Midnight Sons Volume 2 (20 page)

April 1996

“She’s just beautiful,” Pearl Inman whispered to Matt as his sister walked down the center aisle, escorted by their proud father. “A perfect spring bride.”

“Yes, she is,” Matt agreed, but his eyes weren’t on Lanni. He hadn’t been able to stop watching Karen from the moment she’d entered the church.

Matt had been too busy getting the lodge ready for his first guests to pay much attention to his sister’s wedding. He knew Lanni had asked his ex-wife to be her maid of honor. He’d gone so far as to assure her it didn’t matter to him. He’d managed to sound downright nonchalant about it, too.

It wasn’t any big deal, he’d told Lanni. Their marriage was over. Finished. Kaput. Nope, it wouldn’t bother him if Karen came to Hard Luck. He didn’t plan to give it another thought.

All right, if he was being honest—and he should be, since he was in a church—he
had
thought about Karen coming to
Hard Luck. Okay, so he’d counted the days. The hours. The minutes. But he wasn’t going to beat himself up because of it. They’d been married for four years and divorced nearly two. It was only natural he’d be anxious about seeing her.

To his dismay, Matt soon discovered he was completely unprepared for the emotional impact of being with Karen again.

Especially at a wedding.

She was so beautiful. His heart ached just from looking at her. She wore an elegant rose-colored dress that was perfect for her tall, lithe frame. A halo of flowers circled her glossy brown hair and Matt was convinced he’d never seen a more beautiful maid of honor.

A more beautiful woman.

The church was packed. It surprised and pleased Matt that Lanni and Charles had decided to be married in Hard Luck. He’d assumed his sister would choose Anchorage, where the majority of their friends and family lived. When he’d asked her, Lanni said she’d chosen Hard Luck since this was where she and Charles would make their home. She’d met and fallen in love with Charles O’Halloran here, so it seemed fitting to have the wedding here, as well. In time, Lanni hoped to start a community newspaper, but until Hard Luck was large enough to support a weekly, she’d be content to write freelance articles.

Matt was happy for his sister. He didn’t doubt that Charles and Lanni were deeply in love. But watching them together had been almost painful. Their closeness, their delight in each other—he remembered what those feelings were like. Before his marriage fell apart…

With an effort Matt pulled his gaze away from Karen.

This winter had been long and bleak, with only his hopes for the lodge to sustain him.

At least the wedding was a bright spot, midway between the Christmas holidays and Alaska’s summer months. It would be
another six weeks before the snow melted. Another month before he got any response to the advertising he’d sent to travel agencies around the country.

Matt had risked a whole lot more than his inheritance in buying the lodge. He closed his eyes, refusing to allow any worries to crowd his mind. On the positive side, every room had been booked for tonight. Never mind that his guests were family and friends and that he wasn’t getting a dime for his hospitality. Never mind that his ex-wife was one of those guests.

The wedding was a sort of dry run for the lodge. Unfortunately the kitchen wasn’t in working order yet, but he’d have everything up and running by mid-June. Just in time to welcome his first real customers.

Love. Honor.
As Charles O’Halloran repeated his vows, Matt felt a wrenching ache in his chest. He’d purposely let his thoughts wander in the attempt to avoid just this.

The marriage vows were a painful reminder of how he’d failed Karen. Difficult as it was to admit, he’d never been the right husband for her. She wanted a man who was content to hold down a nine-to-five job. A husband who’d work forty years for the same company and retire with a decent pension.

Matt had tried to give her the stability she craved. But it hadn’t worked. Within months of taking on a job, he’d grow restless and bored. He’d always brought hard work and creativity to every new position; if he put that kind of effort into something, Matt wanted to be the one who profited from the outcome. Karen had never understood or appreciated that.

