by Jean Oram
“We were just talking about…work,” Emma said blithely.
Olivia sent her a warning glance, and in reply, her sister’s gaze slipped to Olivia’s bare ring finger. She gave Olivia an expectant look.
The past few days had been intense as the two sisters reconfigured their relationship. Emma had been disappointed and hurt that Olivia hadn’t told her about the pregnancy. But having her illness spread in the news, Emma seemed to understand why Olivia had kept her mouth shut. In a strange way, the week had forged a stronger bond between them.
Luke raised his brows in invitation while tipping his head toward the outer doors.
Olivia joined him, asking Emma over her shoulder, “Did you want to come?”
She shook her head, scrunching her nose while giving Olivia an odd look that seemed almost wistful.
As Olivia walked the hotel’s grounds with Luke and her dog, Luke took her elbow as he often did. He was easy to be with, kind and polite. In some ways Olivia was surprised that he and Emma had never hit it off. They weren’t exactly alike but there was something about the two of them together that just felt right. Weird, but right.
“How are you doing?” Luke asked.
“Fine. And yourself?” Despite having apologized to him and his family, she still felt bad for the way his company had taken an image hit for standing up for her and Carrington.
He paused, really looking at her. She wondered what he saw.
“I’m sorry things didn’t work out with Devon,” he said.
“It worked out fine,” she replied, raising her chin. She didn’t need pity. She needed Devon to reach out to her so she’d know it was safe to take up their…whatever it was they’d had.
“I heard a funny joke,” Luke said at last. They sat near a fountain in the midst of a hedged-in garden near the hotel’s small, private lake. Around them birds sang and a few people passed by. Mr. Right growled intermittently as though he was checking an incoming signal.
“A funny joke?” Olivia repeated in surprise. Luke didn’t normally crack jokes. He was typically Mr. Serious CEO.
“Why didn’t the panda bear become a bear? No. Why did the…hang on.”
Luke was trying to make her smile and she appreciated it, but he really wasn’t a comedian.
He collected her hands in his, concentrating on the punch line. “Okay. I’ve got it. Why isn’t a koala bear a bear?”
“It’s not?”
“It doesn’t have the right koala-fications.”
Olivia broke into laughter at the unexpected pun. “Well done, Luke.” She let her shoulder bump into his. Mr. Right suddenly perked up, whining and tugging on his leash. Luke slid off the bench and onto one knee.
“Are you okay?” she asked, while trying to calm her dog. “I hope you’re not having a heart attack.”
“Olivia Dawn Mary Carrington, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Devon stood on the grounds overlooking the lake at Olivia’s hotel. He’d thought he’d seen her walk behind a hedge when he’d pulled into the parking lot moments ago. Devon began walking again, inhaling the sweet, innocent scent of a honeysuckle hedge. He scanned the greenery, finally spying Olivia. With Luke.
They were walking together as though they belonged side by side on the other side of the garden. Their outfits were well-tailored, her shaggy dog behaving on his leash—the only thing out of place in the perfect scene.
They sat down companionably on a bench. Luke clutched Olivia’s hands and she let him. Then her laughter broke over the sound of the water splashing in the picturesque fountain. Rich and free, warming Devon’s heart.
Then Luke got down on one knee.
One. Knee.
Devon felt as though the weight of a tanker truck fell on his chest.
Awesome Dog began barking and whining, suddenly lunging on his leash, as he sensed him nearby, but Devon turned and broke into a run. This was not where he wanted to be right now.
He had been stupid coming here. Stupid to have thought there was something more beyond their ploy to get him elected. It had worked and now he had to live with the lie he’d told, he’d believed, the truth falling upon his conscience with sharps daggers, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
He started his car, the alternator belt squealing in the sea of Cadillacs and Lincolns. The Honda’s tires followed suit as he pinned the gas pedal to the floor, taking the corners too fast, desperate to get away.
15
Olivia parked her car just off Main Street in Blueberry Springs and inhaled the fresh mountain air. She had missed this place in the days she’d been away. It had been a week and a half, but felt so much longer.
She’d heard from Ginger that the protesters had left town after the election results, moving on to protest another proposed dam a few states over, and today Jen would be getting married in the newly quiet town.
Olivia checked the time. She would be meeting Emma in an hour or two, but wanted to borrow an alteration kit from Ginger, as she’d promised to do a last-minute fitting for Jen at the community center before the three o’clock ceremony. Plus she had to meet up with Vintra, who’d set up a small lab in one of the buildings just off the downtown.
And then there was Devon. They needed to break up.
The very thought brought tears to her eyes.
She hadn’t seen him. Hadn’t talked to him.
She’d just about lost it when Luke had proposed. She didn’t want him. She had left Blueberry Springs only to give Devon the space he needed to win. He was the only man she’d ever loved and she couldn’t imagine wanting anyone else.
Olivia stepped onto the curb and crossed the sidewalk into Veils and Vows, blinking quickly to ensure she didn’t look teary-eyed. Her engagement ring from Devon weighed heavy on her hand as she played a few more hours as his fiancée.
