Though he’d only been back in the States a couple of weeks, he already missed the excitement of the language. And he missed the people, though he hadn’t acknowledged that to anyone aloud. If only Adrianne would marry him—go back there with him—they would work together to reach the people and—
“Mmm. They have great veal.” Adrianne’s eyes sparkled mischievously.
Chris shook himself out of his dream state. He could hardly think about food. Not right now. Not when she’d just agreed to spend the evening with him. He tried to calm his heart as he continued on. “Come around eight o’clock, okay?”
“I’ll be there.” Adrianne glanced at her watch and pushed back her chair with an anxious look. “I have to get back to work.”
“I understand.” But not yet. Please. One more thing. Chris reached to grab Adrianne’s hand one last time and the words just flowed. “Adrianne, I need to know that you’ve forgiven me. Please. I have to know.”
“I told you yesterday.”
“I know, but. . .” He drew in a deep breath. “I need to hear the words. I have to hear them before I can move on.”
For a moment, neither of them said anything. Eventually moisture rimmed the edges of Adrianne’s lashes and she dabbed at her eyes with her napkin. “God has forgiven me of so much.” Her hoarse whisper seemed to grate across her throat. “How could I not forgive you?”
Chris worked to push back the lump in his throat as he thanked her.
She looked at him dead-on. “It’s not that easy, Chris. I need your forgiveness, too.”
He shook his head. “No. No, you don’t.”
“I do,” she whispered. “You’ll never know how much.”
He gave her hand a loving squeeze. “Adrianne, you’ve got it. I forgive you. Though, for the life of me, I don’t know what I’m forgiving you for.”
“I don’t know what I’m forgiving you for.”
Adrianne pondered Chris’s words for hours after they parted ways. For some reason, she couldn’t shake the image of his eyes—eyes that reminded her in every way of Lorelei’s— from her mind.
Soon, he would know the truth. She would tell him. Tomorrow night.
SIX
“Mom, you look so pretty!” Lorelei joined Adrianne at the mirror and stared in exaggerated admiration.
“Do you like my dress?” Adrianne twirled in a circle for effect.
“Mm-hmm.” The youngster gave a brisk nod. “Is it new?”
“Sort of. I bought it for the fundraiser dinner next week, but decided it was too pretty to wear only once.”
“So, where are you going?” Lorelei asked, her innocent eyes staring up in awe. “Someplace special?”
To see your daddy.
For the first time, the word daddy sent a shockwave through Adrianne. Soon—tonight, in fact—Chris would know he was a daddy. And soon enough, Lorelei would meet her father. Lord, help me. I’ve already made such a mess of things. I only want to make things better now. . . .
“I–I’m going to a restaurant in a fancy hotel to meet an old friend,” Adrianne said with a forced smile.
“A man friend?” Lorelei asked, her eyes dancing with excitement.
Adrianne sighed. “Yes. A man friend.”
“Mom!” Lorelei’s face lit up even more, if that were possible. “Is it a date? A real, honest-to-goodness date?”
“Good grief, you’re full of questions.” If I tell her it’s a date, she’ll have me married off by night’s end. “It’s just dinner with an old friend. Don’t fill your head with all sorts of ideas, promise?”
“I promise.” The youngster’s smile shifted to a frown. “But Grandma says you need to start dating. She says—”
“Never mind all that now.” Adrianne tried to put a stop to the conversation. “You’d better get busy with your homework. We’ll be leaving soon.”
“Am I going with you?” Lorelei’s eyes broadened to saucer-width.
“Um, no.” Not hardly. “You’re staying with your grandparents. But homework comes first. So get busy now, while I finish dressing.”
Her daughter reluctantly left the room, and Adrianne completed the task of putting on her jewelry and makeup. She shot one last glance in the mirror before leaving as she whispered her thoughts. “I’ve aged so much since our college days, Chris. How in the world you might still find me attractive remains a mystery.”
Immediately, Lorelei appeared at her side. “Mom, you’re the prettiest lady I know.”
Her words startled Adrianne. Were you listening in again, you little imp? She reached down to give her daughter a hug. “I’m not sure I’d agree, but I appreciate you for saying that. Kind of makes an old woman feel young again to be told she’s pretty.”
“You’re not old.” Lorelei giggled.
Adrianne sighed as she glanced in the mirror, wondering if Chris thought she looked older. Stop worrying about that, she chided herself. Stay focused.
At that very moment her cell phone rang. Adrianne’s heart flip-flopped as she contemplated the possibilities. Is it Chris?
She answered it on the third ring, but her heart sank as she heard James Kenner’s voice instead.
“Hi, Adrianne, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” “Oh, I. . .well, I’m just getting ready to go out.” “Ah.” His downcast voice caught her off guard. “I guess it’s too late to ask you to dinner then.”
Ask me to dinner? “Well, I have plans to meet an old friend,” she explained.
“No problem. I was just thinking it would be fun to get together and talk about the plans for the fundraiser dinner. I know Bob Martinson wanted my input.”
“Oh?” Why in the world would her boss want James Kenner’s input regarding the dinner?
