Nate missed Morgan. It wasn’t just her passion; it was her smile, the sound of her voice, the lingering scent of her perfume in his truck or on his skin after they’d made love. Oh, how he loved making love to her.
Taking off his protective eyeglasses, he placed them on the worktable. “I’m going out for a while,” he said to Bryce.
Bryce’s head popped up. He was sanding a newel post for a new staircase. “Okay.” He removed his own glasses. “I’m going to take lunch now. I told Mom and Dad I’d eat with them today.”
“Tell them I’ll see them for dinner.”
Nate washed up in the bathroom, then headed outside to his truck. He started up the vehicle and stared through the windshield. He’d thought about driving to the Cove to see Morgan, but quickly changed his mind. He would drive into Charleston, stop to eat something, and then do some sightseeing before returning to the island. Maybe getting away for a few hours would help him clear his head.
Morgan picked up the receiver and replaced it just as quickly. She’d found herself unconsciously reaching for the phone to call Nate, but each time she stopped herself because she was waiting for him to call her and apologize for believing that she was no better than his ex, who’d admitted to sleeping with the world! She was miserable, and it wasn’t nice to think bad thoughts, but she hoped Nate was miserable as well.
Yet something told her she had to be mature about the situation. All she had to do was extend the olive branch, and if he rejected it then she would know how to proceed. After all, she had lived without Nate in her life before he returned to Haven Creek, and she could continue to go on with her life even if they were no longer together.
Picking up the receiver again, she tapped the number for Shaw & Sons Woodworking instead of Nate’s cell phone. It rang four times before switching over to voice mail. Morgan cleared her throat. “Good afternoon, Nate. This is Morgan. I’d like for you to call me back when you get this message. It’s not an emergency.” She ended the call. Her voice was normal and businesslike. Now she would wait.
Business had picked up, even if her personal life was going downhill fast. That was a good thing. She’d contacted Abram Daniels, her former classmate and interior designer extraordinaire, to ask if he would be willing to work for her, and much to her shock he’d agreed. He’d worked freelance for a Philadelphia-based design company, and his fiancée was an office manager with a Bucks County design firm. Now Morgan could concentrate on the restoration project while Abram dealt with the firm’s interior design clients. His fiancée would become the receptionist. The fact she was knowledgeable about interior design was definitely a plus, especially since Samara would return to her teaching position in another week. Morgan had offered to let Abram and his girlfriend stay with her until they could find a place of their own. As soon as the summer season ended, those vacationing on the island would leave, and rooms at the Cove Inn would once again become available.
Nate drove around aimlessly. He stopped long enough to eat lunch alfresco. It gave him an opportunity to do a little people watching. Street musicians on Charleston’s downtown Market Street changed from a bluesy number to a military tune when four Citadel cadets came along, marching in formation. His cell phone rang. Reaching into the pocket of his jeans, Nate looked at the display.
“What’s up, Bryce?”
“Morgan called the shop a little while ago. She wants you to call her.”
“Did she leave a message?”
“She said it wasn’t an emergency.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t hang up, Nate. Mom wants to know if you’ll eat with us.”
“Tell her yes.”
Nate ended the call. Morgan had called the shop. If she’d wanted to speak directly to him, she would’ve called his cell. The fact that she said it wasn’t an emergency meant that it probably had something to do with the restoration. He would call her back later.
He drove back to Haven Creek in time to shower, change his clothes, and make it to his father’s house for dinner. Bryce talked a mile a minute. His probation officer had approved his leaving the island to attend classes on the mainland. Stacy’s request to transfer from a mainland public school to the one on the Landing was approved. She was assigned to teach kindergarten for the first time, and Bryce went with her to clean and decorate her classroom. Nate smiled. It appeared as if his brother and sister-in-law were working to make a go of their marriage.
Odessa touched a napkin to the corners of her mouth. “Nate, when are you and Lucas going up to North Carolina to deliver the armoire?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Anytime Dad is ready.” They’d completed the piece two weeks earlier than projected.
Lucas took a sip of water. “We can go tomorrow.”
Odessa smiled at her husband. “That means you have to go to bed early.”
“No, I don’t,” Lucas countered. “Nate’s going to do the driving.”
Nate stared across the table at his father. “Are we going to do everything in one day?”
“No, son. It’s two hundred miles between here and Charlotte, then it’s going to take at least three hours to put the thing together. We’ll stay overnight and start back the following morning.”
“You better get some sleep, bro,” Bryce suggested.
“You’re not sleeping, Nate?” Odessa asked.
He managed to look sheepish. It wasn’t that he wasn’t sleeping, but he had forced himself to work to the point of exhaustion, so that when he did go to bed he would fall asleep immediately and not think about Morgan. “I’ve been up working.”
Lucas pushed back his chair. “If I’m going to share the driving, then I’d better turn in early.”
Nate also stood. “Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll be all right for tomorrow.”
Coming around the table, Lucas rested a hand on Nate’s shoulder. “Come sit on the back porch with me for a few minutes.”
