His eyes danced. “Naturally. You two were close.” He turned to Jarod. “Ranger King—woops—Ranger Latimer now, is a raving beauty just like Sydney here. It’s been hard on all the males around the Park. There’ll be mass mourning when the single guys learn she’s been nabbed by an outsider.”
“I’m that all right.”
“I meant no offense.”
Jarod smiled broadly. “I know you didn’t.”
“Well, I’d better get going before my wife starts to worry. It’s been a pleasure to meet you, Jarod. After you two get back from your honeymoon, we’d love to throw a party for you. That way you can meet everyone. We have a lot of fun.”
Sydney loved him for going out of his way to make Jarod feel welcome. “Thank you so much, Larry.”
“I’m looking forward to getting acquainted with all Sydney’s friends.” Jarod stood up to shake his hand once more.
“Yours sounds like a real love story.” His gaze swerved to Sydney. “I’m glad I saw you.”
“We are, too,” she assured him. Larry didn’t know it yet, but he’d just thrown Jarod a lifeline that had helped make a difference already. “Good night.”
As soon as he’d gone Jarod said, “Shall we go, too?”
“I’m ready.”
After leaving some bills on the table, he helped her up from the chair and they went out to the car. It didn’t take long for them to reach the apartment.
“I liked him,” he said as they walked inside.
“Larry’s one of my favorite people. I don’t believe I’ve ever met anyone more genuine.”
“Agreed. He’s pretty crazy about you, too.” Jarod reached around her waist from behind and pulled her against him.
“I’ll bet you drove the little boys wild growing up.” His lips brushed the side of her neck, sending delightful ripples through her sensitized body.
She whirled around so she could look at him. “You drive me wild. I can’t wait to really belong to you.”
“I’ve wanted it longer than you can imagine, which is why I’m going to leave right now.”
“You can’t!”
“Sydney—” Jarod sounded anguished. “Don’t make this any harder on me than it already is.”
“Why don’t we just hold each other for the rest of the night.”
“You honestly think that would work for more than five seconds?”
“We haven’t found out yet.”
“And you asked me not to tease you,” he said in a dry tone.
“I’m not teasing. I’m begging you to stay.”
She felt his emotional distance before he released her arms and stepped back. “I can’t.”
He really meant it. “Why?”
“I made a promise to myself.”
“I see.”
“I wish I could make you understand.”
“Try me.”
A deep sigh came out of him. “I want to do everything right. Our love is a sacrament, Sydney. To treat it less than it is would be cheating both of us.”
She marveled at the depth of this man. His integrity humbled her. “I wish I were as strong as you.”
His eyes glittered with unnamed emotion. “You’re wrong. I’m the one with the fatal weakness. Have you forgotten I came to you?”
Leaving her to ponder that question, he disappeared out the door.
Fatal weakness?
If that was how he viewed himself, did it mean he despised that part of his nature?
Because of it, would he end up despising her?
Always at the heart of her newly found happiness lurked the niggling fear Jarod would live to regret his decision. But that was no way to live. Every couple faced challenges in marriage.
Hers was to think positive thoughts and refuse to let the negative take over. Or like her mother had said, it would destroy her.
The bell rang, ending seventh period. All things considered, the first week of school had gone well.
Sydney breathed a sigh of relief as the students filed out of class. In a half hour she planned to meet Jarod to finalize everything with the pastor.
Seven days until she would be Mrs. Kendall!
Gathering her things, she started to leave the room when she noticed Steve Carr had poked his head in the door.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Of course. Is this about The Merchant of Venice?”
“It’s a pretty interesting story, but that’s not why I’m here.”
She rested her hip against one of the desks. “Have you been grounded again for something?”
“Not for a long time.”
“I was kidding, Steve. What’s wrong?”
“A bunch of the guys were talking in the cafeteria. I overheard them say something about the man you’re going to marry, and I couldn’t believe it.”
She eyed him frankly. “If you’re asking me if he’s an ex-priest, then the answer is yes.”
He studied her for a long time. “The man who came to class on back-to-school night? Whoa. He seemed cool.”
“He is.”
Through the junior ranger program she and Steve had grown to be good friends. “I can tell something else is on your mind. What is it?”
He hunched his shoulders. “Probably nothing.”
“But you’re not sure.”
“Linda Smoot has been telling everybody he’s going to go to hell for what he’s done.”
Sydney folded her arms.
“And there’s more. She said her dad’s going to get him fired, and your job’s in trouble if you marry him.”
What?
“I’m sorry, Sydney, but I thought you should know.”
“Thanks for coming to me, Steve.”
Furious over the gossip, Sydney whizzed home in her Jeep. Anxious to be on time for Jarod who was picking her up, she showered and changed into jeans and a ribbed, dark green sweater.
At first he was only a little late. But when it grew to be an hour and he hadn’t come by the apartment or phoned, she got in her Jeep and drove over to AmeriCore headquarters to talk to him.
“Hi, Maureen.”
