“Now I get why Cole was worried about the preacher,” Charlie whispered. “You might have a very interesting wedding.”
“Did you expect my wedding not to be interesting?” I asked him with a chuckle. After a few moments, I excused myself to change into the dress, and I was just smoothing it down across my knees when there was a knock on the door. I peeked out into the hallway only to see Cole, who had cleaned up flawlessly.
“I’m here,” he stated, pushing open the door. I stepped back and did a little twirl to gauge his reaction. “Of course you look stunning, as always.”
“Thank you,” I said, pulling the red box off the dresser behind me. “Will you do the honors?” He removed the necklace from the box and fastened it around my neck, letting his hands rest on my shoulders for a moment. Without saying a word, he pressed a kiss against the back of my neck before letting my hair fall into place. Goosebumps spread down my body from head to toe, and I tilted my head to look at him over my shoulder.
“Ready?” he asked, and I turned to face him, putting my hands on either side of his face. I raised to my tiptoes to kiss him, and then I sighed contentedly.
“Absolutely, I’m ready,” I told him, taking his arm.
We walked outside, and since dinner wasn’t quite ready, we went over Tony’s set list that he had created for the band. Cole and I were reading through the list quietly, until Trina and Charlie walked up and started giving us their input. Soon we were singing tidbits of the songs and laughing together. Tony called Rachel over so they could go over the toast timetable with Charlie, and Cole and I continued going over the song list. I was just getting ready to ask if we could switch the order of two of the songs when Cole grabbed my arm and started looking intently into my face.
“Camdyn, look at me,” he said, and I glanced up at him and then back to the paper. “No, I’m serious. Look at me.”
“What?” I wanted to know, shaking my head at him. The look in his eyes immediately made me want to panic. “Is there something on my face? In my teeth? What, Cole?” His silence was absolutely deafening, and when I saw him take the time to swallow before answering, I felt a little sick in the pit of my stomach.
“I need you to take a really deep breath, okay?”
No, not okay.
“Cole, you’re scaring me,” I whispered. He reached out and grabbed my hand.
“Everything’s going to be fine, do you hear me?” He squeezed my hand a little tighter. “You hear me, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I muttered, right before I felt a light touch against the back of my arm. Cole made no move to release my hand, so I turned just a little, and when I fully realized what he was warning me against, I was unbelievably grateful for his hand holding mine.
There she stood, inches from me, smiling as though it was completely natural for her to be there, at my wedding rehearsal dinner. Not in Italy, or anywhere else halfway around the world, but in Rosalie’s back yard standing in front of my fiancé on the eve of the most important day of my life.
“Rita?” The name came out almost like a question, because part of me couldn’t believe she was really in front of me, in the flesh.
“Darling!” she crooned, smiling at me. “Look at you! Bella! And this must be Cole. So robusto! I’m so happy for you both!” She leaned towards me then, and I’m not sure what her intention was, because I stepped back as Cole moved between us protectively. In complete and total shock, I stood there unmoving, staring at her in disbelief.
“How did you know where to find me?” I wondered, as she smoothed a strand of her wavy blonde hair back behind her ear.
“I saw your wedding invitation on your brother’s refrigerator,” she stated, gesturing with an arm full of glitzy baubles that looked like they cost a fortune. “I wish you would have sent me an invitation, so I could have brought something to wear.” I narrowed my eyes as I glanced over her navy blue wrap dress and expensive heels, and I already felt my breaths growing short and heated.
“One doesn’t normally send invitations to people who aren’t invited,” I spat the words out angrily, feeling Cole’s arm tense against mine. I held onto his hand, feeling stronger just knowing that he was standing there beside me.
“Rita, I think you need to leave,” Cole added in a low voice, his jaw set as he stared at her. As though his words didn’t affect her at all, she laughed breezily and pushed her hair over her shoulder.
“Don’t be silly, I’m already here,” she said airily, glancing around at our guests as though she was a movie star and they should all be admiring her.
