Chapter One
Fourteen years later
It was the magical wedding of Kelly Callahan’s dreams.
Too bad it actually wasn’t her wedding.
If the bride had had her way, the wedding would’ve taken place at sunrise–her most favorite time of the day. So she’d settled for dusk, instead. Luckily, the weather had decided to agree with Kelly’s sister and her sister’s fiancé today–the sun had been bright and the temperature warm.
Kelly stared out at the sunset overlooking the lake–the backdrop for the wedding was absolutely enchanting. As iridescent light spun down from the slowly descending sun, a shimmering purple haze danced across the lake like fire. Glancing down at the rosy-purple gown that she wore, she noticed that the beading sewn into the bodice glistened, as it was struck by the shimmering light from the sun.
Out where Kelly stood with the wedding party on the gazebo, pine tips were displayed in abundance–not only for their beauty and scent–but to disguise what had to be, literally, millions of tiny white lights, that’d been strung up and around the canopy.
And the flowers were stunning. Huge concrete urns held massive arrangements of lilies, roses, and greens, and had been positioned along the perimeter of the gazebo, so as not to obstruct the breathtaking view. Not only were there multitudes of lovely flower arrangements displayed both inside and outside of the Dragonfly Pointe Inn–but pots of annuals, planted with impatiens in brilliant shades of purples and pinks, bordered the bridal pathway for impact. Stargazer lilies, roses and ferns had been used in the bridal bouquets.
This wedding was incredible–like a fantasy–and planned with love to the smallest detail by Kelly’s oldest sister Lucy, who’d coordinated the entire event.
Kelly sighed, glancing over at the bright smiling face of her sister, Kate, as she stood before the priest with her soon-to-be-husband, Murphy. Her sister looked beautiful, in a shimmering, bridal gown of white, while Murphy looked ruggedly handsome in the traditional black tux that he’d insisted on. And, with its sweetheart neckline and slim fitting style, the gowns that matched Kelly’s looked lovely on the other bridesmaids and the maid of honor, too.
Kelly blinked, when music filled the air. Because just like that, it was done–Kate and Murphy were married, and introduced to the crowd as man and wife.
Turning about face, Kelly grinned, and began following the couple down the aisle, as she glanced around her at the smiling faces of the guests.
And then she saw him.
Kelly stopped in her tracks. Those cool gray eyes met hers as he gave her that old familiar smile. Why hadn’t anyone in her family warned her that Luke Bryant might be here today?
How long she stood and stared at him, she couldn’t say. Until she dimly became aware of being gently shoved forward, as a voice squeaked out from over her shoulder, “Kelly?”
“Oops, sorry, Jules,” Kelly whispered, to the maid-of-honor. Giving her escort a smile of apology, she resumed her stroll beside him down the aisle.
Once they reached the end of the walkway, the bride and groom were both laughing as they were swept away through the crowd.
Shaking her head in resignation, Kate turned to the groom’s youngest brother. He’d been coming on strong with her since the moment they’d met. As Kelly nudged Ethan along, so that they could stand beside the remaining members of the wedding party, she peeked over her shoulder nervously. What’d happened to Luke?
But when Julie began asking her a question, Kelly focused her attention on the maid-of-honor.
“What was it that they told us, Kelly? An hour–before they want us back at the reception for pictures?”
Julie’s boyfriend, Dylan, who’d also been a groomsman, glanced down at as his watch, as he stood silently beside Julie.
“Yep,” Kelly answered. “The photographer wanted thirty to forty-five minutes alone with Kate and Murphy, first.”
“Well – I know what we can do to waste away the time.” Dylan winked at Kelly, as he began to drag an, obviously, discomfited Julie away. “See ya’all in about an hour.”
Kelly grinned. After about a year of dragging their feet, apparently, Julie and Dylan had finally admitted their feelings for each other. And it was great to see Julie so happy.
Kelly glanced over at Ethan and sighed. He was a really nice guy. But his attention was getting to be a little bit stifling.
With white-blonde hair and deep-blue eyes, Kelly was tall and thin with a shapely figure. She’d always considered herself fortunate in the looks department.
Fortunate because of the numerous modeling jobs, that were helping her pay for her college education.
But unfortunate because of the number of men that seemed to be drawn to her only because of her looks. And her looks were deceiving. After graduating with honors as the valedictorian of her high school graduating class at Crystal Rock High, Kelly had enrolled at Wisconsin with a scholarship, and was focusing her studies on business.
As the remainder of the wedding party began to go their separate ways, Ethan stood waiting, wearing an inquisitive smile.
She hesitated. “I’ve got a couple of things I need to do first, Ethan. How about I meet back up with you once I’m finished?”
She could see that he was disappointed.
“Okay, Kelly.” He sighed. “You are gonna hang around with me later tonight–aren’t ya? Except for a couple of my brother’s friends, I don’t really recognize too many people here.
“Sure–I’d like that. I’d be glad to introduce you to a few of my sister’s single friends,
