By Candlelight

by Janelle Taylor

  But she couldn’t phone. She was in too much turmoil. The young minister had gently prodded and poked through her thoughts and forced her to face some truths she hadn’t quite wanted to see.

  She had told him about Jake. And April. And Ben. And then she had told him what she had learned today. Her anxiety was all too plain and raw, and when she was finally finished, the minister had asked the one question she hadn’t even considered yet, “Do you want this baby?”

  Now, as she turned into her own drive, it was with both trepidation and resolve. A black Bronco waited next to April’s car. Jake was here.

  Inhaling a deep breath, Kate pulled to a stop, levered herself from the seat and headed to the front door. It flew open on its own, and her daughter stood on the other side, eyes full of accusations.

  “Where have you been? Did you forget how to use a phone? Geez, Mom, I leave you looking like death warmed over, and then you disappear without a trace. I’m not the only one who needs the police to drag them home! Where were you?”

  “I went to Lakehaven,” Kate admitted, her gaze searching past April to the depths of the living room beyond. Jake stood in silence, his deep frown an indication of his own worries where Kate was concerned.

  “Lakehaven?” April repeated, closing the door behind them both and following Kate’s faltering footsteps into the room. “Why?”

  Kate’s eyes were on Jake. He looked so strong and masculine and darkly virile in jeans and a black shirt. Or maybe it was just the harshness of his features. “Good question,” he said.

  “I just was—reconnecting, I guess,” Kate answered. “Does anyone want something to drink? I could use a soda.”

  “You don’t look sick anymore,” April said, her gaze skating over Kate from head to toe.

  “Don’t I? I feel sick.” She laughed a bit hysterically.

  “Well, you’re acting kind of sick,” April declared to her mother’s strange response.

  “What do you mean by reconnecting?” Jake asked.

  “I just had to go look around.”

  “But you couldn’t go with me last night.” The rebuke was implied.

  “No,” Kate admitted. She glanced a bit desperately from her daughter to Jake and back again. Sometimes they were so much alike it was scary! “I’ve got to tell you something,” she added. “Both of you. I don’t know if I should do it at the same time, or not.”

  “Just say it,” Jake suggested in a lethally serious tone.

  Kate felt frozen through and through. She drew a breath, exhaled it, drew another.

  “I’ll get that soda,” April suggested, looking scared.

  “I had to get my head straight,” Kate apologized. “I had some things to think about. I remember how you said you hated liars.”

  It was Jake’s turn to sweep in a sharp breath. April returned with the cola and placed it within Kate’s shaking hands. “Mom, what is it?” she asked, deeply worried.

  “I’m—I’m—” She gestured helplessly. “I’m pregnant.”

  Dead silence followed. The proverbial pin could have dropped and sounded like a cannon.

  April gaped in wonder. “Really?”

  Kate nodded, but her gaze turned to Jake. What she read on his face wasn’t encouraging. His jaw was granite, his eyes an unforgiving arctic blue.

  “You lied about being able to conceive?” he suggested softly.

  “No! I didn’t know. I thought—Ben said—it was my fault and I believed him.”

  “What was your fault?” April asked, frowning.

  “I never could have another child after you,” Kate explained. “Ben checked out, so we assumed I was the one who couldn’t conceive.”

  “That’s why you thought you couldn’t conceive? Good grief, Mom! That’s dumb.”

  April’s bald pronouncement brought a hysterical bubble of laughter from somewhere inside Kate’s chest. “You’re right!” she cried. “It is dumb. It’s so dumb, I can’t believe it. But you know what? I’m glad. I’m so glad. I want this baby so much. It’s like a miracle, and I’ve spent the whole day just getting used to the idea.”

  “I’m glad, too,” April agreed. “But you know something? You could really use a class in sex ed. I mean, it’s Jake’s baby.” She pointed to herself with both hands. “Hey, you already proved you could have a child together, right? If they gave you a test on this, you’d flunk. Anybody else would worry that they could get pregnant again.”

  “You’re right,” Kate said. “You’re right!” She swiped tiny tears of hilarity from the corners of her eyes. “It’s just that it was eighteen years ago!”

  April turned to Jake. “Didn’t you think about it?” she accused. “Where were the condoms? I mean, I’m not saying it won’t be great. I’ve always wanted to have a brother or sister. But hey, we’re all supposed to act responsibly, aren’t we?”

  Jake was in a daze. He couldn’t take it all in. He understood Kate’s collapse into near hysteria, because he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry himself. And then to have his teenage daughter remonstrate him on his sex life! He rubbed a hand across his face in disbelief.

