Four Men & A Lady

by Alison Kent

  She wore her hair up and pearls around her neck and a sheer shoulder-length veil that fell from a crown of ivory roses. Her shoes were old-fashioned and her stockings sheer cream and the effect rendered her audience breathless.

  Georgia was the first to speak. With a hand propped on one hip, she clicked her tongue. "Mm-mm. I have looked good in my time but I have never looked like I was spun from heaven's sugar."

  Randy crossed the foyer. He took hold of Heidi's left hand and looked her over. "She's right. You are gorgeous."

  "Not gorgeous." Jack shook his head. "Gorgeous doesn't get this good. This is..." He gestured with an encompassing motion. "This is..."

  "Delicious." Quentin slowly nodded. "And believe me. In my business? I know delicious."

  Heidi blushed. Just like a bride was supposed to. "You're not dog food yourself. Any of you."

  "Well, I should certainly say we are not." Mrs. Jones moved back to the mirror, adjusted her clerical collar above her white robe. "And just wait until you see that groom. My, my, my. If he looked any sharper, Mr. Jones might indeed have a reason to stick even closer to my side."

  Heidi and the others laughed. Mrs. Jones turned toward the nursery doorway, crossed toward the glowing bride and took hold of both Heidi's hands. "You are the best thing that could've ever happened to that Ben Tannen. Don't you let him forget it for a minute."

  "How could he? With you and me both there to remind him?" Overwhelmed by the fierceness of the older woman's loyalty, Heidi enveloped her in a hug. She smelled like cinnamon and apples and fresh country air and home, and Heidi's throat swelled for what she knew would not be the only time today.

  Blinking back tears threatening to ruin hours' worth of artful makeup application, Heidi turned to the rest of her friends. Friends whom she'd loved for years. Friends who knew what this day, what this man, what this marriage meant.

  Friends who were the blessings of her life. "I can't imagine a more perfect day. To have all of you here?" She sobbed once, laughed, blinked harder. "Thank you all. For being here. For being a part of this."

  "We wouldn't have missed this day for the world." Georgia came forward and took her turn. "That nice little bonus in my paycheck guaranteed it."

  Heidi batted at Georgia's shoulder. "You are about to be uninvited, without a partner and, if I can think of a way to manage it, disbarred."

  "Uh-uh-uh." Georgia shook one finger. "You forget. I know too many of your secrets."

  And Heidi trumped with, "I don't have any more secrets, remember?"

  "Hmm. I guess you're right. Well, then, I'll see you in church." Georgia leaned forward to add in a whisper, "I love you, Heidi," then turned away before both their makeup was a lost cause.

  Heidi held out a hand to Jack before Mrs. Jones dragged him away. "I'm glad you're here for Ben."

  Jack blew off her gratitude. "It's more like I'm here because of him. But you're welcome." He held the fingers of both her hands, raised them to his lips, then leaned forward and planted his mouth on hers.

  "Jack!" she cried, after pulling away. "My lipstick!"

  The shrug of his shoulder wasn't the least bit apologetic. "Just getting in the best man's kiss while the groom's not around to knock the crap outta me."

  "He's gonna have to get in line behind me if you don't start acting more like a best man and less like a man about town." Mrs. Jones grabbed Jack by the elbow and hauled him to the auditorium door. "You and me have business at the pulpit. We'll see the rest of you in church."

  The group in the foyer laughed as the one-hundred-ten-pound Mrs. Jones bulldozed the big bad Jack down the aisle toward the anteroom where Ben would be waiting.

  Ben. Oh, Ben. Heidi sighed, suppressed a shiver and turned to Quentin waiting to take his place behind Georgia where she stood at the door. "You look wonderful."

  He grimaced, fluttered the ends of his tie with long fingers. "Yeah. For a maid."

  His misery was just so puppy-dog cute that she had a hard time keeping a straight face. "You make a wonderful maid, Quentin."

  He grimaced. "Don't let my publicist hear you say that. He's already given me grief for telling a reporter that I went through high school as The Queen."

  Heidi reached up to straighten his tie and couldn't help but tease. "Is that really such a bad thing?"

  "It wouldn't be." There was that Brad Pitt brow again. "If I didn't love women so much."

