Flying Home

by T. R. McClure

  Matt laughed. “Writer’s block.” He tapped a pencil rhythmically against the desk as he rocked in his chair. “I’m really behind. When Dad got sick, I spent more time at the ranch. All my time here consisted of teaching classes and grading papers.”

  “When are you going to finish it?”

  “I hope this summer. Dad’s taking on more of the day-to-day operations of the ranch.”

  Glancing around the room, Colleen noted the stacks of paper on the floor, the top of the file cabinets, and the wide window sills. Her fingers itched with an immediate urge to organize. “I could help.”

  “Do you want to?” Matt tilted his head as he peered up at her.

  “I would like to.” She settled more comfortably into his arms.

  “Do you think Rob will be upset?”

  “No, all he cares about is filling the position. He was just doing me a favor.” She turned her face to his. “And I’d like learning something different for a change.” She kissed the tip of his nose.

  “That would be awesome.” Matt gave her a quick squeeze.

  Colleen leaned forward and touched her forehead to his. “So will you give me a good grade, Professor?” she murmured as their lips touched.

  Chapter Eleven

  The next few weeks went by in a whirlwind of activity. The Berks prepared for the Almond Festival. Bobbi contacted her church to arrange for baby Ryan’s baptism. The McLachlan’s flew in from Hawaii two days before the baptism and stayed at a bed and breakfast just outside of town on the way to the Berk’s ranch.

  On the day of the baptism, Colleen waited on the front steps of the old stone church. She smoothed the front of the sleeveless turtleneck sweater dress. Her family was already inside talking to the minister. When they had discovered the Berks belonged to the same church, they included them in the baptism celebration.

  Olivia’s gold SUV turned the corner, Matt’s dark blue sports car right behind. As they pulled into the church parking lot, she hurried down the steps.

  “There’s my beautiful future daughter-in-law.” Stan beamed at her as he exited the passenger side of the SUV. “How are ya, darlin’?” He planted a quick kiss on her cheek.

  Colleen hugged Stan. “I’m great. I’m so glad you could make it.”

  “We wouldn’t miss it.” Olivia hugged her with a firm embrace. “What a coincidence your sister attends this church. I’ve watched her little girl in nursery.”

  A pair of arms circled Colleen from behind. “Guess who?” a deep voice whispered in her ear.

  Colleen tilted her head and looked up at the blue sky as a thrill of anticipation coursed through her body. “Hm…let me see…is it Professor Walls?” She’d met Matt’s friend on her last visit to the campus and couldn’t resist teasing him.

  Matt kissed her bare shoulder.

  “Yes, it must be Professor Walls.” Matt spun her around and wrapped his arms around her. “I think not, soon-to-be Mrs. Berk.”

  “Oh, it’s Professor Berk,” Colleen clapped her hands together and opened her eyes wide.

  Olivia grasped them both by their arms and pushed them toward the church. “Stop that, you two, we’re at church.”

  “Colleen, stop that,” Matt teased. They were still chuckling as they entered the sanctuary.

  “Aunt Colleen.” Colleen’s two-year-old niece came barreling down the aisle. She reached her arms to be lifted up. “Baby Ryan’s getting ‘tized.”

  “Baptized,” said Colleen. She picked up the little girl and squeezed her tight, the sweet smell of baby shampoo filling her nostrils.

  “Yes, ‘tized,” Becky replied, a solemn look on her pink-cheeked face. “They put water on top his head.” She demonstrated by placing her chubby hand on top of her head.

  “Hi, Becky.” Matt pulled one of Becky’s reddish-brown curls.

  Becky’s face broke out into a smile. “Mattie.” She reached toward him and he scooped her into his arms.

  “Becky is really comfortable with you, isn’t she?” Colleen stood back in awe as Matt rubbed noses with the little girl, who giggled with joy.

  “Becky and I are buddies, aren’t we, Becky-Lou?”

  “Not Becky-Lou.” Becky patted Matt’s cheek. “Becky,” she insisted.

  Rob came down the center aisle of the church and reached for his daughter. “Since everyone’s here, we can start. Come on, Becky, let’s go see Mommy and baby Ryan.”

