Richard took her hand and brought it to his lips. “I’m sure Grandmother is dying to say ‘I told you so.’”
Caroline smiled when she felt his light kiss on her trembling hand.
“But what I don’t understand is why Misty didn’t put a stop to all this,” Richard waved his arms around, indicating all the wedding preparations, “if she was so in love with Townsend the whole time. It would’ve saved everyone a lot of trouble.”
Caroline’s heart broke for Richard. She reached for his hand and held it tight. “I’m sorry she hurt you.”
Richard shook his head. “I’m not hurt, I’m angry, mostly at myself. I should’ve listened to you, and to my grandmother, and Jack. I knew I didn’t love her, but I thought I had to follow through with the promises I’d made.” He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. His shoulders rose, making him appear inches taller, and then the tension left his face. “I feel like a weight’s been lifted off me.”
Caroline smiled. “I think it has.”
Richard looked into Caroline’s eyes as he held both her hands. “That quirky dinner date we had made me realize I’d fallen in love with you, but I found myself in an impossible situation, trapped between Sharlene and Misty. Can you ever forgive me?”
Caroline blinked in surprise. “Wait. You love me?”
He gave her a wry smile. “I know it’s poor form to profess love to a woman on the day I was to marry another one, but do you think you could ever love me back?”
“You love me? Can it be true?”
“Yes, Caroline Benedict, I love you!”
Tears came to Caroline’s eyes as Richard pulled her close. He lifted her chin, pulled her lips to his, and kissed her, slowly at first, and then with more urgency, until they seemed to melt into one another. She sighed with happiness.
They pulled apart when they heard music playing in the background. “Come on,” Richard said, helping her to her feet, “we’re missing the party!”
The ‘reception’ was in full swing. The guests were eating, dancing, and thoroughly enjoying themselves despite the lack of newlyweds. The wedding cake sat untouched atop the buffet table, a silent monument to the failed nuptials.
Allie and Brandon were salsa dancing with total abandon. Daniel was dancing with Megan since Sharlene was nowhere to be seen. Emily and Sara were joyously swing dancing, and Jack danced over with Natalie just as Richard and Caroline rejoined the party guests. Caroline was beaming, and Jack gave Richard a thumbs-up.
Allie grabbed Caroline’s arm and pulled her aside. “Well? What happened?”
Caroline hesitated for a moment. “Do you mean to the wedding or to Misty?”
“Either. Both.” Allie stamped her foot. “Caroline, spill!”
Caroline felt like smiling and laughing, but for Allie’s sake, she didn’t. “Brace yourself, Allie. Misty ran off to Chicago—with Mark!”
Allie gasped. “What? Wow!”
Caroline studied her sister closely. “Are you okay?”
Allie had to take a minute to let that sink in, then burst into a wide grin. “I’m better than okay! Mark did me a favor. His breaking up with me was the reason I took a second look at Brandon, and it’s because of Brandon that I now have a full-ride scholarship to Bradley.”
“There sure was a lot of pretending going on this summer,” Caroline mused. “Mark pretending to be in love with you, Misty pretending to be in love with Richard, and Richard pretending he wanted to get married.”
Allie frowned. “I guess it was all about the money, like Mark said.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I think you were spared a lifetime of heartache,” Caroline said, squeezing Allie’s shoulder. “Mark doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who likes to make sacrifices.”
Allie nodded in agreement. “Sometimes things work out for the best. Misty and Mark deserve each other.” She suppressed a giggle.
“Hey, there’s a party going on here!” Richard interrupted the sisters as he happily led Caroline out onto the dance floor.
Allie walked over to the orchestra and said something to the leader, who nodded. Allie sat down at the piano and began playing “Feeling Good.” As Richard held Caroline while they danced closely, they both smiled at the lyrics while he sang off key in her ear. From her vantage point on the dance floor, Caroline could see Adele and her Red Hat friends guzzling champagne, and Patrick with his arm around her mother.
Daniel abruptly stopped dancing with Megan and walked her across the floor to her mother before making his way to the bar.
“Double scotch,” Daniel yelled at the bartender, his voice reverberating through the tent.
