The Sullivans: Always On My Mind Part 20

One by one, they took their places on the darkened stage and when the lights slowly came up, the audience saw them not as dancers, but as beautiful wildflowers in red and orange, yellow and purple. All around the flowers the wild green gra.s.ses swayed in the breeze. The score the orchestra played sounded like the ocean on a clear day, with children playing with buckets and pails in the sand and seagulls flying above the gently crashing waves.

On a crack of thunder from the percussion section, the bright, sunny lighting gave way to a sudden storm, blue lights and whisper-thin streamers beginning to rain down from above the stage. To the crashing sound of the waves and the hard pellets of rain, the flowers and gra.s.ses gave in to the wildness of the storm, even more beautiful now as they were blown hard by the wind, soaked by the rain.

And then, suddenly, the smallest wildflower was ripped from the ground by the wind. She was blowing away from the rest of them, when from the center of the group, the largest, most powerful blade of gra.s.s reached for her.

He cradled her against him in a beautiful dance of protection and love as the storm continued to rage, and then, when the storm waned and the sun emerged again, he finally set the brightly colored flower free to fly away.

Oh, how beautiful that wildflower was as she flew, higher and higher in that bright, pure sunlight. The other flowers, the gra.s.ses, watched her dance through the sky, as they knew she'd dreamed of doing all her life.

The sun was setting and the flowers were closing their petals, the gra.s.ses already collecting dew in the cool night, when the wildflower emerged again in the dark sky. She'd always dreamed of flying, but one perfect dance in a storm had given her new dreams.

She still wanted to fly...but she no longer wanted to do it alone.

And then the wildflower and the blade of gra.s.s were coming together again, wrapping themselves around each other in a dance of love that was just as beautiful beneath the calm moon as it had been in the rain and the wind.

That was when the lights came up enough for Lori to see the ruggedly beautiful man in the front row. Grayson was surrounded by men in tuxes and women in sequins, but in his flannel shirt and dark jeans and cowboy boots, he was the one who shone.

She'd ch.o.r.eographed this dance to celebrate the beauty of his land and to bask in the pa.s.sion they'd discovered together on a stormy afternoon. Now, she danced only for him, the wildflower that had been blowing off course, until his love had shown her exactly where she needed to be.

With him.

Forever.

Grayson was waiting in the wings when Lori came off stage, and she flew into his arms.

She'd said I love you to him in a dozen different ways during the dance, and now he was the one saying, "I love you. You're everything to me, Lori. Everything."

He didn't let go of her hand as she went to congratulate her dancers on the phenomenal job they'd done, couldn't have stopped touching her for anyone in the world, even when she went out of her way to embarra.s.s him by saying, "Everyone, this is Grayson, the hottest farmer you'll ever-"

Of course the only way to shut her up was with a kiss, so right there in front of thirty strangers, he tugged her close and covered her mouth with his.

Everyone was applauding and hooting and hollering by the time he finally let her up for air, and while Lori worked to get her breath back, he said, "It's nice to meet you all. I was blown away by your performance."

Just then, a slim man dressed in a silver-blue suit rushed up and threw his arms around Lori. "Amazing, Lori. Simply amazing! Just as I knew you'd be. People can't stop talking about your program." When he realized that Lori's hand was connected to Grayson's, the man pursed his mouth into an appreciative O. "And who is this gorgeous hunk of yours?"

Seeing the gleam in Lori's eye that told him she would say anything she needed to if it would egg him into giving her another kiss, Grayson held out his hand. "I'm a big fan of yours, Carter. And even more so now that I know what great taste you have in ch.o.r.eographers."

The man's eyes widened as he blushingly thanked Grayson for the praise. He air-kissed them both on both cheeks in his characteristically dramatic way before running off to keep watch over the rest of his production.

When the two of them were finally alone again, Grayson stroked his hand over Lori's cheek and said, "I know a great pizza place around the corner. Best pepperoni you'll ever have."

She quickly changed and they headed outside. Holding each other, in sweet silence they walked down the crowded sidewalk and turned into a smaller side street. They pa.s.sed the jewelry store where Leslie had exclaimed over diamond earrings and he'd surprised her with them on their first anniversary. They'd often eaten at this pizza place during finals in college.

But instead of being followed by a ghost, it felt more like Leslie was an angel watching over them.

