“I’m fine,” Karin protested. “And if I’m not, I’m certainly able to say so myself.”
But she didn’t look fine to him, no matter how much she insisted. She looked alone and afraid. He didn’t say anything more though as he drove slowly down the lane—past a big, old-fashioned farmhouse, several barns and small groups of people walking toward some gardens. Everywhere he looked, there were garlands and cascades of flowers tied up with ribbons, yet it looked natural, as if the flowers all belonged there.
“Wow, this is sure pretty,” Lissa said, her voice filled with wonder. “When I get married, I want it to look just like this.”
“It does seem perfect, doesn’t it?” Karin said, sounding strained.
Jed didn’t say anything, not sure what to read in her voice. It wasn’t jealousy certainly, but maybe loneliness. Maybe a sense of dreams that would never come true. Had she loved deeply and then been hurt? If so, he knew her pain, knew her certainty that love was a desert that you didn’t wander anywhere near. You might find water and shelter, but it always dried up and left you worse off.
In silence, Jed pulled the Jeep into an empty parking spot. Lissa and Karin both got out before he could open their doors, and he had to satisfy himself with the gentlemanly chore of locking the car.
Karin had been starting across the yard, but turned with a frown at the sound of the key in the lock. “You don’t have to do that here,” she said. “No one’s going to steal it.”
“I figured that. I just didn’t want to tempt an honest man into sin,” he joked, wanting to see her frown go away.
“I resent that,” she snapped. “These are my friends. No one is interested in that stupid car.”
Locking a car was an insult now? He knew she wasn’t feeling well, and obviously bothered by this whole wedding setting, but she could give him a break.
“Fine,” he said. “If it bothers you, I’ll leave the car open.”
“You can do what you want. I don’t care.”
Ten years of marriage had taught him what that really meant. Jed just turned and hit the keyless entry. The doors unlocked with a little squawk. There. She’d won. She should be pleased now.
She wasn’t.
“I said you could lock it.” Karin came back, opened the passenger door, hit the powerlock and slammed the door closed. Then she turned toward him. “Now, are you happy?”
He looked at her, telling himself that she was injured, that she was possibly mourning a lost love, that she was having to explain a mistaken engagement to her friends and family. But she was also getting damn annoying.
“Bordering on ecstatic, ma’am,” he murmured.
She spun around on her heel and started across the parking area. Lissa came over and took his hand as they followed.
“I think she likes you,” Lissa whispered.
“I can see that,” Jed said, swallowing a laugh. “She looks about ready to hug me to pieces.”
“Karin, you’re here!”
Two young women had been walking into the garden area but had turned and were now hurrying over to Karin. Another group must have heard their cries, since they were coming back also. And still others were hurrying across the parking area. Karin had stopped walking and was standing as still as a statue as a middle-aged woman hugged her tightly.
Jed forgot his annoyance and hurried over, pushing his way through the small crowd to Karin’s side. “Excuse me, ma’am,” he said. “Beg your pardon for interrupting but—”
The middle-aged woman had pulled away from Karin with a smile, but turned as Jed spoke. “Oh, Karin. A cowboy!” she cried and threw her arms around him. “How absolutely, positively wonderful.”
Jed endured the hug for a moment, feeling guiltier and guiltier the longer he let it last. Finally he pulled away. The resemblance was strong, this had to be Karin’s mother.
“Ah, Mrs. Spencer,” he said. “It’s a pleasure, ma’am.”
“Mrs. Spencer?” The woman roared with laughter. “Honey, call me Marge. I haven’t been Mrs. Spencer for more than thirty years. Just how long have you known Karin?”
Jed tried to keep smiling. This was the perfect opening. “Uh—”
But Marge gave him no chance. She spotted Lissa and enveloped her in a crushing hug. “Welcome to Chesterton, sweetie. I can’t tell you how excited I am to meet you and your dad.”
Jed cleared his throat, then cleared it again when he saw Lissa returning the hug. Neither his parents nor Wendy’s were still alive, but for a moment, Lissa had the grandmother she’d always wanted. Damn, this was getting complicated.
