by Jane Graves
“It’s a nice place you’ve got here, son. I’m proud of you.”
With that, he turned around and strode out of the office.
Tony watched his father leave, fighting the tears that were welling up in his own eyes. He refused to be fooled. Nothing had changed. If his father really was the kind of guy he was acting like now, wouldn’t he have been that way when Tony’s mother was still alive?
But in his heart, Tony knew better. Somehow he knew it was true. A miracle had happened that had turned his father’s life around. Given it meaning. Sent him down a new and different path leading to a better life than he’d ever known before. And what was that miracle?
He’d found a woman who loved him.
Suddenly all the terrible things Tony had said to Heather crowded his mind. She’d told him she loved him, and he’d thrown that right back in her face, sounding exactly like the man he’d been before he’d known her. A cocky, aimless womanizer who thought he had it all together, when in reality he was so messed up he was lucky to make it through life with any meaning at all. He had nothing to hold on to. Nothing good. Nothing lasting. He thought about how much he used to look forward to seeing Babette—all sex, no strings—and it made him sick to his soul.
Women had told him they loved him before, and it always struck him as horribly misguided. With those women, it hadn’t been love. It had been infatuation with the man he showed the world. They’d fallen in love with only that tiny part of himself he chose to show them. He’d always lived with the knowledge that if any of those women had realized just how incompetent he was at holding up his end of a relationship, they’d have run away from him as fast as they could.
But Heather hadn’t worshipped him because of his looks. She hadn’t fallen prey to his sexual manipulation. It wasn’t until she’d made him lay bare the man he was inside that something had truly changed between them. Somehow, some way, it was the man inside she’d fallen in love with.
But now he’d driven her away, and the void screamed so loudly he couldn’t hear himself think. He’d realized some time ago that he didn’t want to lose her friendship—ever—but suddenly just friendship wasn’t enough. In his entire adult life, he’d never had anyone to love, or anyone to love him.
Until now.
His old man was trying to change. Was Tony going to wait until he’d collected twenty more years of regrets to do some changing of his own? He had a wonderful woman who was in love with him. What kind of fool would he be to turn her away?
When the lunch shift was over, he went home and changed for the wedding. Then he went to the dresser in his spare bedroom, opened the bottom drawer, and pulled out the ragged brown shoebox. He opened it, dug beneath the book and the photographs, and found the little black box beneath them.
He checked his watch. The wedding was in an hour. If he left now, he’d be there early. He could find Heather. And if there was room in his life for the same kind of miracle that had happened to his father, Tony prayed it would happen today.
Heather arrived at the church an hour before the ceremony. She found the bride’s room, where the five blond bridesmaids stood at the mirror, chattering and fussing with their hair and makeup. Regina sat on the sofa in her slip, and Aunt Bev was poking at her hair. It had already been done by a stylist, but evidently it hadn’t been done right enough for Aunt Bev. Regina just sat there looking miserable. Wasn’t Aunt Bev wondering why the bride wasn’t smiling?
Of course, Heather’s own mother hadn’t read her misery, either. When Heather talked to her this morning, her mother had gushed about how beautiful she and Tony were going to look as they came up the aisle together, which only proved that if somebody wanted something badly enough, they could overlook anything.
Heather changed into her bridesmaid’s dress. Fortunately, it fit. Unfortunately, it hadn’t grown any more attractive. But right now, she didn’t care. Regina could tell her to go down that aisle in a gunny sack, and still the only thing she’d be able to think about would be Tony.
When Heather had agreed to Tony’s plan so she wouldn’t have to be humiliated in front of everyone at Regina’s wedding, she’d never realized that would be the least of her problems. She’d never imagined feeling something worse than the pain of humiliation.
The pain of loving a man who was never going to love her.
She felt like such an idiot. She’d created the fairy tale in her mind she’d warned herself against, the one where Tony would fall in love with her and they’d live happily ever after. What a joke that had turned out to be. She couldn’t believe he saw her as just one more in a long line of women who couldn’t help falling in love with him. One of dozens. Just a face in the crowd.
After Aunt Bev helped Regina into her gown and put her veil in place, she told Regina she needed to talk to the wedding planner and left the room. Heather walked over and sat down next to Regina on the sofa.
“How’s it going?” she asked.
“Just fine,” Regina said with a brief smile. “This is my wedding day.”
Heather hated how Regina was deluding herself. But it was her decision, and if she made the wrong one, there wasn’t a damned thing Heather could do about it.
“Your hair is straight,” Regina said.
“Yes.”
“Won’t Tony be upset?”
“You like it better this way. This is your day.”
Regina nodded and looked back down at her lap. After a moment, she whispered, “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Regina? Are you sure about this?”
“I told you Thursday night. Of course I’m sure.”
But then she looked up at Heather, and there were tears in her eyes. She looked away, blinking quickly. “It’s just nerves.”
Heather turned to the bridesmaids. “Will you girls leave us alone for just a few minutes?”
They kept chattering.
“Girls!”
All five blond heads swung around.
“Could you step outside for just a minute?” Heather said.
“What for?” Two said.
