The Groom Said Maybe!. Sandra Marton

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СКАЧАТЬ stared at the girl. “Nervous?”

      “Yes. You know. Sort of edgy.”

      “Nervous,” Stephanie repeated, fixing a smile to her lips. “Well, I don’t—I can’t recall...”

      “Not scared. I don’t mean it that way. I just mean... Worried.”

      “Worried,” Stephanie said, working hard to maintain the smile.

      “Uh-huh.” Dawn licked her lips. “That you might not always be as happy as you were that day, you know?”

      Stephanie leaned back against the vanity table. “Well,” she said, “well...”

      “Oh, wow!” Dawn’s eyes widened. “Oh, Mrs....oh, Stephanie. Gosh, I’m so sorry. That was such a dumb thing to ask you.”

      “No. Not at all. I’m just trying to think of...” Of what lie will sound best. “Of what to tell you.”

      She hadn’t been nervous the day she’d married Avery, or even scared. Terrified was more accurate, terrified and desperate and almost frantic with fear...but, of course, she could never tell that to this innocent child, never tell it to anyone, and the fact she was even thinking about the possibility only proved how frazzled her nerves really were.

      Stephanie smiled brightly. “Because, you understand, it was such a long time ago. Seven years, you know? Seven—”

      Dawn grasped Stephanie’s hands. “Forgive me, please. I’m so wrapped up in myself today that I forgot that Mr. Willingham‘s—that he’s—that you’re a widow. I didn’t mean to remind you of your loss.”

      “No. No, really, that’s all right. I’m not—”

      “I am such an idiot! Talking without thinking, I mean. It’s my absolutely worst trait. Even Nicky says so. Sometimes, I just babble something before I’ve thought it through and I get myself, everybody, in all kinds of trouble! Oh, I am so sorry, Stephanie! Can you forgive me?”

      “There’s nothing to forgive,” Stephanie said gently, smiling at the girl.

      “Are you sure?”

      “Absolutely.”

      “No wonder you looked so sad when I came into the room. It must be so awful, losing the man you love.”

      Stephanie hesitated. “I suppose it is,” she said after a minute.

      “I can just imagine. Why, if anything ever happened to Nicky...if anything were to separate us...” Dawn’s eyes grew suspiciously bright. She laughed, swung toward the mirror, yanked a tissue from the container on top of the vanity table and dabbed at her lashes. “Just listen to me! I am turning into the most maudlin creature in the whole wide world!”

      “It’s understandable,” Stephanie said. “Today’s a very special one for you.”

      “Yes.” Dawn blew her nose. “I feel like I’m on a roller coaster. Up one minute, down the next.” She smiled. “Thanks, Stephanie.”

      “For what?”

      “For putting up with me. I suppose all brides are basket cases on their wedding days.”

      “Indeed,” Stephanie said with another bright, artificial smile. “Well, if you’re sure you’re okay...”

      “I’m fine.”

      “Would you like me to look for your mother and send her in?”

      “No, don’t do that. Mom’s got enough to deal with today. You go on and have fun. Did you pick up your table card yet?”

      Stephanie paused at the door and shook her head. “No. No, I didn’t.”

      “Ah.” Dawn grinned. “Well, if I remember right, Mom and I put you at a terrific table.”

      “Did you?” Stephanie said with what she hoped sounded like interest.

      “Uh-huh. You’re sitting with a couple from New York, old friends of Mom’s and Dad’s. You know, from when they were still married.”

      “That sounds nice.”

      “And my cousin and her husband. Nice guys, both of them. He’s an engineer, she’s a teacher.”

      “Well,” Stephanie said, still smiling, “they all sound—”

      “And with my uncle David. Well, he’s not really my uncle. I mean, he’s Mr. Chambers, but I’ve known him forever. He’s a friend of my parents’. He’s this really cool guy. Really cool. And handsome.” Dawn giggled. “He’s a bachelor, and very sexy for an older man, you know?”

      “Yes. Well, he sounds—”

      The door swung open and two of Dawn’s bridesmaids sailed into the room on a strain of music and a gust of laughter. Stephanie saw her opportunity and took it. She blew a kiss at Dawn, smoothed down the skirt of her suit, and stepped into the corridor.

      Her smile faded.

      Terrific. Annie had put her at a table with an eligible bachelor. Stephanie sighed. She should have expected as much. Even though her own marriage had failed. Annie had all the signs of being an inveterate matchmaker.

      “Oh,” she’d said softly when she’d learned Stephanie was widowed, “that’s so sad.”

      Stephanie hadn’t tried to correct her. They didn’t know each other well enough for that. The truth was, she didn’t know anyone well enough for that. Not that anyone back home thought of her as a grieving widow. The good people of Willingham Corners had long-ago decided what she was and Avery’s death hadn’t changed that. At least, nobody tried to introduce her to eligible men...but that seemed to be Annie’s plan today.

      Stephanie gave a mental sigh as she made her way to the table where the seating cards were laid out. She could survive an afternoon with Dawn’s Uncle David. He’d surely be harmless enough. Annie was clever. She’d never met Avery but she knew he’d been in his late fifties, so she’d matched Stephanie with an older man. A sexy older man, Stephanie thought with a little smile, meaning he was fiftyor sixty-something but he still had his own teeth.

      She peered at the little white vellum cards, found hers and picked it up. Table seven. Well, that was something, she thought as she stepped into the ballroom. The table would be far enough from the bandstand so the music wouldn’t fry her eardrums.

      Stephanie wove her way between the tables, checking numbers as she went. Four, five... Yes, table seven would definitely be away from the bandstand out of deference to Uncle David, who’d probably think that the dance of the minute was the merengue. Not that it mattered. She hadn’t danced in years, and she didn’t miss it. She just hoped Uncle David wouldn’t take it personally when she turned out to be a dud as a table partner.

      Table seven. There it was, tucked almost into a corner. Most of its occupants were already seated. The trendylooking twosome had to be the New Yorkers; the plump, sweet-faced woman with the tall, bespectacled man were sure to be the teacher СКАЧАТЬ