A Wedding in Paris

by Barbara Bretton

  The wedding coordinator, imported from New York, appeared in the doorway and motioned the bride and her attendants into the adjoining room for a final inspection before the ceremony, which was to take place in the garden underneath a large white tent turned makeshift chapel.

  “Get yourselves ready, bride’s parents,” she said with a big smile. “It’s almost showtime.”

  “Showtime?” Ryan said after the woman disappeared into the other room.

  He looked exhausted, unsure of himself, clearly waiting for the laugh she couldn’t give to him.

  “Okay,” he said. “Here it is.” He met her eyes. “I was arrested.”

  She could feel the blood drain from her head. “You were what?”

  “Arrested. I flew back to New York. I thought I could get there and back in twenty-four, but I got arrested breaking into our old house.”

  “I have to sit down,” she said, perching on the straight-back chair in the corner of the tiny room. “For a second I thought you said you’d been arrested.”

  “I broke into the house and forgot about the silent alarm. The entire Levittown police force showed up when I was elbow-deep in your desk drawer.”

  She didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or ask for a good stiff drink.

  “Remember Bernie Cowan?”

  “The lawyer on your softball team.”

  “I tracked him down on a fishing boat off Montauk Point. He’s the only reason I’m not still in the Nassau County jail.”

  “You have a set of keys. Why didn’t you use them?”

  “I left them in my bag.”

  “One of the bags you dropped off here at the inn?”

  “Bingo.”

  “And you couldn’t call because you left your cell phone in the hotel room.”

  “So that’s where it is.” The cell phone also functioned as his address book, phone book and appointment calendar. He was screwed without it.

  “Your cell isn’t the only phone on the planet.”

  “I’m forty-eight,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh. “I couldn’t remember the name of the damn place.” He moved closer to her, so close she could smell his skin. “You have a lot of questions, Katie, but you haven’t asked me the most important one.”

  It took a long moment before she found her voice. “Why?” One word with their entire future wrapped up in it.

  She held her breath as he reached into the breast pocket of his tux.

  “I went back for this.”

  He held out his hand and there in the palm was a small circle of gold.

  She met his eyes. “My wedding ring?”

  “It was in your sock drawer. Took me three hours to find it.”

  “How did you even know it was in the house?”

  He told her about the letter from Alexis right after the engagement party.

  “And you remembered.”

  He nodded. “I remembered.”

  “I love you,” she said, choking back her tears. “I never stopped.”

  “I’ve loved you from the first day we met, Katie. Without you life doesn’t make sense.”

  She looked at the ring on his left hand and smiled. “You never took yours off?” she asked. “Not even once?”

  “Why would I? I’m a married man.”

  She held out her own left hand and he slid the ring back onto her finger. “And I’m a married woman.”

  “For better or for worse,” he said.

  “Until death do us part,” she whispered.

  He drew her into his arms and they were about to seal the promise with a kiss when they realized their three daughters were watching them from the doorway.

  “Well, it’s about time,” Shannon said.

  “Took you long enough,” Taylor chimed in. “We were wondering when you two would realize how much you loved each other.”

  “This is the best wedding present in the world.” Alexis was radiant with joy. “I knew Paris would work its magic on you.”

  They didn’t have the heart to tell her that Paris had had a little help from Aunt Celeste.

  “It’s time, everyone! Let’s hurry!” the wedding coordinator called out. “The flower girls are already moving.”

  This was the reason for everything, Kate thought. This was why men and women fell in love, why they married, why they endured the tough times and the disappointments. You did it for your children, so they could grow up knowing the wonderful safety net called family and have the courage to walk out into the world with an open heart, fall in love and start the whole wonderful cycle all over again.

  And if you were very lucky, when the kids were gone and the house was quiet once again, your best friend and lover was still there, waiting to discover what wonderful surprises the future held in store for the two of you. It could be Boston. It could be New York. It could even be Paris. Maybe they would buy a boat and sail away together to some tropical paradise where she would paint and he would write. Anything was possible. The future was theirs for the taking and Kate couldn’t wait to see where it would lead them.

