Heart of the Hunter

by Chance Carter

Jackson went to get a pen. “All right, I’m ready.”

  “First thing, you know the flower market in San Francisco?”

  “The big one by the port?”

  “Yes, I need someone to go there and order ten thousand red roses.”

  “Ten thousand?”

  “Yes. Or more if they have them.”

  “For when?”

  “For tomorrow.”

  “That soon?”

  “Yes. Did you write it down?”

  “I did, but will they have that many available?”

  “I hope so. The second thing I need is also at the flower market. There’s a cake shop there, and they make cakes using rose water.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m not sure, but the cakes are delicious.”

  “Okay.”

  “So I need the biggest wedding cake they can make. Literally the most beautiful, extravagant cake they can possibly make.”

  “A wedding cake?”

  “Yes. For tomorrow too.”

  “You’re getting married?”

  “You can’t tell anyone about this, Jackson. Especially not Faith.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I didn’t tell Lacey yet.”

  Jackson started laughing.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Don’t you think this is a little out of the blue?”

  “It’s not out of the blue at all. I’ve been waiting half my life to marry Lacey.”

  “But she doesn’t know that.”

  “She’ll find out in plenty of time.”

  “Grant, I’ve got to tell you this as your friend. I mean, I’m all for surprising the woman you love. I think it’s lovely. But you really ought to consider proposing to Lacey before springing a wedding on her. She’s strong willed. You know how she gets when she feels like you’re making decisions for her.”

  “I don’t care,” I said. “I’ve got to make that woman mine, and if I don’t do it soon, I’m going to explode. Pretty much everything I do with her ends up going all wrong, so I figure I’m better off just arranging everything the way she likes it and hoping for the best.”

  “Hoping for the best?”

  “Are you going to help me with this or not?” I asked.

  “Sorry. You’re right. This way is more romantic, I guess. A complete shock.”

  “Don’t be sarcastic.”

  “Just keep going. What else do you need?”

  “Okay, so we’ve got the flowers and the cake. The next thing I need are white doves.”

  “Doves?”

  “Yes, doves. You know the kind? The romantic ones that fly out of a box at a wedding.”

  “I’ve seen the movies.”

  “So get as many of them as possible.”

  “For tomorrow?”

  “Yes, for tomorrow. Everything’s for tomorrow. The next thing I need is live music. Like a band or something.”

  “Which band?”

  “Ask Faith. She’ll know.”

  “I thought you didn’t want Faith to know about this?”

  “Just ask her in a subtle way. Find out what music Lacey would like. And then book them for tomorrow night.”

  “This is a long list, Grant.”

  “It’s almost done.”

  “So what’s left?”

  “Faith has to go pick out a wedding dress for Lacey.”

  “Grant. You haven’t thought this through. First of all, there’s no way Faith’s not going to know what’s going on if you ask her to do that. Second of all, women like to pick out their own wedding dress. They agonize over it. It’s a huge decision.”

  “Just tell her I need her to do it. I’m going to marry Lacey, and God help me, I’m going to surprise her with this. If she doesn’t like it, she can just refuse to go through with it.”

  “Grant, this is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of. I mean, I’ve heard of shotgun weddings, but usually the bride is in on the plans.”

  “Well, Lacey’s too mad at me to make any sort of plans with me at the moment.”

  “Mad at you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I interfered in her relationship with Rob.”

  “Rob. Holy shit. Grant. I just remembered. Lacey’s engaged to that guy.”

  “That’s over.”

  “Over? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, because I’m the one who ended it.”

  “Oh shit, Grant. No wonder she’s mad at you. If she was upset about that, how’s she going to react when she finds out you’ve arranged an entire wedding for her without even consulting her?”

  I hung up the phone, and immediately started to panic. What the hell had I just done? Lacey was going to hate this. There was no way she’d go along with it. A wedding? Tomorrow? That she didn’t know about? She was already fuming mad at me, and this was a thousand times worse than what I’d done with Rob.

  Chapter 44

  Grant

  I WAS AT THE REALTOR’S OFFICE later that afternoon, finalizing the transaction on the house which I’d forced her to rush, when my phone rang.

  “Hello?” I said.

  “Grant, this is Faith.”

  “Faith, it’s lovely to hear from you, sweetheart.”

  “Cut the crap, Grant. What the hell are you doing?”

  “I’m surprising Lacey.”

  “By throwing her a wedding?”

  “I’m going to propose to her first.”

  “You are?”

  “Yes. Don’t worry. I have a plan.”

  “I hope you do.”

  “I do.”

  “Because if you don’t know what you’re doing, this could be a disaster. Lacey’s a strong-willed woman. She doesn’t like to feel controlled. And I love her more than I love any other woman on earth. So you better not screw this up and hurt her.”

  “I won’t screw it up, Faith.”

  There was a pause on the other end of the line before Faith finally said, “All right, so Jackson tells me I need to find her a wedding dress, today.”