“Now that’s the person we need,” Ginger said, immediately drawing Olivia into the store’s fitting area as though she’d been hovering at the door, waiting. Jen was sitting in one of the chairs, looking distraught. “Jen needs another bridesmaid.”
“I heard about that. Do you need me to fit a dress?” Olivia asked.
“She has to fit into that dress.” Jen pointed to a gown being held up by Ginger. It was very similar to the one Olivia had been wearing as her dream gown, only it was a pale blue.
“It’s beautiful.”
“And it would fit perfectly over Olivia’s curves,” Ginger said to Jen.
She nodded.
Why did Olivia feel as though she was being set up? She looked to Jen in question. They’d had a nice hike together, but surely the woman had more options than someone who still fell in the acquaintances category.
Jen got up and came to her, saying, “Please! You know how stressed I am.”
Olivia considered her. Saying yes would be the right thing to do.
“You want me to try it on?”
Olivia hustled into the community center at two-fifteen. She had a dress to slip into—Ginger had worked quickly to set her up with shoes and all the accessories after Olivia had agreed to stand in as a bridesmaid—as well as her hair to do.
Olivia was nervous. She’d been a bridesmaid before, but she hadn’t faced the town since fleeing. Sure, she’d bumped into a few people while checking in on Vintra and then meeting up with Emma, who was with her now, looking as though she was hiding a secret.
The one person Olivia hadn’t found was Devon. And maybe that was a good thing. It would have been awkward if they’d planned their breakup and then she’d had to come here and act like they were still together.
Man, she missed him. Everything in this town reminded her of him.
“You okay?” Emma asked.
Olivia’s held-back tears came to the surface. She nodded and looked up, hoping to somehow get them to defy nature and sink back into her eyes again.
“Aw, hon.” Emma gave her a hug. “Is this about Devon?”
“Weddings just make me emotional.”
Ginger came rushing in, her curly hair done up in a bun. She snagged Olivia by the arm. “Come on! Hurry! We have so much to do!”
Olivia’s anxiety picked up a notch at the stress in her voice. “Is everything okay?”
Her friend gave a slightly demented laugh and plunked her in front of a woman armed with hair spray, bobby pins and a brush.
“Hair. Makeup. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
Emma hadn’t followed Olivia, and she worried her sister felt ditched. The hairdresser set to work with a speed that astounded Olivia, and before long, Ginger was back, wearing a pale pink dress, whisking her into a room where gowns and bins of accessories were laid out.
“Why so many dresses?” Olivia asked. Surely the others weren’t getting ready here, too.
“Put this on.”
“This isn’t the one I tried on,” Olivia said. It was cream, not blue.
“I know, I know. Blue was a problem.”
“Why?”
“I spilled something on it.”
“Ginger…” Olivia said in warning.
“Trust me.”
Olivia sighed and put on the dress, worrying that she was going to outshine the bride, not serve as backup. She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror, and her heart stuttered.
She looked like a real bride.
She wanted this to be her wedding day.
To Devon.
Ginger appeared moments later. “Do you need help with the zipper?”
Olivia shook her head. There had been a zipper helper, the device reminding her of the time Devon had had to help her with her Chanel dress. The rain, the mud. The trust.
She wished he’d call her, wished there was a way to keep the relationship they’d had.
“You’ll need this.” Ginger handed her a bouquet.
“What’s this for? Where’s Jen?”
Ginger took a deep breath. “Don’t kill me, but it’s you who’s getting married today.”
“What?” Olivia’s loud exclamation had likely wakened half the town, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t engaged. She wasn’t even in a real relationship. She’d given her wedding day to Jen for a reason. How was this happening?
Ginger handed Olivia a pair of diamond earrings. “Your mother’s. Something borrowed.”
“But…to who?”
“To Devon,” her friend said quietly, giving her a funny look.
“Devon? Devon Mattson?”
She might need to sit down.
Now.
Feebly, and with shaking limbs, she sat herself in a hard plastic chair and put a palm against her forehead. Fever dream. Had to be. Only she wasn’t sick.
Who planned a surprise wedding? Especially for a couple who hadn’t even had a real relationship? This was a nightmare.
She began sobbing, unable to keep it in.
Ginger crouched in front of her, looking alarmed.
“It was fake.” Olivia hiccupped. “We were never really engaged.”
Her friend’s brow furrowed. “But…”
Olivia swallowed the hard lump in her throat. How had Ginger not known? How had she not seen through it all?
“But you two are in love.”
“I love him, but he’s not…he’s not…”
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you,” Ginger said soberly. “But we already wrangled him into waiting at the altar for you.” She pinned a veil in Olivia’s hair.
“What?”
Ginger gave a secret, self-satisfied smile.
“Are my parents here?”
“Yes. And Emma’s a bridesmaid.”
How on earth had they managed that?
“How long have you been planning this?”
