So Right With You (25 page)

Chloe noticed all he had on was his suit coat. That would never be sufficient for a winter in Minnesota. “Didn’t you pack a bag?”

“Are you kidding me? Once I came to my senses, I fueled up the jet immediately and came here directly. I left Donna May in charge, if you can believe that. Kenny and Craig are supposed to stop by and make sure she’s not ruining my company. I still can’t forgive you for leaving me with Donna May as my assistant. How could you?”

“Has she been that bad? She seemed to be doing fine when I left. She just needed someone to believe in her. Her ex had really done quite a number on her self-esteem. Once she was made to feel indispensable, she seemed to be doing fine. What did you do to change that?” She pursed her lips.

“Nothing.” He looked defensive. “She’s just not you.” Chloe didn’t need to know what a mess he had become after she left.

“You know I still plan to take the job with Dreams Made Possible.”

“Sweetheart, I would never hold you back. Your happiness is everything to me. All that matters to me is that we’re together. That reminds me.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Tiffany ring box. “I picked this up along the way.”

Chloe eyes widened. Her eyes watered as he got down on one knee to propose. She bit her lip to keep from shedding more tears. A few leaked out anyway. Garrett opened the box, and she saw that it was a round-cut pink diamond surrounded by a cluster of white diamonds. “Oh, Garrett. It’s too much.”

“Shhh.” He took her hand. “A man only gets one shot at doing this right. Sweetheart, I never knew love until you came into my life. Will you marry me, Chloe Elizabeth Lambert?”

She stared at him for a long moment. His brow wrinkled, indicating he was nervous. Finally, she whispered, “Yes.” Tears of happiness glistened in her eyes.

“Oh, thank God, Red. You had me worried there for a second.”

He slipped the ring on her finger and stood. Putting his hands into what she knew to be his most favorite place—the back pockets of her blue jeans—he yanked her close and kissed her more thoroughly.

The smoke alarms going off inside the house ended any further displays of affection.

“What the hell?” Garrett cursed.

“Oh, crap. I forgot about Grams.” Chloe ran for the kitchen with Garrett behind her, only to see her grandmother opening the oven door to retrieve the charred cupcakes. She had tried to bake them herself and had set the temperature all the way up. “You were taking so long. I thought I’d take care of it for you, but I must have set it wrong.”

Chloe glanced at the temperature. It read five hundred degrees. They were lucky she hadn’t burned down the house. “It’s okay. Let me take care of it, Grams.”

Garrett opened the back door to air the place out while Chloe turned off the stove and threw the ruined cupcakes in the trash.

Once order was restored, Garrett watched her grandmother while she made a new batch of cupcakes. As expected, her grandma was not immune to Garrett’s charm. In fact, she kept calling him by her late husband’s name, and Garrett being Garrett, he kept smiling at her indulgently.

Later that night, they were finally alone after an evening spent answering a series of rapid-fire questions posed by Chloe’s parents, including an explanation of how they were under the mistaken impression she had been staying with a woman by the name of Sandra. Privately, Chloe had explained that she had been looking at a cover with Sandra Bullock on it and hadn’t wanted her parents to know she was staying with him. Garrett smiled as he thought about it, then announced, “Don’t get mad or anything. But you know how you sold your wedding dress on eBay?”

“Yeah.” She eyed him warily.

“I kind of bought it for you. I know you wanted to pay me back, but I also know how much you liked that dress. I only bought it for you when I thought I’d lost you and that you were going to marry Trevor. I’d planned to give it to you as a sort of wedding gift. I’d understand if you’d rather not wear it because truthfully, I rather you not wear it, either. You know, bad luck and all.” Garrett gave a look of distaste. “In fact, I think we should burn it to make sure.” He smiled, seeming to be enjoying the image.

Chloe shook her head. Would this man ever cease to astonish her? What man in his right mind buys a dress for a woman he thinks is going to marry someone else? Only Garrett. The man was nuts. She was convinced of it.

Taking in the expression on Chloe’s face, his brow furrowed. He was truly worried he had ruined things. Why couldn’t he have kept his big mouth shut? He plowed on again. “So I arranged through friends of mine for Vera Wang to personally design your wedding dress. We leave tomorrow morning for New York.”

Garrett glanced up to see Chloe’s mouth drop open. Now he knew he had her. He beamed. One thing about Chloe, she did love clothes. “Now think about it. Once we’re married, what’s mine is yours, so does it really matter anymore who paid for the clothes?”

