Magical Weddings (135 page)

“Mer?” Her mom was looking up at her, her gaze questioning. “You all right?”

Meredith tried to smile, but she couldn’t make the expression reach her eyes. “I’m fine.”

“Really?” Kaye pushed, glancing toward the door before back at her daughter. “Are you sure? We don’t have to go to the reception, if you—”

Meredith interrupted her before she could finish the quiet words. “Miss the music? Not to mention the food? Maggie’s catering, you know. I’m hoping those little cheese appetizers she makes, the gorgeous ones, are on the menu.” She dropped a reassuring hand onto her mother’s shoulder.

Dave, forgotten behind her, chuckled. “Gougères?”

“That’s the name.” Meredith snapped her fingers, pushing thoughts of Mark away. He wasn’t important. And with so many people attending the reception, he’d be easy to avoid. “I can never remember it.”

“Gorgeous is close enough,” Dave agreed. “And they are.”

“Gorgeous or on the menu?” Meredith asked, smiling. Trust Dave to know what she was talking about. But the cheese puffs were one of her favorites and Maggie only made them for catering jobs, never at her restaurant.

“Both. I already snagged a couple while we were setting up. Speaking of which…” Dave nodded toward his father, making his slow way up the aisle. “I’m taking Dad over. But I’ll meet you there, okay?”

Meredith raised a questioning eyebrow at him, but Dave’s attention had turned to his father. “Sure, we’ll see you there,” she said. But why was he suggesting they meet? Did he know—but she dismissed the thought before she could finish it. He’d been a kid, not even in high school yet, when she and Mark had been together.

Akira and Zane–well, mostly Zane, Meredith suspected–had invited half the town and most of General Directions to the wedding, but instead of looking for an indoor venue big enough to hold the crowd, they were holding their reception at Timucua Springs Park, a nearby, privately-owned campground.

Meredith didn’t know the place. Back in her day, it hadn’t been one of the teenage hang-outs. But she could imagine it. Like most of the minor springs in the Ocala area, the water would be bubbling up from so deep underground that the surface of the spring would be still and placid. Gray Spanish moss would hang from trees surrounded by dense, lush undergrowth of green ferns and brush, but the small lake would be bordered with a flat area of sparse grass and sandy dirt, with plenty of worn wooden picnic tables and barbecue grills.

It wouldn’t be fancy. No place cards and elaborate table settings, just good food, good friends, and a casual, low-key evening. So maybe it was no surprise that Dave wanted to meet them there. Neither of their parents was entirely mobile—Dave’s dad walked with a cane these days—but they were old friends who would enjoy sitting together.

Forty minutes later, Meredith stared down a steep grassy slope. A narrow concrete path interspersed with short flights of stone stairs led away from the packed parking lot. Sounds of music and faint conversation floated up on the air, but the reception itself was hidden from sight by the curves of terrain and the thick trees.

This was never going to work. Getting down might be possible if they took it slow, but how would they ever get back up again?

“Maybe I could roll down. Not in the wheelchair, but freestyle. On my side.” Kaye circled her hand to demonstrate, voice dry.

Meredith tried to chuckle but her thoughts were grim. Okay, so maybe considering guests with disabilities wasn’t the first priority when planning a party, but surely someone could have mentioned the inconvenience of the location? Maybe not Akira, who hadn’t met Meredith’s mother and wouldn’t realize her limitations, but Zane could have said something.

Or Dave.

But maybe he had. Meredith relaxed. Dave must have known that Kaye couldn’t navigate the hill. He would never let them be stranded. That’s why he’d suggested they meet. So where was he?

“It’s all right, dear.” Kaye reached for the push rims on the wheels of her chair. “Why don’t you take me home? You can come back to the party.”

“Don’t be silly.” Meredith stepped closer to her mother, putting her hand on the back rest. “Dave will work something out. He probably already has.”

She didn’t see Dave, but Natalya, Zane’s sister, waved up at them from the bottom of the hill before beginning to make her way up the path and the steep stairs. As she passed other guests, she greeted them, exchanging smiles and an occasional hug, but she didn’t pause to chat. By the time she reached Meredith and Kaye, she looked breathless and flushed.

