Saved by the Bride

chapter Seventeen

Annika had driven Ty directly to the airport and the moment his plane had taken off, she’d somehow managed to get her shaking fingers to type out a text on her phone—town meeting now—and had sent it to the entire town. She’d left fury behind a long time ago. Now she was incandescent with rage. She was the acting mayor. They’d asked her to take on that position, and she’d accepted it with the same pledge she’d made all those years ago in 4-H—to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world. As Whitetail was pretty much all four to her, she couldn’t believe they’d let her down this way. She’d worked so hard to give them what they needed and she’d only asked them to do one simple thing. Make a fuss of Ty Dennison.

As people filed into the town hall, all she could hear was wedding chatter and it ramped up her anger even more. When the last person took their seat, she slammed the gavel down hard and said, “I call this meeting to order.” But that was as far as her meeting protocol lasted. All her anger poured out in full-flight berating-mother mode.

“I can’t believe what you all did to me today.” She caught sight of Luke and backtracked slightly. “Not Luke or Ellery, but the rest of you—” she pointed accusingly, “—hung me out to dry. I’ve worked my butt off for weeks trying to get an industry for this town, for all of you, and when I finally get someone to actually visit, you blow them off.” Her hands flew up. “Ten jobs. You just blew off ten jobs for what? One wedding.”

People stared at her in shocked silence. There was no scraping of chairs, no shuffling of feet and even the sounds of breathing were muted. Nicole rose slowly and rolled her shoulders back.

“We appreciate that you’ve tried to find us a business, Anni, but you’ve just lost two prospective customers and—”

The unfair criticism fired her brain into action. “The town lost us Long River Electronics today by talking about weddings instead of electronics!”

Nicole waved her hand in a “whatever” action. “The important thing is that while you’ve been trying to find us an industry, we’ve created one. We’ve now signed five brides and our fifth is the one that will change everything.”

A murmur of agreement ran around the room but the agreement was siding with Nicole, not Annika. She could feel a level of animosity radiating off the townsfolk and lapping against her in small waves. It unnerved her and she shifted into conciliatory mode just to get over this hump. “You’re pinning an awful lot on Bridey’s wedding, but let’s be realistic here. It’s still only one wedding.”

Nicole shot her a disbelieving look. “Anni, this wedding will feature in bridal magazines around the country. Bridey’s dress will be examined and discussed, and so will the cake, the amazing view of the lake from the marquee and the menu. Not to mention the rehearsal dinner and the groom’s cake. But most of all they’ll talk about how we threw a lavish wedding and protected Bridey and Hank’s privacy all at the same time. All of that will mean we’ll continue to get bookings.”

Annika gripped the gavel, not at all certain that Nicole was correct.

Nicole continued. “You did a lovely job on the mural and we’re grateful.”

Annika smiled. She knew her town well and all Nicole had needed to do was vent. Given the mural was a totally different picture from what she’d thought would work best, she’d been reasonably pleased with the result. She’d even managed to work a tiny vine of hearts deep in the picture. “I’m glad you like it.”

“We do. And the website you started—”

“Yes, it’s on my to-do list to expand it, but so far it’s looking pretty good.” Annika hadn’t had time to get much more set up than four basic pages but the contacts were all linked to Nicole’s phone and email.

“Actually—” Nicole paused and glanced around at the crowd who nodded at her encouragingly before she turned back. She lifted her chin. “We think the colors are wrong and the photos you’ve used don’t make Whitetail look as romantic as it needs to be.”

Annika breathed in sharply. Wrong? She’d chosen shades of blues and greens for the website to tie in with the lake and the northwoods. It represented the town perfectly. Her heart rate picked up as indignation swirled. Colors had been her world up until her art had become too painful to face, and though she had trouble painting now, she didn’t doubt her color abilities. Her calligraphy clients rarely questioned her color suggestions. People in Whitetail never questioned her. Her voice rose. “What do you mean the colors are wrong?”

