Judith McNaught (92 page)

Completely misjudging the reason for his tone, she lifted her eyes to his and said pleadingly, "I have gifts

to give, Zack. I
have
to do this."

Zack snatched her into his arms and crushed her to him. "You're the gift," he whispered fiercely. "You have more sides than that diamond you're wearing, and I'm so damned crazy about all of them…"

When he lifted his head and relaxed his grip a little, she rubbed her finger over his patterned silk tie and gave him a hesitant look. "Debby's out of a job because the family she's worked for since she was a teenager is moving away. She isn't ready to do much yet except housekeeping…"

Zack tipped her chin up and gave in without a struggle. "I have a very big house."

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Chapter 86

"
A
re you sure everything is ready at the church?"

Zack demanded of Matt Farrell as he quickly shoved the tiny studs into the front of his tuxedo shirt.

"Everything is ready, but you," Matt said with a chuckle.

Because he'd had to be at the rehearsal dinner last night and couldn't make a phone call from the Mathisons' house without the risk of being overheard, he'd had to rely on Matt and Meredith, who'd

flown in yesterday and spent the night at Julie's house, to relay last-minute information and instructions

between Sally Morrison and himself.

"Is everyone here from California?"

"They're at the church."

"Did you warn Meredith to keep Julie from looking into the church before she starts down the aisle?"

Zack continued, staring in the mirror and fastening his black tie. "I don't want her to know who's there. I want it to be a surprise."

"Meredith and Katherine Cahill have Julie firmly in hand. She won't be able to draw a breath without one of them seeing her do it. By now she probably feels as if they're glued to her side and she's wondering why."

Zack shrugged into his black tuxedo jacket. "Are you certain that Barbra is here?"

"She's here, with her accompanist in tow. I talked to her in Dallas at her hotel last night. By now, she's standing in the choir loft, waiting for things to get under way."

Zack ran a hand over his jaw to ascertain that his shave was close enough. "What time is it?"

"Ten minutes to four. You have ten minutes to get to the church. Ted Mathison is already there. On the way, I'll go over the part you were supposed to have learned during rehearsal last night."

"I've already had a full-dress rehearsal," Zack said dryly. "I've been through this once before, remember?"

"There are a few major differences," Matt pointed out with a grin.

"Really, what?"

"You weren't this happy, but you were calm last time."

* * *

There was another major difference between his last wedding and this one, and despite his offhand remark, Zack knew it. He knew it even before he stepped out in front of a smiling crowd and stood before his future father-in-law in a church aglow with candlelight and perfumed with lavish bouquets of

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white roses tied with white satin ribbons. There was a reverence in him this time, a sense of quiet joy, as he waited for Julie at the altar. He watched Meredith walk down the aisle toward him wrapped in apple green silk, followed by Katherine and Sara in identical gowns, all of them beautiful and smiling and

serene, as if they, like Zack, sensed the absolute rightness of what was about to happen. The organ music

swelled to a crescendo, and Zack felt as if his heart would burst at the sight that greeted him.

Starting toward him in a drifting swirl of white appliquéd silk with a cloud of veil trailing behind her was

the woman he had kidnapped and laughed with and loved. She moved through the candlelight, her face glowing, and in her eyes he saw all the love in the world, the promise of his unborn children, a lifetime filled with all the joy she had to give. He saw all that, and then he saw her eyes widen when Barbra Streisand's voice rose from the choir loft, and the song was the one Zack had asked her to sing when Julie came down the aisle.

Long ago and far away,

I dreamed a dream one day—

And now that dream is here before me.

Long the skies were overcast,

but now the clouds are passed—

You're here at last.

Chills run up and down my spine.

Aladdin's lamp is mine.

The dream I dreamed was not denied me.

Just one look and then I knew—

That all I longed for long ago was you.

Zack reached for Julie's hand and took it firmly in his, then they turned to the front.

