Capturing a Colton

by C. J. Miller

  Jade wished she could offer a solution. Edith didn’t need additional stress on her wedding day.

  “Josh and Hawk have been assigned Livia duty. They’re keeping watch for her or any of her former associates. But we’re worried about the protesters. If they start their nonsense again, it will make it worse,” Knox said.

  “Oh no. Do they know about the wedding?” Jade asked.

  “No clue. I can’t ask them and tip them off. But if they show up, we need to get rid of them. I’ve called a couple of my buddies at the Rangers and asked if they could nudge anyone along who shows up. But it wouldn’t be an official thing and they can’t force people to stay away if they are on public property.”

  “Wow, this is going to be a tough day,” Jade said. The day had barely started and the list of problems was long and growing.

  “Cody was up with a fever last night. He’s gotten sick twice this morning.” Cody was supposed to be the ring bearer. Looked like Edith and River would need a plan B there too.

  “Let’s try to handle some of these problems without telling Edith. She has enough on her mind.”

  “I’m trying. Okay, I need to go. Cody’s getting sick again,” Knox said and hung up on her.

  Jade returned the calls: two from Maggie about the dress, one from Evelyn asking if she had any extra fabric from her bridesmaid’s dress, one from Declan telling her good morning (that made her smile), one from Leonor and one from River in which Jade could hear Edith crying in the background.

  Jade returned the phone calls, mostly listening and trying to reassure her family it would be okay. They needed this wedding for morale, to be together and prove they would find happiness and a good future, despite the horrors of the past inflicted on them by their mother. Getting upset about the problems at the wedding would be letting Livia win.

  Jade arrived at Mac’s farm three hours before the wedding. She’d had her hair done at Marie’s Salon and Spa according to the specifications Edith had laid out. Jade’s hair was twisted at the top in loose curls and gathered to the side.

  Stepping into the house was chaos.

  Men and women in black tuxedoes were working in the kitchen; River was on the phone, one hand on his head, his thumb and forefinger rubbing his temples. Thorne was holding the back of Maggie’s dress while Evelyn was adding a white cloth across it.

  Jade’s eyes landed on Declan. He seemed utterly calm. Speaking on the phone, he disconnected and crossed to Jade. “It’s been a wild morning.”

  “Everything worked out?” she asked.

  Declan shrugged. “Edith has accepted that this will not go according to plan. I’ve called in every favor I can think of to make this right for her, but I can’t make any promises.”

  A passing waiter tripped, dumping a bowl of white dip down the front of Jade’s dress. A collective gasp rose up in the room.

  The waiter was making apologies. Declan had grabbed some napkins and was wiping at the white dripping down the front of the dress and onto the floor.

  River approached. He looked at Jade’s stained fabric and frowned. “The van delivering the flowers broke down. Knox is en route to retrieve the flowers.”

  “I’ll try to get some of this off in the bathroom,” Jade said.

  “Need a hand?” Declan asked.

  “Sure.” She had agreed more because it would give them a minute to talk alone.

  Locating a clean cloth underneath the sink, Jade tried to use some soap and water on the smeared white mess. The dip had soaked through to her skin.

  Declan’s phone rang and he answered. After listening for a few moments, he closed his eyes. “Of course. Of course they wilted in the van. Does anyone have the phone number for the owner of the Secret Garden? Maybe we can get in touch with her and buy whatever she has in stock.”

  Jade winced. Edith might be disappointed if her flowers were different than she’d planned.

  “I don’t know what gardenias look like, but let’s just try for a similar color,” Declan said. When his call ended, he sighed. “I can’t tell Edith about one more problem.”

  “We have to remind her that the important part of the wedding is getting married to River. The rest of this is just decoration.”

  Declan rolled his shoulders. “I’ve never been married, but I know Edith really well and it’s going to be hard for her to accept this. Edith is a great person, but she’s been handed a lot of crap in her life. People have let her down and she’s always wanted a real family and people she can count on.”

  “Then we’ll have to make this as good as we can and keep a happy face while doing it.”

  “My thoughts exactly. Show her that her new family will be a hundred times better than her parents were to her.”

  A tap on the door. “Jade? It’s Claudia. I have a solution to the dress problem.”

  * * *

  What Claudia had brought from her shop to replace Maggie’s and Jade’s dresses were similar to the ones the bridesmaids had planned to wear. They were shorter, but Claudia had a size that fit Maggie.

  Maggie was dressing in the other room and Edith was examining the dresses Claudia had brought over for the bridesmaids. In a sun-filled upstairs bedroom at Mac’s house, it was hot and the garment seemed to hang limply on its plastic hanger.

  The decor in the room didn’t help. Mac had blue-and-red-plaid bedspreads and the walls were wood paneling. The floor was scuffed and dingy.

  Edith held up the dress and turned it around. “It doesn’t have the same detail on the straps.”

  No fabric flowers on the straps, but it was beautiful in its simplicity.

  Edith sighed. “I guess it will have to do. I don’t see other options at this point.”

  Leonor tapped on the bedroom door. “I’m sorry to interrupt.” She was wearing her pristine and well-fitted bridesmaid’s dress; seeing it was like rubbing salt in the wound.

