His Sister's Wedding (17 page)

Somehow, he had to find a way to forgive the women who'd foolishly hurt him or he'd
hang on to his cynicism and keep shielding his heart from the very thing he needed
most. Love.

Somehow, she had to find a way to convince him she wasn't like the others. She loved
him with every part of her. If only he could see it.

CHAPTER NINE

The house smelled of pumpkin pies and roasting turkey.

Lillie wiped her hands on a kitchen towel and smiled. Thanksgiving always seemed like
the purest holiday to her. Family and loved ones. Gratitude and appreciation for all
they had.

This year that meant Scott and Melanie...and Luke. The people she loved most in the
world.

From the living room, the raucous noise of televised football provided a backdrop.
It was quieter in the kitchen. The warmth from the oven left her face flushed, but
she didn't mind. This was the best Thanksgiving since her parents' death.

Their loss still brought a rush of sadness, but now there was also a sense of new
beginnings. She'd had the blessing of two loving parents and today that seemed even
more poignant, now that she loved Luke. Would the two of them ever be as happy as
her parents had been?

Opening the oven door an inch, Lillie peered inside, something she'd seen her mother
do a dozen Thanksgivings. She let the door ease shut and suddenly found herself wondering
if she'd have a daughter with which to share these simple moments.

Right now, with Scott's and Melanie's voices mingling in laughter from the other room,
Lillie could imagine a houseful of cousins. God, she wanted Luke to love her, to realize
how good it could be between them.

"Lillie?" Mel stuck her head through the doorway. "Are you sure nothing else needs
to be done?

"Yes. Everything's under control. I really appreciated your help with the vegetables,
though." She took off her apron and followed Melanie into the living room.

Luke looked up from the game, his gaze brushing over her face intimately.

She looked away, conscious of the urge to go and sit next to him, to snuggle in his
arms. Of course, she couldn't. Not with Melanie and Scott looking on.

Luke had never said anything about not wanting their siblings to know about their
relationship. Neither had Lillie, but still, for some reason, it was a secret. An
unspoken agreement between them.

Lillie sank into a chair across the room as Scott and Luke spontaneously yelped in
protest of a play on the television screen.

"What's the matter with them?" Scott demanded. "Didn't they see that coming? Who's
calling those plays?"

"I don't know," Luke responded, "but they've only got thirty seconds. This game is
lost."

Ten minutes later, when she went into the kitchen to check on the pies, Lillie knew
instantly when Luke followed her. She flashed him a smile over her shoulder as she
cracked the upper oven door to get a closer look at the pie.

"Smells great," Luke said, bending to nuzzle her neck.

"Thanks--"

The phone rang just as she bent to peek at the turkey.

"I'll get it," he said, reaching for the receiver. "Hello?"

Almost immediately, his expression changed. Lillie felt as if she were watching a
shade lowered across his features.

"Yes, it's me," he said. "Happy Thanksgiving to you, too."

The meaning of the phrase was warm, but his delivery of it seemed strangely distant
and formal. Who could be calling?

The kitchen door opened as Melanie sailed through.

"You're not letting that pie burn, are you?" she asked gaily, coming to a halt midway
across the kitchen as her gaze fell on Luke.

"Yes,...Janet," Luke said, still in that distant voice. "We're both here with Melanie's
fiance's family."

"Mother?" Melanie hissed. "You're talking to Mother?"

Luke hushed her with a frown. "Ummm, the wedding preparations are fine. Moving along."

Her hand still on the oven door, Lillie felt frozen in place, immobilized by the tension
crackling through the room. She watched as Melanie went to stand next to Luke, a parade
of emotions across the younger girl's face.

"Luke?" she said to her brother, mouthing the word. "Invite her over for dinner."

He glanced down, frowning as he gripped the receiver to his ear. "Mmm, yes. It's a
lot of work."

"Luke!" Melanie hissed again.

Lillie felt her heart hammering in her ears, a breathless hope clogging her throat.
Janet Howard had been a less than perfect mother. She'd made a lot of mistakes and
maybe she didn't deserve to be forgiven.

But Luke needed to forgive her. Otherwise, he'd never be able to move on, to give
himself permission to love.

Moving away from the oven, Lillie picked up a dish cloth to wipe off the counter.
But she couldn't make herself turn away from the pair next to the phone.

"Invite her over," Melanie said, her words crisp now.

"It's Lillie's house," he reminded her, his hand over the mouth piece.

"Lillie doesn't mind," Mel retorted, her expression both insistent and beseeching.
"Ask her."

Luke looked at his sister for a long moment before glancing to where Lillie stood
waiting. Their gazes tangled briefly before he turned back to his sister.

"Ah, listen," he said into the phone a moment later. "I know it's short notice, but
maybe you'd like to...join us for dinner."

He looked at Lillie again, his face wiped of any expression. "Yes, we'd like you to
come over."

Lillie felt the tension trickle out of her. There was no mistaking the reluctance
with which he'd made the gesture, but, at least, he'd made it. Progress sometimes
came slowly, but it was still progress.

She could understand his struggle. This woman had abandoned him to go live with her
lover. Inviting her back into his world at this point must feel like saying the past
didn't matter. And, clearly, Luke lived everyday with the results of the past.

Hadn't his mother given him his first lesson in doubting the power of love?

Yet, he'd still responded to his sister's request and invited his mother one step
closer. Surely, it meant he was closer to healing that old hurt.

He hung up the phone. "She's coming. Said she'll be here within the hour."

"Oh, Luke. Thank you." Melanie hugged her brother. "She's a lonely woman. Our mother.
How could we not invite her?"

