Finding Freedom (Book 4) (Piper Anderson Series)

by Stewart, Danielle

  “Looks like we both got mixed up with the wrong people. I’m sorry you are dealing with this Brad shit. But I really believe Michael will figure it out and you can go back to your normal life. Back to all the good stuff.”

  “Yep. It really was a wonderful life. You’re right about that. I shouldn’t have a complaint in the world. I have about the best adoptive parents anyone could ask for. Every Christmas there were dozens of presents under the tree with my name on them. My birthday parties were like fairy tale dreams come true. I had it all, Jedda, and all it cost me was my brother. A pretty fair trade, wouldn’t you say? I should be happy.” Willow fumed, anger seething through her gritted teeth.

  “I don’t understand. Are you mad at what I did? Do you wish I just left you there? I didn’t have a choice. I had to kill them, it was the only way I knew how to save you.”

  “Listen, if last night proved anything to me, it’s that we’re all pretty much on our own. If a girl like Crystal can be, well, what she was, then who can you trust? I don’t want to get into all of our stuff today. I just want to get through this wedding and get on with my life.”

  “You’re leaving again?”

  “You’re going to be fine down here. You don’t need me, or the problems I bring with me. I can figure this out on my own and you’ll be better for it.”

  “We can talk more later. It’ll work out, I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you,” Jedda said, reaching for Willow, who pulled away and quickly slammed her hands to her head in sheer frustration.

  “What’s going on?” Bobby asked as he headed toward them with a folding table under his arm. “You okay, Willow?” He dropped the table and pulled her into his arms, holding her hands down so she couldn’t strike her head again. She rested her tired head there for a moment and then shoved him backward as she righted herself.

  “I’m fine. Okay? I’m great. I’m going to sit up here and sing at this wedding. This surprise wedding that is probably going to turn into a disaster when the bride finds out, since she said she didn’t want it. Don’t you people ever listen to what someone is saying to you? Don’t you ever think that maybe she knows what’s best for her?”

  Her voice was loud and easily heard by an approaching Betty. “Dear, I’m going to pretend we’re still talking about my daughter here and answer your question regardless of whether you intended it as rhetorical. Sometimes people say one thing. They say what they think people need to hear, when in fact their heart is begging for something else. And if you know that person as deeply as I know my daughter then you see through the words and you look into their soul. Jules will stand up here today before her friends and her family, next to the man she loves with all her heart, and do something she wants so badly to do. She’ll look over at you playing her daddy’s guitar and feel his presence here. She’ll turn to me, see the tears in my eyes, and realize that even when she feels completely overwhelmed and misunderstood, someone can hear what her heart wants. She’ll see Piper standing next to her, and Bobby next to Michael, and she’ll know that she has fiercely loyal friends who will never let her fall. She won’t see that the napkins weren’t the ones she picked out and she won’t notice all the people who didn’t come. Instead she’ll be warmed by all the people who did show up. Sometimes you need folks to ignore what you’re saying and pay attention to what you need instead.”

  Willow’s lips were stiffly pursed together as she listened to the speech. Jedda’s heart was tightening as he wondered what his sister might shoot back. Would she embrace this moment or would she ruin it all with a snarky, defensive retort.

  “That’s nice, Betty, and I’m sure you’re right about Jules. But that’s because you know her so well. No one here knows me at all. So all that doesn’t apply. You can’t see through my words and get to what I really want, because no one here could ever understand what it feels like. So please, can we just go back to getting ready for this day and move on?” Willow asked meekly, raising her eyebrows at everyone expectantly.

  “That’s fine, dear,” Betty whispered as she stepped closer to Willow and pulled her in for a hug. “I don’t understand you, sweetheart, but I’m going to keep trying.” She leaned away and looked into Willow’s eyes. “I promise. I’ll keep trying.”

  Jedda watched as Willow swallowed back the threat of tears and nodded her head, reluctant and grateful all at once.

