A Lowcountry Wedding (20 page)

“No, it’s not too late,” Carson fired back. “She can cancel anytime she wants. Even the day of, if she wants to.”

Dora was at a loss at Carson’s emotion on the topic. Dora had struck a nerve and it made her wonder about her runaway-bride sister. So Dora tempered her comments to restore peace: “Of course she can cancel.” Then Dora turned to Harper. “But only cancel if you don’t want to get married at all. Not because you’re pregnant. Lots of women get married with a baby bump.”

“I know,” Harper said dejectedly. “I must’ve read every blog on the topic. Most days, I’m confident that I made the right decision to keep the wedding in place. But there are other days I’m not sure. Like when I see models in wedding dresses looking so gorgeous with their tiny waists.”

“Don’t worry. You can always get another dress,” said Carson.

“But the wedding is in two months!” Harper cried with exasperation. “What choices will I have?”

“Hey, take it easy. I haven’t found a dress yet, either.”

Harper scowled at Carson. “Who’s fault is that? At least I had a gown. You waited till the last minute, then tried on every gown in the last two shops we visited and still rejected them all.”

Carson picked at her nail. “I didn’t feel like any of them were right.”

“You looked beautiful in every one of them.” Dora sucked in her rounded stomach. “Damn you both.”

The girls all shared a laugh, and the tension was broken.

“You know what I read in one of Harper’s magazines?” said Dora to Carson in a know-it-all tone. “A bride who cannot choose a wedding dress often has some underlying issues and she may not want to get married.”

“You read that, did you?” Carson asked mockingly. “You just keep on reading your magazines. You’ll find an article saying that everyone should just get off the bride’s back and let her find a gown she likes.”

Dora barked out a laugh.

Harper clapped her hands. “Let’s stay positive. We’ve got the cakes done. Granny James arrives in two days, and we’re going to dress-shop with the grandmothers. I’m meant to show them the final fitting for my gown.” Harper looked at Carson sternly and pointed her finger. “You have to stop stalling and choose a gown. Do you understand?”

Carson’s lips twitched. “I do.”

In enduring the unendurable pain and coming out of it together, they’d formed their unbreakable bond.

C
arson stood on the upper dock of Sea Breeze, her arms folded across her chest against the stiff breeze, staring out at the water of the Cove. There was a break in the rain, but a chilly, wet breeze stirred the waters, creating ripples and making her huddle deeper into her Windbreaker like a turtle. She never could abide the cold. She felt it straight through to her bones. Yet, she took heart at the signs of spring taking hold in the lowcountry. This morning she’d seen the brilliant yellow, trumpet-shaped blossoms of Carolina jessamine, her favorite flower, along Mamaw’s fence.

Looking out at the water, Carson imagined Delphine must be out there somewhere. She ached to see the dolphin’s familiar face, to look once again into her dark, soulful eyes and to hear her nasal
eh eh eh
calling her to the dock. At times in
the past months when she was alone on the photo shoot, far from anyone she knew or loved, she wondered if she’d only imagined the bond she and the dolphin had shared. Standing here now, though, the memories came back fresh and erased any doubt. Delphine had saved her life, that was true. Yet not only physically when the rogue shark had been circling Carson’s surfboard and Delphine had distracted it, but emotionally as well. There was much to learn from the wisdom of the wild. Delphine had taught her through example how to endure pain without blame, how to forgive, to let go of the past and to live fully in the moment. To remember to laugh. Carson smiled remembering Delphine’s riding the wake of Blake’s boat.

She sighed, missing her dear friend.

“You miss Delphine, don’t you?”

Carson swung around to see Nate standing near. He wore his navy parka with the hood over his head and bright red flannel pants. Soft pants, of course, with an elastic waist. A must for him. His Asperger’s caused him to be particular, but also perspicacious, beyond his young years. No one knew better than Nate the longing she felt for Delphine.

