A Walk Down the Aisle

by Holly Jacobs

  Colton, the man she’d believed would always be at her side, had ultimately done the same thing.

  What was it about her that drove people away like that?

  “Well, we should hit the road,” Dom said to Tori. “We’ll miss you, Chicken.”

  “Dad,” Tori whined.

  “Chicken?” Sophie asked.

  “I liked chickens when I was little. A neighbor had a flock and I spent a whole summer telling Mom and Dad I could speak chicken.”

  “Ba bwak, ba bwak,” Dom said.

  Tori groaned while her parents laughed. Gloria was the one who grew serious first. “You call me every night. I mean it, every single night.”

  “I will,” Tori promised.

  “And you remember that even if you’re staying with Sophie, our rules still apply.”

  Tori nodded. “I know.”

  Dom kissed her. “Be kind. When you have a choice, in any given situation—”

  “If you have a choice, always choose kindness,” Tori said, obviously repeating a quote she’d heard frequently.

  “That’s right, Chick.”

  “Thank you for allowing me...us...” Sophie was thanking them for an array of things, not only allowing her this time with Tori, but for raising her when she couldn’t. “For everything.”

  They each kissed Tori again, then Dom started toward the door, but Gloria leaned forward and whispered, “Congratulations,” in her ear.

  She wasn’t sure if Tori’s mother was congratulating her on finding her daughter, or on the new baby, but either way, that word brought Sophie to tears and she allowed herself an impulsive move and hugged her.

  Gloria seemed as surprised as she was, but she hugged Sophie back. “I’ll talk to you both tonight.”

  Sophie and Tori watched as Dom and Gloria got in their car, parked right outside the diner, and took off down Park Street.

  “Looks like it’s you and me,” Sophie said.

  Tori nodded. “Looks like.”

  And suddenly, without Dom and Gloria there to serve as a buffer, Sophie felt awkward. What now?

  * * *

  ON THURSDAY, Colton sat in the corner of the diner, methodically eating his steak dinner. He’d spent most of his day in the field, trying not to think of Sophie as he worked. But it was hard because the arbor he’d built for her was on the far end of the field. Every time he saw it, it felt as if someone was rubbing salt into an open wound.

  He’d thought about cooking something at home, but instead he’d decided to come into town and get dinner at the diner.

  The fact that Thursdays were Sophie’s I-don’t-cook days didn’t have anything to do with it. Granted, the diner might be the only dinner joint in town, but there were other towns and cities nearby, so she could have taken Tori to dinner at any of them.

  But as he chewed on his steak, he caught sight of her and Tori walking into the diner. And, seeing her, something in him loosened.

  He studied Sophie and couldn’t decide if he was imagining it, or if she really did have a small bump where their baby was growing.

  He wondered if she was having any side effects. If she was sick in the mornings, or if she had cravings.

  He’d tried to figure out how far along she was, but other than knowing she’d stopped using her birth control pills after the New Year, he didn’t have a clue. She couldn’t be too far, could she?

  He didn’t think Sophie had seen him. She chose the seat that faced the window, so she still didn’t know he was here, but Tori was facing him, and she definitely noticed him if the scowls she was sending in his general direction were any indication.

  He tried to stare her down, but she didn’t give an inch. She looked at Sophie often enough that Sophie didn’t sense that anything was wrong, so Tori continued to glare.

  He wondered if Sophie had told her about the baby. He was pretty sure she hadn’t told Mattie and Lily yet. He wished she would because he really wanted to get his friends’ opinion on what he should do now.

  Tori stopped midglare and turned her attention to Sophie, who twisted around and saw him. She got up and came over to the booth.

  Colton didn’t think he could see any signs of her pregnancy. “How are you?”

  “Fine. Dandy. Peachy keen,” she said with a sarcasm he’d never heard Sophie use before. “And how are you?”

  He shrugged.

  “Listen, tomorrow we have that winefest meeting. I wasn’t sure if you were going, or if Rich was going?”

