He shook his head. Self-pity was obnoxious, and not something he was going to indulge in. Occasions like weddings made you lose your perspective, made you think about stuff that you didn’t normally think about. He did an important job as a county attorney and he did it damned well.
But you don’t like it much anymore.
So what? Most people didn’t like their jobs. At least his job was important—at least he made a difference. He absolutely wasn’t going to go moping around after Janie Dupree.
Janie Dupree.
With her dark hair and laughing eyes and lithe body. The most beautiful woman he’d ever had the good luck to entice into his bed. The sweetest woman he’d ever bared his soul to.
Pete took a breath, pushing down the ache in his chest. Packing could wait.
He wasn’t sure why all the groomsmen showed up together at his apartment. He hadn’t asked them to. They just sort of arrived on his doorstep a half hour later.
The first to come was Lars, managing to look crisp even though the temperature was already in the eighties. Pete figured he was practicing some kind of accountant’s juju that he himself didn’t have access to.
“Where’s Daisy?” Somehow he’d expected Lars to have her tucked permanently under his arm.
“With Dad and Mom. Janie sent her a wreath.”
Pete blinked at him, picturing holly and red ribbon. “A wreath? You mean like Christmas.”
“No, you dope, a wreath of flowers. Daisies, actually. Daisy thought it was great. Of course, she tried to eat it, but I’m assuming Mom can keep it out of her mouth and on her head until the wedding’s over.”
Cal showed up a few minutes later, looking disconsolate. “Docia actually went ahead and stayed with Reba last night. I thought she was kidding.”
“It was just one night. You’ve got a lot of them ahead.” Pete poured him a cup of coffee.
Cal gave him a long look. “It was a night together. I’m not giving those up without a fight.”
Pete felt a twinge somewhere around his heart. Before he could say anything, the downstairs doorbell rang and Wonder arrived, carrying a bag of scones. “From Allie. She figured we all needed to lay down a foundation of carbs before we started in on the champagne.”
“Oh man!” Cal smiled blissfully. “Allie’s scones. There is a God and He’s happy.”
Pete leaned back against the counter, sipping. “You do all have your clothes with you, right? I mean you’re not going to be sitting here eating scones and drinking coffee and running down the clock.”
Cal reached to the chair next to him and held up his garment bag. “Complete ensemble.”
“I’ve got mine on.” Lars shrugged. “It might get a little wrinkled, but with blazers and khakis, who can tell?”
“Mine’s in the car.” Wonder finished wolfing down a blackberry scone. “I’ll get it when I’ve finished breakfast. Allie would kill me if I got blackberry stains on my shirt.”
Horace strolled in from the living room. “You’re concerned about what a woman thinks of you? How are the mighty fallen, Wonder.”
Wonder sighed. “Allie’s not just a woman. She’s
the
woman. And no, I do not want to piss her off.”
All four men stared at him blankly. Wonder raised his eyebrows. “What?”
“Quite a day.” Pete gulped down some coffee, turning to Horace. “How did you get in, by the way?”
“You left your street door unlocked, also the apartment.” Horace grinned. “Good thing I’m honest. I’m surprised you haven’t been robbed blind.”
Pete sighed. “Got your wedding outfit?”
“Such as it is.” Horace shrugged his garment bag onto a chair. “I have to say, this is the most comfortable wedding I’ve ever been in. So when do we get the tuxes back to Siemen?”
“Well, that’s the thing.” Cal gave them all a slightly nervous smile. “Reba says the wedding may be Docia’s, but the reception’s hers.”
Pete had a sudden sinking feeling. “Meaning?”
“Meaning we’re supposed to wear the tuxes to the reception.”
Pete frowned. “What about Lars?”
“Lars gets a bye. The rest of us have to dress up. Reba’s orders.”
“Aw hell,” Horace grumbled. “Just when I was enjoying this wedding too.”
“What about the women?” Wonder asked guardedly.
Cal frowned. “I’m not sure. Reba loves Janie, so she could probably show up in a gunny sack without any problem. But I’ve got a feeling Docia’s going to be wearing that fantasy wedding dress whether she likes it or not.”
Pete checked his watch, then stood. “Okay, gentlemen, it’s time. Get those blazers on.”
“All right. But first…” Wonder stood, his hand on his heart. “All together now, join me in a chorus of ‘Another Man Done Gone’.”