She came closer to the boy and patted the soft padded top of his hood. She didn’t think that was the same as touching him, something he wouldn’t tolerate. Nate didn’t back away. She looked into his eyes, blue not brown, but every bit as soulful as Delphine’s.

“I do,” she confessed.

“So do I.”

Her heart lurched for the boy. Last summer he’d been lonely, without any friend save for that beguiling dolphin. Delphine had brought the boy out of his shell. But Dora told her
that Nate had been excelling at his new school and making friends. He’d moved on.

As had she. So she was oddly comforted that he, too, still felt the hole left by the dolphin’s absence.

“It’s a good thing we have each other, isn’t it?”

“You have Blake. You’re getting married.”

A short laugh escaped her lips. “From the mouth of babes.”

Nate scowled. “I’m not a baby.”

“No,” she said apologetically. “You most certainly are not.”

Nate appeared mollified by this. She had to remember that he didn’t understand metaphors or sarcasm but took what people said quite literally.

“I see her sometimes, you know.”

Carson startled. “Who? Delphine?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Sometimes when I go out on the dock to fish, I see her. Sometimes I just go out there. I like to be near the water. I see lots of things. I have a pelican friend now, too. I call him Pete. He looks like a Pete.”

She watched Nate’s fingertips tap his jacket as he paused. He’s thinking about Pete, she thought, and smiled at the whimsical workings of the mind of a boy.

“And Delphine?”

“Yes. Sometimes I see her, too. Swimming by. I don’t call her,” he said with urgency, wanting Carson to know that he’d not broken their strictest rule: not to try to communicate with a wild dolphin. “But I know it’s her. I can see her scars.”

“Oh.” A pang of guilt struck deep.

“She’s good. I think she’s happy.”

“Really?” Carson couldn’t believe that she, a grown woman, was seeking affirmation of Delphine’s welfare from a ten-year-old boy, but because it was this child, she knew that he would sense it more than anyone else. Nate, for all his struggles, held a wisdom beyond any measurement ascertained by schools.

He looked at her with a hint of longing. “Do you think she’d come if you called her?”

Interesting question, Carson thought. One she’d been thinking herself. “I don’t know. It’s been a year.”

“I think she would. She’s very smart.”

“She sure is.” Carson looked at the boy. “Do you want me to call her?”

He nodded. “Yes. I miss her.”

Sweet boy, she thought. She wondered if he tried to call her himself from his own dock, despite insisting otherwise. Yes, of course he did. Maybe once. Naughty boy, she realized with a hidden smile.

“I can’t do it. I promised I wouldn’t and it was a very big promise. If I love Delphine—if you love her—we will let her be wild. We both remember what happened to her when we did call and she came.”

Guilt clouded the boy’s expression as he nodded solemnly.

She heard the heavy footfalls reverberate on the wooden dock and looked up to see Blake walking toward them. Over his jeans Blake wore his navy peacoat. His hands were deep in his pockets, and a day-old scruff of beard lined his jaw. He took her breath away.

“We didn’t call Delphine,” Nate shouted out almost defensively. “We kept our promise!”

“Good decision,” Blake called out as he approached. He came up to her side and delivered a kiss that spoke clearly of his gratitude for her decision. “I’m marrying a good woman, do you know that?”

Nate said, “Of course she knows that. She’s the woman.”

“Right again.” Blake slipped his arm around Carson as naturally as breathing and turned to Nate. “Do you ever see Delphine?”

“Yes, sir.”

“She look good?”

“Yes.”

“I’m glad you think so. Because I have some news. She’s pregnant.”

“What!” Carson felt the news like a bolt of lightning. “Pregnant? How?”

Blake chuckled. “Oh, the usual way.”

Carson slapped his coat. “Silly, I mean how far along is she? How do you know?”

“One look at her and you can tell. She’s wide and full. I’d say she’s due in a month or so. Dolphins give birth every month of the year, but around here a larger number of them give birth in the spring.”

Carson did the calculations in her head. “So she got pregnant last spring?”

“Yes.”

