Married In Montana (At The Altar Book 1) (13 page)

She slipped into the booth beside Danielle.  "Hey!  Did you order for me?  I only have an hour."

"I got you their baked potato soup.  No chives."  Danielle grinned at her.  "You always get the same thing."

"Doesn't everyone?"  Addie looked at the woman across from her, noting her sparkling green eyes and her purple hair.  "I'm Addie Myers."

"Hi, Addie.  I've heard so much about you.  I'm Dr. Lachele Simpson.  Most people call me Dr. Lachele."

"It's nice to meet you, Dr. Lachele.  I've heard a lot about you too.  Do you enjoy your work?"  It felt strange eating lunch with two people who had made psychology their life's work.  She wasn't up for being psychoanalyzed during her lunch hour.

"Oh, yes.  I love introducing two people who I know are meant for each other.  It satisfies me in a way nothing else ever could."  Dr. Lachele's voice was soft and sweet.  Addie felt drawn to her immediately, in a wary sort of way. If she hadn't been so nervous around her, she thought the woman would make a great friend.  "Why don't you tell me about yourself, and we'll get the ball rolling."

"What ball?"  Addie looked at Danielle.  "I told you I wasn't willing to be set up!"

"Good Gravy, Danielle!  You could have at least told me that so I wasn't coming here blind."  Dr. Lachele gave Danielle an annoyed look.  "You know better than to force someone to talk to me!"

Danielle had the grace to look ashamed.  "Normally I'd agree with you.  You don't know Addie, though.  She keeps getting set up with these losers.  Who was the guy last week, Addie?  Boring Bob the Boob, wasn't it?"

Addie shook her head.  "Jennifer set me up with him!"  Why was she being blamed for Jennifer's mistake?

"Give Dr. Lachele a chance.  She's really good at this."  Danielle leaned over and whispered.  "I think she already has someone in mind for you."

Addie sighed.  "I guess we can at least talk, since you've already wasted your time by coming here."  She was intrigued at the idea that Dr. Lachele may have someone picked out for her.  She wanted to find the right man. 

Lachele looked back and forth between the two friends.  "I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do, Addie."

Addie crossed her arms over her chest.  "That's good, because I won't do anything I don't want to do.  I don't know what kind of women you usually work with, but I assure you, I'm self-confident and know how to think for myself."

Lachele nodded.  "Do you mind if I take notes while we talk?"

*****

Once the process was started, Addie was amazed by how quickly everything went.  In mid-April, she went to her parents' house to talk about what she'd done.  The youngest of seven children, Addie was nervous to admit to her parents that she was going to be walking down the aisle in less than two weeks toward a man she'd never met.  At this point all she knew was that he lived in Montana, and he was flying there to marry her.  It wasn't a lot to go on.

Her mother brought cookies and coffee from the kitchen like she did every time someone visited.  Her mother had been forty-two when she was born, so she was now approaching seventy, and she had the silver hair to prove it.

Addie took the cookie and leaned back in her chair, trying to find the right way to explain what was happening.  She'd rehearsed the conversation fifteen times on the subway on the way over, but still, she felt at a loss for words. 

"I'm getting married," she finally said after her parents had filled her in on her brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews. 

Her mother squealed, clapping her hands together.  "Oh, I'm so happy for you!  I didn't even know you were seeing anyone.  When do we get to meet him?"

Addie took a deep breath.  "You can meet him the day of the wedding.  It's a week from Saturday."  She wanted to close her eyes to escape from the looks on their faces, but she couldn't do that.  She had to act like she wasn't at all nervous about what she was doing. 

Addie's father looked at her with a worried look. "You didn't get yourself in trouble, did you?"

She smiled at her father's old-fashioned phrase.  "I'm not pregnant, Dad."

"Why can't we meet him before the wedding?" her mother asked, looking confused. 

"He lives in Montana," Addie replied, saying a quick prayer that they wouldn't ask any more questions, but she knew they would.  They always did.

"How did you meet a man from Montana?" her father asked.  "Was he here on business?  Vacation?"  They knew she hadn't left the state in a good long while. 

Addie sighed.  "I haven't actually met him yet.  We're meeting at the altar."

Her father got to his feet.  He was a retired New York City police officer, and was still in tip top shape for his age.  "What do you mean you haven't met him?"

Addie looked down at her hands.  She hated disappointing her parents.  "One of my roommates works for a woman who runs a matchmaking business where people meet at the altar.  She tricked me into meeting the woman, but it didn't take me long to agree to let her find just the right man for me."  She shrugged, wishing she could convince them.  "I've gone out with so many men over the years, and not one of them was interested in marriage.  I want to get married and start a family.  You two have always been such a shining example of how a marriage should be.  I'm ready to stop looking and start living."  There, maybe flattery would work.

"What's the name of this business?" he asked, still standing over her as if he was going to decide to discipline her at any moment.

"Matchrimony." 

"I'm going to research it.  See what I can find out.  If I find that it's a bad company, do you promise not to go through with it?"

"Of course!"  Her father had been a police officer for many years.  She trusted him implicitly.

"All right then.  Do you know the man's name?"

She shook her head.  "No.  I'll find that out on my wedding day."

A slow smile spread across her mother's lips.  "I'm so glad you're going to give it a try.  I've been worried you'd be alone forever.  Just make sure your father checks him out before the wedding."

"I promise.  It'll be all right."

*****

Addie sat at the back of the church, wearing her eldest sister's wedding dress.  Her parents had convinced her that she shouldn't buy a dress when she wasn't sure the marriage would last.  She didn't tell them that she'd signed a contract agreeing to spend at least a year with the man if she went through with the ceremony.  She had until she said, "I do," to change her mind, but after that, she was legally bound to stay with him unless he hurt her somehow.

