Irresistible You (38 page)

She looked across the room seeing her father arrive and take his place beside the minister. “Love is impossible.”

Randolph followed her line of vision to their father. “Not for Wyatt. It’s always been simple for him.”

“But that’s just it. He doesn’t have a clue what love really is. Love is the hope of spending forever with someone, the dream of waking up in that special someone’s arms every morning and thanking God for bringing them into your life. Love is twenty-four seven, ‘til death do us part. Love is…” she paused gathering her thoughts.

“…Never having to say you’re sorry,” Randolph said with a chuckle as Juliet jokingly slapped at his arm. “I couldn’t resist.” She slapped at him again. “Okay, okay. I know what you mean and you’re right. Love is all those things.”

“It seems that for Wyatt falling in love is a lot easier than being in love,” Juliet said.

“Of course it is. Falling is the easy part, staying in love gets a bit trickier. That’s where the reality of love comes in.”

“And that’s when he bails out,” she added.

“We all do.”

Juliet looked at Randolph. “You’re right, we do. I guess it’s the Bridges gene. When’s the last time you fell in love and actually worked to make it last?”

Realizing that she wasn’t going to let the issue drop, he sighed heavily and shook his head. “Fine I’ll bite.” He glanced across the room to the happy groom. “I’m not the falling in love type. It’s just a fact, and I accept it.”

“Don’t you think that’s because of Wyatt and our endless parade of stepmothers over the years?”

“Wyatt has always been emotionally distracted. He’s got a short attention span when it comes to commitment.” Randolph began in all seriousness. “My mother to yours, your mother to Lena, her to number four, four to five and so on. And now he’s at number eight.”

“He’s like a Sesame Street dropout.”

“I don’t even remember their names anymore.”

“Rachel was four, Dolly was five, Brenda was number six, and Wanda was seven.”

Randolph smiled. “You always took the stepdaughter thing seriously. I could never figure out why, they come and go so quickly.”

“Because I knew our dear father would eventually dump them like he always has and I guess I wanted them to have some good memories of the Bridges family.”

“And they all still adore him,” Randolph said.

“Yes they do. Maybe it’s a good thing he ends the relationship before the yelling and screaming starts. Come to think of it, I’m still friends with most of my old boyfriends,” she said.

“And the majority of my ex’s still keep in touch.”

“So why even bother? We are our father’s children.

“Falling in love and making a commitment to someone isn’t in our genes. We’re just like him.”

“You are kidding, right? Juliet we’re nothing like Wyatt. Just because he doesn’t stay around long enough doesn’t mean we won’t.”

“We never have.”

“Maybe the right person hasn’t come into our lives yet.”

“It’s a moot point.”

“There are marriages that last a lifetime. As a matter of fact Wyatt and your mom lasted longer than most.”

“Until he needed his freedom,” she said sighing heavily. “Let’s face it, love doesn’t last for us. It’s not a part of our heritage.”

“How can you say that?” he asked.

“You and I do the same thing he does. We break off the relationship before the other person gets hurt. I guess it’s kinder that way. We save them the pain of being hurt twice.”

“You make it sound so noble, when actually it’s being a coward,” he said.

Juliet shook her head in desperation. “Freedom and independence are not cowardice.”

“Where is all this coming from?” Randolph asked.

“I’ve just been thinking lately,” Juliet said.

“Just because you’ve never truly been in love doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”

“Oh it’ll happen,” she nodded assuredly, remembering J.T.’s hurt face at the party. “I just refuse to do anything about it, and I even knowingly discouraged it. That makes me just like him.” She nodded toward the altar as the “Wedding March” began to play. The assembled guests all stood. “So why even bother falling in love in the first place and condemn someone else’s life to hurt and pain.”

“So after all this your answer is to simply what, get out early.”

The music continued to play and all heads turned to the back of the hall. The bride started walking down the aisle. Juliet looked back at her dress, a lovely white suit with lace trim. She looked beautiful, she looked so happy. It was a shame it wouldn’t last.

The ceremony was thankfully brief. The vows were exchanged and the key question was asked.
If anyone here knows why this man and this woman should not be joined together in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.
Randolph looked at Juliet, she looked at him. The hopeful expressions of
maybe this time
covered their faces as they smiled. They remained silent and the minister continued.

The pronouncement of man and wife only added more confusion to Juliet’s already bad mood. She watched as her father stood at the hotel’s makeshift altar beaming happily just as he always did. After eight weddings he was an expert at saying,
I do
. Randolph was right, the wedding was apparently the easy part. It was the actual commitment to being married that he seemed to have problems with.