  Colleen’s parents, Mick and Maggie, and Wendy sat in the front row to the left of the altar. Matt’s parents sat one row back on the opposite side.

  “Okay if we sit in front of my parents?” whispered Matt.

  “That’s fine.” They hurried up the aisle. The minister, dressed in a black robe with a white stole, bestowed a smile on each of them before he began the ceremony. Bobbi and Rob stood in front of him. Bobbi held a sleeping Ryan and Rob held a wide-awake Becky.

  Colleen glanced around as the minister began the ceremony. Sun shone through the stained glass, spreading glistening ribbons of red and blue and yellow throughout the sanctuary. Her new life was full of surprises. Never in a million years would she have thought she would be getting married…and to someone she met purely by chance. She looked over at Matt’s profile. A broad smile lit up his face. His eyes went back and forth from Ryan to Becky. He clearly enjoyed being around the children. When Becky reached for him, Colleen had been taken completely aback. She had only begun to realize how good he was with children.

  Hearing the minister’s voice, she turned her gaze on her sister and brother-in-law. The minister dribbled water over the sleeping baby’s head. Bobbi and Rob smiled at each other over Becky’s head, love warming their faces.

  She looked back at Matt, whose smile had dimmed, and she felt a flicker of unease. He said her age didn’t matter, but they hadn’t discussed children. She wondered if he realized there was a chance she couldn’t get pregnant. Or that, if she did, there was more of a risk at her age.

  Matt turned to look at her then. His brown eyes shown with happiness as he held the book with the responsive reading out to share. Undoubtedly a family man, the question was whether the existing family would be enough for him. She shivered in the coolness of the church.

  Matt put his arm around her and whispered in her ear. “Royal blue…” He tugged at the stretchy material at her shoulder. “…great color for you.”

  “Thanks,” she whispered back. She settled into his arm and refocused on the front of the church just in time to promise aloud to support the parents in the raising of this child.

  ****

  They held the celebration luncheon at Marino’s Vineyard, just down the valley from the Berk’s. A long table covered with a white tablecloth ran down the center of the covered patio. Vases of yellow daffodils stretched the length among bright blue glassware.

  “What a beautiful setting.” Colleen followed Bobbi down the cobblestone path to the patio.

  “Isn’t it?” Bobbi added. “It’s owned by the parents of one of the partners in Rob’s firm.” With a slight tilt of the head and narrowed eyes, she looked at her sister. “By the way, have you come to a decision yet about a career? Are you staying in law or diverting into agriculture?” She elbowed her sister with a sly grin. Before Colleen could answer, Bobbi looked over her shoulder, a stricken look on her face. “Uh oh.” She took off running.

  Colleen turned in time to see Becky toddle down a grassy hill toward the duck pond. Bobbi tiptoed after her as her heels sunk into the grass. Rob, still in his gray suit, loped past his wife and scooped Becky up into his arms, giggling.

  “Their little girl keeps them busy, doesn’t she?” Matt murmured into her ear.

  With a smile, she turned and surveyed her fiancé, dressed in a dark blue suit with a white shirt. Her heart beat a bit faster at how handsome he looked. She reached up and loosened the light blue tie and unbuttoned the top button on his shirt.

  “Hey, you two, get a room,” Wendy muttered as she passed them, heading toward the ba
r.

  Colleen turned and watched her sister sashay up to the bar in five inch heels and a bright red linen shift, her blond curls bouncing. “How does she walk in those things?”

  Matt turned her face back to his. “You don’t need to know. You’re the perfect height for me without heels.” He kissed her, then placed a hand on her back and drew her toward the table. “Look, we have name cards. Your sister’s controlling things again.”

  “It runs in the family.” At the end of the table, the two sets of parents already sat across from each other. Her mother poured from a bottle of red wine. “Looks like our parents aren’t having any trouble getting to know one another.”

  “It’s the red wine thing,” Matt asserted. “They say it’s good for the heart…just an excuse to drink red wine, if you ask me.”

  Colleen giggled. She found their name tents across from Bobbi and Rob. A vacant seat remained between her and her mother. She picked up the card and held it at arm’s length, squinting to read the name. “Wendy,” she read out loud. “What is taking that girl so long?”

