A Cottage Wedding

by Leigh Duncan

  “Paychecks. Right.” Verifying the staff hours was normally his job. This week, though, Evelyn had offered to take that task—and many others—off his hands so he could focus on the Weddings Today review. Speaking of which, he hoped he hadn’t ruined things by dancing with Tara last night. He’d half expected her to call or text after she’d practically run out of the ballroom, but he’d looked for a message from her a dozen times this morning. So far, nada. Should he check in on her? He picked up his cell phone. Thinking better of the idea, he set it back on his desk.

  “That last rainstorm washed away some of the gazebo’s foundation. I have the grounds crew working on repairs. It’ll cost us some overtime, but it’ll be worth it. They promised to complete the job by the weekend.”

  “Why the rush? We don’t have a ceremony scheduled in the gardens this week.” Jason ran a hand through his hair. Speaking of gardens, he hadn’t taken Tara on a tour of the grounds around the Cottage yet. Should he?

  “The Smith couple wants to have their wedding photographs taken there. Are you even listening to me?” Evelyn stared at him.

  Seeing the concern etched on his cousin’s face, Jason swallowed. He’d better pull it together. Ever since the party last night, his thoughts had been drifting toward Tara far too often. “Sorry. I’ve been, um, distracted.”

  “It wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain blonde journalist, would it?” Evelyn leaned forward, a playful eagerness shining in her eyes. “Do you two have something going on besides the review?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Jason stiffened. “I’m simply doing what everyone asked me to do, showing her around town and making sure she sees the best of Heart’s Landing.”

  “I don’t know about that.” Evelyn tsked. “I saw you on the dance floor. You two looked like a pair of lovebirds.”

  “Was that before or after she stalked off and left me standing there by myself?”

  “Ouch! What’d you do?”

  “Nothing.” He held up his palms. “I swear.” One minute, he and Tara had been moving about the dance floor in time with the music. The next, she’d sprung from his arms like a Jack-in-the-box. He had no idea what he’d done wrong. The worst part was that dancing with her had awakened a dormant longing. For the first time, he’d caught himself wanting what other grooms came to Heart’s Landing to celebrate…with her. But when she’d abandoned him in front of the roomful of people, he’d come face-to-face with the facts. He had no business even thinking those kinds of thoughts about her. Not now, and not later, either.

  The phone rang, and he held up one finger. “It’s Greg. I’ve got to get this.”

  He greeted the mayor with a sigh of relief. The call had put a stop to Evelyn’s prying questions.

  But the moment he finished bringing the ailing man up to speed, his cousin picked up the conversation right where she’d left off. “Just be careful.” She leaned back in her chair. “I like Tara, but you’re coming off a breakup. I wouldn’t want to see either of you get hurt by rushing into something.”

  “You have nothing to worry about.” Tara would be headed back to New York before long. After that, they’d probably never see each other again. “I’m not going to make the same mistake I made with Clarissa and get involved in another long-distance relationship,” he said with far more assurance than he felt.

  His answer, though, apparently satisfied Evelyn. She relaxed into her chair. “So, what are your plans for today?”

  “She wanted the morning to herself. I’m taking her into town after lunch. We have places to go and people to see.” There’d be plenty of time to chat while they were out. With luck, Tara would tell him why she’d run off like she had last night. “By the way, Ames invited her to stop by for a fitting sometime this week.”

  “His veils are spectacular.” Her perpetual grin widening, Evelyn fanned herself. “I wish I could afford to have him design one for me.”

  “Hmmm.” She’d set her sights on a headpiece from Chantilly Veils, had she? “That sounds like the kind of thing one cousin might give another as a wedding gift,” he suggested.

  Disbelief widened Evelyn’s eyes. “You’d do that?”

  “As much as you do around here, I figure I owe you that much. But maybe you should concentrate on finding the right guy first.” Whoever he was, he’d have to measure up. His cousin deserved the best.

