Kiss the Bride

by Jody Wallace

  Then, as she’d been doing since she’d returned Heck’s truck and the dresses, Jhi smirked.

  “I’m sick and tired of waiting on him,” Caroline said furiously. Waiting and waiting and waiting. If she’d ruined everything with Heck, so be it, but the waiting was over.

  She was the one determined to get an answer from him now. The one kicking herself in the ass for being cowardly. She should have told him she loved him last night.

  She should have told him years ago.

  She’d been trying to tell him since seven this morning.

  Or maybe he’d think that was a lie, too.

  “Would you chill out? Herman wasn’t there when I returned his truck, and he wasn’t there when you met with the caterer. He probably left town in a sulk.” Jhi smiled like the bitchy cat she’d been all day. “Or something.”

  “I know,” Caroline said, her throat raw. Not that the screams had made it raw—crying on and off all day was the culprit. At the farmhouse, there’d been no signs of anything to explain where Heck had gone. How was she going to work this out if she couldn’t find him? As it had only been half a day, it was way too early to report a missing person. She and Dan had settled the cancellation details early this morning. Sobered up, he’d been unflatteringly content to never see her again as long as she covered his part of the wedding expenses. The only emotion he’d evidenced had been when she’d told him she was in love with Heck, and she was sorry she’d led him on. Even then, his emotion had been satisfaction, because he’d been right. Otherwise it had been a dry, soulless conclusion to a three-year relationship that she’d convinced herself was…workable.

  She’d cried some over that, too.

  “If you know Herman’s not there, why do you keep calling?” Jhi asked. “He has to come to you.”

  “What if he doesn’t?” Caroline wailed for the umpteenth time, stamping on the curled up corner of the area rug. “He hates me now. He wouldn’t believe me when I told him the wedding was off. Why wouldn’t he believe me?”

  “Because he’s a man,” Jhi said. “You know, he could be ducking you because he’s ashamed of how awful he was.”

  “Do you think so? I could go look for him.”

  “No, you can’t.” Jhi tapped the screen of her smartphone. “He’s somewhere you’d never expect him to be.”

  “What do you mean?” Caroline asked with a sniffle. “Do you know where he went?”

  “I just mean if he doesn’t want you to find him, you won’t,” Jhi answered, but her gaze skittered to the side.

  Suspicious. Before Caroline could question her friend, slower footsteps crossed the family room and reached the office. Her mother had come to the guest cottage to help sort and freeze the food from the caterer. “What’s with the screams? Did you hurt yourself, toots?”

  As Caroline lowered herself into her rolling office chair, it felt as though her whole world were dragging her to the ground. “I can’t find Heck.”

  “You mentioned that,” Mom said. “Do you know you skipped dinner? I can fix you a ham sandwich.”

  “I can’t eat,” she moaned. “I’m too worried.”

  “You can’t eat? That sounds serious.” Her mother, holding a freezer container, regarded her with sympathy. Her parents hadn’t understood why Dan would never visit and had offered their support of the cancellation without so much as a hint of “told you so.”

  Sally and Jhi, too, had pitched in to knot all the strings that needed tying today. While Sally had handled guest contacts, Jhi had taken care of returning the gowns and Heck’s truck, and other in-town errands. Caroline had been reluctant to leave her cottage, except to meet the caterer at Heck’s.

  What if he came looking for her? He had to have heard about the wedding by now. She needed to be available.

  “The worst part is over,” Mom said. “It might help to count your blessings, however small they might seem.”

  “Like what?” Right now, Caroline’s only blessing seemed to be that Dan hadn’t given her grief about the breakup. He’d been more anxious about the money. There had been a moment during their conversation when she’d feared he’d ask her to sign a reimbursement contract.

  Her mom sealed the freezer container with a decisive pop. “It’s a blessing you didn’t relocate your stuff to Atlanta already.”

  “But it means Gran can’t move in.” Caroline coasted the wheeled chair into the desk, bumping gently. “The cottage isn’t big enough for both of us.”

  “We’ll worry about that later,” Mom said airily. “It’s a blessing you aren’t getting married to the wrong man.”

