A Rainbow in Paradise

by Susan Aylworth

  What a sweet thought, Eden pondered, though I suspect it's really just an excuse to see which of them will try to embarrass the other more in public. She shook her head, wondering when she'd become so cynical.

  Chris delicately cut a small piece of wedding-frosted carrot cake, and navigated it with precision, carefully avoiding mussing Sarah's makeup. Sarah responded with equal care through most of Chris's bite, and then stuffed the last bit into his mouth while their well-wishers applauded. The "Anniversary Waltz" began as both bride and groom attempted to swallow their bites or cake.

  "Let's invite the bridal couple to start the first dance," the d.j. announced.

  Eden applauded with the rest of the crowd as Chris led Sarah to the middle of the front lawn. He took his bride in his arms, and then said, "Just a minute, sweetheart," and stepped up to the d.j.'s podium. The wedding guests waited in suspense while Chris took the microphone. "We'll be happy to start this dance," he announced with a gleam, "but we'd like our maid of honor and best man to join us, please. Eden and Logan, come on up. Mom and Wiley, will you come up, too?"

  Everyone applauded again and Eden cheered right along with them until she realized the crowd was opening around her, making an aisle between her and Logan Redhorse. That's when it hit her who the maid of honor and best man were, and what Chris had just asked them to do. Feeling more than a little like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights, Eden watched the same realization cross Logan's face. Then she waited, stock-still, while he crossed the lawn toward her.

  Dance with her, Logan thought as he moved across the grassy lawn, oblivious to the cheers of the watching crowd. Touch her, hold her. At least it will be a chance to find out if she's really just a flesh-and-blood woman and not some sort of apparition. He stopped in front of her and held out his hand. "Dance?" he asked, barely able to choke out that much.

  The woman seemed to be having trouble with words as well. Instead of speaking, she nodded her head and put her hand in his.

  Warm! So warm! The energy that surged between them reminded Logan of the time he'd once grabbed an electric fence and taken the shock in his hands, only this time, instead of dropping the live wire, he longed to hold it closer.

  She feels it, too! He heard her sharp intake of breath as she looked down at their clasped hands, her eyes wide with wonder, and then into his face again. Unable to answer the unspoken question in her eyes, he gestured toward the lawn where Chris and Sarah already danced and their parents waited to join them. Eden nodded and Logan led the way.

  Then somehow she was in his arms and they were moving to the music. I'm holding paradise, he thought as he steered her into an awkward waltz, wishing for the first time that he'd bothered to learn the old European ways of dancing. She may be belagaana, but I'm holding paradise in my arms and I never want to let her go.

  * * * * *

  "Lovely wedding, wasn't it?"

  The words hadn't registered with Eden until she realized someone was directing them toward her. She looked up from where she was organizing wedding cake leftovers onto a tray and spotted Alexa McAllister, who had been folding chairs last time she looked. Eden smiled vacantly, trying to focus on Alexa's words. "I'm sorry, Alexa. What did you say?"

  "I said it was a lovely wedding," Chris's sister-in-law repeated, a glimmer of amusement lighting her blond good looks.

  "Yes, lovely," Eden answered.

  It had been only a few minutes since the bride and groom had left together in Chris's road-worn pickup truck, tin cans rattling behind them, paper streamers dangling from most available surfaces. Eden had heard some of the relatives volunteering to help clean up and had offered a "me, too," starting at the table with the cake. Now, as she watched, Alexa began helping her, organizing pretty pieces of cake onto the tray. "Reverend Phelps does a nice ceremony, doesn't he?"

  I'd like to have him do mine and Logan's, Eden thought, and then shuddered at the very idea. What's the matter with me today? "Yes," she said absently. "He does do a nice service."

  Alexa worked quietly for a moment, carefully filling the tray with cake slices, and then said, "When we've finished cleaning up here, a bunch of us are going into Holbrook for the Fourth of July picnic at the park. It'll be Jim and Meg and their little girl, Kurt and me, Logan, maybe a few of the other guests. We're hoping you'd like to join us."

