by Patt Marr
“Hey, you two,” Sunny called from the kitchen. “Why don’t you go for a stroll? I’ll listen for Kendra.”
Noah looked to Beth to get her reaction, but she was already shucking out of her yellow leather sneaks and heading for the stairs to the beach. He laughed, kicked off his shoes and followed her across the deep soft sand that oozed over his feet. She waited near the water’s edge on the sand packed hard by the tides.
“That was nice of Sunny,” he said. “Which way shall we go? Left or right?”
“How about right? Everything seems right tonight.”
When he was with Beth, it always seemed right, but he couldn’t say that out loud. Besides it sounded too simple for the way he felt about her. For the first time, he took her hand before she took his. It was way past his turn. He tried to remember they were supposed to be friends and no more, but that was like ignoring the stars sparkling on this perfect night.
“Everyone loved you and Kendra,” Beth said, sounding as if she were short of breath though they walked at strolling pace.
“Your brother and your friends are great,” he said, having the same trouble with respirations. “I love how you’re all one happy family.”
“They’re your family, too, Noah. We don’t share the same DNA, but we’re all brothers and sisters in the Lord.”
He knew what she was talking about. God was the Father. His son was Jesus Christ, and believers were Jesus’ brothers and sisters—all of them, children of the Father. It was a concept Noah used to accept without question, and, in a way, he still did. He would rather believe it than believe nothing. “Pete and Sunny have a terrific place,” he said, hoping to change the subject.
“When Pete bought this house, he was at the lowest point in his life. He’d lost everything that mattered, including his ability to do the job he loved. He’d had so many surgeries, his face wasn’t even the same, and his faith was shattered. He bought the beach house with insurance settlement money, and hid away here, just counting seagulls, day after day.”
That was startling to hear. Pete was a very good-looking guy—a person who made things happen. It was hard to believe he hadn’t always known where he was going and how to get there.
“When Pete met Sunny, and she pointed him to a real relationship with Christ, he got a brand-new life.”
Was Beth drawing a parallel between his life and Pete’s? Granted, there were similarities. When he lost Merrilee, it was such a blow that doubt exploded and wouldn’t leave him alone, but his faith wasn’t totally shattered.
They walked in silence. He waited to see if Beth thought he was bright enough to catch on or if she needed to draw him a picture. Preaching would sure ruin a beautiful night.
When they came to the point where this stretch of the beach ended and it was time to turn back, she said, “Noah, do you think we could ever be more than friends?”
If he answered that honestly, wouldn’t it change things between them so much that they could never get back to simple friendship? But how could he be less than honest? He turned to face her and said what he had to. “I think about it all the time.”
“You do?” she said with a lilt in her voice.
He touched her face, and she leaned her cheek into his hand, closed her eyes and rubbed the corner of her mouth against his palm. It was such a little thing, but it gave him the courage to take her face in both of his hands. “Sometimes I wonder…”
“You wonder…?” Her eyes were on his mouth.
“I wonder what it would feel like…” He lowered his face toward hers slowly, giving her plenty of time to push him away.
But she didn’t. She held his shoulders and raised her lips to meet his.
The touch of her mouth on his was as sweet as he’d dreamed of. It was just one soft touch, then another. Her arms stole around his neck, and she touched her cheek against his jaw before sliding her lips back to his mouth.
He’d known what it was like to be married and loved, but had he ever felt quite like this? If he had, how could he have forgotten it? There would be no forgetting these kisses.
Gently, slowly, she pulled back and buried her face against his pounding heart. She would hear his heart, even feel it, but it didn’t matter. He wanted her to know what she meant to him. It was too soon for him to say he’d fallen for her, even to himself, but what else could this be?
Waiting for an usher to seat them at Collin and Glenda’s elegant wedding, Noah felt like a fish out of water, but his poised little daughter seemed right at home. Of course she was thrilled with her poofy pink dress and her shiny pink shoes, but he was uncomfortable in his starched white dress shirt and dark suit. The last time he’d dressed up like this was for Merrilee’s funeral.
