Sophie looked at him intently as he passed, as if she were trying to tell him something with her eyes, but he couldn’t grasp what it was, not with Rich Bryce hanging over her with that self-satisfied look on his face, like he’d gotten away with something.
Postwedding chaos followed. Tears, showers of flower petals and eco-friendly bird feed over the bride. A crush of wedding guests descended on the receiving line.
He couldn’t find Sophie in all the hubbub afterward, but he kept looking.
He finally found her on one of the cliff overlooks. She’d gotten a glass of champagne, and was gazing out on the surf as she sipped it.
Vann grabbed a glass from a passing waiter’s tray and joined her. “There you are.”
She gave him a guarded smile and lifted her glass. “Well, they did it. Beautiful ceremony.”
“It was,” he said, clinking it with his own. “To Jenna and Drew.”
They drank, and leaned their elbows on the railing, gazing out at the sea together.
“Where were you when the ceremony started?” he asked.
Sophie shook her head. “It was the strangest thing,” she said. “I was on my way there, but right when I got to the door of the reception hall, this woman dressed like hotel staff told me that Malcolm urgently needed me in his hotel room.”
“What?”
“I know, right? She said he needed me to interpret. The timing seemed bizarre, but she was very insistent, so I just hightailed it up there and knocked on his door. But he wasn’t there. Of course, because he was here all along. Obviously. The wedding was about to start. Which means that someone was jerking me around. So I hurried back, and asked at the desk to speak to the person who’s sent me on this fool’s errand—Julie’s her name. And the woman tells me there is no Julie on the resort staff. Never has been in the three years she’s worked here.”
“That is bizarre,” Vann said.
“I know,” Sophie agreed fervently. “And it’s not the first time I saw her. She was in my room last night when we got here. She’d delivered my bags while we were in that meeting with Tim. She said she dropped my garment bag and got it wet, so she was laying my clothes out on the bed. Now they tell me this person I’ve interacted with twice never worked here? It gives me the shivers.”
Vann shook his head. “I don’t like the sound of it.”
“Me, neither. I’m hesitant to talk to the general manager about it now. Out of embarrassment. It sounds...weird. Like I’m delusional. Or seeing ghosts.”
“You’re as solid as a rock,” he assured her. “Trust yourself. I certainly do.”
She gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks. I appreciate your faith in my sanity.”
“So, ah...” he said after a moment’s silence. “How is it that you ended up arriving at the ceremony with Rich Bryce?”
Vann had kept his voice neutral, but Sophie still gave him a withering look. “For real, you are asking me that?”
“Just wondering,” he said innocently.
“I ran across him in the resort lobby when I was asking about this mysterious Julie, if you must know,” she said. “He attached himself to me like a leech. I literally had to pry him loose a couple times. So don’t waste my time being jealous about that guy. I have far more urgent problems. He does not even make the cut. Clear?”
Vann felt his chest relax. “Crystal clear. Shall I kick his ass?”
“Not funny,” she said. “I want no more drama. Spectral hotel staff are more than enough stress for me to deal with.”
“Oh, so that’s where you two are hiding!” Ava broke in after bursting out the door of the reception hall. Her blond hair was tousled around her flushed, beautiful face. “Come back in! Bev and Malcolm are about to start speechifying. You guys can whisper and canoodle later.”
Busted. He shot Sophie a guilty glance, but she ignored him as she followed Ava inside, her skirt fluttering in the breeze.
* * *
It was strange. In spite of all her issues, plus the mysterious, disappearing Julie, Sophie was actually having a good time. The happiness around her was infectious. Drew and Jenna were ecstatic to be married to each other, and everyone else basked in the reflected glory.
The party had a natural momentum. Everything was beautiful. The surroundings were gorgeous, the food was fabulous and abundant, the wine was excellent and the music was amazing. The band played three long and very danceable sets, and the music was a perfect blend of high-energy pieces to get everyone dancing and heart-melting romantic ballads.