  She looked at the dress in Jade’s hand. “That’s gorgeous. Are they the new dresses?”

  “Yes,” Edith said, sounding distraught.

  “Well, I think they’ll look great. Not that anyone will be looking at us. All eyes will be on you. I have more good news. I reached out to some photographers to see if they were available today. One got back to me. He is a photojournalist and while he hasn’t done weddings before, he has done Fashion Week in New York. He’s photographed the supermodel Marissa Walker!”

  Edith blinked at Leonor, and Jade thought she might cry.

  “He also did some work at the Olympics a few years ago. Several large political events. Some of his prints have been features in international geographic magazines.”

  Edith handed the dress to Jade. “Please thank your friend and tell him I am grateful. I know it seems like I’m being high maintenance, but I wanted everything to be perfect today. I wanted to have pictures that will hang in our home of our wedding and our family. It feels like that is getting taken away.”

  Evelyn called to Edith from downstairs. Edith left the room and Leonor followed after her. Jade slipped out of her ruined dress and into the new one.

  It was shorter than she would have liked, but she kept her mouth shut. The day had enough problems and her dress being too tight and short wasn’t a big deal. Maggie’s fit her and that was the important part. Jade sucked in her stomach, the only way the dress wouldn’t rip at the seams, and exited the bedroom. She heard River and Edith talking in hushed whispers at the bottom of the stairs.

  “I think we should set up inside the barn,” River said.

  “We planned to have an outside wedding. I don’t want to have it inside a barn. A barn? What about the animals and the smell?”

  “We can take care of that,” River said.

  “Take care of it with what? Fifty gallons of air freshener? Lighting a hundred scented candles? W
e are having it outside, like we planned.”

  Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance. Jade stepped onto the stairs. River appeared tired and frustrated. Edith looked upset, her mouth curved down and her arms folded across her chest.

  “Don’t be like this. Isn’t the important part that we’ll be married?” River asked.

  Edith shook her head and rushed away. River looked after her. “I’ll give her a few minutes to calm down. I know she wants this to be picture-perfect. This wedding was supposed to be the first time that Edith had a fairy-tale ending. That’s why she’s taking it so hard. She can’t believe the run of bad luck and she thinks someone is sabotaging our wedding.”

  Jade didn’t think it was any one source causing the problems. “We have a couple of hours to get it together.” Never having planned a wedding, she didn’t know what went into the details, but she could understand how Edith would feel strongly about having a good day.

  “I hate to ask this of you, but do you think you and Declan can find flowers for the bouquets and centerpieces?”

  Jade mentally cataloged her garden. “I can come up with something.”

  “We’re trying to get in touch with the owner of the Secret Garden, but she’s not answering. If Edith doesn’t have a bouquet, it might send her over the edge.”

  “I’m on it.” Jade saluted him and went in search of Declan.

  He was setting up chairs for the ceremony. The clouds overhead were ominous, but stating it didn’t help.

  The area Edith and River had picked at Mac’s farm was quiet and picturesque. Gray clouds rumbled overhead, and a stone pathway led from the back of the house to the barn toward the well-tended, tidy gardens. Mac’s fruit and vegetable plot was elaborate, with tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, green beans, squash, cucumbers and several types of berries. Evelyn had taken an interest in the garden and was helping Mac with its care.

  The string quartet was setting up and every time the thunder rumbled, they looked toward the sky.

  “I need your help,” Jade said.

  Declan set out the white wood chair he had been carrying. “With?”

  “I need to go to my farm and gather enough flowers to make bouquets and centerpieces for the wedding.”

  Declan looked at her skeptically. “Do you have enough flowers to accomplish that?”

  Jade wasn’t sure. She didn’t invest a lot of time growing flowers; they were beautiful but didn’t serve a purpose. “We have to try.”

  Twenty minutes later, she and Declan were doing their best to gather enough blooms.

  “This isn’t going to work,” Declan said. “The stems are wrong.”

  They weren’t long and sturdy. She had more flowers that grew in tufts. “What are our choices? We can’t let Edith down.”

  Declan picked up his phone. He started typing. “I’ll find a florist and pay them triple to be here by the start of the wedding.”

  Four calls later, Declan had located one who answered the phone and who had the requested flowers on hand.

  Jade pulled at her dress. “This is going to squeeze the life out of me.”

  Declan walked around her. “Looks amazing on you.”

  “The last-minute swap-out meant I couldn’t get my size. These were the only dresses Claudia had that would work that she had enough of for everyone. Leonor’s fit well.” She should have changed into more comfortable clothes, but she hadn’t realized she’d be hunting for flowers.

  “Claudia has an eye for design. Thank you all for trying to make this day special for Edith. I want her to be happy.”

  “I care about both her and River,” Jade said.

  Declan kissed her. His sweet words settled over her, but his lips delivered passion and heat. Jade dropped the blooms she had gathered and pulled Declan toward the house.

  “We have an hour before we need to be back at Mac’s,” Jade said.

  “I can do a lot with an hour,” Declan said.

  Once inside her house, he proved it to her.

