Waiting For Rachel: A Christian Romance (Those Karlsson Boys) (20 page)

“Is she going to be okay for the wedding?”

“I think so. She’ll be in a wheelchair. At first I thought it might bother her, but when I mentioned postponing the wedding until she was walking
, she just about had a fit.”

“Mari wouldn’t want you to put off your happiness with Damian because of the accident. Like me, she knows how much you deserve this.”

“You guys are so sweet.” Rachel smiled and the tension eased from her face. “Hey, did I tell you that my dad and I finally made contact?”

“You did? That’s terrific!” Serena was so happy that things were coming together for her friend. “
I’ll bet you’re relieved.”

“Yeah, that first conversation was
difficult. Just reconnecting again…telling him that Mom had passed away.” Sadness clouded Rachel’s eyes. “He seemed genuinely sorry to hear about that. It’s hard to believe it’s almost been a year…”

“I’m sure you’re missing her more than ever right now.”

Rachel blinked rapidly. “Yes, for a lot of reasons. I wish she could have met Mari. She never forgot her birthday and each year would give me one single rose on that day. And I wish she could have heard my dad’s apologies. I think she would have forgiven him—I think she
had
forgiven him—but to be able to tell him that would have been good for her. And I just need her here now. I want to ask her how to be a mom to a teenager. I need her here to help me plan this wedding.” Serena saw her swallow hard and when Rachel looked up her eyes were moist with unshed tears. “I just miss her, you know?”

Serena got up
and went around to where her friend sat to give her a hug. “Yes, I know.”

For a few minutes Serena held her friend close to let her grieve
, knowing that sadness was going to be a part of an otherwise joyful occasion. And not just for Rachel. Those not in attendance would be missed by many.

“I’m sorry, Serena,” Rachel said as she drew back from her embrace. “Didn’t mean to fall apart on you.”

Not bothering to go back to her own chair, Serena settled into the one next to Rachel. “I’m guessing you haven’t allowed yourself to feel these feelings much the past little while.”

Rachel shrugged. “I feel like I have so much to be thankful for, I shouldn’t be dwelling on what I don’t have.”

“Grieving doesn’t mean you’re ungrateful. I think it would be strange if you weren’t missing your mother during all of this. Sadness can have a small piece of your heart, just so long as it doesn’t take over everything.”

Rachel smiled as she rubbed
the tears from her cheeks. “It won’t. Too much of my heart is filled with love and gratitude for Mari’s life and Damian’s love. And my dad. And you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’d do just fine,” Serena assured her. “I’m just glad to be able to help out where I can. Is your dad going to be able to make it to the wedding?”

“Yes! I was kind of hesitant to ask him, but when I mentioned I was getting married, he asked if he could come.”

“Is he remarried? I thought I heard you mention that he was.”

“Yes, he is and has two other daughters.”

“Will they come with him?”

Rachel shook her head. “He said that he’d love for us all to meet at some point, but that for now he figured it was best if it was just him and me.”

“I’m sure that’s a good thing.”

“Yeah, I was a bit nervous about seeing him again to begin with. I didn’t relish the thought of having to deal with a step-family right away too.”

“It sounds like he was sensitive to that.”

Rachel pressed a hand to her stomach. “Doesn’t mean I’m not still nervous about seeing him again. I get butterflies just thinking about it.”

“I’m sure it will be fine. I’m glad you were able to put aside your feelings toward him and work it out. Not sure I’d feel the same about my father.”

“You don’t have a relationship with your dad?”

Serena shook her head. “Haven’t for many, many years. He left my mom and me when I was about ten years old. Turns out he had another family on the side. Or maybe we were the family on the side. I don’t know. He was a travelling salesman and had one family in New York and another in Chicago. Haven’t seen him since he walked out the door.”

“What would you do if he contacted you out of the blue like my dad did?”

Serena paused. Should she be honest or should she respond in the correct way? “I’d probably agree to meet him just so I could slug him.”

Rachel’s eyes widened with surprise. “Slug him? You?”

“Oh yes. I was quite the fighter in my younger years. I got into plenty of scraps. I have no doubt I’d come out on top in a fight with him.”

Serena could see her friend processing what she’d said. “Wow. Hmm. Definitely not what I expected you to say.”

Serena laughed. “No doubt. Truth be told, that’s my first response. Would that really be how I’d react? I don’t know.
Clearly I still have some forgiveness to work on when it comes to my dad. And my mom too, most likely.”

“I’ve never really asked you much about your past. I guess I figured if I wasn’t willing to dish on
mine it wasn’t fair to ask others about theirs.” Rachel grinned. “But now that I’m basically an open book, perhaps I should ask a few more questions.”

“Don’t worry yourself about it for now,” Serena suggested with a smile. “There will be plenty of time when all this wedding stuff is over and done with.

“True enough,” Rachel agreed. “And speaking of which, is my husband-to-be around?”

Serena nodded. “He’s got the best man in there with him.”

Rachel straightened in her seat. “Alex is here?”

“Yep, walked in about fifteen minutes ago and caught me singing and dancing…well, not dancing more like swaying, to the worship music.” She waved her hand in the direction of the stereo.

A grin spread across Rachel’s face. “Now that would have been a sight to see. And hear.”

“Well, I made an impression, that’s for sure.”

Rachel stood. “I think I’m going to see that long-lost brother-in-law-to-be.”

“I’ll be so glad when you’re married and you can finally leave off the ‘to-be’ you keep tacking on to every relation in Damian’s family.”

“Too much, huh?” Rachel asked, her head cocked to the side.

“Let’s just say it will be nice when Damian is finally just your husband, and his family are the in-laws, not the in-laws-to-be.”

