"Me, too," Nick said. "I'm real glad to hear it."
They sat at their table, fielding congratulations from others, as Nick wanted Emily to rest and recover before trying to dance. When she'd finally convinced him she was okay now, they made their way to the dance floor. They danced until they needed to sit down to rest, then were out dancing again.
When the band quit, Nick took her back to her house. They were exhausted, but happy. He promised he'd be over the next day. When he took her in his arms for a good-night kiss, something felt different, and he was pretty sure she felt it, too. There was a sense of urgency, of need. That need was reflected in their kiss. He told her good-night and left, while he still could.
The next day he called her. "Honey, I have something I have to do this afternoon, but I'm taking you out to The Skylight tonight for dinner to celebrate your award last night."
"The Skylight? Nick, that place is hard to get reservations for. We'll never be able to get in there today."
"Our reservations are for 7:30. I'll pick you up at 7:00. I don't have much time to talk now, but I'll see you at 7:00, and I have something to talk to you about then. I love you."
"Okay, I'll see you at 7:00 then. I love you."
She spent all day trying to figure out what Nick wanted to talk about. He didn't seem upset, but she had no clue what it could be. She also couldn't figure out how he could have gotten reservations for tonight.
She got ready to go that night, anxious to find out what was up. He wouldn't give her even a hint until they were at the restaurant. Looking around, she shook her head. "Nick, this is great. Both of us are dressed up, at a fancy restaurant, surrounded by beautiful things, enjoying a fantastic meal. But you said you wanted to talk to me about something. What is it; have I done something wrong?"
The look on his face was comical. "No, absolutely not." He reached over and took her hand in his. "Emily, last night as you were getting your award I discovered something."
"What could you have discovered last night?"
"You told your boss that you work best when you're happy, which is what I've suspected since I met you."
She grinned. "That is when I do my best work. And I guess that explains why you've always said you wanted to make sure I was safe, healthy and happy."
He nodded. "I mean that. Your happiness is very important to me. Honey, what I'm trying to say is I love you, and I have for some time now. This past year while I met and have been getting to know you has been the happiest year of my life. I didn't want to rush you into anything, but I realized last night, I'm not the only one that's felt that way, am I?"
"No, of course not. This past year has been the happiest year of my life, too."
"Last night when I kissed you good-night, something felt different."
"I know," she said. "I didn't want you to leave."
He nodded. "And I didn't want to leave. That's why I left quickly. I know you've been waiting for your wedding night, and I respect you for that decision. I told myself I was going to be a gentleman, but leaving you last night was extremely difficult."
She blushed, but agreed. "For me, too."
"I guess this is a rather awkward way of saying this, but it occurred to me last night. If we've both been happier this past year than ever before, we don't have to wait any longer."
"What?"
"Emily Hollinger, will you please do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
Tears suddenly appeared in her eyes, as she nodded. "Yes. Yes, yes, yes. I love you, Nick."
"Thank you." He picked her hand up and kissed it. "Can we do it soon?"
She giggled. "Soon?"
"I don't know how much longer I can wait, honey. How much time do you need to plan a wedding?"
"Well, I don't really know. I never thought about it.
"Well, think about it now. What kind of wedding do you want? Do you want a big, formal wedding? My sister can help you plan it, if you do."
"And she'd do a good job, I'm sure, but I don't really want a big wedding. I'd much rather have something small with just our best friends. A wedding should be something between us, not us and everyone we know."
"I like what I'm hearing," he said with a grin. "Do you have family you want there?"
"Nope. I don't have any close family. Besides, I'm talking small. Like you, me, Anita and Jeff, and Kelli and her husband. Who do you want there?"
"I'm good with them. I've always thought a wedding should be small and intimate, but most women don't feel that way, so I always assumed we'd have a bigger wedding."
"We?"
"Yes. I knew I wanted to marry you when we first met." He paused, and corrected himself. "Well, maybe not the first time, when we met in the restaurant. But I knew after that second time, when we spent the day together at Cindy's wedding. I always figured eventually we'd get married. I wanted you to have whatever kind of wedding you wanted, but I always did think a wedding should be small and intimate. I can't believe you feel the same way."
"I'm glad you're good with it. That makes it special, that we both feel that way."
"How long will it take you to find the perfect wedding dress?"
"I don't know. I have to think about that. Unless it's important to you, I don't really want a traditional wedding dress."
He chuckled. "Of course you don't. That doesn't surprise me, my little rebel. What kind of dress do you want?"
"I don't know. Something special, but not a white wedding dress."
"Does it have to be a new dress?"
"Not necessarily. Why?"
He raised his eyebrow in that way she always thought was so sexy. "Well, I know one dress that looks like it was designed specifically for you, and you're beautiful in it. It also has a bit of history with us, which I think makes it pretty special."
She was smiling ear to ear. "That beautiful orange gown! That would be perfect."
"I think so, too. Now, how long do you want to wait?"
"How about Friday night?"
