Jenna slowly moved toward him. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t,” the oldest sibling confirmed as the youngest sat down on the foot of the bed.
“Charleigh said you’d lie,” Kevin joked.
Jamie looked at Charleigh, shook his head. “I’m fine. I just want to get dressed and get out of here while I still have some hair left.”
“Yeah, the monotonous boredom has given him the chance to really examine himself,” Charleigh teased.
“I have gray hairs!”
“He lost count after he pulled out the twentieth. Oh, and nothing but tofu and rice cakes for him until after the wedding.”
“Why?” Jenna asked. She scooted closer to her brother on the bed.
“Because they told him he weighs just over two hundred pounds, and…” Charleigh laughed.
“That’s thirty pounds more than I weighed before I met Charleigh,” Jamie finished her sentence. “She’s making me fat with all that southern comfort food she cooks.”
Kevin stood back, laughing as his brother and future sister-in-law went back and forth.
“It’s not like I shovel it down your brother’s throat. He could take a turn at the Stairmaster anytime he wants instead of sitting on the sofa, watching his taped episodes of Days of our Lives on the weekends.”
“Oh, speaking of that,” Jamie remembered, “I need more videos. Put that on your shopping list.”
Charleigh rolled her eyes. “You need to get dressed if you want to make it back to the ranch this century.”
The decorations were breathtaking. Charleigh’d left the planning to Lenore and Madie while Jamie was in the hospital. Although she shouldn’t have been, the two older ladies had an eye for elegance, she was amazed by the work. Ten round tables of six, draped with jade-colored silk tablecloths and deep purple Lady of the Night tulip centerpieces— that was Jamie’s idea— were set up underneath a large white tent in the back garden.
“It’s beautiful,” Jamie whispered in Charleigh’s ear as he leaned against a cane— doctor’s orders. He thought it was a damn nuisance; nothing was wrong with his legs! “It’s perfect.”
“I hope this thing is waterproof because it looks like rain,” she sighed, looking up at the canvas material.
“Rain?” Jamie looked up into the sky. “There’s not a dark cloud in the sky, and the weatherman said it was going to be a great day.”
“The weatherman is wrong,” Charleigh replied. “I am the great-great-great-granddaughter of a wise Choctaw chief. I feel these things.”
She walked away to take a closer look at the garlands draped across the chairs, leaving Jamie to look at her Granddad with a look of confusion.
John shrugged. “It’s creepy, but Eliza could do the same thing.”
***
Jamie took his time as he slowly sneaked his way around to the side of house. He’d had about enough resting over the last few days to last him a lifetime. Now he knew exactly why Charleigh had gotten her back up after getting thrown by the horse. It was because of pure boredom. And if one more person told him that he should be inside, Jamie was going scream.
He found Charleigh was sitting on the old rope-swing hanging from the Oak tree in the side yard of Madie’s house. The swing slowly moved back and forth, though, he didn’t know if she realized it. Her eyes were clouded with concern. She was somewhere far away in her mind; deep in thought.
“Don’t do that,” Jamie told her, stepping closer.
Charleigh tilted her head to one side, her eyes met with his, and they were instantly clearer. “Do what?”
“You’re worrying about me. About the what-ifs. What Gavin could do to me the next time.”
One shoulder raised and fell again. It wasn’t quite a shrug. “Not true. I’m not worried about the ‘what ifs’ because there won’t be a next time.”
“Are you missing your dad?” Charleigh only nodded. “And what else?” Jamie held on to the rope of the swing that was suspended from a tree limb high overhead. He leaned down, trying not to show how much he hurt, to kiss Charleigh on the lips.
She let out a small, musical sigh. Not bothering to open her eyes, Charleigh told him, “You should be inside where it’s cool.”
“I’m fine,” Jamie responded.
“No, you’re not; you’re weak.” Charleigh reached up to touch his cheek. “This awful heat will sap the rest of your energy, and you won’t be in much of a partying mood later on.”
