New Year's Wedding

by Muriel Jensen

  He arched both eyebrows. “No, I don’t know. Inadequate? Whatever for? You’re acknowledged as one of the world’s most beautiful women, and you’re smart and sweet and a good cook. Grady boasts about you all the time.”

  Now she looked surprised. “That’s hard to believe. He thinks I’m not real.”

  “Pardon me?”

  “He has this thing about reality. Like, if something’s too good, or too glamorous, or changes his world too much, it’s phony. You know, he wanted to be a lawyer then had to give up his plans when his dad got sick. He seems to think that dooms him to never being able to have what he wants. So now he doesn’t want things.”

  Jack seemed to understand. “You mean he doesn’t want you?”

  She blew air through puffed cheeks then took a tin of cookies out of a cupboard. “That’s astute of you, and yes. He likes me, I think, but he considers me superficial.”

  “You seem very grounded to me, even though you live in a world the rest of us can only imagine. Does he know about your claustrophobia?”

  She made a face. “There was an incident in an elevator the day we all got together for lunch. He was very kind about it. He helped me keep my secret.”

  “You don’t have to hide anything from us, you know.”

  “I know, I know. But your finding me finally makes our family complete and I didn’t want to be a disappointment.”

  He rolled his eyes. “As though you could be. Now, about Grady. I think he’s just afraid of what he doesn’t know. It sounds as though you have strong feelings even though it’s been just a short time.”

  She pulled down a plate and arranged cookies on it. “It’s been a very intense time with the three of us getting back together again. Then there was that thing in Ireland because of my claustrophobia.”

  “Yeah. Sarah told me why that happened.”

  “Anyway, I’ve been restless and yearning for something.”

  “And it turns out to be Grady?”

  She winced. “Does it show?”

  “No. You seem very cool and together. But the guy’s like a brick. If you need solid dependability, he’s your man.”

  “That’s the irony of it. That solid, dependable man wants his life to remain just that way. And I don’t fit. I mean, my life is like a miracle now—like the future is wide open. You found Corie and me, and now we have a grandmother. I finally understand myself, so I feel invincible.”

  She placed slices of the cranberry-orange bread on another plate and handed it to him, dismissing the heavy discussion with a wave of her other hand. “Doesn’t matter. You want to take those out to the coffee table and I’ll make drinks?”

  “Sure. Grady will come around, Cassie.”

  “I don’t know.”

  He kissed her forehead and started away with the plates. “Well, if he doesn’t, you can come and live with us, and when we have children and you’re not working, you can be their favorite aunt. Meanwhile, if it’s okay with you, right after this snack, we’ll take Grandma to my parents’ place to have a rest, you can have a little free time and Grady can get ready to meet us at the Bistro for the bachelor dinner. But we’ll be back after that to finish up stuff and to see the new year in.”

  “Definitely. Despite all the goings-on, we have to pay some homage to New Year’s Eve.”

  * * *

  CASSIE WATCHED JACK and Corie jealously as they left with their grandmother in Jack’s truck. They had a grandmother!

  “How’s it going?” Grady asked, finally off work and dressed in jeans and a red flannel shirt. He carried what appeared to be a very heavy grocery bag. “Where’s your grandmother?”

  She had to shift her mind to practical matters. She explained about Jack taking her with him. “So far, so good on the plans. The florist reports that everything’s ready and in her refrigerated case. Right now she’s stringing some flowers for me to add to the bunting. What’s in the bag?”

  He went past her to the kitchen. “Champagne. Didn’t want to use any of the wedding stuff and we have to toast the new year tonight.”

  She followed him. “That was thoughtful.”

  He pretended modesty. “Hey, that’s me. So, I’m adding the flowers to the bunting?”

  “Maybe we could bribe Oliver to climb the ladder. He’s coming to help in the morning.”

  “Everybody’s coming again in the morning?”