  Colton had partnered with Mattie’s brother Rich Keith in the winery so that he wouldn’t have to go to things like this winefest meeting, or deal with customers at the winery. They met a few times a week to go over things, but this time of year, Colton was focused on his crops, not on the winery, so their partnership worked out perfectly.

  But suddenly, he wanted to go to the winefest meeting more than anything he’d wanted to do in a while. “I’ll be there. Probably Rich, too.”

  “I hope we can stay civil? The entire community is talking about us and I’d like to set the groundwork for a friendly relationship before our news comes out.”

  “Speaking about our news, have you mentioned it to anyone yet?”

  “I’m going to tell Tori this weekend, and after she knows, I’ll tell Lily and Mattie.”

  He nodded, resigned to not saying anything to Finn and Sebastian until next week then.

  “I—” A look of panic swept over Sophie’s face and she squeaked a polite “pardon me” and made a quick beeline for the restroom.

  He was still staring after Sophie when Tori came over to the table and asked, “What did you do?”

  “Huh?” he asked.

  “It’s my fault your wedding was ruined,” Tori said. “You don’t need to blame Sophie.”

  “I don’t blame her, or you.” Colton felt a sense of weariness.

  “You made her cry.”

  “I didn’t,” he said. “We were talking about a meeting tomorrow night.”

  Tori snorted. “Sure, that was all. The fact you were ready to get married a couple weeks ago, and after I objected you called things off didn’t enter the conversation.”

  “Not today it didn’t.” Their baby had, but not the wedding this time.

  They seemed to be circling around and around. Weddings. Lies. Babies. Weddings. Lies. Babies... The words fell into a kind of Wizard of Oz lions, tigers and bears rhythm in his head.

  “Yeah. Well, be nice to her,” Tori instructed. “She’s been sick all week and doesn’t need some cowboy-wannabe making her life miserable.”

  “She’s been sick?”

  “Yeah.” Some of the anger gave way to concern. “I think the stress of me and you is making her sick. She tries to play it off, but her house is small, I can hear her heaving her cookies in the bathroom.”

  Well, he had part of his answer. The baby was giving her morning sickness. And if her rush to the bathroom was any indication, her morning was in actuality all day.

  He wondered if that was normal.

  He wished she’d hurry up and tell people. If people knew, he could ask Finn, who was a doctor—albeit a surgeon who might not know much about babies, but Lily was a nurse and she worked with general practice patients. She’d keep an eye on Sophie and make sure she took care of herself.

  Sophie came out of the bathroom and spotted Tori talking to him. He studied her as she walked across the diner, looking a bit green around the gills.

  “What are you two up to?” she asked, her eyes narrowing at the two of them.

  Tori answered, “We’re just getting to know each other. I mean, your fiancé should know your daughter and vice versa.”

  “Right now, we’re not labeling our relationship other than to say we’re trying out being friends,” Sophie corrected.

  Friends? Like hell. They were about to be parents. “Not even really friends. We’re trying out simply being friendly, right, Sophie?” The words came out of their own volition, and with more than a sense of a
nger. Colton saw them hit their mark.

  Sophie flinched, then nodded. “Friendly. I’ll see you at the meeting tomorrow night. Come on, Tori.” She started back to their table, and Tori turned around to follow Sophie, somehow managing to step on his foot, which was safely under the table.

  Well, obviously not too safely.

  Tori whipped around and, with sarcasm dripping from every word, said, “Oh, I’m so sorry. Too bad you didn’t wear cowboy boots along with your stupid hat. They might have saved your foot.”

  She shot him one last glare for good measure and then followed Sophie back to the table.

  Colton resisted the urge to rub his foot. He wouldn’t give the kid the satisfaction.

  Sebastian chose that moment to come into the diner. He spotted him and hurried over. “Hey, I need to get to work soon. I told Lily I’d pay the invoices on the desk before I started my shift, but I’ve got a few minutes, if you have time.”

  Colton knew his friends were worried about him. And he’d seen how they’d given Sophie the cold shoulder at the Fourth celebrations. “I’ve got to run, but I have a favor to ask before I do.”

