“Generous of you. The album might come in handy.” Sara’s wise-owl eyes never left his face. “But surely you understand what’s involved? You were about to be married. You must have consulted with your fiancée, made joint decisions.”
That made him laugh.
“If you’d known Marnie, you wouldn’t have said that. She was the ultimate organizer and she did not like her plans interfered with. That was fine by me. Some stuff was going on at the ranch at the time and I was glad to let her handle all the details. I didn’t care how, as long as we got married.” He made a face. “I wish now I’d paid more attention.”
“You’ve known a lot of loss.”
“I’ve known a lot of happiness,” he corrected. “I thank God for that every day.”
Sara’s face closed up like a clam, her eyes dropped to her worksheet. Cade wondered what he’d said wrong.
“It isn’t possible to ask Karen’s preferences on anything?”
Cade shook his head.
“She and Trent were leaving base for a new mission the day she e-mailed me. I can leave messages, but I can’t contact her directly. Even if I could, there wouldn’t be any point.”
“Because?”
“Because all Karen and Trent care about is getting married as soon as they get home. That’s why I want everything in place.” He wouldn’t give up, not yet. “I don’t want my sister to elope because it’s easier. I want her to come home, to walk her down the aisle of the church we grew up in. I want to hand her care over to her husband.”
Not strictly accurate, but Cade pushed past the half truth to continue.
“I want her to have precious memories of her wedding day that she can take out and treasure when the tough patches come.”
At last Sara lifted her head and met his gaze.
“It’s going to be a lot of work.”
Cade’s heart bumped with relief. That meant she was going to help, didn’t it?
“Life is a lot of work. But family matters, and when you do something for them, the payoff on their faces makes the work seem like play.” He studied her. “You must know that yourself.”
“I must, mustn’t I?” Sara agreed dourly, her concentration on the scribbles she placed on her notepad.
The chagrin tingeing her voice surprised Cade. He studied her profile, followed one of her golden ringlets to its resting place on her narrow shoulder. Sara Woodward had the kind of soft, wistful beautiful many women tried to erase.
Perhaps she—
A movement outside caught Cade’s attention and he blinked at the man who peered through the glass.
“Isn’t that your brother, Reese, father of the infamous twins?”
Sara’s head jerked up. She twisted to get a better look. When she turned back, her almost-black eyes glittered with indignation.
“Yes, it’s Reese.” Sara squished her napkin into a ball. “Sometimes I wish I’d never left L.A.”
Her whisper shocked Cade. Fairly certain she hadn’t been talking to him, he didn’t press because her face looked as if she’d lost her best friend.
Sara’s narrow shoulders drooped. The soft cream silk blouse shifted, revealing her slim neck and the delicate silk scarf she’d tucked in there. Cade didn’t know much about fashion, but he was fairly certain that particular hue of Caribbean orange wasn’t in vogue at the moment. Yet on Sara it looked exactly right—vibrant, warm, full of potential.
He wondered why she’d chosen the shade. Actually he had a thousand questions about his wedding planner.
“What do you do when you’re in L.A., Sara?”
She blinked. Big innocent doe eyes, an unusual combination with that blond hair, widened.
“Do?” Her cheekbones turned a richer pink. “Um…”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” He’d only just met the woman and now he was prying? Loneliness wasn’t an excuse. “I’m getting too personal. Sorry.”
“It’s not a secret. I’m a makeup artist for a movie studio. I’m trying to break into special effects, though.” She said it defiantly, as if she expected him to offer some negative remark on her choice of career.
“Cool.” Cade asked the first thing he thought of. “Ever worked with the stars?”
“Once or twice.” Her eyelids drooped, shielding her thoughts. One short oval nail tapped against the tabletop.
Sara might not like his questions, but at least she hadn’t told him to mind his own business. Cade pressed on.
“I’m guessing it’s a challenging field.”
“It can be.” She lifted her chin and her face transformed, skin glowing, eyes shining with excitement. “That’s what I like about it. It’s a chance to prove you can change things, make them into what you want. I never tire of that.”
The hint of defiance underlying her words reminded him of Karen on the day she’d announced she’d enlisted. Determination. Grit. Challenge.
Sara’s fingertips tightened around her cup of barely touched coffee.
“I’m going to get into special effects. As soon as I can figure out how.”
“I’m sure you will.” He remembered an earlier comment. “It was nice of you to put your dream on hold to help out while your grandmother recuperates.”
“I didn’t want to.” Soft pink deepened to a rose blush.
“But you came anyway. That’s true commitment.” Cade studied the pure clear shape of her face. “Surely there must be a call for your kind of work in Denver?”
“For makeup. But I’m trying to get into special effects. That means Hollywood.”
“I see.”
“Do you?” Sara Woodward’s velvet brown eyes challenged him to understand.
And Cade didn’t, though he wished he could.
For him, family came right behind his love for God. Although his parents had been gone for fifteen years, he still treasured the family moments he could recall, happy, laughing moments when it seemed as if they’d always be there, providing the love and security he’d taken for granted.
The same love he’d showered on Karen as he tried to protect her.
He’d compared them, but Cade now realized Sara Woodward was nothing like his sister. Karen was a product of her environment, strong and tough like the land abutting the Rockies. Sara, with her dainty figure, exotic scarf and that mass of bouncing golden curls, was more like one of Karen’s delicate porcelain wedding dolls, the ones that belonged in a glass box on a high shelf where the hard knocks of life could not reach.
And yet, in the depths of Sara’s eyes he caught a glimpse of a woman with inner fire and determination. But she was not comfortable with her world.
Cade couldn’t make the pieces fit. Sara had family here, guaranteed job security in the family business. She had at least one sister and one brother that he knew of, and a grandmother who could be called upon if needed. Everything he longed for.
So why did she seem so desperate to run away from them?
“Families are precious.