A teenage usher, the nephew of the bride, offered Kendi his arm, and she took it just the way she’d seen other ladies do. Noah followed them down the aisle, smiling that Kendi was getting the chance to play the part of princess for an audience of more than himself. They were seated on the bride’s side, and Noah nodded to several people he knew from Cedar Hills Hospital.
Ry and Meg had mentioned that they’d been married in this lush garden chapel next to their church, but they’d had only a dozen or so guests. Today the garden was filled with at least two hundred white folding chairs, and it looked as if the guests were the Who’s Who of Brennan Medical Clinic and Cedar Hills Hospital.
A string ensemble played very pretty music, not classical—he recognized a tune or two from church—but it sounded classy. Overhead, birds sang an accompaniment to the music and the low hum of pre-wedding chatter.
“Hi, Noah.” Darcy Jacobsen, a nurse who’d worked the ER with him and Glenda, slid across him and Kendi. “This young lady can’t be your daughter, Noah. Hi there, pretty girl.”
Kendi gave him a quizzical look.
“Darcy’s a nurse friend of Glenda’s and mine,” he said.
“I’m a nurse, too,” Kendi told Darcy.
“Kendi called in the 911 for our neighbor, Harlene,” he explained.
“Oh, sweetie, good for you. You’re going to make a good nurse someday, just like Daddy.”
“Or a ped-i-a-tri-cian,” Kendi enunciated carefully, “like Beth.”
“Your boss?” Darcy murmured with lifted eyebrows.
He nodded. “A great role model.”
“Any truth to the rumor that she’s been auditioning for a more maternal role?” she said with a glance at Kendi.
“Beth and Kendi are very good friends,” he said, putting a limitation on that rumor.
“That sounds like the public statement. Now, what’s the real story?”
“We are good friends,” Kendi said with a frown.
There. That was telling it like it was.
“I’m sure you are, sweetie.”
“You can call me Kendra.”
Darcy grimaced playfully, acknowledging she’d just been shot down.
If there was a “real story,” Darcy should know he wouldn’t tell it. He hated gossip and the damage it did. “Have you ever seen so many pink flowers?” he asked his daughter.
“It’s a very pink wedding,” she answered seriously.
He nodded as the first of the wedding party came down the aisle.
Kendi leaned across him, the better to see the bridesmaids approaching. “There’s Beth!” she whispered, waving at Beth discreetly.
Beth spotted them, smiled and winked at Kendi…or him. It was hard to tell. He smiled back anyway. How could he not? Beth looked so beautiful, she just blew him away.
The way the wedding party was lined up on either side of the landscaped archway, Beth faced the bride. That gave him the luxury of looking at Beth as much as he wanted without worrying that she would notice.
He took full advantage of the opportunity and caught every little move—the time she wiped a tear from her eye, the time she pressed her lips tight as if she was trying hard not to laugh, the look of sympathy when Collin nervously stumbled over Glenda’s name.
Darcy tugged on his sleeve. She wore a knowing smile as she whispered over the top of Kendi’s head, “Glenda hit the jackpot, marrying a Brennan, and it looks like you could, too! Way to go, Noah!”
He’d never liked Darcy much, and she’d sure ruined a nice moment…though that was what others would say when they saw Beth and him together at the reception. The gossips could go on for days with no more fuel than the sight of an unlikely couple who were just friends—a doctor and her nurse—sharing wedding cake.
Beth scooted out of the white limousine, ready to get soaked by the driving rain that had started after the wedding, but the wedding coordinator had planned ahead. Young men stood by with huge white umbrellas to keep the wedding party and guests dry as they entered the lobby of the Cathedral Hills Country Club.
Whether it was the unexpected rain in this dry season, the contagious joy of the bridal couple or the fact that, in a matter of minutes, she would be sitting with the most handsome man at this wedding, Beth knew she’d never felt happier.
