The Heart Of The Game

by Pamela Aares

  Cody hadn’t gotten used to the way Californians called most everything awesome. But with the bright sun blazing across the autumn reds and golds of the vineyard and glinting off the stone walls of the castle, it just might be an appropriate word for such a day. If he could settle the strange feeling lurking in his gut.

  The valet started to wave him forward, but stopped to tap the side of Cody’s truck. “Great hitting in that last game. Sorry about the Series, though,” he added with a shake of his head.

  “Yeah. Thanks.” Cody put his truck into gear and followed the signs to the parking area. Not as sorry as I am, he thought. Or maybe he was—fans took playoff losses hard. He’d been a fan before he was a player. As a boy, when he’d watched his favorite team go down with a close loss, it’d taken him weeks to recover.

  As he drove through the shadow cast by the high walls of the Trovare castle, he was pretty sure it’d take more than a staffer to guide him through the event ahead.

  Another valet took his bag from him as he exited his truck.

  “Welcome, Mr. Bond. We’ll send this up to your room.” He glanced at the phone clamped to his clipboard. “Ceremony’s starting in ten, so someone can show you to your room after.” He pointed to a gravel path lined with pots of blooming flowers. “Once you cross the drawbridge, walk through the great hall and out to the courtyard. It’s well marked.”

  The great hall? Of course there’d be a great hall in a castle.

  Cody followed the path. A laughing couple walked a few yards ahead. The woman leaned on the man’s arm as she struggled to navigate the uneven surface in stiletto heels. They looked like they’d stepped out of an ad for a clothing designer. Cody smoothed his hand down the sports jacket he wore and fought the urge to head back to his truck. He’d rather face a bucking bronc or a jacked-up bull than go where his feet were leading him. But damn, he liked Alex and Kaz. And Scotty would be there. And the wedding would be over in a flash. Plus he was looking forward to the pool game Alex had promised for later in the evening. But Zoe’s face rose in his mind, just like she’d featured in his dreams. He’d be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that seeing her again was as much of a draw as being with his teammates. And he tried never to lie. Especially to himself.

  “Yo! Did a few games in the stadium already damage your hearing?”

  He hadn’t heard Scotty approach him from behind.

  “Where’s Chloe?”

  “Bridesmaid.” Scotty waggled his brows. “No men allowed in those rituals. I went out for lunch—fresh-caught halibut, grilled peppers, sourdough bread. If you’d come up yesterday, I wouldn’t have had to eat alone.”

  “If I’d come up yesterday, I’d probably have fled by now.”

  “Hey, it’s a party. True love and all that.” Scotty grinned. “Our boy Kaz is a nervous wreck. You’d think he was pitching the last game of the Series.”

  Cody forced a laugh.

  They reached the drawbridge, and Cody stopped walking. And stared.

  “Uh huh. My first reaction as well,” Scotty said. “Crazy what a dream can turn into. Wait till you see the rest of the place.”

  Cody followed Scotty across the bridge, through an entryway, and into a massive room. A long table at its center was flanked by round tables staggered closer to the walls. Light from hundreds of candles danced and sparkled, shooting rays of color across the room. The large space seemed to be holding its breath, waiting for the party to come. Uniformed waiters moved quietly, placing name cards in front of each of the hundreds of plates. Cody fought against the hushed voice that whispered that he didn’t belong in such a place and once again bit back his urge to return to his truck—take a drive in the hills—and walk off the tension building in him.

  Instead, as he followed Scotty through the room and toward the massive arched doorway at the opposite end, he focused on the colorful, old-style murals covering the walls. Knights and ladies and angels wound through rolling vineyard scenes. A little white dog painted near the door caught his eye. Dogs he could relate to. He started to ask about the dog, but Scotty tapped at his watch and rushed him into the courtyard outside.

  An usher directed them to sit in the area reserved for close friends and family of the bride. Scotty protested and insisted on sitting on Kaz’s side of the courtyard.

  “Good thing Alex is in the wedding, or he’d have to sit in the middle of the aisle,” Scotty said. He stared at Cody. “Why are you so tense? This is just like every other wedding, only bigger. And more expensive.”

