by Jeanne Allan
“Do you want to?”
Sam asked the question so casually, it took a second before his words sunk in. “Do I want to what?” Addy asked, thinking she’d misunderstood the question.
“Get married this afternoon. You know, wear the old wedding dress, carry the pink roses, meet my family, eat cake, drink champagne. All that stuff that happens at weddings.”
The meaning behind his cavalier words slowly percolated through to Addy’s brain. “You didn’t stop them,” she said, stunned. “You didn’t call off the wedding.”
“Did you ever try to stop an avalanche with a snow shovel?”
Chilled, Addy rubbed her arms in a futile effort to get warm. “You expect me to many you simply because you couldn’t figure out how to call off the wedding?” An image of the two unfamiliar can parked out front popped into her mind. “Your family’s here? For the wedding?” She shivered. She must be coming down with the flu.
“Sometimes life’s easier if you just go with the flow.”
Sam sounded sincere. To hear him talk, he’d rather marry Addy than fight his grandmother. The man who’d been successfully defeating his mother’s and grandmother’s matchmaking schemes since he’d turned thirty? Nothing about this scenario made sense. After all that had happened, he couldn’t possibly be expecting Addy to go through with the wedding.
It was a bad dream. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, counted to ten, and opened them. Sam watched her from his recumbent position on the sofa. “Why didn’t you stop them?” she asked. “Why are you allowing them to railroad you into this? You don’t want to marry me. You can’t deny all the times you’ve said so.”
“I meant it every time I said it. Don’t interrupt. And let your damned hair down. I hate it that way.”
It said something for the state of Addy’s mind that, without a word, she obediently removed the pins from her hair, allowing it to fall to her shoulders.
Sam nodded his approval before continuing. “I had my life charted out, and marriage wasn’t on the agenda for a few years. I told you why, my traveling and so on. When the time did come, I knew exactly the kind of wife I’d select.”
“Not my kind. You said so often enough.”
“And in saying so, I violated a basic tenet of science. I reached a conclusion before I had enough data to support that conclusion”
“I’m not talking about a cure for bad breath. I’m talking about marriage. About my life.” Before she succumbed to hysteria, Addy wanted to know one thing. “Are you asking me because you want to marry me, Adeline Johnson, or because the ladies booked the church and ordered oysters?”
“What’s with the damned oysters? Belle wanted to know if I liked oysters. When I said no, she said she doubted I’d need them anyway.”
“Never mind the oysters. You don’t have to marry me. I gave you an out.”
“John Christain,” Sam said. “You set up that whole scene for my benefit. You wanted me to catch you. So I’d have an excuse for calling off the wedding. You thought I didn’t want to marry you.”
“You don’t.” Addy took a deep breath. “Do you?”
“I admit, Adeline, I don’t understand it myself, but the odd truth is, yes, I do want to marry you.”
Addy sank into the nearest chair. “Are you saying,” she asked, determined Sam spell out his feelings, “you love me?”
“Adeline, I have advanced degrees in chemistry and business management. I excel at logic and reasoning. It’s neither logical nor reasonable for a man to meet a woman and in the space of three weeks fall madly in love with her.”
“I see.” She didn’t. Not yet. She would before she gave him her answer. Or maybe she’d just strangle him. “You viewed the situation calmly and objectively and decided you wanted to marry me.” Saying the words out loud didn’t improve them or make them easier to comprehend. She wouldn’t strangle him. She’d smother him in an enormous jar of peanut butter. “I suppose you have data to support this particular, peculiar conclusion.”
“I’ve given it some thought.”
“Some thought.” She’d add grape jelly to the jar. Lots of grape jelly. “Would you care to share your thought?” She silently applauded how well she was behaving in the face of extraordinary provocation. She hoped the judge at her murder trial took her phenomenal restraint into consideration.
Sam rearranged the pillows behind his back. “You said you wanted to marry a man who likes purple, is rich, drives a red sport car, has a large house, is dependable and comes with a large family who’ll love and cherish Emilie. I’m not rich, but I can afford for you to shop wherever you want. Granted I drive a black sedan, but I can trade it in, although I have to tell you, Adeline, a sedan is more practical for a large family. Pick out a big house and I’ll buy it for you. My bank, my employees, my clients, my family—they’ll all tell you I’m dependable.”