  “I second that blessing,” Jhi said.

  “If I ruined things with the right one, it’s not a blessing.”

  “You don’t know for sure things are ruined,” Mom chided. “Give Heck some credit. It’s a blessing you won’t have to go through a divorce.”

  “I shouldn’t have agreed to marry Dan. I must have been nuts.” Caroline rubbed her eyes, the skin around them tender from all the crying and wiping. “It’s my fault. All of this. And now I owe Dan several thousand dollars, plus expenses.”

  “You’re better off,” Jhi said. “Hey, I thought of a blessing. Your ex isn’t going to turn into a lovelorn stalker.”

  “Good one.” Mom widened the french doors that separated the office from the family room. “It’s a blessing you got to return the gowns for partial credit.”

  “Too bad I couldn’t return any food,” Caroline said with a sigh.

  Jhi grinned. “It’s a blessing you like ham.”

  “It’s a blessing the reception venue was free,” Mom added.

  “I don’t know about free,” said a male voice. “This whole pile of crap has ended up being pretty costly for me.”

  All three women turned, and Caroline stifled a shriek. Heck stood behind her mother wearing his very rumpled tux. The jacket had white, crusty smears on it, and his dress shirt was missing the majority of its buttons. His whole appearance, in fact, was far worse for the wear than when she’d seen him last, which was saying something.

  “Herman Heckley.” Mom sized up the newcomer over the top of her glasses. “Is your phone broken, son, or are you being a twit?”

  “I’m not the twit,” Heck said in a very irritated voice.

  “I gotta go.” Jhi darted past him.

  To Caroline’s surprise, Heck stuck out an arm. Jhi bounced off it, like a terrier at the end of a leash. “You owe me an apology,” he said to her.

  “Probably.” Jhi sidestepped him. “On the other hand, you got what you deserved for being stupid last night, not to mention for years, and I got a wonderful video in case I ever need to blackmail you.”

  “What are you talking about?” Caroline rose, both terrified and thrilled Heck was finally here. Part of her wanted to jump into his arms and attach herself to him like moss on the north side of a tree. Another part wanted to punch him in the head.

  This was not an unusual reaction for her to have to Heck. The unusual part was how she planned to resolve it this time.

  “Ask Jhi why I got the impression the wedding was definitely on,” he said, and she could tell he was struggling not to yell. “Speak now or forever hold your peace, my”—he glanced at her mom—“butt.”

  “That does explain a few odd phone calls I got today,” Mom commented.

  Caroline gaped at her mother. “You heard something about Heck and didn’t tell me?”

  “I don’t pay attention to gossip.” Mom raised the freezer container. “If you’ll excuse me, there are fifty servings of potato salad in the kitchen.”

  “You get out, too,” Heck told Jhi. “I’ll deal with you later.”

  “Whatever.” Jhi stalked past Heck, who entered the office and closed the double doors firmly behind him.

  “What’s going on?” Caroline asked, more confused than ever.

  Heck stuck his hands on his hips and glared at her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I did, ass
hole. I tried again today but you’ve had your phone off.” She wished he’d show softness, weakness, but he just looked annoyed. Severely annoyed. His hair stood on end, his tux was ruined, and his jaw, which he usually kept clean-shaven, had stubbled up like a scrub brush.

  What right did he have to be annoyed, now that he knew she’d been honest? Mostly.

  “You could have left a message.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “In fact, Jhi could have told me herself, but no, she showed up at my place in that blue dress and said she was on her way to the ceremony.”

  “That’s crazy. There was no ceremony, and she told me you weren’t home,” Caroline exclaimed. “She was delivering the dresses to Mrs. Helen for me. She wasn’t wearing one.”

  Heck crossed his arms. “But she was. Dress, flowers in her hair, all that crap. She lied to me.”

  Caroline sat back down, aghast. “Why would she do that?”

  “Last-ditch jealousy she wasn’t maid of honor? Pernicious evil? Who knows?”

