by Metsy Hingle
She was beautiful, he thought as she stepped up to the end of the white runner. He’d heard the old wives’ tale about women who were pregnant having a glow about them. He’d never put much stock in it, never had reason to before now, he guessed. But Lily was living proof that it was true. She glowed. She’d put her hair up in some kind of twist thing, but little pieces had slipped free and fell around her face. The effect of the deep red strands against that creamy skin was striking. And just as he had done when he’d seen her for the first time at the ball five months ago, he was unable to take his eyes off her. There was something about her, something beyond her beauty and the physical chemistry that drew him to her, just as it had drawn him to her that long-ago night.
He could see the stress swirling in those ghost-blue eyes of hers as she started down the aisle. He didn’t miss the slight tremor in the hands that were holding the bouquet either. When she finally reached him, she looked as though she still might turn and run. So he reached out and caught her hand. Judging by the Reverend Lawrence’s frown, he’d just committed some kind of sin. Evidently touching the bride at this point in the ceremony was a big no-no.
Too bad, Jack thought. Rules or no rules, if holding her hand made any of this easier for Lily, then that’s what he intended to do.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony,” the minister began.
Jack could feel three dozen pairs of eyes on his back, watching him, watching her, watching them. He’d shocked his friends and business associates when he’d announced that he was marrying Lily…and that he was going to be a father. He’d known they had had some reservations, but they also knew that when he made up his mind about something, there was no changing it. So they’d wisely kept most of their reservations to themselves. Fortunately, his family had rallied behind him with their support.
“If there be anyone here who knows why these two people should not be joined in wedlock, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”
Lily tensed beside him and he half expected her to object. Wouldn’t that be a first? he thought, amused at the image of the bride objecting to her own wedding. Talk about a scandal on top of a scandal. He could just see the headlines in Bunny Baldwin’sSocial Diary . Jack Cartwright’s Bride Bolts from Shotgun Wedding. Poor Bunny, the lady must be giving them hell in heaven because she was missing some of the juiciest gossip to hit Eastwick in years.
His thoughts wandering, Jack felt Lily squeezing his hand. Shaking off his musings, he looked down at her, noted the anxious look in her eyes, the twin spots of color on her cheeks. He knew she was trying to tell him something. But what? That she was scared? That she had changed her mind?
“Jack. Jack.” The minister repeated his name.
Jack jerked his gaze over to Reverend Lawrence and realized then that he’d missed something.
“Do you, John Ryan Cartwright, take Lily Miller to be your lawfully wedded wife, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health? Do you promise to love her and honor her, forsaking all others until you are parted by death?”
“I do,” Jack said firmly.
“Then repeat after me. I, John Ryan Cartwright, do take thee, Lily Miller, to be my wedded wife.”
“I, John Ryan Cartwright, do take thee, Lily Miller, to be my wedded wife…”
“For richer, for poorer. In sickness and in health,” the minister continued.
“For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health,” Jack repeated.
“I promise to love you and honor you, forsaking all others, until we are parted by death.”
Repeating the vow, he never took his eyes from Lily’s face as he said, “I promise to love you and honor you, forsaking all others, until we are parted by death.”
After Lily repeated the vows to him, the reverend asked for the rings. Jack took the ring from Scott and turned back to face Lily.
“Repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed.”
“With this ring, I thee wed,” Jack said and he slid the platinum band onto Lily’s finger as he pledged himself to her.
The minister turned to Lily, who took the ring from his sister, then, sliding the ring onto Jack’s finger, she said, “With this ring, I thee wed.”
Moments later, Reverend Lawrence said, “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Jack kissed her. He’d meant for the kiss to be brief, a simple brush of his lips against hers. It was tradition. It was expected and he didn’t want to add to Lily’s stress by keeping her on display any longer than necessary. But when his mouth touched hers, he lingered. Only for a moment, but long enough for the taste of her to fill his head, long enough for his pulse to begin beating like a jackhammer, long enough for him to remember why they’d found themselves standing before a minister exchanging vows in the first place.
And judging by the look in Lily’s eyes, she was remembering, too.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Reverend Lawrence said. “May I present to you Mr. and Mrs. John Ryan Cartwright.”
It was done, Jack told himself as he and Lily turned to face the applauding guests. He and Lily were now man and wife. The pianist hit the keys again, and as the joyful tune rang out, he placed Lily’s hand on his arm and led her down the aisle.
An hour later, Jack decided he’d had enough. From the look on Lily’s face, she had, too. “Excuse me,” he told his longtime friend and fellow attorney Dan Granger. “I’d better go rescue Lily before my mother ropes her into joining her bridge club.”