  Cody blew out a long breath and surveyed the crowd. “Right. Every other wedding.”

  “Man, you’ve been to tons of weddings before, haven’t you?”

  Cody turned back to Scotty. “Nope.”

  “Okay, you’ve been to at least one. The same principle. It’s—”

  “Nope.”

  Scotty frowned. “You’ve never been to a wedding?” His eyes bugged wide.

  Cody shook his head. “Not a one.”

  “I’ll have to study up on your avoidance techniques. Could use a few with this crowd. Not a fancy-party guy myself.”

  The folding chairs squeaked as Cody and Scotty sat down. They looked like giants compared to the people seated around them. Cody shifted in his seat and looked forward. Kaz’s dark-haired, small-statured Japanese relatives filled the first two rows of their side of the courtyard. Evidently Kaz had gotten all the height genes in the family.

  Cody did a quick calculation and estimated more than two hundred people sat in chairs facing an archway decorated with flowers he didn’t recognize.

  “Looks like spring with all these flowers,” Scotty said with a glance at the garlands that curved along the stone walls of the courtyard. “But I love fall and winter,” he added over the hushed tones of the gathered crowd. “I mean, I crave the time off. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I’m already itching for spring training.”

  Cody was more than itching. He’d rested for a week, watching the Series and studying every move of every player. The Dodgers’ Series win didn’t dissolve the knot of remorse filling him, but it helped. At least the Giants had lost to the world champs. Two days after the Series ended, he’d started his off-season workout. Alex had offered to show him some of his own routines while he was up at Trovare. Any tip or practice Alex Tavonesi suggested, he was ready for.

  The murmurs of the crowd shifted as Kaz, Alex, and a man Cody thought had to be Kaz’s brother walked from a side door and stopped on the right side of the archway. A robed minister joined them as music swelled from a small orchestra playing on the steps just behind the arched opening. As one body, the crowd stood, catching Cody off guard. He nearly knocked over his chair as he pressed to stand. He steadied the chair and turned to face the direction everyone else was looking.

  A small girl stood at the back of courtyard, between the two sections of guests. She tapped a hand to straighten the circle of flowers on her head, spilling petals from her basket at the same time. She grimaced and the crowd laughed. The girl hiked up her pale dress and squatted to scoop the petals back in.

  “That’s Matt’s daughter, Sophie,” Scotty whispered to him. “She’s a kick. Just like her dad.”

  Relief flooded Cody. He’d forgotten Matt would be there.

  Sophie trounced down the aisle, throwing the petals out as if they were fastballs, grinning all the way.

  The music shifted in tone and pace, and Cody turned once again to the back of the courtyard.

  His throat went tight.

  There, dressed in a pale green flowing dress with a crown of flowers on her head, stood Zoe. A shaft of late afternoon sunlight poured in from a high window in the castle walls and lit her face.

  Radiant.

  Zoe had been lovely in his dreams, in his memories and fantasies, but nothing had prepared him for her to look like a goddess. Or for the dizzying buzz in his head, in his chest—hell, in his whole damned body.

  He put a hand to the back of the chair and felt
it wobble. Using the practiced focus that allowed him to drown out unwanted noise when he stood at the plate, he swallowed in a long, slow breath.

  It didn’t help.

  As if following some sort of cue, Zoe started down the aisle. She walked with a killer combination of athletic strength and floating grace. The tremble in the hands gripping a bouquet of flowers was barely noticeable. But it made him want to rush into the aisle, scoop her into his arms and carry her away somewhere. Anywhere.

  Scotty nudged him. “You’ve got it bad, my man.”

  He shifted and found Scotty staring at him. Whatever “it” was, Cody wished his emotions weren’t so damned easy to read. But pitchers and catchers spent long hours learning to read each other, sending signals beyond the obvious calls for pitches and strategies. Cody shrugged and watched as Zoe walked to the end of the aisle. And tried to pretend that the sway of her hips didn’t have him reliving one of his raciest dreams.

  When she reached the left of the archway, she turned to face the crowd. A gentle smile curved her mouth, a smile that reminded him of women in Renaissance paintings. A smile that hid as much as it conveyed. The bouquet in her hands still trembled. Only very slightly, but his heart did a little flip for her. He knew what it felt like to stand in front of lots of people and have emotions you couldn’t hide be on full display.

