The Bridal Path: Danielle (21 page)

“They were easy to love,” Dani said. She hesitated, drew in a deep breath, then added bravely, “So were you.”

Mrs. Kellogg nodded in satisfaction, then turned to Slade. “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”

Slade grinned in the face of her determination to smooth over troubled waters and ensure that the boys would awaken to find that Slade and Dani had put their differences behind them. Dani rather admired the older woman for not backing down. She hadn’t realized just how strong the bond between her and the boys had grown.

“I’m waiting,” Mrs. Kellogg said to Slade.

He turned to Dani. “Maybe we should discuss this in private.”

Mrs. Kellogg looked so disappointed that Dani decided on the spot that anything Slade had to say should be said right in her neighbor’s kitchen.

“I’m comfortable discussing it right here,” she advised him, settling into a chair and earning a gratified look from their hostess.

Slade appeared thoroughly uncomfortable, but he finally nodded. “Have it your way, then.” He sat down, then reached over and took Dani’s hand in his. As their gazes locked, he said quietly, “I accept.”

“Accept?” Mrs. Kellogg said, looking confused. “Accept what?”

But Dani knew. A sensation of pure joy burst deep inside her, but caution forced her to study Slade’s face intently. “Are you sure?”

“No, I’m scared to death,” he answered honestly. “But if you believe in us, that’s good enough for me. It’s the only way I can think of to prove that I truly do trust your judgment.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sakes,” Mrs. Kellogg snapped impatiently. “Will you two speak plain English?”

“Slade has just agreed to marry me,” Dani told her.

“He has?” Her expression brightened. “Well, I’ll be. That’s better than I’d hoped for. When?”

Slade laughed. “Maybe you should set the date.”

“Judging from the goings-on around here the past few weeks, I’d say it ought to be a short engagement,” the older woman declared. “Perhaps a lovely fall wedding would be best.”

“But it’s only the beginning of August,” Dani said wistfully, before she could stop herself.

Both Slade and Mrs. Kellogg chuckled.

“There’s nothing more satisfying to a man than an anxious bride,” Mrs. Kellogg observed. She looked Slade up and down. “Of course, he is quite a fine specimen. Cuter than that young man on my soap, who has all the women in a dither. And he’s a cad, besides.” She frowned at Slade. “You’re not, are you?”

“I hope not.”

“That’s a start. You may have to work to put a little more conviction into your voice, though,” she said with a smile.

“Then you approve of my choice?” Dani asked her.

Mrs. Kellogg nodded. “If there was another one like him at home, I might go after him myself.”

“Unfortunately for you, he’s one of a kind,” Dani told her. “And he’s mine.”

“You’re a brave woman, Dani Wilde,” Slade told her, drawing her into his lap.

She folded her arms around his neck. “Why? Because I love you?”

“Because you’re marrying me.”

A shocked gasp from the doorway had them all turning to find two sleepy boys staring at them, openmouthed.

“You and Dani are getting married?” Timmy asked cautiously. “For real?”

“For real,” Slade said. “If you approve.”

“Oh, wow!” Kevin said, coming awake and barreling across the room to envelop Dani in a hug. “Oh, wow! That’s the best.”

“Timmy?” Dani asked quietly, her heart in her throat. “What do you think?”

He kept his gaze averted for so long that her spirits sank. Finally he looked at his father. “You’re not going to mess things up, are you?”

“Not if I can help it,” Slade promised. “This is forever.”

“Swear it,” Timmy insisted.

Slade met his son’s gaze evenly and solemnly lifted his hand to sketch a cross on his chest. “Cross my heart.”

Timmy still seemed uncertain. He looked toward Mrs. Kellogg, who smiled encouragingly. “All anyone can promise is to try their very best,” she told him.

Timmy finally looked at Dani. “Is that good enough for you?”

Unable to speak, she simply nodded.

At last a grin broke across his face. “All right,” he whooped, doing a high five with his brother. “We’re gonna have a mom!”

Tears spilled down Dani’s cheeks at his words. She looked over and met Slade’s gaze, trying to determine if he was even half as thrilled as the boys. His expression was unreadable.

And yet he had said yes. Wasn’t that all that really counted? If she tried hard enough, maybe she could make herself believe it was.

