Chef Charming (15 page)

Oh, well
. Guess I’ll have to return those Italian opera box
seat tickets.

What
?!

Joking.
Your turn.

Football
or baseball?

Soccer – or ‘real’
football as it
should properly be called
.
And you?

Football
–
Professional, not college.

Really?

Yes – the whole family
are avid fans, Mom especially.
Trying
hard to picture the demur Mrs. Sinclair rooting loudly for a professional
football team, Marcus laughed. He continued the interrogation.

Your
turn.

Children?

He was tempted to respond,
Yes, but I want you all to myself for at least a year’
he thought he’d better not and typed instead,
Yes. How many?

3
, 4, 5...?
Rori replied.

Yes
!
Marcus
knew she would sense his obvious enthusiasm.
Names?

Yes, I think we should nam
e them. Numbers would be silly.

You are tired, Aurora. Go
to sleep. I love you.
Ten days.

I l
ove you, too, Marcus.
Rori smiled as she added,
Nine days, actually, look at the clock
.

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

She returned to town on
Sunday, a week before the wedding. Her car
was packed
to the roof. Since Marcus had previously hijacked most of her belongings, there
was no need for her dad to rent another moving trailer. The rest of her things
would fit in the family van that they would bring over on Thursday.

Marcus tried to insist that
she stay at the apartment while he bunked with Jake and Carla.

“I would never do that to
poor little Zoe,” Rori teased him. Despite her continuing doubts, she loved
this man so deeply that she had vowed to work on her optimism. She promised
herself to choose cheerfulness over questions and humor over seriousness.

“Funny,” Marcus retorted.

“I’m staying with Jess until
Friday night,” she explained. Her parents and sister would be coming into town on
Thursday and had rented a suite of rooms at the fancy hotel in town, which was
thankfully close to the church. The Saturday evening wedding that had seemed
light years away was now almost here.

“We’re all set, aren’t we?
” Marcus interpreted her concerned look as worry over
the wedding details.

“Like they say,” she smiled
at him, “I have the
groom
and the dress, everything else is gravy.”

He laughed and playfully
pulled her into a quick hug.

“You are delightful and
adorable.” He kissed her nose. He remembered his news and pulled back to watch
her reaction. “All the culinary and art professors have compiled an itinerary
for us. Some have even contacted friends along our route and we have
reservations at some of the best and some of the little known hidden culinary
treasures throughout Europe. You also have a private guided tour scheduled at
three very prestigious museums.”

He watched as her eyes
filled with tears
. His dismay was evident.

“Why are you crying?
That was supposed to be good news!”

“It is,” she sniffed, “these
are happy tears.” He pulled her close and held her while she regained a little
composure
. He knew that she was
emotionally exhausted and was hoping this week did not stress her out any more
than was necessary.

After their final meeting
with Pastor
Sam, mainly to go over the
ceremony and vows, Rori actually saw very little of Marcus that week. Her
favorite times were the evenings he spent grading papers and writing out lesson
plans for the fall. Being gone for three weeks before you start a new teaching
position wasn’t ideal, but he was prepared. She sat on the floor in front of
his couch working on wedding favors. Just being able to lean against his legs
or rest her head
on
his knee when he took a break was
heavenly. She relished this time because she had realized to her dismay that
his displays of affection were now becoming more and more infrequent. She
struggled anew with doubts about his feelings.

As the wedding day approached,
Marcus tried to insist again that she move into the condominium and let him
rent a hotel room.

“Or I can just
sleep on the couch at Jake’s house,” he said.

“Nope,” she had teased, “I
have no guarantee that you wouldn’t sneak in and look at the wedding gown.”
Nagging doubts still plagued her, too, and she felt
like moving into his territory was too bold a move.
What if
he wanted to change his mind?
He would never feel the freedom to do so
if she was already entrenched at his house.

Both Carla and Jake grew
concerned about Rori as the week went on
.
They had watched her grow quieter and quieter, especially around Marcus. Her
eyes followed him when he wasn’t looking, but had a haunted, questioning look.
Marcus, on the other hand, could hide his feelings for Rori about as well as a
two-year-old trying to keep a secret. His eyes, too, followed his fiancée when
she wasn’t looking. Only Jake knew how difficult this week had been.

“I’m afraid to even hold her
hand,” he
was painfully honest. “I don’t
trust myself to not sling her over my shoulder and lock her in the bedroom,
marriage certificate or not.”

Keeping very little from his
wife, Jake shared Marcus’s sentiments the night before the rehearsal.

“That’s it!” Carla
exclaimed. “I know what’s wrong with Rori!”

“I’m los
t.” Jake tried to follow her logic as she explained.

“I think she is interpreting
his lack of...how can I put this delicately...physical affection, with
disinterest.”
Jake had just taken a drink
of soda and almost choked.

