As Lenore and her housekeeper conveniently slipped into the kitchen to clean up, Angie found herself facing Ross. His expression said it all: now that the house was officially hers, he hoped to continue this celebration all night in a very private, exciting way that sparkled in his blue eyes. Angie had no doubt it would be a fortieth birthday to remember.
And yet…as she recalled other birthdays spent tiptoeing around Gregg’s temper…the way the stairs in that little house had creaked when she’d discovered Rita’s sneaky destruction…
“I…I want to spend tonight, my first night in…my own house, by myself.” She looked Ross in the eye, hoping he’d see her love instead of feeling let down. Or, God forbid, that she was ungrateful of the huge gift he’d given her. Had Ross and her father not jumped in, she might’ve been paying a hefty mortgage for the next thirty years, and she didn’t want to think about how old that would make her.
“It’s a rite-of-passage thing,” she explained. “Time for my thoughts to jell while I let this big birthday settle in. A chance to let go of my past fears and feel secure there, by myself. I do love you, Ross. Do you believe that?”
“Yeah, I…” He walked away then, and his sigh spoke volumes.
She nearly called him back as the door shut behind him. Was this really the time to do this? To insist on being alone, after a wonderful evening of fun and friendship had led her to a night she’d dreamed of for so long?
Her own sigh lingered in the quiet parlor. She went upstairs to pack an overnight bag, hoping she hadn’t just blown her biggest chance at happiness.
Twenty-Nine
ROSS sat alone in his idling car, facing the ocean. Twitching with the need to drive over to Angie’s. Yeah, she’d said she loved him, had a legitimate enough reason on the surface to spend this first night in that bungalow all by herself. But it didn’t feel right. His body and soul were so attuned to hers now that he couldn’t always tell where Angie’s emotions began and his own kicked in. But he knew a dodge when he heard one.
I do love you…, she’d said, as though but had to follow, like the other shoe dropping. He turned off his engine. Let the sounds of the surf soothe him. No matter what Angie was really up to, he wouldn’t score any points by showing up to challenge her intentions.
He kicked off his wing tips, rolled his pant legs to his knees, and tossed his socks and fedora into the other seat. Wandered along the edge of the water to let it tickle his bare toes as he’d watched Angie do a dozen times. She loved it here and was destined to be in Harmony Falls with him, and they both knew it. So why did it bother him that she wanted her space this evening?
Because you wanted to be in her bed tonight and every night hereafter. This is not a higher motivation, guy. Comes from a place somewhat lower than your heart and soul.
He kicked the next little wave with his foot, splattering his pants. Why had he expected her to jump all over him in gratitude for a paid-off house? It wasn’t as though he’d been impressing her with his money. He’d just wanted his woman to feel secure after the lousy way she’d been treated by Gregg.
Maybe she’s thinks you’re controlling her. Making her feel obligated.
Ross sighed. Angie had just escaped from an abusive, controlling relationship with a real jerkball, and she was the type who didn’t want other folks to pay her way. She was taking pride in landing a new job and starting over under her own steam. She’d gotten back the money Gregg had stolen, and she could survive without him. She was stronger than she realized. Her time in Harmony Falls had only made her stronger.
Of course, she’d gone through a lot, too. It didn’t help that Rita had put her through so much. That would make any woman feel insecure: knowing her home had been invaded by a renegade ex-lover. And then there was the fact that Rita was Tyler’s mother. Ross didn’t blame Angie for wondering if she would really leave them be. God knows he’d tried to shake Rita off before and hadn’t succeeded. Angie had been gracious enough to pray instead of pressing charges tonight, but one more incident could convince her that Rita was a nutcase who’d never let go. And the truth was, when she went off her meds, nobody could predict what Ms. McQueen would do next.
And Angie had only known him—what, a month and a half? That time had flown by and they’d both been busy dealing with major life changes. How much sense did it make for her to rush into his arms like a fairy-tale heroine to a handsome prince? She’d just discovered her father after not knowing she’d been adopted, too. That required a huge adjustment, which she’d had little time to make. It made perfect sense that she’d want to spend some time alone and think.
