Married to a Stranger (3 page)

Rory cleared his throat and reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. “This wedding has come about so suddenly that we haven’t really had a chance to discuss this. I was just over at your new home, talking to your husband-to-be.”

Emma stared at him. “Talking to David?” She had an unpleasant image of Rory trying to give David fatherly advice about their wedding night. “What did you have to talk to David about?”

“Well, this is why we couldn’t come down last night. I was meeting with our attorney to hammer out the last details.” He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out an envelope. From this he extracted a few folded sheets of paper that were stapled together. “This document is a prenuptial agreement, and I strongly advise you, as I advised him, to sign it before the wedding goes forward.”

Emma stared at him. It was so far from the excuses and apologies she had expected from Rory that she was momentarily stunned into silence.

“I must say that your husband-to-be was very polite. He said that if it was what you wanted…”

“You can’t be serious!” Emma cried.

“Completely serious,” Rory assured her. “There’s nothing more serious than large sums of money.”

“How dare you?” Emma demanded. “I can’t believe you did this. Mother, did you know he was doing this?”

Kay McLean looked flustered. “Rory, honestly.”

“Now, Kay, there’s a lot of money involved here. As the manager of your trust fund, it is my duty to advise you on this matter. This is not meant to cast any sort of aspersion on David. It’s a formality. I know it’s last-minute, but we didn’t know about the wedding until—”

“Get out of here. This is insulting. Get out of here!” Emma cried.

“Rory,” said Kay. “You better go. Just put that thing away and go. My daughter is a grown woman. If she doesn’t want to do this…”

“There’s a lot of money at stake, Kay,” said Rory.

“My money, not yours,” Emma cried.

Rory tucked the document back inside his jacket pocket, a grave expression on his face. “This is not something to be emotional about. We need to be realistic. In this day and age, the divorce rate being what it is—”

“Rory, go!” said Kay, forcefully steering her husband out of the room.

“Emma, I’m sorry if I upset you. I’m only trying to do what’s best for you…”

Emma was shaking and refused to meet his gaze. She could hardly believe it. Instead of being guilty and ashamed of himself, Rory had marched in here and insulted her. She wanted to turn on him and blurt out all that she knew. But she couldn’t. Rory stepped into the hallway and Kay closed the door firmly behind him.

“Oh, Em,” said Kay. “I’m sorry. I had no idea he was going to spring that on you. His timing can really be atrocious.”

“I think this is about a little more than bad timing,” Emma fumed.

“Don’t be angry. He’s only thinking about your welfare.”

“My welfare,” Emma scoffed. “David must be freaking out…”

“I’m sure he understands,” said Kay soothingly. “He knows that your family only wants to do what’s best for you. Please, darling, don’t let this spoil your day.”

“Oh my God, I need to call him and explain.” She began to rummage in her bag for her cell phone. With shaking fingers, she sat down on the bed and punched in the number at their house. It rang several times, and there was no answer. Then she tried David’s cell phone. Still no answer. “Damn,” she said.

“Maybe he’s downstairs already. Take it easy, Em,” said Kay. “It will be all right.”

“He’s probably furious,” Emma said.

“I doubt it. He knows it wasn’t your idea. If he loves you, he’ll understand.”

“If?” Emma cried.

Kay took her daughter’s hands in hers. “Of course he loves you. I know that.”

“What if he’s not on his way? What if he’s so mad he decides not to show up?”

“He’ll show up. Have a little faith,” said Kay.

Emma, still shaking, took a deep breath. It was all she could do not to expose Rory’s secret. She reminded herself of how cruel that would be to her mother, who didn’t deserve to have this day ruined. Emma peered at her mother. “Look, Mom, I’m not trying to act like a stubborn child. I realize it’s a lot of money. David and I have talked about it. He understands the situation. He just feels as if it’s not really his concern. He’s just not someone who thinks all that much about money. He says it’s my money to do with as I see fit. Let me ask you something. I don’t mean to be rude, but after what Rory just did…Do you have a prenup?”

Kay shook her head. “I’m like you. I’m a romantic. I believe in getting married without hedging your bets. Trust and hope. You need those things in a marriage.”

