Stone Bridges

by Carla Neggers

  Finally he turned to Vic. “Thank you, Vic. I love Adrienne with all my heart.”

  Vic cleared his throat. “That’s enough for me.”

  * * *

  Adam found Maggie in the kitchen at Carriage Hill. She had a pencil in hand and a checklist on the butcher-block island. “Adrienne’s gone for a walk.” Maggie barely looked up from her list. “I’m going through everything for tonight and tomorrow. It’s family, I know, but Adrienne’s mother arrives tonight and we have a full house of wedding guests.”

  “You’re in your element,” Adam said.

  “I am.” She raised her gaze to him. “So is Adrienne. She’s not out walking because of her work here, or because of her mother.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “That’s all I have to say.” Maggie checked off something far down on her list and smiled. “Adrienne’s thought of everything. I always leave out three or four things.”

  Adam winked at her. “I love how you’re pretending you’re minding your own business.”

  She grinned. “Don’t you, though?” She pointed her pencil toward the mudroom. “She went that way.”

  He went out to the terrace, welcoming the brisk air. He walked on a mulched path and ducked behind the shed, then continued along the stone wall between woods and field.

  Adrienne was sitting on the edge of the old cellar hole, in a black fleece jacket, jeans and ankle boots. She had her hair down, blowing slightly in the gentle breeze. “The happy innkeeper at work,” he said, approaching her.

  She squinted at him and grinned. “I’m thinking about showing my mother this spot.”

  He sat next to her. “Did I startle you?”

  “No. I heard you. It’s hard to be stealthy with all these fallen leaves. Not that you were trying to be stealthy. Were you looking for me?”

  “I knew I’d find you here.”

  “Not ‘had a feeling,’” she said. “‘Knew.’”

  He brushed a few strands of hair from her face and tucked them behind her ear. “This is the spot where I realized you might do okay here. You handled yourself well when we searched for the boys. I didn’t expect that.”

  “What did you expect?”

  “You’d get lost or something.”

  “Add to the drama,” she said, matter-of-fact. “City girl, new in town and last winter with Vic. He’s the one who tore up his house and ran off in the ice and snow, but I’m the one who prompted it.”

  “He gets it, Adrienne. You both had to wrap your heads around finding out you were father and daughter.” Adam paused. “Everyone gets it.”

  “Did you hate me then?”

  “No.” He didn’t hesitate. “I thought you were attractive. But I wasn’t optimistic when you took on the innkeeping job.”

  “Thought I’d run back to California?”

  “Run somewhere.”

  “It’s my pattern.” She lifted her dark eyes to him. “It was my pattern.”

  He took her in his arms and lifted her from the wall into the fallen leaves. “I love you, Adrienne,” he whispered. “Damn. I love you so much.”

  “Adam...”

  “I was attracted to you last winter but I thought—hell, she’s not the one. She can’t be the one. I’ll break her heart. She’ll break my heart. But that was old wounds talking. Yours and mine.”

  “It wasn’t the right time for us.”

  “Yes, but you know you started to fall for me when you had me build Vic’s wine cellar.”

  “I thought you were very rugged.”

  “I am very rugged.”

  “A Marine, a stonemason, a Sloan.”

  “I’m all that, yes, but right now—I’m just a man who loves you, who will always love you.”

  Her eyes shone with tears, and she sniffled, laughed a little. “I can’t tell you how much I love hearing those words. I love you, Adam Sloan. It’s taken me time to trust myself enough to say that out loud, but I have no doubts. I’ll stand on what’s left of this rock wall and shout it to the world.”

  He tightened his arms around her. “You’ve been thinking about everyone else, and about your mistakes. I have, too. I trust you, Adrienne. I trust myself. What we have is special and it’s forever.”

  “It is,” she said. “I know it is.”

  “Meanwhile...” He settled his hands on her lower back. “There’s a plan afoot to have a double wedding at Red Clover Inn.”