Sophie didn’t usually dance, but she couldn’t say no when Ava dragged her out onto the floor to be part of a chorus line. It left her breathless and damp and pink, and intensely aware of Vann watching from the table where he sat with Zack.
“Single ladies, single ladies! All the single ladies gather around!”
Oh, no, no, no. Bev Hill was on the warpath. Hendrick’s wife was the honorary benevolent matriarch of this event, since both Drew’s and Jenna’s mothers were gone. She was hustling around, rousting out the unmarried women and herding them into the center of the room. No way was Sophie getting roped into the bouquet toss.
Sophie tried to melt out of sight, but Bev swung around and pointed an accusing finger at her. “And just where do you think you’re going, young lady?”
“Oh, no. Not me,” Sophie protested. “I’m only here in a professional capacity. I wasn’t even invited to this wedding. So I certainly shouldn’t participate in the—”
“Nonsense. You just get your patootie right out here with the other girls,” Bev directed. “This only counts if everybody plays along. Come on, now!”
So it was that Sophie found herself in the midst of twenty sweaty, giggling young woman, all high on dancing and champagne. They were herded into a tight formation, she and Ava shooting each other commiserating glances as Bev jockeyed Jenna into position.
The rest of the crowd ringed the group, laughing and cheering them on as Jenna positioned herself, turned around...and flung her bouquet high into the air.
It arced, turning and spinning...right toward Sophie’s head.
She put up her hand to shield her face. It bounced off her fingers like a volleyball, and then thudded down onto her chest, where she caught it instinctively. Oh, God. No.
The room erupted in riotous cheers.
“Woo-hoo! You’re next,” Ava shouted over the din. “Good luck with that!”
Sophie couldn’t reply, being thronged with hugs and squeals and teasing best wishes.
Vann kept his distance during the ordeal, thank God, but he’d watched the whole thing. She was too self-conscious to go near where he was sitting, so she let Bev lead her over to a table where Ava and Jenna were resting their feet.
She sat down gratefully. There was a steep price to be paid for dancing in high-heeled sandals. She needed a break from the implacable force of gravity right about now.
Bev pulled a bottle of champagne out of the ice bucket and poured them all fresh chilled glasses. “Drink up, hon! Fate has chosen you to be next.”
Sophie couldn’t hold back the snort. “Fate may have a rude surprise in store,” she said. “I’m a tough nut to crack.”
“Nonsense.” Bev patted her hand. “A gorgeous young thing like you must have the suitors lined up out the door.”
“It’s never easy, Bev,” Jenna reminded her.
“I suppose you’re right,” Bev admitted. “My romance with Hendrick was rather rocky at first. He was quite the bad boy, back in the day.”
“Hendrick?” Sophie repeated, disbelieving. “A bad boy?”
Bev, Ava and Jenna burst out laughing at the tone of her voice.
“Yes!” Bev said. “Believe it or not, Hendrick was quite the player. I had to treat him very, very badly for a while. But I got him in line. Elaine helped me with that. Drew and Ava’s mo
ther. She was the one who got us together, forty-six years ago. She’s been gone for over eighteen years now, and I still miss her so much.”
Sophie looked from the rounded little lady with her white pixie cut, eyes dreamy behind her rimless glasses, over to the bald, tight-lipped Hendrick, sitting at a table with Malcolm, the elder Mr. Zhang and his grandson. Hendrick was leaning his good ear to hear young Zhang’s interpretation, scowling in concentration. It was hard to imagine him as a focus of romance, but Bev’s eyes were misty with sentimental memories.
“Congratulations,” Sophie said. “On forty-six years of happiness.” She looked over at Jenna, and lifted her glass. “May you be just as lucky.”
They drank, and Bev pulled out a tissue and dabbed at the tears leaking from below her glasses. She grabbed Jenna’s hand. “This was Elaine’s engagement ring,” she told Sophie, lifting Jenna’s hand. “Doesn’t it just look perfect on her?”
