When Love Comes

by J. H. Croix

  “Well, just let us know when you’ll be back,” Hannah said. “Even if it’s just for a long visit.”

  Susie, thinking the subject was settled, moved on to needling Hannah about meeting Luke’s parents. Susie knew her well and likely noticed Hannah was nervous, but Hannah wasn’t in the mood to talk much about it. She didn’t bite at Susie’s jokes, but was relieved Jared had invited Susie and Emma to dinner. Their presence would diffuse the attention on her.

  Chapter 22

  A few days into his parents’ visit, Luke had invited Hannah to join them for dinner at the house. He’d spent hours obsessing over the best setting to introduce Hannah to his parents, the repetitive thoughts about it annoying him because it wasn’t like him. Against the lingering annoyance about Cristina’s meddling, he was mentally and emotionally caught in a tug-of-war over how he felt about Hannah. On the one hand, his preference for avoiding serious entanglements held sway, yet another part of him wanted to let go of that with Hannah. The fire between them was so strong, it overcame his common sense. If it was nothing more than lust, Luke didn’t think he’d feel torn. But he genuinely liked Hannah. He couldn’t even consider that his feelings might be stronger.

  He leaned his head through the open sliding glass door onto the deck. Jared was readying the grill to start the salmon.

  “When did Nathan say he’d be back with Mom and Dad?” Luke asked.

  “Six,” Jared replied, leaning to turn on the propane. “By the way, I invited Susie and Emma too. Saw them with Hannah when I went by Susie’s office. Figured they would keep Mom a little distracted.”

  Luke snorted. “Maybe. Good idea though.” He looked at his watch. “I’ll head out to pick up Hannah—be back in a few.”

  Luke hadn’t seen Hannah for a few days. When he walked into her house and realized she was alone, he took one look at her and pulled her close for a long kiss. Coming up for air, he tugged her into the living room. Clothes came off in seconds as they tumbled onto the couch. Thought returned only after Hannah was languid in his arms, both of them sated. He glanced around the room to see a trail of their clothes leading from the kitchen into the living room. Losing control like that was a first for him.

  “Where’s Emma?” he asked, in an effort to distract and gather himself.

  Hannah lifted her head from where it rested on his shoulder to glance up at him. “I left her at Susie’s office. We helped move a desk for Susie, and Emma offered to help rearrange more furniture. Jared invited them up for dinner too.”

  Luke nodded, a sense of comfort stealing over him as he lay with Hannah in his arms. It took a moment for him to realize he hadn’t responded to her. “Oh yeah, Jared mentioned they were coming. Hope that’s okay.”

  “I figure they’ll take the pressure off of me,” Hannah replied with a wry smile as she slipped out of his arms and stood.

  Luke looked up at Hannah from where he lay on the couch. Sun filtered through the hair around her face, her blue eyes bright. His chest tightened just watching her, he longed to tug her back into his arms and lose himself in her. Abruptly, he pushed himself up, the activity of getting dressed breaking through his fevered thoughts. He pulled himself together, but was shaken on the drive back to the house.

  The moment his mother laid eyes on Hannah, Luke knew he had a problem on his hands. Iris immediately took Hannah’s arm and walked her over to the couch. Luke looked toward Nathan, who grinned at his discomfort. “Better you than me,” Nathan said.

  “Trying to decide if it’s better to join them and fend Mom off, or if it’ll only be worse with me,” Luke said.

  “Worse with you. If you’re sitting right there, Mom’s more likely to have visions of your wedding,” Nathan replied with a chuckle.

  Within a few minutes, Susie and Emma arrived together. Iris broke away from Hannah to greet them. Luke breathed a sigh of relief. His father was out on the deck helping Jared with the salmon grilling. He wandered out there, only to have his mother follow him out.

  Iris came right to his side. “Luke, Hannah is lovely.”

  “That she is,” Luke said, trying to keep it brief. He gritted his teeth, questioning his choice to introduce Hannah to his parents. After experiencing those moments with Hannah earlier—when he just couldn’t seem to hold the reins of his feelings—he was irritable and out of sorts. The pressure of his mother’s hopes was a tad more than he could handle tonight.

