Because of Lauren: A Love Story

by Vivi Underwood

  “Aside from all the obvious reasons, I also worried about how you would make it work. Lilly’s parents struggled with that conflict, and it was the major cause of their separation. I didn’t want Lauren to have to face those same challenges.” Again, he looked at them seated across from him, listening respectfully as he spoke. They had known each other such a short time, yet he sensed a unique bond between them.

  “I’m sure we’ll have challenges along the way, but religion won’t be one of them,” Jonas assured them. “I’ll be attending church with Lauren, not because of any pressure from her, but because it’s what I want for us. Even though we haven’t known each other very long, Lauren and I have spent a considerable amount of time together. She’s taught me many things and knows who I am better than anyone. I promise you, religion will not be an issue for us. It’s one of the many things that binds us together.”

  Isn’t it amazing, Jonathan thought, how many wrong conclusions a person can draw when he judges someone prematurely. Clearing his throat, he said apologetically, “It appears Lauren is far wiser than I, Jonas.” His eyes fell on Lauren. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, I should have trusted that good judgment your mother reminded me you have in abundance.”

  Lauren stood and went to her father. Putting her arms around him from behind, she kissed his cheek. “I forgive you, Daddy. I knew you would love Jonas once you had the chance to get to know him. The two of you make a good pair, you are both a couple of worriers. It’s a good thing you have Mom and me to guide you.”

  Jonathan patted her hands where they lay across his chest. “Thank you, sweetheart, and thank you for reminding me of my shortcomings.”

  “Don’t mention it. That’s what daughters are for. Have you learned enough about Jonas for now or do you have more questions? If you are through, I thought we might . . .” She turned at the sound of the patio doors opening and smiled in delight at the two youngsters running toward them.

  “Grandma! Grandpa! Hi, Aunt Lauren!” They made a beeline for hugs, then looked at Jonas with interest. “Are you going to be our new uncle?” asked the older one. She looked to be around six or seven. Seeing his nod and his wide, friendly smile, both girls hugged him, too. “I’m Ashley, and she’s Kate.”

  “Hello, Ashley and Kate. I’m Jonas. I’m very happy to meet you.”

  With that, the girls’ manners reached their limit, and they turned eagerly to Lilly. “Can we go and jump, Grandma?”

  Without waiting for an answer, they went flying down the steps to the lower level of the yard and the trampoline visible through the trees.

  Following on their heels came two amused parents, a pretty, delicate blonde woman and a good-looking man with Lauren’s eyes and coloring. Jonas had no trouble guessing the family connection. Standing up, he watched as Lauren immediately zeroed in for a hug.

  “Nick!” Her arms wrapped eagerly around him.

  “Hello, sis! It’s about time you flew in for a visit. Let’s have a look at you.”

  Her face alive with happiness, she posed for the usual brotherly inspection. “I believe love agrees with you,” was the verdict. “I’ve never seen you look better.”

  With Lauren’s laughter filling the air, Nick released her and turned to Jonas. “We heard there was a new man in town, one brave enough to take on our brilliant baby sister.” He held out his hand and gave Jonas a firm handshake. “I’m Nicholas Hart, Lauren’s oldest brother, and this is my wife, Melanie. And those two,” he motioned to the two little girls now bouncing happily on the trampoline, “belong to us. We were all so anxious to meet you we couldn’t wait until Sunday dinner.”

  “We promise the girls will look and act like little angels for the wedding,” inserted Melanie, “even if they have to take lessons.”

  Smiling, Jonas introduced himself. “Jonas Juul. A pleasure to meet you both. Your timing is perfect,” he added. “Lauren was under the impression I needed rescuing.”

  At Nicholas’ raised eyebrows, he added, “However, I think I may have passed inspection with one or two reservations.”

  Jonathan’s bark of laughter rent the air and set the tone.

  “Then you did better than I,” Melanie informed him. “I was too young, too flighty, and sure to break Nick’s heart. I had been through a lot of boyfriends, and they were afraid I would toss Nick over after the wedding,” she explained in parenthesis.

