The Bowen Bride
Page 14
“Did you and Kevin break up?” Katie asked, her tone gentle.
She shook her head. “No. But we’re not getting married. Not now.” She met her father’s frown and said, “I know you’re going to say you told me so—”
“I won’t.”
Mandy sniffed, then thanked him. After a deep breath, she said, “Well, tonight I told Kev that I called my mother.”
Jared felt himself go rigid, but tamped back his anger. Now wasn’t the time. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“I know, Dad. And I’m really sorry. I thought I’d tell her about my plans for next year. About getting married and going to Lincoln. I shouldn’t have. I don’t know what I was thinking. I got her voice mail and left my number, but she never called me back. I guess I shouldn’t have expected her to. When I told Kev about it, he got all weird.”
“All right. Define weird.”
“He said we really should think more about whether to go ahead with the wedding, and that maybe my mother not calling me is a sign.”
Katie saw the waterworks that threatened and retrieved a box of tissue from one of her new cabinets, then offered them to Mandy. The teen smiled in thanks, then pulled a few through the top of the box and wadded them under her eyes. After regaining her composure, she told Jared, “Kev said he loves me and all that, but he was looking at everything we have to do when we start school. And he’s kind of freaked. He’s worried I’m going to meet someone who’s all into rocks, since I plan to major in Geology, and that even if we were married and living together, he’d hardly ever see me. I’d be clear across campus from where his classes are all day long. We’ll be around completely different people since he wants to major in agribusiness, and he thought we should see if we can make it through college together before we get married. That if we do, then we’ll know it’s for real.”
Jared leaned forward, folding his hands on top of the table. “What do you think, sweetheart? You disagree?”
A lone tear ran down Mandy’s face and dropped onto the table. She swiped it with the ball of tissue, then looked at her dad. “No. I think he’s right. But I don’t want him to be right. I don’t want to lose him.”
She glanced up at Katie. “What do you think? You’re so smart about this stuff.”
“Me?” Katie couldn’t hide her look of shock. “I know gowns, but trust me, I’m clueless when it comes to this stuff.”
“You know plenty,” Jared assured her over his shoulder. Turning back to Mandy, he said, “You need to do what your heart and your gut tell you to do. I think Katie would agree with me on that. If you love Kevin and he loves you, sometimes you just have to believe.”
Mandy nodded, then stood and rounded the table to hug her father. “Thanks, Dad.”
For a few minutes he simply held her, letting her sniffle against his shirt. When she finally pulled away, she was smiling. “Thanks for not saying you told me so. And for not being too mad at me.”
“I’m always here for you, you know that. But we’ll have to talk about your mother later. And how calling her might not have been the smartest move. She cares about you, and wants you to be happy, but she has a life of her own. I don’t want to upset that, and I don’t think you do, either.”
“I know.”
She let go of her dad, then surprised Katie by crossing the room to give her a hug, too. “And thank you. You hardly know me and you’ve been so, so nice to me. Thanks.”
Katie smiled. “I haven’t done a thing. I’m glad we’ve gotten to know each other.”
Mandy glanced toward the workroom, and a look of discomfort flitted across her face. “You haven’t started the gown yet, have you? What’s your policy on—?”
“Don’t worry about the gown, Mandy.’’
“You did start!”
“I’ll pay for any work that was done,” Jared promised. “You can always come back here in a few years and have it finished, or you can have Katie finish it now and put it away for later. Whatever you two decide. Sound like a plan?”
He looked from Mandy to Katie, then back to Mandy.
“I’m not sure, Dad. I mean, I love the design I picked out and everything, but it feels wrong now.”
Katie put an arm around Mandy’s shoulder. “Understandable. I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry about it anymore.”
“Okay,” Mandy said. “It’s such a pretty design, though. Maybe you can find a good use for it. I mean, maybe someone will see it on one of the mannequins and want it. Or if you ever decide to get married, I bet it’d fit you. You’re maybe a couple inches taller than I am, but we’re the same size. Since I’m assuming you haven’t hemmed it yet…well, I’m just saying that if you want to make it so it fits you, just for someday, that’d be cool.”
“Thanks, Mandy.” Katie gave the teen a warm hug. “I don’t anticipate getting married anytime soon—”
“But never say never, right?” Jared leaned against the counter, a lazy, wicked smile on his face. He had his hands at his waist and his legs crossed just below the knees. He looked, Katie thought, absolutely incredible.
“I did interrupt something, didn’t I?” Mandy asked. “Ohmigosh. I did. Dad!”