  Iris gave him a pointed look. “You may be frustrated with me about Cristina, but Hannah had nothing to do with that. You are dating her, are you not?”

  “Yeah, I am. Just don’t want the third degree during dinner.”

  Iris waved a hand. “Your mother telling you Hannah is lovely is not the third degree. But…I can take a hint. I’ll leave you alone on this for tonight.”

  Iris stepped over to Susie and Emma, just as Hannah came through the door onto the deck. She was beautiful, and all Luke wanted to do was pull her into his arms again and forget about everything else. That thought was followed immediately with him wondering if he’d lost his mind. The pressure from his mother wasn’t helping his already muddled feelings about Hannah.

  “How you holding up?” Luke asked, stepping to Hannah’s side.

  “Just fine. Your parents are nice, not that I expected them to be anything but. I know you warned me about your mom, but she’s not laying it on too thick. Not yet at least.”

  “Let’s hope it stays that way.”

  The next hour or so passed uneventfully. Luke thought he was going to get through the night without his mother trying to marry him to Hannah on the spot. Then the fun began. Just as they were getting up from the table, the doorbell rang. Nathan strode to answer it. Luke had his back to the door as he rinsed plates at the sink.

  “Uh…Luke, think we have a problem,” Jared said.

  He whipped around to see Cristina standing at the door. Nathan was clearly thrown as he just stood there, frozen in place. Cristina looked just as Luke recalled. Shoulder-length shiny brown hair, in a perfectly coiffed bob. She had dark brown eyes, shaded with a silvery color, and bright red lipstick. Her outfit was way out of place in Alaska. She wore a fitted black miniskirt over stockings with high-heeled black leather boots. She was tall, but not as tall as Hannah. Luke didn’t feel even a spark of attraction for her and wondered how he hadn’t always seen her for what she was—shallow and calculating.

  Cristina stepped through the door without being invited and strode into the kitchen, her heels clicking on the floor. Luke sensed he was about to witness a debacle and wished he knew how to stop it. Hannah stood by the table with Emma and Susie. They had all paused in the middle of picking up plates. His mother had gone to the bathroom. His father was just coming in from the deck.

  Cristina, bold as ever, spoke first. “Luke, so good to see you. Don’t know if you heard, but I ran into your mother recently. She invited me up here.”

  Nathan had shifted into gear finally and followed her into the room. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked.

  Cristina gave Nathan a cursory glance before bringing her eyes back to Luke. “I’m here for a visit. Iris seemed to think Luke might miss me,” she said.

  Luke felt sick to his stomach. He didn’t want Hannah witness to Cristina’s games, but he had no choice.

  “You know damn well I didn’t miss you. You also know that once my mom realized that you’d manipulated her, she uninvited you,” Luke said forcefully.

  Just as he finished speaking, Iris returned to the room. Gasping, her mouth dropped when she saw Cristina. “What are you doing here?” Iris demanded, stalking to face Cristina.

  His father and Jared came to stand near Luke. Looking around, Luke realized his family had literally circled behind him with the exception of his mother who was facing down Cristina. Hannah and Emma were hanging back by the table, but Susie quickly moved to stand by Iris. Luke wanted a chance to pull Hannah aside and explain, but there was no time for that. He had to get Cristina out
fast.

  Cristina lifted her chin. “I’m here for that visit, Iris. The one you said might be a nice surprise for Luke.”

  Iris narrowed her eyes. “You lied. I had no idea that you were just a girl after our family’s money. Luke had the decency not to bad-mouth you when he broke up with you. He also didn’t bother to mention that you tried to seduce Nathan after that. And before you blame him for that, Nathan’s the one that told me.”

  Cristina looked shocked at how direct Iris was with her. Luke knew she’d been fooled by his mother’s polite exterior. He would have laughed were it not for the fact that he was more worried about what Hannah thought. Hannah looked guarded, her eyes shuttered.

  “That was a misunderstanding on Nathan’s part. He’s the one that tried to seduce me,” Cristina retorted, trying to spin the story to her advantage.