Nicole’s voice firmed up. “The site should say romance. Right now it looks like a tourism page.”

“Nicole’s right, dear,” Mrs. Norell added her two cents, and more murmurs joined her.

Annika’s fingers curled around the edge of the lectern. She’d created a basic website for them because they’d asked her to and now they were criticizing it? Stay calm. “I’m sorry—”

“No need to apologize, Anni, you did your best,” Al said.

Her jaw was so tight the ache radiated through her teeth and up into her cheeks. “Set up a meeting, Nicole, and we can discuss what it is you want for the website.”

Nicole’s expression became half determined and half pained. “Anni, we know you’re really busy so we’ve spoken to Joshua about the website.”

The name wasn’t familiar to her. “Who?”

Eric, the editor of The Bugle, waved his notepad. “My grandson.”

Melissa added, “Remember, he took the paper online and he’s ready to take your start on the website and really romance it up. Make the site really wow and reflect our slogan of Weddings That WOW.”

Something akin to dread crawled over her simmering anger and rampant indignation. She heard her voice rise. “But you asked me to do it.”

Melissa crossed her arms. “I know, but Joshua’s more in tune with the town’s vision for the business than you are.”

“Vision?” This time her voice came out on a squeak. “A vision is securing a real industry for Whitetail.”

Nicole suddenly stood taller. “Anni, the budget for the Callahan-Neiquest wedding is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

Annika gaped, too stunned to say anything. “The...that’s a lot of money.”

“It is, and Sean’s thrilled because he says he’ll be saving money.” Nicole’s triumphant look was justified. “This wedding will involve and benefit the entire town, including our accommodation businesses.” She waggled her fingers at Wade Anderson who owned a B and B. “The out-of-state guests will use the accommodations in town and the overflow in the county. Almost every business is playing a role in staging this wedding. Jason’s linking all the accommodation from the website and everyone needs to organize a photo-pictorial for their businesses so he can create a page for each one of you.”

Ella Norell started clapping. “It’s really happening. The good news for you, Anni, is that you can stop working so hard now.”

“How do you figure that, Mrs. Norell? It sounds like there’s an enormous amount of work to do to pull all of this together.”

The entire crowd looked to Nicole who stepped up to the lectern next to her.

“Anni, you’ve never really believed in our whole-town wedding idea and you’ve indulged us with your time. But this is a real and legitimate business, and we need people who believe and who are passionate about its success. You’re our public representative of the town but because of how you feel about Weddings That WOW, we’re not sure you’re still the best person for the job.”

Annika’s throat tightened as she watched fifty heads slowly nodding in agreement with Nicole, and the tiny wave of animosity she’d sensed earlier became a tsunami of disapproval. It rolled over her, roaring in her ears, streaking through her veins and pressing down on her chest like a concrete girder.

The town had always needed her.

They don’t need you now.

Her safe place, the town she’d come back to after her life had disintegrated, had just resoundingly rejected her.

Anger, loss and bewilderment spun inside her so hard and fast she could barely focus. “And you all feel this way?”

Mumblings of, “Yes, Anni, sorry, Anni,” left her in no doubt.

Nicole touched her arm, her eyes sad. “Please know we’re all really grateful for what you’ve done. We want you to stay involved through Annika’s Custom Calligraphy and do the invitations and the place cards.”

She managed to get her mouth to say, “Yes, of course.”

Nicole stood staring at her and finally said softly, “Anni, sorry, but I need to use the lectern.”

The coup was complete. With a shaking hand she laid down the gavel and stepped back. Every part of her wanted to run but she forced herself to walk slowly down the length of the hall, all the while hearing Nicole’s firm voice behind her.

