Part 32 (1/2)
I glance at Sam. He squints at the phone book then holds out his open palm for it. I can tell from his determined expression that he's deep in planning mode.
”Why don't you let me take care of this?” he whispers to me, flipping rapidly through the crinkled pages of the book, looking so much like that music-loving teenage Sam that I get a vivid flashback of our soph.o.m.ore-year dance. ”I'll figure something out.”
”No, Sam. You're here as a guest. I should be the one to-”
But Angelique races up to us and interrupts me. ”Where are all the flowers, Ellie? I'll pin the boutonnieres on the guys and the corsages on the moms, but we're going to have to get started soon. The men are almost ready to walk in.”
I point her toward the table of roses and tell her to grab the bridesmaid bouquets, too. She's about to leave when my dad and brother jog in, read the nervous expressions on our faces (it's hard to miss) and halt in place.
”Diana,” Dad says quietly. ”Is everything all right? Do you still want to do this today?”
”Get married?” my sister asks. She looks shaken from the stress, but she still manages to snort. ”h.e.l.l, yeah. But it might be a freaking boring reception if we don't have any music.”
”What?” Dad and Gregory say together.
Mom explains the problem to them while Di turns to Sam. ”The dance is supposed to start at seven-thirty,” my sister says. ”Can you help us?”
Sam studies my family members huddled around him. I see him look at each and every one of us until, finally, his blue eyes return to me. ”I promise I'll take care of it,” he says, meeting my gaze. ”Trust me.” Then, to Di, he adds, ”I've got a favor I can call in, but I'll probably have to miss most of the ceremony to do it.”
”Hey, you can watch the video later if you really wanna see it.” She leans in and gives him a peck on the cheek. ”Thanks, Sam.” Then she arches a brow at me, and I can see the familiar deviousness dancing in her eyes. ”Ellie, find Sam a quiet spot to make his phone calls and then get your b.u.t.t back out here. Pachelbel's Canon is gonna start any second.”
Sam and I step away just as Aunt Candice emerges from the playroom.
”What do you want me to do with these smart little rugrats?” she says, unable to contain the pride in her voice, however unwillingly bestowed. ”When do we release them on the public?”
I check my watch once again. Clifton and the triplets are scheduled to scatter rose petals down the aisle, shepherded by Lyssa, the official flower girl. ”In three minutes,” I tell her as I pull Sam away from my family.
He follows me to Reverend Jacobs's office, strides inside and points to the door. ”Get out there,” he tells me gently. ”You've got a wedding to go to.”
My heart is trying to hammer its way out of my rib cage. ”Sam, this is awful. First you get a last-minute invitation to this wedding, and now you're going to spend the next hour trying to fix our mess for us. I'm so sorry we roped you into this-”
”I'm not,” he says. ”I'm not sorry at all.” He looks deep into my eyes. ”If I can't always keep from hurting someone, Ellie, I can at least try to fix a few things sometimes.” He kisses my hand. ”Now, get going. I'll see you soon.”
And the way he says this lets me know his promise is as much a certainty as the sun s.h.i.+ning and the earth revolving around it.
Twenty seconds before the ceremony...
I glance over my shoulder and see Sam grinning at me. Then I scurry back to the foyer where everybody is lined up and waiting to walk down the aisle. Here we go.
Forty-two minutes later, I'm strolling back toward the front doors on the arm of Alex's brother, Nick. Alexander Sinjin Evans has been united in holy matrimony-again-with Diana Lynn Barnett Evans, and the two of them lead us out of the church.
I catch a glimpse of Sam in the hallway as the procession heads outside. He's leaning up against a marble pillar, the cell phone still in one hand and, in the other, a stray pink rose that must've escaped one of the bouquets.
I mouth, ”Well?”
He nods, raising the rose like a champagne flute in my direction, toasting me. ”It's done,” he mouths back.
We exchange weary smiles before Nick escorts me to my place in the receiving line. I give Di the news via a thumbs-up, and my sister whispers, ”I'm thinking maybe you should marry this Sam guy. I know you said he can be a pain in the a.s.s, but he's hot, and I kinda like him.”
High praise indeed.
I laugh at her suggestion, but a tiny niggle of hope begins to tango within me, kicking at the dust in my soul and stirring up all sorts of things it probably shouldn't.
I open myself up to the feeling anyway, and I find I'm overwhelmed by a happiness I can't sweep away.
If you can overlook Mr. Blaine's endless infractions toward you merely because he rushed to your aid at long last, Jane complains, you are ridiculously forgiving. Either that or incredibly foolish.
And you, Jane, are unbelievably prejudiced against him, I retort, unable to contain the silly grin that's found its home on my lips. Sam's grown up. I believe he really- Is unchanged, Jane interrupts. For all your romanticism, you must realize the gentleman has done nothing worthy of note. He has not saved your family's reputation or partaken in any pursuit that requires his specialized skill or resources- What do you mean? He DID use his resources. He called in his contacts to get us some music for tonight.
Perhaps he may have acquired the musical entertainment for your sister's wedding dance, but this hardly indicates a grand commitment of time or effort. It fails to show an improvement in his character or his temperament or- Sure it does. Jane, you're being absurd!
After a long, silent moment she says, It has been my private mission to see you happily settled in this life, Ellie. Because I care about you and...and because you are the descendant of someone very dear to me. There. I have said it at last. She pauses. But I fear I have failed you.
No, you haven't! You've been amazing. You tried to direct me away from hurt and harm even when I seemed determined to screw things up, and I-Then it hits me. Wait, your Clergyman By The Sea? He's a relative of MINE?
Yes. He died, of course, but his brother the doctor-an arrogant man, similar in temperament to your Mr. Blaine and an individual I confess I did not much like-DID marry and have children. You come from the last branch of that family's line.
I cover my mouth with both palms and close my eyes as I try to process this. Oh, Jane.
She sighs softly. Ellie, I waited almost two centuries to find just the right one of his ancestors with whom to share what I know of human nature, what I recognize to be true about love and pa.s.sion. I waited to try to connect with his one descendant that I felt shared an outlook on life most like mine, in hopes of making her life better. Perhaps it is a small gift. Perhaps it has been hopelessly ineffective, but it is the only one I have left to give to the memory of the man I loved. And to you.
I hear her out, and my heart fills with appreciation for all she's tried to do for me since the moment I first held that paperback copy of Pride and Prejudice. My heart fills also with the pain of love's loss-one she's carried with her for far, far too long.
I love you, Jane, and I'm indebted to you, I tell her. I'm so honored to be the one you chose...I can't tell you how much. But now you need to let me handle my own destiny. Or at least the tiny bit of it I control. I promise I'll try to make you proud.
18.
If you will thank me...let it be
for yourself alone...your family
owe me nothing. Much as I
respect them, I believe I thought only of you.
-Pride and Prejudice Four hours later, at the reception, the Glen Forest Four Seasons Hotel glitters with tiny white lights on the outside but, on the inside, in Di and Alex's reception ballroom (the Manitoba Room, not the Winnebago), the color scheme sparkles with deep violets, smooth lavenders and accents in lilac.
The lovely dinner, complemented by good wine and humorous, heartfelt toasts to the couple, has ended. The photogenic cake-cutting ritual has, likewise, pa.s.sed. And, at last, the dance party begins.