Blossom Street Brides (37 page)

When he finally broke away, Lauren swayed off balance. His hands on the curve of her shoulders were all that kept her upright. His own shoulders heaved as he held her at arm’s length.

After several moments, he seemed to regain his breath. “I need a shower and a shave.” He paused long enough to kiss her and added, “Then we can talk.”

“I’ll make coffee.”

Rooster nodded, and Lauren started to turn away, but her husband caught her hand and stopped her and raised her fingers to his lips, kissing the back of her hand.

As though it pained him to be away from her longer than necessary, he headed into the bedroom while Lauren went into the kitchen. She had just pulled out the coffeemaker when she heard Rooster call her name.

“For the love of heaven, woman, what did you do with my underwear?” he called out.

Hearing him opening and closing drawers, Lauren rushed into the bedroom. “Sorry, I forgot to tell you I changed a few things around in here as well.”

“So I noticed.” He looked about the room and shook his head. The bed was on the opposite wall and the dresser was where the bed had once been.

“You moved the bedroom furniture around on your own?” he asked with a frown.

She nodded. “I had a lot of energy to burn off, and, according to what I learned in the feng shui book, there was no balance in the room.”

Rooster simply shook his head.

“You’ll find your things in the middle shelf in the bathroom.” It made sense to Lauren, as that was where they should be.

“And towels?”

“Hall closet.”

“Anything else I should know?”

“Just one thing,” she whispered. “I’m crazy over you.”

Rooster reached for her, his large hand at the base of her neck as he pulled her mouth to his. The kiss was deep and filled with weeks of longing. When he broke it off, he braced his forehead against hers. “I won’t be long.”

“Okay.”

Ten minutes later he came into the kitchen dressed in a freshly washed pair of jeans and a shirt. His hair was wet and his face clean shaved. Lauren had two cups of coffee on the kitchen table. “Are you hungry?” she asked. He looked as if he was several pounds lighter and desperately tired.

“I’m fine.”

They sat across from each other. Rooster reached for her hand, clenching it tightly in his own.

“Why did you take off?” she asked, the first question that came to mind, needing answers.

He didn’t meet her gaze. “I’d pinned my hopes on the fact that you might be pregnant, and when I learned you weren’t it felt as if our marriage was a lost cause.”

“Oh, Rooster, I was disappointed, too.”

“I thought if we had a baby you might be willing to give me another chance. When you weren’t, I had to get away and lick my wounds. From the look of things,” he said, and glanced into the living room, “you’ve been here awhile.”

She nodded. “Ten days. I apologize for the changes, but I needed to keep busy, and this helped me feel closer to you.”

Rooster kissed her fingertips. “I’m sorry, Lauren. I was a fool not to tell you about Lacey and me … Even now I don’t know why I didn’t. You deserved to know everything.”

“I don’t ever want there to be secrets between us.”

“That’s a promise I won’t have trouble keeping.”

“Where did you go?” she asked. It seemed as if he’d been away forever.

“The crazy part is, I can’t really tell you. I simply rode. Max did something similar to deal with his grief. Getting away seemed to help him, and I thought it might help me.”

“Did it?”

“No,” he admitted. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you. After a while I accepted the fact that I’d lost you by my own stupidity. I assumed we were about to have one of the shortest marriages in history. I did everything I could to put you out of my mind.”

“Did it work?” she asked, needing to know.

“No, but I tried,” he admitted.

“Why were you so cold when you first walked in the house?” she asked. Perhaps one day she’d tell him that he’d ruined her end-of-the-movie fantasy of their reunion.

Rooster set down his coffee. “I thought at first the house had been burglarized while I was away.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“And then you were there, like a vision, a figment of my imagination, and I was stunned. I’d made the decision to do everything within my power to put you out of my life and move forward.”

“I intend to make that impossible, so you’d better get used to seeing me every day for the rest of your life.”

“I think I’ll be able to deal with that.”

“Good thing,” she said, smiling, unbelievably happy.

“You’ll notice it didn’t take me long to change my mind,” Rooster reminded her.

