all—she wrapped the robe around herself.

  Padding barefoot back down to the kitchen, she fixed herself a cup of tea and contemplated going ahead and having something for dinner. As she was looking over the contents of the fridge, she realized this was the part of dating—and even married life—that she had always hated. The waiting around for a phone call. Wanting to see someone. Not knowing if they wanted or intended to see you.

  Janey sighed. This was ridiculous. She was an adult. If she wanted to see him, she would simply go and see him.

  DROPPING BY WITHOUT WARNING seemed like a great idea—less pressure—and was confirmed when Janey drove up in front of Thad’s home and saw his SUV in the driveway. Already rehearsing her thoroughly planned opening banter, she got out of the car, went to the front door and rang the bell. Or tried. It didn’t take her long to realize the bell wasn’t ringing.

  Fortunately, she could hear the sound of music emanating from the backyard. Her pulse racing in anticipation of seeing him again, Janey started around the side of the house. The gate was unlocked and, feeling only a tad awkward, she walked on through it. Beginning to be a little nervous now—what if it was a bad time, or he wasn’t so keen on seeing her after all—she closed the gate in the privacy fence behind her and continued a little less certainly around the landscaped flowers and miniature shrubbery that stretched from the fence to the deck.

  Telling herself that since she was here now she might as well make the best of it, she started up the steps, her most cheerful smile on her face.

  And that was when she realized two things simultaneously. The up-tempo music—suitable for a twenty-something dance club—was not at all Thad’s normal style. Not as Janey knew it anyway. And two, he wasn’t as alone as she thought.

  Through the bank of kitchen windows that stretched the length of the deck, Janey could see the man who had secretly stolen her heart. He was standing in front of the stainless steel stove, tending something in a pot. A beautiful blonde, a good ten years his junior, was dancing around Thad in what was a definite come-on. She was accentuating her moves with the wooden spoon in her hand.

  Thad was obviously trying not to smile as she continued her sinuous belly dance, but lost the battle as her moves became more and more outrageous.

  Soon, both were laughing uproariously.

  And all the while, Janey just stood there, staring, unable to move, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. Thad had another girlfriend? A younger girlfriend?

  Suddenly, all Janey wanted to do was get out of there, go home and lick her wounds. She had headed back down the half-dozen steps of the deck and landed on the grass when Thad turned in her direction. Figuring the way she had just humiliated herself was enough, without him knowing about it, too, Janey ducked down out of sight. Only to have him open the French doors leading out to the deck.

  Janey had two choices. Stand and be recognized then and there. Or hope he hadn’t caught sight of her, and get down, under the two-and-a-half-feet-high deck and hide out until she could make a swift unseen getaway. She chose the latter.

  “Okay, Thad,” Janey heard the blonde say as the feet moved overtop of where she was crouched. “Now you really really have to look as if you’re enjoying yourself.”

  “Oh, I am,” Thad enthused as he moved something around above her. Looking up, Janey noticed it was the gas grill.

  Crouching on her hands and knees, she moved well to the left of the two pairs of feet moving around above her. She could only hope he didn’t look down and see
the flash of color of her clothes between the slats. Why hadn’t she worn something less…vibrant?

  The young beauty giggled. “I’m serious, Coach. You look like such a grouch.”

  Thad harrumphed. “Maybe because I was told this wasn’t going to take long at all.”

  “Oh, now, just calm down and open up the first couple of buttons on your shirt. Alicia—are you ready to go too?”

  There was another woman? Janey thought, stunned. What exactly was going on here?

  More footsteps sounded on the deck. Judging by the weight of the steps—and the perfume scenting the air—Alicia was another young beauty. “I think she’s right about the shirt,” Alicia said in a sexy rumble. “Because we want you to look really hot.”

  Was this how Thad got his kicks? Was he kinkier in his private life than she ever could have imagined?

  “I am hot,” Thad complained in a deep sexy voice that sent tremors of awareness shooting through Janey.

  The first young beauty giggled appreciatively at Thad’s grumpily voiced quip. “Oh, Coach. Not that kind of hot!”

  Janey knew what Thad meant. She had only been crouched in the July heat for five minutes and she was already sweating. Getting bit by about a thousand mosquitoes, too, if the itching of her skin beneath her short white denim skirt and turquoise blue T-shirt were any indication.

  “Okay, I’ve got the wieners!” yet another female voice said. “Where do you want ’em?”

  And sure enough, now that she took a good whiff, Janey did smell hot dogs cooking. She didn’t know whether she was relieved or irritated that Thad was now surrounded by a bevy of females.

  “On the grill,” Thad directed, obviously as exasperated as Janey was beginning to be confused.

  “And you need an apron.”

  “Yeah! One that says Kiss the Chef!”

  “Oh, now you look cute.” Feet moved as the beauties moved back to survey him, just so.