Emma nodded agreement, but there was a sickening feeling in her gut, and in her mind’s eye, an image of Rory McLean seated in a darkened alcove nuzzling another woman.

“And I can see that you are happy,” Kay continued. “And very much in love.”

“I am,” Emma insisted.

Kay put her arms around her daughter and rested her cheek softly against Emma’s face. “Stay that way.”

E
MMA’S HEART
was thudding as she descended the narrow, carpeted staircase to the lobby of the inn behind her mother and Stephanie. At the foot of the stairs, Stephanie picked up their bouquets from the hall table and handed the bride’s bouquet up to Emma. Emma peeked into the timber-ceilinged room. All of the guests fit into a few short rows of straight-backed chairs that faced the flower-bedecked mantelpiece and blazing hearth.

Standing in front of the fireplace, in his robes, was Judge Harold Williamson, who was going to perform the ceremony. David had insisted on a civil ceremony. He had no use for organized religion. David wasn’t godless, as he carefully explained to Emma, but he was definitely anti-organized religion. In her heart of hearts, Emma would have preferred a church wedding, but she deferred to his strong feelings. A wedding was a wedding. Next to Judge Williamson was Burke Heisler, wearing an impeccable gray suit that looked attractive with his blond hair and matched his gray eyes. Those gray eyes were now trained anxiously on the entrance to the room through which one could see the front door of the inn. Clearly, he was looking for David Webster. The space reserved for the groom was empty.

“Where is he?” Emma whispered.

“Let me duck out and see if his car is in the parking lot,” said Stephanie.

“Thanks,” said Emma. Her bouquet of white roses and lily of the valley trembled in her hand.

“Don’t worry,” Kay whispered soothingly, rubbing Emma’s back. “He’ll be here.”

Somewhere behind her, she heard Rory clear his throat.

David has changed his mind, Emma thought. Oh my God! She closed her eyes, wishing she could make herself disappear. I should have known, she thought. He’s always been a free spirit, a guy with no strings attached. He didn’t want a house and a wife and a baby. I always knew that. What made me think he could change overnight? Why did I agree to this wedding? And he’s probably furious about the prenup, she thought. He thinks it was my idea, that I sent Rory over to blindside him. He doesn’t want any part of me or my family. But still, it’s so cruel. Oh, David, how can you leave me here like this? This is one of those nightmares that you think can’t possibly be real.

“Here he is,” said Kay

Emma opened her eyes and looked at her mother, faint with relief. “David, where?”

“Right there,” said Kay, pointing to the man who had just entered the room and was heading toward the front.

Emma gasped when she saw him. David’s dark, wavy hair had been trimmed and combed, and he was wearing a beautiful navy suit with a silk tie. He looked so handsome that her knees buckled at the sight of him. He did not look at her as he hurriedly walked past the fireplace and inserted himself between the judge and his best man. Burke gave him an awkward hug, and then David straightened out his jacket, crossed his hands in front of him, and glanced toward the back of the room, meeting Emma’s gaze. He drew in a deep breath and his eyes widened. He mimed a wolf whistle. There was a murmur that sounded like a chuckle from the assembled guests.

Emma’s face turned pink, and her anxieties melted away.

Kay took her daughter’s hand in hers. “Okay, sweetie. Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Emma whispered. Her heart was pounding with excitement. Kay and Emma began to walk toward the front, and Emma could feel her legs trembling beneath the satin gown. She thought for a moment of her baby, their baby, present at the wedding of his parents. Someday she and David would tell their child about their wedding day. They reached the judge, and Kay kissed Emma’s cheek and whispered in her ear, “Be happy, my darling.” Emma nodded, but she wasn’t really listening. All she could see was her husband.

T
HE FERVENT VOWS
pledged, the rings and kisses exchanged, Emma and David tore their gaze from each other and turned to face their guests. A waiter came around with a tray of champagne, but Emma refused it, asking for a glass of sparkling cider. When he brought it to her, she and David clinked glasses, drank, and then shared one more kiss before they went to greet their guests. In the next room, silverware tinkled as guests began to visit the elegant luncheon buffet table, laden with rich pâtés, fresh seafood, and chateaubriand, which Kay McLean had arranged. The jazz combo riffed, and more hors d’oeuvres were passed as the guests began to mingle. People took seats at the small tables around the room, covered in white linen and anchored with clear bowls of white butterfly orchids and gardenias. The first person whom Emma encountered was Aurelia Martin, Kay’s oldest friend, and the mother of Emma’s closest friend, Jessica. Aurelia had always been like an aunt to Emma. She was seated at a table, nursing a glass of champagne. She stood up to give Emma a kiss.