  “A double wedding?” She straightened, instantly in innkeeper mode. “Who’s the second couple? Eric didn’t get back together with his ex-fiancée, did he? Trish, isn’t it? She’s not on Vic’s cheat sheet.”

  “No, Eric and Trish didn’t get back together.”

  Adam noticed the late-afternoon November light on Adrienne’s face. He listened to the bare trees clicking in the breeze. He wasn’t nervous, he realized. He wasn’t hesitating or second-guessing himself. He was...savoring the moment.

  “Us,” he said finally. “We’re the second couple.”

  She angled him a look. “You and me?”

  “That’s right. Charlotte’s all in because she’s a Bennett and that’s how she thinks. Greg says it’s fine with him because he saved Vic’s life a few years back. It’s Rawlings’s logic, but it works.”

  “You and me,” Adrienne repeated.

  It wasn’t doubt, he knew. It was surprise. Taking in the idea, envisioning it—realizing he was the one who’d thought of it. Steady Adam Sloan. He kissed her softly, not taking it further. “If you get restless, we’ll figure it out. We’ll go somewhere on your someday/maybe list, we’ll hike into the woods and find hidden stone bridges and cellar holes, we’ll learn new things together—”

  “We could sign up for an adventure travel excursion.”

  “So long as Brandon doesn’t lead it,” Adam said with a grin.

  “Ah, the Sloan brothers and your healthy rivalry.”

  “You’ll get used to it.”

  “I love everything about being here, and I love you, Adam. I swear you’re the reason I knew I had to come back to Knights Bridge. It wasn’t just Vic. It was you.”

  “It’ll be one hell of a short engagement but I do have a ring. It was Gran’s. She gave it to me when I left for basic training, as a reminder that I had a future. I knew one day...” He dug the simple ring out of his jacket pocket and held it between his forefinger and thumb. “Marry me, Adrienne. I love you and I want us to be together forever.”

  “The ring...it’s perfect. A double wedding...marry you...” Her smile was as bright as he’d yet seen, and it reached all the way to her eyes. She was breathing rapidly. “Yes, yes, yes. Oh—yes, Adam, I will marry you. Yes, I want us to be together forever...”

  “Slow your breathing,” he said.

  “I will, but if I hyperventilate and pass out, you’ll keep me from splitting my head open on a rock. I know you will, because... Adam...” She gulped in another breath, touched his hand. “I love you and I love this ring, even if we’ll only be engaged for less than a day.”

  “I do know my rocks,” he said, and slipped the ring on her finger.

  Twenty

  Maggie knew, of course. “I’m a caterer,” she told Adrienne in the Carriage Hill kitchen, after Adam left to tell his family. “I know everything. Actually, Brandon said this could happen. I’ve been bursting at the seams. I have a selection of dresses picked out for you. I don’t know if you own a dress, but if you do, I bet it’s black. I know that can work for a wedding, but we’d never hear the end of it from Evelyn.”

  Adrienne laughed, touched a fingertip to her engagement ring. “I have an all-purpose black dress. Show me what you have.”

  Maggie took her into the living room, where she’d laid out three dresses sewn forty years ago by a Knights Bridge teenager who’d secreted herself in the library attic and practiced
her craft. Daphne Stewart, aka Debbie Henderson, granddaughter of the library’s founder, finally took off for Hollywood and a successful career as a costume designer.

  “I think these will fit,” Maggie said. “We can always do some quick alterations. My mother is good with a needle and thread, and I’ve got safety pins and duct tape.”

  Adrienne realized Maggie was serious about the pins and duct tape. Well, why not?

  She slipped into the innkeeper’s suite to try on the dresses. One in particular—a dark coral silk floor-length gown that was one of Daphne’s early designs, not one she’d copied from a movie—caught her eye. It fit well, and it suited her and a Thanksgiving weekend wedding.

  She returned to the living room and showed it off to Maggie. “What do you think?”

  “It’s perfect. I love it.”

  Adrienne reminded herself to steady her breathing. She didn’t have Adam here if she passed out. “I’ve never been so excited. I’m not the giddy type but I’m giddy right now.”

