Chapter Fifteen
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When the morning of his wedding dawned cloudy, Connor wondered if it was a sign, and doubt momentarily pierced all his resolve. What if he couldn’t be a good husband to Sadie? What if somebody else could have made her far happier? He was grateful when he went downstairs, Max at his heels, that Brian was the only one else awake so early.
“I already checked the weather report,” Brian said without even looking up from his eggs. “The sun will come out at about ten, and by the time you’re standing at the altar, you’ll be sweating.”
He shoved his phone across the table, and Connor picked it up, looked at the weather report as Max went to inspect his food dish, and his heart eased.
“Just want Sadie to be happy on her wedding day.”
“Bullshit. You thought you were doomed.”
Connor laughed heartily, and it was just what he needed to loosen up. The rest of the morning flew by, helping to set up for the wedding, playing with Max, getting gussied up for the ceremony and making sure he had the wedding bands he’d purchased at Thayer’s. Sooner than he thought possible, he was making his way to the temporary altar set up outside, where Reverend Halpern stood already.
“Fine day for a wedding,” Halpern said.
“Fine day, indeed,” Dalton said, coming to stand by Connor’s side. “Hot, though.”
Connor relished the heat. He relished the murmur of voices of their guests chattering in their folding seats placed out on the lawn. This was his wedding day, and he wasn’t running away. He was taking his stand here at the altar, waiting for his bride.
He didn’t know how many minutes passed until the music struck up, and Jo appeared in the doorway, wearing the same spring-green colored bridesmaid gown she’d worn for Cass’s wedding. She looked far older than she had the day he’d first come to Two Willows, but Connor thought she was already on the mend. He saw something steely in her eyes these days. For the first time he thought she might be a match for Hunter, after all.
The assembled crowd sighed in pleasure as first Jo, then Lena, then Alice, then Cass began to walk up the aisle, but Connor had eyes only for Sadie, and when she stepped out of the house in her mother’s wedding gown, his heart stopped for a beat before picking up again with a fast thump, thump, thump. The long aisle gave him plenty of time to gaze at the woman who’d stolen his heart as she walked toward him. In the front row of the audience, happy tears streaked down his mother’s face, and she dabbed at them with a cloth handkerchief, his father holding her hand.
So much love filled this assembly, Connor could barely take it in. He hadn’t felt this way since he was a child, back in the small house in Ireland where his family used to live. His heart swelled and broke through the hard shell he’d protected it with all these years. Feeling free for the first time since he set foot in this country with his father, Connor realized there was plenty of time left in his life to heal all the wounds that had come before. His wife would help him. So would his family. And he found himself thanking God the General had given him this mission. But it went back even earlier than that, didn’t it? It was Halil and Fatima he really needed to thank, with their example of what true love could look like. He would always hold them up as a beacon in his marriage; something to strive for.
As Sadie joined him, and her sisters took their places, he realized he knew what true happiness was. He took Sadie’s hand, only then noticing the faded ribbon she’d tied around her wrist. The red, white and blue stripes seemed like a promise to Connor—that fate was on their side. That they were meant to be together.
That his family would be whole again.
He turned to face the reverend, his heart full, ready for everything—ready for the rest of his life.
Many hours later, hoarse from talking and laughing, her feet aching from dancing in her high-heeled shoes, face sore from smiling so much, Sadie entered the house to take a moment to herself. She was crossing the kitchen when Jean Finney came out of the hall, from the direction of the bathroom. She rushed forward to take Sadie’s hand.
“Congratulations! I’m so happy for you, Sadie. I cried through the whole ceremony, it was so beautiful.”
“How are you doing? Don’t overdo it today, okay?” Sadie led her to the table and tugged her to sit down in a chair. She sat, too, in order to make sure Jean stayed there for a minute.
“I’m doing great,” Jean said with a wide smile. “I went to the doctor yesterday. Had an ultrasound. The baby is doing fine. The heartbeat is strong. The doctor says I should be out of trouble, and I should carry the baby to term.”
Sadie threw her arms around her friend, overjoyed. She would never take her gift for granted again. Jean was doing so well and she wasn’t the only one. Ellie had come to see her the other day. Sadie had been thrilled to hand her the tonic she needed, but even more thrilled to hear Caitlyn had agreed to a fifty-fifty partnership.
