The Wedding Dress(7)

“Why . . . why would he drift away from the family? Katherine, you’re making up stuff that isn’t there. When has Tim missed a family event, or Sunday dinner, or birthday party since we’ve been together? Not one.”

“Charlotte, Tim proposed to you with his grandmother’s ring after knowing you for two months.” Katherine flashed her fingers at Charlotte. Two. “It took him that long to ask out his last girlfriend for the first time. He prayed, talked to her after church, got to know her a bit, talked to people who knew her to see what she was like. They dated for six months and we thought she might be the one because Tim didn’t waste time dating a woman if he didn’t think it was going anywhere. Then, out of the blue, he meets you at a Christmas dinner and we didn’t see him for almost two weeks. We thought he’d lost his mind. Mom Rose feared he’d miss Christmas day with us.”

“The relationship took us both by surprise,” Charlotte said, propping her shoulder against the opposite wall. By the door. “But he is right for me. I’m right for him.” Isn’t he?

Charlotte had never met anyone like Tim. Never felt the way he made her feel. Never been this far in love. And despite the terror of free-falling and her drive up to the ridge this morning to shut out the city’s noise and hear God, Charlotte desperately wanted Tim to be her forty-year man. The love of her life.

Katherine squinted at her. “David tells me he and Tim haven’t picked out their tuxes yet.”

“There’s still time.” Charlotte tried to read Katherine. Where was she taking this inquisition?

“I’ve not seen an invitation or save-the-date card.”

“Invitations are at my house. Katherine, is any of this your business? Tim and I are getting married.” If only the conviction in her voice would boomerang around to her heart. “And we’ll do it our way. Rest assured, we have no plans to break away from his parents or his brothers.” Charlotte started for the door.

But Katherine smacked it shut with her hand. “Oh, it is my business. This family is my business. Tim is closer to me than my own brother. I won’t see him hurt or this family torn apart. I’m raising three children as Roses and I want them raised like their dad, not the mess I had to endure with my parents.”

Charlotte grabbed the door handle and jerked hard. As she did, Lauren, Rudy’s date for the evening, burst into the ladies’ room. “Charlotte, there you are. Tim’s looking all over for you. Hey, Katherine.”

“Lauren.”

Charlotte left without a final glance back. Tim stood in the hall, against the wall, his hands tucked in his pockets.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.” Charlotte fell against him, letting his presence warm away Katherine’s cold confrontation. “I’m really sorry about the trunk money, Tim.”

“Forget it. I just had to cool down.” He hooked his finger under her chin. “I’m sorry for what I said about your dress. You can buy whatever you want. We’ll find a way.”

Charlotte kissed him, and Tim slipped his hands around her back and held her close.

“Want to dance?” she said.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

On the dance floor, Tim curled Charlotte into him and peered into her eyes as the singer crooned about “the house that built me.”

“What happened in there?”

“Nothing.” Charlotte swayed side to side, round and round with him. “Ladies’ room privilege.”

“But you’re upset. Nothing is that sacred.” Tim craned his neck in an obvious effort to see who exited the restroom alcove. “It was Katherine.”

“You should’ve warned me she was a pit bull.”

“Didn’t think she’d go after you.” Tim gently held Charlotte’s head between his hands. “Her bark is worse than her bite.”

“Have you ever been bitten by her?” Charlotte made a face, almost smiling, the tension of her exchange with Katherine thinning. “She seems to think she has dibs on you. On the whole family. If we lived in biblical times and something happened to David—”

Tim’s kiss landed on Charlotte’s lips, clipping her thought, and they moved to the rhythm of the melancholy music.

“The most beautiful girl in the room is in my arms,” Tim whispered in her ear, “so if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not talk about my brother’s wife.”

When he kissed her again, Charlotte slipped her arms around his neck and let her burden go.



A little after eleven, Tim drove Charlotte home and walked her up the four flights to her loft, slipping his hand into hers, loosening his tie, and unbuttoning the top of his shirt.

“We’re thinking of taking the bikes out tomorrow, going to the dirt track.” Tim leaned against the wall as Charlotte unlocked the heavy steel loft door. Tim was a passionate, amateur motocross racer. “Paul and Artie haven’t been racing since they moved to Texas.” Tonight Charlotte learned Paul and Artie were cousins on his mother’s Buchanan side. “Come with us. I’ve even talked Dave and Jack into coming.”

“I have an appointment with Tawny.” Charlotte flipped on the entryway light and leaned against the doorjamb.

“You have an appointment on Sunday?” Tim slipped his hand around her and pulled her close to him.