Tall Tales and Wedding Veils (30 page)

Alison. She had to tell Alison. Her friend didn’t know yet that she and Tony were staying married, much less having a wedding. She reached for the phone.

“Who are you calling?” Tony asked.

“Alison. I have to tell her she’s going to be my maid of honor.”

She punched in Alison’s number. When Alison came on the line and Heather told her there was going to be a wedding, she wouldn’t have needed the phone to hear her friend’s squeals of delight five miles away. Alison didn’t even remind her of their seventh-grade pact—unless both of them got a guy, neither of them did—but she did remind Heather of their pinky swear about bridesmaid dresses, and Heather took great comfort in Alison’s pledge to make sure hers weren’t ugly as sin.

When Heather hung up, Tony said, “Now it’s time to call your mother. And this time it’s for real.”

Heather smiled, thinking about how she’d called her mother after their wedding in Vegas, and it had meant nothing. This time it was going to mean everything. She dialed her parents’ number, and her mother came on the line.

“Hi, sweetie,” her mother said. “Did you and Tony get Regina home okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine.”

“It’s too bad about the wedding.”

“I know. But she did the right thing.”

Barbara sighed. “You’re probably right. Jason was a little . . . inattentive, wasn’t he?”

Inattentive? Leave it to her mother to find a polite way of calling a jerk a jerk.

“It’s just such a shame that it all went to waste,” Barbara went on. “I was so looking forward to it. I
love
weddings.”

“So would you like to go to another one?”

“Another one? Is somebody else getting married?”

“Yeah. Tony and I.”

“But . . . but you’re already married.”

“I know. But our wedding was in Vegas and nobody else was there. Tony thinks we should have one here.”

“A real wedding?” Barbara said tentatively, her voice escalating with hope. “In a church? With a minister? That kind of wedding?”

“Yep. Complete with flowers, bridesmaids, a reception—”

“Fred!” her mother screeched. “Fred! Get in here! Heather and Tony are going to have a wedding!”

Heather put her hand over the phone and whispered to Tony, “Did you hear that?”

He laughed. “Are you kidding? They heard it in outer space.”

For the next ten minutes, Barbara chattered about everything from reception halls to cakes to nut cups to music, and Heather didn’t think she’d ever heard her mother happier. Then, in minute detail, Heather described the ring Tony had given her, and she could practically hear her mother swooning on the other end of the phone. By the time Heather hung up, she’d agreed to take her mother the next Saturday on a trip to a bridal shop.

“What about champagne?” Tony said. “You didn’t talk about that. We have to have lots and lots of champagne.”

Heather closed her eyes. “I’m getting a hangover just thinking about it.”

“And I’m taking you on a real honeymoon,” Tony said. “How about Vegas?”

“Actually, I was thinking Cancun. You could lie naked on that beach again. I’d enjoy that.”

“Would you lie naked with me?”

“I think you’d actually try to get me to do that. Which is why I’m never going to Cancun with you.”

Tony dropped a gentle kiss against her lips. “You know what? That night in Vegas, I think we knew. On some strange, deep level, we knew exactly what we were doing.”

Heather traced her fingertips over his cheek, amazed to feel this kind of happiness.

“Or we were just dead drunk.”

She smacked him on the arm. He laughed and grabbed her hand, pressing it to the bed over her head; then he leaned in and kissed her, a long, deep, loving kiss that knocked the fight right out of her.

“Either way,” he murmured, “we finally got it right.”

They lay back down in each other’s arms, and they’d just about fallen asleep when the phone rang. Heather looked at the caller ID.

“My mother again.”

“Oh, boy. More wedding talk?”

“Hey, it isn’t as if you didn’t know what you were getting into.”

She hit the
TALK
button. “Hi, Mom.” She paused, looking confused. “Oh. Dad. It’s you.” She listened for a moment more. “Uh . . . yeah. He’s right here.” She held out the phone to Tony and whispered, “My father. He wants to talk to you.”

“Me?” Tony whispered back. “Why?”

Heather shrugged. He took the phone from her, feeling a little apprehensive, even though he had no reason to be. After all, Heather was happy, which meant Fred was happy . . . right?

He put the phone to his ear. “Hey, Fred. What can I do for you?”

Fred cleared his throat. Twice. “Uh . . . Barbara and I were talking, and . . .”

“Yeah?”

“She tells me you and Heather are going to have a real wedding.”

“Yeah, we are.”

“Heather said it was your idea.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And that you gave her a ring. One that belonged to your mother.”

“That’s right.”

There was a long silence, one that Tony nervously wanted to fill, but he kept his mouth shut. When Fred spoke again, his usual gruff tone had warmed and softened, and there was a note of awe in his voice.

“You really love her, don’t you?”

Tony closed his eyes, his chest tight with emotion. Thank God he’d come to his senses. “Yeah, Fred. I do.”

“Good. That’s good. It’s all I ever wanted, you know?”

“Yeah,” Tony said. “I know.”

“Well, then. I guess I’d better be going. I just wanted to call and . . .” He stopped short. More throat-clearing. “Oh, hell. I can’t lie. It wasn’t my idea to call you.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No. It was Barbara’s doing. She told me I needed to call and officially welcome you to the family, and if I didn’t, she said she was going to make sure I regretted it. Your mother-in-law may seem really sweet and all, but trust me”—he paused, dropping his voice to a whisper—“you don’t want to make her mad.”

Tony just couldn’t help smiling at that. Happy little Barbara taking on big, bad Fred. The women in this family were absolutely amazing.

“Thing is, she was right about you,” Fred said. “And I was wrong. But Heather means the world to me, so I had to make sure you were on the up-and-up.”

