“You’d do that? Just uproot and leave? I thought you loved it here.”
“I love you more. And I can make music anywhere.” He smiled. “At least, anywhere you are. We could look for a nice little house with plenty of space for animals out back and close enough to the veterinary practice you’re going to set up.”
“Have you been reading my mind?”
Tyce put his hands in hers. “I know you, sweetheart. And I want you to have your dreams. All of them.”
She wrapped her arms around him. “I have one of them right here.”
“We both do,” Tyce assured her, pulling her close. But then, he was the one pulling back to stare down into her eyes. “Do you think the Rose Chalet might see another Banning wedding, after all?”
Whitney pressed tightly to him, loving the sensation of finally being so close when they’d been apart for so long. “I do,” she said softly, as a prediction of future vows. “After all,” she said with a smile, “I never did get that dream wedding.”
“You can have any dream you want, Whitney,” Tyce said, “Just as long as it doesn’t involve
Gone With The Wind
.”
Whitney laughed. “I think we can leave that one to Aunt Marge.”
And then Whitney kissed Tyce, standing right in the spot where so many brides had kissed their grooms before.
Epilogue
As Anne Farleigh headed off for home on foot after the concert, she couldn’t help smiling at how sweet and romantic Tyce and Whitney were together. They were clearly perfect for one another, and Anne was so glad they’d finally worked everything out.
She hoped their relationship would be as good as her parents’ had been. Her mother and father became childhood sweethearts after her father literally bumped into her mother in the high school corridor, helping her to pick up her books and asking her out on a date all at once. From there, they’d hardly ever been apart. They’d attended the same college, and married as soon as they graduated. He’d turned down a highly paid job opportunity so that he could be near her, and she later supported him while he wrote his novels.
Even when they’d died, their love had shone through. The emergency personnel had found their car at the bottom of a ravine, her parents holding hands, as though they’d reached out for one last touch of each other’s hands in their final moment.
One day, Anne hoped to find a love that pure and perfect with a man who would love her every bit as much as her father had loved her mother.
Anne liked to think that she took after them, though obviously the dresses she designed weren’t the same medium as her mother’s sculptures or her father’s novels.
It was why she did so much work with Rose and the brides at the chalet. Rose was her friend, and it was a wonderful opportunity to make beautiful
dresses for people who really appreciated them. Ultimately, though, there was nothing better in the world than watching the love on the bride and groom’s faces when they were both saying, “I do.”
Anne was only a couple of blocks from home when Tyce’s van pulled up to the curb. “Why don’t you hop in so that Whitney and I can give you a ride the rest of the way.”
“Thanks,” she replied, “but it’s a lovely night.”
“Lovely?” Whitney said with both Milo and Clementine sitting on her lap looking out at Anne. “It’s raining. And your dress is getting wet.”
“Rain
is
lovely,” Anne replied. True, her dress was getting fairly wet, but she’d only made it for this party and would likely alter it completely before she wore it again. She smiled at both of them. “You gave a great show tonight, Tyce. I’m so glad you were able to make it, Whitney.” She waved them away. “Have a great night.”
Her house had once belonged to her parents but was now hers alone. It was a large Craftsman style home, not too far from the Rose Chalet, and built with a family in mind.
She was surprised to see a black SUV parked outside her house, a man standing in front of the car in the rain. He was wearing dark jeans and a dark jacket Even though he was staring at her without the barest hint of a smile, Anne couldn’t help but think that he was very good looking, with slightly long brown hair and piercing blue eyes that were hard to ignore even through the rain.
Assuming the shiver that went through her was simply a reaction to her cool, wet clothes pressing against her skin, Anne smiled over at him as she walked up her front steps to get out of the rain.
“Hello,” she called out, “are you looking for someone?”
“Are you Anne Farleigh?”
When she nodded, he moved toward her. When he reached the covered porch, he reached into his black jacket and held out an envelope.
