6
TODAY WAS HER WEDDING day. But not really.
Hayley had showered, leaving her hair wet for the hairdresser, and had finished breakfast.
On the way back to the Peabody last night, she and Justin had agreed that Justin would interrupt her preparations with messages about the increasingly volatile situation in El Bahar, with the final showdown taking place in the lobby. That way, Justin could storm off and Hayley could run back to her room. When her mother and sisters came to comfort her, she’d insist hysterically that they go on to the Mississippi Princess.
In one fell swoop, both Justin and Sloane would be out of her life. Sloane—good riddance. Justin... No, she wasn’t going to sit around and wait for him, hoping he’d come back to her if he didn’t find anyone better. That would be demeaning, not that he’d asked her to wait, but all this talk about casual dating when she and Justin were obviously...when they...
She would not think about Justin and his... cockamamie plans. Hayley smiled, then used the edge of the terry-cloth robe to dab at her eyes. Why bother? She could cry if she wanted to. Swollen eyes and a red nose would lend weight to her plan to convince everyone that she and Sloane were through.
She sniffed just as she heard Justin’s connecting door open. Instead of the knock she expected, there was a rustling as an envelope slid under her door.
Her name was written on the outside.
Why would Justin write her a note? He knew she was in here.
Unless... Hayley’s heart pounded wildly as adrenaline spurted through her system. He must have something so horrible to say he couldn’t tell her face-to-face. He must have changed his mind and was leaving.
She stared at the envelope, then scooped it up, ripping out the piece of hotel stationery.
Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
If I’ve got to fake a wedding
I’m glad it’s with you.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
J.
Hayley stared at the paper and read the words over and over. She should throw it out. If her mother ever saw it...
There was a knock on the hallway door. “Hayley? Laaaa la lalaaaaa.” Gloria sang the wedding march. “The front desk says the hairdresser is here.”
Drawing a shuddering breath, Hayley looked over at the white connecting door. Two fat tears rolled down her cheeks as she folded the paper into a tiny square which she placed deep in the pocket of the terry-cloth robe.
ON THE OTHER SIDE of the door, an already-dressed Justin stared at the connecting door. He heard Hayley take the envelope. He imagined her reading it and hoped it made her smile.
She had a great smile.
“WHY, SLOANE, darlin’, you know you can’t see Hayley before the wedding.” Hayley’s sister Gloria batted her eyelashes at him. “But you can see me.”
“I need to talk with her.” Justin hoped he didn’t sound too stern. If Blondie let him in, he was sunk because it was too early for the argument.
“So impatient.” She wrinkled her nose. Hayley didn’t wrinkle her nose like that and she had a cuter one. “I can give her a message.”
Justin hesitated for effect. “Tell her that the El Baharis are being stubborn. Tell her I’ll make it up to her.”
“Make what up to her?” Gloria wasn’t smiling now.
“She’ll know,” Justin said, and raked his fingers through his hair. “I need a drink.” He walked off.
“But what if Hayley has something to say to you?”
“That’s why I wanted you to let me in.” Justin jabbed the elevator. To his surprise, it opened immediately. How about that. Just like in the movies.
What an exit.
“I THINK my corset could be tighter. There’s just gallons of room at the waist.” Laura Jane swirled in front of the full-length mirror.
“Hayley, Sloane gave me a message for you.” Gloria, the fake blond sausage curls bouncing against her shoulder, hurried into the bedroom. “He said to tell you that the El Baharis are being stubborn and he’ll make it up to you. Now what in the Sam Hill does that mean?”
Lola, who was being combed out, swiveled in the chair. “Hayley?”
Hayley blinked rapidly. She’d discovered this morning that, for the first time in her life, she could cry at will. “Oh, Mama!” She even managed a realistic sob.
“Hayley, love, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, Mama, he’s got to go back to El Bahar. I won’t get my honeymooooon!” She ended on a wail as her mother enfolded her in her arms.
“Surely not,” murmured Lola.
“Yes, he is. I know he is. And if he does, then I’m not going to marry him!”
There was a shocked silence in the room. Hayley sobbed, just to fill it up.
“Now, Hayley...”
“Mama, if he puts his job and those awful El Baharis ahead of me on our wedding day, then he’ll always put them first. What kind of a marriage would I have?”
“But, Hayley...”
