Special Order Groom Page 8

  “Go ahead.”

  He seemed unprepared to force the words from his mouth. Glancing away, he scratched his head. Then he looked up at the unlit numbers as if hoping for an immediate resurgence of power. His lips compressed for a second. “Yourmomwantsmetomarryyou.”

  “I beg your pardon?” Crystal leaned forward a little so that she could hear better. “Could you say that more slowly? I couldn’t decode a word.”

  His face turned a bit red. He scratched at his neck above the jersey polo collar. “Your…mom…wants…me…to…marry…you.”

  Crystal made a sucking noise of exasperation. “Ridiculous,” she said. “And pathetic.”

  The number lights turned on, the elevator wheezed, and it jerked to the first floor. The doors opened magically.

  She stepped out, breathing circulated air and the smell of disinfectant. “My mother has always had a vivid imagination,” she said, turning to face him. “No doubt being ill has accelerated that somehow. I apologize for the awkward position she has placed you in. You must believe me when I tell you that, although they may have been hunting a man most fiercely for me when they pulled you into my store, I do not want to get married. You’re safe. So let’s agree to do one thing in tandem, Mitch. If she brings it up again, we’ll both gently tell her no. All right?”

  Without waiting for his reply, Crystal strode to her mother’s room.

  Chapter Eight

  “I am actually quite afraid,” Bess admitted.

  “Mom, it’s going to be fine.” Crystal felt none of the calm she tried to impart but she refused to show her own fear.

  Her mother reached out and clutched Crystal’s hand. “I’m not trying to be pessimistic, but what if the balloon procedure doesn’t work? What if it’s more serious than that?”

  “Oh, Mom. You’re much too strong for anything to get you down for long.” Crystal sat on the edge of the bed and held her mother’s hand more tightly.

  Mitch sat and took Bess’s other hand. “You’ll be in the best of hands.”

  She shook her head, her stubborn streak clearly at the fore. “I wouldn’t be lying here if I didn’t have a guilty conscience.”

  “You wouldn’t be lying here if you hadn’t overworked yourself on my birthday party.” Crystal leaned to kiss her mother’s forehead. “As much as I enjoyed the party, I think you must have overdone.”

  “Nonsense.” Bess impatiently pulled her hands back. “My conscience is my downfall. One’s skeletons always pop out of the closet eventually. Usually when it’s most inconvenient.”

  Crystal didn’t want to think about skeletons. She had enough of her own to rattle her conscience. Hesitantly, she glanced at Mitch, but he was completely focused on her mother.

  “We hear lots of deathbed confessions,” he said, his eyes twinkling with mischief. “You’re not on yours, so you can save your confession for another time.”

  Bess compressed her lips belligerently. “You just don’t want to hear my confession,” she accused Mitch. “Have you thought about what I told you?”

  “Mom, please. You’re distressing yourself more. Anything that may be troubling you is insignificant right now. Just rest.”

  “I can’t.” Bess eased herself up on her pillow, her face strained with worry. “It concerns both of you and I’d like you to listen.”

  Mitch and Crystal glanced at each other. “I sincerely wish Aunt Elle hadn’t pulled you inside my store,” Crystal said to him. “Ever since you reappeared in my well-ordered life, utter turmoil has visited us like a plague.”

  He grinned at her. “Your mother’s trying to confess. You’re interrupting. Trying to grab the spotlight.”

  “Oh, brother,” Crystal said impatiently. “If it will make you feel better, Mother, we are listening, although I am positive you are making yourself ill over nothing. We will hear this confession, and then you will have your surgery, you will be well, and we will put this whole problem behind us. All right?” She sent a glare Mitch’s way so he couldn’t possibly misunderstand her meaning. A shrug and way-too-confident grin was all she got for her efforts.

  He had never been light on the irresistible scale. What woman wouldn’t be flattered by his unshakable interest in her?

