“There you go, getting all excited again. Just calm down.”
Meredith hated it when he said that to her, and it occurred to her that he did it all the time. Any hint of her feelings would elicit a patronizing, “Calm down” or “Smile, sweet cheeks, or you’ll get wrinkles.” After spending a heavenly four days with Chris, she couldn’t believe she’d put up with Dwayne for as long as she had.
“You’d better leave,” said Meredith, cursing the tremor in her voice. “And don’t come back.”
“Now, now, sweet cheeks. I just wanted to give you a second chance. You left on the spur of the moment, driven by your crazy female emotions, and now you’re stuck in the mud out here with a tractor for company. Be sensible. Come back to Michigan. Your desk is waiting for you. And we can pick up where we left off.”
Meredith gaped at him. She was so angry, all she could do for a moment was utter long syllables of aggravation. “Oooohhhh! I hate you.
You
dumped
me
, remember?” Then the light dawned. “I get it. Sienna did the same thing to you! Well, how does it feel?”
“Don’t overreact. You always overreact.” His voice got silkier—and slimier—with every step closer.
“Stop right now,” said Meredith. “Don’t come near me.” She pressed herself against the John Deere. She’d gotten herself wedged between the front loader attachment and the tractor. She prepared to do her best to kick him in the knees.
“I need you, baby. No one can do your job. Or fill your place in my heart,” he added, half a second too late.
“Let me guess. The regional manager is coming on Friday and you want me to clean up your office mess.” Meredith had found a well of contempt she never knew she had, and it colored her voice. “You are so pathetic.”
Dwayne lunged for her, and Meredith screamed.
In the split second that followed, Ron yelled, “Stop where you are!” from the direction of the kennels, a German Shepherd barked, and the back door of the house slammed open with a bang. When Dwayne twisted to see what was going on, Chris was already running full tilt toward the John Deere. He grabbed the upper edge of the front loader bucket and swung his legs forward, catching Dwayne in the rib cage and sending him sprawling onto the ground. Ron shouted a command at Toby and the dog stood guard, barking furiously over Dwayne’s groaning form.
Chris wrapped his arms around Meredith. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” He hugged her tight, then ran his hands over her face, touching her ever so gently.
Meredith was fine, but she could feel her knees shaking, and she leaned into Chris’s embrace. “I’m okay. He just scared me, that’s all.”
Ron trotted over to join them. “Boss, I think you broke his ribs. He’s not looking so good.”
Chris shook his head in disgust. “I’ll take Meredith inside and call the police. Toby, come!”
The big dog immediately lost interest in the moaning intruder and scampered happily in circles around Chris and Meredith.
* * *
Four hours later, the police finally left. An ambulance had transported Dwayne long before that, and Ron had called a tow truck to remove the red Honda. The rain had finally begun, and it pattered agreeably on the metal roof.
Chris and Meredith sat together on a love seat in the high-ceilinged front room. Imelda came in quietly, set a tray of sandwiches and hot cream-of-chicken soup on the small table in front of them, and left.
Meredith sagged backward against the plush upholstery. “I’m so sorry for all the trouble. I feel like this is all my fault.”
Chris turned to face her and took her hand. “None of this was your fault. It was all Dwayne. I knew you were worried on the drive over. And after you told me about the messages you got, I started watching traffic. I saw that red Honda half a dozen times, but I didn’t say anything. There are lots of red cars on the road, and there was no way to know if we were being followed. But while I was upstairs, I glanced out the front window, and there it was, parked in the driveway. I came down as fast as I could. Are you sure you’re all right?”
Meredith leaned into him and pulled his face against hers. “Thanks to you, yes. No one ever came to my rescue before.” She kissed him softly on the cheek.
Chris cupped her chin in one hand and said, “You’re welcome.” Then his lips claimed hers for several seconds.
Toby whined.
Meredith giggled and the kiss ended.
Chris said, “Toby thinks we should get a room.” Then he blushed hotly. “I mean, I mean….”
Meredith smiled at him and placed a finger against his lips. “You don’t have to explain.”
Suddenly Chris began patting his pockets. “Oh jeez, I hope I didn’t lose it!”
“Lose what?”