“I should probably take you home, young lady, before your imagination gets the better of you,” Jared teased. “But how about if we invite Katie over for dinner? I happen to know she hasn’t eaten yet.”
Before Katie could protest, Mandy clapped her hands. “That would rock! And I promise to leave you alone after dinner.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Dad, just deal.”
Mandy glanced at the Montfort’s bag, which was still on the front table where Jared had dropped it when he and Katie came in. “Did you happen to get a veggie sub for me, though? Kevin and I never got around to eating tonight.”
“We can run back into Montfort’s and get one to go.”
Mandy beamed, and Katie couldn’t help but admire her. Despite the teen’s heartbreak, she was excited for her father, and accepting of her. “I’d love that. Katie? Please come over.”
She pretended to struggle with the decision. “I don’t know. You have any good movies? Any popcorn?”
“Yes to both, but that’s not a very exciting way to spend the evening,” Jared answered. “Sitting in a white clapboard house in the middle of nowhere, watching a movie you’ve probably already seen with an old, boring Nebraska guy and his just-dumped teenage daughter.”
“Hey, I wasn’t dumped!”
“And you are neither old nor boring,” Katie added. She strode to the front door and opened it, waving Jared and Mandy ahead of her. “Let’s go. I’m looking forward to this. It’ll be the most fun dinner I’ve had in a long time.”
As Jared passed her, he leaned in and whispered, “I’ve been looking forward to a dinner like this for a long time, too.”
Epilogue
Jared couldn’t remember the last time he felt the urge to cry. Maybe the day after Mandy was born, when he held her in the hospital, overwhelmed with the knowledge that he was her father and responsible for her. Panicked, and yet so full of love and hope at the same time.
But as celebratory music echoed through the church, he knew today topped it.
“Are you ready?” he asked. “It’s your turn to walk.”
He grinned at the beautiful young woman who looped her arm though his. He could hardly believe the years that had passed since he’d watched from the other end of the aisle as Katie made this walk, wearing a heart-stopping, elegant white wedding gown. And now he would escort Mandy down the same aisle as she wore the same gown.
No, now that he thought about it, he had nearly cried at his own wedding, watching as Mandy had taken Katie’s bouquet and stood behind Katie as her maid of honor. He’d held his wife-to-be’s hands and listened to her promise to love him for the rest of her days. He’d never been as happy or as at peace as he’d been at that very moment.
“Mom looks so excited,” Mandy said, nodding toward Kat
ie, who rose as Mandy and Jared moved to stand at the back of the church, their toes just touching the aisle runner. “She really does love you, Dad.”
As the rest of the wedding guests followed Katie’s lead and stood, and the organist began to play the wedding march, Jared placed a hand over Mandy’s and smiled at his daughter. “No, sweetie. She loves us.”
“You know, I never thought I’d have my mother at my wedding. But I really feel I do, that Katie’s my mother in every way. I’m pretty lucky.”
“We both are.”
As he walked Mandy down the aisle, instead of taking in the sight of her flowers, the beaming faces of the guests, or her nervous but thrilled groom, Mandy turned to him and whispered, “I hope I remember this forever. It just feels…magical.”
As they reached the front of the church, just before he left Mandy with her groom and went to sit with his gorgeous wife, he leaned over and pressed a kiss near her ear, taking pains that no one else in the church could hear when he spoke.
“Believe in that magic, Mandy. It’s real. I know.”
Also By Nicole Burnham
The Bowen, Nebraska Series
The Bowen Bride
The Royal Scandals Series
Christmas With a Prince (prequel novella)
Scandal With a Prince
Honeymoon With a Prince
Christmas on the Royal Yacht (novella)
Slow Tango With a Prince
The Royal Bastard
Christmas With a Palace Thief (novella)
The Wicked Prince
One Man’s Princess
Additional titles will be available soon. For updates, please subscribe to Nicole’s Newsletter. Subscribers receive exclusive content, including the short story A Royal Scandals Wedding, an inside look at the wedding of Megan Hallberg and Prince Stefano Barrali.
About the Author
Nicole Burnham is the RITA award-winning author of over a dozen novels, including the popular Royal Scandals series. All About Romance declares, “Nicole Burnham gives life to a fictional kingdom and monarchy that feel as though they could be real” and “gosh darn it, Nicole Burnham is good…readers should definitely check her out.”
Nicole graduated from an American high school in Germany, then obtained a BA in political science from Colorado State University and a JD/MA from the University of Michigan. She lives near Boston, spends as much time as possible at Fenway Park, and travels abroad whenever she can score cheap airfare.
Readers may visit Nicole’s website and subscribe to her newsletter at www.nicoleburnham.com.