Chapter Two

      Later that day, Grant spotted the international number code pop up on his cell phone. He grabbed the phone as he muted college football on TV. “Christa, hey! How are you? How’s everything going? Isn’t it the middle of the night over there?”

      “I’m all right,” she told him, and she sounded good. So good. “I’m on an overnight and had some time and figured the kids might be in bed.”

      “They are—we’ve got temporary peace in the kingdom.” He laughed when he said it because he knew the reality behind the words. “I met with the wedding planner today, and we’re scoping out reception places this week. I checked the guest list and figured about a hundred and thirty people, right?”

      “The guest list. Yes. I—” A slight pause ensued, as if he’d lost the connection.

      “Christa, you there?”

      “Yes. Yes, I’m here.” She still sounded funny, though. Almost cautious. “Yes, around one thirty with both families and friends. Maybe a few more. I’m guilt stricken that I’m sticking you with all this. It’s not like your life is exactly easy, but Mrs. Gallagher is a sweetheart. She’ll smooth things out for you.”

      “Well, it’s Emily I’m working with. The middle sister.” With the great hair, gorgeous face and take-no-prisoners attitude.

      “Emily’s back?” Surprise raised Christa’s voice. “The last I knew she was married and living in Philadelphia.”

      “Well, she appears to be single and here in Grace Haven,” Grant told her. “She and Kimberly are running the business while her father undergoes treatment.”

      “The cancer. Of course.” Christa’s voice deepened. “I’ve got him on my prayer list,” she went on. Static messed up her next words, but Grant heard the last phrase succinctly. “I hate cancer.”

      “Me, too,” Grant told her, though he wasn’t putting stock in prayer lists. His mother had been an amazingly devout woman, and what did that get her?

      Two extended bouts with cancer before they lost her. His father had walked out on them over thirty years before, and Grant used to pray his heart out as a little kid, begging God to bring his dad back. It never happened. His prayers went unanswered, and that was a good lesson learned at a young age. God didn’t exist, because if he did, he didn’t take his job all that seriously. Grant took everything seriously as a result. “I’ll keep you updated on things either through email or phone, okay?”

      “Yes, thank you! And if you can copy Spencer, that would be great.”

      “Will do. And don’t you worry about anything,” he instructed. “Your job is to stay safe, finish this deployment and get married. Everything here will be fine, I promise.”

      “Thank you! I love you, Grant.”

      Her words made him smile. “I love you, too. We’re all we’ve got now, so we’ve got to stick together.”

      Silence greeted his words again. When she finally answered him, he realized it must be a delayed connection. “We’ll stick together, all right. Hey, gotta go. I’ll call again soon, okay?”

      “Yes. Goodbye, Chris—”

      The phone hummed in his ear. She’d hung up.

      He set his phone down and turned off the game. Life was somewhat crazy right now, and he didn’t see that getting better anytime soon. He had the kids in the only day care center comfortable with Dolly’s behavior issues, his eccentric aunt thought he was spreading himself too thin and needed a wife, and the twins were generally either catching something or getting over something.

      This was his normal.

      He pulled into his aunt and uncle’s yard on Monday morning, ready to start a new week. Aunt Tillie bustled out the side door to greet him while Uncle Percy followed at a less frenetic pace.

      “How are the wedding plans coming?” Aunt Tillie demanded in a too-loud voice. “You makin’ progress?”

      He fibbed slightly. He assumed they were, but he had thought he’d hear from Emily Gallagher and he hadn’t. “Yes. If I need to go check out some wedding stuff tonight, can you sit with the kids?”

      “What those little ones need is a mother,” Tillie declared for about the hundredth time. “I can’t say it’s right.” She shook her head firmly, and her frown matched the motion. “Them bein’ in day care all day, then with a sitter at night, but if you need me, I’ll be here. Hi, darlins!” She smiled and waved into the backseat, blowing kisses a mile a minute.

      The twins laughed and waved back as he and Uncle Percy pulled out of the driveway. He dropped the kids at Mary Flanagan’s day care center, got to work and as soon as his office door slapped shut behind him, he called Kate & Company. When Allison put the call through to Emily, he pretended the sound of her voice didn’t make him want to suck his stomach in. He was in good shape and he didn’t care what Emily Gallagher thought about anything other than weddings. “Miss Gallagher, I thought I’d hear from you by now. I was wondering if you were able to set up times for me to see those wedding venues.”

      “Of course.” She sounded surprised, and her next words explained why. “I sent you an email Saturday afternoon confirming two stops tonight, one at five thirty and one at seven, and then tomorrow night at six for the third venue. I’m sorry you didn’t get it.”

      “Nope, not here,” he replied, but then he noticed his spam folder wasn’t empty. There it was, an email from Kate & Company. “Wait, I lied. Your email got spammed.”

      She laughed, and he realized it was a nice laugh, soft and kind. The kind of laugh that made you feel better about things and made small children giggle out loud. Like Dolly did last week. “So are we okay for tonight?” she asked. “Do you have someone who can watch Timmy and Dolly?”

      She remembered their names.

      Why did that mean something?

      He didn’t know why, but it did because almost everyone referred to them as a set. How are the twins? Can you bring the twins? Hey, Grant, I saw the twins yesterday...

      Hearing