by Terri Osburn
What Will hadn’t noticed before was the logo for Opal’s Sweet Shoppe on the top of the box. “For me?”
Randy nodded as she took the box. Sliding it open, Will found one large slice of rhubarb pie.
On a choked sob, she said, “This is my favorite.”
“I know. Sid told me.”
Will had yet to talk to Sid. “She must really hate me.”
“Not quite,” he said. “She threatened to kick my ass if I didn’t stop you from leaving again.” Holding up a hand, he added, “Not that I didn’t plan to come over here. I’d already bought the pie before she stormed into my house.”
Sid on a rampage could be a sight to behold. Will was almost sad she missed it. Almost.
“That must have been a treat,” she said, returning the white box to the counter. “So is this a peace offering to let me know I’m welcome to live here, or is there something more?”
“You did catch my mention of the whole wooing thing, right?”
“I did,” Will said with a nod. “But I’m afraid to believe you mean it in the traditional sense of the term.”
Stepping closer, Randy brushed a finger over her cheek. “I mean it in every sense of the term. The whole shebang. Today and tomorrow and all the tomorrows after that. Just please tell me you’re home to stay.”
Unable to resist any longer, Will wrapped her arms around him. “You’re my home, Randy Navarro, and I’m with you for as long as you’ll have me.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear,” he said, leaning in to seal the words with a kiss.
CHAPTER 27
After a long night of making love, Will woke at dawn curled against the man she would never leave again. They started the day much as they had ended the night, then proceeded to coffee and catching up over a breakfast of granola bars and sugar-laden cereal. Needless to say, the granola was Randy’s idea.
Will learned Beth had spent the night at Sid’s place, with Lucas camping out with his parents and Joe home alone. The idea of embracing the tradition of not sleeping together the night before the wedding seemed odd when the couple had lived together for nearly a year and the bride was already pregnant.
But then traditions existed for a reason, and if the sleeping arrangements were important to Beth, Will was happy to hear everyone else was willing to go along. Especially Lucas, considering he and Sid hadn’t spent a night apart since the fall before when they’d become a permanent item.
Though Sid had been on Will’s side the night before, pushing Randy to find her, Will wasn’t so sure all would be forgiven this morning. She’d still hurt the woman’s brother, something for which she would readily apologize, but that didn’t mean her friend wouldn’t want to inflict her own punishment. Taking a deep breath and thinking nonviolent thoughts, Will knocked on Sid’s front door.
It opened in a rush, with the screen door being flung at her so quickly Will nearly lost her nose.
“It’s about damn time you got here,” Sid said, dragging Will into the house and slamming the door behind her. “She’s freaking the hell out.”
Sid disappeared down the hall, with Will following behind. The greeting had been unexpected, and a bit confusing, but at least it wasn’t painful.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, stepping into a room that looked as if it had been ransacked by criminals. “Holy shit. Did you get robbed?”
“What burglars would go out in the rain?” Beth whined, dropping onto Sid’s bed in a sobbing puddle of terrycloth.
The question required some pondering. Would burglars go out in the rain? If they didn’t want to leave evidence behind, then they probably wouldn’t. Shaking her head, Will realized what she was doing. Perhaps bridal insanity was contagious.
“See?” Sid said, standing near the end of the bed, hands on her hips and one foot tapping a staccato beat. “She’s been like this for an hour. It isn’t even raining.”
“But it’s cloudy,” Beth said, bolting up like a woman possessed. “Don’t you see those thunderheads in the distance? It’s a bad sign. It’s bad luck!”
The crying continued in earnest as Sid stared at Will, pointing silently at the crazy woman who had invaded her bedroom.
Holding her hands up as if to say let me see what I can do, Will eased toward the bed.
“Beth? Hon? I’m sure that your day is going to be beautiful no matter what. Why don’t you take a hot shower while Sid and I clean up this room and get it ready for putting you into that gorgeous dress of yours? What do you say?”
