Have Husband, Need Honeymoon (20 page)

Not yet, anyway.
But Thomas wants her to marry him and it’s just a matter of time before she agrees.

Because you’re getting ready to walk out of her life and leave her free.

* * *

Alison shuddered at the dark scowl on Brady’s face as he approached them. She said a silent prayer Joe hadn’t changed his mind about the wedding – and that Brady had changed his about the divorce.

But he passed her without a word, extended his arm and let Vivica take it.

The rest of the rehearsal was a disaster. The pianist played the wrong music. The ring bearer chased the flower girl down the aisle, snatching her flowers. Donna tripped over her own feet and almost broke her nose. Tammy broke out in hives. And the preacher started the ceremony by reading a passage from a funeral service.

“Relax, everyone,” Alison said calmly. “This is the reason we have rehearsals, so we can iron out all the details.” She directed everyone to their places for another practice round.

The second time things went much smoother, except Mrs. Broussard burst into tears when the preacher asked who was giving Vivi away. It took Brady ten minutes to calm her.

“This is a bad omen, isn’t it, Ali?” Vivica whispered.

“No, don’t be silly. I’ve had much worse catastrophes happen and the wedding still came off.”

“Like what?”

Alison struggled to think of something before Vivica panicked. “At Darma’s wedding last month, the bride walked down the aisle with her dress caught in her panty hose.”

Vivica giggled. “I’ll kill you if you let me do that.”

Alison laughed. “Don’t worry, your wedding will go off without a hitch.”

* * *

An hour later Brady was exhausted from his mother’s dramatics and the whole formality of the ceremony. And he was irritated as hell at the way Curt and Dave and Thomas kept eyeing Ali. Did she have to be so nice to everyone?

Dammit, she was
his
wife.

He felt like telling them so, ordering them to keep their eyes and hands off, but knew he didn’t have the right.

The reverend summarized the ceremony. “Then I’ll pronounce you man and wife and tell you to kiss the bride.” The piano music started and the couple sailed down the aisle. Ali smiled and took Thomas’s arm. Vivi’s friend Donna walked down the aisle with Dave, a scratching Tammy with Curt.

Brady escorted his mother, gnawing at his cheek the entire way.

“Don’t you think Thomas and Alison make a nice couple?” his mother said on the, way to the restaurant for the rehearsal dinner. “I bet they’ll be getting married next.”

Brady drove like a maniac, imagining Emerson and Alison getting married, then imagining them doing all sorts of lurid things in Emerson’s car. His irritation snowballed during the rehearsal dinner. Not only did Alison get sandwiched in by Curt and Dave and Thomas at the table – he’d thought the men were going to get in a fight over who would sit by her – but his sister kept singing her praises as if trying to pair her up with one of them.

“Ali has been great,” Vivica said, beaming a smile at Curt and Dave. “Of course, we’ve been best friends since high school.”

“That’s right,” Alison said, totally ignoring Brady and enjoying the other men’s attention. “We played softball together and—”

“Swam on the swim team,” Vivi finished.

“I heard you were a great breaststroker,” Joe said.

“She still is,” Vivi interjected. “She swims every day at the rec center.”

“Really?” Curt sipped his wine and angled his head to grin at her. “I swam in high school and college.”

“You did?” Alison swiveled to study him. “Where did you swim?”

“Cal Berkeley. ‘Fly’s my best stroke. I’m more of a distance swimmer than a sprinter, too.”

“Curt and I were on the team together at Berkeley, Ali,” Thomas said.

Brady shifted and swallowed his bourbon. Dammit, no man called his wife Ali but him.

“Thomas was an awesome breaststroker,” Curt said, gesturing toward Thomas. “We used to call him Speedo.” They all laughed.

“You had to give up swimming for med school, didn’t you?” Alison asked.

“Yeah, the schedule was just too much.” Thomas placed a hand near her back, and Brady nearly lurched out of his seat. They had too damn much in common.

For the next fifteen minutes, they talked about sports, best times, Olympic trial cuts and different coaching techniques. Finally Dave joined in with a long story about a safari he’d taken to
Africa
and how he’d swum with crocodiles.

“Wow. I’ve always wanted to travel,” Ali said.

