“You know me, Kari. I’m always building you up to everyone,” said Patty to her motherless niece. “My how much you look like my sister today.” She smiled at Kari wistfully. “Well, they are going to cut the cake soon and I need to get things going. I’ll see you later, Kari. You too, Pastor Randy. Talk with Kari. She needs some encouragement after her most unfortunate...well, her loss.” Aunt Patty crisply cut her way though the dense crowd and toward the corner of the room where there waited an enormous three-tiered cake sprinkled with crimson rose petals.
Kari stood beside Randy Steele, vulnerability and embarrassment coursing through her after Patty’s final remark. She bit down on her lower lip and forced her eyes to dart around the room. But his eyes were so compelling, magnetic, forcing her to look back.
Steele. They must mean his eyes. The pastor had the most stunning steel blue eyes she’d ever seen. Viewing them under bright light instead of through gushing rain brought out their true sheen. Looking into those eyes unnerved her even more now because he was a man of God and not just someone she’d met on the street. Except, that was how she’d met him.
They stood together quietly for a moment only occasionally snatching glimpses of each other. Randy Steele appeared to be no more than thirty. He stood tall and massive beside her with his dark hair gleaming under the lights, giving it a bluish luster. Every once in a while, they would share a glance and he would smile at her.
While they stood there, several women walked by and said hi to him or waved. He smiled back affably. The sincerity she had sensed in his smile out in the rain continued with each encounter. As the women walked on, Kari could feel their curiosity about her as many of them cast glances her direction with furrowed brows.
She considered abandoning her position next to the unknown pastor, but she felt somehow glued to her spot as if he radiated some kind of magnetism she couldn’t fight. When the silence between them reached the point of being unbearable, Randy finally spoke.
“I don’t know why, but you look so familiar.” There was a faint glint of humor in his eyes as he crossed his arms and tilted his head away from her.
“Yeah, you too. It’s so funny,” continued Kari with the joke, glad he had decided not to approach the subject of “her loss.”
“I’m having a sinking feeling there was rain involved,” he continued, crinkling his eyes.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I left you without your umbrella. I have it. I’ll go get it.”
He smiled, sending her pulse racing. “Don’t worry about it. You can give it to me later. I was hoping I’d have a chance to speak with you this evening. I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea about me.”
“The wrong idea?” Her embarrassment melted away as his words brought out her playful side. “You mean that you didn’t reveal you knew exactly whose wedding I was going to and you would indeed be seeing me soon.”
His mouth curved up into a delicious smile without even the hint of remorse.
“Well, I guess since you said ‘consider it a gift,’ I shouldn’t feel guilty about keeping your umbrella,” continued Kari.
“Of course, I would never want you to feel guilty. I want you to keep it. I’m sorry if my behavior was inappropriate. I do that sometimes.” He smiled at her again. The energy contained in that smile produced goose bumps moving up and down her neck.
“Yes, well…um it was inappropriate and frankly somewhat unforgivable.” She feigned a harsh look. “Well, I won’t keep you.” She scanned the room for an exit. After returning her eyes to his she added, "I’m sure you were on your way somewhere before my aunt accosted you.”
“What about you?”
She squared her shoulders before looking back at him. “I was just trying to get some fresh air.”
“Great idea. Come outside with me.” He stepped even closer to her and titled his head upwards as if daring her. “It turned into a wonderful night now that the rain stopped. The church has a nice open area between the main building and my residence.”
Her heart beat unnaturally in her chest as she contemplated complying. Instead, she replied to his offer with a question. “Do you live here on the grounds?”
“Yes. They have a small house here for me as part of my salary. My parents hate that I live in it. They don’t understand why I do when I can afford a place of my own.”
“So, why do you live in the house then?
“Well, it’s supposed to be for the head pastor, but when he and his wife had their first child, they bought a bigger house outside the city. When I came on staff, the house was offered to me. So, now I’m close to the church and available 24/7. It’s actually a cute house, and Alice likes it.”