  Shannon and Taylor joined the other bridesmaids for the long walk down the aisle. Alexis took her place between her parents and squeezed their hands.

  “I can’t believe this is really happening,” she said.

  “Well, it is,” Kate said. “It’s your wedding day.”

  “Not that,” Alexis said. “I mean, I can’t believe you and Daddy are finally back together.”

  Kate and Ryan looked at each other and thirty years of shared history passed between them in an instant and with it the promise of at least thirty more.

  “We’re back together,” Ryan said.

  “Forever,” Kate said.

  “But there’s one more thing,” Alexis said.

  “Honey, the music started out there. We have to—”

  Alexis was her mother’s daughter and she stopped Kate mid-sentence. “I’m the bride. They can’t start without me. You two renewed your vows before, but you didn’t seal it with a kiss.”

  They were in each other’s arms in an instant.

  The kiss was sweet and it held within it everything they were and all they would become. The two years apart seemed to vanish as if they had never happened and for the first time Kate felt happy again. She was back where she belonged.

  The strains of the “Wedding March” flooded the small room and they moved away from each other to flank their daughter. Through the open door they saw a handsome and very nervous Gabe Fellini waiting at the altar for his first glimpse of his bride.

  And that was how a family began. A nervous groom, a radiant bride, sweet promises that took years to fully understand and a lifetime to keep. Friends come and friends go. Your children grow up and move away. Careers soar and then fall apart. But through it all, the one you loved was right there by your side, sharing the sorrows and multiplying the joys.

  If Alexis and Gabe had that, they would have everything.

  Just like Kate and Ryan.

  SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLUE

  Marie Ferrarella

  To

  Marsha Zinberg

  With Many Thanks

  CHAPTER ONE

  Six days before the wedding

  PARIS, THE CITY OF LIGHT. Paris, the City For Lovers.

  Bah, humbug.

  The disgruntled thought echoed through Shannon Donovan’s brain as the plane she’d boarded at New York’s JFK Airport several hours ago began to lower its landing gear. Her international flight was approaching its destination.

  Finally.

  It seemed as if she’d been in the air forever. Or maybe it was just that her feelings had been up in the air during the entire flight. Up in the air and as upset as she’d ever been in all of her twenty-nine years.

  Dark thoughts were not the norm for Shannon and this was supposed to be a happy occasion. Her younger sister, Alexis, was getting married in Paris in six days. And, up until a little over twenty-four hours ago, Shannon had been happy.
Happy for Alexis, happy for herself and happy that both her parents, separated for these past few years, had both actually agreed to attend the festivities.

  Twenty-four hours ago, she’d thought, no, she was positive, that the seat next to her would be occupied by Robert Newhall. Her Robert.

  The man who had given her the small but brilliant heart-shaped diamond ring on the third finger of her left hand.

  However, at the very last possible minute, Robert had stunned her. Just as she was set to go to the airport, Robert had called on her cell phone to tell her that he wasn’t coming to Paris. His excuse was that he was right in the middle of a court case he couldn’t abandon. She had gotten a leave of absence from her law firm, but he couldn’t do the same with his.

  She wasn’t all that sure she believed him, which really bothered her. Lately, there had been signs, signs she didn’t want to acknowledge, that maybe the man she was all set to spend the rest of her life with wasn’t as trustworthy as she’d thought.

  Paris was supposed to fix that. To cast out the doubts and rekindle the romance.

  Instead, here she was, six days away from what was to be the biggest day of Alexis’s life, feeling lost and alone. Lost and alone despite the fact that over half the plane seemed to be filled with people bound for the Donovan-Fellini wedding. Although her parents were both flying out later, onboard the plane was her youngest sister, Taylor, who was attempting to hide the fact that she was completely starry-eyed about this trip to the romance capital of the world, and, of course, Alexis, the woman they were all doing this for.

