Marry Me (20 page)
Authors: Kristin Wallace
“You mean that worked?”
“Why are you so surprised?” Noelle asked, with a burst of genuine laughter.
Because I'm not sure I believe a word I just said.
“Don't ask.”
Noelle sighed and stood up. “I suppose I have to face everyone sometime.”
“We can probably get you out of here without having to see anyone. Take you out the back.”
“Call me a coward, but that sounds like a good idea,” Noelle said without hesitation.
“I'll go out and speak to Seth and Betsy. We'll clear everybody out of the area.”
Noelle leaned over to pick up the canvas bag. “Oh, my dress!”
“I'll have it packed up and sent back to your house later.”
“Thanks.”
“You're welcome.”
Noelle touched Julia's arm. “No, I mean it⦠thank you.”
“You'll be fine, Noelle,” Julia said, leaning in to give the other woman a hug.
“I hope so,” Noelle whispered.
A few minutes later, Noelle and her mother were on their way home, and the bridal party had dispersed. Julia went about the business of canceling a wedding. It was hours before everything was settled. By then, she was about ready to collapse. Everything ached. Including her heart.
The sun was starting to set as Julia walked outside and sank onto the front steps. She stared at the glowing orange orb as streaks of pink, purple, and blue darted across the sky. As the sun dipped below the horizon, the colors started to fade. Julia wanted to burst into tears. The disappearing sun seemed to be a metaphor for her heart. Right when she was starting to believe that perhaps love wasn't just a word used in songs, the bright colors faded, and she was left with darkness.
****
Seth opened the door and stepped out into cool air. God willing, he'd never have to go through something like that again. The faces of Doug's parents would stay in his nightmares for a long time. He gazed at the setting sun. Usually, he loved dusk. Loved the colors and the promise of a new day coming. Tonight there was no comfort.
Movement caught his eye, and he turned to see Julia sitting on the top step. Talk about having a bad day. Throughout the afternoon he'd glimpsed Julia off and on. Each time her face had been pinched and her cheeks hollow with tension.
Since misery loved company, he walked over and sat down next to her. “Well, that was awful. I've been on the phone, talking to relatives. Doug's parents are grief-stricken. They can't believe their son did this.”
“I guess you don't get many brides left at the altar here.”
“Not that I can recall.” He reached for her hand and squeezed, his thumb drawing a soothing pattern along her palm. “How are you holding up?”
She glanced down at their intertwined fingers, then back up at him. In that brief instant her eyes shuttered. Retreat⦠they screamed. Julia swallowed, as if preparing to speak, and Seth fought the urge to clamp a hand over her mouth. Whatever she planned to say, he wasn't going to like it.
“This isn't going to be easy to do with you being so sweet,” she said, pulling her hand back.
A vise clamped his heart. “Do what?”
“Doug hurt Noelle because he couldn't face the truth. I don't want to be like him.”
“Julia, don'tâ”
Two fingers pressed against his mouth. “I couldn't live with myself if I hurt you,” she said, utter devastation reflected in her blue eyes.
With an impatient flick, he grasped her hand. “What if you didn't hurt me?”
“I'm not sure I could help it.”
“When are you going to learn to have faith in yourself?”
Julia laughed, but the sound held no amusement. “Isn't that the issue? My lack of faith? In love, in God, in practically everything you believe? I wantâ” She took a deep breath, as if trying to hold her emotions in check. “I want you to be happy. You deserve that after everything you've been through. You deserve to have someone who shares your faith and who believes in happily ever after.”
“I know you're upset about what happened today.”
“No. Well, of course it upset me. I've never had to break someone's heart before, but mainly it reminded me of things I'd let myself forget. It reminded me why it would be such a bad idea to let this thing between us go any further.”
“What if I don't agree?”
“I think you should go out with Amy,” Julia said in a rush, as if he hadn't even spoken.
Since Seth had been working up to an argument, it took a second for his brain to catch up. Confusion crowded out his growing panic. “What?”