Megan sat down at her mother’s side for a moment, but popped up again with teenage exuberance and headed for the dance floor, grabbing a pre-teen boy to dance with her as the band switched to a more modern tune. Allie sat happily accompanying the other musicians on the piano, and soon Patrick offered Susan his arm and led her out onto the dance floor.
“Uh-oh,” Caroline whispered to Richard. “Mom’s kinda rusty at this. She hasn’t gone dancing in years.” Then, to her utter surprise and amusement, Patrick pulled Susan close and began to waltz her around the floor, despite the fast music. Caroline burst out laughing.
Brandon sat on the piano bench next to Allie. He whispered something in her ear. She smiled and nodded as Brandon joined her in a duet on the keyboard.
“Richard!” Megan shouted over the music. “What about the cake?”
Richard took Caroline by the hand and led her to the table with the artfully decorated wedding cake. “I say we eat it!” Richard shouted back. He took up the carving knife which was set aside for the bridal couple, and sliced a large piece of cake off the bottom tier. Without bothering with a plate, he stuffed a bite into his mouth while the guests looked on in amusement. “It’s delicious!” he announced with his mouth full. “Come on, everyone, help yourselves!”
The orchestra struck up a rendition of a rowdy dance tune as guests swarmed around the cake. Jack picked up a glass of champagne and jumped up on a chair to make a toast. Richard looked at him askance.
Jack winked at Richard. “Hey, it’s the best man’s job to propose a toast.” Addressing the guests, Jack raised his glass. “To Richard. May his future be less sensible!”
Caroline said a silent amen.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sharlene was highly agitated as she sat at the breakfast table in her newly-decorated kitchen. Susan’s idea of good taste, if you could call it that, had been pale blue walls, a round antique breakfast table with deliberately mismatched antique wooden chairs, and a lightweight curtain with no distinguishable pattern that Sharlene could see. She had been understandably horrified, and with Daniel’s blessing had proceeded to redecorate with white paint, white curtains, brand new stainless steel appliances, and a white breakfast table with matching chairs in a complimentary oak/white combination. All from the most exclusive stores in town, naturally.
She was drinking a mimosa and poring over the society section of the newspaper. “No!” she shouted, and then “How dare they?” and “unbelievable!” followed by several loud groans.
Daniel stumbled into the kitchen, opened up a cabinet, and pulled out a large bottle of ibuprofen. He grabbed a bottle of designer water from the refrigerator and downed three of the tablets in one gulp.
“Is there any coffee?” he croaked.
“Make it yourself,” Sharlene growled.
Daniel sat down at the table opposite his wife and rubbed his throbbing temples. “What are you reading?”
Sharlene continued flipping the newspaper pages in disgust. “This is just awful, Daniel! Richard and Misty’s non-wedding is on the front page of the Society section!”
“Be careful what you ask for,” Daniel muttered.
Sharlene looked up in shock. “Is that all you have to say?”
Daniel carefully placed his elbows on the table and leaned his head in his hands. “What else is there to say? It was a fiasco.
”
“Listen to this!” Sharlene said as she indignantly read aloud from the paper. “‘SOCIETY WEDDING PUT ASUNDER! The wedding billed as the social event of the season was called off last evening when the bride unexpectedly left for Chicago with a male friend. Richard Meadows, the jilted groom, had this to say: I hope Misty is happy. Misty Peterson, daughter of coffee baron Merrill Peterson, was unavailable for comment.’” Sharlene pounded her fists on the table. “Happy? What was Richard thinking?”
Daniel started to shake his head but then groaned in pain and rested his head in his hands once more.
“And here’s the part that really makes me angry,” Sharlene huffed. “‘The groom’s sister, Sharlene Meadows-Benedict, wife of Truitt Wellness Corporation’s CEO, Daniel Benedict, refused to comment.’”
Daniel looked at his wife through bloodshot eyes. “You wanted to be in the Society section.”
Sharlene threw the newspaper on the table and jumped out of her chair. “I’m going to the mall!”
Daniel looked up in surprise. “It’s Sunday. The mall doesn’t open for hours.”