“I’m almost always in the mood for a party— weak or not— but I won’t be able to have a good time knowing that you’re worried about me. This is, in spite of everything else, supposed to be a happy day. Will you smile for me? Please? Just a…” His fingers played on her lips. He was trying to turn the frown into a smile.
Eyebrows arched. “No.”
“Come on. Please?” He continued to contort her mouth.
“Jamie, you’re about to get bitten,” Charleigh warned, slapping at his hands.
“Ooh, I like when you talk dirty to me,” Jamie joked. “But out here? In front of everybody? You’re kinky.”
That brought a smile to her face. Charleigh’s musical laughed filled the air, “You’re such a pervert.” She shook her head.
“But I got you to smile, didn’t I?”
“You are—” Charleigh shook her head. The shiny curls of her hair shook with the movement.
“Hey, there you two are,” Madie called from behind.
Charleigh twisted around on the swing to look at the old lady. She was standing under the trellis entry to her garden. The smile still played on her lips as Madie snapped a picture of the couple with her camera. She waved a hand and retreated back to some last minute preparation, re-establishing their privacy.
People started gathering around seven in the evening. And still the sky was the bluest of blues. Not a single cloud hung in the sky, and yet Charleigh was still worrying about the rain she felt coming. Jamie told her not to be so pessimistic and enjoy the mood.
Good food; the caters provided a wonderful menu. Good drinks, though everything was nonalcoholic. Good company; neither Charleigh nor Jamie were worried about Gavin showing up and causing a disturbance. Good music; where Lenore got the idea to get a DJ, Charleigh could only wonder.
Jamie kept his promise and danced with his fiancée at their engagement party. The song ‘I Do’ was the first played. It was hard to hear over the music, but he could’ve sworn…
“Was that…”
“It was thunder, darlin,” Charleigh whispered a reply, never raising her head from Jamie’s shoulder.
How was it possible?
“Now I’m the one hoping this tent is waterproof.” Jamie tightened his hold on Charleigh, kissed the top of her head.
“Shh,” she whispered, “We’re dancing.”
A loud thunderclap made some of the guests jump. Others gasped loudly. Jamie and Charleigh danced, though the only person who seemed at ease was Charleigh.
“How did you know it was going to rain?” Jamie asked, stopping as the song came to an end.
“I can feel it in my bones. Eerie, isn’t it?”
Lightning flashed out in the distance. A louder, closer thunderclap echoed. A moment later, the clouds let go and the rain poured down. The question Jamie and Charleigh had about the tent was answered. People went running toward the gazebo, the backdoor of Madie’s house, their cars for cover. Jamie took Charleigh by the hand and led her across the yard as fast as he could.
“Hey, wait,” Charleigh stopped him with a tug on his good arm. “Dance with me.”
“It’s raining.”
“You promised you would.”
“But… we’re getting drenched. Look at your dress.”
She shrugged. “I don’t care if you don’t.”
“And what about music.” They looked back toward the tent, where the DJ and his assistant were working like madmen to get their equipment into the back of their van.
“We don’t
need it.” Her smile was enough for Jamie to give in. “Just think of a song in your head.”
Jamie pulled Charleigh close and began to sing ‘When You Say Nothing At All.’ It was so off-key, and he mixed up a few of the words in the first verse, which caused her to laugh, but she couldn’t have cared less. At the moment, he was absolutely perfect.
“What are they doing?” Kevin asked Jenna as they watched from the gazebo. “They’re going to get struck by lightning.”
“They’re in love,” she responded. “It’s so romantic.”
He shook his head. “And you are such a girl.” But deep down, Kevin felt the same way.
“I’ve never seen two people more in love,” Mellisande told her husband from where they stood close by in the mudroom doorway.
“They’re definitely an inspiration for the rest of us.” Caroline smiled. She hooked an arm through one of Josh’s and rested her cheek on his shoulder.