“I feel as if a weight is off my shoulders,” Ellie had confessed. “I didn’t realize I needed a break until you told me to take one!”
Thank God Connor had come and restored her belief in love in time so that she could help Jean. Her healing legacy was restored. Sadie didn’t know what she’d have done if the General hadn’t sent him. The walled garden would be a legacy that lasted long after she was gone, but her healing was far more important to her.
Sadie asked Jean question after question, until Jean asked a question of her own.
“Where are you going for your honeymoon?”
“India,” Sadie confessed. She hadn’t even thought about a honeymoon until Connor had showed her the tickets last night. “Can you believe it? I’ve hardly ever been off the ranch!”
“You’ll have a marvelous time. What will we do without you, though?”
Sadie understood her concern. “I’ve left plenty of tonics of all kinds in the greenhouse. Come find Alice whenever you need something. I’ve left her a million instructions. It’s only for two weeks; I’ll be back before you notice I’m gone.”
“Good. I want you to have fun, but I need you, Sadie. We all do. Don’t ever leave.”
“I won’t.” She knew that in her heart. Two Willows was her home, for now and for always. Her family was here. Her connection to the land was back as strong as ever.
And she was happy.
Connor found them like that ten minutes later. “It’s time to cut the cake,” he told Sadie. “Is something wrong?”
Sadie realized her cheeks were damp. “No, everything’s right.” She shared Jean’s news. “You have to take some of the credit; you helped me make the crucial batch of tonic.”
Jean thanked both of them again, and left to rejoin the party. Connor kissed Sadie.
“Didn’t you say we have to go cut the cake?” she asked.
“In a minute,” he said. “I want to be alone with my wife.”
“Your wife,” she echoed. “That sounds so strange. But right, too, you know I mean?”
He tightened his arms around her. “I know exactly what you mean. Sadie O’Riley, I’ve spent a lifetime looking for you, and never even realized it. Now you’re mine.”
“Now I’m yours,” she agreed and stood on tiptoe to meet his kiss. “Forever.”
Jo was stacking dirty dishes near the sink in the kitchen when she heard a knock on the front door. She should have been out mingling with the guests, but while she was thrilled for the happiness Sadie had found with Connor, she found it hard to feel much enthusiasm about anything these days. The counselor she was seeing twice a week said that was to be expected, and that it would pass. She recommended lots of time being active. “Get out in the sun, work with your animals. The heart has a tremendous capacity to heal.”
Jo rinsed her hands, dried them on a tea towel and headed toward the door. People needed to go home, not keep arriving, she thought dispiritedly. No matter what the counselor said, she wasn’t ready to be among company.
Twice she’d ignored her instincts. Twice she’d been burned. First by Sean Pittson, who’d twisted her around his little finger and nearly helped to yank her ranch right out from under her feet, and then by Grant, who’d held her puppies ransom, then tried to kidnap her at gunpoint.
She still couldn’t believe she’d stabbed him.
And shot him.
Helped kill him.
After spending her life dedicated to helping living things.
Never again, she promised herself for the hundredth time that day. She’d learned her lesson: animals were to be trusted. People weren’t—especially men. She was done with them.
Forever.
So when she pulled the door open and took in the stranger on the other side, she stopped in her tracks. He was tall, muscular, with a sharp gaze that seemed to take in everything about her at once. Older than her by at least a decade, he was dressed for the wedding in clean dark jeans, a crisp white shirt, a dark blazer and a black cowboy hat. He was handsome—oh, so handsome—but there was something haunted about him.
This was a man who’d seen war, Jo realized.
A man who’d seen death.
Which meant the General had sent him.
“Howdy.” His Southern drawl was thick as molasses, and his voice threaded through her, waking places she’d sworn to herself were asleep for good. “Name’s Hunter. Hunter Powell. You must be Jo.”
“I’m not marrying you,” she blurted. Best to get it out there right now. His gaze had fixed on hers like an eagle spotting its prey. The General had sent Brian, and Cass had married him. He’d sent Connor, and Sadie stood out back in her wedding dress right now, cutting her cake. There was no way—no way—she’d fall for this trap.
A slow grin spread over Hunter’s face, tangling Jo’s emotions into a breathless knot.
“We’ll see about that.”
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