Stephanie’s mom, Phyllis, too.
She’d flown in from Tucson for the occasion. She wasn’t at all what Brady had expected. Much taller than Steph and her twin, the woman had brown eyes and short-cropped brown hair. From her stares, he got the impression Phyllis had been talking a little too much with Lisa, who never failed to remind her sister that the wedding had come about too fast.
Speaking of Steph’s evil twin, she spent the bulk of the night alternately scowling and/or cozying up to a never-empty glass of merlot.
Excusing himself, Brady left the dining room to hide out for a few minutes in one of the three living areas. The house was more like a hotel with so many rooms he’d lost count. But their host and hostess were cool. Unaffected by their apparent wealth.
Standing before a wall of windows overlooking the Arkansas River, he tried recalling how he’d gotten to this point. To a night where he was on the verge of marrying one woman, while his first wife was partying with his brother and their folks. It was nuts.
“Brady?” the only voice of sanity in his life said. “You okay? When you didn’t come back I got worried about you. Thought you might’ve gotten lost.”
“I did,” he said with a sigh, “but since you’ve found me, I’m thinking I’m going to be okay.”
Easing her arms around him, she rested her cheek against his chest. “We’re both going to be great,” she assured. “And just think, by tomorrow at this time, I’m going to be Mrs. Brady McGuire.”
Kissing her slowly and sweetly, he said, “I like the sound of that.”
“I’ve got something to tell you,” she stood on her tiptoes to whisper into his right ear. “In case I failed to mention it back in Seattle, you’re waaaay cuter than your brother.”
Laughing, he asked, “How is it you always know the right thing to say?”
“It’s a gift,” she said, the light from the river reflecting in her eyes. “And it’s about to be yours for the low, low price of a wedding ring.”
“And flowers,” he tagged on with a smile. “And don’t forget the dress and caterer bill.”
“You just had to bring all of that up, didn’t you?” Back on her tiptoes, she kissed him right back.
“I’m pretty sure one of my marital duties is to nag about how much money you spend.”
Adopting her best British accent, she said, “Then I shall try to be careful with your vast financial holdings.”
“That would be most appreciated, fair wench.”
A smile tickling her lips, she said, “I’m so excited about tomorrow. You’re going to make a great husband.”
“Ditto.” He kissed her forehead. “I love you.”
Snuggling against him, she said, “Me, too.”
“KNOCK, KNOCK.”
Upon hearing her sister at the nursery door at well past midnight, Stephanie clutched her chest. In a loud whisper, she demanded, “What are you doing here?”
Joining her alongside Melanie’s crib, Lisa said, “I used my key. I know it’s late, but we need to talk. You’re my best friend, and I can’t take this tension between us.”
That made two of them. But Lisa had made it abundantly clear she was dead set against Stephanie’s upcoming marriage. Without a major apology, she wasn’t about to kiss and make up. It was only because their mother had begged that Lisa had even been invited back into the wedding party.
“Steph, I’m sorry if I’ve come across as the grim reaper of weddings, but I know you better than anyone. You’re not ready for taking this huge of a step. I like Brady. A lot. He’s amazing with you and the girls, but he’s not Michael. You might say you’re ready to move on, but I saw your hands tremble tonight at the rehearsal dinner whenever the topic was broached about you and Brady being together forever. You’re terrified inside of not only maybe losing him, but of one day giving him up when you realize he doesn’t measure up to Michael.”
Turning her back on her sister, Stephanie stormed out of the room. With the nursery door closed, and Lisa hot on her heels, she said, “Thought you came here to apologize. Not deliver more insults.”
Dropping to the sofa, Stephanie grabbed a white throw pillow to hug. “Do you have any idea how bad it hurts for my other half to not be able to see how amazing Brady and I are together?”
“Oh, sweetie,” Lisa said, perching beside her, taking her hand, “that’s not at all what I mean. I want you to start fresh. I want you to be happy. But I want you to do it in a healthy way. This thing with Brady happened too fast. How many times did you tell me the two of you were just friends? And then, poof! All of a sudden you’re wearing a huge ring and asking me to babysit his daughter. Can’t you see that the root of your panic is that your heart hasn’t caught up with your head?”
