The Hearts We Mend (4 page)

The frown between Dan's eyebrows eased. A little. “Our pastor is busy at the moment, but is there something I can help you with?”

“Actually, I'm here to help
you
. Your pastor hired me to fill in for your custodian.” Jack stretched out his hand. “Jack Vale. And I'm guessing you must be the father of the groom.”

C
HAPTER
5

T
he expression on Dan Moretti's face—no, on
all
their faces—told Jack he'd guessed wrong.

“Dan Moretti.” Jack could feel the tension in the guy's grip as he shook his hand. “I'm . . . a friend of the family.”

The redhead—Ginevieve—broke the awkward silence that suddenly weighted the air around them. “I think I'll steal Evie for a few minutes so she can see how beautiful Raine looks in her wedding gown.”

“Hey, Evie!” A slim brunette in her late twenties jogged past, a dry-cleaning bag draped over one arm. “Marie just got here, and she was wondering if there are any extra power strips lying around. She needs them for the buffet tables.”

Jack looked at Evie, who refused to look at him at all. Further proof he'd messed up somehow.

“Evie?” Jack waited until she made eye contact with him. “I'll take care of it.”

“Thank you.” It was Ginevieve who responded—because Evie was already walking away.

“I think I'll tag along with Jack.” Dan bared his teeth in what anyone other than Jack might have mistakenly interpreted as a smile. “He's probably still trying to figure out who's who and what's what around here.”

Oh . . . Jack thought he had it pretty much figured out.

Ginevieve caught up to Evie, and Moretti fell into step beside him.

Five. Four. Three
. . .

“You aren't from Banister Falls.” It wasn't phrased in the form of a question.

“Milwaukee.” Jack could have narrowed it down to a specific area of the city, but he had a feeling that Dan Moretti wasn't nearly as interested in where Jack was from as he was in why Jack was
here
.

“Did you work at a church there too?”

“Construction.”

“A little overqualified for this job, aren't you?”

“Not if you need one.” Jack didn't give Moretti an opportunity to chew on that. “Look, I enjoy small talk as much as the next guy”—that pulled a reluctant smile out of his escort—“but I have work to do.”

Dan paused as they reached the end of the hallway, and Jack braced himself for another round of questions.

“Evie's husband died when Cody was six years old.”

Jack felt like he'd been sucker punched.
“Died?”

Dan nodded. “Max . . . Cody's dad . . . he was my best friend. And I'm Cody's best man.”

Evie was a widow. A widow who still wore a wedding ring—Jack silently did the math—even though she must have lost her husband over a decade ago.

“I'm sorry.” The words you said when you didn't know what else to say.

“So am I.” A shadow skimmed across the surface of Dan's eyes. “Max was like a brother. I would have done anything for him.”

A brother.

The two words sliced deep. More than anyone, Jack understood the bond between brothers.

A flash of blue in the fellowship room caught his eye. Evie, working her way from table to table. Smoothing a hand over the linen tablecloths. Adjusting a centerpiece.

She reminded Jack of a ballerina. All graceful movements and measured steps. He had a hunch that Evie Bennett measured everything.

Thoughts. Words. Gestures.

Post-it notes.

Jack didn't realize he was smiling until Dan shifted his weight, blocking her from view.

“I've known Evie since we were kids. She was devastated when Max died, but there are a lot of people in this town who care about her. Look out for her.”

Dan turned and walked away without another word, but it didn't matter.

Jack understood that too.

Evie didn't cry when Dan escorted Raine down the aisle and then took his place next to Cody at the front of the church. Or when Cody slipped a gold band on Raine's finger—right next to the diamond ring Max had given Evie the night he'd proposed.

But she could feel the tears backing up in her throat as Cody and Raine began to recite their vows.

To have and to hold, from this day forward.

For better or for worse.

For richer or for poorer. In sickness and in health.

To love, honor, and cherish.

Until we are separated by death.

Evie had stood in this church, stood in the exact spot where Raine was standing now, the promise of a bright future shining in
her eyes the day she'd made that promise to Max. Never dreaming they wouldn't have a whole lifetime of days together.

Evie felt that familiar bittersweet surge of emotion as she watched Cody take Raine's hand.

“You may kiss your bride.” Pastor Keith was smiling at the couple, and Evie looked down at the corsage of rosebuds on her wrist as Cody drew Raine into the circle of his arms.

A cheer erupted from the firefighters. Most of the crew at Second Street Station had known Cody since the day he was born. They were the ones who'd grieved right alongside her at Max's funeral. Replaced the shingles on her roof after a hailstorm. Made Cody an honorary member of their basketball team.

Following the crew's lead, Amanda and Emily, Dan's nieces, began to shriek and clap their hands. No one even tried to shush them.

The Moretti family took up the two front rows. The church hadn't been divided down the middle, with one side reserved for the bride and the other for the groom. Other than Sara, Gin's half sister who'd flown in from Maine for the weekend to serve as Raine's maid of honor, Gin didn't have any family. It didn't surprise Evie at all that Angela and John Moretti had simply absorbed Gin into theirs.

Evie slid a glance at Max's parents, who'd slipped in at the very last minute. Betty had called after they'd checked in at the bed-and-breakfast on Friday and bowed out of the rehearsal dinner, claiming they were too tired from traveling. But the sour expressions Evie saw on the couple's faces made her wonder if they were remembering another wedding. Neil and Betty had tried to convince her and Max to wait too.

But
waiting
wasn't a word in their son's vocabulary, and with Evie's parents leaving for the mission field a week after she graduated from high school, Max had presented a list of reasons—Evie's idea—why it made sense for them to get married right away.

