“Oh, Vanni, you shouldn’t have. Really,” Ellie said.
“I should be sending your firstborn to college, for all the help you gave me. But keep this in perspective here—we’re talking hand-me-downs. I just hope I’m not insulting you. These things may not be what you like. By the way—you look gorgeous today.” She grinned. “Did I mention I can’t fit into that suit anymore? It’s yours.”
Ellie plucked at her borrowed slacks. “But you will again…”
“No, I won’t. I’m planning to get pregnant. Just give me a chance to potty train little Matt, the most obstinate of male children. I swear, he likes sitting in poop. But, I have to get down to one in diapers before I take another plunge.” She smiled. She beamed. “You have no idea how happy it makes Paul to think about actually fathering one of his own. Men, huh? How predictable are their egos? If they had to push ’em out, it would be a whole different…”
“Hannah looks so happy,” Ellie said.
Vanni’s voice softened and she smiled sweetly. “We’re doing fine, Ellie. Thank you. We should have our adoption final in a few months, but she’s already ours. We’re moving ahead.” Then she opened the door to her walk-in closet and there stood some packed suitcases. “The luggage is old and is going the way of Goodwill also, so I just put the clothes in them. Really, my feelings won’t be affected if you reject them all. I’m going to have a couple of the boys load the stuff in the back of your car for you.”
George had a hard time believing how beautiful the church had turned out, from the perfect white paint on the outside to the rich, shiny hardwood finish on the inside. Noah and George stood at the sanctuary entrance to take in the full view. Lucy sat patiently between them. “Have any of the town people seen the finished product, or are you making them all wait for the official unveiling?” he asked.
“Just about everyone in Virgin River has tromped through here at one time or another,” Noah said. “I learned it’s a favorite pastime around here—when Paul’s building a house, especially for someone local, whole families get in their cars, drive to the building site and do regular walk-throughs, commenting on the structure, choice of stone or wood, paint color. Mel Sheridan says it’s all part of being in each other’s affairs at all times. But—Ellie and I barely finished the final cleanup, so you’re among the first to see it like this.” Noah looked at his watch. “Where is she? I thought she’d be down here to say hello by now. And she’s helping with the music for the rehearsal.”
“How much help?” George asked dubiously.
Noah laughed. “Poor girl, she really wanted to play for them. Once the piano arrived and was tuned, she got right on it. But I guess Ellie’s been away from the piano a little longer than she thought—it was pretty rough. Not to mention the language this old church had to endure. We decided together that it wasn’t right that Shelby would have to stop walking down the aisle suddenly when the pianist hit a bad note and muttered ‘shit’ loud enough for an entire congregation to hear.”
George laughed loudly at that. His laughter echoed in the empty church.
“We’re going with some wedding CDs. Preacher loaned us a real nice stereo setup so the music is piped in—it’s fantastic. Once things slow down a little, I’ll get a unit up and running and find some speakers for the high corners in here,” he said, pointing around the sanctuary ceiling.
“It must feel good, Noah. You’ve worked hard. Did a fine job.”
“Ellie worked hard, too,” he said proudly.
“She must be so relieved,” George said. “Church is finished, kids safely back with her, crazy ex-husband gone.”
Noah looked at his watch again. “I haven’t even had time to talk to her since we got back from Eureka. She spent the afternoon out at Vanessa’s, being introduced to the bride and groom’s visiting families. They’re all so grateful to her for her help, not just with this wedding stuff, but to Vanni while she was overwhelmed with the little ones. Ellie…” He chuckled, shaking his head. “She can be so in your face one second and the next, utterly oblivious. She doesn’t even realize what a good neighbor she’s been to these people.”
George grinned. “I take it you have that relationship ironed out now….”
Noah laughed again. “God had to send me four boats, two helicopters and several flotation devices. But I don’t feel so bad—Ellie hasn’t found it much easier.”
“I hope you proposed. At least told her you’d be a worthless failure without her….”
“I told her—” Noah stopped. He looked at George in silence for a moment. “I told her I’d made a commitment to love her forever and would never let her down. She said she thought I was real ethical.”
George smirked and shook his head. “Why, Noah, I bet that just swept her off her feet. She must be out shopping for a trousseau as we speak.”
“Crap,” Noah muttered. “I’ll get that straightened out tonight. I’ll steal her away from the rehearsal party and make sure—”
He was cut off at the sound of people entering the church, laughter accompanying them. The Booth and Riordan parties entered from the front of the church, just those partaking in the ceremony, to keep things simple. The group included Walt, Vanni and Shelby; Luke, Sean, Maureen and two ushers—Tom Booth and Aiden Riordan. Noah shook hands, bussed the lady’s cheeks and made introductions. The bride and groom and their attendants wandered to the front of the church, murmuring in awe at how beautiful it finished up, Shelby pointing out where the flowers would go.
“Let’s get this over with,” Walt blustered to Noah. “They’re setting up some mighty fine-looking food back at the house and those Riordans are circling like starving dogs. I’d like to get back there while they’re still sober enough to make the toasts.”