  Logan! Eden had barely heard the other names. "Yes, I think that would be fun," she said, trying to keep her voice calm.

  "Good," Alexa answered. "We'll count on it, then." Moments later, the cake forgotten, she excused herself to return to the job of folding chairs.

  * * * * *

  Eden looked at her watch. Almost five o'clock, and we've still hardly spoken to each other. She and Logan had spent the entire day near each other, seldom farther than a couple of yards apart. The almost-electric power that surged between them whenever he came near had been pulsing like mad throughout the day, at levels high enough to exhaust her waning energy, yet they'd scarcely exchanged a dozen words. It seemed as if... as if they were both too overwhelmed to speak. At least, she knew she was.

  I never imagined anything like this, she mused to herself, watching from the corner of her eye as Logan took aim at the beanbag toss, organized to benefit a local church day care. The smooth stretch of well-worked muscles beneath the crisp cotton of his white dress shirt reminded her that this was a man of confidence and power, a man she'd be wise to take seriously. I've never imagined anyone like him, she amended, her eyes alight.

  The game ended with Logan winning a large stuffed animal and donating it back to the day care, and then the other men went to join their wives and Logan turned toward her. The determined look on his face told Eden that Logan, too, had been thinking about their day together. "Eden, can we talk for a minute?"

  I wonder. Do you think we can? "Sure," she said, nodding.

  He took her elbow and led her aside, away from the tables where the McAllisters were preparing to eat their barbecue supper.

  "Hey, you two! Where're you going?" Meg called.

  "We'll be back," Logan answered over his shoulder.

  "Give 'em a little privacy," Jim encouraged, while Chris's brothers and their wives chuckled in quiet assent.

  "Just get back in time for the fireworks!" Meg called.

  "Unless they're going to make some of their own," Kurt said, and Alexa shushed him with a muttered, "Kurt!"

  "Ignore them," Logan whispered near Eden's ear. "Let's walk a ways."

  "All right," she answered calmly, silently thinking that she'd walk all the way to Antarctica if Logan kept holding her.

  He did hold her, his arm clasped warmly around her waist, leading the way around the baseball diamond and past the soccer fields until they were on the other side of the park. When they came to a bench, he finally let her go. "Have a seat," he offered, and Eden sat, looking toward him expectantly, wondering what he would have to say.

  "I..." Logan looked as uneasy as she felt. He swallowed, attempted a reassuring smile, then sighed. "I don't know how to say this," he said, looking away.

  Eden's heart fell. Is he going to tell me to get lost? That hardly seems likely. We barely know each other. Unable to think of words to cover their awkward silence, she simply waited.

  "I'd like to see you again," Logan said simply, quickly, almost as if he had to blurt it out in order to get the courage to say it at all. "I don't know what it is I feel when I'm near you, but..." He stopped there, and then said, "Tell me you feel it, too, Eden." His voice was very warm and hopeful.

  "I do," Eden said, vaguely aware of the morning's vows echoing in the air around them. "Oh yeah. I definitely feel it, too."

  He nodded, smiling contentedly. "I'm glad." He paused for a moment, and then he said, "Listen, Eden. I have appointments this evening, things I need to do. I'm not going to be able to stay for the fireworks."

  Disappointment knifed through her. "I'm sorry to hear that."

  He nodded. "So am I. When do you think yo
u'll be coming back this way?"

  "I'm not sure," she said, looking away. "I have a business in Phoenix..."

  "The Old Woman's Shoe," Logan supplied helpfully. "I know. I asked Chris about it."

  She felt her face warming. He had asked about her! "It's hard to get away very often."

  "I understand," he said. "Eden, will you call me when you're coming back to town? Or at least tell Chris and Sarah to call me?"

  She nodded. "Okay, and if you should get to Phoenix..."

  "That doesn't happen often, but if it should..."

  "Here," she said, giving him her business card.

  "Thanks." He put it in his shirt pocket. "Well, let me walk you back to the others."

  Again he led the way as they walked silently through the park.

