You're Gone (Finding Solid Ground) (8 page)

If Charleigh and Jamie had any two things in common, it was sheer determination and bullheadedness. Although the doctor didn’t let him go on Friday afternoon as he had at first thought, sure enough, Jamie pitched a big enough fit and was assured that he would be released by noon the next day.

Kevin, Jenna, and Greg, sans Claudia
, had flown down on the corporate jet the previous night and stayed with Madie and Lenore at the ranch. While the father-of-the-groom, all three grandparents of the bride, and Madie and Lenore put the finishing touches on the celebration, the siblings wanted to see their brother, and they went with Charleigh to pick him up from the hospital.

Jamie was sitting up in his hospital bed in a pair of
Superman
pajama pants and a plain white t-shirt. He wore a brooding expression on his face as he watched Saturday morning cartoons on the television. His uneaten lunch on the tray in front of him. He shot Charleigh a desperate look when she came through the door with his suit in a garment bag.

“Help me, Char,” He pouted. “Get me out of here and to the nearest fast food joint.”

Charleigh only laughed as she hung the suit on a hook on the bathroom door. She came over to the bed, sat down gingerly beside her fiancé and kissed him on the lips.

Jenna and Kevin must not have expected to see their older brother so banged up. They stood silently in the doorway and stared.

“Seriously, it looks worse than it feels,” Jamie said with a smile. “Get over here and give me a hug, Jenn. Charleigh, will you tell them?”

She waved him off. “I’m not in this.”
             

The black, swollen eye, the cut on his cheek, and the sling on his right arm were really the worst part of his injuries. That is, what you could see at first inspection. If you saw him without his shirt on, with all the dark black and blue bruises, it would change your mind, absolutely.

Jenna slowly moved toward him. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t,” the oldest sibling confirmed as the youngest sat down on the foot of the bed.

“Charleigh said you’d lie,” Kevin joked.

Jamie looked at Charleigh, shook his head. “I’m fine. I just want
to get dressed and get out of here while I still have some hair left.”

“Yeah, the monotonous boredom has given him the chance to really examine himself,” Charleigh teased.

“I have
gray
hairs!”

“He lost count after he pulled out the twentieth. Oh, and nothing but tofu and rice cakes for him until
after
the wedding.”

“Why?” Jenna asked. She scooted closer to her brother on the bed.

“Because they told him he weighs just over two hundred pounds, and…” Charleigh laughed.

“That’s thirty pounds more than I weighed before I met Charleigh,” Jamie finished her sentence. “She’s making me fat with all that southern comfort food she cooks.” 

Kevin stood back, laughing as his brother and future sister-in-law went back and forth.

“It’s not like I shovel it down your brother’s throat. He could take a turn at the Stairmaster anytime he wants instead of sitting on the sofa, watching his taped episodes of
Days of our Lives
on the weekends.”

“Oh, speaking of that,” Jamie remembered, “I need more videos. Put that on your shopping list.”

Charleigh rolled her eyes. “You
need
to get dressed if you want to make it back to the ranch this century.”

The decorations were breathtaking. Charleigh’d left the planning to Lenore and Madie while Jamie was in the hospital. Although she shouldn’t have been, the two older ladies had an eye for elegance, she was amazed by the work. Ten round tables of six, draped with jade-colored silk tablecloths and deep purple Lady of the Night tulip centerpieces—
that was Jamie’s idea— were set up underneath a large white tent in the back garden.

“It’s beautiful,” Jamie whispered in Charleigh’s ear as he leaned against a cane— doctor’s orders. He thought it was a damn nuisance; nothing was wrong with his legs! “It’s perfect.”

“I hope this thing is waterproof because it looks like rain,” she sighed, looking up at the canvas material.

“Rain?” Jamie looked up into the sky. “There’s not a dark cloud in the sky, and the weatherman said it was going to be a great day.”

“The weatherman is wrong,” Charleigh replied. “I am the great-great-great-granddaughter of a wise Choctaw chief. I feel these things.”

She walked away to take a closer look at the garlands draped across the chairs, leaving Jamie to look at her Granddad with a look of confusion.

John shrugged. “It’s creepy, but Eliza could do the same thing.”

***

Jamie took his time as he slowly sneaked his way around to the side of house. He’d had about enough resting over the last few days to last him a lifetime. Now he knew exactly
why
Charleigh had gotten her back up after getting thrown by the horse. It was because of pure boredom. And if one more person told him that he should be inside, Jamie was going scream.

