Zoe pursed her mouth. “Eventful.”
“Did you get everything worked out for your wedding?”
“Not exactly…. But there’s time to fix everything when I get back.” She hoped.
“And the friend who wrote you the letter?”
Zoe shook her head. “I’ve decided not to see her. Some things are better left alone.”
Lillian looked regretful. “If you say so. But I’ve always found that my closest friends are the people who knew me when I was young.”
“Not this one. She didn’t get me at all.”
“Oh. Well, best of luck with your wedding.”
Zoe thought of her reception seating chart, specifically, the spot at table five that needed a single person to sit between Mr. Dunbar and Mr. Wheaten. “Lillian, I know this is a bit last-minute, but would you like to come to my wedding?”
Lillian beamed. “I’d love to. I adore weddings.”
Zoe tore off a scrap of paper. “Write down your address and I’ll make sure you get an invitation.”
Lillian printed her address, then handed it back. “I wouldn’t miss it. Something tells me it’s going to be interesting.”
Zoe gave a little laugh and went to her seat. What an odd statement. But she waved it off and settled down to get some sleep so she’d be rested enough to visit Kevin at the hospital when she landed. She closed her eyes and tried to relax.
Away from Colin…toward Kevin…away from Colin…toward Kevin…
18
The following month
“ZOE, IT’S THE MOST LOVELY gift. I can’t believe you made these,” Erica said, her eyes misting. She and the other bridesmaids fastened their bracelets around their wrists, murmuring appreciation.
Zoe smiled at them all gathered around in her dressing room. “I’m glad you like them.”
“Are these opals?” Erica asked.
Zoe nodded, feeling a bittersweet stab. “I got them when I was in Australia.”
Erica leaned in to whisper, “At a ranch with no cell-phone service?”
Zoe bit down on the inside of her cheek. Erica had been dropping sly comments about “the Aussie in first class” ever since Zoe had returned from Sydney. Had she connected him to Zoe’s vaguely explained inaccessibility for over two days? Zoe glanced away to collect herself. She didn’t need this today. Not on her wedding day. Not when she’d worked so hard to get her mind to this place. Although the clothes Colin had bought her for the ranch still sat in a bag in the back of her closet, never quite having made it to Goodwill.
“Hey,” Erica murmured, “I was only teasing.”
“It’s okay,” Zoe said, trying to smile.
Erica frowned. “Are you all right?”
Zoe walked away from the group of women to a window, fanning herself. Outside, the church parking lot was filling with guests arriving dressed in their finest. All to witness her marriage to Colin—Kevin. Kevin. KEVIN. “It’s just hot in here.”
Erica trailed behind her, dressed in apricot head to toe. “But you don’t look flushed. You look pale.”
“Do I?”
“Zoe, are you having second thoughts?”
“No…of course not. I’ve known Kevin for six years. We’ve been engaged for three years. It would be pretty lousy of me to wait until the day of our wedding to decide he’s not the guy for me.”
Erica pursed her mouth. “No. It would be pretty lousy of you to marry the guy if you don’t truly love him.”
“But…I…do…love…Kevin.”
Erica’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re going to have to be a lot more convincing at the altar. What’s going on?”
Zoe hesitated, then pulled Erica close. “If you tell anyone what I’m about to tell you, I will kill you and bury you in that dress, got it?”
“Got it.”
She pressed her lips together, then blurted, “I had an affair in Sydney with the Aussie from first class.”
Erica’s eyes widened. “I knew it!”
“But it gets worse.”
“You’re pregnant.”
“What? No! I think I fell in love with him.”
Erica exhaled loudly. “That is worse. How does he feel about you?”
“When I left, he was getting married, too.”
Her friend made a face. “Bummer.”
“Thanks a lot. The point is, I just don’t know how I feel about Kevin. I know I love him, but I’m not sure it’s the heart-pounding love I’ve always dreamed about. On the other hand, what I feel for Colin might just be infatuation because the sex was so…” She sighed. “Mind-blowing.”
Erica elbowed her. “Do tell.”
