Julia was immediately enveloped in a bear hug.
“How is Lisa?” Julia asked.
“We’re still waiting for word.”
With a shuddering sigh, Julia sank into a plastic chair to wait.
****
Julia was sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting room when Seth finally tracked her down. Actually it was more of a reclining position than a sitting one. Her eyes were closed, and she looked utterly exhausted. A grin kicked up the corner of his mouth as he slipped into the chair next to her.
“It’s the hero of the hour,” he said.
She rotated her head on the chair back and peeled her eyes open. “Shouldn’t you be off praying somewhere, Reverend?”
“I’ve been praying with the family members,” he said.
“First wardrobe malfunctions, now killer bees,” she said, letting out a soft groan as she sat up. “I thought things would be dull and uninteresting around here.”
“You’re lucky I guess. Seriously, that was amazing. You might have saved her life.”
For the first time Seth could recall, Julia Richardson actually blushed. He watched the dusky, pink color rise in her cheeks with fascination.
“Betsy was the one who had the medicine,” she said. “I only stuck the needle in.”
“Something she was too afraid to do. You did a good job today, Julia.”
“Thank you.”
She looked down, which drew Seth’s gaze in the same direction. At some point he’d taken her hand. He drew away with a start, unnerved by how natural touching her felt.
Before either of them could say anything else, the doors to the waiting room opened and the doctor walked in. Everyone came to full attention.
“Lisa should be fine,” the doctor announced. “She’s awake now and has a pretty bad breakout of hives, but she should recover fully in a couple days.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Lisa’s mother said. “Can we see her?
“Yes, of course, but keep the visitors to a minimum for now.”
Scott and Lisa’s parents hurried off after the doctor. The rest of the extended family started to gather their things to leave.
“If any of you are interested, the party is still on at the gardens,” Julia said.
Most of them looked too weary to go anywhere but home, though some actually perked up. Before long, Julia and Seth were the only ones left.
“You could probably go home now, as well,” Seth said.
“I feel like I should make sure our client is all right before I leave,” Julia said.
“You heard the doctor.”
“I know, but I still—”
The doors opened again, and Lisa’s father hurried in. “Reverend, Lisa and Scott would like to speak with you.”
“All right.” He turned to Julia. “Why don’t you come with me so you can look in on Lisa yourself?”
Julia glanced at Lisa’s dad, who nodded his okay. They trailed the older man up to Lisa’s room. The almost bride was sitting up in bed. Her wedding dress was gone; replaced with a blue, cotton hospital gown. Her arms were covered in red welts, and her face looked a bit swollen. Scott was sitting on the edge of the bed. They both looked up eagerly as Julia and Seth entered the room.
“Lisa, you’re looking well,” Seth said, going over to kiss her cheek. “You had us all pretty scared for a while. I’m glad you’re all right.”
“Thank you. Reverend, Scott and I were talking, and we still want to get married.”
“Of course. Let me know what day, and we’ll do it.”
Lisa giggled. “No, we’d like to get married today.”
He looked at them with surprise. “What, now?”
“Yes.”
Julia stepped forward. “Are you sure? You had that big wedding planned and everything. It can be rescheduled.”
Lisa shook her head. “What matters is that Scott and I love each other, and I don’t care if we get married in a garden or in this hospital room. All I want is to be Scott’s wife.”
A grin lit up Seth’s face. “It’s unusual, but I’d be glad to marry you. Why don’t I pick up where we left off? Repeat after me. I, Lisa Anne Evans…”
“I, Lisa Anne Evans…”
****
By the time Julia made it back to the house, the sun had long departed. After the impromptu ceremony, she’d gone back to the Botanical Gardens to help Betsy oversee the not-really-a-reception and the cleanup afterward. At this point she’d surpassed tired and was approaching catatonic. As she trudged up the steps, every cell in her body protested the latest injustice. Her mind drifted back to the ceremony she’d witnessed.
After her father and Grace had divorced, Julia had ended up in a weird parental limbo. Her father was single again, and a teenaged daughter had not been conducive to his swinging bachelor lifestyle. Her mother was still on husband #3, and Julia’s presence had not conducive to his lifestyle. So, Julia had wound up at an exclusive, all-girls prep school in Connecticut. The change had turned out to be a blessing, as it served to shield her from the drama surrounding her parents’ lives.
It also brought her into contact with girls of means, or to put it bluntly, girls whose families were loaded. Julia had made a lot of friends, which meant she’d spent the years after prep school and college attending nearly two dozen society weddings. Lavish, overblown affairs where the brides wore $20,000 designer wedding gowns, and guests dined on lobster tail and $400 per ounce caviar.
Of course, of those two dozen girls, sixteen of them were now divorced. They’d had the fairytale wedding but never bothered to think about what happened after the clock struck midnight.
Julia couldn’t help but compare those affairs to the wedding in Lisa’s hospital room. What should have been an awkward occasion had turned out to be one of the most touching things Julia had ever witnessed. The bride had glowed, despite the highly unflattering hospital gown and red, splotchy skin. The groom had teared up when Seth got to the “till death do us part” line. Everyone else got misty, too. Even Julia had fought back a few tears.