  “Name it,” Sebastian said without waiting to hear what Colton wanted. “Anything.”

  “You and Finn need to stop being brusque with Sophie. She didn’t do anything. The problems are on both our parts. But more than that, I wanted to suggest that as a way of showing her that you’re still her friend, too, you should ask her about your campaign.”

  Sebastian sank into the booth across from him. “What?”

  Seb—ah, hell, he was trying to remember to think about his friend as Sebastian since he’d declared he didn’t want to use his childhood nickname anymore. Sebastian was running for the town council, and Colton wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought of it before. If Sophie helped him, then they’d spend time together, and after Sebastian knew about the baby, his friend would tell him if he saw anything amiss in Sophie’s health.

  “Sophie does advertising for a living. Marketing. Look at the effort she’s put in at the wineries. Even if she doesn’t want to really work on your campaign, she could give you a few pointers.”

  “Lily was pissed at me after the Fourth, and pretty much read me not only the riot act, but called me a jerk. I am many things, but I’m not a jerk. It’s simply hard not to be mad at Sophie. She never told you about her kid, and I know it hurt you that she called off the wedding.”

  Colton set the record straight. “I called off the wedding. And while I appreciate that you and Finn always have my back, I’m a big boy. I don’t need you fighting my battles. And right now, Sophie and I are being friendly, but I’m hoping that, soon, we’re more than that.”

  Sebastian looked surprised. “Wait. You’re trying to get back together with her?”

  Colton wasn’t sure he could ever totally trust Sophie, but they had a baby coming, so there was only one answer he could give. “Yes. And it’s not going to help my cause if my friends are being jerks.”

  “That puts an entirely different light on things. I’ve got this.” He leaned across the table and smacked Colton’s shoulder with his damaged hand. That was a huge change from when he’d come home and kept the hand in his pocket as much as possible.

  “Thanks, Sebastian. I knew I could count on you.”

  “Always.” He left Colton and hurried toward Sophie’s table.

  * * *

  SOPHIE WAS A BIT THROWN when Sebastian approached her table wearing a smile. The last time she’d seen him he’d been so cold she’d pretty much had frostbite.

  “Hi, Sophie,” Sebastian called out, seeming genuinely happy to see her. “And, Tori, how’s the library?”

  “Fine,” Tori said, glaring at Sebastian.

  He didn’t seem to notice that neither of them seemed overly pleased he’d stopped at the table.

  Sebastian turned back to Sophie. “Any chance we can have a business meeting soon? I wanted to know if you could help me come up with some sort of slogan for my campaign. Frankly, I’ll take any ideas at all. I need to make sure people see me as Sebastian, grown-up adult, not Seb, young hellion.”

  If someone had told her a blue unicorn was running down Park Street, Sophie would have been less surprised than to hear Sebastian’s obvious change of heart and request. “Uh, sure. You know I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

  He smiled again. “Great. Next week then?”

  “Sure.”

  A sneaking suspicion occurred to her. Maybe Colton had told Sebastian, and this was his pity-the-single-mom offering.

  Well, she didn’t take charity from anyone. She’d cancel the meeting and tell Colton and his friends she was more than capable of handling this baby on her own, without their pity jobs.

  “What was that?” Tori asked. “He was rude to you the other day at the fireworks.”

  She wanted to vent, to say, Yeah, he’s a total dork. She’d handled everything that had been thrown at her up until now, but she couldn’t handle anyone’s sympathy. It grated.

  She tried to tamp down her anger and smiled at Tori. “Sebastian’s Colton’s friend. I hurt Colton, so he was mad at me. I can’t blame him.”

  “I can,” Tori muttered. And there, under the surface, Sophie could sense the anger she’d seen that first day at her wedding. It still seeped from her. Tori had simply been working to hide it, but Sebastian gave her a target to aim some of it at. “You didn’t do anything,” Tori said. “I did. I showed up and broke up your wedding.”

