“We have,” she said, as confident as he.
In five minutes, they were at the church in downtown Tyler. Byron jumped out while Nora went to park the car. When she came to the front door, Liza Baron Forrester was already there, handing her a bouquet of orchids.
“What’re you doing here?” Nora asked.
“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”
Nora frowned. “I smell a plot.”
“No one’s ever said you were a dummy.”
“Byron?”
“He’s been thinking about international espionage—you should have heard him and Cliff plotting murder and mayhem last night over dinner, not to mention the millions they could make writing technothrillers. Though getting Tyler’s own self-declared spinster up the aisle must’ve taxed him more than figuring out how to blow up the world.”
“Liza…”
“Come on,” she said, grinning, “we’ve got a packed house anxious for a wedding.”
“Do they know what’s going on?”
“Oh, they’ll figure it out. People have been wondering for years when and if you’ll ever get married. I think there are several pools going in town.”
Two weeks ago, Nora would have been mortified. Now she laughed. “But, Liza, this was supposed to be your day—”
“It still is. But I want it to be your day, too.” She tucked the second bouquet of orchids in front of her. “This time I’d rather not be the center of attention. You’ve always been there for everyone in Tyler, Nora. It’s your turn to let us give you a party. Now, how ’bout I serve as your matron of honor?” She made a face. “What a yucky term. Any defense?”
“None. Let’s abolish it. Just be my friend.”
“Let’s be sisters,” Liza said, hugging her, and she whispered, “You’re not alone anymore, Nora Gates.”
And as she started up the aisle, Nora knew that she wasn’t alone; indeed, had never been alone. Tyler was her family. Up ahead, Anne Forrester, looking as if she’d expected as much from her two sons, was in the front pew, waiting. Cliff Forrester moved next to his brother at the altar. The organ began to play, the crowd rose, and nobody seemed to bat an eye when it proved to be Nora Gates instead of Liza Baron who was the bride.
When she got close enough to Byron that he could hear her, Nora muttered, “You’ve been plotting this for hours.”
“Nope.” And he produced an antique ring from his pocket. “Belonged to my Great-grandmother Sanders. I’ve been plotting this for days. I didn’t know it’d be this morning, but I knew it would happen.”
“What about a marriage certificate?”
“Already talked to the minister. He says we can get one Monday morning.”
Nora was grinning. “I love you, Byron.”
“Yeah. I love you, too. But I think what everyone’s waiting to hear are a few I do’s.”
And they did, in a Wisconsin wedding that would surely go down in Tyler history.
EPILOGUE
ON A SNOWY MORNING a few weeks after the Forrester brothers had given Tyler a fresh jolt of gossip with their surprise marriages to two prominent town citizens, Nora was working on one of her famous Christmas window displays when she spotted Byron in the street. Her heartbeat quickened. Snowflakes were gathering on his dark hair. He waved at her and flicked a snowflake in her direction, always ready to tease.
She loved him totally. He’d continued to prove himself a man of excitement, surprise and change. He’d already talked to Joe Santori—Tyler’s most eligible bachelor—about turning part of the garage into a studio for himself. The little twenties house was fast becoming not Aunt Ellie’s, not Nora’s, but a comfortable blend of the tastes and spirits of the woman who’d built it, the lonely girl who’d found herself there, the man who’d found love there. Together, Nora and Byron were becoming renowned as hosts. She was getting to know his friends from the East and all over; he was getting to know her friends from Tyler and the world of Wisconsin retail. That weekend, Henry Morrow—Hank, as he now preferred to be called—was coming to discuss technothrillers.
Byron pointed to the entrance to Gates Department Store, indicating that he was coming inside. Nora finished what she was working on and joined him.
He was already on a stepladder, hanging the photograph of Aunt Ellie and Nora above the glass-fronted perfume counter where he’d taken it. Looking at the image of herself from three years ago, Nora realized Aunt Ellie had been right to encourage Byron to leave Tyler then. He’d needed the time, but so had she. Those three years had made today—and their future together—possible.
Byron climbed down and stood next to his wife. “Johnny Kelsey stopped by the store earlier,” she told him. “Word’s going out—they’ve identified the body found at the lodge as an adult female. Her size isn’t inconsistent with Margaret Ingalls’s.”
“Does Liza know?” Byron asked seriously.
“I’m going out to the lodge now. I’ll tell her myself.”
He nodded. “I’ll go with you. Thank God she has Cliff! With all he’s faced, he can help her get through whatever she has to in the next weeks or months.”
Nora looked up at the smiling face of her plain, beautiful great-aunt. “Aunt Ellie admired Margaret for being her own woman, even at the risk of having people disapprove of her.”
“I wonder what she’d have said about this latest news.”
“First things first,” Nora said, quoting the woman who’d helped raise her, who’d guided her into adulthood and had helped her find her true self, even if she hadn’t lived to see it all happen. She slipped her arm around her husband’s solid waist, overwhelmed, as she still so often was, by how much she loved him, how tremendously lucky she was. “And she’d insist that Tyler’s strong enough to face the truth.”
“Your Aunt Ellie was a wise woman.”
“She was,” Nora said, “herself.”
* * * * *
“Neggers does the near impossible: she brings a small-town, family-loving heroine and a footloose hero together in an engaging romance that has its fair share of surprises.”
—Library Journal on Echo Lake
If you enjoyed Wisconsin Wedding, then you won’t want to miss the joy and romance of Christmas in New England. Come celebrate with New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers in the Swift River Valley town of Knights Bridge, Massachusetts:
A Knights Bridge Christmas (October 2015)
“Only a writer as gifted as Carla Neggers could use so few words to convey so much action and emotional depth.”
—Sandra Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Looking for more small-town tales of family, friendship and love? Return to Swift River Valley, where unexpected romance could be just around the next corner…
Secrets of the Lost Summer
That Night on Thistle Lane
Cider Brook
Christmas at Carriage Hill (novella)
Echo Lake
“Neggers captures readers' attention with her usual flair and brilliance and gives us a romance, a mystery and a lesson in history.”
—RT Book Reviews, Top Pick, on Secrets of the Lost Summer
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ISBN: 9781460394632
Wisconsin Wedding
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Wisconsin Wedding (Welcome To Tyler, No. 3) Page 21
