This time, there was a noise louder than a knock. It was a thump.
“I think it’s coming from the patio,” Mary Jo hollered.
What was going on? Desi had planned to spend a solitary night wallowing in her misery, and instead, she seemed to be hostessing an impromptu party.
She walked over to her sliding glass door and opened the blinds, but didn’t see anything. She opened the door and stepped out on the deck.
“Down here, Desi.”
Chapter Eleven
“Down here, Desi,” Seth called again and gave her a little wave.
“You’re going to leave a dent on your hood, standing on it like that,” she called, by way of greeting.
No, Seth, I’ve missed you. No, I was a fool not to see that I meant more to you than sex.
This was going to be harder than he’d thought and he’d thought it was going to be about the hardest thing he’d ever done.
He couldn’t believe he was about to do something so … well, something so like his parents would do. How had he ended up here, on his car?
He’d called his parents and they’d accompanied him here with their plan …
“This will really wow her,” his mother had assured him as he’d climbed up on the hood of his car.
“Really, when Desi said romance, I’m not sure this is what she had in mind.”
“Oh, I guarantee she’ll love it. Remember that time you stayed out all night bowling, Samuel?
“How could I forget. Seth, your mother was furious. She thought there was another woman, which of course there could never be.”
“Oh, Samuel,” his mother crooned.
Standing on the hood of his car watching his parents practically swoon over each other, Seth hadn’t felt any more confident. When his father actually pulled his mother into a passionate embrace, Seth actually felt a little sick.
“Um, Mom. Dad. Really, I think I’m going to go.”
Immediately the suck-face-fest halted and as Seth started to climb off his car, his father grabbed his ankle, preventing him. “Oh, no you don’t. No son of mine is going to wimp out on wooing the woman of his dreams.”
“I’m all for wooing, but not for making a fool of myself.”
“Love is all about making a fool of yourself,” his mother said. “Why, after that bowling incident, I’d thrown all your father’s clothes out onto the lawn and bolted the door. He hired a guy with a violin—”
“It wasn’t a guy, it was a kid from the high school.”
“—who couldn’t hit a note if it was a broadside of a barn, but your father, just stood out there on the lawn, the terrible violinist squealing as he sang to me. How could I not open the door?”
“Seth, I still think you should have gone with some musical accompaniment,” his father said.
“No. That’s okay.” There was no way he was hiring any witnesses to this crazy act.
“Or at least let us help with your poem,” his mother added. “No offense, son, but you’re not very poetic.”
“It’s more of a letter than a poem. And I think we should go now. I’ll give this some more thought and analysis.”
“I don’t think so,” his father said, even as he lobbed a tennis ball at Desi’s sliding glass door.
“Dad!” Seth said. He couldn’t do this. It was time to face facts—he was a scientist after all, and used to accepting facts—he was no one’s romantic hero.
“Now, Seth, we’re just doing this because we love you,” his mother said, throwing another ball with even more force than his father had used. It made a satisfying thwack against Desi’s door.
“Mom!”
“We’ll be here in the car if you need us son,” his mom yelled as she and his father escaped back into their car.
Seth had stood on the hood of his car, his love letter in hand, and knew that he must truly love Desi, because there was no other logical reason he’d be doing something this bizarre.
It had felt like an eternity. He’d known she was in there. He’d seen her light. She wasn’t going to come out. She was going to ignore him.
He had breathed a sigh of relief when Desi finally opened the door, came out to the railing and looked down. Now she was out and he had to say something.
Seth glanced back at his parents who waved their encouragement.
“The car doesn’t matter, Desi. Only you matter.”
There. That was pretty romantic.
“Yeah, I matter for earth-shattering sex,” she called down.
He’d been right. She’d read the list. “I never finished it.”
“What?”
“The list. I never finished it. That’s as far as I got with writing it down, but it wasn’t everything I figured out. For the first time in my life, I didn’t need to record my thoughts to understand them. The clipboard was superfluous. There’s so much …”
He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. “I sat there, staring at the paper and worked it all out. But I didn’t actually write it down and now you’re hurt. So I’ve gone back and written it down.”
He was going to look silly, but for Desi, Seth would do it willingly. He took a deep breath and began.
“Desi, before you, I was stagnant—stationary like the object in Newton’s First Law of Motion, which states, in the absence of outside force, an object’s momentum will remain constant. I was stationary and saw no hope of changing that … until you. Like Newton’s Second Law, you acted upon my body, forcing me to move and change, but it wasn’t just my body, it was my heart. I thought I wanted a logical match, someone who was the same as me. I never knew it but what I’ve always longed for was you. You were the what I was waiting for.” He paused.
