Courting Katarina (22 page)

“I still can’t quite believe this. It’s all happened so quickly. All these years I thought this day would never happen. Now I know why love always seemed to pass me by. I was waiting for you.” The tenderness in her voice touched him deeply. It was something he couldn’t begin to understand, let alone explain. Falling in love with Katarina caught him off guard, yet left his heart at peace. Life together would be one joyful adventure after another.

“And I for you, love.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

K
atarina and Alex started planning an early January wedding, but by the end of September they’d moved it up to December to accommodate family schedules.

For most of the week prior to the wedding, Katarina, her mother and sisters finalized plans arranging flowers and made final adjustments to their gowns. Katarina sewed pearls to the lace on her wedding dress. Emily’s emerald-green rayon crinkle dress had grown increasingly tight since she’d tried it on just a week ago.

Katarina patted her sister’s expanding tummy. “Emily, I love this baby with all my heart, but could you please tell it to stop growing for two more days? I’m nearly out of fabric here.”

“Sure, no problem.” Emily smiled. “I can’t believe you, Kat. Choosing a style and fabric with my
pregnancy in mind. Not to mention waiting to sew it together until the week of the wedding.”

“I think you did a beautiful job, sis. As usual.” Lisa twirled around, and the tea-length skirt swirled around her long legs. “What do you think?”

“Show-off,” Emily muttered. “I don’t think I’ll ever be thin again.”

“You look radiant, Emily. Trust me, it’s worth every ounce, even if you never lose it,” their mother said.

Katarina could see that the confession shocked all three sisters. Naomi Berthoff had had a difficult time as a single mother and rarely ever talked positively about their childhood.

“I was afraid you were making the same mistake I did with your father, Katarina,” Naomi said solemnly.

Katarina was silent. Did she really have to wait until the day before her wedding? After five months, including their Thanksgiving visit, Katarina would have thought her mother could have chosen a better time to criticize her choice of husband. “Mother…”

“I never told any of you girls. We were married two weeks after we met. Karl was charming, and handsome, and swept me off my feet.” Naomi seemed to drift into her own world. Emily and Lisa looked at each other, then at Kat. “Alex—” Naomi paused to wipe her teary eyes “—is everything I could have ever hoped for in a husband for you,
Katarina. He adores you, and it’s obvious that you feel the same. I’ve never seen you so at peace.”

Relief washed over Katarina, and she embraced her mother. “Thank you, Mom. Alex and I are very happy.” Kat hesitated. No one had broached this subject for at least fifteen years. Each birthday, graduation and family wedding, Katarina had hoped her father would magically reappear and everything would return to normal. Each time, she dreamed of welcoming him home with open arms. Of pushing the anger and hurt aside. “Mamma, why did Daddy leave without even saying goodbye?”

Her mother touched Katarina’s cheek and looked her in the eyes. “Are you sure you want to talk about this now, right before your wedding?”

Kat nodded. “I need to know.”

Naomi wrapped her arm around Katarina and took Lisa’s hand. “Your father and I simply didn’t know each other well enough before we married, honey. In our own way, we tried to find that magical feeling that had brought us together, but I realize now, there was never any love.” Her mother let out a deep breath. “I woke up one morning and accepted the truth. I couldn’t live with it any longer.”

Her mother took a lengthy pause. “When he left that night, I told him not to bother coming back.” Not a tear dropped from her mother’s eyes. “Of course, we’d been through the same argument so many times, I didn’t really mean it at the time. He took me seriously.”

Despite her mother’s mistakes, Katarina admired her. Naomi Berthoff had become a strong, determined woman because of what her father had done.

Her mother hugged each daughter, and Katarina wept for only a few minutes after finally learning the truth. That in itself made moving on easier. Alex was right—no matter what Karl Berthoff had done, she would always have her heavenly Father.

Fresh holly, pink and white poinsettias, and cranberry candles with white satin bows decorated the candelabras at the altar. Hurricane lamps adorned each pew, lighting the sanctuary with a soft glow. Katarina watched Emily, then Lisa disappear through the double doors. They closed again so she could take her place.