  “And they have since apologized?” Jonas suggested lightly as Nicholas placed an arm around his wife. They looked like a couple very much in love.

  “Numerous times,” she said, giving her husband’s parents a warm smile. “As it turned out, Nick brought out the best in me. I guess you could say he finished raising me.”

  When Jonas chuckled, she said with fairness, “Their concerns were somewhat justified, though. I was young and flighty.” Melanie looked at her husband with melting eyes. “But they were wrong about my feelings for Nick.”

  “Melanie is right, we did worry,” said Lilly, “because she was only eighteen, barely out of high school, and Nicholas was twenty-eight. But she has made our son very happy for over fifteen years, so naturally, she is very dear to us.”

  Melanie gave Lilly another warm smile, then turned to Lauren. “So, have you set the exact date yet? Other than ‘in three weeks’? Holy Cow!” Melanie had caught a glimpse of Lauren’s engagement ring. Looking directly at Jonas, she demanded, “Didn’t they have anything smaller?”

  He replied with mock solemnity, “We needed something obvious enough to discourage future suitors. Lauren had another proposal last week.”

  Melanie was taken aback. She knew her sister-in-law had been plagued by unwanted proposals over the years, but she assumed they had stopped. Evidently not. “You didn’t! Who was it this time? Anyone we know?”

  Lauren shrugged lightly. “Remember Thomas Park?”

  “The guy in Taiwan? Rich as Croesus and old enough to be your father?”

  Lauren giggled. “Be nice, Melanie.”

  Melanie turned to Jonas. “One thing you can safely bet your life savings on. Lauren would never marry for money, or she’d have married a long time ago.”

  Jonas gave her a slow smile. “Good to know.”

  To distract Melanie from certain conversational disaster, Lauren held out her hand for all to see. The ring sparkled brilliantly. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

  “Beautiful,” agreed her sister-in-law.

  “Absolutely lovely,” said her mother. “You have excellent taste, Jonas. It suits her hand beautifully.”

  “That’s what I thought. We chose it together.”

  “Well, if that doesn’t send the signal,” drawled an impressed Nicholas, “I don’t know what will. And as long as Melanie doesn’t think she needs one like it, we’re okay.”

  “You’re safe, Nick. I’d be afraid of losing it.” Melanie looked at her husband with shining eyes. “Besides, I love the ring you gave me.”

  That clinched it for Jonas. He liked Melanie.

  It was a full weekend, not quite the relaxing one Lauren had hoped for, but free from her normal workday stress. Saturday morning, they met with Janice to discuss the setting of the wedding ceremony itself and the celebration to follow. She presented some ideas that Jonas and Lauren both agreed sounded lovely, and then they brought Lilly and Jonathan in for final approval. Janice promised every detail would be taken care of. All they had to do was show up.

  Those were the exact words Lauren had hoped to hear. She still had another week of work to finish up, and after that, the closing of the apartment and her life in New York. Worrying about wedding arrangements would only have added to her already overloaded week.

  Jonas secured hotel rooms for the out-of-town wedding guests and reserved rental cars for those flying in. When Lauren suggested they could stay with various family members to save money, he said he didn’t want the wedding to
be a burden on anyone, financial or otherwise.

  Lauren balked a bit. She had promised to keep expenses down, but Jonas refused to keep to that part of the bargain and had given Janice a free hand. Lauren was very glad they had kept the guest list small, to just around a hundred. The only thing left to worry about was the marriage license and scheduling a meeting with the Bishop. Lauren also made a mental note: Sometime before the wedding, fit in a practice session with the flower girls! They were going to need it!

  While Lauren saw Janice off, Jonas looked around the living room. His eyes eventually fell on the piano where a selection of family photos was displayed. He walked over and took a closer look, hoping to see the picture of their common great-great-grandparents that Lauren had mentioned and caught his breath. A moment later, he turned to Lauren’s mother. “Lilly, who is the beautiful little girl in this picture?”