“Cole’s right,” I said quietly, trying not to cause a scene. “You shouldn’t be here.” She seemed to lose some of her composure for a split second, but with a sense of determination, she brushed it off and laughed, trying to appear unaffected.
“Well, since I am here already, I think it’s only fitting that I should give you away,” she stated. Whether it was from the anger coursing through my veins or the shock at seeing her there, I don’t know, but suddenly I started laughing. Cole stepped further in front of me, sensing that I was about to snap.
“You want to give me away?” I asked her loudly. “Don’t you think it’s too late for that? You already gave me away, years ago.” Cole grabbed my arm then and started to pull me away from the others, around the side of the house.
“Dad, get that woman out of here!” he yelled. As soon as we were out of sight of the others, he stood unmoving and took my hands in his. When he forced me to look up at him, I offered him a sad smile as he pulled me into his arms.
“I’m so sorry,” he kept whispering into my hair, over and over. I let him hold me for a moment, and then I pulled back to look into his eyes. I knew my own were filled with tears, but it wasn’t for the reason he believed.
“You wanted to protect me,” I said quietly, gazing up at him.
“Of course I wanted to protect you,” he breathed, giving me a half-smile.
“You’re my hero,” I told him.
“Huh, some hero,” he stated sadly. I slid my hand behind his neck and pulled his head down to kiss me, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. Relaxing against him, I let all thoughts of Rita slip from my mind. After a moment, I heard the sound of a twig snapping.
“Oh, sorry, guys,” Charlie’s voice came quietly around the side of the house.
“It’s okay,” Cole assured him, and he backed away from me with a grin.
“I figured Camdyn was upset,” Charlie chuckled, giving us a puzzled look. “I had no idea you would be making out.”
“I know, go figure!” Cole added with a laugh.
“Charlie Taylor, you have got some major explaining to do!” I scolded him. “What did she mean, she saw an invitation on your refrigerator?” He sighed and looked at me guiltily.
“We didn’t want to tell you, Cam,” he began. “She showed up yesterday out of the blue. She was only in the house for a minute – Trina wasn’t sure what to do, so she asked her to leave. She must have seen the invitation then. I’m so sorry we didn’t warn you, but we thought we would wait until after the wedding.”
“Is she still here?” I asked hesitantly, earning a laugh from Charlie.
“Are you kidding?” he wondered. “Cole’s dad got rid of her pretty quick. I thought I heard him mutter something about hog-tying her to the top of his truck.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of Rita in her fancy Italian dress being treated in such a manner.
“Dinner’s ready,” Rachel announced, peeking her head around the corner. When she saw the three of us laughing, she shook her head in disbelief. “She’s fine, everybody!” Then, as an added side note, she smiled over at me. “I don’t know if I can say the same for Rita.”
-§-
At dinner, I was having the time of my life. With Charlie and Trina finally included with all the other people I had been spending my time with lately, things felt complete. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Rosalie had prepared an incredible dinner, and I
had the man I loved beside me. I barely even thought about Rita again.
I couldn’t forget about her entirely, however – her sudden presence there was unexpected, to say the least. After twenty years abroad, what was she suddenly doing in the states anyway?
Bleh - not during my wedding. I will think about that another day.
After dinner, we quickly realized that the others had plans for us, but Cole and I snuck off and he led me back into the house, peeking around the corner before he shut the bedroom door. He had a mischievous look on his face, and I couldn’t keep the smile from spreading across my face.
“What are you doing?” I asked quietly, and he pulled open the top dresser drawer and lifted up a wrapped package.
“I want to give you your wedding gift,” he told me. “I have been dying to give this to you – I almost jumped the gun a couple of times, but I made myself wait.”
“I have yours, too,” I stated, reaching for it underneath the bed. We stood there awkwardly staring at each other, and then we started laughing together.