“You look ravishing, sweetie. That’s one fine man you’re marrying.”

Katarina’s heart swelled with pride. “Thanks, Grandpa. I’m so glad you felt up to coming.”

“I was so disappointed I couldn’t come to Emily’s wedding. I wasn’t about to miss another. Are we ready?”

She nodded. As if on cue, the wedding march began. Her grandfather’s roughened hand patted hers and the doors opened. The congregation blocked her view of her husband-to-be. Halfway down the aisle, their eyes met. Alex’s entire face lit up when he first saw her. Katarina, chilly from a bad case of the jitters and the howling blizzard outside,
felt the chill melt away inch by inch under her groom’s admiring gaze.

The tails of Alex’s tux emphasized his broad shoulders, slim hips and long legs, making him even more attractive than ever. He accepted her hand from her grandfather, then helped her up the step to the pastor.

Katarina glanced at the cross above the altar and felt as if she’d been anointed with His love and assurance.
Thank you, Father
. As if Alex was reading her mind, he squeezed her hand. Kat looked at him with dreamy eyes, melting away the years of loneliness and longing. Never had any decision felt so right.

“‘Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give you desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust in Him and He shall bring it to pass.’ During our visits, Alex and Katarina shared this verse with me as a testament of their relationship.” The pastor continued to speak about the beauty of the bond of marriage created by Him for His glory.

Katarina had taken a leap of faith opening her soul to Him, leaving the security of the familiar for the unknown realm of seeking God’s will.

Alex felt his voice choke with emotion as he recited his vows to love, honor and cherish Katarina. Adam handed him the ring, and he slid it onto his bride’s long, delicate finger. “With this ring, I thee wed.”

He recalled her proclamation that she would be
waiting for him when the fire was out. He had news for his bride. That fire would
never
go out. Her blond hair shimmered in the candlelight. Joy flickered in her blue eyes. Her icy hands were now warm within his own gentle grasp.

As Katarina finished her vows, kissed his ring and placed the gold band on his finger, Alex anticipated showing her just how much he cherished the love she entrusted to him.

“You may kiss your bride.” Alex lifted the veil covering her porcelain face and wrapped his arms securely around her. “I love you, Katarina.” The intimacy of their kiss reached a new level as God joined their hearts in peaceful harmony.

Merely an hour later, the severity of the storm forced them to bring the festivities to an abrupt end. Katarina changed quickly and looked down the wide stairs to the exit. Katarina and Alex descended the stairs and stopped halfway. She spotted the youngest MacIntyre brother near the doorway and tried to figure out how to get Lisa to catch the bouquet and Adam to catch the garter as Kevin and Emily, and she and Alex, had done.

Thus far, they’d had no luck whatsoever in setting the two of them up together. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Okay, Father. Lisa and Adam are in Your hands
.

Katarina turned, closed her eyes and tossed the
bouquet. She spun around to watch it catch on the crystal chandelier in front of the door. Her heart deflated. “Alex, we have to get it.”

Laughter bubbled throughout the entryway.

“This isn’t a tree, Kat. That chandelier is a good twenty feet from the ground. There’s no way to retrieve it without risking bodily harm, for man or crystal. Afraid the bouquet won this time.”

Tiny champagne-colored bubbles floated up the stairs as someone opened the door for Alex and Katarina to exit. “Everyone’s waiting on us to leave so they can get home.”

She looked up again, then to Adam and Lisa before finally parading down the stairs. The guests followed them out the door as the freshly fallen snow swirled as if in a winter wonderland.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re staying?”

He looked up into the blizzard, hugging her close by his side. “Luckily, you have an impatient husband. I didn’t want to spend our wedding night on the road, so I reserved the honeymoon suite at a hotel across town. But at this rate, our flight to Hawaii may have to wait another day or two.”

“Hawaii? Alex!” He opened the door and helped her climb into the truck. “How did you manage that on such short notice?”

He smiled. “That’s only the beginning, Katarina. Nothing is impossible when you hand the control to Him.”

ISBN: 978-1-4603-1158-5

COURTING KATARINA

Copyright © 2001 by Carol Steward

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