Authors: Mariah Stewart
What in the name of all that’s holy was she doing there?
And oh, God, what was Beck going to do when he saw her?
Vanessa took her place at the head of the aisle and maintained a fixed smile, even when she met Beck’s eyes. She detected no hellfire burning there, so he apparently hadn’t gotten the good news yet. She focused on Anne Marie, and then on Mia, who appeared at the foot of the aisle between her handsome brothers.
Mia was a picture-perfect bride, with every detail just so, from the flowers in her hair to the amazing gown. Vanessa stole a glance at Beck, who looked positively gob-smacked, and definitely close to needing oxygen. Then her gaze locked with Grady’s for a moment, and she felt the color rise in her cheeks, as if he could read her mind to know that she’d awakened that morning thinking about him.
The minister stood at the flower-covered altar and stepped forward to begin the ceremony. Vanessa barely heard a word, her attention divided between thinking about Grady and the big uh-oh back there in the last row.
The minister pronounced Beck and Mia husband and wife, they kissed, and Annie handed Mia her bouquet, which Annie had held while the rings were exchanged. The bride and groom turned to their guests and the strings began to play the recessional. The newly married couple was halfway down the aisle when Beck momentarily froze. Vanessa closed
her eyes as Annie and Hal fell in behind Beck and Mia as they’d rehearsed, followed by Andy and Dorsey.
“Vanessa.” Grady was at her elbow.
“Oh.” Her eyes flew open and she took his arm just as a smiling Maggie took one step toward the aisle to greet Beck and Mia. Vanessa held her breath as Beck walked past Maggie, apparently without giving any sign of recognition, judging by Maggie’s reaction.
“Oh, dear God,” Vanessa muttered. “Why did she have to do that?”
“What?” Grady leaned closer.
Vanessa just shook her head and craned her neck to see if Hal had noticed Maggie, but she guessed he had not. Not yet, at least. Hal never would have ignored her the way Beck had.
But how would the tenderhearted Hal react when he realized that Maggie was there? Remembering the toast he’d given on Thursday night, one might suspect that Hal had always carried a torch for the woman who had given birth to his son and whom he’d once hoped to marry.
Well, Beck once said he wanted fireworks at his wedding
, Vanessa recalled.
I don’t think this is what he had in mind, but if you toss a thought out into the cosmos, you better be prepared for whatever form it takes when it comes back at you
.
The guests followed the wedding party onto the veranda, where the cocktail party was to take place.
“How about a glass of champagne?” Grady asked.
“Oh, yes. Please,” she replied.
He signaled the waiter as Maggie stepped onto the porch.
“On second thought”—Vanessa grabbed Grady’s arm—“ask him to bring the whole bottle …”
From the corner of her eye, Vanessa tried to keep track of her mother in the crowd. For most of the cocktail party, Maggie kept to herself, standing alone at the doorway to the lobby, or on the lawn, sipping her champagne and looking uncomfortable.
Well, what did she expect?
Vanessa thought.
Did she really think that Beck would welcome her with open arms?
Apparently, she had. Otherwise, why would she have come, uninvited and unexpected?
Vanessa sighed deeply.
“Excuse me,” she said to Grady. “There’s someone here I need to talk to.”
She walked to the doorway and stopped in front of her mother.
“Hello, Maggie,” she said.
“Well, at least you remember me, which is more than your brother seems to do.”
“Oh, come on. What did you expect him to do? Seriously.”
“I guess I didn’t think about it, other than, oh, my son is getting married. This might be the opportunity I’ve been waiting for all these years.” She wiped a tear from her face. “I can’t believe he looked right through me like that, as if I didn’t exist.”
“Maggie, don’t play that card. Don’t pretend to be the injured party. You abandoned him, it wasn’t the other way around.”
“What could you possibly know about that?”
Maggie’s eyes narrowed. “What could you possibly know—”
“I know what Beck’s told me, that you brought him to Hal and dumped him and went back to your life. Are you going to tell me it happened any other way?”
“It wasn’t quite that simple.”
“Whatever you say, Maggie.” Vanessa felt a monster headache coming on. “How did you know about the wedding?”
“Well, obviously not from either of my children.”
“Did Hal tell you?” As soon as she said it, Vanessa knew he had not. Knowing how Beck felt about his mother, Hal never would have done such a thing behind his back.