“Sure, go ahead,” Dan told him. “But, Jack, I hope you won’t be too quick to rule out the senate race. With Carlton’s group behind you, you’d have a good shot at claiming that seat. And we could certainly use someone like you on Capitol Hill.”
“I appreciate that, Dan. But right now, my focus is on my new wife and our family,” he explained. While he hadn’t ruled out a run for office, after speaking with his father, he wasn’t sure he wanted to put Lily through the ordeal. He had absolutely no qualms or reservations about Lily’s unplanned pregnancy and their marriage. Nor did he feel anything but pride for where she came from and what she had made of herself. He knew from her comments that her lack of family and knowledge about her heritage bothered her.
“I understand. I shouldn’t have even bothered you about this on your wedding day. We’ll talk about it in a week or two. And congratulations again on your marriage.”
“Thanks,” Jack said, and, after shaking Dan’s hand, he headed across the patio to where Lily was standing with his mother and two women he recognized as part of her bridge group.
“Jack, darling,” his mother said and beamed as he joined them. “You remember Louise and Pamela from my bridge group, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course. Good afternoon, ladies,” he said with a bow of his head.
“I was just telling your mother what a beautiful bride you have,” the ash-blond Pamela told him.
“Thank you. I happen to think she’s beautiful, too,” Jack said and he stared directly at Lily. He didn’t miss the rush of color to her cheeks. “If you ladies don’t mind, I’m going to steal my wife away for a few minutes.”
He reached for Lily’s hand and as he was hustling her away, he spied his great-aunt Olivia Cartwright heading toward them. “Aunt Olivia at two o’clock. Come on,” he said and led her out to the center of the floor.
“Jack, what are you doing?” she asked as he took her in his arms and spun her around the stone patio floor in time to the music.
“Dancing with my wife.”
“But why?”
“Because my great-aunt Olivia considers herself the authority on everything from business to marriage to giving birth. Trust me, you don’t want her to start offering us advice.”
“Oh,” she said. “Did you say she was your great-aunt?”
“Yes. My grandmother’s older sister.” Grateful that the band was playing a slow tune, he held Lily clos
e. It reminded him of the night at the ball when he’d held her in his arms for the first time. Just as on that night she felt soft and silky and as elusive as moonlight. He breathed in her scent, the hint of roses and sunshine and some mysterious scent that was hers alone. She fitted him perfectly and he was keenly aware of the weight of her breasts against his chest, the way her dress swished against his pant legs as they moved their feet in harmony. He was also aware of the roundness of her abdomen pressing against him.
“You have a lot of relatives,” she said, her breath whispering against his ear and causing that rapid beat in his pulse again. “What’s it like being a part of a big family?”
“Annoying,” he told her and tried to shake off his sexual feelings. The last thing Lily needed right now was for him to start making marital demands on her. Besides the fact that she was pregnant, she had had her entire life turned upside down. Now that she was a Cartwright her life would never be the same again. Right or wrong, the nameCartwright meant money and power. And while giving his name to her and their child would provide security and protection, it would also subject her to the curiosity, rumors and often the envy of others. Some of it had already started. He’d had a flurry of calls from friends, business acquaintances, members of the country club and even former girlfriends when the news had broken of his impending marriage. He didn’t doubt that the gossip mill was working overtime with the scandal of Lily’s pregnancy and their marriage. Of course, without Bunny Baldwin and herSocial Diary to feed the frenzy, it might lose steam quickly. At least he hoped it would. Until then, he intended to shield Lily from it as much as he could.
Easing back, she looked at him. “I’d have thought it would be wonderful to have so many people related to you. You’d never be alone. There would always be someone to share the holidays with, to spend special moments with.”
He knew that Lily had spent most of her holidays alone, the outsider watching foster families celebrating. There was a part of him that ached for the lonely girl she must have been. He couldn’t go back and wipe away those unhappy memories, but he promised himself that he would make happy memories for her in the future. “I guess it is pretty nice most of the time—except at times like today when those well-meaning family members, like my mother, insist on getting in your business and hosting receptions like this one so that she can show us off.”
“It’s not that bad,” she told him.
“Shh. Don’t let her hear you say that or she’ll never let us out of here.” Lily smiled and it was the first real smile he’d seen from her all afternoon. Drawing her close, he moved her into a slow spin.
“We’re being watched,” she told him.
“Ignore them,” he said, not wanting to allow anyone to intrude upon the moment. It was the first time she’d come close to relaxing with him since they’d agreed to get married.