Nate walked with his father to the porch, waiting until the older man sat in his favorite recliner before settling down in a comfortable armchair. “What’s up, Dad?”
Tenting his fingers, Lucas peered at his firstborn. “That’s what I should be asking you. Are you still seeing Morgan?”
There was a noticeable pause, then Nate said, “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s over, Dad.”
“What did you do to her?”
A frown creased Nate’s forehead. “What makes you think I did something?”
“She was quiet as a church mouse when I drove her home after Bryce and Stacy’s wedding. I told you to try and make things right between the two of you, and here it is now one week later and you tell me it’s over.”
“Stay out of it, please, Dad.”
Lucas’s hand came down heavily on the arm of the recliner. “Don’t tell me to stay out of it when I see you moping around like you lost your best friend. You get up before the chickens and go to bed at an ungodly hour every night. I’m going to ask you one question, and I’d like an honest answer. Do you love that girl?”
It was a question Nate had asked himself over and over during his involvement with Morgan, and the answer was always yes. “Yes, I do.”
Lucas smiled. “Thank you for being truthful…finally.” He sobered. “It’s not easy figuring out women. I should know, because I’ve been married twice. Your mother and I had our ups and downs, but thankfully we had more ups than downs. It’s different with Odessa, because by the time I married her I knew what was expected of me as a husband. I know folks were talking when I took up with Odessa, and it got worse when Bryce came along.”
Nate listened intently as his father corroborated what Odessa had revealed. The word he repeated over and over was guilt. He’d felt guilty sleeping with his wife’s best friend when Manda was still alive. Guilty because he’d gotten Odessa pregnant while he was still married. Guilty because he’d slept with a woman in his marriage bed as his wife lay dying.
“Guilt ate me up from
the inside out, but when Bryce was born, I felt as if I’d been forgiven, because Manda and I always talked about having another child. If you ask whether I would’ve done things differently if I had a do over, I probably would say yes, because I would’ve waited for a respectable period of mourning before marrying Odessa. I’m not perfect, Nate. I’ve made mistakes, but at least I’m man enough to admit my mistakes, unlike you, with your stiff-neck pride.”
“You like Morgan, don’t you?”
Lucas smiled. “What’s there not to like? What I don’t understand is why you were willing to marry that emaciated tramp, but…” His words drifted off when he saw Nate grinning. “What’s so funny?”
“You, Dad. You missed your calling. You should’ve been a preacher.”
“The next thing that’s going to come out my mouth will definitely not be reverential.”
Nate chuckled. “Is that really a word?”
“Damn right. If you don’t believe me, then look it up.” Lucas leaned forward, sandwiching his hand between his knees. “When I lay in that hospital bed hooked up to tubes, I promised myself that if I didn’t die I would make it my life’s mission to protect my children.” He waved his other hand. “It doesn’t matter that you’re an adult. You, Sharon, and Bryce are still my children. If I had to close my eyes tonight I would die happy knowing my kids are happy. You’ve heard the expression ‘I feel your pain.’ Well, I feel your pain. Promise me you’ll talk to Morgan and try to work things out with her.”
“What’s in it for you?” Nate asked.
Lucas flashed a Cheshire cat smile. “Another daughter-in-law and, hopefully, a few more grandchildren.” His smile faded. “You deserve a second chance at happiness.”
“Like you, Dad?”
“Yes, like me. The difference is I was blessed enough to have had two incredible wives. Now it’s your turn to have at least one.”
“I’ve made mistakes with Morgan.”
“Are they mistakes that can be corrected?”
“Yes…I promise I’ll talk to her.”
“Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear. I’m going to say one more thing, then I’m going to bed. I’ve only cried twice in my adult life. Once at Manda’s funeral, and once when your strumpet of an ex-wife went on national television to talk about the number of men she’d slept with. Please, son, don’t make me cry for you again.”
Nate sat motionless, watching his father push off the chair and walk away. He was still sitting in the same position when Odessa appeared with a mug of coffee and a small dish of homemade shortbread cookies.
“I know you like my shortbread cookies. I filled a small tin of them so you can take some home with you.”
He took the plate and mug from her. “Thank you.”
“I hope things work out between you and that pretty girl.” Nate stared at her. “Lucas told me,” Odessa added.
“I hope they work out, too.”
Waiting until he was alone, Nate closed his eyes. He’d admitted to his father that he loved Morgan, but that wasn’t doing him much good. What he had to do was tell her. He had to admit he was scared to death of what might happen. But Morgan was worth it.
Nate parked his truck behind Morgan’s shop, then strolled through Moss Alley to the entrance. He opened the door. There was no one sitting at the reception desk. Seconds later Morgan appeared from the back. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. She looked gorgeous in a white silk blouse, black pencil skirt, and black patent leather pumps.
“Good afternoon, Morgan.” He held up a plastic bag stamped with the Jack’s Fish House logo. “I brought lunch. Have you eaten?”
Her dimples winked at him when she smiled. “No.”
“You don’t have a receptionist?”