“Dave’s on his way,” she said without preamble. “Maggie needed him to make one last catering run, but he should be here in a minute or two.” She put a hand over her chest and paused to breathe.

“Are you all right?” Meredith asked. Natalya had only gotten out of the hospital a few weeks earlier. Surely she shouldn’t be climbing this hill either. “You didn’t need to come up here to tell us that.”

Natalya waved her concern away, but her face looked pained. “It’s just a twinge. Besides, I wanted to talk to you.”

“It could have waited.” Meredith didn’t like the way Natalya continued to hold her palm against her chest. “Besides, you’re a mom now. You’re supposed to make your kids run errands. That’s what we’re good for.”

Her mother chuckled. “Yes, you’ve got to get them started early if you want them to be as useful as Meredith when they grow up.” The words were wry, but the glance she sent her daughter was fond.

“Michael and Mitchell would have been thrilled. They’re still on their very best behavior. Not angels, but pretending hard. I keep waiting for them to relax.” Natalya’s amused grin held a trace of smug satisfaction. She’d jumped into motherhood full force. Meredith didn’t envy her—adopting five kids in one fast swoop had to be harder than it looked—but seeing her old friend so happy was wonderful.

Beep. Beep.

At the sound of the gentle horn, Meredith looked over her shoulder. On the far side of the sidewalk adjacent to the parking lot, a landscaping golf cart was backing up next to a van she recognized as belonging to Maggie, the caterer. Dave was driving it. He waved in their direction, before hopping out and moving around to the back. He’d taken off his suit jacket, loosened his tie, and rolled up his shirt sleeves, but he still looked overdressed for the job as he began tossing cardboard boxes into the van, and then re-loading the cart with heavier boxes.

“Ride’s here,” Natalya said. A flicker of worry crossed her face. “I hope you don’t mind if I steal your seat, Mer. You’re right, I’m supposed to be taking it easy.”

Meredith frowned, glancing at the hill again. Did Dave imagine they could safely drive down that steep slope? Of course, if he said it was possible, she’d trust him. Dave could drive anything. She’d always thought his intuitive understanding of machinery and the laws of motion were as mysterious as any other gift in Tassamara. But she really hoped that wasn’t his plan.

“Not that way,” Natalya said, correctly interpreting Meredith’s expression. She gestured back in the direction of the cart. “There’s a drivable access path that winds through the woods and around the back of the spring. We’ve been using it to set up all day. But it’s a long walk. Unfortunately, unless one of us wants to sit in back, the cart only holds three.”

Dave had finished loading and was sliding behind the steering wheel. Meredith pictured herself scrunched into the truck-like back of the cart, bouncing around with what looked like liquor boxes. Getting out would be an awkward scramble in her skirt and heels. Maybe in different clothes it wouldn’t be so bad, but not now, not today.

Mark Terrell was down there somewhere.

Natalya sounded only slightly apologetic when she asked again, “Would you mind walking down? It’s not too far if you’re okay with the stairs.”

“Sure, that’s fine.” Meredith wished she hadn’t remembered that Mark would be there. Why the hell did he have to show up today anyway? The late-afternoon weather was Florida at its picture-perfect, February best with clear skies and the sun still warm even as it lowered. She wanted to sip champagne, laugh and reminisce with friends, maybe even dance if they could stay long enough, if her mom didn’t tire too quickly. She wanted to celebrate and have fun, not dwell on the past.

She’d made it through back then by pretending nothing was wrong. She’d cheered for Mark’s football team, sat opposite him at student council meetings, pasted a smile on her face at his graduation. She’d held her head high and ignored the fleeting rumors. How many people would even remember now that she and Mark had once dated?

Maybe her thoughts were revealed on her face, because Natalya grabbed her hand, startling her out of them.

“Stop it,” Natalya ordered. “You know I don’t, I wish I could, if you… But no, it’s not…”

Oh, hell. Meredith had known Natalya for too long not to know what it meant when she got incoherent. The future was never a closed book to Natalya, but her foreknowledge was rarely useful.

Meredith pulled her hand free and folded her arms across her chest. “Are you going to tell me that everything’s going to be okay?”

“I…” Natalya looked flustered. “Well, I suppose… You might, it might…”

“Should I be going home?”

“Is everything all right?” Kaye asked, glancing between their faces.

