*Milt was practically vibrating with anticipation as he stood with the rest of the guests just outside the open bay door of the machine shop, eyes on the edge of the field where the sleigh carrying the bride would appear.
Despite feeling like she’d just finished running her second marathon of the day, Stevie fought a smile as she watched the older man fidget. She’d grown so fond of him, the shop foreman turned unofficial wedding planner, over the past two weeks that she wanted the wedding to go well for him as much as for the bride and groom and Brant.
The final hours of preparation had gone flawlessly—quite possibly because none of them were so foolish as to point out that fact aloud.
Trevor arrived early with his food truck, which now bore a sign reading “Wedding Dogs.” He’d spent the morning setting up food and bar service in the barn with his three helpers, and offered hot appetizers to those doing last-minute tweaks. After Trevor came Harp, nicely tanned and carrying a black wool overcoat and top hat that he would wear while delivering the bride and Brant, who would give her away.
“I brought the bells for Bob’s harness. I forgot about them,” he’d explained before he began grooming the horse. And while Harp was prepping Bob and polishing the sleigh, the DJ and his helper had arrived and pronounced the setup complete.
Judge Nelson who, like her, wore insulated boots under his robes, had arrived early, dispelling the fear that Trevor might have to perform the ceremony. He now stood next to Theo, who was dressed in an immaculate dark suit without so much as a strand of white Yeti fur. And he wore actual shoes. Stevie imagined that his feet had to be getting cold, but he gave no sign as he too watched the edge of the field, waiting for his bride.
A collective ooh sounded as the sleigh came into view with Brant and Kara in the back seat and Harp looking positively natty as he held the reins. Bob seemed to understand that this was a special occasion and he bobbed his head majestically, giving the bells extra jingle as he pulled the sleigh across the small field and into the wide drive where he came to a stop.
Brant stepped out of the sleigh and neatly shrugged out of his dark wool winter coat, revealing a sleek black suit beneath. He laid the jacket on the seat before handing his sister to the ground. She tucked her hand in his arm and then turned her attention to Theo waiting for her beneath the evergreen and holly arch. Stevie swallowed back a lump of emotion as the bride’s and groom’s gazes met. A look of love.
The student musicians began to play, the flute and guitar blending in beautiful harmony as Brant escorted his sister to the archway and her waiting groom. Stevie stepped forward to take Kara’s bouquet and then Brant gave his sister a hug before taking his position on the opposite side of the archway. Judge Nelson gave a solemn nod and the guests retreated to their chairs.
“Friends,” Judge Nelson began one everyone was seated, “we are gathered to celebrate a new beginning.”
A small tingle went through Stevie at his words and she automatically glanced toward Brant, the tingle becoming something closer to a jolt as she met his gaze. So this was what people meant when they said the world stood still, because for a heartbeat it felt as if they were the only people on the planet.
“The decision to share lives does not come easily,” Judge Nelson continued, yanking Stevie back to reality. As he began speaking of the power of love, both in grand gestures and small sacrifices, she fought to keep her gaze from straying back to Brant. It was all she could do to focus solely on the bride and groom and not take another look at the man she’d shared so much with over the past weeks. The man who’d helped her face some things she’d been terrified of.
You love him.
The realization didn’t slam into her. It snuck up to her and whispered in her ear.
You aren’t simply enjoying his company. You aren’t exploring a relationship with a kindred spirit that you find attractive, waiting to see how you feel after some time together.
You are head over heels in love.
And that changed everything.
*
So you love him. That doesn’t mean that anything changes. You still trust him to go slow, to allow you to move forward at your own pace.
Stevie lifted her chin as Milt gave her a final turn on the dance floor. Nothing had changed, really.
Milt stepped back as the music ended. “I’ll plan a wedding with you anytime, Stevie. Just let me know when and where.”
Stevie laughed and patted his shoulder. “I’ll be in touch when the occasion arises,” she assured him.
“Next.” Brant stepped up as Milt hailed a friend near the edge of the dance floor. He took Stevie in his arms as another slow song began, pulling her close. She let out a soft breath as his finger splayed over her back, claiming her as his own, but as she brought her head down to rest on his shoulder, she realized something didn’t seem right. Brant was holding himself tautly.
She raised her head and he smiled down at her, but his muscles remained tight as if he were at the ready. Or deeply concerned about something.