Chapter Fifteen

A
s the neighbors one by one discovered that the boys were safe, Myrtle Kellogg’s backyard turned into a huge block party. People pooled soft drinks from home. Dani supplied cookies and pies. Ginny Hinson and Francis Bleecker made up mounds of sandwiches.

Not until Ashley and Sara were there, though, did Dani make her big announcement. For once, the boys didn’t blab a word of the secret.

Observing her sisters with their husbands, for once she no longer felt that terrible pang of envy that she’d never been able to deny. Now she had her own marriage to look forward to, plus a ready-made family.

She gazed up at Slade. “Last chance to back out,” she advised him. “Once I tell my sisters, you’re on the hook for sure. And they’ll get word to Daddy somehow, which will really seal your fate.”

To her relief, he didn’t look especially daunted by the warning. He leaned down and kissed her. “Don’t worry. I have no intentions of trying to wriggle off. Just this one day without you was pure hell.”

“No more ghosts from the past?”

After a moment’s hesitation, he shook his head. “From now on, I’m looking ahead.”

“Okay, then, here goes,” she said, and reached for a can of soda. She raised her voice and asked, “Does everyone here have something to drink? I’d like to propose a toast.”

Everyone grew quiet at once. Ashley and Sara crossed the yard until they were right in front of her, speculative expressions on their faces as they looked from Dani to Slade and back again.

“First of all, Slade and I would like to thank all of you for helping us today,” she said as he tucked her hand securely in his. “Your willingness to search for Timmy and Kevin and your support reminded us of what makes Riverton such a special place to live.”

“Amen to that,” Slade said. “I will never forget what you did.” He glanced at the boys, his expression sobering. “Or what you did, young men. You’re going to be grounded until you leave for college.”

“Whoops,” Timmy said.

“I told you Dad was going to kill us,” Kevin said, looking hopefully toward Dani for salvation.

“If he doesn’t, I may,” she said. “But we’ll deal with that later. Right now I have an announcement to make.” She paused to let anticipation build, then grinned at the man beside her. “Slade and his boys have just agreed to become my family.”

Applause and shouts of encouragement greeted the news. Ashley and Sara rushed forward to hug Dani and her fiancé.

“Was it the lingerie or the perfume that did it?” Ashley whispered.

Apparently Slade overheard her. “What lingerie?” he demanded.

“Never mind,” Dani said tartly. “You’ll see it soon enough.”

Suddenly a knowing grin spread across Slade’s face. “That was it, wasn’t it? The day I couldn’t figure out what the heck had changed about you?”

The man had the memory of an elephant and the tenacity of a damned bull. “We’ll discuss it later,” Dani repeated, a blush climbing up her neck.

“Oh, yes,” he murmured. “We will definitely discuss it later. Maybe we’ll even have show-and-tell.”

Her pulse ricocheted wildly. “You wish. I’m thinking there will be no more showing or telling until the honeymoon.”

He looked properly horrified by the idea. “In that case, let’s move that wedding date up a month or so,” he pleaded fervently.

She grinned. “I told you long engagements were a bore. How about Labor Day weekend? We could sneak in a three-day honeymoon before school starts.”

Slade was clearly disappointed. “I was thinking about a three-week honeymoon, after school starts, when the boys are safely tucked away inside a classroom.”

“And just who were you planning to leave them with?” she inquired.

He glanced hopefully toward Sara and Jake. “Oh, no,” Sara protested when she realized what he was suggesting. “I’ve already lost track of one of them.”

His gaze shifted thoughtfully toward Ashley and Dillon. Ashley grinned at her husband. “You could handle them. They’re little angels compared to the way you were at their age.”

Dillon regarded the boys in question skeptically. “I suppose we could tie them to a bedpost the minute they got home from school,” he said seriously, then hauled them into his arms for a bear hug when they looked horrified by the suggestion. “Hey, we’d have a great time. I could teach you to drive my Harley.”

Now it was Slade’s turn to look horrified. “Maybe we’d better settle for that three-day honeymoon, after all. The boys can come, too.”

“All right!” Kevin shouted. “We’re going on a honeymoon.” Then his expression sobered. “What’s a honeymoon?”

“Never mind, squirt,” Timmy said. “I’ll explain it later.”

Slade frowned at him. “Just leave out the part about sex, okay?”

“What’s sex?” Kevin demanded.

“Never mind,” Slade said adamantly. “We’ll go for a week if you’ll just keep your mouth shut.”

