Return to Willow Lake

by Susan Wiggs

  She belonged here, at least for now, close to her mom and tiny half-brother. Her plans had changed—but they were still big plans and this time, they felt like the right plans for Sonnet. As for Zach, she couldn’t guess what he might think of her big change. She’d find out soon enough.

  She couldn’t regret anything that had happened. She would forever be grateful that he was the one who had always been there for her. He’d been there when she was confused and difficult, and she hoped he would be there now that she knew it was time to start opening up and trusting her heart and saying yes to things that used to seem so impossible to her. Being with Zach reminded her that life was beautiful, that love and adventure were possible even when times were hard or frightening. The two of them together could be magic, but there was just one thing she had to do—she had to tell him.

  She’d sent him a text, checking to see if he would be in town. After Big Girl, Small Town was a major hit, who knew where Zach would be? He was a key player in the success of the series; he’d be able to write his own ticket with any number of production companies now. He might be heading to the West Coast or anywhere in the world now.

  Propitiously, he was in Avalon. He sent her a message saying he’d meet her at Blanchard Park. She tried to read meaning into his choice for the rendezvous. The town’s lakeshore park was a part of their shared history. It had been their regular meeting spot from the time they were old enough to cross the street without adult supervision. They’d met at the old town park for swimming in the summer, skating in the winter, boating whenever they’d been able to scrape together the money to rent a skiff or catboat. Did he want to meet there because the place on the lake was special to them?

  Or because it was an appropriate spot to say goodbye?

  She felt exhilarated by the sense of risk, but she wasn’t afraid. After watching her mother’s ordeal, Sonnet understood what it was to be truly afraid. She would be devastated if Zach sent her away, but she refused to let fear keep her from telling him what was in her heart. It took no special bravery to be honest about her emotions.

  He was waiting when she got there, his tall silhouette dark against the deepening light, his long pale hair catching the last of the sun’s rays. He looked so good to her, just the sight of him made her pulse race.

  “Hey,” she said, unable to keep the smile off her face.

  He turned to her, and the breeze lifted his hair. “Hey.”

  “I’m glad you said you’d meet me,” she said, nervous in spite of her resolve. “Let’s walk.”

  They wandered down to the lakeshore as twilight gathered and the first stars appeared. No one was around. It felt like just the two of them together, and it was a wonderful feeling. If she had to spend forever with just one person, she would want it to be him. The thought took root inside her and gave her courage.

  “I came back because I have something to tell you. You don’t have to respond or say anything back to me. It’s just…something I need to get out there because to do anything less would be cowardly of me, and I’m done being scared.”

  He stared at her aghast, as if she was going to confess to having an STD or something. “Uh, okay. I’m listening.”

  “What I need to say is that what happened at Daisy’s wedding was not some sweet, drunken mistake. Maybe I didn’t know it at the time, but it was life-changing. I started falling in love with you that night, Zach, not the way I’ve always felt about you, but…deeper. More intense, and it scared me, so I backed off. Pulling away from you didn’t work, though. I just…kept falling. So I came to tell you I love you, Zach. And not the way I felt when we were just friends, or kids growing up together. But as the person I’ll love for the rest of my life, with every inch of my heart.”

  He stood statue-still, his face unreadable.

  “Sorry to blurt it out like that.” She tried to keep her heart from sinking. “If you don’t feel the same way, I understand. I wouldn’t blame you for giving up on me.”

  “Tell you what,” he interrupted. “How about you let me explain how I feel?”

  “Oh. Yes, sorry.” She flushed, aware that she had a habit of getting ahead of the conversation.

  “Listen, I’m not good with words,” he said, “but ever since I got your message, I’ve been thinking about what I need to tell you.”

  She braced herself. Made herself be still and listen for once.

  “So I was watching this video clip online,” he said, “about these Chinese watermelon farmers who gave their melons too much chemical growth accelerator.”

  She frowned. He was always watching clips of strange phenomena, filing them away in his mind like bits of fluff in a lint trap. “Interesting, but what does that have to do with us?”

  “I’m trying to make a point here, okay? Anyway, the watermelons are all starting to explode. That’s right, they’re exploding from growing too fast. Sometimes I feel like my heart is like one of those giant watermelons that is about to explode from being too full.”

  “Oh, Zach.” Her arms felt chilled. She started to tremble all over. “Don’t ever say you’re not good with words.”

  “It’s the best way I can think of to describe how my heart feels. What I’m trying to tell you is that I’m in love with you, too. You’re right about Daisy’s wedding. Something happened that night we were together. We both felt it. That night changed everything. I kept waiting for it to go away, or to fade, but that’s not what’s happening. This is the kind of love that’s going to grow and withstand time and keep growing until it becomes this immovable, unconditional love that people always dream of finding and only a few ever do.”