Sophie admired the night-blue sapphire, nested in a cluster of small diamonds, that adorned Jenna’s slender hand. “It is lovely.”
“I can just feel Elaine’s presence here tonight.” Bev’s voice was tear-choked. “She would have been so happy to see Drew with you. She was so proud of her children.”
Ava dug into her purse for a tissue and mopped up her own eyes. “I should have worn waterproof mascara. What was I thinking?”
“Oh, honey, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“It’s okay, Bev,” Ava said. “It’s just that I actually felt her, you know? Just a flash of her. It’s been such a long time. I was afraid that I’d forgotten the way she made me feel forever. But I haven’t. And you helped me remember.”
Bev scooted closer and grabbed Ava in a tight hug.
Then they all broke down in tears. Sophie’s eyes stung, and her throat was so tight it ached.
She missed Mom so badly. Mom would have known just what to say to transform all the tears into cathartic laughter, but Sophie hadn’t inherited that gift.
“Was Malcolm ever married?” Sophie asked after Bev had wiped her eyes and blown her nose.
“Briefly,” Ava said. “To Aunt Helen. It only lasted a few years. She got bored easily, if you know what I mean. Though Uncle Malcolm is anything but boring.”
“No one really liked her.” Bev’s voice hardened. “We all knew it was a mistake. Sure enough, she ended up running off.” She turned to Ava. “That was before you were born. Drew was just a toddler.”
“And he never married again?” Sophie asked.
“He never wanted to risk it,” Bev said sadly. “In spite of all the choices he had. And he could have had his pick. Oh, he had his adventures. Nothing serious, though. He left a trail of broken hearts in his wake. But all that’s long past now.”
Sophie looked over at Malcolm. She thought about Bev, and her forty-six-year marriage with Hendrick. Of her own mother, staring at the sunset on the terrace with her glass of wine, and her regrets.
Vicky Valente had been a one-man woman, just like Bev. She should have had what Bev had. Weddings and births and graduations and funerals and all the messy, complicated business in between. But fate had not been kind.
Sophie pushed her chair back and got up, babbling something incoherent to Ava, Jenna and Bev. They looked up, blinking back tears, calling after her as she left.
She didn’t register what they said. They were probably asking if she was okay, or if there was anything they could do. But she wasn’t okay. And there was nothing anyone could do.
She just had to get someplace private, before she disgraced herself.
Fifteen
Where the hell had Sophie run off to?
Vann excused himself and headed toward the door he’d seen her leave through. Once outside on the walkways, he caught a flutter of her dark pink skirt before the path turned and the foliage hid her from view.
People on the walkway stared as he ran by. A big guy in a tux sprinting down the wooden walkway at top speed must look strange.
He hit the branch in the path. One way led to Malcolm’s room, and Bryce’s baited trap, whatever it might be. The other way led to Sophie’s cabin. He turned in that direction, only slowing down when he got there. He tried to get his breathing calmed down before he knocked.
“No housekeeping, please,” Sophie called from inside.
Vann was so relieved he practically floated off the ground. “Sophie? It’s Vann.”
There was a long pause. “It’s not a great time.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I just need to be alone. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Please,” he insisted. “Let me talk to you. Just for a minute.”
The silence was endless. Finally, to his huge relief, the door opened a crack.
He pushed it open and went inside. Sophie was in there, standing with her back to him. “What’s so important that it can’t wait a few hours?” she asked.
He shut the door. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh. That’s why you’re invading my privacy? Because you’re curious?”
“Just concerned,” he said.
She blew her nose loudly. “I didn’t ask for your concern.”
“Too bad,” Vann said. “You’re getting it, anyway. Please tell me what’s wrong.”
She turned to face him. Her wet topaz eyes blazed. “Fine,” she said. “Here it is, Vann. The shocking truth. I miss my mom.”
