Until Then (Cornerstone Book 2) (41 page)

After the speeches were given, the happy couple danced to the song “Everything” by Michael Bublé. They swayed together, smiling happily, then Simon spun Maggie around a few times, and it was clear they had practiced a little choreography. They laughed their way through it all. Toward the end of the song, he pulled her in close and sang several lines of the song to her. It was a wonderful moment to witness.

Once the guests were invited to the dance floor, Michelle walked to the table for a drink of water. When she turned around to join the bridal party, Sean stood before her. He was wearing a pale blue dress shirt and colorful striped tie, looking handsome as ever, and her heart skipped a beat.

“Hi.” He greeted her with a smile.

“Hi. I wondered if I’d see you today.” She tried to act nonchalant.

“You look beautiful.” Those eyes of his pierced through to her soul.

She smiled shyly and glanced down at the floor.

He didn’t say anything else at first. He looked nervous. She wished she could read him, but that was the downside of spending so much of their relationship talking on the phone. She didn’t know all of his quirks and tells.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked.

Now
she
was the nervous one. Dancing meant being in his arms again, which was the only place she really wanted to be. Butterflies started flitting around in her stomach. “The song is half over,” she managed to say.

He held his hand out to her anyway, and she took it. He wound his fingers through hers and led her to the dance floor.

His hands rested on either side of her waist, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, which felt like the most natural thing in the world to do.

He stared into her eyes, and she was lost.

But he didn’t say anything. She wanted him to say something to let her know what he was thinking.

The song ended far too soon, and he lowered his arms. “I should probably get back to my date.”

“Oh, OK.” Her heart sank. She almost heard it shatter into a million pieces.

As she turned to walk away, his hand clasped her wrist.

She looked back at him.

He grinned. “It’s Ashley.”

A smile broke out on her face. “Oh.” She laughed nervously.

“Come say hello.” He let go of her wrist and took her hand again.

She followed cautiously, still unsure of where things stood between them and still hurt that he had walked away when she needed him the most.

Ashley jumped up from the table as soon as she saw Michelle and greeted her with a hug.

Michelle was so happy to see her. “How are you, Ashley?”

“I’m OK. How come you and Dad aren’t together any more?” She got straight to the point.

Sean cleared his throat nervously. “Ash.”

“Um.” Michelle didn’t know quite how to answer that. She changed the subject instead. “How’s Aaron? Is he winning all his soccer games?”

Ashley rolled her eyes and took her seat again. "You can ask him yourself."

“Oh, he’s here?”

“He found some kids his age. He’s running around here somewhere,” Sean answered. “Ash, I need to talk to Michelle for a minute. Will you be OK here?”

“I’m not two,” she replied sarcastically, and gave her dad a smirk.

Sean started to lead Michelle to a quiet corner to talk, but there was a sudden commotion across the room.

Simon came running toward them and slid across the dance floor, almost knocking her over. “Chelle, Sarah’s in labor!”

“What?” Michelle started laughing. “Are you kidding me?”

“Nope! It’s happening.”

They followed him across the room to the group of family members in panic mode. Sarah was more calm than any of them.

“Guys, we’ve got time.” Sarah cringed at another contraction. “It’s not like my water …” A look of horror crossed her face as a puddle formed on the floor below her. She glanced down and her bottom lip stuck out in a pout. “… broke.”

Tom’s eyeballs nearly popped out of his head. “I’ll go get the car.”

Patty and Ron were rushing around letting people know what was happening.

Maggie ran off and returned with all of their things.

“No, Mags,” Sarah cried. “Put that stuff down. You guys stay and enjoy your reception.”

“Are you kidding me? No way! I’m not missing this. I’m supposed to photograph the birth.”

“I know, but it’s your wedding day.” Sarah began to cry.

Vi piped in. “Maggie, it may be some time before Sarah actually has the baby. I think you and Simon should stay here a while longer, then go to the hospital once we know how far along she is.”

Simon stepped up behind his wife and wrapped his arms around her waist. “She’s right, baby.”

Michelle glanced over at Sean, whose eyes were wide, then back at Maggie. “Is there anything we can do?” she asked.

Maggie noticed them standing together and raised an eyebrow at Michelle. “Can you drive to my shop and get my camera bag? Just in case.”

“
Our
shop,” Simon corrected her.

Maggie elbowed him.

“Absolutely,” Michelle replied.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Sean asked.

She turned to him. “Don’t leave the kids alone. I’ll be back in like fifteen minutes. You’ll still be here, right?”

He nodded. “Of course.”

She smiled at him and took off for the shop.

Michelle turned into a parking space in front of Walker Wedding Photography, Maggie and Simon’s newly-renovated shop. She let herself in and went straight for the office. The camera bag was right where Maggie said it would be.

She glanced around the room. It was bigger than before, the rear wall expanded backward. There was an extra work station across the room for Simon and built-in storage along the walls. She had not been in the shop since that horrible day when she had confessed to Maggie and thought she lost her best friends forever.

She lifted the bag by its handle and started to carry it out when something caught her eye. On a large bulletin board of engagement and wedding announcements were a few photos of Maggie and Simon together and with family. Just beneath those were the picture of Michelle and Maggie in their dorm room on arrival day, a snapshot of Michelle and Simon taken freshman year, and one of the three of them taken this past Christmas. Seeing those captured memories on this special day filled her with joy. They had come full circle.