She still didn’t respond. He had stumped her. He reached over and gently pushed her mouth shut. “By the way, I don’t plan to wait too long. I’ll give you two weeks to plan it. I thought Valentine’s Day would be nice.”

Just when Chloe didn’t think he could surprise her further, he’d delivered his final punch. Two weeks to plan a wedding. The man was definitely certifiable. She glanced at him one more time. Garrett did look a little worried. Good. Despite his faults, or maybe because of them, she loved him, and Valentine’s Day would be the perfect day to marry him. But she wasn’t about to let him off that easily. She waited a moment longer, causing him to squirm a bit. Then she sighed in resignation. “Okay. Valentine’s Day will be perfect.”

With a mere two weeks to do the wedding planning, Garrett and Chloe had done the impossible and managed to pull off a large-scale wedding in record time. Much of the credit for this feat had to be given to the groom, who had been fully committed to making the wedding his bride’s dream come true. It helped that they had chosen a place that meant the world to both of them, the Rainbow Star Ranch. Tents had been erected, and a meadow close to where they had once made love had been picked for the ceremony spot. Of course, Garrett had made sure personally that there was no poison oak anywhere near the vicinity. Garrett had even surprised her last night by showing her the pink camellias he had had planted by the front porch. She couldn’t believe he had managed to pull that off in addition to planning their wedding. The man could be so thoughtful.

Chloe was waiting in the downstairs guest bedroom for her stepfather to come and walk her down the aisle. Her mother and stepsister, Dana, had just left to take their seats after checking on her. Recently, Dana had found out she was carrying twins. Twins definitely seemed to run in the family. Chloe couldn’t wait to start a family with Garrett. Glancing at the clock, she noticed it was time.

Once again, she had sought the assistance of Carter Graham. Everything looked amazing with crystal chandeliers, expensive place settings, and gorgeous flower arrangements. Chloe had done a walkthrough earlier with tears in her eyes to give her final approval on everything. She couldn’t believe this moment was finally here. With pre-wedding nerves creating butterflies in her stomach, Chloe thought she would have been satisfied with a much smaller gathering with only her closest friends and family.

From her involvement with Dreams Made Possible, though, she had made many new friends who had all wanted to come and share the day with her. She hadn’t wanted to disappoint any of them. Garrett had arranged for her entire family to come, including Grandma Lambert. She, according to Garrett, was the most important one since she had helped Chloe come to her senses and admit her feelings for him. That made her presence priceless to him. He had hired a caregiver for her to make sure she was there and to relieve Chloe’s mother so she could better enjoy the wedding without worry. He had also hired a nanny to keep the twins out of trouble, much to her brothers’ embarrassment. According to them, they were too old for a babysitter.

Chloe was relieved he had done it. Her eleven-year-old brothers could be such pranksters. She wondered what kind of stunt they would try to pull off today. She hoped they wouldn’t get into too much trouble.

Chloe had finally gotten her dream bridesmaids dresses in red. Last night, she and her best friends had gathered for a “burning of the old wedding dress” ceremony for good luck. The dress Vera Wang had created hung on the back of the door, ready for her to put on. It was stunning. She couldn’t believe Garrett had managed to arrange for it on such short notice. He was amazing, and she was lucky to be marrying him.

Ree, Leighton, Harper, Kali, and Kate hustled into the room in a swirl of red chiffon, taffeta, and nylon tricot. Each had chosen a dress suited to their unique personalities.

“I can’t believe the day is finally here.” Leighton ran her hands down the sides of her sequined, single-strap, floor-length, nylon tricot dress. She looked a little pale to Chloe. She had been having trouble with some sort of stomach virus she hadn’t been able to kick. Chloe was just glad she was able to make it.

“Did you see who’s on the guest list? I saw Bailey York out there.” Bailey was a teenage heartthrob who was currently starring on TV in one of the latest teen shows. “I can’t believe it.” Kali twirled the skirt of her short red chiffon, spaghetti-strapped gown. She wore the wig Chloe had had made for her. Although her chemo treatments had stopped and she was regaining her strength, her hair hadn’t grown back enough yet to go without it.

She and Kate were junior bridesmaids, and they wore matching dresses.

“He’s a friend of mine. I went to school with him. I kind of invited him as my date,” Kate answered.

