A Wedding In the Family (14 page)

“Adam—”

They’d spoken each other’s name at exactly the same moment, and then laughed a little in awkwardness.

“Let me talk first,” she said, not wanting to wait another moment to be certain of his intentions. “Did you mean what you said? That you want me, all that comes with me?” She caught her lower lip between her teeth as she awaited his reply.

“Yes,” he answered honestly.
But Lord, You know she may not want all that comes with
me. “Angela—”

“Three kids? Do you realize what you’re saying? What you’re committing to?”

“Yes,” he answered. But do you? he thought. Acceptance
of him, just as he was. That’s how the Lord had received him years ago, and that’s what he needed from Angela now and in all the days to come. “I love you, Angie—”

“I love you, too, Adam. I will for the rest of my life,” she proclaimed. And with an uneasy boldness, she leaned forward, touching Adam’s mouth in a brief, fleeting movement.

He barely kissed her back. “Angela, how did you—why did you stay married?” She’d been through so much. Did he dare hope that she would take a chance now? With him?

“We didn’t talk about staying married. It just happened. Probably because he loved the kids too much to leave,” she said, then paused. “You know, he wasn’t a good father to them in most ways, but sometimes I saw him really try. I think that’s what made me care about him more as the years went by. I wanted him to change. For a while, I thought maybe he would. But he couldn’t give it up. He couldn’t stay sober long enough to make things work. Then, several months before he died, he met Sylvia—his kindred spirit, I guess you could say. Anyway, he filed for divorce from me because he wanted a life with her.” She set the iced tea down on the blanket. “I was glad he found someone else, glad he wanted out. My freedom was such a pleasant surprise.” She looked up at Adam again, trying to judge his reaction. “Sounds awful of me, doesn’t it?”

“Sounds honest.” Adam touched the soft, dark strands of hair resting against Angela’s shoulder. A
glimpse of hurt shone in her eyes from bitter memories. What did that leave Adam to do? Hurt her more?

“You probably think I was a terrible wife to him, but I really wasn’t.”

“I wouldn’t think—”

“You’d have every right to assume that about me, but you’d be wrong if you did. I really tried to make it work. And as the years passed, I cared about him very much. It was never what it should have been. Not from day one. But I tried. Especially in the early years. If he hadn’t been an alcoholic, we’d have had a better chance.”

“I wish you’d told me sooner. About the drinking, I mean,” Adam said slowly.
Dear God, I wish she had mentioned it,
he thought frantically.
I’d have stayed away from her entirely if I’d known.

“I guess I don’t talk much about Dan or our marriage or any of it anymore. He’s gone now, and I am very careful of what I say in front of the kids. They loved their father. I don’t want to be disrespectful to his memory.” With a quiet sigh, she continued, “But the drinking was very hard on them. Occasionally, he wouldn’t come home at night, and we wouldn’t know where he was. I got used to it, but they couldn’t.”

“Didn’t he try to quit? I mean, Angela, there are counselors and programs—”

“I know,” Angela interrupted. “He tried several times, but it never lasted long.” She shrugged. “After a while, I gave up hoping.”

Adam’s heart sank even deeper. How could he tell
her this? She’d be terrified of a future with him if she knew about his past. But then he remembered one bright spot of hope. She had stayed with Dan to the end rather than run away from the problems. Would she have that kind of endurance again? Adam moved closer and brushed her temple with a tentative kiss. “But you stayed with him through it all?”

“Yes,” she responded, “if there hadn’t been another woman, I would have stayed—forever.” She stared down at her left hand, void of rings. “I was married a long time, Adam. I never dreamed I’d have a second chance…that I’d have you…that I’d ever feel this way.”

The look of concern that tightened his expression relaxed a little as he considered how much he loved this woman beside him. He knew she had no idea what he was going to ask of her. A lifetime, yes—but lived one day at a time. There were no doubts in her mind. Only certainty and love could be read in her look, and the happiness of today. Could he take that away from her?

Angela moved into his embrace as if she’d been made to fit there, and Adam held her close. She felt so warm and smelled wonderful with some soft summer scent of perfume. And it had been such a long time since he’d held her like this. But his heart pounded with the truth. “Angie…,” he began.