An hour later Juliet and Randolph sat at the reception table for family eating chilled salmon, caviar and drinking champagne. What exactly did men want? Having just met her latest stepmother half an hour ago in the receiving line, Juliet sat at the reception table and pondered her relationship with J.T.

It had started off easily enough. But even then she felt there was going to be trouble. That’s why she left when she woke up and he was already gone.

“If I live to be a hundred, I will never understand men,” Juliet ranted absently as she sat watching her father smile then kiss and hug his new bride.

Randolph rolled his eyes to the ballroom’s ceiling. “Are we back to that again?” Randolph whispered after hearing more of Juliet’s rants. She’d been going on and on since the two of them had flown down for the wedding. “If you didn’t want to come to the wedding you should have said so.”

“He asked for a simple favor. I did a simple favor. No attachments, that’s what he said, that was the deal.” She sipped from her champagne flute.

“And,” Randolph prompted.

“And what?” she said.

“And who was the he and what was the favor?”

“Never mind,” Juliet said.

“No way,” Randolph said as he poured more champagne into her glass. “You’re not gonna begin a statement like that and just say never mind.”

“J.T. Evans.”

“Of course,” Randolph said nodding and remembering their meeting on the patio the night before. “I should have guessed. He looked like he was going to knock me down when I escorted you out last night. So what happened between you two?”

Juliet told Randolph the whole story beginning with their first meeting in New York and ending with the afternoon that J.T. came by to drop off the check, including J.T.’s notion of their relationship. “Don’t give me that over protective big brother stuff. It was your idea not to let people know we’re related.”

“What were you thinking?” he began angrily.

“Don’t you start,” Juliet said. Patricia has already blasted my ears about New York and this whole thing.”

“Good, you deserved it. You realize, of course, that I have to get involved at this point.”

“Don’t you dare, this has nothing to do with you. Your getting involved will only make things worse.”

“How much worse can they possibly be? What exactly were you thinking when you agreed to this.”

“It was a simple deal.”

“Obviously it didn’t work out like you planned.”

“Obviously,” she said miserably.

“So what are you going to do now that you’re in love with him?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Only to the trained eye,” he paused and smiled. “And, of course, everyone else on the planet,” he added. “Is he in love with you?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t get it. Go live happily ever after.”

“It’s not that simple and you know it. I told him that I needed time. Then he saw you and me together last night. He doesn’t know that we’re related,” she said.

“And you didn’t clear up the misconception.”

“No.”

“Why not,” he said.

“You of all people should know the answer to that.” Juliet looked over to their father as he proudly danced with his new bride on the dance floor. “It would never last.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I have a pretty good idea.”

“Juliet, you’re not meant to be alone. You can’t live your life hiding under a rock because of your mother and Wyatt’s marriage. Falling in love is rare. When it happens, treasure it for as long as you can. Don’t be afraid that the other shoe is going to drop. Not every man is like Wyatt. Do you want him back?”

“It’s too late for that.” Even if I told him the truth he’d know that I let him believe the worst.”

Randolph thought for a moment. “What about that matchmaker you were trying to fool.”

“Mamma Lou?”

“Yes. Why don’t you talk to her, maybe she can help?”

“I have no idea how to contact her. All I know is that she lives someplace off the coast of Virginia called Crescent Island.”

Randolph reached into his suit pocket and pulled out his phone. “Let me make a few calls.” Ten minutes later, he had the exact address for Louise Gates on Crescent Island.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The planning of the Arts Center took all afternoon leaving Lena and Taylor to continue late into the evening. By six o’clock, they had discussed the site, the construction schedule and had narrowed down a workable timetable with a prospective launch date. Planning the new programs took more work.

With the major decisions taken care of the two women relaxed and enjoyed the early evening dinner that Taylor ordered and had delivered to the office. They sat on the small comfortable conference table in Taylor’s office and continued their discussion over salads, chilled pasta with steamed vegetables and iced tea.

After refilling hers and Lena’s tea, Taylor sat the carafe down and opened the last container of food—two slices of cheesecake. Full from the meal both women decided to pass on the dessert.

Their conversation centered on Taylor’s art gallery and works in progress, Lena’s ballet school’s mid-summer recital in New York, and then finally the Arts Commission, the Washington DC Cultural Center and the Capitol Ballet Company. After the brief conversation Taylor confessed to the real reason she needed to speak to Lena.

“Lena, there’s actually another reason I asked you to stop by this evening,” Taylor said as she gathered the empty plates. Lena helped. They each grabbed empty containers and walked them over to the trash can.

“Really,” Lena said as she sat back down and picked up her iced tea. “What is it?”