Magical Weddings (49 page)

But, instead, he saw gratitude. “I know. Thanks, man,” Dan said quietly before returning his attention to his sister.

Luke was taken aback–he hadn’t expected Dan to agree with him–so he answered Dan with quiet reassurance. “Shit happens.”

“Not to me it doesn’t. Just because Jeff was hanging around with me, I shouldn’t have assumed Kelly was nearby too. I’ve been off my game lately.” Dan began searching the faces in the crowd. “And, besides, where’s that damned lifeguard who’s supposed to be on duty?”

Luke suddenly noticed the slew of curious observers lined up along the edge of the beach. When Kelly continued to remain quiet, he gazed down anxiously to where she sat in the sand, and realized she was staring hard at the bleeding wounds on his back.

“Oh, Dan,” she finally moaned. “Look how bad he hurt himself while he was helping
me
.”

“I’m fine, Princess,” Luke muttered, scoping out the beach nervously. “I didn’t get hurt pulling you out from the water.”

She continued to plead with her brother, “Dan–
please
–you need to make him better.”

Luke squirmed, while Dan stared at him grimly.

“Don’t worry, sweetie. I’m gonna start making him better soon,” Dan reassured Kelly.

Luke started. But his legs were getting wobbly, and he found himself sinking to the sand.

“Princess, huh?” Wearing a half-smile, Dan studied Luke keenly before turning back to Kelly. “Are you sure you’re okay, Kel?”

She nodded.

“I think that she just swallowed lots of water,” Luke muttered.

Dan stared at his sister with obvious concern. “Okay,
Princess
–we’re gonna have to talk this over with Mom and Dad later. Since you don’t appear to be suffering any side effects from nearly being drowned, why don’t you run over to the park with your friends for a little while? One of the moms took Jeff and the rest of the kids over there, when Luke, here, was pulling you out from the water.”

Just in case Kelly hadn’t been breathing.
Dan didn’t need to complete the sentence when his eyes met Luke’s.

After glancing over at the park, she hesitated, before stepping towards him. Kelly gazed down where Luke sat, hunched over in the sand. “Thank you for saving me,” she said, softly.

At that moment, the sun broke through the clouds, and a beam of light shown down brightly on Kelly, leaving her backlit by a smoky-blue haze. But the strange thing about it was, Luke wasn’t seeing her as a pretty little six-year old girl anymore. He was envisioning her as the beautiful woman she’d undoubtedly be someday. Her white-blonde hair was dancing over her shoulders, but her fiery-blue eyes were staring accusingly into his.

Luke blinked, before shaking his head in disbelief. He was exhausted, and most likely delirious. He swallowed uncomfortably.
But maybe it had something to do with the magic that he’d sensed here at Dragonfly Pointe?

Suddenly, he became aware of the soft, light brush of Kelly’s lips on his shoulder, like the touch of a butterfly, as she kissed him gently on one of his wounds. Luke felt a strange sense of longing. Her kiss made him feel like he’d been blessed–like its power could heal
all
of his wounds.

And unexpectedly, his eyes began to fill with tears.

When Kelly scrambled away, and began skipping along the beach, she was totally unaware that she was making Luke question his sanity. Reaching the bench where she’d left her beach bag and sandals earlier, Kelly dug through her bag for her hat, first, and plopped it onto her head, before covering her eyes with a pair of stylish sunglasses.

Luke raised a brow, turning to Dan.

Dan rolled his eyes and shrugged. “What can I say? Mom calls Kelly a six-year old fashionista.”

Luke found himself laughing along with Dan. They watched as Kelly strutted along the path, first glancing left and then glancing right, pulling down and peeking through her sunglasses like a celebrity on public display.

“I have no I idea where she gets that from,” Dan said dryly. “It must have something to do with those charity fashion shows she and my other sisters participate in.”

Luke shook his head dazedly. The resilience of kids was kind of amazing. His little sister had behaved exactly the same way, too. “At least she seems okay.”

Dan silently nodded his agreement.

Kelly finally reached the park, and joined the other kids on the swing set, where she and Jeff remained clearly in view.