“I’m expecting a new one in a couple of weeks.” Morgan brushed past him, locked the door, and then turned over the sign. “Is there something wrong with your voice mail? I left you a message three days ago.”
Nate wanted to laugh. This was how it started with them two months ago. “I got the message, but I had to go to North Carolina to deliver the armoire.”
“So you finished it?” He nodded. “Come on back.”
Nate bit his lip as he stared at the sway of her hips in the fitted skirt. He missed Morgan in and out of bed. His father was right when he mentioned his stiff-neck pride, and it was pride that wouldn’t permit him to go to Morgan and beg for forgiveness.
“What did you bring?” she asked, smiling at him over her shoulder.
“Smothered chicken, black-eyed peas, and cabbage.”
“Yum.”
Morgan stared at Nate as they sat at the table in the lounge, eating the scrumptious meal. He reached for the last biscuit while she put a glass of ice-cold sweet tea to her mouth. It was as if nothing had changed, as if no time had passed during their separation.
“How is your family?” she asked.
“They’re good. And yours?”
“They’re wonderful. The twins are getting big.”
Nate set down his fork. “I came here to tell you that I made a mistake, and I want you to marry me.”
Morgan’s impassive expression did not change. “No.”
“No?”
“What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand, Nate? The n or the o?”
“I…I thought you wanted marriage.”
She blinked. “I do, but not with someone as clueless as you are. You come in here and say you made a mistake, but offer no explanation for the way you acted at your brother’s reception dinner. So my answer is no.”
The pain Nate felt far exceeded any he’d experienced, including that of Kim’s infidelity. “Morgan…I love you.”
“And I love you. I’ve loved you for so long that I can’t remember when I didn’t love you, but I’m not going to marry you when you’re still holding on to your past. You saw me talking to a group of men and in your eyes I’d become your ex. Marriage is based on love and trust. There can’t be one without the other.”
Nate ran both hands over his head. “Trusting people is something I’ve had difficulty with since I was fifteen.” Reaching across the table, he held Morgan’s hands as he revealed the circumstances behind his mother’s illness—how he’d witnessed Odessa with his father before his mother passed away, and Odessa’s relationship with his mother and father.
“It’s not easy for me to tell a woman that I love her, but I love you, Morgan Dane, and if I have to spend every day for the rest of my life proving that to you, then I will.”
A smile trembled over her lips. “Every day?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m willing to settle for Sundays.”
Nate felt his heart stop, then start up again. “What are you telling me?”
“Ask me again, Nate.”
Rising to his feet, Nate rounded the table and went down on one knee. “Will you, Morgan Dane, do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Throwing both arms around his head, Morgan pulled him close. “Yes, Nathaniel Shaw, I will marry you.”
Epilogue
Morgan emerged from the bathroom in a tantalizing lace-and-silk gown that concealed and revealed in just the right places. She and Nate had selected the second Saturday in October for their wedding, and it’d rained the day before and the day of the celebration. A tropical depression had stalled over the island, preventing them from holding the ceremony on the beach. The venue was changed to the Haven Creek Baptist Church, where family and friends crowded into the small sanctuary to witness the ceremony that bound together two families with roots going back at least seven generations.
Nate had selected DW as his best man, and Morgan had chosen Francine as her maid of honor. Morgan insisted on simplicity—from her pearl-colored bias-cut silk crepe gown, tulle veil, and silk-covered stilettos to her South Sea pearl necklace and studs. Francine’s aquamarine A-line silk gown was the perfect shade for her hair and complexion. Nate’s nephew Gregory was the ring bearer, and
Morgan’s niece, Amanda, did the honors as the flower girl.
The white-and-aqua color scheme was repeated in the tablecloths, the cake decorations, and the flower arrangements in her bouquet, Francine’s bouquet, and on each of the tables in the ballroom at the Market Pavilion Hotel, located in downtown Charleston just minutes from the waterfront.
She and Nate couldn’t decide whether they wanted a DJ or live band, so they contracted for both. It was the same with a photographer and videographer. They would have stills and videos to remind them of their very special day. Morgan didn’t cry as her father led her down the aisle of the church. Instead, she couldn’t stop smiling, especially when Nate ran his tongue over his lips as if he were sampling a delicious concoction. When it came time for him to kiss his wife, Nate picked her up, dipped her low, and kissed her for a full thirty seconds. The assembly burst into laughter, adding to her embarrassment.
A caravan of cars motored along the causeway to the mainland for the reception for 250 guests, which included a cocktail hour with carving stations, an open bar, a five-course dinner, and a Viennese dessert table and cordials. There was nonstop dancing and eating. The partying continued as Morgan and Nate slipped away to begin their honeymoon.
They’d mutually agreed to spend their week on Sullivan’s Island, in the cottage where Nate had made the most exquisite love to her. They’d also contacted a real estate agent to help them buy a property that would suit their needs on a permanent basis. It would be their hideaway, a place where they could eventually take their children on vacation. They’d narrowed the choices down to two. Both properties were close to the beach and far enough from the restaurants and public tennis courts to give them a modicum of privacy.
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