Almost Home (45 page)
Katherine took her father's arm and walked down the
aisle. They stopped next to Zach, and Katherine stood in the middle, her father
on one side, her husband-to-be on the other. She had never felt so loved, so
cherished. She'd finally found the place where she belonged.
"Who gives this woman to be married?" the
minister asked.
"I do," the man next to her said proudly and
loudly. He smiled down at her. "I'm Sam Jamison. Her father."
Katherine heard the murmurs, the gasps of shock, but
she didn't care. She squeezed Sam's hand, then handed him the cuff link Zach
had taken from
mother is here, too."
He slipped it into his sleeve, matching the other one
he'd kept tucked away in a drawer. "I would have worn these the day I
married your mother, if she'd stayed with me, if she'd trusted me to make things
work. I would have given up the horses for her. I would have moved to
never asked."
"I know," Katherine said, giving him a hug. "But
I think she's watching right now, and she's happy we're together."
Sam drew the back of his weathered hand across his
eyes, then stepped back so Zach and Katherine could move forward together, to
stand in front of the minister, to pledge their love.
Zach took Katherine's hand in his and smiled down at
her. "From now on, it's just the two of us, Kat. We're starting our own
family. And you won't be the princess, you'll be the queen." He gazed into
her eyes with the serious intensity she'd come to adore. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
"For better or worse," he said.
"In sickness or in health," she added.
"Hey, those are my lines," the minister
interjected. "You're getting ahead of me."
Zach laughed. "We've got a race to get to. Could
you speed this along?"
"Do you, Zachary Tyler, take Katherine Jones
Whitfield Stanton to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
"I do."
"Do you, Katherine Jones Whitfield Stanton, take
Zachary Tyler to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
"I do."
"You're going to have to get rid of some of those
names," Zach whispered to her as the minister continued with the blessing.
"I only need one now.
Zach kissed her on the mouth, long and hard, promising
her a lifetime of happiness.
"Uh, sir," the minister said, clearing his
throat.
"What?"
"You may kiss the bride."
"I'm way ahead of you."
"I can see that."
Everyone laughed as Zach kissed Katherine again, long
and hard and passionately endless.
* * *
Mary
Jo turned to J.T. "Sam is her father? I don't understand why you had that
photograph of Margaret if she was involved with Sam."
"Sam took the photo, and I stole it, because I
was jealous. I wanted Margaret for myself."
"You did?" Mary Jo felt a shaft of pain.
"Then I met you. Then I fell in love with you."
"You did?" she repeated with a sense of
wonder.
J.T. looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Mary Jo,
for a lot of things, but you have to believe me when I say I married you for
love. When I couldn't give you a baby, I felt like a worthless man. I never
realized I'd made you feel worthless, too. My heart attack woke me up, made me
take a hard look at myself. I want to start over. I want a second chance,
unless you still feel you need to sell to Zach."
Mary Jo smiled. "I think Zach has his hands full."
She turned to Leeanne, who was sitting next to her. "We were both wrong,
huh?"
Leeanne sighed. "Yes. Imagine—
J
was short for Jamison. I think I even
remember Margaret talking about someone named Jay, but I had no idea who he
was. She was awfully secretive, wasn't she?"
"Like everyone else in
Mary Jo replied.
"So it's
back to life with my normal, boring husband. Who I absolutely adore," Leeanne
added with a mischievous smile. She leaned over and planted a wet kiss on Jimmy's
cheek.
"Leeanne," Jimmy complained. "This isn't
the time."
"See? Same old thing."
* * *
Five
hours later, Katherine wondered when life would ever get back to normal. After
the wedding breakfast, Zach had gotten down to the business of the day, the
Kentucky Derby. Katherine had spent the early hours of the day drinking mint
juleps and meeting her grandparents' friends, then she'd slipped down to join
Zach just before the start of the
Now the jockeys had mounted, the horses had been
called to the post and paraded before the crowd, and there was nothing left to
do but lead each highly strung thoroughbred into the gate that would start the
race of a lifetime.
"This is it," Katherine said as she and Zach
stood at the rail with the grooms and trainers and real horse people, letting
the
"This is it," Zach echoed. "I've been
living a long time for this day, dreaming about this moment, wishing for
success, happiness, all the things I never thought I had."
Sam came up on the other side of Katherine, his body
as tense as Zach's. Katherine slipped one arm around each of them, silently
praying for a miracle.
Within seconds the gate opened and Rogue came out fast
and clean, the jockey wearing the
heart was pumping too loud. She wanted Rogue to win for Zach. She wanted it more
than anything.
Zach turned and looked at her, actually taking his
eyes off the race.
"What are you doing?" she asked in
bewilderment. "Rogue is running right now."
"I just realized. It doesn't matter what happens.
I have you. I don't need to look up at the stars or down that stretch of track.
My happiness is standing right here in front of me. Thank God you didn't give
up on me."
"Oh, Zach." His words broke her heart. "I
love you so much."
"I love you back." He kissed her on the
mouth until the screams broke them apart.
"You won, Zach," Sam said, slapping him on
the back. "Rogue came in first. He flew past those other horses, ran 'em
right into the ground. Did you hear me? You won."
Zach never took his eyes off Katherine's face. "I
already knew that, Sam. I already knew that."
* * * * *