“I love you,” he said slowly.
“I know I’ll never be the kind of man you always thought you wanted. I’ll forget to bring you flowers, I doubt I’ll buy too much chocolate, because it’s not good for you, though I might be persuaded to treat for burgers and shakes on occasion.”
He smiled, hoping she’d see the humor in that statement, but she just stood there, watching him, not saying anything.
Not knowing what else to do, he continued, “I know I won’t remember birthdays and even anniversaries sometimes, but I also know that no one will ever love you the way I do. No one will ever be able to, because my love for you just keeps expanding exponentially. It just keeps growing and growing, and like an ever-expanding universe, I don’t see any signs of it ever stopping.
“I need you. I need you to remind me to enjoy the simple things. When I was making my list, I started and stopped with earth-shattering sex because that was the easiest part to understand. The rest … well, it’s a mystery. You can’t measure it, can’t list it, can’t itemize it, but its there, its real and tangible. I don’t understand it, but I don’t need to. I love you. That’s all I need to understand.”
He looked up and for the first time realized it wasn’t just Desi on her deck, but her mother and father, and two women he’d never met.
None of them were saying a word. Desi wasn’t either. She was crying.
It was too late.
He was going to lose Desi and he knew that he’d never recover from it.
Desi looked at Seth, standing there on his neon yellow hood, waiting. She felt moisture on her face and realized she was crying. She brushed away the tears.
She wanted to scream her answer, but couldn’t seem to force anything past her constricted throat except—hiccup.
But suddenly the evening air was filled with noise. Mary Jo, Pam, her mother and father all stood behind her in the doorway clapping wildly.
That wasn’t all. Two other people got out of the dark car parked behind his and they were clapping too.
Hiccup.
“Desi,” her mother said, giving her a hard elbow. “Say something.”
Hiccup.
“I …” she started and then a sequence of hiccups stopped her.
“I love you too,” she said in a hasty blurt before hiccups, fri
ends, or family could interrupt her again.
“I’ll be right up,” Seth called. “I want to hear you say it again.”
Her mother pulled her back from the railing.
“Go change,” she said. “You can’t greet the man you love in flannel pajama pants.”
“He won’t mind,” Desi said.
He wouldn’t. He loved her. The pain she’d felt since she read his list was replaced by a warm glow. The man she loved loved her back.
When she was little she’d dreamed of a white knight coming and riding away with her. She’d never, in all her dreams, imagined that her knight would show up in a banana-colored sports car and have a boat called The Guppy. She’d never imagined—
“Seth might not mind your pajamas, but I will. Go put on that dress I bought you a few weeks ago.”
“Mother, I look terrible wearing that.” Oh it was an utter horror of a dress. Desi didn’t have any idea what possessed her mother to buy it.
“Your hiccups are gone,” her mom said with a smile.
“What?” Desi asked.
“You forgot you were nervous and they’re gone. Now, go open the door for the boy and give him a big kiss.”
She suddenly realized what her mom had done. “Thanks, Mom.”
“We like him. He’s good for you … and for us. He helped us see what we were missing.”
“Go get him, Desi,” Mary Jo and Pam cheered.
He father grabbed her and gave her a hug. “Be happy,” he whispered.
Desi opened the door.
Seth was bounding up the stairs, taking them two at a time, the two people from the street at his heels. But Desi only had eyes for him.
“I love you, too,” she said again.
He wrapped her in his embrace. “Don’t ever forget it,” he said. “I love you too much to live without you.”
“You can’t shake me.”
He relaxed his embrace enough to stare at her. “Desi, I have a job for you.”
“A job?” she asked.
“Yes. I was wondering if you’d be interested in planning a wedding. I know the holidays are close-at-hand, in terms of planning a wedding at least. But do you think there’s any chance we could marry then? It would be logical. I have a nice long Christmas break and we could maybe honeymoon in Hawaii. I’ve heard they have some great beaches with interesting aquatic life. What do you say?”
“You and me?” she repeated. Seth was asking her to marry him.
“Is that a yes?” he asked.
This was fast. Too fast. Logic would dictate that they slow down and have a long, lengthy engagement to work everything out. That’s what logic might demand, but Desi believed in love and romance demanded only one answer. “Yes.”
“Yes you can plan it or yes you will marry me?” Seth asked.
“Both.”
“Then, I suggest, since we have family—these are my parents, by the way—and a few friends here, we turn this into an engagement party.”
