“Molly! Are you OK?”
“She tried to cover herself with her hands, feeling very vulnerable. “I guess I fell asleep and had a nightmare,” she said. David grabbed a towel and held it toward her, considerately looking away from her as she took it, stepping out of the tub and wrapping herself up.
“All right,” he said. “Let’s get you back into bed.”
“Will you stay with me?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said. He helped her back into her nightgown. He was still fully dressed. He led her back to bed, his arm around her, treating her as carefully as if she were a small child. He held back the covers as she climbed into bed, then he got in with her, curled up around her, and held her close. She fell asleep almost instantly.
Chapter 15
She awoke alone, but to the smell of coffee and bacon. For a moment, she was confused, then David walked in with a tray of bacon, eggs and coffee. He paused in the doorway.
“Want some breakfast?” he asked. “You should at least try to eat something.”
Molly didn’t think she would be able to eat, but agreed to try. But after the first bite, she found she was hungry. She realized she’d had nothing last night but half a glass of wine.
David kept the conversation light. “I fed Clarence. He’s slimming right down, isn’t he? He’s a good dog. It’s like he knows how lucky he is that you guys adopted him. He knows how to shake hands and roll over. Did you know that?”
“I didn’t. I guess somebody before us must have taught him. I don’t know how many people have had him before us.”
“He knows he’s landed in a good place. He was probably too fat to do his tricks before, but I spent some time with him this morning. I had my doubts that first time I saw him, but you and the kids have done a great job of getting him back into shape. You’re as good with the dog as you are with your kids.”
“Thank you,” Molly said. She finished the last of her coffee and put the cup back on the tray. “And thank you for breakfast. And for everything.”
“No problem. How do you feel?”
“Confused.” She cast her eyes down. “I hate gossip. And I know this town. There will be a ton of it.”
“You’ve done nothing wrong. Let people talk. They will, anyway. I’m pretty sure, by the way, that you don’t have to worry about your job. I talked a bit with the sheriff this morning. He did arrest Matt. And while he didn’t come right out and say it, he hinted that we’re not the first ones to conclude that Matt’s grandfather was a murderer. Or the first ones to be unable to prove it. By the way, you’ll be happy to know you still have your job. Somebody else will have to run for library board president. Matt agreed to resign.”
“Oh, that’s great news!” Molly said. “God knows which little old lady will take the helm until the next election, but anybody is going to be better than him. Maybe you should run.”
“I can’t, Miss Molly. It would be a terrible conflict of interest.”
“How so?”
David locked eyes with her. “This isn’t a good time to tell you why, I think.”
“To tell me what?” Molly said.
“Let’s give it a few days, shall we?”
“Give what a few days?” Molly asked. David seemed not to be himself. Was he upset about the revelation that he might be related to Matt?
“I think the best thing for you right now is to relax, read one of your books, just take it easy. We can talk more later,” David said. He picked up the tray and moved it to the bedside table, then took one of Molly’s hands in his own.
“About what?” Molly asked.
“About something I was planning to talk to you about.”
“David, you aren’t making any sense!” Molly exclaimed. “Does this have anything to do with Matt? Are you worried about being related to him?”
“Not really. I suppose if I really want to know the truth, I could do some DNA testing, but you have to tell me the truth — if I turn out to be related to Matt, does that matter to you?”
“No. Last night Hank said bad blood always shows, but I don’t agree with him there. I think you have to judge people by their behavior, not by their relatives. I bet Matt is full of shit, but if it turns out you’re related to him, it won’t change how I feel about you.” She realized as she said it that it was true. There was a long pause, as she and David looked straight into each others’ eyes.
“And how do you feel about me?” David blurted out. There was another long pause. Both of them looked right into each others’ eyes.
“I ...” Molly tried to finish the sentence. Couldn’t.
“I love you, Molly,” David said.
The floodgates opened and what had been impossible for Molly to say now could not be held back.
“I love you, too,” she said. David leaned forward and gave Molly one of his gentle, slow, sweet kisses, but didn’t try to take it further than kissing.
“I think I have loved you since I saw your red garter belt peeking out the first time I saw you,” he said. “I loved that this shy, quiet woman had a secret, passionate nature, just waiting for the right person to recognize it.”
“I think I loved you when you mopped all the dirty toilet water for me,” she joked. “If that’s not true love, what is?” They both laughed. “I’m serious, though,” she said. “That first kiss in the janitor’s room, I knew. You don’t know how hard it’s been to keep from screaming those three words every single time we’ve made love.”