“It won’t be gorgeous once it gets wet,” she replied, the words muffled against the twisted sheets.
Sid rolled her eyes as Will patted Beth on the shoulder. “I promise you it will not rain during your ceremony. I checked the radar before I came over here, and it’s all moving out.” As the lie rolled off her tongue, Will sent a woman-to-woman prayer out to Mother Nature. “You have my word on it.”
“What are you doing?” mouthed Sid, but Will waved her off.
“Now come on, sweetie,” she said, tugging on Beth’s shoulders. “Your eyes are going to be all puffy, and we don’t want that. Hop in the shower and don’t give the weather another thought.”
Beth shoved damp curls away from her face. “Are you sure? The clouds are really going away?”
Holding up three fingers, Will said, “Scout’s honor.”
Waterlogged green eyes brightened as a smile tugged at the bride’s lips. Then her face fell again. “I must look horrible,” she said, smacking her hands against her cheeks.
Will shook her head quickly. “A little ice on the eyes after the shower and you’ll be good as new. Even better.” Scooting Beth toward the bathroom, she added, “Now get in that shower so Sid and I can get moving in here.”
“You’re right.” Beth nodded as she followed Will’s directions. “If Sid had told me about the radar, none of this would have happened.”
Sacrificing herself, Will lunged to cut off Sid’s attack. Beth didn’t seem to notice the imminent danger as she closed the bathroom door.
“That woman is freaking nuts. And you weren’t a Girl Scout any more than I was, were you?”
“No, but Beth doesn’t need to know that. She’s hormonal and nervous. I expect nothing less on your wedding day.” Will turned to face her friend. “Though I hope you don’t plan on being pregnant, too. If this is what incubation does to Beth, I expect you to turn completely homicidal.”
“I have no intention of producing a spawn any time soon.” Straightening her oversized T-shirt, Sid glanced around the room. “She looked out the window, then started throwing shit. I couldn’t get her to stop. Drillbit is lucky I put her out of the room before Beth could throw her, too.”
As if on cue, the gray tabby stuck her head inside the room, meowing as if to ask if the coast was clear.
“What is all this stuff?” Will asked, picking up two bras and reaching for three pair of panties. She froze with her hand a full foot above the underwear. “Please tell me it’s all clean.”
“It’s the stuff from my underwear drawer. Beth ripped it open and started using what was inside as giant bits of confetti.”
Straightening, Will asked, “Why do you have so much fancy stuff? I figured you for the simple white, tan, or black. Not lace, bows, and…” She lifted a bit of white fluff off the chair. “Are these garters?”
Sid jerked the delicate items out of Will’s hands. “I like pretty stuff. Don’t act so surprised.”
Unable to keep the smile from her face, Will continued straightening the room. “You know what I like most about you, Sid?”
“My endless charm?” the younger woman asked.
“Besides that dry sense of humor of yours,” Will said. “I like that you’re the most down-to-earth person I know, yet you never fail to surprise me. You’re funnier, smarter, and deeper than you let people see.” Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Will stared at her toes. “And you’re forgiving. Or so it seems.”
Si
d stuffed a handful of bras into a drawer, then scooted onto the bed next to Will. “I was really pissed when I found out you were gone. Especially since I was the last person to talk to you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Then I saw Randy when he realized you were gone.” The hurt in Sid’s voice was tough to take, but the unwavering concern for her brother is what tightened the knot in Will’s chest. “It was like the color drained right out of him. Like he’d been deflated and the only thing holding him up was his pride.”
“I don’t deserve him,” Will said, feeling like the evil villain who’d ruined everything.
“And then you came back, and he was alive again.” Sid turned to face Will. “I’m not saying he couldn’t live without you, because he could. But he wouldn’t be happy. At least not for a long time. So promise me all this crazy secret identity shit is over, and you’re not going to hurt him again.”
