His Sister's Wedding (23 page)

Since leaving the wedding shower long ago, she'd driven around for hours, crying until
she ran out of tears. She'd actually thought about finding a deep hole and burying
herself in it.

If she'd come home immediately after the party, he'd have called, and she didn't think
she could even bear to hear the ringing of the phone.

Still, when she'd shut the door behind her, Lillie found herself gravitating through
the dark house to the phone message machine. It stood on the table, the red light
flashing hell's invitation. Without even knowing why, she pushed the button.

A beep sounded in the emptiness and Luke's voice filled the room. "Lillie, please
call me. I don't know why you're upset, but we need to talk."

That was it. One terse, irritated statement.

Of course he didn't know why she was upset.

Lillie leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes against the rage that blossomed
in her like a mushroom cloud. It spilled into every corner of her mind, a purplish-maroon
haze that stained every thought.

Jerking her purse up from where she'd dropped it, Lillie stalked back through the
house to the front door.

He didn't know why she was upset, but he thought they needed to talk.

Slamming the front door behind her, Lillie plunged into the darkness. She'd hoped
to be able to be sane about this, but sanity no longer seemed a concern. All she knew
was a consuming need to release some of her rage before the impact of it made her
teeth shatter.

The drive through Kissimmee’s empty streets was a blur. Alone in her wrath, she shot
forward, aimed for the target.

She'd help him understand why she was upset, all right.

Lillie climbed the stairs to Luke's apartment, her steps echoing in the silence of
the slumbering complex. Her first knock on Luke's door might have sounded polite.
She followed it up with a thundering banging that bruised her hand and brought tears
to her eyes.

By the third time, she assaulted the door, she found herself crying deep, hiccupping
sobs.

The lock clicked abruptly and suddenly Luke stood in the doorway. Hair tousled, sleep-dark
eyes, wearing nothing but a pair of red boxer shorts.

"Lillie! What the heck--?"

"I won't marry you," she said, forcing the words past her tears.

"And you can go--" she hiccupped, swallowing the word, "--yourself!"

"Honey, are you all right?" he asked, reaching to draw her in, his voice full of concern.

"No," she said, pulling away from his grip. "I'm stupid and self-destructive. But
not enough to marry you."

Luke's face turned wary, his hand dropping to his side. "I don't understand."

"I know you don't," Lillie sobbed. "That's part of the problem. You don't understand
how I feel because you're determined to be emotionless."

"What is this all about?" Eyes narrowed, he looked both irritated and confused.

She shook her head. "Tonight I finally realized just how twisted you are."

"Tonight? At the shower?"

"I overheard your conversation with your aunt," Lillie told him. "I think you made
your position perfectly clear. After Angie left you, you decided you're never going
to be hurt again. Okay. I understand now."

He stood in the doorway, his mouth a straight, unsmiling line. "Lillie, come inside.
It's three o'clock in the morning. If we have to talk about my Aunt Mary's sappy remarks
and my stupid engagement ten years ago, the last thing we need is for the neighbors
to call the police."

"How very rational of you," she said angrily. "Always so logical, so in control. Don't
ever let anything as sticky as feelings sway you."

"I have feelings," he declared angrily. "I care a great deal for you."

Lillie felt a mocking smile curl her lips. "Only when your...body parts...get the
better of you."

"Oh, for God's sake," Luke said, shoving a hand through his rumpled hair. "Will you
at least come inside?"

"No. I only came over here to tell you I won't marry you. After Scott and Melanie
are married, we won't have anything to say to each other."

Brushing fresh tears out of her eyes, Lillie turned and ran down the steps.

*   *   *

Luke whacked off the last dead branch and threw it into the wheelbarrow. Glancing
around the gardens toward the smooth sloping lawn to the river, he tried to appreciate
the transformation.

With only two weeks until the wedding, he and the crew had pruned and fertilized until
Lillie's secret garden looked like something out of a landscape magazine.

Today the crew were planting the beds under the dubious supervision of Melanie and
Janet.

Luke knew it had made his sister happy when he suggested she ask their mother to come
along today. He'd mentioned the idea to Melanie in a rare moment of weakness a few
days before the wedding shower. Now that his mother was here, he found himself too
distracted by his own problems to do more than grunt out directions for her and Melanie.

Truthfully, Luke had found himself feeling like a jerk every time he rebuffed his
mother's overtures. He just couldn't rouse any of his old anger at her youthful transgressions.

Across the yard, mother and daughter knelt beside a flower bed, so similar in build
and coloring that anyone would have known their relationship. At any other time, Luke
supposed he would enjoy the unusual familial moment, but now he could hardly bring
himself to be decent to anyone, much less pleasant.

The stand-off with Lillie was making him nuts. Sleeping and eating required too great
an effort, and for the first time ever he could hardly concentrate on his work.

"Luke!" Melanie called. "Come see if these are close enough together."

Shoving his pruning clippers into his back pocket, Luke crossed the rose garden to
stand beside his sister. On the other side of Melanie, Janet sat back on her heels,
her face shaded by a straw hat.

"Don't you think these flowers look like they aren't speaking, this far apart?" Melanie
asked, peering up at him from under the brim of her baseball cap.

"No. They need space to grow."

"But Mom and I think you shouldn't be able to see the dirt so much." Melanie glanced
doubtfully at the flower bed.

"Look, they're fine. If you stand back, you get the color impact."

"I don't know," Melanie mused. She glanced at her mother. "We think they'd look better
if they were a little closer...."