  “Just for a few last-minute details. The flowers have to go up the day of, or they’ll wilt. Some of the food’s coming tonight. Your mom and Helen are so cute. They’re working as a very efficient team.”

  “Yeah. They took your dad off with them this morning to show him around Beggar’s Bay. They promised to get him to the Bistro tonight in time for the bachelor dinner. Isn’t all this coziness bringing out your claustrophobia?”

  She looked at him in surprise. “Just the opposite. All these people in my life are opening up my world. I love my work, but my friends used to be everyone in the business, and while I’ve gotten to see the world’s most beautiful places, I didn’t realize that the simplicity of small-town life is so satisfying, comforting. I love it here. Even though I don’t know a lot of people, I’ve walked around downtown enough to recognize a few faces and earn a smile and a ‘good morning.’ Often, in big cities, people are too busy for that.”

  He wrapped her in his arms and held her tightly. “Tell me about the contracts you have to go back to Paris for.”

  She looped her arms around his neck. Her eyelashes fluttered against his cheekbone as she leaned into him. His heart pulsed in the same way. “My good friend Josie Bergerac is a designer of evening clothes in Paris and I do all her shows and most of her print ads. In New York, I do TV commercials for Eterna Beauty Cosmetics.”

  “I know you have a condo in Paris, but where do you live when you’re in New York?”

  “Several friends and I keep a place there, with a view of Central Park. We come and go all the time so each of us pays the rent for a quarter of the year. Works out well. I’ll let you know when I’m going to be in New York and you can come visit me.”

  He was in love with a woman who shared digs on Park Avenue. What was happening? Right now, he didn’t care.

  “I think my mother is attracted to your father,” he said, needing to think about someone else’s unlikely romance. “She has a key to my house. Remember when we got home from Texas, she was in here, putting food in the refrigerator?”

  “That’s right. I hadn’t thought about that. So why did she keep them outside in the cold?”

  “I haven’t had a chance to ask her. But last night she stopped me from mentioning in front of him that she had a key and could have let him in.”

  “If she hasn’t dated in a while, maybe she was reluctant to be in a house alone with a strange man. That probably wasn’t done when she was a girl.”

  “I’m sure you’ve noticed this, but my mother isn’t shy.”

  “True, but when she was alone with my dad, waiting for us, she wasn’t your mother, she was a woman. Probably a lonely woman, and she was being cautious.” She widened her eyes. “How would you feel if they decided they liked each other? It’s completely premature, but how tidy for us.”

  “Tidy?”

  “My brother’s adopted brother is marrying my sister, my mother and your father might connect. It’s kind of all in the family—even screwy as it all is.”

  He nodded. Screwy didn’t begin to describe it. He noticed she’d carefully sidestepped their own relationship.

  She seemed to read what was in his eyes. She dropped her arms from around his neck but he continued to hold her. She rested her elbows on his arms. “You realize that you and I are looking at a long-distance relationship until I come home, and then...who knows? You might have decided it’s too much trouble or too...fussy
to manage all that. You might fall in love with someone else.”

  “What about all the jocks and geniuses that populate your life in New York and Paris? Not to mention the models and movie stars. You might change your mind about me when you see them again.”

  She shook her head and gave him a look that melted every bone in his body. “Not a chance. None of them is the missing piece.”

  He kissed her again because he couldn’t help himself but had to admit he felt some worry at the worrisome responsibility. He’d been his parents’ stockade wall, Celeste’s “lover boy,” but he’d never been the person who would make someone else’s life complete. He hoped he had what she thought he had, and that her feelings for him weren’t just part of this cozy family reunion where anything seemed possible.

  * * *

  BECAUSE THEY WERE all needed to help set up tonight, there’d be no time for a serious rehearsal dinner or, for that matter, a real New Year’s Eve party. Don had offered to order pizza, so a slice and a champagne toast at midnight was going to have to serve.

