by Nancy Warren
“So, I’m proud to share your home.” She put her hand into his and reached up and flipped off the light. She preferred to say what she needed to say without a big light in her face. She took a moment to gather her thoughts. “I don’t want to make you sad, but I have this dumb thing I do. After Sadie and I read a story, I always take a peek at her mom’s picture. I know it’s crazy, but I like thinking that she and I are sort of a mothering team. I never, ever want to take her mother away from Sadie. I only want to finish the job that Laura started.” She glanced up at his face but he had that tough guy look that didn’t fool her for a second. “I know you loved your first wife. I want you to understand that I love her too. I love her for helping you become the man you are, for making Sadie, that beautiful, precious little girl who is going to make me a step-mother. I want us always to honor her. I am proud to live in her house and she will always be part of our family.”
She leaned over and put her hands on his face. “Okay?”
He nodded, as though he didn’t have words, and leaned forward and kissed her. She kissed him back, and as they clung together she thought that maybe this was the sweetest kiss she’d ever had.
He fired up the engine and turned away from the granite kitchens and the guest suite. She could sense his relief.
“Now you only have to worry about your speech,” she teased.
He turned and gave her a rueful grin. “I know what’s in my heart. I love you. I just don’t want to make a stupid speech and try to be funny or whatever. Nobody cares anyway.”
“Okay,” she said. “Why don't you tell me?”
“What?”
“Make me the speech that you don’t want to make to everyone at our wedding.”
“But I haven’t written it yet.”
Privately, she thought he’d better get on it. They were getting married tomorrow afternoon. “Okay. Extemporize. Think about a few key points you want to make and kind of wing it.”
“What? Now?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Because you’re the only one I actually want to impress.”
That was so sweet and she completely understood what he meant. How had they let their wedding get hijacked like this? “ I have an idea.”
“Does it involve getting naked? Because I have to tell you, I am so stressed right now and everyone knows the best stress relief is—”
“No,” she laughed. “Well, maybe later. But for right now let’s find a place that means something to both of us and you make your speech and I’ll make mine to you. No audience, no pressure. We can practice for the actual wedding.”
“Okay.”
He drove toward the river. She knew immediately where he was going. Not to the public beach where they took their picnic dinner with Sadie, but to a more private alcove they’d discovered. “Lucky for us it’s almost a full moon,” he said as he pulled over.
The truck door squeaked as she opened it. She hopped down onto the gravel at the side of the road. He came around the back of the truck and took her hand. They couldn’t walk hand in hand down the trail, it was too narrow, so she let him go first and followed, admiring his most excellent rear and the strong legs that carried him down.
She could hear the rush of water, feel the soft evening air. Already the moon was rising, shedding soft light. When the trail opened up there was the river, gurgling its welcome. The rocks were round and white, sculpted by years of water, sun and time to undulating smoothness.
They picked their way to a favorite spot, a sandy patch surrounded by big, smooth boulders still holding some warmth from the day.
She sat with her back against rock and he settled beside her.
They didn’t say anything for a few minutes, simply allowed themselves to relax. “This is nice,’ he said at last, his voice rumbling comfortably in her ear.
“Yes.”
She settled her head against his solid chest and he put an arm around her. She’d come to love this river with its many moods, and this town she’d planned to stay in only for a few months. And this man who was going to share her life.
“Okay,” she said. “You go first.” She felt the muscles of his chest stiffen under her cheek.
“Really? You’re serious?”
She pulled away and turned so she was cross-legged and facing him. “Absolutely. Tell me why you want to marry me?”
Chapter Eight
She was so beautiful, Jared thought, with her copper-penny hair blowing softly around her shoulders, a few wisps teasing her face in the moonlight. He though of all the reasons he wanted to marry her. Without a couple of hundred guests and an unfamiliar tux that was choking him, he felt the flow of words come from deep within him.
He reached out his hands without thinking and she put hers into his. For one timeless moment he simply looked at her. Then he began. “Erin Nash, I love you. I think we found each other when we were both lost. You taught me to believe in love again, in living a full and complete life again.”
Wow, that was intense. He took a moment, another deep breath. He never talked like that but she wasn’t laughing at him, or teasing, she was looking at him with luminous eyes and he knew she understood what he was saying even if he couldn’t verbalize his exact feelings without sounding like a walking Hallmark card. And, he figured, if he didn’t tell her now, when would he? So he kept his gaze on hers and went on.
“I want to go to bed with you every night and wake up with you every morning, to drink a million cups of too-strong coffee because that’s how you like it.”
She smiled, but didn’t comment. As though she understood that if she interrupted, said anything at all, he’d never be able to continue. And suddenly the speech he hadn’t been able to write, truthfully even to begin, flowed out of him. “I want to put bandages on your fingers when you burn them with the soldering gun, but I will kiss them better first. I want to remind you to eat when you get that crazed look in your eye because you’ve been working too hard and you’ve forgotten your most basic needs.”
She bit her lip on a grin and nodded.