Hayley sat up and looked directly into her mother’s eyes. “You were right, Mama. I have to stand firm. If I give in now, at this most important time, then I’ll never be first in his life. So I’m putting my foot down, just the way you taught me.”
“Hayley, I think I meant you should put your foot down after you’re married.”
“I won’t have any leverage then.”
“Hayley!” Gloria threw up her hands. “I saw your lingerie trousseau.”
“Yeah, talk about leverage!” Laura Jane pulled at the fabric at her waist.
“Laura Jane, if that were any tighter, you’d look like a sausage!” Gloria smoothed at her own tiny waist.
Laura Jane tilted her chin up. “At least my bow doesn’t bounce.”
Gloria flushed. “And neither would mine if they’d used a glue gun on it the way they did yours!”
“Girls! Your sister is in distress.”
Hayley sniffed distressingly.
“Well, I see that.” Gloria turned to the makeup artist. “This is a wedding. Why didn’t you use the waterproof mascara?”
“It clumps,” the woman said, frowning at Hayley’s face.
“Better clumping than that,” Laura Jane said.
Hayley felt bad about ruining her makeup application, but Gloria did have a point about the waterproof mascara. The makeup artist shook a bottle, dampened a tissue and handed it to Hayley, who scrubbed at her cheeks.
“No, no. Gently dab.”
Hayley dabbed and Lola lectured. “It’s wise to stand firm, but in this case you may be more effective if you’re extremely sweet and understanding and... loving.”
Laura Jane and Gloria snickered.
“Don’t be vulgar, girls. Hayley, you want Sloane to feel bad about leaving. So bad, he’ll do everything in his power to return. And, I have to admit, having a man feel that he has to make something up to you is not altogether without its rewards.”
“Tangible expressions of apology are always rewarding.” Gloria touched the diamond pendant below her throat.
Hayley looked at Laura Jane.
“No, no diamonds,” her middle sister said. “But back home, there’s a precious little Mercedes sports car parked in my garage.”
“And they have all that lovely gold in the Middle East,” Gloria said.
“Though gold isn’t worth what it was,” Lola said.
“And cars depreciate,” Gloria said.
Laura Jane glared at her.
“So what are you saying? I should ask for stocks and bonds before I take him back?” Hayley asked.
“Hayley, there’s no need to be crass,” her mother said.
“You mean stocks and bonds are crass, but diamonds and cars aren’t?”
“Well, of course!”
They exchanged one of their looks of old—the I-don’ t-understand-you-at-all look.
Hayley really didn’t want to antagonize her mother, so she quietly lifted her face to the makeup artist. She wouldn’t marry Sloane if he were real, and her mother wasn’t going to make her.
JUSTIN CALLED Hayley’s room. “Hey, how’s it going?” he asked when a reluctant Gloria finally called Hayley to the phone.
“Well, call them again, Sloane!” Hayley said.
He injected a sleazy tone in his voice and asked, “So, what are you wearing?” .
“I don’t care what time it is there, I only know that I’m standing in my wedding dress here.”
“All of it, or just the good parts?”
“I’m ready to tie the knot, but I wonder about your commitment.”
Justin clamped his eyes shut as an image of Hayley in the hoops popped into his head. He should have behaved himself. “Who’s going to help you untie it?”
“You’re not the only man out there.”
Justin’s eyes flew open and he inhaled sharply. In his mind, the image of another man—a man with Ross’s face, as a matter of fact—stood behind Hayley. This man didn’t resist her bare shoulders, but nibbled on them as he worked at the knot.
And then when the knot parted... The image dissolved in a haze of red as the man bent to kiss the soft skin low on her back....
“I may not be the only man out there, but I’m the best man,” Justin said.
There was a silence. “I know that,” she said softly.
What had he said? What were they saying? He cleared his throat. “I’ll call again in a few minutes.”
“I’ll be waiting to hear from you...Sloane.”
Sloane? She’d called him Sloane. How could she call him Sloane?
Justin was so rattled that he missed the phone cradle and the handset bounced on the table. Hoping they hadn’t heard the noise next door, he quietly replaced the phone, then sat on the bed. He wished he could turn on the television, but he was supposed to be making an overseas call.
What if they could hear?
“Yes, Operator, I’d like to place a call to El Bahar.” He spoke loudly and distinctly.
He waited, then shouted a few things like “My fiancée is understandably upset” and “Perhaps if you could explain the situation to the king you might find that he has a romantic streak,” and then, “Have you tried bribing him?”
