Unfinished Business

wrenched it open before he got his temper under control enough to realize that his retreat was exactly what she’d wanted.
    So he’d throw her a curve.

    “How about going to the movies tonight?”
    If he’d suggested a quick trip to the moon, she would have been no less surprised. “What?”
    “The movies. Do you want to go to the movies?”
    “Why?”
    “Because I have a craving for popcorn,” he snapped. “Do you want to go or not?”
    “I… Yes,” she heard herself say.
    “Fine.” He slammed the door behind him.
     
    Life was a puzzle, Vanessa decided. And she was having a hard time fitting the pieces together. For a week she’d been whirled into wedding and picnic plans. Coleslaw and potato salad, long-stemmed roses and photographers. She was dead sure it was a mistake to try to coordinate a town picnic with an intimate family wedding. It was like trying to juggle bowling balls and feathers.
    As the final week passed, she was too busy and too confused to notice that she felt better than she had in years. There was the secret honeymoon, and Joanie’s enthusiastic bubbling over every aspect of the upcoming nuptials. There were flowers to be ordered and arranged—and a hundred hamburger patties to make.
    She went out with Brady almost every night. To the movies, to dinner. To a concert. He was such an easy and amusing companion that she began to wonder if she had dreamed the passion and anger in the gloomy kitchen.
    But each night when he walked her to the door, each night when he kissed her breathless, she realized he was indeed giving her time to think things through. Just as he was making certain she had plenty to think about.
    The night before the wedding, she stayed at home. But she thought of him, even as she and Loretta and Joanie bustled around the kitchen putting last-minute touches on a mountain of food.
    “I still think the guys should be here helping,” Joanie muttered as she slapped a hamburger patty between her hands.
    “They’d just be in the way.” Loretta molded another hunk of meat into shape. “Besides, I’m too nervous to deal with Ham tonight.”
    Joanie laughed. “You’re doing fine. Dad’s a basket case. When he came by the farm today, he asked me three times for a cup of coffee. He had one in his hand the whole time.”
    Pleased, Loretta chuckled. “It’s nice to know he’s suffering, too.” She looked at the kitchen clock for the fifth time in five minutes. Eight o’clock, she thought. In fourteen hours she would be married. “I hope it doesn’t rain.”
    Vanessa, who’d been deemed an amateur, looked up from her task of arranging the patties in layers between waxed paper. “The forecast is sunny and high seventies.”
    “Oh, yes.” Loretta managed a smile. “You told me that before, didn’t you?”
    “Only fifty or sixty times.”
    Her brows knitted, Loretta looked out the window. “Of course, if it did rain, we could move the wedding indoors. It would be a shame to have the picnic spoiled, though. Ham enjoys it so.”
    “It wouldn’t dare rain,” Joanie stated, taking the forgotten patty from the bride-to-be’s hands. Unable to resist, she tucked her tongue in her cheek. “It’s too bad you had to postpone your honeymoon.”
    “Oh, well.” With a shrug, Loretta went back to work. She didn’t want to show her disappointment. “Ham just couldn’t manage to clear his schedule. I’ll have to get used to that sort of thing, if I’m going to be a doctor’s wife.” She pressed a hand to her nervous stomach. “Is that rain? Did I hear rain?”
    “No,” Vanessa and Joanie said in unison.
    With a weak laugh, Loretta washed her hands. “I must be hearing things. I’ve been so addled this past week. Just this morning I couldn’t find my blue silk blouse—and I’ve misplaced the linen slacks I got on sale just last month. My new sandals, too, and my good black cocktail dress. I can’t think where I might have put them.”
    Vanessa shot Joanie a warning look before her friend could chuckle. “They’ll turn up.”
    “What? Oh, yes…yes, of course they will. Are you sure that’s not rain?”
    Exasperated, Vanessa put a hand on her hip. “Mom, for heaven’s sake, it’s not rain. There isn’t going to be any rain. Go take a hot bath.” When Loretta’s eyes filled, Vanessa rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
    “You called me ‘Mom,’” Loretta said, her breath hitching. “I never thought you