“I thought you preferred small-town life,” Brady cut in.

Ali’s dark eyes narrowed. “People change when they grow up, don’t they, Brady?” She turned back to Dave. “Where else have you been?”

Dave poured Alison another glass of wine. “Let’s see, I spent some time in
Australia
…”

“Joe’s friends certainly are interesting,” Mrs. Broussard whispered.

Brady grunted.

“They seem like such nice young men, too. All with degrees and good jobs.”

She wouldn’t have thought they were so nice if she’d heard them at the bachelor party.

“And they seem awfully taken with Alison.” His mother twittered. “She may have her choice of them to marry.”

Brady chewed furiously as his future flashed in front of him: he was retired from pushing paper in the Air Force, still a bachelor, living at home with his mother. While Alison was happily married, with three or four kids, and had forgotten all about him.

Dammit, he didn’t think he could stand it.

* * *

Alison felt heat scalding her
neck as she and the rest of the wedding party rose to leave the restaurant. Brady had stared at her like a protective father – well, his look hadn’t been totally fatherly – during the entire meal.

But darn it, he didn’t want her, so she might as well try to move on with her life.

Not that any of the men, no matter how attentive they’d been, had interested her beyond polite conversation.

She saw her mother and father pulling up to the restaurant.

“Thanks so much for everything, Ali.” Vivica hugged her. The bridesmaids rushed away to get their beauty rest, but Curt and Dave lingered in the parking lot along with Brady, while Thomas went to get his car.

“Do you need a ride home?” Curt asked.

“I appreciate the offer,” Alison said, “but Thomas is driving me.”

“How about a nightcap somewhere?” Dave suggested.

“We could go to a club,” Curt said hopefully.

Ali glanced at Brady, her stomach clenching at his brooding expression. Her parents were approaching, too, her father’s hand resting on her mother’s lower back.

“I’m going to call it a night, guys. I have a lot to do tomorrow before the wedding.” She gestured toward her parents. “Besides, there are my folks. I want to speak to them. Good night.”

The guys lumbered off, looking disappointed, but Brady remained, a sullen expression on his face.

“Janelle, Dad, what are you doing here?”

Her father clutched his lapels with his hands. “Your mom just bought a car from me, so I’m taking her to dinner.”

Her mother gestured toward Brady. “I was going to call you two tonight, anyway.”

“Oh?” Alison twisted her hands together. “Something wrong?” Maybe the divorce couldn’t go through for some reason.

“No, everything’s on schedule. The divorce will be final tomorrow.”

Alison fought a reaction, but the chicken Parmesan she’d eaten for dinner gurgled in her stomach. Brady stood ramrod straight with that military expression on his face. If they’d been at the pool, she’d have pushed him in again.

An odd look softened her mother’s face. “You two do still want it, don’t you?”

Alison hesitated.

She thought Brady hesitated.

But she sensed Brady was going to say yes, and she refused to beg or tell him about the technicality – he might think she’d purposely seduced him to make the agreement null and void – so she lifted her chin and strove for dignity. Then she nodded, said good-night and hurried to meet Thomas at his car.

Chapter 19

«
^
»

B
rady watched Alison leave with Emerson, a wave of anxiety knotting his stomach. He’d finally succeeded in convincing her they should get the divorce.

He should feel relieved.

Instead agony rippled through him.

“Brady?”

He didn’t realize the Hartwells were still standing in the parking lot. Wiley Hartwell cast him a questioning look.

“So, I guess I was right four years ago,” Alison’s father finally said, pulling on his chin. “You’re not the right man for my girl. She deserves someone who’d fight for her.” Wiley shook his head in disdain and left him standing on the sidewalk.

Brady limped to his car, then drove out to the lake. Dammit, he was doing the best thing for Alison, wasn’t he? He sat on the bank, pulled out one of Alison’s letters from his pocket and began to read.

Dear Brady,

I’ve been writing you for months now and I don’t understand why you won’t write me back. I miss you so much. When I read your letters, I can hear your voice saying the words to me. But now I feel so empty inside and I ache to hear you just say my name. Please, Brady, write and tell me what’s going on. I had a nightmare last night that you’d been hurt and you were gone forever, and I woke up crying. I don’t think I could go on without you.