  Matt nudged her and pointed toward the bar, where Wendy and a good-looking young man conversed, their faces only inches apart.

  “The bartender is Doug’s younger brother.” Rob settled Becky into a booster seat across from Colleen. “Doug is one of the partners in my firm.”

  Matt pulled out a chair for Colleen. “Red or white for you, Colleen?” He squeezed her shoulders as she sat.

  “White.”

  “Bobbi?”

  “Neither, thanks, I’m having water.”

  Colleen eyed Matt as he walked up to the bar. Wendy wrapped her arm around his waist and said something to the bartender. They strolled back to the table together, Matt with a glass of white wine and a frosty mug of beer and Wendy with a pitcher of Sangria.

  “I didn’t know they had Sangria.” Leave it to you, Colleen was tempted to add. But she bit her tongue.

  “Special order for me,” Wendy whispered as she settled into the chair between her mother and Colleen. She stabbed a piece of pineapple with a swizzle stick and stuck it in her mouth.

  “Leave it to you to get a special order,” admonished Bobbi as she set Ryan’s car seat next to her chair.

  “What can I say,” Wendy bragged with a wide grin, “I have a way with bartenders.”

  Their mother leaned toward the three sisters. “Too bad we can’t turn that into a career.”

  Wendy flounced back in her seat. “Mom! Please!”

  “Yes, Mom,” Bobbi teased as she pulled Becky’s chair closer to the table, “Wendy hasn’t found herself yet.”

  “Colleen sure has found herself…found herself a hunk.” Wendy reached around in front of Colleen and tugged on Matt’s light blue tie. “How about it, Professor, got any little brothers at home?”

  Matt blushed when the women laughed.

  “We were surprised just to get Matt,” Olivia chimed in. “I had given up trying to have a second child. When I found out I was pregnant ten years after Jane, I was thrilled.”

  “I guess that’s why I was so shocked to find out Matt was only thirty-two,” Colleen admitted, hesitant to offend her future mother-in-law. “You’re the same age as my mother so I just assumed Matt and I were close to the same age.”

  She tilted her head and looked at Matt. “Then when I heard in The Flower Basket you graduated with Grace’s brother, I was dumbfounded.”

  “People talked about me in the flower shop?” A flush crept up onto Matt’s cheeks and his gaze shot to the side.

  “Women,” Wendy chimed in, “women talked about you in the flower shop. What can I say? You’re a catch, soon-to-be brother-in-law. Of course, it took all of us to catch you. Colleen wasn’t much help.”

  The nerve. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Colleen looked sideways at her youngest sister.

  “You were so hung up on the age issue you couldn’t see you two are perfect for each other.” Wendy waved a hand in the air. “You’re like both super-dependable but you have this adventure/adrenaline rush thing going.”

  “Age is just a number,” boomed Colleen’s father from the end of the table. “Who needs some more wine? You know it’s good for the heart.”

  Colleen leaned toward Matt and whispered, “Are you sure you want to get mixed up with these people?”

  “I’m sure. Besides, you haven’t met my sister yet.” Matt’s eyes twinkled. “You think I’m persistent?”

  “Now that bartender dude over there,” Wendy pointed at the dark-haired young man with a pineapple chunk stuck on the end of a plastic skewer, “His name’s Tony, he has beautiful black hair…he’s probably Italian, right? Don’t you think Irish and Italian would make pretty babies?” The whole time she was talking her gaze stayed on the young man.

  “That late-night talk show guy’s Irish and Italian.” added her father from the end of the table.

  Wendy waved the empty swizzle stick in the air. “And look how successful he is. Our baby would be rich and famous.”

  “Yeah, but he’d have a chin like that guy,” chuckled her father.

  “I think your sister’s had enough fruit,” observed Matt as they watched Wendy stab a wine-soaked cherry. He picked up a basket of rolls and reached across in front of Colleen. “Wendy, would you like some bread?”

  “Too many carbs.” Wendy shook her head slowly, her gaze still on the bartender.

  “You know if you did some cardio you could eat carbs.” Colleen plucked a wheat roll from the basket hovering in front of her.

  “Nah,” responded Wendy as she leaned back lazily in her chair. “I’d rather not eat carbs and avoid doing cardio. I’m happy with fruit.” She waved a watermelon chunk in the air.

