Chef Charming (14 page)

Any chance I could get a
picture?

No way
.

A d
escription?

Not a
chanc
e.

Hints?

Nope.

You are a cruel, cruel
woman.
He could picture her playful grin as their conversation continued.

Yes sir
.
It’s payback.

Payback?

Oops,
Rori
realized she had just headed down a secret road. Oh well, here goes nothing
.

Yes,
payback.
Since you insist
on wearing your kilt and I have to suffer through the ceremony being
totally
distracted, you can suffer a few days wondering what
my dress will look like.

My kilt
?
Distraction?
I’m lost. I thought you liked the idea. If you don’t, you have to let me know
so Dad, James, and I can figure something else out.

No, no.
Kilts are fine.

Then the problem is...?

I love the idea, (and I’m
only telling you this since I don’t have to do it face –to-face), your long,
muscular legs are extremely attractive. Now that I’ve shocked you, I’m signing
off, mortifyingly embarrassed, but deeply in love with you, Lord Marcus – Aurora

Silly girl, you have
made me laugh. I love you.

-------------------------

Not trusting her email to
convey her excitement, she called Marcus on Wednesday and left a message on his
phone.

“I found a dress!”

Later that evening, a
message popped up on her computer.

Your phone message
could be classified
as
cruel and unusual punishment,
Marcus
typed.

Sorry, but it’s really,
really pretty,
Rori explained.

Even meane
r,
Marcus
stated.

Sorry, I’ll stop
, Rori conceded.

I love you, Aurora.

I love you, too, Marcus.
Oh, and I started another countdown.
Seventeen days.

I hope my picture is
better on this one!
Marcus remembered
the caricature she had drawn and how mad he was when he first
saw it
. Looking back now, he knew the picture in the sketchbook was what
pushed him to admit his feelings for Aurora Grace Sinclair and had convinced
him not to give up hope.

Whatever do you mean? I
liked the first one. I thought it was very lif
elike.

Imp!
Life
with this woman was going to be a joy.

Early the following Friday
morning, Rori, her mom, and Mrs.
MacRae
were heading towards the campus. They were planning to spend the weekend
checking on the dinner arrangements and final details. They also both wanted a
look at the gazebo and gardens where the wedding was to take place.

The two very organized and
motivated mothers made the potentially hectic plans flow like a well-oiled
machine
. As far as plans and details
went, their wedding was a dream. Rori only wished her emotions were as
undisturbed.

Rori was glad that their
chatter filled the car so neither lady noticed her s
ilence. She and Marcus had talked each evening, but he
was busy with the community cooking class. Even though he was co-teaching the
intensive class for the culinary students with Jake, it still took up a lot a
time. He was usually exhausted when they were finally able to speak each
evening. Plus, she didn’t feel confident enough anymore to burden him with her
doubts. She knew he would probably say she was ridiculous for worrying.

The moms had rented a hotel
room, but Rori was staying with Carla and Zoe
. Jess was coming over later to make it a fun girl’s night. Jake
had been booted out
to spend the weekend with Marcus.

After dropping the
ladies off at the hotel, Rori met Carla at the
Marcus’s condominium, which
had been designated
as the
collection point for wedding supplies. They were planning to spend the morning
on party favors. Carla noticed Rori’s unusual quietness.

“What’s wrong?” Carla knew
something was bothering her friend.

“Nothing, just tired,” Rori
explained. She forced herself into a more cheerful mood, and
apparently
she was convincing enough. Carla let the matter drop, but was still concerned.

“I didn’t think it would
make such a mess,” Rori exclaimed over the disaster facing Marcus when he came
home to find her and Carla in his kitchen
.
He was exhausted from the week of classes and nervous about the wedding. The
stress made him short-tempered. Unfortunately, Jake was not here to warn him of
the dangerous ground ahead.

“Exactly,” he grumbled
. “You didn’t think.”
Moving their
wedding craft project off his kitchen counter impatiently.
His back was
facing her so he didn't see the blood drain from her face. Carla did but was
unable to stop Rori before she bolted out the back door.

