Stitches and Scars (43 page)

They spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around, primarily in the music room. Kate sat by the window in the large comfy chair and read, while Ethan played the piano. Taking a break from the magical world in which she was engrossed, she turned her attention to the pianist. She watched his fingers dance across the ivory and smiled at the expression on his face. With brows knitted together, he concentrated on the music in front of him until the final notes rang through the air. After a moment of silence, he took his hands away from the ivory and turned to face Kate.

“Let’s go for a hike.”

“A hike, really?” she asked skeptically.

“All right, not so much hiking; more like walking.”

The look of excitement on his face made it impossible to deny him. “Okay,” Kate said. “But let’s go before it’s too dark.”

An hour later they were walking in a park near New Hope and Kate had a feeling Ethan didn’t know where he was heading. “Are we lost?” she asked.

“No, of course not.”

She looked around the path they were on, not spotting a sign anywhere. “And you know this because … ?”

“Because I’ve been lost here before, a few times really. I’ve pretty much memorized the area.”

“You were lost here? When?” Kate thought back, attempting to recall a ‘lost in the woods’ story that he might have told her.

“The first time, I was with Trent. We went hiking before a football game. In fact, it was the game where he hooked up with Elle, remember? Sophie needed me to keep him busy and I’d wanted to go hiking for a while, so we went.”

“And you got lost,” Kate stated.

“Yes, but only for a few hours. And the second time, it wasn’t even half that long.”

She couldn’t understand why he was so excited about getting lost, especially when something could have happened to him. “Why would you keep coming back if you get lost?” Her disbelief and slight anger was a distraction, and she didn’t notice the root sticking up out of the dirt. Before she could catch herself, her foot caught and she stumbled forward, instinctively putting her arms out to break her fall. Only one hand hit the ground before she felt Ethan’s arms around her waist.

“Careful.” He pulled her body into his. “Let me see.”

“It’s just a scratch.” She brushed her hand over her capris, ignoring the sting it brought and looked up at him. “You still haven’t told me why in the world you go wandering in the woods, getting lost.”

“I’ll show you,” he said quietly while wrapping his arm around her.

They walked for another few minutes, and strangely enough, the surrounding area started looking familiar to Kate. She couldn’t quite place it, but it felt like she was reliving a dream.

“Notice anything familiar?” Ethan asked.

“I’m not sure. I—”

Just as she was about to tell him that she thought she might have been there before, they came around a bend in the path and she saw it—her tree. The same tree she’d stumbled across so long ago, the same tree in the picture which now hung in the bedroom that she and Ethan shared.

“How did you? I mean … what … how?” she mumbled incoherently. Her feet were stuck to the ground as she stared in shock at the large tree that stood off the path. It was just as perfect as she’d remembered, just as perfect as the moment that she’d captured it. The dark bark twisted and swirled around the trunk, and its full branches were bursting with vibrant green leaves. She was so entranced with seeing it again that she didn’t even notice the blanket spread out beneath it.

“Ever since that day in the gallery when you said you had no clue where it was, I was curious. I wanted to find it, to sit under it and know that you’d been there too. Of course, after we got together, I had other reasons for wanting to find it. I wanted to come here with you.” Ethan rubbed her arm affectionately.

“I can’t believe you found it,” Kate gasped, once she was composed enough to speak. Running over to the tree, she walked underneath the canopy of its branches while memories came flooding back to her. “You know, when I found this tree, I was so sad. So broken and hurt. I remember wondering if I’d ever be happy again. I sat here and wondered how old it was. I imagined that it had been around for a while and that I wasn’t the first person to sit in its shade. I wondered if other couples had been here, had sat in this very place. Now being here …,” she trailed off. “This time, everything is different. Is it weird to say I feel like I’ve come full circle?” She turned around and saw Ethan leaning against the trunk of the tree with his arms folded. The sun poured through the branches lighting up his face and making his hair look lighter than normal. Her breath caught as she watched him, completely enamored.

“I wondered the same thing when I found it. And I’m glad that
this
time, you’re here under different circumstances, although you are hurt a little.” He pointed to her hand. Pushing off the tree, he walked over to a picnic basket and pulled out a little first aid kit. “Occupational habit.” He smirked, holding up the small box.

She rolled her eyes playfully and sat down next to him. Very carefully, he lifted her hand and wiped the dirt away. She watched his face as he studied her palm before applying an ointment and covering it with a Band-Aid. Even after he was finished, he held her hand, looking at it closely as if it held something important.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t fast enough earlier,” he spoke, still keeping his head down.