“Uh, ma’am,” he said. “I’m afraid there’s been a little misunderstanding here.”
Marge let go of Lissa to reach over and take Jed’s hand. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” The woman’s eyes were glistening like those of someone whose prayers had been answered. “I’ve had nobody but Karin stick around all these years and now I’m going to have a real family.”
Jed swallowed quickly. “Actually, ma’am, it’s not that simple.”
She laughed with real glee and wagged her finger at him. “You don’t have to confess,” she said. “I know. I knew the moment I hugged her. You can’t fool a mama.”
Jed was at a loss for words. He had a feeling Karin’s mother wasn’t talking about the same thing he was, but he pushed on. “It was all my fault, ma’am. I take all the blame.”
Her smile changed slightly. Not that it dimmed or anything, but it seemed to change from laughter to caring. “What a gentleman you are, but you know, I couldn’t be happier.” She leaned closer. “I never thought I’d have one grandchild and now to be getting two! It’s too wonderful for words.”
Two grandchildren? Jed felt as if he’d been thrown and had landed on his head. Okay, Lissa was one grandchild Karin’s mom thought she was getting, but where was the other one? Unless Karin had a child that she was keeping hidden—
Understanding came like a mule kick to his head and he turned to stare at Karin. He hadn’t really looked before, hadn’t really thought about her body, but that her dress was awfully baggy and not very flattering. Here in the gentle breeze, it flowed around her differently and he could see her swollen belly.
Oh, Lordy. The lady had a biscuit in the oven. She was a hundred percent pregnant. And all of Chesterton thought he was the daddy.
Karin slipped into the seat just as the music began to play. She hadn’t exactly run from her mother and the other well-wishers, but she might have if the service hadn’t been about to start. She just couldn’t face everyone while Jed told them the truth.
There’d be pity in everyone’s eyes, but no one would be surprised. They’d all think what fools they had been to have thought a man actually loved Karin, and that she had returned it. But her mother, the romantic, would publicly mourn the loss of Karin’s love and then the laughter would start.
Feeling movement next to her, Karin turned. Her friend Dorothy had slipped into the seat next to her.
“Dorothy!” Karin cried in a whisper, enveloping the woman in a hug. “I thought you were in Paris.”
“Nope, I just got in. I wouldn’t miss this for the world. I’m not sure I’m ready to forgive Heather for cheating us out of a wedding by eloping.”
Karin was still stunned at the speed of her other friend’s wedding but just smiled. “Didn’t she always say she was going to elope?”
Dorothy nodded. “Yeah, but you said a team of horses would have to drag you to your wedding. We never took either of you seriously.”
Luckily the procession had started and Karin didn’t have to respond. She didn’t have to say that had been a joke or that this whole engagement was a misunderstanding or that she was never ever getting married.
Heather, Penny’s matron of honor, came down the aisle first. She looked wonderful in a pale pink dress, but even more remarkable was the glow in her cheeks and the gleam in her eye.
Karin leaned over closer to Dorothy. “How did Penny ever convince timid littl
e Heather to be her matron of honor?”
“Because timid little Heather isn’t nearly so timid anymore,” Dorothy whispered back. “She’s really different since she fell in love. I’ve talked to her a few times and can’t believe the change in her.”
Karin watched as Heather reached the arbor where the minister waited. Heather’s husband, Alex, was the best man and his eyes glowed with such love for her that it almost took Karin’s breath away. Could love really be so strong that it could change who you were?
But then Penny was starting up the aisle, looking absolutely beautiful. Flowers were woven through her golden-blond hair and her white gown was flowing like a soft cloud around her. But when she joined Brad at the arbor, all you could see was the radiance of her love for him.
Karin settled back in her chair, listening to the ceremony but also fighting off a heaviness in her own heart. The feeling was probably just due to the bump on her head—because she was really and truly happy for her friends—but she also felt sad. She had come to terms long ago with the fact that she could not love, so this just had to be the lingering effects of a concussion. Or worry over having to handle the pity party that would be held for poor not-engaged Karin once the ceremony was over.
