Mended Hearts (New Beginnings Series) (23 page)

“Oh, Luca . . .” The waterworks started again.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

The show had been wonderful, Gracie
was sure—though she didn’t give it the full attention it deserved. She felt like she was floating. She’d never felt like this . . . not even the first time she’d gotten engaged. That seemed more like she was doing something expected of her—something she was obligated to do. It wasn’t that she hadn’t loved Rob. She had. But this thing with Sonny—it was so much bigger . . . brighter . . . deeper . . . and any other important adjective she could think of.

When they’d arrived in the auditorium at the SDDI, it seemed all of their friends were waiting in anticipation of something—and not the show. Sonny had flashed them all a grin, and a celebration erupted. That’s when she knew that everyone knew what was up but her. She couldn’t be mad about
it, though. The surprise had been glorious. Everyone had seemed so happy for them.

After the show, there was a reception in the Institute’s lobby. They stayed for awhile to congratulate the performers, and of course, Meg. Sonny had gotten everyone to agree to meet them at Savannah’s to continue the celebration, so they headed over there.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Rob was not a happy man. He’d shown up at Savannah’s to see Gracie. But Gracie wasn’t there. Apparently the band had the night off. He went ahead and ordered a beer, feeling sorry for himself. That’s when the torture started
—what seemed like an endless line up of stand-up comics—one right after the other. The large crowd at the bar seemed to find them funny, but Rob didn’t. He wondered what Gracie was doing and continued to drink. He had nowhere else to go, except back to his depressing motel room. Eventually the comic torture stopped. Thank God.

A large, noisy group entered the bar behind
him and he twisted around to glare at them. He was surprised to see that all the members of Sugar Creek—except for Gracie, he noticed—along with a few others had come in. Savannah met them at the door and directed them over to a long row of reserved tables at the back of the bar, in front of the black-tinted windows and under the neon
Savannah’s
sign. It appeared a party was about to start. Rob’s spirits lifted. If the entire band had shown up, maybe Gracie would too. He decided to switch from beer to soda, so he could keep his wits about him.

Pretty soon, some of those Navy SEAL
s showed up too, joining the band members at the back table. That didn’t bode well. Maybe that Sonny guy would show up too, if his friends were here. He noticed the “team mom” and “bleacher dad,” from the soccer park a couple of Sundays before, were the next to join the group. A cute little honey blonde came in and everyone seemed happy to see her, but Rob didn’t remember seeing her before.

The next arrivals shocked him and almost scared him away.
Phil, Kitty and Mathias Laurent came strolling in, a little uncertainly. His ex-in-laws. He stopped himself from sliding off the stool and skulking out of the bar. If they were here, it was certain that Gracie would be too. He had to stay. He slouched down a little more in his seat and pulled the ball cap lower over his eyes. Then he sat and waited . . . and watched. Savannah had walked over to the Laurents and showed them to the party table. Everyone introduced themselves and the Laurents joined right in. He noticed some of Sonny’s friends were dressed up, as if they had been somewhere fancy. Everyone else came in casual clothes.

It wasn’t long before the red-haired SEAL—Charley—came scurrying through the door and over to the table. “Okay, everybody. They’re here. She just thinks some of us are meeting them for a drink. She has no idea it’s a party. Get ready!”

Savannah had joined the group, and most of the bar’s wait staff had gathered closer to the door. It opened. There she was . . . being escorted in by that guy. Everyone shouted
“surprise!”
and Gracie jumped back into Sonny, who wrapped his arms around her from behind, laughing. Then they were all shouting
“happy birthday!”
It was Gracie’s birthday? Why didn’t he know that? He felt ashamed that he hadn’t remembered, when obviously the new boyfriend did.

He watched as the two of them walked over to greet everyone. She looked gorgeous in a slinky cocktail dress, mile high heels and the happiest smil
e he may have ever seen on her. Except for maybe the day she’d found out she was pregnant.

One of the SEALs—the
bleacher dad—yelled from the other end of the table, “Well? Mission accomplished?”

That cryptic question made Sonny laugh and Gracie held up her left hand, flashing
. . . an engagement ring? No way. Rob heard a rushing sound in his head. No! It couldn’t be. He shook his head to clear it and watched the scene unfold. A chorus of
hoo-yahs
—from the SEALs—and
ya-hoos
—from everyone else—bounced around the room. Several of the women ran over to hug Gracie and gush over her ring as she laughed delightedly. Then she began to cry. She’d just noticed her family. They rushed over and had a joyous reunion. That was obviously one of her birthday surprises. She turned around and hugged Sonny, kissing him tenderly and thanking him for bringing them there. That was
his
doing? He actually had the blessing of her family? It couldn’t be true. Surely they could see right through him.

The wait staff swarmed the table with buckets of champagne
and flutes, and the party kicked up a notch—corks popping all up and down the table. Next thing he knew, Savannah brought a huge cake over with a lit sparkler on top.

Sonny held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry, angel . . . I had no idea until tonight you had an aversion to sparklers,” he laughed.

Gracie laughed along with him, snuggling against him. “That wasn’t my objection, and you know it.” She kissed him again and they both seemed to forget there was anyone else in the room.

Rob’s head ached. He had to get out of there. She couldn’t marry him. She couldn’t! He wasn’t good e
nough for her . . . and even if, by some slight chance he was, she was meant to be with
Rob
. Yes, he had to get out of there—go back to his room and get his plan together. He couldn’t wait to talk to her any longer. He threw a few bills on the bar and stumbled toward the door, the sound of happy laughter ringing in his ears.