  There were a number of Alexis’s friends on the flight as well. The rest of the voluminous crowd was comprised of what she’d come to regard as groom Gabriel Fellini’s posse.

  Shannon could swear that the noise Gabe’s family generated had been almost nonstop since the moment they’d been declared airborne. You’d think that this flight from New York to Paris was a private jet, what with Fellini siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts and assorted friends continually insisting on visiting with one another and cluttering up the aisles as they meandered back and forth. This had to be the only flight she’d ever been on where the turbulence inside the plane far exceeded anything found outside the plane.

  As the plane continued descending, Alexis, who, along with Gabe, was seated in front of Shannon, twisted around to look at her. “Smile,” her sister ordered with a laugh. “We’re almost there, Shannon.” Alexis suddenly frowned. “I never knew you hated to fly so much,” she finally declared.

  Because Shannon didn’t want to discuss why Robert wasn’t there, a fact that had, because of the crowd, still escaped Alexis’s notice, Shannon forced a smile to her lips.

  Ever since her sister had been six, Alexis had dreamed of a big, fancy wedding with all the trimmings—years before Alexis had even decided that she liked boys. The first few years, when she, Alexis and Taylor had played “pretend,” she’d had to take the part of the groom because she was taller. Taylor played multiple roles, being the ring bearer or the flower girl or, as she grew taller, one of the bridesmaids.

  The idea of a big, fancy Paris wedding didn’t evolve until around the time Alexis turned thirteen. It was referred to around the Donovan household as Alexis’s French period. Alexis became obsessed with all things French or springing from French origins. Alexis even went as far as studying the language in high school when everyone around her was learning Spanish.

  It seemed to Shannon that Alexis had been awaiting this big event all of her life. So when Alexis had asked her to be maid of honor, she was thrilled. As the oldest, and blessed—or cursed—with a type-A personality, she took her duties seriously.

  But not having Robert here was going to be a definite damper.

  You’d think that a man who was working so hard and doing so well at the law firm where he was employed could take a little time off to fly to Paris with his fiancée for a major family event.

  But when she made the point to him during that fateful cell-phone call, Robert had certainly put her in her place. “Damn it, Shannon, don’t be such a drama queen. You know I’m up for partner this time around and this case could just be my ticket in. I thought you were proud of me.”

  “I am.” It’s just that I want you to be here in Paris with me, to see my sister married. To propose to me somewhere more romantic than the lobby of our building, in front of an elevator with an Out Of Order sign.

  “I’ll make it up to you,” he told her in a tone that said he wasn’t to be questioned or pushed. “I promise. We’ll go to Paris some other time.”

  For one wild, unthinking moment, she’d even offered to remain behind to act as Robert’s cheering section and provide him with moral support.

  “What, and have your family hate me for the rest of my life because you weren’t there to see Alexis get married? Not a chance. Go. Enjoy yourself. And think of me once in a while, slaving away in a hot courtroom, making a name for myself. For us.”

  The last part had almost seemed forced, but she told herself she was imagining things. So, she’d banked down her disappointment, wished him well and gone to the airport alone, barely making the flight in time.

  But disappointment crept up on her now, as the plane was landing.

  She had to snap out of it, Shannon upbraided herself. Her sister needed her. Besides, this was Paris. Paris, the city of magic.

  The smile Shannon offered her sister as the plane’s wheels touched the Paris runway was far more genuine than the one she’d summoned a scarce few seconds ago.

  “That’s better,” Alexis declared, turning back around and sliding down into her seat.

  Alexis, Shannon thought fondly, had apparently begun celebrating her upcoming nuptials a wee bit ahead of schedule.

  “I KNOW THAT WOMAN, Gabe.”

  Surprise underlined each syllable Josh McClintock uttered as he glanced through the open door of the Milles Fleurs Inn at the crowd converging around the small front desk. Despite the numerous people clustered about a very harried desk clerk, Josh had zeroed in on the extremely attractive woman standing to the right of his best friend’s bride. Zeroed in on her and had something remote click in his brain that sent waves akin to déjà vu through his entire system.