She lay her head back on his shoulder, drawing comfort from his solid warmth and wondering what was on his mind. Something was bothering him, and since the wedding had gone smoothly—she felt safe thinking that now that the reception was in full swing—it had to be work.
Which was fine. She understood that he was committed to a job where deadlines came racing toward him and unexpected occurrences required additional hours. She would be busy herself if she landed her new job.
A frisson of anxiety went through her, and she instantly squelched it. New territory, but no need to panic.
“We did good,” Brant whispered against her hair.
She nodded against his shoulder and drew in a breath, loving the scent of him. His arms closed more tightly around her and for the first time since the dance began, she felt him relax.
He’s okay. You’re okay.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Judge Nelson said into the microphone as the music ended. “The time has come.”
Brant and Stevie turned to face the judge, who’d shed his robes after the ceremony, revealing a festive green and red plaid vest over his white shirt.
“The bouquet toss is an ancient custom, originating to free the bride from the crowds that came to celebrate her wedding. She would throw the bouquet, then use the distraction as a means of escape. Kara and Theo are about to make their escape; therefore I’d like everyone who’s single, and Milt, I mean you”—the crowd broke into laughter as Milt went red—“to gather outside. I know it’s cold, but we’ll only be outside for a few minutes, then the party will resume.”
The guests, single and married, obligingly headed for the door and then gathered outside the barn where Kara and Theo were waiting.
“I think we’re ready,” the judge said.
Kara looked at Stevie as if judging distance, then turned her back, and she lifted the bouquet once, twice, then let it fly the third time. The ribbon-bound roses and holly sailed neatly through the air, bounced off the tips of Stevie’s outstretched fingers and landed neatly in Tess’s hands as if it were meant to be.
A laughing cheer went up as Jason Regan gave a smiling shrug, as if to say, yes, he was good with this outcome.
The last thing Stevie expected as Tess hugged Jason, bouquet in hand, was to feel a whisper of disappointment.
*
“Great party,” Trevor said as he closed the back door of the food truck. “I think you have a winner on your hands.” He gestured at the barn. “A lot of people are going to want to rent this place for their parties. And the DJ in the loft was a killer idea.”
“Stevie came up with it. Thanks for putting everything together on short notice. You should maybe take up catering as a sideline.”
“Only for friends,” Trevor said as they walked to the front of the truck. “And only at certain times of the year. My dog, Peggy, and I will hit the road soon.”
“You and Milt. Vagabonds.”
“That’s us,” Trevor said as he opened the driver’s door.
“Thanks again,” Brant said. Trevor waved and then started the engine. The big diesel motor chugged to life and then the food truck started down the drive, swaying as it rounded the corner.
Brant pushed his hands into his jacket pockets and started back to the barn just as the Evans sisters emerged from doing a final check, laughing about something. They were a striking trio, all wearing shades of green, and without a doubt, Stevie was the most striking of all, although Jason Regan, the guy Tess was dating, might disagree. Jason followed the sisters out the door and the four of them crossed the moonlit driveway to meet Brant.
“It’s all battened down,” Stevie said as they came to a stop. “Hardly any cleaning to do at all.”
“And it was beautiful. The wedding. The reception. The venue,” Felicity said. “All of it. You guys did great work.”
“We’re a decent team,” Stevie said, moving closer to Brant and slipping her hand through his arm. He put his arm around her holding her against his side.
“We’re heading home,” Tess said as she took hold of Jason’s hand.
“I’ll be behind you,” Stevie said, glancing up at Brant with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“You can drop me, the third wheel, at Dad’s house,” Felicity said to Tess. Felicity and Pete had arrived together, but Pete had taken off before the dancing began, having to make up time on his project before his deadline.
“He’d better be home,” Stevie said.
“One can hope. Only two weeks and he can take some time off. I wish I were staying longer,” Felicity added. “I wanted to lend him a hand.”
Jason pulled his keys out of his pocket and the three of them headed to his car, leaving Stevie and Brant standing in the driveway.
“It’s over,” he said. “We’re done.”
“Now you can start worrying about other stuff?” Stevie asked.
The afternoon had been surprisingly warm, hovering just above the freezing mark with no wind, and even though the air had cooled after sunset, the temperatures had been brisk but bearable. Now he felt a chill of a different kind.
It was time to fess up.
“You’ve been preoccupied,” Stevie continued, “and I don’t think it was because of the wedding. Milt had that covered, so it must be work.”
