by Shirley Jump
Now here she was, wearing her mother’s wedding dress, which her father had pulled out of the attic and gotten dry-cleaned. It was Sunday afternoon, and she was about to marry a man she barely knew. This was crazy. She couldn’t do it. She was going to have to go down the hall and tell her father the whole thing was made up and she wasn’t going to marry Grady. Reggie would understand, wouldn’t he?
I’m sorry, Dad, we’re not getting married. It was never real. She whispered those words to herself, spoke them to the mirror. Maybe if she said them enough times, they would be easier to say aloud. And maybe they wouldn’t break her father’s heart.
Yeah, slim chance of that happening.
There was a knock on her bedroom door. “Bethie, can I talk to you?”
She pulled open the door to her dressing room—the first-floor bedroom at the Stone Gap Inn that Della had given her to get ready in. There was her father, wearing a dark blue suit from years ago that hung off his thin frame. The collar of his shirt gaped at his neck, but he was freshly shaved, with color in his cheeks and a light in his eyes that Beth hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Oh God, you look so beautiful,” he said. His eyes misted and his voice got thick. “So much like your mother.”
And the words it was all a sham died in her throat. “Thank you, Dad.”
“I can’t believe my little girl is getting married today.” He stepped forward and took her hands in his. “Everything’s all set. I don’t want you to worry about a single thing. Everyone’s outside and—”
“Everyone?”
“I invited a few people from town. Nothing to worry about. Oh, and Grady’s brother is here, too. Plus some guy Grady works with. Maybe they saw the announcement in the Stone Gap Gazette.”
“You put an announcement in the paper?” This was what happened when Beth stopped paying attention. Everything careened out of control. “Dad, I wanted a small wedding. Just you, me and Grady. I thought that was clear.”
“I know you did, but honey, I couldn’t let you have a tiny wedding like that. I missed so much of your childhood. I missed graduation and birthday parties, and way too many important days.” His eyes filled and his hands shook. “I might have gone a little overboard by booking the inn and all that, but it’s not every day your only daughter gets married. I feel like I’ve gotten a second chance to be the dad I should have been, and I just want to make everything perfect for you.”
How could she tell him that the intimate wedding had been so they could keep the truth about their “marriage” a secret from her father? So the breakup later wouldn’t be as big a deal, and she could quietly erase her marriage? She loved her father too much to do anything other than nod and tell him, “Thank you for doing so much work.”
“It’s only work when you don’t enjoy what you’re doing. Though planning a wedding is a whole other world from strategizing how to win a fight.” Her father leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I’m so proud of you. Grady’s a great guy, and clearly would do anything for you. He must love you very much.”
“He must,” Beth managed to reply.
I’m falling in love with you.
If that was so, he hadn’t shown it in the last couple days. She’d seen Grady only in passing, and their brief conversations had been all business: the dog seems to be doing well with his training; What time do you need me to be here for the wedding; How’s your father doing? It was almost as if that moment in the kitchen hadn’t happened.
She should have been relieved. But as she glanced down at the wedding dress she’d once dreamed of wearing to marry the love of her life, she couldn’t hold back the wave of disappointment. Tears stung her eyes, and she prayed her father didn’t notice—or at least misinterpreted them as happy tears.
“Well, I’ll let you finish getting ready,” he said. “I’ll be in the hall, waiting to walk you down the aisle whenever you are done.”
“Dad, are you sure you want to do that? You shouldn’t be without your oxygen—”
“Got that covered.” He stepped back and waved at the normally plain green metal tank. He had put a ring of flowers over the top and tied a big white ribbon around the canister. “Nothing’s going to stop me from walking my girl down the aisle.”
That part of her dream wedding would come true, at least. And by the look on her father’s face, it was now his dream, as well.
“Give me five minutes, Dad.” She kissed his cheek. When he was gone, Beth drew in a deep breath, then affixed her mother’s veil with a pair of tiny white combs, and slipped into a pair of low heels. She stared at her reflection for a long time, then took another deep breath, opened her door and walked down the hall with her father.
She stopped short when she saw the scene beyond the window. Reggie had gone all out in his planning, and clearly hadn’t taken the words small or intimate to heart. At all.
A small white tent was set up over a couple dozen folding chairs on the rolling lawn of the Stone Gap Inn. Pink rose petals littered the hallway, then the path through the living room and out the front door. Flowers and white ribbons covered the posts and spindles of the porch, then formed a border for the white paper aisle that led from the porch and down the yard. A three-piece band was playing soft instrumental jazz while waiting to play the wedding march. It was all so surreal, all so elaborate. Guilt weighed her down. He’d gone to so much trouble, so much expense. “Dad...this is beautiful, but it’s too much.”
Her father shook his head. “Nothing is too much for you. I can’t undo all those years I was gone, or how I left you to take care of your mother on your own when you were barely old enough to take care of yourself, but this is just a small part of me saying I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
“Oh, but I do, Bethie, I really do.” His eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “Your mother and I loved you, and we loved each other, but we were terrible parents, and even worse spouses. I was too young and cocky when I got married, and fame just went to my head and made things worse. I thought the sun and the moon should revolve around me. I realized too late that my world should have revolved around you and your mom.”
