“What’s up? Is there anything I can do for you?” Colette asked, but what she really wanted to know was where Alix had been and why. Her friend looked as if she hadn’t slept in a week. The smudges under her eyes spoke of misery and exhaustion.
“I came to cancel the wedding flowers,” Alix said abruptly.
This was a shock, but Colette tried not to show it. “Are you changing the order?” she asked. “Or canceling it altogether?”
Alix’s eyes were shadowed. “Canceling.”
Susannah would be disappointed. The Turner wedding was a huge order and had come with a substantial down payment. Although she’d hold a certain amount back, it would still be a loss.
“So you and Jordan have decided to call off the wedding?” Colette asked, finding this hard to believe. Colette knew how much Alix loved him. In fact, Colette envied her friend the close relationship she had with her fiancé.
“As of last Tuesday, the wedding’s officially off,” Alix said blandly. Colette stared at her. Despite Alix’s no-big-deal attitude, this must be ripping her heart out. It also explained why no one had seen her all week. Colette noticed that Alix’s hands were shaking, although she tried to hide it by shoving them in her pockets.
“The paperwork’s in the office,” Colette said in a noncommittal tone. She led Alix there, out of view of anyone who might be looking in the shop windows. As soon as they were alone, she breathed, “What happened?”
Alix tried unsuccessfully to pretend it was a small thing. “Jordan and I agreed it was for the best, that’s all.”
“Oh, Alix, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” she said, rejecting Colette’s sympathy. “Anyone looking at the two of us could see it was a mistake.”
Colette didn’t buy that for a minute.
“I was living in a fool’s paradise,” Alix went on. She climbed up on a stool while Colette prepared a pot of coffee. After a few minutes, the rich, tantalizing scent drifted through the small office.
“I’m not the right woman to be a pastor’s wife,” Alix said. “Thank goodness I recognized that before it was too late.”
Colette was stunned. “But…”
“I didn’t mean to disappear,” Alix was saying.
“Where were you?”
Alix stared down at the hardwood floor. “I took a few vacation days and went to see a…family friend. Then, yesterday afternoon, I started looking for someplace to move. I applied for a few other jobs, as well.”
“But why?”
When Alix glanced up again, Colette winced at the pain in her eyes. “I can’t stay around this neighborhood with Jordan here. It would hurt too much to see him nearly every day and I would, you know.”
That was true enough. Colette had run into Jordan at the French Café a number of times. Even if he and Alix made an effort to avoid each other, it would be almost impossible.
“I figure I need to get away from here,” Alix concluded.
Colette felt like weeping. Alix was her friend, one of the best she’d ever had, and couldn’t stand the thought of losing her. Trying to remain calm—or at least appear that way—Colette leaned casually against the side of the desk, hands behind her, ankles crossed. “You and Christian’s aunt are the only people I’ve told about the baby,” she said. “And do you know why that is?”
Alix met her gaze and after a moment shrugged. “You and I work out together—or we used to.”
“No,” Colette said flatly. “I knew you wouldn’t judge me. In fact, you told me that yourself, and you were right. I could talk to you when I couldn’t talk to anyone else. You listened to me. You cared and you didn’t make me feel guilty or stupid.”
Alix bowed her head. “Thank you,” she whispered and her voice cracked with pain. “That means a lot to me. But the wedding is off. Jordan and I agreed a few days ago to cancel everything. The only reason I’m here now is to take care of business before I find a new job and someplace else to move.”
“Does Jacqueline know about this?”
“I haven’t talked to the Donovans yet.”
“Have you decided where you’re going?”
“No,” she said, “but that’s not a problem. As a kid I changed neighborhoods more often than a moving van.”
Colette dredged up the energy to smile. So Alix was going to run away. Well, she’d been on the run, too. And what she’d learned in the last months was that the person she was running from was herself. Not Christian, not her circumstances, but herself.
Alix was quiet for several minutes. “Susan doesn’t think I’d make Jordan a good wife and she should know.” Alix tried to make it sound like a joke, but Colette wasn’t amused. “You have to admit she’s more of an expert on this than either Jordan or me.”
“I don’t agree.” Colette rested her hands on her hips, struggling not to reveal her irritation. “Don’t you understand how comfortable you make people feel?” she asked. She turned around and grabbed two mugs from the shelf. She filled them with coffee, handing one to Alix. “You’re the perfect wife for Jordan and if he hasn’t figured that out, he isn’t half the man I thought he was.”
Tears glistened in Alix’s eyes as she cradled the steaming mug. “You’re a good friend.”
“I’ll be shocked if Jordan lets you leave the neighborhood. He’s smart enough to know what he has.”