Surprised, Anne took it and immediately reached inside to see what it was. Her eyes widened slightly as she read the document.
“You’ve made a mistake,” she said, holding out the envelope to the man in front of her. “You have the wrong person.”
“Your parents were Edward and Chloe Farleigh?”
Anne nodded. “Yes.”
The man shook his head crisply. “Then I’m afraid there hasn’t been any mistake. I’m here to serve you with legal papers relating to your father’s other daughter.”
~ THE END ~
Don’t miss the first two books in the Four Weddings and a Fiasco series
(Four Weddings and a Fiasco, Book #1)
(Four Weddings and a Fiasco, Book #2)
* * *
Watch for Anne and Gareth’s love story in
THE WEDDING DRESS
Coming Fall 2012
* * *
Please enjoy the following excerpt from Lucy Kevin’s books...
THE WEDDING GIFT
Book #1 in the Four Weddings and a Fiasco Series
© 2012 Lucy Kevin
After Julie Delgado’s restaurant closes, she temporarily takes over the catering position at the Rose Chalet, a full-service San Francisco wedding venue. She plans to dazzle the bride and groom so the chalet’s owner will keep her around, but fate has other plans for her when the bride’s brother shows up for the first food tasting.
Andrew Kyle is not only the Cuisine Channel’s Edgy Eats host and chef, but his recent review of Julie’s restaurant was the final nail in its coffin. Once he meets Julie at the Rose Chalet, he’s certain she’s playing it safe. And he wants nothing more than to be the one to break her guarded passions loose.
But despite the undeniable sparks between Julie and Andrew–and the fact that he seems to believe in her when no one else does–can she afford to be taking risks with her cooking, with her career…or with her heart?
Enjoy the following excerpt for THE WEDDING GIFT...
It wasn’t easy trying to finish off the main courses and desserts, knowing all the while that Andrew Kyle was probably out there telling the Rose Chalet’s owner exactly how awful Julie’s food was. And Rose would listen, of course, because what else would she be able to do in the face of a triple whammy: celebrity chef, the groom’s brother, and great dimples?
Enough about the dimples, Julie ordered herself. Just remember what he did.
It was pretty hard to forget. One review from the city’s most prominent TV chef, and her business had come crashing down around her ears. The faint trickle of new customers Julie had hoped would widen into a stream dried up completely. Her entire dream went south in a matter of weeks, all thanks to the man who was currently sampling Julie’s seafood platter.
Well, she couldn’t let him ruin this dream too. Which meant Julie couldn’t do anything horrible to his food, even if a small part of her wanted the revenge.
The truth was, the best revenge would be to show him just how wrong he had been. All she had to do was present him with the best plates of food in her life, and then force him to eat his words.
Easy.
Though if it was that easy, why was her hand shaking while she finished the duck? She needed to focus, take her time, and—
“Is everything okay?”
Julie jumped at the sound of Andrew’s voice, almost slicing a finger open in the process.
What was he doing in her kitchen? Had he finally realized who she was? Had he come to gloat?
Or, maybe, to apologize for what he’d done?
Knowing anything she really wanted to say to him would get her instantly fired by Rose, Julie settled for, “I’m not sure you should be in here.”
“No, it’s fine—”
“Julie,” she reminded him, like he hadn’t just been told her name a few minutes ago. “Julie Delgado.”
Was there a flicker of recognition in his eyes? Did he even vaguely remember her name?
Then again, why would he? He was a famous chef. She was a nobody who couldn’t keep her own kitchen open and was now cooking for scraps at a wedding venue.
“I asked Rose before I came in to see the kitchen where the food for the wedding might be prepared.”
“
Might
be?”
“My brother and his fiancé deserve the best. I promised I’d cast my chef’s eye over it as my wedding gift to them. Which is why I’d appreciate it if you could bring the desserts out with the main courses and stay with us as we go through everything.” He flashed that brilliant smile of his. “After all, I’m sure the two of us will have a lot to talk about.”