“W-why are you doing this?” Stephanie asked, her voice small and defeated. “Why can’t you just shut up and let me be happy?” She turned her back to her twin. “You’ve never lost a husband. You’ve never raised two babies on your own. You’ve never run your own business and—”
“I know. Stop reminding me of all the ways I’m not as good as you long enough to hear what I’m truly saying.” Taking her hands and holding them tight, Lisa said, “I love you. Plain as that. If marrying Brady is the fulfillment of your every dream, then from here on, I vow to shut up and fully support you. My twin radar is off, and again, I’m so sorry for doubting you.”
“Thank you.” Stephanie angled to better face her sister. “You know how much I love you, which is why having you disapprove of my wedding has hurt so bad. Lisa, please, stop making me hurt. I’ve been through enough and now I just want to smile.”
“Th-that’s all I want for you.” With Lisa now crying, too, they hugged it out.
Finally earning Lisa’s seal of approval had been the crowning touch needed for Stephanie’s happy day.
“I’M SOOOOO READY TO GET married!” Extra hyper during the thirty minutes before the wedding, Lola spun and hopped in her pretty pink dress. Her impromptu dance didn’t make the historic chapel’s cramped bridal suite feel any larger.
“Me, too,” Stephanie said, only for the not-so-admirable reason that she just wanted to get it over with. She hadn’t been prepared for the onslaught of Brady’s relatives. Clarissa and Vince, around whom he was understandably on edge. Then there were his parents, a parade of aunts and uncles. Cousins who had a never ending stream of Arkansas hillbilly jokes.
“You okay?” Olivia asked. She looked beautiful in her red velvet strapless gown. As did Gabby and Lisa. For the twins, she’d found an antique white-wicker baby carriage that she’d lined with white satin. Both girls wore frothy pink dresses and had tiny bows in their curly hair.
Nodding, Stephanie said, “Last night was fun, but took a lot out of me. Who knew Brady’s family was large enough to populate a small country. Thanks again for hosting.”
“It was my pleasure—Tag’s, too. You know how he likes throwing parties.”
“Yeah.” At the mention of the party, Stephanie’s memory went back in time to her first wedding reception. She and Michael had been so young, as had most of their guests. High school and culinary school friends who knew how to have a good time. Once the garden ceremony had finished, Michael’s best man had fired up the grill, and out came a keg for the guys and dangerously liquored-up punch for the girls. Lisa’s then-boyfriend had driven a truck that he’d retrofitted with a DJ station in the bed. A ghost of a smile playing about her lips, she couldn’t remember ever having danced harder, or having more fun.
“What’re you thinking about?” Olivia asked.
Jolted from her thoughts, Stephanie met her reflection in the antique vanity table’s mirror. Far from bridal, she looked wide-eyed and terrified. Forcing a smile, she said, “I’m hoping I’ll be a great wife.”
“Of course, you will,” her co-matron of honor assured. “Brady loves you so much, and anyone can see you love him.”
Stephanie’s eyes teared and her pulse raced. Her emotions felt dangerously c
lose to being out of control. Breathing deeply, by sheer will, she held it together.
“You all right?” her mother asked. It’d been so long since she’d seen her and despite being in her thirties, Stephanie very much needed a hug from her mom.
Holding out her arms, trying not to cry, she whispered, “I love you. Thank you so much for being here.”
“Where else would I be? I’m so proud of you. Lots of my friends in Tucson who lose their husbands fold up shop and wait to die. Sure, they’re older than you—” she fussed over a few of Steph’s runaway curls “—but age doesn’t make your decision to put the past in the past any easier.”
Sniffling, Stephanie nodded.
“Stop all of this frowning,” her mom commanded. “You’re a bride. You’re required to be luminous and so gorgeous that all of the bridesmaids want to run away and hide.”
Laughing, crying, Stephanie agreed.
