Dad for Charlie & the Sergeant's Temptation & the Alaskan Catch & New Year's Wedding (9781488015687)

by Stewart, Anna J. ; Sasson, Sophia; Carpenter, Beth; Jensen, Muriel

  She tried to console herself with the thought that he might feel differently tomorrow, after he’d calmed down. The damage was alarming but not irreparable. She’d asked Jack to suggest a cleanup service, then a contractor who worked with log homes. She’d already made the calls and asked them to come for estimates tomorrow. Afraid Grady would balk at her taking the initiative, she hadn’t asked him, but simply done it.

  Now, feeling sure that these people would all be happy together, even if she wasn’t among them for a while, she felt a buoying of spirit.

  She glanced at her watch. Almost one. Hurrying inside for a trash bag, she ran back out to collect the paper goods and marshal her forces.

  She gave everyone assignments and sent Corie and Ben home to relax and prepare for their wedding.

  Jack playfully disagreed. “No, no. Why should Ben get off so easy? He should stay and help.”

  Ben gave him a bland look. “Funny. I have to wrangle Soren into a suit and tie. No getting off easy there.”

  Rosie folded her arms, looking grim. “I have a really pretty dress, and Mom says I have to wear a coat over it so I don’t get sick.”

  “We’re all going to wear coats,” Cassie said, then had a thought. “Don’t you still have the coat with the angels on it that Corie made you for Christmas? That was pretty amazing.”

  Corie had made each of the children in the foster home a coat made of pieces of other garments put together in the most colorful and creative way.

  Rosie’s eyes lit up as she turned to Corie. “Did we bring it from Texas?”

  “We did. I know right where it is.”

  Rosie stood and pulled on her hand. “Then let’s go so we won’t be late.”

  Corie tried to help clean up first, but Cassie shooed her on her way. Once she and Ben and the children were gone, everyone got serious about cleaning up and getting ready, making sure everything necessary for the wedding was in place.

  By midafternoon all the tables had been covered with rented white cloths and each white, wooden chair had been decorated with the raffia ribbon and a Gerbera daisy tied to the back’s crosspiece.

  Vases had been collected among the family to hold the flowers placed in the center of every table. By three thirty, all the women stood in a group in the middle of the yard and looked around. Ben and Grady had brought out the armoire to hold wedding presents. It should have a frivolous purpose, she thought, before it took up residence in an office.

  “I think it looks pretty good,” Cassie said, relieved that everything had been pulled together despite the circumstances. She took a big whiff of the cold, late-afternoon air and marveled that the Riviera rat she’d been, the one who’d loved sunshine and warmth, was morphing into a coastal Oregon woman who didn’t mind the fog and the rain. Though there was none of that today. It was a golden day, just for Ben and Corie.

  “Thank you so much for all your hard work.” She looked at everyone and smiled. Sarah’s hair was tucked under a baseball cap. Helen wore a woolly watch cap and Grandma had tied a pretty blue scarf that matched her coat around her hair. She still looked glamorous. Only Diane was without something covering her hair, and Cassie guessed it was because she’d gotten her new ’do the day she bought her suit, and loved it so much, she didn’t want to cover it.

  Cassie had tied her hair in a high ponytail then knotted it into a disheveled bun. “Thank you, also, for giving up your hair appointments so we could go to plan B and still make a beautiful wedding for Corie and Ben.” When she called to cancel the appointments, she promised to send a check, anyway.

  Sarah hugged her. “Well, of course. That’s what family does. And, frankly, this has been more fun than I’ve ever had at a hair appointment.”

  “Absolutely.” Helen pointed to the half circle of chairs placed around the pergola. They would later have to be moved to the tables, but for now they had been arranged with military precision. “I defy any wedding planner to do a better job than we’ve done.” She smiled at Cassie. “Actually, we did have a wedding planner. You have been amazing!”

  She couldn’t take that compliment to heart. “I burned down the venue, Helen.”