He wasn’t telling her what she wanted to hear. She opened her mouth, but Sam hadn’t finished.
“Grandmother already adores Emilie. Emilie captivated the rest of them the minute they walked in the door from the airport. Mom says she can already tell her first granddaughter is going to follow in her footsteps and be a great actress.”
Addy’s ribcage shrank until every breath brought pain. “You hate purple.”
“You see, there’s that insufficient data thing raising its ugly head again. I always thought I hated purple. Three weeks ago if anyone asked me if I’d like a purple room, I wouldn’t have hesitated to give them a resounding no.”
“Three weeks ago?” He’d met her three weeks ago.
“Well, maybe two and a half. That was when I started fantasizing about a purple bedroom, a red and green striped bed with big, fat soft pillows in every shade of the rainbow, and you sprawled in the middle waiting for me.”
“In a white lab coat.”
“Hell, no.” A wry grin slanted his mouth. “I made up the white lab coat to tease you.” His grin disappeared. “In my fantasy you wore bright blue gauzy stuff. And had bare feet.”
The blue eyes blazing across the room at her sent a message. Addy ignored the tingling in her breasts. Being wanted was nice, but she was greedy. She wanted much more. “That’s why you want to marry me? Because I made up a shopping list of the attributes I wanted my future husband to have, and you think you have them?”
“Partly. And partly it’s because I want secret messages on my walls and I want my kids to have a mother like you.” Sam hesitated before adding fiercely, “And I want you to smile at me the way you smile at Emilie. All warm and accepting and soft and marshmallowy In fact,” he said slowly with deep satisfaction, “exactly how you’re smiling at me now.”
Addy hurtled across the room and flung herself full-length on Sam’s half-reclining body. “I love you, Dr. Samuel Dawson, Ph.D. I want you to know I decided I did after viewing the situation calmly and objectively.” There was nothing calm or objective about the kiss she gave him.
His hands cupped warmly around her bottom. “You’ve never viewed a situation calmly and objectively in your life.”
“Yes, I have. I knew at once you were a purple bedroom kind of guy.” She nibbled on his ear. She loved his ears. “I structured the deal to meet your particular wants and needs.”
“I’m not adverse to a discussion of my wants and needs,” he said, punctuating his words with kisses, “and your selling points. Not to mention packaging. That yellow thing has got to go.”
Addy giggled. She’d forgotten she wore Belle’s sweatshirt. “You’re the expert. What kind of packaging did you have in mind?”
“Freckles. Nothing but freckles.”
Sam’s mouth swallowed the rest of Addy’s giggles, and soon other, more intense desires swamped any desire to giggle.
“Sam?” Addy stirred on the sofa beneath Sam, the offensive yellow sweatshirt long ago cast aside.
Sam lifted his head from Addy’s chest. “What?”
“Do you really think we’ll work out? We’re so diff
erent and I’ve never lived in Boston, and—”
“Do you want to? I’ve been thinking—”
“When you weren’t fantasizing,” she teased, running her hand over the top of his head. She loved the rasp of his short hair against her palm.
“When I wasn’t fantasizing,” he muttered into her open, laughing mouth. Minutes later, he raised his head. “I can have my office anywhere. Why not here? It wouldn’t take much arranging, and when I’m out of town, you’ll have lots of support. Grandmother is talking about moving to an apartment. She says this house is too much for her. Why don’t we buy it?” His eyes darkened. “Lots of bedrooms you could fill with kids.”
“I suppose you’d want to consult on that project.”
“Definitely.” He smiled down at her. “As a scientist, I’ve never believed in witches, but I’m beginning to think you’re one. I don’t know what else explains why, from the moment I walked into this house and met you, I wanted to be in this room. I’d lay awake nights inventing excuses to come in here. You cast a spell on me.”
