Okay, about the six kids. If you don’t want that many, I’m open to whatever you want. It’s just that, well, I love my big family and the wonderful craziness that occurs when we’re all truly a part of each other’s worlds, spiritually, emotionally and physically. It’s the way God meant things to be, I believe. Families caring about each other, caring for each other. I can’t wait to see what you think of the people who are so near and dear to my heart. I know they will love you. I also hope and pray that your family will feel the same about me.
Oh, Joey and Becca have decided to call their little girl Lily. She has a head full of black hair and bright blue eyes. I personally think she’s the prettiest baby I’ve ever seen, but I can already tell I’m going to be a bit prejudiced toward my new niece. May spoil her a bit, too, but hey, that’s all part of the fun, right? Looking forward to you meeting her.
Love in advance...and then forever,
Troy
Destiny had pictured the black-haired, blue-eyed baby when she first read this particular letter, but now that she’d met Lily in person, she could see why Troy was so smitten. The little girl was beautiful and undeniably adored her uncle Troy.
And now that Destiny had met his family, and personally viewed the closeness they shared and the delight they got in simply being together, she understood why he also wanted a large family. She had never wanted to have more than one or two children before, but now she found herself considering the possibility of a houseful. Six kids, four girls and two boys, all of them with jet-black hair and Caribbean-blue eyes.
Then she blinked. Those were Troy’s children. And for some reason, she’d put them in her house.
Sitting in her favorite rocker on the front porch of the B and B, she fanned herself with Troy’s letter about baby Lily and tried to get a grip on this attraction that escalated each time she read one of his letters, or each time she saw him, or each time she thought of him. Even today’s blog, where she wrote about meeting the country boy with the big heart, made her sound like a swooning teen. But even though she’d deleted the thing and rewritten it twice, each time the message came across the same, and she’d finally gotten tired of trying to hide her fascination and hit the post button.
After writing the blog and then spending an abundance of time scanning all of her sister’s engagement photos on Facebook, she’d gone to Nelson’s Variety Store for lunch. The cheeseburger was indeed amazing, as Troy had promised, as was Marvin and Mae’s love story. She planned to post it to the site tomorrow. But even as she’d listened to the two tell about the first time they saw each other, how Mae had been too shy to acknowledge Marvin’s request to walk her home from school and how they’d finally admitted their love and then, within two weeks, pledged their wedding vows at the old Claremont courthouse...Destiny found herself wondering what it’d be like to spend fifty-plus years with a man.
No, not with any man. With Troy Lee.
“I need help.” She lifted the cool glass filled with Annette Tingle’s lemonade, today’s garnished with frozen strawberries, and sipped the drink.
“Anything I can do?”
Startled, Destiny coughed on the lemonade but managed to keep it in her mouth until she swallowed. The tart liquid burned as it headed down the wrong way, and her eyes watered while she concentrated on taking another sip to clear her throat. “I didn’t hear you come out,” she finally said to Mr. Tingle.
“I’m sorry I startled you. I’d have yanked on your arm or something, but I’ve always heard you don’t touch a person as long as they’re coughing.” He leaned against the white banister with concern clearly etched across his face.
She swiped at her tears and grinned. “I’ve always heard the same thing, and it’s okay. I was just thinking about something else and wasn’t paying attention.”
“That’s because I walked around the house. Took the trash out for Annette and thought I’d check the porch to make sure all of the decorations were holding up for First Friday. Didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I will try to help, if there’s anything I can do. And were you thinking about something else, or someone else?”
Destiny glanced at the letter still in her hand.
“That’s what I thought,” he said, eyeing the folded paper. “That a love letter?”
“No,” she said, then realized that wasn’t true. “I mean yes, it is, but it isn’t to me.”
His brows dipped, mouth slid to the side. “O-kay. And I’m guessing that’s the problem?”