Before they left the church, she’d had a moment with Sunny who reported that Noah’s eyes had been on Beth during the entire ceremony. And they both knew what that meant.
Collin and Glenda had chosen not to have a receiving line or a head table for the wedding party. They and their parents planned to greet their guests at the tables during the meal, and the wedding party was allowed to sit with their spouses, family and friends. It was going to be so much more fun, being part of the party instead of sitting on a dais, watching it.
Today marked the very last time Beth would be a bridesmaid, at least, the last time before she was a bride herself. She’d met the man she wanted to love and to cherish, and she was ready to say the rest of the wedding words!
Noah might not be quite that far along in his thinking, but the intense awareness they shared every day at work and most evenings with Kendra could end only one way—and there would be no long engagement or elaborate wedding.
The schedule said they had twenty minutes to freshen up before the grand entrance of the wedding party, and the ladies’ room was a beehive of activity. The same makeup artists and hair stylists who’d worked their wonders before the wedding now fluffed, smoothed, sprayed and buffed with the precision of a surgical team. Beth had to respect that. A look in the mirror said they’d worked wonders. If she couldn’t wow her guy looking this good, what would it take?
As each couple was introduced to polite applause, Beth scanned the room, looking for Noah. There he was! And his eyes were steady on her with a look that said he loved what he saw. That took the strength right out of her knees, and she clasped the arm of her groomsman partner for support.
She looked for Kendra, knowing her little love would be somewhere, waiting to catch her eye. There…at the kids’ table, Kendra waved excitedly. Beth waved back, as proud of this child as a real mom would be.
The bride and groom were introduced, and the wedding party broke formation. Ry put a brotherly hand at the small of her back and steered her toward their table. “Oh, no!” he muttered in disgust.
“What?” It took a lot for Ry to lose his cool.
“It looks like Pete got his wish. All of us from my birthday party are sitting together, but it must be the cousins’ table. See who else is there?”
Beth’s heart sank. She loved Isabel, but Trey was hard to take. There was an empty chair between him and Noah, and there was another one between Isabel and Meg. If it were anyone but Noah, she would have hopped into the seat between the women and let Ry fend for himself. Had Trey ever gone for as long as ten minutes without zapping her with criticism? She’d better pray now.
Lord, let this be a joyful time for Collin and Glenda. Help me keep my attitude right, and work Your wonders with Trey. May our actions bring him closer to You.
Chapter Fifteen
At their table, she said, “Before I sit down, I’m just going to check on Kendra.”
“I’ll go with you,” Noah said quickly, as if he might be grateful for the chance to escape. But they’d walked only steps away when he said, “Beth, Trey’s been drinking.”
“Drinking?” Beth was shocked.
“No doubt about it. You’ll see for yourself.”
There wouldn’t be a drop of alcohol at this party, nor was it ever served at Brennan parties. Her grandfather had set the example years ago, and her family followed it still.
At the kids’ table, Kendra was in her element, playing unofficial hostess, but she reached up her arms for a hug from Beth.
“Are you having fun?” Beth asked, smoothing tendrils of hair off the child’s forehead and wishing the problem of Trey would go away.
“Lots of fun! We have a clown instead of a babysitter!”
Beth laughed, recognizing the clown in her funny makeup and pink-and-white wedding costume. She ought to. Chloe Kilgannon volunteered often in the children’s wing of Cedar Hills Hospital. Her dad was chief of staff there.
It was just like the quiet, intelligent woman to play with the kids at the wedding rather than sit with her gorgeous, gregarious sisters and outgoing parents. Chloe held up a sign that said, “Hi,” and flipped it around to say, “Bye.”
Beth blew her a kiss and told Noah, “Kendra’s in good hands.”
He waved at Kendra and tucked Beth’s hand in the crook of his elbow, turning them back toward their table.
“I like the suit,” she said admiringly, “but I really should have gotten you a pink tie to match Kendra and me.”
“Not even for you would I have worn a pink tie,” he said, squeezing her hand, “but you could talk me into just about anything else. You look beautiful, Beth.”