“Are you kidding? It was my fault. And look at the bright side. It could have been worse. You could be giving me stitches.”

Her comment loosened him up a bit and he started laughing. “No more stitches for you. You have enough scars,” he said, looking up at her.

“I can’t promise I won’t ever get hurt again. But if I do, at least I have you to fix me.”

The smile on his face faded slightly and he reached forward, taking her other hand in his. They sat face-to-face across from each other, and that familiar, unidentifiable energy that they always felt pulsed around them.

“You may not be able to promise, but I can.” He paused. “I can’t promise you that you won’t get hurt physically, of course. But I can promise you, Kate, that you will never feel broken again. You will never have to come to this tree and wonder if you’ll ever be happy. You will never feel lost or alone, because I’ll be here.”

Kate sat silent, listening to his words and looking into his beautiful blue eyes. He stared back at her as if he could see right into her soul. Her chest felt tight, and she took a deep breath, reveling in the joy that rushed over her. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop the tears that pooled in her eyes as she continued to listen to him speak.

“I knew the first time that I saw you. The first time I looked into your beautiful eyes, I knew there was something. I didn’t even know you, but when I walked away … I
missed
you. And we’d barely even talked.” He laughed, shaking his head. “Call it cosmic forces, magic, fate, whatever you want, but I
know
I’m supposed to be with you. I know that being with you has been the best part of my life. You make my life better. And I can’t imagine a day without you in it. I’ve found my one—my other half that knows me better than anyone. The one person I can’t live without. I want to have children with you. I want to watch them grow up to be just as loving and smart and funny and generous as their mother. You are my life, my missing piece, and my best friend. Please, Katherine Elizabeth Thomas, please say that you’ll have me as your husband.”

Tears, which once brimmed in her eyes, now ran down her cheeks in trails of silver. She didn’t even bother wiping them away as she lunged forward, and crashed her lips to Ethan’s. Wrapping her arms around him, she held herself as close as possible—as if squeezing him that tight could somehow bind them together permanently. She pulled away from his lips only so she could speak.

“Yes,” she said, before kissing his cheek. “Yes.” She kissed again, moving to his chin. “Yes.” His eyelids. “Yes.” His forehead. “Yes. ” His jaw. She continued to kiss every inch of his face, and with every kiss came the word yes.

Ethan laughed at her enthusiasm, but never once tore his body or lips from hers. Together they sat under their tree, wrapped in each other’s arms, and watched the sun set as another day ended.

Turning her head, Kate smiled up at Ethan and she knew, without a doubt, that although this day was ending, their life together was just beginning.

Epilogue

11:30 A.M.

C
ome on! He was safe! Open your eyes, ump!” Trent yelled at the TV before running his hands over his face in frustration.

“What’d you lose?” Ethan asked, knowing that he was fond of betting on sports.

Trent’s eyes didn’t leave the screen. “Huh?” he asked under his breath.

“The game, how much did you lose?” Ethan repeated.

“I didn’t.”

“Then why are you all messed up over it?”

“Because I lost.” He shrugged.

“I thought you said you didn’t lose any money.” By this point, Logan was leaning over as well, engrossed in the conversation.

“I didn’t lose
money,
” Trent said simply.

“Then what did you lose?”

“Nurse Betty,” he sighed, hanging his head.

Both Ethan and Logan looked at each other on the verge of laughter and still had no clue what he was talking about. “Nurse Betty?”

“Trent, please tell me you’re not thinking about cheating on my sister, because I will beat you,” Logan said.

“Dude, I
am
talking about your sister.” It took a second for what he said to register in Ethan’s mind, and once it did he couldn’t help but laugh.

Logan, on the other hand, was still a little lost. “What does my sister have to do with Nurse Betty?”

Trent sat back in the bar stool and grabbed the beer off the counter. He crossed his ankles and took one long pull from the bottle before speaking. “That same thing she has to do with Kristen the teacher, Rosanna the foreign exchange student, Michelle the cheerleader, and Linda the librarian. And now, thanks to that play by Wilson, it’s going to be another week before I get to meet Nurse Betty.”

Recognition spread over Logan’s face. His eyes went wide and his lips pressed together.

“Are you telling me you make bets on games, and if you win, she has to dress up for you?” Ethan asked, honestly curious.

“Nope.” He grinned like a kid. “If
she
wins she dresses up for me.”

Ethan’s eyes went as wide as Logan’s, but didn’t look nearly as angry.

“Trent, can you please not talk about my sister’s sexual preferences.”

