A Newport Christmas Wedding Page 6

She longed to go down there and make him believe they would be happy again. Like they had been a few short hours ago. But she was afraid she was the reason for what was happening.

  Was she wrecking the fragile relationship Alden had with his children? Would she drive an irreparable wedge between them? She didn’t want that. She would rather not marry him if it tore his family apart.

  She turned and stumbled back to the farmhouse. It was still quiet when she let herself in the back door and slipped out of the coat and shoes.

  In a few minutes she was dressed and downstairs again. She placed a folded note on the kitchen table and again let herself out the back door.

  A minute later she was driving down the car track toward the county road. She knew it was the wrong thing to do. Running never solved anything. But she wasn’t running. She just needed to get away for a second. She couldn’t think when they were so close and yet so untouchable. She needed some distance on what was happening.

  Space to understand things, time to think things through, and most of all she needed to talk to someone who wasn’t caught up in the drama, who had no other motives than to be a friend. After all, wasn’t that what a bridesmaid and best friend were for?

  She needed to talk to Carlyn. She could be back before they were even awake.

  Still, she felt her world begin to crumble as she drove away.

  Chapter 7

  AS SOON AS they got near Gran’s the next morning, Nora knew something was wrong. More wrong then they had been the night before.

  “Where’s Meri’s car?”

  Her dad shrugged, but didn’t look away from the empty parking area at the front of the farmhouse where Meri usually parked.

  “Where is she?” Nora asked again when they got out of the car. She was beginning to panic, something terrible might have happened. Why had she ever started this?

  She’d tried to do the right thing. Tried to think of somebody but herself, and she’d even screwed that up. Big-­time. Like always.

  “Maybe she parked around the side of the house,” she said, answering her own question.

  Her dad nodded as he walked toward the house.

  “Or she might have run out to the market for Gran.”

  He nodded again, but Nora noticed he was walking faster.

  It was everything she could do not to break into a run. Instead she crossed her fingers inside her mittens and prayed, Please let everything be okay, please let everything be okay.

  Her dad was the first through the door. He didn’t stop in the mudroom to take off his boots or coat, just marched into the kitchen.

  Gran was standing at the sink. “There was an emergency at Gilbert House.”

  “When did she leave?”

  “Early. I didn’t hear her go.”

  Nora hung back in the mudroom, slowly unbuttoning her coat. She wanted to feel relief, even though it was bad if something happened to Meri’s ceiling. But at least that meant that she hadn’t left them. Only Gran didn’t sound like she believed it.

  “Where’s Nora this morning?”

  Nora stepped out of the mudroom. “I’m here.”

  “Well, take off your coat and hat and mittens and come have some breakfast.”

  Nora wasn’t hungry. Actually, she felt like she might throw up. But she took off her things, hung the coat up, and dropped her hat and mittens in the basket on the boot shelf.

  She stepped inside of the kitchen. “Did she say when she’d be back?” Her voice came out all weird, and Gran gave her a funny look.

  “No, she left a note.”

  “Did she call?” Now her dad was sounding wary. It made her feel really icky. Like something even worse was going to happen.

  “No,” Gran said. “Nora, honey. I think I left the note in my room. Could you go get it please so your father can see it.”

  Nora went straight to the door. But instead of going down the hall to Gran’s room, she pressed against the wall, out of sight, and listened. She knew they were just getting rid of her so they could talk.

  Sure enough there was silence for a few seconds, then her dad said, “What the hell is going on around here? What did her note really say?”

  “It said there was an emergency. I tried calling her cell, but it went to voice mail. It may just mean she’s busy. But . . . I didn’t expect this. I told her we would all talk about it in the morning.”

  “Dammit.”

  “Shh. I don’t want Nora to overhear and be more upset.”

  Nora shoved her fist against her mouth. Gran thought it was all her fault. And it was.

  “You need to remain calm. Women are bound to be nervous before their wedding day. And now with Nora saying she’s moving out, I’m afraid Meri thinks she’s the reason. And this is just a guess, but from what she said in the car last night, she thinks Nora and Lucas are afraid they’ll lose you to her.”

  “That’s crazy. They love her. She’s always been a part of us. She’s half the reason I got the kids back.”

  “Well, there’s a lot of murky nonsense going on.”

  Nora heard the chair creak. Her dad must have sat down.

  “What the hell happened?” Her dad’s voice. “I must have been living in fairy tales too long, to actually think I could finally have my children and the woman I’ve always loved under the same roof. Silly me.”

  “Sarcasm doesn’t help,” Gran said.

  “Then tell me what will.”

  Nora slipped away. Ran to Gran’s room. The note was on the dresser. She sat down on the bed and read.

  There’s an emergency at Gilbert House. Have to go back. I’ll call you when I know more.

  That sounded believable. Maybe there really was an emergency. Nora folded the note and carried it back to the kitchen.

  Her father was just putting down his phone.

  “Did you get her?” Nora asked.

  “I left a message.”

  Nora handed him the note. He read it, then just held it in his hand.