  “Now,” Betty said loudly as she clapped her hands together, “it’s time to call the bride and groom and trick them into coming to their wedding.”

  Betty hustled back down the path toward the house and, on the way, passed Josh, who was looking sheepish. Jedda watched as Betty patted him lightly on the back on her way by, and he instantly filled with relief, a skip returning to his step. He’d received a silent pardon from the queen.

  “Hey Josh,” Bobby said as he waved him over and gestured for him to help with the tables. “You’re just in time for the manual labor.”

  “Great.” Josh rolled up the sleeves of his sweatshirt. “I’m hoping if I do enough now I won’t really have to do all the dishes later.”

  “Fat chance,” Bobby groaned, “she’s already got a set of dish gloves with your name on them. Literally, she wrote your name on them.”

  * * * *

  When Michael and Jules pulled up to the house, the army of people standing there did a terrible job of holding poker faces. The fact that all the girls had their hair in updos didn’t help either. Willow was trying to pay attention to their arrival but she felt herself distracted as she replayed her conversation with Jedda. She wondered if Betty’s prediction of Jules’s reaction to the surprise would come to fruition. She wondered if her swirling conflicted feelings she held about herself and her brother would ever settle long enough for Betty to truly understand, the way she promised she would.

  “What’s wrong with all of you?” Jules asked as Bobby opened her car door and let her use him as leverage to get her body to a standing position.

  “Nothing wrong with us,” Betty said, pushing Bobby out of the way and pulling her daughter into her arms. “You can’t have anything wrong with you on your daughter’s wedding day.”

  “My what?” Jules asked, looking over her mother’s shoulder at Piper whose grin was uncharacteristically wide.

  “Today is your wedding day,” Betty squealed, releasing her daughter from a tight hug and pulling her by the hand toward the house. “Now, Michael your tux is hanging there on the porch. You and the boys will get ready in the shed. I don’t want you seeing the blushing bride in her dress. It’s bad luck.”

  “Ma,” Jules said, pulling her hand away and stopping in her tracks. “My dress doesn’t fit. This won’t work. Please tell me you didn’t plan a wedding for today.”

  “Crystal altered it,” Jedda said, feeling everyone’s eyes on him at the sound of her name.

  “She’s not here?” Jules asked, looking around. “Michael told me what happened. He told me about her sister. She’ll be here today right?”

  “I told her she should go,” Jedda said, brushing some stray dirt off his sleeve. “That was last night. I didn’t specifically tell her not to come today, but I’m sure she’s on her way back to New York by now.”

  “Well I hope she comes. She’s been through a lot and she’s a mighty nice girl. No matter what way you slice it, she helped you and Michael out in New York, and that counts for something,” Jules said, rubbing at her aching back. “Where are we having this thing? In the kitchen?” Jules’s face was filled with confusion.

  “That’s a surprise, dear. You just have to get yourself looking like a stunning bride and the rest is all taken care of.”

  “So we’re going to be married before the baby comes?” Jules asked, clasping her hands over her mouth to hold in a squeal of excitement.

  Betty’s eyes were wet with tears as she answered, “As long as she can wait another three hours, then yes.”

  “I can’t believe this, Ma, this is like a surprise party, but it’
s a wedding,” Jules exclaimed, sinking into Michael’s arms. He smiled down at his soon-to-be bride, looking pleased to know she was happy.

  “That’s right,” Betty said victoriously. “It’s a surprise wedding. I invented it.”

  Willow averted her eyes from the scene, and found herself looking in Josh’s direction instead. He’d come up to stand beside her. “I really thought that was going to be more exciting,” he said in a low voice, leaning down toward her ear. The smell of his cologne wafted toward her and she found herself caught up in it for a moment before she could speak.

  “Yeah,” she finally answered. “I guess we were wrong. Apparently some people really do like surprises.”

  “The only thing I hate more than surprises is being wrong. So today I’m batting a thousand,” Josh said, smiling only after he saw Willow’s mouth turn up slightly.