Carson held Blake’s gaze. “Through all that pain and trauma, she kept the baby.”

A shadow of pain flashed in Blake’s eyes. He squeezed her shoulders, and in that moment they shared the grief of their lost baby. Carson had found out she was pregnant the previous
summer, and just as she and Blake were becoming used to the idea, she’d had a miscarriage that had ultimately broken the couple up until they realized they couldn’t live without each other. In enduring the unendurable pain and coming out of it together, they’d formed their unbreakable bond.

Carson’s smile trembled. “I’m glad. She’s so strong.”

“Like you.”

His concern touched her, and she smiled weakly to tell him that she was all right. “Blake, I need something to do to connect me with her. Something helpful. What can I do?”

Blake’s eyes sparked as he released her and turned to face her. “That’s what I came out to tell you. I just got a text from Ethan at the South Carolina Aquarium. You remember him?”

“Of course. Your cousin. Married to Toy.”

“Right. He told me that they’re looking for another person for the aquarium’s PR team. They were really impressed by you and he thought you should apply.”

“If they were so impressed, why didn’t they hire me last year?”

“They had specific needs at that time. Now they’re expanding.”

Carson looked at Blake with suspicion. “Did you set this up?”

“No,” he said sincerely. “I wish I had that kind of clout. I put the word out that you were looking for a job and I just got the text. Here, look.” Blake pulled his phone from his pocket and showed her the message.

Carson had spent the previous summer waitressing at a local pub and, after getting fired, searching for a job. Waitress, secretary, temp . . . It was ignominious to be impoverished and living with her grandmother. She would have returned to LA
except she couldn’t afford to leave. On the flip side, she was able to mend wounds that had festered for too many years and build bonds with her family. When she was offered the stills photography job, she swore she’d never be stuck in that limbo again. This job could be perfect for her. Her work as a stills photographer was to take the vitally important photographs of film sets or studio shoots that were used to create the press and publicity for feature films. If the shots were good and used well, they could significantly contribute to a film’s box office and international sales success.

“I’ll reach out and set up an appointment today.” She could feel her blood racing with hope.

Nate reached over to tap Blake’s sleeve. “What about me? What can I do to help?”

Blake slid his hands into his pockets and looked at the boy staring up at him, his eyes wide with hope. Carson held her breath. The history of the boy and the dolphin went deep. Carson and Nate both needed to feel the connection in an appropriate way.

Blake studied the boy awhile, deep in thought. Then his long face relaxed and his eyes brightened. “Of course. I should’ve thought of it sooner.”

“What?” Nate said eagerly.

“You’re young so you’ll need a sponsor. Someone to work with you.” He looked meaningfully at Carson.

She immediately understood that this was an adult job, and that if Nate was going to do it, she would have to do it right along with him. Carson nodded in acquiescence.

Blake looked again at Nate. “You and Carson can work together. I’ll hook you up with the Marine Mammal Stranding
Network. You’ll be the point team along these beaches for any strandings of cetaceans. That means those that wash up ashore. The network will call Carson when they get notification that an animal has washed up on the beach. She has to be the one to go check it out, okay? Nate, you can go with her if you’re not in school. But you can’t touch anything, got it? Your job is just to check it out and report back to us. Then you basically hang around to keep curiosity seekers away until someone from NOAA gets there. It could be a short while or an hour, depending on where the team is. Interested?”

“Yes,” Nate replied with alacrity.

Carson put the brakes on. “When you’re not going to school,” she reminded him. She looked at Blake. “Sure, we’ll do it.” She gestured with her finger. “It’s you and me, Nate.” She crossed her fingers. “Together.”

A loud bark sounded from the house. Turning, they spotted Thor galloping like a horse down the slope toward them. He thundered down the wooden dock to their side, tail wagging, tongue lolling from his mouth, delighted to be out of doors. Nate took a step back from the probing, icy nose, but Blake leaned over to pat the dog’s black barrel chest and murmur, “Good boy.”