Elementary, My Dear Watkins (50 page)

“Maybe not,” Jo replied. “If I know you, Daddy, you’ll find a way to make it work. Besides, cost effective or not, this is the
right
thing to do. People with ADD and ADHD need that cure.”

Jo knew that she held in her hand proof that her father had chosen her over the company and his money. Considering that the Fibrin-X could help millions of people for many years to come, she thought it was a fair price to pay.

It was also a strange way for a parent to show love to a child, but then her parents had always been strange. She nodded finally, tucking the paper into her bouquet and thanking them both for what they had done.

“So may we walk you down the aisle?” Kent asked.

Jo looked at her father, thinking of all the hurt and pain his greed had caused her. She said no thanks, that she already had someone to do that, but she would like it if they’d take a seat in the front row, in the place of honor reserved for the bride’s parents. As they went, obviously humbled, Jo was glad that eventually they would be able to put this entire episode behind them and move forward.

Full forgiveness might take a while, but at least this was a start.

“Are you ready?” the pastor asked Danny and his groomsmen.

“More than you can imagine.”

The pastor led the way out of the antechamber and into the church. Danny took his place up front, astounded at the number of people who had shown up considering the amount of notice they’d given. It looked like half of the congregation was there, along with Danny’s entire extended family, and even a handful of Jo’s relatives as well—including her Uncle Neil and cousin Ian. (Winnie was now out on bail, but apparently she had chosen not to come. Danny didn’t blame her.) The biggest surprise was to see Helen and Kent Tulip sitting in the front row. Danny was glad. That must mean that somehow Jo’s parents had made an effort to heal the rift been them and their daughter.

Anna and then Marie started down the aisle, and Danny could see Jo moving into position in the doorway, her hand linked in Chief Cooper’s arm.

Danny focused on his bride, his heart swelling with a greater depth of love than he had ever known. Then the music shifted, the Wedding March began, and the congregation stood and turned.

Thank You, God, for this wonderful woman
, Danny prayed as Jo started up the aisle.
Make me a husband worthy of her
.

Jo walked down the aisle, her eyes locked on Danny, her heart so full she thought it might burst. What a different experience this was, to be walking toward the man she knew God wanted her to be with forever.

Thank You, Lord, for Danny. Help me to be the wife he deserves
.

As she got closer, Jo took a moment to look around at all of the people who had come here to share in this last-minute affair. Jo knew that she and Danny were blessed to have so many people who loved them and wished them well. Her only regrets were that her grandmother was still in the hospital and that Alexa wasn’t there. But Danny’s sister Denise was videotaping everything, so later, at the reception, Jo and Danny planned to record special hellos to them both and send them copies of the tape.

For now, Jo wanted to focus on her surroundings and enjoy the moment. The church looked amazing. Anna and Marie had decorated the sanctuary with hundreds of white flowers and candles, and now that the sun had set, the room glowed with warmth.

Jo and the Chief reached the altar and stopped there as the pastor welcomed the guests and opened the ceremony with prayer. After that, Jo was given away and then found herself standing face-to-face with her beloved, holding his hands in hers.

She thought about how silly she had been to let her dislike of travel be the thing that might keep them separated for the next seven weeks—or cause Danny to give up his internship completely. Late last night, after the police were gone and she and Danny had been talking about what might happen next, Jo had realized that maybe her desire to hole up at home where it was warm and cozy and safe was more about leftover baggage from her childhood than any personal preference she might have. She decided that maybe she needed to see the world again, this time not by being dragged by her parents against her will, but hand in hand with the man she loved. When she suggested that they get married right away and get themselves back to Paris by Wednesday, so he wouldn’t lose the internship after all, the look on Danny’s face told her all she needed to know. After that, he had surprised her by pulling a small velvet box from his pocket, opening it up, and sliding the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen onto her finger.

Now, here she was, at the altar. Looking into Danny’s eyes, she savored his very strong and absolute “I do.” When she said her “I do” too, there was a ripple of relief through the congregation, followed by laughter. Jo and Danny laughed too, as did the pastor. This time, the wedding was actually going to go through.

The pastor did a beautiful job, talking about the gifts of friendship and faith and their place as the foundation of a solid marriage. At the end of the ceremony, after lighting a candle together and making their vows and exchanging wedding rings, the pastor spoke the final words they had all been waiting to hear.

“And now, Danny Watkins and Josephine Tulip, by the grace of God and the authority vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Danny took his time about it. As the congregation was hushed behind them, Danny tenderly placed a hand on each side of Jo’s face and looked into her eyes. He leaned forward and brought his mouth toward hers. Their lips met, their kiss containing every treasure of their past, every promise of their future.

When they finally pulled apart, the congregation and the attendants all burst into applause.

“How did I manage to end up with the blessing of you as my wife?” Danny asked Jo over the din, wrapping her into a tight embrace.

“Elementary, my dear Watkins,” she told him in return, her eyes glowing with happy tears. “Because from the very moment that we met, it was God’s plan. He knew all along, even if we didn’t.”

