Secrets in the Lowcountry--The River (3 page)

“
For the
rest of you, we
require
your help, too. After you return home and have launched your boats, call
here
.
Until the authorities take over, we’ll handle the search
by allocating a
team
a section to
inspect.
It’s essential w
e get
as much help as possible
.
” After a quick glance at his watch, he added, “I’d say we have a little over three hours to bring the missing groom back.
T
hank
s
in advance for your assistance.
” He turned away from the guests.
“
Tim,
Emily, and Katie
; t
he sheriff,
the Coast Guard and the Department of Natural Resources
must be notified and the situation explained
.
Divide the calls. Please.
”

After a brief conference, the three moved away to make the
ir
calls.
Having a job appeared to help each of them.
             

T
he guests remained
relatively
quiet, almost subdued, as they exited the
backyard
, except one
woman. “Taylor, my poor baby.” She
pushed others aside as she scurried toward the house.
Her light
blue long dress skimm
ed
the grass and her arms wide open.
Tears ran down her face, but she ignored them. “My darling, daughter!”

“Oh, no,” Taylor cried.
“How did she get here?”
Furious, Taylor glanced at her father
and glared at him
. “Did you invite her?”

“Honey…”
he said
,
in a low apologetic tone.
“She’s your mother.”

“
Dad, how could you?
She has destroyed every special event in my life.”
Taylor
ignored his offered hand, turned hastily, gathered up the skirt of her wedding dress in her hands and started
back to the house
as quickly
as she could. She wasn’t
fast enough.

“T
aylor.”
Her mother
pulled
level with
her
,
grabbed her arm,
and managed to stop her daughter
.

Taylor
fought to control herself so that she didn’t make the
scene
with
her mother worse.
T
he hatred
and embarrassment
that had built up for half-a-lifetime threatened to boil over and
consume Taylor.
H
er
raw
emotions
bubbled near the top. With difficulty,
she
wrestled them down
.
Releasing the hold on her skirt, she
tried to pry
the hand
off. A
lthough slight, the woman held on with a
death grip.
Taylor ached
to lash out at the woman who had ruined her own life
as well as
her daughter
’s
and her husband
’s lives
.
Fearing she might spew her anger, T
aylor
sought to
escape the woman who called herself
her
mother.
Gratefully, Taylor’s
oldest friend
, Jeff Benjamin,
stepp
ed
forward.

“Mrs. Harris,
why don’t you go with
Dr. Harris
?
I’ll take care
of your daughter,
”
Jeff said in a quiet, gentle voice.

“Yes, Julia Ann
,” her father said
, having arrived a second later.
Martin
managed to ply
his estranged wife’s hand
off
Taylor. H
e p
laced
his arm around Julia Ann’s
shoulders
.
“Why don’t you come with me
?
Jeff
w
ill
take care of Taylor.”

Her mother
regarded
one
then
the other
. T
ears flow
ed
down her face
,
digging crevices in her heavy makeup
.
“M
y
baby needs me.” She edged
toward
Taylor
.

Jeff
quietly and quickly blocked her
path
, smiling
kindly
as
he did s
o
.
“Mrs. Harris, I promise I’ll take good care of her.
She’s been my best friend
since pre-school. ”
His patient, quiet manner
appe
ared to work
,
for Julia Ann
no longer struggled in Martin’s arms.

“If you’re sure…”
Her gaze gave the impression of one slightly
disconnected as she shifted her attention fro
m her husband to Jeff
.

“
Julia Ann,
Jeff and Taylor have been fr
iends since childhood.
You know
that
,” Martin reiterated Jeff’s words
.
“
Our daughter’s in good hands
.
”
Leading her mother away,
her father
continued talking and
assur
ing.

“If yo
u need
me, darling …
” Julia Ann s
aid
over her shoulder,
before being taken off toward the front of the house.

“Need you?
I needed you
for
years, b
ut you were never there,” Taylor
murmured as her mother shuffled away.
She glanced at Jeff, grateful
to have him to lean on
at least emotionally if not physically
. “Why
does
her behavior still
hurt?”
She eyed her mother’
s retreating figure.
“Emotionally that woman can tear me apart and
leave only pieces.
”
Taylor shook her head in disbelief.
“Even now, as a g
rown woman, she still has that a
ffect on me.”