Yet, he missed her. He wanted her here walking with him. Talking to him in her low, sweet voice. Smiling at him.
While he’d despised fighting with Rita, the despair he’d felt with her over the years was nothing compared to the aching void that opened in his soul at the idea of living without Angie Cavanaugh. She was already that much a part of him, that vital to his existence. He shivered with the thought of her deciding he wasn’t right for her.
Ross glanced in the direction of Windswept, but he’d walked farther down the shore than he realized while pondering this stuff. He imagined Angie sitting in one room and then the next, admiring the improvements she and her father had worked on, the curtains and furniture Lenore had helped her find. Home was a big deal to Angie. She was rooted in relationships and would need time to feather her nest—
Maybe for babies?
The thought was a surprise, and he laughed out loud. Sure, she was forty and he was older, and neither of them had been seriously considering other children, because their previous relationships weren’t right for it. But Angie was a natural for the part of mother. She had taken to Tyler right off, and had embraced Kyle as her father without reservation. The woman lived for love. She was love, embodied it in every emotional and earthy sense.
Ross stirred with an excitement that had no connection to sex. Life could be so good now, if he didn’t screw it up. He turned toward home again, toward Angie, with renewed enthusiasm. But it was nearly midnight. Too late now. But maybe tomorrow a reading with Lenore would show him the best approach to assure his woman she was safe and that he intended to make her happy from here to eternity. Into their next lifetimes together.
His phone rang, surprising him. He checked the number that crossed his screen, and grinned. “T.C.! What’s doing, son?”
“So…I’m not interrupting anything?”
Ross smirked and didn’t dignify the question with a reply.
“Okay, so I’ve got a proposition,” Tyler continued in a low, breezy voice. “Got this sudden urge for a trip to Italy, see, but I’m just a poor college kid. Know what I’m sayin’?”
Ross shook his head at the night sky. Sure, he was picking up all sorts of high vibes bubbling in his son’s voice, but his clairsentience didn’t fill in a few vital details. “Why do I suspect—?”
In the diamond-studded sky, a star shot off. Its tail streamed bright and beautiful, like a glimmering sign that something cosmic and momentous was in the works. Ross’s heart raced. Nothing was coincidence after all, and when the universe went to this length to send a signal, he paid attention.
He smiled. He had a feeling everything was going to be okay.
ANGIE stopped tossing in her bed and sat up. Memories streamed through her mind: music like she’d never heard, played for her; the rich sweetness of Elena’s cake and Ross’s kiss; the realization that she now owned a beach house, free and clear; the cold glimmer of metal handcuffs around Rita’s wrists. After a day filled with such startling events, no wonder she couldn’t sleep.
Something inexplicable prodded her to step out to her balcony, a quickening of some sort. Angie inhaled the scent of the sea and the freshness of the night air, filling her soul as she’d done hundreds of times since she was a child. Harmony Falls was home in many elemental ways, but questions remained. Questions the low murmur of the ocean could drown out but not answer.
> Maybe she should’ve brought Ross home with her.
Like you could hear your soul’s answers then, the voice in her head said. Moaning and panting, yes, but nothing that would direct your future.
A star burst forth like a skyrocket on the Fourth of July. Angie gaped, gripping the balcony rail. Had she really seen that, or was her imagination strung out from so many other startling events?
A sense of sudden, utter calm convinced her to believe. How many times had she demanded irrefutable signs, missing the answers that had been right in front of her all along? So this time she accepted the omen, was soothed by it, and she returned to bed and drifted into a deep, sweet sleep, convinced now that her life would work out as marvelously as Lenore had promised. Ross’s seductive smile floated in her mind.
“Angie! For God’s sake, let me in!”
She sprang upright, her head spinning. Had she really heard Ross, or was it a remnant of her very sexy dream?
“Please, sweetheart! We’ve got to talk!”
