Free Sunrise by Karen Kingsbury Page B

we get input?” Katy kept her tone light. “Or do we tell her what we want and she does the rest?”
    Dayne released her hand and sat straighter. There was no denying his excitement as he talked about having Wilma on their side. “She’ll do as much or as little as we want.” His eyes lit up, the way they always did when they talked about the wedding. “She’s flying into Indianapolis on Monday, meeting us at the Hyatt.”
    The meeting at the Hyatt had all the makings of a media circus. She wrinkled her nose. “What about the press?”
    “Wilma’s coming with ideas.” Dayne slid a little closer. His voice told her there was nothing to worry about and no need to talk about the wedding further until they had their meeting with Wilma. “The main thing is privacy. After my accident . . . I want to keep it a secret from the tabloids. If they find out . . .” He looked away for a few seconds. “If they find out, it’ll be like having the person who tried to kill you crash the biggest day of your life.” His tone was still gentle, but the muscles in his jaw flexed. “I won’t have it.”
    Katy understood. Until Thanksgiving, they’d been so consumed with getting Dayne well enough to walk, well enough to fly to Bloomington, that there had been no talk about the wedding or flowers or cakes or churches. None of the usual things an engaged couple talked about. And now—clearly—Dayne trusted Wilma Waters. They could share their ideas with her, and she would have the momentous task of helping them plan a secret ceremony. It didn’t matter where that would take place—at Bloomington Community Church or on the lawn of their lake house—so much as that they pulled off that one crucial detail.
    Keeping it from the press.
    Dayne was rubbing his leg, the one he’d nearly lost in the accident.
    “Does it hurt?”
    “A little.” He smiled, but his face was shadowed by a look that was common since he woke from his coma. “The game was probably a little much.”
    Feelings welled up inside Katy. Pride for how far he’d come since the accident and sorrow over how close she’d been to losing him. In some ways, she still couldn’t believe that they were here, having the most normal of days. Katy put her hand on his knee. She wanted to know if she was right about the look in his eyes. “You’re thinking about the accident.”
    Dayne’s emotions were raw and easy to read. Indebtedness for all the hours she’d spent by his side, praying for him, believing he’d pull through. And a love so strong and honest it almost hurt. He covered her hand with his. “Am I that obvious?”
    “There’s a look you get.” Katy tilted her head, hoping he could feel the way her heart went out to him. “I always figure you’re thinking about the accident when I see that look.”
    Dayne averted his gaze. “Sometimes I see it happening again. I’m driving along, and Randi Wells is in front of me, and I see the paparazzi come up on either side of her.” He blinked and turned back to Katy. “They’re pressing in on her, trying to snap a picture at forty miles an hour, and she’s jerking her car left and right, all nervous. The rest of it happened too fast to remember, except for the truck . . . the way it came straight at me. I can see that the same as I did when it happened.”
    Katy didn’t say anything for a while. She held his knee a little tighter and swallowed back a wave of sadness and terror. The accident so easily could’ve killed him. “Sometimes I can’t believe you’re really here. That you’re well enough to even sit beside me.”
    “The part that still needs work is my heart.” He made a frustrated face. “I keep thinking I’m over it, not angry at the paparazzi anymore. They were just doing their job, you know?”
    “But they were doing it illegally.” Katy felt her own anger ignite. “What happened that day was completely their fault.”
    “I said that exact thing to Bob the other day when he