Reverend Mathison smiled and raised the book he was holding in his hands. "Dear friends, we are gathered here together, in the sight of God…"

At the front of the church, Matthew Farrell gazed steadily into his wife's eyes; Ted and Katherine Mathison smiled softly at each other.

Near the back of the church, Herman Henkleman shifted his hand and reached for Flossie's, lacing his fingers tightly in hers.

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In the row directly behind them, young Willie Jenkins observed the elderly couple's exchanged looks and

clasped hands, then he nudged the little girl beside him and in a loud stage whisper laughingly announced,

"I'll betcha Herman Henkleman won't go along with Reverend Mathison's bargain. He's too old to wait…"

To which the little girl primly replied, "Shut up, Willie, I don't know what you're talking about."

Undaunted, Willie said, "My older brother told me the bargain is for no kissin' until the wedding night."

"Yuk," said the little girl with a shudder, leaning as far away from him as she could get. "Kissing!"

Chapter 87

The reception in the park that Zack half-expected to be rather plain turned out to be a lavishly festive affair with twinkling lights in the trees and linen-covered tables groaning under an array of beautifully prepared food that equaled in taste anything Zack's caterers had ever provided.

Standing off to the side with Matt Farrell, he watched Patrick Swayze cut in on Harrison Ford, who'd

been dancing with Julie, and he smiled to himself at the memory of her shocked face in the receiving line when Zack began introducing her to nearly all the men she'd mentioned being her favorite movie stars.

After her initial amazement, however, she had recovered and handled her famous guests with an unaffected graciousness that had filled Zack with pride.

"Great wedding, Zack," Warren Beatty said, holding his wife's hand and juggling a plate of hors d'oeuvres in the other. "The food is fantastic. What is this stuff anyway?"

Zack looked at the plate. "Bar-be-qued ribs," he said dryly, "Texan style."

When they left, Zack glanced at his watch, then he looked around for Julie and saw her dancing with Swayze again, laughing at whatever he was saying to her.

"She's captivated all of them," Matt said with an approving grin.

"Especially Swayze," Zack observed, noting how well she danced with Swayze and trying not to note how closely he was holding her.

Matt nudged him a few minutes later and nodded toward Meredith. "Look what I have to endure—that's Costner's third dance with her.

Meredith," he added, "is a great admirer of his."

"And vice versa, it would seem. Luckily, Swayze and Costner are both married," Zack observed with a lazy grin. Putting his champagne glass down on the table beside him, he said, "I think it's late enough to claim the last dance and then leave."

"In a hurry to start your honeymoon?"

"You wouldn't believe the kind of hurry I'm in,"

Zack joked. Reaching out, he shook Matt's hand, but he

didn't thank him for the years of unflagging friendship or his many favors. His gratitude was too deep for

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that, and they both understood it.

Pausing to ask the orchestra leader to play a particular song, Zack went to retrieve his wife. She abandoned Patrick Swayze with gratifying speed, coming into Zack's arms and smiling into his eyes.

"It's

about time you came to get me," she told him softly.

"Ready to leave?" he asked her as the orchestra's song came to an end.

Julie was dying to leave, to go away with him and be alone together. She nodded and started to move away, but he shook his head and said in a husky, meaningful voice, "After the next song."

"What song?" she asked in the silence, but he only smiled, and then the song Zack had asked the orchestra to play began its hot, steady rhythm.

"This one," he said, meaningfully as the seductive words to Feliciano's song began to pound in the night.

"Light my fire, Julie," he ordered huskily, beginning to move with her to the beat of the music.

Julie fell under the spell of his heavy-lidded eyes and inviting smile within seconds. Oblivious to the crowd who was turning to watch them, she moved closer to him, her body matching the subtle movement

of his. He slid his hands around her waist, holding her closer. "More."

