She dressed in jeans and a sleeveless blouse and headed for the local grocer’s, but soon found herself wandering aimlessly down the aisles, her cart empty. Her mind refused to focus on the matters at hand. Instead it seemed focused on her short conversation with Jase the night before.
There’d been so much she’d wanted to tell him. Even now she didn’t know where she’d found the courage to actually contact him. She’d gone to sleep, awakened, her heart heavy and sad. As she lay in bed, she knew she couldn’t let it end abruptly with Jase like that. With her running out of the hotel never to see him again. And so she’d phoned, calling herself every kind of fool when he actually answered. She’d expected to wake him from a sound sleep. To her surprise he’d answered on the first ring as if he, too, were having trouble sleeping.
Instead of helping her bring some sort of closure to their relationship, their conversation created longing and wonder. To have found each other after all these years and still have it be too late.
She walked down the aisle and paused in front of the baby-food section and was immediately assaulted with a sudden, unexpected flash of pain. Drawing in a deep breath, she forced herself to look straight ahead.
It wasn’t until she was at the checkout stand that she realized her entire week’s menu consisted of frozen entrees.
Back at the apartment, she noted the flashing light on her answering machine. It was probably Roger and she wasn’t in the mood to talk to him. Not today. She was going to be completely indulgent, cater to her own whims and nurture herself. A long walk in Golden Gate Park sounded perfect.
The afternoon was cool and overcast as was often the case in San Francisco in June. Katie wore a light sweater and her tennis shoes as she briskly followed the footpath close to the water. Runners jogged past, daredevils on Rollerblades, kids on skates. The breeze off the bay carried with it the scent of the ocean, pungent and invigorating.
When she’d completed her two-mile trek, she felt better. Her heart was less heavy. She checked her watch and noted that Jase and Elaine had been married all of two hours.
Because she was a glutton for pain, she went out of her way to stroll past the church where Jase had mentioned he and Elaine would be married. The guests would have left long ago. Katie wasn’t entirely sure why she was doing this. It wasn’t wise, she knew, but she was indulging herself and she wanted to see the church where Jase had married his “sweetheart.”
The church was situated on a steep hill overlooking the bay. By the time Katie had walked up the hill, she was breathing hard. She paused, leaned forward, and braced her hands on her knees.
Her gaze studied the sidewalk where she saw bits of birdseed left over from the wedding. A few small seeds had fallen between the cracks. The analogy between her life and those lost seeds didn’t escape her. She felt as though her own life had fallen between the cracks. Mentally she gave herself a hard shake. She refused to give in to self-pity.
Slipping inside the darkened church, Katie’s gaze went immediately to the huge stained-glass window above the pulpit. A couple of older women were busy in the front, setting huge bouquets of arranged flowers around the altar.
Katie recognized that they were probably the very ones used for Jase and Elaine’s wedding.
Walking up the side aisle, she heard the murmur of voices as the two women chatted, unaware she was there.
“Never in all my years as an organist have I witnessed what I did this day,” the first woman said in hushed tones.
“From what I heard the bride threw a temper tantrum.”
Katie’s head perked up in order to better listen in on the conversation.
“While the mother dealt with the daughter, the father dealt with the groom. I don’t mind telling you I felt sorry for that young man. Not that I blame him. Good grief, if he was going to change his mind, he might have done it a bit sooner than when he was standing in front of the altar.”
“Excuse me,” Katie said, making her way toward the two. “I couldn’t help overhearing. You wouldn’t by chance happen to be talking about the Ingram wedding, would you?”
The two women glanced at each other. “No,” answered the first.
“Just a minute, Dorothy, I thought that might have been the name.”
Dorothy shook her head. “Nope. It was Hopkins. I’m positive it was Hopkins. I played for the Ingram wedding earlier. Don’t know when I’ve seen a more beautiful bride, either. Those two were so in love, why, it did my heart good just being here. Now that’s a marriage that’ll last.”
“Thank you,” Katie whispered as she turned away. For a moment she’d dared to hope for a miracle.
Katie speed-walked back to her condominium and took a long, hot shower. She hadn’t eaten lunch and wasn’t in the mood to cook so she slapped a frozen entree into her microwave. She wasn’t sure when she got into the habit of eating her meals in front of the television, but it was well ingrained now. A voice, a friend, someone to share her dinner with so she wouldn’t be alone.
