Joy and Tiers (30 page)

I am completely speechless for just a moment. “Ty, just so this isn’t open to any misinterpretation, are you asking me what I think you’re asking me?” I ask breathlessly.

“Sorry Gidget, sometimes my heart gets ahead of my brain. Heather Lydia LaBianca, will you do me the honor of being my wife? A man I respect a great deal, gave me some wonderful advice. He reminded me that I can’t relive yesterday and I can’t shape tomorrow. Today is the only day that I can live and today I choose to live and choose to accept the love you’ve given me and I hope you choose to accept the love I give you for as many days as we have left together.”

“Tyler Joseph Colton, I would love to be your wife. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you, falling for you was going to be a dangerous endeavor. But, we can be brave together. I would much rather take the risk of loving you and losing you than face the choice of never having you in my life at all.” I pull Tyler to his feet and practically launch myself into his arms as I rain kisses all over his face.

Suddenly, a funny a thought occurs to me. “You weren’t planning to ask my dad’s permission were you?”

 A dark look crosses Ty’s face. “Under ordinary circumstances, I might extend the man the courtesy, just for tradition’s sake. But, in this case, I’m not going to give him one more reason to even almost view you like his property. He doesn’t even deserve the right to breathe the same air as you as far as I’m concerned.”

I smother a giggle. “Oh good! I thought maybe you were going to try to talk some sense into him or something. I’d much rather have Denny walk me down the aisle anyway. The only ones I don’t know about are my brother and sister. I think I’m still cool with Madison but I really don’t know about Carlton. He could fall either way on the family divide.”

“You know who else is going to think this is pretty hysterical?” Ty asks smirking at me. “I probably shouldn’t have given Jeff so much lip about his ‘almost’ engagement to Kiera since we did exactly the same thing. Jeff’s probably going to hatch a plan with Denny to beat their previous wedding planning record as soon as they hear about us. How fast do you want to get married?”

That question stops me in my tracks. I’ve always envisioned having months and months to plan every last detail of my wedding from the bridal shower to the reception with painstaking detail. But, then again I never envisioned a wedding without my grandma there and I always figured my parents would eventually figure me out. My eyes travel back to my wedding consulting corner. There is so much to consider. How many people should we have at the wedding? I haven’t even met my future in-laws yet. As I try to consider the possibilities, the mural catches my eye. “Oh my gosh! Tyler, we can’t get married before Tara and Aidan. It was their turn first, it would be rude to steal their thunder. This is going to be complicated.”

Tyler wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at me, “Do you want to run away to Vegas?”

I gasp in disbelief. “Take a good look around, Cowboy! How many wedding cakes do you see in here?”

Tyler spins around in a slow circle. “Oh, I guess I see about eight.”

I nod. “…and guess who made each and every one of those cakes? How could you possibly think that I haven’t been planning my wedding cake since I pulled my first pan of cake-like-substance out of a cute little Easy Bake Oven when I was about four? You do realize that I make the majority of my income from the wedding industry? What message would it send if I skipped my own wedding?”

“Okay, point taken. Big opulent wedding it is. I’ll even wear my dress uniform for you or you could choose a monkey suit if you prefer. I don’t care if your brother and sister are involved. I thought your sister was cool and your brother might have potential. I’m going to try to fly my parents out here as soon as possible. I’m sure my mom would love to help with your grand opening.”

Tyler’s stomach suddenly lets out a huge growl of hunger. “Sorry, there wasn’t much food on the plane.”

“You should have listened to me. I told you I didn’t have bad news. Go ahead and eat the wontons and I’ll warm up the other stuff. I wouldn’t want you to expire from hunger. We have a lot to celebrate tonight.”

On the way back home from the bakery, we stopped by the grocery store because my refrigerator was completely almost bare after such a long absence. I had a young college student who was studying veterinary science take care of the animals while I was gone. Judging by the boxes in the trash, he eats like I used to eat before I met Heather. Clearly I’ve become spoiled.

As I’m carrying groceries in from the car, I get a text from Aidan. 

“Hey Heather, if Aidan is trying to hunt down William, why wouldn’t he just call Jeff? Why is he asking me what the weather is like on the coast in February? You guys are the locals. I grew up in Oklahoma. He said something about needing a few days of privacy so fate can take its course.” I ask as I stash the produce in the fridge. 

Heather practically trips over Ethel and Annie as she stammers, “What did you say?”

“I just got this really weird text from Aidan and I’m trying to figure out why he didn’t simply ask Kiera or Jeff for that info. I barely know the judge.”

“Oh Geez! Tara is just too spooky for words! Don’t you see? Aidan is trying to tell you Tara knows what’s going on. He’s trying to protect our privacy in case we haven’t told anyone yet. If he called Kiera and Jeff, they would know that something was up.”

“How in the world did you figure all that out from a strange text message asking about William’s phone number, the weather forecast on the coast in February, a request for privacy and musings about fate?” I ask, incredulous at her leap of logic.

“First of all, I’ve learned to never underestimate Tara’s ability to predict weird stuff. I personally have never seen her be wrong. Secondly, Aidan is a big romantic, mushy guy at heart. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. He might not be quite the big gesture guy that Jeff is, but he’s pretty darn close. If the two of them team up, there’s no telling what could happen. Something tells me I’m going to be trying to find fresh strawberries in February.”

“Why do you sound discouraged? Isn’t this a good development for us? Doesn’t it mean that mean we don’t have to wait so long to get married?”

“Yes, that’s the upside. But, the downside is that if they do it right away, Piper and I will still be working our way through the kinks in the new shop and something might go wrong. It could be a million and one really strange things like the refrigeration not working or the ovens running too hot. I don’t want those nightmares to play out in front of the worldwide press.”