  "It's been a pleasure meeting you," Eden said when they had reached the picnic area. She felt the inadequacy of the words.

  Logan grinned. It was that heart-stopping smile she had first seen on the porch this morning, the one that had given her such a sense of rightness. "The pleasure has been all mine," he said, then in a gesture Eden had only seen in movies, he stood, lifted both her hands to his lips, and tenderly kissed them. “I hope to see you again soon, Eden Grant," he said, and then turned and strode away, leaving Eden to gaze after him with an audible sigh.

  Whatever had happened between them today, she could only hope it would happen again—the sooner, the better.

  Chapter Two

  Eden pulled up behind the yellow school bus, waiting while it disgorged a half-dozen bedraggled teens in blue jeans, T-shirts, and plaid flannel. When it moved on, she passed ,and then turned on the gravel driveway that led to Rainbow Rock Farms. I'd forgotten how early school starts around here, she thought, or how hot the weather still is the first week or two.

  In the few weeks since her last visit, the daily high temperatures had dropped by only a few degrees, but a shift in the direction of the afternoon breeze hinted at a turn in the weather. Within another month, they'd likely have their first snowfall.

  The coming change of the seasons matched the inexplicable mood that had settled over Eden since her best friend's wedding. Perhaps it was the direction her life had taken lately that was causing her to feel so somber and wistful. She shook her head. More likely it was the directions everyone else's lives were taking around her while her own remained static, unchanged.

  Even her father was moving forward. After eleven years of widowhood, he had finally remarried last winter. It was his decision to relocate to California with his new wife that had brought Eden home.

  She pulled into the dooryard of the McAllister farm, and then walked up the steps. Even the porch had changed since the wedding. Someone, probably Sarah, had hung swinging planters filled with bright red geraniums. Eden raised her hand to knock.

  "So knock already!" Sarah threw open the door,and then threw both arms around her. "Come on in. Oh, Eden, it's great to see you! Did you have a good trip?"

  "Yes, great." She let her gaze roam over the changes in the place. "You've really been busy here, haven't you?"

  "Some. Here, let me show you around."

  For a time, the two visited while Sarah showed Eden through the old family farmhouse, emphasizing changes Chris had made since the home had become his own. Eden admired the way he had opened the parlor into the front room and dining area, and how he had remodeled the "mud porch'' in the back to create a larger, more inviting extension off the kitchen. Sarah next showed her the expanded upstairs bath, and then led her back downstairs to the master bedroom. "He finished this deck just before the wedding," Sarah said, showing off the bedroom's new addition. "He wanted to create a special place just for us."

  Eden looked around at the comfortable, inviting room with its four-poster king bed and love seat. The intimate surroundings reminded her that she was an intruder here. "Look," she said, flashing a glance at her watch, "I know Chris will be coming in for dinner before long, so I think I'll just be going n—"

  "Don't be silly," Sarah cut her off. "I told Chris you were coming and he's looking forward to seeing you. In fact, we're both counting on having you stay for dinner."

  Eden felt her face warm with embarrassment. "I guess..." she began again. "It's just..."

  "I know. You don't have to say anything. You're remembering how it was with Jake."

  An image flashed through Eden's mind—charming rodeo rider Jake McGill with his arm draped around Sarah's shoulders. If he hadn't gotten himself killed... Eden cut off the thought. “He was awfully possessive of your time," she answered lamely.

  "Whenever he bothered to hang around," Sarah finished for her, but her tone changed as she said, "It isn't like that this time, Eden. Chris is wonderful. I never knew being married could be so great!"

  "You're really happy then?" Eden pressed, needing to hear for herself what she hoped Sarah could tell her. She was one of the few who had seen past the facade of Sarah's first marriage to the somber reality beneath. What she saw there was part of what had kept her single these past ten years.

  "I've never been happier," Sarah answered easily, and Eden could see that she meant it. "He's so good to me, Eden. It's not that he babies me. In fact, he pushes me to give my best to whatever I do, and he always wants the best for me. Then he does all kinds of little things to make me happy."