He found Charleigh was sitting on the old rope-swing hanging from the Oak tree in the side yard of Madie’s house. The swing slowly moved back and forth, though, he didn’t know if she realized it. Her eyes were clouded with concern. She was somewhere far away in her mind; deep in thought.

“Don’t do that,” Jamie told her, stepping closer.

Charleigh tilted her head to one side, her eyes met with his, and they were instantly clearer. “Do what?”

“You’re worrying about me. About the what-ifs. What Gavin could do to me the next time.”

One shoulder raised and fell again. It wasn’t quite a shrug. “Not true. I’m not worried about the ‘what ifs’ because there won’t
be
a next time.”

“Are you missing your dad?” Charleigh only nodded. “And what else?” Jamie held on to the rope of the swing that was suspended from a tree limb high overhead. He leaned down, trying not to show how much he hurt, to kiss Charleigh on the lips.

She let out a small, musical sigh. Not bothering to open her eyes, Charleigh told him, “You should be inside where it’s cool.”

“I’m fine,” Jamie responded.

“No, you’re not; you’re weak.” Charleigh reached up to touch his cheek. “This awful heat will sap the rest of your energy, and you won’t be in much of a partying mood later on.”

“I’m almost always in the mood for a party— weak or not— but I won’t be able to have a
good time knowing that you’re worried about me. This is, in spite of everything else, supposed to be a happy day. Will you smile for me? Please? Just a…” His fingers played on her lips. He was trying to turn the frown into a smile.

Eyebrows arched. “No.”

“Come on. Please?” He continued to contort her mouth. 

“Jamie, you’re about to get bitten,” Charleigh warned, slapping at his hands.

“Ooh, I like when you talk dirty to me,” Jamie joked. “But out here? In front of everybody? You’re kinky.”

That brought a smile to her face. Charleigh’s musical laughed filled the air, “You’re such a pervert.” She shook her head.

“But I got you to smile, didn’t I?”

“You are—”
Charleigh shook her head. The shiny curls of her hair shook with the movement.

“Hey, there you two are,” Madie called from behind. 

Charleigh twisted around on the swing to look at the old lady. She was standing under the trellis entry to her garden. The smile still played on her lips as Madie snapped a picture of the couple with her camera. She waved a hand and retreated back to some last minute preparation, re-establishing their privacy.

People started gathering around seven in the evening. And still the sky was the bluest of blues. Not a single cloud hung in the sky, and yet Charleigh was still worrying about the rain she
felt
coming. Jamie told her not to be so pessimistic and enjoy the mood.

Good food; the caters provided a wonderful menu. Good drinks, though everything was nonalcoholic. Good company; neither Charleigh nor Jamie were worried about Gavin showing up and causing a disturbance. Good music; where Lenore got the idea to get a DJ, Charleigh could only wonder.

Jamie kept his promise and danced with his fiancée at their engagement party. The song ‘I Do’ was the first played. It was hard to hear over the music, but he could’ve sworn…

“Was that…”

“It was thunder, darlin,” Charleigh whispered a reply, never raising her head from Jamie’s shoulder.

How was it possible?

“Now I’m the one hoping this tent is waterproof.” Jamie tightened his hold on Charleigh, kissed the top of her head.

“Shh,” she whispered, “We’re dancing.”

A loud thunderclap made some of the guests jump. Others gasped loudly. Jamie and Charleigh danced, though the only person who seemed at ease was Charleigh.

“How did you know it was going to rain?” Jamie asked, stopping as the song came to an end.

“I can feel it in my bones. Eerie, isn’t it?”

Lightning flashed out in the distance. A louder, closer thunderclap echoed. A moment later, the clouds let go and the rain poured down. The question Jamie and Charleigh had about the tent was answered. People went running toward the gazebo, the backdoor of Madie’s house, their cars for cover. Jamie took Charleigh by the hand and led her across the yard as fast as he could.

“Hey, wait,” Charleigh stopped him with a tug on his good arm. “Dance with me.”

“It’s raining.”
             

“You promised you would.”

“But… we’re getting drenched. Look at your dress.”

She shrugged. “I don’t care if you don’t.”