  Maggie hugged her. “We’re going to be sisters-in-law. I couldn’t be happier, Adrienne.”

  She lifted the hem of the gown and slipped back into the suite. She put her regular clothes back on and hung the dress in the closet.

  She drove up to see Vic. “I took a nap and went out like a light,” he said. “You look like you’re about to burst at the seams. What’s up?”

  And she saw he knew. “Adam—he asked you for my hand?”

  “In his Adam way.”

  “That’s so fantastic! I assume you said yes...” She showed him her ring. “Isn’t it great?”

  “He’s a romantic guy under all that sinew.” Vic’s dark eyes misted. “If I’d known I had a daughter, I might have saved some of my mother’s stuff. She had a spectacular hat collection. I suppose that wouldn’t help with your wedding, though.”

  “My mother didn’t save any family heirlooms. She’s not sentimental.”

  “Well, one thing she and I have in common, then. Besides you.”

  “I’m all set with a dress. Turns out I’m a good fit for one of the dresses Daphne Stewart left behind in the library attic when she ran off to Hollywood.”

  “It’s not black, I hope.”

  “Coral silk. It has a couple of moth holes that no one will see.”

  “That’s terrific. We’ll have Greg Rawlings and Adam Sloan in suits on the same day.” Vic grinned. “I can’t wait.”

  * * *

  Sophia Portale burst into Knights Bridge just after dark. She’d celebrated Thanksgiving with friends in New York. Adrienne had texted her—before Adam had proposed—that she wouldn’t be alone at Carriage Hill and got an immediate text back: Wonderful! The more the merrier. I’ll help.

  Help how? But after multiple events at the inn, Adrienne wasn’t worried about tonight. The guests were all Bennetts and they were always game for an adventure. If a moose plunged through the back garden, they’d be fine.

  Adrienne sent her mother Vic’s Knights Bridge cheat sheet. Best to be thorough. It was a good thing Vic had included Loretta Wrentham and Julius Hartley on his cheat sheet, because Maggie had announced the couple was arriving in Knights Bridge from La Jolla next week to see Dylan and Olivia’s baby. Noah and Phoebe would be back in town soon, too. Little Mary Grace wouldn’t lack for people who loved her.

  Sophia arrived in a rental car and carried her bag into the kitchen herself. Adrienne showed her to the innkeeper’s suite, but she refused to take it. She plopped her bag in Olivia’s former office, where Adrienne had set up a cot for herself. “It reminds me of my bedroom as a kid,” she said cheerfully. “When do your guests arrive?”

  “Around eight.”

  “Excellent. We have time for wine. I brought a bottle. Don’t tell me it’s bad. Just let’s enjoy it.”

  Adrienne grinned at her mother. “I thought you were helping.”

  She smiled back. “This is helping.”

  Adrienne fetched two glasses. Her mother insisted on sitting on the terrace and grabbed throws from the living room. “How romantic,” she said. “Bundling up to the smell of fallen leaves. It is chilly, though, isn’t it?”

  “Forty-two degrees.”

  “At least the wine won’t freeze.” She held up her glass. “Cheers, sweetheart.”

  “Cheers, Mom.”

  “There’s something I need to tell you. It’s good news. I sold my business. I’m visiting Tuscany and then spending the winter in Portugal. After that, who knows what I’ll do. Wherever I am, come visit me.”

  “Wow, this is big news. What made you decide on such a big change?”

  “I had an offer. That helped. It came out of the blue, and I said no—immediately, reflexively. But I kept thinking about it. About what it would mean to let go of this business I’d created. To let it grow, change, be part of something new and exciting. I liked all that, and it would be great for my existing clients.”

  “And you? Did you think about what it would mean for you?”

  “Eventually, yes. It didn’t happen right away. Then I was walking in Sausalito after lunch with a friend and I did—I thought about myself and what it would mean to throttle back some. I’m fine financially. I’m not superrich like your friends Dylan and Noah by any stretch, but selling the business sets me up nicely for whatever I want to do next. And I want a year off.”