In that moment, Tony realized that Fred had threatened him because he loved Heather, so much so that he was willing to go to war with anyone who tried to hurt her.

“Maybe I should have done this sooner,” Fred said. “But at least I’m doing it now. Tony?”

“Yeah?”

“Welcome to the family.”

Tony felt so overcome by everything that had happened that day that it took him a moment to answer.

“Thanks, Fred,” he said finally. “I appreciate that.”

“Well,” Fred said. “Gotta go. You two come by for dinner soon. I’ll barbecue something.”

Where Fred was concerned, that probably meant he’d shoot something first,
then
barbecue it, but that was fine by Tony. He’d eat barbecued yak if it meant being part of this family.

He hung up the phone and handed it to Heather, who looked worried.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Tony said. “Couldn’t be better.”

“What did he want?”

“To welcome me to the family.”

Heather opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Instead, tears sprang to her eyes.

“Hey, there’s no need to cry,” Tony said with a smile. “It’s a good thing.”

“I know. But after last night, I just didn’t expect . . . and now everything is so good, and . . .”

Her voice trailed off, but she didn’t need to finish the sentence for Tony to know how she felt, because he felt the same way.

“I love you, Heather.”

“I know,” she said. “I love you, too.”

Tony pulled her into his arms and held her close, thinking about that one thing he’d been missing all these years, and he’d never even realized it. He’d gone to Vegas in search of twenty thousand dollars, only to find something far more precious than money: a woman who loved him. And he was going to hold on to her for the rest of his life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jane Graves began writing stories at the age of five, and she hasn’t stopped since. She’s a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where she earned a B.A. in Journalism in the Professional Writing program. The author of fifteen novels, Jane is a six-time finalist for Romance Writers of America’s Rita Award, the industry’s highest honor, and is the recipient of two National Readers’ Choice Awards, the Booksellers’ Best Award, and the Golden Quill. She lives in Texas with her daughter and her husband of twenty-five years.

You can visit Jane’s website at
www.janegraves.com
, or write to her at [email protected]. She’d love to hear from you!

THE DISH

Where authors give you the inside scoop!

From the desk of Susan Crandall

Dear Reader,

I’d like to share with you a little secret. It’s one of those crazy writer things—you know, like making sure you have the right music playing, or just the right scented candle burning, or spinning around in a circle three times before you sit down to write. The kind of thing you simply cannot write without.

Superstitious, you say? Perhaps. A mind game? A crutch? Maybe. Doesn’t really matter. As writers, we believe. And when your entire product comes out of your mind, you have to believe.

During those last grueling weeks before a book deadline, I indulge in a special writing snack. This snack is something I like to eat in mass quantities. Something I wouldn’t normally allow myself to consume in such ridiculous amounts. But after seven novels, it’s become obvious that the writing snack is integral in the process, necessary in order to properly tie off all of the plot threads, to make certain the villain gets his due, and the good guys get their happy endings.

And yes, I do require a serious diet and exercise program when all is said and done. But I do it for you, my dear reader. So the story is satisfying. So when you read that last page, you’re glad you opened the first.

Like all of my books, PITCH BLACK (on sale now) had its very own writing snack. This novel is my first romantic suspense, so the choice was critical. I lost count of the number of boxes of Cheese Nips I went through as I wrote this story about a single-mother journalist whose adoptive son is the main suspect in a brutal crime.

Who knew romantic suspense required even more snacking than women’s fiction? At the rare moment when I didn’t have a backup box, I panicked. Luckily, I live close to the store.

I’d like to invite you to visit my Web site,
www.susancrandall.net
, to see the snack that accompanied each book. I have them listed on each book’s description page.

While you’re there, you can read an excerpt of my upcoming novel of romantic suspense, SEEING RED, which is slated for release in early 2009. Also, please stop by my message board and say hello. I always love hearing from readers, and it’s a good place to connect with other book lovers.

Enjoy!

From the desk of Jane Graves

Dear Reader,

Did you know that over three hundred weddings are performed in Las Vegas every day? I learned that while researching my latest book, TALL TALES AND WEDDING VEILS (on sale now). So why is Sin City such a popular place to tie the knot?

Top Five Reasons to Get Married in Vegas

1. You’ve always loved Elvis, so having him perform your wedding ceremony is a dream come true, even if the Vegas version is fat and fifty and can’t carry a tune in a bucket.

2. You figure marriage is a gamble anyway, so thematically speaking, it works.

3. It’s between that and a New Orleans graveyard wedding performed by a voodoo priestess. The graveyard has spirits, but Vegas has martinis.

4. You can’t resist the Austin Powers “1967 Summer of Love Groovy Baby Love Scene Wedding Package.”

5. A woman you’ve just met helps you win a big jackpot, and after a champagne-soaked celebration in a stretch limousine, heading for a drive-through wedding chapel suddenly seems like a
fabulous
idea.

Now, how about that annulment?

Okay, that’s not quite as easy. At least it isn’t for Tony McCaffrey and Heather Montgomery, the hero and heroine, who spend the first morning of their married lives wondering how fast they can get
un
married.

When they made the drunken decision to marry in haste, they overlooked an obvious truth: No two people on earth were more incompatible. Tony’s a handsome, sexy charmer who spends his life surrounded by women, and Heather’s a serious-minded plain Jane whose idea of a good time is balancing her checkbook. But when an unexpected turn of events forces them to stay married for a month, slowly they begin to see each other in a whole new light. What started out as a drunken mistake just might turn out to be the best decision of their lives.

Hope you enjoy TALL TALES AND WEDDING VEILS!

www.janegraves.com