Alix’s eyes were shadowed. “Canceling.”
Susannah would be disappointed. The Turner wedding was a huge order and had come with a substantial down payment. Although she’d hold a certain amount back, it would still be a loss.
“So you and Jordan have decided to call off the wedding?” Colette asked, finding this hard to believe. Colette knew how much Alix loved him. In fact, Colette envied her friend the close relationship she had with her fiancé.
“As of last Tuesday, the wedding’s officially off,” Alix said blandly. Colette stared at her. Despite Alix’s no-big-deal attitude, this must be ripping her heart out. It also explained why no one had seen her all week. Colette noticed that Alix’s hands were shaking, although she tried to hide it by shoving them in her pockets.
“The paperwork’s in the office,” Colette said in a noncommittal tone. She led Alix there, out of view of anyone who might be looking in the shop windows. As soon as they were alone, she breathed, “What happened?”
Alix tried unsuccessfully to pretend it was a small thing. “Jordan and I agreed it was for the best, that’s all.”
“Oh, Alix, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” she said, rejecting Colette’s sympathy. “Anyone looking at the two of us could see it was a mistake.”
Colette didn’t buy that for a minute.
“I was living in a fool’s paradise,” Alix went on. She climbed up on a stool while Colette prepared a pot of coffee. After a few minutes, the rich, tantalizing scent drifted through the small office.
“I’m not the right woman to be a pastor’s wife,” Alix said. “Thank goodness I recognized that before it was too late.”
Colette was stunned. “But…”
“I didn’t mean to disappear,” Alix was saying.
“Where were you?”
Alix stared down at the hardwood floor. “I took a few vacation days and went to see a…family friend. Then, yesterday afternoon, I started looking for someplace to move. I applied for a few other jobs, as well.”
“But why?”
When Alix glanced up again, Colette winced at the pain in her eyes. “I can’t stay around this neighborhood with Jordan here. It would hurt too much to see him nearly every day and I would, you know.”
That was true enough. Colette had run into Jordan at the French Café a number of times. Even if he and Alix made an effort to avoid each other, it would be almost impossible.
“I figure I need to get away from here,” Alix concluded.
Colette felt like weeping. Alix was her friend, one of the best she’d ever had, and couldn’t stand the thought of losing her. Trying to remain calm—or at least appear that way—Colette leaned casually against the side of the desk, hands behind her, ankles crossed. “You and Christian’s aunt are the only people I’ve told about the baby,” she said. “And do you know why that is?”
Alix met her gaze and after a moment shrugged. “You and I work out together—or we used to.”
“No,” Colette said flatly. “I knew you wouldn’t judge me. In fact, you told me that yourself, and you were right. I could talk to you when I couldn’t talk to anyone else. You listened to me. You cared and you didn’t make me feel guilty or stupid.”
Alix bowed her head. “Thank you,” she whispered and her voice cracked with pain. “That means a lot to me. But the wedding is off. Jordan and I agreed a few days ago to cancel everything. The only reason I’m here now is to take care of business before I find a new job and someplace else to move.”
“Does Jacqueline know about this?”
“I haven’t talked to the Donovans yet.”
“Have you decided where you’re going?”
“No,” she said, “but that’s not a problem. As a kid I changed neighborhoods more often than a moving van.”
Colette dredged up the energy to smile. So Alix was going to run away. Well, she’d been on the run, too. And what she’d learned in the last months was that the person she was running from was herself. Not Christian, not her circumstances, but herself.
Alix was quiet for several minutes. “Susan doesn’t think I’d make Jordan a good wife and she should know.” Alix tried to make it sound like a joke, but Colette wasn’t amused. “You have to admit she’s more of an expert on this than either Jordan or me.”
“I don’t agree.” Colette rested her hands on her hips, struggling not to reveal her irritation. “Don’t you understand how comfortable you make people feel?” she asked. She turned around and grabbed two mugs from the shelf. She filled them with coffee, handing one to Alix. “You’re the perfect wife for Jordan and if he hasn’t figured that out, he isn’t half the man I thought he was.”