“And what about music.” They looked back toward the tent, where the DJ and his assistant were working like madmen to get their equipment into the back of their van.

“We don’t need it.” Her smile was enough for Jamie to give in. “Just think of a song in your head.”

Jamie pulled Charleigh close and began to sing ‘When You Say Nothing At All.’ It was so off-key, and he mixed up a few of the words in the first verse, which caused her to laugh, but she couldn’t have cared less. At the moment, he was absolutely perfect.

“What are they doing?” Kevin asked Jenna as they watched from the gazebo. “They’re going to get struck by lightning.”

“They’re in love,” she responded. “It’s
so
romantic.”

He shook his head. “And you are such a girl.” But deep down, Kevin felt the same way.

“I’ve never seen two people more in love,” Mellisande told her husband from where they stood close by in the mudroom doorway.

“They’re definitely an inspiration for the rest of us.” Caroline smiled. She hooked an arm through one of Josh’s and rested her cheek on his shoulder.

“I want to fall in love,” Lauren sighed as she stood in front of her parents as they watched from the kitchen window.

“Not until you’re a hundred,” her father joked, squeezed her shoulder.

“God, Charleigh, I never thought I could love you more.” Jamie ran a hand through her soaked curls. “But I continue to surprise myself.”

“
You
are definitely the luckiest man on earth,” she joked, looking up into his eyes as they danced.

“That I am.” His heart was so full of love for her at that moment. Still, Jamie couldn’t help wondering, “Where do you think we would be if we’d never met?”

“You’d be in New York doing your thing. I’d be here with mine.” Charleigh went up on tip-toes to kiss Jamie’s lips. “I’m sure we would be two
very
lonely people, though. But I thank God that we’ll never have that find out.”

He nodded his head in agreement. “You make me believe, Char. Because you’re standing in front of me, I really
do
believe in the impossible.”

With the cowboy boots out of the picture, Charleigh decided to go in another direction when it came to her wedding dress. Nothing froufrou or frilly or over the top. She wanted something that would be pretty, but not something that would weigh her down or be a lot of trouble to move around in.

The wedding was taking place in September— the hottest of all the summer months.

Olivia Monahan, who owned Elegant Extravaganza, on Magnolia’s Main Street, was helping Charleigh pick out the perfect summer gown for her upcoming wedding. They’d gone through dozens and dozens of bridal magazines.

Jamie had taken a look, gawked a bit, drooled
a lot
, and marked the ones he thought Charleigh would look best in. She noted, though, that all of them were either tight and strapless, tight and showed a lot of skin or tight and pushed everything up. Did she mention that they were
all
tight?!

They looked through the bridal boutique in town. They looked on every website they could find on the Internet. Nothing seemed to suit her taste. So with Olivia’s help, Charleigh set out to design her wedding dress to her own standards. What the two came up with seemed to satisfy everybody, although they had only sketches of it.

Charleigh liked it because she wouldn’t burn up under the September sun of an Oklahoma summer. Jamie was happy because it was fairly tight around the bodice— pushing everything up, but only slightly— and showed some skin, though not as much as the ones he’d seen in the magazines.

Jenna, who was going to be Charleigh’s maid of honor, liked what she saw when she got an email of the finished draft. ‘You go, girly girl,’ she’d emailed back. She even said that Claudia liked the ‘elegant lines.’ Not that Charleigh really cared what the ‘wicked witch from the East Coast,’ as she called her future mother-in-law, thought.

Next came the patterns and a sample dress made from muslin cloth, which was why Charleigh stood on a stepstool in her living room, being poked at and tugged on and, finally, pinned.

“Oh, now that looks nice,” Madie commented from where she sat on the coffee table, watching Olivia work.

Lenore agreed, “It’s going to be beautiful, isn’t it? I can’t wait to see the finished creation.” 

“You’re not the only one,” Olivia spoke out one side of her mouth. The other side held several straight pins. “This could take my business in a whole new direction, when people find out I made this dress.”

Charleigh blocked out everything going on around her. Her eyes were trained on the television. An old episode of
Bewitched
was on. No offense to the three other women, but the show was more interesting than their conversation.

They were so wrapped up in making a big hullabaloo out of the wedding. And
although Charleigh wanted it to be special, as long as Jamie was there and he said ‘I do,’ nothing else really mattered. Okay, having a great dress was
also
very important to her, but after that, nothing else really mattered.

