Going to the Chapel (17 page)

But she did.

He moved toward her and her body
swayed in his direction, every cell in her body anticipating his
touch. There was no way to make it work, no way to live happily
ever after as far as she could see.

Oh, but she so wanted to find a
way. To put the past behind them and make a future
together.

He slipped his arms around her
waist and pressed his forehead to hers. “You’re something else, did
you know that?”

She smiled, a little nervously. “I
was just doing my job.”

He inhaled a deep breath, a sound
of unmistakable male satisfaction. “You know how much I want
you?”

She nodded.

“
We need you here,” he murmured,
his eyes relayed the sincerity of his words. “The town needs you
and I need you.”

Was he asking her to stay? She
closed her eyes and thought of all the times they’d shared, good
and bad. She thought of all she’d wanted in her life, the things
she’d grown to want after Chase. She just couldn’t make a decision
like this right now. She was too vulnerable. The birth of a new
life...the pledge of eternal love by two people fully committed to
each other. The recent sell of her childhood home. It was all too
much.

“
I don’t know if I can stay.” She
saw the instant change in his eyes, saw his guard go up.

He backed away. “I shouldn’t
have...” He shook his head, already regretting his
words.

“
No.” She reached for him,
entwining her fingers with his. “No matter what I decide, I
appreciate your telling me that I’m still wanted.”

“
I never stopped wanting you, but
I—”

“
Had to do what you had to do,” she
finished for him. “I know.” She moistened her lips. “I wish I could
say I don’t hold that decision against you, but a part of me does,”
she admitted.

He nodded. “I can understand
that.”

“
Thank you.”

“
I should be going, I guess.” He
released her and started toward the door.

“
Chase.”

He looked back, one hand already on
the door preparing to open it. “Yeah.”

“
Would you do me a
favor?”

“
Name it.”

“
I have to meet Tristan and
exchange cars on Saturday. Would you mind very much going with me?
I really don’t want to do this alone.”

He smiled. “I wouldn’t miss
it.”

“
One more thing.” She halted his
departure once more.

His gaze shifted back to her.
“Yeah?”

She moistened her lips and moved
closer. “Would you just...kiss me?” She shrugged, uncertain how to
explain herself. He looked as uncertain as she felt. “I just want
to be sure that what happened Sunday was real.”

He cupped her face in his big hands
and pressed his lips to hers before she had a chance to blush at
her own forward request. A feeling of rightness, of completeness
enveloped her. His taste, his strength radiated through her,
heightening her desire, drawing her even nearer.

The feel of his warm, muscular body
beckoned to hers with a need that mounted with each passing second,
with each sweep of his sensual lips.

“
If I don’t go now,” he murmured
against her lips. “I won’t be able to.”

She reached up and touched his
face, stroked the line of his jaw. The day she’d turned fourteen
she’d known she was in love with Chase. That silky black hair and
those amazing blue eyes were just too much temptation. But it was
the man behind the handsome face and awesome bod that had won her
heart. The knowledge that this man had never changed, that he had
not done the horrible thing she’d believed of him made her feel
faint with relief. But so much had happened since that time, they
were both different people now. Could they really be happy if they
tried to go back? Would she be satisfied running this small town
clinic?

Chase pressed one last kiss to her
cheek and left while he still could.

Caroline closed the door and
pressed her forehead to its painted surface. “What on earth are you
going to do now, Caroline?”

The telephone rang.

She straightened away from the
door. “Saved by the bell.” She crossed to the hall table and picked
it up. “Hello.”

“
Caroline.”

Julie
. “Are
you all right? Where are you?”

“
I’m in Memphis at a
hotel.”

“
Honey, you’ve got to come home.
Your parents are worried sick.”

“
I called my mother.”

Caroline nodded. “Good.”

Silence.

“
So, how are you?” The silence was
telling.

“
I’m pregnant.”

Caroline hesitated, considering
what those two words meant besides the obvious. “That’s
great,...isn’t it?”

“
It’s not the groom’s baby,” she
said, her voice strangely emotionless. “I told you we’d
never...”

If it wasn’t Rob’s baby,
then...“Who’s the father?”

“
It’s the best man’s
baby.”

Zac
. “You
and Zac?” Caroline was stunned. “How? I mean...” She certainly knew
how, but why? “When did that happen?”

“
I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
She was crying now.

“
Well, of course you didn’t. Just
tell me what happened.”

“
It was about a month ago. I just,
well I just couldn’t take the uncertainties I was experiencing with
Rob. It was driving me crazy. And Zac has always been so nice to
meet. He knows Rob. I thought that maybe he could help me figure
out what to do. There had to be some reason I didn’t feel anything
sexual for Rob.”

“
And things got out of control?”
Caroline suggested.

“
Yes.” She sniffed. “And after that
I just couldn’t stop thinking about him. It only happened one other
time, but I knew I couldn’t marry Rob when I felt that way about
Zac. I didn’t know I was pregnant until this morning.”

Caroline rubbed her forehead. Boy,
this was one sticky situation. “I think you should come home. Your
parents want you home. You need them. You need your
friends.”

“
What about Rob and
Zac?”

“
Don’t worry,” Caroline assured
her. “We’ll figure it all out.”

“
Okay. I’ll be home in the morning.
How am I going to break this to Rob?”

“
Do you want me to talk to
Chase?”

“
That would be good. I called Zac
and told him. He didn’t say much.”

Caroline could hear the
disappointment in her voice. “He was probably shocked, Jules. And
Rob is his best friend.”