  Luke thought his mother might implode. “You need to get out,” Iris said, her voice raised. “You are not welcome here. And before you go thinking you can stay in town and try to weasel your way back into Luke’s life, we will make sure everyone in town knows exactly who you are. This isn’t Seattle—Diamond Creek’s way too small for you to get away with how you treat people.”

  Luke groaned at what his mother said next. “I didn’t know it when you tried to go through me to get to Luke, but he’s with someone else,” Iris said, waving in Hannah’s direction. “Just like any mother, I just want my boys to be happy, so I made the wrong assumption when I didn’t know he was seeing anyone. You leave him alone. He’s happy with Hannah, and I won’t let you interfere.” Iris ended with an emphatic nod, her face flushed.

  Susie stepped past Iris. She had to look up at Cristina and did so without hesitation. “I don’t know all the details, but one look at you and I know you’re full of it. She’s right,” Susie said, gesturing to Iris. “If you think you can hang around and try to find some other way to manipulate people here, forget it. Take my word for it, everyone in town will know you’re bad news. I’ll personally guarantee it.”

  Cristina seemed taken aback, but Luke knew her. Cristina wouldn’t back down. The only reason he hadn’t seen this ugly side of her sooner than he did was because she was getting what she wanted. The second that stopped, her brittle façade collapsed.

  “Please leave, Cristina. Forget about this. We were over when I ended it. That’s not gonna change,” Luke said. He walked to the door that Nathan had left open and held it, waving his hand for her to walk through.

  Cristina sauntered toward him and stopped in front of him. “So, that’s how it’s gonna be? You’re pretending we never had something special.”

  “Because we never did. Now go.”

  Cristina took a long look around the room, her eyes lingering on Hannah in a measuring way. She narrowed her eyes when they returned to him. “We’ll see if this is over.”

  “Just go,” Luke said.

  He didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until Cristina finally walked back out the door. He kept it open to watch her rental car leave the driveway.

  A mere five minutes later, Luke saw yet another drama unfolding. After Cristina had left, just when Luke wanted to have a few private minutes with Hannah to explain the mess, it was impossible to get a moment alone. Iris had publicly apologized to everyone for the fiasco with Cristina, Jared and Nathan confirming the details. Susie was in the thick of the conversation, announcing she’d make sure the whole town would blackball Cristina if she tried to stay around. While Luke knew she was right to be concerned about that, he kept his eyes on Hannah. When he managed to catch her eyes, they were distant.

  Just when he thought things were winding down, Iris sat beside Hannah on the couch. Iris clasped her hands together. “Hannah, I’m so sorry. You have to know that this was my fault. I had no idea Luke was seeing you. Just like I told Cristina, he was nice enough not to tell his father and me what happened with her. I honestly didn’t know what she was like. All I knew was she was the last girl that he seemed serious about. I meddled where I shouldn’t. Please don’t hold this against Luke,” Iris said.

  Hannah responded politely, but Luke couldn’t really tell what she was thinking. He went to move to her side, but didn’t get there before his mother spoke again.

  “It’s so nice to see Luke with someone like you. I just know you two are going to last. I can see it. I can’t wait for the wedding,” Iris proclaimed, her hand coming to her throat and her eyes getting misty.

  Luke’s father finally intervened. “Iris, honey, let this rest for now,” Matthew said, attempting to get Iris off track.

  Iris turned to Matthew. “I just need to make sure Hannah understands. I don’t want her to blame this on Luke.”

  Hannah stood abruptly. “Don’t worry. I understand,” she said, a little too brightly. She strode toward the front door. “Susie, can you take me home?” she asked over her shoulder, not even turning to look.

  Susie looked to Luke quickly and nodded in Hannah’s direction. Hannah hadn’t waited for Susie’s response and was already out the door. Luke followed her. He found her standing by Susie’s car, her arms folded tightly and her back to the house.

  “Hannah,” he began.

  “Where’s Susie?” she asked, spinning to face him.