He had no idea how to respond to that. “Ah...”
“Yes, I know,” she said. “And that’s the sum total of what’s going on in here. Happy now?”
“I wouldn’t say happy,” he said carefully. “What brought that on?”
Sophie fished another tissue out of the pack. “It was a sneak attack,” she said, blowing her nose. “Bev was going on about how sad it was that Drew’s mom couldn’t be here for the wedding. Ava started to cry, then Jenna piled on, then Bev, too, and the whole thing just got out of hand. But I’m not part of their club, and I didn’t feel comfortable indulging in a cry with them. So I bailed. My clever plan was to have my sobfest in the privacy of my own room, where nobody could see me or judge me or, God forbid, feel sorry for me. But no, it was not to be. I have to do it in front of you.”
“Not part of the club?” he asked. “What club?”
“Oh, you know,” she said impatiently. “The inner sanctum. The family circle. I’m just hired help. It didn’t seem appropriate. But I just miss her so much...” Sophie pressed her hand to her mouth.
“I’m so sorry you can’t have what you want,” he said. “I wish I could change that.”
“Me, too,” she whispered. “Thanks for wanting to.”
He had hesitated to touch her—she seemed so raw and charged with electricity—but the impulse was too strong now. He pulled her into his arms, and waited until the tension vibrating through her relaxed, and her soft weight settled against his chest.
After a few moments, she rubbed her eyes. “I’ll ruin your shirt.”
“I don’t care,” he said.
“Wow,” she whispered. “That just blindsided me. It was so hard last year, losing her. It happened so fast. I thought I was handling it, and suddenly, kaboom. I fall to pieces.”
“I think it’s normal,” he said. “Family gatherings, holidays, weddings. They can really slip past your guard.”
“Exactly,” Sophie said. “My guard is usually miles high. It’s the organizing principle of my professional life, you know? That’s what I do. I help people keep up their guard. But the last few days, my guard has been like Swiss cheese. And my mom is the biggest hole of all. She’s the reason I’m here.”
Vann waited for more, but Sophie stopped speaking.
She pulled away with an incoherent apology, and went into the bathroom and bent over the sink, splashing her face.
He fol
lowed her and slid his arms around her waist from behind as she straightened up, dabbing at her face with the towel.
“What does that mean? That your mom is the reason you’re here?” he asked.
She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I told you, remember? That’s why I moved to Seattle. I needed a fresh start after she was gone.”
Vann waited for more. Sophie finally met his eyes in the mirror.
“What?” she demanded, almost angrily.
“You’re always straight with me, so I have a good baseline reading on you for honesty,” he said. “And this doesn’t ring true. What is it about your mom?”
She made a frustrated sound. “You are all up in my face tonight, Vann.”
“Yes,” he said. “And I’m not backing down.”
Sophie let out a sharp sigh. Her eyes looked almost defiant. “All right,” she said. “Here goes nothing. If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to tell a soul?”
Vann felt himself go ice cold inside. He couldn’t think of what to say. “Ah...”
Sophie laughed out loud. “Oh, my God, your face,” she said. “Relax, Vann. I’m not confessing to murder or anything shocking.”
“Even so, I can’t make that promise blind,” he said carefully. “How do I know what you’ll say?”
Sophie sighed. “How about if I promise in advance that my secret will not compromise you morally? It will not sully your honor to keep my promise. It’s just private, that’s all.”
He nodded. “I see.”
“So? Do you promise?”
Vann let out a slow breath, and braced himself. “I promise.”
Sophie spun inside the circle of his arms, and placed both her hands on his chest. She looked like she was working up her courage.
“Is this about your mother?” he prompted.
Sophie nodded. “She was the one who wanted me to go to Seattle,” she said. “It was her dying wish for me to come here.”
Vann waited for the rest, unable to breathe. “And why is that?”
Sophie raised her eyes to his. “Because Malcolm Maddox is my father.”
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