They could throw some flowers together for a couple of bouquets for her and Jenna, her maid of honor. There was no need for another brides’ maid or a flower girl. Liz and Lauren had made the trip down the aisle with Charleigh once before. Charleigh figured that they would understand. Make sure they had the rings. Nobody but their closest relatives and friends needed
to attend. Her Granddad would walk her down the aisle, and all three grandparents would give her away. As far as the location went, Charleigh could get married at the county courthouse and be happy. They didn’t even have to have a big reception afterward. Knowing she would soon become Missus James Adam Matthews was enough for her.

But having the wedding, with all those little perks, was important to Jamie. And Jamie’s happiness
was
important to Charleigh.

Speaking of Jamie, with her terrific peripheral vision, Charleigh saw his car pull up in front of the house. She looked down at her wristwatch— while getting scolded by Olivia for moving— to find that Jamie was home from work early. With this being his first week back to work since ‘the incident,’ he’d been working late hours to catch up.

She just hoped he was taking it easy, because Jamie never let on that he was in the slightest bit of pain. He didn’t want Charleigh playing nursemaid— which said they were more alike than first perceived— unless of course as a prelude to sex.

A smile spread across Jamie’s lips when he opened the front door and their eyes met. Charleigh’s face lit up with a smile of her own at the sight of her gorgeous
fiancé`. He stopped just inside the threshold, knowing what was going on, to take a look. It almost immediately came to a halt when his grandmother and the two other women jumped in front of Charleigh to block his view of her dress. It may have been only a work in progress, but it didn‘t seem to matter in their ways of thinking.

“Jamie, what are you doing here?” Madie squawked, waving her hands above her head.

“Um… I
live
here.”

“You know you’re not supposed to see the bride in her wedding gown before the big day. It’s bad luck,” Lenore added.

Like we haven‘t had enough bad luck already.
“Technically,
this
isn’t the dress,” Charleigh chimed in, only to be ignored.

“Get out of here. Go somewhere. You can’t be here while we’re working,” Olivia warned.

Jamie turned, headed toward the dining room, where he’d turned a corner into his makeshift workspace until other arrangements could be made. They’d talked about renovating the sunroom she used to paint, though not as frequently anymore as she had planned while building the house, or her office, or even the dining room so Jamie would have his own permanent space to work. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. I’m not here, and I never was.” He held his briefcase up to block his view of Charleigh. A few steps away from the entryway, he stopped and took one look back like a sneaky little kid.

“Hi,” Charleigh mouthed. She was met with a smile and a wink before Jamie disappeared inside.

***

“So, everything’s going well?” He later asked, when they were alone making dinner in the kitchen.

“Yep, it’s going to look
amazing
.” Charleigh tossed chopped vegetables into a wok for stir-fry.

Jamie stood close by, putting several ingredients, including ice, Skim milk, and protein powder, into the blender. He was really taking the weight loss-thing seriously, which somehow seemed to stun Charleigh. He had been so into eating anything and everything that was set in front of him when he had first arrived in Magnolia. Cookies, candy, cake, pudding. Anything you could imagine.

Everything was loaded down with sugar and carbohydrates. And yet he was still surprised that he was beginning to get a little soft in the places where rock-hard muscles had been when they first met. His six-pack had become more like a leaky four-pack.

Now, Jamie was on the Stairmaster or the treadmill for about forty-five minutes every morning before getting ready for work. He wanted to up the ante as soon as Doctor Cahill said he could and do weight lifting and strength training. He bet Charleigh he would be able to do more sit-ups than her within a month of that time. ‘That’ll be the day, City-boy,’ she’d told him with a laugh.

Charleigh watched with candid curiosity, adding soy sauce to the food, as Jamie worked. He stopped the appliance, removed the lid, and tested the mixture. His forehead furrowed with concentration, lips puckered from the cold.

“It’s too thick,” Jamie explained, waving a spoon as he did.

“Ah.” She nodded in agreement.

She turned to check on the pot of boiling rice.
It’s just about ready
, Charleigh thought, returning to the show where Jamie was adding more milk. But he forgot to replace the lid.

“You better…” she began as he reached for the blend button.

It was too late. Jamie touched the button. The blender came to life with a
whir
sound, sending the chocolaty mess in every direction. It went all over the counter and the floor. It got on the wall. It made it all the way to the stove and into their food all the way at the other end of the counter. It got all over the dogs that were sleeping nearby under the table. Most of all, Jamie was covered with the goop.