That Sloane was such a wimp.
GLORIA AND LAURA JANE HAD their ears pressed against the connecting door. Since the hoops in their dresses didn’t allow for both to be in the near vicinity at the same time, Laura Jane stood on a chair.
“Oh, Hayley, he’s trying so hard, hon,” she said.
“He’s talking about bribing,” Gloria said below her. “I wonder how much he thinks you’re worth.”
“Glo-ri-a!” Lola’s lips thinned, but she didn’t tell her two eldest daughters to stop eavesdropping.
Hayley was having a difficult time maintaining her wounded expression, and she desperately wanted to know what Justin was saying.
She’d have to ask him...but she wouldn’t be seeing him again after the final argument.
It would be soon. The hairdresser and makeup artist had left, leaving an itemized bill with the total waived.
The amount was outrageous, totally outrageous. Hayley couldn’t believe that she was going to have to absorb the value of Gloria and Laura Jane’s hairpieces as part of her prize and thus pay income tax on her sisters’ fake hair.
She’d bought them gold bangle bracelets as their bridesmaid gift, but wished she hadn’t after her mother’s remark about Middle Eastern gold.
The phone rang. Hayley answered it herself.
“Guess who?”
“Yes, Sloane? What did they say?”
“That I’m the world’s greatest brownnoser who doesn’t deserve you.”
Hayley laughed in spite of herself. “I agree.” She caught the hopeful expressions on the faces of her mother and sisters and knew she had to backtrack. “So, which is it, the meeting or the honeymoon?”
“If Sloane were a real man, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
How true. “You can tell me later. It’s time for us to go to the dock. The limousines are here.”
“Break a leg,” Justin said.
“Now, Sloane, I’m sure you don’t mean that.”
“Hayley—”
“I haven’t changed my mind,” she said, and hung up the telephone.
“Well?” three female voices demanded in unison.
She shrugged. “He’s trying.”
“Well, we knew that!” Laura Jane hopped off her chair, dragging it beneath her hoops.
“What haven’t you changed your mind about?” Gloria asked.
“He can either postpone the wedding or the meeting, but if he chooses the wedding, then it’ll be a cancellation.”
“Hayley, don’t be foolish. We’ve gone to all this trouble—”
“But I didn’t think it was any trouble for you, Mama. I—I thought you enjoyed planning the wedding.”
Lola waved her hands. “Oh, you know what I mean,” she said, tucking her handkerchief into her purse. “The wedding isn’t nearly as important as your marriage. The important part is you standing up there and saying ‘I do’ in front of a judge. All the rest is just window dressing.”
“B-but I thought the window dressing was important to you.”
Lola smiled and adjusted the sleeve on Hayley’s dress. “Your happiness is important to me.”
Why didn’t you say that a year ago? I was happy a year ago.
“We’re going down in the elevator,” Gloria said. “With these dresses, all of us won’t be able to fit in one car.”
“I wish your daddy were here to see you,” Lola said.
Though she felt a pang at the mention of her father, Hayley was glad he wasn’t seeing this.
She and her mother were silent as they rode the elevator down to the lobby. Gloria and Laura Jane were standing by the fountain, apparently posing for pictures from tourists delighted to see true Southern belles.
When Hayley emerged from the elevator, she heard several gasps, murmurs, then a smattering of applause.
She felt awful. Slowly she made her way to the entrance where two white limousines waited. Any second now, she’d hear—
“Hayley!”
“Sloane!” Gloria and Laura Jane shrieked and tried to hide Hayley from his sight
“Please—I have to talk with her!”
“It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding!”
“I saw her yesterday when we took pictures.”
“But you haven’t seen her this morning,” Lola said firmly.
“Hayley?”
“Mama, I’d better talk to him.” Hayley stepped out from behind her sisters.
“Hay—” Justin stopped and his face changed, his expression awestruck.
She smiled shyly and he visibly swallowed. “You look beautiful,” he murmured.
Hayley told herself she’d always remember the look on his face and the sound of his voice telling her she was beautiful, and in her memory, it would be Justin speaking, not Sloane.
He shook his head slightly, as if to clear it “The king refused to postpone the meeting.”
“So what are you saying?”
He took her hand and led her away from her mother and sisters. “Your hands are cold,” he murmured.
“I’m nervous,” she confessed. “I don’t know if this is going to work or not.”
“Is there something else you want me to do? I will.”