Sharing a smile, Jo and Danny joined hands, the sound of trumpets pealed from the organ, and they started down the aisle together. As they went, Jo sent up one final prayer of thanks.

Then she looked over at the man by her side, knowing that he wasn’t just her husband now, or the future father of their children, or the man of her biggest dreams.

He was, and always had been, her very best friend.

Four Months Later

Jo stood far back from the yellow line as the train pulled into the station. Once the train came to a complete stop, Danny squeezed her hand, flashed her a smile, and then they both stepped forward and climbed on board.

After doing so much travel throughout Europe, they had gotten the whole train thing down to a science. This was the last leg of their European tour before they would return to Mulberry Glenn and normal life. While Jo was eager to get back home, she would also miss the excitement of life on the road. She couldn’t believe she had ever hated travel, because the past few months had been a dream come true.

They found their compartment, settled in, and then pulled out the map to see the route the train would be taking. They’d be rattling through some gorgeous countryside today, as their final stop was Salzburg, Austria. There, they would be meeting up with Kalunga Bashiri, who was in town for a photo shoot about Mozart’s birthplace. Danny and Mr. Bashiri had had a lot of conversations in the last few weeks and had come up with an exciting new arrangement. Rather than allow various magazines to send liaisons of their own choosing on assignments, Mr. Bashiri had simply hired Danny to fill the permanent position as his Travel Liaison/Photography Assistant. With the older man’s health as it was, he would only be taking on two or three one-week assignments per year, which sounded just about perfect to Jo and Danny. That way, Danny could have the best of both worlds without having to sacrifice much time away from his family. Sometimes Jo would even be coming along too, just for fun.

She looked over at Danny, who was still studying the map, and she couldn’t help but smile to herself. She had two secrets to tell him, one of which she had learned from Mr. Bashiri over the phone last night. It seemed that the decisions had been made by
Scene It
magazine for the photo spread of the refugees. One of Danny’s pictures, snapped from atop a ladder in the GMM warehouse, was going to be included in the piece. Danny would get his first photo credit in a major magazine. Seeing as how the magazine would be coming out around the same time as the movie poster, Jo knew that his career was finally coming together just as he’d always dreamed.

As for her career, surprisingly, she had managed to tap into a whole new market for household hints. With her agent’s help back home, Jo had created a new “sister” column called “Travel with Tulip.” From tips on packing a suitcase to doing laundry on the road to choosing accommodations wisely, the column was rapidly gaining in popularity and had just been sold as a package deal on alternating days with Tips from Tulip for syndication. Finally, Jo had taken the legacy of her grandmother and built it back up to the market share it deserved.

Not only were things going well in both of their careers, but Jo and Danny had already begun to get involved with the Bosworth Charitable Trust on the side. They had managed to secure one large grant already, to apply toward the study of pharmaceutical solutions for certain orphan diseases. Danny had found a top-notch medical team working to find a cure for Buruli ulcers, and he had convinced Jo that the best way they could help was by providing research dollars. All in all, Jo thought she was really going to enjoy being a philanthropist.

“What are you smiling about?” Danny asked, glancing up to catch her looking at him.

“I have two secrets for you,” she replied, and then she went on to tell him about the photograph in
Scene It
. He was ecstatic, pulling her in for a lengthy kiss and promising her they would celebrate tonight in the fanciest restaurant in Salzburg.

“What’s the other secret?” he asked, entwining his fingers with hers, his blue eyes sparkling.

She looked at him for a long moment, thinking how very right they had both been when they thought that friendship would make a good foundation for a marriage. Truly, having Danny as a husband had exceeded her every expectation. He was fun and funny and smart and passionate and loving and tender and in every way so much more than she’d ever dreamed. She spent a lot of time these days feeling grateful to God for His wisdom and blessings.

“Well?” Danny prodded. “Was it something from your conversation last night with Alexa?”

The girl was doing very well, living with the Stebbins and going to the newly renamed Bosworth School for the Gifted. Alexa had said that she might not know as much as her peers, but she was catching up by leaps and bounds. Her favorite class was science, and she’d been thinking about becoming a doctor when she grew up. She wanted to impact lives much as her foster father had.

According to Eleanor, who had fully recovered from her thyroid scare, the announcement at the symposium about Fibrin-X had gone over better than anyone had expected, and the drug was already in what they called “Phase 3B” trials. The financial impact on the pharmaceutical company had yet to be seen, but if Jo knew her father, she knew he’d find a way to make it work out. According to all reports, Ian had received the Fibrin-X himself and was doing wonderfully. He was working with a behavioral therapist to change a lifetime of compensating habits now that his ADHD had been cured.

“Well?” Danny prodded.

“Nope. It has nothing to do with Alexa.”

“Is it about Chewie?”

Oh, how she missed Chewie! He was living with Harv and doing fine, but Jo would be so glad when they were finally reunited. The whole arrangement had worked out perfectly, because at the end of the year Harv would be moving into a retirement village that didn’t allow pets, and he said that this gave him one last chance to have a dog before then.

“Okay, then what’s your secret about?” Danny asked. “From the look on your face, it’s a big one.”