“Gidget, Piper’s mom is in the hospital, right?”

Heather pauses as I interrupt her. She nods, her expression completely reflecting her befuddlement. “Yes, she had gall bladder surgery.”

“Heather, you cooked the whole gourmet meal for me all by yourself on all of your new equipment and picked me up at the airport today without breaking a sweat. Your shop is beautiful. You chose things well. Whether you do Tara’s wedding two weeks before you open, two weeks after you open, or two years after you open; it’s going to be phenomenal. She is your best friend. You won’t allow it to be anything less than spectacular. Remember what you were able to do at Kiera’s wedding when you all you had was the food truck? There is no way this is not going to be a million times better because now it will be a signature Joy & Tiers cake.”

“Geez Ty, maybe your talents are wasted at the Sheriff’s Department. Someone should pay you to write ad copy. You should be writing press releases for me. I can just have you walk around as my arm candy and you can be my public spokesperson.”

“That would be fun wouldn’t it? I wish I had the luxury to do that. I’d be happy as a clam if my job was to brag about you all day to anyone who would listen.”

“You are so funny. You would be so bored that you’d soon start carving on the furniture in the hotel rooms at the wedding venues.”

“Well, that would be an interesting side business. I could make your party favors. Seriously Heather, you’re going to slay this.” I put the groceries down and walk Heather over to the couch and tuck her in next to me. Ethel, her grandmother’s bloodhound insists on being part of the conversation and places her head on Heather’s lap. “We probably need to have a strategy. If you’re right, our news isn’t going to be private much longer. As much as I wanted to savor this private time between us, we might need to work on a plan for telling folks in a reasonable manner. Our plan for winging it at Christmas didn’t work so well.”

Heather smirks at the memory. “Yeah, we should probably be a little more strategic unless we want Mindy to be serenading us with the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song all the way up the aisle during our wedding procession. So, it looks like we could start with three choices, your family, my family or the Girlfriend Posse.”

“It’s up to you. Do you want to tackle the unknown, the hard or the fun first?” I tease.

“Do I have to choose?” she asks, swallowing hard.

“I suppose we could play rock, paper, scissors if you really want to.”

Heather scowls at me. “Next, I suppose you’re going to suggest that we should play spin the bottle or something?”

“Well, it’s even better than anything I had planned. I love how creative you are.”

She rolls her eyes and blows a wayward curl out of her face in exasperation. “Come on Ty. I guess I’ll do the hard thing first and call my family. Please don’t tell me you were thinking that your family’s going to be the hard choice.”

“Do you think I should talk to Carlton man-to-man first?” I ask as she walks over to the kitchen island to get her cell phone from her purse.

“Honestly, Tyler I don’t know that there’s going to be a right way to do it with my family. So, you have to play your gut on this one.” Heather hands me her cell phone. “The only advice I’m going to give you is you might as well skip my parents. I think they’re pretty much a lost cause and I don’t want to waste our happy mood on them.”

I take a moment to think about all of my years of service both in the military and on the force and a trait that seems to run universally through families of every background is guys are protective of their little sisters even if they don’t seem to get along. It seems worth the risk to make the call. But, just in case it gets ugly, I would prefer to do it outside of Heather’s earshot.

Heather must be able to read the indecision on my face, because she abruptly kisses me on the cheek and says, “I’ve been cooking in the kitchen all day and I’m a sweaty mess. Why don’t you go check on the horses while I take a quick shower? Do you think it will be too late to Skype your parents when you get back?”

“No, my parents are huge fans of the Tonight Show and they always stay up to watch it. I’ll send them a text message and let them know we’ll be Skype-ing later. My mom will be thrilled. I bet she’s waiting for me to call anyway. I think she knows that I was due back from training today.”

“Geez Ty, we should’ve called her from the airport. She’s probably worried sick. Let me put on some makeup and we’ll Skype your parents first. That way, they won’t have to wait.”

“Gidget, you don’t have to do your make up routine for my mom. My mom is going to think you’re totally gorgeous just because you love her baby.”

Heather tucks a wayward ringlet under her bandanna and wipes her hands on the backside of her jeans as she walks over to my cluttered desk. “Come on Cowboy, let’s do this before I come to my senses. I swear you can sweet-talk me into anything.”

I pull up a big, battered leather executive chair and pull her down on my knee as I aim the Webcam so we are framed in the center and I dial up my mom.

As soon as my mom picks up the Skype call, I can tell that she’s got the tablet in the kitchen. “Hi Mom!” I greet. “What are you making?”

My mom just shakes her head. “Well, it’s a recipe for pâte à choux, but I think I might be accidently making joint compound for sheet rocking instead. I don’t think I’m doing it right. It looks so simple on TV.”

“That’s okay Mrs. Colton,” Heather reassures her. “My first few batches were completely unrecognizable, I promise. It’s definitely an art.”

My mom looks up with a startled expression. “Oh dear, I’m sorry. I was so focused on doing my own sweet thing, I almost overlooked you. Being a chef, you must think this is a dreadful mess.”

“Oh, no ma’am! I think your kitchen is beautiful. I would love to have those classic appliances. You should see what my work area looks like at the end of a busy day. You wouldn’t even recognize that I’m a professional. I look like a five-year-old that’s been making mud pies in the backyard. You and I are going to have so much fun.”

“Mom, where’s Dad? I want to properly introduce Heather before you guys start exchanging recipes.”

“Oh, you know him. He’s probably scouring the paper for yard sales.” My mom steps out of frame and I hear her yell down the hall, “Harold, get in here. Your son wants to talk to you.” I hear my dad mumbling as he sits down at the kitchen counter.

“Did they break your dialing finger at that fancy military college?” he asks pointedly.