  “It was an accident,” Diane insisted. “And look at what you’ve made out of a hopeless situation.”

  “Success,” Grandma contributed. “That’s my girl.” She came to wrap an arm around her. “You’ve brought my family back into the light,” she said with a sincerity that touched Cassie to her core. “I don’t understand what happened with your mother, just that I continued to love her but felt as though she cloaked us in darkness. But you and your sister and brother are such miracles of love and caring. I’m so proud to be your grandmother.”

  “Oh, Grandma.” Cassie embraced her, struck by how sad her life must have been when her daughter had become someone she could no longer understand. Cassie couldn’t remember her mother, but she’d always felt a nugget of love for her.

  As dusk began to settle over the backyard, there was the sound of male argument then laughter, as Jack, Gary, Oliver and her father walked out of the kitchen onto the lawn, each carrying a standing chandelier.

  Corie felt instant panic. All she could think was that Grady would hate using them after what had happened. She ran to stop Jack, who was heading for the aisle between the rows of chairs.

  “Jack!” she whispered, catching his arm, steadying the chandelier as he stopped in surprise. “I’m sure Grady won’t want to use these.”

  “He’s the one who told us to bring them out. They needed a little wiping off from the smoke, but they’re unharmed.” He looked up and down the aisle, the other men stopping behind him.

  “Wouldn’t it have been easier to just have the bride carry a candle?” Gary teased.

  “It would have been easier to have the wedding in the house,” her father added, the stand of the chandelier wrapped protectively in his arms as he smiled at her over it. “Where we could flip a switch and the lights would go on.” Then he closed his eyes and shook his head. “Oh, yeah. You burned the house down. I forgot.”

  “Harsh, Mr. Chapman,” Oliver said. “Funny. But harsh.”

  Grady came out of the back, carrying a chandelier, his expression carefully controlled—no smile, no frown.

  “Where do these go?” he asked Cassie. His light eyes rested on her, but they said nothing.

  Picking up the challenge, she looked into his gaze, wanting to make him react to her. “You don’t mind using these?”

  He arched an eyebrow. “The batteries were the problem, not the chandeliers. And these things did come all the way from Paris. Shame to waste all that effort.”

  Was that a slam? Or was she being too sensitive? Didn’t matter, she decided. He was entitled to a snarky tone.

  She walked the men up the aisle and had them place the chandeliers in two rows at eight-foot intervals. Grady ran back to the house for the sixth chandelier and put it in place.

  “Light them!” Sarah said as the women crowded around. “I have to see, and it’s almost dark.”

  Each man turned the switch and Sarah ran up to light the last one.

  A collective gasp confirmed what Cassie had suspected. They were even more beautiful outside than they’d been in the house.

  Helen pointed into the distance behind the pergola where there seemed to be small, round, dancing lights in the distance. “What are those?”

  Everyone turned in that direction, mystified.

  “The elk are watching us,” Grady replied. “Apparently they’re coming to the wedding. Or, at least, plan to observe from a distance.”

  There was a moment of quiet while everyone strained to see.

  “What are we going to do for lights after the wedding when people are eating?” Helen asked.

  “I’ve got spotlights back here,” Grady replied. “And we can di
stribute the chandeliers among the tables. I’ve got batteries.”

  Cassie glanced away from him at her watch. Would she ever hear that word again without her heart seizing? She drew a breath. “Okay. Four o’clock. We’d all better get a move on.”

  Everyone dispersed with shouts of “See you in an hour!” Fortunately no one had far to go home.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  WHILE GRADY WALKED his mother to the car, Cassie hurried into the house. It hadn’t occurred to her earlier to check on her dress, but now that the wedding was less than an hour away, she wondered in a little panic if the smoke and water had ruined it. There were still puddles all over the great room floor.

  She held on to the railing as she walked upstairs because there were puddles there, too, and at the nearest edge of the loft floor. Mercifully, the bed and everything beyond it seemed to have been spared.