  “Yes. Do you have any ideas?”

  “I actually happen to know what wedding dress Lacey wants already.”

  “You do? You’ve already talked about it?”

  “Of course we’ve talked about it. Lacey’s been wanting a wedding for years, and until very recently, she even thought she was going to have one, with Rob.”

  “That’s all off, now.”

  “So I hear.”

  “So do you think you’ll be able to go pick up the dress?”

  “Grant, it’s not that simple. These wedding dresses are in high demand. And they take months to order.”

  “Who’s the designer?”

  “Her name is Packham, and she’s here in the city.”

  “So go to her store and get a dress.”

  “No can do. I already called. She said it would be impossible to get a dress on this short a notice.”

  “Did you tell her we’d pay extra.”

  “She doesn’t care, Grant. She’s world famous. She’s made dresses for Hollywood stars, and the Princess of England.”

  “Where’s her store?”

  “You’re going to go there?”

  “I have to get this dress, Faith. You help Jackson with the flowers.”

  I finished the paperwork on the house and then drove straight to the Packham boutique across town. I drove so fast I was lucky I didn’t get pulled over.

  I double parked outside the boutique, which was on a trendy little street overlooking the bay, and knocked on the door. An elegant woman with a British accent buzzed me in.

  “This is a matter of life and death,” I said.

  “Excuse me, sir?”

  “I don’t know how I can put this without making myself sound crazy,” I said, “but I really need your help.”

  The lady looked me over. I must have looked crazy already bursting in, covered in tattoos, stubble, and a leather biker jacket.

/>   “You’re lucky you’re my type,” she said, her eyes sparkling, her voice sounding regally British. “What is it you want from me?”

  “When I was a kid, a man saved my life. He took me into his home, brought me up, taught me a trade.”

  “That was very nice of him,” the lady said.

  “Yes, and he died a few years ago.”

  “How sad.”

  “I grew up with his daughter. We’ve been breaking each other’s balls for seventeen years. We fight about everything. Right now we’re fighting over something.”

  “Sounds awful.”

  “It’s not. It’s the exact opposite. She’s sublime. And I can’t risk losing her.”

  “So tell her how you feel.”

  “I’m going to. Tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “Yes, and then I’m going to propose.”

  “Delightful.”

  “And then I’m going to give her the absolute wedding of her dreams.”

  “Right then and there?”

  “Yes, before she has a chance to change her mind and get mad at me again.”

  “Sir, I’m not sure you’re very familiar with the way this works. There’s usually some time, like many months, between the proposal and the wedding.”

  “Why?”

  “Why? Lots of reasons.”

  “Name them.”

  “First of all, you can’t force her to marry you.”

  “I won’t force her to marry me. I’ll propose. We’ll only get married if she says yes, and believe me, when she doesn’t like something I say, she has no trouble letting me know.”

  “Well, secondly, women have certain ideas about their ideal wedding. Things they’ve been dreaming about since they were little girls.”

  “I’ve known this woman since she was a little girl. I already know everything about her ideal wedding. She spelled it out to me. I’ve got it all arranged.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. Sort of.”

  “So you just need a dress?”

  “Not just any dress. I need one of your dresses. The most beautiful one you’ve got. And I need it right now.”

  The woman shook her head. She rose to her feet and made her way to the door. She opened the door and looked at me. “That’s a very lovely story you told me, sir, but I’m afraid what you’re asking is quite impossible.”

  “Impossible?”

  “Yes.”

  “Isn’t that what love is? Impossible? Isn’t that what weddings are? Isn’t marriage supposed to be an impossible promise? Isn’t that the point? To believe in the impossible? Isn’t that what your entire business is about?”

  “My business is about sane adults getting married.”

  “But what’s sane about getting married? Nothing. Trust me, I’ve given it a lot of thought. Two grown people, promising each other that from this day forward, they’re going to forget everything else about the world, and put each other first. They’re going to try and merge their two, completely unique personalities, and create something new that combines the best of both. They’re going to wager their lives against everything the world can throw at them, and promise God and everyone they love, that no matter what, they’re going to stay together, and look after each other, and cherish each other. Impossible? That’s impossible. Love is impossible. It’s supposed to be. That’s the point. Because when two people believe in something impossible together, because of love, that’s when magical things happen.”

  “Magical things?”

  “Think about it. A family is magical. Something that comes about where nothing existed before. That’s real magic. And that’s what love and marriage create.”

  The woman looked me over.

  “You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?”

  “Lady, you bet your British ass I’m serious about this.”

  Chapter 45

  Grant

  FORRESTER CALLED NEXT.

  “Grant.”

  “Forrester.”

  “What the hell’s going on?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Jackson told me I need to pick up an entire refrigerated truck’s worth of chilled, fresh roses from the dock market.”

  “An entire truck’s worth?”

  “Yes.”

  “That must have been expensive.”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “Well, there’s no problem. I just need to know where to take them.”

