CHAPTER 18
Claire
“… so I thought it would be a good idea to start my speech early for fear that I would be inebriated later on.” Daniel’s gaze roved around the reception hall, a joyous gleam in his brown eyes. In his white tux and holding a champagne flute, he was the picture of the overjoyed groom.
Claire looked from him to his adoring bride and noticed Sam’s eyes shining with anticipation. So far, Daniel had delivered a fantastic speech, laced with wit and humor, full of gratitude for the guests, families, and wedding party members.
The speech was coming to an end, and Claire felt eyes upon her. She glanced at Ian to find him studying her, a knowing smile on his lips.
Those lips had been all over her this morning. And hers had been all over him. She squeezed her thighs together.
“The Caribbean holds a special place in our hearts,” Daniel went on. “As most of you know, Sam and I met four years ago at a conservative, family-oriented resort.”
Titters and guffaws rippled through the reception hall, and Daniel flashed a grin. He moved the mic close to his mouth and lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Not this one.”
A few snorts were heard above more chuckles.
“Yeah. Those of you who don’t know can ask the ones who laughed.” Daniel swung around to face his bride. “So, I wasn’t looking at the time, but I saw Samantha, and, well, I couldn’t stop looking.”
More knowing grins and laughter from the guests.
“It didn’t take me long to realize there was something about that woman.
She didn’t stop talking to me when I grudgingly admitted I was a lawyer, but what sealed the deal was her reaction when I told her I had a pet rat.
Truth be told, I wanted to propose after a week but didn’t want to scare her away.
“What followed were the best three years of my life, getting to know and love a woman who, if someone were to describe her to me, I’d be convinced was too good to be real.
Good thing I’m pigheaded, as she likes to remind me.
It took so many proposals to get here that I lost count.
But here we are!” He pumped his fist in the air.
Under the table, Ian’s knee touched hers. Claire’s eyes flicked to his face, but he was now pensively listening to Daniel.
“They say lawyers are verbose, but try as I might, as I was searching for a way to end this speech, I couldn’t find the words to describe her.
” Daniel swallowed, emotion flaring in his gaze as he beamed at his bride.
“So, I’ll go with something I once heard that resonated with me.
Sam, you are everything I didn’t know I was searching for.
I’m honored to be your husband, and I hope to prove myself worthy of that title for the rest of our lives. I love you, baby!”
From her seat on the dais, Sam blew him kisses, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “Love you too,” she mouthed.
Claire’s teeth clenched as she looked from one to the other, applauding with all the others as they toasted the bride. She merely wet her lips with the champagne, figuring that this weekend, she’d drunk her entire quota of alcohol for the rest of the year.
How many couples had started this way and ended up at each other’s throats after a few years?
She’d even attended a few of their weddings, only to have one of the spouses come into her office, full of venom, demanding revenge.
Not to mention that the first experience she’d had with acrimonious divorce was that of her parents.
She looked at Sam and Daniel heading for the dance floor, practically floating on air, stars in their eyes, and couldn’t quell the apprehension buried deep inside her psyche.
She felt Ian lean close to grasp her elbow. “What are you thinking?”
Claire set down her flute. “Just watching them.”
“Yes, I can see what you are doing. I’m asking what you’re thinking. You have a strange look on your face.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Sam wasn’t a romantic and wasn’t keen on getting married, but she did it because—” She stopped herself before she blurted about the pregnancy because the couple wanted to keep it a secret for the first few months, and only a few friends knew.
The first strains of a string instrumental started, and a high soprano voice began a familiar tune that took Claire straight to her childhood.
“She wasn’t joking,” Claire muttered as the first stanza of “Someday, My Prince Will Come” blasted from the speakers. “She actually had them play that thing.”
Ian tipped his head. “This is the original. From the 1930s, if I’m not mistaken. You look surprised to hear it.”
“That’s because I am.” Apparently, marriage had turned her sensible friend into a pile of mush. “How do you know this tune?” Most little girls knew it, but the fact that Ian was familiar with the classic wistful song from Snow White caught her off guard.
“I have a sister. She watched that movie so many times that I was tempted to hide the DVD.” He studied Sam and Daniel, who only had eyes for each other. “They seem happy.”