Addy gave him a guileless smile. “Not me. My mother’s paintings. When you look at them, all you see are globs of color, but actually they’re subliminal messages telling you freckles are better than chocolate.” Her voice barely quivered with amusement.
Sam nipped at her bottom lip. “I planned to talk you into hanging those paintings in Emilie’s room, but maybe we better put them in our bedroom.”
“You mean you wouldn’t prefer chocolate?”
“That reminds me. Belle suggested chocolate for the honeymoon. I have no idea what she was talking about. Does it occur to you those women are fixated on food? Do you suppose they’re anorexic or something?”
The look on his face when Addy dissolved into gales of laughter made her laugh all the harder.
Sam stared down at her, bright flames dancing in the back of his eyes. “The brilliant Dr. Dawson does not appreciate being laughed at. If you don’t discontinue your inappropriate behavior, the brilliant Dr. Dawson will be forced to conduct an experiment to discover if kissing can stop laughter.”
Several minutes later, Addy slid her hand up Sam’s warm back. “I’m always willing to give my all for scientific research,” she said happily.
He encircled a bare nipple with his thumb. “I like the sound of that. Give your all. Damn!” He jumped to his feet, grabbed the abandoned sweatshirt from the floor and threw it at Addy before hastily buttoning his shirt.
Addy sat up slowly, the sweatshirt held against her bare chest. “What?”
He thrust the hand that had so recently caressed her breast in front of her nose. “My watch. I just saw the time. We’re getting married in a little over an hour and Emilie’s still sleeping.” He yanked Addy to her feet, the urgent air dropping from him as he viewed her state of half dress. “At least you’re about ready to step into the shower.” He slid his hands up her arms to her bare shoulders. “I’d like to step into that shower with you.”
“Do you two think you could wait until after the ceremony?” Hannah’s acerbic voice came from the hallway. “I came to tell you Mr. Burgess is coming to the wedding, and I reminded him he wasn’t to breathe a word to Emilie until you say so.” She shook her head. “I hope some day you two learn to close doors.” The last words, said without much hope, came from down the hall.
“Do you have any idea how desirable you are when you blush?” Sam asked. “I’m looking forward to getting you behind a locked door and seeing your entire nude body without interruptions.” He laughed as her blush deepened.
Addy’s heart still raced as Sam turned in the doorway to blow her a kiss. She looked forward to seeing Sam Dawson’s nude body, too.
Nude body.
Addy clapped her hands over her mouth and dashed to the door. “Sam,” she hissed at his disappearing back. “Come here. Quick.” As soon as he came close enough, she grabbed him, yanking him into the room, and closed the door behind him. “Did you find the necklace I made for you?”
“That’s the emergency?”
“Answer me. It’s important. Did you find it?”
“If you mean the one wrapped in Christmas paper with a big tag on it saying ‘Mother,’ yes, I found it.”
“Did you really order it for your mother?” At his nod, Addy said, “You have to give it back to me. I’ll make her something else. Something she’ll like better.” Much better, Addy thought.
“It’s too late. She saw the package on my bed and waltzed off with it. I told her she was absolutely not, under any circumstances to open the package before Christmas.”
Addy breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. You can steal it back, and I’ll make something else.”
Sam chuckled. “Knowing my mother, I’m sure she’s already opened it.” He hesitated. “I probably ought to warn you, Adeline, but my mother tends to be overly fond of having her own way. She says she’s aggressive, but the truth is, she’s downright bossy and can be a real pain sometimes. She takes after her mother. I guess it’s a female thing,” he said seriously. “My brothers and I aren’t like that at all.”
Any other time Addy would have fallen down laughing at Sam’s incredible claim. Now all she could think about was the necklace she’d made.
“You OK, Adeline? You look kind of funny all of a sudden.”
“I’m fine, just fine.” Addy pushed Sam out into the hall and shut the door, sagging against the frame. Already she’d done something stupid to make her mother-in-law hate her.