A single tear slid down his cheek. With any other man, the tear might have looked like weakness. But tears in the eyes of a man who had once dominated the world with his fists made him real and human and even more of a father to admire. “It’s too late for me to be the husband I should have been to your mother, God rest her soul, but it isn’t too late for me to try being a real father to you. Is it?”
She cupped his cheek and swiped away the tear with her thumb. “No, Dad, it’s not. It never was.” Beth worked a smile to her face. “Now let’s walk down that aisle before I start to cry.”
He nodded, then crooked his elbow. She slid her arm into his, and they began to amble down the flower-strewn path. The band shifted into the wedding march and the two dozen guests rose and faced Reggie and Beth. Every time Beth felt like a fraud, she glanced over at the joy in her father’s eyes, and told herself she was doing this for the right reasons.
As they approached the folding chairs, her father patted her hand. “You ready?” he whispered.
Beth nodded. Her stomach churned, her breath was in her throat, but she took one step after another with her dad, passing Stone Gap residents she knew and loved. Della Barlow, with her husband, two of her three sons, her stepson and all their wives. Katie and Sam Millwright. Viv, the owner of the café; Grady’s brother and a woman who must be his wife; and Ida Mae’s old next-door neighbor, Cutler Shay. Several of her dad’s friends and a few of hers from high school. Savannah and Mac Barlow sat in the front row, with Savannah sending Beth encouraging smiles. She’d told her best friend she was getting married, but not the truth about why. Instead, she’d chalked it up to some whirlwind relationship that made Savannah sigh at the romance of it all and rush the repairs on Reggie’s house so that
Grady and Beth could spend their wedding night alone. Beth didn’t have the heart to tell her they weren’t going to have the wedding night everyone expected.
At the end of the aisle, Beth saw Pastor Dudley, waiting with an open Bible. And Grady, wearing a dark suit with a cornflower-blue tie. When his gaze connected with hers, he smiled, and the nerves and stress in Beth’s stomach eased. She had lied to him—or at least, she’d withheld the truth. She was falling for him, too, and even though she knew her heart would be broken later, today she allowed herself to feel every emotion.
She was getting married. To Grady Jackson. It was a fairy tale come true—and Beth decided to enjoy the moment until reality hit at midnight.
* * *
His wife.
Grady looked over at the beautiful, incredible woman beside him, and repeated the words in his head. His wife. Beth was now his wife. And not a pretend spouse. They’d been married by a real preacher and signed a real wedding certificate.
That was all due to Reggie, who’d been so ecstatic over the wedding that he had taken the reins on the planning, and brought in a pastor he knew, hired a band he’d heard perform once before, and invited what seemed like every person he knew. Cutler Shay had showed up, and Nick had wandered in a few minutes before the ceremony started. Grady saw Viv from the Good Eatin’ Café, Della Barlow and her husband, and a couple of the Barlow brothers. Even Dan, called by Nick, had flown down for the ceremony, a surprise Grady hadn’t seen coming.
There were at least a dozen people Grady didn’t know or recognize, but it didn’t matter. The person who kept his attention riveted was his wife.
Beside him, Beth let out a long exhale. “Well, we did it.”
“We did.” He put an arm around her and drew her close, all in the spirit of acting like two people who were deeply in love, but also because he was craving her touch. Five minutes ago, he’d been standing across from her and promising to love her until the day he died. In the back of his head, he’d thought how stunning she looked as a bride. The floor-length satin dress accentuated her curves. With the sun above her, and the picturesque setting of the lake behind them, it had been as close to a perfect wedding as one could get.
Even Grady had gotten caught up in the magic of the setting, the words he’d spoken. There was a moment after he’d slipped the band onto her finger when he’d held her hand a little too long, wanting to hold on to the memory, and to her, just for a second.
“If I haven’t said so already,” Grady murmured, “you are a beautiful, breathtaking bride.”
“You’ve mentioned it. Ten times.” She blushed. She’d worn her hair down and curled. The hazy fabric of the veil skimmed over the golden tendrils. She looked almost...angelic. “Thank you.”
“I realize this isn’t a prom, but we did get all fancied up and there will be dancing.” If he had known all those years ago that Beth Cooper hadn’t gone to the prom, he would have screwed up the courage and asked her himself. A woman like her deserved to be wined and dined, and to experience everything life had to offer. He made a mental note to come back to Stone Gap once he’d rebuilt his fortune, and whisk her away for a weekend in Paris or Rome.
Maybe this didn’t have to end.
“No, it’s not a prom. But it’ll do.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek, a sweet, light kiss that bordered on friendly. “Thank you, Grady. For everything.”
He turned her to face him. Beth’s eyes shone as she looked up at him, and the smile on her face made his heart skip. “You know, people are watching us. We’re newlyweds and they’re going to expect us to be kissing. A lot.”
“Okay, we can kiss again.” She rose up on her toes, and when their lips met, Grady wrapped an arm around her, then bent her backward in a dramatic dip before he swooped her up again, all without breaking the kiss. A few people laughed and clapped.
