Hide and Seek (27 page)

They turned to face each other, held hands, and Rob took a deep breath. "Eh…" he started to say and Maddie's eyes widened. "Ahem," he coughed, cleared his throat and smiled at her. "Maddie warned me she'd know if I used song lyrics for my vows, so bear with me while I wing it.

"Maddie, the minute I met you, I felt a connection between the two of us. A spark. You had the most beautiful green eyes I'd ever seen, and hair that I wanted to run my hands through right that minute, if I didn't think Frances would have minded."

A snicker ran through the crowd, and Maddie chuckled.

Rob continued, "The more I got to know you, I found that besides being beautiful on the outside, you were a beautiful person on the inside. You were kind, gentle, very sweet with Sophie, and maybe the thing I liked most about you was your wicked sense of humor."

The crowd murmured again and Maddie grinned at him. "But, the timing wasn't right for us, sweetheart, and everything we tried to do seemed complicated and forced. I had some things to figure out for myself. I didn't handle it well, and it was a bad time. It was hard being apart from you, I was miserable and miserable to be around."

Another murmur of agreement from the crowd brought a chuckle to both Maddie and Rob. "With the encouragement of our friends, I tracked you down and was amazed to find out what you had done over the winter."

Full-out laughter came from the crowd that time, and Maddie blushed. "But, I was never more thrilled to meet anybody in my life, and I've been counting my blessings since the day Sophie and I brought you and Sam home to live with us. So now, the point of all this rambling. Thank you for waiting for me to figure out what I needed, Maddie. Thank you for taking me back. Thank you for loving Sophie as much as I do. Thank you for sharing Sam with me." He laid a hand on her stomach. "Thank you for the new baby you're carrying."

A ripple of surprise ran through the crowd, followed an instant later by wild applause.

Rob and Maddie smiled at each other, and held hands again. "Thank you for loving me. Now for the vows part. This was supposed to be vows, right? I want to be here for you Maddie, night and day, whatever you need or want. I promise to love you, protect you, take care of you and our babies, and cherish you from now to eternity. I know I hurt you, Maddie, and I promise to never hurt you again. Your heart is safe with me. You can trust me, completely, be secure in our love, confident in our commitment. I want you to have no doubts or worries. We've got the whole deal, Mad, the real deal. And I love you very, very much."

Maddie attempted to brush the tears away before they fell, with no luck. Someone handed Rosa a tissue, and she passed it to Maddie. Maddie chuckled and wiped her eyes. "Oh my." She smiled at Rob. "You're a tough act to follow."

She glanced around the crowd then looked back into Rob's eyes. "I felt the same spark when we met. I floated on air for a week, hoping to catch a glimpse of you at the end of the day. Your beautiful blue eyes," she reached up and brushed his hair away from his eyes, "and the hair that never stays out of your face." Her hand went to his cheek. "And the beard that you keep trying to shave off."

"Never again," he whispered to her, and winked.

Maddie grinned. "I was the happiest I'd ever been with you and Sophie, but I lived in fear that something was going to happen and burst my bubble. Oh, it burst all right, big time. I thought about telling you I was pregnant so you would stay with me, because I knew you would. Something about that didn't feel right. I wanted you to stay because of me, not the baby.

"So I waited. It was hard, and I was scared every day that I had done the wrong thing." She was sniffling now. "But I guess I did the thing I knew best, run away and hide." She glanced at her parents and saw tears in their eyes, too. She looked back at Rob, and reached up to wipe a tear off his cheek. "I was so scared. I loved Sam, but I felt incomplete. The day you walked back into my life, I suddenly became whole again.

"So, thank you for coming to find me. Thank you for wanting me back. Thank you for not being mad about Sam. Thank you for sharing Sophie with me. Thank you for opening up your home to Sam and me. Thank you for opening up your heart to me, and making us both realize that what we wanted was right here all along.

"They say timing is everything, and I guess I believe that. This time around, I'm not living in fear that something is going to go wrong. You've proven to me that I am the woman you want, and I have no doubts or worries anymore. So what can I give you in return? I promise to love and cherish you all the days of our lives. I will be here for you, to support you, to encourage your dreams and try to help make them come true. I'll help you raise Sophie, and all our babies, the best I know how, and together we'll give them love, happiness, a sense of fulfillment and a sense of humor.

"We finally got it right, babe. This is the whole deal, the real deal, Rob, and I love you very, very much." They were both crying as she finished, and Rosa handed them each another handful of tissues.

They chuckled and took a moment to wipe their faces, then turned back to the judge. "The wedding ring is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual bond that unites two hearts together." He looked at Rob. "You have rings?"

"Oh, yeah!" Rob pulled two rings from his pocket, and everyone laughed. He smiled at Maddie, and she grinned back.

"Rob, place the ring on Maddie's finger and repeat after me: "I give you this ring as a symbol of my unending love and undying devotion."

