“I’m here to apologize.”
Linda’s face contorted into a skeptical frown. “I don’t understand.”
“That night in the ladies’ room, I said some pretty terrible things.”
Linda nodded. Her face was ghostly white.
“I was very rude. I said some things, issued some threats. I just want to say, you don’t have to worry that I would ever use any of that information.”
“Wh-why?” she stuttered.
“That’s not who I am. I was angry, very angry that night. I’ve been taunted and ridiculed for years and I was no longer able to control how I felt. But I am not a blackmailer. I will keep your secret as long as you want. You need have no fear that anything related to your past will cross my lips.”
It took Linda a while to be able to speak. She seemed to be lost for whatever the words were she needed. “I don’t understand,” she said. “You have a bombshell. You could detonate my life if you wanted. I know I shouldn’t ask this, but why are you willing to keep it a secret?”
Diana smiled. “It’s not my place to reveal other people’s secrets. It reflects badly on me. I operate a business. One that runs on reputation. I don’t want my reputation tarnished, just as you don’t want yours tarnished. You made a mistake years ago—why should you pay for it the rest of your life?”
“I don’t understand you.”
Diana smiled. “That’s all right.”
“But I treated you so badly. For years I belittled you.”
“But if I continue that kind of behavior, it only makes me an offender.”
Linda looked at her for a long, long moment. “Thank you,” she finally whispered.
Diana could feel the weight that had lifted from Linda’s shoulders. Diana got up to leave. Linda called her back. “Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”
“For old time’s sake?” Diana smiled.
Linda shook her head. “For all the new times.”
* * *
It was rare for Scott to wait for a passenger to get off a plane, but he stood waiting for Piper to deplane. She’d called the day before to say she was flying into Princeton and wanted to see him.
Piper was attending a meeting in Philadelphia and would make a small detour to see him. Of course the real person she wanted to see was Diana. Scott had told her a lot about Diana, and it was natural for his sister to want to meet her. When Piper met her husband, Scott arranged to be in a nearby town so he could meet him. After her first marriage failed, he was concerned that she wouldn’t make a good choice this time. Not that he would have told her if she hadn’t. Scott knew the limits even with family. If she was about to make a mistakes, she had to see it for herself. Scott knew nothing was foretold. There was no way he or anyone could assess the success of a marriage. But when he met Josh Winesap, he liked him immediately. Since then the two men had been the best of friends. And Piper never mentioned him without a smile on her face or a lilt in her voice.
Scott’s mouth dropped open when he saw his obviously pregnant sister deplane. She smiled and waved to him. As she came into the terminal and directly into his arms, he hugged her close, feeling her protruding belly.
“When did this happen?” he asked pushing her back and giving her a brotherly once-over.
“Several months ago.”
“And with all the emails and phone calls, you didn’t think this was important to mention?” Still holding her hands, he raised them and looked at her again.
“We didn’t want to tell anyone until the first trimester ended.” Putting her hands on her belly, she looked down. “Five months next week.”
“You don’t have to tell anyone now. They can see.” He hugged her again. “Congratulations. You’re going to be a wonderful mom.”
“And you’re going to be a great uncle.”
“Have you told Mom and Dad yet?”
She rolled her eyes. “It took an hour to convince them they didn’t need to fly up here and take care of me.”
Scott laughed, and together they left the terminal.
“So when do I meet her?” Piper said.
Scott didn’t pretend not to know who she meant. “I thought you were coming to see me.”
“I’ve seen you. Now when do I get to see Diana?”
“You say that as if you’re here to approve of her. We’re not even seeing each other.”
“Scott, I’ve heard you discuss jet engines, beating hearts, flying in bad weather, skimming tree tops and a myriad of other subjects. Rarely have you discussed a woman. Yet you’ve told me more about Diana Greer than any other person in ten years. And even back then you mentioned her a time or two. So yes, I want to meet her. But no, I’m not here to approve. Just hope.”
“Hope? What does that mean?”
“It means I hope she’s the one for you.”
Scott looked at the ceiling even though he was driving. “Not you, too.”
“‘Me too’ what?”
“My buddies.”
“Not the ones from the Wall.”
“Not them. These are guys I went to college with. They all know Diana and staged, for want of a better word, an intervention.”
Piper’s head whipped around.
“They didn’t kidnap me or anything like that. They just showed up for lunch one day with a lot of questions about me and Diana.”
“You and Diana as a couple.”
Scott nodded. He didn’t trust himself to speak. The idea of a couple had been on his mind, but he’d suppressed thinking about it. Neither he nor Diana was looking for a relationship, especially a long-term one. It was the one question both of them had answered no to on their profiles. Yet he enjoyed being with her. Obviously his sister thought the same thing.
“Are you a couple?” Piper continued.
“We are not.”
“Do I hear a yet at the end of that sentence?”