Lisa and Scott understood, Julia thought. They realized an expensive gown — and rose-colored bridesmaid’s dresses — didn’t lead to a successful marriage. Their relationship counted, not a ceremony.
Darkness enveloped her as she slipped in the front door. All she wanted was a hot bath and a bed.
“Julia?”
She jumped and then realized the disembodied voice was coming from the back of the house. She made her way to the kitchen.
Grace was standing at the stove stirring something in a pot. “I thought you might be hungry after the day you had.”
Julia’s mouth watered, but she forced herself to focus on Grace. “You heard about the bees obviously.”
“I was at the wedding.”
“I didn’t see you.”
“You were a little busy,” Grace said with a wry grin. “I saw what you did for Lisa. Is she going to be okay?”
“Yes. They’ll have to wait a few days for the honeymoon, but otherwise—”
“Honeymoon?” Grace queried in bemusement, as she filled a bowl with soup.
“They had Seth do the vows in the hospital.”
She chuckled. “Oh, how sweet.”
“It was actually.”
“Sit, sit!” Grace ordered, setting the bowl down on the table.
“You didn’t have to cook for me,” Julia protested, even as she dug into the soup.
“It’s from a can,” Grace said in a pseudo-whisper. “If my mother were still alive, she’d be horrified.”
“Why would she care?” Julia asked as Grace walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed the ever-present pitcher of iced tea.
“My mother always made hers from scratch.”
“But you’re going to be a grandmother yourself soon.”
“I don’t think we ever outgrow the need to please our parents.”
Well, here was the opening Julia needed, but how did she go about a
sking Grace why she had been dumb enough to hook up with a jerk? “Speaking of parents, can I ask you something personal?”
“You want to know why I married your father,” Grace said as she sank into a chair.
Julia blinked. “What… How?”
“I can see it in your eyes every time you look at me. What in the world did my sophisticated father see in that little church mouse?”
Julia winced at knowing Grace would think that. “No, mostly I wonder how a wise, sensible woman like you wound up with a no-good playboy like my father.”
“Sometimes we’re all fools, especially when it comes to our hearts,” Grace said. “When my first husband died, I went into a tailspin. I was devastated and felt so alone. I was angry at God for taking my gentle, loving husband, and frightened about raising a child on my own.”
Julia took a sip of tea. “I can understand.”
“Unfortunately, emptiness and anger left me vulnerable to someone who offered an escape. Someone like your father.”
“Did you love him?”
Grace seemed to consider the question for a moment. “I did, though it was different from what I felt with my Samuel. Your father was handsome and charming. He made me laugh. When I was with him, I felt like the most beautiful woman on earth.”
“He was good at making women feel special.”
Grace nodded. “Yes, he was. The combination was intoxicating, let me tell you. I couldn’t believe a man like him would even look at me, let alone profess to love me. Before I knew it, we were getting married.”
“How much did you know about him? Did he tell you about his previous marriages?”
“I knew about your mother, and you, of course,” Grace said, with a grimace. “I didn’t know about the others until after we were married. I’m afraid I didn’t ask too many questions.”
“Were you happy with him?”
Grace rested her hand in her chin. “For a while. I soon realized his charm was mostly surface. Of course by then I’d already fallen in love with his daughter.”
Julia choked on the soup. “Me?”
“Yes, you,” she said, with an indulgent smile. “I wanted to make our marriage work for your sake as much as mine. I knew you’d been shuffled around most of your life, and I wanted to give you a stable, loving home.”
“I was horrible to you.”
Grace laughed again. “You were a teenager. You were also a young girl who’d been hurt, which made me want to protect you even more.”
“Is that why you kept writing and calling, even after my father and I were gone?”
The answer was slow in coming, and when Grace finally did speak her voice was husky and filled with sadness. “It nearly broke my heart when you left. It felt like someone had ripped my body apart. For weeks I’d go into your room and just look at it.”
Julia drew in a sharp breath. “I didn’t know—”
Grace took Julia’s hand. “I couldn’t put an added burden on you. I couldn’t bear to lose you entirely, so I started writing. I tried not to push too much because I was afraid you’d bolt. You’d learned not to trust love, and you were so skittish. So, I contented myself with whatever snippet of your life you’d allow me to have, and I prayed someday I’d get the chance to teach you what love is.”
“It only took Sarah nearly losing her baby to do it.”
“Well, everything happens for a reason.”
Right. God, the ultimate chess player. “Everything? Even your marriage to my worthless father?”
Grace winced. “You shouldn’t talk about your father that way, but yes, of course God had a plan. You came into our lives because of my marriage, and you are worth any disappointment I suffered.”
“Great, now all the pieces fit,” Julia said, with a cynical laugh. “God allowed you to marry my father so you’d meet me, so some day I could come back here and run Marry Me, so baby Mary can be born healthy and some day keep me from dying of cancer. It’s all coming together.”
No response.
“I was kidding,” Julia said, starting to get a little unnerved.
Grace wasn’t laughing. Rather, she looked thoughtful.
“Grace, I’m joking.”