Rob did so, and Maddie repeated the vows as she placed Rob's ring on his finger."And now," the judge concluded, "by the power vested in me by the state of Oklahoma, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

"Oh, yeah!" Rob said with a sultry inflection, and took Maddie's face in his hands. They grinned at each other before he kissed her delicately. He pulled back slowly, and Maddie grabbed him and pulled him close for a better kiss. The crowd cheered, and the bride and groom kissed passionately.

"Are we married?" Sophie grabbed one of each of their legs.

Rob reached down and hoisted Sophie up on his hip. "Yes, munchkin, we are married." He kissed the side of her head and Maddie leaned in and kissed the other side.

"You heard the girl. Let there be cake!" He turned to shake the judge's hand then led Maddie down the aisle to the table on the other side of the yard, where a two-tiered wedding cake waited. He and Maddie posed behind the table for some pictures, then they picked up the knife and cut two small pieces. Rob picked one up and turned toward Maddie.

She put her hand on his chest. "You wouldn't smash that into the face of your pregnant wife, would you?"

His friends egged him on, but Rob smiled sweetly. "I never considered it, dear." He fed her a bite gingerly and she took it, and smiled.

She picked up a bigger piece and looked at him. He took a step back and grinned. "Uh, you wouldn't smash that in the face of an expectant daddy, now would you?"

"Probably, yeah," she teased, but didn't do it. She gave him a bite and put the rest down. They kissed sweetly, and toasted with sparkling cider.

"Okay Soph," Rob handed her a small piece of cake. "A little piece, but then you have to eat dinner, and maybe you can have more cake after that."

"Speaking of dinner," Rosa spoke up. "We're ready to eat, if everyone wants to get in line over here… Bride and groom?"

Maddie shook her head and looked at Rob. "Go ahead," he told Rosa. We're living on love, right now."

Mrs. Cooper stepped up and said, "Come on, Sophie, let's get you something to eat." Maddie looked around and smiled when she saw Sam asleep on Mr. Cooper's shoulder, both of them sitting contentedly on the porch.

Rob led Maddie to a table and they sat. Their guests passed by them and visited and offered congratulations. Sandy and Suzie gave Maddie hugs.

"Good." He rubbed his thumb over the palm of her hand. "I have my favorite Keith Urban songs cued up for us to dance to."

"I can't wait." She leaned into him, and they kissed.

When the guests had eaten and the cake served, Rob turned the C.D. player on and led Maddie into the grass. He held her tightly and sung softly in her ear as they danced. On the second song other people joined them and danced, too.

Maddie wrapped her arms around Rob's neck and looked into his eyes. "This reminds me of dancing on our first date."

"Me, too." He smiled. "Holding you in my arms and you feel so good, all I can think about is getting you alone...and naked."

"Ooh, me too." She pressed against him, and rubbed her hips suggestively.

"That's not helping," he groaned, and kissed her neck.

"At least this time, there's no doubt. We're going to make love tonight," she whispered to him, "and it's going to be wonderful."

Michael Stewart nodded to Rob, then pulled his daughter into his arms. "My beautiful Maddie," he said softly, and held her as they danced.

They danced quietly for a few minutes and he finally said, "You know, there are things back home you need to deal with, eventually, to put the past behind you."

"I know. Eventually."

"We don't want to lose you again, Maddie. Don't shut the door on us again."

"I don't intend to. But, I'm not ready to come back and face everything, yet. I'm totally overwhelmed by my life here, right now. Once things calm down, and we settle in, maybe I can think about it."

He chuckled. "I don't see things calming down here for quite some time. A five-year-old and two babies under the age of one, you're going to be a busy girl, Mad."

"Yeah." She smiled. "But someday, when the time is right, I'll talk to Rob about Alec, and what happened. He'll be totally supportive, and maybe I'll bring him and the kids back with me."

They held on tight for another moment, then separated. "I believe we're getting ready to go. Come say goodbye to your mother."

Maddie nodded. She caught Rob's hand and motioned for him to come with them. He turned Sophie over to Fred for a dance, and followed Maddie and her father.

Andrea Cooper handed the sleeping Sam to Emma. "Oh, kids, good. We need to get back, but we wanted a minute with you."

Rob and Maddie walked into the house with their four parents. Andrea said, "I do hope you'll continue to bring the children by when you bring Sophie to the city."

"If you like." Rob nodded.

"What we'd really like, is for you to leave Sam with us so the two of you could spend an evening alone, at least every other Friday night. Perhaps eventually, you'll allow him to spend the night, but for now, we'd be happy with a few hours."

Maddie and Rob smiled at each other and she said to the Coopers, "What a lovely suggestion. Thank you so much. I think we'll come to cherish that alone time."

"Good!" Andrea smiled brightly. "Then with your permission, we'll set up a room at the house with baby things. We'll be able to use them for the next one, too."