“For now,” she blurted before she could stop herself.
“Cynical much, Penny? Come on, now. They’re well suited. I think they have a great chance for a solid marriage.”
“I wouldn’t know what that looks like.”
“You haven’t met one happily married couple?”
“Not one that was long term, no.”
Ian didn’t respond. At least not verbally. He pressed his lips together, his gaze pensive, and nodded slowly as if to himself.
“What?” she asked.
“I have. A very happily married couple.”
“And how long was the marriage?”
“Is.” A fond smile spread across his face. “My parents are celebrating their thirty-fifth anniversary in a few months.”
“Wow, that’s …” She didn’t finish the thought out loud. Not normal.
“It’s possible.”
“So, you believe in marriage.” She sounded a little more mocking than she’d intended.
He looked back to Daniel and Samantha, who were now slow dancing to a tune Claire didn’t recognize. Sam’s eyes were closed, and she had a blissful look on her face as she rested her cheek on Daniel’s chest, gently stroking his back.
A faraway look entered Ian’s eyes. “I believe two people can be well matched and live a happy and fulfilling life together, yes.”
She raised a brow in challenge. “Why aren’t you married, then?”
His smile faded, and she distinctly saw a muscle flexing at his jaw. Long seconds passed before he wrenched his gaze off Daniel and Samantha, bringing the full force of his stare to Claire.
“When I make that commitment, I want it to be with the right woman. Because I only plan to do it once.”
“Oh.”
Her gaze swept over him. He looked as dashing as he had when she’d first laid eyes on him, except that in a cream suit and with a sapphire tie the exact color of his eyes, he was even more striking tonight.
He tried to smile, but something in his demeanor was different, and he was staring at her with what she could only describe as disheartenment.
And at that moment, Claire felt her throat tighten, fervently wishing she, too, believed what he did.
He kept her prisoner to his dejected stare for a few more seconds.
Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” began to play, and he gave his head a shake and surged to his feet, holding out his hand in invitation.
“See? Sheeran believes too.” He smiled again, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Dance with me, Penny.”
She took his hand and let him help her up, swallowing back a wave of nervousness as his large palm enveloped hers.
He led her to the dance floor with swift, measured steps and held her at arms’ length, his gaze sweeping her from head to toe.
“You look beautiful tonight.”
“Thank you.”
She’d noticed him checking her out. Samantha had thankfully chosen flattering, blush A-line bridesmaid dresses with dainty shoulder straps and a side slit that went halfway up the thigh.
Trying her best to relax, Claire rested her hands on Ian’s broad chest. He pulled her close and lowered his head.
She raised her face to his, expecting him to kiss her, but Ian began singing along, his mouth close to her ear.
The shock of it and the beauty of his velvet baritone made her shudder, and his voice seemed to reverberate throughout her entire body.
She’d danced with many men. Her years of lessons made her easily adapt to any level of skill, and usually, she had to accommodate her partner, but Ian guided her around the dance floor with an effortless grace that took her breath away.
All she had to do was follow because the man certainly knew how to lead. All while singing in her ear, just for her, and the poignancy of it all, with the familiar lyrics that always made her cry, suddenly made Claire’s eyes sting.
Ian kissed her temple.
She squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed, somehow managing to hold back the tears but still tasting salt as she dipped and swayed in Ian’s arms.
·
Ian
The steel-gray morning sky had barely begun to take on a faint pink hue when Ian coasted to slap the pool wall, clocking his fiftieth lap. Panting, he paused at the shallow end, tossing his head and shoving the wet hair out of his face.
He had awakened a little after 4:00 a.m. next to a soundly sleeping Claire, no doubt exhausted from the busy weekend and yet another round of intense sex, but for Ian, the night had brought no rest. She had been different in bed, somehow, and he had acutely felt it.
He pushed off and started a swift crawl, the first lap in another series of twenty-five.
This was his contemplation space. In Fargo, he had put in an indoor pool as soon as he could afford it, and he had solved many a dilemma about a lawsuit while swimming. The current dilemma, however, was daunting.
The gurgle of the water as he exhaled did little to soothe him this time. He had awakened troubled and restless and thought to burn off his tension in the pool, but even this rigorous workout hadn’t helped.