“I don’t know why I feel nervous,” he said. “Here, you open yours first.” I sat down on the bed and took the package he handed me, and I gazed over at him.
“I love you,” I whispered, and he sighed.
“I love you, too, but would you quit stalling? Please, Camdyn, I’ve been waiting for weeks to give you that.”
“Okay, okay,” I agreed, pulling back the paper. As soon as I had pulled back one small corner, I let the gift drop in my lap and stared at him with my mouth open. “Cole, how did you find this? I have looked everywhere. Seriously, everywhere.” I reached down and pulled the rest of the paper back, revealing an absolutely perfect copy of A Different Kind of Rain, the book I had remembered my dad owning all those years ago. I felt my eyes grow moist as I lifted it and held it to my chest.
“Can I open mine?” he asked eagerly, and I nodded, handing it to him. He only hesitated a moment before ripping it open, and then he ran his palm across the shining metal on the MVP plaque, staring at it in disbelief. “Camdyn, I don’t even know what to say. I can’t imagine the work you had to go to in order to find this, let alone the fact that it still exists at all! Do you know how amazing this is?”
“Not as amazing as what you’ve given me,” I whispered.
“How did you find it?” he wanted to know, and I watched as he gazed down at it again.
“Well, first I had to call Trey, who got me in touch with Travis, who reluctantly gave me your coach’s name,” I began. “Your coach was difficult to find, to say the least. When I finally got in touch with him, he said he wanted to help me, but he didn’t have it anymore.”
“Coach Wilson didn’t have it?” he asked. “How on earth did you find it, then?”
“Well, he knew who had it,” I told him with a smile. “You’re not going to believe this, but your mom has had it in her attic the entire time. She was saving it for you in case you ever asked about it.”
“My mom had it in her attic?” he wondered in disbelief, and I nodded. He started laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“Well, I looked everywhere for your book, too,” he started. “I even employed your friend Laurel, having her try to help me. We had absolutely no luck. One night I was complaining about it to Charlie, and he says, ‘I think I saw that book the other day.’ He went and checked, and in a box that was marked with your mom’s name, he found the book. That’s your dad’s book, from Charlie’s attic.”
“This is my dad’s book?” I asked him solemnly, a tear sliding down my cheek.
“Yes, surprisingly enough,” he assured me. I set the book behind me on the bed and threw my arms around him, hugging him with all my might.
“Thank you, Cole, so much. It’s unbelievably perfect.”
“So is your gift to me, Camdyn. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I think this is a good start for us, isn’t it?”
“An amazing start,” I replied, pulling back and smiling at him. He gave me one of his mesmerizing smiles and kissed me on the cheek right about the time the door was flung open and Rachel poked her head in.
“They’re in here!” she announced, leading a contingent of conspirators in to kidnap us. Rachel and Sara had me by the arms within seconds, and Jeff and Charlie took no time to have Cole between them either.
“Say goodnight, lovebirds,” Jeff stated. “You belong to us now.”
“No, I’m not ready!” I exclaimed, but Rachel and Sara simply carted me out of the room as though they didn’t hear.
“Wait, just let me say something to Camdyn!” I heard Cole say behind me, but I was already out the door and being shoved into someone’s truck.
“Cole, I love you!” I yelled into the night.
“I love you back!” I heard him say, even though I had no idea where he was. “Do not let her hurt herself!”
Then, I was pushed into the floorboard of the truck, and we were pulling out into the night.
Chapter Twenty-Five
When we had been in the truck for approximately five minutes, Rachel let me sit up and peer around. It was only then that I realized Lily and Trina were in the back seat, and by the looks on their faces, I knew I was in for it. I asked repeatedly where we were going, but nobody was talking. When we pulled into what appeared to be a vacant dark field, I immediately began to protest.
“Whatever you are planning to do to me, Cole is going to kill you,” I pleaded. “Please, take me back. I don’t want to look horrible on my wedding day.”
“Do you really think we would do something to you, Camdyn?” Rachel asked.
