Cricket Cove

by Haddix, T. L.

  “Part of the uniform.” He straightened the tie and tucked it in, then pinned it. The pin was slightly off center, and Amelia stood.

  “Here.” Without thinking, she repinned the tie and smoothed it down. When he sucked in a breath, she realized what she’d done and stepped back awkwardly, her cheeks flushing.

  “You’re good here. I’ll head downstairs.” She backed away a few steps, then turned to make her escape.

  “Amelia?”

  She stopped in the door as he came a few steps closer. “Yes?”

  “I, uh… I never got to say thanks in person.”

  “What for?”

  He shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “For everything you did for Archer. The reading, the writing, being there for him when I couldn’t be—all of it.”

  For a minute, she couldn’t speak and had to look away. Her emotions were already running high because of the wedding. His sincere gratitude just about pushed her over the edge.

  “Your brother is one of the best men I know. It was my privilege to help him. And really, he just needed a good push.” She reached up to brush her hair back before remembering it was pinned up, using the time to consider her words. As much as she didn’t like Logan, she knew Archer cared for him deeply, so she spoke candidly. “He wasn’t ready before. I know you blame yourself for a lot of the things that happened in his life, but he doesn’t. He never did. And he’s the first to admit that even if you’d done everything in your power to help him learn to read, it wouldn’t have done a bit of good. He had to come to that himself. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not the only one with obstinate siblings.”

  For the first time since she’d met him, her words made Logan smile. The sight was almost too much for her to bear. He was ridiculously handsome when he was scowling. When he smiled? The world lit up. Her heart fluttered in her chest, and the butterflies damned near lifted her off the ground. She tamped them down ruthlessly by thinking about the day in the barn.

  “No, that hadn’t escaped my notice. I’d say he’s pretty evenly matched with Emma.”

  Amelia nodded. “They’re going to be fun to watch for the next fifty years or so, that’s for sure. I’ll see you soon.”

  Before she forgot what he’d said, how he’d said it, she fled.

  Downstairs, getting Emma dressed turned into a sentimental and humorous experience. Sarah, Gilly, and Sarah’s mother, Eliza, took turns fluttering around the bride, offering advice. Nonny’s left them all in soggy laughter.

  “People will ask you if you looked at Archer and decided you wanted to wake up with him every day for the rest of your life,” the recently remarried woman said as she lightly touched the flowers in Emma’s hair. “Which is all well and good. A man should be a pleasant companion across the pillow. But the true test is if you look at him and know you want to be there to take care of him when he’s old, and have him take care of you when you’re old. If he’s ninety-eight and toothless, is he still going to make you smile?”

  As Eliza was approaching eighty and her husband Eli was in his eighties, the image of them lying side by side in bed popped into Amelia’s head. She couldn’t help it; she laughed. Her humor was infectious, and soon they were all snickering.

  “I think we’ll be chasing each other around the nursing home, yes,” Emma conceded. “At least I hope we will. That or harassing our children and grandchildren.”

  Then it was Rachel’s turn to tease her. “Now, are you nervous about the wedding night? Did Mom explain to you what goes on between a man and a woman? I mean, given that you and Archer decided to wait and all… you might need some pointers.”

  “I think I got all the pointers I needed last weekend at the shower, thank you very much,” Emma responded. Her cheeks flushed softly, and she was radiant as she smiled at Rachel. “But if you could help facilitate our early departure from the reception, I’ll owe you one. A big one.”

  Amelia whistled and fanned herself. “Poor Archer won’t be able to get out of bed for a week.”

  Emma’s grin was unrepentant. “That’s the plan.” Her amusement faded. “I’m glad we waited. The man knew I needed to wait, and as much as I’ve been frustrated by that, he was right. It just means so much more. I know we aren’t just about sex, and I can’t tell you how that feels.”

  Amelia hated the jealousy that zinged through her. It wasn’t that she wanted Archer, but she’d have given her eye teeth to have someone to belong to like her sister did.

  Owen tapped on the door then, calling through it. “Ladies, it’s getting near to time. How are we doing?”

  Sarah opened the door. “See for yourself.”

  The look on her father’s face was priceless, and Amelia was pleased to see that Sam, Emma’s photography assistant, was capturing the moment on film.

  “I think we should all go on upstairs,” Eliza suggested. “Let your mom and dad have a few minutes with the bride.”

  “That sounds like a good idea,” Gilly seconded. “See you upstairs.”

  As they waited in the foyer, the low murmur of voices coming from the other side of the closed double doors that led into the chapel itself told Amelia there was a full house. She made one last check of all the bridesmaids’ dresses and flowers.

  “I need to go check on the guys. I’ll be back.”

  She ducked through the doors and made her way alongside the pews, smiling and nodding at several people but not stopping along the way. This time the door to the antechamber was open, and Ben was standing in the doorway, looking tense. He came to meet her.

  “Please tell me we’re close,” he said quietly. “Archer’s a mess.”

  Amelia frowned. “Why?”

  “He’s afraid he’s dreaming all this.”

  The thought of it broke her heart, and she had to look up, blinking rapidly, to keep her tears at bay. “Poor guy. And yes, we’re almost ready.”