Her favorite show was the evening news. The newscaster stood in front of a homeless shelter, a congenial soul who gave the weekend reports. “This evening the men and women dining at Mission House are enjoying Beef Wellington and succulent baked salmon fit for a king, or, more appropriate, a groom.”
Groom. Great, she was going to be assaulted once again. Everywhere she turned people were talking about weddings.
“This groom experienced a sudden change of heart. Unfortunately, it was too late to warn the caterers. Rather than discard the dinner, the groom opted to serve the meal to San Francisco’s homeless.”
The scene changed to a group of ragged-looking men and women enjoying their elegant dinner. The camera zeroed in on a table of hors d’oeuvres, and petite canapés topped with asparagus spears.
“When asked about the wedding, groom Jason Ingram…”
“Jase.” A flash of sheer joy raced through Katie as she roared to her feet.
Jase had called off the wedding.
Chapter Eight
Jason sat in the cocktail lounge at the St. Regis Hotel, wishing he was the type who found solace in a bottle of good whiskey. He never had been one to drown his sorrows in liquor, but if ever there was a time a man should drink, it would be after a day like this one.
He’d stood before the priest, Elaine at his side and the organ music surrounding them, and realized he couldn’t do it. That very morning, he’d had every intention of going ahead with the wedding. Frankly, he couldn’t see any other option. It was what Elaine wanted. What his brother, his own flesh and blood, advised. Everyone he knew seemed to think Elaine was perfect for him.
Everyone except him.
Then when he stood before Father Ecker and looked at Elaine, he knew otherwise. He remembered Katie’s words on the phone from the night before. She’d claimed that if she’d learned that he’d cheated on her two nights before their wedding, she would have died. The pain of his betrayal would have killed her.
Elaine had barely been troubled by what she referred to as his indiscretion. Not that he’d ever wanted to hurt her. He would have given anything to spare her this embarrassment, save his soul. But that was what marriage would have demanded. In that moment, he realized that no matter how painful this was to them both, he couldn’t go through with it.
All this came down on him as the music swirled around them at the foot of the altar. Before the priest could start the wedding, Jason leaned over to Elaine and suggested they speak privately before the ceremony proceeded any further.
Elaine pretended not to hear him.
Fortunately, the priest did hear and paused. Jason tried to tell Elaine how sorry he was, but he couldn’t marry her. Then her father had gotten into the act and her mother. Soon the entire wedding party had gathered around them. Everyone seemed to have an opinion, but could reach no consensus.
When Elaine realized that he’d actually called off the wedding, she’d thrown down her bouquet, stomped all over the flowers, an
d then gone at him with both fists. It’d taken the priest and two ushers to pull her off him.
Jason worked his jaw back and forth to test the discomfort. He’d say one thing for his former fiancée—she packed quite a punch. But the beating Elaine had given him didn’t compare with what her father had in store. Jason would almost have preferred a pounding to the financial burden facing him. Elaine’s father had left Jason to foot the bill for the dinner and reception. As best as he could figure, Jason would work for the next ten years to pay for the wedding that never was.
He took another swallow of beer and looked up to find his brother and sister-in-law. They looked pleased with themselves, as well they should. Jase had gifted them with his honeymoon. The two were scheduled to fly to Hawaii first thing in the morning. The honeymoon suite awaited them on Waikiki.
“We’re checked out of the hotel,” Steve said, pulling out the chair across from Jase and plopping himself down.
“I feel a little guilty having Steve and me go on your honeymoon,” Lisa told him, sitting next to her husband.
“You’re turning down two weeks in Hawaii, all expenses paid?” Jason joked. His brother was no fool.
“No way,” Lisa laughed.
“I had vacation time due me anyway. It’s a little short notice, is all.” Steve gave him a worried look, as if he wasn’t square with this even now.
“But you swung it.”
“We swung it.”
“Enjoy yourselves,” Jason said, meaning it. “I sure as hell won’t be needing it.” He wasn’t sure what the future held for him.
“What about you and Katie?”
Jason mowed five fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. We’re different people now. I’d like to believe that we could make it, but she lives here and I work on the East Coast.”
“You can move, can’t you? Or she can,” Lisa advised. “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
“Have you talked to her yet?”
“No.” He’d tried phoning her twice, and each time reached her answering machine.
“What are you waiting for, little brother?”
It’d be nice for the swelling to go down on his eye, but he didn’t say so. He raised his hand and tentatively tested the tenderness and winced at the pain.
Steve’s gaze drifted toward the door. “Time to go, Lisa,” he announced unexpectedly. “Jason’s got company.”