CHAPTER 17

Gracie woke early the next morning. She was surprised she’d gotten any sleep at all, as wired as she’d been from the happy night before. Of course, the champagne had probably helped. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been tipsy from drinking a little too much.
She lay there feeling cozy in her tiny bedroom nook, letting herself relive all the high points of the night before. She stretched and the sunlight through the little window caught the diamond in her ring, shooting rainbow sparks against the opposite wall.

She studied the ring. It really was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
At the party, Kelli had told her all about the shopping expedition she’d gone on with Sonny and Meg to find it. She would have liked to have seen it for herself, not being able to imagine the self-assured, confident Sonny in such an uncertain state. Well . . . she might have gotten the tiniest glimpse of that last night before she accepted his proposal. He’d been so cute. Of course, she could never tell
him
that—but he had been.

When she rolled over and caught a glimpse of her phone
lying on the dresser, she grabbed it and hit a couple of buttons with a smile.

“Yeah?” Sonny
croaked.

“Hey! It’s me,” Gracie chirped.

She heard a soft sound, like covers rustling as he shifted in bed. “Hey! What’re you doing up?”

She smiled. “I’m too happy to sleep, I guess. I’m sorry. I should’ve waited to call you.”

“No, angel. I’m glad you called. Though you did interrupt some sweet dreams.” Sonny stifled a yawn, but Gracie heard it anyway.

“Look, babe . . . I’m not going to keep you, but I wanted to run something
by you.”

“Shoot.”

“Thanksgiving weekend.”

“Thanksgiving weekend—what? You want to spend it with your parents? I’ll see if I can get leave to go, but it shouldn’t be a problem since I’m already on partial medical leave anyway.”

Gracie laughed. “No! Do you want to get married Thanksgiving weekend?”

“Thanksgiving?! This Thanksgiving. That’s like . . . what . . . three weeks away?” He sounded shocked.

“Is that too soon?” she asked uncertainly.

“Not for
me!
But, will that give us time to plan?”

“We don’t need anything big. Right? Unless . . . this
is
your first—only—wedding. Maybe you’d prefer something bigger.”

“No, I don’t need anything fancy. Just you.” He laughed. “I can’t believe you want to do it this soon. My biggest fear was that you’d make me wait.”

“Well . . . after our talk when you dropped me off last night, I got to thinking . . .”

“Oh, that. I didn’t say that so you would push the wedding up sooner than you want to,” he assured her.

“I know that, babe.”

When Sonny had driven her home, she’d invited him
in. He’d refused, which shocked her. Gracie had assumed they would spend the night together, but he had other ideas. They had never made love, but now that they were engaged she thought that would change. Sonny was insisting on waiting until they were married. He didn’t want her to think he was rejecting her but treasuring her. He assured her he wanted to be with her more than anything, but it would be more special if they waited until their wedding night. What if they weren’t compatible physically, she’d asked. Shouldn’t they find that out now? He’d laughed. There was no way they wouldn’t be compatible, he’d said. And if they were, then he wasn’t doing something right and they’d fix it. He’d let her know that he’d had many relationships in the past, but this one was so different . . . so special . . . he wanted to keep it that way, and do it right. So they’d necked for a little in the cab of his truck like a couple of sixteen-year-olds, then he walked her to her door.

“Wow,” he said
now. “Okay . . . we have to get busy. I have to meet with my CO—write an official letter to inform the Navy we’re getting married—and get the required paperwork started, of course, but none of that should be a problem . . .”

Gracie interrupted. “Luca, don’t worry. If we hit too many snags, we can always push it back.”

“No way. I can wait three weeks—probably. But to tell you the truth, I was worried my will power isn’t strong enough to wait
too
long,” he chuckled. “Not that that’s all our relationship’s about,” he added quickly.

She laughed. “But it
is
important.”

“Damn straight.” He yawned again.

“I’m gonna let you go back to sleep. I’m meeting my family for lunch and I’ll run it by them. See what they think. I’ll see you later, though. Right?”

“Definitely. In fact, where are you meeting for lunch? Can I crash it?”

“That would be great, but you don’t have to. You should go back to sleep.” She was feeling guilty about waking him up.

“Are you kidding? I’ll never get back to sleep now. Too excited,” he assured her.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

The Laurent family lunch went well. Everyone seemed fine with the wedding date, and Kitty pulled a small notebook from her handbag and started a list.
When Gracie suggested having the wedding on the beach, she asked Sonny which of the beach side parks he thought would work best. He pulled out his phone, called Meg, and asked her if they could use the beach behind her and Trace’s beach house. The entire family could hear her squealing over his phone.

Sonny handed the phone over to Gracie. Meg insisted that Gracie and Kelli—who
had agreed to be Gracie’s maid of honor—come over the next day and have a real planning session. Kitty and Phil were flying home that evening, but Kitty promised to stay close to her phone the next afternoon so she could be part of the planning. Kelli quickly jumped on board when Gracie called her. They were off and running.

Sonny quickly realized he was not going to get to hang out with Gracie like he did most Sundays
. He had a brilliant idea to take Trace—who would surely want to get out of the house and away from the planning session—and Mathias deep-sea fishing. Mathias decided that was worth changing his flight home from Sunday afternoon to Monday. Phil, of course, was invited too, but had obligations at his church the next morning, so had to decline. He was so disappointed, Sonny promised to take him at a later date. Sonny called Charley, and he was in too. They hadn’t had a good guys’ fishing trip in a long time. Luckily they had a connection and were able to book a charter at the last minute.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

It was another packed Saturday night at Savannah’s and Sonny, Mathias, and Charley were at their favorite spot at the bar. Phil and Kitty had been able to come in and listen to the band for the first half of the opening set before rushing to the airport for their late night flight back home. They’d arranged it that way specifically so they could see Gracie perform while they were in town.