"You're going to be fine.  Dr. Lachele is really good at what she does.  You're going to be so happy," Danielle told her, squeezing her hand tightly. 

"I hope so."  Addie looked at Danielle, wearing a dress in a soft pink, a bridesmaid dress she'd worn for another wedding.  "I'm nervous."  Saying the words aloud just made everything worse.  She wanted to kick herself for not pretending everything was just fine.

"You'd be stupid if you weren't.  You're about to marry a man you've never met.  But trust me.  He's going to be right for you."

Dr. Lachele breezed into the room then, surveying the situation.  "Good gravy, girl!  You're not getting nervous now, are you?  Why, I found the man who's just right for you.  I'd go so far as to say that he was put on this earth just for you."

"But I don't even know his name!" Addie exclaimed.  For her, that was the hardest part.  She didn't care what he did for a living or what he looked like, but she hated not knowing his name.

Lachele sat down in a chair opposite Addie, stroking a stray hair from her face.  "His name is Jake.  And he's going to take one look at you and think he's got an angel walking toward him."

Addie frowned.  "And then he'll realize that I'm head strong and belligerent at times, and he'll decide it's a fallen angel he found."

Lachele laughed, shaking her head.  "Not Jake.  He's not going to be terribly easy to live with, but it's going to be worth it.  Trust me.  He's your soul mate."

Addie wasn't even certain she believed that soul mates existed, but she just nodded to humor the older woman.  "I'll take your word for it."

"I gave his name to your father, because he wanted to have him investigated before the wedding.  So we're going to be delayed by about thirty minutes while he runs a background check."  Lachele shrugged as if the delay meant nothing.

"What if he's planning on whisking me off to Tahiti as soon as we marry?" Addie asked.  She'd planned for a week off after the wedding.  Her assistant manager was perfectly capable of running the shop, even though Addie had rarely taken a day off. 

"Then you'll have to catch a later flight," Lachele told her.  "Besides, I told him to plan on spending the night here in New York tonight.  The first Matchrimony wedding ended with the couple running for a flight to Montana.  I don't think a bride should have to worry about leaving her own reception early just so she can catch a flight.  Do you?"

Addie shook her head.  "I guess not."  She wasn't certain she'd ever be ready to leave the reception.  What if the man repulsed her?  She wouldn't want to actually be alone with him.  What if one of his eyes was made of glass and he kept giving her a funny look?  What if he had fifteen other wives spread throughout the country? 

Lachele got to her feet.  "You're going to love Jake, which is a good thing."

Addie frowned as she watched the other woman run toward the door.   "Why is that a good thing?"  As long as they were able to stay together, the woman had done her job, right?

"Because I need more Matchrimony munchkins, of course."

Addie looked at Danielle after the door had closed.  "She's full of energy...but she's odd."

Danielle shrugged.  "She's more than a little crazy, but that doesn't mean she's not good at matchmaking."

"I never said it did!" Addie protested.

It was right at half an hour later when Addie's father came into the room.  "He's an interesting man, but no criminal record.  You should marry him."

When her father said nothing else, Addie wondered what he was hiding.  "And?"  She wanted to know every detail her father had found out.  Why wasn't he disclosing everything?

"You agreed to marry a stranger.  I'm not giving you details."  He looked at Danielle.  "Lachele said you need to get your sweet cheeks out there, so you can walk to the front of the church first."

Danielle jumped to her feet and hurried from the room. 

Addie looked at her father.  "You're really okay with this?"

Mr. Myers nodded.  "I couldn't be more okay with it.  He's a good man."

Addie got to her feet and smiled.  "Thank you for checking him out for me.  It makes me feel like I'm going to be safe."  Not that she wouldn't be anyway.  In her eyes, her father was equivalent to Superman.  If she called him and told him something was wrong, he'd be there in moments.

He kissed the top of her head.  "You're a beautiful bride.  Don't tell your sisters, but you outshine every one of them."

Addie smiled, certain her father had said the same thing to all three of her older sisters on their wedding days.  "Thank you, Daddy."

He offered her his arm as they left the room, walking toward the door at the back of the sanctuary.  Addie forced herself to breathe slowly, extremely nervous now that the time was here.  She was about to walk down the aisle to a stranger she'd be spending the rest of her life with.  What was she thinking?

At Lachele's nod, the back doors of the sanctuary were flung open, and the entire congregation got to its feet.  She walked slowly down the aisle, her hand clutching her father's arm harder than it should have been.  She couldn't get past her nervousness. 

Her eyes went to the man at the front of the church, who was staring at her with a half smile on his face.  He was a tall man with dark hair and brown eyes.  They seemed to twinkle at her as she walked. 

She couldn't believe her luck. Why on earth would such a nice-looking man be searching for a bride through a matchmaking service like Matchrimony?  Why, he was handsome enough, she was sure women fell at his feet. 

Once they reached the front of the church, her father placed her hand into Jake's and the two of them took the three steps up to stand before the pastor. 

"Dearly beloved.  We are here under unusual circumstances as we join this man and woman in the holy state of matrimony.  Not many couples are able to agree to meet each other for the first time mere minutes before they exchange vows, but that's exactly what this couple just did.  They set eyes upon one another as she stepped into this sanctuary and started her long walk down the aisle toward the man she'd spend the rest of her life with...a man she'd never before laid eyes on."

Addie looked at Jake to see how he was reacting to the pastor's words and saw that he was looking right at her.  He hadn't taken his eyes off her since she'd stepped into the sanctuary, and she never wanted to stop staring at him.  Surely it was a good sign that they found one another so physically attractive, wasn't it?

She repeated her vows as instructed, and accepted the ring he put onto her finger.  It fit perfectly.  Lachele must have provided him with her ring size.