“Are you kidding? You went to school with Bailey York?”

“Yeah, but he wasn’t Bailey York then.”

“That is so cool. Can you introduce me? It would be so totally awesome to meet him.”

“Sure. But what about Josh?” She laughed. “Isn’t he going to be jealous?”

“No, Josh and I are good. I just want to meet him.” Kali said. She and Josh had continued dating after the fundraiser.

“Okay, I’ll introduce you at the reception.” Kate said.

“It’s time,” Ree announced, looking beautiful in her strapless sweetheart-neckline, floor-length chiffon dress, which fit her perfectly.

“Carter has banned him from the reception area until showtime. His best men—Craig, Kenny, and Cam—had to drag him away. Can you believe the man was actually counting chairs?” Harper laughed. She had actually found a beautiful red-and-black floral dress with a sequin-embellished T-strap that was playing peek-a-boo with a few of her more prominent tattoos. She had toned down her dark hair for the wedding and wore it in an upsweep similar to Leighton’s and Ree’s styles.

“He’s been driving me crazy. Who knew Garrett would become the male version of Bridezilla? I’ll be glad when this is all over.” Chloe sighed.

“Let’s get you in your dress before you’re late for your own wedding.” Ree reached for the dress. Chloe hadn’t wanted to put it on until the last moment for fear of accidentally ruining it. The girls gathered around her to help her step into the A-line sweetheart organza gown, which had handmade flowers enveloping the skirt. Ree pulled up the invisible zipper running up the back.

“One last thing.” She reached for the tiara Chloe had chosen in place of a veil and placed it on her head. “You look beautiful.” Ree fanned herself as her eyes became watery. “Oh, boy, I told myself I’m not going to cry.”

“Stop that. You’re going to make me cry.” Chloe felt her own eyes becoming moist. Looking at her other two friends, she noticed they also had tears in their eyes. “You guys. I’m just getting married today. I am not going away forever.”

“Do you have everything you need?” Leighton asked. “You know, something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue?”

“Oh, sure. Garrett’s mom gave me a hanky that she carried in her own wedding for something borrowed. I have my grandmother’s necklace that she wore in her wedding for something old. And of course my engagement ring for something new.” She bit her lip. “With the rush and everything, I forgot something blue. Darn, and I wanted everything to be perfect.”

“I think I have something to take care of that.” Ree showed her a Tiffany box. “This is from your groom.”

Chloe opened the box. It held a beautiful blue sapphire-and-diamond tennis bracelet. “This is gorgeous. I can’t believe he thought of everything.”

“We can,” her friends said in unison. “He loves you.”

“We’d better go. We’re first up the aisle. You look beautiful, Chloe,” Kate said.

“Yeah, you really do,” Kali agreed. With that, both girls started for the exit.

Kate stopped in the doorway, turned, and came back to hug her. “My brother’s a lucky man. I can’t wait until we’re sisters.” Kate then ran out the door to catch up with Kali.

“One second, guys.” Chloe put her hand out for their secret handshake from camp. Each woman piled her hand on top of the others until both hands were in the stack. “Friends forever, through thick or thin, good times and bad. You know I love you all.”

“Now I know I’m going to cry.” Harper sniffed.

“You big softy,” Ree said, as they all reached over to give her a group hug.

The music started to play, signaling the start of the wedding.

“All right, this is it,” Chloe said.

They all left to take their place in the procession. Chloe finally began to walk down the aisle with her stepfather, who patted her arm. “I love you, Sweet Pea.”

“Love you, too, Dad.”

She glanced at the people who had gathered on either side to witness her union with Garrett. There were so many people who had come to mean so much to her in the last few months. Both Garrett’s family and hers sat at the front. She wasn’t sure whose mother wore a larger grin, hers or his. Dana sat next to her husband, Joe. Her twin brothers sat with the nanny between them; smart woman. And of course, Grams sat in a front and center aisle seat between her mother and the caregiver.

Spotting Chloe proceeding down the aisle, Grams called out, “Meredith, I told you it would all work out.”

Chloe smiled. No family was perfect, but hers was pretty special, and she loved them.

When she reached the arbor that had been erected for the occasion, her eyes connected with Garrett’s. He smiled and whispered, “I love you.” And she knew she couldn’t ask for any greater gift than the man about to become her husband. He was so right for her.