“I was afraid to tell you I love you. You seemed so skittish. I was afraid if you knew how serious I was about you, you’d run away,” David said. “I know this is terrible timing, but I can’t help it. Molly Miller, will you marry me?”
“Will I what?” Molly knew this was the wrong way to answer him, but she couldn’t quite believe he’d said what she thought he’d said.
“Marry me. Will you. Will you marry me?” The expression on his face was vulnerable. He looked afraid. She felt shocked and frozen and he pulled back.
“The timing was bad. I shouldn’t have asked today. I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking,” he said. He looked like he’d been struck, and stood up and backed against the wall. Molly realized her shocked face had given him the wrong idea.
“Come back here,” she said. “You can’t ask a woman to marry you and then walk away. The answer is yes. I will marry you.” She held out her arms to him and he rushed into them.
“Oh my God, I was so scared you were going to say no!” he said, hugging her carefully. She hugged him back hard, and his embrace tightened. “God, I love you. I’ve never felt like this before. I want to take care of you forever. I want to protect you. I want to go to sleep with you every night, and I want to wake up next to you every morning.”
“This is going to shock the kids,” Molly said. “But I think they’ll be pleased.”
“You have great kids. I want to help them go to college. I have a little savings and can help them out if they don’t get the right scholarships.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Molly said.
“I want to do that,” David said. “Molly Conrad. Has a nice sound to it, don’t you think?”
“I never thought I’d marry a pirate,” Molly joked. “You do look almost exactly like the pirate on one of Lori’s romance novels, you know. Are you sure you don’t moonlight as a pirate?”
“Just a boring textbook editor, I’m afraid.” They held each other close, and she realized he was holding back from touching her because of the previous night’s events. So she reached out and touched him instead.
“Are you sure? You don’t need some … time?” he asked.
“I need you,” Molly said. David kissed her in that deep, slow, gentle way he had. He moved so gently and tenderly that neither of them gave a thought to anything but the sweetness of loving each other. She ached for him to join them together but he rolled away from her, leaving her raw with need.
“I don’t have anything with me
,” he said.
“I don’t care,” Molly said. She rolled him onto his back and took him into herself, riding him, wiping out all thoughts of how she’d been roughly treated the night before. All was sweet and slow and romantic and loving. They kept telling each other they loved each other in between soft kisses. Her rhythm increased and she told him once again she loved him, and then her pleasure wiped out all conscious thought. She had just enough awareness to notice that he was experiencing the same pleasure. Her legs felt weak and she rolled off and then cuddled against him.
“That was amazing,” David said. “But you know we just took a pretty big chance.”
“I know. But I don’t care. I wanted you inside me. And I wanted everything inside me. I feel like I belong to you now.”
“You do belong to me,” he said, kissing her on the nose. “And I belong to you. I know you’ve just about got your kids raised, but how would you feel about starting over and having one more?”
“I’m counting on it,” Molly said. And, reaching down and finding his manhood, she worked it like an experienced pirate’s wench and climbed onto him again. This time neither of them were gentle with each other, and their cries of pleasure were loud enough to embarrass a real pirate.
Chapter 16
That was the last day Molly was ever to spend in her little house. She and David moved over most of her clothing and personal belongings that day, and over the next few days Tommy and Beth helped move things along. They brought Molly’s mother’s dining room table and china cabinet and the kids’ bedroom furniture, but most of it they decided to donate to charity. She and David had a great deal of fun decorating the rest of the house, picking new furnishings for the living room and a giant cherry desk for the library. David and Tommy started work on the master bath together; they would need two bathrooms for the four of them; five when Suzie was home from college. It worked out well, with the house having four bedrooms.
“You know,” she said, “We could pretty easily turn the attic bedroom into a guest room. You said you weren’t going to need the space, but we seem to have suddenly filled up all the bedrooms.”
“I don’t want to turn that into a guest room,” he said. “I have other plans for that room.”
“I was just up there the one time,” Molly said. “I think I’ll go measure and see how large a bed we could get up there.”
“No, don’t go up there yet. I’m telling you, I have plans for that room. So stay out of it, Miss Molly,” he said, and gave her a gentle smack on the butt.
“What are you, Bluebeard? I can visit any room in the castle but one?”
“Was Bluebeard a pirate? I am never going to convince you I’m not secretly a pirate, am I?”
