Nightingale Way: An Eternity Springs Novel (34 page)

“Excuse me?”

Devin laughed. “Actually, I thought I’d take Beelzebub for a walk and stop by the Mocha Moose and pick up some cinnamon rolls.”

“Don’t let your mother find out that you’re shopping at the competition,” Cam replied.

Both men stopped and shared a grin. “Thanks for giving me a mom again, Dad.”

“My pleasure, son. My pleasure.”

Sarah Reese awoke on her wedding day to church bells.

The Catholic church one block over from her house didn’t ordinarily ring their bells on a Saturday morning, but Father Tim was a frequent customer at Fresh. He’d told her with a twinkle in his eye that he would ring the bells in mourning today since her bakery would be closed for the next month while she and Cam were away on their honeymoon in the South Pacific—either that, or in joyous celebration of her happy day. Lying in bed, Sarah stretched languorously and laughed out loud.

Moments later, her daughter showed up at her door. “I thought I heard you stirring. I was beginning to think you’d sleep through your own wedding.”

“I needed my beauty sleep,” she replied. “I’m older
than the average bride, after all, and I don’t want puffy eyes in the wedding photos.”

Lori rolled her eyes. “You and your wedding photos.”

Sarah sat up and grabbed her robe off the foot of the bed, then asked, “How is your grandmother doing this morning?”

“Good. I like the nurse, Mom. She’s soft-spoken and so gentle with Nana. It’s obvious she loves what she does.”

“It takes a special attitude to care for the elderly,” Sarah agreed.

“This morning during breakfast she told me that someone Cat Blackburn knows did an investigative news report about an investment club that was taking advantage of seniors in the Gunnison area. She said the people running it packed up in the middle of the night and left town.”

“Yes. Cat found out about it when she visited Mom, and she got someone from Denver to look into it. I don’t understand how people can be so cruel.”

“
I
don’t understand how Cat can give up on Jack,” Lori said. “He’s rich. He’s mysterious. He’s to-die-for sexy.”

Sarah’s exuberant mood dimmed just a bit. “One thing I’ve learned along this road I’ve traveled with your father is that it’s impossible to understand anyone’s relationship from the outside looking in.”

“My father,” Lori repeated, pleasure blooming on her face.

“Your father.” Sarah reached out and gave her daughter a quick, fierce hug. “Speaking of which, did you get the paperwork all done?”

“I did. I was just getting ready to wrap it when I heard you. Want to see?”

“I do.” Then she laughed. “That was good practice. I do, I do, I do.”

Lori rolled her eyes once more in that special way that daughters can do with their mothers, then left her mother’s bedroom to return moments later. With a flourish, she handed a piece of paper to Sarah, who looked at it and sighed. “This is going to send Cam over the moon. You couldn’t have given either of us a more perfect wedding gift—Lori Elizabeth Murphy.”

Cat awoke on Cam and Sarah’s wedding day to a sloppy wet kiss. “Fred, I really wish you could learn to let yourself out.”

Then she recalled what today was and realized that this was the last time Fred’s potty habits would matter to her, and she fought back tears. She’d miss Fred. Then again, it would be hard for Jack to give the dog the attention he needed once he started the new job. Maybe she could offer to take him if …

“No. He won’t neglect you. He’ll probably hire a home day care service for you.” And she wouldn’t need the constant reminder Fred would provide of her time in Eternity Springs.

She had all her arrangements made. Melinda had told her yesterday that Jack had safely accomplished his mission and was headed home, so she’d been able to set her plans in motion. She’d been tempted to leave him a note and sneak out of town before he returned, but that would be cowardly of her and unfair to him. One thing she could say about her mother: Melinda had been right about unfinished business. Cat intended to finish her business with Jack Davenport today—once and for all.

But as the day progressed and the two o’clock time for the wedding approached with no appearance by Jack, she began to wonder if she’d have the chance. “Is he here yet?” Sarah asked in the bride’s dressing room as Nic laced up the corset back of her gorgeous shantung silk strapless gown.

“Cam has been here since noon,” Sage said, leaning forward to better see her reflection in the mirror as she touched up her lipstick.

“Not Cam. Jack.”

Ali shook her head. “No, honey, he’s not here yet. Don’t worry about the photos. Zach is dressed in the tux and ready to step in.”

