A Family Kind of Wedding (27 page)
Read A Family Kind of Wedding Online
Authors: Lisa Jackson
“Katie Kinkaid?”
The voice was familiar. “Yes?”
“It's Ralph Sorenson again. I've been doing a lot of thinking, and even though we've talked a few times, I didn't really tell you what I'm thinking. Mainly that I guess I owe you an apology for the first time I called, and I don't want there to be any bad blood between us.”
“There isn'tâ”
“Just hear me out,” he insisted, on a roll he didn't want to stop. “When I first called you I was just so damned anxious to get to know Josh, you know, because of Dave's death and all. Anyway, I made that deal with Luke, offered him money to find the boy, because I was so damned lonely.”
Her throat ached all over again, as he explained how empty his life was without Dave but that he'd decided that Katie, as Josh's mother, knew what was best when it came to his grandson. He and his estranged wife only wanted what was best for Josh, and to that end they planned to set up a trust fund for him with the money he'd set aside for Luke.
Katie was thunderstruck. Her fingers clamped over the receiver. “But I thought Luke already got the money.”
“No way.” The old man chuckled sadly. “That boy taught me a little bit about what being a family and putting other people's needs before your own is all about. It's funny, really. Luke never really had a family, didn't know much about his folks, and then his own marriage was a mistake from the get-go, what with his wife running around on him and all.”
Katie felt a tear slide down her cheek. What a fool she'd been.
“Listen, Mr. Sorensonâ”
“Call me Ralph. We are like family whether we want to be or not.”
“I want you to come and visit Josh. I've talked with him, and we need to all get together.”
There was a moment's hesitation. “You're certain about this?”
“Positive.”
“Wellâ¦sure. I'll let you know. Thank you, Katie.”
“And thank you.” She hung up, wrote Josh a quick note in case he got home before she returned, then flew out to the car. She needed to talk to Luke and tell him how she felt. She had to swallow her pride and, no matter what happened, admit that she loved him.
Once behind the wheel, she took a deep breath, then jabbed her key into the ignition and prayed that she hadn't let the one man in the world she needed slip through her fingers.
* * *
Luke, pounding nails that had worked their way out of the stable's old siding, raised his hammer again and heard the Jeep before it rounded the corner of the lane. He half hoped it would be Katie driving out to see him, but told himself he was being a fool. Whatever they'd shared was over. Somehow he'd have to get used to living in the same town with her and knowing they'd never be together.
“Tough,” he muttered to himself and slammed the hammerhead into the siding so hard as to leave a dent. A whirlpool kicked up dust in the corral, spinning a few dried leaves and blades of grass in a crazy dance. Overhead a hawk circled lazily.
Katie's Jeep appeared, and for a moment Luke thought he was seeing things. What could she possibly want? Probably another storyânow that the Isaac Wells mystery was cleared up she'd need another topic. Maybe she wanted to do a piece on this place. The concrete foundation had been poured; in less than six months he hoped to be open for operation.
He slid his hammer into a loop on his jeans and walked across the gravel lot to the spot where she'd ground to a stop. She hopped out of the cab and marched up to him.
“Do you have anything to say to me?” she demanded.
“Such as?”
“I just got a call from Ralph Sorenson.”
“Andâ?”
“He seems to think he's going to send Josh some money for a trust fund.” She threw up one hand, and he couldn't tell if she was furious or pleased. “I think this has something to do with you.”
“I told Ralph I was out of it.”
“Well, you're wrong, Gates,” she argued, her eyes crackling like green lightning. “You're in it big-time.”
“How's that?”
She drew in a long breath, and he braced himself. Her cheeks were rosy, the pulse at the base of her throat beating erratically. The fingers of one hand opened and closed as if she was so nervous as to be tongue-tied, and the scent of her perfume tickled his nostrils. Damn, but she was beautiful. And she didn't seem to know it. “Because I want you to be,” she said, her voice a little softer.
“You do?”
“Yes.” She licked her lips, and he found the movement ridiculously provocative. “IâI want you in my life, Luke.” She seemed embarrassed but held his gaze. “I love you.”
He didn't move, didn't feel the wind play with the tails of his shirt or ruffle his hair. “What?”
“I said, âI love you.'”
He couldn't believe it, and before he could respond, she started to turn. “Wait.”
“Why?” She was halfway to the Jeep, when it finally hit him. He caught up with her before she reached for the door handle.
“Katieâ”
She shook her head, and disappointment darkened her eyes. “Look, just let me go, okay? I've embarrassed myself enough as it is, andâ”
“I love you.”
“You don't have to say anything. Really.”
His fingers tightened over her arms. “I love you, Katie Kinkaid, and I've known it for weeks.” All the words that he'd bottled up started tumbling out of his mouth as he tried to convince her of the truth. “It's just that I felt like such a heel because of the Ralph Sorenson thing.”