“I’ll wait!” Sharlene stormed out of the room.
****
Susan heard a knock at the front door and came out from the kitchen. She couldn’t believe her eyes. “Daniel?” Daniel was peering through the locked screen door. “What are you doing here?”
“Uh, hello, Susan, may I please speak to Megan?”
“She’s in the backyard. I’ll show you through.” Susan flipped open the door latch and Daniel followed her into the kitchen, onto the screened-in back porch and out to the yard.
“Megan,” Susan called. “You’ve got company!”
Megan was sitting in a wooden Adirondack-style lounge chair, sketching on her drawing pad as Honey dug holes in Susan’s carefully-planted vegetable garden. She looked up from her work. “Hi Dad!”
Daniel walked over and awkwardly hugged his daughter. “Hi, Megs. What are you drawing?”
“Well, I’ll just leave you two alone,” Susan said, turning to go back in the house.
“No, Susan, stay. You should hear this, too.”
Susan didn’t know what Daniel wanted to talk to Megan about, but if she was honest, she was glad he’d asked her to stay because she was very curious.
Daniel stood quietly, looked around, shuffled his feet and stared at the trees. “It’s nice out here.”
“Thank you,” Susan said, although she didn’t think he’d come to compliment her on her gardening skills.
“What are you doing here, Dad? You didn’t even call first.”
“Well, I, uh, wondered…” At that moment Honey came bounding up to him and jumped on his legs, her paws soiling his clean khaki pants. “Ugh! Get down, dog!”
“Sorry, Dad.” Megan picked up Honey, opened the back door, and gently set her down on the porch floor. “So what were you saying?”
Susan picked up her pruning shears and pretended to be engrossed in culling her bushes.
Daniel dusted his pants and tried again. “I’ve been kind of unfair to you, Megan. I haven’t spent enough time with you since the divorce and I was hoping to make that up to you.”
Susan looked up just in time to see Megan’s face light up. “Are you asking me to dinner? When?”
“Well, certainly, if that’s what you’d like, but I have another offer.”
Uh-oh, Susan thought.
“Uh-huh…” Megan said.
“I know you were unhappy about having to move out of the Belford house and go to a public high school after spending all your life at Willowby, so I thought… How would you like to move back into the house with Sharlene and me and enroll at Belford High School?”
Susan gasped, then coughed to cover her shock. Daniel looked over at her and frowned.
Megan’s jaw dropped. “Now you ask me? After I finally got used to living here and even made some friends at Rosslyn High? Dad!” She looked her father square in the eye, hands on her hips. “And what about Sharlene? She’s cool with this?”
Daniel shifted his weight uncomfortably. “Well, I haven’t actually spoken to her, but I’m sure she’d agree.”
Megan rolled her eyes. “Dad, you know Sharlene isn’t gonna like this! And what about Honey?”
Daniel cleared his throat. “Well, the dog will definitely have to stay here, but you can visit her, and your mother, on weekends.”
Susan could feel her blood pressure rise and her pulse increase with his sudden turnaround, and the fact that he just assumed Megan would pack up and move made her want to scream. She was about to step in to set Daniel straight on his thinking. She opened her mouth, but Megan beat her to it.
“No! I won’t do it!”
“Daniel, don’t you think this is something you and I should’ve discussed first?” Susan asked, her jaw clenched.
He held up his hand. “It’s fine, Susan.”
Megan took several deep breaths, took the ponytail holder out of her hair, wrapped it on her wrist, took it off, and put it back in her hair again, and at last confronted her father. “Dad, it’s too late. If you’d asked me in June then yeah, maybe, but now I’m happy here with Mom and Allie, I like Rosslyn High School, and I won’t give up Honey!”
Daniel looked off into space, searching for words. “You’re growing up so fast, Megs, and I haven’t really been around to see it, so I just thought….” He started to hug her but she backed away. “Well, then, maybe we can set up regular visits on the weekends if you want to.”
“Yeah, like Sharlene’s gonna let that happen.”
“Come on, Megan, can’t we try?”