So she forced herself to concentrate on the sweet scent of flowers in the air, on the warm sunshine and the fact that she was here with her friends. She was a wee bit sorry she let Jed and Lissa take her car. It would have been nice to have a way to escape if things really got bad.
All too soon the minister was pronouncing Penny and Brad husband and wife, and the bride and groom had kissed and were walking back down the aisle. Time to face her mother’s disappointment. She got to her feet.
“Wasn’t that the most perfect wedding ever?” Dorothy asked as they made their way slowly toward the receiving line at the other side of the garden. She dabbed at her eyes and sniffed. “I can’t believe that two of us are married all of a sudden and I hear you’ll be next. When’s the big day?”
Karin swallowed hard. If Dorothy had just arrived, how had she heard that piece of news but not the correction? Karin would have thought it would be what everyone was talking about. “Actually, it’s all been a crazy mixup,” she said slowly.
“Oh?” Dorothy stared at her.
Karin took a deep breath. “It’s really pretty funny. You see—”
“There you are.” The deep drawling voice came from behind Karin and she spun around. There stood Jed, in jeans and a cowboy hat but still looking as if he belonged. There was a soft smile on his face. “You ran off so fast I was worried we lost you.”
What was he still doing here?
“Is this him?” Dorothy stuck her hand out. “I’m Dorothy Williamson. I’m the one that kept Karin from killing Ted Michaels in first grade.”
Karin blanched slightly at the reference. Like Jed would care, even if he knew the story.
Jed took her hand with a smile. “Jed McCarron at your service, ma’am. And I’m certainly glad you were there to stop the murder. I might never have met Karin if she’d been in jail.”
Dorothy squealed with delight. “Oh, Karin, you are so lucky.”
Karin took a deep breath. “Actually—”
“Actually, I need to steal Karin away for a minute,” Jed said quickly as he took her arm. “Hope you’ll excuse us, ma’am.”
“Only if you promise to tell me later how you two met,” Dorothy said.
“That’ll make a great story,” Karin said under her breath, but Jed was already leading her away. Her hand in his felt all too comfortable so she snatched it back. “What do you want? I was just about to tell Dorothy it was all a misunderstanding. She somehow got the first story but not your correction.”
Jed’s brown eyes were scolding. Even when he smiled and nodded at someone passing behind her, his eyes never lost that slightly angry look. “I haven’t quite got to the correction yet,” he admitted in a low voice.
“Why not?” she said. “That was the whole reason you came here.”
“It was. But it seems you forgot to warn me of all the complications.”
Was he trying to weasel out of telling the truth? It wasn’t as though she’d asked him to. “What complications? I told you what the town was like when it came to gossip.”
“You didn’t tell me you were pregnant,” he whispered.
Karin had had her mouth open to continue the argument, but nothing came out. She’d lost all power of speech. A couple of quick breaths later, she tried again.
“How’d you find out?” she asked.
“Your mother told me.”
“My mother? But I haven’t told her yet.”
He looked down at her belly with a frown. “After a while, some things don’t need telling. What are you? Five months?”
She lifted her chin a touch, just to keep from looking too pitiful. “I don’t see how that’s any business of yours.”
“Since your mother presumes I’m the father, it is,” he snapped.
“Well, we can easily dispel that presumption, can’t we?” she snapped back. What was he—afraid she was going to try to pin something on him? What a joke. She wasn’t even trying to pin anything on the real father.
“We can’t dispel anything here,” he said, his voice back to being low. He smiled again at someone passing behind her, but his gaze was frosty when it returned to her. “Your mother’s riding in the clouds. If we tell her now, she’s got no place to go to deal with her disappointment.”
Once again, he took her by surprise. So much so that she stared at him for a long moment. “You mean, you’ll go on with the pretense just to save my mother’s feelings?” she asked.