“That might be kind of hard to do. Your aunt Olivia is waving a napkin at us. I think she wants us to come over to her.”
“She’sour aunt Olivia now,” he informed her. He had indeed seen Aunt Olivia motioning them over. She’d been hard to miss since she was the only eighty-five-year-old woman with Lucille Ball red hair holding a glass of bourbon in one hand and a cane in the other. “You do realize that now that you’re a Cartwright, all these annoyingly wonderful relatives are yours now, too—including Aunt Olivia.”
“Um, Jack. I thinkour aunt Olivia is getting impatient.”
Jack glanced over to where his great-aunt had just slapped her glass down on a table and was insisting the young waiter help her to her feet. “We’d better go see what she wants.”
What she wanted was to give them both a lecture on what was necessary to make a marriage work. Since Aunt Olivia’s own marriage had spanned sixty years until the death of Uncle Charlie, she considered herself an authority on the subject. She’d lectured them on the importance of being good to one another, of respecting one another and of sharing the responsibility for raising the kids. She’d told them not to make the mistake of taking each other for granted. She also told them that they needed to make time for one another and to listen to what the other one had to say.
“You young people are big on the termcommunication. Well, communication is one of the keys to a good marriage. And that communication needs to start in the bedroom,” Aunt Olivia told them. She pointed her cane at him. “You keep your wife happy in the bedroom and the rest will take care of itself.”
Lily turned beet-red.
Jack coughed. “Thanks, Aunt Olivia, but I don’t think—”
“And you,” she said, turning her focus on Lily. “You need to remember that men are like little boys. Every one of them wants to be a super hero between the sheets. If you spend all of your time and energy on the children or the house, you’ll be too tired to let them do their super-hero act. Their fragile egos can’t handle it. So you make sure you save some of yourself for your man,” she continued. “Even if it means ordering takeout food or hiring a sitter for the kids, do it. Because when you close that bedroom door, you need to be a woman first. Understand?”
“Um, yes, ma’am,” Lily said, but Jack noted she averted her eyes.
“There’s no need for either of you to be embarrassed. From where I stand, it looks to me like you’re not having any troubles in the bedroom now. All I’m saying is make sure you keep it that way. Good sex is one of the most important things in a marriage. Why do you think Uncle Charlie and I made it for more than sixty years? It’s because we had a good sex life up until the day he died.”
Which was a lot more than he wanted to know. “Thanks, Aunt Olivia. We appreciate the advice.”
“Yes, thank you,” Lily said.
“Just doing my duty,” Aunt Olivia told them.
And before she started doling out any more advice on sex, Jack said, “You’ll need to excuse us, Aunt Olivia. It looks like Mother needs us to cut the cake.” Taking Lily by the arm, he hustled her across the room. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to get out of this place. What do you say we cut the cake and then head for home?”
“It sounds good to me.”
Lily squirmed in the seat of Jack’s car. Ever since she’d hit the fourth month of her pregnancy, trips to the restroom were like clockwork. They came at two-hour intervals without fail. She’d gotten used to it for the most part and simply made sure she was in close proximity to a bathroom when the urge hit. But she had been so anxious to leave the reception that she hadn’t paid attention to her inner clock or visited the restroom before leaving. As a result, she was well past schedule for a bathroom break and there didn’t seem to be a service station anywhere in sight. She shifted in her seat again and wondered what Jack’s reaction would be to his new bride ruining the leather upholstery in his shiny Mercedes. She didn’t want to find out. “Is it much farther?” she asked him.
“About five minutes,” he told her.
Lily bit off a groan and squirmed in her seat.
He glanced across the seat at her. “Is everything okay?” he asked, a worried note in his voice. “Is it the baby?”
“No, everything is not okay, and yes, it’s the baby,” she confessed and would have laughed at his panicked expression, but knew that even a chuckle right now would result in wet leather seats. “Our little angel is pushing on my bladder and I really, really need a bathroom. So could you please hurry?”
Jack hurried and ten minutes later when she left the bathroom, she felt almost normal again. Or as normal as she could under the circumstances. She had made such a mad dash for the bathroom when they’d arrived that she had scarcely noticed the two-story Colonial and just how lovely it was. After seeing his parents’ home, she had worried that Jack, too, lived in a sprawling mansion, and she had wondered how she would feel living in such a big place. But she needn’t have worried, because while Jack’s house was certainly enormous compared to her efficiency apartment, she didn’t find it intimidating.
“I appreciate the offer, Mother…”