Heavenstone 02 - Secret Whispers

weather he’d encountered on the journey.
    “I hated the rain because it slowed me down.” He finally took a breath and looked at me. “And what have you been doing all this time?”
    “Waiting for this wedding to be over,” I replied sharply. “It can’t end soon enough for me.”
    “Hold it,” he said.
    He stopped what he was doing and took my hands into his, leading me back to the settee as if I were his little girl and not his girlfriend. We both sat.
    “What?”
    “I know what you’re going through,” he began.
    “Do you?”
    “Yes, I do. It’s understandable. You’re upset because your father’s swept up in all this and not paying much attention to you. It’s natural for you to resent Lucille, too.”
    “Everyone’s my therapist,” I said.
    “I’m not trying to be a therapist. I’m just trying to reassure you that things will settle down, and besides, I’m here now, and I’ll be at your side and taking up your time. I’d rather you not think of anything or anyone else but me, anyway.”
    “At my side? You’re going to work, Ethan. Immediately, it seems, and that will occupy you quite a bit. I’m sure she has a lot more for you to do than you can imagine. Lucille made that pretty clear when she swooped down on you the moment you arrived.”
    “Yes, I know, but no matter what work they give me, I’ll be hurrying back to you at the end of the day, and we’ll spend every other waking moment together. Maybe,” he said, smiling, “sleeping moments, too. She’d better not try to interfere with that. It would take a crowbar to pry us apart.” He sounded a bit like my father. He winked.
    I had to smile at his coyness.
    “That’s better. That’s the girl I came rushing back to,” he said.
    “And not a career with the Heaven-stone Corporation?”
    “Only if it includes you.” My skeptical expression annoyed him. He let go of my hands. “Don’t you think I could get a good job elsewhere on my own? There are plenty of retail businesses looking for young, up-and-coming executives, and I have great recommendations from my college teachers and did graduate with honors, Semantha. I’m not in any sort of desperate state. I was still considering returning to college and getting my MBA, too. I have options.”
    “I know. I’m sorry I said that.”
    “It’s okay.” He smiled again. “You’re kind of lost in all this, but I’m here now. We’re going to have a helluva good time.” He got up to complete his unpacking.
    Afterward, we went out to look at the work being done in preparation for the wedding. Lucille saw us but marched off with her assistant and the wedding planner, rattling off orders. I saw how impressed Ethan was with everything.
    “This is something,” he said. “It’s one thing to hear about it but another to see it. They probably didn’t plan much more at Gettysburg.” When I didn’t react with any enthusiasm, he added, “Hey, we’re going to have a good time at this wedding, too. We’ll treat it as a party just for us.”
    “You mean, as though it were our wedding?”
    “Why not?”
    I liked that.
    “But for now,” he continued, “how about we go out to dinner ourselves tonight, or did you want tospend it at home with your father? I know they’re heading right out on their honeymoon and—”
    “Are you kidding? He and Lucille don’t even know I’m at the table.”
    “Then let’s just get out of here, take a ride, and stop somewhere for a quiet dinner,” he said. “I’ll go up to shower and change.”
    It was like a transfusion. I felt my happiness and enthusiasm come surging back through my veins and into my heart. We laughed and charged into the house, rushing up the stairway like two people afraid they were going to miss an airplane flight.
    He’s back, I thought. He’s really back because of me. He didn’t deserve my skepticism and sour face. I felt terrible for having been so negative and immature. He never really got angry about it, either. He was as patient and understanding as my uncle Perry. I was determined to make it up to him, to be more cheerful and more fun.
    I was so anxious and excited I was ready before he was and went down to tell Mrs. Dobson we wouldn’t be there for dinner. I heard Lucille in the hallway by my father’s office and impishly went down to tell her, too. She might soon be the queen, I thought, but I was still the princess. However, I was disappointed in her reaction. I assumed she would want us