Special Order Groom

by Tina Leonard

  “Well, then this heart thing came up. She was convinced it was guilt.” Crystal shook her head. “When she found out she needed surgery, she became even more distressed. About everything. And convinced she was destined to be turning up the daisies shortly. By then my unmarried state was really worrying her.”

  Kathryn giggled, seating herself on the bench next to Crystal. “And then what?”

  “She wanted Mitch to do the surgery, but he…he couldn’t.” Crystal didn’t want to divulge Mitch’s demons on that subject, so she glossed over it. “Positive that only Mitch could save her life, Mom really began playing the guilt harp. We agreed to get married to calm her down and give her a healthy outlook through the surgery and recovery period.” She gave Kathryn a sidelong glance. “Because you know the minute she heard the word wedding she was positive grandbabies were next.”

  “I’m sure that was the plan,” Kathryn said with a grin. “But why six weeks?”

  “Mitch said that if she was going to have a healthy outcome from the balloon procedure, we’d know fairly quickly after the surgery. If it wasn’t sufficient to unblock her arteries, then she’d go in for more extensive surgery. We wanted her mind at peace in case the worst scenario presented itself. Six weeks seemed like a good amount of time.”

  “And then what? You were going to break her heart by splitting up? After you gave her something to recover for?”

  Crystal’s lips turned down a little. “That does sound cruel, doesn’t it?”

  “A little.” Kathryn shook her head. “I don’t think she’d ever believe you two weren’t meant for each other. It seems she would just go into high-gear manipulation to keep you two together. I’m talking maximum guilt trip here, and maybe passion-inducing drugs sprinkled into yours and Mitch’s food.”

  Crystal gasped.

  “No, maybe not the passion-inducing drugs,” Kathryn said on a laugh, “but I don’t think she’d give in easily. I don’t see divorce papers in your future, Crystal.”

  Crystal’s lips twisted. “I don’t know if that’s such a bad thing,” she said softly.

  “Trust me, they’re ugly documents. All these cold, legal terms and pages and pages of stipulations about everything you can imagine. It’s almost like splitting your breath down the middle.”

  “Stop!” Crystal clutched her robe tighter. “Kathryn, I’m so sorry!”

  “Don’t be, because next time I wear a wedding gown, you’re selling it to me and I’m going to be smiling from ear to ear, the happiest bride you ever saw.”

  “Really?” Crystal perked up. “Any man I know?”

  “Maybe. Well, of course you know him. This is Lover’s Valley, after all. We’ve all known each other forever.”

  “Not you and Barney,” Crystal said on a breath. “He said he’d never settle down!”

  Kathryn gave her a mysterious look as they sat together on the linen-covered bench. “He said you said that, too. Now, one of you either wasn’t listening to your own words, or your mind got changed somehow.”

  Crystal smiled. “My mind got changed.”

  Kathryn nodded at her. “There’s nothing carved in stone that says his can’t get changed, too.”

  She had to laugh at that. “I suppose if I can be taking a walk down the aisle, it can happen to Barney Fearing, too.” She shivered with happiness. “I’m actually beginning to believe that all my dreams can come true.”

  “You’ve waited a long time for yours, Crystal. You’re making the right choice. Life is about making good choices, most of the time.” Kathryn sighed and touched her fingers to her forehead briefly, as if she had a headache.

  Crystal frowned. Kathryn didn’t feel well, but she obviously didn’t want to talk about it. Having a new baby and very little support had to be exhausting.

  “So. You haven’t told me what Mitch’s getting out of this arrangement.”

  Crystal looked at her.

  “If you agreed to marry him for your mother’s benefit, what does he get out of it?”

  “Oh. Respectability, he said.” A smile lit Crystal’s face. “Not that I would equate marrying me with gaining respectability. But he says it helps to have a wife and family in his practice.”

  “He’s done all right so far without one,” Kathryn observed. “Does it have anything to do with the negligence suit being pursued against him?”

  Crystal started as she turned to look in Kathryn’s eyes. “How did you know about that?”