Beth stepped back out of Grady’s arms. Her cheeks were flushed, her hair a little tousled. “That, uh, that was a hell of a kiss. People will really believe we’re madly in love.”
He kept his eyes locked on hers, hoping to see a sign of something, anything, that would tell him how she felt. “Too bad we aren’t.”
“Yeah. Too bad.” Beth held his gaze for a minute, her thoughts unreadable. She was his wife, and still, in many ways, a stranger. “I should, uh, say hello to the guests.”
Then she spun on her heel, snagging a glass of champagne as she crossed the lawn to greet Della Barlow. Grady grabbed a beer from the makeshift bar beside the dance floor, and watched his wife make the rounds.
His wife.
Two words that both touched his heart and broke it at the same time. Savannah had handed him an offer on Ida Mae’s house earlier today, a fair price that Grady should take. He hadn’t signed the papers yet, using the wedding as an excuse to put it off.
Dan headed across the lawn. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” His COO looked great, with some color in his cheeks and a few of the pounds he’d lost back on his thin frame. Clearly, the days off had been good for him. “I can’t believe my brother told you about the wedding.”
“Of course he would. He said I couldn’t miss it. Called it the wedding of the century.”
Grady scoffed as the two of them walked over to the makeshift bar, where Dan got a bottle of water. “I would have invited you myself, but it was all kind of last-minute and, uh, unexpected.”
“You fell madly in love and couldn’t stop yourself from popping the question, huh?” Dan tipped the plastic bottle against Grady’s beer. “To making crazy decisions.”
“I don’t know if I’d toast to that.” Grady took a long pull off the beer and let out a breath. “Lately, I’ve been jumping off cliffs without even looking below me to see if I’m landing in water or crashing onto rocks.”
“Seems like it was a good choice to jump this time.” Dan nodded toward Beth. She was talking to Savannah, laughing and smiling. Her face was animated, eyes bright, and the white dress made her stand out against the lush North Carolina landscape like a lily in a field.
Damn, she was beautiful. And his, at least for tonight. Tomorrow they could face reality.
“I hope that marrying Beth may prove to be as smart a move for you as me marrying Cathy,” Dan said. His face broke into a wide smile. “I couldn’t do what I do without her. She’s a fantastic mom and a partner this old grump doesn’t deserve.”
The obvious pride and joy in Dan’s voice struck a little chord of envy in Grady’s gut. If his wedding today had been real, those could have been his words and his happiness. Maybe he was drinking too much of the water here, because a wife and kids and a Volvo in the driveway was never what Grady wanted. Yet right now, his gut craved all that with a ferocious need. “That’s awesome, man. Congrats.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I wanted to let you know I’ll be back in the office tomorrow.”
Dan’s jaw dropped. “Tomorrow? What about your honeymoon? Work can wait, Grady. Seriously.”
“No, it can’t.” Getting back to New York and back to work was the only way to move forward. And to forget. “I need to be there to make sure this deal goes through. I found a buyer for the medical device property, but he wants to meet with me personally to hammer out the details.” An offer from a potential buyer would be enough to go to Bob and sew up the deal. If Grady had to float some money in between, selling Ida Mae’s house sooner rather than later would do that. All he had to do was accept the offer he had in his pocket.
It was all good news. So why did the thought of his return to the city make his heart heavy?
“While we’re on the topic, I wanted to talk to you about work.” Dan put up a hand. “Just for five minutes. I have an idea I want to run past you.”
“Okay. Shoot.” Grady nodded in his brother’s direction. Nick was talking to Savannah and Mac, and marveling at their baby. Nick’s wife, a slender dark-haired woman wit
h pretty eyes, looked happier than anyone Grady had ever met. Was that what his life would be like if he stayed—if this was real and Beth actually loved him back?
“I know you didn’t ask me for my advice, but I’m giving it to you anyway. Sell to Jim,” Dan said, drawing Grady’s attention again. “Let him take on that albatross we built. Clear your debt and start over by buying something else, say, like...” Dan nodded in the direction Grady had been looking. “Mac and Savannah Barlow’s solar company. I was talking to him before the ceremony and he’s looking to bring on a partner so he can do the real estate and renovation thing full-time with his wife. But he wants to keep the business local.” Dan fished a business card out of his pocket and handed it to Grady. “Since you might end up settling down here, it could be a good change of direction.”
“Dan, I’m not settling down here. I’m not even staying here. Monday I’ll be back in New York—”
“Do you remember what you said to me when I was in the hospital?” Dan was a foot shorter than Grady, but when he was determined and serious, that height difference seemed to disappear.
“Besides that I was an idiot who should have listened to you, and I’m so incredibly sorry I didn’t?” That day in the hospital with Dan—almost losing his friend—had nearly killed Grady.
Dan waved that off. “You weren’t an idiot. You took a risk. I respect that. Most people stand on the edge, but you jumped into the volcano.”
Grady took another swig of beer. “Jumping into a volcano sounds like a pretty idiotic thing to do. That kind of stunt can get you killed. Or cause your COO to have a heart attack.”