A Fine Mess (25 page)

“So would I,” Annie complained, scowling at the ‘X’ and ‘Z’ she’d just drawn. Since the rest of her tiles were consonants, they made a nice set. Too bad there wasn’t a vowel in there to break up the monotony.

“Why won’t she go in?”

“She told me this morning that she’s torn. Is she going to trust God that she is healed, or not? She thinks she is because she feels better, and she’s gaining weight.”

“Maybe she is.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. But it still would be nice to know. If she’s not then maybe everything helped enough that more treatments could get it out of her system entirely.”

“Max told me something the day I got saved.”

“What was that?”

“I was worried about maybe talking Maddie into a fast that might kill her sooner. Max said that even though I’d thrown the idea out there, only Maddie could make the decision as to whether or not she wanted to do it. Or even if she should do it.”

“I know. It would just be nice to have proof, one way or the other.”

“Do you think she’s waiting until after the reception?”

“I didn’t think about that. But that’s still two weeks away. She might be wasting time when she could be looking into something else.”

“Do you want to run over to their house and we can have a talk with her? Maybe if the three of us gang up on her, she’ll take pity on us and get it done.”

“Do you think we should?”

“No. I don’t. I think it’s got to be her decision, whether any
of
 
us
like it or not. Maybe God told her she didn’t need the tests.”

“I suppose He could have. But wouldn’t she have told us if He had?”

“You’d think so.” He must have decided they needed a change of subject. “Did you get the invitations mailed today?”

“Yes.
All of them.
Did you confirm the reservations at the hall?”

“Yes, Ma’am.
As long as the caterer does her job, we’re set.”

Chapter 13

The morning of the reception, Ian was on pins and needles. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was in love with his wife. Enough so that he was more than ready to put this period of dating behind them and start living as man and wife.

The question was
,
was Annie feeling the same? He was fairly certain that she was but, again, he’d set the terms. And today was the day they were to make the decision. Once they arrived at the hall.

Annie had spent the night with her folks, trying to bring as much tradition to the day as possible. And he missed waking up to finding her in the kitchen. Not just because she’d have a pot of coffee ready. Not because she’d be preparing him a delectable breakfast.

No. He’d just gotten used to her being there and he hated that she wasn’t now.

Jack must not be very thrilled with it either because the poor dog was lying at Ian’s feet, looking as dejected as he felt.

Why hadn’t they scheduled this for early afternoon instead of six o’clock? Over seven hours away. How was he supposed to fill the hours until then, when the minutes were crawling by at a snails pace?

“Lord, help me,” he prayed, propping his chin up on his hand, elbow on the table. “I know I was stupid. I should have just told her that I did love her at Christmas, because now I know I really did love her then.” It felt like he’d loved her forever.

The phone rang, interrupting his thoughts.
And his prayer.

“Ian?” It was Annie. He grinned as he leaned back against the wall.

“Hi, Sweetheart.
Miss me?”

“I don’t think your ego needs to hear it,” she teased, “but yes I do. I missed you this morning and wanted to hear your voice.”

“Same here.
God sure answered my prayer quick!”

“What prayer was that?”

“I was just asking for help and telling Him that I should have told you I loved you weeks ago.”

“You love me?”

“More than you’ll ever know.”

“Thank God! I love you, too.”

“So we’re really getting married today?”

“We really are married now,” she reminded him.

“
Not
really. When we said the vows in Vegas, we said them for all the wrong reasons.
Not that helping your dad wasn’t a
good
reason.
It just wasn’t the right one. Now, when we say them tonight, we’ll be saying them for us.
Because we mean them.”

“I can’t wait.”

“I know. I was just kicking myself for not insisting that we do this early in the afternoon.”

“Do you want me to come home?”

“Yes I do. But you stay where you’re at. We’re doing everything right this time. Tradition rules today, Mrs. McCann.”

“Shouldn’t you say ‘Miss Blake’ if we’re going to be traditional?”

“Well, that might fall under lying and I’d rather we be blessed today.”

“We’re already that.”

“Yeah, we are.”

“Ian, since tradition seems to really matter to you, maybe I ought to give you a little heads up. My mother’s wedding dress-”

“Shh. Don’t
say
it. Surprise me, okay?”

~~~~

And a surprise is exactly what it was. Ian had never seen another wedding dress like it. And likely wouldn’t, ever again.
Unless one of their daughters decided to wear it.
Which would be fine with him.

An aisle of sorts had been made between rows of tables. They were filled with dozens of guests that included most of the congregation from church, as well as several long-time clients of his, nice people that he socialized with several times a year and even some of his father‘s employees. And they were all standing, staring at his wife.

She made quite a sight as she floated toward him, on her father’s arm, in billowing white skirts. But that’s where the resemblance to a wedding dress ended.

There were four tiers of ruffles in the skirt that was probably as big around as Annie was tall. At the bottom of each ruffle, a wide pastel ribbon had been woven through the lace.
Pink, blue, green and yellow.

Thousands of matching pearls in the same shades had been sewn to the wide waistband and cuffs of the sleeves, as well as in a pretty pattern around the neckline. But that wasn’t all.

The delicate headpiece, also made from the same pearls, secured each piece of the different colors of sheer fabric to form a little rainbow surrounding her.

Ian grinned from ear to ear. He should have known that Maddie’s wedding dress would reflect her personality. He just didn’t realize that her unique style would suit his wife quite so perfectly. And he couldn’t help but hope that their daughters
would
want to carry on the tradition and wear it, too. Or one very much
like
it.

He thanked God for the circumstances that had given him this family.
This woman.

When Paul and Annie reached him, he leaned toward Paul and whispered in his ear,

“We’ll consider your daughter fair trade for any debt you think you owe me.” When Paul appeared ready to argue, he said softly, “Don’t. Please let me do this.”

He took Annie’s hand and gazed into her beautiful eyes and ignored Max, who was clearing his throat, waiting to begin the ceremony.

“I love you,” he said softly.

“I love you.” She reached her other hand up to stroke his cheek.

“Shall we get this show on the road?” Max finally asked. “I’m starving!”

By the time he announced that Ian could kiss his bride, tears were streaming down both his and Annie‘s cheeks.

“It’s so much better when you mean the words, isn’t it?” he asked, just before their lips met.

If you enjoyed reading The Stranger
In
My Head, or hated it, please take a moment to leave a review at Amazon.com or Smashwords.

You can check out Kristy’s other books at:

http://kristykjames.com/

http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Kristy+K.+James

http://www.amazon.com/