The Groom Came C.o.d.

Maybe he should have been grateful for the unexpected turn of events. Maybe now he could get rid of all the wannabe Mrs. Ben Howards.

Shaken out of his reverie by a flock of birds bursting from the full branches of the tree above him, he found himself gazing around him. It was the setting where, according to the wedding announcement, he was scheduled to marry Melinda next month.

The scent of jasmine filled the air. Rustic bridges crossed a babbling brook that slowly meandered through the small park. Carefully tended green hedges bordered the cobblestone walks that led to a white lattice gazebo in the park’s center. A sundial, a birdbath and white iron benches were scattered throughout the small park. It was the last place in the world he expected to find himself. Let alone find himself taking Melinda seriously.

What had brought him here when he had more important things that needed his attention? And why was he suddenly so unsure of his decision to have the fantasy wedding called off?

He thought of Bertie’s assurance that a higher power was at work. Was there some kind of magic aura in the early morning air that made her pronouncement sound reasonable? Was it the same aura that was urging him to go back and tell Melinda he was thinking of changing his mind? That he didn’t want to call off the wedding? And why did it suddenly seem as if it were the right thing to do?

His thoughts stopped him cold. After all, he was an intelligent and successful businessman. Why was he even thinking of magic auras? Was he losing it?

Something turned him back to gaze at the vintage Victorian house across the street. Bertie’s Bridal Shop had been housed there for more years than he could remember. He remembered his two older sisters had purchased their bridal gowns there years ago.

The brown wooden house with its faded white trim was showing its age. The porch railings sagged, but freshly starched lace curtains proudly graced the windows. It looked familiar, and yet there was something different about it today that caught his attention. He squinted in the sunshine to get a better look. The lettering on the sign in the window that advertised a Bridal Referral Service was fairly new. According to Bertie, the service was Melinda’s attempt to keep the shop in the black. The idea may have sounded like a good idea, but there were screwups every day on the Internet.

The realization that she’d found him on an Internet dating service turned his blood to ice water. He should have looked into how it got there before he left. If word got out that Melinda had found him there, he was a dead man.

Before he could decide what prompted him to retrace his footsteps, he found himself back at the bridal shop’s front door. He was about to knock when he remembered Melinda’s headache. He rang the door-bell—gently, but firmly. He had a mission to accomplish.

The door opened a few inches. Bertie peered out. “I knew you’d be back as soon as you had a chance to think things over, Benjamin.” She held the door open with a welcoming smile. “I baked your favorite cookies last night. Why don’t you come in and join me in a fresh cup of coffee?”

Ben glanced over her shoulder at the empty entry. “Actually, Ms. Bertie, I came back to talk to Melinda.”

“Of course,” she agreed amicably. Come right in. Your bride is upstairs getting dressed. She’ll be down in a minute.”

His bride! It was the last thing he wanted to hear, at least until he had a chance to talk things over with Melinda. “Sorry, Ms. Bertie. This bride stuff is a little premature.”

She wagged her forefinger at him. “Now, Benjamin, you aren’t still having cold feet, are you?”

He shook his head. Why wasn’t he heading for the safety of his distillery where more rational heads prevailed instead of talking to a wall? “Not really. The fact is, I came back to apologize for losing my temper. It’s just that I was sure the wedding announcement would play havoc with my life. Even now,” he added with a wry shrug as he followed her into the kitchen, “I feel as if I’m caught in the middle of a hornet’s nest.”

She smiled and prattled on about reluctant bridegrooms.

Maybe it was the odor of freshly brewed coffee or the plate of chocolate-chip cookies waiting on the kitchen table, but Ben felt right at home. The bright-yellow and white chintz curtains at the windows were invitations to enjoy a few moments of relaxation. Under different circumstances, he would have been ready. Unfortunately, the soft music coming over the intercom designed to calm bridal nerves wasn’t exactly music to his ears.

The muscles at the back of his neck tensed as he dropped into a chair. Bertie’s contented smile did nothing to reassure him he was going to make a dent in her conviction that he was about to become a member of her family.

He watched her flutter about the kitchen setting out cups and saucers.

“How did you know I’d be back, Ms. Bertie?” he asked, interrupting a tale that had something to do about a bride having to wrestle a groom to the altar.

Her answering smile was benevolent. “You can’t run away from your destiny, dear.”

He didn’t have a ready reply to that remark.

What was there about the lady that made the illogical seem logical? What was there about her that had him ready to believe in her conviction that destiny had brought him here and not the wedding announcement in the newspaper. Or were they the same?