Noah looked at his watch yet again. “Let’s give Ellie another minute—she’s helping with the music tonight. Tomorrow is a no-brainer, she can just start the CD and—”
“You sure she’s coming, Noah?” Walt asked. “I saw her wrangling a couple of big suitcases down the stairs…”
“You saw her what?”
“When we were driving into town, past the Fitch house. She was on the stairs with a big suitcase—one still on top, one already sitting behind her car. I thought maybe she was…”
“Oh, God, no,” Noah said. “George, handle this for a few minutes. Lucy, stay!” And then he bolted out the side door and ran down the street like the seat of his pants was on fire. Or like he might be losing the love of his life.
When he got to the Fitch house, he saw exactly what Walt had described—a big suitcase sitting beside the open hatch of her PT Cruiser and the door to her apartment standing open. He took the steps two at a time. When he got to the top of the stairs and looked inside, his heart stopped. There she stood, beside her bed, an open suitcase sitting amidst several neatly folded piles of clothing ready to be packed.
“Ellie! No!” He rushed to her. “God, no! You can’t be leaving me! Don’t!” He grabbed her face and covered her mouth in a hard, desperate kiss. Her eyes flew open in stunned disbelief; she stopped breathing. He released her mouth but not her face, which he held in his hands, his fingers threaded into her hair. “You can’t go, Ellie, you can’t. Don’t you know how much I love you? God, I’d be nothing without you. I never thought I’d get to feel like this again, but you brought me back to life. You took the loneliness away and brought laughter back into my life. Ellie, you’re everything to me—I can’t make it without you. If you leave, I don’t know what I’ll—”
She just stared at him, a slight smile on her face. “Really? You don’t say.”
“Listen, I know I’m not a good romantic, I know that. I realized just a little while ago that I—Oh, hell, I told you how responsible I was, not how much you light up my life. I told you about my vow and how I could stick to it, not how life without you would be all gray and sad and awful. I didn’t tell you everything you mean to me. I promised myself I’d take care of that tonight, for sure. I was almost too late.”
“Tell me now,” she said.
“Now?” he asked, dropping his hands from her face.
“Right now,” she insisted.
“But I haven’t prepared!”
“I know. That’s the whole idea,” she said. “I’m listening.”
He cleared his throat. “Ellie. Dammit, you saved my life. I was a wallowing, pathetic, self-pitying—” He stopped talking at the sound of her soft laughter. “You’re not supposed to laugh at my attempts to be romantic.”
“Noah, that wasn’t romantic. That made me wonder what I ever saw in you. Start over.”
He grabbed her face in his hands again. “I want to be with you forever. I want to lie beside you every night, holding you close, whispering to you that I love you more than anything in the world, that you turned my whole world upside down just when it needed to be turned upside down. I want to make forever promises to you out loud, in front of God, and I want you to promise to be my woman, my wife, my one and only love, my best friend and my conscience. You’re never easy, Ellie, but you’re sure never boring…”
“I don’t know about that last part,” she commented.
“God, I love you so much. If I lost you, I don’t know what I’d do. I’d go after you, that’s what I’d do. I’d find a way to get you back. You know we’re perfect together. I know you feel it because I can feel you feel it.” He grinned roguishly. “We sure fit together perfect, don’t you think? You told me you loved me—tell me again.”
“I love you, Noah. I tried not to. I usually screw up love situations. But, apparently, we have that in common.” She grinned. “A good start.”
“You won’t leave me?”
“Why would I leave you? I adore you. And unless I’m completely stupid, you just asked me to marry you.”
“I did. We should give the kids some time to get used to the idea. And we should find a house that can hold us, but as soon as we can work out the details, we should get married.”
“Okay,” she said. “Am I late for rehearsal?”
“We were waiting for you,” he explained. “Then Walt said he saw you struggling with luggage and thought maybe you weren’t coming, that you were leaving.”
She laughed a bit. “Noah, these are Vanni’s hand-me-downs. I thought I had time to unpack them before the rehearsal.”
He was shocked silent for a moment, absorbing this, then he grabbed her and kissed her hard. And he said, “I have a feeling I bit off more than I can chew with you.”
“No question about that, Your Holiness.”
The church was decorated in fall floral arrangements. The ribbons that held turning leaves, dark yellow roses, coral tulips and red calla lilies together were brown, orange, yellow and red. Two big sprays at the front of the church tied the whole look together. The decorations were an amazing complement to the shining dark wood of the pews.
Ellie’s role in the ceremony was small but important. When everyone was ready, she pressed Play on the stereo, then went back to sit beside Paul Haggerty so she could hang on to Hannah. The priest and Noah entered from the right, standing together at the front of the church. Luke and Sean Riordan entered from the left. Vanessa came down the aisle and, Hannah, standing in Ellie’s lap, raised a fat little hand and yelled, “Mama!”
Vanni beamed at her and blew her a kiss as she passed.