Destiny sighed. “Not really.” And then she realized that also wasn’t exactly true. “Yeah, maybe.” Because she felt a strong surge of jealousy toward the woman for whom these letters were intended. Jealousy toward any woman who held Troy’s attention. And that was a problem. A big one. They weren’t even friends yet; if they were, she’d have no trouble asking him if she could run his love letters. In his mind, she was simply visiting from Atlanta to write about small-town living.
But last night, when he’d wiped her tearstains away, she’d felt something.
Had she imagined it because she wanted him to feel something, too? Or had he actually thought about kissing her?
“Well, I’m going to pray that everything works out the way you want it to.” L.E.’s statement brought her thoughts back to the here and now, on the porch, instead of to last night’s maybe-near-kiss.
“You’re going to pray for me?” Her heart clenched because she suspected the man wasn’t merely saying words; he’d really pray for her. She’d never had anyone say they’d pray for her before, and she wasn’t certain anyone had ever prayed for her before, period.
“Sure.” He grinned. “And I’ll pray that the next love letter you read will be intended for you.”
“Thank you.” She had no doubt the next love letter she’d read would be another of Troy’s, since she’d developed some kind of addiction to reading them repeatedly. And his grandmother wanted them returned, so she’d need to do that soon. But she wasn’t ready to yet. It wouldn’t hurt to wait another day...or two.
He settled more firmly against the porch rail and crossed his arms. “I wrote a few love letters to Annette, back in the day. She wrote some to me, too. I still have them, tucked in a keepsake box beneath our bed.” He frowned. “Been years, though, since we exchanged love letters.”
“Really? Why?” She knew the moment she asked that the question was probably too personal, but he didn’t seem to get offended.
“You know, I’m not sure. I guess in the beginning you go about trying to make sure the person knows how you feel, so you write it all out and tell them. Then, as the years go on, I guess you assume they know.”
She thought about the lucky lady who’d get the letters Troy had written, and how sad it’d be if the woman never received another. “Don’t you think it’d still be good to tell the person?”
“Yes, yes, I do.” He nodded. “Maybe I’ll surprise Annette and write one again. If memory served, she made a bigger fuss over those letters than the most elaborate gifts that I’ve given her over the years. And I’ve gotta admit, I enjoyed receiving hers, too. There’s something about words from the heart, isn’t there?”
Her hand tightened around Troy’s letter. “Yes, there is.”
He took a step toward the house. “Don’t know why I haven’t thought of doing that again, writing to Annette that way.” Then he winked at Destiny. “Thanks for reminding me.”
“You’re welcome.” She made a mental note to learn the Tingles’ love story before she left Claremont and, if they said it was okay, to share it with her readers.
Her phone rang, and L.E. held up a hand in a wave before heading into the house. Destiny glanced at the display then answered. “Hey, everything okay?”
Rita huffed out an exasperated breath. “Honestly, you have got to start trusting my ability to keep things going.”
&nb
sp; Destiny grinned. “Sorry. Okay then, forget that. How’s your day been?”
“Absolutely fabulous. Amazing, even.” Rita’s excitement pulsed through each syllable.
“Really? Something to do with Southern Love? Did we get more subscribers? Or advertisers?”
Rita answered, “Yes to all. Definitely something to do with Southern Love. Yes to more subscribers, though not as many as we need. And a few more advertisers, too!”
“Seriously? Any idea why?”
“You don’t know? You haven’t looked at today’s blog?”
Destiny placed her glass on the table, then reached for the computer bag she’d propped against the next rocker. “Not since I posted it.” She already had her laptop in hand and wasted no time booting it up. “What’s going on?”
“Your post, that’s what. Everyone is falling in love with Troy, and they still don’t even know his name. Lots of folks are wondering exactly where you are, and they’re trying to get clues from your post. Thankfully, lots of small towns in the South had parades last night for the Fourth. Everyone wants to meet the guy who cleaned up your ice cream, spent his evening catering to a three-year-old princess and his crazy family and then also managed to give you goose bumps when he wiped your tears. I mean, it’s every girl’s dream. Or rather, he is every girl’s dream.” She laughed. “You should see how many posts are offering to pay you for his number.”
