A Wedding for Maggie

by ALLISON LEIGH,

  Then Squire and Gloria took the children outside to play in the fresh snow that had fallen overnight and Jaimie went to her room to fix her hair, and Maggie found herself at loose ends again.

  Staring at the phone.

  Wishing for Daniel to call.

  But the phone remained stubbornly silent, and she finally went downstairs to her own shower. After, she would give herself a manicure. Then see if she could get her fine hair to hold a curl long enough for the wedding.

  But once she settled at the breakfast counter in the guest suite with her emery board and rose-colored polish to replace the pale pink she’d worn for Thanksgiving, she didn’t do anything but look at the telephone on the counter.

  She had to tell Daniel about the investigator and what he’d found. She couldn’t walk down a church aisle with the secret hanging between them. She couldn’t.

  And if, as a result of her deed, he decided there was to be no wedding, it was better to know before, than after. He had a right to make that choice. He had a right to know.

  Her hand trembled as she reached for the phone to dial Daniel’s—no, their—phone number. But it rang shrilly as she reached for it and she nearly jumped out of her skin before answering. And ten minutes later when she hung up, tears blurred her vision as she called Daniel.

  The phone just rang and rang and rang. And finally, Maggie gave up. She would drive over to the house and see him in person.

  Yet when she dressed and hurried upstairs, it was to find Matthew just coming in through the mudroom. And he told her that his brother wasn’t at their house, because he’d already gone into Weaver to meet up with Tristan, who had driven straight there from the airport. Then he looked at her, his ice-blue eyes curious. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready or something?”

  Her opportunity to catch Daniel spun even further away when Squire and Gloria came back in with J.D. and Sarah, who were champing at the bit to take a bath together and have their hair fixed all pretty like big girls and dress in their burgundy velvet dresses. Squelching her frustration with everything she possessed, she joined Gloria in hustling the girls through their baths.

  Then Jaimie came along the hallway and ordered Maggie to leave the girls to her so Maggie could finish getting ready. “The wedding is at four,” she reminded pointedly. “It’s almost two-thirty now.”

  Daniel was already in town. Maggie went downstairs again and tried phoning the church. But the line was busy. “I don’t believe this,” she muttered, hanging up after trying two more times.

  Obviously, she’d have to catch him before the ceremony. And the quicker she got to town, the quicker she could tell him. She’d just picked up the blow-dryer when Jaimie came gliding into the room, striking in the midnight blue sheath with the tiny tucks along the bodice to accommodate her pregnancy. Muttering about procrastinating brides, Jaimie hustled Maggie into a chair and turned on the dryer. “Matthew’s up there looking at his watch every five minutes,” she said above the whine of the dryer. “And Daniel called—”

  Maggie whirled around. “He called?”

  Jaimie pushed her back on the chair with a firm hand, waving the dryer over Maggie’s head. “To see when we’d be arriving. Holy kamoly, Mags, would you sit still? You’re worse than Sarah.”

  Maggie sat still. “He didn’t... say anything else?”

  Jaimie finally turned off the dryer and began winding Maggie’s fine blond hair around hot rollers with an experienced hand. “Only that Jefferson and Em were already there. Hurry up and get your dress and we’ll go.”

  “But—”

  “We’ll finish your hair on the way,” Jaimie said, already sweeping a brush and comb and pins into a pink case. “Good thing you’re the only one dressing at the church,” she muttered

  They heard heavy footsteps thunder down the stairs and Maggie automatically followed Jaimie’s orders as Matthew appeared, closely followed by Squire, wanting to know what on earth was the holdup.

  “You’d think you were havin’ second thoughts,” Squire groused as he followed them back up the stairs.

  Ahead of her, Jaimie chuckled. Maggie didn’t have a laugh left in her at that moment. She was still having a difficult time picturing Daniel already at the church. Panic swelled inside her at the thought. My God, she had to tell him about the call.

  By the time they arrived at the church, there were already cars pulling into the small parking lot. Jaimie pressed Matthew into service, ordering him to carry the gown, safely zipped inside a special bag. Before Maggie had an opportunity to slip away to find Daniel, she found herself closed in the bride’s room with Jaimie and Emily alternately prodding her into dressing.

  Finally she’d had enough. “I need to talk to Daniel.”

  She saw the look Jaimie and Emily exchanged.

  “I mean it.” She gathered up the heavy skirt of her gown and started for the door, but Jaimie barred the way.

  “You’re not going out there yet,” Jaimie said firmly.

  “You don’t understand. I have to talk to Daniel. It’s important.”

  “I’ll get him,” Emily said after a moment.