  And somehow, having Mitch with her right now was very comforting. Though she kept up a brisk front rather than risk panicked tears, she was very, very frightened about her mother’s coronary condition. He squeezed her hand suddenly, and Crystal felt a shock go all the way through her.

  She pulled her hand away. The problem was, counting on Mitch had cost her once before. Allowing herself to depend upon him too much could leave her hanging in the breeze emotionally again. “I must admit to being curious now,” she told her mother, making certain the glance she gave Mitch was cool.

  Bess shot her a look Crystal couldn’t decipher. She wanted to see slyness. She wanted to see a glint of intrepid triumph.

  But all she saw in her mother’s eyes was sadness. And apprehension.

  Instantly she knew her mother believed every word she was about to say. And somehow it boded ill for Crystal.

  “Whatever you think you did,” Crystal said softly, gently twining her fingers through Bess’s, “it’s in the past. I would rather it stay there. I’m certain Mitch would, too. It isn’t going to change anything for either of us at this point. It’s just upsetting you needlessly. Don’t you agree, Mitch?”

  “I don’t know. Confession is supposed to be great for the soul. Unload, Bess.”

  Crystal wanted to smack him for his smarmy attitude. Couldn’t he see the worst possible thing for her mother right now was more anxiety? “Is that how you advise your patients? Unload?”

  “For most patients I couch it in more specific terms. Let it all hang out, let it rip, shout till it’s out, scream…”

  “I’m going to scream if you two don’t stop bickering.” Bess gave them equal glares. She took a deep breath. “The day of the prom Kathryn came by the house looking for Crystal. You were not home,” she said to her daughter, jumping into her confession most ungracefully. “I could see she was frantic. I invited her in for a cup of tea. She sat at my table, and as Mitch so eloquently prescribes, let it all hang out. She was pregnant and she had been dumped by her boyfriend. As you know, she was one of the girls nominated for prom queen.”

  “I know. I voted for her,” Crystal said miserably. “She was my best friend.” Not after that night, of course. They’d never spoken again, except for cool hellos, until Crystal’s birthday party.

  “She could not go to the prom without a date,” Bess continued. She stopped speaking for a moment, emotional pain showing in her eyes. “You had come in late the night before, Crystal.”

  In that second, Crystal knew that her and Mitch’s guilty secret had never really been a secret. She held in a humiliated breath. All these years, her mother had known—and never voiced a word of condemnation.

  “What can I say? I couldn’t bear the thought of you ending up in the same position as Kathryn. You were very young. All of you. I was certain you’d get over it.”

  That pronouncement left the three of them sitting quietly, awkwardly. Crystal couldn’t bear to look at Mitch, or her mother. Crossing her legs at the ankles, she stared at the navy blue silk covering her lap. Why did I wear such a dark color today? she thought irrationally. I should have dressed in something optimistic, like hot pink.

  Maybe that’s why she’d never envisioned herself wearing one of her own gowns. Optimism was a trait she undervalued, and with good reason.

  She stood. “If you’re trying to say that you somehow are behind Mitch not showing up for our date, I can only say that he certainly didn’t mind his dates being switched.” He’d kissed Kathryn, and that didn’t speak to a heartbroken condition. She leaned down to kiss her mother’s forehead. “I have to go feed my pets and let them outside. Please rest until the nurses come and get you for surgery. Aunt Elle and Uncle Martin will be here soon, and I’ll be here when you wake
up.”

  She turned and practically ran from the room.

  Bess stared at Mitch. “It’s really you I need to talk to now.”

  He shook his head ruefully. “You’re working at full speed. I’ll never be able to get this whole thing straightened out with Crystal.”

  “I know it won’t be easy. But Mitch, whether you know it or not, I did you both a huge favor. At least, I thought I did. You both had a chance to get out into the world and prove yourselves. Young love would never have lasted through the stress of college and med school and everything else. You and Crystal deserved to see some of the world without being held back.”

  “That sounds like rationalization.”

  She tapped him on the wrist. “It wouldn’t have lasted then, but there’s every chance it could now.”