  “If I’d known there was a veil at stake, I’d have started looking earlier.” Evelyn sobered. “When the time’s right, don’t think I won’t hold you to it. And don’t forget. You need to have Tara back here by five for the Garrison wedding.”

  “Right.” He checked his watch. The morning was still young. He pushed away from his desk. “Are we all caught up?”

  Smiling, Evelyn shook her head. “You still need to sign the paychecks, or you’re going to have some very unhappy employees.”

  “Right.” He reached for the folder. With all that was on his mind and on the schedule, he’d be lost without Evelyn to keep tabs on him this week. Still, he hated to see her work so hard. Last night, she’d dropped in on the party only long enough to fix a plate. According to at least one source, she’d taken her food back to the office to eat. “As long as I’m sticking around for a while, why don’t you take the morning off? I’ll cover the phones and such.”

  “Can’t. I have a meeting with vendors at ten.” Her features brightened. “But I could practice our songs for Wednesday night till then. I’d love to run through the whole routine.”

  “That sounds like a good idea.” Clicking his pen, he flipped the folder open and took the first check off the stack.

  “Okay. I’ll be in the conservatory if anyone needs me.”

  “We won’t.” Shooing Evelyn out of his office, Jason couldn’t help but feel that by the time the contest was over, he’d owe his cousin far more than a wedding veil.

  In the meantime, he’d make the morning do double duty by mulling over exactly what had gone wrong last night. One thing for sure, he should never have asked Tara to dance with him. Holding her in his arms had only led to problems. The kind neither of them could afford.

  The heart wants what the heart wants.

  The saying was one he’d heard his dad repeat often enough. He’d begun to wonder if his heart wanted Tara, but his mind knew better. This time, for a lot of reasons, he had to side with his mind.

  Tara sipped coffee while she watched the little circle on her screen spin. What was taking so long? Yesterday, her reports to Regina had gone in a flash. Today though, long seconds had passed since she hit “send,” and her laptop was still deciding whether or not it wanted to follow her instructions. Worse, it kept shutting itself off in the middle of the task, forcing her to log in and start over.

  What to do. What to do.

  She could sit here and simply wait for the device to do its thing. Or, she could practice her apology to Jason. Not that she needed to. She’d been over what she intended to say a thousand times during what had turned into a sleepless night.

  She drummed her fingers on the table as the screen timed out for the third time. Phooey. Changing the settings went against the company’s security protocols, but enough was enough. Once the computer booted up again, she brought up the control panel. With a few keystrokes, she modified several of the power options. By the time she finished, the laptop no longer shut itself off mid-task or required her password every time she stopped typing to think for more than five seconds.

  Satisfied that the machine would attempt to send her reports until it succeeded, she pushed away from the table. At the buffet, she doctored a second cup of coffee. A tempting aroma rose from a breakfast dish that featured layers of fruit and thick slices of bread in an egg-y custard. Her mouth watered. Though she’d told herself that she’d eaten enough for three days at the party last night, she couldn’t resist taking a plate from the warmer and dishing up
a small helping. One glance at her computer put a smile on her face when she returned to her table. The circle had disappeared, the email sent.

  Her mom liked to say that snow and adolescence were the only things that went away if you ignored them, but Tara had a few new candidates to add to that list. Patience—and the occasional reboot—solved most computer problems. Snarled traffic in Midtown would unknot itself, given enough time. And her attraction to Jason would fade, too, if she simply pretended it didn’t exist.

  Yes. That was exactly what she’d do. She’d ignore the way her tongue got all tied up in knots whenever she saw his tall form striding toward her. She’d banish him from the dreams that had kept her tossing and turning through the long night. And she absolutely would not think about how good it had felt when he’d held her. Because she couldn’t afford to develop feelings for the man. Not now. Not when she’d finally been given her one big chance to succeed at Weddings Today.