“Your surprise. There it is.” He pulled the small box out of his pocket. “I had planned a very romantic picnic, but it was going to rain, and then there was the whole ex-boyfriend invasion, so I almost forgot I had it, and, and, and….”
Meredith’s eyes widened, transfixed by the tiny box. A flutter of inner panic was replaced immediately by a hot flush of feeling. “Chris, what are you babbling about?” she asked softly.
Chris scooted off the love seat and sank to one knee. “I know this is fast, but it’s not really. I’ve loved you ever since I saw you that first day at school, and I’m not rushing you or anything, I mean, we don’t have to get married right away, but I can’t stand the thought of you leaving again.”
Meredith covered her mouth to hide her smile. “Okay. Um, you still haven’t asked me anything.”
“Oops. Right.” He cleared his throat. “Annie Mer Oakley…” He opened the lid of the box.
Meredith gasped. She’d never seen a diamond that big.
Chris continued, “Will you marry me?”
Her hands trembled and she pressed them together. “Yes! Oh, yes! I love you, Christopher Dann.”
Chris needed both hands to slip the ring on her finger because she was shaking so hard. Then he returned to his seat on the sofa and embraced her. A moment later, they were kissing again.
Toby waited for a canine eternity for the kiss to end, but finally gave up and lay down on the rug.
EPILOGUE
One year later…
T
he big dining room at Nita Pearl’s self-made nursing home was almost empty. The grandfather clock chimed the quarter hour. Ten forty-five p.m. Balloons hugged the ceiling, confetti lay about with abandon, and half the band had packed up and left. The other half were accepting free drinks and playing softly just because they’d enjoyed the reception as much as the guests.
Only one table was still surrounded by people. Chris and Meredith had changed out of their wedding clothes and were now the most casual couple in the room. Ron had given them a wedding gift before they left for the church. It consisted of two matching tee shirts with “Bride” on one and “Groom” on the other, and when they changed halfway through the reception, they put them on.
Imelda and her husband, the groundskeeper, had said goodnight, and Nita Pearl and her permanent houseguests had all gone to bed.
The other people around the table included Meredith’s bestie from college, Allison, and the other ten members of her Dorm Storm sisters. Some of them had come stag to the wedding, and some had not, but their dates were in the pool room, and raucous laughter occasionally drifted through the open doors.
In the middle of the table was what remained of a huge wedding cake. The guests had done a good job on it, and the remaining Dorm Storm girls were scraping luscious pale green icing off the cardboard base or cutting ever smaller pieces of cake. As each did so, she spoke the ritual line, “I know I shouldn’t have any more, but Meredith is the first to get married.” They had all agreed that those words would remove the calories from the cake.
Allison scooped another piece onto her dessert plate, then tapped the china with a fork. “What I want to know,” she said, almost slurring her words, “is why your little bride and groom are standing on top of a John Deere tractor.”
The other girls laughed uproariously. Meredith had told the story three times so far, and Allison’s question proved that she had drunk a wee bit too much champagne.
Clarissa the Organizer—her official college nickname—stood up and raised a final glass. She even managed to look like a CEO in a pale green bridesmaid’s dress. “All right, ladies, we should get out of here because Meredith won’t have a wedding night until we leave.”
More laughter.
Clarissa continued, trying to sound somber and serious. “Twelve months ago, Annie Meredith Oakley returned to the Dorm Storm fold and into the arms of the man who has loved her since freshman year.”
The girls cheered. A couple of the guys in the pool room leaned out the door to see what was going on.
Clarissa raised her voice. “Go back inside and finish your game, guys. We’re leaving in ten minutes.” Then she continued for the table, “As self-appointed record keeper for the Dorm Storm, I have some official-sounding stuff to say. First, if you all show up at my wedding, and my new husband is as studly as Chris, don’t expect me to hang around until the band leaves.”
The girls applauded, and Chris blushed.
“Now, on to the record keeping. And stuff. Is there any more champagne?”