“Trina, help me!” I begged. “Where’s Cooper, and why are we in the middle of nowhere?”
“Cooper’s with Rosalie, and try to calm down, will you?” Trina laughed. “I thought you liked it in the middle of nowhere.”
They exited the truck, and Rachel handed me a t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of boots, telling me I should change. I waited until they were gone, and then I switched my clothes in the cab of the truck, pulling on the boots and silently wondering what they were up to. When I climbed out of the truck, they simply started walking.
With the moon half-hidden behind the clouds, the night was especially murky. I felt like I could only see a few feet in front of my face, and the sound of bugs chirping and buzzing seemed noisier than it should have been. When one especially brave bug flew up and hit me in the neck, proceeding to buzz around and smack its tiny wings against me like it was trying to lift me from the ground, I shrieked and went into a momentary panic, throwing it off and dancing around a bit.
“Oh, yeah, this is going to be fun,” Sara said then, the others chuckling in the darkness. I wrinkled my nose up and stuck my tongue out at them, confident that they couldn’t see me. As we trudged along, I felt the occasional tall piece of fescue smack against my thigh, and I started to feel itchy. The air felt moist and warm, and I could almost feel my hair ballooning into a giant mushroom cloud around my head. I quickly twisted it behind my neck into an improvised bun, hoping to keep it under control.
The others finally stopped walking, and I halted behind them, waiting for them to tell me what was going on. When I was suddenly met with a flashlight in the face, I threw my arm up to shield myself from the glare.
“Are you going to tell me you had a flashlight this entire time?!” I complained loudly, followed by the distinctive sound of Trina giggling.
“Enough!” Rachel stated. “We have to insist on complete silence.”
“You have to insist on complete silence,” I repeated, mocking her in a whiny voice. “I’m afraid I will not comply with your demands.”
“Let the records state that the subject is being testy,” Sara interrupted, clearing her throat.
“So noted,” Lily added.
“Lily, don’t let them pull you over to the dark side!” I begged, but my pleas were met by a chuckle and another clearance of Sara’s throat, which put the matter to rest.
/> “Camdyn Taylor, you are a city girl,” Sara went on, continuing their little act. “You try to fit in with us, and you play the part pretty well, but we all know you’re as citified as they come.”
“Yes, you’re a total greenhorn,” Trina stated.
“Wha…Trina? Did that statement just come out of your mouth?” I couldn’t see them with the flashlight blinding me, but I put my free hand on my hip and tried to convey my annoyance through my posture. It must not have worked, because all I heard was more giggling.
“Sorry, Camdyn,” Trina chipped in. “I remember reading that word in one of your books, and I’ve always wanted to use it.”
“Trina is way more city girl than I am…” I began, but Sara quickly grunted and commanded me to be silent.
“Last I checked, she wasn’t coming into our territory and taking our available men,” Sara retorted.
“You’re married!” I groaned, putting both my hands over my eyes to block the flashlight’s rays.
“Lily’s not,” Sara stated simply. “I’m sure she would have liked to have a crack at Cole Parker, before you so rudely interrupted our lives and swept him off his feet with your big city fancy courting practices.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” I lamented. “Lily, are you going to take that?”
“Well, that is slightly embarrassing, Sara,” Lily retorted, “but she is right, Camdyn. If no one better came along, I would have settled for Cole.”
Giggling erupted again, and this time I couldn’t tell who it was coming from. Rather than shield my eyes any longer, I turned my back and let the flashlight silhouette me in the darkness.
“So what are you going to do to me?” I asked, holding my hands up as though I were a criminal. “Bring me out here and leave me for dead? Force me to find my way back to the bed and breakfast?”
“Of course not,” Rachel insisted. “What do you think we are, heartless?”
“No, we’re not heartless,” Sara retorted. “We just think you should go through a simple initiation, that’s all.”
A Reason to Be Alone (The Camdyn Series Book 2) Page 32