  She opened the wardrobe closet and felt a small quiver of happiness at the sight of her dress, still in its plastic sleeve from Bay Boutique, dry and unharmed. Folded beside it on the floor of the closet was the dung-green raincoat Grady had lent her. She guessed she had little choice but to wear it.

  Not that she hadn’t modeled summer clothing and bathing suits in downright cold conditions in her work, but there’d always been someone standing by with a warm blanket to wrap her in. And this wasn’t a photo shoot.

  Today was one of those real times Grady lived in fear of, the kind that shook you to your core and reminded you that life was risky. Anything could happen at any time, and if you didn’t want to get hurt or disappointed, or ever lose anything, you stuck to a safe plan. Took no chances. Stayed with what’s familiar. Didn’t let yourself be vulnerable.

  She blew out air and went to the railing to look down at the destruction to Grady’s great room. Wouldn’t it be horrid if he was right, after all? She’d thought she was being prepared and taking no chances on a perfect wedding when she’d stored extra batteries for the chandeliers in the little drawer. Chandeliers and other beautiful things were familiar to her. So, technically, none of this should have happened.

  Maybe it was the “letting yourself be vulnerable” point that tripped her up. She’d always believed in being brave and open, but Grady hadn’t, and look what it had gotten him when he’d tried it.

  “Cassie.”

  She was surprised to hear his voice and leaned over the railing, looking for him. When he said her name again, she realized it came from the top of the stairs.

  “Please don’t use the electricity while you’re getting ready,” he said. “Considering the hanging chandelier ripped off and fell down, and that there’s water everywhere, it’ll be safer to use the battery-powered lantern under the bedside table.”

  “Okay,” she said. She tried to gauge what he was thinking and couldn’t. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t really anything. He looked gorgeous in his dishevelment from all their hard work today, but the man who’d been so kind and considerate of her since she’d fainted in his arms less than two weeks ago didn’t seem to be there.

  Then he held something out to her. “Do you want this for tonight? I know it isn’t at all wedding-appropriate, but I thought you’d like it better than the green rain jacket.”

  His bomber jacket hung from his hand. The sight of it warmed her instantly. He was in there, somewhere under the residual anger and the disappointment at seeing his long-held but recently doubted beliefs proved true, after all.

  She wanted to run into his arms and tell him again how sorry she was, that he’d been right to care for her, to let her into his life and dive into hers, but that was hard to prove at this point.

  She moved toward him with care, afraid of alarming him, like approaching one of the elk that had watched their wedding preparations. She took the jacket from him and held it against her. “Thank you. I’ll take good care of it.”

  “I’m sure you will,” he said. “Just keep it until you go home.”

  This was home. She would be going away. “Thanks.”

  “Sure. Anything you need?”

  You. “I think I’m good.”

  “All right.” He turned and picked his way carefully down the stairs, leaped over the puddles and disappeared down the corridor to his room.

  She held the jacket to her chest and bent her head over it. The smell of his spicy aftershave clung to it. There was hope, she thought. It was fragile, but it was there.

  * * *

  BEN AND CORIE’S wedding was unlike anything Grady had ever seen. The bride and groom exuded such love when they looked into each other’s eyes that he guessed they could have been in a desert, or in shirtsleeves at the North Pole and they wouldn’t have noticed. Or, they’d have noticed but they wouldn’t have cared. After a colossal struggle with life, they were finally able to declare their love and promise each other that it would last forever.

  There were six or seven rows of guests on both sides of the aisle. They were bundled against the clear, cold night, anticipatory smiles in place as the Wild Men sang “All You Need is Love.” The air was redolent of the surrounding fir trees, the winter smell of wood smoke and the collected perfumes the wind had brought across the ocean.

  Sarah came down the aisle with her warm smile and what was probably a beautiful dress covered to her hips by a gray jacket. With a pink-and-blue bouquet, she somehow looked just right.

