Judith Stacy - Married By Midnight

Nick saw his mother sway as over a year’s worth of planning and preparing evaporated before their eyes. He reached out and steadied her. She clamped her hand onto his arm.

“Let’s just all calm down,” Nick said. “First—”

“No, there’s nothing to discuss!” Cecilia said.

“Cecilia, you don’t mean that,” Constance insisted.

“Yes, I do!”

“Nick, do something!”

“Look, both of you—”

“Stop!” Aunt Winnie blasted into the room wearing a ruby-red dressing gown, her hair so neatly styled it looked as if she’d sat up in a chair all night. “I could have predicted this would happen! Cecilia, what did you dream last night?”

Cecilia wailed anew and buried her face in Nick’s shoulder. Constance clutched him tighter.

Winnifred marched over to them. “Someone’s dream predicted this. Nick, what did you dream last night?”

“I—I dreamed I was flying,” he said.

Winnifred’s eyes squinted together. “Were you flying over broken objects?”

“No.” He peered down at his sister, trying to see her face. “Cecilia, you have to tell us what happened.”

“Were you flying with black wings?” Winnifred persisted.

“No.”

“White wings?”

“No. Listen, Cecilia, Aaron loves you. Just last night—”

“He doesn’t!” she insisted.

“Were you shot at while flying?” Winnifred asked.

“No.”

“Were you flying naked?”

“Aunt Winnie!” Nick eased Cecilia away from him and tilted her face up. “Tell me what happened.”

“Yes, dear, tell us everything,” Constance said, finally pulling herself together.

Cecilia sniffed and dragged her hand across her cheeks, wiping away her tears. “Last night when Aaron was here he—he said something. I thought nothing of it at the time, but when I woke this morning I realized what it really meant.”

“Did it come to you in a dream?” Aunt Winnie demanded.

“No,” Cecilia said.

“What did he say?” Nick asked.

“He said he—he wanted to cut our honeymoon short.” She collapsed into tears again. “Because of business.”

“Aha!” Constance declared, as if everything were clear to her now.

Nick stared at the two of them. “What the hell’s wrong with that?”

“Oh, Nick, really.” Constance shot him a look and gathered her daughter into her arms.

Cecilia gave Nick a whack on the chest. “Oh, I should have known you wouldn’t understand!”

He plowed his fingers through his hair. “I could understand it if you could explain it.”

“He wants to come back early because of business,” Cecilia said, swiping at her tears again. “That means he cares more about his business than he cares about me. If he really loved me he would want to be with me as much as possible. But he doesn’t.”

“That’s not what it means,” Nick insisted.

“Yes, it is! I won’t marry a man who cares more about his business than he cares about me!” Cecilia clenched her hands into fists. “You don’t understand! Nobody understands!”

“Cecilia—”

“Dear—”

“What did Aaron dream last night?”

“I understand.”

Nick looked up as yet another woman wearing a dressing gown walked into his bedchamber. This one he didn’t know. But Cecilia obviously did because she rushed to her.

And, Lord, this woman was pretty. Tall, with thick brown hair that curled to her waist. She looked vaguely familiar, but Nick was certain he would have remembered her if they’d met.

“I couldn’t help but overhearing as I was going down the hall,” she said, gesturing toward the door and casting an apologetic look at Constance.

“That’s fine,” Constance replied, seeming relieved to have her here. “Go ahead, Amanda.”

“Amanda?” Nick stared harder at her.

She ignored him and took both of Cecilia’s hands. “I just went through this same thing with both my cousins, only weeks ago when they married.”

“Amanda Van Patton?” Nick asked, as a foggy memory crept into his mind.

“It’s last-minute jitters, that’s all,” Amanda said. “Things seem worse than they really are.”

“Amanda Van Patton? From San Francisco?”

“Hush, Nick,” Constance hissed.

“No,” Cecilia protested. “That’s not the case here. It’s not just jitters.”

“Yes, it is,” Amanda told her. “Now, listen to me, Cecilia, and listen well. Aaron loves you. You know that. His asking if he could cut the honeymoon short means just that. Nothing more. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you, or that he thinks more about his business than he does you. And he did ask you, didn’t he? He didn’t tell you.”

“Well, yes,” Cecilia said, and sniffed.

“You’ll be his wife,” Amanda said. “His business responsibilities will be your responsibilities, too. Aaron is a smart man. If he really thinks he needs to come home sooner, then you should consider that he has a valid reason.”

A heavy silence fell over the room while the wedding of the season hung in the balance. Cecilia chewed her bottom lip. Nick was certain his mother held her breath. He was having a little trouble breathing himself, but for an entirely different reason.

This woman was Amanda Van Patton? Recollections surfaced in his memory, vaguely matching the beautiful woman who stood in front of him now.

Finally, Cecilia sniffed and said, “Yes, I suppose you’re right. I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“Talk to Aaron. Listen to what he says. Tell him how you feel,” Amanda said. “You two need to do what’s best for the both of you.”

“All right,” Cecilia promised, sniffing again and drawing in a breath. “I will.”

“So the wedding is on?” Constance asked, almost in a whisper, as if afraid of what the answer might be.

Cecilia pushed her chin up. “It’s on.”

“Thank goodness,” her mother declared, pressing her hand to her throat. Then she dashed for the door. “I have a hundred things to do today.”

“I must talk to Aaron right away,” Cecilia declared, hurrying after her.

“What about your dreams?” Aunt Winnie called, following the other two women. “I must know what you dreamed.”

Nick hardly noticed the three women leaving the room as he stared at Amanda, standing in profile before him.

She’d been little more than a child when he’d last seen her. But now she was a woman. All woman.

Beautiful, yes. But more than that. She’d handled the situation with Cecilia with an intelligence and a command seldom found in women. And that made her even more attractive.

“Amanda?”

She turned and gazed up at him with the biggest, bluest eyes he’d ever seen. Nick’s belly clenched.

“I didn’t recognize you,” he said. “You don’t look as I remember…but I don’t see how I could have forgotten.”

Amanda gave him a half smile and wiggled her finger at him. “Actually, what you’ve forgotten is your trousers.”

She turned briskly and walked out of the room.

Nick looked down at himself, then slapped his palm against his forehead. “Oh, my God…”

Amanda pushed her bedroom door shut and fell back against it. Heat swept through her, flushing her cheeks and threatening to burn her from the inside out.

Then she giggled. A silly, schoolgirl giggle.

Since agreeing to come to the Hastings home she’d worried and wondered what would happen when she saw Nick again. Would she be so overwhelmed by the sight of him that she’d stutter and stammer? Trip over something? Faint dead away? Would she make a fool of herself by his mere presence?

None of that had happened. Instead, the first time she saw him he’d been in his underwear.