  They heard organ music when Emily opened the door, and Maggie felt her knees go watery. Emily was back in minutes, but Daniel wasn’t with her. “He’s already in the sanctuary,” she said. “Waiting for you.” She picked up Maggie’s bouquet and stuck it in her hands.

  The organist was playing. She’d lost her chance.

  She swallowed the knot in her throat, managing to smile at J.D. and Leandra and Sarah, who were waiting in the narthex with Gloria. They looked like angels in their ankle-length dresses of burgundy velvet. Wreathes of baby’s breath and tea roses circled their heads.

  Though the inner doors to the sanctuary were closed, she could still hear the whispers of the guests inside the sanctuary. Then the minister’s wife opened the narthex doors and the whispers died and music swelled out to meet them.

  Her heart in her throat, Maggie hovered anxiously out of sight while the minister’s wife fussed with the wide sweeping skirt of her gown.

  Emily glided down the aisle, followed by Leandra. Then Jaimie and Sarah.

  J.D. marched solemnly into the sanctuary, her hands tight on her small basket of roses. Maggie wasn’t worried about J.D. She had complete faith that her daughter would go right to her spot where they’d practiced earlier that week.

  “Maggie, dear. It’s time.”

  She focused on the minister’s wife, who nodded encouragingly.

  Drawing in a shuddering breath, her small bouquet trembling in her hands, Maggie stepped to the center of the wide doorway where the pews seemed to go on forever and ever down an aisle that surely had tripled in length since Tuesday.

  Then he was there.

  Daniel.

  And his quicksilver gaze met hers across the distance. And the aisle returned to normal and her hands stopped shaking. Her fears and her nerves and her anxiety all faded until there was nothing but Daniel. The man she loved.

  Maggie appeared between the doors and Daniel felt time crank to a shuddering, jolting halt. Her cream gown was simplicity itself. Not a ruffle or bead in sight. Just her and a sleek sweep of heavy silk that shimmered like an antique pearl when she started down the aisle toward him. Her corn-silk hair brushed away from her lovely face in smooth waves, unhidden by so much as a wisp of veil.

  No father escorted her down the aisle. No mother, or even a friend.

  Just Maggie. Walking straight and proud and so impossibly beautiful that his throat tightened. Midway down the aisle she passed through a patch of sunlight from the high windows and golden light glinted about her head.

  She looked like an angel.

  Something hard and tight inside his chest cracked wide, and he thought that he’d been waiting all his life for this moment. For this woman.

  Maggie kept gliding toward him, her turquoise eyes shining. He was vaguely aware of the little girls slipping into the front pew with Squire and Gloria.

&
nbsp; Then Maggie joined him there in front of their family and friends. In front of a plain wooden cross hanging on the wall behind the minister.

  He looked at her as she looked solemnly at the minister. Her hair was pulled into soft waves at the back of her head, fastened with a tiny cluster of roses that matched her gown. “Maggie—”

  She looked up at him, her eyes wide. And filled with love. “Are you okay?”

  He swallowed, the words jamming in his chest so hard they hurt.

  Then she smiled gently. “It’s all right, Daniel. Everything is all right now. You see I found—”

  “I’ve waited years for you,” he said abruptly, then frowned because the words didn’t say everything he felt.

  Her lips parted soundlessly.

  Uncaring that the minister was clearing his throat nervously or that Matthew was elbowing him in the back, Daniel turned Maggie to face him.

  His Maggie Mae. Who filled his heart and his lungs and his soul with her strength. Her love that was wide enough to encompass everything he was. Everything he’d been. Everything he’d cared about.

  He brushed his thumb down her silken cheek. “This isn’t about the baby,” he murmured softly, trying again to express himself. “I want you to know that.”

  Her eyes filled. “Oh, Daniel. And you need to know—”

  “Excuse me—” the minister finally leaned forward, his voice quiet “—could we proceed here?”

  Daniel tucked Maggie’s arm through his and brushed a kiss over her soft lips. Several chuckles filled the small church, and he looked at the minister suddenly impatient. “Anytime you’re ready.”

  The minister blinked. Matthew hid his chuckle in a soft cough behind him. And Maggie tightened her fingers through his. Her eyes were steady and her hand sure when he repeated his vows and slipped the woven band on her finger, Then she did the same as he, sliding a band that he hadn’t even known she’d gotten, on his finger in return.

  When the minister pronounced them wed, Daniel turned to her. But he didn’t kiss her as the minister had just prompted. He just looked at her, his beautiful Maggie Mae.

  Her eyes searched his. “You didn’t change your mind,” she murmured.

  “I wanted to,” he admitted in a low voice. “For a while. But I couldn’t.”

