Unplanned Love (Savage Love) (3 page)

     “Come over here Ally. I want you to meet our family. This is my son, Daffyd and his beautiful bride, Samantha. This handsome young man is my only grandchild, Bryce. Everyone this is
Alyssa,” introduced Lucille. Lucille Sayvage was a woman who looked like a grandma. She was plump and had white hair and a ready smile. A little shorter than her husband she was still taller than Seanna and Samantha. Bryson too had a full head of white hair. He looked like an older healthier Daffyd.

     Bryce took
Alyssa’s hand and said, “Nice to meet you.”

     “Thanks for having me,” she said to them all in general.

     “Well, let’s show you all to your cabanas. Mom and Dad you two will be close to the dining facility in the royal blue cabana. Alyssa you’ll be sharing with Seanna, Samantha’s daughter. She won’t be coming until Wednesday. You two will be in the hot pink one,” he said with a chuckle.

     “She won’t mind sharing?” asked the girl.

     “No, she’s pretty used to having a roommate. It’s her second year of college,” said Bryce. “That’s why she couldn’t come right away, classes to finish.”

     When they all met in the enclosed dining area for dinner more introductions were made. Everyone welcomed their new guest and tried to make her feel comfortable. She sat between Lucille and Grandma Sally, right across from Bryce. When she finally looked up from her menu to order Bryce was amazed at how blue her eyes were, after spending all day in water the same color. She was a very pretty, in a lost little girl way. Those blue eyes were wide and round, her bottom lip a little fuller than her top and she had lashes long enough to sweep her cheeks when she blinked. Most of the meal was spent with the family joking in their usual way and she listened with a small smile on her face. Bryce figured out before desert came that this had to be one of his Grandma’s ‘broken souls’.

     The next day Bryce woke up early to catch the sunset from his veranda. His family had agreed to meet under the gazebo on the end of the two hundred foot pier for a Sunday morning service at nine. Neither one of the pastors would be getting in until Friday morning so Bryson and Lucille wanted to lead an informal praise service. Pastor Shane from the girl’s Church in Wisconsin and Pastor Bill from Montana were bringing their wives and would both be performing the wedding ceremony. Kate and her husband Jack would also be arriving on Friday. The six of them would only be staying over the weekend, while the rest of the wedding party had until Saturday the following week.

     Deciding to take a swim since he was up so early, Bryce grabbed a towel and his bible and headed to the beach next to the pier. He was surprised to find Alyssa already sitting half way up the wooden planks, dangling her feet into the water. After she gave a half hearted wave he changed his swimming plans and walked over to where she was. She had on the big sunglasses again and had her short hair pulled into a paintbrush low on her neck. The simple sundress she had on showed the straps to a swimsuit underneath.

     “Hey,” Bryce said as he sat down next to her.

     “Good morning,” she said looking over at him through the dark shades.

     “You’re up early,” Bryce stated the obvious.

     “I don’t sleep real well, especially in a strange place,” she replied. “Why are you up so early?”

     “Two reasons, I wanted to catch the sunset that everyone keeps going on about and I don’t want to waste a minute of my vacation.”

     “But, don’t you live in California?” she asked.

     “I go to school there, but usually I spend my spring break in Montana with Daffyd. It’s a far cry from a tropical island,” he grinned. “Are you in school?”

     “No…not right at the moment,” she answered vaguely.

     Bryce could see her tense up. “I was thinking of taking a swim. Care to join me?”

     She smiled up at him, “Actually that was my intention but kind of chickened out. I didn’t want to go in there by myself.”

     “Well then let’s go!” Bryce stood up and reached down for her hand. She allowed him to help her up.

     “Last one in is a rotten egg!” he yelled as he cannon balled into the water.

     Alyssa got caught up in his excitement
pulled off her sundress and glasses and jumped in a few seconds after him. When her head broke the surface she was regretting her rash decision until she noticed that Bryce was standing with his head out of the water a few feet away.

     “Glad I didn’t dive…” she grinned up at him.

     “I think a broken neck would have put a damper on the wedding.” Bryce joked. “Sorry I should have paid closer attention to how shallow the water is.”

     “So since I’m the ‘rotten egg’ then I guess I should get a chance to redeem myself.”

     “What did you have in mind?” he asked.

     “A race to the end of the pier and
I
get to say ‘go’.”

     “Ok, a race it is…whenever you’re ready.”

     “Ready…set…go!” as she said the last word, Alyssa shot off like a rocket. Bryce did his best to keep up, but he had never seen anyone swim so fast.

     Alyssa got to the end of the pier first and pulled herself up. By the time Bryce got there and hoisted himself up, he was out of breath for more than one reason. As he shook the water out of his hair and
eyes he saw her smiling down at him with those blue eyes and a big satisfied smile on her face.

     “So…let me guess. You were on the swim team in high school,” he said shaking his head. “When you said you chickened out, I assumed you
didn’t know how to swim well.”

     “
I’ve never swam in the ocean before and wasn’t really sure what kind of creatures to expect. But I
can
swim. I took first in state two years in a row,” she said proudly.

     “And you didn’t get a scholarship to college?
” he asked amazed.

     “Actually…I did,” she said quietly looking off towards the horizon.

     “Look, I didn’t mean to pry…” Bryce said raising his eyes as well.

     “I screwed it up,” she said
with regret.

     “The scholarship?” he asked softly.