“You
big, dumb idiot,” Carla pounded her small fists on his
back.

“What
?” Marcus turned, trying to fend off the surprise
attack.

“She’s gone!” Carla pointed
out the sliding glass door. “I can’t believe you just said that to her
! She practically worships you, and
you
basically
just called her stupid. How could you? Especially knowing
about how she was treated by what’s-his-name,
that jerk
in high school. You fool!”

“Jason,” Marcus said as
his conversation with Rori’s father came flooding
back. He had shared a brief version of it with Jake and Carla over breakfast
that morning.

“What have I done?” Marcus
felt a yawning pit of despair open up beneath him.

“Go after her you
doofus
!” Carla’s vocabulary seemed to have an endless
supply of words to describe his stupidity.

Marcus found Rori curled up
on the bench swing hanging in the gazebo at the edge of the community park
. He knelt beside her and reached out to brush the
hair from her face.

“Please don’t touch me.
” Her words conveyed the depth of her hurt. “I’m fine.
I knew you would change your mind. Can you please just get this over with so I
don’t have to face public humiliation? I don’t think I’ll survive this one.”

“Change my mind?” Marcus
asked, “What the h..., heck would I change my mind about
?!
” His emotions running so
high, he was in danger of slipping into colorful speech.

Rori lifted her head
slightly, eyebrows raised and bright blue eyes peeking over her folded arms. He
knew she was reacting to his choice, or almost choice, of words.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “What
have I changed my mind about, if you will please enlighten me?” He was angry
with himself but Rori assumed his tone
was still directed
at her.

“Loving
me.”

He stood abruptly and moved
to the bench next to her perch. The normally controlled, stoic, rugged man
buried his head in his hands. He fought for control but a glance at the
dejected young woman before him brought tears to his eyes.

“Aurora,” Marcus pleaded.
“Look at me. Please.”

She raised her head again
. He could see her blue eyes, brilliant in the evening
light. Surprisingly, they held no tears, just a haunted look.

“I love you
. I will always love you. Nothing you can do will
ever, ever change that.”

She rolled her eyes and
buried her head on her arms again.

“Whatever.” The bitterness
was harder to take than anger. He moved back to her side and in one motion
lifted her from the swing. He settled himself in the spot where she had been
sitting and cradled her in his arms.

She was amazed at how easily
he lifted her
. Being as tall as she
was meant
she had never felt dainty.
Until
now.
Still her long legs combined with his not-so-small frame, made for
a very close proximity in the swing.

“I am an idiot
. I should never have said what I did.” Marcus
apologized, knowing that it was probably too little and too late. “I have no
excuse but that I am tired and nervous and I want the wedding to be here
already.”

She shrugged her shoulders
slightly
. He was desperate to get through
to her.

“You are so different from
me that it makes me crazy with envy sometimes
. I wish I could just go with the flow and enjoy life
like
you do. You are going to have to help me loosen up and
you have my permission to wallop me when I get on one of my rampages.”

“You’re jealous of me?”
Marcus caught his breath as she lifted her head
. Her breath against his neck was very distracting.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry I messed up your
kitchen. I’m just a big dummy. I forget that you want everything to stay neat
and orderly. I don’t know if I can do that. So it is okay if you want to change
your mind. I will understand.”

“If you don’t marry me I
think I will go insane.” Marcus stated his case succinctly. “Aurora, I need to
know that you forgive me,” Marcus whispered, his lips against her ear. “I am a
fool. I love you more than life itself.”

“I forgive you,” Rori sighed
and snuggled against him.

“We better go back in now,”
Marcus lifted her onto her feet
. “Carla
about beat me to death when you ran out the door. I think I’ll have bruises all
over my back. We need to let her know you’re okay before she finds a bigger
weapon.”

He needed to get some space
between them too as the resolve he had promised himself when she agreed to
marry him was rapidly slipping away
. He
was finding it more and more difficult to maintain his distance and
self-control. The physical attraction he felt for her was only deepening as he
learned about her inner beauty. Still, he was terrified of scaring her.