“I need everyone’s attention. We only have three weeks to pull this all together and I need your complete cooperation, which includes responding to my emails and text messages promptly. Bridey and Hank are organizing their bridal attire and reception clothing, and have given us their color scheme. They wish to be married in the Unity Church and after their horse-and-carriage ride to the dock, they will go by launch to their reception at Kylemore. This will be in a windowed marquee complete with chandeliers and give a spectacular view of the lake. Their housekeeper is designing the menu and liaising with the Supper Club’s chef and staff. The Callahans are providing the security and...”

Annika quietly slipped out the door and closed it behind her as a cold emptiness filled her. Whitetail didn’t need her anymore and the only thing that kept her legs moving forward was the thought of getting home to Finn. Finn. The man she loved. The man who wanted her. Relief at still being needed flowed into her and she clutched at it. He might not know he needed her on a conscious level but he truly did, and it wasn’t as a P.A. Anyone could do that for him but going by how hard he held her hand whenever they attended a Callahan occasion, he needed her to cope with his family. With Sean.

With her head spinning, she swung herself up into the cab of the truck, started the ignition and sent up a vote of thanks. She still had a job to do. She’d fix the estrangement between Finn and his father and prove to him how much he needed her in his life.

* * *

Finn carefully fed another invitation through the thermography machine. Initially, he’d come to the studio because the thought of an evening without Annika seemed oddly lonely. He’d arrived with the idea of chatting with her while she worked, but he’d quickly found himself helping. She was doing a rush job for Bridey’s wedding invitations. Hank had sent out a “come to our wedding” email to everyone they were inviting, along with the promise of an “invitation following in the mail.” Annika was almost killing herself to get them done in forty-eight hours and had been virtually living in the studio.

Given the time constraints and with Bridey’s agreement, she’d tailored the invitations to be printed with a raised monogram, rather than being exclusively handwritten. He had no clue why the sudden rush for the wedding. Bridey hadn’t told him much except to say that they wanted to “get married now” and then she’d hotly denied—along with a reinforcing punch—that she was pregnant.

Bridey wasn’t the only person playing their cards close to their chest. Annika had been very quiet since Long River Electronics had rejected Whitetail and all he’d been able to get out of her was, “He wanted more incentives than we could offer.” Ellery hadn’t been much more forthcoming. All of this was in stark contrast to the time when Kugals had decided against Whitetail, and Annika had talked long and hard into the night about her worries for the town. She’d quickly responded to that disappointment by planning new strategies, but this time when he’d tried to draw her out, she’d kissed him like every man’s fantasy and the conversation had stalled right there. The sex had been electric.

“Do you want to swap jobs?” Annika asked from the table where she sat surrounded by a sea of gold ribbons and pre-addressed mailing tubes.

“No, you tie a much better bow than I do.” He turned to the high-speed digital printer and duplicator, and picked up the next invitation with its wet ink monogram. “Besides, I don’t want to stop now that I’ve found my mojo. I’ve got it all timed perfectly. The moment one invitation rolls out of the thermography machine completely finished, the next one’s being printed with wet ink, and that all makes for perfect powder bonding.”

She laughed. “You’re enjoying all this.”

He acknowledged with some surprise that the sensation inside him was happiness. “It reminds me of Grandpa and when I started my first college job at AKP.”

“Was he like Sean?”

“God, no.”

“Really?” She snipped a length of ribbon with her scissors. “He started AKP, didn’t he? He must have had the business acumen that you and Sean share?”

He hadn’t ever thought of it in those terms. “I suppose he did. Although Sean and I might share business skills, I’m much more like Grandpa.”

“How so?”

“People count, not just the bottom line.”

Her brows rose sharply in surprise, as if she might call him on the statement, but all she said was, “People count with Sean. Look at how he and Kathleen have built a bridge for Bridey’s wedding and he was really—” She suddenly busied herself with sliding an invitation into a tube.

The same irritation he got whenever she talked about his father returned. “What?”

She shot him a smile that said, “don’t get upset.” “He was very understanding after you and I had...our initial misunderstanding.”

“Two examples of Sean doing the right thing doesn’t make up for a lifetime of not.”

