For Love of Emily

by Bonnie Gardner

“That I love you. I think I have been attracted to you all along, but I kept denying it.” Thad looked up into the cold night, heavy with stars. “I didn’t think it was possible to be attracted to a woman like you so quickly at the party, and I didn’t think I had the right to be with a woman like the real you.”

  “I’ve wanted to hear that for so long,” Silver responded breathlessly. “I’ve been attracted to you since our first dance in the dark. I fell in love when you came to me so concerned about Emily. But I have to know. Why did you keep pushing me away?”

  “I was afraid, I guess,” he answered humbly.

  “Of what? Me? Big strong army man, you were afraid of little old me?” Silver now felt secure enough to tease him.

  “Not of you, but of the intensity of the feelings I felt.”

  “Are you over it now?”

  “No,” he replied huskily. “But I think I can handle it. I guess there’s only one way to get myself through it, though.”

  “Oh really? How?”

  “You’ll have to marry me.” Thad cupped Silver’s face in his hands, softly caressing her cheek with his thumbs.

  “I love you. And, I’d love to be your wife. And Emily’s mother,” Silver answered simply. “But, you know we’ve sort of put the cart before the horse. Do you think we could take some time to get to know each other a little better before we take this big step?”

  “You mean have dates and everything?” Thad rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I don’t know. It’s just not me.” Then he grinned. “Let’s get out of here. I know a quaint little burger joint down the road that’s still open. We could have a sandwich and talk.”

  “Oh, you mean the one with the arches?”

  “That’s the one.” Thad took her hand and led her toward the door. “By the way, just how long does this courtship have to last? I don’t know how long I can wait.”

  “I always wanted to be a June bride,” Silver replied with a wicked gleam.

  “That’ll never do. I couldn’t wait that long to make an honest woman out of you.”

  “What makes you think I’m not an honest woman?”

  “You may be now, but you won’t be by the time I’m through with you. How does Valentine’s Day grab you?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll discuss it over burgers,” Silver replied as she followed Thad inside.

  With their past behind them and their future settled, Thad and Silver walked back into the house arm in arm and through a throng of invisible people. With eyes only for each other they went out to their first date.

  Then they hurried home to Emily.

  To tell her the news.

  The End

  About the Author

  Bonnie Gardner is a former army brat who spent 25 years as an air force wife. A former teacher, she well knows the ups and downs of teaching and loving her students.

  Also From Astraea Press

  Chapter One

  Kate sighed in annoyance as a lock of hair slipped out of her loosely fastened bun and fell into her face. Her hands were covered in flour and confectioner sugar from the pastries she had been carefully arranging on her tray. She tried to brush the errant lock of hair out of her eyes with the back of her hand but only succeeded in leaving a smudge of flour on her cheek. Adding the finishing touches to the dessert tray, she softly sang along to the pop song that was playing in the other room and listened to the wordless murmur of the crowd. The party was a huge success; Glenda would be pleased.

  She had been working for Glenda Gold’s Gourmet Catering and Party Planning for nearly three years, almost as long as she’d been living in New York City, and in that time she had helped cater and serve more parties than she could count. Not all of them were this fancy, however, nor were they as crucial to Glenda’s career. This party was for the crème de la crème. Kate didn’t know how Glenda had landed the job, but it seemed as though every Hollywood bigwig who was in town was in the other room. Kate was glad she wasn’t easily star-struck, or her hands would be shaking too badly to hold the trays.

  The kitchen door flew open behind her, and her best friend Ellen practically waltzed into the room. Kate laughed at her look of sheer excitement. Ellen was an aspiring actress, and Kate knew that this party was a dream come true for her. She grabbed Kate by the hands and spun her around, squealing with unabashed delight.

  “Did you see who was out there?” she asked before rattling off a list of names of all the famous people she had seen or talked to. Kate recognized some of the names Ellen mentioned, but most of the people she listed were totally foreign to her. At her blank look, Ellen rolled her eyes in mock disgust. She never ceased to be amazed by Kate’s total lack of interest in the world of showbiz.

  Kate had met Ellen when she first moved to the city for school. She’d needed to find a cheap apartment and had answered Ellen’s ad on Craigslist. By good fortune, Kate had been the first person to reply, and the two girls had hit it off instantly. Though they were as different as night and day, they had developed a great friendship. It was Ellen who got Kate the job with Glenda’s catering company, and it was the perfect side job for both of them. Ellen had her days free to audition and take the occasional acting class, and Kate could pursue her degree in hotel and restaurant management while gaining crucial hands-on experience. And now all that hard work had paid off – she was finally ready to strike out on her own.

  As a successful entrepreneur, Glenda Gold had become an invaluable mentor for Kate. She had taken her under her wing and given her the kind of hands on experience that she couldn’t find in books or classes. Without her guidance and support, Kate didn’t know if she would be where she was today — on the verge of opening her very own bed and breakfast in her hometown of Rockville, New York.

  “I’m so glad we could work together on your last night,” Ellen said. “This is a night you’re going to remember forever. I can feel it.” At Kate’s look of disbelief, she added with more than a hint of melodrama, “Just you wait and see, Ms. Cynical, I have a feeling that this is a party you’re going to be telling your children about someday.”

  Kate giggled. “And the Academy Award goes to…”

  “Okay, okay, maybe it’s not quite that momentous. I mean it’s not going to beat out your wedding day or the day I get my first starring role or anything but it is pretty cool, you have to admit. I mean, how many people can say that they’ve had drinks with Rick Salinger?”

