Walker Bride (20 page)

She glanced in her direction as the guests
stood to honor Susan as she walked down the aisle.

How could she put Lydia through something
like this? Her commitment was to her first and foremost. The
flirtation with Tyson was supposed to be just for fun. She’d never
thought it would escalate to where it had.

As Susan reached the altar, she pushed it all
to the back of her mind. This day was for Susan and Eric. They were
lovely together, and they deserved so much happiness.

Because it was her job to do so, Pearl
noticed how perfect the dress fit Susan and how perfect the
earrings were that she’d chosen as an accent. Audrey had used her
magic touch to transform Susan’s hair into a masterpiece.

As the minister talked and Susan and Eric
recited their vows, Pearl thought it was the perfect day for a
wedding. She batted against the tears that threatened again as
Susan and Eric kissed and were announced as man and wife.

When the intimate wedding was over, it was
time to head toward town for the reception. Lydia had hurried out
to be there before anyone else in the bridal party and assure her
mother had everything under control. The reception was going to be
much bigger than the wedding, and that was how Susan had wanted it.
Lydia was determined she was going to get it.

Tyson took the opportunity to drive Pearl
into town. It might be the only alone time they’d have all day.

It didn’t much matter now if anyone saw them.
He had to laugh at how things came to be. Everyone had learned
they’d been seeing each other. Then suddenly the rumor was they
were getting married, and maybe Pearl was pregnant. As an adult, he
found it humorous. Either way, their relationship was in the open.
Perhaps he could dance with her at the reception and hold her hand
in public.

He never thought it was going to matter, but
today it did. Besides, having been submerged in the Walker family
and now into a wedding, he was feeling a little sentimental. There
were things on his mind that had never crossed it before.

As they drove to town, they held hands. Her
thumb rubbed over his knuckles, and it brought peace and warmth to
him he didn’t know existed.

“You’ll save me a dance, won’t you?” he
asked, and she turned toward him.

“Of course.”

“I know my sister,” he began. “She won’t make
a scene.”

“But she’ll be upset.”

His jaw ached from clenching it. “She’s
already there. We’ve never had a fight we couldn’t talk our way out
of. Tomorrow we will sit down and talk. The three of us.”

“I can’t help but feel as though this is my
fault.”

He squeezed her hand. “You can’t feel like
that. She’s in a place where her perfect world, and mine, was
shaken not too long ago. She’s going on the assumption that
everything will go wrong if we’re together because my mom got
involved once with a man who nearly lost her everything. Not
getting involved with partners is the safe way, she thinks. We just
need to prove her wrong.”

“And how do we do that? We don’t know that
this will work. This is new.”

“Is it?” He glanced her way and then back to
the road. “I’ve had eyes on you for a long time.”

“Then why did we wait until now?”

He shrugged. “Got me. I guess we had to let
it stew.”

She leaned over and rested her head on his
shoulder. “I’ve never been one to have good timing.”

Tyson chuckled. Neither had he.

~*~

Pearl had thought she’d seen the Garden Room
enough times, in its different stages, to know what to expect.
She’d been wrong.

Lydia and her mother had outdone themselves
for Susan and Eric’s wedding reception.

White lights had been strung among the vines
that crept up the outer walls of the outdoor room. They shimmered
as a waterfall kept a peaceful rhythm in the corner.

A string quartet played in the corner as the
guests were served hors d'oeuvres and champagne by a wait staff in
white coats.

“Oh, this is amazing,” Pearl marveled.

She watched Tyson take in the view and the
smile of pride that permeated his face was priceless.

“They are good at what they do.”

“I’m going to find Bethany.” Without causing
a scene of any kind, she gently rested her hand on his arm and
squeezed.

Tyson stood, comfortably, out of sight. Most
of the guests had arrived. They were awaiting the married
couple.

“Your sister has the perfect touch for this,”
his mother echoed Pearl’s earlier statement.

Tyson looked at his mother, who was observing
everything that was going on, perfectly synchronized as if it had
too been rehearsed.