Jeff
placed his hand behind her back and eased her to the back door and into the house. Once inside, he turned her toward him.
“Taylor, she loves you, but s
he can’t always control herself.
”
H
er best friend gently
took her in his arms and held her
loosely as if
trying not to crush her wedding dress
.

Taylor
didn
’t feel up to arguing with him.
As long as she could remember,
Jeff had been there for her.
When she
scramb
led
up
a
tree and fell out, he helped clean her up so her mother, who h
ad forbidden her to climb, wouldn’t
notice the dirt and skinned knees and elbows.
He understood her
and never lectured to her
.
He’d often been the only one to liste
n each time
her world dissolved,
usually because of
something her mother had done or a
scene her mother had caused.
F
or the moment, she absorbed his support and cried for herself, for her mother and for Rod.

“Rod.
”
F
ear and worry etched
the word.
“Do you think he abandon
ed
me at the altar?
Am I a forsaken bride?”

She heard Jeff’s muffled laugh, but not one full of joy.

“Never believe that.
He
sought
this wedding.
Even in high school, he bragged that he would marry the prettiest, smartest,
socially prominent
friendliest girl in the class.”

“Why didn’t he cho
o
se Eve Randolph, s
he fits the bill more than I do.
”
Jealously strengthened her
voice.

“
The only time he dated her was when he thought you and I might start going out.”

“Truly?”

“Truly.” He nodded. “
We’ll find h
im Tiny.
”

Hearing the name that only Jeff had ever called her gave Taylor a sense of comfort.
He had started calling her that
in middle school
whe
n she grew as tall as he was.
She
blinked
her eyes
and he offered her a tissue. With a sniff, she blew her nose and w
ip
ed the tears.
How like him to have just what she
required,
a tissue.
She took a deep breath trying to
stifle
the tears that continued to fall.
“Where can he be?”

“Rod probably ran ou
t of gas and couldn’t call because
he
’
s in a dead zone.”

She eased out of his arms.
“He’s sailed and cruised on that river all his life
, but running out of gas is possible.”
Taylor related the story she’d told her dad.

“
And getting married could have caused him to forget
to check the gas or the extra gas can
,” Jeff replied
, logically
.

“He told his best man
, Tim,
that he wanted to fish one more time as a single guy.”
She raised her head.
“
Are you sure you don’t
think he ran away from the wedding?” she asked incredulously, as she rocked back on her heels.

J
eff held her at arm’s length. “No, for all the reasons I’ve given you
. A
guy
doesn’t get married every
day.
Rod loved to fish.
He once told me his happiest times happen when he had a fly rod in his hand.”

Taylor’s eyes open wide, “He
…
?”

“Taylor, this was long bef
ore the two of you were an item.
”

She nodded, but couldn’t chase the
fear from her heart
as easily
as
from her mind.

“
Sometimes situations make us forget
our obligations.” Jeff
dabbed her damp cheek with another one of his tissues.
“Weddings, especially ones’ own, tend
to make us ove
rlook other things,
such as
rings, tide
tables, gas, etc.
Not that I’m an authority on getting married, but I have participated in several.
One of my friends drank too much the night before and thought he could fly.
”
Stopping, he decided this story won’t help.

She sniffled once more.
“You’re probabl
y right.”
Trying to lighten the
dark mood
that had sett
led deep in her bones, she said,
“
I
f you are, I hope all the mosquitoes
in the Lowcountry feast on him.”
V
engeance
stroked her
remark
.

“Ouch!
What a terrible fate.
Where’s your charity?”

“Right now,
non-existing
.
H
e can be inconsiderate, but h
ow could he do this to me
and all our friends
?”
She moved away from Jeff and immediately felt alone.

Jeff shrugged. “
He’ll be okay.”

Aunt Bertha saddled up to them
looking exactly as she had prior to playing
the piano
. Her white hair had been heavily sprayed and even the humidity of the Lowcountry couldn’t wilt the invisible hair net.
“
Taylor, I am sure God
w
ill
take
care of Rodney.
D
on’t worry.
”
She
offered her hand to
her niece.
“
Let’s go to your room and freshen your makeup.
You want to look beautiful when your bridegroom arrives.”