“DAMN, I’M GOOD-LOOKIN’,” Brady boasted of himself a few minutes before heading out to the stone church’s sanctuary.
“And not a bit conceited,” his best man, Pete, said with a few pats to his back.
Also standing up for him were Neil Myers, a longtime friend from flight school, and Vince. Since Brady had owned up to the role he’d played in his marriage’s collapse, the two had slowly been working their way back to being true brothers. Since Vince had stood up for him at his first wedding, Brady felt it fitting that his brother also stand up for him now, at the start of the rest of his life with Steph.
From outside the office where the guys had been told to assemble came a knock.
Neil opened the door to find the elderly pastor who would be performing the ceremony. “Where’s my groom? Is he ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Brady quipped. All teasing aside, he was psyched. It might’ve come about in whirlwind style, but his marriage to Steph was going to be great. They’d have more kids, and maybe snag a bigger house closer to a hub airport so he wouldn’t have such a long commute.
“That’s what I like to hear,” the man said. When he smiled, his bushy eyebrows nearly connected with his thick head of white hair.
Standing at the altar, Brady was blown away by the decorating job Steph and her friends had done on the sanctuary. With stone walls and plenty of stained-glass windows, the place was already beautiful, but with the ceremony set to begin at six, and hundreds of candles illuminating the otherwise dark space, the old church was luminescent.
Adding to the romance theme were the red roses he’d requested. Far too many to count paired with ivy and tons of other pale and hot-pink blooms that were too fancy for him to know the names. Festoons of fragrant blossoms lined the pews and the altar had become a candlelit wonderland.
Making a mental note to thank Steph for doing an outstanding job of making their wedding memorable, he looked out at the sea of family and friends. Many of them knew of his rocky past. There weren’t enough words to describe how happy he was to put all of that behind him.
The string octet finished their current piece, and then began a more familiar classical tune.
There was a commotion in the chapel’s vestibule, and then out popped Lola down the aisle. She smiled and twirled and to the delight of everyone assembled, tossed an assortment of rose petals that landed on just about all surfaces but the floor.
His aunt Martha looked a little miffed by the half a rosebush that’d landed on her helmet hair.
When his daughter reached him, he knelt for a hug, whispering in her ear, “Great job.”
“Thanks, Dad!” Though still fidgety and all smiles, she did her best to stay put in her assigned spot.
Next down the aisle were Steph’s twin and then Gabby. Upon first hearing about Stephanie’s identical sister, he’d worried he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart, but to him they looked nothing alike. Steph had an innate softness Lisa lacked.
Olivia finished up the procession, looking regal in her long red gown.
The wedding march began and all assembled rose to face the bride.
At his first sight of his future wife being escorted by Tag, Brady’s heart swelled. Lord, she was gorgeous. Through eyes welling with emotions ranging from gratitude to the deepest of loves, he drank in her long, loose hair. Ringlets cascading her shoulders in a cloud. With her every step, the stones of her tiara and a myriad of crystals sewn into her gown reflected the candlelight.
The only thing missing was her smile.
The closer she came, the more he noted the tremble in her bouquet. The wild-eyed panic in her eyes. It was the same look she’d worn when he’d first seen her again all those months ago on the plane.
For all of her protests that she was emotionally fine, he recognized all too well the signs that she was hanging on by a very thin thread.
When she reached him, he leaned down to kiss her cheek, whispering, “Relax, sweetheart. Everything’s going to be fine. I’m here with you. Nothing’s ever going to hurt you again.”
She nodded, but didn’t meet his eyes.
“I love you,” he said, his fingers beneath her chin.
Again, she shattered him with only a nod.
They were on the verge of spending the rest of their lives together. Why wouldn’t she look at him? Let him in?
The pastor cleared his throat. “Who gives this woman to be wed?”
“I do,” Tag said, while Olivia took Steph’s trembling bouquet.
With her hands in his, Brady held them as firm as he dared, trying to convey to her, without making a scene, that everything was going to be okay.
But was it?
