Unintentionally Yours
Page 17
He slipped the ring in place and moved closer in the booth to seal the promise with a kiss.
They called their parents to share the news and the next day he helped her pack her SUV. On Monday, Leah visited the company to refuse the extension and thanked them for giving her the opportunity. Kim agreed that love was the most important factor. And Leah felt at peace as they drove home to Wilmington together. This was the plan for her.
Once they made up their minds to get married, neither wanted to wait the year their mothers claimed it would take to plan a wedding. Marty and Cecily argued there was no way to plan a wedding in three months but Leah and Josiah assured them it could and would be done.
“It’s going to be a small wedding,” Leah said. “That alone will help with the time frame.”
But it wasn’t meant to be. Despite the fact that they were only children, there were relatives, friends and clients and before they knew it the guest list numbered two hundred people. Both mothers were excited but Josiah and Leah couldn’t say the same.
Because of the size of their party, they opted to hold the reception at a beautiful resort hotel at Wrightsville Beach.
Their mothers insisted they register for gifts and when the items started pouring in, Leah was beside herself. “What are we going to do with all this stuff?”
“Well, we do have access to this huge house. I think the dining room can fit a table to hold all twelve place settings of your favorite china.”
“We’ll never have that many guests for dinner.”
“We already have six people. You could exchange it for something else you need. Or wait and see what the future holds.”
“It’s not going to hold ten children,” she said dryly.
He chuckled. “No one said you have to have them all. We could always adopt or foster kids.”
“Let’s not get carried away just yet. We’ll be new to this parenting business and don’t want to get in over our heads before we even get started.”
The mothers insisted on going with Leah when she shopped for her dress. When they pleaded with her to at least try on a princess gown, Leah did as requested. They immediately saw she wasn’t going to be happy in so much dress. She stuck to her guns and chose a slim line style fitted gown of tulle overlay veiling a delicate lace sheath with a V-neckline and cap sleeves. Earlier, both women had gasped when she stepped out in the gown with her hair pulled up in loose curls and her fingertip veil.
Marty took her hands and held out her arms as she took in the beauty before her. “You chose the perfect dress.”
“Thanks, Mom. They won’t even see me with two class acts like you and Cecily coming out first.”
Marty wore a beautifully fitted long sage green V-neck gown, while Cecily had opted for an A-line V-neck floor length taffeta dress with lace beading. The pale pink color suited her lightly tanned skin.
Like Leah’s father, Peter had dressed in a black tuxedo, to escort his new fiancée down the aisle. No one had been surprised when he popped the question a couple of weeks before. Cecily had agreed immediately. Peter owned a home at Wrightsville Beach and after the wedding they would live there when they weren’t traveling.
In fact, Cecily and Marty got on so well that they planned to take a trip together with their husbands in the future. They had done all kinds of research to decide where they wanted to go first.
Her father had teased them about putting the clinic out of business by taking both dentists away. Peter said he’d been thinking of retiring and suggested they find another partner to run their business in their absence.
Today, Kim wore the orchid bridesmaid dress. Susan wanted to be there but her advancing pregnancy kept her off her feet. Kim talked about how much she was going to miss having Leah at her apartment. Josiah promised to send pictures.
Thoughts of the problems caused by that first letter still caused Leah regrets but when she considered how the unintentional act had changed so many lives, she knew a power greater than any of them had been in control.
“Leah, you ready for those pictures?”
She winked at Josiah. “Yes, my love. Let’s make some wonderful memories of our own.”
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781460314159
Copyright © 2013 by Terry Fowler
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