The Plan (46 page)

Callum laid his hand on Claire's cheek and gently pulled her toward him. Leaning down to her, he kissed her, ever so gently.

When Callum pulled away, much sooner than Claire would've liked, he looked into her eyes with a love she'd never before seen, not even in the eyes of Jack.

“Claire Elizabeth Matthews, will you marry me?”

“Yes!” Claire cried out, without hesitation. “Yes! Yes!
Yes!
I will most certainly marry you!”

She couldn't believe he hadn't moved on—that he'd waited for her. Still loved her. Still wanted her. Not just wanted her, but wanted to
marry
her.

What had she ever done to deserve so many blessings?

She kissed his face a dozen times, all over his cheeks and his lips and his eyes.

“Hey, hey!” Callum said, laughing. “Back away, lady. I'm not done here.”

Claire sat back down on her haunches. “I love you with all my heart.”

“I'm beginning to gather that,” Callum said with a smile. He reached into the bag he kept on the side of his chair and then, after a little bit of digging around, he pulled out a small, black box. With his thumb, he flicked open the lid.

Inside was the most beautiful diamond ring Claire had ever seen.

“We need to make this official,” Callum said.

Claire put out her left hand to Callum, her fingers slightly spread. He rested the box on the arm of his chair as he lifted the ring out and slipped it on her hand.

“You have an engagement ring with you?” Claire asked, staring down at the gorgeous stone that now adorned her ring finger. “Just rattling around in your bag? How did you know I was coming? Did Wyatt tell you?” Claire looked up at Callum with an expression that said she was going to kill Wyatt if he had.

“Wyatt didn't say a word. I promise!” Callum said, laughing. “I'd already planned to give you the ring before you left. I had it all planned out. I couldn't wait to propose. And then you dumped me.”

Claire sighed. “Yeah, that was a poor decision on my part.”

“That is was,” Callum said with a grin. “I kept the ring in my bag all that time. Having it close to me made me feel closer to you. And, it gave me hope that someday you'd agree to be my wife.”

“It's beautiful,” Claire said, holding out her hand for both of them to see. “But now you won't need the ring to feel close to me.”

“Good,” Callum said, leaning over to kiss her once more. “Because if you ever left me again, love, I'd come find you.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

The door opened then and Wyatt and Frank and Mitch practically fell into the room. When they saw the ring on Claire's hand, which she was still holding in the air, the men all high-fived each other and Wyatt let out a whooping sound only a cowboy could make.

“I love me a good wedding,” Wyatt said. “I sure do love me a good wedding.”

Callum and Claire looked at each other and laughed.

“Then I guess we'd better get moving on planning that wedding,” Callum said. “We can't have Wyatt disappointed, now can we? He's such a baby when he doesn't get his way.”

Wyatt grumbled at Callum's teasing, but instead of punching Callum in the arm, he lifted his hand to high-five him.

“We did it, boss,” Wyatt said. “We did it.”

“We did,” Callum said, looking at Claire. “We most certainly did.”

No one even asked what
it
was, exactly, Wyatt had done. But it didn't matter. They were a team. Callum and Claire, as a couple, and the others as part of their family.

And now that Claire was back, they had no intention of letting that team fall apart, ever again.

•  •  •

The wedding was perfect. For Claire's first wedding, to Jack, she'd had the big extravaganza. The big venue, the big crowd, the even bigger dress.

Her parents hadn't been there—they were both gone by then—but her mom and dad had set aside money they'd been saving, ever since Claire was a little girl, for her special day. The fact that they'd scrimped and saved their hard-earned money to ensure their daughter would experience the perfect wedding touched Claire's heart and made it feel as if her parents were that much closer to her as she walked down the aisle.

There were no parents to pay for the wedding this time, but of course, that didn't matter. Both Callum and Claire were fully capable of paying for their own event. And neither of them had the desire for a large and showy wedding. They were both private people, Claire even more so since the accident. They only had a small number of friends and some family they wished to invite.