“Of course not.”
“Then who …?”
“I called your shop the other day, and when I told the girl who answered that I was your mother, she said you were home baking cookies for Beck’s wedding. Well, of course I wanted to be here. I took the first flight I could get—I had to take several connecting flights; it was not a pleasant trip, let me tell you. But I got into town early this morning, took a room here at the Inn, and here we are.”
“Where’s …” Vanessa tried to recall the name of her mother’s current husband. “You know. Mr. Turner.”
“He passed away six weeks ago. That’s why I’ve been calling you and leaving messages that haven’t been returned.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your loss, Maggie.”
Vanessa conveniently passed over the part about the unreturned phone calls. She would have called to offer condolences if her mother had left a message that had gone beyond “Call me.”
“Well, you know, he was so much older than I, and he’d been ill for a long time now.” She shook her head imperceptibly. “I do wish you could have met him, Vanessa. He was the best of all the ones I married.”
“Well, knowing you, Maggie, I’m sure you’ll land on your feet.”
“That was a mean-spirited thing to say to a woman who’s just been widowed.”
Before Vanessa could reply, Mia swept across the brick floor and grabbed Vanessa’s hand.
“We’re doing pictures.” When she realized Vanessa had been in conversation, she apologized. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt …”
“That’s all right, dear,” Maggie told her. “We were finished.”
Mia hesitated. “Do I know you?”
“Ah, no.” Vanessa squeezed Mia’s hand. “This is … ah, this is my mother, Maggie Turner.”
“Oh.” Mia looked momentarily startled, but recovered nicely. “Well. It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s lovely to meet you.” If Maggie had anything else to say, she kept it to herself. Mia saved the awkward moment. “I hope you’ll stay for the reception, Mrs. Turner.”
“I don’t believe my son would like that, but I appreciate the thought.”
“I know there will be room. We had a few unexpected no-shows, so please stay.”
“Mia.” Annie poked her head through the door. “The photographer is getting antsy.”
“Right. We’re coming.” Mia smiled at Maggie. “Stay.”
“Thank you,” Maggie said noncommittally.
Vanessa all but dragged Mia into the lobby.
“Are you crazy? Beck is going to have a fit. He doesn’t want Maggie here. I think he made that very clear.”
“She’s come a long way, right? From somewhere out west? She should stay. If Beck doesn’t want to speak with her, that is his choice. Not the one I’d make, if it were up to me, or if she was my mother, but he has that right. And I have the right to ask her to stay.” Mia slowed her steps. “She looked so sad, Vanessa. When I saw her standing there with you, my first thought was, ‘Who is that sad woman?’ It isn’t going to hurt anyone if she’s here for a while. Besides, I bet Hal will be happy to see her.”
“Now see, that’s the one thing that’s bothering me the most about her being here. I don’t want Hal to get all sentimental over her. I don’t think he’s ever gotten over her. She married someone else way back then—and she’s married several other someones since—and she’s just lost another husband, which means she’s going to be looking for a new one sometime real soon. Maggie is never without a man in her life. Besides, she isn’t good for Hal.”
“Well, I think that would be for them to work out.”
The conversation dropped because the photographer had the shot lined up and was only waiting for Mia and Vanessa to take their places, Mia in the center
with her new husband, Vanessa on the end with Grady.
“So did you get rid of him?” Grady whispered as she posed.
“Get rid of who?” she whispered back.
“Whoever it was you had to see.”
“It’s a long story.” She sighed. “But it wasn’t a
him
. It was my mother …”
“Oh.”
“Mia had the same reaction when I told her. Just … ‘oh.’ I guess no one knows what else to say.”
“What did you say when you realized she was here? Or did you know she was coming?”
“I think my first reaction might have been, ‘Oh shit, that can’t be her.’ But I can’t be sure because I was walking up the aisle when I saw her and I think my mind went temporarily numb. And no, I didn’t know she even knew about the wedding.”
“Are you upset that she’s here?”
“I’m upset that she upset Beck by coming uninvited. I’m upset because she knows better. And I’m upset because I’m afraid she’ll …” She could barely get the words out.
“You’re afraid she’ll what?”
“She’s newly single and I’m afraid she’ll hit on Hal.”