For a moment, Julie wondered if he meant the review, but those darn dimples of his were turning her brain just enough to mush so that all she could manage was, “Will we?”
“Sure,” Andrew replied, with another smile.
Oh my God, after all he’d done, was he actually flirting with her?
Julie just barely resisted the urge to hit him with the nearest thing on hand, but only because it happened to be a saucepan full of steadily reducing plum sauce. Of all the arrogant…
Again, Julie forced herself to take a deep breath and reminded herself that since she obviously wasn’t important enough for the big star to remember, why
wouldn’t
he try out the charm that had everybody else fooled?
“I’d be happy to bring out everything at once,” Julie said, if only because it seemed like the quickest way to get him out of her kitchen. “Just give me a minute or two.”
Actually, it was more like ten, but at least for those blissful minutes, Julie didn’t have to worry about anything more serious than whether her gateaux had set properly, and how she was possibly going to balance everything. As fun as it might be to dream of ‘accidentally’ tripping and covering Andrew Kyle with food, Julie knew perfectly well that she wasn’t going to do it.
In the end, she was surprised when Andrew got up to help her with the plates and even made a trip to the kitchen to carry out the desserts.
Once they sat back down, Andrew examined the plates with a critical eye. Beside him, Rose’s expression was indecipherable. Of course, she was probably as concerned as Julie was that this should go well, and if she’d ever watched
Edgy Eats
–or read one of Andrew’s restaurant reviews–Rose would know how harsh his judgments could be.
Taking a spare seat at the table, Julie looked at the plates that held the first course. What reception had Andrew given them?
Watching Andrew Kyle eat was an experience. He didn’t talk between bites, as though that would in some way spoil his concentration. Instead he assembled the food carefully on his fork, closing his eyes and letting his nose take in the scent of it for a moment before he finally pushed it into that sensuous mouth.
Julie found herself briefly entranced by the way he clearly wanted to involve as many of his senses as possible, by the fact that he seemed to treat food as something truly important.
Of course, that didn’t make up for the way he kept Julie and Rose waiting while he tasted everything. In fact, the only time he spoke at all was about halfway through, when he glanced up and raised an eyebrow.
“Aren’t you going to join in, Julie?”
“Worried I might have done something to the food?”
Andrew laughed at that although Rose was clearly less than pleased by the barely veiled testiness in Julie’s question.
“Come on, join me. I always feel weird tasting things alone. Rose?”
Rose held up her hands. “I just had lunch.”
Andrew returned his gaze to Julie. “Looks like it’s just you and me, then.”
It was clearly a challenge. Besides, Julie knew she was never going to get away with the same excuse as Rose.
She picked up a fork and attacked the sample dishes she had produced as best she could. She’d always eaten like that; Aunt Evie sometimes laughingly asked if she thought her food was going to be snatched away in a minute.
Julie worked to concentrate on the taste of everything, looking for anything that the celebrity chef might try to pick up on. Were the scallops perfectly seared? Was the texture of the cake right? Was there any little mistake at all that was going to cause a problem?
She almost sighed with relief as she tasted the results of her efforts. As far as she could tell, everything had come out without any problems at all.
Poke holes in that, Andrew Kyle.
Apparently, Rose was as eager to know the outcome as Julie was. “What do you think?” she asked Andrew.
Julie couldn’t help noticing the way Rose’s tone became so much more formal around an important client.
“Is everything to your satisfaction?”
Andrew put his fork down carefully. “It’s all well cooked,” he said. “The scallops are nicely done and the fish goes well with them. The salad is crisp and fresh. The plum sauce with the duck is just right, and I like the richness of the gateaux.”
“Well, that’s great,” Rose said. “I’m sure that Julie can produce everything to exactly the same standards come the actual wedding day.”
“I’m sure of that too,” Andrew said.
But, somehow, the compliment didn’t make Julie feel as warm and fuzzy inside as it should have. Maybe it was the tone in which he said it.