Нора Робертс - Happy Ever After

“Yes, that’s what I’m after.” She stepped back. “I’ll leave this here, go see if I can help Emma set up the table.”

She started out. “Really, I could’ve picked up the car.”

“No doubt.What do you say when someone does you a favor?”

Parker heaved out a breath at the implied tsk in the tone.“You say thank you. I will.When I get a chance.”

She didn’t have one, or so she told herself.The event required her focus, and with the additional time for the unscheduled games ran about thirty minutes over.Which cut back on the time to prep for the evening’s rehearsal.

“The games were a hit,” Mac commented.

“They generally are.”

“Nice prizes. I really liked the travel jewelry caddy, the green leather? Somebody who’s going to Tuscany for her honeymoon could really use one of them.”

“Maybe somebody’ll get lucky.” Parker chugged from a bottle of water. “We seriously pulled that off. And our hostess didn’t bat an eye at the additional invoice for the prizes, especially since I gave her the extra half hour on the house.”

She took a last scan of the terrace.They’d broken down all the tables, but had left the pergola and urns dressed.They had only to set up the refreshment table, and they were good to go.

She probably had five minutes now to call in her thanks, but really, she had to check the invoice first. For all she knew he’d gouged her on a delivery charge.

“I’m just going to—” Her phone rang. “God. Crazy Bride.”

“Better you than me. Go ahead.We’ve got this.”

Crazy Bride ate up her time. And gave her space to think.

SHE’D SEND A THANK-YOU NOTE WITH THE CHECK FOR THE SERVICE and tires.That was, Parker decided as she ran the rehearsal, appropriate.

“With five minutes to go,” she said, “the groom’s brother—and best man—will escort their mother to her seat, with her husband following.That’s perfect.The best man will join the groom, standing to the groom’s left. And at three minutes to go, the bride’s brother will escort their mom to her seat. Brother moves up to the left of best man, right of George. Angle just a little, Sam. Exactly. Music change for the bridal procession.Wendy, Nikki,Addy—and I’ll be there to cue you tomorrow. Remember to smile, ladies. Then Jaci, the maid of honor.

“Good.When she’s halfway down, it’s time for the ring bearer. That’s the way, Kevin!”

The five-year-old strutted down to laughter and applause.

“And the flower girl. Really good, Jenny, and tomorrow there’ll be real flowers in your basket. Kevin on the boys’ side, Jenny on the girls’.You stand right there with your daddy, Kevin.Then . . .”

She trailed off, blank as she looked back and saw Malcolm leaning on one of the urns, a bouquet in his hand. She couldn’t see his eyes, not with the sun slanting off the dark glasses he wore. But she could see his grin clearly enough.

“Then?” the groom prompted with a laugh. “Do I get married?”

“Almost. Music change, everyone stands. And the bride begins her walk escorted by her father.And,” she said to the groom,“she’s the most beautiful woman in the world. She’s everything you’ve ever wanted. And she’s about to be yours.”

She waited. “Stop here. And as you requested, your mom will step over with you and your dad.The minister will ask who gives this woman, and your line, Mr. Falconi?”

“Her mother and I.”

They kissed their daughter, then took her hand and placed it in the groom’s.

“Lovely. Now . . .”

She ran them through the ceremony, hitting the highlights, outlining the timing and choreography.

“He’ll say you may kiss your bride.”

“I got that part.” The groom spun his bride, dipped her while she laughed, and bent to give her a lavish kiss.

“Cecily, if you get cold feet tomorrow, I’m happy to stand in for you.”

The bride laughed again, twinkling at Parker.“My feet are really, really warm, but thanks.”

“I bet. At that point, you’ll face your friends and family, the minister will introduce you for the first time as husband and wife, and those of us not still swooning over that kiss will applaud. Music changes to recessional, and you’ll walk down the aisle. Mac will take you from there. From here, the rest of the wedding party recesses in reverse order. Flower girl and ring bearer first.”

Good, she thought, very good. If everyone smiled and beamed like this tomorrow, they’d hardly need the sun.

“After the wedding party, the parents and grandparents of the bride, then the groom’s. Mac will also need all of you for wedding pictures.The guests will be escorted inside the Solarium for canapes and drinks to keep them happy during the photo session.”

She ignored the itch at the back of her neck. She knew he was staring at her, as she outlined the timing and procedure for introductions, dinner, toasts, the shift to the Ballroom, first dances, cake cutting, and so on.

“The Bride’s and Groom’s suites will be available to the wedding party from four until the end of the evening. We’ll transfer the gifts from the gift table to the newlyweds’ limo, as well as any flowers they want to take with them or give to others. I know it’s a lot, but my partners and I will be here for all of you every step of the way. All you really have to do is enjoy and celebrate.”

SHE RAN THE SHOW LIKE A VELVET-VOICED GENERAL, MALCOLM thought, striding around in her mile-high heels and severe black suit. A lot of smiles, though, he noted, and buckets of warmth.

Except when she looked in his direction.

He waited her out, smothered in the scent of roses that made the bouquet he carried seem a bit puny. Still, he’d wrangled it from the nose-ringed Goth girl who worked with Emma, so he’d kept it all in the family.

Emma breezed by him. “Mine?”

“Not anymore.”

“Still very pretty. Parker’s going to be a few more minutes.”

“I’ve got time.”

“Grab a drink if you want. There’s plenty. Or you can wait inside.”

“I’m good, but thanks.”

“I’ve got to go. If you were over at my place, you saw we’re neck deep.”

“Wedding tomorrow?”