“You’re right,” he said. “Things have happened, and I was waiting until after the wedding to tell you.”
She drew herself up as she turned to face him. “Work overtime for several weeks to catch up things?”
“Move to Austin things.”
She took a step back. “Move to Austin?” She pressed a hand to her chest as if to keep her heart in place. “Move to Austin?”
“Yes.”
She let out a choked laugh and then shook her head. “I thought it was something along the lines of having to work on a project with a tight deadline. That you would bury yourself in work and I would nag you not to.” She shook her head again. “Austin.”
He couldn’t even say it wasn’t forever because it might well be. “They’re closing the Boise branch entirely. They want me to head up the Austin office.”
“You’d be the boss.”
“Of that office.”
“You found out about this…”
“Yesterday.”
“You didn’t tell me. What happened to communication?” she asked in a low voice.
“I had every intention of communicating,” he said. “But I thought it could wait until after the wedding.”
She stared up at him. “What about the tree farm? The pumpkin patch? The lavender field?” She swallowed dryly. “The catering kitchen?”
“Those things aren’t going to happen anytime soon. I think the farm has seen its only wedding for a long time.”
She blinked hard, as if fighting tears. “You were right to wait until after the wedding,” she murmured, turning away.
“Stevie.” He took her hand. “I know this is sudden.”
“I’d just acclimated myself with the idea of moving forward with a…relationship.”
She stumbled over the last word, and Brant stepped in. “But you thought you could do it in a safe environment at your own speed.”
“I thought that I could do it at a distance of less than a thousand miles.” She jerked her hand free.
“And I was wondering if at some point you might want to travel down to Austin and look things over. It’s a great city. Music, food, no snow.”
“I like snow.”
So did he.
She closed her eyes briefly. “I think I have a job.”
“What?”
“There’s a position opening at the high school.”
“Mrs. Lovell is retiring early?”
“The Health Ed teacher. The principal basically told me to apply.”
“Then you probably have a job,” Brant agreed, his gut tightening. “What happened to communication?”
“I thought I’d tell you after I knew I had an interview nailed down. I wanted to surprise you when it was all said and done.”
His mouth tightened as he studied Stevie, who now had every force field under her command up and running.
“This doesn’t need to be the end of everything, Stevie. I know what we have is new and…fragile…but—”
“I feel ambushed. I feel the way I felt every time I got bad news about Mom when I’d hoped for good.”
And he felt like his heart was ripping in two. “I could ride this out for a while and look for a job in Boise.”
She whirled on him. “Oh, no. You’re not going to change jobs because of me. If things don’t work out, then…” She gave her head an adamant shake. “No.”
She put her hands to her temples and once again closed her eyes as if marshalling her thoughts. “Maybe this is a good thing. Maybe we both got what we needed and now we can use it to build fuller lives.”
“Do you believe that?”
“I don’t know, Brant. I need some thinking time.” She pulled in a deep breath through her nose, then exhaled. “When do you leave?”
“Tomorrow evening. It’s an early flight, so I’m spending the night in my Boise apartment.”
“What about cleanup tomorrow?” she asked.
He didn’t blame her for not wanting to come back. “I have it covered.”
For a moment their gazes locked, then Stevie glanced away. “I should go.”
She started for her truck holding her velvet skirt above the snow. Was she walking away forever?
“Stevie.” She slowed to a stop but didn’t turn, her back stiffening just as it had the first day she’d arrived on the farm.
“I…”
Love you.
He couldn’t do it.
Couldn’t put that kind of pressure on her. If she couldn’t handle a job change on her behalf, how would she handle this?
“I’ll call you when I get back from Austin.”
She looked at him over her shoulder. “Thank you. I’ll talk to you then.”
*
When Stevie arrived at her dad’s house, she was relieved to see lights were on in the living room, while her father’s bedroom was dark. It was after nine, her dad’s bedtime, but there was always a chance that he would stay up late to catch up with Felicity, who was flying out the next morning. If so, she’d wait until he went to bed before having a face-to-face with her oldest sister. Phones were fine. Sisterly talks late at night, with or without wine, were better.
“You’re fast,” Felicity said, getting up from the couch as Stevie let herself in the door. She looked at her phone. “You texted six minutes ago.”
“I wanted to get here before you fell asleep,” she said.