I don’t know if I can possibly express how thankful I am to have these two people in my life, Lord. Thank you.

When Michelle returned to the reception, she delivered the camera bag to the bride.

“Any news?” she asked.

Maggie shook her head. “Not yet. I can’t believe she actually went into labor today. With all the teasing we did about it, I never thought it would actually happen.”

“I know.” Michelle’s eyes scanned the room.

“He’s over there.”

She looked at Maggie, who was grinning as she nodded her head in the direction of the dance floor. Michelle followed her gaze and saw Sean dancing with his daughter.

“Thanks, Mags.”

“You bet,” Maggie replied. “Go get your man.”

As the song came to an end, Michelle strolled across the floor toward them.

“Hey, you made it back.”

“That’s my cue.” Ashley quickly departed the dance floor.

Michelle laughed.

“That was subtle.” Sean rolled his eyes. “Can we talk now?”

She nodded.

Sean led her to a quiet, empty table overlooking the golf course, and she sat down beside him. He was quiet.

Knowing his trouble expressing his true feelings, Michelle waited for him to speak.

“I’ve got so much I wanna say, but I don’t know where to start.”

She was eager for his thoughts. “Just talk to me.”

“I’m so sorry for the way I left things between us, for that thoughtless goodbye. I know that hurt you.”

“Yes, it did.”

“I’m sorry.”

She gave him half a smile. “I’m OK now.”

He nodded. “I can see that. You seem happy.”

“I am. I’m in grad school now. Loving my job. And I took your advice and told Maggie everything.”

“Oh, you did?” He leaned in a little closer. “How did that go?”

“It wasn’t pretty, but we came through it OK.” She made a motion toward the newlyweds across the room.

Sean smiled. “Obviously. I’m glad it all worked out.” He took her hand in his then, and it sent a wave of goosebumps up her arm. “I wish I could say I’ve been as happy as you. I’ve been moping around for months. Aaron keeps asking why you haven’t come to visit. Ashley rolls her eyes at me whenever I say it’s complicated. Both of them want to know why I’m being such an idiot.”

Michelle held in a laugh. “So, why
are
you?”

He grinned nervously at that. “All I can say is I was shocked. Hearing what you’d done put all sorts of thoughts in my head, and I was angry that you hadn’t told me sooner. But I should’ve tried to help you work through everything instead of running away. You made some bad choices, but you’re human. We all are. We all make mistakes, and you know I’ve made my share. We’re saved, not perfect. That’s what I should have told you back in August, but I kinda freaked out about the whole thing. And honestly, I was jealous.”

“Of what?” This was unexpected.

He looked her straight in the eye. “Crazy jealous of every other guy that’s ever been in your life. Because I wish I had been the only one.”

She pressed her lips together to keep from crying and squeezed his hand. “I wish that, too.”

“This is probably gonna sound really stupid. I know I wasn’t, you know … your first, but I guess I always assumed that since you became a Christian
after
we were together, that I was your last. I liked the idea that you hadn’t been with anyone after me, so I was upset when I found out that wasn’t true.”

A quick puff of air escaped between her lips. “But you were with Lindsay
after
me.”

“I know.”

“And I thought if I told you the truth, you’d forgive me. You practically begged me to forgive you for Lindsay.”

“I know. It was stupid and selfish, and it had everything to do with—”

“Your ego?”

“I was going to say my pride.” Their eyes held for a moment. “I kept praying about it, asking God to help me let it go. By the time I realized what an idiot I had been, months had passed. And the more time that passed, the more I was afraid to pick up the phone. I was afraid it was too late.”

She squeezed again, and he glanced down at their joined hands.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to get over myself.” He raised her hand to his lips and brushed her knuckles with a soft kiss. “What I’ve been wanting to say, what I should have said … what I’ve been rehearsing over and over in my head since I got in the car to come here is this. It doesn’t matter to me what your past looks like, because I believe God has an amazing future planned for us.”

Her chin began to quiver, and the tears fought their way out.

He took both her hands in his then. “I love you, Michelle.”

Her tears spilled over, and she rapidly pulled her hands from his and wiped them away. She stood and took a few steps toward the window.

“Michelle?” Worry sounded in his voice as he followed.

She turned to face him again. “Are you sure about this? Because I don’t think I can go through losing you a third time?”

The look in his eyes was as serious as she’d ever seen him. “Life is short. It can be taken away in a heartbeat. I’ve already wasted too much time without you.” He took her face in his hands. “I want a life with you. I’ve never been more sure of anything.”

She grabbed hold of his tie and tugged him to her, kissing him sweetly.

His fingertips caressed her neck and played with the wispy hairs that had fallen from her up-do, just like that night in his kitchen nearly a year ago.

When she pulled back, he wrapped her up in his arms. “I’m never letting you go again.”

She smiled into his neck. “Sean?”

“Yeah?”

Michelle leaned back and looked him in the eye. “I want you to be my last.”

The right side of his mouth turned up in the most gorgeous smile she had ever seen on a man.