“Come off it, Wonder,” Horace grumbled. “Toleffson’s got a real winner and you know it. Plus he’s made Bethany take a second look at marriage, even after her lousy divorce from Lloyd five years ago, which I’ve been trying to do for a year now. And if I’m any judge, Allie Maldonado will have you in a church sooner than later.”
Wonder sighed. “True. The women of Konigsburg will hang their heads in sorrow, but true.”
Lars raised his coffee cup. “To Docia and Cal. Go for it!”
Pete drank his last swallow of coffee, feeling oddly bereft.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Janie stood at the back of the winery patio surveying the layout. Banks of summer flowers lined the front in bright pink and yellow and white. Swags of chiffon were strung along the sides, linking stone urns filled with more flowers. Reba might not have had much time, but she’d done herself proud.
Almost every seat was filled with friends and family. Konigsburgers were scattered throughout the crowd—Armando from Cal’s animal clinic, Al and Carol Brosius from the Coffee Corral, Arthur Craven from the Konigsburg Merchants Association, even Hank Ingstrom from the Dew Drop with his wife.
Janie’s mother sat at the side, wearing one of her Lucky Lady outfits in bright blue Polyester. Janie kept out of her line of sight. She really didn’t want to deal with any other problems for the next couple of hours.
A lot of slightly stunned people in very expensive clothes were scattered here and there in the audience, probably all related to Docia. Reba herself still fussed around the edges of the patio in a spectacular daytime wedding outfit—pale yellow lace with a wide-brimmed garden party hat. She was currently bullying Lee and Ken, who were serving as ushers and enjoying themselves hugely. Janie figured if four-star generals wore yellow lace, they’d look and sound just like Reba.
The Toleffsons sat together toward the front. Mrs. Toleffson was wearing her mother-of-the-groom dress—a forest green satin coat with brown accents. She was undoubtedly dying from the heat, but she refused to look wilted. Asa had on a dark suit and a splendid crimson tie with a small picture of the Tasmanian Devil. Janie wasn’t sure where he’d gotten it, but it looked great.
Erik sat beside his father, wearing a navy jacket. He blinked in the sunshine as if he wasn’t entirely used to seeing it. Daisy perched on his lap, playing with his keys. She wore a pink dress that was almost the same shade as Janie’s. Her daisy wreath had slid down slightly over her left eye. As Janie watched, Erik carefully pushed it back onto her black curls then patted her on the shoulder a little awkwardly. Daisy paid him no attention at all.
At the end of the patio near the live oaks, the string quartet was working its way through some Vivaldi. Reba appeared at Janie’s elbow. “Y’all ready to go now?”
Janie didn’t think Docia could wait much longer without hysterics, ready or not. “Yes, ma’am. We’re ready.”
Reba pressed her fingers to her lips. “Oh my, have I forgotten anything?” Amazingly, her cornflower blue eyes began to glisten with tears. “Oh well, let’s get this show on the road.”
Janie heard a rustling behind her and turned. The groom and groomsmen stood in line, all of them in navy blazers and khakis. They looked like a college golf team on their best behavior, although three of them also looked a little like Paul Bunyan.
Reba eyed them critically, then sighed. “Where’s Cal?”
“Right here.” Cal stepped forward, smiling. Janie had a feeling he’d be smiling all day.
“All right.” Reba nodded decisively. “Soon as I’m in my seat, you and the judge go on up there.”
Cal looked behind him a little nervously. The judge pulled his collar away from his neck with a finger. “If I’d known y’all were going casual I’d have ditched this damn suit. You should have told me.”
“You’re an appeals court judge,” Reba snapped. “You should look like one.”
Allie took Wonder’s arm and Bethany moved next to Horace. Janie wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Horace in a suit before, even when he presided at city council meetings.
Pete stepped beside her and stood looking down, a faint smile playing around his lips. “Morning.”
“Morning yourself.” Janie let herself grin up at him, then faced front again.
“Time for me to sit down, I suppose.” Reba extended her hand to Lee Contreras.
He placed her hand on his arm with a flourish, a private escorting a general, then began a slow march down the aisle to the front row.
When she’d reached her seat, Reba raised her hand. The string quartet segued into Handel, and the judge gave Cal a slight shove, heading him down the aisle. Once they’d reached the front, Reba stood.
Allie grasped her bouquet of daisies and roses and looped her hand through Wonder’s arm. “Let’s do it, stud.”
“I assume that’s metaphoric,” Wonder muttered, stepping forward down the aisle.
