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When Jennifer left, Jane’s gaze fell on her parents, sitting at a table next to the dance floor, smiling and holding hands as they watched Heather and Michael dance. Her parents were clearly as in love now as they had always been, and it struck Jane that she’d never even bothered to be thankful for having two parents who loved each other before. On a whim, full of the wedding spirit in the air, she stood up and went to their table to sit with them.
“You two are looking awfully googly-eyed.” She leaned over and gave her dad a kiss on the cheek.
Her mother sighed. “Weddings always remind us of our own wedding. We were so sweet on each other we could hardly make it through the reception without slipping away for a little hanky-panky.”
Jane winced at the reference to her parents’ sex life, and her mother caught her look.
“Oh, there’s nothing shameful about two people not being able to keep their hands off each other. That’s the same passion that’s kept our marriage strong for thirty-three years now.”
Her father grinned at her then. “We want to see you girls as happy as we’ve been.” He took her hand in his then and kissed it, the same gesture he’d always made when Jane was a little girl and he’d called her his princess. “I try not to meddle in you girls’ lives, but I’m going to just this once, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy,” Jane heard herself say. She hadn’t called her father Daddy since her Barbie-doll days.
“Don’t waste your whole life writing books about relationships, princess. Go out and find your own true love.”
Jane felt her eyes well up with tears. Maybe her dad wasn’t such an airhead after all.
JANE DANCED with her father, then fast-danced with her sisters until she had blisters on both of her little toes, but she hadn’t seen Luke anywhere in the crowd of merrymakers on the dance floor.
As the reception wound down, she wandered around the reception hall and out into the hotel lobby, not realizing until she spotted the front doors of the hotel that she was looking for Luke, hoping he hadn’t left yet. Her father’s words replayed themselves again and again in her head, along with the comment her mother had made about their passionate marriage.
When she tried to picture herself having that kind of passionate, long-lasting love, only one image came to mind—one of herself and Luke. Why had she been so sure that their relationship couldn’t grow into something deeper?
Maybe she hadn’t thought she was good enough, maybe she had been too afraid of getting hurt, maybe she’d been terrified of being wrong about relationships…there were lots of maybes. But only one thing she knew for sure.
She wanted Luke. Not just in her bed, but in her life. She wanted to give them a chance, to see if maybe they could have what her parents had. To see if the stirring she felt deep down in her soul whenever she thought of a future with Luke really was true love.
Someone placed a hand on the small of her back, and she jumped. Jane turned to see that it was Eli, the former object of Jennifer and Lacey’s affection. She had to admit, he did look handsome in his black tux, but his attractiveness was marred by his eternal arrogant smirk. He had the air of a guy who was used to getting what he wanted with women.
“I’ve got a surprise for the bride and groom. I was hoping you could help me with it.”
“Um, sure. What do you need?”
“Could you help me carry it down and present it to Heather and Michael before they leave? It’s in my hotel room on the second floor—it was a little too big to keep concealed, so I had to hide it up there.”
Jane frowned. “Sure. You’ve got my curiosity piqued.”
He smiled. “Follow me. You’re gonna die when you see it.”
She followed Eli to the elevator, which they stood waiting for in awkward silence. Once inside it, Jane flashed a strained smile at him.
“So,” she said, “great wedding, huh?”
“Yeah, I can’t believe Michael finally tied the knot.”
The elevator stopped and they got out. As she followed Eli down the hallway to his room, Jane got the feeling something wasn’t quite right, but she decided it was probably just her awkwardness at being alone with the same guy she’d urged her sisters to get rid of.
Eli stopped at a doorway and inserted a key card. He opened the door and stepped aside for her to enter.
Jane stepped into the darkened room and flipped a light switch on the wall. “So where’s the big surprise?” she asked as she went farther into the room.
She heard the lock on the door click. A strange, hollow feeling filled her gut.
Eli turned from the door to face her, and his friendly expression was gone, replaced by a menacing glare.