Chris filled her glass, and Clarissa raised it and drank it down. “Now where was I? Oh, right. Meredith, we ladies of the Dorm Storm, the group that was too good for the Greeks”—she paused for their uproarious laughter—“hereby declare you the Winner of the ‘Who Will Marry First?’ contest. And since your prize is holding your hand, we didn’t bring you a plaque. But I hereby declare that at future weddings there will be a plaque, and as the first to marry, you will be the Keeper of the Plaque. Right, girls?”
A chorus of “Right!” and “Totally!” and “Cray-cray!” went up around the table.
“And now,” said Clarissa solemnly, reaching out to gently lift Allison’s nose away from her cake plate, “like all non-sororities, we have our secret ceremony. Meredith wisely allowed no candles, because at least six of us would have gone up in flames after the third bottle of champagne. So in lieu of candles, let’s all hold hands. You’re in this, too, Christopher.”
Everyone held hands.
Clarissa cleared her throat. “We, the Dorm Storm Girls Plus One, hereby somewhat solemnly swear that we will gather for every wedding of every girl until all of us are married to our own true love! Hip hip!”
“Hooray!” they cheered.
“Hip hip!”
“Hooray!”
“Hip hip!”
“Hooray!” More laughter followed.
Clarissa walked around the table to Meredith who stood up for a warm hug. Then Chris got the same treatment. One by one, the girls said their farewells. The last of the band was heading for the door. As the girls left, the ones with dates collected them from the pool room.
Meredith and Chris stood on the marble steps in the sweet June night and waved as their friends wandered off to their cars. Then Chris took Meredith in his arms. “Are you happy?”
“Deliriously.” Meredith’s face hurt from smiling and laughing. She’d been cautious with the champagne because Chris was not a drinker and was substituting sparkling cider for his toasts.
“I think we should win a prize for best wedding reception ever,” said Chris.
“I agree. Let’s make two plaques.”
“You mean, we have plaque duty?”
“Yes. Because we won.”
Chris twisted his face into a mock frown. “That doesn’t seem right, somehow.” Then he pulled her close and hugged her tight, their lips only inches apart. “Thanks for the heads up about Clarissa. She really does like to take charge.”
Meredith’s laugh tinkled in the night.
“And you don’t mind spending our honeymoon at the bachelor pad?”
“Are you kidding? Now that the pool is done? I insist! Besides, we need to erase the bachelor pad name, and I can’t think of a better way to do it.” She gazed lovingly into his eyes. “It was so sweet of you to send Imelda and her husband on vacation to Disney World.” She traced a finger along his jawline.
“I occasionally get a great idea,” he said, his voice husky.
“We should go,” said Meredith, “because if we stand here any longer I’m afraid we’ll get arrested for public indecency.”
Chris laughed. He spent a moment locking the front door, then took her to the Mercedes.
“Allison wanted to paint the car so bad,” said Meredith.
“We’ll let her decorate the next groom’s car,” said Chris as they got in. “It just feels wrong to slap paint all over the Mercedes.”
Meredith said, “She finally shut up about it when I told her she’d have to wash it before she went home.”
The electricity between them was palpable. “I hope I can wait thirty minutes,” said Meredith.
Chris laughed. “You won’t have to.” Instead of driving off the grounds, he steered around to the back of the big white house to a charming cottage tucked beneath the trees. He parked beside it and led the way inside.
Meredith gasped. The interior was decorated like a palace bedroom. A four-poster bed took up most of the floor space, but there was a small Victorian table by the window with a magnum of champagne on ice. Two small suitcases stood discreetly against one wall. And a toy John Deere tractor sat on the bed, holding a sign that read, “Mr. and Mrs. Dann.”
“Oh, Chris, this is lovely!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.
Chris let his hands rub up and down her back, then slipped them under her tee shirt.
Meredith’s breath was heated. “I hear black belts are very flexible,” she panted.
Chris moaned against her ear. “If you like, I can give you a private lesson.”
“Oh good,” said Meredith, running her hands over his six-pack. “Because I think I have a lot to learn.”
Chris swept her up in his arms and closed the door with one athletic kick. He carried her to the bed and laid her down, then took his place next to her. As one of his hands trailed up toward her breast, Meredith squeezed his biceps and claimed her husband with a kiss. Class was in session.
*Thank you for reading
June Bride
. If you enjoyed this book, please tell a friend and leave a review at Amazon.*