“I’m not talking about preferences. I’m just saying she likes to role play. If I was talking about sexual preferences, I’d tell you about this one move she likes. It’s when I—”

“Okay, let me rephrase that then. Can you please refrain from anything that may have to do with my baby sister in a sexual way?”

“I’ll try.” Trent grinned back. “But I can’t promise anything.”

Logan accepted his friend’s ‘almost promise’ and went back to watching the game while Ethan looked around the room for a distraction. He knew he had a few hours until he needed to get dressed, and when he started thinking about it, he only grew more impatient. Being away from Kate made him anxious, and he hadn’t seen her since yesterday morning. The only thing stopping him from going to see her that very moment were the Sassy Sophie and the Sharp Tongue Amazon Elle, who he knew would be guarding her door. With a sigh, he looked around the room. “Hey, anyone interested in a game of pool?” he asked, eyeing the table.

“Always,” Trent responded, pushing back from the bar and heading over to the pool table. “Care to make it a little interesting?”

Ethan smirked. “As long as you don’t want me in a bar wench outfit, I think I’m up for anything.”

“Hmm, bar wench. I’ll have to remember that one,” his big friend said in a daze.

“Come on, Williams, let’s play,” Logan commanded, walking past with a roll of his eyes.

With a laugh and a shake of his head, Ethan was relieved to have two friends that might be able to keep his mind off of his beautiful bride that was on the opposite side of the building, even if the task would be impossible. He was always thinking of her.

11:33 A.M.

“Left together, right together, left together, right together,” Kate mumbled as she held onto the bottom of her robe, pulling it up over her knees. She watched her feet practice for what must have been the hundredth time in the last eight months.

Ever since that amazing day when Ethan proposed, she’d been in a wedding whirlwind of flowers and lace. Not knowing exactly what she wanted, she was quickly schooled by Sophie, her mom, Ethan’s mom, and even Lori on Wedding Planning 101—a job which they were more than happy to fulfill. Thankfully, her mother and Sabrina hit it off immediately. Apparently, planning a wedding was the best way for two people to become best friends because that’s what happened. Their personalities balanced each other perfectly, and together they planned a wedding that anyone would be envious of.

“Kate, sweetheart, you do realize that you can’t walk down the aisle like that, right? It would look a little funny,” Sophie said while she arranged the pins in her friend’s hair.

“Yes, despite what you think, I
do
know that walking down the aisle, staring at my feet with my dress pulled up over my head, is not normal. Ouch, be careful.” She winced as a piece of hair was yanked from her scalp.

“I don’t know,” Elle interrupted. “I doubt Bones would mind seeing you walking like that.”

Kate glanced at Sophie with a smirk, and the three of them doubled over in laughter, Kate’s sounding a bit hysterical, no doubt a side effect of the nerves. Leave it to her bold friend to try and lighten the mood with a sexual comment. Once the giggles died down, the flutter of butterflies returned. “Time check?” Kate asked.

Sophie glanced at the clock. “A little over an hour and a half to go; we should get you in your dress in the next half hour so I can take your hair down.”

“Already?” the bride squeaked. “Don’t you think you guys should get in your dresses first, and then I’ll get in mine?” Any nervous feelings she’d had over the past eight months suddenly tripled, and she felt her stomach go sour.

“No, it won’t take us any time at all.” Sophie waved. “Besides, you’re the bride. We have to make sure
you’re
perfect first.”

She nodded quickly and felt the gurgling and churning begin. A cold sweat started to bead up on her forehead, and both her friends watched with wide eyes.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” Elle asked, placing her hand on Kate’s shoulder.

Before she could respond, she felt the bile rise in the back of her throat. Clamping her hand over her mouth, she took off for the bathroom, praying that she’d make it to the toilet in time.

11:51 A.M.

“Red stripe, left pocket,” Ethan called before making his move and watching the ball sink right in as he wanted.

“Damn it,” Trent groaned, throwing the pool stick on the table in defeat. “I hate playing with doctors. Your hands are too steady.”

“Oh please, you always use that excuse because your dad and I are the only ones who can beat you.”

“Hold on,” he said, holding up his finger. “First off, you make it sound like you kick my ass all the time, which you know isn’t true, and secondly, don’t try saying that your steady hands don’t come into play.”

“If my doctor hands come into play, then how did I beat you when we were younger?” Ethan smirked, knowing he had him.

“Hell if I know. All I can remember is I could always beat you. Then that summer when we got back from camp, you picked up your game.”