Lanni’s sweet voice echoed Reverend Wilson’s words. His sister’s eyes lovingly held her husband’s. It was a poignant moment, and more than one person was fighting back tears. Charles and Lanni had bridged the pain and anger of two families to find happiness. The O’Hallorans and Catherine Fletcher—his and Lanni’s grandmother—had become bitter
and enduring enemies when Charles’s father married another woman. But the enmity was over now. And it was largely due to Lanni, Matt reflected, looking at her with pride.

Despite all his resolve, his eyes wandered back to Karen. Her head was bowed as if she, too, had a hard time listening to the exchange of vows.

They hadn’t spoken since her arrival in Hard Luck. He didn’t think she was deliberately staying out of his way, but he couldn’t be sure. Her flight had landed in Fairbanks early that morning; Sawyer O’Halloran had picked her up, along with the other two bridesmaids, who’d flown in from Anchorage. The three women had been closeted with Lanni ever since, getting ready for the wedding.

He knew Karen was scheduled to fly out first thing the next morning. But for this one night she’d be sleeping in the lodge.
His
lodge.

Matt had made sure when he assigned the rooms that Karen got the most elaborate one. The one with the big brass bed and feather mattress. He’d polished the hardwood floor himself until it shone like new. Matt wondered if she’d guess all the trouble he’d gone to—then decided he didn’t want her to know.

The ceremony was soon over, and Matt heaved a sigh of relief. Nothing like a wedding to remind him of his own shortcomings in the husband department. In failing Karen, he’d failed himself.

He and Karen had once been as much in love as Lanni and Charles. In fact, he’d still loved her when she left him and filed for divorce. And despite everything, he loved her now.

His jaw tightened as he remembered the night he’d come home to find she’d packed her bags and moved out—and then had him served with divorce papers. It rankled to this day that she hadn’t so much as talked to him first.

He’d asked her about that once, and she’d shrugged as if it
was of little concern. She had warned him, she’d said. Besides, he’d never talked to
her
about quitting his jobs. Now it was his turn to see how it felt.

In all these months his bitterness hadn’t faded. It would be best if they didn’t talk to each other, Matt decided. Nothing would be served by dredging up the past, especially when that was all they had to discuss.

Music crescendoed, filling the church as Lanni and Charles turned to greet their guests. His sister’s face radiated happiness. Arm in arm, the couple strolled down the aisle.

Karen followed with Sawyer O’Halloran, one of Charles’s younger brothers. It didn’t escape Matt’s notice that his ex-wife did everything humanly possible
not
to look in his direction.

So she didn’t want any eye contact? Well, he wasn’t too keen on it himself. This whole affair was difficult enough without their having to confront each other. He’d managed to get through the wedding; now all he needed to do was survive the reception. That shouldn’t be so difficult.

It took Matt all of ten minutes to retract those words.

He delayed going to the school gymnasium, where the reception was being held, as long as he could. By the time he arrived, the music had started and a half-dozen couples were already in the area cleared for dancing.

The first person Matt saw was Karen—dancing with Duke Porter, one of the pilots for Midnight Sons, the Arctic flight service owned and run by the O’Hallorans. The sight of another man with his arms around Karen made Matt so damn mad he walked directly over to the bar and downed a glass of champagne. He knew that getting drunk wouldn’t serve any useful purpose, but it might help cut the pain—or so he told himself. This probably wasn’t the first time a man had held her since their divorce, but it was the only time he’d been around to witness. He didn’t like the experience one bit.

“Where were you?” The question came from his mother, Kate. “I was beginning to get worried.”

“I’m fine.” It was another moment or two before he could force himself to stop looking at Karen and Duke. “I, uh, was making sure everything was ready at the lodge.”

“Your aunt Louise is looking for you.”

Matt didn’t bother to disguise a groan. “Mother, please, anyone but Aunt Louise.” The first thing his meddling aunt would do was quiz him about his divorce. Matt figured he’d need more than one glass of champagne if he was going to be trapped in a conversation with his father’s oldest sister. He doubted an entire bottle would fortify him for Aunt Louise and her shamelessly prying questions.

