Blaze: A Texas Heat Novel (10 page)

Chapter 15

The wedding of Mayor Dylan Chambers and Emerson Riley was the scandal of the season. Political pundits debated his moral character. The Washington committee got spooked and withdrew their endorsement for a future race for governor. Dylan revised his twenty year plan, much to the horror of his grandmother. Public opinion didn’t faze Dylan one bit. He loved his bride far too much to care. He decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps in charity work as a new career path. He partnered with his new grandfather-in-law, Arthur Hickman and expanded the soup kitchen to feed the homeless in several counties.

The ceremony was a small, intimate affair with only thirty guests. Jordan sat in the back row, slack jawed from the stunning turn of events. Grandmother Menerva sat ramrod straight, shocked to the back teeth that her grandson defied her legacy plan. Maybe she’d run for politics herself! She mentioned as much to Jordan. He had a sudden gleam in his eyes. On the bright side, they both agreed, with Emerson in the family, they’d get gourmet cookies for life.

Emerson’s dear friends since high school, Harper and Sawyer were her bridesmaids. Gran was Emerson’s matron of honor.

Ava Chambers thought she was having an out of body experience. Not only was her son getting married to the love of his life but George was acting – weird. He fully supported Dylan’s decision to leave politics and go into community service – that was shock #1.

Next, he voluntarily touched her by holding her hand to walk down the aisle. Her pulse leaped in her throat. When his thumb caressed her fingers, she shivered. She scowled at him. Ugh! The jerk!

Another thing, straight out of the twilight zone happened during the wedding vows. George stared at her with probing eyes as if he were repeating the vows to her. Was this his idea of a sick joke? Was he having a midlife crisis? Or worse yet, dying? George smiled in a heartbreaking way, as if he understood her distrust. Butterflies took flight in her stomach. Damn the man!

Their son was getting married. George would not spoil this day for her. And if he thought she would just fall into his arms after all these years he could just forget it!

Ava would go through with the divorce proceedings – she’d lawyered up! The potent force of his charm proved her undoing. By the first dance, George had her smiling. During dinner he had her laughing. By midnight he had her kissing. In less than twenty-four hours, George had his wife back in his bed and every single day after that.

Emerson and Dylan danced beneath the stars. They were both barefoot in the grass under a Texas moon. They were Mr. and Mrs. Chambers at last.

Update from the blog of Susie Q and Penny May about the Mayor and his new bride:

Wedding Song –
Downtown Train
by Rod Stewart

Honeymoon – St. Lucia

Children – 5 and counting!