There was no hiding the triumphant grin that spread over Ethan’s face. Trent was always asking him what happened that summer and would teasingly chalk it up as puberty or some other crazy excuse. What he never stopped to consider was that one of their camp leaders was very skilled at the game of pool, skilled enough that she was training to compete on a national level. They’d spent a lot of their nights playing, and she’d taught Ethan everything she knew.

“Remember that summer at Camp Winacoke?” he asked.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Remember one of the counselors was great at pool?

It took Trent a few seconds but clarity started setting in. “Blonde, killer rack, the one who beat any guy she took on at the table?”

“Sure, sure, I guess she was attractive.” He nodded.

“Dude, she wasn’t just attractive—she was hot. Granted, she had nothing on Elle, but still, she was hot. What about her, anyway?”

“We were friends and she taught me how to play,” Ethan admitted.

“She
taught
you?” he asked, completely blown away. “How did you manage that? She wouldn’t give any guys the time of day, let alone take a minute to give personal lessons. We all swore she dug chicks.”

“We were friends. She hated that you always beat me and decided to make sure it didn’t happen again. Between her classes and my steady hands,” he held up said hands, “I became unstoppable.”

“Don’t go that far. You’re not unstoppable. I can still take you.”

Logan tossed his pool stick from one hand to the other. “You guys are wasting your breath arguing. We all know I can take you
both
down.”

“All right, let’s go another round. You break.”

The three friends spent the next twenty minutes playing pool, and between Logan and Ethan, they were in fact unstoppable.

“How did you learn to play so damn well? Don’t tell me a hot chick taught you,” Trent asked Logan after losing another round.

“Do you really want to know?”

Trent nodded and grabbed another beer off the bar.

“My sister.”

Trent froze, bottle to his lips and spun on his heel to face his friend. He swallowed loudly and paused before speaking. “Elle can play?”

“Oh, she can play. Better than any of us, in fact.” Logan looked at Ethan with a smile.

“He’s right. I played her when we were kids and it wasn’t pretty. I can only imagine how she plays now.”

Trent didn’t answer, but a wide grin spread across his face. “I think I just fell even more in love with your sister.”

Logan laughed and patted him on the back. “Speaking of my sister, when are you going to ask her?”

They all knew that it was only a matter of time before he and Elle got married. They were perfect for each other, and they knew it just as much as their friends did.

“I already have the ring,” he said, shocking the hell out of his buddies.

“Really?” Logan and Ethan both said in unison.

“Of course I do.” He grinned.

12:00 P.M.

“Take a deep breath,” Elle commanded. Kate did as she was told and lifted her head up.

She’d spent the last twenty minutes kneeling in front of the toilet, letting her nerves get the best of her. Yes, it was ridiculous, but she couldn’t help it.

“Now exhale,” Sophie said, rubbing her friend’s back. “Everything is going to be great. You know that, right? I
know
it will.”

Her reassuring words helped a little. After all, Kate knew everything would be okay. She loved Ethan more than anything in the world. He was the one,
her
one, of that she was sure. Her reaction to her nerves was something she didn’t have any control over.

“Soph is right, babe. Everything about today will be perfect, and when it’s over, you’re going to be tied to Ethan, forever. You’ll finally be his wife.”

Hearing his name and the word ‘wife’ in the same sentence brought a smile to Kate’s face. She hadn’t seen Ethan since yesterday morning, and it was starting to wear on her. Being near him always calmed her, and she wanted nothing more than to see him, if only for a minute.

“Can one of you go get Ethan?” she asked hopefully.

“Absolutely not! The groom can
not
see the bride before she walks down the aisle!” Sophie yelled in protest, squashing her friend’s hope in an instant.

Kate had a feeling that was going to be the response she received, but she had to try. With a huff of defeat, she stood up to brush her teeth. “It’s just that I always feel better when he’s near me,” she said, slathering on enough toothpaste to clean a horse’s mouth. “He makes me forget about all this wedding hoopla.” She shoved the toothbrush in her mouth and started brushing, erasing any trace of her moment of weakness.

Sophie looked back at her friend’s reflection in the mirror with sad eyes. After a minute of quiet contemplation, she glanced at Elle, who nodded her head. “Tell you what,” Sophie said, standing behind Kate. “How about we get you into your dress now, and then one of us will go get Eth—”

“Thank you, Soph!” she yelped, spraying the mirror with toothpaste.

“Wait, wait. Let me finish.” She held up her hands. “We’ll get Ethan so you can
talk
to him. Talk, through the door. No seeing each other. Understand?” Her face was dead serious, and Kate knew she meant business.