The older woman at the computer nodded to Sydney. “I guess you heard.”
Sydney walked over to her desk. “What’s going on? One of my students told me something about Jarod’s job being in trouble, but I dismissed it as rumor.”
She eyed her compassionately. “I wish it were. He’s in his office with the company attorney. I feel awful about this because I’m the one who hired him. My job’s on the line, too.”
“Why?”
“Several people on the board of AmeriCore here in Montana have decided that an ex-priest shouldn’t have been allowed to fill the head counseling position.”
“That’s absurd! He’s been doing it professionally for ten years! His credentials from Yale and the ministerial college in Minnesota are impeccable.”
“That’s exactly why I picked him for the job. His qualifications far exceed what was required.”
“Who are the people on the board?”
“Among the most vocal are Tim Lockwood and Randall Smoot.”
Now it was all making sense.
“His daughter, Linda, is in my English class. She’s been spreading rumors at school.”
“I’m not surprised. With his money and influence, he wields a lot of power.”
What Maureen didn’t know was that when it came to money, Jarod had the backing of the Kendall Mills fortune. If it was a matter of needing legal counsel, his brother Drew was a big New York City lawyer. Randall Smoot and his ilk would be way out of the Kendalls’ league.
“Sydney?”
The second she heard Jarod’s voice, she ran over to the conference room where he’d just emerged with a man of middle age.
“Darling? This is Jack Armstrong, the company attorney from Chicago. Jack, this is my fiancée Sydney Taylor.”
“How do you do?” She shook hands with him. “I understand someone is trying to get
Jarod removed from his job.”
“I’m sorry to say it’s true. Forgive me for keeping him this long, but it was necessary in order to prepare a preliminary report.”
“I understand. If you need a character witness, I’m number one on a list at least 900 people long.” That took up most of the town of Cannon.
The other man’s mouth curved. “That’s the way it should be. I’ll see myself out, Jarod.”
“Are you really in trouble?” she cried when he pulled her in the other room and shut the doors.
“First I need this—”
So saying, he swept Sydney into his arms. She sought blindly for his mouth, trying to infuse all the love, all the passion she felt for him in a kiss that would take away the sting.
“You make it all worth it,” he confessed after relinquishing her lips.
She studied his features, looking for signs of distress. “Do they really have a case?”
“If a group of people decide to railroad you, and they get enough money behind them, then they have a case.”
“Because you can’t take this particular job if you’ve been an ex-priest? If that were true, Maureen wouldn’t have hired you.”
His lips twitched. “No. There wouldn’t be such a disclaimer. But if they decide that a man of the cloth who has broken his vows isn’t the best role model to counsel other people in trouble, that’s where the gray area comes in.”
“Steve Carr spoke to me after class. He said the Smoot girl has been spreading rumors.”
In an instant, his face became an impenetrable mask. His hands curled into fists. “We’re not even married yet, and already your job is being jeopardized because of me.”
She pressed a lingering kiss to his lips. “If you think I care one jot for what people think, then you don’t know the real me.”
To her immense relief, his body finally relaxed and they clung for a long time.
“I thought we had an appointment with the pastor.”
“We did, but I changed it until tonight when I found out Jack was flying in. The hard part of this is realizing Maureen’s job is on the line.”
Sydney smiled up at him. “Because she showed how brilliant she was to have hired you?”
His expression grew solemn. “I love you, but I don’t want my loving to cause you this kind of hurt.”
“Didn’t you hear anything I said? I’m not hurt. I’m angry at people’s bigotry. I always have been. It started in my own home where my parents couldn’t see beyond the perimeter of their world.
“Of course I love home, but when I look back, I know the reason I ever entertained the thought of being a stewardess was so I could see what the world was like beyond the North Dakota prairie.
“I studied English literature in college because it broadened my understanding of people, fictional or real.
“Provincial types like the Smoots need to be confronted so they’ll wake up and take a look at themselves instead of judging everyone else by their shallow, narrow standard of acceptance.
“It’s sickening. Really sickening.”
Jarod started to clap. He didn’t stop until she was almost hysterical with laughter.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go on and on like that.”
He stole a deep, passionate kiss from her lips. “I wouldn’t have missed that performance for anything. Let’s go plan our wedding, shall we?”
She heard a whole new tone of happiness in his voice. It thrilled her.
“Yes.”
With their arms around each other, they walked through the main office.
Jarod paused. “Good night, Maureen.”
“Good night, you two. See you on Monday.”
“I love your optimism, Maureen.”
The older woman laughed so hard, Sydney could still hear it after they’d exited the main doors of the building.
CHAPTER EIGHT
ON TUESDAY OF the next week, Sydney had just walked in the door from school when her cell phone rang. Jarod always called her at this time of the afternoon. She lived for it.
“Hello?” she cried breathlessly, needing to hear his voice at the end of a grueling day. They always had so much to talk about. She didn’t know how she’d survived the last year without him.
“Aloooohhhhaaaaa.”