“
What a mess I’ve made.”

“
Don’t worry,” Caroline promised.
“We’ll figure this all out. Everything will be fine.” Caroline
tried to remember the last time she’d promised the near
impossible.

~*~

Chase stood in Caroline’s parlor,
his jaw slack at the news she’d just relayed. “She’s
sure?”

“
She took a second test this
afternoon just to be sure. She’s pregnant, Chase.”

He scrubbed a hand over his face.
“This is going to cause a war, you know that, don’t
you?”

“
That’s why I want you to
mediate.”

He stared at her in disbelief. “I
don’t think I want to get in the middle of this.”

“
Chase, you have to. Both men are
your best friends.”

He crossed his arms over his chest.
“That’s exactly why I should keep my two cents out of
it.”

“
Okay, then,” Caroline countered.
“Do it because you’re the sheriff and you want to prevent
bloodshed.”

She could be so logical at times.
Too logical. “All right,” he relented. “I’ll do what I can to keep
them from killing each other.”

One hour later Chase stood between
his two best friends as they threatened each other’s
lives.

“
I can’t believe you did this,
you—”

“
Rob.” Chase fended off the blow he
aimed at Zac. “We’ve been over this already. Zac and Julie didn’t
mean for it to happen.”

“
I can’t help how I feel, man,” Zac
exclaimed, his face red with fury. “If you’d done right by her she
wouldn’t have had to turn to me.”

“
You son of a—”

“
Enough.” Chase pushed them apart
again. “Don’t make me haul you two in.”

Chase had selected the back room in
the pool hall, neutral territory. Maybe he would have been better
off to go down to the jail and lock them in separate
cells.

“
This is unspeakable!” Rob shouted.
“A friend doesn’t take his friend’s woman.”

“
Tell the truth,” Zac snarled. “You
were having second thoughts. You’ve been undecided for months. You
didn’t want her.”

“
We were engaged!”

“
Zac is right, Rob.” Chase risked
Rob’s rage further. “You said so yourself. You were having second
thoughts.”

“
But I was going to marry her! What
are you going to do, you slime ball.” He shook his fist at Zac.
“She’s pregnant, what’re you going to do about it?”

Zac blinked, clearly uncertain of
what to say or do. “I...”

“
He’s hopeless.” Rob threw up his
hands and turned his back on both of them.

Zac looked bewildered.

“
Give him a break. He just found
out.”

Rob turned around and glared at
him. “No one gave me a break when I was standing all alone at that
altar?” He turned his glower to Zac then. “Haven’t you heard about
taking precautions? Condoms?”

“
Well, if you’d taken care of
business, maybe she wouldn’t have been so desperate when she got to
me and we might have taken our time.”

Rob lunged at Zac again. Chase
hauled them apart again. “Dammit. I’m getting tired of this.” He
glared at each man in turn. “Zac, he asked a legitimate question.
What are you going to do about this?”

“
I’m...” He glanced at Rob as if
fearing another attack. “I’m going to marry her.”

“
How do you know she’ll have you,
lover boy?” Rob spat.

Zac shrugged. “I love her. I’ll
take my chances.”

Chase breathed a little easier
then. “All right. That’s a plan. You should go talk to her in
person and get this thing resolved before everyone in town starts
talking about it. Julie deserves better than that.”

“
I will. I’ll talk to her tonight.
Right now.”

“
It’s about time you did something
right,” Rob snapped, anger still radiating from his tall
frame.

Zac started toward the
door.

Chase wished there was something he
could say to mend this rift, but he wasn’t sure there was anything
anyone could say or do.

“
Congratulations.”

Chase’s head went up. Zac turned
around to face the man who’d spoken.

Next to Chase, Rob rubbed his eyes
with his forefinger and thumb, then leveled his gaze on Zac. “It’s
not every day that a man finds out he’s going to be a
father.”

Zac smiled, just a ghost of a
gesture. “Thanks, buddy.” He swallowed. “I am sorry that it
happened this way.”

Rob nodded. “I can’t say that I’ve
forgiven you, but I will admit that it wasn’t all yours and Julie’s
fault. I had a hand in this.” He shrugged. “And I’ll deal with
it.”

Chase smiled at his two friends.
“Come on, Rob, let’s have a cold one while Zac takes care of
business.”

Rob straightened his rumpled suit
jacket. “As long as we talk about anything except
weddings.”

The next day a small service for
close friends and family was held in the wedding chapel. Chase,
Caroline, and even Rob watched Julie and Zac exchange their vows.
Chase glanced at Caroline and wished that straightening out their
relationship would be as easy. But there’d never been anything easy
about their situation. Chase shifted his focus back to the bride
and groom. Everyone was getting married.

Everyone but him.

And Caroline.

Chapter Ten

Saturday morning Caroline picked up
the Porsche from Zac. He was literally beaming. Caroline was so
happy for them. He and Julie would be good together. And she felt
certain that Rob would find someone more suited for him.

The Porsche looked as good as new.
If she were lucky Tristan wouldn’t notice a thing until he got back
to St. Louis, if ever. Now all she had to do was face him. She took
a deep breath as she pulled into Chase’s driveway. She’d pretty
much put Tristan out of her mind the past couple of weeks. But
today she had to face the music. He wanted to reconcile their
differences. But that wasn’t going to happen. If Caroline knew
nothing else for certain, she knew that she and Tristan weren’t
right for each other. They hadn’t been from the beginning. She’d
only been fooling herself. Trying to put the past behind
her.