Chapter 88

Curled up on the sofa in the plane's luxurious cabin, Julie peered into the inky darkness beyond the windows. Far below she could see an occasional light, but otherwise they seemed to be descending into

a black wilderness. Zack was sitting across from her, his feet propped up on the coffee table, his tuxedo jacket open—the picture of contented patience. He'd rushed her on board Matt Farrell's waiting plane as soon as they left the reception, refusing to let her change into traveling clothes, but now that they were on

their way to a destination he refused to name, he seemed perfectly willing to wait until they got there to

consummate their marriage. "I'm going to feel awfully silly walking into a hotel lobby in this gown," she

said.

"Are you, darling?" he asked softly, smiling.

Julie nodded, wishing he'd let her change into one of the new outfits in her suitcases. "I could change into something else in a matter of minutes."

He shook his head. "I'd like for both of us to be dressed exactly as we are when we get there."

"But why?"

"You'll see," he said, holding out his arm to her.

She moved over to sit beside him. "Sometimes," she said wryly, "I don't understand you at all."

But she did understand. She understood perfectly the moment she stepped off the plane onto a small runway where a car was waiting, and she looked around at the looming shadows of mountains.

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"Colorado!" she breathed, hugging herself against the chilly night air. "We're in Colorado, aren't we!"

* * *

Driving up the private road to the mountain

hideaway they had shared during that tumultuous week was

an unbearably poignant experience for Julie. So was walking into the house with Zack and seeing the beautiful, familiar rooms where she had fought with him and danced with him and then fallen in love with

him.

While he brought in their suitcases and built a fire in the fireplace, she walked over to the windows and looked out at the place where he had once built his

"snow monster."

Zack came up behind her and slid his arm around her waist, drawing her back against him, and in the window was their own reflection … a tall groom holding his bride in his arms. They looked at their reflection and Zack saw the tears shimmering in her eyes. "Why are you crying?" he asked softly, bending

his head to nuzzle her neck.

Julie swallowed and tipped her head back.

"Because," she whispered achingly, thinking of the sentimentality that showed in everything he did for her. "You are so perfect."

Zack tightened his arms protectively around her.

"We're perfect together," he whispered.

"I'll make you happy," she said, her voice shaking with emotion. "I swear I will."

Her husband turned her in his arms, and there was a smile in his voice as he lifted his hand to smooth her hair back. "You've made me happy from the first night we spent here together, when you sat on that sofa

and blithely pointed out the absurdity of football rules which allow a tight end, but no
loose end."

She smiled a little at that, but she saw the firelight glinting on the wedding ring he now wore on his left hand, and she pressed his palm to her cheek while her lips touched the ring. "I love you, Zack," she whispered. "I love the sound of your voice and the touch of your hand and the way you smile. I want to give you babies … and a life filled with laughter …

and I want to give you me."

Desire began to beat fiercely in his veins, fueled by weeks of abstinence, and Zack pulled her close, his mouth opening over hers with sudden urgency.

"Come to bed with your husband, wife."

Husband. Wife. The words revolved slowly in Julie's mind, soft and sweet and profound, as she walked with him into the bedroom they'd shared. They swelled in her heart as he took her in his arms in bed and

turned to her in love and need. She responded to both with an exquisite eagerness that made Zack's hands tremble as they rushed over her, caressing her skin and pulling her hips tightly to his. She met his passion with her own, encouraged him with stirring kisses and when he finally slid deep into her, she wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders and whispered, "Welcome home, Zack."

The sweet words tore a low groan from his chest and he began to move within her. His wife moved with him, bathing his senses in extravagant pleasure until the wild beauty of what they were doing to each other

drove them both to a shattering climax.

Wrapped in each other's arms, sated and spent, they floated slowly back to reality in the same bed where once they had not dared to think of the future.

His hand drifting slowly over her back, Zack thought of the years that lay ahead with the woman who had loved and trusted him and taught him to forgive.
Welcome home,
she'd said.

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For the first time in his life, he finally knew how it felt to have a home and a family. Julie was his home, his family.

Epilogue