  “Sit down, Nora, you’ll have to have cereal this morning if you’re going to make the bus.”

  “I’m not going to school. There’s no reason to.”

  “There’s plenty of reason to. Especially if you want to catch up with students back in New Haven.”

  “I’ll be fine, Dad. I’m not going to school.”

  “I think we could all use a day off.” Gran crossed to the fridge. “And we’re going to start with a healthy breakfast. Something tells me we’re all going to need it.”

  “Gran, can Nora stay with you? I’m going into Newport. It’s stupid to sit here and wonder what’s going on. And I certainly don’t want her to be away long enough to talk herself out of marrying me.”

  “GIRLFRIEND, YOU ARE totally nuts.” Carlyn handed her a mug of steaming coffee. “The man is totally into you, Nora loves you, Lucas is away at school most of the time, and when he’s here you get along, right?”

  Meri drew her hands out of her jacket pockets to stir her coffee. They were the only two at Gilbert House that morning, so Carlyn hadn’t bothered to turn up the heat. It was set at a steady sixty-­two, warm enough to protect the renovation but not enough to be comfortable.

  Meri had arrived at the crack of dawn to an empty house. She didn’t want to go to her apartment. She didn’t want to wake Carlyn up, so she’d sat in the parking lot alternately turning on the engine to warm the car then turning it off until it got too cold to think.

  Not that any of her thinking was doing much good.

  “I know Alden does. I love him, too. Totally. And the kids, too. And they like me, at least I think they do. But I don’t think they want me to marry their father. You have to look at it from their perspective.

  “They were treated like unloved stepchildren with Jennifer and Mark, and they finally come back to Corrigan House o
nly to have their dad decide to get married.”

  “So you can all live happily ever after together,” Carlyn said.

  “Well, I think they may be afraid that they’ll be stuck in the same situation again. That they’ll lose him. To me.”

  Meri took a sip of coffee, put the mug down. “What went wrong? We were all looking forward to the wedding and now everyone is upset. If I’m wrecking the fragile relationship Alden has with his children, I would rather not marry him.

  “Maybe it would be better if we just let things go on as they are now.”

  “And what are they?” Carlyn asked.

  “You know, snatching time together when we can. Not making anything official.”

  Carlyn yawned and rolled her eyes to let Meri know what she thought about that scenario.

  “That way they won’t feel as threatened.”

  “You know, for a smart person . . . First of all, Nora may be a little self-­centered, I mean she’s a teenager for crying out loud. She’s supposed to be the center of her universe. But she’s almost eighteen and will most likely be gone in the next year.”

  “Which would be a perfect time to get married.”

  “Provided neither of you has been hit by a bus during that time.”

  “Jeez, Carlyn.”

  “Seize the day, girl.”

  “Would you do it? Marry someone if his kids didn’t want you to?”

  “Sure I would. I’d bulldoze right over them to the I do’s.”

  Meri laughed in spite of herself. “You are so full of it.”

  “Well, did you two sit down and give them the blended family talk?”

  Meri took a sip of coffee. “No. I mean, it never occurred to us. Nora’s announcement came out of the blue last night. She might not even have told us if we hadn’t overheard it.”

  “Yeah, that was kind of weird. Passive aggressive maybe.”

  “You mean she wanted us to know how she felt without having to tell us outright?”

  Carlyn shrugged.

  Meri’s cell phone rang. She glanced at it, but let it ring.

  “How many times has he called?”

  “Three. Maybe four.”

  “Jeez, put the man out of his misery and answer. Tell him the ceiling is fine, it was a false alarm and you’re coming home. It’s not fair not to at least tell him what you’re feeling.”

  “You’re right.” She reached for the phone. It stopped ringing.

  Carlyn’s cell started up with the theme from Star Wars.

  Meri looked a question at her.

  “Doug,” Carlyn said. “I’ll give you your privacy.” She left the room.

  Meri looked at the phone. Maybe she’d been hasty. No she hadn’t. It wasn’t just about what she wanted. They should all sit down and talk reasonably about what was best for them all.

  But she was afraid that would not include her. Afraid that if she picked up the phone, he would say, My children come first. And they would break up, like she and Peter did. Though with Peter she knew it was the right thing to do.

  Over the years, she and Alden had had their shares of fights and periods of being on the outs. But this would be the final one. It would mean she wasn’t important enough to him.

  Maybe it was better to get it over. She picked up the phone, made the call. It went to voice mail and she hung up, hurt and heartsick, but just a little relieved.

  Carlyn came back into the room.

  “Everything all right with Doug?”

  “Huh? Yeah, just needed to check some figures. The man never stops working.”

  “Neither do you,” Meri said.

  “Well, I am taking the rest of the morning off. You and I are going for a walk.”

  “A walk? Where?”

  “The cliff walk. Good for the body and the soul. And we haven’t been in weeks.”

  “Because it’s December and freezing.”

  “Well, you’ll have to toughen up if you’re going to end up a lonely old lady living over the deli with a hundred cats.”

