The Carson Springs Trilogy: Stranger in Paradise, Taste of Honey, and Wish Come True Read Free Page B

cheek. He stood at least a head taller than Sam, who was tall herself, his shoulders slightly stooped from accommodating to a world that wasn’t custom-built. A nice-looking man smelling faintly of aftershave, with twin crescents of newly shorn scalp where his square black glasses hooked over his ears. Sunlight skated off their lenses as he drew back to smile at her.
    “Congratulations, Sam. You know the saying, you’re not losing a daughter…”
    “I’m gaining a son-in-law.” She winced inwardly at the triteness of it. But Tom meant well, she knew. “I’m glad you could make it,” she said with sincerity. “It wouldn’t have been the same without you.”
    “I just wish it could’ve been Martin walking her down that aisle.” Ray had filled in, but it hadn’t been the same.
    “So do I.”
    As if sensing her discomfort, he was quick to add, “You look lovely, Sam.” He reddened slightly, as if unused to giving such compliments. “I like your dress. It suits you.”
    “Thanks, I’m glad you think so.”
    Secretly, she didn’t care for it. She’d been thinking mainly of Alice when she’d picked it out, wanting the spotlight to be on her. Now she wished she’d chosen something a little less…well, matronly.
    Tom looked as if he wanted to linger, but feared he was holding up the line. He touched her elbow, his tall frame curved like a question mark. “Catch up with you later, okay?”
    She felt a tiny stab of guilt. What would she have done without Tom these past few years? Holding her hand through the worst of Martin’s illness. Guiding her through the blizzard of paperwork after his death. If she’d been avoiding him recently it was only because she was afraid of hurting him. He’d made it clear he wanted more than friendship. Unfortunately, she didn’t feel the same way.
    Sam turned to find the newlyweds dashing down the steps amid a hail of birdseed—rice, Laura had pointed out, was harmful to birds—Alice with her hem hitched daintily to her ankles to avoid tripping on it and her white veil trailing like vapor in the breeze. A black limousine waited at the curb.
    Guests began drifting off to the parking lot. If she didn’t leave soon, Sam thought, they would arrive at the house ahead of her. She began to fret. Had Guillermo hung the wedding piñatas? Had Lupe remembered to put lemon slices in the punch?
    Relax, a voice soothed. Her live-in housekeeper and gardener had been at Isla Verde almost as long as Saint Peter had been at heaven’s gates. They would look after everything. And if a few details got overlooked what difference would it make? Nothing short of an earthquake could spoil this day.
    “See you at the house!” Laura called to Sam.
    She was helping her elderly housemate down the steps. Maude wore a snugly fitting satin gown nearly the same vintage as she that had left her somewhat hobbled. She paused to lift her hem, revealing matching blue pumps. “Wore my dancing shoes,” she said with an impish wink, poking at her nest of ivory hair, in imminent danger of slipping from its pins.
    Before Sam could make her own exit, several more people stopped to congratulate her, Father Reardon among them. He clasped her hand warmly. “Will we be seeing you on Sunday?”
    Until last night’s rehearsal she hadn’t set foot in St. Xavier’s since her husband’s death. Too busy, she told herself. But wasn’t there more to it than that? Maybe, she thought uneasily, she was afraid of what too much soul-searching might bring.
    “If I’m not too worn out,” she hedged with a laugh.
    “I promise not to put you to sleep with my sermon.” His gray-blue eyes sparkled, but she caught the glint of gentle reproach.
    “You never do.” Who could fall asleep looking at Father Reardon? “It’s just not the same somehow.”
    His fingers tightened about hers. “All the more reason to come. To quote Robert Browning, ‘Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure.’s? He let go of her hand,