“Well, I can see you’re busy,” James said. “I won’t keep you. Maybe one of these days we can get together. Soon, I hope.”
“M–maybe.” She thanked him for the invitation and quickly ended the call.
“Was that him, Mom?” Lorelei asked.
“No.”
“Who was it?”
“Someone else. Someone from work.”
“Oh.” Lorelei’s downcast face spoke volumes.
Adrianne finished the task of getting ready. Soon thereafter, she and Lorelei headed out for the evening. “Did you get that homework done?” she asked as they climbed into the car.
“Almost.”
“I hope you brought it with you then. Make sure you finish it.”
“Grandpa will help me. He likes spelling.”
“Yes, he does.” Adrianne tried to stay focused on her daughter’s words, but found her mind drifting to the inevitable. She looked over at Lorelei and drew in a deep breath. Lord, help me through this night.
Forty-five minutes later, Adrianne stood outside the beautiful, historic Penn’s View Hotel. A bellman met her at the door.
“Good evening, miss.”
“ ’Evening.” She offered a polite nod. “I’m meeting friends at the Panorama. A wedding party.”
“Just down the hall to your left.” He gestured, and then shifted his attention to another customer. Adrianne took in the beauty of the place as she made her way down the elegant hallway. She loved Philadelphia so much, particularly the exquisite historic buildings like this one. It wasn’t just the architecture, though that certainly took her breath away. It was the fact that so many amazing things had happened here throughout the years. History was made in places like this.
Perhaps tonight’s meeting would make the history books, too. At least the ones featuring her life story.
Within a minute or two, she stood at the entrance of the lovely restaurant. A hostess, dressed in black, met her with a smile. “Can I help you?”
“Yes. I’m here to meet the Conner party.”
“Ah. The wedding party.”
Wedding party. Why did the words shake her? “Yes.”
“They called from the church to say they’d run into a bit of a problem. Something about the min
ister not showing up for the rehearsal on time. They’ll be here shortly. Would you like me to seat you?”
“Um, no thank you.” She looked around, feeling a little lost. “I think I’ll just look around the hotel a few minutes.”
Disappointed, Adrianne turned back toward the hall with a sigh on her lips.
❧
“Can’t you drive any faster?”
“What’s your hurry, Chris?” Stephen asked. “You’d think this was your rehearsal dinner, not mine.”
“Sorry.” Chris glanced down at his watch: 8:23. Would Adrianne still be at the restaurant, or would she have given up already and headed home? He prayed it was not the latter.
“It’s that girl, isn’t it?” Stephen looked over with a crooked grin. “Adrianne?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t worry. She’ll still be there. How could she leave my good buddy hanging in the lurch?”
It wouldn’t be the first time. Chris thought back to the day she’d left Virginia Beach. “I just don’t want to take any chances. I really feel like God has given me an opportunity here, and I don’t want to blow it.”
“Then listen up.” Stephen’s voice grew serious. “If it’s really God, you won’t have to worry about what you do or don’t do. This is in His hands. His. Meaning, you couldn’t blow it if you wanted to.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“I’d like to go on record as saying”—Stephen looked over at him with a mischievous grin—“the next wedding will be your own.”
“I pray you’re right.”
“Then we’ll be sitting in traffic with your bride-to-be three cars back with a group of chattering, overdressed bridesmaids, and you and I will be driving together with the guys. Again.”
“Yeah. I hope so, anyway.”
Stephen dove into a complicated speech about marriage, and Chris tried to relax. His friend was right, at least about the part where Adrianne would still be at the restaurant, waiting. If the Lord was in this thing. And if He wasn’t. . .
If He wasn’t, Chris thought perhaps his heart would break in two.
SEVEN
Adrianne’s nerves reached the breaking point as Chris and the others rounded the corner. The look in Chris’s eyes made things all the more intriguing, which certainly didn’t serve to calm her down in the slightest.
He took her by the hand and shook his head, almost as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. “You’re. . .breathtaking.”
She felt her cheeks warm, and she tried to shush him, but he would not be silenced.
“No, you’re absolutely beautiful.” His eyes brimmed over, and she was glad for the distraction of the maitre d’ seating them.
Chris made introductions as they took their seats. Stephen and his bride-to-be, Julie, welcomed Adrianne, and she offered profuse thanks for the invitation.
“We’re happy to have you.” Julie gave her a knowing smile. “I really believe it’s a God-thing, don’t you? I mean, how romantic that the two of you would meet again after all these years.”
Adrianne felt her cheeks flush as she offered up a mumbled response. Did everyone here see her as a potential love interest for Chris?
Did she?
Within minutes, everyone in the wedding party chattered merrily, but Adrianne and Chris only had eyes for each other. They reminisced, talking about college professors, courses they’d taken, and their common dislike for math.
At one point, Stephen chided his best man with a “Hey, glad you could join us, Chris,” but even that did little to pull the two apart. Adrianne didn’t mind the noise going on around them. In fact, other than the beat of her pulse in her ears and the lulling sound of Chris’s voice as he shared his stories, she heard nothing. Absolutely nothing.
And still, as the evening wore on, one problem remained. The obvious. The inevitable.