  Kathryn shrugged. “Everyone knows. This is Lover’s Valley. How does one keep a secret in this town?”

  They didn’t, not forever, anyway. “Mitch would be so upset,” Crystal murmured. “Oh, dear. If he knew everyone out there in the gym has been talking about something he can’t even talk much about, it would be very embarrassing for him.” She thought about that for a minute. “I’m not going to tell him. Maybe later, but not anytime soon.”

  “I’m sure he knows people have heard by now. Why else would marrying you for ‘respectability’ make sense?”

  Crystal’s eyes widened.

  “No one cares about the lawsuit, Crystal. Mitch will always be a hometown hero in Lover’s Valley’s eyes. He should know that.”

  “I don’t think he does. He’s very ashamed.”

  “Well, then.” Kathryn stood. “Marrying you today is going to make him feel a lot better.” She reached for a makeup bag and began to dust some powder over Crystal’s face.

  Crystal sat still, allowing Kathryn to do as she liked. Inside, her heart tore a little as she thought over her friend’s words. Since he didn’t want to talk about how he felt about not operating again, she avoided bringing up the issue. So she’d allowed herself to forget the part about him marrying her for the happy family portrait and the respectability. Wrapped up in her dreams, she’d forgotten about the reality—they both had something to gain in this marriage.

  And she’d allowed her feelings to blossom and grow, nurtured by impractical happiness and emotions that felt new and good to her starved soul.

  It would hurt far more to sign divorce papers than it had to be left behind on prom night, she realized. And she had no one to blame but herself for dreaming of something that wasn’t to be—a second time.

  THE CRAZY THING WAS, when Crystal finally said “I do,” she was torn between laughing and crying. She was crying because part of her was so happy, and laughing because she knew it was ridiculous to be crying with joy. It was an arrangement, after all. The conflicting sentiments made her shake so that her veil trembled around her face and her hands rattled the white rose bouquet she held. So when she said the words finalizing her acceptance of Mitch as a husband, it came out in a whisper, only audible to Mitch and Pastor Richardson.

  “Was that legal and binding?” Mitch asked Pastor Richardson. “Only you and I heard her. Maybe later she’ll claim she really didn’t marry me at all. Let’s make her say it again.”

  Crystal shook harder, the laughter and tears almost painful as she tried to take a breath. “I’m barely hanging on here, Mitch. Let’s not redo the entire ceremony.”

  He pushed her veil back so he could touch her cheek. “I want the time we have together to be real.”

  She took in a soft breath, a light gasp of surprise. But behind the surprise was pleasure at his words. “I do,” she said more loudly, so that the entire congregation in the gymnasium clearly heard her vow. Why not be brave and throw herself completely out on that limb without the safety net below? If heartache was a monster in the closet, then she vowed to throw the doors wide open and stare her fear in the face. After all, Kathryn faced far more and survived with a smile on her face.

  Crystal was strong. She’d simply never really allowed herself to be tested.

  “I really, really do,” she repeated, feeling strength build inside her as she broke free from the past.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Crystal threw her bouquet with straight aim, and it landed in a squealing Janet’s arms. She waved it triumphant
ly, then pressed it to her nose before removing half the white roses from the gold cord with which they were tied and handing them to Kathryn.

  “What’s this for?” Kathryn asked.

  “Because you’re unmarried,” Janet shot back. “Why else? Crystal’s wedding bouquet has to be good luck. If she can get married—”

  “It can happen to anyone,” Kathryn said, finishing her sentence.

  They laughed and posed for pictures. Mitch was ready for his part. He marched up to his bride, who appeared to have suddenly developed an attack of shyness. She stared up at him, her eyes huge with laughter, but some trepidation.

  “This is the good part,” he told her.

  “How so?”

  “I get to run my hand up your leg,” he said with a grin. “If memory serves me correctly, you have great legs.”

  “It’s nice to know that your memory isn’t dulled by two days’ absence from me,” she retorted on a laugh.