Molly laughed and told him that Bluebeard wasn’t a pirate, but she did agree to stay out of the attic. She never saw David working on it, though. He must have confined his work to times when she was at the library, where she was busier than ever. Eloise Hopkins, the guidance counselor at the high school, had been named to replace Matt Green on the library board, and one of her very first decisions was to allow the hiring of a full-time assistant director. The rest of the library board had gone along with her. That meant Molly now had the time to establish all the library programs she’d never had the time or funding for before. She was having a ball starting a teen reading club and a book club for senior citizens. She planned to start tech classes as soon as the new computers were in. Having a full-time assistant allowed her to greatly expand the library’s evening hours. Perhaps best of all, Molly had been promised a small raise just as soon as the new levy was passed; the average taxpayer would see an increase of a few dollars per year on their tax bill, but they’d also see new bathrooms, new computers and new programs. Molly was beyond thrilled. For once, everything in life seemed to be going great. It also scared her. Such happiness had never lasted in the past and she didn’t trust it now. But she tried to push dark thoughts out of her mind and just enjoy it.
One day, curiosity got the best of her, just as it had gotten the best of Bluebeard’s wife. She crept upstairs for a peek at the old maid’s quarters. But the door was locked. She tried to peer through the keyhole; it seemed to have duct tape covering it from the other side.
“Rats,” she said out loud. She crept back down the stairs and went into her bedroom, only to find David lying on their bed with a big smile on his face.
“You know I can hear everything that happens in my grandmother’s old bedroom,” he said. “Did you think I wouldn’t anticipate you’d steal a sneak?”
“I did no such thing!” Molly said. “I thought I heard a … bird. Yes. A really big bird. Huge. Maybe you should go check the room, just in case. I’ll go with you.”
“You’re a lousy liar, woman. But I’ll reveal all tomorrow.”
The next night, she couldn’t wait to see what the surprise was. He insisted they wait until after dinner, and then he said it was pretty important that they do the dishes first. Her children laughed; they were apparently in on the surprise. Finally she could take it no longer.
“Just show me the damned surprise! You’ve kept me waiting for weeks!” He went over to the refrigerator, pulled out a box of frozen peas, and held it up to show her the key taped to the bottom.
“I knew you’d never find it here,” he said. She rolled her eyes; it was true that she despised peas.
“Come upstairs and find out what secrets your pirate has been keeping.”
He led her upstairs and unlocked the door, handing her the key. Then he dramatically flung upon the room and turned on the light.
Molly squealed in delight. The little room had been transformed into the most perfect miniature library. He had built in a window seat, just as she’d suggested, with matching built-in bookcases. These were mostly empty, but she could see that several new books had been added to one of the shelves. She saw there was a copy of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” as well as the pirate novel with the cover that had caused Lori to start calling him The Pirate Man in the first place. There was a copy of “Pride and Prejudice” and of “Jane Eyre” as well. The window seat looked very inviting, with a custom-made cushion and a pile of pillows. A lavish velvet curtain framed the whole set-up, and it could be drawn shut to put the reader into her own private world.
An antique reading lamp sat nearby, as did a Victorian fainting couch upholstered in deep green velvet. Molly walked to it and affected a swoon.
“I declare,” she said, lying back on the couch with her hand held against her forehead, and using her best southern belle voice, “a girl could faint dead away from pleasure in this little room. It’s perfect. I love it!”
“I know how much you need some time to yourself,” David said. “You will always have this little place to escape to when you need to be alone.”
“It’s like a little cocoon,” she said, marveling at the rose-colored walls and cream-colored trim. A gorgeous rug with an intricate floral design covered most of the polished wooden floors. It was the most feminine room she’d ever seen. A small antique table held an ornate tea set. She could imagine bringing up a pot of tea and a plate of scones and spending an entire afternoon reading away in her little private sanctuary.
“You haven’t looked at the bathroom,” he said.
“I forgot it had one!” Molly opened the door and found the bathroom had also been transformed. It was tiny — the bathtub was the original small, triangular corner one she remembered from before, but David had obviously had it professionally resurfaced. The tile was new but of a vintage design, as were all the gold, ornate fixtures. He had even added luxurious Turkish towels and a basket of special bubble baths and lotions. No man would be caught dead using such a bathroom. It looked like the miniature dream bath of a princess, all rose and cream and gold.
She jumped off the fainting couch and hugged David.
“I can see you put a lot of work into this,” she said. “I don’t even know how you found time to do it. Thank you.”
/> “Well, I started right after you suggested it would make a good reading room,” he said.
“Really? But we weren’t together then … I mean, you did all this not even knowing for sure I’d ever be your girlfriend? You worked on this even when we were barely talking?”
“I knew from the moment I first kissed you that you were the one. I was prepared to wait however long it took,” David said. He kissed her slowly and thoroughly, making Molly moan. After locking the door, they broke in the new window seat.
Worth The Wait (Small-Town Secrets-Fairview Series Book 1) Page 16