“Seth, I’m wearing flannel pajama pants.”
“You look lovely to me.”
“Everyone,” Desi said loudly. “I want to announce the impending holiday wedding of Desdemona Smith and Seth Rutherford, PH.D ….
Epilogue
“See, I told you size matters, size always matters. When you had to pick a cake for yourself, you went all out. The bigger, the better, eh?”
Desi turned, knowing she’d find Kate’s mother, Mrs. O’Malley, behind her, and sure enough she was smiling this time.
“I love the cake,” she continued, “but I’m not sure about the cake topper. Aren’t those Barbie and Ken dolls?”
Desi laughed. “Yes. Seth insisted we use them.”
Seth’s arms snaked around her waist and he planted a light kiss on her neck. “Well, I told you those dolls weren’t ruined. They cleaned right up. I was taken by a little con artist. I priced them afterwards and on top of everything else, she over-charged me for the replacement fee.”
“I don’t understand,” Mrs. O’Malley said.
“Well, when I first started working for Desi, there was this cake and I accidentally sat in it—”
As he talked, Desi tried to collect her thoughts. It had been a perfect day, from the wedding to the reception. She looked over the crowd and spotted her parents dancing together, right next to Seth’s parents.
Mary Jo and her husband Paul were out on the floor as well. And Pam was dancing with Seth’s buddy, Ralph. Well, well, well. When things settled down, she’d have to see about maybe inviting their two single friends over to dinner. Maybe, just maybe—
“Penny for your thoughts,” Seth said.
Desi realized that Mrs. O’Malley had moved on. “Hm, I think my thoughts might be worth more than a penny. As a matter of fact …” she whispered exactly what she was thinking might be the next logical activity after the reception.
“Why, really Mrs. Rutherford. I’m shocked,” Seth said.
“I—”
“Seth, Desi.” Mary Kathryn, now Kate, and Tony came over. “We just wanted to say congratulations one more time before we go.”
“We’ve got to get back to the restaurant,” he said, his arm draped over Kate’s shoulder.
“I’m so glad you both came,” Desi said and surprised herself by meaning it. It wasn’t that long ago she’d thought so badly of them for hurting Seth and now she was simply grateful. Not that he was hurt but that he was hers.
“So are we,” Kate said. “I know that everyone was upset when I ran out on the wedding, but I think everything turned out for the best.”
Seth loped his arm around Desi. “Me, too.”
“Hey,” Phil called. Her ex-assistant had taken a weekend off from the newspaper in order to photograph Desi’s wedding. That was wonderful, but even more wonderful was the fact he’d brought his new fiancée, Debbie, with him. “Everyone look at me.”
Both couples turned as the flash momentarily blinded them. They smiled.
Seth said, “You know, this situation is rather like when Mandelbrot theorized that within chaos there is order. I mean, look at us. I thought that the world had turned upside down when Kate left and indeed it turned itself right instead …”
Desi grinned as she listened to Seth’s newest love-theory. First Newton, now Mandelbrot.
She couldn’t help but smile. She’d always thought she wanted a prince to come and save her. When all the time what she really wanted was a man who read her Newtonian love letters and took her breath away. A man who named his cat Schrodinger and who loved her.
The last part, the loving part, that was the most important thing. It was why Desi was sure that she and Seth were destined for their very own happily-ever-after.
“Hey, everyone,” Bambi, Desi’s new assistant who was running the show today, called. “It’s time to cut the wedding cake.”
“Did you get stand-ins?” Seth asked.
“Nope, it’s just you and me,” she replied with a smile. And that was just how it should be.
Dear Reader,
Oh, I do love a good geek. Seth is a favorite. I called my editor when I realized my new hero had named his cat Schrodinger. I assured her it was hilarious. Turns out it’s only funny if you’re a science nerd. But when she read the book, my non-science-geek editor got the humor of it. I hope you did too! And I hope you enjoyed this story of a woman who built a career on romance falling for a man-of-logic! If you have a moment, could you visit your favorite online bookstore and leave a review so other readers can meet Seth, Desi and of course, Schrodinger?
As always, thank you for everything. And watch for Shannon—the sister-of-the-runaway-bride’s story in How to Hunt a Husband.
Holly
Award-winning author Holly Jacobs has over three million books in print worldwide. The first novel in her Everything But … series, Everything But a Groom, was named one of 2008’s Best Romances by Booklist, and her books have been honored with many other accolades. She lives in Erie, Pennsylv
ania, with her husband and four children. You can visit her at www.HollyJacobs.com.
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How to Catch a Groom Page 12