  “I don’t know. She’s pretty determined not to give me a shot.”

  “Crystal has a right to be mad, but now that she knows I had some hand in it, maybe she’ll be a bit more forgiving. Especially once she knows the whole story.”

  “I don’t give it much hope.”

  “I want you to talk to her. In fact, I want you to propose to her quite seriously. Make her understand how much you care for her. For my sake.” She drew a deep breath. “I know you care for her. And she cares for you. You two were never good at hiding anything.”

  He grinned. “Would an engagement between us make you happy?”

  “Absolutely. I could die happy then.”

  Reaching over, he tweaked her cheek. “You’re not dying.”

  “Maybe not, but there are some goals I haven’t achieved in my life, and I’d like to do it before I am on my deathbed. Such as grandchildren.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  “Seventeen was too young. But Crystal’s thirty and that’s just about right,” Bess said with satisfaction. “I’m sure she wants children.”

  He laughed out loud. She eyed him distrustfully.

  “Since I am on my deathbed, and since I have gone to the trouble of confessing my ill deed, the two of you getting back together would be the perfect ending to the matter,” she insisted. “She’s never gotten over you,” she said more softly. “Surely a mother is allowed one last machination in her life?”

  “We’re talking about Crystal here,” he reminded her. “I don’t think there’s much motivation for her to marry me, machination or no.”

  “Well, I can’t do everything for you, Mitch McStern! That one you’ll have to work out on your own.”

  He covered her hand with his. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “What I wish you’d do is perform this surgery,” she said irritably. “I really am frightened out of my wits.”

  “You need to follow your doctor’s suggestions,” he said gently. “And besides, I’ll need my full attention if I’m to win Crystal over, right?”

  She didn’t look convinced. “You’re just cosseting me because I’m scared. I don’t think you have any intention at all of convincing Crystal to marry you. I just know she’d say yes, once she gets over her pride.”

  Mitch smiled. Crystal was more complicated than that. The part of the story Bess had unloaded was small compared to the whole. He wasn’t certain Crystal hadn’t built up enough wall between them to keep him from ever breaking through the fortress.

  He’d have to do it brick by brick.

  “I was kind of hoping you’d ask her soon,” Bess said, her voice tired and weak. “If Crystal’s wearing an engagement ring by the time I wake up, I just know my recovery would go much smoother. I might actually live.”

  She closed her eyes. Mitch started to make a standard teasing remark, then held it back. Silently, he stroked her wrist.

  Doctor to patient, he realized she really believed she was on her deathbed, or approaching it. And that she was paying the price for what she’d done all those years ago. Somehow, fear had mixed into her guilt and made a powerful cocktail of foreboding.

  He sighed, put her hand gently on her abdomen and decided to pay a visit to Crystal.

  For Bess’s sake—and his own.

  WHEN CRYSTAL OPENED the door, Mitch could tell she’d been crying. He could also tell she’d been using the dogs as tissues because their coats were moist and she had a few pieces of collie fur stuck to her wet cheek. “How about a sleeve instead?” he asked, and held up his arm.

  To his shock, she came into his arms and burst into tears against his chest.

  His eyebrows shot up. Crystal sobbed against his chest, and Mitch decided he kind of liked being a human tissue. “Let me take you inside,” he suggested softly, maneuvering her around shaggy bodies. He closed the door with his foot and took her to the overstuffed sofa. “Did I ever tell you that you look beautiful in fur?” he asked her.

  “Oh, Mitch.” She stopped crying on a laugh, accepted a tissue he swiped from the end table but kept her head against his shoulder. “Do you ever say anything serious during a serious situation?”

  “Probably not,” he said, stroking her back, manfully ignoring the urge to trace her bra strap. He’d been able to undo Crystal’s bra with one hand, a feat of which he’d been enormously proud as a teenager. He suspected he could still do it, and that her breasts were still as sweet and pliable as they’d been before. He tried to push that memory aside. “It’s part of my bedside manner to treat serious situations with some levity. Laughter is the best medicine, you know. That and a healthy dose of prayer is the secret to my success.”