“I want to fall in love,” Lauren sighed as she stood in front of her parents as they watched from the kitchen window.
“Not until you’re a hundred,” her father joked, squeezed her shoulder.
“God, Charleigh, I never thought I could love you more.” Jamie ran a hand through her soaked curls. “But I continue to surprise myself.”
“You are definitely the luckiest man on earth,” she joked, looking up into his eyes as they danced.
“That I am.” His heart was so full of love for her at that moment. Still, Jamie couldn’t help wondering, “Where do you think we would be if we’d never met?”
“You’d be in New York doing your thing. I’d be here with mine.” Charleigh went up on tip-toes to kiss Jamie’s lips. “I’m sure we would be two very lonely people, though. But I thank God that we’ll never have that find out.”
He nodded his head in agreement. “You make me believe, Char. Because you’re standing in front of me, I really do believe in the impossible.”
Chapter Nine
With the cowboy boots out of the picture, Charleigh decided to go in another direction when it came to her wedding dress. Nothing froufrou or frilly or over the top. She wanted something that would be pretty, but not something that would weigh her down or be a lot of trouble to move around in.
The wedding was taking place in September— the hottest of all the summer months.
Olivia Monahan, who owned Elegant Extravaganza, on Magnolia’s Main Street, was helping Charleigh pick out the perfect summer gown for her upcoming wedding. They’d gone through dozens and dozens of bridal magazines.
Jamie had taken a look, gawked a bit, drooled a lot, and marked the ones he thought Charleigh would look best in. She noted, though, that all of them were either tight and strapless, tight and showed a lot of skin or tight and pushed everything up. Did she mention that they were all tight?!
They looked through the bridal boutique in town. They looked on every website they could find on the Internet. Nothing seemed to suit her taste. So with Olivia’s help, Charleigh set out to design her wedding dress to her own standards. What the two came up with seemed to satisfy everybody, although they had only sketches of it.
Charleigh liked it because she wouldn’t burn up under the September sun of an Oklahoma summer. Jamie was happy because it was fairly tight around the bodice— pushing everything up, but only slightly— and showed some skin, though not as much as the ones he’d seen in the magazines.
Jenna, who was going to be Charleigh’s maid of honor, liked what she saw when she got an email of the finished draft. ‘You go, girly girl,’ she’d emailed back. She even said that Claudia liked the ‘elegant lines.’ Not that Charleigh really cared what the ‘wicked witch from the East Coast,’ as she called her future mother-in-law, thought.
Next came the patterns and a sample dress made from muslin cloth, which was why Charleigh stood on a stepstool in her living room, being poked at and tugged on and, finally, pinned.
“Oh, now that looks nice,” Madie commented from where she sat on the coffee table, watching Olivia work.
Lenore agreed, “It’s going to be beautiful, isn’t it? I can’t wait to see the finished creation.”
“You’re not the only one,” Olivia spoke out one side of her mouth. The other side held several straight pins. “This could take my business in a whole new direction, when people find out I made this dress.”
Charleigh blocked out everything going on around her. Her eyes were trained on the television. An old episode of Bewitched was on. No offense to the three other women, but the show was more interesting than their conversation.
They were so wrapped up in making a big hullabaloo out of the wedding. And although Charleigh wanted it to be special, as long as Jamie was there and he said ‘I do,’ nothing else really mattered. Okay, having a great dress was also very important to her, but after that, nothing else really mattered.
They could throw some flowers together for a couple of bouquets for her and Jenna, her maid of honor. There was no need for another brides’ maid or a flower girl. Liz and Lauren had made the trip down the aisle with Charleigh once before. Charleigh figured that they would understand. Make sure they had the rings. Nobody but their closest relatives and friends needed to attend. Her Granddad would walk her down the aisle, and all three grandparents would give her away. As far as the location went, Charleigh could get married at the county courthouse and be happy. They didn’t even have to have a big reception afterward. Knowing she would soon become Missus James Adam Matthews was enough for her.