Dan suddenly turned grim, as he dropped down to the sand beside him. “Alright, Luke Bryant–I’m gonna stick to you like glue. I owe you, and I owe you big. I wanna know who’s responsible for knifing that nasty cut into the side of your face. The first thing you’re gonna do is tell me about yourself. I’ve been hearing some rumors. I wanna know why that scumbag, that you call your father, has been whipping you so hard, you’re probably gonna be disfigured for life…”

Fourteen years later

It was the fantasy wedding of Kelly Callahan’s dreams.

Too bad it actually wasn’t
her
wedding.

If the bride had had her way, the wedding would’ve taken place at sunrise–her most favorite time of the day. So she’d settled for dusk, instead. Luckily, the weather had decided to agree with Kelly’s sister and her sister’s fiance today–the sun had been bright and the temperature warm.

Kelly stared out to the sunset from the gazebo overlooking the lake–the backdrop for this wedding was absolutely enchanting. As iridescent light spun down from the slowly descending sun, a shimmering purple haze danced across the lake like fire.

The flowers used for the entire event were stunning. Not only were there multitudes of lovely arrangements indoors and out–but pots of annuals, planted with impatiens in brilliant shades of purples and pinks, bordered the bridal pathway for impact.

Out where Kelly stood on the gazebo, pine tips were displayed in abundance–not only for their beauty and scent–but to disquise what had to be, literally, millions of tiny white lights that’d been strung up and around the canopy. Huge concrete urns held massive arrangements of liles, roses, and greens, and had been arranged along the perimeter of the gazebo so as not to obstruct the breathtaking view.

The details had been so well thought out that everything about the ceremony itself was simply amazing too. Stargazer lilies, roses and ferns had been used in the bridal bouquets. And the gowns that’d been chosen, with their sweetheart necklines and slimfitting style, were lovely on all five of the bridesmaids. Glancing down to the rosy-purple gown that she wore, Kelly noticed that the beading sewn into the bodice glistened, as it was struck by the shimmering light from the sun.

This wedding was
incredible
–like a fantasy–and planned with love to the smallest detail by Kelly’s older sister Lucy, who’d coordinated the entire event.

Kelly sighed, glancing over to the bright smiling face of her sister, Kate, as she stood before the priest with her soon-to-be-husband, Murphy.

And, just like that, it was done–Kate and Murphy were married, and introduced to the crowd as man and wife.

Turning about face, Kelly grinned, and began following the couple down the aisle as she glanced around her to the smiling faces of the guests.

And then she saw him.

Kelly stopped in her tracks. Those cool grey eyes met hers as he gave her that old familiar smile. Why hadn’t
anyone
in her family warned her that Luke Bryant might be here today?

How long she stood and stared at him, she couldn’t say
.
Until she dimly became aware of being gently shoved forward, as a voice squeaked out from over her shoulder,
“Kelly?”

“Oops, sorry, Jules,” Kelly whispered, to the maid-of-honor. Giving her escort a smile of apology, she resumed her stroll beside him down the aisle.

Once they reached the end of the walkway, the bride and groom were smiling as they were swept away into the crowd.

Shaking her head with resignation, Kate turned to the groom’s youngest brother. He’d been coming on strong with her since the moment they’d met. As Kelly lightly nudged Ethan along, so that they could stand beside the remaining members of the wedding party, she peeked over her shoulder nervously.
What had happened to Luke?

But then Kelly focused her attention on the maid-of-honor, as Julie began asking her a question.

“What was it that they told us, Kelly?” Julie’s boyfriend, Dylan, who’d also been a groomsman, glanced down at as his watch as he stood silently beside Julie. “An hour–before they want us back at the reception for pictures?”

“Yep,” Kelly answered. “The photographer wanted thiry to forty-five minutes alone with Kate and Murphy, first.”

“Well
, I
know what
we
can do to waste the time away.” Dylan winked at Kelly, as he began to drag an, obviously, discomfitted Julie away. “See ya’all in about an hour.”

Kelly grinned. After about a year of dragging their feet, apparently, Julie and Dylan had finally admitted their feelings for each other. And it was great to see Julie so happy.

Kelly glanced over to Ethan and sighed. He was a really nice guy. But his attention was getting to be a little bit stifling.

With white-blonde hair and deep-blue eyes, Kelly was tall and thin with a shapely figure. She’d always considered herself fortunate in the looks department.

Fortunate because of the numerous modeling jobs that were helping her pay for her college education.