Luke closed his eyes and groped for his nonexistent patience. "This is why I don't
let customers hang around when I'm working."

"I want everything to look perfect," Melanie protested, getting to her feet in a huff.
"After all, I don't plan to have another wedding."

"Hopefully not," Luke said shortly. "And the bedding plants are still close enough."

"Maybe Luke's right," Janet intervened, obviously trying to avoid a conflict.

"Geez," Melanie planted her hands on her hips and glared at Luke. "What's the matter
with you?"

"Nothing," he growled.

Melanie frowned. "Did you have an argument with Lillie?"

"Of course not," Luke snapped. "And I'll thank you to stay out of my personal life."

"Why don't you admit that you're in love with her?" Melanie asked in exasperation.

"Look, just because you've decided to base your life on sentiment, doesn't mean I
need to," Luke declared angrily.

"Maybe if you'd admit you're in love and worked things out with Lillie, you wouldn't
be turning into such a grouch," his sister said.

"Don't be ridiculous. There's nothing wrong with me, and my sex life is no concern
of yours." The words came out with more emphasis than he'd intended.

"Okay, okay." Melanie lifted her hands in an exaggerated gesture.

Janet glanced between them, her face worried.

"Can we just get this done?" he asked no one in particular before turning to pick
up a spade.

"Of course, dear brother," Melanie said with mocking deference. "You leader, we slaves."
She dusted off her hands. "I'm going to go make sure they put the garden globe in
the right place."

"Fine." Luke pulled his clippers out of his back pocket and started to trim a shrub,
stopping to call her back. "Mel."

His sister turned around in exasperation. "What now?"

"I just wanted to tell you that you and Scott have my blessing, for what it's worth."
Somewhere along the way he'd lost his conviction that this marriage was bad for her.
If she wanted to handle her life this way, he wouldn't stand in her way.

Melanie looked at him for a long moment before casting herself in his arms. "Thanks,
Luke. Your blessing is worth a lot."

"Well, whatever," he said, gruffly returning her hug before pulling his clippers out
again. "But we have to get this place in shape."

"We'll do it," Mel promised before heading off to direct the placement of the garden
globe.

Luke worked for a moment in silence, aware of his mother's hesitant, darting glances.

In the days since Lillie's wrathful midnight visit, Luke had found himself wondering
if he'd totally misread the things that happened between his parents. Had his father
wrestled with this...emotional paralysis? Had he faced the woman he cared about and
been unable to tell her what was happening inside him?

Luke had always seen his father as the calm, steadfast one after his mother's highly
emotional departure. But looking back now, he wondered if his father's stoicism hadn't
masked an abandonment of a deeper nature.

Still kneeling beside the flower bed, Janet cleared her throat nervously. "May I say
something, Luke?"

"What?" Bothered by her nervousness, he tried to soften the gruff tones in his voice.

"It's not my business," his mother said, her eyes worried, but...."

"Go on." Luke worked at sounding encouraging.

Janet plucked at a blade of grass and seemed to choose her words carefully. "I know
you lost respect for me when I left the family...."

Luke sighed roughly. "It was a long time ago," he interrupted. "We all make mistakes."

"But you were right," she said with more composure. "I ran away from my troubles."

He waited, knowing she was weighing her words.

"It was easier to imagine myself in love with Bob than to deal with your father."

Janet met his gaze, her eyes searching his face. "I'm sure it doesn't seem like it
to you," she said, "and I know I don't have any right to comment on your life...but
I wonder if you aren't doing the same thing."

"What do you mean? Running away from what?"

Janet paused. "Lillie."

Staring down into his mother's face, Luke waited for a surge of anger that didn't
come.

"You seem to care for her," his mother went on gently, "And I've seen the way she
looks at you. I'm not sure that wisdom comes with age, but the years do tend to put
things in a different perspective. It seems to be that the hardest thing to do is
take a risk on getting hurt. Loving and losing. Particularly when you've been hurt
before."

Just for a moment, a flash, he remembered being small enough to run to his mother
for comfort. If only life were that simple now.

"Are you sure you're not running away from loving her?" she asked.

He'd never thought of his determination not to fall in love as involving any lack
of courage. But his mother's question struck a chord deep within him.

"No," he answered with a different kind of roughness in his voice. "I'm not sure at
all."

CHAPTER TWELVE

Lillie turned the ignition key, groaning as the engine cranked over uselessly. Resting
her head on the steering wheel, she fought against a wave of despair. What else could
go wrong this week?

When Tricia Graham's bridal gown wasn't delivered, Lillie had scrambled to find a
sumptuous enough replacement. When the florist had gone out of business three days
ago, she had hustled to call in some favors. But now, at three o'clock on a Friday
afternoon, just hours before the select society wedding of a Kissimmee blue blood,
her van had given up the ghost.

Just how long did it take for an expensive three-tiered ice cream cake to melt in
eighty degree weather?

Straightening to turn the key again, she blinked back tears.

She might as well give up and file bankruptcy. If she delivered a melted ice cream
puddle to the Graham wedding, her business would be as devastated as her private life.

Normally, she handled these bridal crises with a certain enthusiasm. They added challenge
and excitement to life. But now in the emotional wake of Hurricane Luke, she felt
as empty and useless as a discarded tin can.

Maud would kill her if she let her masterpiece dissolve in the heat of the stranded
van. This wedding had the potential of being a big boost to the baker's business.
It seemed ironic that after that ridiculous food fight with Luke, Lillie had been
more than eager to help Maud out by delivering the cake herself.