She bit her lip, immediately stopping when she remembered the makeup artist spending all that time lining it. “I know you would. You’ve been great. This has been a huge inconvenience to you and I’ll never be able to repay you.”
He grinned. “This is where I say I can think of a few ways you could work off your debt, right?”
Hayley’s mouth quivered. “Don’t make me laugh. I’m supposed to be upset.”
He still held her hand and now he squeezed it. “I’ll call you later. I want to know what happens.”
Drawing a deep breath, Hayley looked straight at him. “Perhaps it would be better if you didn’t.”
His blue eyes stared at her. “Ross will ask for all the details.”
“Then tell Ross to call.”
It hurt to see the understanding flood his face and his expression harden. He nodded tightly. “Ready?”
She nodded.
“You sure?”
“Of course I’m sure!” she said, raising her voice.
“Hayley, be reasonable—”
“Reasonable?” She jerked her hand out of his. “Reasonable? You call giving up a Caribbean cruise reasonable?”
“We’ll go on another cruise.”
“I want to go on this cruise, our honeymoon cruise!” Lola hurried forward.
“It’ll only be for a few weeks,” Justin said.
“Unless the king schedules another meeting.”
“Hayley, we can always have a honeymoon, but this is my career.”
“Oh!” Hayley backed away from him. “Did you hear that, Mama?”
“Everyone in the lobby has been privy to your discussion with Sloane,” Lola whispered through gritted teeth.
“We can’t always have a honeymoon. You only have a honeymoon once. After that, it’s just a trip.”
Justin straightened. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I warned you it would be difficult for me to get away in February. You insisted and this is the result. We’ll have to make the best of it. Go on and get in the limousine.”
Lola took her arm.
“No,” Hayley said. “No, I’m not going to get into the limousine, because I’m not going to marry you.”
“If that’s the way you feel—”
“It is. And I’m not going to wait around until you come to your senses, either.” Hayley was talking to Justin then, but she suspected he didn’t know it.
“Sloane, give us a moment.” Lola’s face had paled until the professionally applied, dusty pink blusher stood out.
Justin backed away. Lola waited until he was out of earshot, then spoke to Hayley in a tone she’d never used with her before. “Hayley Ann, you stop your tantrum right this instant!”
“Mama!”
“That man loves you and you’re throwing it all away.”
“No, he doesn’t love me.” Genuine tears filled Hayley’s eyes. “He wouldn’t make me happy, Mama.”
“There are many kinds of happiness, Hayley. You waited patiently for well over a year while he worked in that heathen desert, and you won’t give him a few more days?”
“No.” She dabbed at her eyes with their waterproof mascara, and walked over to Justin. “Last chance. It’s either me, or that selfish king.”
“Obviously the king isn’t the only selfish one around here. Goodbye, Hayley.” Justin turned on his heel and stalked past Hayley’s openmouthed sisters.
With a sob, Hayley whirled around and headed for the elevators. She got as far as the fountain.
“Hayley, my love!”
She knew that voice. Abruptly Hayley stopped jogging in her hoops and whirled around once more.
There was Ross St. John, in period formal attire identical to Justin’s.
“Ross!” Thank goodness, Justin had intercepted him at the doors.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Ross, what are you doing here?” Justin clapped him on the back and tried to hustle him outside.
“Excuse me, my good man, but I’m afraid you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’m Sloane Devereaux.”
Hayley thought she might faint
“—’s best man!” Justin said loudly. “Ross, I didn’t think you were going to be able to make it!”
“Neither did I. The rehab facility didn’t want to issue me a pass.”
“Ross, you always were a kidder.” Justin laughed, heartily and way too loudly. “Everyone, this is my best man, Ross St. John.”
Lola’s, Gloria’s and Laura Jane’s eyes swiveled from Ross to Justin to Hayley.
Hayley hurried over to Justin’s side and took his arm. “Ross, Sloane was so disappointed when he thought you weren’t going to be able to leave El Bahar and make it in time for the wedding.”
Ross looked bewildered. “Justin—”
“That’s right, you got here just in time to be my best man.”
“You mean I’ve been recast?”
“No. I would rather do without a best man than have anyone but you playing the role.”
Ross blinked and Hayley couldn’t tell if he would play along or not.
Apparently, neither could Justin. “Come on, let’s get into the limousine. Guests, are waiting.” He pulled Ross toward the doors.