"This Friday night? Are you sure you're ready? I don't want to rush you."
"I feel the same way you do, Nick. Now that we've made the decision to get married, why wait? I know I love you and want to spend my life with you."
"And I feel the same way. Friday night it is. As soon as we get home let's call our friends and make sure it'll work with them."
Two hours later, their plans were made. They laughed as they kept their kisses short and sweet, and reminded each other they only had to wait five more days.
Thursday, Nick called her at work. "Honey, something's come up and I need to talk to you. There's someone you need to meet. Is it okay if I bring him over to your house tonight? I'll stop and pick up something for dinner and bring it along."
"Who is this? Will he mind having take-out for dinner?"
"He's a friend of mine and he'll be fine with it. Don't worry about that."
"Okay. Why do I have to meet him? Does it have something to do with our wedding?" She started to panic. "Oh, no. You're not changing your mind, are you? Is the wedding still on?"
"Calm down, honey. Of course the wedding's still on. I'm not letting you get away from me that easily. I do want you to meet him before the wedding, though. I'll explain it all tonight."
She worried about this mystery guest all afternoon and went straight home after work.
He showed up in blue jeans with pizza in hand, which he put on the counter. "Troy, this is my fiancée, Emily Hollinger, soon to be Farrington. Em, this is an old friend of mine, Troy Johnson. We went to school together. Now he's a private investigator."
"Hi, Troy. Nice to meet you." She paused when she heard the last statement, and turned to Nick. "A private investigator? Is he here on official business?"
"Calm down." He went to her and put his arm around her waist. "Let's all sit down. Emily, Troy has some information you need to know."
As soon as they sat down, she was anxious. "I'll get drinks and pizza, but please don't make me wait. What kind of
information does a private investigator have that I need to know about?"
Nick held her hands in his. "It's about your parents, Emily. The story you told me about how you ended up with this house just didn't make much sense to me. I thought about it quite a bit, and there were too many things that just didn't fit together. So I called Troy and ran it past him. He thought the same thing; something doesn't sound right, so he did some checking into your parents' deaths and their lack of wills. I'll let him tell you what he found."
Emily was shaking her head. "Wait a minute, Nick. You investigated my parents?"
"I didn't investigate them; I investigated the circumstances surrounding their death and estates."
"Why?"
"Honey, too many things didn't make sense. I saw a picture of the house before it burned down. It was a beautiful house."
"I always loved it, but it was the house I grew up in."
"It was a very nice house. And the two cars were nice cars. Everything I read about either of them indicated they were astute business people. Good business people who have a very nice, or even nicer than average house and two nicer than average cars would have a will. So I looked into the attorney that did the estate. He didn't have a good reputation among other attorneys, so that's when I called Troy. Can he tell you what he found?"
She looked scared, but a reassuring look from Nick and a squeeze to her hand helped. "Okay."
She turned to Troy, who nodded. "I understand your hesitancy, Miss Hollinger."
"Emily, please."
"Thank you. Emily, I agreed with Nick that something didn't sound right. So I asked around town about the attorney who did the estates. It seems he doesn't come very highly recommended. I understand you didn't know anyone and hired someone you found in the phone book?"
"He seemed nice," she offered.
"I understand, and believe it or not, that's important. You need to be able to get along with him. But I wasn't receiving rave reviews about him, so I took it upon myself to try to locate wills your parents may have had. There's some good news, Emily. I found a law office that does wills. The attorney that prepared the wills has passed on, but they have the original wills in their office."
"What does that mean? We already closed the estate. Does that change anything?"
"In this case, yes, it changes a great deal. In the will they list some life insurance policies. I checked on those and the policies were paid up, so there's money there for you, as the named beneficiary. All they need is a copy of the death certificates."
Emily looked confused. She turned to Nick. "I thought the big shocks in my life, at least for this week, were over. Between the award and then your proposal, I thought they were done. But now—"
"Now you've just been told you have some money." He pulled her onto his lap. "Honey, I need to tell you, it's a pretty substantial amount of money. I wanted you to know this before we get married."
"Why? I mean, why before we get married? Why does it matter?"
"I wanted you to know that you are basically a pretty wealthy young lady before you say your vows. I want you to know the money doesn't mean anything to me. I mean, that's not why I'm so anxious to marry you. I love you, Emily, not your money."
"Oh, I know that, Nick. You didn't even know I had money when you proposed, did you?"
"I didn't. Troy called me this morning to tell me what he'd found. I called you right away. I need to ask you, knowing you have a good amount of money, do you still want to go forward with the wedding?"
She frowned at him. "Nick, I can't believe you'd even ask me that. To be honest, I'm not sure I want the money."
Both men stared at her. Nick raised his eyebrows. "You don't want the money?"
"I'll have to think about it, and we'll talk some. I don't have to decide right now, do I?"
"No, of course not," Nick said. "I have an idea. Why don't we hear what all Troy found, and then we'll have our pizza. You can give this some thought. You can take all the time you want. I just wanted to make sure you knew about it before we get married. I don't want anyone saying I withheld this from you and that I married you for your money."