  He quickly changed into brown pants and a beige sweater, and arrived back in the kitchen in time to admit the beautiful, fragrant, laughing chaos that had invaded his life big-time. He was hugged by every woman, which was nice, then fed a cookie here, an hors d’oeuvre there, and Helen stuffed a forkful of something into his mouth before he could stop her. Fortunately it was delicious food for the wedding. Eleanor was glowing as part of the group. Cassie, who’d also changed, hurried in to welcome everyone.

  “Mushroom cap stuffed with sausage,” she said. “Good?”

  “Mmm,” he said, his mouth still full.

  “Glad you like it.”

  Later, on his way out to the bachelor dinner, he spotted Cassie’s face in the crowd and held up his phone. That had become code for “call me if you want me to pick up something.” He was a little relieved to be able to close the door behind him and join his friends at the Bay Bistro.

  * * *

  THE GUYS WERE in a mood very similar to that of the women. Though their laughter was deeper and louder, and they didn’t smell half as good, they seemed to be exceptionally lighthearted. As befitted a wedding, he supposed, but it seemed odd to him that Ben was so relaxed.

  Jack was absurdly happy lately, and Gary had a wry wit and a ready smile. He’d known Ben to be solid but sometimes moody and it was mind-blowing to see this transformation. Oliver, who’d also been invited, watched the action with a smile on his face. He caught Grady’s eye and toasted him with his coffee cup. “Most fun surveillance I’ve ever been on. If you discount getting beaten up and rolled down a hill.”

  Grady laughed. “They’re a good group. A little overcome by love at the moment. And they’re fiercely protective of one another.”

  Oliver’s expression sobered as he watched. “Yeah. I’d like to be overcome by love.”

  “No girlfriend?” Grady asked.

  “No. Had to take a year off law school to be able to pay my tuition. Not a good situation for the woman who was dating me for my money-earning potential.”

  “Doesn’t the fact that you stopped to earn money to keep going prove you have money-earning potential?”

  “No, it proves I don’t have enough in reserve to keep going. So she’s hitched her wagon to a medical student from Montauk.”

  Grady could imagine Cassie’s reaction if something like that had happened to a man she loved. She’d be all over it, trying to make it better. “Depends on the woman,” he said. “So, you’re looking to make extra money?”

  “Yes,” Oliver said eagerly. “Why?”

  “I have a car at the airport in Reno, Nevada, that I’m having trouble finding time to retrieve.”

  Oliver nodded. “Left it as collateral for a loan?”

  “No!” Grady explained about having promised to deliver his mother and her sister for a casino vacation then agreeing to join Ben in Texas and flying out from Reno.

  “Weird logistics,” Oliver noted.

  “Story of my life. If I send you on a bus, would you drive the car back for me? After the holiday.”

  “Sure.”

  “When are you going home?”

  “Not sure. It’s beautiful here. And I don’t want to just leave your grandmother. She’s my mom’s best friend. I’ll hang around, see what she decides to do.”

  “You can help Ben and me move furniture into our new office while you’re waiting, if you’d like. And we might have some other jobs for you. Nothing glamorous but they’ll all pay.”

  “I’m not a glamorous kind of guy.”

  “Yeah. Me, either.”

  Aware of a sudden nudge at his ribs, Grady turned to his other side and looked into Soren’s confused expression. “What’s the matter with everyone?” the boy asked. “Is this really love stuff?”

  “I’m afraid it is. And it’s going to last for a while. Maybe even get worse. The best thing to do is get into it with them. Have you ever heard the expression ‘if you can’t beat them, join them?’”

  Soren shook his head, but gave the words some thought. “Isn’t that like being a traitor? Like changing sides?”

  “Not in this case. There’s really no bad side to love. You can stay away from all the fun they’re having because they look kind of silly, but you’d have a better time if you got into the fun.”

  “Are you going to be our uncle? Mine and Rosie’s?”

  “Sure, like one of your uncles you aren’t really related to but who are good friends of the family.”