  Sophie reached across the table and placed her hand on Tori’s. What she wanted to do was hug her. She wanted to hold her, but she didn’t have the right. “I keep telling you—and will keep on telling you until you believe me—you didn’t break up my wedding. I did. I didn’t tell Colton about a lot of things. I don’t think I ever really stopped to think about how much I didn’t share with him. And I certainly never asked myself why I didn’t tell him things.”

  “You said it—you don’t like to talk about your past.”

  “I’ve been mulling over why,” Sophie told her daughter. “Let me start by asking you, why do you think your mom and dad didn’t tell you that you were adopted sooner?”

  “Dad wanted to, but Mom didn’t until I was old enough.” More of that anger, laced with frustration, trickled into that sentence. “But I was old enough a long time ago.”

  “So why didn’t she tell you?” Sophie pressed.

  Tori thought about it a moment. “She was afraid of losing me. Or maybe she was afraid I’d see her as someone who wasn’t my real mother.”

  “But she is your real mother,” Sophie assured her.

  Tori nodded and a light flush of blue was obvious as her hair ruffled. “Yeah. She is my real mom.” She looked nervous, as if saying that would hurt Sophie.

  Sophie offered Tori a comforting smile. “So your mom didn’t tell you, because she wanted to keep thinking of herself as your real mom and, more important, because she wanted you to think of her as your real mom. How you thought about her mattered a lot to her.”

  “Yeah,” Sophie agreed.

  “I think the reason I didn’t tell Colton about a lot of the stuff in my past was because I wanted him to keep seeing me as Sophie, the woman he fell in love with. The woman I worked so hard to become. I didn’t want him to pity me. I didn’t want him to feel bad that he has an awesome family, and I didn’t—don’t. I didn’t want...” She shrugged. “I held on to you—you were mine. I didn’t tell anyone, not because I was embarrassed or anything like that and...” She felt the tears gather in her eyes. “And I kept you in my thoughts and my heart every day. You were mine. It seemed almost blasphemous to share that.”

  “You wanted to hold me,” Tori stated, but it sounded as if she needed reassurance.

  Sophie, who’d never really talked about her pregnancy or delivery, knew she had to now. She’d sworn to herself she’d be honest in all her answers to her daughter. “I so wanted to hold you at least once. To have that memory of you.
But they took you while I was still on the delivery table. The very first time I touched you was when we were at my house talking after the wedding. I touched my finger to your cheek right before I called your parents. It was a small gesture. Something most people wouldn’t think twice about, but I swear to you, I will remember that moment, that one touch, with clarity for the rest of my life.”

  “What happened after they took me?” Tori asked.

  “Someone gave me a shot of something. Some drug that knocked me out. When I woke up, I was in a regular hospital room, and my parents tried to pretend I’d never been pregnant. They wanted me to carry on with the life they had planned for me and to forget you.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “I couldn’t go back. Having you changed me. I wanted to keep you so much, but I let you go because I wanted the best life possible for you, and I knew I couldn’t give that to you. Not then. I was too young. I’m glad your parents waited and didn’t tell you about me because that’s what I wanted for you. A normal life. I wanted you to be loved. And you had that?”

  Tori nodded.

  Sophie smiled. “Then when I talk to your mom tonight, I’m going to thank her. I know it hurt you to find out like that, but your mom and dad gave you exactly the life I wanted for you—the life I couldn’t give you.”

  “The life you never had?” Tori guessed.

  “The life I always dreamed about,” Sophie agreed. Parents who loved her more than they loved themselves—more than they loved their public image. Parents who would put her needs first.

  That’s what she’d always wanted and, though she’d never had it, she’d given that to her daughter.

  “I always wanted to be loved unconditionally, but that’s not how my parents’ love worked. I didn’t care about giving you rich parents, or perfect parents. I wanted to give you to people who would give you unconditional love. And from what I’ve seen, I did that.”

  She’d given her daughter something she’d never had. Unconditional love.

  She realized how desperately she’d wanted that for herself, as well.

  She’d thought she’d found it with Colton, but she’d been wrong.