Felicity gave her a yeah, right smile. Of the three of them, Felicity was the night owl.
“Great wedding,” she said as Stevie pulled off her jacket. “Have a seat.” She pointed to the opposite end of the sofa. “Want some wine? I brought a couple bottles because, you know, Dad. If it doesn’t say Coors, he’s not drinking it.”
“No wine.” Stevie took off her insulated boots and curled her feet up under her.
“Had your quota at the wedding?”
“Actually, other than the toast, I stuck to water. Just in case of emergency, you know?”
“I’m glad there wasn’t one, so that you had a chance to relax finally. But…if I ever have a wedding, I’m calling on you. Maybe I can rent the tree farm. It’s a wonderful venue.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening.”
Felicity met Stevie’s gaze, and then tilted her head thoughtfully. “Me having a wedding, or the tree farm rental?”
“The tree farm rental.” She let out a breath. She’d sidestepped, she’d gone head-on. Sidestepping only delayed the inevitable. If she’d gotten anything out of this experience it was the knowledge that she had to face her fears, deal with them for real, not push them aside and pretend they weren’t there, as she’d done for so many years.
“Brant is moving to Austin.”
Felicity’s eyebrows rose. “That could have an effect on a budding relationship.”
“A deadly one,” Stevie agreed. “His company is shutting down the office he’s worked at since college and they want him to head up the Austin office.”
“Long-distance relationships are challenging,” Felicity said, watching Stevie’s face.
Stevie picked up a pillow and hugged it to her velvet dress. “I thought this thing between us had possibilities, but rather than let it die a slow, painful death, maybe it’s best to step back now at a natural breaking point.”
“I see the logic in that.”
“Good.” Although she’d thought having Felicity agree with her would feel better than it did.
“It wouldn’t be messy. You wouldn’t be risking anything. You wouldn’t have any difficult decisions to make in the future.”
“Right.” Stevie pretended not to notice that her sister was being ironic.
“And obviously, you haven’t grown that close if you can simply walk away like this.”
Stab to the heart.
“Or…” Felicity said, giving Stevie a thoughtful look that made her hug the pillow more tightly. “Or you are taking advantage of this situation to break things off because you have grown close, it scares the heck out of you, and while walking away might hurt, you’ll be safe.” Felicity raised her eyebrows. “How did I do?”
“You might have nailed it,” Stevie said.
“Voice of experience.”
“When were you in love?”
Instead of answering, Felicity cocked her head. “You love him?”
Stevie closed her eyes and let out a soft breath, opening them again when Felicity put a hand on her knee.
“Here’s the thing, Stevie. Making sure you have nothing in your life to lose doesn’t make you happy. It doesn’t free you up, and it doesn’t guarantee you won’t experience loss.” One corner of her mouth tightened ruefully. “Trust me on this one. I know.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not now.” Felicity leaned forward, settling her forearms on her crossed legs. “You’re comfortable working temporary jobs, not having a lot of security in that regard, because that isn’t the kind of risk you fear. Those are the kinds of challenges we Evanses accept because we’re not afraid of dealing with those consequences.”
“I never want to hurt the way I hurt when I lost Mom.” The words she hadn’t said to Brant, even though he, too, had lost parent, were easier to share with her sister.
“And you never will, because that was a special kind of pain. But Stevie, you will feel pain in this life. You can’t stop it. Pain will find you.”
Stevie put the pillow aside. “Well, that was uplifting.”
“That is the truth. You can hide yourself away emotionally, hoping to avoid hurting, but”—Felicity’s blue gaze drilled into her—“you will lose out on a lot of living.”
The sisters were silent as Stevie contemplated the truths she’d come to hear.
“Thank you,” she finally said, meeting Felicity’s gaze before swinging her feet to the floor. “I needed tough love.”
She’d known the instant she’d decided to talk to Felicity that she was going to hear things she didn’t want to, but she’d come anyway because she needed to hear them.
“I should go,” she said, reaching for her boots.
“You must be exhausted now that the wedding is over.”
She was. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally. She zipped her parka over the velvet dress, then let her hands fall loosely to her sides. “I don’t know if I can make a rational decision where Brant is involved.”
“Then do the sensible thing,” Felicity said as she crossed the rug to set a hand on each of Stevie’s shoulders before giving her a gentle shake. “Think things over carefully, check with your sister, then go with your gut.”