“You should date Amy.”
Shock robbed him of any intelligent thought. “Amy?”
“Amy Vining. You know, the tiny blonde with the habit of dressing like she's going to a sock hop?”
Anger ripped through him as he realized Julia was foisting him off on someone else. “Of
course
I know who Amy is.”
“Well, do you know she loves you? That she's wanted to be Mrs. Seth Graham practically since she was born?”
Amy wanted to marry him? “No.”
“How could you not know?” she asked in astonishment. “If the girl had a glowing, neon sign that said “I love Seth” blinking on her forehead, she couldn't be more obvious.”
“I guess I missed it.”
“Clueless, is what you are,” she muttered.
Seth bounced up from the step. “Why does it matter?”
“Because I think she'd make a perfect wife for you.”
Oh, this got better and better. “You want me to marry her, not just date her?”
“She's beautiful, smart, a great homemaker. Everyone in town loves her. She also shares your faith. That's important. And did I mention she loves you? I mean totally adores and worships you?”
“I think you mentioned that, yes. So, you're saying you want me to date someone else? Marry someone else?”
“I think it's for the best.”
Something in the defeated slump of her shoulders told him she was hurting. In her own strange way she was trying to protect him. He tamped down the urge to shake her and instead hunkered down again so he could look her in the eye. “Are you saying this because you're scared?”
“No, I'm saying it because I think it's the right thing to do. Don't you?”
Did he? Hadn't he been telling himself it was foolish to think he and Julia could ever have a relationship? “I don't know. I've never looked at Amy that way.”
“Try. Maybe it's time for you to make a fresh start, and I think we both know that isn't with me.”
“Are you sure we know that?”
“We should.”
If this was so right, why did he want to scream? He bowed his head and rested his cheek on her upraised knees.
Finally, he rocked back on his heels. “You must be exhausted.”
A tiny lift of her shoulders was her only answer. He stood up and held out a hand. After a moment's hesitation, she took it. He helped her to her feet. She wouldn't look at him, but stared somewhere over his right shoulder. “I'll see you around, I guess.”
A fist lodged in his windpipe. “Right.”
“Bye.” She turned and walked off toward the parking lot without looking back. Without suddenly changing her mind.
“Bye,” he echoed back.
There's something about hearing about another person's tragedy that makes your own problems seem like mere speed bumps, Julia thought. As she stared at the patch of grass where a man had almost lost his life, Julia told herself she shouldn't feel like every organ in her body had been taken out and pounded into the dust with a sledgehammer. She should be grateful she was whole and healthy.
“So, this is where you want your ceremony?” Julia asked.
Annie Truman turned from her contemplation of the road and smiled. “You still think we're crazy.”
“I won't pretend to understand why you'd want to get married where you had your car accident, but if it's what you wantâ”
“It is.”
A shudder worked its way down her spine as Julia surveyed the road again. “It looks so peaceful. I almost can't believe anything happened here.”
“Sometimes it feels like it happened to someone else,” Annie said. “Of course, in a way it did. Todd and I aren't the same people who drove around this curve that night.”
“How did it happen?”
“We'd gone to my sister's birthday party. It had been raining most of the day. It started pouring as we left. My sister asked us to wait it out, but Todd had to be at work early the next morning, and I was tired. So, we started home.” Annie pointed straight ahead. “We were coming around the curve here. We'd gone down this stretch of road a million times. Only this time we hit a patch of oil and water.”
“That's all it took. A drop of oil.” One drop and fates changed.
“Amazing, isn't it?” Annie said, as if reading Julia's mind. “I don't recall much, except looking at Todd and laughing about something that had happened at the party. Then a jolt. The next thing I knew I was coming to in the car, upside down.”
“The car flipped over?”