“What did he do that was so terrible?”

“Where to start? How about adultery?”

She chewed her lip. “I agree that one’s not good, especially for your mom, but people make mistakes. We all make mistakes. He and Dana seem really happy together so perhaps he learned from his two marriages, and surely it’s what we learn that counts.”

Being a parent is fraught with mistakes, Finnegan.

He was instantly back on the beach with Sean and sweat poured into his eyes. He mustered up a smile he knew made her smile back. “Can you go grab me a soda from the fridge? I’d do it but it will ruin the flow.”

She hesitated. “How about water from the tap?”

He stared at her. She was always so happy to help. In fact he often wished she would cut back on her “helping half the world” approach to life, and take more time for herself. “No, I want cold and sweet.”

“Okay.” She rose and slowly walked to the closed door.

As she swung it open, she hesitated and he could have sworn she looked both ways, checking the corridor before walking out. It was as if she didn’t want to bump into any one of the many Whitetalians who were constantly in and out of the building, pulling out all the stops for Bridey and Hank’s wedding. He’d noticed when they’d arrived earlier in the evening, Annika had said a quick hello to Nicole, but had then headed directly to the studio. At the time he’d put it down to her huge workload.

Nicole—who now had a wireless headset permanently attached to her ear—had motioned him over so he’d stayed behind to chat a little. She still wore an air of sadness but she also had a new energy woven into it.

“Finn, we’ve secured a loan for the official start-up of Whitetail—Weddings That WOW, and I wanted to discuss rent.”

“That’s great news, Nicole. Good for you. I’ll get Ellery to withdraw both warehouses from the market and put the other one up for lease. I promise you a reasonable rate to start off with.” He’d smiled. “Of course, once Whitetail’s the bride capital of the Midwest and becomes my cash cow, I’ll have to increase it.”

“I wish.” She’d laughed and excitement had flit across her face. “I’m loving this so much but with the short timeline on your sister’s wedding it’s a huge juggle for me to balance off the salon and my little boy. It’s summer vacation and my parents are great but he’s exhausting them and—” She stopped abruptly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be boring you with all this.”

He’d smiled. “It’s not boring. Business and home life are always a juggle.”

How would you know? You just live work.

“Are you okay, Finn?” Nicole had asked. “You just frowned.”

He laughed but it came out strained. “I’m fine. How old’s your son?”

“Max is seven.”

“My little brother’s eight. He’s into everything water. Swimming, diving, kayaking, that sort of thing.”

Nicole had nodded in agreement. “Max would live in the water if he could.”

That kid needs someone his own age to play with. He remembered Annika’s comment and before thinking through the logistics, he’d found himself issuing an invitation. “Why not send Max over to Kylemore. Logan would love a buddy to play with and he’s got just about every water toy there is.”

Nicole’s eyes had lit up. “That would be wonderful, thank you. But should I call his mother or...?”

And that’s when it had hit him. He’d have to talk to Dana. He’d swallowed his sigh and promised Nicole he’d text her the arrangements, and he’d hurried off to help Annika.

Now Annika was returning in record-quick time from the kitchen with his soda.

“Thanks.” He kissed her quickly between the invitations change-over. “You’ll be pleased with me.”

“I’m always pleased with you.” Her eyes sparkled and she kissed him back. “But why especially now?”

“Nicole’s pretty busy with the wedding and like you said, Logan needs a playmate his own age so I’ve invited her little boy over to play.”

If he’d expected a hug of appreciation or even a smile of delight that he’d thought of the idea, he didn’t get one.

“I’m sure Max will love it,” she said in a voice that sounded the exact opposite. She sat down and returned to her ribbon tying with two uncharacteristic frown lines cutting into the bridge of her nose.

Her reaction didn’t make any sense. “Everything okay?”

“Totally.” She looked up and smiled but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Almost done. Only twenty more to go.”

Only he hadn’t been asking about the invitations.