Carla was glad to see they
had worked through this crisis, but vowed to keep a close eye on Rori
. Having a fun night planned with Jessica would help,
she hoped. Tomorrow
would be filled
with the plans
both Mrs. Sinclair and Mrs. MacRae had mapped out. Marcus and Jake both had
duties at the college so they would be out of the way, not that they were sad
about missing the shopping trip.

Pastor
Sam and his wife met with the young couple on Saturday
evening over dinner. They shared some of the pitfalls that they had encountered
early in their marriage, counseling Marcus and Rori to spend as much time as
they could talking and communicating since they had the added burden of so
short a courtship. They needed to spend purposeful time talking to get to know
each other before they committed themselves forever.

It was a sobering meeting
and both Rori and Marcus were quiet on the way back to Jake’s house.

“I know that was kind of
scary, Aurora,” Marcus turned to her and took both her hands in his after he
parked behind Carla’s car. “But I promise we will do this right. We both know
that God brought us together, no matter how unusual our courtship was. We need
to keep trusting that there won’t be anything that we face that is not
conquerable.”

“I still have to remind
myself that this is real sometimes,” Rori tried to concentrate on her words but
was distracted watching Marcus as he toyed with her fingers.
She didn’t think he realized how just that little
motion affected her thinking.

“Oh, it’s real, Princess,”
he leaned his forehead against hers
. He
would have kissed her, but Jake’s porch light flashed on and off suddenly.

“Dad says we have to go in,”
Marcus grumbled
. “I don’t want to be on
restriction for our wedding week.”

Rori giggled but her heart
was still troubled
. Marcus seemed eager
to not be
alone with her. She faked sleep on the trip home
the next day. She did not want to answer any questions from the two insightful
ladies.

The next week was spent
packing up her belongings and considering the job
opportunities
she had been
offered. It was a little more difficult since she would be out of the country
for three weeks. Thankfully, there was a gallery assistant position in a
smaller gallery in town, just around the corner from the Downtown Gallery, and
it offered free studio space as a benefit. They were very interested in Rori
and were not concerned about the timing of her European trip.

Ten days before the
wedding, Rori and her mom were at the bridal shop to
pick up the dress. Her gown was a lace-covered vintage halter-top dress that
Rori had fallen in love with immediately. She and her mom had visited just
three shops and the gown needed very little alteration. It was last year’s
model and so was less than half what she had thought she would have to spend.

“Almost as if this was meant
to be,” her mom said mischievously
. Rori
was still having a hard time accepting that this good fortune was really hers.
“You need to relax and let God shower you with this happiness, sweetheart. He
is a loving God and you are His daughter. I think He knows that you need all
these things to fall into place like this otherwise you would continue to
doubt, am I right?” She knew her daughter well.

“Yes,” Rori admitted, then
got to the real heart of the matter, tears welling in her eyes, “And I miss
Marcus.”

A quick hug from her mom
after the seamstress finished her markings helped tremendously.

“You’ll see him in a little
over a week,” her mom reminded her, “and you two talk several times a day, from
what I’ve observed.”

“It’s not the same,” Rori
said, “but you’re right. It will be okay as soon as I’m back there.” Maybe
then
I can start believing this is all true again, she
thought.

-------------------------

Their phone calls usually
involved details for the wedding, reception, or honeymoon. What Rori didn’t
know was that Marcus often invented excuses for their daily calls just to hear
her voice. Definitely addicted, he told himself.

Their computer conversations
were more playful.

Marcus, did you know that
our adventure at
Jose’s restaurant was
actually our first and only date?

Yes, Aurora, I have
realized that. We will have to make up for our unconventional courtship by
having lots of post wedding date nights.

You know, there are lots
and
lots of
questions that are normally answered on dates that we haven’t covered yet.

Like?

Dogs or
cats?

Dogs.

Good.

Really?
Would the wedding be called off
if I had answered ‘Cats’?

Distinct
possibility.
I’m highly
allergic.

Good to
know
.
My
turn.
Country or Classic Rock?

Yes.

Yes?
Both?

What can I say? I have
eclectic tastes
. You’d also have to add
disco, pop, and classical. Leave opera and rap off the list, though.