  “Well?” April demanded of him. A smile threatened the corners of her mouth as the whole situation fully penetrated her consciousness. “My God! I’m going to have a sibling.”

  Kate’s gaze was fixed lovingly on Jake. “I didn’t lie. I promise. I didn’t lie.”

  “I know.”

  “You do?” she asked him anxiously.

  “Yes.” A baby. His baby. A child to raise from birth. With Kate. She was right. It was a miracle. He shook his head to destroy the lingering cobwebs. He could see the quandary she had been in. “I always wanted children,” he said in a soft voice.

  Kate gave a cry of joy and threw herself in his arms. For once April looked speechless. Her eyes grew round and suspiciously wet before she muttered an excuse and scurried from the room. Kate trembled in his arms. “You’re happy? You’re really happy? Tell me the truth!”

  Burying his face in the glory of her sweetly scented hair, Jake squeezed her tight. “I’m really happy,” he said, his throat catching. “Just don’t ever do that to me again.”

  “What?”

  “Leave without saying where you’ve gone. I had terrible visions. I thought you were sick and helpless, and—” He sucked air between his teeth. “I don’t want to think about it anymore,” he finished roughly.

  “I promise. I promise.” Kate kissed his neck and ran her fingers through the thick hair at his nape. “And Jake?”

  “Hmmm.”

  “I know where I want to get married now. I was there today…”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Tomorrow…

  The church was full of people. Wreaths of white roses festooned the altar and pews, and white satin ribbons draped and flowed over onto the bridal aisle where the scent from curling, ecru rose petals, strewn across the red carpet, drifted upward into the warm air. Music swelled from a piano, not an organ, and mingled with the scents to create a gala mood of expectation. Candelabra stood at attention on either side of the altar, each one displaying seven satiny candles. The scent of vanilla and musk wafted upward to blend with the rich aroma of the roses.

  It was a sensual delight, made moreso by the elegantly dressed crowd and the scarlet, velvet wall hangings with their lush gold trim—a gift from Kate’s soon to be in-laws. For a church that boasted plain roots, white clapboard and bare, though highly glossed, cherry pews, this touch of extravagance seemed like a sweet icing. Marilyn Talbot hadn’t outgrown her love for Victorian excess, and any chance to spread the wealth was apparently welcomed whole-heartedly.

  April wore a gown of palest blue, a color discerning members of the crowd murmured paid homage to her gray-blue eyes. She walked ahead of her mother, a soft smile curving her lips, as if she harbored a lovely secret, which in fact she did. Today was her birthday. She had insisted they choose it for their wedding, a last punctuation to the story that was her parents�
� love affair.

  Members of the audience smiled at her in response. Marilyn Talbot herself, who had yet to realize April was her real granddaughter, was struck speechless by the solemnity of the occasion, her normally haughty chin quivering visibly. Pulling a handkerchief from her bag, she dabbed at the corners of very watery eyes. Her husband slid her a look, but for once there was indulgence in his gaze. In a rare gesture, he clasped one of his wife’s hands, and they watched in silent joy as April ascended the stairs and turned to wait for Jake and Kate.

  Jake was splendid in a black tuxedo and crisp white shirt. His brother, Phillip, stood beside him, a bit older, a bit rounder, and these days, a bit humbler. He knew that April was Jake’s daughter because April herself had told him. And it was as if Jake, Kate and April’s family ties had bound him tighter within his own. He had started to change his ways, and as he viewed his soon-to-be new sister-in-law coming down the aisle, he vowed that he would settle down and find a woman as wonderful for himself. It was past time. He wanted to fall in love.

  Kate moved as if in a dream. The church was the same, except for the lavish touches added for this wedding. The weather was darned near the same: wild and cold, and threatening rain and lightning and thunder outside these protective walls. Her dress was the same. Tucked away in a closet all these years to be resurrected for this ceremony, its seed pearls danced in the flickering candlelight.

  But most of all, the man was the same one she had married so long ago. Jacob Talbot. Her lover. Soon to be her husband.

  Her throat grew hot and tight. She blinked behind a white veil. As she approached the altar Jake held out his hand to clasp her white-gloved one in the protection of his.

  The young minister greeted them both. Kate felt a soft little wave inside her. Their baby, moving gently within her womb. “I love you,” she mouthed to the man beside her.

  He grinned. His trademark smile.

  “I love you more,” he mouthed back, while candlelight flickered in nodding satisfaction all around them.

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  eISBN 978-1-4201-2728-7

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  Copyright © 1997 by Janelle Taylor

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