  In her hand, her cell phone buzzed with an incoming text message. She thought about ignoring it, but it might be a wedding issue, and she owed it to everyone to resolve those in a timely fashion. “I have to check this.”

  It was Jhi. She’d texted, He needed to think you were going through with the wedding so he’d admit he loves you. God he’s stupid. He got arrested.

  “Quit eavesdropping, Jhi!” Caroline yelled toward the door. Whatever Jhi had done may or may not have been necessary, but Heck’s getting arrested wasn’t.

  Arrested?

  An arrow of pain shot through her temples as the information soaked into her. “She says you got arrested. You?”

  “That’s where I’ve been all day,” Heck said. “Otherwise I’d have come right over.”

  Silence fell as they studied each other. He didn’t seem to like what he saw, and she couldn’t blame him. Her nose and eyes were red, her hair resembled a mangled pelt, and her pajamas, the ones she’d had on most of the day, had long ago given up the ghost of being presentable.

  The cell phone buzzed with another text message. Caroline ignored it.

  “What did you do to get arrested?” she ventured.

  “Drove too fast, cussed too much, assaulted a police officer, resisted arrest. You know the drill.”

  Caroline rubbed her forehead, unable to comprehend. Her brain was too thick, her heart too bruised. She was beginning to suspect that Heck wasn’t here to patch things up. Otherwise, wouldn’t he kiss her? “I don’t know that drill. I carry signs around and yell at people.”

  “And trespass.” He leaned against the french doors, his arms crossed, as if taking one more step into the room would put him too close to a person he despised.

  “Just the once.” Caroline slumped, her spine crumpling like the bendy part of a straw. “I would have bailed you out today. You did it for me.”

  “I didn’t need you.”

  That, she was beginning to see all too well. “If you’ve come to remind me last night should never have happened, you can leave now.”

  “And forever hold my peace?”

  “You made yourself clear earlier,” Caroline snapped. “I’ve ruined our trust, I planned the whole thing, we made a mistake, and so on and so forth. There, I’ve said it all and saved you the trouble of repeating it.”

  Heck grunted as if she’d kicked him in the gut. If only. “I did say that, didn’t I?”

  “However Jhi tricked you, I’m sorry, but it’s not my fault you wouldn’t answer your phone, it’s not my fault you got arrested, and it’s not my fault you didn’t believe me last night.”

  “Caro,” he began, but she wasn’t finished.

  “What did you expect me to do? Cancel the wedding? Guess what? I did!” she ended with a shout.

  “This is not going well. I need to start over.” Abruptly, he wrenched open the french doors.

  And left.

  Caroline had refused to chase Heck for thirty-four years. She’d refused to ask him out, refused to confront her feelings, hoping he’d make the first move. She’d been a spineless ninny who couldn’t pursue what she wanted and forge her own path.

  That was not who she was. And it wasn’t as if her honesty would ruin their friendship now. That cat had leaped out of the bag, claws flailing, the minute he’d kissed her last night.

  Caroline darted after Heck, storming out the door and onto the porch. She was barefoot and the walkway was gravel, so she paused at the top of the steep stairs.

  “Don’t you turn your back on me, Herman Edward Heckley,” she called after him. “I’m not done talking to you.”

  Heck glanced over his shoulder, the light of the moon revealing his skeptical expression. “You should have told me about the cancellation last night before…the other stuff. I asked you several times if anything was wrong.”

  “I had to work up to it,” she said. “You owe me an apology for saying I was a liar.”

  He continued toward the truck. “Sorry.”

  “That’s real convincing.”

  “I’m working up to it,” he retorted, his voice raised, too.

  “Work faster, because you’ll want to hear this,” Caroline snarled. “You were right. I had cold feet. I had doubts. I almost called the wedding off a hundred times. I shouldn’t have agreed to marry somebody who expected me to ditch my friends. But I solved the problem myself before you sabotaged things. So you can shove that up your self-righteous ass.”

  At this, Heck did stop. But he didn’t turn and didn’t speak.

  “I explained to Dan what happened,” she continued. “I called him this morning. And I owe him a lot money. But I wanted to be honest, so I told him.”