Grayson knew he'd never be a man of too many words, but from here on out he planned for every one he said to Lori to matter. Once they were sitting on stools at a tiny booth with dripping, steaming slices of pizza in front of them, he told her, "I never thought I could be in the middle of New York City and my farm at the same time. But as you danced I was there, Lori, right back in that storm, holding you in my arms, wanting to keep you safe and knowing you needed to fly free again. All this time, I thought one had to give up for the other, that it was impossible for them ever to connect."

There was so much more he wanted to tell her, so much he had to say, but he'd never had much practice at it, and the words got stuck in his throat. Thank G.o.d Lori had always heard everything he didn't know how to say.

"According to my mom, when I was two-" She picked up her slice of pizza and jammed a huge bite into her mouth. "Oh, my G.o.d!" she exclaimed after she'd chewed and swallowed in clear rapture. "This really is the best pepperoni in the world!" She mmm'd and ah'd over the pizza until, finally, she continued her earlier sentence. "I used to think the word impossible was actually two words. Evidently I would dance and twirl around the house declaring I'm possible! over and over until everyone was going crazy."

"I know how that feels," he said in a low voice that clearly didn't scare her in the least, because she stuck out her tongue at him in response.

"So," she asked as she picked up what was left of her enormous slice and gave him a soft smile, "how is she?"

Of course Lori would know where he'd been today without his saying a word. It was one of the many reasons why they were so perfect together. He was a man who didn't say much, and she was a woman who knew how to listen to a look, a touch, a glance. A kiss. And, tonight, he knew exactly what she was doing, talking and teasing and eating as though his being here with her in the city that held all of his personal demons was perfectly normal. He'd never met anyone who was so openly emotional, or so willing to share her heart.

He could see how much every one of her dancers, and the show's producer, adored her. And for good reason. Lori was completely adorable, even with grease dripping from the corner of her greedy mouth.

He wiped it away with the tip of his finger before saying, "She asked if you were pretty."

Lori looked absolutely delighted with that, even as her eyes grew soft and a little misty with emotion. "You really do have great taste in women, you know."

Grayson knew he hadn't done everything he needed to do yet. He still needed to sit down and talk with Leslie's parents, and his parents were in Europe, so he couldn't introduce Lori to them. But while talking to Leslie at her grave hadn't been easy, it hadn't destroyed him, either. He'd come back, soon, to say the rest of what he should have said so many years ago, to everyone he should have said it to.

But this time, he'd have Lori by his side every step of the way, along with an angel watching over both of them.

He reached for his pizza, but his plate was empty. Of course, he knew just where to look for it: in Lori's mouth.

"You weren't eating it," she said with her mouth full.

Even as he growled at her to give up his slice or else, he knew she was right.

He really did have great taste in women.

Chapter Twenty-six.

Grayson didn't know if he'd ever get used to being with a woman so beautiful that she turned heads everywhere they went, and so friendly that half the people on the plane home from New York now had an invitation to come visit the farm. But even though there was no question that life with Lori would be a h.e.l.l of a lot to handle, he did know one thing for sure: Just as her mother had told him, she was worth all the struggles and frustrations that came with loving her.

Smart woman, that Mary Sullivan. No wonder she'd raised eight great kids. Grayson looked forward to spending time with her over the coming years.

He'd figured Lori would want to go by her apartment to pick up some of her favorite things, but when she said she was too antsy to get back to the farm-and that moving their sister's stuff was what big brothers were for-they headed straight to Pescadero from the airport. Although they did make one quick stop at the airport's rental-car office, where she smacked a kiss straight on the lips of the very surprised woman behind the counter.

"You were right. Pescadero was amazing!" Lori had gestured to Grayson, and he would have kissed her to shut her up again, but she'd been having such a good time that he let her say, "Look what I found there."

The woman looked from Lori to him in confusion for a moment, before her lips curved up into a big smile. "And to think, all I ever came home with from Pescadero was a sack of organic carrots and some pretty pictures of the coast."

In his truck, Lori had turned on the local country station way too loud and was singing along in an equally loud, off-key voice, when she suddenly cried, "Stop the truck!"

The dire tone of her voice had him slamming his foot on the brake. Before he knew it, she was scrambling out of her seat and running across the road after what looked to be a white plastic bag.

He leapt out of the car and hollered, "Get out of the road!" Of course, she didn't listen, not until she'd finally caught the tumbling bag in her hands.

When she turned back to him, her expression broke his heart. "It's a kitten." She tore open the bag all the way and scooped out a little ball of fur, telling it, "You're safe now."