Callum's mother had begged them to have the wedding in Ireland. Callum and Claire had considered it, but briefly. They knew most of their friends wouldn't be able to take the time off work or have the money to afford such a trip. So, in the end, they settled on an ideal location just outside of Atlanta. It was a small, wooden, whitewashed church with ten simple pews on either side. The chapel was situated on fifteen acres of lush, green land and as soon as Callum and Claire saw it, they knew it was the perfect spot to begin their union. Alison served as wedding planner, at her insistence, and by the time Claire arrived at the church on her wedding day, a large white tent had been set up on the lawn to the right of the chapel where the guests would be treated to an old-fashioned Southern feast that included ham, cornbread, pecan pie and peach cobbler.

No matter how much Callum begged both Claire and Alison, black pudding did not make the menu.

Claire was certain she'd cry as she walked down the aisle toward Callum, but found she could do nothing but smile. She was so happy—deliriously happy—and everyone could see it.

“Knock it off,” she whispered to Callum, whose eyes were misty, as she reached him at the front of the chapel. “Haven't you heard? Weddings are happy occasions.”

That had brought a smile to Callum's face and the two of them never stopped grinning from that point forward.

“You look stunning,” Callum said.

Claire was delighted he thought so. She hadn't wanted to wear an
elaborate, long gown for this wedding. Instead, she selected a tea-length, ivory dress with a jeweled illusion neckline. The waist was fitted, but it flared out, ever so slightly, at her hips. The look was flattering and elegant and fit Claire perfectly.

Claire had worried she'd forget the vows she wrote and decided, as a safeguard, to write them down.

“My bride will not be reading to me from a piece of paper,” Callum had said to her when she'd told him her plan.

“But what if I forget?”

“How much you love me? How handsome I am? How thankful you are that I agreed to become your husband?”

Claire had laughed. “Yes. What if I forget those things?”

“You look in my eyes, love, and you'll remember it all once again.”

Callum had been right. Claire's voice shook as she began to speak her vows, but the moment she saw his sparkling baby blues, the church, with its guests and flowers, all fell away. Nothing existed except Claire and Callum.

“When I met you,” Claire said softly. “I had no idea how my life was about to change. How could I possibly know? My world was full of such sadness and despair. I could see no way out of the darkness, until you came along, held my hand, and pulled me through. Because of you, I laugh and smile and dare to dream again. Thank you for being the miracle you are, the miracle I needed. Today, I give myself to you in marriage. When you lose your way, I promise to remind you where you were going. And, when you get there, I promise to have a whole lot of sightseeing planned.”

There was a chuckle from the crowd, as everyone who knew Claire knew she'd never found a tourist attraction she didn't love.

“I promise to be your rock, your legs and your left arm and to remind you that, despite a few missing limbs, you were the only person on earth who was able to make me whole again.

“I love you,” Claire mouthed to Callum when she finished.

“From the moment I met you,” Callum began. “You surprised me, distracted me, captivated me, and challenged me in a way no one else ever has. I have fallen in love with you, over and over again, countless times, and I fall more in love with you every day. I promise to be true to you, to uplift you and support you,
to frustrate you.”

Callum turned to the crowd and said, “I'm already really great at that one.”

Turning back to Claire, he gave her his now-familiar wink. “I want to share with you all the beautiful, quirky moments of life and, maybe someday, if the stars align, I might even let you win an argument.”

Claire slitted her eyes at him, giving him the dirtiest look she could muster.

“Though, of course, you're
always
right,” Callum teased, before turning serious again. “No matter what trials we encounter or what hardships we endure together or how much time has passed, I know our love will never fade, that we'll always find strength in one another, that we'll continue to grow, side by side. You are my partner in crime, and I will love you, always, with every beat of my heart.”

Claire leaned over to Callum as the crowd sighed at the beauty of his words. “You found that online, didn't you?” Claire whispered.

Callum winked at her again and whispered back, “I shall never tell, love.”