Just as Cody had done, the night he'd told Evie that he was going to propose to Raine.

With the baby due in September, he and Raine had opted for a short engagement. Evie, who'd assumed she would be getting ready to send her son off to college, had found herself planning a wedding instead.

Invite the people you know will be happy for us, Mom. Really happy, not just pretending.

Evie's gaze shifted to the table on the stage as Cody and Raine started down the aisle hand in hand. Instead of the flowers that matched Raine's wedding bouquet, she saw a satin banner winding through a spray of red roses.

Beloved husband and father.

Evie wanted to be happy for Cody and Raine, but she knew the truth.

If your dreams came true, your deepest fears could too.

C
HAPTER
6

I
t was a beautiful wedding, Evie.”

Chrissy Anderson, Pastor Keith's wife, linked arms with Evie as she made her way to the kitchen to box up the leftover wedding cake.

“Thank you for coming. I know it meant a lot to Cody and Raine.”

“Well, they mean a lot to me and to Keith.” Tears glistened in her friend's eyes. “I talked to Cody before they left. He said they're going to Whisper Lake for their honeymoon.”

“Kimberly and Wade Russell, Dan's aunt and uncle, are letting them stay in one of their cabins for the week as a wedding gift.”

“That was so sweet of them! I'm sure you'll appreciate some time to yourself. I know I couldn't plan a wedding in less than a month.”

Planning the wedding had been the easy part. It was the “time to herself” Evie didn't know what to do with.

“Evie?” Jennifer Moretti, Dan's sister-in-law, appeared in the doorway, the elegant line of her chiffon dress slightly distorted by the enormous pink-and-purple plaid diaper bag looped over one shoulder. “Stephen and I are going to take Bree home and put her down for a nap before things get ugly. Is there anything else you'd like me to do before we leave?”

“Yes . . . round up all the Morettis and take them with you.”
Gin and Dan, his parents, and most of his siblings had tracked Evie down and asked the same question after the reception ended. “They've done more than enough.”

“I will.”

“And take another piece of cake.”

“I was hoping you'd say that.” Jennifer plucked one from the counter and dashed out of the room.

“I should go too.” Chrissy enveloped Evie in a quick hug. “Keith promised the boys we'd take them to a baseball game this evening. Are you sure you don't—”

“Bye, Chrissy.”

“Fine.” Laughing, Chrissy let Evie bump her toward the door. “I'll see you tomorrow morning.”

The voices in the hallway faded, and silence replaced the laughter and the hum of conversation. Outside in the parking lot, car doors slammed as the last of the guests drove away.

Evie rinsed out an empty vase and put it in the rack to dry. It was a task she could have put off until the next morning, but right now the thought of going home to an empty house left her feeling hollow. Restless.

“Could I talk to you a moment, Evie?”

One look at her mother-in-law's face, and everything Evie had eaten at the reception welded together in a solid lump in her stomach. “Of course.”

“That girl—Raine—is pregnant, Evie.” Betty folded her arms, flattening the corsage pinned to the lapel of her linen jacket. “Don't bother to deny it.”

Evie released a slow breath. “I wasn't going to.”

“I thought the short engagement was because they didn't want to . . . you know . . .
wait
.” Betty glared at her. “You didn't bother to mention it was because they hadn't.”

“I didn't think it would matter.”

“Of course it matters! When we talked on the phone at Christmas, you said Cody was going to be valedictorian. That he was doing well.”

“Cody
is
doing well, Betty.”
Steady, Evie.
“He was awarded the Mansfield Merit scholarship.”

“A scholarship he's not planning to use,” her mother-in-law retorted.

“Cody doesn't want to go to college.”

“We know what Cody wants.” Betty's voice trembled under the weight of emotions Evie guessed had been building up since she and Neil had arrived in Banister Falls. “Did you even
try
to talk him out of it?”

“It wouldn't have done any good. Cody is an adult. Whether or not I agree with his decisions, I'm going to support him.”

“Like you supported Max?”

Bile rose in Evie's throat as the words found their mark.

You raised Max
, she wanted to shout at her mother-in-law.
Didn't you know him at all?

A challenge, a look of doubt, a dare—they only made Max more determined to succeed.

He'd announced he was going to be a firefighter after a sixth-grade field trip to Second Street Station, but his parents had dismissed it as one of those little-boy dreams. A dream Max would eventually outgrow, like winning a gold medal at the Olympics for downhill skiing or playing quarterback for the Green Bay Packers.

It didn't seem to matter that Max had never shown the slightest bit of interest in running the hardware store on Main Street. Betty and Neil made it clear they expected their only son to join his father in the family business.

When nothing Max's parents said could get him to change his mind, Betty had invited Evie over a few days before the wedding and made it clear that
she
should. But who would have thought Betty still resented her for refusing?

“You know Max would have been miserable,” Evie said quietly.

“At least he would be
alive
.” Betty's mouth snapped shut.

Evie glanced over her shoulder. Jack stood in the doorway, a steaming cup of coffee in his hand.

“I thought you'd left.” Why hadn't
he
left? Evie searched Jack's face, but there was nothing in his expression that hinted he'd overheard their conversation.

“One of your notes . . . I'm supposed to pick up an envelope after the reception?”

Evie had totally forgotten. She always gave Harvey a little thank-you when he worked extra hours for a special event. She'd purchased the gift certificate from Marie's Bistro, Harvey's favorite coffee shop, in advance, but put it in a new envelope with Jack's name on it.