Three Brides, No Groom (19 page)

“I knew something had happened when I saw you earlier at my
place. Now it all makes sense. Goodbye, Maddie. I wish you well.”

Chapter 6

“Y
ou told Brent, didn’t you?” Gretchen
asked. “You didn’t let it end there. That would have been so unfair to you.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” Maddie whispered. Even after fifteen
years, it still hurt to remember their confrontation that day. “I could never
let Brent know what I’d done.”

Gretchen, Carol and Maddie sat on the rim of the fountain, and
Maddie realized they’d drawn close to one another in the past couple of hours.
Fifteen years. Who would have believed time could evaporate that easily? Like an
eraser wiping a blackboard clean, the years had faded away. Some things had
changed and others had remained the same. Maddie wasn’t the girl she’d been back
then—the one desperately seeking to be noticed, no matter what the price. She’d
paid dearly for those mistakes. The steepest price of all was the afternoon
she’d lost Brent Holliday.

“You must have loved him very much to have sacrificed so much,”
Carol Furness said softly.

Yes, Maddie had loved him, heart and soul. “John taught me some
valuable lessons, but Brent taught me even more.”

“Can you tell us what happened after that day?” Carol asked,
and placed her hand over Maddie’s.

“I lost him,” Maddie said. “I had a hard time accepting it in
the beginning, but eventually I realized it was probably for the best. He’d come
into my life like a knight in shining armor and then he was gone. I had no
regrets.”

“But you weren’t any better off than before you met him,”
Gretchen said.

“Oh, but I was,” Maddie hurried to explain. “Brent gave me a
tremendous gift. He helped me find myself, taught me to take control. My level
of self-esteem rose the moment I discovered that I could do something about the
situation with John. In the end, allowing John to accept the credit was a small
price to pay for what Brent had given me in return. He gave me back my
soul.”

“Were you ever able to let him know that?”

Maddie shook her head sadly. “In the beginning I tried to fix
things between us, but I soon realized Brent meant what he said.”

“That was pretty narrow-minded of him, wasn’t it?” Gretchen
asked.

“I know now that he was as idealistic as I was. It’s easy to
look back and judge him from the perspective of time, but that would be wrong.
Gradually the pain of losing him lessened. I refused to mourn, when what he’d
given me had been a tremendous gift. It was because of him that I made the
smartest decision of my life.”

“Which was?” Carol pressed.

Maddie smiled, knowing her friends would be amused. “I went
back to school.”

“Queen Anne?”

“Oh, no.” Maddie shook her head. “I was paying my own way, and
I couldn’t afford a private college. I started out working days and taking night
courses. It took me nearly five years to earn my master’s, but I did it, one
course at a time.”

“In mathematics,” Gretchen guessed.

“In mathematics,” Maddie confirmed.

“Oh, my,” Carol said, checking her wrist. “Look at the
time.”

“Good grief!” Maddie cried, leaping to her feet. “We’ve got
less than an hour before the dinner. I’ve got to shower and feed the kids and…”
She paused, knowing her friends were equally rushed. “I’ll see you there,
right?”

“Of course,” Gretchen promised. “And my husband. I’d like you
to meet him.”

“Me too,” Carol added. “With my husband. Let’s find a table and
sit together?”

Maddie and Gretchen both agreed.

Together they rushed to the parking lot, chatting excitedly as
they walked. Maddie smiled to herself. She was anxious for her friends to meet
her
husband, too. She’d almost given up on love
when she met and married him a mere five years ago. That was when life had
tossed her a second curveball, only this time she’d stepped up to bat and been
ready to swing.

Epilogue

J
apanese lanterns swayed gently in the
breeze, their lights flickering, telegraphing secretly coded messages around the
lush garden patio. Gretchen stepped away from the pre-dinner reception and stood
in the doorway, then looked around, then sighed when she saw him. So this was
where her husband had taken off to.

The festive noise of the reunion faded as she stepped from the
gaily lit hall to the peace and quiet of the flowering patio.

“I thought I’d find you out here,” she said, moving to her
husband’s side.

Josh Morrow slipped his arm around her trim waist and smiled
down at her, his eyes filled with love. No matter how many years they’d been
married, Gretchen had never tired of seeing him smile. Her heart was full to
overflowing with the love they shared. They would celebrate their thirteenth
wedding anniversary this year, and it seemed like yesterday when he’d roared up
to her family home, his Harley spewing dust and fumes. Two years he’d kept her
waiting. Two years, and he’d actually expected to find her waiting.

The irony was…she
had
been. She’d
never been able to believe he wouldn’t be back.

As long as she lived, Gretchen would never forget the day he
came for her. Defiant as ever, he’d parked the Harley, rung the doorbell and
nearly given her mother heart failure.

She had been home visiting her parents. When she realized it
was Josh at the door, she’d stepped outside. He’d looked at her and smiled, and
she’d smiled back.