Before Claire knew it, she and Callum had said their “I do's” and exchanged their rings. Callum had told Claire, prior to their wedding, that in countries such as Germany, Greece, Russia and Spain, it's common to wear one's wedding ring on the right hand.

“Your point being?” Claire had asked.

“Just that when we visit those countries, I'll fit in quite nicely,” Callum had said with a grin.

Once Callum's ring was safely on his right ring finger and Claire's
securely on her left, all that was left was the kiss. They made sure to make it a memorable one.

Callum wore his legs to the ceremony. Not his arm, because he found it to be too annoying, but he insisted on wearing his legs.

“I never turn down a chance to walk beside a beautiful woman,” he reminded Claire, as they walked back up the aisle, hand in hand, as husband and wife.

•  •  •

Claire hadn't enjoyed dancing this much since the night at the pool party, except this time, she did it sober and knew this evening was going to have a much better ending.

Callum did his best to dance while wearing his legs. They managed one slow dance together and then he tried a couple of the faster tempo numbers, but before long, Claire was whispering in his ear, “Go get your chair,” and he was grateful to oblige.

Claire found enormous delight in watching their family and friends enjoy themselves. Nearly all of those she loved were there. Nora and Patrick, Callum's brother and his family, Alison and Mitch, Frank and a middle-aged widow he'd recently begun seeing—even some of Claire's “Mom Friends” were there with their husbands. None of them had brought their kids, though. It wasn't that Claire had asked them not to, but they'd all recognized it might not be the right occasion for Claire to have to face her children's friends. The only people who didn't attend were Bill and Nancy. They had, of course, been invited and Claire had called them, personally, to tell them how much she wanted them there.

“You're my family,” she'd insisted.

They'd told her they felt the same about her, and though they were truly happy for her—they loved Callum to pieces—it would be too difficult for them to watch Claire say “I do” to a man who wasn't their son.

“We promise to come visit you once you're back from your honeymoon,” Nancy had said, and Claire told her she planned to hold them to it.

The most entertaining part of the whole night, though, for both Callum and Claire, was the dance that was going on between Gia and Wyatt.

“You have got to be kidding me,” was all Callum said when Claire had first mentioned the idea.

But, upon further discussion, they'd both come to the conclusion that, in fact, their two good friends, Gia and Wyatt, might actually be the perfect match.

Callum and Claire had schemed, in advance, finding numerous wedding preparations, during the days leading up to the ceremony, where both Gia and Wyatt would be needed. That was all it took. By the time the reception rolled around, Wyatt was holding Gia close around the waist and she was staring up at him with eyes as big as a Texas sky.

“Perhaps now,” Claire said to Callum, as they sat at their table under the reception tent, “I'll no longer have to hear about the endless parade of losers.”

“Nope. Now you'll only have to hear about one loser,” Callum said, taking a bite of his cobbler.

“Callum!” Claire said, swatting him in the chest. “Wyatt is not a loser.”

“Of course not!” Callum asked incredulously. “Watch what you say about my best man, will you?”

Claire shook her head as Callum grinned at her. Picking up his spoon, he tapped it against his water glass a number of times. The band slowed and lowered their music and the crowd turned their attention to the groom.

“Can I have your attention, please? For just one moment.” Callum
reached to the armrest of his chair and raised his seat as high as it would go. “I know it's customary to stand when you give a toast, but I hope this will do. I've been looking forward to this day all my life. And, if we're to be honest here, I think we all know I wasn't always sure it would come. I might talk a good game, but there was always a part of me—the little-boy-inside part of me—that wondered if I'd ever truly find a woman who not only challenged and intrigued me, but someone who was able to look past all of this,” Callum waved across his body, “to see the real me.” Callum turned to Claire. “Claire Fitzgerald, you enchant me. I am moved each and every time you walk into a room. Will you all raise a glass?” Callum asked, turning back to the crowd, as he reached for his wineglass. “To Claire. My love. My life. The mate of my soul.”