“Gilly— You’re back!”
“Yes!”
“I was expecting a call from you yesterday.”
“We decided to stay another night. It was hard to come home, you know?”
“Yes. I do know.” Oh yes I do.
“You sound different. Excited. I hardly recognized your voice when you answered.”
“I hardly recognized yours,” Sydney countered. “I don’t need to ask if you’re happy.”
“There aren’t words.” Gilly’s voice trembled.
“I know the feeling.”
“Talk to me.”
Sydney smiled. “How long have you got to listen?”
“Until my lord and master comes back.”
“And you can’t wait.”
“I confess.”
“Knowing how crazy he is about you, that won’t be long, so I’ll hurry and tell you everything.”
“You’ve met a man while I’ve been gone.”
“How did you know?”
“Because it takes a man to make you feel the way you sound. I can hear something new, even through the phone. After Jarod, I didn’t thi—”
“It is Jarod.”
The silence lasted so long, she knew Gilly was picking herself up off the floor.
Tears of joy filled her eyes. “He left the priesthood and came to see me ten days ago. We’re getting married on Saturday at ten in the morning, in Ennis. We want you and Alex to be witnesses for us.”
“Sydney!” her friend’s ecstatic cry was deafening. “Do me a favor and start at the very beginning. Don’t leave anything out. I want a blow-by blow-account.”
Sydney had been dying for this moment. Gilly was the only person who’d lived through the fifteen months of heartache with her. Only Gilly, who’d lost her first husband Kenny, could have understood the kind of pain Sydney had gone through.
It was therapeutic to be able to confide in her best friend, especially with such joyous news. A whole world was going to open up now that she was going to be married, too. Sydney was so divinely happy, she could barely contain it.
“The first thing I did after you two left for Hawaii, was throw my maid of honor bouquet in the ocean. I decided to consign my love for Jarod to the sea.”
“But the flowers came back.”
“Yes! How did you know?”
“Remember that movie where Steve McQueen is trying to get off of Devil’s Island? He figures out it’s the seventh wave that escapes the undercurrent, so he counts seven waves before throwing in the coconuts that carry him out to sea?”
“I remember.”
“Well, after that movie, Kenny and I tried the same thing, but found out there is no seventh wave in front of our house. Everything always comes back. I could have warned you and saved you the trouble.”
Sydney laughed. “When I saw the roses strewn across the beach, I had this foreboding I was doomed forever. But everything changed the second I returned to Gardiner. After I’d driven to my apartment, Jarod was there!
“He’d been at the Park looking for me. Chief Archer had to be the one to tell him my new address. Oh Gilly—”
“Yes… I’m waiting…”
After ten minutes, Sydney came to the unhappy part. “I’m afraid none of our families are going to be there for the ceremony.”
“Your parents just can’t bring themselves to come?”
“No. I’ve phoned them to give them the date and time. Jarod has done the same with his family, but neither of us has had an answer back.”
“That’s horrible, but I know how much you love Jarod. And he’s right. At thirty-eight, naturally he’s anxious not to lose any more time, especially if he wants to be a father.
Where are you going on your honeymoon?”
“We can’t take a long one until Christmas. A beach vacation sounds marvelous to both of us, so I think we’ll be going to Hawaii, too.”
“Stay in Maui where we did. When I see you later in the week, I’ll give you the brochures.”
“That would be wonderful. I’ll talk to you later then. I’m so glad you’re home, even if you’re not,” Sydney teased.
“Of course we’re happy to be back, but over there I didn’t have to share him with a single soul, let alone a telephone. No emergencies.”
That sounded like paradise to Sydney.
“Give Alex my best.”
“I will. As for Jarod, I’m consumed with curiosity about that man. I honestly can’t wait to meet him. Take care.”
Sydney hung up, wondering why he hadn’t called yet. Maybe she’d go over to his work and surprise him. It was almost time for their office to be closed for the day.
A hamburger and a movie would help her get through another evening while she waited to be with him day and night for the rest of their lives.
Maureen smiled when Sydney entered the main office. “He’s still going strong in there.”
“Is he alone?”
“No. He’s in a session with someone. I don’t expect he’ll be much longer. Would you like a drink while you wait?”
“No, thank you.” After a slight hesitation, “Have you heard anything about the case against you and Jarod?”
“There’s going to be an unofficial hearing before the board in a couple of weeks. Don’t let it worry you, and don’t allow it to ruin your wedding plans.”
“I won’t.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man more excited to get married. I’ve been thinking all men ought to try being a priest for a few years first. It’s just a hunch, but I think it would make them better husbands later.” She chuckled.
Sydney couldn’t help laughing, too. When it subsided she said, “So far Jarod’s perfect.”
“Is that right?” He spoke directly behind her.
She swung around. “I didn’t know you were through—”
In his gray suit, his green eyes seemed to glow as they played over her features. He took in all the details that sent the blood rushing into her cheeks.
Meant-To-Be Marriage Page 11