“It’s over.” Though Will couldn’t be sure what Jeffrey might do in the future, she knew she had a family on this island that would face whatever came right along with her. “No more running. No more lies. No more looking over my shoulder for the boogeyman.”
“So what was that all about anyway?” Sid commenced the cleaning, and Will rose to make the bed. “Who was this boogeyman hunting you down?”
With a fluff of the pillow, Will turned to her friend. “Tell you what. Let’s get through today, get Beth and Joe off on their honeymoon, and then I’ll tell you all the gory details of my past.”
Folding the last towel from the floor, Sid said, “Gory, huh? That sounds sucky.”
Will shrugged. “There’s some good stories, too.” She glanced around the now neat bedroom. “That was easier than it looked. When will Kinzie be here? Isn’t she coming to play out her bridesmaid role?”
“Kinzie was only standing in until you came back,” Beth said, exiting the bathroom wrapped in a short pink robe and toweling off her hair. “But she is coming over to do my hair and makeup.” The bride turned the clock on Sid’s nightstand. “Three hours until the ceremony and I already feel like I want to puke. And I’m not talking morning sickness.”
Unable to avoid being the bearer of one more disappointment, Will said, “But I don’t know where my dress is. I didn’t take it with me, and I don’t know where the stuff I left behind is now.”
Sid dragged a suitcase from her closet. “All the clothes we could find are in here. The dress is hanging up.”
Staring at the two women before her, Will could do little more than open and close her mouth, with nothing coming out.
“Curly was sure you’d come back,” Sid said. “As you can tell, it’s not worth arguing with her these days. So we stashed your stuff until you did.”
The best thing to ever happen to Willow Parsons had been landing on Anchor. And in that moment, she sent up a prayer of thanks for all the good and bad that had led her there.
Blinking back tears of joy, she said, “I love you guys. Now let’s get ready for a wedding.”
There would be many more happy tears shed that day. Will nearly lost it when she spotted Randy in his tuxedo waiting to escort her down the aisle. Making a mental note to send Mr. Lee a thank you card, she tucked her hand in the crook of Randy’s arm, feeling as if she might be dreaming.
Mother Nature had clearly heard Will’s prayer. The clouds had parted thirty minutes before the ceremony and held off until nearly an hour after. By then, all the revelry was safely under the tent, the dance floor covered in swaying bodies, and the happy couple staring into each other’s eyes as if they were the only people on the planet.
Will understood the feeling wholeheartedly.
“You did a great job with this wedding,” Randy said as they danced to an old Bob Marley song. “That touch with everyone sitting wherever they wanted instead of having sides was pretty good, considering Beth’s side would have been empty otherwise.”
Enjoying his arms around her, Will twirled a finger in Randy’s hair and leaned closer. “I think the layout on the deck was pretty good, too. And that was all you. It seems we make a good team.”
“That we do,” he said, dropping in for a kiss. The song ended before the kiss did.
Upon leaving the dance floor, Will and Randy found Sam Edwards hovering in a far corner, looking more like an unwitting observer than a wedding guest.
“You look like you’re afraid of being contaminated,” Randy said, stopping beside the hotelier and tucking Will against his side. She didn’t know much about the man, but Mr. Edwards certainly knew how to wear a suit.
Will briefly wondered how such a small island could harbor so many attractive men.
“There does seem to be something going around,” Sam answered in a deep voice that carried the slightest hint of a southern accent. As if he’d made a concerted effort to purge the telling lilt from his dialect. “This must be the Ms. Parsons I’ve heard so much about.”
Randy made the formal introductions, and the tall man in the perfectly tailored suit extended a hand. “I hear you had a hand in putting this event together,” Sam said.
“I did,” Will said, feeling proud of her efforts. “I’d never planned anything like this, but I find with organization and a solid checklist, any project runs smoother.”
Sam’s eyes lit up. Turning to Randy, he said, “I like her. Is she still available?”