“You do not. Both of us were looking for companionship, not a lifemate.”
“Things change.” She sang the words, an impish smile on her mouth.
* * *
The gales of laughter coming from the three women was not what Scott had expected when he walked into the bar. In fact, he didn’t expect them to be in the bar. He’d dropped Piper at the restaurant, and she was, at her request, to have dinner with Diana. No one said Teddy would be there, too. Scott started for the table. The three women raised glasses and clinked them together before drinking and again bursting into laughter.
He felt defensive. He didn’t know what Piper could be telling them, but he had the paranoid feeling that he was the subject of their regalia.
“What’s going on?” Scott asked as he reached the table.
The women answered by bursting into laughter.
“Piper, I hope you haven’t been airing the family laundry.”
She raised her hand for him to wait until she could stop laughing and get herself under control.
“You can relax,” Teddy said. “You’re not the subject of discussion.”
Scott took the only empty chair at the table. “Who is?”
“I am,” Diana said.
“Diana and Teddy have been telling me about some of the things that happened at the weddings they’ve consulted.”
The giggles got to them again, and one by one the three joined into laughter on a joke that he was not privy to. Scott checked the table. There were several wineglasses strewn about and a candle that had burned nearly to its base. “How much have you guys had to drink?” Scott looked directly at his sister’s glass.
“Mineral water,” she told him.
“I don’t remember,” Teddy said.
“I’m driving,” Diana finished, taking a drink of the dark-colored liquid in her glass.
“
So what were some of the wedding stories?”
The question was simple, but again it seemed the three women had lost their ability to speak. Laughter replaced all other forms of communication.
“Diana told us about the troll,” Piper finally said.
Diana and Teddy nodded.
“She was a short woman. Pretty and petite, but she’d been to a bridal fashion show and saw a pintucked dress she had to have. It was... Well, let’s just say it was something that Scarlett from Gone with the Wind could have worn. It was designed for a much taller woman, but she kept adding things to it: a hat, veil, very high heels. And then the umbrella.”
“Umbrella?”
“After adding all that stuff, she looked like a troll.”
Scott didn’t find that funny. “I guess you had to be there,” he said.
“I guess so.”
After he and Diana stared at each other for a long moment, Piper spoke up. “I hate to cut this short. It’s been great.” She stood up and pushed her chair in. “I have to sit all day in that meeting tomorrow, so I’d better get to bed.”
“We’ll do this again,” Teddy stated.
“We’ll have to,” Piper smiled. Each woman stood and hugged Piper. The party broke up and they all headed for the door.
Scott let Teddy lead. She and Piper were in conversation when he took Diana’s arm. “What did you really talk about?” he asked.
“We wouldn’t lie to you, Scott. We talked about weddings, flying airplanes. You didn’t tell me she’s a pilot, too. And of course, the most important thing. We talked about you, Skippy.”
She stood on her toes, planted a kiss on his nose and joined the two women ahead of them. Scott didn’t take the kiss as sexual. It was more of an I’ve-got-a-secret kiss. He wondered what his sister had said. Like Linda, he expected the two women would be like oil and water, or at the least have a standoff. Coming into the restaurant and finding them deep in laughter, looking as if they’d known each other for years, was totally unexpected.
Piper didn’t trust easily and apparently neither did Diana, yet the two got on as if they’d played in the same sandbox. And she’d told Diana about Skippy. Scott’s dad had told him not to try and understand women. They only changed if you got anywhere near figuring them out.
Today he understood the truth of that statement.
* * *
The air was perfect for flying. The wind speed wasn’t too strong or too weak. The sky was clear, and Scott was waiting for Diana. He’d invited her to the airfield but had not told her why or where they were going. Emerging from the Porsche, Scott watched her walk to the hangar. Dressed in a pair of pants and a light jacket, she was the picture of sunshine as she strolled across the tarmac. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she slipped the sunglasses from her crown to cover her eyes.
He stepped out from behind the plane. She smiled when she saw him coming.
“Is this your plane?” Diana asked when she was within speaking distance.
Scott glanced at the plane. He nodded. “My father gave it to me when I graduated from college.”
“Most people get interview clothes. I guess this worked as a luggage carrier.” She folded her arms and smiled at him. “And you needed some way to get to Montana.”
“Naturally,” he said.
“Are we going inside?”
He started walking toward the stairs. “I thought we’d go for a ride.”
“Where?” Diana asked.
“How about Washington, D.C.? Or Maine?”
She turned on the stairs and looked at him. “Maine?”
“It’s not that far. You don’t have any wedding planned. You have no franchise appointments. According to Teddy, you’re free for a couple of days.”
“So Teddy is in on this?”
He nodded. “You should never go anywhere without filing a flight plan.”
“And she’s mine?”
“She’s yours.”
After a moment she moved all the way up and stepped through the door. Scott followed, watching her as she looked around the space. The plane seated ten. All the seats were empty. She turned back and looked at him.