She smiled. “Of course, dear, I know.”
Chapter Seven
Since she’d arrived in Covington Falls, Julia always seemed to be running late. In her previous life as a business executive, she’d prided herself on being punctual. Had been rather fanatical about it, in fact. Like her career, those days seemed to be over.
It was only 8:30, but already Julia was behind schedule. Tires squealing, she pulled into a parking spot in front of The Old Diner where she was supposed to have met Meredith Vining for breakfast twenty minutes ago. Every establishment in town must have one of those annoyingly cute bells over the door because the one at the restaurant heralded her entrance loud and clear. Heads turned, and two dozen pairs of eyes sized her up. She gulped, feeling like the new kid in school.
As its name implied, the restaurant was designed like an old-time 50s diner. Black-and-white checkerboard tile set off walls displaying photographs of silver screen icons. A long counter with swivel seats ran down the length of the dining area, along with a row of red vinyl booths against the windows.
Meredith was already seated in one near the back. As soon as Julia slid into her seat, a plump blonde in a pink, polyester dress and white apron sidled up to the table. She looked pointedly at Julia.
Meredith took the obvious hint. “Sally-Anne, this is Grace’s stepdaughter, Julia.”
“Why, aren’t you the prettiest thing?” Sally-Anne said. “I already know Meredith is getting the French Toast Special. What can I get you?”
“A couple of fried eggs and toast would be good,” Julia said. “Some coffee, too. Make it strong, please. I had a long weekend.”
Meredith grinned as Sally-Anne left to put in the order. “I heard about your bee encounter on Saturday.”
“I’m not surprised,” Julia said. “Grace told me the news was all over church yesterday.”
“No one could talk about anything else. Especially the impromptu wedding ceremony at Lisa’s bedside, which is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Even I cried a little, and I’m a committed cynic.”
Meredith took a sip of her coffee. “I also heard you turned into an emergency room doc.”
“Please. All I did was stick a needle in Lisa’s leg,” Julia said, rolling her eyes.
“So you didn’t whip out a portable defibrillator and restart her heart?”
“What? Give me a break.”
Meredith placed her cup back on the table and leaned back in the booth. “I didn’t think the CPR part was true, but it made for a great story.”
“Good grief,” Julia muttered. “Pretty soon they’ll have me performing open-heart surgery right there in front of the rose bushes.”
They chatted more about the wedding and Meredith’s job as the Music Director.
A few minutes later, Sally-Anne arrived with breakfast. “Two eggs, fried with toast, and the FT Special.”
Sally-Anne filled Julia’s coffee cup and turned to leave, only to pause and turn back. “That was a real brave thing you did yesterday, Miss Julia. Real brave.”
“Thank you.”
The waitress hustled away, and Julia turned back to her companion. “Not to change the subject, but I’m still rather curious as to why you’re here instead of making records?”
Meredith shook her head. “You’re someone who likes to get right down to business.”
“I can’t help it. I’ve been wondering about it ever since we met.”
“My whole life, all I ever wanted was to be a singer,” Meredith said after a long pause. “I wanted to be on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans.”
“I saw you in a musical back in high school. Even then you were good. Special.”
“Perhaps. My parents were horrified at the prospect of having a daughter in the rock
music business, which in hindsight was probably part of the lure. You see, for all the so-called talent, it was always my younger sister who got the attention. Especially from my mother. Amy was her entire world.”
Julia paused with her fork in the air. “I met an Amy at Grace’s house. Tiny blonde with matching everything?”
A small grin played around the corner of Meredith’s mouth. “Right.”
“She cornered me in the kitchen and gave me the third degree about living so close to Seth. I got the feeling she thought I wasn’t above sneaking over to the garage apartment and seducing him.”
Meredith was taking a sip of coffee, and she nearly spit it out. “Yep, definitely Amy. She’s had a crush on him since she was about six.”
“I had no idea she was your sister. You two look nothing alike.”
“A fact which was pointed out to me by my mother on a daily basis,” Meredith said, cutting through her French toast with a bit more force. “Anyway, music became my way of trying to stand out. Then it became my dream, and when I was seventeen the opportunity to escape moved in right across the street.”
Julia jabbed a piece of toast at Meredith. “A boy, no doubt.”
“Got it in one.” Meredith dipped her head. “Nick came to live with his aunt and uncle when I was a senior in high school. He’d gotten into some trouble, and I guess his parents hoped some time here would straighten him out."
“I’m guessing it didn’t work.”
“Of course not. Nick was brooding and gorgeous, and best of all he was a rock musician. Before long, he became my whole world. I dumped my boyfriend. Rebelled against everything my parents stood for, including God. The day I turned eighteen, I ran away with him to New York.”
“Pretty brave of you… leaving everything behind to pursue your dreams.”
“It was stupid, but all I cared about was making it big. I didn’t need God in my life. I could do it all on my own.”
Julia nodded. “That’s always been my philosophy.”
A long look from Meredith followed before she continued. “Anyway, for a while it seemed like everything was working out. I got a manager. Scored some good gigs. Unfortunately, Nick wasn’t so lucky.”
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