She rushed to the balcony, clutching her nightie around her in the early-morning chill. Below, Ross was raking his hand through his hair as though he feared for her life. Or his own.
“Is there a fire? Or—”
“You tell me! What the hell’s a Costello Realty sign doing in your yard?”
Angie blinked. “You better come in. Just a sec.”
On the way downstairs, she struggled for clarity. After that shooting star she must’ve slept like the dead. Yes, she recalled it as a sign that all was well in her world—could be downright perfect, in fact.
When she unlocked the kitchen door, Ross grabbed her hand. He trotted her down the hall and through the living room. “Honey, if I said something wrong, or if Rita called you, demanding—What’re these boxes? Don’t tell me you’re packing.”
His eyes looked wild and tired. Still wearing his rumpled white shirt, with that limp paisley tie dangling around his neck, he looked as if he’d barely survived an all-night kegger on the beach. His desperation made Angie nip her lip, amused. This man was deathly afraid she was leaving. It was rather endearing.
“Um…I could string you along, but—”
He grabbed her wrists, pressing her knuckles to his lips as he transfixed her with bottomless blue eyes. Then he pointed out the window. “Why the for-sale sign? What are you not telling me?”
Angie glanced at the sign by her sidewalk then back to the man whose connection with her was so strong he had no need to physically touch her. But she liked it this way. She liked feeling his hands on her, and she smiled sleepily. “I have no idea how that got there, Ross. Did Rita put it out as part of yesterday’s prank? Maybe we didn’t notice it because we were giving the sheriff a statement and getting Rita taken care of.”
The tension left his face, yet he still appeared wary. “I…A lot has happened since your party, and I was hoping…wasn’t expecting boxes, or any sign that you might…leave me for good this time—although nothing about that would be ‘good,’ damn it.” He sighed tiredly, his gaze still desperate. “Sorry. I’m babbling.”
She longed to throw her arms around this man who’d not only saved her life but set her on a path to a bright, shiny new one. What better time to ask the vital questions, though? Ross Costello must really be worried, if he hadn’t kissed her yet or remarked about her sheer nightie. What was he here for?
“So what’s going on?” she asked pointedly. “Has Rita called you? Because if she’s flipped out again—already told Dr. James where to shove those meds—I might as well pack my apartment stuff back into these boxes and—”
“Packing! Tyler’s helping her pack as we speak! Jeez—see how seeing you totally derailed my train of thought?” Ross laughed as if recent events were too good to be true. “Her sister in Garibaldi has been after her for years to read cards and help run a gift shop, and Rita’s decided to go. With Elliott’s blessing.”
Angie’s heart danced with hope, but she held still, not willing to breathe a sigh of relief just yet. “So…are we talking Garibaldi, as in Oregon? Just a few miles down the coast?”
“Italy. Garibaldi, Italy!” he exclaimed, squeezing her hands between his. “Tyler, that genius kid of mine, went to see how his mom was doing. Rita was on the phone talking to his aunt about how your prayers totally caught her off guard and made her feel better—more peaceful—than she’s been in years. Led to a serious chat with Elliott, and they did a tarot reading together, and all the cards pointed to a fresh start,” Ross recounted in a rush.
Angie gaped. He was serious about this—and he wasn’t finished being more excited than she’d ever seen him.
“You did this, Angie! You stood up to her with that love Lenore’s reminded us about, and now she and Tyler are going to Italy! He called me to help make plane reservations online—round-trip for him, and one-way for his mother. How do you like them apples! Didn’t I tell you everything would work out?”
Angie grinned, caught up in his contagious glee. But she wasn’t finished asking important questions. She’d jumped the gun before, falling for guys who didn’t share her dreams, and she’d learned. She was going to trust her heart but also be true to it. “So, what does that mean for us? What exactly are your intentions, Mr. Costello? My father’s not here to grill you, so I’ll do it for him, okay?”