  Her decision made, she concentrated on her breakfast, which tasted every bit as good as it smelled. Snatches of piano music drifted into the room while she ate. The notes stirred a familiar itch to run her fingers over the ivories, press her feet on the pedals. She’d inherited an upright from her grandmother, but her apartment was far too small to accommodate it. Even if she could figure out how to lug it up five flights of stairs.

  Her laptop chimed. A quick glance assured her that her reports had reached their destination. Finished with breakfast, she powered the computer off, tucked it under one arm, and headed down the hall in search of the source of the music.

  It didn’t take long to find it. In a salon she’d barely looked inside during Jason’s tour of the house, Evelyn sat at a grand piano. Light poured through the mullioned windows, setting her red hair aflame while she sang along as she played a rollicking song about life on the high seas. Tara didn’t recognize the melody but tapped her toe along with the music. When the young woman struck the final chords, she applauded.

  “I didn’t know anyone was there.” Evelyn’s ever-ready smile widened. “Did you want to play? I can leave.” She started to stand.

  “Don’t be silly.” Tara waved the woman back onto the bench. “I enjoyed listening to you. Was that one of the numbers you and Jason perform together?” She wandered closer.

  “Yes. It’s part of the set we’ll sing at the Smith reception on Wednesday.” Evelyn slid a few pages of sheet music across the lid’s glossy, black surface. “I’ve been so busy this week I’ve hardly had a chance to practice. Everyone wants to get married in June. I don’t know why. Me, I’m going to get married in the Fall. The colors are so lovely that time of year.” She plinked an ivory key. The clear tone of a middle-C rang through the room. “I thought I’d get in an hour or two before things get hectic again.”

  “That’s probably because I’m here, right?” She didn’t expect an answer to the question and studied the sheet music. The chords seemed simple enough, the words straightforward.

  “Not really.” Evelyn grinned. “We were already slammed to begin with. Don’t tell Jason, but I actually enjoy filling in for him when he’s busy. It gives me a better sense of what it takes to run this place.”

  Tara handed the sheets back to Evelyn. “Do you ever see yourself doing that? Taking charge of the Captain’s Cottage?”

  “Full-time? Not on your life. Too much responsibility for me—I’ll leave that to my cousin. Keeping track of the weddings that take place here at the Cottage, making sure there’s adequate turnover time between events—that alone is hugely complicated. Then, there’s working with the vendors, maintaining the website, handling all the publicity, supervising the maintenance and housekeeping crews. People depend on him for their jobs. Brides count on him to provide the perfect venue. I don’t know how he does it all, but he never complains, never loses his cool.” She paused to take a breath.

  “He must really love what he does.” Her chest ached when she thought of how her assignment might impact Jason. Unable to meet Evelyn’s eyes, she studied the view on the other side of the window.

  “He does. We all do. Working here, working anywhere in Heart’s Landing, it’s more than a job. It’s a calling. We’re dedicated to seeing that every bride who walks through our front doors has the best experience of her life. You know that saying, ‘It takes a village?’”

  Tara nodded.

  “Well, it might take a village to raise a child, but it takes an entire town to pull off one perfect wedding after another. I do my small part by keeping the books and making sure that when the cook wants to bake a red velvet cake or the housekeeper says it’s time to polish the silver, we have whatever they need on hand.”

  “You must be really organized.” It would require a staggering number of items to maintain a house the size of the Captain’s Cottage for a single day. Evelyn performed the task day in and day out. But she might not have a job much longer. She, along with everyone else in town, would face some major adjustments once Weddings Today awarded some other city the title of America’s Top Wedding Destination.

  “It’s my secret power.” Evelyn’s dark eyes twinkled. “We all have them.”

  “Oh yeah?” Curious, she asked, “What’s Jason’s?”

  A teasing glint lit Evelyn’s eyes. “I’ll never tell. You’ll have to figure that one out for yourself.”