“Regina and I need to talk.”
“You can talk with us here.”
“We need to talk alone,” Heather said.
Four turned to Two, screwing up her face. “What’s eating her?”
“Got me,” Two answered.
“I’m not going anywhere until I finish my eyeliner,” Three said, turning back to the mirror.
“All of you,” Heather said. “Out!”
They tossed down hairbrushes and makeup wands and scattered like startled deer, leaving the room and closing the door behind them.
Regina looked up, tears shimmering in her perfect blue eyes. “Heather? Can I ask you a question?”
“Yeah?”
“How did you get so lucky?”
“What?”
“I can’t stand it anymore. I have to know. It took me two years to get Jason to ask me to marry him. Tony asked you in one night. How did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” Heather said, turning away so she didn’t have to meet Regina’s eyes. “It just . . . happened.”
“I know everything I’ve said about Tony, but . . .” She sniffed. “He’s wonderful. He’s so handsome. He treats you so well. He pays attention to you. And he just fell into your lap. One day, you had nobody, and then all of a sudden, there he was. How did you get so lucky?”
Heather felt terrible continuing to lie to Regina and everyone else, but in spite of what had happened between her and Tony last night, she just couldn’t make the truth come out of her mouth.
But her relationship with Tony really wasn’t the issue here. The issue was Regina’s relationship with Jason, which wasn’t much of a relationship at all. And it needed to come to an end.
“I think you know what you need to do here,” Heather said.
“But I can’t! The guests are going to be here soon. The r
eception is waiting. My parents have spent thousands of dollars. I can’t cancel this wedding!”
“What’s your alternative? Would you rather get up the nerve to call off the wedding, or wait five years and get up the nerve to divorce him?”
Regina slowly turned her gaze to meet Heather’s, her blue eyes filling with tears, looking as if she’d finally understood something that she’d been resisting for a very long time. “My God. That’s what’s going to happen, isn’t it?”
“It’s a strong possibility. And you deserve something better than that.”
Regina sniffed again, then dabbed beneath one eye with a tissue. “Will you do me a favor?”
“What?”
She took a deep, shaky breath. “Go get Jason.”
Chapter 25
Twenty minutes later, Tony was driving up Preston Road, heading for the church, wondering where all this damned traffic had come from on a Sunday afternoon. He felt so eager to see Heather and set this whole thing straight that he very nearly ran a red light and T-boned another car. He braked to a screeching halt, letting out a breath of frustration as he tapped his fingertips on the steering wheel.
He still couldn’t believe how blind he’d been. Bit by bit, from that first night in Vegas to this moment and every second in between, he’d been falling in love with Heather. And he hadn’t even realized it. His father coming by today had just been the brick to the side of the head he needed to knock some sense into him.
The light finally changed. He hit the gas, drove the last half-mile to the church, and swung his car into the parking lot. He got out of the car and started to go inside, only to have the door burst open and Jason come barreling out.
“Hey, Jason!” Tony said. “Do you know where Heather is?”
“Bite me,” Jason snapped, and kept walking.
The door to the church opened again, and Jason’s parents came tearing out, brushing past Tony and following Jason to his BMW, where they stopped him from getting in the car. Jason looked pissed. His parents looked upset. And all of them seemed just a little bit manic.
What the hell was going on?
Confused, Tony went into the church, found the wedding planner, and asked her where the bridesmaids were. She pointed to a hallway that led to the bride’s room. As Tony rounded the corner, he was surprised to see Heather standing outside the door, her ear planted firmly against it.
“Heather?”
She spun around, and in the next few seconds, he saw a range of emotions pass over her face. He saw her surprise that he was there. The pain she felt from the terrible things he’d said to her last night. Apprehension that he might not have finished hurting her yet. But through it all, he sensed something else she couldn’t hide no matter how hard she tried. It was shining in those clear blue eyes, so raw and so real that it sent shivers down his spine.
She loved him.
Even after everything he’d done to her, it was still there. And he wanted to kick himself senseless for every single moment of anguish he’d caused her.
“Tony?” she said, sliding her hand to her throat. “What are you doing here? The groomsmen are in a room on the other side of the church.”
“Forget them. I need to talk to you.”
She flicked her gaze to the door. “No. I . . . I can’t talk. Not now.”
“But it’s important. I have to tell you—”
“Regina called off the wedding.”
Tony stopped short. “Oh, yeah? I guess that explains why I saw Jason leaving in a huff. Well, good for Regina. I didn’t think she had the guts to do it.”
“But now Aunt Bev and Uncle Gene are in there. I’m afraid Aunt Bev is going to talk her back into it. And if she does, Regina’s going to be miserable for the rest of her life.”
“She just needs to stand up to them.”
“She won’t be able to. I know Aunt Bev. She’ll browbeat Regina until she goes back out there and marries that jerk, telling her how embarrassing it will be for her if she calls off the wedding. I have to do something. I just don’t know what.”
Tony started to tell Heather that they’d deal with that in a minute, that right now she needed to listen to him. But when she put her ear to the door again, trying to hear what was going on inside the room, he knew this mess had to be settled first.