  “Do you think you’ll retire?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Maybe you’ll have another mad affair,” Adrienne said lightly.

  Her mother looked appalled, even embarrassed.

  “Mom. It could happen. You’re not that old.”

  She laughed. “Yes, it could happen. I’m trying to leave room for the unexpected in my life. Serendipity. Adrienne...”

  Adrienne wasn’t surprised when her mother hesitated. She had something to say, obviously, but heart-to-heart talks had never been her strong suit. She was a doer. Outcome-oriented, she’d say. Feelings, emotions, struggles—she was better at helping people solve problems than just listening to them, and that included herself.

  “I never wanted you to be a clone of me,” she finally blurted.

  “I know that. I appreciate it.”

  “I wasn’t a helicopter mother.”

  “The opposite, Mom,” Adrienne said with a laugh. “I had the freedom to find my own way.”

  “That’s a positive spin on it. You’ve always been independent. I’d have told you about Vic if I had to do it again. Sooner, at least. I remember holding you as a newborn, and all I wanted to do was to protect you. I wanted to protect Vic, too. What I did felt right at the time but I didn’t have any easy choices, except to take care of you.”

  “I’m happy, Mom. Very happy.”

  She looked around at the inn’s yard as if seeing it for the first time. The wet stone wall glistened in the light from the house. “The man who lives in Vic’s guesthouse did this work, didn’t he?”

  “Adam Sloan.”

  “He did the photographs upstairs, too. I noticed them when you showed me around. He’s both a brilliant artist and craftsman.” She paused. “I’m glad you’ve found someone, Adrienne.”

  “How—”

  “I’m your mother. I know these things.” She laughed and winked. “Vic told me. He thought I knew. I’m not offended he found out before I did. He lives here, and it’s a small town. People talk.”

  “Adam and I...” Adrienne was the one who hesitated this time. She wasn’t that great at heart-to-hearts, either. “Adam and I are getting married tomorrow.”

  “Well, well.” Her mother smiled. “Congratulations.”

  “It’s sudden, I know.”

  “Is it right for you, Adrienne?”

  “It’s perfect.”

  * * *

  Although he and her mother had split when she was only seven
, Adrienne had always had a good if not ultra-close relationship with her dad, Richard Portale. He arrived at Carriage Hill just in time to be at the double wedding. Adrienne showed him around the antique house and gardens.

  “I’m only in town for the day,” he said as they returned to the inn’s country kitchen. “I’ll come for a proper visit another time.”

  “I’m glad you’re here, Dad.”

  He smiled. “You and Vic are two peas in a pod, Adrienne. I’m glad you’ve found each other.” He kissed her on the cheek. “You’ll always be my little girl.”

  “And you’ll always be my dad.”

  He was a good-looking man in his fifties, successful, decent. That he and her mother had clicked for almost a decade was something of a miracle, especially now that Adrienne knew the secret her mother had carried.

  All behind them now.

  “What do you think of Knights Bridge?” she asked.

  “There’s more going on here than meets the eye at first. Come on. Let’s get you married to the man of your dreams. Tall, solid, good-looking and knows how to use tools. You always wanted a guy who’s handy.”

  She laughed. “You remember that?”

  “You were twelve and we were on the way to Lake Tahoe for vacation.”

  “I remember. We stayed with friends of yours who had an incredible wine cellar.”

  “You were fascinated by wine at an early age.”

  “I still am.”

  He kissed her on the cheek. “I can tell by the inn’s wine selection and Vic’s wine cellar.”

  “You two—”

  “Friends, Adrienne. Instant friends.”

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  “I have you because of Vic Scarlatti.”

  Twenty-One

  “No, no, no,” Felicity said when Adrienne attempted to get into the kitchen at Red Clover Inn to help with the weddings. “You are not working today. I hired a crew. We’re self-contained. They’re bringing a van. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

  “But you’re sure you don’t need me to do anything?”