“Do you still want to ride off into the sunset with me?” he’d
asked.

“That depends.” He’d kept her waiting all this time. She wasn’t
about to make it easy for him.

“Would a wedding band and life with a starving law student be
inducement enough?”

“Plenty. Oh, Josh, what took you so long?” Simultaneously
laughing and crying, she’d hurled herself into his arms. He had locked his arms
around her waist and swung her around. By that time both her parents had come
out to the front porch, not knowing what to think. Josh had glanced at them,
kissed her as if he’d dreamed of it every day for the two years they’d been
apart, and then asked to speak privately with her father.

Gretchen had paced outside the den until they were finished.
When they appeared, she’d stepped to Josh’s side and grabbed hold of his hand.
Then her father had grinned and announced that he felt Josh would make her a
fine husband.

He had. Thirteen years, and she hadn’t regretted a single day.
They had three children, a beautiful home, a good life. The children—a
twelve-year-old boy and twin ten-year-old girls—and her charity work kept her
more than busy. Josh needed her, too. He’d recently been elected as a Supreme
Court judge in Orange County, and his position on the bench was almost as
demanding on her as it was him.

“Where’d you go this afternoon?” he asked, sipping his
drink.

“To take a look around campus.”

“The fountain?”

How well he knew her. “I met up with some old friends.”

“I don’t suppose you ran into Roger Lockheart?”

“No.” She pressed her head to his shoulder. “Don’t tell me
you’re worried about my seeing Roger again.”

“Well, you once loved him.”

“Oh, Josh, be serious. Roger was a rat. You couldn’t possibly
believe I’d want anything to do with him.” She ran her hand over Josh’s back,
never tiring of the special closeness they shared. “I will admit I’m curious
about him. From what I understand, he’s here.”

“I saw him,” Josh admitted.

“You saw him?” She couldn’t believe he’d kept this information
from her. “What’s he look like?”

“Hah! So I was right!”

“Josh.” She punched his arm playfully.

“He looks fine. He introduced me to his friend, and—”

“Friend? You mean he isn’t married?”

“Three times, from what I understand.”

“You’re joking!”

He chuckled. “It’s the truth, I swear. He apparently didn’t
join Daddy’s law firm, either, because he’s selling cars.”

“Roger is selling cars. I love it!”

Josh pulled her into his arms, his eyes dark and serious. “I
love you. I don’t think I tell you that often enough. You’re in my blood,
Gretch, in my heart, and so much a part of me I couldn’t make it one day without
you.” He held her close for a moment. “I tried to live without you all those
years ago and couldn’t. That was when I realized I had to make myself worthy of
your faith in me. Every day of those two years we were apart I prayed you still
loved me.”

“Not a minute went by that I didn’t long for you.”

He kissed her softly. “It looks like they’re ready to serve
dinner.”

“Great.” She slipped her arm around his waist. “Remember those
old friends I mentioned? Well, I want you to meet them.”

He grumbled something about preferring to have his wife to
himself, but followed her inside.

* * *

Carol was sitting in the hotel suite talking on the
phone when her husband wandered out of the bedroom, unsuccessfully attempting to
fasten the top button of his dress shirt.

He was a fine figure of a man. She loved him more than she’d
thought it possible to love another human being.

“Who are you talking to?” he asked.

“Your mother,” she whispered, covering the mouthpiece. “OK,
Mom, yes, I’ll wait.” She looked back at him. “The kids are giving her problems.
Timmy and Adam are fighting over the laptop again. Erica refused to eat her
vegetables, and Clark, Jr., has disappeared, but she thinks he’s hiding in the
library. Your father’s searching for him now.” Her mother-in-law came back on
the line, and Carol nodded, relieved. “They found Junior.”

Clark sank into a chair. “Does she want us to come home?”

“No, no. I asked her that myself and she insists we enjoy the
reunion. She can always call Frieda if matters get out of hand.” The nanny had
her own quarters, but was available any time Clark’s parents felt they needed
help.

She finished the conversation and hung up the phone. “It’s a
good thing we don’t escape often.”

Clark chuckled. “Every time we
do
manage to get away, you end up pregnant.”

She climbed onto her husband’s lap and brushed his hands away
from his throat. “I’ll do it,” she promised, and quickly secured the button.
“Four children isn’t so many, is it?” she whispered, and nuzzled his neck,
licking the skin with her tongue. She loved the taste and feel of him.

“Carol—” his voice was low and full of suspicion “—I know that
tone.”

“You do?” she asked, playing dumb.

“You want another baby.”

“Would it be so terrible?” she asked, her lips nibbling his
ear.

He shivered with awareness, and if he’d intended to remove her
from his lap, he changed his mind.

“I love being a mother, and you love getting me pregnant,” she
reminded him. She’d always enjoyed children, and with Clark’s software company
so profitable, there wasn’t any reason they couldn’t have as many kids as they
liked.

