In a few swift strides he crossed the room and checked the caller ID before phoning her back.
“Jarod?” she answered breathlessly after the first ring. “I’ve been trying to reach you. Where have you been?”
If he didn’t know better, he would think she was angry. But that was stark staring fear he’d heard in her voice just now. His black brows met in a frown.
“I waited all evening for your call, then took a shower.”
After a palpable silence. “You’ve been there the whole time?”
“Where would I go without you?”
“I—I don’t know,” she dissembled.
His thoughts flew. He couldn’t let this pass. “Sydney? If we don’t have total honesty between us, we have nothing. Tell me what got you so worried.” He thought he knew, but he needed to hear her say it.
“You can’t deny that you have friends at the diocese here in Bismarck.” Her voice trembled as she said the words.
He unconsciously rubbed his thumb over his lower lip. “That’s true. There’ll be times in the future when I’ll want to see them, but you’ll always know about it first. That’s a promise I’ll make to you right now.”
An anguished cry met his ears. “You don’t have to promise me anything! A marriage starting out with promises no one should be held to wouldn’t last two minutes.”
Agreed.
Shifting his weight he said, “Everything okay?”
“Nothing’s changed. Will you please come and get me now?”
He sucked in his breath. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“I’ll wait on the porch for you.”
After the way her parents had treated Jarod, Sydney reeled from pain she’d never get over. With them in bed, she tiptoed through the house and let herself out the front door to wait.
The second she saw his rental car and climbed in the passenger side, he pulled her into his arms, covering her wet face with kisses.
“Give them time, Sydney. For ten years I’ve worked with people exactly like your parents. They may be a different religion, but deep down inside we’re all the same. What they want is your happiness.”
Even if what he said was true, she was too convulsed to speak. Finally she raised her head to give him room enough to drive. “I’m sorry,” she half gasped when she realized she’d wet the front of his shirt and jacket.
“Shh.” He leaned across to silence her with his lips once more. “I’ve got you in my arms. It’s all that matters.”
She turned her face into his neck. “They didn’t even ask about your family. Nothing!”
“It’s human nature to fight for your own. Forgive them, Sydney.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
After that remark, Jarod backed out of the driveway and they headed for town. “Marriage is one of the ceremonies celebrated by every group of people on earth. It’s the high point, something your parents have been waiting for, dreaming about. Today they were confronted by a reality they weren’t prepared for.
“But since you’re living proof they raised a wonderful daughter, I have to believe that one day they’ll recover and embrace our marriage.”
“You have more faith than I do.”
“They’re not my parents,” he murmured dryly.
She gazed over at him through tremulous eyes. “When am I going to meet your mother and father?”
“If they don’t fly out for our wedding, then we’ll fly there at the first opportunity.”