“Ju—Sloane?” Hayley stared at him. He couldn’t get into the limousine!
Ignoring her, he draped an arm over Ross’s shoulders. “You can tell me how things were when you left El Bahar. I’ve been on the phone with them all mornring.”
“El Bahar is a dry sandy desert with the hot winds and the sun leeching the moisture out of every living thing,” Ross recited. “I work for a drilling company there.”
Hayley only hoped Justin could get him to the limousine in time.
“Go with them, Hayley.” Lola pushed her.
“But, Mama!”
“He’s already seen you and I think the time together will do you good. Maybe his friend will convince you that Sloane really must return next week.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to marry Sloane.”
“Hayley Ann, get into that limousine.”
Hayley went.
She plastered a smile on her face until the door shut.
“Hayley, my dear, you look ravissimo!” Ross kissed his fingertips.
“Ravissimo?”
“Rahveesheeng.” This time, his accent was French.
“Thank you.” Hayley looked at Justin. Justin stared back, then rolled his eyes. What, didn’t he think she looked ravishing? No, what was the word he used? Nice. She arched an eyebrow.
“Hayley, let me introduce you to Justin Brooks. He’s the friend I was telling you about,” Ross said.
Justin rubbed the space between his eyebrows. “We’ve met.”
“Of course you have. I just introduced you.” Ross looked pleased with himself.
“Ross—”
“Let me.” Hayley squashed down her hoops.
“When you were late meeting my family, Justin filled in as Sloane Devereaux until you got here. You didn’t call, you know,” she said.
“I was talking to the manager of the tuxedo rental shop. He insisted that I already had a tuxedo, which was patently ridiculous. Trying to weasel out of his prize obligations, he was. I let him know that I would never accept anything free from him again, and would tell my friends not to, either.”
“I’m sure he was devastated,” Justin muttered.
“He was speechless,” Ross told him.
Hayley gestured to his clothing. “But he must have given you the tuxedo anyway.”
“Oh, well, yes he did, but only after I said I would have my attorney contact him.”
“Oh, no, Ross.”
“Justin, you said I could use your name in an emergency and this was an emergency. The man wouldn’t listen to reason.”
Justin groaned.
“Honestly, merely showing your card miraculously cuts through the red tape. And it doesn’t seem to matter that you only work with numbers.”
Hayley laughed, then covered her mouth, but couldn’t stop. After a second, Justin joined in.
Hayley had seen his card. In addition to announcing that he was an IRS attorney, there were words like fraud and auditing on it, too. No wonder the poor man at the tux place had capitulated.
“Well, you’re here now,” she said, when she could talk without giggling. “But I had to go ahead and introduce Justin to my mother and sisters as Sloane, so he’ll have to be Sloane, and you can play the part of best man.”
“Hmm.” Ross rubbed his face where his beard used to grow. “I haven’t had any rehearsal time.”
Justin tensed and Hayley held out her hand. “I realize we’re asking a lot of you, but you’re such a good actor, I know you can do it.”
“Of course I can do it.... The best man delivers a toast, does he not?”
“He would if there was an actual wedding,” Justin said.
“Look at her, man. You don’t think there’s going to be a wedding?”
“We had a fight,” Hayley said.
“But you just met.”
“No, I had a fight with Sloane.”
“You’re getting along fine now.”
“We might have another fight.”
“Soon,” Justin added.
“No, no. That would be overdoing it. It’s never good to overplay one’s part.”
“We’re not getting married,” Justin said heavily.
“There will be no toast.”
“I know you’re not getting married. She’s marrying Sloane.”
“I’m not marrying anybody!”
“But...” Ross gestured to her, then all around them.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand my motivation.”
Hayley made a small sound and stared out the tinted window. Disaster. Complete and utter disaster.
“Your motivation is to stay by me, Ross. We’re going to leave the limousine at the docks and grab a taxi. That’s all.”
“Both of us?”
“Both of us.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all we’ve got time for.”
Ross inhaled deeply enough so that his nostrils flared. “I don’t believe I like being relegated to a secondary role at all.”
“Then you don’t have to play it.” Justin tapped the glass between the driver and the passengers. “The driver can let you off and we’ll tell everyone that you got food poisoning on the plane.”
Hayley was impressed with his quick thinking.
The intercom crackled and the driver spoke. “Yes, sir?”
“Wait.” Ross straightened his lapels. “After all, it isn’t the size of the role, it’s what you make of it.”