  Kate had been arranging fruit around the edges of her tray but now her hand hovered in midair. “Who?” Her stomach couldn’t seem to decide if it wanted to do a back flip or a somersault.

  Ellen feigned nonchalance. “Okay, so maybe I didn’t exactly have drinks with him but how many people can even say that they served a drink to Rick Salinger?” Ellen glanced up from the kitchen counter she had been wiping off, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth and a mischievous look in her eyes.

  Kate’s mouth was hanging open in shock. She took a deep breath, willing her stomach to stay still for a moment while she took this in.

  Rick Salinger was one of the hottest directors in Hollywood. Charming, talented and devastatingly sexy, he was the object of infatuation for women the world over – including Kate. He was always listed in the top ten bachelor categories in the magazines, and, try as he might to avoid the spotlight, he was almost always front-page news.

  But Kate’s crush was born long before Rick’s pictures started to appear in the tabloids. Not that he would ever remember. When they met, she was just a kid and he was her best friend’s big brother.

  She and his little sister Samantha went to the same summer camp when they were in middle school and had quickly become close friends. They spent every summer for the next few years as bunkmates at Camp Havenwood. Once a summer, Sam’s parents and older brother would come to visit. For Kate it had been love at first sight. It was completely one-sided, of course. She had been a gangly preteen with braces and braids while he was an older, attractive teenager who all the girls drool
ed over. Eventually she grew out of her awkward phase, but by then Rick was off to college and Kate and Sam had gotten too old for summer camp.

  Over the years, Kate tried to put her silly teen infatuation behind her. And she probably would have been successful too if he had been anyone else. Time and distance would have allowed her to move on and find some other man to drool over. But as they got older, his fame grew and Kate began to see him everywhere she looked.

  Flipping through the channels, she would see him on a talk show. In line at the supermarket, there he was, staring back at her as she bought her groceries. How was she supposed to get over him when he was always right in front of her face? And it wasn’t like his looks or charm had diminished over the years – on the contrary, he’d grown into his looks and the years just managed to give him a distinguished air. So now here she was, twenty-eight years old and still ridiculously infatuated with her first crush.

  “Rick Salinger is here?” she finally managed to sputter.

  Ellen nodded, practically bursting with excitement. “Well, what are you waiting for?” she demanded when Kate made no move to leave the kitchen.

  She shook her head quickly. “I can’t see him.”

  Ellen frowned; this was not the reaction she had expected. “What are you talking about? Of course you can! You’ve been waiting years to see Rick again.”

  Kate shook her head again, her eyes wide with panic, and saw Ellen’s own eyes widen in shock at her uncharacteristic response. Ellen always referred to her as the brave one — she never got flustered in new situations, never hesitated to stick up for herself or her friends and she never, ever lost her cool over a guy.

  Ellen wrapped an arm around Kate’s shoulders. “Weren’t you planning on seeing him soon anyway? Didn’t Sam say she was trying to convince him to stay at your B&B while he’s filming in Rockville?”

  “If he’s filming in Rockville,” Kate clarified. “And even if he does, that’s not for weeks.”

  “Great, so you can meet him now and charm his pants off so he can’t possibly say no to staying at your B&B.”

  Kate couldn’t argue with her there. Sam had promised to talk to her brother about spending a night or two at her place if he chose Rockville as the location for his next film. His staying for just one night would be priceless publicity. If there was a chance that meeting him would help her chances of securing his stay then she had to do it. That pressure only added to her anxiety. “I need time to prepare.”

  Ellen laughed and wiped the white smudge off her friend’s cheek. “Prepare what? I’m not suggesting you pitch him a business proposal. I’m just saying that now would be a perfect time to get to know him on a personal level – on an intimate level, if you know what I mean.” Kate laughed as Ellen wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

  “But look at me,” Kate protested. “I can’t talk to Rick Salinger looking like this.”

  Ellen looked her friend up and down and waved off her concerns. “Are you kidding me? You look fantastic.”

  Kate looked meaningfully at her uniform.

  “Okay, so it’s not the most glamorous outfit of all time, but you still look great.”

  Kate rolled her eyes; standing next to Ellen she always felt frumpy and disheveled – even when she wasn’t wearing an unflattering uniform covered in pastry crumbs. Ellen had been blessed with the body and face of a supermodel. Tall and willowy at five foot ten, Ellen had a strikingly beautiful face with high cheekbones and bright blue eyes. She was the stereotypical blond beauty that men loved and women loved to hate.

  Kate knew she was no supermodel, but she had learned long ago to be satisfied with the hand she’d been dealt. At five foot three, Kate had a petite frame and a curvy body. She had long, wavy brown hair and bright green eyes. She knew she had her fair share of admirers, but no one would mistake her for a supermodel.

  Ellen began to gently nudge Kate toward the kitchen door.

  “Where is he? When did he get here?” she asked. The butterflies in her stomach were prompting her to procrastinate as long as she could.

  Ellen wasn’t falling for it and continued to usher her friend to the door as she answered. “Last I saw he was in the living room by the piano, talking to a producer. I’m not sure when he got here; I just spotted him. Now you get out there and introduce yourself.” And with that Ellen put the dessert tray in Kate’s hands and not so gently pushed her through the swinging doors.