  Grady felt a punch to his heart when Cassie followed Sarah, her hair piled at the back of her head, curls falling everywhere, a pink daisy caught in them. She was heartbreakingly beautiful without much effort, with a softness about her that was almost painful. His leather jacket enhanced rather than detracted from the figure she cut walking between the ethereal chandeliers. Below the jacket, some fluffy, fussy skirt skimmed her knees, and he took in her long, gorgeous legs.

  Rosie followed in a wildly bright coat, clearly feeling beautiful. She held a small wicker basket and scattered rose petals on the grass, her beautiful black hair catching the light from the chandeliers.

  Soren walked beside her, uncharacteristically serious in his suit with the hated tie. His hair was slicked back but the ever-present twinkle was in his eye as he carefully balanced the ring pillow.

  Corie was gorgeous. He smiled to himself as he thought the word he’d heard Cassie use so much. He’d heard the women talk about how she’d made her own dress that looked like something a lady in the Middle Ages would have worn. She wore a soft blue jacket over it that Grandma Eleanor had lent her.

  Gary Palmer walked her down the aisle, looking proud and solemn.

  Ben, waiting for her, smiled with a tenderness Grady hadn’t seen in him before. He knew his friend to be a kind, compassionate man, but it seemed this woman had reached deeper inside him than anything or anyone ever had.

  When the wedding party turned to face the priest, there was a communal gasp as everyone noticed the elk at the edge of the property, their attention turned toward the wedding guests. There was a majestic male, several females and six or seven young ones. They were a magnificent addition to a magical day.

  Cassie glanced in Grady’s direction with a wide smile, clearly happy that they’d come. He had to smile back, happy, too.

  The ceremony was brief but poignant. When Ben and Corie were pronounced husband and wife, Ben kissed her then crushed her to him as though nothing could ever separate them.

  Loud applause and cheers erupted, and the exit music was “Time of My Life” at full volume. The guests sang along. Rosie and Soren met to walk up the aisle, a more familiar elbowing and shoving going on between them. Sarah took Grady’s arm, her cheeks wet with tears, and Jack and Cassie followed behind them.

  Oliver and Donald carried chairs from the wedding area to the tables with the help of other guests. Diane, Helen and Eleanor were already carrying dishes to a buffet table set up under one of the spotlights,
fortunately part of a different electrical system than the house.

  He was surprised when Sarah stopped him and gave him a hug. “I have to get in there and help,” she said, smiling up at him. “Thank you for doing this for them even after what happened today. I think for most of us, this will go down as one of the most memorable weddings we’ve ever attended. As far as the family is concerned, you and Cassie are quite the heroes.”

  She placed her hands on his arms. “You do understand that it was all just a terrible accident? Not that you don’t have a right to be completely upset, but…Cassie wouldn’t hurt anyone. I’ve only known her for ten days and I’m as sure of that as I am that Jack is the other half of my soul.”

  “That’s quite a claim.” He tried to lighten the moment, unable to explain to her that he was confounded by his own feelings. What he felt wasn’t anger at Cassie but anger at himself for ever thinking that their lives could work together. She’d always want extravagant, glamorous and fussy things that would burn down his life and everything that had gotten him this far.

  She put a hand to her heart. “My faith in her, like my love for Jack, is a core belief.”

  The bride and groom had been drawn aside and surrounded by their guests. Jack and Cassie were right behind Grady, and Jack took Sarah away from him. “Mine, Grady,” he said with a grin. “You’ve got your own woman.” He hugged Cassie then walked away with Sarah.

  Grady and Cassie stood between the last pair of chandeliers. Cassie smiled up at him, tipping her head toward her departing brother. “Sorry about that. He thinks we still…you know…have something going.”

  “It’s all right,” he said. “I’ll always care about you.”

  * * *

  EVERY FRAGILE HOPE Cassie’d had that she could somehow turn this relationship around disintegrated. When he’d smiled back at her at the sight of the elk, she’d hoped. Now bitterly disappointed, she couldn’t help the impatient roll of her eyes as she started to walk away. “Never mind.” She tossed the words at him over her shoulder.