“Aunt Aurelia,” Emma said. “I’m so glad to see you. Where’s Uncle Frank?”

Aurelia’s husband was much older than she and in ill health. “Darling, he’s not really well enough for an occasion like this.”

“Well, give him a hug for me,” said Emma. “And how’s Jessie doing? She always tells me she’s bored staying in bed.”

“Oh, she’s bored all right,” said Aurelia. “But she’s following doctor’s orders. Anything for the baby. She hates missing your wedding though. She made me promise to give her a full report. I’ll tell her how beautiful you look. And what a handsome groom you have there.”

“Thank you.” Emma beamed and followed Aurelia’s gaze. Across the room, David was crouched down beside the chair where his mother sat. He was offering her a plate with tiny portions of food.

Helen Webster, gaunt in a pink polyester coatdress that seemed to be a size too large, was tethered, by a pair of long, clear tubes, to an oxygen tank on wheels. Her skin was white and looked bloodless. Helen’s sole hope for survival was a heart transplant, but her blood type was rare, and her chances seemed slim. She was in the end stages of heart disease and her activities were extremely limited, but she watched the wedding scene with lively eyes and began to pick at the food on the plate David had brought to her.

“He seems like a very nice young man,” said Aurelia.

“He is,” said Emma.

“Has Jessie met him?” Aurelia asked.

“Not yet,” Emma admitted. She and David had spent most of their courtship in New York City, but David had resisted her efforts to get them together with Jessie and her husband, Chris. He had insisted that he didn’t want to waste any of their precious time with other people. Emma suspected that he also didn’t want her friends judging him. But that was no longer an issue. “She’ll meet him soon,” Emma promised.

“Well, you two be happy together,” Aurelia said, laying a feathery touch on Emma’s hand before she resumed her seat.

“Excuse me, may I kiss the bride?”

Emma turned and saw Burke Heisler gazing warmly at her. She put her arms around his neck and could smell his elegant, lightly scented aftershave as he held her tightly for a moment. “Oh, Burke. I’m so happy.”

“You look happy,” he said. “And completely ravishing.”

Emma made a little curtsy of gratitude.

“I was just a little worried there for a minute,” Burke said. “About the groom.”

“So was I,” she admitted. “When I saw he wasn’t here, I thought he’d changed his mind.”

“I never thought that. He’d have to be insane,” said Burke.

Emma blushed. “Well, thanks. And thanks for being such a good friend to us.”

“I only wish Natalie were here to see it,” Burke said, and she saw the pain deep in his eyes. “She would have approved.”

“I like to think so,” said Emma. “If only I had realized in time…You know, and been able to help her.”

“You? Imagine how I feel,” he said.

Emma squeezed his hand, not knowing what she could say to him to try to make this day easier for him. “A lot of her life was such a nightmare. I think the only real happiness she ever knew was with you.”

Burke shrugged. “I won’t lie to you, Emma. It was difficult to be married to her at times. But it could be great too. Those are the times I prefer to remember. Anyway, that’s what marriage is all about,” he said, trying, and failing, to sound upbeat. “The good times and the bad.” He forced himself to smile, and Emma smiled back.

“Thanks for being here for us today. I know how hard it is,” she said.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” he said.

“I should go and say hello to my mother-in-law,” Emma said apologetically.

“You go on,” he said, smiling as Emma lifted the hem of her gown and started across the room toward the table where Helen sat. Sitting on the other side of Helen was a pudgy, cheerful-looking woman with short gray hair. She had high color in her sixty-year-old cheeks, probably because of the champagne. Birdie, Helen’s first cousin, was a widow. A few years ago, she had moved into David’s boyhood home to live rent-free and look after her ailing cousin.