“I want to make love with you in every light and in every season. I want to worry with you when Sadie gets bad grades, or breaks an arm or doesn’t get picked for some team. I want you to talk me down when I threaten to rip the throat out of any boy who asks her out.” He paused. Swallowed.
“And I want to celebrate with you when she does great, and gets the lead in the school play, and hits the honor roll. I want all the big things with you, but I also want the small things.
“I want to grow old with you. Maybe plant some vegetables, go for long walks with Cupid in the rain. I want to laugh with you when life is great, celebrate with you when you have success, cry with you when the tough things happen. I will be with you in sickness and in health, I hope we’ll get richer but maybe we’ll end up poorer, and if you’re by my side I guess we’ll figure it out. God willing, I want your face to be the last thing I see when I leave this earth.” He took a shuddering breath. “Erin, I love you and I pledge myself to you, body and soul.”
He could see the glint of tears on her cheeks but she didn’t falter, she kept her gaze steady. She nodded once. Squeezed his hands. Then, like him, she steadied herself for a moment.
“Jared Gardiner, I love you. When I met you, it wasn’t only that poor sad puppy who had lost its way.” He could picture it so clearly, bet she was doing the same. The little, bedraggled black and white Border collie pup with the red bow hanging from its neck all wet and drooping, crying at her doorstep.
Of course, he hadn’t actually seen that picture only imagined it from her telling of the tale. He still remembered the first time he’d seen Erin, though. She was talking to his daughter and she had posters of a lost dog in her hand. His lost dog.
He’d been drawn to her immediately, for her kindness in putting so much effort into getting a lost dog home, for taking the time to make sure a kid standing by herself was okay, for her warm smile and the hint of humor in her eye
s. For looking like the cosmopolitan New Yorker she was, but still enjoying her first Christmas in a small no-account town in the Pacific Northwest.
He’d known immediately he wanted to see her again. At first, he thought it was simple gratitude but he very quickly realized he enjoyed her company as a friend and as a woman.
He’d fallen in love with her in days. Had almost lost her not once, but twice. And now, here they were, declaring their intention to spend their lives together.
“I had to run away to hide and to lick my wounds. But you, and Sadie and Cupid, you made me see how much life still had to offer. You got me out of the pit of self-pity I’d fallen into. And then I began to notice how much I enjoyed your company. How you could make me laugh.” She swallowed. “And you let me cry on your shoulder and didn’t run far and fast because I’d freaked you out.”
“I fell in love with your decency, your hot bod, your beautiful eyes. I fell in love with your daughter and your dog. And your mother. I even fell in love with Kaslo, and that I can’t believe since it rains here so much I have moss growing between my toes.”
She drew in a breath that trembled a little. Behind her he could see the moon rising, full and yellow-white. “I don’t know how to be a wife. Or a mom. But I promise you here and now that I am going to do my very best. I want to be there for you when you laugh, and hold you when you want to cry but are being too manly to let it out, I want to swim naked with you in the ocean and kiss you when you’re hurting.” Her voice creaked a little. “I want us to be honest with each other, to fight when we have to, and laugh when we can. I want to love you. Forever.”
He pulled her to him, then, kissing her.
When they separated, he said, “I feel like we are married.”
Her smile was warm and sweet. “I think, maybe we are.”
“I wish.”
“Well, in Great Britain and Ireland, centuries ago, they had a tradition called Handfasting. I did some research on it when I was thinking about our rings. I like that term. Hand fast. Seems it was a pagan ceremony invoking the four elements to help bind the couple together. Sometimes the ceremony would be conducted by a priest, and sometimes it was a ceremony before the ceremony.” She glanced around. “We’ve got the water, obviously, that’s the first element. We’re sitting on the earth.” She breathed deeply. “There’s the air element.” She turned her gaze upward, “And for fire, we’ll take the full moon.”
“So, we’re married?”
Her grin was mischief in a sexy package. “I even have the rings.”
“You’re kidding.”
She shook her head. “I was going to give them to the minister tomorrow, but this is our wedding ceremony. The real one.”
She pulled out a tiny package wrapped in brown paper. He could see it had been opened. She’d obviously checked that the rings were to her specifications. She was nothing if not a perfectionist. She put out her palm and tipped the bag. Two gold rings fell into her hand. She handed him the smaller of the two. Kept the other.
He kissed the circle of gold he held in his fingers. Then she held out her left hand. He slipped the ring onto her wedding finger. He had no idea if there were special words he was supposed to say so he simply said, “I am your husband. You are my wife.”
She seemed to like that. She put her ring onto his finger and he felt the gold slide home like it belonged there. She said, “I am your wife. You are my husband.”
She must have seen a funny look on his face, for she said, “What?”
“If this is our real wedding, shouldn’t there be a wedding night?”
Her chest rose and fell with her sudden intake of breath. “How much time do we have before we have to get back?”
He reached for her, pushed her gently back until she was lying on the soft patch of sand.
“Enough.”