  “You’re so not funny.”

  Carlyn pulled her earmuffs over her ears and started on her gloves.

  “Chop chop.” Carlyn waited with her hands on her hips. “And if by some stupid reason you’re still here tonight, I’ll treat you to a burger at Mike’s.”

  Meri stood up and followed her out the door. “You’re going to freeze in that jacket.”

  “Not me.”

  “Carlyn, I’m really not up for this.”

  “Too bad. Sitting around all mopey and nobody-­loves-­me isn’t good for the circulation. Now, put a smile on it.” She practically pushed Meri into the car.

  Carlyn parked near the Memorial Boulevard entrance of the cliff walk. “I figure we’ll start here and stop for coffee when we get back. A little reward for our trouble.”

  “I’m not exactly dressed for the inn.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  They took a minute to stretch, though neither was dressed for serious walking.

  “Are you sure we need to do this? “ Meri groused. “I’ll probably get blisters.”

  But one gust of wind convinced her that the faster they walked, the sooner they would be sitting inside over double lattes and maybe a basket of pastries.

  They’d walked for ten minutes, their breath huffing out in white clouds like old steam engines, when Carlyn suddenly stopped. “This was a dumb idea. I’m freezing. Let’s go back.”

  “Told you so,” Meri said, and then had to run to catch up to Carlyn, who was speed-­walking back in the direction they’d come.

  That was fine with her, a double latte at the end of the walk was pretty strong incentive to keep up the pace.

  They made it back to the entrance in record time.

  And Meri saw the real reason Carlyn had suddenly changed her mind about walking.

  “Did you plan this?”

  “Yep.

  “That wasn’t Doug on the phone?”

  “Nope.”

  “Not fair. You’re supposed to be my friend.”

  “And your bridesmaid, and I’m not going to let you blow this because of some misplaced altruism which probably doesn’t mean squat. Now you tell the man exactly what you’re feeling and why, and for crying out loud, try to work things out.

  “This is the first bridesmaid dress I’ve ever had that actually looks good on me, and I intend to wear it.” She veered off the path and with a quick wave cut across the lawn to the parking lot.

  And Meri was left looking at the uncompromising face of her hopefully soon-­to-­be bridegroom.

  Chapter 8

  MERI DIDN’T HESITATE, but walked toward him. She’d thought she’d need time and space to sort things out, but just seeing him told her everything she already knew. All that cornball stuff about a person being the other half of you, of completing you. It was true.

  She hadn’t known before that there was a little emptiness inside her. If she ever questioned it, she thought it was because of her birth. But now she knew. That piece she needed was standing right in front of her.

  And she walked into his arms like she had hundreds of times before. For thirty years she’d been coming home and she never realized it fully. Not even the past summer, when she finally admitted that she loved him, was in love with him.

  His arms closed around her. No questions, just acceptance. Like always. She knew she owed him an explanation, and that would come soon enough, but for now she held on for dear life.

  “There was no emergency at Gilbert House.”

  “No,” she said into his jacket.

  “Didn’t think so.”

  They stood on the path while time winked out, until Alden rested his cheek on her hair. “Can we go home now?”

  Meri just wanted to
stand there. But that was crazy. “I love you totally, but I’m . . . I’m . . .”

  “Afraid.”

  Of course he knew. She nodded.

  “Can we at least go inside, my ears are turning to popsicles.”

  Meri chuckled. “Coffee at my place?”

  MERI LET THEM inside. They’d been pretty much silent on the ride to her apartment. It never did any good to try to talk to Alden when he was driving or working. And what she needed to say, needed to ask, deserved face-­to-­face time.

  And since Alden was never chatty at the best of times, she spent the time looking out the window of decorated Newport. Normally, she relished driving through the town at Christmastime. The town was at its festive best and the streets were crowded with visitors coming to see the mansions all decked out.

  She always went to at least one every year. The mansions, when decorated, went a step further than just the return of a certain age. They showed the possibility, the human element, that was sometimes missing in the daily tours.

  The ­people who built these mansions might not always have been the nicest or most sympathetic of ­people. But they celebrated and grieved just like everyone else.

  That’s what she liked about Gilbert House. It would never be as fabulous as the Breakers, or Rosecliff or Marble House. It was smaller, earlier, and had seen many generations of ­people from all walks of life. You could feel their presence in the very wood and tile of the house. Could walk the same steps as someone over a hundred years before. It was neat. She loved it.

  That’s the first thing she and Alden had talked about when they decided to get married.

  How would they juggle two households, because she intended to work.

  It had never occurred to him that she wouldn’t work. She glanced over at his stark profile, eyes forward and mind who knew where. On the traffic, probably—­or in some dark cavern or aerie fairy palace.

  She loved him so much. He was such a part of her that she couldn’t imagine life without him. Well, she’d never had to, had she? He’d always been there. He’d been all things to her during her thirty years and now he would be her husband—­or not.

  She closed her eyes, leaned her head back against the headrest.