Grayson kept an eye out for oncoming traffic on the two-lane farm road as he went to her. Lori was already sneezing, but he knew that wasn't why her eyes were wet.

"Sweetpea sent her to us." She kissed the fluff between its ears. "She looks like a Millie, don't you think?"

"Actually, I was thinking he looks like a Bob."

She grinned at him and nodded, and for a moment he thought maybe she was going to agree with him. That is, until she said, "Come on, Milliebob, let's go home."

For the rest of the drive, she chattered to the kitten-whom he swore he'd never, ever call Milliebob, even as he knew he'd be breaking the vow by week's end-telling the little cat all about the farm and the other animals and how much she was going to love it there. As soon as he pulled up, Lori jumped out of the truck to take the kitten to meet the pigs she'd named after her brothers and sisters.

Later that evening as they walked outside, hand in hand, to be together in the cool, dark silence that you could only get on a thousand acres, Lori told him, "I really missed it here."

Her voice was full of awe at the beauty all around them. An hour ago, she'd been covered in mud and had been as happy as a pig in it. Now she was fresh from the shower he'd given her out by the barn, one that had started with soap and ended with pleasure.

Lori stopped short as they pa.s.sed the large grove of oak trees and she saw the new foundation he'd been putting in. "What's this?"

He'd missed her like crazy every second she'd been in Chicago and New York City, so much that he'd thrown himself into this huge new project, praying with every board he'd cut for the forms, every nail he'd hammered, that she'd actually come back to him.

"A studio. For you. And your dancers."

She threw her arms and legs around him and was about to kiss him when the night sky suddenly lit up so much that they both turned to look up at it.

"A shooting star!" Her eyes shone with excitement and happiness as she gazed down at him. "What did you wish for?"

Standing in the middle of wildflowers and blades of dark green gra.s.s beneath the stars, Grayson pulled a ring out of his pocket. "I wished for you to be mine. Always."

And as Lori told him she'd always been his, and promised that she always would be, the two of them danced together on a thousand-acre stage beneath the spotlight of the moon.

Three months later...

"Now that every Sullivan from around the world has arrived for our family reunion," Lori said to Grayson, "do I need to get you a bag to hyperventilate into?"

Despite the dozens of Sullivans and spouses and kids and animals running loose all around them, Grayson wrapped a lock of Lori's long hair around his fingers and tugged her closer, as if they were the only two people in the world. "I've got a much better idea for what to do with my mouth."

Even though they'd kissed approximately a trillion times during the past three months, it felt like the first time all over again as Lori's heart raced, she lost her breath, and her toes tingled in her cowboy boots while her fiance showed her, yet again, just how much he loved her.

"Seriously, though," she said when he finally let her come up for air and her synapses had begun to fire again, "you're amazing for agreeing to have so many people here on your farm."

"Not my farm. Our farm." He stroked her hair one last time, then moved his hand down past her shoulder and over her arm to leave a path of tingles all across her skin, before he slid his fingers through hers. "And you know I like your family." He lowered his cowboy hat against the bright sunlight as he looked out at the huge group of Sullivans. "Even if there are a whole h.e.l.l of a lot of them."

Just then, she saw one more rental car pull into the makeshift parking area they'd set up by the side of the barn. Grayson's mother and father got out. His hand tightened slightly in hers and she lifted it to her mouth to press a kiss to it before saying, "I'm so glad your parents happened to plan their trip for this weekend, too." It had been a surprising coincidence of timing when he'd told her about their travel plans, but of course she'd been thrilled by the news.

Not wanting the Tylers to feel at all out of place around her big family, she made sure to hurry over to give each of them a warm hug. "I'm so glad you could come for a visit." When she and Grayson had visited them on their estate in New York a month earlier, she'd been able to see just how much they loved their son, even if they weren't great at saying the words aloud. Just as she'd known better than to wait for Grayson to invite her into his heart, she knew she couldn't let him and his parents wait any longer for each other, either.

He shook his father's hand and put his arms around his mother, and Lori happily noticed that they all held on just a little bit longer than they had a month ago. People said miracles couldn't happen overnight, but wasn't that how quickly love had blossomed between her and Grayson? And hadn't life always been one miracle tumbling and leaping after another, from her family to dancing to her little nieces and nephews to the man standing beside her?