“All right!” both boys chorused.

Ashley grinned at Dani. “I’m so relieved.”

“About what?” Dani asked.

“You’ve had them all summer long and not even you have been able to tame them.”

“And why is that such a relief?”

“I’d hate to think my good influence could eventually turn Dillon into an angel. Now I’m more convinced than ever that once they’re a rebel, they’ll always be a rebel.”

Slade sighed heavily and tugged Dani close. “Somehow I don’t find that nearly as reassuring as she does. I was hoping not to have gray hair before my thirty-fifth birthday.”

Grinning, she reached up and plucked a strand of gray from amid the dark blond. “Too late, sweetie.”

* * *

Dani’s wedding day dawned bright and clear on the first Saturday in September. She had won that particular battle. Ashley and Sara had pitched in with the arrangements to ensure that it would be the wedding of her dreams, despite the short notice.

All in all, everything was going smoothly. Kevin and Timmy were finally off the restrictions that Slade had insisted on after their disappearance. He’d grounded them for two weeks, not the years he’d threatened. In fact, the boys had been little angels ever since they’d learned that Dani was about to become a permanent part of their lives. Dani seriously doubted the good behavior would last forever, but she’d been grateful for it with so many other things on her mind.

Now, though, despite the gorgeous weather, despite her incredible gown, which Ashley had wrangled straight from the designer’s workroom, and despite a church filled with imported tropical blossoms all the way from Hawaii–the latter a prelude to their planned week-long honeymoon on Maui, alone thanks to her father’s offer to baby-sit–
there was a huge cloud of doubts hovering around her heart.

Even as she fiddled with her veil and listened to Sara and Ashley chattering and laughing about the success of their plan to seduce Slade Watkins into Dani’s arms, she wondered what was missing. This should be the happiest day of her life, but there was a knot deep inside her that couldn’t be attributed entirely to nerves.

She was about to marry a man she loved with all her heart. She would be mother to two boys she already adored beyond reason. Why was there this terrible cold, twisting sensation in the pit of her stomach?

Why? Why? Why? The word tormented her. Why was Slade marrying her? Just because she’d asked? Never. Just because of his sons? She doubted it. To legitimize sleeping with her? Probably not. Why, then?

Not once during all of these frantic days of preparations had he ever admitted he loved her, just that he was putting his past to rest. And love, of course, was the only thing that she really wanted.

Suddenly, with less than a half hour to go before the ceremony, she realized she had to know just how deeply he truly cared.

“Stop fussing,” she instructed her sisters. “I’m as presentable as I’m going to be.”

“You’re more than presentable,” Sara chided. “You’re beautiful.”

“And you’re biased. Now, if you want to make yourselves useful, go find Slade and bring him back here.”

“Right before the wedding?” Ashley asked, clearly scandalized by the request. “I don’t think so. Everyone knows it’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride right before the wedding.”

Dani scowled at her. “I will not walk down the aisle until I’ve talked to him.”

“Oh, God,” Sara moaned. “I knew this was going to happen. Dani, you were always too sensible to go through with a scheme like this. What are we going to tell the guests?”

“Worse,” Ashley said, “what are we going to tell Daddy? He’s jumpy enough about all of this. He’s furious he wasn’t here to watch this love story unfold. Now he can’t take credit for making it happen.”

“Would you two just stop,” Dani pleaded. “Don’t say a word to Daddy. The less he knows about this, the better. Let Mrs. Fawcett keep him calm. He’s going to need all of his wits about him if he’s going to watch Timmy and Kevin for us while we’re in Hawaii.”

“I suspect Mrs. Fawcett would like to wring your neck herself for dragging them back here before they had their own wedding,” Ashley noted, then grinned. “Of course, she does get a rather wicked glint in her eyes when she thinks about shaping Timmy and Kevin into model young citizens. Maybe that will pacify her.”

“Or maybe she and Daddy can make use of the minister and the church, if Dani backs out,” Sara suggested, her expression bleak as she considered the possibility of the whole day and all their hard work going up in smoke.

Dani rolled her eyes. “For goodness’ sakes, stop fretting. I am not backing out of anything. There won’t be anything to tell Daddy or the guests if you’ll just get Slade in here so he and I can talk.” She gazed at Ashley, who seemed to be in a more reasonable frame of mind. “Please?”