He was a pragmatic man who had spent his life creating his own destiny. He’d decided the only way to do something for the economy of Ojai was to do it himself. With Bertie happily prattling in the background, his thoughts swung to his Oak Tree Gourmet Distillery, an enterprise he’d started to bring industry to a town that survived largely on tourism. That decision hadn’t been decided by fate, as Bertie preached. No, sir. It had been a sure, pragmatic decision and, thank God, it had worked. Oak Tree brandies were known all over the world.

Still, considering he was a visitor in her kitchen, he couldn’t tell Bertie he was ready to believe she must have come from a different planet. Or that maybe she could be a guardian angel in disguise. For sure, she was an innocent who saw only the positive side of everything and everyone, including him.

“Ms. Bertie,” he began, “I don’t know if it was fate or destiny that turned me back here, but the fact is I owe you an apology.”

“Of course, dear,” she soothed. She moved the plate of plump cookies closer to him. “But, there’s no rush. Take your time.”

Ben swallowed a sigh. Once the newspaper announcement of his “wedding” hit the streets, there was a rush. He was running out of time.

“It’s just that you’ve always been so decent to me—and the whole town, for that matter. I shouldn’t have lost my cool. I wouldn’t want you to think I’ve gone off the deep end.”

“There’s nothing to explain, dear.” She patted his shoulder in passing on her way to turn off the coffee.

“I understand perfectly. You’re just having a bit of bridegroom nerves.”

Ben bit back a hollow laugh and tried again. “I don’t think you do understand, Ms. Bertie. I want you to know I don’t hold what Melinda did against her. I came back to tell her so. Everyone makes mistakes, myself included. It’s just that I don’t understand why Melinda would pick me for her fantasy bridegroom. We hardly know each other.”

Bertie smiled over her shoulder. “The answer is there for you to see, Benjamin. All you need to do is open your mind.”

“Open my mind?” Ben reared back in his chair.

“That’s the problem! I have opened it, and I’ve been in a state of shock ever since I read this morning’s newspaper! Marry Melinda? I swear it was the first time I’d heard of it.”

Her eyes took on a sparkle. “Perhaps so, but I believe you and Melinda were fated to meet again. It doesn’t matter how. Although I have to admit the circumstances are a bit unusual.”

“You got that right,” Ben murmured under his breath.

“However, I’m very pleased at Melinda’s choice,” she went on. “I’ve always said you’re a fine young man.”

He would have laughed at her na?vetе if she hadn’t been so sincere. Bertie wouldn’t have seen anything wrong with him even if the truth stared her in the face. “After all the crazy things I managed to get into in high school?”

“Boys are boys,” she agreed. “It comes with the territory. But I’m sure what you did then was harmless and not at anyone’s expense. Just look at you now! Ojai owes you a great deal for all you’ve done for us.”

After Bertie’s endorsement, he was beginning to think there was a halo blinking above his head. So why didn’t he feel saintly?

In the interest of getting out of here before the morning was through, Ben agreed his intentions were good. It wasn’t all that much, but every little bit helped. “Thank you. But to get back to why I’m here. I want to set the record straight. I got angry because I hate to be used. Or made to do something I hadn’t planned for…like get married.”

“If it will make you feel better, go right ahead and get it off your chest.” She smiled and waited expectantly. “But I’m all for you and my niece getting married.”

Ben took a deep breath. “I want to go on record that I haven’t spoken to Melinda in years before now—certainly not since high school. The truth is, I don’t remember her. So you see,” he went on earnestly, “I couldn’t have proposed.”

Bertie set a steaming cup of coffee on the table in front of him. “Perhaps. What do you think prompted my niece to plan a marriage to you if fate hadn’t prompted her to make her little mistake?”

Little mistake! It was a mistake large enough to change his life!

He munched on a chocolate-filled cookie and gazed around the kitchen. “Maybe, but considering we’re knee-deep in bridal territory, I guess it could have been natural for Melinda to play out her dream wedding on the Internet. Maybe it was a harmless fantasy—but it sure backfired. I’m not even sure it’ll help even if she does retract the story,” he said morosely.

Bertie smiled. “You’re thinking of changing your mind about asking Melinda to go ahead with the retraction, aren’t you?”

“How did you know?” The way the woman was able to read him was beginning to make him nervous. Why hadn’t he left well enough alone and kept on going when he’d left the first time? Why had he given in to the urge to come back to explain himself to someone who was convinced fate was about to make him her nephew?