"I would never think that," she assured him.
They shared pizza while Troy told them everything he'd found, including a retirement account for each of her parents. He explained that she would have to hire an attorney to reopen the estates and basically start the estate process over, this time including everything that was in the actual wills. When they asked, he recommended a few good attorneys who had good reputations in the area.
After he left, Nick sat down beside Emily. "Okay, I can tell something's on your mind. Let's talk about it."
"I don't think I want it."
"What don't you want?"
"All that money."
"Why not? You could pay off all your past due accounts and get them all in good standing."
"I'd like to do that, but I don't think I want to do it this way." Nick tilted his head and studied her, trying to understand her line of thinking. "I don't want to go back to the way I was. I liked winning that award."
Now he was totally confused. "Honey, you're going to have to explain this to me. What are you trying to say?"
"Don't you see? I grew up not thinking about money. We had enough money to do what we wanted, and I never gave it a thought. Then when I was out on my own, with a job, I still didn't think about money, and just assumed it's a good job, I can get and do what I want. Only I couldn't, and I got myself in a real mess."
"But you've changed. You're not the same person you were then."
"I know, and that's my point. Back then I knew I had bills that weren't paid. I looked right over them, wasn't really too concerned about them, but in the back of my mind I knew they were there. I ignored them. I did what I always had done; I didn't think about money."
"I'll repeat what I said. You've changed now, though."
"Yes, thanks to you. You saw the mess I'd made of my finances and made me face them. Do you remember that night we sat down with my unpaid bills and my checkbook?"
"Yes."
"That was the first time it actually sank into my thick head that I had more bills than I had money, and it was going to take me a long time just to break even. I always told myself it was just an organization problem, and that all I needed to do was get organized and start paying my bills on time. It was easier to think that than face the truth, that I didn't have enough money to pay them all. But you made me face it. Not only face it, but fix it."
"It wasn't just me, honey. You had to want to do it, or nothing would have changed."
"Like when I had the other two credit counselors," she murmured.
"Exactly. You had to want to change this time."
"Again, because you made me. You made me want to change." She was quiet a moment as she scooted over closer to him on the couch. "I love you, Nick. Thank you for helping me change. But I don't want to go back to who, or what I was."
He kissed her and held her tight for several moments. When he pulled back he had a grin on his face. "Honey, you really don't have to worry about going back to who you were. It's not going to happen."
"How can you be so sure? What if I get all this money and slowly go back to my old ways? Then I take things for granted again, and I slowly realize I don't like the person I am again. Then I'm not as happy again because I don't like who I am, and then when I'm not as happy I won't do as well at work."
"That won't happen."
"But how can you be so sure?"
"Because I'm here now. You just told me the wedding's still on, even though you're a rich heiress now, so I can guarantee you that won't happen. I won't let it."
She became very still, and slowly looked up at him. Very slowly, a huge smile appeared, which made it to her eyes. "You won't, will you?"
"Absolutely not. The minute I see any of your old habits returning you'll be over my lap. Didn't I tell you I will make sure you're safe, healthy and happy?" She nodded, still smiling.
"Reverting back to your old ways will not make you happy. I know that. That's why I won't allow it."
She flung her arms around his neck, and for a minute he thought she was going to choke him. He gently pulled her off enough so that he could breathe. "You do realize you're hugging me for saying I'll put you over my knee and blister your cute little butt, don't you?"
She looked at him and giggled. "I didn't, but I do now." She hugged him again, as he chuckled.
"Life with you is going to be exciting," he said with a big smile.
After their hug he settled her down beside him. "So are you okay with this money now?"
"Not really. I mean, I feel better now, but I don't really want all the money. I'd rather have my parents."
"I understand, honey."
"But since I can't have them, I don't really want the money. I think we can do okay ourselves, with whatever money we earn. I don't think I'd feel right spending any of their money."
He thought a few moments. "I understand what you're thinking, but may I make a suggestion?"
"Of course. You know I always value your opinion. You usually see the bigger picture, way better than me." She laughed as she said, "I always figured it's because you're taller, you can see more."
He had to laugh at her antics, but then explained his thoughts. "I have a couple thoughts, but they're just thoughts. You are free to use the ideas or throw them out. If you want to give the money away, you certainly can do that. If you do, though, I wouldn't do it all at once. You have a big heart and you could use that money to help people you run across in your everyday life."
"Like friends who need money?"
"Well, yes, or if someone across town you've never met runs into bad luck. Say their house burns down and they didn't have insurance. Maybe you could give them some money and help them get back on their feet. Or maybe you'll hear about a man who skips out on his wife and kids. She's trying to raise two kids on her own. Her old car breaks down again and she doesn't have the money to fix it. Maybe you could step in and help her."
Her eyes lit up as he was talking. "Kind of like an anonymous pay it forward kind of thing?"
That Beautiful Orange Gown Page 12