David straightened up, and Emma came over and touched David on the arm. He turned to her with relief in his eyes. “Hey, baby.”

Emma kissed him and then bent over and touched Helen’s hand, which lay limp on the arm of the chair. Her hand was ice-cold.

“How are you feeling today, Helen?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” said Helen. Her voice was faint. “I just wish Phil could have been here.” Phil was David’s older brother, an attorney who lived in Seattle. He had been invited but said he couldn’t rearrange his schedule in time.

“Me too, Mom,” said David.

Helen had struggled fiercely, working as a waitress to raise her sons after David’s father, a furniture salesman and a chronic gambler, abandoned his young family. Alan Webster was a man whom David never mentioned without disgust. He told Emma that one reason he was afraid of fatherhood was because of his father’s abandonment. He didn’t want to be that kind of father, despised by his wife and children.

“Hey, mind if we join you, sis?” said a paunchy, white-haired man carrying a plate piled high with beef and lobster. He was followed by an extremely skinny little woman with frizzy hair and a weathered face.

“John, Tilly,” said Helen. “Sit down here.”

“We will. Hey, cuz,” John said, pecking Birdie on the cheek as he took a seat.

“Hi, sweetie,” Birdie said cheerfully, stopping a passing waitress to exchange her empty champagne glass for a full one.

“Emma,” said David. “I’d like you to meet my aunt and uncle, John and Tilly Zamsky. They’re the ones with the cabin,” said David.

“Oh, hello,” said Emma warmly, shaking their hands. She had heard many stories about the good-natured plumber and his wife, who had tried to include his fatherless nephews in his family life. “Thank you so much for lending us your place for the weekend.”

John Zamsky waved a meaty hand. “You’re welcome to it. I don’t use the place anymore. I used to take these boys fishing there when they were little. Remember that, Davey, huh?”

“Of course. Did you recognize Burke, my best man? He came with us a few times,” said David.

“Was he that little fat kid whose father owned the casino?”

David nodded. “That’s Burke.”

John Zamsky chuckled. “Oh hell, I wouldn’t recognize any of you anymore. You guys were just pip-squeaks then. We did have some fun times there though. I just never get out that way nowadays.”

“Nowadays, you can’t get him out of his recliner,” Tilly confided.

“How long since we been there, Till?” John Zamsky asked.

Tilly rolled her eyes. “A couple of years.”

“Our kids never use it,” said John. “We ought to sell it.”

“Someday they might use it,” Tilly protested staunchly. “Besides, you hold on to real estate. Everybody knows that. Things appreciate.”

“Well, we appreciate your lending it to us,” said Emma. “It should be lovely there in November.”

“Oh, yes,” said Tilly. “Perfect time of year.”

“You kids enjoy it,” said John Zamsky. “Go and have a good time.”

Emma and David smiled at each other. “We will,” said David.

“Look at them. They can’t wait to get out of here,” said John.

Tilly elbowed her husband. “John!”

Emma blushed, but David put his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Don’t expect me to deny it.”

“How are you feeling, Helen?” Tilly asked sympathetically.

“I’m enjoying myself,” said Helen.

“Is this too much excitement for you?” Tilly fretted.

“Ah, leave her alone. She’s fine,” said John Zamsky. “Hey, Davey, I like this jazz group you got. They’re playing some great old songs.”

David gazed into Emma’s eyes. “It is time we danced,” he said.

“Just don’t overdo it,” said Tilly to David’s mother. “You don’t want to collapse.”

Helen’s bloodless lips turned up in a weak grin and her tired eyes were alight. “Oh, stop fussing. I’m fine. I’m enjoying this. I never thought I’d see this day. This kid always said he’d never get married. We’d go in a store and he’d say, ‘Look at that poor guy. His wife’s leadin’ him around by the ring in his nose.’ I used to laugh when he said that. Remember that, Davey? You always used to say that. You said you’d never let any woman do that to you.” She shook her head. “Now look at you. The ring may be on your finger, but it’s a ring, all the same.”

David looked at her without smiling. “I don’t remember that.”

Helen shook her head. “This does my heart good. If I collapse, so be it. At least I’ll die happy.”