Eleven years. She responded to him this way after eleven years.
A silent gasp escaped her as his other hand slid in a caress from her shoulder, down her spine, to her waist and she heard his slow, almost imperceptible inhalation near her ear and a soft groan.
He’s sniffing me?
He squeezed her hand and she realized she’d tightened her grip on him. Loosening her hold, she looked up at him but found that he was watching the ceremony with a smile on his face. She faced forward again and caught Grace watching her, eyes twinkling with mischief, from where she stood with her men, next to Kate. Veronica knew that look because she saw it on Kate’s face often enough. A disgruntled murmur rippled through the crowd behind her, distracting her from the ceremony again.
“Jezebel! Adultress! You must repent!” a shrill voice suddenly screeched from farther up the walkway, coming closer. The crowd stepped back from the source of the clamor, and Veronica got a brief glimpse of a woman marching down the walkway, fire and brimstone in her eyes, with just a little crazy added in to make things interesting. She looked intent on reaching the foursome standing with the minister, shocked and angered expressions on their faces.
“You’re going to hell, Maizy Owen! God will strike you down for your sins! This wedding must not take place!” She lifted a picket sign that had the words Keep Divine Pure—Say No to Polyamory! written on it in bold block letters.
The crowd gasped and from behind her, Veronica heard Hank curse softly under his breath as the woman continued shrieking. He held up his hand to stay the grooms, and Jack and Adam, when they parted from their group, and said, “I’ll handle it. This shouldn’t take long.” He slid his Stetson onto his head and looked down at Veronica. “My apologies, ma’am. I’ll be back.”
She nodded unconsciously, wondering why he would apologize to her but didn’t have time to ask as he stalked up the walkway in a long-legged, decidedly purposeful gait. He called me ma’am.
The woman managed to draw close enough to point her finger at the bride. “Maizy Owen, you are shaming your entire family! Harlot! Jezebel! Defiler! You should be ashamed!” She stared at the grooms, an odd shifting of emotion apparent in her eyes. She was indignant, to be sure, judging by her red-cheeked fury, but there was some other emotion mixed in, as she once more turned her anger on Maizy and continued her harangue of the bride.
Interesting. Not one word of condemnation for the grooms.
Veronica watched as Maizy hung on to Cody’s hand and stayed Heath and Spencer with her other hand, refusing to allow them into the fray. She looked up the walkway and said, “It’s only one woman. Hank can handle her.”
One of the guests, a short little man with an even shorter wife, muttered, “Ten bucks says it’s that lunatic, Tabitha Lester.”
“Harlot! Adulteress—what? Sheriff, I’m exercising my right of free speech! This is a public place! What? Wait! You can’t do that!”
The guests were now chattering amongst themselves and the volume increased as the woman continued her tirade, slowly losing volume as Hank escorted her from the premises.
A couple of minutes later, a Divine County sheriff’s patrol car pulled onto the side street where the entrance to the garden was located and came to a stop. Veronica couldn’t see much over everyone’s heads but she heard the sound of a car door slam and then the crowd shifted and grew quiet as Hank returned and waded into the center of the gathering.
“I’m sorry for the disturbance, folks,” he called out.
From the front, Amelia Owen, Maizy’s mother, called out, “Was it Tabitha Lester?”
Hank nodded with pursed lips and then chuckled when she turned to her husband and held out her hand. Mr. Owen rolled his eyes, pulled his wallet out, and slid a twenty-dollar bill into her hand. She smiled and slid it into her purse.
The minister stepped forward, a look of disbelief on his face. “Sheriff, can we continue now?”
Hank removed his cowboy hat and nodded. “Yes, sir. She was the only protestor.”
“Who would protest a wedding and call such despicable names to such a lovely bride?” Grandma Kate asked, sounding quite put out.
Veronica stroked Kate’s shoulder as Maizy’s mother provided the answer. “Someone who’s bat-shit crazy and needs to get her own man.”
Several guests chuckled and the murmurs gradually dwindled to silence as the ceremony continued without further interruption. Belatedly she realized that she’d been so busy observing and mentally cataloging the action that she hadn’t even turned to Travis, or said anything at all.
He must think I’m totally rude for not even saying hello to him.