Tears glistened in Alix’s eyes as she cradled the steaming mug. “You’re a good friend.”
“I’ll be shocked if Jordan lets you leave the neighborhood. He’s smart enough to know what he has.”
Alix put her coffee down on a nearby worktable and sniffed. “I wish that was true.”
“Alix, are you here?”
The sound of Jordan’s voice obviously shocked Alix and she slipped off the stool. Eyes wide, she cast a pleading look at Colette.
“Alix!” he repeated.
When she didn’t respond, Colette stepped out of the office. “She’s in here.” If Alix looked unkempt, it was nothing compared to Jordan. He must’ve slept in his clothes, because everything he had on was a mass of wrinkles. He hadn’t shaved in days, and his hair stood on end.
Jordan entered the small office, standing squarely in the doorway. Alix realized she was trapped and Colette saw the panic cross her face.
“How’d you know I was here?” Alix demanded, her voice angry and defensive.
“A friend of mine saw you. He came to get me,” Jordan told her.
Alix had backed all the way up against the wall.
“Alix!” Jordan’s entire body sagged in relief. “Alix, for the love of heaven, where did you go? I’ve been sick with worry. I called everyone I could think of…. I didn’t know what to do when I couldn’t find you. No one—not even Jacqueline or the people at the café—knew where you were.”
“I spent a few days at your grandma Turner’s.”
“Grandma’s?” He seemed bewildered; clearly it had never occurred to him to call his own grandmother.
Colette felt like an unwanted third party and would gladly have left the room if Jordan hadn’t blocked the entrance.
“That’s where you went?” Jordan shook his head. “Why?”
“I love your grandmother,” Alix said.
“I love you,” Jordan told her. “Alix, I can’t let you walk out of my life. I’d be the biggest fool who ever lived if I did. You tried to tell me how unhappy you were, only I wasn’t listening. I thought… Oh, I don’t know what I thought. The wedding’s nothing,” he said. “Nothing. You’re all that matters. You don’t want the big wedding, then it’s out. Done with, canceled, forgotten. If you want a small ceremony with family and a few friends, that’s what we’ll have. But please marry me. I need you.”
Alix remained rigid, frowning as if she didn’t believe him.
Colette wanted to give her a shove in Jordan’s direction. But Alix stood exactly where she was.
Jordan removed the diamond ring from his pocket and held it out to her. “Let me put this back where it belongs—on your finger. Just like you belong with me, and I belong with you.”
Colette could feel Alix weakening as she looked down at her left hand. “You need to listen to me,” she said in a low voice.
“I will, as God is my witness,” he vowed.
“Then I’d like to be married by the lake on your grandmother’s property.”
“That can be arranged,” Jordan said immediately.
“With your family and a few of our friends.”
“Done.”
Alix frowned again, as though she felt he’d given in too easily and she wasn’t sure she could trust him.
“Nothing’s mor
e important to me than being with you,” Jordan whispered.
Tears flowed down Alix’s cheeks then, and she moved slowly toward Jordan. A second later they were locked in a fervent embrace.
Colette wanted to give them some privacy. Making her way past Jordan and Alix, she tiptoed out of the office, closing the door. She felt happier just knowing they were back together. However, Colette didn’t envy them the task of breaking the news to Jacqueline and Susan Turner. She was certain they’d be delighted the wedding was on, but less pleased about the kind of event it was going to be.
That morning’s encounter left Colette in a melancholy mood for the rest of the day. The satisfaction she felt for them seemed to emphasize the bleakness of her own life. She was eager to see Elizabeth—and to be with Christian, although there was virtually no chance of a happy resolution there.
The dinner invitation said she should arrive at six. Colette was ready much earlier than that, but she trotted down the stairs to her car with only ten minutes to spare. She drove to the house on Capitol Hill and was struck again by the beauty of the stately home with its white pillars and sweeping grounds. She noticed immediately that Christian’s car was nowhere in sight. She’d hoped to time her arrival so he’d already be there.