He sighed and rested his head against the back of the cushion.
“I never could refuse you anything, you know that.”

“That’s not the way I remember it,” she whispered, unbuttoning
the very shirt she’d just spent time fastening. “You let me take off for Alaska
without you.”

“What brings that up?” he asked.

“I met a couple of women from my old sorority at the fountain
this afternoon.”

“And they thought you were married to Eddie Shapiro.”

“At first, but I was quick to tell them I fell head over heels
in love with you. We agreed to meet for dinner later—you don’t mind, do you?”
Gretchen and Maddie would be surprised and delighted when they saw she’d married
Clark after all.

“No…we can have dinner with whomever you want,” he whispered,
and closed his eyes as she continued to kiss the underside of his jaw.

“You were a big disappointment to my friends when I told them
you let me leave for Alaska.”

“But technically you didn’t make it there.”

“No, but that’s beside the point.” She eased the open shirt
from his shoulders.

“I flew out to your parents’ house instead.”

He’d arrived Christmas Eve, and his timing couldn’t have been
better. “You were the best Christmas present I ever received.”

“You could have married Eddie,” he reminded her.

That was true. Two years into his pro career, Eddie Shapiro had
torn a ligament in his knee that had ended his days on the football field. He’d
called Carol from the hospital bed and asked her to marry him. It had given her
great delight to inform him that not only was she married to Clark Rusbach, but
she was eight months pregnant with their first child.

“I wonder if he’ll come to the reunion.”

“I doubt it,” Clark said, and reached for the zipper in the
back of her dress.

“Clark,” she teased, “we’ll be late for the dinner.”

“So?”

She couldn’t think of a single reason why it was so all-fired
important that they be on time. She’d never been keen on eating her salad first,
anyway. “I’d like another little boy this time,” she said, before directing her
husband’s mouth to hers.

He stood, lifting her with him and carrying her into the
bedroom. “I’ll do my best,” he promised.

* * *

Maddie admitted to being nervous. Gretchen and Carol
hadn’t recognized her earlier at the fountain, and she doubted that anyone else
at the reunion would, either.

Her husband placed his hand at the small of her back and
steered her into the rented hall, festively decorated for the class reunion with
banners and ribbons.

“I don’t recognize anyone, do you?” she asked Brent.

“Not a soul.” He glanced at her and chuckled. “You’re actually
nervous. I can’t believe it. My wife, the woman who revolutionized the way
mathematics is taught across the United States, is actually nervous.”

“Brent, don’t tease.”

“The woman who’s dined with the president.”

“Brent!”

“And the queen of England.”

“Brent, don’t tell anyone about that, all right?”

“You’d rather I told them you wore falsies?”

“I did not.” He always knew how to rile her.

“Yeah, but everyone would believe it.”

Although she knew he was teasing, she glared at her husband.
“Sometimes I wonder why I married you.”

“You loved me.”

“For fifteen long years, I’ve loved you.” But for ten of those
years they’d had no contact with each other. Maddie had left Seattle almost
immediately after they broke up. For several years she worked at a day job while
attending night school to obtain her master’s degree. Her life was consumed with
math. It was while she was working on her doctorate that she devised a new
method of grasping basic mathematical concepts. Soon she was working with the
Department of Education in Washington, D.C.

Out of the blue one afternoon she ran into Brent Holliday on
the White House lawn. He’d come to Washington to receive a hero’s award from the
president, along with forty-nine other law-enforcement officers. She’d given him
her phone number, though she really didn’t expect him to call. But he had.

They met for dinner the next night, closed down the restaurant
and then walked to the Lincoln Memorial. Along the way she’d finally told him
the truth about the deal she’d made with John. They’d talked there until the sun
rose, and by then Maddie knew she’d never stopped loving Brent. He felt the same
way about her.

They were married a month later, and she was pregnant almost
immediately. Their second child was born the following year. Brent had recently
become the assistant chief of police in Seattle. They were happy, exceptionally
so, and very much in love.

He reached for her hand and their fingers entwined. “There’s
Gretchen now,” Maddie said, waving to her friend. “She married Josh.”

“Josh Morrow?”

“Do you remember him?”

“Sure do. The class troublemaker. Wow. So Gretchen Wise married
him.”

“Hey, troublemakers can be tamed. You should know.”

“Indeed I do. Did you tell her about John Theda ending up in
prison for fraud?” John wasn’t due to be released for another ten years.

“No.” She shook her head. “It’s all rather sad, don’t you
think? I never wished him ill. Not really.”

“But you were right—he ended up doing it to himself.”

“Come on,” she said, “I want you to meet my friends.” She waved
to Gretchen, who smiled and waved back.

Maddie stood on tiptoe and scanned the crowd for Carol. She
wondered what could be keeping her.

* * * * *