But unfortunate because of the number of men that seemed to be drawn to her only
because
of her looks. And her looks
were
deceiving. After graduating with honors as the valedictorian of her high school graduating class at Crystal Rock High, Kelly had enrolled at Wisconsin with a scholarship, and was focusing her studies on business.

As the remainder of the wedding party began to go their separate ways, Ethan stood waiting with an inquisitive smile.

She hesitated. “I’ve got a couple of things I need to do first, Ethan. How about I meet back up with you once I’m finished?”

She could see that he was disappointed. “Okay, Kelly.” He hesitated. “You
are
gonna hang around with me later tonight–aren’t ya? Except for a couple of my brother’s friends, I don’t really recognize too many people here.

“Sure. I’d like that. I’d be glad to introduce you to a few of my sister’s single friends, too.” Despite their age difference, Kelly knew that there was interest on his side. It was always better to let guys down easily, she’d discovered, and she was getting to be
very
good at at. “You’re the only one in the wedding party to get stuck with someone who’s a whole, lot younger than you.” Ethan was in his late-twenties, and was an eighth grade science teacher.

Ethan snorted. “
Ouch–
talk about letting someone down easy.” He gave her a rueful smile. “Don’t worry–I’ve got the message. It’s just that I can’t help being interested in you, Kelly –and not just because you’re so
hot.
”

Kelly blinked, staring at Ethan, startled.

“You’re one of the most mature college students that I’ve ever met. Although, how you can put aside, what could be, a very lucrative career in modeling, is beyond me.”

“Well, I’ve set a lot of goals for myself.” Kelly shrugged. “The money I’ve been making is great–and it’s allowed me to do a lot of traveling–I’ve seen a lot of places I wouldn’t have otherwise. But…”

Ethan grinned. “Your knack with numbers is pretty unusual, too–you know?”

Kelly smiled. “Yeah. I think Mom and Dad are still in shock about the fact that I’m considering becoming an accountant. But they also understand. It took me less than six months to get Callahan Construction back on track, when they let me take over the books a few years ago.”

“Yep–like I said–you’re pretty damned amazing.” Ethan sighed, lifting a brow. “’Speaking of parents–I haven’t seen mine for a while. Maybe I’ll go check up on them during our break.” He didn’t appear to be very anxious to leave her side. “Are we meeting back up at the reception for pictures, then?”

Kelly nodded, as she pointed out the solarium of the Dragonfly Pointe Inn. “Your parents will probably be hanging out in there, along with mine.”

Reaching out, Ethan gave Kelly’s hand a squeeze. “Alright. I’ll see you back inside–in about an hour, then.”

Kelly kept her eyes on Ethan as he strolled along the cobblestone pathway. After reaching the entrance, he glanced back at her with a smile and a wave of his hand before stepping inside.

Turning her eyes toward the lake, Kelly drew in a deep steadying breath. She felt a little guilty about brushing Ethan off. But it’d already been a really long day, and it promised to be an even longer night. What she really wanted right now was some time
alone
.

Frowning down at her heels, Kelly began strolling along the cobblestone pathway leading away from the inn. Easing down onto a bench, she slipped off her heels and peeked behind her. No one seemed to be hanging around nearby. “What the heck,” she muttered. After standing up, she lifted the hem of her gown and began slipping down her hose. Discreetly, she folded the hose and stuffed them into one of her shoes, before sliding the shoes underneath the bench.

She needed to take a walk–and to have a little get away time from the noise and confusion of the wedding.

“Ah, free at last,” she mumbled under her breath as she began to hurry, nearly skipping along the path that transformed into a lovely nature walk as it led away from the inn.

Despite the darkness settling in, small beams of light lit up the path. Bird feeders hung from the lower branches of several of the trees, while squirrel feeders were mounted into the trunks of a few of the solid oaks. Although the landscape along the trail was occasionally broken up by the placement of a bench, surrounded by plantings of coleous, impatiens and hostas, ferns and natural foliage lined the edges of the scenic walkway that ran alongside the shoreline of Crystal Rock Lake.

It was crazy to think about how many times she’d actually followed this trail to the beach. As a kid, Kelly and her twin brother Jeff had tagged along with her father when he’d driven back and forth to Dragonfly Pointe. Mike Callahan had been the contractor in charge of renovating the Dragonfly Pointe Inn, and was still coordinating the additional construction projects taking place periodically along the point.