  Surrounded by his parents, three brothers, four sisters and their assorted families, all of whom seemed intent on getting through the doorway at the exact same moment, Gabe Fellini barely suppressed an impatient sigh. Abandoning his plea for his family to move one at a time through the door’s opening, Gabe began physically shepherding his immediate family into the quaint inn. Rooms at the inn had been reserved for them by his fiancée’s great-aunt Celeste Beaulieu, who lived in the area. It was obvious to him that Great-Aunt Celeste apparently had no concept of physics and the law about just what could occupy a single space at any given time.

  As he gently ushered his mother, Audrey, through the doorway, Gabe spared Josh, his best friend as well as his best man, a testy look. Fighting last-minute wedding jitters while simultaneously dealing with his boisterous family did not put him in the right frame of mind to put up with Josh’s notorious roving eye.

  “You know every woman, Josh.” Flashing an automatic smile at his sister Gina, Gabe placed his hand to the small of her back and moved her into the inn after his mother. “Isn’t it time you found a new line?”

  But for once, there was no wicked gleam in Josh’s eye as he continued looking into the inn and at the woman who had caught not only his attention but stirred his memory. Memories that went all the way back to high school. He aligned himself with Gabe, moving out of the way of the continuous stream of people heading in.

  “No,” he insisted, “I’m serious. I know her. The tall one with the great legs and red hair.”

  Looking toward where Josh was pointing, Gabe immediately saw who Josh was referring to. “Oh, no.”

  “Oh, no, what?”

  Gabe stepped aside as more of his family filed past him and into the inn’s foyer. As he did so, h
e grabbed Josh by the arm, pulling the handsome blond-haired man with him. Urgently. “Oh, no, you don’t know her.” He clenched his teeth, straining out the rest of the words and wrapping them in a warning. “I won’t let you know her. Understand?”

  Josh looked at his taller, ordinarily easygoing friend. “Why?”

  “Because,” Gabe lowered his voice, “that’s Alexis’s sister, Shannon. Members of Alexis’s family are off-limits to you, Josh. That includes both of her sisters and her mother. Do I make myself clear?”

  Ever the lighthearted charmer, Josh dramatically placed a hand over his chest. “You wound me, Gabe. Deeply.”

  There wasn’t a hint of a smile on Gabe’s dark, handsome face as he promised, “I’ll wound you seriously if you make a play for Shannon—or Taylor,” he added for good measure. Taylor was the baby of the family, only twenty-two years old, but there was no reason to think that kept her safe from Josh’s charms. “Paris is full of women, find yourself one. Besides, Shannon is engaged.”

  The news only brought a moment’s thoughtful pause to his friend as the latter nodded at the last of Gabe’s siblings crossing the inn’s threshold. “She’s not married yet, is she?”

  Gabe looked as if he was debating answering before he finally, reluctantly, released the fatal word. “No.”

  Josh flashed a smile that could have lit up the entire borough of Queens, New York where they both originated from. “Then she’s fair game.” He looked at Gabe. “Did you say ‘Shannon’?”

  There was a leery expression on Gabe’s face as he entered the building behind Josh. “Yes.”

  “Shannon Donovan. Of course.”

  Gabe wove his way to the front of the crowd near the front desk. “If you just had an epiphany, spare me the details until I get everyone registered here,” he told Josh just before the questions from his siblings and cousins became almost deafening.

  Josh stepped back. Gabe looked like a man drowning, he thought, compassion stirring within him. Compassion, but not empathy. A harried groom-to-be was something he was never going to be. Or at least, not for another decade or so. Marriage was not something he even remotely contemplated at this point in his life. Not that Gabe’s fiancée, Alexis, wasn’t a terrific girl and all that, but he firmly believed that men shouldn’t marry until they were in their forties.