  “She’s still inside,” he said, thinking quickly, trying to figure out what to say. “Look…I had no idea my mom had talked to Cristina until last week. No idea. We broke up over two years ago, before we moved up here. My mom just…she’s a little too excited about getting us settled and fell for Cristina’s BS. Don’t turn this into something it’s not.”

  Hannah didn’t respond at first. He wanted to keep explaining, but sensed that wouldn’t help. She finally looked up.

  “I can’t do this. I can’t. Between this mess with Cristina and meeting your parents,” she said, waving her hands toward the house, “I don’t even know what I want right now, and your mom is convinced we’re getting married. I need a break.”

  She stepped back from him, her back against Susie’s car. “Go back inside and let me leave. I’m not sure when I’ll call you.”

  Her voice was high and strained. Luke wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her she didn’t need a break, that this was just a giant misunderstanding. She had turned to look at the bay, her eyes unfocused and shuttered.

  “Hannah…can we talk about this?” he asked.

  Silence ticked by for a long moment. “Please go ask Susie to come take me home,” Hannah said, refusing to look his direction.

  Luke waited, hoping she’d at least look at him. When she didn’t, he finally turned away and went inside, relaying her request to Susie. He hated that he had an audience for this fiasco. Susie and Emma left within moments, and there he was with both of his brothers and parents witness to the aftermath of mayhem.

  His head ached and he just wanted to be left alone, but that didn’t seem likely. He ignored them all and remained in the kitchen on the pretext of cleaning up. For a minute, he thought he might be allowed to have some peace. Just as that thought entered his mind, his mother got up and came to his side in the kitchen.

  “Luke…” she said.

  “Let it go, Mom.”

  “Honey, I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this mess. If you want me to, I’ll call Hannah and try to talk to her.”

  Luke could not believe she was proposing that, after everything that had happened. He wasn’t prone to blowing up, but he did now.

  “No. That’s the last damn thing that I want you to do! I get that Cristina pulled your chain and you fell for it. But…my God, Mom! What the hell were you thinking telling her where I live and getting her a plane ticket? And on top of it, you just had to go and start spouting off about how Hannah and I were gonna last! You’re talking about a wedding, and I’ve only known her for a little while!”

  Luke tossed the dish towel on the counter and stalked into the living room. He grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. Not to be deterred, his mother followed h
im in there and sat beside him.

  “Luke…That just came out. I know I shouldn’t have said it.”

  “Iris, you might want to drop this now,” his father said. Matthew stood and picked up her hand, moving to tug her away.

  “But I just want him to know I’m sorry,” she said, her gaze turned up to Matthew, eyes pleading.

  “Think he knows that, hon. No need to rehash,” Matthew replied.

  Luke gritted his teeth, ignoring them both.

  Iris wasn’t to be dissuaded though. She put her hand on Luke’s arm. Luke shrugged it off and stood.

  “Listen to Dad, Mom. Back the hell off. Leave me alone, and for God’s sake, leave Hannah alone. I haven’t even known Hannah that long, and here you are pretending like we’ll be together forever. And Cristina…your meddling brought her here. Just drop it.”

  Luke stalked out of the room, flinging the door to his bedroom open and slamming it shut. For good measure, he locked the door. Leaning his back against the door, he slid to the floor, the picture of Hannah’s stony eyes running through his thoughts again and again.

  Chapter 23

  Hannah walked along the beach returning to her truck, Jessie running ahead of her. The tide was coming in; waves had washed away her footprints from the start of her walk. Gulls circled above, calling loudly. A seal followed their trek along the shore. Its sleek head surfaced again. The seal held still in the water, round dark eyes curiously watching her and Jessie. After a moment, the seal lifted higher in the water and then dove under, its body curling against the waves.

  A small stream came down from the highway, and a path followed alongside the stream, leading to a small parking area. The path was a short but steep climb up the bluff that hugged the shoreline. The sand gave way to grass and then fireweed, the bright blooms now fading, the ground nearby scattered with blanched fuchsia petals. As Hannah passed a small field, a bull moose stood on the far side. He watched her silently, standing tall in the grass, antlers silhouetted against the blue sky.