  “We’ve got a lot left to do to get this bride ready,” Betty announced as she ushered the girls onto the porch. “Clay, you and the men don’t take nearly as long to prepare so you finish up everything for the ceremony and keep an eye on the food. Mrs. Clarice will be here with the cake in an hour. Guests will be arriving an hour after that.” Betty pulled her daughter through the door with the excitement of a child on Christmas morning.

  Willow trailed in the house behind them, turning to look over her shoulder at Josh who was heading back down the yard toward the path that led to the field.

  “He’s good looking,” Piper said as she held the door open for Willow. “He seems to like you.”

  “Then he’s misjudged me.” Willow shrugged off the idea like it was an accusation. “But it’s not his fault, it happens all the time.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The cake arrived right on time and the guests trickled in slowly as the afternoon approached. Jedda sat nervously in the front row of chairs feeling like every eye was on him. Hopefully the bride would be out soon and she’d pull all the attention she deserved her way instead. Bobby had loaned him a button-down shirt, a pair of khakis, and sport coat that was a little too short in the sleeves, but significantly more appropriate than anything he owned.

  Michael and Bobby stood to the right of the arbor, both wearing gray suits with icy blue ties. With their hair tamed with gel and their faces clean-shaven, they stood chatting casually as if today were any other day in their happy lives.

  Jedda watched as Bobby disappeared from his post next to Michael and headed to the house. Things were probably about to start any minute and he kept looking down at the two empty seats beside him—one for his sister and one for Crystal.

  Willow appeared and settled into her seat and that left Jedda looking down at the last empty one. Willow looked more grown-up and polished than he’d ever seen her. Her hair was pulled up in an intricate knot, and she wore a flowery dress that Betty had pulled from Jules’s left-behind clothes.

  Without a word, Crystal appeared and slipped into the chair next to him. She was wearing a strapless cotton dress in a pale green that suited her ivory skin perfectly. Her hair was half up, with little white flowers tucked around the edges of a braid that twisted back around her head. Her lips were a glossy pink and her nails a matching shade. She looked amazing, but there was something missing—an accessory she always wore, but not today—her smile. The bubbly, effervescent smile that, in Betty’s words, you could see from the moon on a clear night. He’d told her to go, yet here she was.

  “I didn’t think you’d come,” Jedda said in a hushed voice. “I figured you’d be on your way to New York.”

  “The only thing you didn’t know about me, you found out yesterday. Everything else I’ve ever been, everything I’ve ever said, has been absolutely and authentically me. And if you believed that then you’d know I was up at the house making sure that dress fit Jules. And that I wouldn’t miss the magic and happiness of someone’s wedding for anything. That’s who I am.”

  Jedda searched for words as the music began to flow through the speakers that Josh had set up. Every head turned toward the path leading back to the house. Piper, holding a bouquet of wild flowers plucked right from the field they all stood in, was heading slowly to the arbor where Michael was standing. Her smile was small, her eyes staring straight ahead. She wore a beautiful gown in the same ice blue of the ties Michael and Bobby were wearing.

  Coming down behind Piper was Betty, her arm locked with Clay’s. They looked like a dapper couple both beaming with joy. Unlike Piper, Betty’s eye seemed to connect with everyone she passed, a knowing nod, a kind smile. Betty’s hair was down for the first time since Jedda had met her, only the sides pulled back and pinned up. If anyone could burst with pride, physically explode from it, surely Betty was about to.

  As the bridal march began to play, everyone stood. At the head of the aisle was a radiant Jules, her arm locked solidly with Bobby’s. The tears were already visible in her eyes as she looked over the people who’d come to celebrate, the work that had been put into the preparation, and the perfect spot that had been selected. Jedda was happy for Jules and Michael today, but as he looked over at Bobby he felt tears in his own eyes. He’d worried what his choices had done to the people around him. He disrupted Bobby’s life when he committed those murders. Bobby and his parents had taken him in, given him everything, and all he gave back was chaos. But today, watching who he’d become with this amazing group of people, Jedda felt relieved. Jules was Bobby’s best friend, his savior in the wake of what Jedda had done. And today, taking the spot of her late father, he was here to give his friend away. Jedda hadn’t done much talking to God in his life, but at that moment his gratitude was being silently sent up to the sky with a chant of Thank you. Thank you for making sure people survived my actions. Thank you for letting me see this day. Thank you for giving me another chance.