“I don’t care about the stupid pictures. I care about Cam. It’s important for him to have Jack here.”

Cat gave Sarah’s arm a comforting touch. “It’s important to Jack to be here. Don’t give up on him, Sarah. He won’t let his cousin down.”

Sarah folded her arms and gave Cat a scathing look. “Hello! I wish you’d listen to what you just said. I’m not giving up on him. Why are you?”

Cat winced. She had told her new friends that it wasn’t going to work out with her and Jack, and they hadn’t taken the news well. Glancing around the crowded dressing room, she spied only one sympathetic face—Celeste Blessing’s. When the organ music swelled in the church, she took the opportunity to escape. “I’d better go find a seat before they’re all taken.”

“Come sit beside me, dear,” Celeste said. “I’m liable to need help. At Sage’s wedding I started bawling and dropped my handkerchief. I could hardly see it to pick it up for the tears.”

The church was packed. At ten minutes to two, Cat heard the distinct
whop whop whop
of a helicopter. She exhaled a small sigh and Celeste reached over and patted her leg. At five minutes to two, Gabe Callahan escorted Sarah’s mother to her seat. As soon as Ellen was settled, the organist quit playing, a side door opened, and Jack stepped into the church, followed by Devin and Cam Murphy.

Cat gasped audibly. Celeste leaned over and whispered loudly, “That had to hurt.”

The left eye sported a shiner, he wore a bandage across his cheekbone, and his left arm was in a sling. She saw his gaze sweep the congregation, then lock onto her, and he smiled.

Cat trembled, barely noticing as Nic, then Lori, made their way down the aisle. She wanted to look away from Jack, but she couldn’t force herself to do so. It wasn’t until the organist sounded those familiar notes of the bridal march and the congregation stood that she jerked her attention back to the matter at hand.

The look of devotion shining in Cam’s eyes as he watched Sarah walk toward him brought tears to Cat’s eyes. But since she’d been tearing up over everything today, that was no real surprise.

The ceremony was lovely, the bride and groom beaming with happiness. Cat’s gaze kept straying to Jack as she imagined different scenarios for how he got his injuries. None of them eased her worries.

The reception was being held outdoors at Angel’s Rest, which would prove handy for Cat. She’d rented a car the previous day and packed up most of her things before leaving for the church. Her plans were to wait until Jack’s best-man duties were done and ask him to walk her back to Nightingale Cottage, where she could inform him of her decision, change her clothes, and make her escape. Now all she had to do was to get Jack to fall in with her plans.

However, by the time the minister announced that Cam and Sarah were husband and wife, Cat realized that she needed to make some alterations to her plan. She couldn’t bear it. No matter how much she liked her new friends, despite her sincere wishes for their happiness, if she had to witness much more of this bliss, she was afraid that she’d break down and bawl like a baby.

After escorting the matron of honor up the aisle, Jack waited for Cat in the back of the church. “Hey, there,”
he said, bending down to kiss her lightly on the lips. “You look gorgeous.”

“You look bruised. Are you all right? What happened to your arm?”

“I’m fine. Just a little banged up.” He avoided the question about his arm as he stared intently into her eyes. “You okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine, too.” She worked to find a smile. “I’m so glad you made it back in time.”

“I was determined to get here.” Again, he gave her a searching look. “What’s wrong?”

“I get a little emotional at weddings.”

Just then, Devin interrupted them. “Jack, my mom wants you back at the altar for pictures.”

“I’ll be right there,” he replied, not looking away from Cat. “You’ll wait and go with me to the reception?”

“No, I’m helping. I need to go on. I’ll see you there.”

She rushed off, her heart pounding as she fought back tears. She’d known today would be difficult, but she hadn’t anticipated it being so gut-wrenching.

Rather than taking the straight route up Fifth Street toward the footbridge over Angel Creek along with the rest of the crowd headed to the reception, she ducked down an alley to steal a few minutes to herself. There, digging in metal garbage can behind the barber shop, she spied Cam’s dog, the Boston terrier named Mortimer who was the biggest escape artist in town.

“Oh, Mortimer,” she said with a sigh. He lifted his head from the can and turned to look at her, most of a hamburger bun protruding from his mouth. Somewhere along the way, he had ditched his collar. She could smell the spilled trash from where she stood.