  She scanned the crowd, and for an instant her gaze found his. In that brief moment, he felt held. Captured. Hell, maybe even owned. It was a weird feeling, one he hadn’t expected and didn’t know how to classify or gauge. Her smile didn’t alter as she flicked her gaze to the aisle, and he shook off the odd sensation. The music swelled and the crowd turned their focus once again to the back of the courtyard. Reluctantly, Cody pivoted with them.

  Alex and Sabrina’s cousin, Alana, made her way down the aisle. Alana’s hands didn’t tremble; she had the bearing of a woman accustomed to attention, a woman comfortable surrounded by pomp and glamor. She nodded and smiled at guests as she passed by and winked at Zoe when she took her place beside her. Zoe’s lips turned up with a wavering smile, and Cody found himself wanting to know what she was feeling.

  “Kaz is gonna fall over if he doesn’t unlock his knees,” Scotty said with a grin. He nudged Cody again as he pivoted toward the back of the courtyard. “Here’s my girl.”

  Chloe walked the aisle with the same easy poise that Alana had. But her eyes were on Scotty. It was as if she didn’t see the crowd, as if he and she were the only two people in the courtyard. As if they shared a secret world that Cody couldn’t even imagine.

  A whisper went through the crowd. Cody recognized the next woman walking down the aisle from the movie he’d seen the previous week.

  Cameron Kelley wasn’t the box office draw that Sabrina was, but her beauty and excellent acting brought a similar power to the big screen. He’d thought the magic of Hollywood played a role in making Cameron appear ethereal, but now, observing her in the flesh, he saw that she really was as lovely as she appeared on screen. Still, his heart didn’t tick up a notch when she passed him and Scotty. None of the other women had the radiant glow that Zoe had, the sizzle that reached straight into him, stirring his emotions. Not one even came close.

  Sabrina appeared next, with a man Cody didn’t recognize. Lace and yards of some sort of filmy material and a long veil only enhanced Sabrina’s mysterious, dark beauty. The man held out his arm and Sabrina took it, smiled and then locked her eyes on Kaz.

  Cody turned to see Kaz’s reaction. A look washed over Kaz’s face that made Cody’s stomach lurch under his ribs. He turned back to Sabrina, but not before seeing that a tear made its way down Zoe’s cheek. She wiped it away with the back of her hand, lowering her eyes to the flowers in her hands.

  Why people put themselves through such ritualized public torture, Cody didn’t know. But he could feel energy filling the room, like a stadium filling with fans before a big game. He hadn’t considered the value of rituals before. Well, other than personal ones. God knew, players each had their own rituals for prepping for a game, whether they admitted it or not.

  “That’s Santino Tavonesi, Zoe’s father, escorting Sabrina,” Scotty said.

  Cody knew Alex’s dad had passed away years before. It hadn’t occurred to him to wonder who would walk Sabrina down the aisle. It made him think about his own sister and wonder who would walk her down the aisle— if she ever found a man who could live with her hardcore independent ways. She’d never ask their dad. He’d be flat on his face drunk before the first note sounded.

  Sabrina and her uncle started down the aisle.

  Lifted by the music and pounded by the unfamiliar emotions hammering in him, Cody now knew why he’d avoided weddings. Besides feeling out of place in all the opulence and ceremony, the power he felt infusing the event wasn’t one he understood. Wedding rituals weren’t about control—he suspected they were all about surrender. And surrender wasn’t a word in his arsenal, certainly not a force he trusted.

  When they reached the minister, Zoe’s father stepped back and Sabrina took Kaz’s hands in hers.

  Or maybe he took hers in his. They’d both reached out and were now firmly connected.

  The minister spoke words Cody couldn’t quite hear. But he could read the emotion flowing between Kaz and Sabrina that filtered out into the crowd. Women wiped at tears and men pressed their lips into determined lines.

  And Cody couldn’t take his eyes off Zoe.

