So did Isabelle. She needed to apologize to him for her harshness when they’d talked on the phone and for not answering his later calls. After her boohoo fest, she’d shut off her ringer and had a girl’s night with Sophie and her mom, getting their hair and nails done at her mom’s salon. They’d laughed and had a wonderful time. Yeah, it was better that Cliff Davis wasn’t coming back to Pine Hill.
But Zach should already be back. Where was he? He’d texted her that he’d meet her at the rehearsal. Had his flight been delayed? Then again, what did it matter at this point? Their relationship had been based upon finding her father.
“Let’s not talk about Zach.” She’d tell Sophie the truth about him, but not right before her wedding. “This weekend is about you and your dream wedding. Unless you’ve decided you don’t want to go through with this tomorrow?” She gave her sister a teasing look. “In which case, my car is parked outside. We could take off to some quiet beach until all this blows over.”
“Even if I got a case of nerves, you’d convince me to stay because you know this is where I’m supposed to be.” Sophie’s gaze met hers. “You wouldn’t really let me run away from the most wonderful man in the world, would you?”
Isabelle shook her head. “No, but only because Cole recognizes that you are the most wonderful woman in the world and loves you with all his heart.”
“He does, doesn’t he?” Sophie smiled, then mouth circling into anO,she gave a little push. “Go, they’re waiting on you.”
Isabelle leaned in, kissed Sophie’s cheek, then moved toward where the guys stood. Halfway there, the sound of Sophie’s gasped cry had Isabelle spinning around.
“Oof.” She let out a strangled cry of her own.
Zach stood in the foyer. So did her father.
*
Fearing Isabelle mightpass out when all the color drained from her face, Zach rushed to her, placing his hand at her waist, ready to catch her if needed.
“Take a deep breath, Blondie.”
Her gaze not leaving the man standing at the back of the auditorium, she whispered, “He said he wasn’t coming. I told Mom he wasn’t coming.”
“He changed his mind.” Zach hadn’t given the man a choice.
One way or the other, her father had been coming to Pine Hill. The pain in Isabelle’s voice, on her face, during that video call, had assured that. Only now, he wondered if he should have left the man in Louisiana.
Abandoning his position at the front of the church, Cole was now at Sophie’s side, his expression tense and threatening as he eyed the older man Sophie stared at, wide-eyed.
“Cliff Davis, is that you?” Rosie screeched from where she’d twisted around to see what the commotion was about.
At her question, Maybelle, Ruby, and Claudia beelined to where Isabelle’s mother sat, looking pale.
Cliff didn’t say anything, just lifted his head in acknowledgement, then eyed Sophie, uncertainty on his face. Over the past two days, Zach had wavered between feeling sorry for the guy, empathy and understanding of his emotional state, and wanting to punch him for hurting his family. For hurting Isabelle.
“Daddy?” Sophie blinked, clutching Cole’s arm for support. “I… you… you’re here. How?”
“He brought me.” He gestured toward Zach, who was grateful the man left off the details of how he’d decided it was in his best interest to go with Zach.
That he was there half-under duress wouldn’t win the guy any points, and Cliff was going to need all the points he could get in Pine Hill.
Sophie’s gaze went to Zach. “You brought my daddy home for my wedding? I told you I looked for him and you—Oh, Zach! Thank you.”
“Thank Isabelle, not me. Your sister wanted your wedding to be all you dreamed.”
Sophie’s eyes widened further as they touched on Isabelle. “But… really? Oh, Izzy, I can’t believe you did this.” Her gaze cut back to Zach. “Or that you found him. I tried so many times…” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she turned toward the man who all eyes were now focused on. “I feel as if I’m dreaming because I have dreamed of this moment so many times. Welcome home, Daddy.”
With that, Sophie threw her arms around her father.
*
“How can shejust accept him as if he never left?” Isabelle’s hands turned palm up as she paced back and forth in the church’s nursery, where she’d pulled Zach aside the moment the actual rehearsal finished. “How? It’s not right that he shows up and she’s treating him like the guest of honor. And poor Mom. His showing up after I’d told her he’d said no…” Isabelle’s voice trailed off.
“He’s doing what you wanted,” Zach reminded from where he leaned against the closed door. Sophie had been all smiles since he’d arrived with Cliff, but Isabelle had been a bundle of nerves as Maybelle had quickly gotten the group back on track to run through the rehearsal. “Were you hoping that once he got here, Sophie and the others would reject him?”
As he asked it, he couldn’t help thinking there was some truth to that, that deep down, Isabelle had needed validation for her own feelings. Validation she wasn’t getting, not even from her own mother, who thus far had ignored Cliff’s presence once her initial shock had passed. Zach suspected she’d have a lot to say to her husband once they were away from curious eyes. He’d caught Cliff looking her way with a pained expression more than once. Hopefully, he would be honest and tell her the things he’d told Zach. He wasn’t sure the man’s family could ever forgive him or put his absence behind them, but it was long past time for the truth.