Alix put her coffee down on a nearby worktable and sniffed. “I wish that was true.”
“Alix, are you here?”
The sound of Jordan’s voice obviously shocked Alix and she slipped off the stool. Eyes wide, she cast a pleading look at Colette.
“Alix!” he repeated.
When she didn’t respond, Colette stepped out of the office. “She’s in here.” If Alix looked unkempt, it was nothing compared to Jordan. He must’ve slept in his clothes, because everything he had on was a mass of wrinkles. He hadn’t shaved in days, and his hair stood on end.
Jordan entered the small office, standing squarely in the doorway. Alix realized she was trapped and Colette saw the panic cross her face.
“How’d you know I was here?” Alix demanded, her voice angry and defensive.
“A friend of mine saw you. He came to get me,” Jordan told her.
Alix had backed all the way up against the wall.
“Alix!” Jordan’s entire body sagged in relief. “Alix, for the love of heaven, where did you go? I’ve been sick with worry. I called everyone I could think of…. I didn’t know what to do when I couldn’t find you. No one—not even Jacqueline or the people at the café—knew where you were.”
“I spent a few days at your grandma Turner’s.”
“Grandma’s?” He seemed bewildered; clearly it had never occurred to him to call his own grandmother.
Colette felt like an unwanted third party and would gladly have left the room if Jordan hadn’t blocked the entrance.
“That’s where you went?” Jordan shook his head. “Why?”
“I love your grandmother,” Alix said.
“I love you,” Jordan told her. “Alix, I can’t let you walk out of my life. I’d be the biggest fool who ever lived if I did. You tried to tell me how unhappy you were, only I wasn’t listening. I thought…Oh, I don’t know what I thought. The wedding’s nothing,” he said. “Nothing. You’re all that matters. You don’t want the big wedding, then it’s out. Done with, canceled, forgotten. If you want a small ceremony with family and a few friends, that’s what we’ll have. But please marry me. I need you.”
Alix remained rigid, frowning as if she didn’t believe him.
Colette wanted to give her a shove in Jordan’s direction. But Alix stood exactly where she was.
Jordan removed the diamond ring from his pocket and held it out to her. “Let me put this back where it belongs—on your finger. Just like you belong with me, and I belong with you.”
Colette could feel Alix weakening as she looked down at her left hand. “You need to listen to me,” she said in a low voice.
“I will, as God is my witness,” he vowed.
“Then I’d like to be married by the lake on your grandmother’s poperty.”
“That can be arranged,” Jordan said immediately.
“With your family and a few of our friends.”
“Done.”
Alix frowned again, as though she felt he’d given in too easily and she wasn’t sure she could trust him.
“Nothing’s more important to me than being with you,” Jordan whispered.
Tears flowed down Alix’s cheeks then, and she moved slowly toward Jordan. A second later they were locked in a fervent embrace.
Colette wanted to give them some privacy. Making her way past Jordan and Alix, she tiptoed out of the office, closing the door. She felt happier just knowing they were back together. However, Colette didn’t envy them the task of breaking the news to Jacqueline and Susan Turner. She was certain they’d be delighted the wedding was on, but less pleased about the kind of event it was going to be.
That morning’s encounter left Colette in a melancholy mood for the rest of the day. The satisfaction she felt for them seemed to emphasize the bleakness of her own life. She was eager to see Elizabeth—and to be with Christian, although there was virtually no chance of a happy resolution there.
The dinner invitation said she should arrive at six. Colette was ready much earlier than that, but she trotted down the stairs to her car with only ten minutes to spare. She drove to the house on Capitol Hill and was struck again by the beauty of the stately home with its white pillars and sweeping grounds. She noticed immediately that Christian’s car was nowhere in sight. She’d hoped to time her arrival so he’d already be there.
The same woman, Doris, who’d answered the door previously did so this evening. “Miss Elizabeth is waiting in the library,” she told Colette.
It all sounded very formal. Colette was led to the other room and sure enough, Christian’s aunt was sipping tea by the fireplace. “I’m so glad you decided to accept my invitation,” Elizabeth Sasser said, rising awkwardly to her feet.
“You also invited Christian,” Colette said in a gently chiding voice.
“I did,” his aunt agreed. Her eyebrows rose in an expression Colette couldn’t quite decipher.
“You decided to play the role of matchmaker.”
“Yes, I’d thought…Well, it’s neither here nor there. Christian declined.”
He’d said he would but Colette had hoped he’d change his mind. She was overcome by a deep sense of disappointment, which she tried to conceal. She assumed she’d succeeded until she caught a look in the old woman’s clear blue eyes.
“I’ll try again on another occasion,” Elizabeth said matter-of-factly. “And next time I’ll be more clever about it.”