Who was this Alice—a friend, a girlfriend, a sister…certainly not his wife. She peeked at his left-hand—no ring. Maybe he’s engaged .
“I’ll give you a personal tour of the grounds,” he said in a grandiose manner just like something out of a Jane Austen novel.
Kari surveyed him for a long second, observing how well he filled his suit coat. After staring into his wonderful steel blue eyes again, she rolled her shoulders back and raised her eyebrows mischievously. Her caution with him had completely dissipated, and she was actually having a good time. “No. I don’t think so, Pastor. I don’t know if I can trust you to behave.” She felt a ripple of excitement shoot through her as she waited to see how he would react to her lighthearted manner.
“Oh, well, I promise to be on my best behavior. I actually have been …”
“Kari, here you are,” a voice from behind interrupted him. Startled, Kari and Randy turned toward the voice. “Everyone is looking for you. They want to take pictures by the cake.”
“Hi, Brian,” Kari acknowledged her escort. She turned back to the inexplicable pastor. “Well, it was a…a pleasure meeting you.”
“I assure you, the pleasure was all mine. I look forward to the next time we… run into each other.” He locked his eyes onto hers once more and they exchanged muted simultaneous smiles.
With her hand lying in the crook of Brian’s arm, Kari walked away but not before looking back at Randy Steele once more before heading to the cake. He winked at her as she moved away from him. She smiled back, a chuckle moving up inside her throat.
What was it about him that made her feel so at ease, enabling her to put aside all her previous anxiety attached to the wedding? He was nothing like Geoffrey, her previous fiancé. No, this man had the sense of humor Geoffrey completely lacked and a sincerity Geoffrey wasn’t even capable of. Still, Kari had loved him and now he was gone. All that remained were the wounds and the grief left in his wake. Meeting Randy Steele had momentarily taken away all those miserable feelings and replaced them with… amusement , she reflected.
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Your Wedding
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Your Wedding
Chapter Two
“Randolph Patrick Steele, what have you done now?”
The harsh accusation surprised Randy as he sat in his office with his Bible and other reference materials strewn across his desk. The indictment had come from a young woman whose steel blue eyes gleamed under the bright fluorescent lights. Her slender form stepped inside, a fiery glare gracing her features.
He stood when he saw her and smiled easily. “Alice, what are you doing here? Don’t you have classes this week?”
“Of course I have classes. But something has come to my attention and I decided my college education would have to wait.” A rush of pink stained her creamy cheeks as she swept across the room and stood next to him, her similar blue eyes flashing at his.
“Okay, sis, what has got you up into such a panic?” Standing up straighter and clasping his hands behind his back, he wanted to laugh at the severe look on her face. Alice’s normal greeting was usually much less dramatic. She was angry about something that was for sure. He couldn’t help the small smile forming in the corner of his mouth.
“Well, you have been at this church for
a year and you have dated, oh, lets see…not once.” Her tone was cool and crisp. “Then I hear you’re engaged to Kari Montgomery.”
Randy widened his eyes as surprise and confusion enveloped him. Closing his gaping mouth, his brain finally started working, allowing him to reply. “Now hold on a minute...”
“Kari Montgomery?”
“Kari? You…you know her?” He cleared his throat and cocked his right eyebrow a fraction.
“Know her?” Alice moved away from him, stopping at one of the bookshelves in the back of the room. Fingering a book, she turned back to him. “She’s a legend at school.” Her hands dropped to her sides, as she looked him full in the face. “That’s right, she graduated from my current institution of higher learning and everyone is flooding me with news that includes your name with hers. I don’t understand how…”
“Hold on.” Randy put his hand up to stop his sister’s ranting. He couldn’t believe this. “I only met Kari at Emily Burke’s wedding. I don’t understand where all these rumors have come from.”