  “Oh, Zach. Really? Oh, my God…I was afraid you didn’t feel the same way I do.”

  “You should have checked with me before assuming I didn’t.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” With every cell in her body, she wanted to touch him. No, she wanted to wrap her arms around him and never let go. “So…now what?”

  “Hey, check it out.” Something glimmered in the light. He pointed out a clear glass bottle bobbing against the lakeshore.

  “Looks like somebody littered.” She walked over and picked up the bottle. “At least they have good taste in champagne—whoa, there’s a message inside.” She held the bottle up to the light, immediately thinking about the last time she’d found a bottle floating in the lake. “Maybe it’s the same one I threw out into the water at Daisy’s wedding.”

  “You should check it out.”

  “No, I should throw it back into the lake and continue this amazing conversation with you,” she said. I’m in love with you. Had she heard him right? She was starting to think she’d imagined it. Exploding watermelons and unconditional love…

  “Just open the damn bottle,” Zach said.

  She thrust it at him. “You do it, then. I don’t want to be responsible for prying into someone’s private business.”

  “Jesus, Sonnet. Could you just open it?”

  She sighed in exasperation. “I don’t want this conversation with you to end.”

  “Trust me, it’s not going to end.”

  The expression on his face startled her. She saw tenderness and honesty in his eyes, and she recognized that this was the way he’d always looked at her. And she realized he was the only one who ever had. He saw her. He saw who she was, and he loved her. She didn’t take her eyes off him as she worked the cork out of the bottle with hands that couldn’t stop trembling. Then she glanced down at the scrolled note in her hand.
The slender tube was bound by an elegant diamond ring.

  “I have goose bumps,” she whispered.

  “Don’t be afraid. It’s okay. Read it.”

  She unrolled the slip of paper, instantly recognizing his handwriting. There were only two words: Marry me. On the back of the note was one more word: Please.

  Her eyes filled with tears. “Zach…”

  “Don’t cry. Here, try the ring on.”

  It was a simple band of white gold with a glimmering diamond solitaire. She handed it to him. “Put it on me, Zach,” she whispered. “My hands are shaking too much.”

  He lifted her hand to his mouth and gently kissed it. Then he slipped the ring on her finger.

  “It fits perfectly,” she said.

  “Your mother told me your ring size.”

  “My mother? She knows about this?”

  He nodded. “And yes to the next question—she’s totally cool with this plan.”

  He had a plan. She shivered even more.

  “That last bottle, the one I found the night of the wedding…was that planted by you, too?”

  “It was, actually. And yeah, you were meant to find it.”

  “Oh, God. Please tell me there wasn’t a diamond ring in it.”

  He laughed softly. “Nah, just a note.”

  “What did it say?”

  He laughed again and took her in his arms, then leaned down to whisper in her ear.

  “Okay, my goose bumps just got goose bumps.”

  “That’s a good sign,” he said. “There’s one problem, though. You haven’t given me an answer…to either question.”

  Happiness radiated from a deep inner core, shining through her. It seemed so long ago that she’d fought with herself, determined to tell him no but desperate to say yes. Everything was clear now. The answer had been written on her heart forever, and she could finally see that, finally give voice to what she’d wanted all along. She threw her arms around him and kissed him, at the same time whispering a single word against his lips. “Yes.”

  Part Five

  MUST-DO LIST (LAST ONE, PROMISE)

  really fall in love

  Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

  —LAO TZU

  Epilogue

  Moments before the wedding was to begin, Sonnet Romano shuddered with a wave of nervousness. “Mom,” she said, hurrying over to the window, which framed a view of Willow Lake, “what if I screw up?”

  Her mother turned from the window. The misty light of a rainy afternoon shrouded Nina’s slender form, softening her features like an airbrush. She looked fantastic in her form-fitting dress of champagne-hued damask silk, her dark hair still short, beautifully styled and highlighted with a sweet spray of flowers. Reconstructive surgery had given her back her figure, and despite the fatigue of having a nine-month-old, she was glowing.

  “You’re not going to screw up,” Nina said. “You’re going to be fabulous. You look amazing in your gown, you’ve memorized everything you’re going to do and say, and it’s going to be the best day of your life. Everything’s ready. We just have to wait until all the guests arrive.”

  A chorus of squeals came from the adjacent room, where the rest of the bridal party was getting ready. Daisy was matron of honor, of course, and Sonnet had asked her half sisters, Kara and Layla, to take part. Daisy’s son, Charlie, served as ring bearer, taking his duties seriously. He’d insisted on wearing not just a tux, but a top hat as well.

  Sonnet felt a thrum of emotion in her chest. She was about to marry the love of her life. It was like a dream come true, only better. Zach had come back into her life when she didn’t even know she needed him. It had taken her a while to listen to her own heart; in all the bustle and haste of her career, she’d grown so distant from who she was and what she wanted. Now she understood exactly what she needed, and it wasn’t an impressive resume or important friends or a list of accolades. It was making a life with Zach—her best friend, the love of her life, the keeper of the deepest secrets of her heart, the one person she would share everything with, from here on out.