“Well.” Grady cleared his throat. “I didn’t see that coming. But, if I could point out, you’re upset for everyone except yourself.”
“I can handle Maggie being here.”
“You sure about that?”
“Of course.”
“Then maybe you should let everyone else handle her presence here on their own terms, too.”
She fell silent, and was grateful when the photographer switched their placements so that all the men were on one side and all the women on the other. After the last frame was shot, it was time for dinner to be served, and the wedding party went as a group to the tent that had been set up on the south lawn, facing the Bay. There were toasts before and during dinner, and dancing on the wooden dance floor in the center of the tent. Vanessa tried to push from her mind the whole unsettling mess of her mother being there and her brother refusing to acknowledge it.
Grady is right
, she told herself as she swayed in his arms to a seventies ballad.
We’ll all have to deal with this on our own
.
At that moment, all she really wanted to deal with was Grady. She pushed everything else from her mind, and moved closer when he drew her in, reluctant to move away when the band stopped playing. She liked the feel of his body next to hers, the way they moved together, the way he held her, the way she almost came up to the tip of his chin—well, at least in these shoes she did.
She knew the exact moment she decided to seduce him.
The band had just finished playing two slow dances back-to-back: a fairly decent cover of Journey’s “Open Arms” led right into the brassy female lead singer’s somewhat cheesy version of the Bangles’ “Eternal Flame.” Grady never let Vanessa out of his arms, just held her, his eyes looking into hers as they moved from one dance into the next. In that moment,
her entire body seemed to come to life, and she wanted the music to keep playing on and on. When the last note faded away, it took all of her willpower not to wrap her arms around his neck and draw him into the longest kiss he’d ever had.
Oh, my. Wouldn’t Cuppachino be buzzing in the morning.
The best part was she knew that he was thinking—feeling—exactly the same way, that her thoughts had somehow become his, and her wants mirrored his own. Had it been anyone’s wedding other than her brother’s, she would have suggested that they leave right then and there.
But it
was
her brother’s wedding—his sister’s, too, she reminded herself—and there’d be no sneaking out early. It was all right, though, she told herself. She could wait. They’d have all night.
And there was still Maggie …
“Are you going to introduce me to your friend?” Maggie caught Vanessa’s arm as she and Grady made their way back to their seats at the head table.
“Maggie, this is Grady Shields,” Vanessa said levelly. “Grady, meet my mother, Maggie Turner.”
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Turner.” Grady greeted Maggie politely, as Vanessa knew he would do.
“Well, you’re certainly a tall one, aren’t you?” Maggie appraised him. “But very good-looking. Vanessa, don’t you think he’s—”
“Ah, Grady, now would be a good time to maybe scout up a glass of wine for me, if you wouldn’t mind.” Vanessa forced a smile, something she felt she’d gotten plenty of practice doing that day.
“I don’t mind at all.” He turned to Maggie. “Mrs. Turner? Could I bring something for you?”
“Why, a glass of champagne would be lovely, thank you.” Maggie flashed him her best smile, one Vanessa was certain was not fake. Maggie loved nothing more than flirting with a good-looking man.
“Should I bring the bottle?” he deadpanned, and Vanessa nodded slowly.
“Well, he certainly is something.” Maggie appraised Grady as he walked away. “Did you say he’s the bride’s brother?”
“No, I didn’t say, but he is.” Vanessa sighed and sat in the nearest chair. “I see you decided to stay.”
“And I’m glad I did. It’s a lovely reception.” Maggie scanned the room, her eyes fixing on Mia. “Is she as nice as she seems?”
“She’s wonderful. Beck couldn’t have found anyone nicer.”
“I’m glad.” Maggie’s face softened. “He deserves … well, I guess we all deserve to be happy, don’t we?” She forced a brightness into her voice that Vanessa suspected she didn’t really feel.
“I suppose.”
Maggie patted Vanessa on the arm. “I’m sure you’ll find someone just as nice, honey.”
“I’m not looking for another husband, Maggie. I’m not going that route again. Twice was enough.”
“Oh, you say that now. But I bet you’ll change your mind when—”
“I doubt anything could change my mind.”
“Life can get very lonely when you’re by yourself.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes. “When were you ever by
yourself? I can’t remember a time when you weren’t with someone.”