  Her eyes glistened. “Because you made a promise?”

  He touched her cheek, uncaring that everyone in the church was waiting with undisguised curiosity, and the words he hadn’t been able to say were suddenly there. As easy and as natural and as necessary as breathing. “Because I love you, Maggie Mae.”

  A tear slipped down her cheek and he brushed it away gently. “Oh, Daniel, I love you, too.”

  “So kiss her already,” somebody said from the congregation.

  But Daniel already was.

  And the guests laughed and clapped.

  The music began again, and Daniel turned his bride to walk back down the aisle. He couldn’t tear his eyes from her and nearly tripped on her long skirts when she stopped cold, her eyes focused fiercely toward the back of the church.

  The laughter and talk and music all dwindled, and he followed her gaze. And froze. “Dear God,” he whispered. He looked up to see Jefferson and Maggie exchanging a look. “Maggie?”

  She dashed a finger beneath her eyes. “I tried to tell you Daniel, but—”

  He barely heard her. He gripped her hand hard, staring at the man and child who’d caused such a stir in the rear of the sanctuary. “How?”

  “Orphanages,” Maggie whispered. She tugged at her hand and nodded. “Go, Daniel.”

  He just shook his head. He wasn’t going anywhere. The moment Maggie had walked back into his life, he’d known it. He just hadn’t admitted it.

  He crouched down on one knee, holding on to Maggie’s hand like a lifeline.

  The dark-eyed little girl studied him for a long minute. He lifted his hand toward her and she took a step forward Then ran into Daniel’s arms.

  J.D. slipped under Maggie’s free hand, and she smiled reassuringly at her daughter. Despite her gown, she went right onto her knees in front of the child and touched her lustrous brown hair. “Angeline,” she whispered, knowing this beautiful child could be none other than the one who’d captured a part of Daniel’s heart. All she could do was smile gently, her mother’s heart wanting nothing more than to put her arms around the little girl and reassure her. “Welcome.”

  The girl’s eyes flew to Daniel’s, and she rattled off a string of unintelligible words. He answered her, his voice husky.

  Angeline’s eyes were large and wary as she gingerly touched Maggie’s hair. The spray of flowers holding back her hair. Maggie welcomed the curiosity as a natural thing.

  J.D. slid between Maggie and Daniel, her eyes shy Then she held out her basket of flowers to the other girl. Daniel murmured to Angeline. And slowly the child smiled and took the basket. The children eyed each other, then smiled. A smile that needed no translations from one language to another.

  Daniel rose, his eyes fierce on Maggie’s face. “How? When?”

  Maggie straightened, her eyes going to the man who still stood in the rear of the sanctuary. “I hired the investigator who found Joe for me,” she whispered. “The day after we moved to the new house. I knew you’d be angry if you knew, but, oh Daniel, I had to do something.” She looked down at the two little girls for a moment. “Jefferson helped by detailing what he knew about Santo Marguerite, but we didn’t find anything that you hadn’t until we started contacting the churches and orphanages m the area. Then we had a lead. I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid to get your hopes up. And then today,” she shrugged helplessly. “Every time I tried to reach you, talk to you and tell you that Angeline was on her way, well, it just didn’t work out.” She touched his face with trembling fingers. “Coleman Black called me this morning. He pulled all kinds of strings for us. For Angelme. He said to tell you he was sorry he couldn’t be here himself.”

  “There will be reams of red tape,” Daniel warned, barely able to conceive of Coleman Black being so...kind.

  Maggie shook her head, pressing her fingers to his lips. “We’ve come this far, Daniel. We’ll work it out.”

  Standing there in that church, with miracles all around him, Daniel knew they would. With Maggie by his side, they’d work through the easy times and the tough times. But they’d do it together. Finally.

  He suddenly laughed and stood, sweeping Angeline up in one arm and J.D. in the other. He wrapped his arm around all these females who filled his heart. And he looked out at the guests filling the small sanctuary to overflowing, and knew that he was a man blessed. All because of a woman named Maggie. Who had believed in hope and love even when he hadn’t

  “My family,” he said wonderingly.

  Maggie leaned her head against his shoulder, looking up at him with her heart in her beautiful eyes. “No, Daniel,” she corrected lovingly. “Our family.”

  With the help of a certain lovely lady doctor, Sawyer

  Clay finds his way home to the Double-C. Watch for

  their story, coming only to Silhouette Special Edition

  in late 1999.

  ISBN : 978-1-4592-6007-8

  A WEDDING FOR MAGGIE

  Copyright © 1999 by Allison Lee Kinnaird

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 USA

  All characters m this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention

  This edi
tion published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A

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