  “Absence makes the heart grow fonder. And it is my fondest wish to lift your skirt, Crystal McStern.”

  She sucked in a breath. “Oh, dear. That does sound…different, doesn’t it?”

  He cocked his head at her. “Just trying it on for size. I want to ease you into this marriage thing slowly.”

  “Good. I was never one to rush into things without a good push, which is why we’re here today, I suppose.” She smiled up at her groom.

  “Lucky for me you didn’t feel a need to do anything rash, like getting married right out of high school to some jock,” he murmured against her hair. “Are you happy, Crystal?”

  “Strangely enough, I am.” She ran her fingers along his wrist, enjoying the strength and texture of his lightly haired skin. “Are you?”

  “Strangely enough, I am.” He squeezed her to him, to let her know he was teasing. “This feels like old times,” he whispered, drawing her more tightly against him as they began to sway gently to the sounds of the string quartet he’d hired to play in the old gym. “I remember how much I loved dancing with you at the Sock Hop, and the Valentine’s Day dance. I remember thinking how much I wanted to hold you, and take your clothes off of you, even though it took me a whole year to figure out how to achieve that goal. Like now, I get excited thinking about touching your leg to remove your garter. Isn’t that crazy?”

  “No,” she said breathlessly. “I’m so nervous it feels like you’re going to take off my wedding gown instead of the silly old garter.”

  “You turn me on,” he whispered into her ear. “You always did.”

  “You’re making me blush,” she whispered back urgently. “Everyone’s going to know what we’re talking about!”

  “What else is a husband supposed to talk to his new wife about? World peace? Nuclear testing? We have years to discuss everything we want to.”

  The minute he said it, he felt her jerk with surprise in his arms. “Oops,” he said, opening his eyes to stare down at her. “I forgot. Never mind.”

  She smiled shyly. “There’s nothing written in stone that it has to be six weeks,” she said hesitantly. “We could always have an open-ended understanding.”

  “Hmm,” he said, pretending to think it over, despite the fact that his heart was racing and his mind was screaming Yes! She really does want me! “Open-ended could be good. We could negotiate something, I’m sure.”

  She lay her head back against his chest. “Since we have such pressing matters to discuss, we may need extra time.”

  He tipped her chin so that he could brush her lips with his. “I’m sorry if I misled you,” he said huskily. “I don’t plan on spending very much of our open-ended marriage talking. I have much better things I want to do with my wife.”

  He felt her shiver. His body answered with a shock wave of anticipation.

  “Hey, McStern, where’s the garter, man? Give one of us a chance!”

  Mitch smiled down at Crystal. “The natives are restless. They want some of what I’ve got.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “A garter?”

  “A wonderful woman,” he told her, reaching for her skirt to draw it up to her knee. She balanced against his shoulder, and he took his time feeling the softness of her soft, slender thighs.

  “It’s not that far up,” she said on a laugh, quivering as she tried to retain her balance. “Go south, young man.”

  “Too bad.” He grinned and raised his eyebrows while the unattached males in the audience hooted and catcalled. “All right. Watch my aim.”

  He slid the garter from her leg, positioned it on his finger and shot it squarely at Barney, who caught it as unerringly as he’d always caught passes.

  “I haven’t lost any of my mo’!” Barney shouted, holding the garter up. “I can still catch a pass in heavy traffic!”

  He put it over his suit, showcased his muscular biceps, posed for a fast picture, then snagged Kathryn from where she stood not too many feet away. They waltzed off to center floor, gazing at each other. The audience burst into applause, and Mitch grinned down at Crystal.

  “I think we’ve started something.”

  She looked up at him. “I’m not certain exactly what we’ve started, but I’d have to agree with you.” Some guilt curled into her as she saw the happy faces in the crowd around them, watching her and Mitch dance. Should I tell him what Kathryn said? No. This many people wouldn’t have shown up today if they’d thought Mitch had done something wrong.

  These people were their friends, had known them for years.