“Noâ”
“Believe me.”
“No, Iâ”
“Katie, will you marry me?”
The world seemed to stop. The breeze died, and the hawk disappeared. It was as if they were entirely alone in the universe with that one simple question hanging precariously between them. “Wh-what?”
“Katie Kinkaid, I want you to be my wife.” He reached for her then, and drew her close. “You're not going to make me get down on my knees and beg you, are you?”
She laughed. “Noâ¦butâ¦it would be a nice vision.” Swallowing hard, she stared up at him, and in her eyes he saw his future. “Of course I will,” she said with a grin, “but just tell me one thing.”
“What's that?”
“What took you so long to ask?”
The preacher smiled as he looked at Luke and Katie. “You may kiss the bride,” he said, then turned to J.D. and Tiffany, “And you, too, may kiss the bride.”
The guests filling the hundred-year-old church whispered and chuckled, and Katie leaned forward as Luke lifted her veil and kissed her as if she were the only woman on earth.
This double ceremony had been Katie's idea, and now, as she felt her heart flutter and broke off the embrace, she grinned broadly.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the preacher announced, “I give to you Mr. and Mrs. Luke Gates and Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Santini.”
Katie slid a glance in Tiffany's direction and was rewarded with a smile.
This is the way it should always be,
she thought, with Bliss as their maid of honor, Christina as their flower girl, and their sons, as well as John Cawthorne, giving them away.
She'd thought Luke would balk at the idea when she'd first suggested it, but he'd agreed, happy to finally be part of a family. Even Tiffany, at first resistant, had gotten caught up in the extravaganza. As the organist began to play, Katie, holding Luke's arm, walked down the aisle. Between the sprays of flowers and the candles, she saw the faces of the townspeople she'd known all her life. Her mother was crying, of course, and John Cawthorne was sniffing loudly. Octavia, Tiffany's grandmother, beamed. She'd been reunited with her catâthe result of a woman, who'd bought the Persian years ago, reading Katie's article on the Nesbitt burglary, which was picked up by a paper in Portland. Brynnie and John were considering moving into the apartment house, while Katie, Luke and Josh would take up residence at Luke's ranch.
It seemed fitting, somehow, that Josh would live in the very spot where his father had lived.
Outside, the late-October sun was gilding trees already starting to turn with the coming winter. Katie imagined being snowbound with Luke at the ranch, sleeping in the room with the river-rock fireplace, watching as his dream unfolded, and the ranch was up and running. She would still write, of course, but she thrilled at the thought of spending her days and nights with the man she loved.
The two brides and grooms formed a reception line, and Katie accepted kisses, hugs and handshakes from friends, neighbors and relatives. Ralph and Loretta Sorenson had met Josh and had stayed for the nuptials. Even Rose Nesbitt had stood proudly and watched Tiffany marry, though, Katie decided, it would be a cold day in Hades before Rose would ever say a kind word to John Cawthorne.
But time could take care of a lot of the pain.
“It was a great wedding,” Bliss said as the line dwindled, and she stood between her two half sisters.
“The best,” Dee Dee said.
“Oh, I can think of a better one.” Mason winked at his wife.
J.D. laughed and kissed Tiffany again. Luke's arm surrounded Katie's waist. “I wouldn't trade this one for the world,” he whispered into her ear. “Now, can we go somewhere private?”
“Soon,” Katie whispered back.
“Not good enough, wife.” Not waiting for another second, Luke pulled her behind a thick laurel hedge, and, holding her face between his two callused hands, he looked deep into her eyes, then kissed her as if he never intended to stop. Because he didn't.
* * * * *
NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY
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Read on for an exciting excerpt of Susan Mallery's #1
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bestseller,
THRILL ME!
Maya Farlow learned the hard way to depend only on herself, so when she fell too deeply for the bad-boy charms of Del Mitchell, she did the only thing she couldâshe ran. Stunned, Del left Fool's Gold to make his name and fortune in extreme sports. Now, ten years later, Maya's been hired to promote her hometown's new slogan, The Destination for Romance, but the campaign's celebrity spokesman is none other than Del, the man she left but never forgotâ¦
M
AYA HAD HOPED
that hanging out with her friend would be enough to chase all the Del from her mind. But she'd been wrong. The night had been an uncomfortable experience of being awake more than asleep. And when she finally did doze, it was only to dream of Del. Not current, sexy, stubbly Del, but the twenty-year-old who had stolen her heart.
She woke exhausted and with memory hangover. Funny how, until she'd seen him, she'd been able to forget him. But now that he was back, she was trapped in a past-present rip in the space-time continuum.
Or she was simply dealing with some unfinished business, she thought as she stepped into the shower. Because as much as she might like to think the universe revolved around her, truth was, it didn't.