  Rob tapped the tablecloth in front of Colleen’s plate. “So, Sis, I need an answer on the job issue. Are you staying in the big city with me or running off to the country?”

  “I’ve decided it’s time for a career change.” Conversation around the table ceased, and Colleen realized she was the center of attention. With narrowed eyes, she looked around. “I didn’t know my next career was of such interest to everyone.”

  “Are you kidding?” said her father. “Your mother’s been burning up the phone lines with your sisters.”

  “Dad, they don’t have phone lines anymore.” Wendy grated some pepper on her salad.

  “They most certainly do have phone lines.” Her father leaned forward and looked down the table at his youngest daughter.

  “But Mom uses the cell phone which doesn’t need phone lines.”

  “That doesn’t mean there aren’t phone lines,” retorted her father.

  Colleen leaned closer to Matt. “See what I mean?” she whispered. “Are you sure you want to get mixed up with this rowdy crew?”

  Matt moved his face close to Colleen’s and gave her a quick kiss. “Like I said, you haven’t met my sister yet.”

  By the time dessert appeared on the table, Becky’s head was nodding. She struggled to stay awake and insisted on feeding herself cake.

  “Good thing it’s not chocolate,” Colleen observed as she noted the icing on the toddler’s face and down the front of her white dress.

  Suddenly, the baby let out a wail.

  “You have a bottle?” Rob rifled through the diaper bag.

  “No, I didn’t think we’d be here this long so I didn’t bring one. I’ll take him back to the car.”

  “I’ll take Becky.” Matt stood and rounded the table. He picked up the toddler from the booster seat. Her chubby, leotard-clad legs hung down loosely. She wrapped her arms around Matt’s neck and nodded off. “You two go do what you need to do. We’ll be fine.”

  Wendy emptied the fruit from the Sangria pitcher into her glass and leaned back in her chair. “Matt, you’re a natural. When you and Colleen have babies, you won’t even need to practice.”

  Matt smiled at his future sister-in-law and then caught a glimpse of the frown on Colleen’s face. Although they had yet
to talk about having a family, he suspected Colleen was concerned about having children. He wasn’t even sure she wanted to have children. Heck, he wasn’t sure he wanted to have children!

  He kept his gaze on Colleen. “Between my sister’s kids and your sister’s kids, I think we have enough to pass around, how about it, Colleen?”

  At that moment, Rob reappeared. “What’s everybody talking about?” He kissed the top of Becky’s head as he passed Matt. “Hey, thanks, man.” He patted Matt on the back. “You’re a natural with her.”

  Matt watched the emotions flitting across Colleen’s face. If he hadn’t been holding the sleeping toddler, he would have gone to her. From the tenseness in her body, he could tell she was getting ready to bolt.

  “Well, it’s been lovely, Bobbi,” Olivia said as she pushed back her chair and stood. “Thank you so much for including us.” She walked over to her son and patted the sleeping Becky. “Matt, you’re so good with Becky.”

  Matt smiled down at his mother. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Colleen jump up and walk quickly toward the rest room. A knot grabbed his chest and he called after her. “Colleen, everything okay?” The door shut behind Colleen before the words were out of his mouth. He looked around at the group who had observed Colleen’s sudden departure.

  “Colleen’s been a mite skittish lately,” observed Mick.

  “She’s out of her element,” murmured her mother, “too many changes all at once.” She rose and kissed Matt on the cheek. “She’ll be fine, Matt. Just give her some space.”

  “Don’t give her too much space or she’ll take off for Tahiti or some such place,” growled Mick. “That girl’s way too independent.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with being independent, Dad,” protested Wendy.

  “Quit arguing with your father, girl. Good thing you’re riding with Bobbi. You’ve had too much fruit.”

  The party quickly broke up. Bobbi’s parents drove Rob’s BMW back to the B&B and Matt’s parents left in Olivia’s SUV, with Stan at the wheel. “My wife can’t handle her wine,” he said with a fond smile.

  “Do you want me to go in there?” Wendy placed her hand on Matt’s shoulder. Rob had taken the sleeping toddler and was putting both babies in their car seats in the minivan.