Megan kicked the garden dirt under her feet and mumbled, “Maybe.”
Daniel slowly walked out of the yard while a stunned Susan watched him go.
When he was gone and Susan had had a chance to calm down, she asked, “Megan, are you sure?”
“I’m sure, Mom.” Megan picked up Honey’s stick and tossed it for the dog to fetch.
****
Another moving day, twice in one summer Caroline thought. She couldn’t believe it had only been three months since the last, traumatic move from Belford to Indianapolis. How different things seemed now.
She surveyed the disarray in her new apartment—boxes stacked everywhere, furniture from the discount store, recently delivered and none of it in the right place yet. She now had a sofa, a matching upholstered chair, coffee table, and one floor lamp in her living room, plus a small dinette table with two chairs in the kitchen. In her bedroom she had splurged on a queen-sized bed, but then bought a used dresser and nightstand at a garage sale. She plopped down on the sofa in exhaustion, gazing out the window at the walkers, bikers and joggers on The Monon Trail. She hugged herself, feeling snug in her new surroundings. Mine, all mine.
Caroline looked at the clock. Only a few more hours till Richard would be here to pick her up for their flight to Hawaii. She needed to rest a few more minutes before rummaging through the boxes to find enough items to pack for a ten day trip. After months of misery, Caroline could barely believe her good fortune.
“You want me to go on your honeymoon with you?” Caroline had asked Richard in astonishment after the reception last night.
“Yes! Just say you’ll go. It’s all nonrefundable anyway—plane tickets and hotel reservations. No one wants to go to Hawaii all alone.” He’d stroked her cheek. “If you say yes, I’ll just make one small adjustment and get you your own suite in the hotel. It’s a five-star hotel right on the beach,” he coaxed.
“But what about work? I had all those projects while you and…” Caroline had caught herself before saying Misty’s name, “while you were going to be away.”
“Who works while they’re on a honeymoon?” Richard joked.
Caroline lifted an eyebrow at his attempt at humor. “I don’t know…”
“I want to take this trip with you, Caroline. Come on, quit thinking honeymoon and start thinking vacation!”
Caroline�
��s hands felt clammy as she contemplated Richard’s offer. “I haven’t been on a vacation since, well, since before my parents got divorced. But who’ll run things at the office?”
Richard gently pulled her into an embrace. “For once, Caroline, let’s be spontaneous instead of practical. I want some time off, and I want it with you.”
“But…”
“No buts. It’ll all be here when we get back. If anyone needs to reach us, that’s why we have cell phones and email.” Richard had stepped back, taken both her hands and looked into her eyes. “Please say you’ll come with me.”
Caroline couldn’t refuse Richard anything. She glanced at the clock again. She needed to quit daydreaming and start packing her suitcase. They had to be at the airport by six this evening to check in for their eight p.m. flight. Despite being physically tired from lifting and moving boxes all day, she bounced off the new sofa and into her cluttered bedroom with an exuberance she had rarely ever felt.
****
The flight board said the plane to Los Angeles was on time, so Caroline sank into a chair in the airport waiting area near Gate Five, Intercontinental Airways, and placed her carry-on bag beside her on the floor. They had a few minutes to wait before the official boarding call, and Caroline wanted to savor all that had happened to her in just one, amazing weekend. I’d pinch myself, but I know I’m not dreaming. It’s real!
Richard sat down beside her and took her hand in his. A tingle went up her spine as she squeezed his hand in return. “I can’t believe we’re really here.”
“I can’t believe how much time we wasted getting here.” Richard smiled. “I mean, finding our way to each other.” He gazed into her eyes for a long time. “What’s the first thing you want to do when we get to Maui?”
She laughed softly. “Walk barefoot on the beach!”
“Then that’s what we’ll do. In a perfect world, it’ll be sunset and the most romantic walk we’ll ever take.”
“I’d be happy just walking along the Canal in Indianapolis with you again,” she said, leaning her head on his shoulder.
“We’ve got lots of time,” Richard replied, “and we’ll do that, too. We’ve got the rest of our lives to take romantic walks together.”
Certainly Sensible Page 24