“You did an excellent job. Susan and Eric are
going to be very pleased.”

It was then she turned to him, and her eyes
lost the sparkle they’d had when she spoke of the venue. “You’ve
hurt her, you know. Your sister is miserable.”

“I didn’t do this to hurt her.”

“You lied to her. You broke her trust.”

“And tomorrow I’ll fix it.”

“I think it might be too late. You have no
idea what your lust has done.”

“Lust?” He sucked in a breath and then
lowered his voice. “This isn’t lust. I love Pearl.”

His mother just nodded. “You think you know
what love is? You’re willing to risk your sister’s trust in you
with words like
love
?”

This wasn’t happening. Not now. “I said I’d
fix this tomorrow. Today it’s about Eric and Susan.”

“And yesterday should have been about Lydia,”
his mother acknowledged as she turned and walked away.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as a
headache began to creep in.

So this was how it worked? He made one
decision in his life, which wasn’t okayed or made by his mother or
his grandfather, and everything falls apart?

He’d had enough of this family time. There
was a reason he worked with animals and lived in the barn.

Just as he’d decided to sneak out and leave
the wedding, Eric and Susan walked through the door to grand
applause.

The guests were on their feet, and the
wedding party was gathering near the cake. Pearl caught his eye and
waved him over.

He didn’t want to be part of this anymore. He
should never have been part of it, but for Eric, he stayed and
joined the wedding party, which he now realized was sans his
sister.

There was no time for escape, between the
toast, which was made by Dane, and one by Susan’s sister. Then the
couple’s first dance. The food was then served, and, of course, the
cake.

All Tyson wanted to do was escape until a
hand captured his and he turned. “I promised you a dance,” Pearl
insisted as she pulled him to the small dance floor where couples
had gathered.

“I’m not good at this,” he mused as he pulled
her to him.

He was well aware of the looks coming from
those that knew them. This wasn’t a dance between people who were
acquaintances. It was obvious there was more between them.

She pulled the daisy from her hair and tucked
it into the back of his boutonniere. “A little keepsake from our
first dance.”

“Trust me,” he whispered as he pressed his
cheek to hers. “This isn’t something I’ll ever forget.”

“Where did your sister go?”

“I don’t know. Overseeing I guess.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt her,” Pearl confessed
as she looked up at him. “I’m so sorry for all of this.”

Tyson shook his head. “Don’t be. Don’t ever
be sorry for this. I love you. I told you I did.”

“I know, but…”

“No buts. There has to be a time when I get
to make my own decisions. And I’ve decided to make one.”

“But at what cost?”

He pulled her to the corner where it was dark
and private. “She’s going to let this go. I won’t let this become a
problem. I gave her my word, and I broke it. But I’ll fix it.”

Pearl smiled as she eased against him again.
“And what decision did you come to that is going to be all
yours?”

“I think we should get married.”

Pearl staggered back and looked up at him.
“You what?”

“Wrong decision?”

“Unexpected one.”

“You said you didn’t want all of this,” he
motioned to the room and the people around them. “You wanted
something private.”

“A marriage isn’t the wedding.”

“I understand that.” He let out a ragged
breath. “Listen, I love you. That much I know.” He gathered her
hands. “I’m not versed in people skills, such as you are. I don’t
have a family like yours that rallies around one another. I only
have Lydia, but I can manage her.”

“Manage?”

“Pearl, I’m trying to be somewhat romantic
here. I want to marry you. I want to take off and do it just as you
said you wanted to. Just the two of us.”

Her eyes went moist as she lifted her hands
to his face. “I didn’t expect this,” she sighed. “I love you. But I
can’t let this tear apart your family.”

The tears streamed down her face now, and he
realized he was frozen. He couldn’t even wipe them away.

“What are you saying?”

“I can’t. I can’t marry you.” She’d taken a
breath as if she had more to say, but she didn’t. She only turned
away and ran out of the Garden Room and disappeared.

No one had called. No one had stopped by.
Somehow she’d missed everyone’s radar when she’d run out of Susan
and Eric’s wedding.