“Long enough.” She didn’t know if her heart could have taken it if he had sent her away.

Rooster sipped his coffee and seemed to sway in his chair.

“When was the last time you slept?” she asked, immediately concerned.

He looked up at her as if he was unable to answer the question. “I don’t remember.”

“That’s what I thought.” She stood, took her coffee and his, and carried their cups to the sink. “We’ll talk more in the morning, but for right now, we’re going to bed.”

“If I can find it,” Rooster teased as he stood, a little uneasy on his feet.

“You’ll find it,” she assured him, and slipped her arm around his waist.

“You’d better not plan on sleeping,” he told her, his eyes dark and serious. “At least not right away.”

“We’ll see,” she said, cajoling him.

But Rooster proved to be right. It was a good long time before either of them fell into a deep slumber.

“Oh, Bethanne,” Lauren whispered as she stepped into the reception hall, viewing it for the first time. The room was beautifully decorated for her and Rooster’s wedding reception. The round tables were adorned with baskets of flowers in pale green and lavender. The chairs were covered in white linen, with large lavender-and-white silk bows tied in the back. Her friend had seen to every detail.

“Does this meet with your feng shui requirements?” Rooster teased her.

“You’re not going to let me live that down, are you?”

His answer was a warm smile that washed over her like sunshine. “You can rearrange the furniture any way you want. Only next time you might want to mention it, especially if you decide to move the bed again.”

Lauren struggled to hold back a smile. The feng shui book had made a strong impression, and ever since reading it, she routinely moved the furniture around. Rooster rarely noticed until he went to sit on a chair that was no
longer where he assumed and instead landed on his backside on the carpet. It’d become something of a joke between them.

“This is the same place where Andrew and Courtney had their wedding reception,” Bethanne explained.

“And where Bethanne agreed to be my bride,” Max said, his arm around his wife’s trim waist.

They shared a long look as though the memory of that reception lingered in their minds. Lauren hadn’t known Bethanne or Max back then, but she wished she had. Over the last several months she’d come to consider Bethanne a good friend, and Max, too. Her hope was that her marriage to Rooster would be as strong and secure as that of her two friends.

“It won’t be long before the room is filled with family and friends who want nothing more than to wish you every happiness.”

“I am happy,” Lauren said, looking up at her husband, “so very happy.” Her eyes locked with Rooster’s. Even now, three months after their Vegas wedding, it was hard to believe they were actually married. What they’d done had been completely illogical, and yet it had been so very right. Rational people didn’t get married on a whim. They’d both taken a tremendous risk; thankfully, it had all worked out. Lauren fell more in love with her husband every day. She’d blindly walked into this marriage; they both had. Yet, in retrospect, she’d do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, Lauren wouldn’t change a thing … then again, maybe she would. She’d cheated herself out of a honeymoon, but they’d been
making up for that lost time ever since Rooster returned from his sojourn.

Their life together had been a whirlwind of activity. Max and Rooster had been working long hours to put everything into place in order to move the company. All the necessary paperwork was in motion. The wine-distribution company had located a warehouse in an industrial area in South Seattle, and Max had negotiated the lease. In time, Max and Rooster hoped to build their own warehouse.

Rooster traveled between the two states as often as possible. Every minute they were apart was agony. Lauren didn’t know how Bethanne and Max had managed over the last sixteen months. Thankfully, it would be only a matter of time before the two couples would live full-time in the same city and they could do away with the long commute. Frankly, Lauren couldn’t wait, and for more reasons than Rooster even knew.

“You did a wonderful job with the decorations,” Lauren told her friend. “I hardly know how to thank you.”

“Seeing how happy you’ve made Rooster is appreciation enough. But you need to thank Annie. She’s the one who did the majority of the organization.”

“I will.”

“She’ll be here with Tony.”

“Tony?” Max asked. “I thought she was dating a guy named Bill.”

“That is so last week,” Bethanne teased her husband.

“Everything’s worked out between Annie and her mom?” Rooster asked.

Lauren nodded. “Working for her dad for those few weeks woke Annie up when it came to her father. From what Bethanne told me, it all worked out for the best.”

