The crowd politely chuckled.
He should do it now. He should interrupt the ceremony and tell Kitty what he had to say, but then she might kill him for ruining her father’s wedding. The sweat began to drip down his back.
“No objections? Let’s proceed then,” Reverend Donalan said.
Sharon recited some vows she’d written and the daughters started weeping again. And then Alan spoke his own vows and the weeping became contagious.
“Good Lord!” Betty Jean whispered in his ear. “You’d think we were at a funeral!”
Kitty went up to a mic and did a reading. It all began to blur for him. And before he knew it, the minister had pronounced them husband and wife and Alan and Sharon kissed and the music started up again. They walked down the aisle holding hands and smiling like their hearts were going to explode.
Steve knew the feeling.
He had to talk to her now. He didn’t want another second to go by with her, and the rest of their world, not knowing exactly the way he felt about her.
And he’d thought therapy was going to be painful.
He stood. “May I have your attention everyone?”
Alan and Sharon halted halfway down the aisle and the violinist froze.
Betty Jean grabbed his coat jacket. “What are you doing?” she hissed.
The entire church turned to look at him.
“I want to say something. To Kitty.”
Her brown eyes went wide. “To me?”
He nodded. “It’s important that you know who Joanna is.”
“Now?”
“Yes, right now.”
“Who’s Joanna?” Betty Jean demanded. “I thought you were going to call my niece, Natalie!”
Kitty rolled her eyes. “For the love of… Betty Jean Collins, I’ve put up with you flirting with my boyfriend for the past year now, but enough is enough. No more sly innuendoes and double entendres and slipping him phone numbers behind my back. Got it?”
The crowd appeared stunned by her outburst.
That’s my girl, he thought proudly.
“Well!” Betty Jean huffed. “I…well, dang! What am I supposed to do for fun now?”
“I don’t know and frankly, I don’t care,” Kitty said.
Betty Jean’s jaw dropped.
Alan Burke caught his eye with a stern fatherly glare. “If you have something to say to my daughter, then say it. Because we all want to hear it.” Beside him, Sharon nodded enthusiastically.
“That’s right!” Pilar shouted. “Go on! We all have a vested interest here.”
“Right.” He turned to face Kitty. “You want to know who Joanna is? I’ll tell you who she is. She’s my therapist.”
Everyone stared at him. Not that they hadn’t been staring at him ever since he’d stood, but now they looked at him in complete confusion.
“Your therapist?” Kitty said. “I don’t understand. Did you hurt your back or something?”