The same woman, Doris, who’d answered the door previously did so this evening. “Miss Elizabeth is waiting in the library,” she told Colette.
It all sounded very formal. Colette was led to the other room and sure enough, Christian’s aunt was sipping tea by the fireplace. “I’m so glad you decided to accept my invitation,” Elizabeth Sasser said, rising awkwardly to her feet.
“You also invited Christian,” Colette said in a gently chiding voice.
“I did,” his aunt agreed. Her eyebrows rose in an expression Colette couldn’t quite decipher.
“You decided to play the role of matchmaker.”
“Yes, I’d thought… Well, it’s neither here nor there. Christian declined.”
He’d said he would but Colette had hoped he’d change his mind. She was overcome by a deep sense of disappointment, which she tried to conceal. She assumed she’d succeeded until she caught a look in the old woman’s clear blue eyes.
“I’ll try again on another occasion,” Elizabeth said matter-of-factly. “And next time I’ll be more clever about it.”
Colette laughed and slipped her arm through the other woman’s. Together they walked slowly into the formal dining room, where the table was set with the finest china and crystal. Everything looked flawless and yet to Colette it seemed incomplete without Christian.
“Sit down, my dear,” Elizabeth said.
Colette took her seat.
“I brought out some photographs you might like to see.”
“Of your travels?” Colette asked.
Elizabeth smiled as Doris came into the room, carrying two lovely salads, heaped with fresh scallops, shrimp and large chunks of Dungeness crab. “No, not my travels, although Charles and I did enjoy seeing the world. We had wonderful adventures….” Her face softened for a moment, as if she’d forgotten where she was. Then she roused herself. “These pictures are of Christian as a youngster.”
Colette rested her hands in her lap and it took her pulse a moment to return to normal. Even then, she couldn’t entirely trust her voice. “I’d enjoy that very much.”
Elizabeth raised her eyes to Colette’s. “I thought you would.” With a mischievous smile, she continued. “Now, tell me a bit more about yourself. You said your family lived in Colorado?”
Colette nodded and the conversation flowed from then on.
The evening was pleasant; the meal was superb and the conversation over coffee afterward was stimulating. Later, studying photographs of Christian as a child and a teenager, Colette felt his absence with a sharp longing that was very different from the way she still missed Derek. That grief was like a dull, familiar ache. This new sensation was…pain.
“Next week,” Elizabeth murmured as Colette prepared to leave. “I—”
“Next week,” Elizabeth reiterated. “And I’ll make sure Christian comes.” She pinned Colette with narrowed eyes. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Colette was well aware that Elizabeth already knew the answer to her own question, but she didn’t respond immediately. And when she did, she simply told the truth. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I’d like that.”
CHAPTER 27
Alix Townsend
The weekend was hectic for Alix and Jordan as they quietly went about changing their wedding plans. The first person they talked to was Grandma Turner, who didn’t disguise her pleasure or excitement.
“I’d love it if you had the wedding here,” she said, beaming with pride. “Didn’t I tell you?” she whispered in Alix’s ear as she hugged her. “My grandson’s much too smart to let you go. He knows he has a winner.”
Alix felt a sense of pure joy at Grandma Turner’s words. In the time she’d stayed with Sarah, they’d grown even closer. Alix hadn’t realized how great the physical and emotional toll had been these last few months. She’d slept twelve hours both nights she was at Sarah’s.
Jordan had spent those days thinking. He confided in Alix that he hadn’t mentioned the broken engagement to anyone. Instead, he’d thought long and hard about what really mattered in his life. After that, he came to find her, to tell her how much he loved her and needed her. His declaration of love in the back room at Susannah’s Garden had been the most beautiful thing Alix had ever heard.