“No, actually, they had a conflict, so they rehearsed for their Friday wedding tonight. I’ve got an outside event tomorrow, and Parker’s got a couple tours, plus we’ve got another full-staff consult. And a four-event weekend.”

“Busy girls. I’m fine here. Go ahead.”

“She won’t be long,” Emma assured him and hurried away.

When he waited another fifteen minutes, he figured she took her time. But she came out again, with that ground-eating stride she managed to make look both unhurried and graceful.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting,” she began. “If I’d known you’d planned to come by, I’d have told you we had a rehearsal.”

“I didn’t come to see you.”

She opened her mouth, closed it again.

“I came by to see Mrs. Grady.” He gestured with the flowers. “To thank her again for dinner and the ham sandwich I had for lunch today.”

“Oh, well, she’s not here.”

“I got that.”

“She went out with friends. Dinner and a movie.You brought her flowers.”

“Coals to the place that has all the coals.”

“She’ll love them, and she’ll be sorry she missed you. I’ll put them in water for her.”

“Okay.”

But when she reached for them he turned and started to the house. He glanced back. “Coming?”

“I don’t want to hold you up any more than I already have,” she said as she walked with him.

“I’ve got nothing booked.You?”

“Actually, I was going to call you,” she said, evading the question, “to thank you for having my car sent out.You didn’t have to go to the trouble, but I appreciate it.”

“We’re both full of thank-yous.”

“Apparently.” She led the way in, through the kitchen and back into the butler’s pantry.

He stopped, looked around. “Wow. This place just keeps on keeping on.”

“My family’s always liked to entertain, and often in a way that takes a lot of space.” She chose a vase from a cabinet.“Del may be home if you want company.”

“You know, it feels like you’re trying to shake me off.”

“Does it?” She added flower food and water to the vase.“That would be rude.”

“And you wouldn’t be.”

“Oh, I can be, depending on the circumstances.” She waited a beat.“But doing me a favor, two actually, and bringing one of my favorite people flowers aren’t meriting circumstances.”

“I can’t say I thought of kissing you as doing you a favor.”

He felt the temperature drop twenty degrees.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I bet that usually works. The freeze,” he added. “But me? I don’t mind the cold.”

“I’m sure that’s handy for you, and I also think you’ve gotten the wrong impression.”

When she turned, he shifted, and boxed her in.“No, I haven’t.”

Her eyes flashed, blue lightning cased in ice.“I don’t like being maneuvered.”

“No, you like doing the maneuvering, and you’re damn good at it. I admire that.When I was doing gags—”

“Gags?”

“Stunts. Stunt work. Anyway, back then I liked to watch the horse wranglers if I had a chance.You’ve got the same kind of skill with people. It’s impressive.”

“I’d say thank you, but we seem to have passed that phrase around plenty already.”

“Don’t mention it.” He eased back. “I like your house. Who wouldn’t, but I mean I like how it works. I like seeing and figuring out how things work.”

“How the house works?”

“House, home, business. Canvas.”

She paused at that, a flower in her hand, and just stared at him.

“You let people paint the picture they want on it.You guide a lot of the strokes, maybe influence them toward certain colors, but they get what they want at the end of it. It’s good work.”

“Th—” The phone saved her from another thank-you. “Excuse me. Hello, Bonnie, what can I do for you?” She wandered a few paces away.

Malcolm heard the hysteria through the phone even before Parker yanked it an inch from her ear. “I see.Yes, I . . .”

He listened—why the hell not—and began to stick flowers in the vase himself.

“Of course I understand. But I also think you’re very stressed just now, again understandably. I bet Richie is, too. Well, Bonnie, your mother isn’t marrying Richie, and though I know she loves him, she doesn’t know him the way you do. I think, if Richie thought of it as anything other than a silly, blowing-off-steam male tradition, he’d never have told you. But he did, and the way he did tells me he thinks of it as a joke. His brother’s just doing what brothers often do.”

She closed her eyes a moment, listened as she thumbed out a Tums. “Yes, I do understand, but you’re not marrying Richie’s brother. I’m sure none of you, really, want something as unimportant as this to cause any sort of a family rift.”

She listened again. “Yes. Mmm-hmm. Does Richie love you? Mmm-hmm. Has he given you any reason to doubt that, any reason not to trust him? What I think isn’t important. It’s what you think, and what you feel. But since you asked, I think I’d laugh it off, and I’d go have a wonderful time with my friends before I spent the next week getting ready to marry the man I’m just crazy about.”

While she wound it up, he finished the arrangement, then stepped back, hands tucked in his back pockets to study the result.

“That’s nicely done,” Parker commented.

“It’s not bad. So . . . problem?”

“Nothing major.”

“The groom’s brother’s hired a stripper for the bachelor party. She projected,” Malcolm added, “really well.”

“I guess she did.Yes, and the bride hit flashpoint, aided by the fury and dire warnings of her mother—who really doesn’t think anyone’s good enough for her baby girl, and will, I predict, always find fault with Richie.”

“She wanted you to back her up.”

“Naturally.”

“And you soothed and smoothed while managing to turn it back on her. Nice wrangling,Tex.”

“If you’re mature enough to marry, you ought to be mature enough to stop crying to Mommy every time something upsets you. And if she doesn’t trust her perfectly affable, devoted, and honest-to-a-fault fiancй not to jump on a stripper a week before the wedding, she shouldn’t marry him.”

“That’s not what you said to her.”

“Because she’s the client.” She caught herself.“And I shouldn’t be saying it to you.”

“Hey, what’s said in the—What is this room?”