“She’s a fine lady and doesn’t deserve that load of hurt in public.”
Damn. A rock’em, sock’em, rough, tough cowboy with a heart. That was like a horse that could fly. It didn’t compute.
But Karin’s eyes were misting up and all she could do was look away. “Thank you,” she murmured.
She wished for a split second that they could keep up the pretense. Not for ages, but just long enough so that her mother could tell everyone Karin had changed her mind, not that the whole engagement had been a misunderstanding.
Dorothy couldn’t help turning back around to watch Karin and Jed as she walked toward the receiving line. It was great to see Karin with someone, though it was a bit of a surprise. Maybe it was to Karin, too, since she seemed so flustered.
“Dorothy Williamson,” someone behind her cried. “Land sakes, young lady, I thought you were in Paris.”
Dorothy turned to find old Mrs. Jamison there. She gave her former fourth-grade teacher a big hug. “I was in Paris,” Dorothy said, “but I had to come back for the wedding. It’s not every day that one of my best friends gets married.”
“But it’s not every day that one of my former students does something as exciting as moving to Paris.” The old woman hugged her back but then kept a hold of Dorothy’s hand even as they pulled apart. “If I was twenty years younger, I’d have dumped Hank and come with you.”
Dorothy smiled. Actually, her life in Paris wasn’t all that exciting. An apartment and a job. Some good food. But nobody to talk to, nobody to laugh with. Nobody to confess to that working as a real estate agent in Chesterton hadn’t been all that bad. Nobody like Toto, who had gone from boyfriend to friend but was still the only person she could really really talk to.
“Dorothy, is that really you?” It was Mrs. Brewster from the bakery enveloping her in a mammoth hug. “My stars, you look wonderful! Paris must agree with you.”
“Can you say something in French?” one of Mrs. Brewster’s daughters asked.
“Have you been to the top of the Eiffel Tower?” another one asked.
“Oh, can you come to my French class on Monday and tell us all about France?” someone else asked.
“I’ve only been in Paris so far,” Dorothy felt bound to point out.
“You know,” Mrs. Jamison said with a laugh, “
they had to add two more sections of French I at the junior high. After you left, all the seventh-grade girls wanted to take French.”
“Heavens.” Dorothy wasn’t sure what to say. She hadn’t thought anyone noticed she was going.
“My mom says your leaving town was the best thing ever,” some other young girl announced.
Before Dorothy could feel more than mildly stunned, all the other girls were nodding solemnly. “You showed us that we don’t have to hang around Chesterton and get married after high school.”
“That there’s all sorts of things we can do instead.”
“We all want to be just like you.”
Mrs. Jamison gave her hand a final squeeze, then let go. “It’s not everyone who has so many people looking up to her.”
“Or who makes such an impact just by leaving town,” Dorothy added.
Everyone laughed, and no one seemed to notice that she wasn’t exactly laughing with them.
“Dorothy?”
Her heart seemed to stand still. She turned ever so slowly. Toto was at her side. She smiled at him, a weak imitation of the earth-shattering feelings washing over her. It seemed years since she’d seen him, not just a few weeks.
“Hi,” she said. “How are you?”
He shrugged. “Same old, same old. Don’t have to ask how you are, though. I can see Paris agrees with you.”
“It sure does,” one of the girls agreed. “It’s exciting.”
“It’s wonderful,” another said.
“It’s magical,” a third added.
Dorothy looked at the eager faces around her and then at Toto. She couldn’t read anything in his eyes. She used to be able to. Maybe she had been gone longer than she thought. In any case, she could not—would not—express any doubts about her move. She’d made her bed, now it was time to lie in it. Even if that meant lying there alone.
Jed was not happy. It wasn’t because he was at a wedding reception with a couple hundred people he didn’t know. Or because he was supposedly engaged to a stranger. It was because they should have left an hour ago. Karin looked tired, her voice had long ago lost its smile and her step was dragging.
Pregnant & Practically Married (The Bridal Circle #3) Page 5
