Chef Charming

by Ellerbe, Lyn

  “I’ll give you five minutes, and then I’m coming to rescue her,” Jake called after him. “Or rescue you,” he laughed.

  Marcus saw Rori standing alone on the deck. She was resting her chin in her hands as she looked out over the lake that was behind the complex. He realized she had not heard him approach so he quietly stole behind her and put his arms around her, resting his hands on the railing. He effectively had her pinned. She jumped slightly.

  “Marcus, you scared me!” She tried to straighten up and turn around, but he seemed to be preventing her from moving.

  “Hello, Princess.” His voice was low and held a mysterious quality that caused her heart to skip. She could feel his breath on her neck. Her hair was loosely caught up in a clip, just like the first night of class. He desperately wanted to reach up and unclip it but knew his self-control would not be strong enough.

  “It has been brought to my attention that you may have misinterpreted my recent actions,” he moved his hands ever so slightly closer together. She desperately wanted to lean back into the warmth that she felt radiating from him, but she was still unsure.

  “Or should I say, my recent inactions,” he continued. He heard her breath catch. She definitely tried to turn around now. “No, stay put, I won’t be able to do this if you’re looking at me.”

  Her shoulders slumped. He realized too late that she misread his meaning. Trying to clear up his statement, he explained.

  “I mean you drive me to distraction when you look at me and I need to make myself very clear right now.” She seemed to recover, slightly.

  “I don’t understand,” she said softly.

  “You know that I’ve tried as much as I can for the last week to keep my hands to myself, true?” Marcus fought to make sense and not scare her. “I had no idea you would take my struggle for self-control as me not wanting to marry you.” He could see the tears falling silently.

  “That could not be further from the truth,” Marcus decided it was all or nothing. “I love you, Aurora Grace. I love your kindness, your humor, your giggle, your playfulness, your silliness, and many, many more things. But more than all those together, I love your depth of knowledge of spiritual things, your desire to follow God’s will, your love for his people and your love for people who are hurting. I love that you can see the beauty of God in every piece of nature. And I am amazed and awed that you love me.”

  He took a deep breath. “It is only by the grace of our Heavenly Father that I have had the discipline to not break the promises I made to Him to stay pure before marriage. You have filled my mind for the last six weeks and now that our wedding night is so close, I am clearly on the brink of insanity.”

  Her sobs were audible now. He could no longer resist and he turned her into his arms.

  “Why are you crying?”

  “I don’t know,” Rori clung to him. “I was so scared you didn’t want me anymore and were just going to marry me and suffer for the rest of our lives. And I couldn’t stop thinking about you and thinking how terrible it would be to have to go on without you or worse being married and not ever being able to tell you how you make my knees weak when you look at me and how I just want to run my fingers through your hair and how I think I could kiss you for hours, and...”

  “Stop!” Marcus pled for mercy. His resolve was in grave danger. Where was Jake?!

  Marcus pulled her close and held her face in both hands. He kissed her gently on the forehead, then each tear-dampened eyelid, her nose, each ear lobe, and finally leaned back. She was clinging to the lapels of his lightweight blazer with both hands, clearly unable to stand on her own.

  “I’m going to kiss you now, one last time before we are married, okay?” Marcus draped her hands around his neck and his knees nearly buckled as she lightly ran her fingers along his jaw line and inside the collar of his shirt. “Rori, you’re playing with fire now. This is serious.”

  “Just making sure this was for real,” she sighed and leaned her head on his chest. “I thought you said you were going to kiss me.”

  “Marcus! Time’s up!” Jake called from the doorway.

  “Go away!” Marcus growled good-naturedly. He called over his shoulder, begging for more time, “I really just finished my explanation and haven’t gotten to the demonstration yet.”

  “You have one minute,” Jake retorted mischievously. “Use it wisely, my son!”

  Marcus did.

  Epilogue

  As her father led her into the sanctuary, Rori caught her first glimpse of Marcus. She gasped.

  “He’s gorgeous!”

  The guests had chosen that precise moment to fall quiet, so her spontaneous reaction was heard by most of the guests. Her father laughed as she blushed. Marcus simply grinned and shook his head in amusement.

  “You, my friend are in for a wild ride,” Jake laughed. Marcus nodded and smiled even broader.

  Rori hesitated, embarrassed at her silly outburst. She saw Marcus raise an eyebrow. He really was unbelievably attractive, she thought. And the kilt was just plain unfair.

  “Rori?” Her father’s voice woke her from her trance. “I think we need to get going or Marcus may come get you.”

  “Okay,” she whispered. “But he really is gorgeous, you know.”

  “I know,” her father’s voice conveyed the humor he saw in the situation. “From the look on his face, I’d say Marcus is thinking the same thing.”