  Archer himself stepped into the doorway then, his face pale. “Pip?”

  “Mom and Daddy are having a private word with her, and then we’ll be ready. Look at you. You clean up pretty nice, you know,” she teased softly.

  He blew out a rough breath and raked a shaky hand through his hair, disheveling it. “I’m a little nervous.”

  Stepping up to him, she picked a tiny piece of lint from his lapel, then touched the flower pinned to his jacket. “I noticed. Emma isn’t. She’s as calm as she can be. You won’t believe how beautiful she is, Archer. And so damned happy. Good lord, I’m going to cry if I think about it. Thank God for waterproof mascara.” She laughed and blotted her eyes. “But in just a few minutes, she’s going to come through that door and all the last five years are going to come together just the way they were meant to. This isn’t a dream. It’s really happening. I’ll stick you with a pin if you want me to, so you believe me.”

  Archer gave a quick laugh and gently folded her into a hug. “Thank you,” he whispered. “I don’t know how I’ll ever pay you back for what you’ve done.”

  John cleared his throat. “Um, Archer? If you make her cry, that’s going to delay the wedding. Because then she’ll have to fix her makeup, and when the rest of the women see her crying, they’ll start.”

  “Ignore him. He’s just afraid he’ll start crying if Pip does,” Ben teased. “Remember how teary he got when he and Zanny renewed their vows?”

  Everyone laughed as Archer looked at her sternly, then to John. “No tears. None of you. Not until Emma’s mine, and then you can cry all you want.”

  Amelia shook her head, smiling up at him the whole time. She was pleased to see that he looked a little less nervous and had more color than he had a few minutes ago. “I’ll go see how we’re doing. Benny, come up with me?”

  “Sure. Did I mention how pretty you look today, Pip?” he asked as they walked.

&
nbsp; “No, but thank you.”

  “It’s true. You look good in purple. Sets off your coloring. You’ve gone and grown up on me. When are you going to let us find you a soul mate?”

  She laughed, the sound causing several heads to turn in their direction and smiles to spread across the church.

  “Benny, you’re full of flattery.”

  He stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm. “It isn’t flattery if it’s the truth. You look lovely. I get the feeling you don’t quite believe that, though. Should I be worried?”

  “Today isn’t about me.” She was saved from having to respond further by Owen, who poked his head through the door. “Are you ready?”

  “Just about. Sydney had to excuse herself, and then we will be.”

  Knowing Ben was as likely to tear up as anyone when he saw Emma, Amelia stopped him at the door. “Head on back and let Uncle Eli know we’re five minutes out. Wait two, then you all come on out.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The ceremony went smoothly from there. John’s sons made adorable ring bearers and set the tone for Sydney, who performed her duties as flower girl perfectly, not once deviating from what they’d practiced until she got to the altar, where she went straight to Archer for a long, tight hug.

  As much as Ben had teased John, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house by the time the vows were exchanged. Amelia was even sure she saw Logan wiping at his eyes a time or two. She’d been paired up with Ben in the receiving line, and as they followed Emma, Archer, and Sydney back down the aisle, Ben squeezed the hand she’d laid on his arm.

  “You did good today, Pip. She won’t forget this day.”

  Amelia was torn between smiling and crying, the perverse flip side of being ecstatically happy. “Thank you. I just wanted her to feel like a princess today, to know how special she is.”

  He had to swallow before he could speak. “Then I think you more than met your goal.”

  Looking around the church, which was decorated with lanterns and flowers and soft lights, she hoped he was right.

  For so many years Emma hadn’t felt like she deserved to be wooed, to be treated like a princess. She’d had Sydney out of wedlock, something that was becoming not uncommon in larger cities but was still out of the ordinary in Hazard, Kentucky, with all the usual stigmas attached. For the last five years, she’d worked hard to build her business and provide a solid home for her daughter.

  Amelia knew that while Emma would have been an excellent mother and successful businesswoman no matter what, part of the reason she worked so hard was as a form of penance for what she perceived as a serious error in judgment. She’d felt like she had let Owen and Sarah down, even though they’d never once felt that way. So when Archer and Emma became engaged, Amelia had pushed hard for this wedding. She had no doubts about Archer’s ability to renew Emma’s faith in herself, but she wanted her sister to have the memory of this wedding as a starting place to look back on. She knew Emma needed to feel like the beautiful woman she was, inside and out, and Amelia would have moved heaven and earth to make it happen.

  It was the very least she could do for her sister and the man who’d pulled her out of the abyss a few years earlier. The very least. Archer had said he didn’t know how to repay her. For Amelia, it was the other way around. She was the one who owed them. Amelia might never get her own happily ever after but she would be satisfied to see Emma and Archer get theirs.

  Chapter Six

  Several hours later, Logan was standing on the sidelines in the decorated basement of the church, watching his brother and Emma make their rounds as husband and wife. From what he understood, this ceremony had been a far cry from Archer’s first wedding, which Logan had not been present for. That wedding had taken place in the office of a justice of the peace in Virginia, which didn’t have the same three-day waiting period the state of Kentucky had.