“No, you should not go home.” Natalya answered Meredith’s question. “Trust me. Trust us.”

Meredith pressed her lips together, holding back the questions that yearned to spill forth. She wanted to demand answers. What had Natalya seen? What did she know?

In high school, she and Natalya had drifted apart—different interests, different friends. Natalya and her then-boyfriend, now-fiancé, Colin Rafferty, had been entwined, always together, engrossed in one another. And Colin and Mark had never gotten along. Natalya would remember that Meredith and Mark had dated, but she wouldn’t know how it ended.

But if Natalya’s foresight had her worried about Meredith…

Before Meredith could ask anything more, the landscaping cart pulled up beside them and Dave hopped out. “Good afternoon, ladies. Ready for the party? The gougères were just coming out of the hot box when I left.”

Natalya turned away from Meredith with what looked like relief. Meredith bit back a sigh. She was tempted—oh, so tempted—to simply turn around and go home. But it would mean explanations, awkward ones, and worrying her mom, and hell, missing the gougères. And Natalya had only said to trust her, not that something horrible was going to happen.

Besides, it was a wedding reception. What was the worst that could happen anyway? Bad music and flat champagne?

After a few minutes of consultation about stowing the wheelchair, Meredith waved the others off and headed down the stairs toward the sounds of music. At the bottom of the steps, the path extended in either direction. Meredith turned toward the right and the music, making her way along the winding, tree-lined walkway. When she finally turned the corner and stepped out of the trees, her jaw dropped. “Wow.”

Zane, Akira, and Max Latimer, the father of the groom, were standing at the end of the path, greeting their guests.

“Nice, huh?” Zane asked with a grin.

Nice wasn’t the word. Forget the picnic tables and grills. Timucua Springs was an enchanted fairyland. Dozens of paper lanterns, nestled into beds of pale pink roses and tendrils of jasmine, were floating on a deep blue lake walled with cobblestones. Around the lake, trees draped with tiny glittering lights and gauzy fabric sheltered numerous round white-covered tables.

“It’s amazing. I thought this place was a campground.” Meredith couldn’t stop looking around. The lake had a dance floor next to it, made of polished wood, with a raised dais at one end providing a stage for a band. A DJ stood there, his eyes intent on a complicated-looking sound system.

Zane chuckled. “It was yesterday. It will be again tomorrow.”

A bar on the other side of the spring from the dance floor was already busy, people standing three or four deep around it, while waiters passed among the crowd with trays of appetizers. Towards the back of the spring, away from the path, more tables were piled high with food. Behind them, a small white tent sat, half-hidden in the trees.

“All of this is temporary,” Zane continued. “Well, not the spring.”

“We were going to have a barbecue here. A nice, simple barbecue. As befit a bride who is six months pregnant and a groom who wanted to invite everyone he knew.” Akira, standing so close to Zane that she could have been tucked into the crook of his arm, gave him an affectionate nudge with her elbow.

On Akira’s other side, Max leaned forward to look around her. “Every couple deserves a good party. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment.”

“Organizing the wedding turned out to be more challenging than I expected.” Akira rested a hand on her midsection, shifting from one foot to the next. “So Max hired us a wedding planner. All this is her.”

“She’s an old friend of Maggie’s from New York. Caitlin,” Max explained. “Very creative. I liked her ideas.”

“It’s impressive.” Meredith finally pulled her gaze back to the newlyweds. Akira looked—well, not as uncomfortable as she’d looked in the church, but as if she were ready to take her seat, or maybe had been ten minutes ago—so Meredith gave them a warm smile, offered her congratulations, and moved on.

She scanned the crowd. Most people were still milling about, clustered in small groups around the tables or near the bar, but a few were seated. Her mother was one of them. She and Dave’s dad were side-by-side at a table on the far side of the dance floor.

“Hello, you two. Enjoying the music?” Meredith rested her hand on the back of the chair next to her mother’s without pulling it out.

“Meredith, dear. We were just talking about you,” Kaye said.

“Only good things, I hope.” Her mom looked pale, Meredith noticed with a twinge of worry. She got tired so easily these days.

“Oh, of course, of course,” Mr. Voigt said. “Your mother was telling me you sold that house on Mud Lake. Nice work, that. It’s a tough market for a place so big.”