  "Like what?" Eden ventured, and then she blushed as she looked at their surroundings. "Or should I ask?"

  "Like the wildflowers on the dining table," Sarah answered, leading her friend in that direction. "He picked those out near the hayfields this morning and brought them in at lunchtime. Or the wood. It won't be warm enough for a fire for some time yet, but he already has the wood box filled with stove-length pieces and the secondary box with split kindling. And there's more wood stacked outside, ready to go for the winter. He runs the vacuum for me—says it's a man's job—and almost always helps clean up after supper, and—"

  Eden interrupted. "I get the feeling he likes being married."

  Sarah nodded. "Oh, so do I. Here, let's get some lemonade, and then you can tell me more about what brings you to town."

  They sat at the dining table, sipping from frosty glasses while Eden explained the years that had led up to the last few weeks. "I didn't know it," she said after a time, "but Mom's parents had put money down on the house we lived in and she made the monthly mortgage payments out of her paycheck. I guess she always resented that. Anyway, the house was in her name alone and when she died, she left it to Robbie and me, on the condition that Dad could live in it until he had us both raised. When Robbie turned eighteen last spring and graduated from high school, Dad realized he needed to make other plans. He'd just married Leona and she had relatives in southern California who wanted her to go to work for them. As a medical lab tech, Dad can work anywhere, so they picked up and moved to Anaheim, in Orange County."

  "Are things working out for them there?" Sarah asked.

  "As far as I know," Eden answered, her tone lighter than her mood. "And now I'm left with the job of cleaning out the old place, selling or storing or throwing away all the old keepsakes and junk nobody wanted to get rid of before, and putting the house on the market."

  Sarah's eyes lit up. "You plan to stay awhile, then?"

  "I initially planned to stay a week. You know, just clean the place up, get it listed, then skip back to Phoenix and let some real estate agent do the work of showing it and getting the papers signed."

  "But now?" Sarah prompted.

  Eden sighed. "Having seen the place, I realize it's going to take at least two to three weeks to have it in decent shape. That's even if I hire out some of the work. I've got a full-size Dumpster coming tomorrow and I expect I'll fill that in no time, but after that there'll be painting and repairing some tile in the hall bathroom and I don't know what all. Dad really let the place go these last few years."

  Sarah nodded. "I'd noticed some of the changes. But can you get away from work that long?"


  "Realistically, I can get away for as long as I want. I've got good staff at the preschool and I've cross-trained everybody. We recently hired another teacher, expecting to increase our enrollment, but since we don't have the extra kids yet, we actually have more staff than we need. I just hate to be away very long. It's like with any business, in that there are some decisions only the owner should make. Besides..." She shrugged. "I like to think I'm indispensable."

  "Hmm. Don't we all. So how long do you think you'll be around?"

  "Probably close to a month. Maybe more." Eden sipped her drink. "Why? You have something in mind?"

  “I just thought you might like some entertainment while you're in town. Maybe someone tall, dark, and native—"

  "Oh, no you don't!" Eden had forearmed herself against a hard sell. She had promised herself to stay cool and collected, to meet with Logan—assuming he still wanted to see her—and see what would happen, not anticipating anything beyond the moment. "I know how you newlyweds can be. You're like fanatics. Having finally seen the light, you want to push everybody else to do the same."

  Sarah grinned. "Can't blame me for trying. Besides, it's working for other friends of ours. We have another wedding coming up in a couple of weeks."

  "Oh yes? Whose?"

  "Chris's sister-in-law has a brother named Max who came for a visit this summer and started dating someone local. They just announced their plans to marry on the Labor Day weekend. So you see, weddings are going on around here, and you could be next. If you find someone like I did—"

  Eden laughed. "Someone like you did? How many McAllisters are there, anyway? And aren't they all married now?"

  Sarah nodded. "You're right, of course. I got the last of the McAllister men, and in my personal opinion, I got the best of the lot. But that doesn't mean all the good men are gone. I kind of thought maybe you and Logan—"