Chapter Nine
The wedding day of Erin Nash and Jared Gardiner was as perfect a day as any bride – or her mother -- could wish for. The sun shone, but a slight breeze prevented the day from becoming too hot. The flowers weren’t stiff or formal, but whimsical and absolutely perfect. Not a bloom wilted. The Kaslo Inn had hired extra caterers, Adele-approved, who arrived as scheduled.
The dresses fit perfectly and Erin felt as though they turned out better than her imagination had painted them. Her hair played along and decided to have a good hair day and, since she’d refused a professional make-up artist, Adele did her make-up herself. Which was surprisingly wonderful.
Sadie was so excited she could barely sit still for a second. She twirled in her pink, shortened version of Erin’s wedding dress. The best seamstress in the Pacific Northwest had indeed done a fantastic job. Much better than Erin could have managed with her basic sewing skills on her old Singer.
The guests all seemed in good humor and Kaslovians and New Yorkers mixed like Gin and Vermouth, Erin thought, as she scanned the crowd. With, naturally, a few olives in there and a touch of bitters, but what was a perfect martini without contrasts?
Trish Gardiner’s little secret was that she’d once been a pastry chef. Her cake was a work of art and no second back-up cake ever appeared. In fact, she and Erin’s mom had taken to each other to both Jared’s and Erin’s amazement.
The minister arrived on time.
Zack’s violin was tuned.
Such perfection was, of course, too good to last.
Natalie looked both official and pretty in a pale blue summer suit. At five o’clock precisely, she asked the guests to be seated in the chairs provided for them in the gardens of the Kaslo hotel. The minister stood in the gazebo in the garden. Jared walked down the grass aisle, with his best man beside him, and sat in his place at the front. The strains of the violin began to play.
That was Sadie’s cue to start her walk down the aisle scattering her petals. Erin’s father, Henry Nash, looking very dapper in his gray summer weight suit said, “I’m going to miss, you, kid.” Which made tears well so she almost ruined Adele’s make-up. Then he winked at her. “Well? Shall we do this?”
“Yes,” she said, looking ahead to where Jared waited for her. “Let’s do it.”
They began the walk down the aisle. It was a longer aisle than she’d planned due to the ballooning of the guest list, and because she was nervous the walk seemed like a twelve-mile hike.
Cupid had been picking up on the emotions all morning but he’d been patient while the rings were attached to his pink bow. Now he was in Natalie’s care. She was to hold him until it was his turn. He was to trot up the aisle to Jared right after Sadie had reached her father. Normally, the ring bearer came before the flower girl but they’d decided to make the change so that the dog didn’t have to wait long before being released from his duties.
Sadie was half way down the aisle, about the cutest flower girl ever, when Erin began walking toward the bottom of the aisle. As soon as Sadie reached Jared and then took her place facing the guests, Natalie released Cupid as arranged and at Jared’s signal, the dog was supposed to trot sedately up the aisle.
Exactly as they’d practiced.
Jared would discreetly show him the dog biscuit. Except, she knew from the sudden look of concern on Jared’s face that he’d forgotten the dog biscuit.
Either the missing dog treat or the excitement must have got to Cupid, or he simply became confused. There was no sedate trot. Instead, he put his head down, his ears flew back and he galloped down the aisle toward Jared.
She could see the bow bouncing and caught the glint of gold as the dog flew for her husband to be.
Then, as soon as he reached Jared, he put his paws down in a sudden stop, then he turned, giving everyone the benefit of his doggy grin, and galloped back down the aisle toward Erin. It was the game they’d played countless times, the dog galloping from one to the other. Before she could stop him, he’d popped down on his paws at her feet, then bounded up and ran back up the aisle toward Jared and Sadie, pink bow and wedding rings bouncing along with the dog.
>
She glanced up, laughing, to find Jared’s gaze on hers. His eyes were dancing and even though she couldn’t hear him over the violin and the gasps of their guests, she could see him laugh.
As they shared the crazed moment she thought, maybe this is how every marriage should begin -- with a good laugh.
And here’s a sneak peek of the last installment of A Romance in Four Seasons.
A Kaslo Thanksgiving
What had she been thinking? Erin asked herself, not for the first or even tenth time. She’d never even cooked a turkey before, not once in the thirty years of her life and here she was inviting a ridiculous number of people to come and join her and her new family for a family Thanksgiving dinner.
It was currently breakfast time, but all she could think about was turkey. They were all in the kitchen enjoying poached eggs and fruit. Jared, her new husband, Sadie, her six-year-old step daughter, and Cupid, the Border collie who lived in hope that somebody would drop something good on the floor.
“What do you think, Jared? Traditional chestnut stuffing or should I go modern? There’s this way you do turkey with figs and some kind of spice I’ve never even heard of.”
Jared, her husband of less than half a year, scratched his head, his green eyes twinkling. “Have you ever cooked a turkey before?”
“No.” She tried not to let panic show. How hard could it be?
“Maybe you should start with basic arithmetic before you move to advanced calculus.”
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Author Bio
Nancy Warren and Max