  “So you got them?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  I smiled. “Thank you, Forrester.”

  “So, where am I taking them?”

  “You know the mountain top by the valley pass, where you can watch the sun set over the ocean?”

  “The one off the Pacific highway?”

  “Yes. Take the flowers there. There’s a little white chapel there, built of fresh-cut pine.”

  “There’s no chapel up there.”

  “There is now, Forrester. I know. I built it.”

  “You built it? When?”

  “When no one was looking.”

  “It must have taken months.”

  “I started the night of Jackson and Faith’s wedding.”

  “What are you planning, Grant?”

  “What does it look like I’m planning, Forrester? I’m planning a wedding.”

  “You’ve got some balls, brother. You know how mad Lacey is at you right now?”

  “I know it,” I said, with a sigh.

  “All right. I’ll take them there. And what do you want me to do with them?”

  “Will the truck keep them cool over night.”

  “Yeah, it will keep them at the optimal temperature for up to four days.”

  “Okay, so tomorrow afternoon, before sunset, I need you to go up there and get things ready. Make the place look nice.”

  “Make it look nice?”

  “Faith will help you. Get the flowers set up. Scatter them around. Get that priest from Jackson’s wedding, the Spanish guy.”

  “Grant, this is crazy. What if Lacey loses her shit?”

  “That’s her right. Now, go, and get the priest to bring the paperwork too. And tell the others to be there. The wedding will take place at sunset. They should dress nice.”

  My heart was pounding. I had the dress. I had the flowers. Things were starting to come together. I still didn’t have the girl, though. What on earth was Lacey going to say when I dropped this bomb on her? The way I saw it, it could go one of two ways, and it was a risk that I had to take. Either, she’d freak out and tell me to go to hell. It wouldn’t be the first time Lacey and I didn’t see eye to eye on something. I could take it if she got mad at me. I just couldn’t take it if I let her slip through my fingers again. I had to make her my wife. She was my destiny. She was my soulmate. I knew she was. If I didn’t make her my wife, my life would be incomplete forever, no matter what else I achieved.

  The second way it could go, was that she’d say yes. She’d want me. She’d agree to marry me. And then she’d be amazed that everything she’d ever wanted for her perfect wedding was all there, waiting for her, ready to go. It was worth the risk. It was worth the chance that it might shock her. The perfect wedding, as a surprise? What girl wouldn’t want that?

  My phone rang again.

  “Grant, it’s Grady.”

  “What is it, Grady?”

  “The dove guy says he can deliver a thousand doves if you can pay for them.”

  “A thousand doves?”

  “You should see this place, Grant. It’s an entire flock of doves.”

  “Do you think that many will be too much?”

  “Honestly?”

  “Yes, honestly.”

  “Grant. Honestly, I think a thousand white doves, flying over the ocean into the sunset would be the most beautiful freaking thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

  I laughed. “Okay, order them. Call Forrester for t
he details of when and where they need to be.”

  “Don’t you want to know the cost?”

  “No, I don’t care. Just make sure the guy has a humane way of recapturing them all. Lacey would freak out if anything bad were to happen to those birds.”

  I was amazed. It seemed like this thing was actually coming together. I might actually pull it off, with the help of my family. It was true, what I’d said earlier. I really did believe it. I know I’ve said bad things about weddings in the past, but the truth is, weddings are a miracle. They’re a complete admission, by one man and one woman, that they believe in the magic of love. They believe that something as amazing as a new family can be created just because they love each other.

  I tried to go through a mental checklist of everything I still needed, which was difficult with the amount of stray thoughts flying through my head, when the phone rang again.

  It was Faith’s number.

  “Faith?”

  “No, it’s Sam.”

  “Sammy? What the hell? Shouldn’t you be at school, little man?”

  “I was, but my mom pulled me out to take care of your shit.”

  “Watch your language, Sam. What would your mother say if she heard you talking like that?”

  “She’s not here. She’s getting the flowers with my dad.”

  “I don’t want to get in trouble for teaching you to swear.”

  “Okay, I’ll watch my language. Now, lets talk brass taxes.”

  “Brass taxes?”

  “Do you want vanilla, chocolate, cherry, or what?”

  “For what?”

  “For the filling, between layers on the cake?”

  “Oh, man. I have no idea.”

  “It’s for Lacey right?”

  “Who told you that?”

  “Grant. I’ve got a team of detectives working on it round the clock for me.”

  I shook my head. Where’d Sam learn to be such a smart ass? Too much time with me and the brothers and his father.

  “Yes, it’s for Lacey.”

  “All right. I know her favorite everything.”

  “Really?”

  “I’ve had enough cake with her to know exactly what she’d want.”

  “All right, Sam. I’m trusting you with this. You get them to make the ultimate cake. The most extravagant thing they can come up with. We need it for tomorrow.”

  “I know, I know. Tomorrow, for sunset over the ocean, surrounded by flowers and doves.”

  “Who told you all that?”