“Who?” He tossed a look over his shoulder and found Katie standing in the doorway. Her eyes lit up with warm excitement when she found him.
“Good luck,” Lisa said, kissing him on the cheek as she followed Steve.
Jason had the feeling his luck was about to change. He’d found his pot of gold in his high school sweetheart.
“Jase?” Katie took one look at his face and bit into her lower lip. “What happened?” She gently cupped one side of his jaw and the pain he’d experienced moments earlier vanished.
“You don’t want to know,” he muttered.
“Elaine’s father?”
“Nope,” he said with a half-laugh. “Elaine.”
“You look…”
“Terrible,” he finished for her. He’d seen his reflection and knew that his face resembled a punching bag. He had a bruise alongside his chin and one eye was swollen completely shut.
“Not terrible, but so incredibly handsome I can’t believe you called off the wedding,” she said all in one breath as she slid in the chair recently vacated by his sister-in-law.
“So you finally listened to your messages?”
“My messages. That was you? I thought…no, I didn’t play them back. I heard about it on the six o’clock news.”
There seemed to be no end to his humiliation. First Elaine punching him and now this. “They reported that I’d called off the wedding on the San Francisco news?”
“No, that you had the caterer serve the dinner at the homeless shelter.”
“Oh.” That salved his ego only a little. “I couldn’t see any reason for all that expensive food to go to waste.”
“It was a generous, thoughtful thing for you to do.”
He smiled, despite the pain it caused. “I never did much care for asparagus canapés.”
“Me, either.” Now that Katie was here, Jason wasn’t sure what to say or where to start.
“I can’t believe I’m here with you. You actually stopped the wedding.”
He shrugged, making light of it when it was the most difficult thing he’d ever done. “I had to,” he said, taking Katie’s hand in both of his. “I was in love with another woman. The same woman I’ve loved since I was a teenager. I’ve always loved you, Katie.”
Her beautiful eyes welled with tears. “Oh, Jase.”
“I don’t know how many times I told myself it was too late for us, but I couldn’t make myself believe it. We live on different coasts…”
“I’ll move.”
“I’m in debt up to my eyebrows for a wedding that never took place.”
“I’m really good at managing money. In fact, I know a great place to get a loan. I’ve got an ‘in’ with the manager.” She knocked down every objection he offered.
“Your ‘in’ doesn’t happen to be Roger, does it?” he asked with a frown. He didn’t want any help from Daddy Warbucks.
“No, me.”
“You?” He knew she’d done well, just not that well. He felt a fierce pride for her accomplishment and at the same time was a bit intimidated. “You mean to say you’d be willing to give all that up for me?”
“Is this a formal marriage proposal, Jason Ingram?”
The question gave him pause—not that he had any qualms about marrying Katie. He’d already married her once, but his head continued to ring from his last go-around at the altar. The least he should do before considering it a second time was look at his options.
It took him all of two seconds. He was crazy about Katie and had been for more years than he cared to remember.
“Yes,” he admitted, “that’s exactly what I’m asking.”
Her smile was probably one of the most beautiful sights known to man. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears and a happiness that infected him with a joy so profound it was all he could do not to haul her into his arms right then and there.
“I love you so damned much, Jase Ingram.”
Her words were a balm to all that had befallen him that day. “I hope you’re not interested in long engagements.”
“How about three hours?”
“Three hours?”
“We can drive to Reno in that time.”
“Are you suggesting we elope, Katie Kern? Again?” It didn’t take him long to realize it was a fitting end to their adventure.
“I can be ready in say…five minutes.”
He chuckled, loving her so much it felt as if his heart couldn’t hold it all inside. “Are we going to have a honeymoon this time?”
“You can bet the house on that, Jase Ingram. My guess is it’ll last fifty years or longer.”
“I only hope that’s long enough.”
Jason paid for his beer and with their arms wrapped around each other, he brought her up to his room to collect his suitcase.
Eight hours later, they exchanged their vows. The very ones they’d promised each other ten years earlier.
Only this time it was forever.
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2009 by Kensington Publishing Corp.
“Whale Island” copyright © 2009 by Cathy Lamb
“Queen of Hearts” copyright © 2009 by Judy Duarte
“The Honeymoon House” copyright © 2009 by Mary Carter
“The Marrying Kind” copyright © 1996, 2009 by Debbie Macomber
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quot
es used in reviews.
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ISBN: 978-1-4201-1478-2
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