  Tara trailed a finger over the line of keys. She might enjoy doing just that, except the man with the swashbuckling good looks was going to be so furious when he learned the truth behind her presence in Heart’s Landing that he’d never speak to her again. Plus, she’d already sworn to keep her involvement with Jason to a minimum.

  “And yours? What’s your secret power?” Evelyn tipped her head to one side.

  “That depends on who you ask.” As a child, her mother had called her stubborn. The few men she’d dated had complained that she put work above their relationship, while Regina praised her dedication. She liked to think of herself as determined—once she figured out what she wanted, she went after it with all her heart.

  “Stick around—we’ll figure it out together.”

  “If only I could,” she said turning wistful. She’d been in Heart’s Landing less than two full days, but the place had gotten under her skin. She loved the quaint shops, enjoyed seeing brides and grooms wandering up and down Bridal Carriage Drive, felt perfectly at home here in the Captain’s Cottage. But her job, her future, waited for her in New York.

  As if she’d expected the answer, Evelyn patted the bench beside her. “Here, join me,” she said, scooting over to make room. “I could use a partner.”

  “Thanks, but I’ll pass.” Tara eyed the space Evelyn had cleared and shook her head. Standing in the choir loft where her voice blended in with twenty others was one thing. The idea of singing in the salon with someone as accomplished as Evelyn made her nervous, and that was without stopping to consider who might overhear them.

  “Come on. It’s just the two of us. These old sea shanties are easy-peasy.”

  Okay, she was tempted. She glanced over her shoulder at the empty doorway. “I’m rusty,” she said at last. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Sliding onto the bench, she listened as Evelyn played through the first number. When the other woman started over at the top, Tara joined in, hitting the first note at the top of the bar, just as she’d learned to do in countless choir practices. The timing was trickier than she’d anticipated, and she faltered a bit on the first run-through. By the second, though, she matched her partner note for note.

  “That was great,” Evelyn said when they finished. “Want to try another one?”

  Tara shrugged. Why not? From what she could tell, their voices worked well together. As for someone peeking in on them, no one had wandered past the open door. Chances were, this far away from the main entrance, no one would.

  Over the next hour, they worked their way thro
ugh all the songs in Evelyn’s set. For some of the easier numbers, Tara plunked out the harmony on the keyboard, a move that drew a nod of approval from her new friend. The ballad at the end was a crooked tune with an odd set of beats that made it trickier than the rest. It took three tries to get it right, but Tara kept at it until she had it down pat.

  “Excellent!” Evelyn exclaimed while the last notes faded. “If you lived here, you could fill in for me once in a while.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so,” Tara protested. Though she wouldn’t mind spending more time in Heart’s Landing, there was another, bigger problem. “I don’t like speaking in public. I can’t imagine singing a solo in front of a big group.”

  “It’s all in the way you think of it.” Evelyn ran the scale on the piano. “If I focus on my feelings, my fears, I get stage fright, too. But if I concentrate on the bride and the groom, see the songs or the skit as a gift to them, then walking up on the stage or singing along with Jason isn’t half as bad.”

  “That’s such a sweet thought.” Tara bet the crowds loved her for it. As for her, though, just thinking about performing for strangers loosed the butterflies in her stomach.

  “Speaking of Jason, look who just stopped by.” Evelyn lifted her chin. “I guess our time is up.”

  As Evelyn began gathering up the sheet music, Tara glanced toward the door. Her thoughts stuttered the moment she caught sight of Jason’s long, lean form propped against the frame. She swallowed. How long had he been standing there?

  He cleared his throat. “I hate to break this up, but Tara, we need to get started if we’re going to get you back here for the Garrison wedding this evening.”

  “Good grief!” When she was in middle and high school, she could practice for hours without being aware of the passage of time. Once she’d started college, though, her studies had taken precedence. After that, between her job and her tiny apartment, singing in the church choir had been her only musical outlet. Today, for the first time in ages, the music had swept her away again.