On the heels of that thought came a more sensible one. Sam’s mother hadn’t opened the package. If she had, she’d have canceled the wedding. Addy looked at the clock across the room. One more hour. If Jo Jo Dawson put off opening the package for one more hour, then Addy would be marching down the chapel aisle. Jo Jo wouldn’t stand up and object to the wedding. Addy crossed all her fingers. Sam’s mother would wait until Christmas to open the package. Sam asked her to. And between now and Christmas, Addy could get the package back.
Jo Jo Dawson wore the necklace to the wedding. Addy’s mother-in-law treated every guest at the reception to a close-up view of the roly-poly nudes dancing over the surface of each and every brightly colored bead. “I’ve always said Samuel is brilliant,” Jo Jo bragged over and over again, “but he’s outdone himself this time by giving me a beautiful, talented daughter-in-law and the most marvelous grandchild.” She hugged Emilie who trailed after her new grandmother in stunned fascination.
“Our family was getting dreadfully dull. Medicine, science, business.” Jo Jo shuddered dramatically. “I lived in terror Sam would marry someone I couldn’t even talk to. You two—” she turned a ferocious scowl on Mike and Harry “—take a lesson from your older brother. When I asked Samuel if he loved Addy, he told me when she smiled at him, the feeling he got was better than a scientific breakthrough, or a first night opening on Broadway. Oh, darn.” She comically slapped her forehead. “I just realized. I wanted Sam- to marry someone dumb enough so I could converse with her, and I just realized he married someone as brilliant as he is, if not smarter.”
“C’mon, Mom.” Harry, Sam’s middle brother, winked at Addy. “You’ve always said Sam is the smartest person in the world.”
“She’s never admitted he can also be the biggest pain in the, uh, neck in the world,” Mike, Sam’s youngest brother, added, grinning at Addy.
“Exactly,” Jo Jo crowed. “That’s how I know Addy is so brilliant. She’s smart enough to know how wonderful Sam is.”
“And you two—” Sam glared at his brothers “—aren’t to tell Adeline any different.”
Sam’s father, Martin, encircled Addy’s waist with his arm. “This is my first chance to welcome you to the family, Addy. I’ve been telling Jo Jo and Mother Hannah for years, if Sam is as brilliant as they claim, he’ll find the perfect woman for himself without any help from them. Thank you for proving me right.”
Before Addy could set him straight, Sam’s warm hand covered her mouth.
“Absolutely.” She looked at Emilie swinging from Harry’s hands. “Emilie, when is your fifth birthday?”
“Ten says.”
“And what did you tell me you wanted for your birthday?”
“A great big, big, big chocolate cupcake.”
Everyone looked puzzled and intrigued as Sam warned, “Adeline, you wouldn’t dare...”
“Emilie, before you walked down the aisle with the rose petals, what did I tell you I was giving you for your birthday?”
“Sam!” Emilie shouted. “My very own great big, big, big chocolate cupcake.”
“Well, Cupcake...” Addy turned to Sam. “I’d say I found the right candidate to fill the key position, wouldn’t you?”
“A toast to Addy,” Mike shouted when the laughter died down. “Sam has finally met his match.”
Addy opened her eyes. Moonlight showered the room and danced across the ceiling. Her thoughts skipped and jumped over the events of the day. A single day, just twenty-four hours, yet her whole life had changed. Emilie was spending the night safe in the bosom of her newly acquired large family. Emilie had liked Bill Burgess this afternoon. Soon Addy would undertake the pleasant task of explaining to her niece the newly-revealed relationship between Emilie and her grandfather. Addy’s new mother-in-law had decreed Addy would become bead-maker to the stars once Jo Jo’s friends had seen and admired her necklace.
Sam’s entire family had opened their arms and taken Addy and Emilie in, welcoming them as treasures to be cherished, not burdens to be endured. And when Addy’d thanked Hannah, Cora, Phoebe and Belle for the support, the wedding, for accepting her and forgiving her her mistakes, they’d shrugged and told her that’s what families were for.
Family. She’d become part of a wonderful one, thanks to one man. The pulse at the base of her neck beat steadily, warming the silver charm which nestled against her skin. “I love you,” she said softly, propping her head up on her arm and looking down at the man sharing her bed.