  If only she could get through this day. She paced back and forth, the yards of tulle swishing around her legs. “I might need to pee again.”

  “You don’t need to pee. You just went, and it’s a huge pain in that dress.”

  She was right about the dress. Only a short time ago, Daisy and Olivia had helped her in the ladies’ room, forming a forklift with their arms to hoist her up and hold the gorgeous dress out of the way. It was a full ball gown with a train, as ornate and multilayered as the towering wedding cake from Sky River Bakery.

  Before that magical night by Willow Lake, she had never dreamed of being this kind of bride—the fairy-tale kind, with all the trappings, from the tiara crowning her still-short hair, right down to satin dancing shoes encrusted with crystals. Previously, she’d pictured herself doing something tame and well thought out—a tasteful dress that could be worn again, a quiet transaction at city hall.

  But being in love with this much passion and joy had given wings to her heart—and to her imagination. She’d wanted it all, the gown that could barely fit through the doorway, the candlelight ceremony, the party complete with a live band called Inner Child, friends and family from near and far. There would be a surprise appearance by Jezebel herself. And most of all, the bridegroom who had changed her life.

  She joined her mother at the window. “The rain’s not letting up.”

  “Rain on a wedding day is good luck, or so I hear.”

  “That’s a nice thought.” Her heart sped up as she saw guests arriving up the walkway to the rustic pavilion below. Umbrellas popped open like flowers in the rain. With a thrill, she saw all the people who had come to see her and Zach—Kim and Bo Crutcher, who had given them such good advice. Olivia and Connor Davis, now eager to move forward with plans to create a summer program at Camp Kioga for city kids. And Jezebel herself, dressed in a simple but fabulous dress of royal blue, more diva than hip-hop star.

  “There’s my father,” she said, pressing so close that her breath fogged the window, and her pulse kicked up another notch. With his trademark military bearing, Laurence Jeffries strode toward the pavilion. Instead of carrying an umbrella, he wore a dress blue overcoat and an officer’s bullion visor hat. An aide accompanied him a few steps behind. People nearby noticed, and Sonnet could see the buzz of excitement ripple through the crowd. “Okay, I have to admit it’s pretty cool, having a United States senator come to my wedding.”

  Despite Delvecchio’s attempt—aided by Orlando—to taint Laurence’s reputation, her father had won the election by a healthy margin. The voters had cast their ballots in support of her father’s leadership skills, his vision and ideas rather than focusing on his past. Orlando, who had expected to ride Laurence’s coattails to the nation’s capital, had been fired. Sonnet and her father had settled into a cordial but somewhat distant relationship.

  “He is one good-looking senator,” her mom said. “Reminds me of Denzel Washington. How did he take it when you said I’d be walking you down the aisle, not him?”

  “He was okay. I think he gets it.” There had been a time when Sonnet would have felt obligated to include him in the traditional role of giving away the bride; she used to be afraid to flout her powerful father. Now it was easy to be in her own skin. Her father was a brilliant man, but he wasn’t wise. Her mother had be
en present for every moment of Sonnet’s life, and it was only appropriate that she be the one to do the honors.

  “I’m happy for you that he came,” her mother said.

  “Zach’s dad is coming, too,” Sonnet reminded her. “I hope it won’t be too weird for him.” Since his release from prison, Matthew Alger had been living in the nearby town of Phoenicia. He had a job teaching bookkeeping (of all things) at a small community college and was putting his life back together. Zach went to see him once a week for a game of cribbage.

  Lightning seared the sky, and the arriving guests hurried faster up the main walk. “I wonder if that’s considered good luck, too,” Sonnet mused.

  “It’s lucky you didn’t insist on being outdoors,” Nina said. “I have no problem with an indoor wedding on a day like today.”

  “Me neither.”

  “The pavilion downstairs looks incredible. Have you seen it?”

  “Olivia didn’t let me look. She wants me to be surprised.” Knowing Olivia, who had exquisite taste, Sonnet felt confident it would be fantastic. Her only input had been to choose her two favorite colors—the bright orange of Cheetos and the cool blue of window cleaner. Having filmed more weddings than he could count, Zach had only two requests—great food and a great party. Sonnet was pretty sure they could deliver on that.

  “Good idea,” Nina said. “I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you see it. Your smile is my sunshine, remember? Come here, you.” Nina opened her arms and Sonnet gratefully slipped into her mother’s embrace.

  “This feels nice. I’m glad I came back.” Sonnet turned her face to the warm breeze blowing in through the window. “I hated the reason I came back—you getting sick—but I’m happy about what happened while I was here.”