     “Pretty much my whole life,” she said quietly.

     “But you’re trying to fix that, right?”

     “How did you know?” she said looking at him out of the corner of her eye. “Did your grandma already tell you?”

     “Nope, but she loves helping people and is always trying to fix the ones she says are
‘broken’,” he answered keeping his eyes on the horizon.

    “I guess that’s what I am…broken.”

     “Well, unless your name is Humpty Dumpty, it’s not a permanent circumstance,” he said looking right at her with a smile.

     “You don’t even know what I did,” she said with her eyebrows pulling in.

    
“Doesn’t matter. Trust me. I’ve seen my share of ‘broken’ and in every case if the person doesn’t want to stay that way…well…they can be fixed,” he continued to look at her.

     Alyssa took her eyes off the view and looked Bryce square in the face. “Thanks
,” she shyly replied.

     “Now I better go and get my Bible because here
comes our ‘Church’.” Bryce said as he jumped to his feet.

     Afterwards Samantha and Daffyd were still lounging under the shade of the gazebo. The little service had been short and sweet but definitely filled with the presence of God. Both of them were content to just sit together comfortably and talk about their upcoming wedding ceremony. Both of them were looking forward to Seanna’s arrival on the Island.

     “It will be nice to finally meet her boyfriend,” Samantha said.

     “Do you think she’s pretty serious about him?” asked Daffyd.

     “I’m not sure. She’s never really had a boyfriend before, so this is all new territory for me,” she replied. “I had kind of hoped that she and Bryce would become an item.”

     “That would have complicated things way more than they already were,” Daffyd said shaking his head.

    
“True,” chuckled Samantha. “What do you think of Alyssa?”

     “I think, like most of the people that my Mother decides to help, that she is hurting. But hanging out with our kids will certainly help.”

     “We do have a couple of good kids, don’t we,” she smiled, squeezing his hand.

     “I can’t take any credit for Bryce. He could probably take credit for
raising me right the last few years…” said Daffyd smiling back at the love of his life.

     “Remind me to thank him later,” she said as she leaned in and kissed him.

C
hapter 4

The Frog Prince

     Seanna was shoving the rest of her clothes into her suitcase when there was a knock on her dorm room door. She quickly zipped up the bulging bag.

     “Kevin, what are you doing here,” she asked, her brows pulling in.

     “I skipped my last class to see if you needed any help packing,” he answered with a lopsided smile.

     “Well, I’m all packed, and you know how I feel about you being here in my room,” she answered a little irritated.

     “Good, then let’s go and grab something to eat. I skipped lunch to pack and now I’m starved.”

     “Ok…I’ll meet you downstairs
. I don’t want to go out in my pajama pants and a sweatshirt.”

     “You look beautiful, as always,” he answered.
And he always looks hot! I can’t let him hang out here in my room, or I might not be able to control myself.

     “Thanks, now shoo!” she laughed as she pushed him out the door.

     She changed into some jeans and a sweater, pulled her hair out of the scrunchy on top of her head, and shook out her shoulder length hair.
I guess sometimes having curly hair wasn’t such a pain,
she thought. She quickly brushed some mascara on her long lashes and hit her cheeks with a little blush.
That is as good as it’s gonna get,
she told her reflection in the mirror.

     Kevin was on his cell when she hopped into the car, but he quickly hung up as she buckled in. He leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek.

     “Where to?” he asked.

     “Um…Chinese?” she suggested.

     “Isn’t that what we had last time?”

     “Ok…burgers?” she tried again.

     “Please Sea, no fast food.”

     “
Ok… why don’t you pick…and we talked about that.”

     “What about me calling you ‘Sea’?” he asked innocently.

     “That’s what my brother calls me…”she explained again.

     “He’s not your brother,
Seanna.
”

    
“Whatever, Kevin. Look, you were the one who was hungry. Pick a place to eat. I don’t want to fight.”

     “Who’s fighting? Let’s go to Fast Eddie’s,” he said pulling into traffic.

     “You know I don’t like going there. It’s so loud and there are too many drunk college kids,” she stated.

     “All part of the college experience
, and now who wants to fight?” he asked.

     “Fast Eddie’s it is then,”
said Seanna trying to sound cheery.

     She had to admit, Fast Eddie’s did make the best pizza in town. Three slices later she had to sit back and call it quits. The crowd wasn’t as bad as she had expected it to be. Granted they were a little early for the party crowd. A few booths away four girls were laughing and squealing trying to gather as much attention as they could. Seanna couldn’t help but think about Bryce’s description of his perfect girl.
They sure wouldn’t cut it.

    
“So
, are you full?” he asked.

     “I couldn’t eat another bite. Thanks, Kevin.”

     “You want to take the leftovers?” he asked with eyebrows raised.

     “No, I’m good,” she replied patting her stomach.

     “Are you sure…you only ate twice as much as I did,” he teased.

     “Are you saying I eat too much?” asked Seanna reaching her last straw.

     “Not at all. You can eat whatever you want. Not sure what you’ll look like in your suit on the beach, but hey, you’re not trying to impress anyone.”

     “You’re right, I’m not. That’s exactly why I love hanging out with my family because I
don’t
have to impress anyone. I can simply be myself. If that isn’t good enough for you, then maybe you shouldn’t come,” she retorted.

     “Seanna, I’m sorry. I just keep thinking about spending so much time with your
brother,”
he sneered.