“The police said it looked like we went into a skid, and when the car hit the grass, it flipped. We ended up right where I'm standing.” She wrapped her arms around herself, as if to ward off a chill. “I don't remember much else, until I woke up. I do remember looking at Todd. There was so much blood gushing from his head. It was like one of those horror movies.”
Julia stared at the grass under her feet, trying to picture the twisted steel. “What about you?”
“I was fine. Barely a scratch on me. I managed to get unhooked from the seatbelt and out of the car. I was trying to get to Todd, when I heard sirens. The person in the car behind us had a cell phone, and he called 911.”
“It was lucky help got to you so quickly.”
“It was a miracle that other car was out on the road. Anyway, the paramedics cut him out of the car, and they took us to the hospital. Todd went into surgery. He'd sustained pretty massive head injuries.”
“He came out of it okay, though?”
“He survived it. Then we had to wait for him to wake up. He was in a coma for over a week. I don't think I moved from his bed the entire time. His doctors kept telling me they didn't know if he would ever wake up or what condition he'd be in if he did.”
“I can't imagine.”
Annie's lips trembled a little. “I've never felt so helpless. Then one morning I looked over, and he was staring at me. I started screaming, and everyone came running. His parents, my parents, the doctors.”
“When did you realize he didn't remember you?”
“A few days later. At first it seemed like everything was fine. He was quiet, especially with me, but we all thought he was in shock. Finally, he asked if I used to sit behind him in biology. He wanted to know why I was always in his room.”
“He didn't remember anything?”
Tears formed in Annie's eyes. “He remembered some things. His childhood. His parents and his brother and sister. In fact, the only thing that seemed to be affected was the last few years. All the years we'd been together. He didn't remember dating, falling in love, getting engaged. It was like I'd been extracted from his mind.”
“Yet you stayed with him.”
“I didn't have a choice,” Annie said, with a soft smile. “I still loved Todd. I told him I was his fiancée, and he seemed to accept it. He asked endless questions. He wanted to know how we'd met, where we'd gone on dates. The food I liked, the books I read. We went on dates, and I took him to every place we'd ever been to together.”
“Were you hoping he'd improve?”
“Maybe at first, but nothing sparked a memory. Pretty soon I decided we would have to make new ones. We literally had to fall in love all over again.”
“Just like that?” Julia asked in amazement. “Snap your fingers and hope magic strikes twice? Weren't you angry? You had this incredible relationship. Your future was bright. Then in an instant it was gone.”
“I could have been angry, I guess. In the end, I figured this was the first big test in our relationship. I was going to make a lifelong commitment in front of God. “In sickness and in health”. Seemed like we'd gotten a head start on that part.”
“You're amazing.”
Annie held up a hand and laughed. “Don't go giving me any medals. Trust me, there were moments when I despaired. When I looked in Todd's eyes and saw that empty stare, I wanted to scream and cry.”
“What kept you hanging on?”
“Faith. I knew that everything would turn out the way it was supposed to.”
“Even if it meant Todd never learned to love you again?”
“Even then. Thank God I never had to find out, though. Pretty soon, our outings weren't history lessons. They became real dates. About nine months later, Todd asked me to take him to the place where he'd proposed.”
“Which was?”
“It was at the spring carnival, which didn't happen to be up and running that night.” Annie laughed at the memory. “I told him it would be an empty field of grass, but he didn't care. When we got there, he'd had a table-for-two set up. We ate dinner under the moonlight while a string quartet played.”
Julia got goose bumps. “Nice touch.”
A dreamy smile swept over Annie's face. A couple months ago such an expression would have made Julia cringe. Now she felt like going all dreamy, too.
“It was better than nice,” Annie said. “And when we were finishing dessert, he reached over and took my hand. He told me he didn't remember what he'd said or what he'd felt the last time he asked me to marry him. He only knew I'd become the center of his new world. Then he tugged the engagement ring from my finger and asked if I'd accept it again.”
That settled it. Julia had officially become a watering pot. She wiped a tear from her cheek. “That may be the best proposal I've ever heard.”