“Okay,” Tony said. “Tell me exactly what you think should happen here.”
“Isn’t it obvious? I want Aunt Bev to go away. I want Regina to leave this church an unmarried woman. I want Jason to die a slow, agonizing death.”
“Would you settle for two out of three?”
Tony pulled Heather away from the door and opened it.
“Tony?” Heather said. “What are you doing?”
Ignoring her, he went inside, and Heather followed. Regina was sitting on the sofa, her face streaked with tears. Bev was standing over her, looking like Godzilla on a rampage. Gene stood nearby, his eyes shifting back and forth between his wife and daughter, looking like a man who generally thought it best not to come between Godzilla and Tokyo.
“Listen to me, Regina,” Bev said hotly. “There are going to be two hundred people in that church, waiting for you to get married. You can’t back out now!”
“Of course she can back out,” Tony said. “It’s her life.”
Bev whipped around. “What are you doing here?”
“Regina,” Tony said. “Do you want to marry Jason?”
She sat in silence for several seconds, looking from one face to another. She bowed her head, sniffing a little.
“No,” she said. “I don’t.”
“Good,” Tony said. “Jason’s an asshole. You’re right to walk away.” He turned to Bev. “You need to go.”
Bev drew back. “Excuse me? Who are you to come in here and tell me to leave?”
“Bev,” Gene said. “It’s over.”
She whipped around to Gene. “You do realize this is thirty thousand dollars down the drain, don’t you?”
“It’s worth thirty grand never to have to hear about it again. Next time, she’s eloping.” He looked at Tony. “The smart people bypass all this crap and just go to Vegas.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Bev snapped. “You’re not the one who spent the entire last year planning a wedding!”
“And while you’ve been planning that wedding, how often did you consult with our daughter about what she might want?”
“She wants Jason!”
“So that’s why she called off the wedding?” Gene turned to Regina. “I’m glad you’re not marrying him. I never liked him, anyway. All he could do was punch that damned BlackBerry and talk about golf.”
“Gene!” Bev said. “That’s your future son-in-law you’re talking about!”
“Nope,” Gene said. “That’s dead in the water. Now, you say you planned this wedding? Fine. Then it shouldn’t be all that hard to get out there now and unplan it.” He turned to Regina. “Will you be all right?”
“We’ll stay here with her,” Heather said.
Gene dragged Bev out of the room to break the news to the guests, and a few seconds later, five bridesmaids tried to pile in. Tony intercepted them and herded them out again. He shut the door, but still he heard them chattering outside like deranged chipmunks.
Regina took a deep, calming breath. “Please tell me I’m doing the right thing.”
“You’re doing the right thing,” Tony said. “Life’s too short to make stupid decisions. I’ve made plenty. That’s how I know.”
Regina nodded. “I don’t think I ever loved him. He just seemed like the perfect catch, you know? And my mother was ecstatic. My friends thought he was wonderful. But you know what? None of them has to live with him for the rest of their lives.”
There was a sharp knock at the door. “Regina!” one of the bridesmaids called out. “Come out here! You have to tell us everything!”
Regina dropped her head to her hands. “You’re right, Heather. They’re morons. And I can’t
take them right now. I just want to get out of here.”
“Good idea,” Tony said.
“But I don’t have a car.”
“Heather and I can take you wherever you want to go.”
Heather looked at Tony with surprise. He’d made it pretty clear after last night that there was no more “Heather and I.” So what was he even doing here?
“Good,” Regina said. “Let’s go.” She leaped to her feet and headed for the door at the back of the room that led directly to the parking lot.
“Regina!” Heather said. “Don’t you need to change first?”
“My mother already took away the clothes I came here in. Will you please just get me out of here before she comes back?”
“Do you want me to tell her you’re leaving?”
“We’ll call her from the car,” Tony said. “Let’s go.”
A few minutes later, they’d bundled Regina into the backseat of Tony’s car, and he was backing out of the parking space.
“Where are we going?” Heather asked.
“I need a drink,” Regina said. “Maybe two. Maybe even three. Tony, let’s go to your place.”
“Regina,” Heather said. “You know you’re wearing a wedding dress, right?”
“I don’t care.”
Tony looked at Regina in the rearview mirror. “You sure you want a drink right now?”
“I already had two half an hour ago. But it didn’t work. After two shots of vodka, Jason still looked like a jerk.” She slumped back in the seat, looking a little woozy, her dress billowing around her. “I hope he and that damned BlackBerry are very happy together.”
At the BlackBerry remark, Tony shot Heather a furtive smile. She smiled back, even though she didn’t have a clue why he was even there. Just sitting next to him made her want him so much she ached with it.
She looked at his hands on the steering wheel, remembering how he’d touched her more intimately than any man ever had before, sending her to heights of sexual satisfaction she hadn’t even known existed. But it wasn’t just the sex. It was the laughter they’d shared, the way he shook her out of her humdrum existence, the cozy contentment she felt just being with him. Those were the things she was going to miss the most. But while she’d been fantasizing about their marriage going on forever, Tony had merely been biding his time until he could go back to his old life.