The memories we had were so wonderful, but they were too short. I want us to have more time together. I keep telling myself you’re away on some secret mission, that you’ll come back one day and my mailbox will be flooded. Or that I’ll wake up one morning and see you standing in my bedroom.

I’m lying in bed now, Brady. Naked and hungry for you. I crave your touch so much, your kiss, your love. No man could ever take your place in my heart or my bed.

I love you forever & ever & always,

Alison

Brady crushed the letter in his hand, the words playing over in his mind.
No man could ever take your place in my heart or my bed.
But a vision of Alison and Thomas walking down the aisle hit him, and he wondered if another man had already stepped in to fill his shoes.

* * *

The sound of torrential rains pounding on the roof woke Alison from a restless sleep. The floodgates had opened, both inside and outside her house: she’d cried all night long. She sat up, but groaned when pain shot through her head.

Even worse, the phone started ringing.

“I can’t believe it’s still raining!” Vivica wailed a second later. “What are we going to do?”

Alison pressed a hand over her eyes. “Calm down, Vivi. We’re going to proceed with the wedding.”

“But we can’t have the reception outside!”

“I know.” Alison carried the portable phone to the bathroom, wet a cloth to use as a compress, then swallowed two painkillers. Staggering back into the bedroom, she fell into bed once more. “But the downstairs will look lovely, Vivi. I’ll make sure of it, okay?”

“Okay,” Vivica mumbled. “I’ll put my wedding gown in a plastic garbage bag to bring it in. What about the flowers?”

Alison stifled a laugh at the image of Vivica’s five-hundred-dollar dress in a garbage bag, then flinched when thunder rent the air. “Believe me, the florist can deal with it. This is not the first wedding it’s rained on, or the last.”

“What about the food?”

“Mimi will handle the food, no problem.” At least she hoped so. She wasn’t sure Mimi had returned from Grammy Rose’s, and Alison was worried about her pregnant sister driving in the rain. She’d make sure her father or Seth came to help Mimi.

Vivica sighed. “All right. I’d better call Joe and make sure he leaves early. I’d hate for him to get caught in one of those horrible accidents or a traffic jam on I-85 and be late.”

“Good idea.” Alison hung up and dialed Mimi. Seth answered, his voice hysterical.

“What do you mean, she’s not back?” Alison asked, when he finally calmed down enough to sound coherent.

“She didn’t come home last night, and the phones are out up in the mountains. I heard on the radio that Cherokee Creek has flooded and the bridge has washed out.”

“Oh, my gosh. Mimi can’t possibly drive in a flood!”

“She’d better not.” Seth’s voice screeched with panic.

“Listen, Seth, I’m sure she’s okay. Mimi wouldn’t take any chances with the baby.” Although they both knew how impulsive she could be.

“I’ll keep trying her cell phone,” Seth said.

“Okay, and please let me know if you talk to her.”

“Don’t worry. I will.”

“Seth, do you know who she hired to help cater the wedding?”

“I think Rebecca might be helping.”

“Good, I’ll call her and we’ll make a backup plan for tonight.”

* * *

Brady had never seen his mother and sister in such a tizzy. Between hair and nail appointments, the phone ringing, the wailing about the weather and the frantic checking of last-minute details, he wondered if both of them wouldn’t be psycho before they reached the church.

They were certainly driving him crazy.

His mother glanced in the mirror and shrieked. “Look what this weather is doing to my hair. It’s so frizzy it looks like I stuck my hand into an electric socket!”

“Mother, it looks fine,” Brady said.

“It’s horrid.” His mother grabbed her raincoat. “I have to run down to Thelma’s and see if she can fix it.”

Vivica rolled her eyes. “Well, hurry, Mother, we don’t want to be late.”

Brady watched them race around the kitchen, feeling tired just from witnessing their panic.

“Oh, my gosh!” Vivica squealed. “I broke a nail. I have to go see Deborah!”

He laughed as she tore out of the room, half-dressed. The phone pealed and Vivica yelled for him to get it.

“Hello.”

“Brady?” Alison sounded disturbed. “Is Vivi there?”

“She just left, screaming about a broken nail.”