“I can hardly wait, too.” Rachel said and then giggled. “Only three more days.”

“Get on in there. I think Damian could use some help with his vows.”

Smiling, Rachel followed the path Alex had taken earlier and disappeared into Damian’s office.

Serena settled back down at her desk and forced herself to concentrate as she typed the announcements into the computer and began to set up the bulletin for Sunday. All the while she tried to ignore the small part of her heart that longed to be in the room with Damian, Alex and Rachel.
Family.
It would be so nice to belong to a family. Serena wasn’t sure she ever really had…at least not like what Alex and Damian had and what Rachel would be a part of soon. But maybe someday there’d be something like that for her.

*  *  *  *  *

Alex watched with curiosity and a pang of jealousy as his brother and Rachel hugged. He’d been quite surprised when Damian had told him of their engagement. Of course, he’d been out of close touch with his family for far too long and hadn’t been up on all the latest happenings. That was about to end though. If things went as well as he hoped, Fridley, Minnesota would soon be his home once again.

“So you got past the dragon lady unscathed?” Alex asked Rachel.

“Dragon lady?” Rachel quirked a brow. “Ah, you mean Serena.”

“The one and only. I was beginning to think I’d never see my brother with her standing guard. At the very least I’d have to make an appointment.”

“Hey, if she gave you a rough time, it’s only because you deserve it. She’s never been anything but sweet and loving to me.”

Damian held a hand towards his brother. “Don’t bother arguing with her. I hear the same thing every time I mention Serena.”

“You guys need someone to keep you in line. Now that you’re out of reach of your mom, someone has to do it.”

Alex laughed and Damian joined him. “Yeah, Mom and Serena get along pretty good.”

“Speaking of your mother.” Rachel turned to look at Damian. “She’s got some concerns about the rehearsal dinner. You need to give her a call.”

Alex almost laughed as he saw the weary look on his brother’s face.

“I’ll call her later. Why don’t we go for lunch?” Damian looked at him. “Want to join us?”

“Never turn down food,” Alex replied. “That’s my motto.”

“I hear ya,” Damian said as he leaned across his desk to push a button on his phone. “Serena, we’re going out for lunch. Want to come?”

“Yes, please come,” Rachel said in the direction of the phone.

“I’ve got quite a bit of stuff to do here,” Serena replied.

“Nothing that
can’t wait an hour,” Damian told her. “As your boss, I’m telling you to go for lunch.”

“Well, I’d never argue with the boss,” Serena said,
laughter lacing her tone.

Alex grinned. He liked a woman with a sense of humor. It had been a while since he’d been around one whose humor caught him off guard and actually made him laugh.

Damian grabbed his jacket from a coat stand in the corner of his office. Then they waited a few minutes for Serena to activate the answering machine and gather her stuff.

The winter blast that greeted them as they left the church was far colder than what Alex had become accustomed to in Texas. It was the one part of moving back to Minneapolis that Alex was not looking forward to. He thoroughly enjoyed the mild winters in Houston.

Alex ended up in the back seat of Rachel’s car with Serena.
But there wasn’t much time for conversation with her. The car barely had time to warm up before they arrived at a deli not far from the church.

“Okay, who picked the restaurant?” Serena asked as Damian parked the car.

As far as Alex knew, no one had said anything about which restaurant they were going to. Damian had just driven to this one and parked the car.

“You have to ask?” Damian looked over his shoulder at Serena, a grin on his face.

Rachel reached over and gave him a light smack on the shoulder. “We could have gone somewhere else.”

“Not if I wanted a happy bride, we couldn’t.”

Alex felt like he’d missed something as the other three laughed. He had a lot of time to make up for when it came to his brother. Where he’d once been on the inside, he now stood looking on from the sidelines.

Damian slipped an arm around Rachel’s shoulders and led the way into the restaurant leaving Alex to fall into step beside Serena. She was a bit above average height with her head coming to just above his shoulder. Most women barely reached his shoulders.

“I take it this is a favorite restaurant for Rachel,” Alex commented as he held the door open for Serena.

“I don’t think any other places exist as far as she’s concerned. She’s got a thing for the sandwiches and soup here.”

A wave of fragrant warmth greeted them as they walked into the restaurant, and Alex’s stomach growled in response.

Serena grinned at him. “Hungry?”

“Apparently. If the smells are anything to go by
, I have to say I’ll be joining Rachel in her passion for this place.”

They took off their coats and hung them up just inside the door. Serena followed Damian and Rachel to the counter. As he moved into line behind her, Alex noticed that unlike a lot of the women
he came in contact with who favored tight fitting clothing, Serena wore a long straight skirt and a bulky sweater. He liked that she didn’t show more of herself. In his line of work he had come to appreciate women who chose not to dress in a revealing or provocative way.

Her black hair was held back in a simple pony tail at the nape of her neck, but Alex could see that it was wavy and thick.

Serena leaned closer to the counter to speak with the stout woman behind it. “I’ll have a half roast beef with tomato, mayo and pickles. And a bowl of the cream of potato bacon soup.”

“Is that what you’d recommend?” Alex asked, peering at the menu on the wall.

“It’s what I like. Really, you can’t go wrong with anything here.”

“I guess I’ll have the same,” Alex told the woman. “Only make mine a whole roast beef with onions, tomatoes, lettuce and mayo. And a bowl of the soup.”

“Onions?” Serena wrinkled her nose. “Keep your distance from me.”

“I wasn’t planning on getting close enough for them to bother you,” Alex replied with a wink.

A blush of pink slowly crept across her cheeks. “I…uh…well, didn’t mean it that way.”

Alex let his grin escape. “I know. I’m just teasing you.”