While they were separated, Alix had sat by the lake for hours. Being there had calmed her and revived her spirits and it had given her the courage to return to Blossom Street and face her future, with or without Jordan. She felt giddy with relief at the outcome, which his grandmother had never once doubted. It was Sarah who’d suggested the lake house as the perfect place for their wedding. At the time, Alix had been convinced there’d be no wedding.
The most difficult part would be breaking the news to Jacqueline and Susan. Jordan had asked them both to meet him and Alix at his church office, at nine o’clock Monday morning. As they waited, Alix paced nervously; she couldn’t sit or remain standing. This was going to be horrible; she just knew it. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach. Susan would hate her after this, and Jacqueline would think she was an ingrate.
“Your mother’s never going to forgive me,” she murmured, pacing the rug in front of Jordan’s desk.
“Alix, will you relax?”
“But all the money Jacqueline and Reese have put into this reception…”
“They should never have booked the country club before they discussed it with us. We were trapped.”
“Yes, I know,” she concurred, but while that was true, it didn’t ease the ache in her stomach.
“This is our wedding, Alix,” he reminded her, and it seemed deliciously ironic to have her own words quoted back to her. “I’m as much to blame as anyone. I didn’t listen to you, either. It embarrasses me that I failed you so completely.” He shook his head. “It’s a wonder you’re still willing to marry me.”
His love washed over her, bringing peace to Alix’s heart. But her sense of peace didn’t last. Susan Turner arrived first, bursting into Jordan’s office as if she had a dozen other places she needed to be. She frowned at her watch. “I hope this isn’t going to take long,” she said impatiently.
“We’re waiting for Jacqueline,” Alix said, finally sitting down.
“Okay, fine, but I have a meeting and I can’t be late.”
“I’m sure Jacqueline will be here soon,” Alix said, although her friend would probably show up a fashionable five minutes late, if not ten or fifteen.
Jordan came around his desk and stood next to Alix’s chair, placing his arm around her shoulder.
Fortunately for Susan’s schedule and Alix’s nerves, Jacqueline got there almost right away. She looked exquisite, beautifully made up and wearing an elegant pantsuit. “You asked to see us?” she said,
turning to Jordan and Alix with a smile of expectation.
“Mom, Mrs. Donovan, it might be best if you both sat down for this.” Jordan gestured to the sofa, which was positioned against the wall.
The two women exchanged a puzzled glance, as if the other should be able to provide an explanation.
Jordan waited until his mother sighed and sank onto the sofa beside Jacqueline. He reached for Alix’s hand and said, “Alix and I want you to know how much we appreciate everything you’ve done for us.”
His mother checked her watch a second time. “I’m glad you’re grateful, Jordan, but Jacqueline and I are meeting with the caterers in fifteen minutes.”
Ah, so that was it, Alix thought. They were seeing the caterers for her wedding, and she hadn’t even been informed. That said it all, as far as she was concerned.
“Really?” Jordan shared a knowing look with Alix.
Alix felt vindicated; Jordan could now see for himself what had been happening all along.
“What is it?” Susan Turner demanded, glaring at them. “We have that meeting…”
Jordan returned his mother’s gaze. “Then this will be the perfect time to tell the caterers that the big, fancy wedding you two have arranged has been canceled.”
His mother’s jaw dropped and she leaped to her feet.
Jacqueline gasped. “You’re canceling the wedding?”
Jordan brought Alix’s hand up and tucked it in the crook of his elbow. “Not entirely. We—” He wasn’t allowed to complete his sentence.
“You can’t do this! Jordan, what are you thinking?” His mother could barely get the words out fast enough.
“Mother, if you’d allow me to finish.”
Jacqueline just sat there quietly. When she caught Alix’s eye, she winked. Alix wasn’t sure what that meant, but she had the distinct feeling Jacqueline understood more than she’d let on.
Jordan took advantage of the brief silence to say, “We’re still having a wedding. A different kind of wedding, that’s all.”
“Do you realize how much work, effort and money have already gone into the preparations for this event?” Susan shrieked.