  “No, I mean a real uncle. ’Cause Cassie is our aunt.”

  “Right. But I’m not married to Cassie.”

  Soren frowned. “She lives with you.”

  “Because she’s visiting and needs a place to stay.”

  “She looks like she’s your wife.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She looks at you like Corie—my mom, looks at my dad. You know, Ben.”

  “Well...we’re pretty good friends.”

  Soren nodded. “Corie says that friends make the best husbands and wives. She picked up our suits today. We have to wear a tie.” His expression suggested he wasn’t happy about that.

  “Weddings are fancy. You’re supposed to look nice.”

  “I don’t like fancy.”

  “I hear you.”

  “Can I have a sip of your coffee?”

  “Uh...” Grady looked up to consult Ben, but he was busy laughing with Jack over something.

  “He usually lets me have a sip, but he doesn’t put anything in it. I think I’d like it better with cream.”

  Grady passed him the cup. “Try it. If you don’t like it, we can put some sugar in it.”

  Soren grinned at him. “Thanks. You’d make a good uncle.”

  “Thank you.”

  He turned to ask someone to pass the sugar, but stopped when he saw Jack jump to his feet, looking happy but emotional. Jack sidled out from behind the table and went to intercept Don Chapman, who’d been delivered to the Bistro by his mother and Helen. The women quickly left.

  “Jack!” Don said, coming toward him. “My God! I’d say it can’t have been that long ago, but...” He opened his arms to Jack and they held each other for a long moment, Don as emotional as Jack. They finally pulled apart and Jack called Ben to him.

  It occurred to Grady for the first time that Jack and Donald had been part of the same family before tragedy befell the Mannings.

  “This is my brother, Ben. Remember him? He was my best friend all those years ago.”

  Don embraced Ben, also. “I do. I remember having to stop the two of you from driving off in my car when you were about eight years old.”

  “We had places to go,” Ben explained. “And if we walked, you’d make us take C
orie with us to keep her out of trouble.”

  Jack slapped his shoulder. “When you were with Mom was the best time of our lives to that point. Come and sit down. We’ll get you something to eat.”

  The party went on with a lot of reminiscences Grady hadn’t heard before. He guessed even Ben hadn’t heard some of them, because he was particularly attentive.

  When Ben sat again, Soren leaned toward him and Grady heard him ask in a soft voice, “Was that man your dad?”

  “No, he was Uncle Jack’s dad for a little while. I was Uncle Jack’s friend before I became his brother, so we used to hang out together.”

  “You can do that?” Soren asked, eyes wide. “Make a friend your brother?”

  “Sometimes. It happened for us like it did for you and Rosie. My parents adopted Uncle Jack when he was little because his mom went away and his dad had died. So he became part of my family and that made us brothers. Like you and Rosie became part of Corie’s and my family, and that made you brother and sister.”

  Soren puzzled over that and then smiled. “Corie is always saying things are complicated in our family.”

  Ben squeezed the boy to him. “And that’s the truth.”

  * * *

  CASSIE MEASURED A yard-long length of natural raffia Sarah had picked up, Eleanor cut it at the end of the yardstick and Corie looped it into three and handed it to Sarah. Sarah in turn tucked in a silk Gerbera daisy and tied it with a strip of raffia, leaving enough length to attach it to the back of one of the white wooden chairs they’d rented.

  The women stood back to admire their work.

  “What do you think?” Cassie asked.

  “I like it.” Between Corie’s feet was a basket of silk daisies Denise had special-ordered. “Now we have only forty-nine chairs to go.”

  “Shall we just make them,” Eleanor asked, “and attach them tomorrow so they don’t get scrunched in the meantime?” The chairs had been folded and stashed in the kitchen.

  Sarah nodded, studying the ornament closely. “That’s the plan. You’re sure it shouldn’t be fussier?”

  “I like the simplicity,” Corie said, folding her arms. “It’s perfect.”