Zoe frowned. “This isn’t exactly the place or time.”
“Okay, later. Meanwhile, even if you do love this Colin guy, he might already be off the market, right?”
“Right.”
“So the question is, can you forget a guy who’s unavailable and who lives on the other side of the world enough to make a life with the guy who actually loved you enough to propose?”
Zoe pursed her mouth. “Good point.”
“On the other hand, Zoe, I have to tell you that the day I married Jim was one of the happiest days of my life. And no matter how much I complain about him, I’d do it all over again in a second. Maybe you won’t know until you look down the aisle.”
Over the loudspeaker, piano music began to play.
Erica jerked her head toward the door. “That’s our cue. What do you want to do?”
Zoe gave her friend’s hand a squeeze. “Go. I’m being a basket case. Thanks for the pep talk.”
Zoe watched her bridesmaids file out, a veritable apricot smorgasbord. Her mother came in, beaming. Today’s festivities would truly be a nod to her, Zoe conceded.
“They’re getting ready to seat us, dear. I just wanted to come back and tell you how proud your father and I are that you’re marrying someone as nice as Kevin. He’s going to be a good husband to you.”
But will I be a good wife to him? “Thanks, Mom.”
“You look absolutely beautiful. The dress, the veil—it couldn’t be more perfect.”
“Thanks to you,” Zoe murmured.
“Yes, well, anything to give you a perfect start.” Her mother sighed. “Sometimes I think the reason your father and I have had such a rocky time of it is because we didn’t do things right, didn’t have a nice wedding like this.”
“Oh, Mom, that’s not the reason.”
Her mother smiled. “Well, that’s not going to happen to you, because your wedding day is going to be perfect.”
Zoe nodded. “Yes, it will.”
A chime sounded and her mother jumped. “Oh, that means they’re ready for me. I’ll see you out there, dear.”
She watched her mother scurry out in her beaded mother-of-the-bride dress. She had gone to so much trouble to give her daughter a fairy-tale wedding….
Zoe gave herself a mental shake. Colin probably hadn’t given her another thought after she’d left Sydney. He was engaged to a stunning woman of his own class. He was far, far away. And Kevin was here, waiting to marry her.
The wedding director appeared in the doorway. “Zoe, it’s time.”
She took a deep breath, pulled her veil over her face and picked up her bouquet. She hadn’t done the right thing in Sydney, but she could do the right thing now.
She met her father in the hallway and he gave her an encouraging smile. “You look beautiful, sweetheart, just beautiful.”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
They walked to the rear of the church and the bridal march began to play. Two tuxedoed ushers opened the double doors. Everyone in the packed sanctuary stood and turned toward her, beaming.
Except for one person, Zoe noticed. Her new friend Lillian sat in the back row and while she wasn’t frowning, she wasn’t smiling, either. Zoe’s heart was thumping against her chest, her thoughts scattered and running wild. She thought of the letter that she’d written, the challenge to herself to find that one-of-a-kind love. Had she let herself down?
She looked down the aisle to her groom. Kevin was grinning back at her, surrounded by his tuxedoed friends, her bridesmaids and the minister, plus a cluster of flower girls and a ring bearer.
All. Waiting. For. Her.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” her father whispered out of the corner of his mouth. And Zoe realized her feet weren’t moving.
Zoe glanced to Lillian, who seemed to be telegraphing something to her with those incredible violet-colored eyes. Then she looked back to Kevin, whose smile had dimmed a fraction. She had to do the right thing.
She couldn’t marry him.
Zoe handed her bouquet to her father. “Stay here, Daddy.”
He gave her a concerned look. “Your mother will kill me.”
She lifted her skirt with both hands. “You probably don’t want to be next to her when I do this.”
He blanched. “I’ll stay here.”
It took less time to dismantle the wedding than Zoe had imagined. Telling Kevin she couldn’t marry him was the hardest part, of course. He kept looking at the ring she gave back as if it were going to explode. He was so incredulous, she truly felt sorry for him.
Seeing the look on her mother’s face as the ceremony went down in flames was the next hardest part.