His rescue came from the most unlikely source. Chrissie Harris, eight-year-old daughter of Mitch, the town’s public safety officer.

“Will you dance with me?” the child pleaded, widening her dark, seal-pup eyes.

“Sure thing, kiddo.” He grinned. The kid’s timing couldn’t have been better.

“Dad’s dancing with Bethany,” Chrissie explained, sounding a little disappointed. “Dad and Bethany are getting married this summer.”

Great, another wedding. “I know.”

“I think Scott would like to ask me, but he’s afraid.” Scott was Sawyer O’Halloran’s adopted ten-year-old son—one of his wife’s two children by a previous marriage.

Matt held out his arms. “Well, we can’t let the prettiest girl here be a wallflower,” he said. Mitch’s daughter slipped off her patent-leather Mary Janes and stepped onto the tops of his shoes. He waltzed her from one end of the dance floor to the other. For a whole minute, perhaps longer, he was able to enjoy the dance without thinking of Karen.

However, his pleasure was short-lived. The next time he
happened to catch sight of her, Karen was with Christian O’Halloran, Charles and Sawyer’s younger brother. At the end of the dance, Matt thanked Chrissie and refilled his glass.

The second glass of champagne gave him enough courage to approach his ex-wife. It was ridiculous to pretend they weren’t aware of each other.

Karen was sitting, no doubt for the first time since the music had started. He picked up two full champagne glasses and walked over to her. Although she wasn’t looking in his direction, she knew he was coming. Matt could tell by the way her body stiffened.

“Hello, Karen,” he said evenly.

“Matt.”

He handed her one of the glasses and took the empty seat beside her. “You look like you could use a drink.”

“Thanks.”

Neither seemed to have anything more to say. Matt struggled to find some safe, neutral topic.

“How’s California?” he finally asked.

She stared into the champagne as if she expected to see her response written in the bottom of the glass. “Wonderful.”

“You look good.” It was best to begin with a compliment, he figured; besides, it was the truth. She looked fantastic.

“You, too.”

It was nice of her to lie. He’d lost fifteen pounds because he’d been working his butt off for months. He rarely got enough sleep and wasn’t eating properly.

She took a sip of champagne, then asked, “Why’d you mail me a valentine card?” He thought her voice shook ever so slightly.

He’d regretted sending that stupid thing the moment he slipped it in the mailbox. If there’d been a way to retrieve it, he would have.

“We were married for four years,” she said, “and not once in all that time did you buy me a card.”

He didn’t have an argument, so he said nothing.

“You claimed cards were silly commercial sentiments, remember?”

He wasn’t likely to forget.

“Why this year?” she demanded, and the tremble in her voice was more apparent than ever.

“Maybe I was trying to make up for the years I didn’t give you one.” It wasn’t much of an explanation, but the only one he had to offer. When he hadn’t heard back from her—not that he’d expected to—Matt knew she hadn’t appreciated the gesture.

“Don’t mail me any more…sentiments, Matt. It’s too little and it’s much too late.”

He frowned. “Fine, I won’t.”

They both stood up, eager to escape each other. Unfortunately they came face to face with his aunt Louise. Karen looked to Matt to rescue her, but he was fresh out of ideas.

“Dance, you two.”

Aunt Louise issued the order like a drill sergeant. The woman always did enjoy meddling in other people’s affairs. It was either obey her dictates or be trapped in a thirty-minute question-and-answer ordeal.

Karen glanced at Matt; he shrugged. “Shall we?” he asked, motioning toward the dance floor. Judging by the look she gave him, Karen had weighed her choices and decided that dancing with him was the lesser of two evils.

Matt had often observed that when one thing went wrong, others were sure to follow. The music, which to this point had been fast and lively, abruptly changed to something slow and soft. Matt couldn’t avoid touching Karen, nor could he avoid holding her close.