Just as the dessert arrived, Adrianne took Chris by the hand. He gave it a squeeze and stared into her eyes.
Her gaze shifted at once to the table. “I have something to tell you.” The words vibrated in sync with her hands.
“Tell me.” He gave her fingertips a loving squeeze. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
She shook her head. “I need to know if you’ll come to my parents’ house with me for a little while. We can talk there.”
He gave her a curious look. “O–okay.”
“I’ll bring you back to the hotel after.” Adrianne tried to keep her breaths steady, but her heart continued to race. “I promise. But I need you to come with me. And I know my mom and dad have been looking forward to seeing you.”
“You told them I was here?”
“Yeah.”
“It will be good to see your parents again,” he acknowledged. “I’ve missed them a lot.”
“They’ve missed you, too.” Adrianne started to push back her chair, but Chris leaped to his feet to assist her.
“You’re ready to go? Right now?”
“Mm-hmm.” As she stood to her feet, the cloth napkin floated to the ground. Her heart seemed to hit the floor alongside it.
He reached down to pick it up, a gesture of kindness. “I, um. . .” He glanced over at the others. “I just need to tell Stephen. I know he’s expecting me to stay here at the hotel with the rest of the guys.”
“I’m sorry. Do you mind?”
“No. It’s not a problem.” Chris leaned over to whisper something into Stephen’s ear.
Adrianne watched as the two men exchanged a quiet conversation, then Chris gave Stephen a quick shrug as he looked her way. “Sorry.” She mouthed the word. She hated to interrupt the fellow’s rehearsal dinner, but she simply couldn’t put this off one moment longer. Her heart wouldn’t allow it. She’d waited eight years too long. Not one second more would do.
Julie looked her way. “Leaving so soon?”
“If you don’t mind.” Adrianne reached to give her a hug. “Thanks so much for having me.”
“Thank you for coming. Will we see you tomorrow?” “Oh, I, uh...”
“Please say you’ll be there, and come to the reception, too. You can bring a friend if you like, if it would make you more comfortable.”
Adrianne shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Someone called out the bride’s name and her attention shifted. Adrianne and Chris took advantage of the opportunity to slip out of the room. Moments later, they pulled away from the hotel in her car. She shivered against the chill.
“Cold?” Chris reached to turn on the heater.
She shook her head. Not cold. Just a sudden, horrifying case of nerves. Her foot vibrated against the accelerator as she pulled out onto the turnpike.
“So, we’re going to your parents’ house,” Chris said, the curiosity evident in his voice. “Do you live with them?”
“No. I have my own place.”
“Ah.”
“There’s something I need to take care of there.” She whispered the words. “Something big.”
Chris sat in silence, but she felt his gaze as it bore a hole into her heart. He’s got to be wondering what in the world is wrong with me.
A painful silence filled the car for a couple of minutes. Chris broke it with a question. “I’ve always wondered if you went back to school.”
She startled to attention. “W–what?”
“I mean, you left just after starting your senior year. I’ve always wondered if you finished up, got your degree.”
“Oh. Yes, actually, I did.” She didn’t give him any details. Perhaps later she would tell him about going back to school in Philly the year after Lorelei was born. One thing at a time.
Adrianne tried to shift the conversation back to Stephen’s wedding, but she didn’t do a very good job. Her words surely sounded strained. Contrived. Chris must’ve picked up on her subdued mood, because his light-hearted responses all but disappeared.
Within minutes, she pulled up in front of her mom and dad’s house, parking just underneath the street light. Chri
s unlatched his seatbelt and started to open his door, but she reached across to take his hand in an attempt to stop him. “Wait. Please wait.”
He turned to face her. “You’re scaring me, Adrianne.”
She tried to force back the lump in her throat but it would not be squelched. It, along with the tears that now rose to her lashes, gave her away. “Chris, I need to tell you something. It’s something I should have told you years ago. Something I tried to tell you years ago.”
He offered up a silent stare, along with a shrug. The blank look in his eyes spoke of his desire to understand. She would make him understand.
Adrianne closed her eyes and whispered a prayer. Oh Lord, please help me through this. I want Your will. I’m so sorry for taking things into my own hands.
“When I left that note under your door,” she started, “it was because I knew I had to leave Virginia Beach.”
Chris nodded. “I know. You told me.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You don’t know. You know only half the story. I had to leave because. . .”
The tears came full force now, and Chris leaned over to slip his arm around her shoulder. She wondered if she should shrug it away, or give in to the comfort it brought.
“Were you in love with someone else?” he whispered, his voice strained.
“No.” She gazed up into his eyes. They were filled with pain. Oh Father. They’re about to be filled with even more pain, aren’t they? “I never loved anyone but you. I never have.”
Relief flooded his face and he drew her close. “Then tell me, Adrianne. Whatever it is, I can deal with it. Were you sick? Had something happened back home?”
She shook her head and drew in a deep breath. “No.” The words flowed now. She couldn’t have stopped them if she’d tried. “I—I left Virginia Beach because I was pregnant.”
Red, White and Blue Weddings: Red Like Crimson, White as Snow, Out of the Blue Page 4