Will nearly fell off her strappy heels as Randy said, “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask her.”
What the hell? “Am I missing something here?” Will asked, miffed that the man who’d practically proposed was now acting as if they were playing some game. “Maybe you want to answer that question again.”
Randy smiled. “Maybe Sam should have phrased the question better. He wants to know if you’re available to run a wedding planning business for the island. Since you’re an accountant by trade and now a woman of means, would you want to run a small business bringing weddings to Anchor?”
Now the conversation was starting to make sense. Which was good, since she’d been considering shoving Randy off the deck seconds before. “I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.” To Sam she said, “You think we could bring weddings to Anchor on a regular basis?”
Sam nodded. “We’re thinking of focusing on the off-season months first. See what other businesses might want to come on board.”
Since Will wasn’t even sure if there would be a life for her back on Anchor, she really hadn’t thought of much beyond begging forgiveness from Randy and her friends. And considering her inheritance, she didn’t need to work at all. But Will would go nuts with nothing to do, and centering her life around spreadsheets and bank statements was far less appealing than it had once been.
“Are you starting this business and looking to hire?” she asked, wanting to know exactly what she was being offered. The idea of making it her own business, being her own boss, would be more attractive. “Because if I were going to do it, I’d want to take it on myself.”
The smile on Sam’s face widened. “I’m already running two hotels, with one about to undergo renovations in the fall. Though I definitely want to be involved, having a capable person doing the heavy lifting would be my first choice.”
Heavy lifting and being the boss. That sounded like a challenge. “Then I am definitely interested. How about we discuss the details next week?”
“Give me a call on Monday and we can set up a meeting.”
It had been years since Will had taken a meeting. To know she’d be more than just a person being dictated to felt good. Better than expected. She and Sam shook hands, as did Sam and Randy, then the hotelier made his excuses and left the reception.
As she watched the broad shoulders cut a path through the crowd, Will asked, “Has Sid met Mr. Edwards?”
“Maybe in passing,” Randy said. “I don’t think they have much reason to cross paths. Why?”
“You know she’s in a matchmaking mood these days.” Will’s eyes were
still watching Sam’s departure, noticing the way several women in the room watched as well. “And that is one eligible bachelor.”
“I hope you’re not looking to be matched.” Randy pulled her tighter against him. “I like Sam. I’d hate to have to kill him.”
Will laughed, patting Randy’s chest. “You have no worries there. I’m good and matched. I was simply making an observation.”
“How about you make an observation over this way.” Randy pulled his tuxedo jacket out far enough to reveal a small black box tucked into an inside pocket.
A hand fell over her lips. “Is that?”
“It is,” he said, watching the crowd instead of Will. “I was saving it until later, so we wouldn’t take anything away from Joe and Beth. But it’s killing me not to give it to you.”
The blood drained from Will’s brain. “Think they would mind if we left early?” she said, aware that she was either going to whoop for joy or break into sobs at any moment.
“My guess would be no,” he said, nudging Will to follow his gaze. Beth and Joe were sneaking out the side of the tent. No one else seemed to notice.
Shoving aside the corner of the tent closest to them, Randy motioned for Will to take the lead. She pulled him across the deck and down to the pier. The rain had died down to a drizzle, but she barely noticed the mist landing on her lashes.
There, on the pier where she’d fallen into lust, Will finished falling into love.
“Will you?” he asked, swiping a damp curl off his forehead while holding the little box in her direction.
Her cheeks strained from the force of her smile. “I will. I most definitely will.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As you might know from reading the first two books in this series, Anchor Island is wholly and affectionately based on the very real Ocracoke Island, North Carolina. If you have any longing to visit Anchor’s quaint little village, set your sights on this tiny island at the base of the Outer Banks. Just remember to take some bread along for the ferry crossing, so you can toss bits into the air and watch the seagulls fight for their share. Also, be prepared to duck now and then.