He looked down into his sister's face, his own expression unreadable. "Well, she's
coming."

Belatedly remembering the pie, Lillie turned back to the dinner, a bubble of excitement
inside her. Luke followed Melanie back into the living room.

Putting the finishing touches on the meal, Lillie calmed her nervous jitters by reminding
herself that Luke wasn't likely to refuse to speak to his mother after inviting her
over for Thanksgiving dinner. Still, he seemed subdued when she went into the living
room to set the dining table.

Sitting on the couch next to Scott as they watched the tail end of another football
game, Luke said little. He didn't even comment when Scott pulled Melanie onto his
lap.

Lillie watched him surreptitiously, wondering what thoughts were occupying his mind.
The expression on his face gave nothing away, but she didn't like the stillness with
which he sat. Luke was nothing if not a physical man. He rarely sat unmoving.

When the doorbell rang half an hour later, Lillie hurried to answer it.

Janet Howard stood on the doorstep in the gathering gloom of evening, a bunch of flowers
in one hand, a bottle of wine in the other, anxiety on her face.

"Come in," Lillie said warmly, responding to an immediate urge to put the older woman
at her ease.

"Thank you," Janet said, stepping inside. "I appreciate you having me over."

"We're pleased to have you." Lillie took her coat. "I believe you've met my brother?"

"Yes," Melanie's mother said, smiling at Scott.

"Nice to see you again, Mrs. Howard," Scott said.

Melanie came in from the kitchen. "Mother! Come in."

"We're almost ready to eat." Lillie urged Janet away from the door, praying Luke would
acknowledge his mother.

"I brought flowers...and wine," Janet said nervously.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lillie saw Luke finally rise from his seat. "Glad you
could make it."

The next half hour couldn't help but have its awkward moments, but Lillie had to give
Luke credit. He was doing his best. When they all sat around the table after grace
was said, he was almost his normal self. The conversation actually got easier with
talk of the wedding plans.

"So tell me," Scott said, his voice teasing. "What was Melanie like as a child?"

"Sweet and innocent," Mel responded with a smirk before her mother could say anything.

Janet laughed, the soft sound mingling with Scott's disbelieving snort.

"She did have her sweet moments," Janet agreed.

"Thank you, Mother," Melanie said with dignity.

"But she wasn't one of those frilly girls, always combing their hair and trying on
party dresses," her mother said.

Scott leaned forward, a wicked smile on his face. "You were a tomboy? I bet you beat
up all the little boys who were in love with you."

"No, I didn't," she protested. "There weren't any boys in love with me. And I wasn't
a tomboy. I just...liked different kinds of things than other girls."

Janet sat back with a reminiscent look on her face. "I remember your frog stage. You
were very young."

"Mother!"

The older woman turned to Scott, her expression alive with remembered laughter. "She'd
bring them into the house and let them go--"

"They escaped. I never let them go on purpose!"

"--and we had this dog who went crazy after frogs." Janet shook her head, laughing
softly. "Poor frogs. The dog didn't actually catch any of them that we know of, but
the frogs were terrorized."

"We never did find two or three of them," Luke interjected spontaneously, a faint
smile on his face.

"So the dogs might have found a treat or two," Scott surmised with obvious delight
at his fiancée’s indignation.

"No, they didn't!"

Lillie sat back, barely listening to the banter around the table. It seemed as if
Luke had lost himself in the moment, reminiscing about a time long past. He sat now,
listening to his sister's spirited defense, an appreciative, humorous gleam in his
eyes.

"Well, at least, I didn't bring home snakes," Melanie declared, sending Luke a pointed
glance. "And it wasn't me that tempted a rabid raccoon into the backyard. We nearly
had to have rabies shots."

"A rabid raccoon?" Janet echoed, a faint frown on her face. "I don't remember any
raccoon."

A sudden silence fell over the table.

"No," Luke said, looking down at his plate as he cut a piece of turkey. "That happened
after you left."

He looked up at his mother, his smile stiff now. "So, tell us, Janet. Where are you
working these days?"

It was a question one might have asked a stranger.

In the flash of a moment, the intimacy of the conversation was gone. Luke's question
and his mother's halting response only underscored the emotional gulf between them.

Lillie was almost grateful when the meal was over. Cleaning off the table, she responded
warmly to Janet's offer of help, despite the decidedly discouraging silence from Luke.
To heck with him. She wasn't going to reject this shrinking woman's offer to rinse
the dishes. It would have bordered on cruelty.

Still when all the cleaning up was done and Janet made her goodbyes, Lillie couldn't
help feeling wrung out.

After shutting the door behind Luke's mother, she sank into a chair in the living
room, more tired than one simple Thanksgiving meal should have left her.

Across the small cluster of furniture, Melanie cuddled in Scott's lap, laughingly
threatening him with severe reprisals. The two tussled, playing at wrestling in the
intimate way of people completely in love.

"Melanie," Luke said abruptly from where he stood behind the couch. "Won't you at
least consider postponing this wedding?"

"What?" Scott sat up straighter in his chair, all the laughter leaving his face.

"There's absolutely no reason to rush into this," Luke declared, his face cold, his
tone implacable. "Wait a while. A year or two."

"Luke," Melanie faltered, obviously thrown. "I thought you were beginning to accept--"

"I accept that I can't stop you from getting married while you're still in school,"
her brother interrupted. "But nothing has changed my opinion about how foolish this
marriage would be."

"Now, wait just a second!" Scott nudged Melanie off his lap, scooting forward in his
chair.