“I don’t have any clothes.”
“I don’t think you’ll need any.” He smiled.
“It might be cold in Maine,” she said, a blush painting up from her neck and into her face.
“We have blankets.”
“Then I guess I’m out of excuses.”
Offering her his hand, she slowly walked toward him and placed her hand in his. Scott led her to the cockpit. He settled her in the copilot’s seat and showed her how to put on her headphones.
“Are you sure I should sit here?”
“As long as you don’t take the controls, you’ll be fine.”
He put his headphones on and checked with the tower. After a few routine comments he was cleared. And the two were on their way.
“When did you decide you wanted to be a pilot?” Diana asked several minutes later after they were no longer over the recognizable portions of the state. She had to talk into the microphone for Scott to hear her.
“It wasn’t something I decided. It just happened.”
“How? Who taught you?”
“My father. He’s northern Maine’s answer to the bush pilot.”
“Really? You’re from Maine?”
Scott shook his head. “I grew up in Minnesota. My parents have a house in Maine. We used to go up there every summer. The house is in a remote part of the state. My dad and I would hunt and talk, and he’d take me flying. I think the first time I had the controls in my hands, I was eight years old.”
He smiled and Diana could tell he’d lapsed into a happy childhood memory.
“Just holding those controls was like...like nothing I’d ever felt before. I had this big airplane, and with the smallest movement of my hands, it would do what I wanted. The rush I felt was like nothing I could describe. From that moment on, I wanted to fly.” He laughed, again at some past memory. “I pestered my dad every minute to let me do it again. I had my pilot’s license by the time I was sixteen. I could fly a plane before I could drive a car.”
“Did you always fly corporate planes?”
“Other than my dad’s planes, I tried a few with the big airlines.” His tone told her he hadn’t been thrilled.
“Didn’t you like it?”
“I didn’t like the routine. I had a route. It was like flying all day and going nowhere. I much prefer the corporate jets.”
“Nonroutine, I take it?”
“I guess that’s part of it. It also allows me a lot of free time. There isn’t a flight every day or sometimes twice a day.”
“With the world doing email and telecommunicating, is there that much call for a corporate plane, or is it a prestige thing?”
“There’s still enough call for in-person meetings, but I’m sure it’s prestigious to have your own plane. You can go when you want instead of having to rush things because the last plane out leaves at a specific time.”
“Is your dad still alive?”
“Both parents are alive and well and living in Minnesota. My dad is semiretired. He works three days a week, still flies his own plane and operates a ground school for pilots.
“What about you? Did you always want to be a wedding consultant?”
“I’m not a consultant. I run a franchise.”
“Excuse me.” He winced, as if he’d said something wrong. “Did you always want to own a wedding business? There were no courses like that at Princeton, unless I missed them.”
“How would you know,” she smiled shyly. “Your major was female anatomy. And that wasn’t in the curriculum, either.”
“It was not.” He pretended to be h
urt. “And if I had, I see you were quite knowledgeable to what I was doing.”
“You were always in my way, always had a woman on your arm. That is until Linda knocked them all aside.”
He dropped his eyes. “Yeah, Linda,” he said.
Diana didn’t know how to read into that. She decided not to pursue it. Linda Engles latched on to Scott like a leech and the campus gossip had them marrying when they graduated. Even though Diana hadn’t seen Scott since leaving the university, her heart sang that he hadn’t tied himself to a woman like Linda.
“Your turn,” Scott said. “How did you get into weddings? Your major was either mathematics or computer science, wasn’t it?”
“Both. I had a double major and double minor,” Diana corrected him. “One of my minors was business. I always knew I wanted to own my own business. I didn’t know what kind. Then my sister announced her engagement.”
“You have a sister?”
“Joselyn.” She nodded. “I also have two brothers. Twins.”
Scott gazed at her as if memorizing her features. There was so much he didn’t know. He’d never taken the time when they were in college. Now he wanted to know everything about her.
“Where do you fit in the mix?”
“I’m in the middle. Brothers are older, sister younger.”
“Anyway, Joselyn announced her engagement and asked me to be her wedding consultant. I’d never done it before, and she couldn’t afford to hire one. I was good at organization and details, so I agreed to do it.”
“And you found your calling?”
“Sort of. The wedding was rife with changes. The groom’s mother hated everything. Although she’s come to love my sister, she was a force to be reckoned with during the planning process. The bridesmaids argued, and one left the wedding party. I felt like I was always putting down an argument.”
“Then what made you go into the business?”
“The day of the wedding, it was like all the pieces fell into place. The bride was beautiful; the groom was gorgeous and in love. The parents were proud. The church was decorated with fragrant flowers. The cake was delivered on time and exactly what the bride requested. I cried during the ceremony.”
“You cried,” he teased.
His Love Match Page 15