She lifted her head to look into his eyes. “This is one of the happiest days of my life,” she said, with a look filled with the love and trust that Adam knew
he didn’t deserve. If he told her now—ruined this moment for her—would she hate him for that?

“I love you, Adam.” Angela spoke gentle words to his aching heart.

“And I love you, Angie,” he responded, hating himself for his secrecy. But not enough to give it up. Not today. He couldn’t break her heart, here and now, when he had just offered her the future.

With a new sense of belonging, Angela raised up, brushing Adam’s mouth in a light, uncertain movement. But his arms slowly encircled her, pulling her closer, deeper into the warm kiss they both wanted. And Angela knew she could have spent a lifetime with him, right there, beneath the outstretched arms of that beautiful tree.

But time was slipping away. They’d been talking for almost two hours and she needed to pick up the children at school. Slowly, reluctantly, she eased from his arms. “Adam, we should leave.”

Leave here and get back to reality, he thought briefly. He’d let her fall in love with him, let her think she knew the man she was committing her life to. If only he’d known about the part drinking had played in her marriage…He’d have stayed away from her from the beginning.

“You probably need to pick up the kids,” he said, rather than telling her what she needed to be told.

“Yes, and the two of us out here kissing like this—I mean, at our age? In the afternoon, at a park? Even if we were already married, a public display like this
is almost indecent.” She smiled in response to her own teasing words.

He smiled in return. “I suppose you’re right. Especially with you being a school principal. You could get expelled for behavior like this.”

“I think ‘fired’ is the word you’re looking for. C’mon,” she said, standing up and extending a hand toward Adam.

He stood up and took her hands in his. Then he kissed her again in an exchange that was gentle and much too brief. “Adam?” she complained.

“You’re the one who said it was time to go.” He squeezed her hand. “Come on. You need to get back to school and I need to get in touch with Tiffany before she sends out a search party.” He brushed off his brown corduroy slacks. “I haven’t taken a lunch break this long since I started working there.”

Angela reached for their drinks, as Adam picked up their now-cold food and the cloth from the ground.

“We forgot to eat our lunch,” Adam commented as he placed the items inside her van. “Hungry?” he asked, opening the door for her to climb into the driver’s seat.

“Starving, as usual. Let’s get fresh sandwiches at a drive-through on the way back.”

He nodded. “And stop at a pay phone so I can call in to explain why I won’t be back for a while.” He got into the van and shut his door. “I’ll ride to school with you to get the children.”

“They’ll be so glad to see you. They’ve missed you.”

Adam smiled at her, studying the light in those blue eyes he loved. She’d want to tell the children their plans for the future. And her parents. He looked away from her to stare out the window. That might not be so bad. The closer they moved to actually marrying, the further she would be from wanting out later. Maybe.

“So,” she added with a glance in his direction. “Let’s have lunch.”

“Grandma! Grandma! They’re getting married!” Heather announced gleefully as they pulled into the long driveway to the Granston home and found Grace outside raking crunchy leaves into piles.

“What?” Grace asked when she looked up to see several members of her family arriving for an unexpected visit. “Married?”

The children were out of the van before Angela or Adam had a chance to unbuckle their seat belts.

“Mom and Adam are getting married,” David explained to his grandmother, who was pulling off her garden gloves. “Soon!” he added with a wide grin. And Grace hugged him.

“It’s about time,” she remarked with a wide grin of her own. “What took you so long?” she asked when Adam and Angela finally joined her on the front lawn.

“I should have asked her weeks ago,” Adam said. And at the same time, he knew he’d asked her too soon for her own good.

Angela gave him a sideways glance. “So soon?”

His arm slipped around her waist, drawing her close to his side. “Yes. You’re everything I want in this life, Angie.” His words were for all who listened, but his eyes, darkened with emotion, spoke only to her.

“Welcome to the family, Adam Dalton.” Grace moved to kiss Adam’s cheek and give a fierce hug to her daughter. “I wish you both much happiness. Kids, go find your granddad and tell him your mother has news that is a blessing to us in our old age.”

Angela shook her head and sighed. “Honestly, Mother. You’re only in your fifties.”

