The camera swung back up the aisle to where Sandy stood, a bouquet of stargazer lilies in her hands, the glimmer of tears in her eyes. She began the procession, striding without hesitation or stumble toward the front of the chapel. She wasn’t drunk. At least not the kind of falling down, black out drunk she’d imagined. She knew what she was doing and who she was walking toward.
Trey finished the song and stood, joining her at the altar in front of Elvis, who beamed a crooked smile at them both.
“You two crazy kids ready for this?”
On the screen, Sandy handed her flowers off to an attendant and slipped her hands into Trey’s. In that moment—when her inhibitions were lowered; when she hadn’t been a single mom trying to prove she could do everything; when she wasn’t Mayor Crawford, with a reputation to uphold; when she’d let all the other crap go and she was just Sandy—she’d looked at Trey like he held the moon. And he looked back at her like he’d just handed it over with a big red bow.
“Yes,” they chorused.
In her office, with her best friend beside her, she whispered, “I married him because I wanted to.”
“Yeah, looks like you did.”
As she watched herself on screen, beaming at her new husband, she thought back to what Cam said about learning to love a strong woman and how he’d said partnership didn’t make Norah incapable or less. If Norah had believed that it did, if she’d pushed Cam away for trying to help and support her, Sandy would’ve been bitterly disappointed in her. What did it say about Sandy that she hadn’t held herself to the same standard?
She sank into her chair. “I think I’ve made a huge mistake.”
“Marrying him?”
“In how I treated him after.” Sandy scooped a hand through her hair. “I told him I wanted to give our marriage a real chance, but at the first sign of trouble, I reverted to what I’ve always done. Pushing him away and insisting I could handle things myself. The truth is, I’ve never truly given him a place in my life. In college, I couldn’t let him be more than a friend because I wasn’t free.”
“Appropriate.”
“Except he wasn’t ever just a friend.” She’d made him a lover in all but body and kept him perpetually on the sidelines. “I took advantage of his strength and the comfort he offered when I needed it, and never let him act on his need to protect me. And here it is, thirty years later, and I did the same damned thing.”
She’d accepted the parts of him she’d wanted—the kisses, the touches, the smiles, and laughter—the easy parts that felt natural and good. But she’d rejected his need to protect her. She’d kept him on the sidelines—again. Relegated him to secrecy and made him a shadow in her life—again. Because she hadn’t changed at all.
Miserably, Sandy lifted her gaze to Adele’s. “I owe him more than that. I owe him everything. And I’m afraid I’ve screwed it all up.”
Adele kicked back against the desk and crossed her arms. “Given that display at the reception—which, I’ve gotta say, was really hot in an alpha male badass kind of way—I don’t think the situation is irreparable.”
God, Sandy hoped not.
“The question is, what are you prepared to do to fix it?”
~*~
By Monday the green was back to normal. The event tents had been packed away and the dance floor dismantled. The only remaining evidence of the weekend’s festivities were the twinkle lights still wrapped around the trees. And, no doubt, the lingering gossip at Dinner Belles and The Grind.
Trey had never intended to bring any more disgrace on Sandy. Yet he couldn’t regret finally having the chance to act, to finish things with Crawford, once and for all. According to Kane, the bastard had been flown back to Baltimore yesterday. There were talks of plea bargains and relocation instead of jail time. Either way, she would be safe from him. Finally.
Maybe it was foolish to end his stay in Wishful back at the fountain. Trey certainly hadn’t gotten the wish he’d made—for the life he’d always wanted with Sandy. She’d warned him, hadn’t she? That you had to be careful what you wished for. Maybe it had been too selfish a wish. He’d meant it to be about them, but it had really been about him and finally getting resolution. Trey supposed he’d gotten that, in a way. Still, he was here to do better by her before he left town.
Clutching the quarter tight in his hand, he stared at the freely running water of the fountain.
I wish for Sandy’s happiness, in whatever form that may take.
He kissed the coin and tossed it in. The thunk was lost in the soft roar of the water. Well, that was it then.
A car screeched to a stop on Market Street. Like everyone else out and about on the green, Trey looked to see what was going on. Louis leapt out of the driver’s seat. Trey stared in shock as his unflappable executive assistant began to run across the green as if the hounds of hell were on his heels.
The other man’s hair was mussed, his eyes just a little bit wild, as he skidded to a stop beside the fountain. “Sir, I…didn’t know what the appropriate thing was. Maybe I should have called right away, but it seemed like something that should be handled in person…given the…the personal nature…”
Had Louis had some kind of family emergency? “Slow down, man. What the hell are you talking about?”
Louis just hit a button and handed over the tablet he carried.
A video played in the browser. And holy shit, there Trey was with Sandy. And Elvis. Damn, it really hadn’t been a dream. Here was their wedding in living color. Trey’s heart warmed. They looked so damned happy taking their vows. But his instinctive grin faded as his gaze tracked up to the header of the site hosting the video.