A Wedding In The Family

“Okay, guys, it’s getting late and, Dad, you’re getting a little too personal. Help me round up my kids before it gets dark so we can head home.” She leaned near Adam and whispered, “Save my place. I’ll be right back.”

Adam offered, “I’ll go—”

“No, please, stay here. Let Dad help me find them. I want to talk to him about his investigative work,” she remarked.

His mouth curved into a smile in response to her comment Then he squeezed her hand before letting her go.

“It’s hard for Ed not to nose into his children’s business,” Grace stated after Angela and Ed were out of hearing range.

“I understand,” Adam responded. “I’d be the same way if I had a daughter.”

“I believe you would. And I say that as a compliment, you know.”

“I know,” he replied. “And I want you to know that I really like Angela. It’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone significant in my life, but Angela…”

”…could be significant?” Grace suggested with a mother’s smile.

“Yes,” Adam concurred and studied the gentle face of this older woman across from him—a face much like Angela’s might look twenty years from now.

“You’re a wise man, Adam Dalton, and you have great taste in women.” Grace stood up, and Adam did, too. “I’m going to try to catch up with those two and help with the children. Thanks for coming here tonight. I’m sure you could have done something more enjoyable than being at this church gathering of people you don’t know, meeting us, eating hamburgers that tasted like lighter fluid.”

Adam laughed. “Mine wasn’t so bad.”

“Well, mine was,” Grace remarked, “but fortunately, I wasn’t very hungry. They never seem to get someone to grill the meat who actually knows what they’re doing.” She reached out and touched Adam’s cheek. “We hope to see you again soon.”

“You will,” he answered.

Grace nodded, and left him to join her husband and daughter.

Adam stood at the edge of a group of people gathered around the bonfire, and watched Angela cross the grassy area toward him. She hugged her corduroy jacket closer as the chilly air of the early October evening settled in.

“Where are the kids?” he asked when she neared.

“Mom and Dad offered to take them for a while.” She looked toward the dwindling crowd. “And they all wanted to go.” Then Angela raised her gaze to study the shadows falling across Adam from the roaring fire close by. His eyes seemed more distant than she’d noticed before, and she looked away.

“The temperature has dropped since the sun set,” he remarked. “Do you want to walk up where it’s warmer?” He touched only her coat as his hand moved to her arm.

“No,” she said a little too quickly, and then paused. She wanted to say it right “I…I’d like to leave now.” Her cautious blue eyes returned to meet his dark gaze.

Adam searched her face in the flickering firelight, then responded with no more than a slight nod. He clasped her hand in his and gave an easy tug.

They walked hand in hand across the gravel parking lot. Angela kicked up some pebbles with the toe of her boot, while Adam slid the key into the lock, and opened her door. She smiled up at him through the twilight Even in air rendered smokey from the bonfire, she was close enough to enjoy the spicy scent of his cologne, and it filled her with unfamiliar longing. As she moved past him toward the passenger seat, her right arm and shoulder brushed against his chest in an unintentional contact that jolted her. Her hand flew up spontaneously, involuntarily to touch the front of his shirt. Never before could she remember wanting anyone’s kiss as much as she wanted Adam’s in that solitary moment And it took all her willpower to pull away from him and climb into the van.

Adam looked away from her toward the subdued light of sunset in the western sky, giving no indication that he had noticed the awkward moment Then he shut the door and walked slowly around to the driver’s side to join her in the vehicle.

Angela looked straight ahead, staring steadily out the window. If she so much as glanced his way, he would read these emotions in her eyes. No feelings this strong could be hidden for long, she knew, but if they could get away from here—all the people, cars coming and going, the kids, her parents…If they could be alone, some place, any place, private—even if only for a few minutes…If he kissed her, she’d know how he felt about her. She closed her eyes momentarily at the thought of Adam not kissing her, and sighed audibly. That couldn’t happen. Surely he felt something similar for her, didn’t he? These feelings in her didn’t arise out of nowhere. Their beginning was with him, in him, from him.

Adam drove in silence for several minutes. Then when they did speak, they did so sparingly. Had she enjoyed the evening? Would he join her for another cookout? Mostly they rode silently in the hush of evening for the quarter of an hour it took to reach the large white garage directly behind Angela’s apartment. But to Angela, it seemed her heart had been racing for far longer than fifteen minutes.

When the ignition was switched off, Adam got out of the van, walking around the rear of the vehicle toward the passenger side to open her door—as she knew he would. Angela’s teeth sank into her lower lip at the sound of his footsteps against the concrete and the lowering of the garage door which shut them off from the rest of the world. What if he didn’t feel as attracted to her as she did to him? What if she moved first…reaching for him when his heart was not reaching for hers? Then her door came open. She turned to step out but found Adam leaning in, his hands catching her around the waist as she eased off the seat and into his arms. And for the first time since they left the cookout, she looked directly into his face and discovered the very tenderness she had feared she wouldn’t find, waiting there in his eyes.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you all day,” Adam admitted in words that fell gently across her lips. His hands cupped her face, drawing her to him, and his mouth met hers, moving against its softness. She returned his kiss with equal longing. Never in her life had she felt so alive, so wanted. Now. Here. Amid paint cans and bicycles in a cold, dark garage.

But much too soon he let her go.

“I was afraid you didn’t feel what I was feeling.” The admission rushed from her when she had caught her breath enough to speak. “I didn’t know, I couldn’t tell—”

“You’re driving me crazy, and you don’t even know it, do you?” He gave a hint of a smile as he studied the beautiful blue eyes that had so easily captivated him.

“What are you talking about? I’m not doing anything.”

“You don’t need to ‘do’ anything, Angela. Just be near me,” he explained quietly. “That’s becoming difficult enough to deal with.”

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