Grace laughed and shooed the children off in search of their grandfather. “I’m so happy for both of you,” she reiterated and hugged them simultaneously. “I couldn’t be any happier with your choice,” she said to Angela directly. “Or yours,” she added, glancing again at Adam.

“Neither could I,” Adam replied with a broad smile.

“I think I’ll go help them find Dad,” Angela said, and looked up at Adam. “Want to come with me?”

He shook his head. “Go ahead. I’ll catch up in a minute.”

Angela turned and started toward the house, pulling her bulky sweater close around her. Adam watched her walk away. Then he looked at her mother. “I’ll take good care of her, Grace. And the kids.”

“I know that. There’s no need to even say it,” she answered, shifting the rake from one hand to the other.

“Yes, there is,” he replied. “She’s been through a lot. I didn’t know until today that Dan was an alcoholic.”

Grace nodded and then sighed. Audibly. “She’s seen some difficult days—years, actually. But with the Lord’s help, she got through it okay. She wasn’t with him because of love, you know.”

Adam nodded. “She explained it to me earlier today. Do you think if Dan had sobered up—permanently—they could have worked it out?”

Grace thought for a moment before answering. “Possibly, if she could have believed he was really done with the drinking.” Then she studied Adam’s profile as he looked back in the direction Angela had taken. “Why? Does it matter?”

“It might,” he responded, sliding his hands into the pockets of his dark slacks. He cleared his throat “When I was in college, it was the accepted thing to drink a lot. For most of us, it wasn’t a problem, but…” Then his words died out as he turned a solemn gaze on his future mother-in-law.

Grace closed her eyes and lowered her head to lean her forehead against the rake. “Oh, Adam, don’t tell me—”

He nodded his head, just barely, but enough to confirm her suspicions. “I didn’t have much of a chance to escape it. Both of my parents were alcoholics. They died very young because of it.”

“Oh, Lord, help us out of this one,” she remarked before looking back at Adam’s guarded expression. “And Angela has no idea?”

“I couldn’t tell her. Not today. I want to marry her, Grace. I want to have a child with her, have a
life
with her. And I won’t have a chance if she finds this out now.”

“You
must
tell her,” Grace stated flatly. “If you don’t, I will. I won’t allow her to marry you without knowledge of this.”

“I know. That’s why I told you this now. It obligates
me
to tell her before the wedding. I don’t want her hearing it from you.”

“Don’t
make
her hear this from me, Adam. It would be unforgivable if it doesn’t come from you directly.”

“I’ll tell her,” he responded and lowered his head to look at the pile of leaves nearby. “But not today.”

Grace reached out a hand to touch his arm. “She loves you. She trusts you.”

“Not enough for this news, she doesn’t,” he said with a sad smile. “I don’t think she even trusts God enough to see us through this.”

“We’ll pray about that. She has a lot of faith in the Lord. He’s seen her through so much. If she can feel that your union is in His will—not just what the two of you want—she can handle this. Mostly, with Angela, it’s herself she doesn’t trust. Her decisions, her choices in life…she lacks the self-confidence she needs to get through this easily. Give her some time, show her she can trust you,” Grace said. “She can, can’t she?”

“Yes, she can,” he promised in a low voice.

“This problem…it’s something you have control over now?” she asked.

“I haven’t had a drink since I let God into my life over seven years ago. We’ll be okay with it, Grace. It won’t hurt Angela or the children,” he assured her. “I wouldn’t marry her if I thought it would.”

There was silence for a moment between them, and then they saw Heather running across the yard.

“We’ll all be trusting you on this one, Adam,” Grace said as she watched her granddaughter coming toward her. Then Heather suddenly changed her course and headed into Adam’s arms, bringing a smile and plenty of girlish giggling with her.

“Whoa! I almost didn’t see that coming,” he told the laughing child he now held in his arms. “You’ve gotta warn me so I can be ready to catch you next time.” Sadness suddenly overwhelmed him as he considered how much he had come to love Angela’s children.
Lord, let there be a next time with this child. A whole lifetime of them.

“Looks like Angela went inside,” Grace remarked. A light had come on in the kitchen of her house and her daughter was standing by the window where a calico cat slept, pressed against the window screen. “Maybe Micah is awake from her nap. I’m sure Angela will want to talk with her.”