A few moments later, her mother was there to welcome Gina and Brent Tyler. Lori loved watching the effect her mother had on people-the way she immediately made them feel relaxed and appreciated.

"You raised a wonderful son," Mary Sullivan told the Tylers. "Every single day I'm so happy that he and Lori found each other."

As Grayson drew Lori even closer and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, his mother's eyes grew damp. "Yes," she agreed, "they are a perfect match, aren't they?"

Funny, right then it looked as though his parents and her mother and then Grayson, too, were all sharing a secret look. Suddenly, her mother turned to Lori and said, "Did you hear about the great surprise your sister put together for the girls? She brought in several hairdressers and makeup artists to fix all of us up before the big family pictures are taken. They're all set up and waiting for us in your new dance studio."

"That sounds fun," Lori said, even though she couldn't figure out why her twin would have any interest at all in something like that, considering Sophie wore almost no makeup and rarely needed to do anything to her long, glossy hair to make it look great. "Can you let her know I'll head over later? First I'd like to give Grayson's parents a tour of the-"

Grayson cut off her sentence in his favorite way: with a kiss. Sometimes she would run off at the mouth even when she had nothing whatsoever to say, just to score more kisses.

"Go with your mother," he told her. "I'll show my parents around."

She had thought he'd want her there with his parents as a buffer, just in case things got awkward again, but now she realized he probably wanted some alone time with them. "Okay." Only, when she went to walk away, he didn't let go of her hand.

She looked down at their entwined hands and was about to make a funny comment about his needing to let go of her when she looked up into his face.

The sheer depth of the love in his eyes had her forgetting everything except her own love for him. Her mother's arm around her waist was the only reason she could have walked away from him just then.

"You really did find a wonderful man, honey," Mary said as they headed off toward the studio Grayson had built for her. "It's hard to believe he hasn't always been a part of the family, isn't it?"

Over the past three months, Lori had watched a truly special bond develop between her fiance and her mother. She figured part of it was that they had both lost a spouse and understood each other's pain in a way that other people never would. But just as her mother had said, their relationship went deeper than that. Grayson was already family-a total guy with her brothers, the sweetest uncle-to-be ever to the babies and Summer, and always there to help out a Sullivan in need.

"I can hardly wait to marry him," she told her mother. "If I could, I'd do it today."

A few moments later, the two of them stepped in through the door of the studio. Several of the best hair and makeup artists that her brother Chase had worked with over the years were already working their magic on Sophie, Nicola, Chloe, Megan and her eight-year-old daughter Summer, Heather, Vicki, and Valentina. Growing up, Lori had always longed for more than one sister, and every day she gave thanks for the amazing women her brothers had found.

Summer clapped her hands and said, "Lori's here!" Megan's eyes got big for a moment before she leaned over to whisper something to Summer that had her daughter smiling and zipping her fingers across her lips.

"Your farm is amazing," Nicola said as she handed Lori a gla.s.s of champagne and led her over to an empty chair. "What a great place for a family reunion."

Lori knew how much Marcus's pop-star fiancee loved his vineyard in Napa, and that her brother loved touring the world with Nicola just as much. "Just wait until you get out there with the pigs," Lori teased her soon-to-be sister-in-law. "You're going to love the one I named Marcus. He keeps all the other pigs in the pen safe and sound."

She'd taken pictures of each of the pigs and given them as gifts to their namesakes in special frames, knowing her siblings would love it. Her brothers and sister hadn't let her down-each of the pictures were now displayed on their mantels along with their other family pictures.

There were few things Lori loved more than being surrounded by her friends and family. This family reunion had already made the short list of the best days of her life. Meeting Grayson was, of course, at the very top.

As the makeup artist and hairdresser both got to work on her, Lori sipped her champagne and listened in on the half-dozen conversations going on around her-about dogs and kids and car races and new sculptures and movie sets. Clearly, she thought as she took in the extra-big smiles and happy voices, everyone was having just as much fun at the reunion as she was. And the farm had been the perfect place to host it.

"Wow," Summer said as she came over a short while later when her hair and makeup were done, "you look so beautiful, Aunt Lori."

Lori smiled at one of her favorite kids in the whole wide world. "You do, too. I love your crown of wildflowers. It's so pretty."

Summer was holding something behind her back and gave Megan a quick glance. When her mother nodded, she held it out to Lori. "I made you one, too."

Lori was beyond touched. "You're the best! Can you put it on me?" She bent her head down so that Summer could reach the top of it.