  Yet, she had a feeling Mitch’s happiness would be spoiled if he knew his secret was out. Unhappily, she watched as he accepted congratulations from an elderly couple who were friends of his family. His parents were on the fringes of the dance floor, talking to guests as if they were enjoying the evening. If Mitch had come home for a while to sort himself out and hide from the pressure, he had come to the wrong place.

  As his wife, didn’t she owe him the truth?

  Maybe being a temporary wife gave her an out.

  Coward! she accused herself.

  Never again, she told herself. Mitch was happy. She wasn’t going to shatter his happiness tonight. It couldn’t possibly matter—much.

  “I hope you don’t mind waiting two days to leave for our honeymoon,” he said in her ear.

  “Not at all,” she said lightly. He’d told her that he was due in court for a preliminary hearing Monday. They would leave that night instead. “One stressful event in a day is enough.”

  “Getting married was stressful?” His voice held a teasing note.

  “A little,” she admitted. “Although it was better than I thought it would be.”

  “Better? Better? That’s how you describe what most women say is the happiest day of their lives?”

  She gave him an arch look. “I am not a typical woman, nor bride for that matter. And it was better to have one major event a day to focus on, so I’m actually glad we’re enjoying our wedding night at home. I still have some things to pack.”

  “A bikini, I hope.”

  “I’m pretty sure you’re aware that I’m not a bikini kind of girl.”

  He shifted her more securely in his arms. “Nudie?”

  “Ah, the ever-hopeful male. Sorry. I’ll be wearing a one-piece suit in Key West and down through the Bahamas.”

  “There’s always the night, then.”

  “You want me to wear a bikini to bed?”

  He chuckled. “I want you nude.”

  “Ahem.”

  Mitch and Crystal both turned at the sound meant to get their attention. It was the elderly couple who had congratulated Mitch a moment before.

  “It’s past our bedtime,” Mr. Cowling said. “I didn’t want to leave without telling you to give ’em hell.”

  Mitch smiled at Crystal. “Thanks. I’ll try to take your sage advice tonight.”

  The elderly couple looked perplexed for a moment, then the wife whispered something into her husband’s ear. “Oh. I get it. I don’t think you’ll be
needing any wedding-night advice from me,” he said with a big grin. “I mean on Monday.”

  Beneath her fingers, she could feel the muscles in Mitch’s shoulders tense. His smile turned somewhat forced. “Monday?”

  “At the hearing,” Mrs. Cowling said quietly. “We’re rooting for you, Mitch. Everything’s going to come out just fine.”

  His smile was completely gone now. “How did you know about the hearing?”

  “Oh, everybody knows,” Mr. Cowling said. “And we’re all behind one of our number one sons.”

  “Thank you.” Mitch nodded at Mr. Cowling. “And thank you for coming tonight.”

  “Let us know how it goes,” Mrs. Cowling called as Mitch moved Crystal back out onto the floor.

  “I’m sure she’ll hear,” he said under his breath, though he waved politely at the departing couple. “Sometimes I think this town is filled with busy-bodies!”

  “It is, Mitch. Remember, you’ve just married into a family full of them.”

  He focused on her. “Do you think Bess told people about the hearing?”

  Crystal stiffened. “I didn’t tell her, so I doubt she knows. And she wouldn’t gossip about you, Mitch.”

  “Let’s not bet the house on that.”

  “What are you saying?” Crystal could feel indignation beginning to bubble inside her.

  “We’re talking about a woman who deliberately sabotaged me on our prom date,” he reminded her.

  “Mitch, that’s not fair! My family wouldn’t do a thing to hurt you, or your family. They were trying to protect both of us, and my mother has bent over backward trying to make up to us for what she did.”

  “I know.” He sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I was very surprised that the Cowlings knew, is all.”

  She stared at him unhappily. “Mitch, I don’t think the lawsuit is a secret.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Kathryn mentioned tonight that everyone here knows about it. News travels fast in Lover’s Valley, and—”

  “Kathryn knows, too?” His hands loosened on her, as if he wanted to walk right off the floor and escape. He glanced around the room.