  As Bobby and Jules reached the front of the guests, Michael reached out a hand to his best man but quickly opted for a hug instead. The men embraced tightly and Bobby took his place next to him while Michael took a second to take in the stunning woman he was about to commit himself to. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, then leaned down and kissed her round belly.

  The minister held up a hand to quiet the coos and laughter as he spoke. “Dearly beloved,” he began, and just like that, two people became one, and Jedda felt eternally blessed to be able to witness it.

  Michael cleared his throat as he began to say the vows he’d written. Though they didn’t have much time to prepare for the wedding, Michael had no problem penning his vows quickly. He had clearly known what he wanted to say to his future wife. “Jules, when people look at you, I think they might assume you’re crazy.” He said it with a smile, and all the guests gasped and chuckled. “You’ve got a wild temper. You hardly ever listen to sage advice, and you’re quick to fight. When I first met you, that’s what I saw. That’s what I believed about you. But then I started to see the truth. Your temper was really just the expression of your passion for what you believe. You know yourself well, and you know your convictions. I now see your reactions as a fervent defending of who you are at the moment you’re challenged. Not listening to sound advice, I understand, is an element of your free spirit. You leap before you look and occasionally the fall is farther than you thought, but more often than not, you arrive first in the most amazing places while the rest of us are still working up the courage to jump. And your quick response to fight, I recognize completely as your fierce protection of those you love. I’ve never seen you attack for your own preservation, but always for the people around you. So I think when people look at you, they think you’re crazy, because I did. But I am so glad I looked closer, because now I see in you all the things I hope are passed down to our daughter. She’d be lucky to be as crazy as you are.”

  Jules’s face was like stone as she took in Michael’s words. He’d taken a risk for sure; anyone who was watching could see that. After a long moment Jules began to speak, still not letting her face show a reaction to his vows.

  “Mic
hael, I had vows written for you here. They were all about how much I love you and how I would do anything for you. But I’m not going to say those vows anymore.” Jedda realized too late he was holding his breath and had to gasp slightly to keep from passing out. The suspense was on the verge of killing him. “Instead of me telling you how much I love you, I think it’s better if I tell you how much your love means to me. I feel like I’ve waited my whole life for someone to look at me that closely. I’ve waited all this time for someone to see me the way you just described. I’ve finally found the man who can love this kind of crazy, and it’s how I know I’m right where I belong today. So you’re right, people might think I’m loony, but as long as you can tell the difference, I know I’m with the right man.”

  When the words “you may kiss the bride” rang out loudly across the open field, everyone erupted in cheers, and the event turned quickly from a ceremony to a party. Jedda raced off to finish prepping the food with Clay. It was something he enjoyed more than he ever imagined. Clay was brilliant in the kitchen and all the reading Jedda had done had him feeling more knowledgeable than he thought he would be. Clay made numerous comments about how impressed he was. Sure, he was only chopping onions and shredding cabbage but, still, for the first time he felt skilled at something and it filled him with pride.

  Willow and Josh were in charge of the music. Together they worked out when Willow would sing as well as the list of songs that would play when she wasn’t.

  When the food was served, the “first” dances done, and music played softly in the background, the pinging of a knife on the side of a wine glass drew everyone’s attention.

  Bobby stood up from his spot next to Michael at the long table and began to speak. “We’re going to do things a little differently here. But this is Betty’s house so you should all be used to that by now. Normally the best man would give a toast directed at the groom, and while I have a hundred things I could say to him, I’ve got a million to say to Jules. So that’s who my toast is for.”