A Nantucket Wedding(84)

“I can’t wait to see it, Mom—”

Alison interrupted. “I’ll take the gowns down to the island. You and your family are coming this weekend, aren’t you?”

Felicity hesitated. It was the first week in September and Noah was still stonewalling her, adamant about not coming to the wedding. But her mother was so happy! Alison wanted so much for her daughters to have a wonderful summer, and they were having a wonderful summer! Well, everyone except Noah. Maybe she should simply ignore Noah and Ingrid. Maybe he’d get over her, or possibly, if he remained in the hateful mood he was in, he’d show Ingrid just a speck of his dark side and Ingrid would run away like the clever girl she seemed to be. But Felicity wasn’t going to rain on her mother’s parade.

    “Of course, Mom,” Felicity said brightly. “We’ll be down this weekend.”

Felicity sighed as she ended the call. She had to shake off this sadness before she went to Nantucket. Alison and David wanted to give their families and friends a sensational party. Felicity would not allow herself to mope and moan in front of Alison.

The front door slammed. Felicity startled. It was only a little after five. Could that be Noah? More likely, a serial rapist breaking into the house.

“Felicity!”

It was Noah, and weirdly, he sounded happy.

“In the kitchen,” she called.

Noah came into the room like a tornado. He put both hands on Felicity’s waist and picked her up and whirled her around as if they had suddenly been beamed onto Dancing with the Stars.

“It’s a miracle!” Noah shouted. He kissed Felicity hard on the mouth and set her on the kitchen counter so her face was at his level.

“Are you okay?” Felicity asked.

“Okay? I’m amazing! It’s going to happen, Felicity! It’s really going to happen!”

“Did you have a breakthrough?”

“David Gladstone is investing in Green Food!”

“He is?”

“He is! Felicity, he believes in the idea! He’s investing a million this year, with more money for the next five years.”

“Wait, how do you know? When—”

“He phoned me yesterday and made an appointment for today. Actually, I didn’t know about the appointment because Ingrid forgot to tell me, but I was in the office when he came in, and he asked to see my statistics and my business plan and we talked for two hours, and he told me he likes my idea. He thinks it will work. He believes in helping young people attain their goals. A million dollars, Felicity! A fantastic, amazing, enormous fat injection of cash into the company. We can fit out another lab, hire more personnel, move things along faster. This will make all the difference in the world!”

    Felicity slid off the counter and stepped away from Noah. He was blazingly handsome now with his cheeks flushed and his eyes brilliant. And she was glad that David was helping Noah. But…

“So I guess you won’t want me to cut connections with my mother and the wedding and David’s family.”

“Oh, Felicity, don’t do this,” Noah begged. “Come on, don’t be such a downer. We should celebrate! I think we’ve got some champagne—have the kids eaten? Let’s get a sitter and go out to eat. This is one of the most important moments in my life!”

“I’m glad for you. So now you’re coming to the wedding, right? Or will you be busy with Ingrid?”

“Felicity. I’m going to reassign Ingrid.”

“What?”

“After David left, I had a talk with Ingrid. I told her we weren’t…” Noah dropped his eyes as he struggled to find the words. “What I mean is, I won’t be seeing her again, not even in a professional capacity. I’m moving her to HR.”

Felicity stared at Noah, her husband, the father of her children, this maniac. “I don’t know what to say.”

“I know!” Noah cried. “I know! Everything’s new now, isn’t it! It’s a new world, a new day, a new product, a new you and me!” Noah frantically went through the cupboards and refrigerator. “Champagne, we should have some champagne. White wine. No, that’s not the same at all. But the kids should be part of this. Let’s take the kids to Ben & Jerry’s and we’ll all have huge sundaes with marshmallow and cherries!”

    “Noah, are you all right? This isn’t only about David investing with you, is it?”

Noah laughed. “Yes! No! I don’t know. I can’t separate it out, and why should I try, Felicity? Everything’s different now!”

Felicity scrutinized her husband. Yes, he was crazy happy, but she’d seen him this way before, when the first and most important experiment they did with seaweed worked out they way they’d expected. She wanted to help him celebrate, this husband whom she had loved and still loved. But he was a man she didn’t entirely trust. And maybe she never would again. Her heart felt like a helium balloon wanting to lift off into the sky, but with a lead weight inside, a small block of heaviness holding it down. At their wedding, she’d vowed for better and for worse, and here they both were in front of her at the same time. Noah’s ebullience, his wild idealistic hope, and, true, his masculine handsomeness, shone before her like the sun. And he said he was going to transfer Ingrid to another department. Maybe he really was done with Ingrid.