Page 13 of Perfectly Matched: Harbor Falls Romance Collection
“I wish Shelley were here.”
Suzie glanced up into her mother’s eyes in the mirror. She’d been thinking about her sister all morning and couldn’t get her out of her head. It made her sad that her sister chose not to share this day with her. Of course, Suzie hadn’t been able to share in Shelley’s wedding either, but that was an entirely different set of circumstances.
Standing behind Suzie, her mother met her gaze in the reflection, fiddled with Suzie’s veil, and frowned a little.
“I do too, honey,”
Joan Hart said.
“but it’s not going to happen. Your father and I both tried talking to her with no success. I think the girl is so conflicted about what is the right and wrong thing to do that she just does nothing.”
Suzie watched her mother lift the golden locket Brad had given her from the dresser and drape it around Suzie’s neck. As Joan clasped it, Suzie’s heart swelled a little and she fingered the heart and pinched it tight. Then she let it drop and settle between her breasts. She might just let it stay there forever.
“I know,”
she said, switching her thoughts back to her sister.
“She wouldn’t pick up my calls. I left her both voice and text messages. She had to have listened to and read them. I told her it was all okay. That we could work things out and that I just wanted her at my wedding. I do want us to get past this, Mom. I really do.”
She turned into her mother’s embrace. Joan hugged her daughter.
“It’s your wedding day, darling. We’re not going to let this cloud the day. Today is the happiest day of your life, and even though Shelley is being stubborn and a bit foolish, there is nothing you can do about it right now. She’s embarrassed and feels guilty about the entire ordeal. She will come around eventually and realize all she’s missing. I think truth be told, she misses family. She has to face both her past, and her future, one day soon, and she knows that.”
Pulling back, Suzie gazed into her mother’s eyes.
“I know that too. And I’m not going to be a sourpuss about it because I’m too happy!”
She smiled and hugged her mother.
“And nervous,”
she whispered.
“Nothing to be nervous about. You’re getting a great guy.”
“The best, Mom. Truly, Brad is just wonderful.”
Joan stepped back, smiled, and took Suzie’s hands and squeezed.
“I’m so proud of you, honey. You’ve done great things with the inn, your agent found you the perfect publisher for you cookbook, and you’ve become a fine, upstanding member of this small community. And you know what? I know that Brad is going to be such an asset to Harbor Falls too. You really make a nice couple.”
“A team. We like thinking that way.”
“I can see it all ready.”
Suzie thought for a moment.
“You know, Brad really will be good for the community, Mom. The plans he has for the lodge and the cabins… It’s going to be good for us as a family, and for the town. I really am looking forward to the future. I love my life!”
“As you should.”
Joan glanced at her watch.
“Well, dear, it’s nearly time. That expensive limousine we ordered from Asheville should be here any minute. We need to get you up that mountain.”
With one last hug for her mother, and a final look at herself in the mirror, Suzie sighed. She was getting married today and she was having a baby. Laying a soft hand on her small but growing baby bump, she smiled. Family. She and Brad were about to create a little family of their own, and an entire huge life together.
She gazed at her reflection and then fixed a stray hair or two in her upswept do, the veil and about seven thousand bobby pins holding the rest of her hair in place.
“I’m ready.”
Suzie turned and headed toward her bedroom door. Glancing at the grandfather clock and taking in the fact that it was always ten minutes early, she knew her mother was right. Time to leave. In an hour the ceremony would be over, and she would become Suzie Hart Matthews.
“I’m about ready to jump out of my skin,”
she whispered.
“I’ll grab your train as you go down the porch steps,”
Joan said.
Suzie nodded and tried to tamp down the butterflies in her stomach.
****
Brad stood on the back deck of the lodge overlooking the lake. The day was clear, the mountain air crisp, and his heart was beating wildly in his throat. He caught a glimpse of the black limo pulling out of Suzie’s house through the trees and smiled.
It was happening. Everything he wanted would soon be his, and by God, he was going to take none of it for granted. He’d been handed several gifts over the past few months and he intended to make good use of them.
Harbor Falls would be home now and into the future. And he couldn’t be happier.
It would take the limo about ten minutes to get around the lake and up the hill to the lodge. He waited another five minutes before meandering around the deck to the front of the lodge. There, he glanced at Reverend Peters, from Suzie’s church, and to his brother Scott, who had flown in the night before from Italy. His parents, who were stationed in Singapore, were not able to make it on such short notice. He took his place beside Scott on the wide lodge porch and looked out on the intimate gathering of close friends and family sitting in the chairs across from him. Suzie’s father stood at the bottom of the steps waiting to give his daughter away, and her Maid of Honor, her cousin Sydney, stood opposite Mike Hart.
The music began. The limo nosed its way around a curve and into sight. Brad swallowed the lump in his throat and licked his suddenly dry lips. He was getting married today.
****
Suzie’s butterflies kicked up a notch the second they rounded the curve and pulled up to the lodge. She glanced at her mother and blew out a breath. They had rehearsed this last night and she knew then that all would be fine—but now, this was for real.
Closing her eyes, she took a moment to just breathe and be, and center herself a little before stepping out into her future. Her window was cracked, and she heard the soft tones of Bach’s Prelude in C waft into the car with them. Then it stopped and there was a brief pause, and the Arioso began.
“That’s my cue,”
Joan said, patting her on her knee. Leaning in, she kissed her daughter on her cheek.
“I love you,”
she whispered. The door on her mother’s side opened and one of her male cousins ushered Joan toward the lodge and up the steps. Suzie watched as her mother was seated and her father started toward the car.
At this point all thought ceased and Suzie simply moved on autopilot.
The processional music started. An usher opened the door again and her father reached out his hand. She got out of the car and stood, giving Mike Hart a quick peck on the cheek. The mist in his eyes didn’t go unnoticed and his tears nearly made Suzie choke on her own pending mistiness.
Her father tucked her hand into his elbow and then turned and stood facing the lodge. Sydney slowly ascended the lodge steps in front of them.
The next few minutes were a blur as her father led her to her future husband and placed her hand in Brad’s. She stood facing her future husband and staring into his eyes as if they were the only two people in the world.
Reverend Peters spoke. They said their vows. And Suzie continued to get lost in the depths of Brad’s eyes and his love for her.
As he slowly slipped the simple gold band on her finger, Suzie’s tears slipped over her eyelids and onto her cheeks. And as she placed Brad’s wedding band on his finger, her heart soared.
“Mr. Matthews,”
Reverend Peters said.
“You may now kiss your bride.”
Brad smiled and tugged Suzie’s hands.
“I love you,”
he whispered, and drew closer.
“I love you with all of my heart,”
Suzie murmured back.
Then Brad kissed her with a scorching kiss that would be the talk of Harbor Falls for weeks to come.