  "And women love you, too. Especially this woman." Heidi wrapped her arms around his waist and held him close.

  He returned the embrace. "Ah, Heidi. I couldn't be any happier for you. Or for Ben. I could be happier for me, though. Especially if you'd tell me more about Georgia."

  With a gasp of exasperation, Heidi pushed him away. "Hey. Me, me, me. Pay attention to me. This is my day to shine, remember?"

  She cut a sly look to her single bridesmaid dressed in violet and chiffon, then glanced back at Quentin. Matchmaking wheels began to whir. "Besides, Georgia would eat you alive."

  "I was hoping you'd say that." And with a wink he moved away to take his place behind the object of his affection.

  Heidi rolled her eyes and walked toward her two attendants, linking her arm through Randy's when he offered. She took a deep breath. "Ready?"

  "One question."

  "Shoot."

  Patting her hand where it lay on his arm, he puffed out his chest, lowered his voice, and asked, "As father of the bride, when do I get to sit down with the groom and have my little talk?"

  "Talk?"

  Randy nodded with all seriousness. "Young boys these days. Selfish punks. Don't know how to treat a girl."

  "Ah. That talk. Well, I think never would be the perfect time for that," she answered, patting the hand still resting on hers then tweaking his ear.

  "Yeowch! Okay, okay. I'll just keep my mouth shut." He pretended to rub the sting from his ear. "You two kids deserve each other, you know that?"

  The smile that spread over her face came from a place deep in her heart that no one but Ben Tannen had been able to find. A place even she hadn't known existed. "Yes. We do."

  She needed a moment, just a moment alone. She pulled her arm from Randy's. He dropped a kiss on her cheek, gave her a wink and moved to wait with Georgia and Quentin.

  Heidi smiled at the three of them and opened the church's front door. Walking out onto the first stone step, she stood in the midmorning sun and breathed deep of the fresh clean country air.

  The only cars in the small gravel parking lot belonged to the friends inside. Her friends and Ben's. No one else. This day was an intimate celebration, which the guest list reflected.

  She'd almost declined to attend the reunion. What an ironic twist of fate if she had. No renewing old friendships, no rekindling of old flames. No reminiscing, no remembering, no regurgitating.

  She laughed to herself and even her laugh sounded watery and weak. High emotion ruled the moment, plucking at the strings of her heart. And she wanted to feel it all.

  To capture every nuance of what it meant to be surrounded by so much love. To have found this place of contentment, of belonging. To know this man.

  Heidi Tannen. Mrs. Ben Tannen. A sob of joy spilled forth.

  Every road of her life's journey had been leading to today and the years ahead waiting to unfold. She'd be entering them rich in friendships, as the wife of the man she'd loved for most of her life. And would love for all the years that remained.

  "Heidi? Sweetie?"

  Heidi turned at Georgia's voice.

  "Unless you're thinking of hitting the road, it's time to face the music."

  It was then through the open door that Heidi heard the sax. "The Bridal March" played in the low sexy drawn-out tones of an alto's voice. Ben had surprised her with this. He'd told her he'd take care of the music and this is what he had done.

  The sun was shining, the grass was green and suddenly she couldn't wait for the rest of her life.

  Mr. Jones was securing the auditorium door as Heidi
entered the foyer. He gave her a wink, she answered with a warm smile as she returned her hand to the crook of Randy's elbow. A deep breath later, she nodded at Georgia who started down the aisle.

  Quentin followed, adding a good-natured roll of his eyes at the indignity of it all. Heidi barely suppressed a chuckle. And then she was up, squeezing Randy's arm as they started toward the front of the church and the man who drew her gaze.

  The rogue wore a tender smile and his eyes glistened as he followed her progress. Heidi knew nothing but Ben and her heart, and the days that waited for their love and laughter.

  He was her husband. She was his wife. This ceremony was only a ceremony.

  The sax drifted away as she and Randy passed the last pew and stopped. Mrs. Jones cleared her throat and glanced from Heidi to Ben. "Who gives this woman to be married to this man?"

  Heidi's grin reached from ear to ear when Ben winked and smiled.

  And while the two lovers came together as one, Quentin and Randy and Jack answered, "We do."