  * * *

  Not even ten thousand dollars in flowers from Flowers on the Hour removed the ominous feeling from the day. Declan was a firm believer in positive thinking and mentioning to Edith that something about the day felt wrong wouldn’t help her. She was superstitious and he didn’t want her overreacting and thinking that the wedding and marriage were doomed.

  Edith had planned this wedding under a tight deadline. With all that had gone not according to their plans, Declan hoped the rest of the day would run smoother.

  Declan was walking Edith down the aisle. He didn’t think of it as if he was giving her away. Edith had an independent streak a mile wide and she wasn’t his to give. But he viewed it as a change in their relationship. She was his family, and now she would be River’s.

  Edith was in Mac’s guest bedroom getting ready. Tapping on the door, Declan announced himself.

  “Come in.” Edith was inside, standing at the window. Her face seemed pensive and worried, a contrast to the beauty and lightness in her dress. The dress was elegant and simple and suited Edith. Her veil fell to her shoulders and had pearls sewn through it.

  “Ready to do this?” Declan asked.

  Edith smoothed her dress. “Do I look okay?”

  “You look beautiful. Your dress is perfect.” He had more to say and couldn’t find the words.

  Edith’s hands fisted in the fabric of her dress. “What about the wedding? Do you think the problems are a sign it shouldn’t happen?”

  Declan wasn’t a believer in signs. “Life tosses problems at us and we handle them.”

  “I like the flowers you sent over better than the ones I picked,” Edith said.

  “I can’t take responsibility for that. I put the responsibility on the florist.”

  Edith hugged him. “Thank you for doing what you did today. I know you are not a hundred percent excited about this wedding.”

  “Sure I am. I want you to be happy. If marrying River makes you happy, then I’m behind your decision.”

  Edith shot him a look as if she still didn’t believe him. “One day soon, you’ll see what I see in River. I think you already see some of it in Jade.”

  Jade was becoming more special to him. He had fun when he was with her and he admired her dedication and passion for her work. “Getting to know Jade has been great.”

  Edith looked in the mirror again and pulled on the edge of her veil. “Days like this make me think about the family I never had.”

  “Me too,” Declan said. That vulnerability wasn’t news to Edith. Over the years, he and Edith had shared the loss that children in the foster system had: never really being part of a family and carrying around that rejection. “Being in Shadow Creek, I think of Livia Colton and then I think of my father.”

  Edith nodded in understanding. “Have you told Jade the whole story about your father and Livia? About how you felt?”

  “Not yet. I want to tell her. I know she’s heard some of it from River.”

  “Knox, Leonor, River, Claudia, Thorne and Jade are nothing like their mother. I’ve gotten to know them more over the past couple of months and I know that they are good people.”

  Declan trusted Edith’s instincts. They were spot-on in most of her life decisions. Her experiences had taught her to look out for herself and to be careful in whom she trusted. Anyone else marrying a man she had known a month would have made Declan laugh and predict divorce in a year. But not Edith. She knew what she wanted and she had found it in River.

  Leonor poked her head into the room, her red curls swinging around her shoulder. “The quartet is ready when you are.”

  Edith took a deep breath and shook out her hands as if getting rid of nerves. “I’m ready.”

  Declan handed her the bouquet and extended his arm and Edith took
it. Together, they walked out of the house and into the garden. His anxiety had nothing to do with River. He had seen the way the man looked at Edith. The affection and warmth between them was inspiring. This wedding was the start of a new chapter in Edith’s life and Declan hoped that chapter included him.

  Though the flowers were festive and the white chairs filled with their guests, the dark sky and crows circling were ominous. Declan kept his expression pleasant as he walked toward the officiant. He wouldn’t show Edith that anything was wrong. The day would be great and she would go to sleep tonight as Mrs. River Colton.

  River stood to the right of a white archway decorated with flowers. Jade was standing to the left, holding a bouquet of pink and yellow flowers. He winked at her and her smile broadened. Declan kissed Edith’s cheek and hugged her.

  “All the luck in the world,” he said.

  “Thank you, Declan. For everything.”

  Then he stepped behind her and sat in the front row on the end.

  As the officiant spoke, the wind picked up. Even sitting close, it was hard to hear. Thunder boomed in the sky and lightning flashed in the clouds.

  The quartet looked nervous. The rain could hold. The minister continued speaking, and while he wasn’t rushing, he was speaking quickly.

  A fat plop of rain hit Declan’s cheek. Then another.

  “Do you want me to continue?” the officiant asked Edith and River.

  Edith said yes and then the skies opened up. The rain poured so hard, it was impossible to hear. The crowd ran for Mac’s house, gathering on the covered porch.

  Evelyn was passing around hand towels for guests to dry themselves. Edith looked devastated and River was speaking to her, perhaps trying to reassure her it would be fine.

  Declan strode to Edith. Though this matter was between River and her, he wanted to help.

  Edith’s dress was wet, sticking to her, and muddy at the bottom. Her makeup was smeared and her veil hung down the side of her head. Leonor, Claudia, Jade and Maggie had the same idea about comforting Edith. Though their dresses were wet, their shoes muddy and their hair drenched, they appeared more concerned about the bride.