She’d let her cell phone die and stayed off
her computer and social media all Sunday.

The only person she’d expected to hear from
was Tyson, but even he hadn’t come around.

For the first time in her life, she hated
going into work on Monday morning. Had she not scheduled an
appointment with a bride at ten, she would have sulked and stayed
in bed. As it was, she dragged herself to work in her best suit
hoping it would shroud her in professionalism.

The bride had called and rescheduled her
appointment, which irritated Pearl though she understood. Later
that day she knew someone would be coming in with all the tuxedos
from Eric’s wedding party. Of course, the thought had crossed her
mind, would it be Tyson?

After the UPS driver, the Fed Ex driver, and
the postal carrier had dropped off packages at her store, the door
opened again. When she looked up, she couldn’t help but smile when
she saw Sunshine walk through. Her father had been right to name
her that. She undoubtedly brought the sunshine into people’s
lives.

“It’s nice to see you,” Pearl said as she
moved from behind her counter toward her.

“I stopped by to bring you another thank you
note.” She handed her another envelope with her name written in
calligraphy. “The flowers you sent were very thoughtful. My uncle
might stop by to thank you as well. He was very moved.”

“It was my pleasure. I was so sorry to hear
about your father’s passing.”

“Thank you. It was hard to watch him the last
week. It just all went so quickly,” she spoke softly. “But we were
all there with him.”

“That’s important.”

“Your friend Lydia was at the services
yesterday. My uncle introduced us. Her brother was with her.”

Hearing that stabbed into Pearl’s chest.
She’d been so preoccupied with feeling sorry for herself, she
hadn’t even realized that Sunshine’s father’s services were
yesterday. She’d planned to go.

But hearing that he was with Lydia solidified
her choice. She’d been right to reject his proposal. Lydia was more
important.

“I’m glad they were there,” she managed
without the emotion shaking her voice.

“My mom didn’t let me in on it, but she said
it was a big deal to have Lydia there.”

Pearl just nodded. Having Lydia purposely go
where Phillip Smythe would be was a big thing.

Sunshine looked around the store. “It’s quiet
in here today.”

“My appointment canceled. I’ve been taking
inventory so I can plan for the move next month.”

“That’s very exciting. You know, I’m in
between jobs right now. If you ever need help, let me know. I owe
you for what you’ve done for me.”

Pearl thought, for only a brief moment. “Do
you mean that?”

“Of course.”

“I’ve been thinking about the need to hire
someone to help out. First of all, I’m all alone. So I don’t take
any time off. Which is okay. That’s by design too. But with the new
store, I’ll need to divide my time to oversee its construction.
Having someone around would be a blessing.”

Sunshine’s face lit. “Whatever you need. I’m
your girl. I love all this stuff. I’m a quick study too.”

For the first time since she’d walked away
from Tyson, Pearl smiled. “C’mon, let’s have a crash course in
fittings.”

The afternoon had taken a turn, that was for
sure. Pearl and Sunshine had
played
dress up.

She let Sunshine pick out a dress to try on
and then walked her through clipping it so that the bride could see
what it would look like fitted correctly.

“Now you,” Sunshine said. “Let me try.”

Pearl bit down on her bottom lip. “I have
one.”

She retrieved the dress she’d always kept
in case
. It had been a long time since she’d tried it on and
now it only made her sad to retrieve it. But for Sunshine, she
did.

Feeling the satin under her fingers again
only made her long for Tyson. She held back the tears that
threatened. It wasn’t meant to be, she thought.

Sliding the dress over her body, she thought
back to the day the dress had come into the store. She’d unpackaged
it and promptly put it on a mannequin in the front window. It was
her mother that stopped a few days later and told her it wasn’t
pretty enough.

Pearl had looked at it before she’d undressed
the mannequin. Her mother was right. It wasn’t pretty. It was
elegant.

There wasn’t much fuss to it. It was a
straight skirt and off the shoulders. The lace that defined the
neckline was minimal, but oh, so elegant.