The further into their vows the pastor went, the more pale Steph grew. Her breaths came shallow and her eyes took on an erratic dart.
Following the pastor’s directions, he said, “I, Brady, do hereby take you, Stephanie, to be my lawfully wedded wife.”
She started to cry.
“To have and to hold…”
Her light tremble grew to the point that her entire body now shook.
“To love and to cherish…”
She gasped for breath.
“In sickness or in health…”
Ripping her hands from his, she clawed at the bodice of her gown.
“For as long as we both shall—”
“I’m sorry,” she said with an anguished cry. “I can’t do this. I—I have to get out of here. The walls are closing in.” Abandoning him at the altar, she ran down the aisle.
Her tiara clattered to the floor.
Chasing her, Brady accidentally kicked the crown of silver and crystal on his way out the door.
Bursting through the chapel’s double doors, he found her hunched over in the attached graveyard, shivering in the brutal cold. A wind had whipped up, swirling leaves and creaking branches.
“What’s wrong with you?” he cried. “This was what you wanted. You asked to marry me.”
She dropped to her knees and sobbed. “I—I know. But I’m afraid. I already l-lost Michael and you’re a pilot and what if I’m not really over him and I don’t know what I was thinking because I clearly can’t marry you.”
“Bullshit,” he raged. “This has nothing to do with us. Michael flew in a war zone. I fly business travelers and tourists. There’s a huge difference. Statistically, you’re much safer—”
“I don’t care!” she screamed. “All right, so this has nothing to do with you flying, and everything to do with my shattered heart. I won’t marry you. I’ll never marry you. I can’t go through losing another man I love.”
“You’re not being rational. Where’s your medication?” he asked, glancing toward the chapel, at the throng of gawking guests standing at the doors. “Did you bring it?”
“I don’t want a pill, Brady.” Wind whipped her hair in her face. It was a dark night, but even from the glow emanating through the chapel windows, he saw black streaking from her eyes. “I don’t want you. I can’t do this. Keep living a lie.”
Her words sliced him to his core.<
br />
Dropping to his knees, sitting back on his haunches, he put his hand to his forehead, struggling for a logical way out. Where was the funny and warm and talented woman he’d fallen in love with? Why couldn’t he bring her back?
“I love you,” he said quietly, not knowing or caring if she heard him above the wind. “I love you and you’re throwing me away. I told you to get help. You were too stubborn to admit anything was wrong. Well, you know what?” he asked through gritted teeth. “I’m done. I’ve already been decimated by one woman I loved, and I’ll be damned if it ever happens again.”
Rising to his feet, he ignored Stephanie’s ever-increasing wails.
“Not only have you hurt me,” he cruelly said, “but you’ve also hurt my daughter. And it’ll be a cold day in hell before I speak to you again.” Turning his back on her, he mounted the chapel steps, picked up his crying and confused little girl, and wound through the crowded lot to find his rented car.
Chapter Seventeen
“Dad?” Lola asked from the lanai of the private Maui beach house he’d planned to surprise Stephanie with for their honeymoon.
“Yes?” He’d stretched out in the hammock, trying to sleep, but that, just like every other escape he strove for, wouldn’t seem to come. His ex-bride had made him numb.
“I know I asked why Stephanie left us before, but I still don’t get it.” She made her Barbie do the splits on the glass-topped table. “Steph told me she loved me. But if she loved me, why did she want to hurt me like that?”
Aching for not only himself, but his daughter, he fought stinging eyes. He’d vowed to not cry one more tear for that woman, and unlike her, he kept his promises.
Eyes closed, he surrendered himself to the balmy breeze stroking his bare arms, legs and chest. He focused on the surf’s roar and the salt-flavored air. The tropical paradise would be his place to heal. When the week was up, he’d emerge a better, stronger man for having weathered Stephanie’s storm.
“Dad?” With a start, he looked up to find Lola standing over him. “You didn’t answer.” Climbing into the hammock, she snuggled alongside him, clinging to him like she hadn’t since she’d been very young.
The Baby Twins (Babies & Bachelors USA) Page 16