“What do you—? Oh.” Ross relaxed. His bloodshot eyes took on a shine in the dawn’s early light, and even though he hadn’t shaved or slept, he was still the sexiest man Angie had ever seen. “I see your point, Ange. Two points, matter of fact,” he teased with a wolfish grin, glancing down at her chest. “As I was walking the beach last night, missing you, I was pondering exactly that question. I was pondering my intentions, pondering possibilities I never considered for all those years I endured Rita. And you know what?” he asked with sudden inspiration. “I realized that she and I—both of us on ‘five’ life paths but with different needs—had been butting heads and hearts for a reason. That relationship was teaching me patience and resourcefulness, all the things I needed to know so I’d be ready to help you overcome your fear of the sort of conflict and confrontation that are second nature to Rita. And here you are, a peacekeeper who’s finally standing up for herself—sending love and healing instead of cowering at the first sign of a fight.”
Angie smiled, liking the sound of this. He’d said quite a mouthful. Summed it up beautifully. But she wasn’t finished with him. “And?”
Ross’s mustache flickered. “Well, you already know I want to be with you. But would you believe I was thinking how wonderful it would be if we had children? Then, right that moment, I saw a shooting star. Right when Tyler called about Rita leaving for Italy! If that’s not a sign, I give up. The universe is all in line for us to be together.”
Angie felt a rush of pleasure, knowing it was true. She raised Ross’s knuckles to her lips, quivering. “I saw it, too. Something told me to get out of bed and look outside, and there it was.”
“See? It was for both us.” His ecstatic sigh made her insides shimmer, with his love, with his nearness, with his need for her. For her and nobody else. This man was putting her first in his life in a way Gregg never had…and he could talk about magical, mystical stuff that her soul had always yearned to hear.
“I intend to be your man, Angie. I will be your forever lover, your always husband, as soon as the time’s right to ask. As soon as you’re ready. Because I won’t settle for less than your total commitment, either.” He teased the tip of her nose with a kiss. “We’ll live here in this cool little house you’ve turned into a home, because it feels warmer than my lonely house ever has, you know? And I intend to make you happy every single day of your life. Are you with me so far?”
With him? How could she be anywhere else? Her life had hit all the ruts and bumps and taken all the wrong detours until now, until Ross Costello stated his case and staked his claim on her. But the past had been a path leading to this happiness. From the moment he’d first grabbed
her in those strong, protective arms, Angie had felt his intentions loud and clear. What she’d felt, she was sure, was the Law of Attraction. They’d been destined for one another.
Yet they’d also been open to it. They’d worked for it. Ross believed in the power of positive intention, so he’d thrown her a lifeline. She’d felt their attraction, the immense possibility, which convinced her to send out the necessary love lines. She’d given him what he needed. They all gave each other what was needed—Kyle and Elena and Elliott were in on this journey, too. And Lenore, of course.
So Lenore was right. It all worked out in the end, and it was all good. Abundant. Endless. It was light and love, and they had manifested it together, for each other, right here in Harmony Falls. Was that awesome, or what?
She focused on Ross’s lush lips and then kissed him. Hard. Closing her eyes, molding her body to his as he clutched her, Angie knew there were no more questions now. Only answers.
Well, there was one question. “Do…do you really want kids with me, Ross?” she whispered. “Back when I was with—”
“Don’t ever look back and ask why, sweetheart.” He traced her lower lip with his finger. “Let’s look forward and ask why not?”
The thought gave her goose bumps. She shivered against him. “But what if…well, there can be issues when the mom is my age, so—”
“So that’s why they have prenatal testing. And hey,” Ross added gently. “Aren’t we glad we’re no strangers to adoption?”
She nodded, too starstruck to speak.
His face lit up and he kissed her again. “But I don’t think we’ll have to adopt. It’s quite possible we were brought together for just this purpose. You believe we’ll make it work, don’t you? And if we both believe, there’s nothing we can’t do. It’ll happen right here, where you were born. Yet another miracle in Harmony Falls. Talk about coming full circle! The universe has to be smiling about this.”
Law of Attraction Page 27