“For us, too,” Rooster murmured.

“Oh, yes.” Lauren looked up at her husband and noticed that his eyes flared briefly. For a moment she thought he might lean down and kiss her, but to her disappointment, he restrained himself.

“How many guests should we expect?” Rooster asked as he worked his finger around the collar of his dress shirt. He’d agreed to wear a suit for the reception, and she had to admit he made for a fine figure, but this wasn’t his normal attire.

“We got over a hundred RSVPs,” Lauren answered, but there was only one guest’s name she felt she should mention. “Todd’s coming, along with a friend.” He was dating an intern from the station, and the two seemed to have hit it off nicely.

Rooster frowned. “You invited Todd?”

“Yes. We talked about it, remember?”

He eyed her suspiciously. “I vaguely remember, but, as I recall, you distracted me.”

Lauren did her best to hide her amusement. “As I recall, you can be very easily distracted.” Then, turning serious, she asked, “You don’t mind, do you?”

“Not in the least,” he assured her.

The door opened, and all eyes turned in that direction as Katie and Dietrich arrived. Katie paused and looked around. “Oh, my, are we the first ones to arrive?” Glancing
at her watch, she looked up. “We’re way early, aren’t we?”

“It’s not a problem,” Lauren was quick to tell her. “Let me introduce you to my husband and friends.” She made the introductions, and greetings were exchanged.

“When are you due?” Bethanne asked, apparently noticing the small bulge in Katie’s tummy.

“December.”

Dietrich stood behind Katie with his hands on top of her shoulders.

“Everything is good between you and your mom?” Lauren asked. She suspected it was. Elisa seemed to have adjusted to the fact that her daughter was her own person and fully capable of making her own life decisions. While the circumstances weren’t ideal, the young couple was making it work. According to Elisa, Katie had done wonders with the small house on Dietrich’s parents’ farm. Dietrich had finished his studies and had taken over the everyday management.

“My parents have been great,” Katie told her. “Mom went a bit crazy in the beginning, but that’s understandable, and it’s in the past. She’s already going way overboard when it comes to buying things for the baby. It’s a little girl; I don’t know if she told you.”

“She did.” Lauren had watched the quick turnaround her friend had made and was proud of her. Elisa and Katie talked nearly every day, and Elisa made trips to the Walla Walla area at least once a month. Already Lauren could see that her friend was going to be a wonderful grandmother.

Katie glanced at her wrist. “Mom and Dad should be here any time.”

A man came over and spoke briefly to Bethanne. After he left, she explained, “That was the deejay. He wants to test the sound system.”

“Perhaps we should check out the dance floor,” Max suggested, reaching for Bethanne’s hand.

Rooster tensed and leaned forward to whisper in Lauren’s ear, “I’m not much good at this.”

“Don’t worry,” she said as she followed the two other couples toward the dance floor. “Just hold me and shuffle your feet a bit, okay?”

Katie and Dietrich stepped onto the polished oak dance floor and the music started. Right away, Dietrich took Katie in his arms. Bethanne and Max followed. Rooster released a sigh and wrapped his arms around Lauren. For someone who assumed he lacked the dancing gene, Rooster did amazingly well.

Lauren closed her eyes, and Rooster pressed his chin to the side of her head. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“For what?”

“For your husband list, for loving me, for hiding my clothes and moving my furniture around. Mostly, thank you for completing me. You’re my family now, Lauren, and hopefully we’ll add to that family in due course.”

“You might have your wish sooner than you realize.”

In a flash, he lifted his head. “What did you say?”

“I’m late,” she told him.

“What does that mean?” he demanded.

“It means I’m late, but I never am, and so I bought a home test kit.”

“And?”

“And the stick turned blue.”

“Blue?”

“Positive, in other words.”

He went completely still. “You’re pregnant?”

“It looks that way.”

“Hey, look,” Max said as he passed by them, Bethanne in his arms. “Three brides all together. Blossom Street brides.”

“Max,” Rooster called out excitedly. “We’re pregnant.”

Max’s face broke into a huge grin. “Congratulations. I figured you two were up to something.”