  She smiled and wiped mascara from under her eyes. “I’m not a cardiac patient, so you can quit being a comedian.”

  He sighed and leaned back against the sofa. “I’ll try. Why are you crying? Your mother or your mother?”

  “My mother, and you’re not trying very hard to be serious,” she mock scolded. “She’s got me upset with all her deathbed talk. Choosing now to confess doesn’t reassure me. And I would rather not have known.”

  “Prefer to see me as the villain, do you?”

  “Yes.” She gave him a sidelong glance. “I do. You are, no matter how much Mother tries to paint you with a white hat. She’s just trying to get me married off, and she’s not above fitting us together any way she has to.” She shook her head at him, her smile disappearing. “Isn’t that the most awful thought?”

  He didn’t think so, and it irritated him that she did. “I like the idea of being married to you.”

  She gazed at him, her expression unsure.

  “In fact, I came over here to propose to you.” He glanced down at the three dogs at his feet eyeing him steadily. “Do I have to ask them for your hand in marriage?”

  She got up and shooed all the pets out into the backyard. Closing the door, she turned to look at him. “Mitch, I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth. You went out with my best friend and dumped me. I know the circumstances were dire and I’m sure everyone acted as nobly as possible considering, but I could never trust you to be there for me, no matter what. Your personality is too easygoing, you don’t have a serious bone in your body except when it comes to your sisters’ choice of husbands, and you and I have nothing in common anymore.” She went into the kitchen, so he followed, watching as she took down a hand-painted teacup. Silently, she made tea, finding a mug in the cupboard that had a picture of a collie on it for him. He sat at the kitchen table, his gaze on her behind as she worked at the stove.

  “We have past history,” he said softly. “We’re from the same place.”

  “Then I could marry Frankie or Barney. In fact, Barney wants to marry me and then I’d still make my mother happy.” She perked up, swiveling to face him. “Barney understands just what kind of marriage I need, too. This may be the best plan yet. I make my mother happy so she can heal because her only daughter is married, and yet I rebel in one tiny sense by not marrying the man she’s recently handpicked for me.”

  “I don’t like the thought of you rebelling,” he said morosely. “I’m pretty sure you should listen to your mother. I�
�ve heard mothers know best.”

  “But,” Crystal said triumphantly, “she didn’t know best prom night, did she? She thought she did, but even she admitted she messed up.”

  He scratched his head. “She may have known best, Crystal. And I’m finding it difficult to see you with Barney.”

  “You won’t have to. I’ll keep the curtains closed.”

  His mouth dropped open as she handed him the mug of steaming tea. “You’re not serious.”

  “If my being married will help Mother get better, I most certainly am serious.” Crystal sat at the table, her expression sublime. “I see Barney in a charcoal-gray tux with long tails, don’t you?”

  He banged his mug down onto the wooden surface of the table, sloshing tea. “Crystal, you are one hardhearted lady. Did you know that? And as a physician who certainly understands the ins and outs of the mitral valves and every other function of the organ, I am certainly baffled by yours.”

  She smiled at him with mischievous delight. “I really don’t want to get married. Some women don’t. Look at your sister, for example. Your expectations nearly forced Janet into a miserable marriage.”

  “She’s the one who said yes, for crying out loud! I wasn’t even in the room when Hiram proposed!”

  “Yes, but when Janet had second thoughts, she was afraid to call if off because she knew how upset you’d be. And she was right.”

  “I still think you had a big hand in that. You could have convinced her that marriage to a smart, well-respected doctor was a good thing. Instead, you encouraged her to give one of my peers the boot!” He glared at her. “In fact, I’m still upset with you about that. How many women pass up a man like Hiram?”

  “I would,” she said softly. “I would pass up a smart, well-respected doctor if I didn’t love him.”

  He drummed his fingers on the table. After a moment, he said, “What did you mean when you said that Barney understood what you needed?”