“Since the moment that ring hit your finger. You’re both runners. You let stupid things come between you instead of trusting each other and your love. I figured if I didn’t plan it superfast you two would break up again. Which apparently you didn’t need to do, because it wasn’t ever real. Except for the fact that you two are totally head over heels for each other.”
“He’s here? Really here?”
Ginger kept nodding.
Olivia couldn’t wrap her mind around the whole idea that Devon might actually love her, love her enough that he was truly waiting for her. No games. No ploys to fool anyone. Just…love.
“He knows…knows he’s supposed to—marry me? Here? Today? For real and forever and ever?”
“Wow, you’re babbling.”
Olivia nodded vigorously, gulping air.
“It’s a lot to take in,” her friend said matter-of-factly. “I’ll give you a minute. Oh, and by the way, I made myself one of your bridesmaids. I hope you don’t mind.” She let herself out of the room, but Olivia was already on the move.
She had to know what Devon was really thinking, really feeling.
Devon was sweating bullets at the front of the church.
He thought he was supposed to be Rob’s best man. It turned out he was actually the groom.
Him.
Devon Mattson.
Olivia had said no to Luke. No.
The happiest word that had ever been relayed back to him. Ever.
As for Rob and Jen, they’d eloped and had the wedding they’d truly wanted, leaving him and Olivia to be set up with a surprise wedding.
Who did that?
Obviously, Blueberry Springs.
And the funny thing was that despite the pain of a possible massive, public rejection by her…he was okay with it all. Because left to their own devices, he wasn’t certain he and Olivia would ever make it this far on their own.
Assuming she didn’t walk out today.
What if she didn’t love him? He turned away, his doubts beginning to gnaw at him like hungry piranhas.
Liz, who was at the piano, began playing, and Devon’s eyes zagged to the doorway.
Bridesmaids tried to hustle into position, jockeying to head down the aisle before Olivia, who was pushing them all out of the way.
She strode down the aisle, making a “cut” signal to Liz. The community center was packed and it grew silent, all eyes watching her as she marched toward Devon. She was beautiful. Her dress showing off every dangerous curve of her heavenly body. Her skin clear and glowing.
Her eyes flashing with something he couldn’t quite catch.
Uh-oh.
His feet angled toward the door. But as she neared and he got a better read on her expression, his muscles relaxed and he let out a slow breath.
“Hey,” he said.
“Did you know about this?”
He shook his head, watching her. “But I’m game if you are.”
“Devon…”
“Liv, I know I didn’t get to propose to you properly, so maybe this would be a good time.”
She gave him a surprised look and he carefully got down on one knee, taking her hand.
“Olivia, you are the most courageous woman I know. You protect others above yourself. I love you and I don’t know what I’d do without you. Sharing my home with you as my fiancée were some of the best days of my entire life. I know I’m not perfect, and neither are you, but I think that’s what makes us perfect for each other. Somewhere between your world and my world is our world. One that is made up of our in jokes, our laughter, but most of all our love. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you, Olivia, and I can’t live without you in my life.
“Could you find it in your heart to fall in love with me again and be my wife?”
Olivia looked out at their audience. Everyone was waiting for her reply, perched on the edges of their seats, leaning forward.
“No,” she said softly, shaking her head.
Devon felt cold. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak.
This was not how it was supposed to go.
Olivia continued, “I can’t fall in love with you again because I never once stopped loving you, no matter how hard I tried. And I don’t think I ever will. It’s not in my nature to stop l
oving you.”
Devon let out a shaky breath of relief. Man, she’d really had him going there for an excruciating minute.
“So, yes. I will be your wife, because I love you, Devon Mattson, and nobody else. For real.”
He popped to his feet, finding her lips, claiming them with a deep kiss so full of love he nearly keeled over on the spot.
“I love you,” he whispered.
Olivia’s eyes welled with tears. “I love you, too.”
Mary Alice, resplendent in a bright yellow dress, began their vows. Devon, unable to resist, pulled Olivia into another kiss.
Mary Alice cleared her throat. “This is important legal stuff, you two.”
He came up for air.
“Do you, Devon Adam Mattson, take Olivia Dawn Mary Carrington to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
“I do,” he said with a smile.
“Do you, Olivia Dawn Mary Carrington, take Devon Adam Mattson to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do,” Olivia replied breathlessly.
She grinned wide as Mary Alice said, “With the power invested in me by the town of Blueberry Springs, I now declare you husband and wife!”
The audience cheered, whooped and hollered. Devon collected Olivia in his arms again, dipping her backward as he gave her a long kiss that promised of many more to come.
16
Devon stretched, watching the town celebrate his love in a room full of fairy lights and streamers. Sweet love, he was married. The confirmed bachelor wedded. To the woman he’d never once stopped thinking about. Life didn’t get much better, and he owed the town for making it happen, for taking his and Olivia’s fears out of their hands and making the choice simple.
You love each other? Yes? Then get married. Here you go. Done.
“Congratulations,” Mandy said, coming up behind him to give him a hug.