Alice sunk into the couch located between the two bookshelves containing Randy’s precious volumes. “Just face it. Mom and Dad are going to flip.” Her face was serious as she shook her head from side to side.
Randy returned to his desk chair, staring at his sister. “They won’t care. They haven’t given me one thought since I took this position.” He heard the deep-laid bitterness which welled over into his speech as he spoke. Though his relationship with his parents was strained, he usually tried to bridle his true feelings, especially with Alice.
“Mom and Dad will care because something this big concerns them, too.” She sat forward from her seated position on the couch and chewed on her nails, a sure sign of her concern. “Come on, Randy, what is really going on?”
“Just what I told you. I met Kari at the wedding. We talked, I kidded, she played back. It was fun but it was nothing more than that.”
Tossing her long, straight dark hair behind her shoulders, Alice reclined in her seat and crossed her legs. With her arms folded on top of her chest, she radiated all the compassion of an attacking tiger. “Well, my dorm mates, Mariah Summers and Kylie Thompson, both have sisters who are tight with Emily Burke and attended the wedding. They have been passing on information that you and Kari Montgomery are secretly engaged. You must have done something to start all these rumors.”
“Well…that’s ridiculous. I met Kari on one occasion and, to be honest, she didn’t seem all that thrilled with me.”
He eyed his sister knowing his muted smile revealed a whole lot more to her than did his words, tempting her fiery temper. Moving over to his desk, she looked down at him through narrowed eyes. “What did you do? Did you take that all too famous sense of humor a step too far again?” With a petulant expression plastered all over her face, she crossed her arms again. “You aren’t in college anymore, Randy. You’re a pastor and in a highly respected position.”
“I know I am, and I haven’t done anything to be upset about.” Randy leaned back in his chair, trying to look at ease but all he could think about was Kari’s alluring green eyes and how delicate and irresistible she looked when she blushed. There was just something about her. The day they met in the rain she’d had a wreath of damp, brown hair curling around her face and the most incredible eyes, even though they were filled with anxiety. He wanted to see those eyes again. They were an unusual shade of green, appearing like a creamy sea green you might see out in the ocean after a storm.
Staring out a nearby window, he was lost in his thoughts when he remembered Alice was standing beside him. He swiveled his chair to the front and moved his eyes back to his sister. “So, what do you know about her anyway?”
She gave her brother an examining stare before sighing with resignation. Her heightened color had subsided back to her normal creamy glow. “Well, to begin with, Kari Montgomery had the highest SAT score of any incoming freshman in the history of the university.” She sat down on the edge of his massive desk. “I mean, she had like a perfect essay score. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Now she’s an associate professor of history and the new House Fellow of my dorm.”
“It that all?” he asked sarcastically while stroking the stubble at his chin.
“I told you she was a legend.”
“So, you had a dossier made out on her or something?”
“No. But girls talk and she is my House Fellow after all. I also attend the same church as her up at school. She sings in the choir. Actually, she has a great voice.”
“Do you know her pretty well?”
“I’m beginning to.” She smiled, her eyes returning back to her friendly, fun-loving self. “What did you think about Miss Montgomery?”
“Think about her?” Randy cleared his throat as he looked away from his sister’s scrutiny. “Well, she reacted different than any of the other young women here at the church. If I give any of these girls a second look, they think wedding bells. But Kari…”
“Kari Montgomery didn’t give you the time of day, did she?”
He turned back to face her. “No, she didn’t fall for my renowned charm.” He smiled again, recalling how Kari had played along with his teasing. “I guess I’ll just have to work harder next time.”
“So there is going to be a next time?”
“Uh, sure. In fact, when I come to visit you at school, I just might have to bump into Miss Montgomery again.” He chuckled to himself at the joke.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, just something between Miss Kari Montgomery and myself. Alice?”
“Yes?”
“Why were you so upset when you thought I was engaged? Don’t you like Kari?”