“Disinterest
?!
I don’t think the guy has
used any hot water in his showers in three weeks.” Carla playfully knocked her
husband on the head with a pillow.

“Behave!” Carla laughed,
and then gave her husband strict instructions. “You’ve
got to talk to him before the cook out.”

The rehearsal was hectic as
most usually were
. Carla was astutely
aware of Rori’s withdrawal. Others most likely were attributing her quietness
to exhaustion.

“What’s wrong, Rori?” Carla
pulled her aside before they headed b
ack
to Marcus’s for a cookout.

They had picked good
old-fashioned American fare since the newlyweds
would be immersed
in European cuisine for the
next three weeks. As a wedding gift, the culinary staff, along with some of
their former professors at the culinary institute, had contacted chefs and
restaurateurs all along the couple’s itinerary. They had reservations, and
usually pre-paid meals, at some of Europe’s’ finest establishments awaiting
their arrival.

“Nothing, just tired,” Rori
said. Tears were forming and she wanted to get away from this very perceptive
young wife
.

“Liar, liar, pants on fire,”
Carla mimicked her daughter’s
singsong
voice.

“Is it that obvious?” Rori
brushed away tears
. As Carla nodded, she
continued. “I’m afraid. I think Marcus has changed his mind and now that all
these plans are made, he’s afraid to tell me.”

Carla struggled not to smile
. She was pleased with herself that she had
‘accurately diagnosed the patient’ as Jake would tease her later.

“What makes you think that?”
Carla pushed Rori to talk about her concerns
.
The two walked slightly behind the rest of the crowd making its way up the
parking lot.

“He seems to be annoyed
whenever I get too close to him,” Rori’s voice was distressed as she played the
last few days over in her mind. “When I got back on Sunday, I practically threw
myself at him
. He twirled me around once,
and then suddenly put me down. It was as if he didn’t even like me anymore.”

“So, no holding hands,
no goodnight kisses?” Carla needed to know the depths
of Marcus’s depravity. She was going to shake him until his teeth rattled. What
was he thinking?

“He does hold my hand,
sometimes,” Rori admitted, “and kisses me good night, but they’re not like….”
She hesitated.

“Not like a man desperately
in love that can’t wait for his honeymoon?” Carla finished the sentence for her.

“Exactly,” a blushing Rori
nodded, head bowed.

“I think you need to talk to
him,” Carla said as she drove to the condominium. Jake had taken Zoe with him,
as they had pre-arranged. He hoped to find a time to set Marcus straight at the
cookout.

“I’m afraid he’s going to
say I’m right,” Rori
said. “But I guess
that’s better than forcing him to marry someone he doesn’t want anymore.”

Rori put on a cheerful front
for the group at the rehearsal cookout
.
Gwen was her maid of honor. Carla and Jess were bridesmaids, and Zoe was the
flower girl. Part of her evening
was spent
sorting out
Marcus’s brothers James and Collin, along with Saundra, Collin’s wife and their
five-year-old son, Isaac. Both sets of parents had become good friends, her dad
and Marcus’s sharing the same dry sense of humor. The laughter from their
corner of the patio
was interrupted
several times with
one or the other wife’s admonition, “Oh grow up, you two!”

Marcus had given Rori a
quick kiss as she came into the kitchen when she and Carla arrived
. He had even gently pushed her onto a stool and
brushed her hair from her eyes.

“I know you’re tired
. We can wrap the burgers up and make everyone go home
early if you like,” he offered.

“You’re sweet, but I’m
okay,” Rori smiled, trying to take encouragement from his tenderness. She
leaned toward him, relishing his nearness and attentiveness, but Zoe and Isaac
chose that moment to race i
nto the room.

“Aunt
Wa-ree
!” Zoe tugged on her
Rori’s ankle length pink sundress, “I-sick says he’s the ring bear. What’s a
Ring Bear?”

Marcus and Rori both laugh
ed, each grabbing a child and swinging them back into
the living room. The moment of tenderness was gone.

Rori was so touched from the
heart-felt toasts before the meal that she had a hard time keeping the tears
from showing
. She obediently filled a
plate and told Marcus she was going to go out onto the deck, thinking he would
join her. Unfortunately, James waylaid him to tend to a minor food mishap.
Carla watched the forlorn bride put her plate on a side table and lean on the
rail of the deck.

“Do something,
now!” Carla whispered frantically to Jake. “Rori is
out on the deck, and I’m sure she is crying.”

Jake scrambled and grabbed
his friend mid-sentence from the kitchen, “Sorry, best man duties,” he
explained to Rori’s mom who was helping Marcus fill more drink glasses
. Jake pushed Marcus into the master bedroom and
quickly closed the door.

“You, my friend, are a
thick-headed clod,” Jake folded his arms and dove right into his tirade
. “Your wife-to-be is at this moment on the deck, all
alone, probably crying, and you want to know why?”