  Lilly joined him by the piano. She smiled. “That was me when I was five and was taken at one of my parents’ parties.”

  “Did you know the man holding you?”

  “He was a good friend of my parents.” She looked at the picture fondly. “I have always loved that picture.”

  “Lilly,” he repeated, “the man holding you is my grandfather.”

  Lilly looked at him in surprise, then a wonderful smile broke out across her face. “You are Sonja’s grandson?”

  “In the flesh.”

  “You are part of that branch of Juuls? Lauren said you grew up in Oslo, that all your family lives there.”

  “Yes, that’s true. My father settled in Oslo after he completed his education and my mother’s family has lived in Eastern Norway for generations.”

  Lauren re-entered the room in time to see her mother hug Jonas like a long-lost relative which, when she thought about it, he was. In a teasing voice, she said, “Hey! You trying to steal my fiancé, Mom?”

  Releasing him, Lilly turned toward her daughter. “No, darling, I’m welcoming him to the family. We’ve just discovered Jonas’ grandparents were dear friends of your grandparents, part of the same social circle, in fact.”

  “What?”

  “And, it would appear, cousins,” said Lilly, her eyes resting thoughtfully on Jonas. “I don’t believe my father knew he was related to Sonja. If he had known, he would have mentioned it. He was an only child and had little in the way of family. If he had known Sonja was family, I know he would have told us.”

  “Do you think Grandma knew Jonas’ grandmother was a member of the Church?”

  Lilly calculated the differences in their ages. Her parents were at least a decade older than Jonas’ grandparents. In that case, her mother would have been a young, unmarried woman when Sonja first started coming to church.

  “I believe she must have known. And it occurs to me that may have been why they were such good friends as adults.”

  So many secrets, thought Jonas, and all because of the intolerance of otherwise intelligent people. He wondered if his grandfather knew that Lauren’s grandmother was a Latter-day Saint. He wished more than ever that his grandmother had confided in him, had allowed him to share the burden of her secrecy.

  Lilly’s voice cut into his thoughts. “I remember my parents giving wonderful parties, and your grandparents were usually there, Jonas. Sometimes I was allowed to watch from the staircase, and I thought it was magical.” The picture with Jonas’ grandfather was taken on just such an occasion. She still remembered his kind smile as he walked over to the staircase and lifting her into his arms, inviting her to join the glittering party. She had kept the picture because it was a sweet reminder of her early life.

  Jonas forced his mind back to the present. “I have heard of the legendary parties my own grandparents used to give,” he said, “but I never actually witnessed one. Though they visited us several times a year, I only came to them in the summer and spent most of my time on the island.”

  “It was their island Lauren referred to when she said you had a summer home on an island?”

  Jonas grinned. “The very same.”

  “My goodness! The world is shrinking by the minute. To think the island is still in your family, Jonas! It was such a wonderful place.”

  Lauren stared at her mother. The surprises just kept coming. “You’ve been there?”

  “Only once. The Juuls gave a Midsummer’s Eve party for their friends there one year and included the children. They had a big bonfire and games for the younger set. There was even a live band. I remember we took one of the boats out cruising so we could see the other bonfires in the area, and then we came back and danced the night away. It was the best Midsummer’s Eve party I’d ever been to.”

  A fascinated Lauren listened as her mother recalled fond childhood memories she had never heard before. Finally, she asked, “How did you make the connection, Mom?”

  Jonas put an arm around her. “She didn’t. I did.” He reached for the framed picture. “The man in this picture is my grandfather, Lauren,” he said softly.

  Again, Lauren was stunned. She had seen the picture her whole life but had never paid particularly close attention to the details. Lauren only knew it was her mother as a little girl. Now she looked more carefully. Her mother, curly-haired and dressed in what might have been a pretty robe rather than a dress, displayed an enchanting smile. The man, formally dressed in black tie, looked down at the little girl on his lap with affection. He had a strong face, a pleasant smile, and his hair was neatly combed back from the forehead. He looked very elegant.