Cat hesitated. Devin Murphy was in charge of Mortimer’s care until Cam and Sarah returned from their honeymoon. She could just move on and pretend she
hadn’t seen him. “ ‘Yeah, in what world,’ says the dog rescue volunteer.”

Despite Cam’s efforts to improve the dog’s looks and lot in life, he remained one of the ugliest dogs Cat had ever seen, and at this moment definitely the most odoriferous. She tried everything she could think of to get him to follow her, without success. She looked around for something—anything—to adapt to a leash and finally admitted she had no choice.

She picked up the stinky mess of a dog and carried him off toward Nic Callahan’s veterinary office, the closest place where she knew she would find somewhere to secure ol’ Morty. Halfway there, she realized she’d stumbled upon the perfect excuse to skip the reception. She couldn’t go stinking to high heaven. She’d have to go straight to Nightingale Cottage and take a shower. The jeans and sweater she’d left out of her suitcase were great travel clothes, but totally inappropriate to wear to a wedding reception.

Maybe she’d write Jack a note, after all, and quietly take her leave.

If the barks Mortimer sent after her as she walked away from the Callahans’ sounded more like a chicken’s
bawk
than a bark, well, surely she was imagining things.

Jack couldn’t find Cat.

When he didn’t see her upon first arriving at the reception, he wasn’t too concerned. She’d said she had to help, so he expected she might be with Ali’s catering assistants in the kitchen or checking the playlist with the band. But when he didn’t see her with Sage or Ali or Celeste, he began to grow concerned. Something about her smile had been off at the church.

He had a sneaking suspicion about what the cause might have been.

What were the odds that Melinda had told Cat about
the job offer? What were the odds that she’d gone into full snit because of it? When she’d met his gaze at the church, he’d figured fifty-fifty. Now that she’d gone MIA from Cam and Sarah’s reception, he figured it at closer to seventy-thirty.

Moving to intercept Sage, who was descending the steps of Cavanaugh House with her new baby in her arms, he asked, “Have you seen my wife?”

“Cat?”

He managed to stop the frustrated snort. “Yes, Cat.”

Sage wiped a milky bubble off the round-faced infant’s cheek. “I saw her at the church, but now that you mention it, no. I haven’t seen her here at the reception.”

“Did something happen with her while I was gone?”

Sage’s wide eyes went just a little too innocent. “I know she did some scrapbooking with her mother and Celeste.”

Jack knew if he grilled her, he could get the truth out of her, but she still had that soft new-mother glow about her and he simply didn’t have the heart. “The little guy is growing like a weed, isn’t he? He’s a pretty baby, Sage.”

“I know. He looks just like his dad.”

Jack didn’t hold back a snort at that. Next he tracked down Nic and asked if she knew Cat’s whereabouts.

“Honestly, I don’t know where she is. She seemed a little emotional before the wedding, but a lot of women are like that.”

The shadow of concern that flashed across her expression didn’t escape his notice. She pasted on a bright smile in an obvious attempt at distraction and asked, “Have you rehearsed your toast?”

“What’s going on, Nic?” He gave her a hard, demanding look that silently reminded her to whom she owed her loyalty.

She gazed toward the spot where Cam and Sarah stood accepting congratulations. “Look, I’m not sure exactly what’s going on in her head. She didn’t go into a lot of detail. She just said that you had an important new job and it’s obvious she isn’t happy about it. I’m sure you’ll be able to work it all out once you talk to her.”

Jack muttered a curse beneath his breath, though he couldn’t say that he was surprised. Melinda never played fair where Cat was concerned. She wouldn’t have lied to Cat, but she wasn’t past using a clever turn of phrase to make the truth appear to be something it wasn’t.

That explained the stiffness he’d detected in her attitude. He smothered a sigh. He was weary to the bone and he didn’t look forward to the discussion Melinda had forced on him. He’d wanted to enjoy his cousin’s wedding and have a soak in the hot springs, then go to bed with his woman. Now, because of Melinda’s flapping jaw and Cat’s conspicuous absence, it appeared as if he’d have to have a “talk” first.

Great. Just great.

“Thanks for the heads-up.” Jack leaned over and kissed Nic’s cheek. “I’m sure she’ll show up eventually. Maybe Celeste has her tied up with something.”

“I’m sure you’re right.”

Later, when Sarah asked where Cat was he said, “Got all teary-eyed at your ceremony. She must have stopped to fix her face.”