“It wasn’t that. It was because, well, because you didn’t tell me first,” she said with a pout before releasing a smile at her older brother.
****
“Kari, how have you been? It seems like forever since we’ve gotten together,” said Emily Burke, now Emily Richards. Her delicate blue eyes shined brilliantly under the lights as she peered back at her cousin. They were filled with overwhelming optimism and expectation, Kari observed as they sat across from each other at a local Chinese restaurant with all the delectable scents of Asian delicacies encircling them.
“It has seemed like forever. Someone hasn’t had much time for me lately,” said Kari, smiling playfully.
With a rosy tint to her cheeks, Emily smiled, looking like she was holding back a tremendous secret. There was a warm glow of happiness radiating out from her; it was almost contagious. “John says to say hello.”
“How is John?”
She exhaled a long sigh of contentment. “He’s great. Everything is great. I can’t seem to stop smiling.”
“I noticed. Is it frozen on your face?” Kari joked. She was glad Emily was so happy and had found someone like John. Her future for all intents and purposes was set.
“I really hate the idea of going back to work next week.”
“I can’t think of a reason why.” She gave Emily a smirking smile. “Well, I, for one, am really glad to have you back again. I’ve missed you…I’ve missed this.”
“I know, Kari. I’ve missed our time together, too. I know we won’t be able to spend as much time together as we used to, but please come and see us as often as you can.”
“I will. You have to promise you will come home from time to time, too.”
“I wouldn’t miss it.” Emily scooped another bite into her mouth. “So, how’s the book going?”
“Good. I never imagined turning my dissertation into a book would become this enormous. I’ve been spending every free moment on it lately.”
“Well, that’s probably for the best.”
Kari knew she meant that in the kindest possible way, but all it did was remind her of why it was for “the best.”
“Oh Kari, there’s my new mother- in-law. If you don’t mind, I’m going to go say hello.”
Kari nodded as Emily moved away fr
om their table and off to see the other Mrs. Richards at the back of the restaurant. When she was gone, her seat was slyly taken over by someone Kari hadn’t anticipated in seeing and in fact hadn’t seen in a very long time.
“Kari, how are you?”
Kari greeted the invader with a piercing stare, loathing flowing over her. “Hello Geoffrey. How are you?” she managed to say while keeping her voice reserved. With caution, she eyed her ex-fiancé and his sandy blonde hair, broad athletic build and tanned skin.
“I’ve missed you.” He placed his beautiful long-fingered hands folded on the table in front of him and smiled. It was an insincere smile. Had he always smiled that way or was she just now finally able to see him for what he really was?
“And how is your new fiancée?” She looked undauntingly into his powerful set of brown eyes.
“Blair?”
“Where is she anyway?” Kari twisted her hands nervously under the table as she faced him squarely and directly.
“Oh, she’s out shopping.”
“How wifely of her.”
“Her parents are having a big party next week and she’s getting ready. Blair does love parties.”
“Isn’t that lucky for you, a party planner in your wife-to-be, just what you were looking for.” Her voice dripped with obvious sarcasm.
Picking up on her derision, Geoffrey’s jaw tensed. “Don’t, Kari. Don’t act like this. We can still be friends. How long has it been anyway? Four, five months.”
Kari didn’t reply right away. She was determined not to let him get the better of her. Raising her chin, she met his gaze with all the poise she could muster. “It’s been seven months since we broke off the engagement and you moved to the city.”
“Well, I hear congratulations are in order for you,” continued Geoffrey, sitting back with his arm casually draped across the back of the chair next to him. “I’m glad to hear it.”
“What are you talking about? Congratulations for what?”
“Your upcoming nuptials. Of course.”
Kari stared at him, stunned as if her tongue had been frozen for a couple seconds. Her eyes focused in on the teasing mouth she had always considered handsome. How could he be this cruel? She gave him a knowing look. “Okay, Geoffrey, what is all this?”
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Your Wedding Page 2