But having the wedding, with all those little perks, was important to Jamie. And Jamie’s happiness was important to Charleigh.
Speaking of Jamie, with her terrific peripheral vision, Charleigh saw his car pull up in front of the house. She looked down at her wristwatch— while getting scolded by Olivia for moving— to find that Jamie was home from work early. With this being his first week back to work since ‘the incident,’ he’d been working late hours to catch up.
She just hoped he was taking it easy, because Jamie never let on that he was in the slightest bit of pain. He didn’t want Charleigh playing nursemaid— which said they were more alike than first perceived— unless of course as a prelude to sex.
A smile spread across Jamie’s lips when he opened the front door and their eyes met. Charleigh’s face lit up with a smile of her own at the sight of her gorgeous fiancé`. He stopped just inside the threshold, knowing what was going on, to take a look. It almost immediately came to a halt when his grandmother and the two other women jumped in front of Charleigh to block his view of her dress. It may have been only a work in progress, but it didn‘t seem to matter in their ways of thinking.
“Jamie, what are you doing here?” Madie squawked, waving her hands above her head.
“Um… I live here.”
“You know you’re not supposed to see the bride in her wedding gown before the big day. It’s bad luck,” Lenore added.
Like we haven‘t had enough bad luck already. “Technically, this isn’t the dress,” Charleigh chimed in, only to be ignored.
“Get out of here. Go somewhere. You can’t be here while we’re working,” Olivia warned.
Jamie turned, headed toward the dining room, where he’d turned a corner into his makeshift workspace until other arrangements could be made. They’d talked about renovating the sunroom she used to paint, though not as frequently anymore as she had planned while building the house, or her office, or even the dining room so Jamie would have his own permanent space to work. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. I’m not here, and I never was.” He held his briefcase up to block his view of Charleigh. A few steps away from the entryway, he stopped and took one look back like a sneaky little kid.
“Hi,” Charleigh mouthed. She was met with a smile and a wink before Jamie disappeared inside.
***
“So, everything’s going well?” He later asked, when they were alone making dinner in the kitchen.
“Yep, it’s going to loo
k amazing.” Charleigh tossed chopped vegetables into a wok for stir-fry.
Jamie stood close by, putting several ingredients, including ice, Skim milk, and protein powder, into the blender. He was really taking the weight loss-thing seriously, which somehow seemed to stun Charleigh. He had been so into eating anything and everything that was set in front of him when he had first arrived in Magnolia. Cookies, candy, cake, pudding. Anything you could imagine.
Everything was loaded down with sugar and carbohydrates. And yet he was still surprised that he was beginning to get a little soft in the places where rock-hard muscles had been when they first met. His six-pack had become more like a leaky four-pack.
Now, Jamie was on the Stairmaster or the treadmill for about forty-five minutes every morning before getting ready for work. He wanted to up the ante as soon as Doctor Cahill said he could and do weight lifting and strength training. He bet Charleigh he would be able to do more sit-ups than her within a month of that time. ‘That’ll be the day, City-boy,’ she’d told him with a laugh.
Charleigh watched with candid curiosity, adding soy sauce to the food, as Jamie worked. He stopped the appliance, removed the lid, and tested the mixture. His forehead furrowed with concentration, lips puckered from the cold.
“It’s too thick,” Jamie explained, waving a spoon as he did.
“Ah.” She nodded in agreement.
She turned to check on the pot of boiling rice. It’s just about ready, Charleigh thought, returning to the show where Jamie was adding more milk. But he forgot to replace the lid.
“You better…” she began as he reached for the blend button.
It was too late. Jamie touched the button. The blender came to life with a whir sound, sending the chocolaty mess in every direction. It went all over the counter and the floor. It got on the wall. It made it all the way to the stove and into their food all the way at the other end of the counter. It got all over the dogs that were sleeping nearby under the table. Most of all, Jamie was covered with the goop.
You're Gone (Finding Solid Ground) Page 7