  But when the minister looked out at the courtyard and asked whether anyone had any objection to the marriage, he felt a wave of impatience rustle through the crowd. He imagined that if it were his wedding, there’d be a resounding chorus of yes, yes, yes! No woman in her right mind would marry him. And he’d not be in his right mind if he were standing at an altar. He wasn’t marriage material—too much baggage. He’d likely end up being an asshole like his dad. But being a loner suited him. Better for everybody. And what the hell was he doing imagining marriage anyway? Damned wedding. He swore the first would be his last.

  He returned his gaze to Zoe. Emotion he couldn’t read filled her face as she watched Kaz and Sabrina exchange rings and vows and seal their union with a long, deep kiss. The cheers of the crowd didn’t lift the odd, dark mood settling into him. The fisting in his gut reminded him that he shouldn’t have come. He’d retrieve his bag and make some believable excuse to Alex about not spending the night. Maybe he could skip the dinner and reception as well.

  The music soared and the wedding party returned down the aisle, this time bathed in a chorus of cheers and the burst of flashes from phones and cameras. As Zoe passed by, she smiled. He smiled back and felt the bite of challenge nip into him. Wanting to know her better trumped any good sense he’d managed to hold on to. Maybe he’d brave the reception after all.

  Chapter Five

  Zoe made her way into Trovare’s great hall. Though she’d been in the room many times, she’d never seen the hall decorated for a party. Candles glowed in the waning autumn light and cast dancing shadows along the brightly painted murals decorating the walls. The room was likely designed and built for occasions just like the wedding. As guests greeted each other and found their way to their tables, the clamor of their celebratory chatter eased into the melancholic mood she was determined to banish.

  She jumped at a touch to her bare arm.

  She whirled around and nearly crashed her nose into Parker’s tuxedoed chest.

  “You should have a bell on you the way you steal up on people.”

  She didn’t have adrenaline to spare. Getting through the wedding had been harder than she’d imagined. When Sabrina had asked Zoe if she thought her father would give Sabrina away, Zoe’s immediate response had been yes. But seeing her father walk Sabrina down the aisle made it all too real that her mother wouldn’t be at her own wedding.

  “Stealth isn’t required in this clamor,” Parker said. “I could sneak up on an owl in here.”

  She couldn’t help but smile at the th
ought of Parker trying to sneak up on an owl.

  “I made a minor adjustment to the seating arrangements,” Parker whispered in her ear. He tilted his head toward the table where Cody sat with her sister Anastasia and two men Zoe didn’t know.

  “I suppose you didn’t get approval for this alteration from Alex’s mother.”

  “She wouldn’t notice if an earthquake rolled through here today, she’s so caught up in the joy of her triumphant event. Besides, compared to my mother, Alex’s mother is an angel.”

  Aunt Thea didn’t look like an angel. In her slate-blue silk gown with her hair coiffed just so, surrounded at the main table by her family and Kaz’s, she looked like a queen. A queen watching her beloved daughter with loving, misty eyes. Sabrina brushed her hand over her mother’s, and Zoe fought the wave of sadness threatening to overwhelm her.

  Parker squeezed her hand.

  “Zizi, you can’t change that she’s gone, but your mother wouldn’t want you shutting down your amazing spirit. None of us want that.”

  Though he was right, the thought of saying her vows and not having her mother there to share in the moment had hit her hard. Worse would be not having her mother to laugh with the children Zoe yearned to have, to seek advice from, to share challenges and delights... The wedding and gathering of the family had brought the reality crashing in. But this was Sabrina’s happy day; she couldn’t let such thoughts take hold. She wouldn’t.

  Parker squeezed her forearm. “I think you’ll have fun in spite of yourself.”

  She poked a finger to his ribs. “Stop reading my thoughts.”

  He grinned. “I’ll have to add mind reading to my list of charms.”

  Her concern to not ruin Sabrina’s happy day was the only force that made it possible to pull herself from the doldrums. She turned what she hoped wasn’t a wan smile to Parker.

  “I saw a help-wanted sign in the window of the psychic just outside of town,” she said, pushing back her roiling emotions. “You should apply.”

  Parker winked. “That psychic couldn’t take the competition. And besides, I’m off to ride the polo circuit in Argentina. You should come with me.” He nudged her and glanced over to where their Aunt Liliana sat entertaining a group of men gathered around her. “She would love to have you back.”