“Is it the hairdo or the makeup?” she teased, enjoying the freedom to flirt.
“Neither. It’s how happy you look,” he said seriously. “I love to see that.”
A sweeping feeling that had to be love claimed every bone in her body and stamped a forever feeling in her heart. A kiss would be perfect right now.
“Hey, you two, save it for later,” Ry teased with an approving smile. “I may only be an intern, but I can recognize a case of wedding fever when I see it.”
“Who’s got a fever? There’s a doc-tor in the house. Lots of doc-tors. Seven Bren-nan doc-tors.” Trey’s words were slurred as he rose unsteadily to his feet. “Sit down, Doc-tor Brennan,” he said to Beth. “You don’t have a frog on your head, so you can sit by me.”
Isabel tugged on his sleeve. “C’mon, Trey. Sit down. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
He sat, and so did Beth and Noah, but it was as if the others felt as paralyzed as Beth did. Trey seemed like a ticking bomb, ready to explode if any of them said the wrong thing. She’d never seen him like this.
Isabel had. Beth could see the fear on her face.
“Did I mention that this table is for Brennans…just Brennans?” he asked, looking pointedly at Sunny, Pete and Noah—especially Noah.
“Please, Trey,” Beth said quietly, her hand on his arm. “Be nice.” If they got through this reception, she would never voluntarily spend time in Trey’s company again.
“You’re not fam’ly,” he said, pointing to the non-Brennan three, “not unlesh you wear a frog on your head.”
“Trey, you must think you’re being funny,” she said, embarrassed and angry as well, “but you’re not.”
“Should I take him outside?” Noah asked in her ear.
Pete was half out of his chair, when Ry rose and muttered, “I’ll take care of this.”
Beth could see Collin heading their way.
Ry circled the table, his face grim. “Let’s take a walk, Trey.”
“You take a walk,” Trey said loudly, rising unsteadily again. “C’mon, Izzie, we’re not sitting with people who aren’t Brennans.”
Rage blasted through Beth’s best i
ntentions. Trey was a drunken idiot. She was in no mood to pray, but she could manage one word. “Jesus.” There was power in His name.
“Hey, Trey.” Collin took Trey firmly by the arm. “Are you trying to ruin my wedding?”
“Not me!” Trey tried to shake Collin’s arm off.
Ry took Trey’s other arm. “See, Trey, it’s just us three Brennan boys, going for a walk.” He and Collin muscled Trey to the door. Beth’s dad wasn’t far behind.
Isabel sat in a puddle of misery. “Should I go with them?” she asked, wiping tears from her cheeks.
“Only if you want to,” Beth said, sliding over to Trey’s seat, the better to hug her sister-in-law. “How long has Trey been drinking, Isabel?”
“Since your mother was hospitalized,” she answered, her eyes dark with anguish. “I think he knows he’s a lot like her, but he never listens to anyone.”
“Maybe he will now,” Sunny said, taking Ry’s chair on the other side of Isabel.
“You’re not alone,” Meg added, hovering behind Isabel.
The bride joined them. “What’s going on?” she asked sympathetically.
Fresh tears spilled onto Isabel’s cheeks. “I’m sorry if we’ve ruined your wedding, Glenda, but I don’t think I can stay.”
Glenda took Isabel in her arms. “It’s okay. When Trey learns to love the Lord, things will be different.”
“Pete and I will take you home,” Sunny said to Isabel.
Isabel lifted her chin. “I’ve been managing by myself ever since I married Trey. I can do this alone.”
Sunny, Meg and Beth stayed with Isabel until the parking valet brought her car round. Collin, Ry, Noah and Pete met them in the lobby and reported that Trey’s dad was taking his son to get help.
“Poor dad,” Ry said. “He’s never been around when he should have, but he comes through in the worst of moments.”
That was more generous than Beth felt. Neither her mother nor her brother had gotten the attention of her dad until they went too far.