  He bent his head as if he were studying his boots. And still, he didn’t speak.

  “Did you not hear me? I told him what happened.”

  “I heard you, Caroline.” He touched his ear. “I think everyone can hear you.”

  She licked suddenly dry lips. “Is it going to happen again?”

  He strolled toward the house as if he had all the time in the world, halting at the bottom step. He shoved one hand in his trouser pocket. “Which part?”

  Despite the chill night air, her face heated. In a quieter voice, she said, “You know which part.”

  “I’m not clear on that,” he said. “Do you mean the part where I spread you out on my dining room table and licked you until you came?”

  “Heck,” she hissed, “don’t talk like that with Jhi and Mom in the house.”

  Unperturbed, he climbed two steps. Two more. There were a lot of steps to her little house on the hillside. “The part where I carried you to the bedroom, took off your clothes and—”

  Caroline interrupted, stammering something that didn’t even make sense to her.

  “Or maybe,” Heck said, “maybe you mean where you ask me, a guy, to be your maid of honor, because you’re marrying some asshole? Is that what might happen again?”

  “I mean the sex part,” she muttered. He seemed so hateful and unforgiving. She’d never known a man to resent the fact that she’d slept with him, but then, she’d never slept with Heck.

  “I don’t reckon that’s up to me,” he said. “As I recall, it was your idea. You planned it out, right down to the condoms.”

  “I planted the condoms, dumbass,” Jhi yelled out the window. “Figured you didn’t have any.”

  Heck blinked a few times. “Jhi, I’ve never hit a woman, and I’m not about to. But this is none of your business. If you keep bugging us, I’m leaving until you’re gone, and you can argue with Caroline about the stunt you pulled on me.”

  “Get over yourself,” Jhi retorted. “If it weren’t for me, Caroline would still be getting married today. Somebody had to scare Dan off, and somebody had to zap you with a cattle prod. Men. I swear. Not worth the skin that covers ’em. Neither of you deserve her.”

  “Ignore her.” Caroline half wanted to grab him by the face and make him pay attention to her and half
wanted to cry some more. “Why is it up to me if it happens again?”

  Heck quit glaring at Jhi’s window and glared at Caroline instead. “It’s always up to the woman. She has to say yes. Did you intentionally seduce me?”

  She had to tell him. It didn’t matter if it salvaged nothing—it would be the truth, and it would be over with.

  “Not exactly, but I wanted it to happen. I hoped it would change things.”

  “That part worked.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut and said, very quickly, “I’m in love with you, and I have been for a long time.”

  Frogs peeped. Night birds sang. A car on the distant highway cruised along, tires whining on the pavement. Caroline opened her eyes to find Heck staring up at her with a frown. “Come again?”

  She suspected he’d heard and wanted to make her repeat it. But she didn’t care. He needed to know. “I’m in love with you.”

  “Sounds like a great reason to get engaged to somebody else,” he said slowly, in that way he had when he was trying to puzzle out something that confused him.

  “Dammit, Heck, the engagement was a mistake, and I fixed it.” She stomped two steps closer to him, but not close enough to hit him, because that wouldn’t solve anything. “I broke up with Dan because I’m in love with you, and he doesn’t deserve that.”

  “He deserves a swift kick in the balls,” Heck muttered.

  She took a deep breath. How could she love this man with all her heart and still want to throttle him? “You kept asking why I was getting married. It was because you didn’t feel the same way I did, and I had to move on with my life. How would I ever know if I could love somebody else when I couldn’t break free of my feelings for you?”

  “You should have said something.”

  An easy argument for someone who hasn’t been twisted into knots by unrequited love. “When should I have said it, Heck? Last night? A year ago? Ten years ago? What would you have done if I told you I moved back to Tallwood as soon as you got divorced so we could be together?”

  His brow wrinkled. “I thought you wanted to open your own business.”

  “I’m practically a stalker, okay?” Her throat ached as she remembered the years of wishing and hoping and knowing if she spoke up, it would ruin everything. “What would you have done ten years ago if I’d asked for more from you?”