Bethany put her hand on Horace’s arm, and he drew it close to his side, giving her a brief look that made Janie’s throat hurt suddenly as they began to walk.
“Okay, my turn,” Lars sighed.
“No!” Janie reached up to grab his arm, then placed her other hand on Pete’s elbow, balancing her bouquet between them. “Together. Okay?”
Pete grinned at her. “We’ll never fit in that aisle.”
“Sure we will.” Janie grinned back. “I’m short, remember.”
She took a step and the other two followed. “Why do I feel like I should be saying, ‘Lions and tigers and bears, oh my’,” Lars whispered.
Cal grinned at them. Janie didn’t have the courage to look at Reba, but she heard Horace’s chuckle. At the front, she dropped the men’s arms and moved to the left.
Allie patted her shoulder. “Nicely done, kid.”
The string quartet segued again, and Janie looked at the end of the aisle. Docia stood with her hand on Billy’s arm. Golden brown voile swirled around her ankles, the deep ruffle circling her throat and then angling across her body to the hem. Yellow roses were twined in her riotous crown of red curls. She carried a bouquet of white daisies, yellow roses, and trailing jasmine.
She looked glorious. Beside her, Billy Kent looked as if he couldn’t quite believe they’d gotten there in one piece.
Docia took a step and the two of them came gliding down the aisle.
Janie heard sighs from the audience. She glanced at Cal. He looked like he needed to be reminded to breathe.
The judge cleared his throat. Pete patted his pocket to check on the ring. Docia arrived at the front, handed Janie her bouquet, and winked.
Showtime.
“The votes are in,” Wonder grumbled. “Being photographed is definitely the most boring activity on the planet.”
Pete agreed with him. The past thirty minutes were the longest half hour he’d ever spent, made even longer by the fact that Janie hadn’t stopped doing useless tasks long enough to talk to him.
Allie grinned at Wonder indulgently. “Come on and give them another smile, sweetie. Think of it as advertising your professional expertise.”
The photographer was arranging Cal and Docia, along with Reba and Billy. Mom and Dad waited patiently for their turn.
Pete wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted to say to Janie. “Whew!” maybe. Or maybe he wanted to take her up on her promise of collapsing in a heap. What he mainly wanted to do was sit with her for a while and let events roll by. He had a whole list of things he needed to tell her, but he wasn’t sure where or how to begin.
Lars had retrieved Daisy from Erik, who looked simultaneously relieved and disappointed. Daisy had given him a dazzling smile over Lars’s shoulder, then appeared to have promptly forgotten all about him. Women.
Now Lars sat with Daisy on his lap, playing “she loves me, she loves me not” with the flowers remaining in her wreath. Daisy had removed it and refused to put it back on again once she’d seen Docia’s yellow roses. Pete figured she was planning to trade up.
Reba, freed temporarily from the photographer, gestured at Janie, then murmured something. Janie nodded and was gone again.
Pete sighed. What exactly did he want to say to her anyway? “Nice job. Cool wedding.” Yeah, but that wasn’t it exactly.
“Don’t hook up with anybody else like Otto Friedrich.” That was closer, but he didn’t really think she’d do that anyway.
“Wait for me.” He closed his eyes. Yeah, that was it. And he could just picture Janie staring at him with bewildered eyes.
Wait for you to do what?
To get the Amundson case straightened out? To figure out exactly what he wanted to do next?
Wait for you how long?
As long as it takes. Please put your life on hold until I get everything taken care of. Pete grimaced. If he were Janie, he’d tell himself where to go and what to do when he got there.
He couldn’t ask her to do that. It wouldn’t be fair to her. He couldn’t ask her to do anything. He didn’t have the right.
“Okay, now the wedding party.” The photographer motioned them up under the live oak where he’d been positioning everyone. “Bridesmaids on the left, groomsmen on the right.”
Pete glanced over at Janie again. Her rosebud wreath had shifted slightly down onto her forehead. He reached out to slide it back just as Reba took her by the arm and moved her beside Docia. He sighed and moved beside Cal.
“Problems?” Cal raised an eyebrow.
Pete shook his head. “Nothing I can’t handle, Calthorpe. Enjoy your wedding day. Let me know what you need.”
Cal gave him a slight smile. “You know, bro, you don’t really have to take care of me anymore. Lars either. We’re both full grown, and Erik looks to be out of the bullying business, at least as far as his brothers go.”