  An hour later, Marcus found a quiet moment and confirmed her father’s observation.

  “You, wife, are spectacularly beautiful,” Marcus said as he fed her a bite of quiche. “I am flattered that you find my looks tolerable, as you chose so eloquently to point out to all our guests.”

  “Don’t laugh at me!” she said. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud. Or at least not loud enough for everyone to hear.”

  “You are adorable,” Marcus said, kissing her gently.

  “Thank you for changing out of the kilt,” Rori said. “It was quite distracting.” Marcus had changed out of the formal Scottish garb into regular trousers. She wasn’t about to tell him that she was only slightly less distracted.

  “Speaking of distracting, thank you for the warning about your hair.” Marcus resisted tugging at the long strands spilling from the clip she now had securely in place.

  Rori blushed as she recalled the pre-wedding hair fiasco. Marcus had hinted on several occasions leading up to the wedding that he preferred her hair pinned up. Of course, he failed to tell Rori the reason behind his request. He knew having her long hair unbound for the wedding would be far too tempting for his fragile self-control.

  Carla and Jessica tried desperately to get her hair to cooperate. Almost in tears, Rori had told them that Marcus didn’t like her hair down and someone needed to warn him that they couldn’t get it to work. Carla dissolved into laughter when she realized Rori’s misinterpretation and laughed harder as Rori’s mom pulled her aside to explain what was really going on. Rori was blushing profusely after the explanation.

  “Oh,” Rori said quietly. “I guess that could be it. Still, someone needs to warn him.” The ladies were able to pull the sides back in long thin braids, but the mass of lovely blond curls still flowed down her back. There was no other choice given the tiara she was using as a headpiece.

  Carla called Jake and tried to explain. She was still laughing but was able to relay the warning. Jake turned to Marcus and donned a solemn look.

  “What?” Marcus’s imagination ran wild. “She didn’t change her mind, did she? She knows I will hunt her down if she does, right?”

  “Slow down!” Jake laughed. “No, but I do have some bad news.” He loved toying with his friend, so he let his words hang in the air.

  “C’mon, Jake,” Marcus said. “This isn’t funny.”

  “Carla says they’ve tried and tried,” he paused, “but there’s no way to get Rori’s hair up for the wedding.” Jake laughed as the news sank in and relief washed over Marcus.

 
“I’m glad you were able to get it pulled up for the reception.” Marcus brought her back to the present as he whispered in her ear. ”I’m not sure I could have been responsible for my actions otherwise.”

  After another quick kiss, he stood and bowed, his hand outstretched.

  “It’s time for the rest of the festivities, my dear,” Marcus said. He had seen the gestures coming from his mom and hers. “May I have this dance, Princess?”

  “Why yes, Charming.” Rori sighed as Marcus took her in his arms for their wedding waltz. He had surprised her by insisting that he choose the song for their first dance. It was a popular love song and she remembered that it had been playing on the radio the rainy night that she had driven him home.

  “This song will always remind me of the night I finally admitted that I was falling in lovely with a magical enchantress,” he had told her.

  “Aurora,” Marcus said quietly, halfway through the dance, wanting her full attention.

  “Yes, Marcus?” Rori answered wistfully.

  “I have a question for you,” he said.

  “Yes?” She forced herself out of the dreamy state that being in his arms had induced.

  “What happened during the ceremony?” His question surprised her, but she knew exactly what he meant.

  “What do you mean?” Rori asked, but Marcus could tell by her tone she was feigning ignorance, she wasn’t quite ready to explain.

  “You know exactly what I mean. I can tell. Since or ‘conversation’ last night on the porch, I feel like I can almost read your mind, and I definitely can read your expressions. So, spill it! What were you thinking during Sam’s explanation of the vows? I saw a burden fall away from your shoulders. It was obvious that something he said had a profound impact on you. Tell me, Aurora.”

  “Oh, Marcus.” Tears were threatening, but they were happy ones. “I finally got it.”

  “Got it?” Marcus asked.

  “Sam’s talk about the church as a bride and God’s love and sacrifice,” Rori explained. “I thought I believed it before, but at that moment I knew.”

  “Knew what?” Marcus was so intent on his wife’s revelation that he didn’t realize they had stopped dancing. The wedding guests fell silent as they witnessed what was obviously an important moment.

  “You love me,” Rori stated simply. “You really do love me. Amazing and unbelievable as it seems, I know now with a deep, faith-filled certainty that it’s true.”

  Marcus laughed deeply as he twirled his new bride back into the movement of the dance. As the music ended, he dipped her romantically over his arm.

  “Kiss me, Princess Aurora,” he commanded.

  “Gladly, Chef Charming,” Rori said as she eagerly complied.