  No, Archer’s nuptials with Emma were the perfect representation of what a wedding ceremony should be. Owen’s uncle, Eli Wells, had come up from London, Kentucky, to perform the ceremony. Apparently, he’d married Owen and Sarah more than thirty years earlier and had officiated at both of John and Zanny’s weddings. Ben explained the complicated history.

  “They had some tough times a few years back. They separated, and after they reconciled, they decided to renew their vows. Did it up all fancy the second time, though not as fancy as this. Pip outdid herself.”

  Logan agreed. If he hadn’t known they were in the basement of a country church, he would have thought they were in a fancy hotel’s ballroom.

  “So what about you? Did Eli marry you and Ainsley? Congratulations about the baby, by the way.”

  Ben grinned. “Thanks. And no. We eloped. Flew to Vegas and surprised everyone.”

  “You just think we were surprised,” Emma said as she and Archer walked up, and she hugged her brother. “We really weren’t.”

  Ben left his arm around her shoulders. “Have I mentioned that you make a beautiful bride?”

  She preened a little, but Logan saw that her eyes were damp. “No, you haven’t. But please feel free to elaborate.”

  “You’re stunning, glowing from the inside. And I’m so happy for both of you. I’ve always liked this guy, you know.” He gestured to Archer with his chin.

  “I have, too.” She leaned against Ben, as tall as he was in her high heels. “I feel like a fairy-tale princess today. We’re going to have to do something very special for Pip after this. I can’t believe how beautiful it is. I know I said I didn’t need this kind of wedding, but I’m so glad to have had it.”

  “The kid was saying earlier that her goal was to make you feel like a princess,” he told Emma.

  “Well, she more than succeeded.”

  Archer rested his hand on Logan’s shoulder as he looked around. “Maybe we can find her someone. I’d like to see her happy.”

  Ben laughed, though there was no malice in the sound. “What, are you turning into a Cupid now, too?”

  “Hey, what can I say? I’m happy, so I want to see her happy. And I want to see this lug happy as well.” He nudged Logan and addressed Emma. “Who do you think we should target first, Amelia or him?”

  Emma pursed her lips, and the look she gave Logan sent a wave of uneasiness through him. He answered before she could.

  “Not me. Oh, no. I’m not ever getting married. You just keep all the hearts and arrows aimed at someone else.”

  She winked at him and patted his arm. “You’re so cute. ‘Never getting married.’ Isn’t that cute, Benny?”

  Ben shook his head slowly, though he was grinning. “You’ve done it now. She’s going to take that as a challenge. How long do you give him, Archer?”

  Archer, the traitor, was laughing. “Six months. Maybe eight. He’s pretty stubborn.” He held his hand out to Emma. “Let’s go find our daughter, and then it’s about time to blow this joint. See you, jokers.”

  Logan and Ben watched them go.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen my sister so happy. I’m glad they finally figured it out.”

  Logan had just been thinking the same thing about Archer. “So am I.” A petite figure clad in purple silk caught his eye. Amelia was dancing, laughing up at her partner. “Who’s your sister dancing with?”

  “Which sister? Pip?” At Logan’s nod, Ben answered. “That’s Jonah Morissey. He’s from Lexington and is one of our close friends. He lives on the farm just down the road from Ainsley and me.”

  “The doctor?” Logan grunted. “He’s a bit old for her, don’t you think?”

  Ben rubbed a hand across his mouth as though suppressing a smile. “Jonah? And Pip? Huh. I hadn’t thought of that before. As to his age?” He shrugged. “He’s a good guy. She could do worse.”

  There wasn’t much more Logan could say
without sounding like a jealous ass. He wasn’t jealous, he told himself. He was just… concerned. Yes, that was it.

  “So how do you like Hazard so far?” Ben asked.

  “Pretty good. I’ve not had a lot of time to look around, what with orientation for work, but I like what I see so far.”

  When Ben almost choked, Logan eyeballed him. “You okay?”

  “Fine, just swallowed wrong. So you’ll be what, teaching drafting or something?”

  “CAD, actually. Some drafting, but mostly I’ll be helping introduce the computer-aided aspect of it. The software is really coming along, and within five or ten years, the old board-drawn style will be out the door for most practical applications.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty excited about where it’s going,” Ben admitted, “though I like the feel of sitting down with pencils and vellum and sketching out ideas.”

  “That’s right—you’re a landscape architect. I’d forgotten that.”

  Ben nodded. “Newly minted. I think I’m going to strike out on my own once I finish the apprenticeship I’m in now. I’d like to do garden restorations, and with the baby on the way, I want to be able to stick pretty close to home. There are a lot of historic gardens out there that need help.”

  They talked about the business for a while longer until Ainsley came up to steal Ben away for a dance. Logan decided to get some air. When he stepped outside, he had to go halfway around the church to find a quiet spot. A soft female sigh alerted him to Amelia’s presence. He looked around and saw her sitting on a low bench, a heavy shawl of some sort wrapped around her shoulders.

  “Please don’t tell me they need me back in there yet,” she said. “I’d just like to rest my feet for a few minutes.”