“Oh, my God,” Charleigh laughed, wiping the little bit that got on her arm off with a cup towel. She’d jumped out of the way just in time. “You look…”
She held on to her side; she was laughing so hard.

Jamie wiped the mess away from his eyes and turned to Charleigh. She continued to laugh hysterically as he stood, planted in place.
Poor thing.
He was horrified, without any idea as what to do. And still, Charleigh laughed.

“
What’s so funny?” Jamie asked, helplessly. She could only point at him. “Please, Char, a little help?”

Charleigh shook her head, wiped the tears away from her eyes. There had never been a funnier sight in the world.

“Please, help,” he repeated.

This time she nodded, coming closer to stand in front of him.
“Strip.” Charleigh continued to laugh.

“
What?”

“
Strip down. All your clothes. You’re covered with that stuff.”

             
Handing Jamie a towel to wipe his hands and face, she reached for the top button of his pants, unzipped them, and let them fall to the floor. He stepped out of the pants and started on the top buttons of his white dress shirt while Charleigh worked from the bottom. Afterward, in only his boxers, he followed Charleigh to the laundry room.

Jamie watched in silence while she measured out a capful of Tide. Usually, he knew, she took all of their more expensive clothes
— and, to his way of thinking, a pair of silk Ralph Lauren pants
did
apply— to the dry cleaners. She sprayed some kind of clear liquid from a plastic bottle onto his shirt, Jamie couldn’t imagine what she was doing. Or why, because…

Of course, now he saw that Charleigh was trying to get the stain out before it set in.

“Can you get it out?” he asked, watching as Charleigh filled the sink with water, poured in the liquid detergent.

“
We’ll see,” she replied simply.

She dunked the shirt in the water, rubbing the fabric together. Occasionally, Charleigh lifted the garment to do a close inspection. When she was satisfied, she wrung out all the water, hung the shirt up on a hanger and left it on the back of the door and went to work on the pants.

“I’ll drop these off at the cleaners tomorrow, on my way to the store in Durant.” Jamie nodded. He turned to go and Charleigh grabbed the waistband of his shorts, let it go, making it pop him. “You need to go and get in the shower while I finish supper.”

He gave her a seductive smile as he looked back over his shoulder.
“You could go with me and finish dinner later.”

“
Um… that is a good idea,” Charleigh answered, slipping under his arm to stand in front of him. There was some of the smoothie still on the side of Jamie’s neck, and she stuck a finger up to it. “I mean, you do look good enough to eat.” She stuck the finger in her mouth before making a face. “But ya taste like crap. Go get in the shower while I finish supper and clean up
your
mess.”

“
I can… I mean—” Jamie stopped midsentence.

Charleigh arched an eyebrow and flashed a seductive smile of her own.
“ You do that and I’ll do this, and you can repay the favor later, in
any
way you want.”

He nodded.
“Sounds like an idea to me.”

When Jamie came back downstairs after his shower, his hair was still damp. A towel was draped around his neck. As soon as he reached the bottom step, he knew something was off. All of the lights were off, except for the glow of candles that were placed sporadically throughout the living room.

He took a look in the kitchen, but the lights were off in there, as well. The mess he’d made with the blender was also all cleaned up. The pots and pans Charleigh had used to cook were in the dishwasher, clean and waiting to be put up. Okay, now he knew something was wrong, because Charleigh was like a madwoman when it came to spots on her clean dishes. She liked to take them out, dry them, and put them in the proper places in the cabinets.

When Jamie looked for Charleigh in her office, he found she wasn
’t there. He peeked out the front door to see if she was sitting on the swing. She wasn’t. He went back to the kitchen, to sneak a quick look out on the back deck.

Where
was she? He looked out into the garage to make sure the Tahoe and the Camaro were still there. They were. So, where was Charleigh?  He went back out into the living room. Where
was
she? Just to be sure, Jamie called out her name.

“
I’m in here,” he heard her call out from behind.

Jamie turned and saw the soft, golden glow coming from the dining room.
Okay
, he thought moving closer to the doorway,
we’ve never used that room before.
That was why he’d been using it as a work area. Sometimes, he wondered if Charleigh even remembered she had a dining room. So, what was going on?