Marcus made for the door,
ready to rescue Rori
. Jake blocked his
way.

“Don’t you want to know
why?” Jake continued, ignoring the anger he saw rising
in his friend’s green eyes.

“Why?”

“Because she thinks you
don’t want her.” Jake laid it out as bluntly as he
could,
knowing time was an issue here.

“Don’t want her? What do you
mean?”

“Do you need me to draw you
a picture?” Jake was hoping it wouldn’t be necessary to go into a lot of
detail. He knew Marcus was trying desperately to maintain self-control around
Rori, and now he
was being asked
to let go of that
control.

“She thinks you don’t find
her attractive anymore and that you’re just going through with the wedding
because you’re too afraid of hurting her feelings if you called it off.” Jake
knew he might be embellishin
g a little,
but Marcus needed an urgent wake-up call.

Marcus paled and stared at
Jake
as if he had grown an extra head.

“Don’t find her attractive
? Does she have any idea of the agony I’ve gone
through the last six weeks and especially the last week? If I live until our
wedding night it will be a miracle!” Thankful he could be as blunt and honest
as ever with Jake, Marcus shook his head and pushed past him.

“I’ll give you
five minutes, and then I’m coming to rescue her,” Jake
called after him. “Or rescue you,” he laughed.

Marcus saw Rori
standing alone on the deck. She was resting her chin
in her hands as she looked out over the lake that was behind the complex. He
realized she had not heard him approach so he quietly stole behind her and put
his arms around her, resting his hands on the railing. He effectively had her
pinned. She jumped slightly.

“Marcus, you scared me!”
She tried to straighten up and turn around, but he
seemed to be preventing her from moving.

“Hello, Princess.” H
is voice was low and held a mysterious quality that
caused her heart to skip. She could feel his breath on her neck. Her hair
was loosely caught up
in a clip, just like the first night
of class. He desperately wanted to reach up and unclip it but knew his
self-control would not be strong enough.

“It has been brought to my
attention that you may have misinterpreted my recent actions,” he moved his hand
s ever so slightly closer together. She desperately
wanted to lean back into the warmth that she felt radiating from him, but she
was still unsure.

“Or should I say, my recent
inactions
,”
he continued. He heard her breath catch. She definitely tried to turn around
now. “No, stay put, I won’t be able to do this if you’re looking at me.”

Her shoulders slumped. He
realized too late that she misread his meaning
. Trying to clear up his statement, he explained.

“I mean you drive me to
distraction when you look at me and I need to make
myself very clear right now.” She seemed to recover, slightly.

“I don’t understand,” she
said softly.

“You know that I’ve tried as
much as I can for the last week to keep my hands to myself, true?” Marcus
fought to make sense and not scare her. “I had no idea you would take my
struggle for self-control as me not wanting to marry you.” He could see the
tears falling silently.

“That could not be further
from the truth,” Marcus decided it was all or nothing. “I love you, Aurora Gra
ce. I love your kindness, your humor, your giggle,
your playfulness, your silliness, and many, many more things. But more than all
those together, I love your depth of knowledge of spiritual things, your desire
to follow God’s will, your love for his people and your love for people who are
hurting. I love that you can see the beauty of God in every piece of nature.
And I am amazed and awed that you love me.”

He took a deep breath. “I
t is only by the grace of our Heavenly Father that I
have had the discipline to not break the promises I made to Him to stay pure
before marriage. You have filled my mind for the last six weeks and now that
our wedding night is so close, I am clearly on the brink of insanity.”

Her sobs were audible now
. He could no longer resist and he turned her into his
arms.

“Why are you crying?”

“I don’t know,” Rori clung
to him. “I was so scared you didn’t want me anymore and were just going to
marry me and suffer for the rest of our lives.
And I couldn’t
stop thinking about you and thinking how terrible it would be to have to go on
without you or worse being married and not ever being able to tell you how you
make my knees weak when you look at me and how I just want to run my fingers
through your hair and how I think I could kiss you for hours, and...”

“Stop!”
Marcus pled for mercy. His resolve was in grave
danger. Where was Jake
?!

Marcus pulled her close and
held
her face in both hands. He kissed
her gently on the forehead, then each tear-dampened eyelid, her nose, each ear
lobe, and finally leaned back. She was clinging to the lapels of his
lightweight blazer with both hands, clearly unable to stand on her own.

“I’m going to kiss you now,
one last time before we are married, okay?” Marcus draped her hands around his
neck and his knees nearly buckled as she lightly ran her fingers along his
jaw line and inside the collar of his shirt. “Rori,
you’re playing with fire now. This is serious.”

“Just making sure this was
for real,” she sighed and leaned her head on his chest. “I thought you said you
were going to kiss me.”