  “That’s your grandfather?” This was the man who had guided Jonas as he grew from child to teenager to young adult and who had trusted him with his business and his fortune. Her eyes went from Jonas to the picture, then back to Jonas. Her lips curved. “You have the look of him, except you are even more handsome,” she decreed.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re blushing.” It was the sweetest thing she had ever seen.

  “You are not supposed to notice, and you are not supposed to comment on it,” he informed her gravely.

  Lauren’s arms crept around his neck and with melting eyes she whispered, “I love you, Jonas!”

  Lilly carefully took the picture from him and replaced it on the piano, then discreetly left the room.

  Grateful for the privacy, Jonas pulled Lauren into his arms and kissed her the way he had wanted to for what seemed like hours. It was going to be a long three weeks.

  Jonas was comfortably reposing in one of the lounge chairs on the shaded patio, a glass of cold lemonade in his hand when Lauren came looking for him. He smiled, recognizing that determined look. “What’s up?” he asked, the smile never leaving his face.

  “We should probably make some decisions.”

  “Still more? We’ve spent the whole morning making decisions.” He moved over and made room for her.

  “Not wedding decisions,” she said as she sat down by his feet. “Decisions about how to spend the rest of the day.”

  “What are our options?”

  “Well, we can hang out around the house and relax, I can show you around the city, we could go hiking and explore one of the canyons, or we can drive up to Park City where many of the 2002 Winter Olympic events took place. It is a quaint old resort town high in the mountains, fun to explore and only twenty minutes or so away.

  When he didn’t comment, she offered another option. “Or we can tour Temple Square.”

  “Do your parents have plans for us? Don’t forget. They are the reason we are here this weekend.”

  Lauren looked at him in surprise. “I’ll ask. I didn’t think of that.”

  He reached for her hand. “Check with them first, will you Lauren?” He had not forgotten that quick look of pain on Lilly’s face the day before when she learned that Lauren had bought her wedding dress without her. His gentle heart did not want her disappointed again.

/>   “I will.”

  “And Lauren, will you tell your mother we are sorry for buying the wedding dress without her?”

  Not understanding, Lauren just looked at him.

  Still speaking softly, he suggested, “Think twenty years or more forward. If we have a daughter, wouldn’t you want to help her choose her wedding dress?”

  Lauren finally understood. Giving him a wide-eyed look, she covered her mouth and whispered, “Oh, Jonas, I hurt my mother.”

  He reached up and brushed back her hair, then lovingly touched her cheek. “Go to her, Lauren, then we can make plans for the afternoon and evening.”

  A subdued Lauren returned half an hour later and sat down by his side. “My parents had hoped to show you Temple Square. Is that okay with you?”

  “Of course,” he smiled.

  “And they would like to take us out to dinner after, if that’s all right.”

  “I’d like that very much. We’re only here for another day. Let’s concentrate on your family this time and save the other things for future visits.”

  “I’ll tell them . . . Jonas?”

  He reached for her hand. “Mm-hmm?”

  “Thank you.”

  “No need to thank me. I like your parents, and enjoy their company.”

  “Not about that.” Her voice broke. “My mother cried when I apologized to her.”

  He sat up and pulled her close. With a soothing hand, he stroked her hair in comfort as she leaned against him.

  “My mother loves you, Jonas. I think she thinks you are too good for me.”

  His lips touched her forehead. “Nonsense. She knows how wonderful you are.”

  “I love you.”

  “Not nearly as much as I love you,” he insisted.

  “Are you going to kiss me?”

  “When we are somewhere more private.”

  Of course. Jonas always behaved appropriately. Still, she sighed in disappointment.

  Lilly unashamedly watched them through the kitchen window and motioned for her husband to join her. “Look how he is with her, Jonathan,” she said in awe. “He loves her so much.”