Destiny had the page up and saw those comments firsthand, all three-hundred-plus of them. “We haven’t had this many responses since we started the blog.”
“I know, and the advertisers have noticed, too. Our site hits have tripled today, with lots of folks already subscribing to the next issue of the magazine because they want to read Troy’s love letters! Isn’t that great?”
“Yeah, great.” But Rita’s excitement wasn’t transferring to Destiny, not at all. Because she still hadn’t gotten a commitment from Troy that would allow her to run the letters, and now she wasn’t all that certain she wanted to share them.
“Something wrong?”
Destiny blinked. Nothing should be wrong. She should be happy, ecstatic even. And one way or another, she was going to find the means to pull that off. “No, I’m just shocked. This is great. I’m glad you told me. Really.” She picked up her tone a little, and Rita bought it.
“I know! I wish I could see your face right now.”
Destiny nodded but didn’t answer. She didn’t want her friend to see her face because Rita would undoubtedly be able to tell that happiness wasn’t anywhere in the equation.
“Okay, I’m going to start running these credit cards for all of the subscribers. Thankfully, the majority used PayPal, but I’ve got quite a few to go. This is awesome, huh?”
“It is. Hey, I’ve got to go.” She continued scrolling through comment after comment of how droolworthy the bighearted country boy seemed. “I’ll call you back later.”
Rita said bye and disconnected, while Destiny read as many as she could handle, then closed the window and shut down the computer.
“This is exactly what I wanted. I should be happy.” She slid the computer in the bag, then reached for her lemonade and took a big sip. “I will be happy.”
Her phone rang again. Assuming Rita had remembered more to tell her, she answered in her best “happy” voice, “Hey, forget something?”
“That’s funny, I was going to ask you the same thing. Have you forgotten to call me since you hightailed it to Alabama?”
Destiny took another sip of lemonade, held the chilled liquid in her mouth for a moment to hopefully cool her spirit, then swallowed. “Hi, Mom.”
“That’s it? I don’t hear from you in days, and you haven’t even called about your sister’s engagement, and you say, ‘Hi, Mom’?”
“I talked to Bevvie about the engagement and looked at the photos this morning. I’m really excited for her.”
“I can tell.”
“I am, Mom. So, how’s everything there? How’s Dad?”
“Still at the hospital, of course. He had a surgery this afternoon, and I suppose it ran late...again.”
“I’m pretty sure the patients pay him by the procedure, not by the hour.”
“I’m not starting with you tonight, Destiny. I simply want to know when you’re planning to come back to Atlanta.”
“As soon as I get what I need for the next issue.”
“Honey, when are you going to realize that you need to give up? You’ve given it a valiant effort, but it’s been, what, a year now? I know you’re out of money, and I don’t understand why you don’t let us help, or why you don’t try to get a job that really uses your degree.”
“My degree is in journalism, and I am using it, Mom. And why do you think I’m out of money?” She was close, but somehow she always got the bills paid, and she wasn’t ready to declare defeat yet. Plus, she had new subscribers and advertisers today, thanks to her blog post about Troy. She’d continue to post more and hopefully share his letters with the world soon, and everything would be just fine. She couldn’t wait to tell her mother all about it, when it happened.
“I’ve looked in your refrigerator, dear. No one lives on bagels and orange juice. Of course, it does make it easier to clean when it’s empty, I suppose.”
Destiny’s skin bristled. Her mother judged how she was doing by how well her fridge was filled? “One person doesn’t require a whole lot of food.”
“And that’s another thing. Are you even dating anyone now? What happened to that Beasley boy? Mike, wasn’t it? He was so nice and could have taken care of you for life.”
Destiny easily translated her mother’s words. He was rich, and you’d have had it made, like me. She wanted to point out how happy “having it made” had made her mom, but she didn’t want to start a fight. Really. “Mike got married in June.” He’d also broken up with Destiny via a text message after he met his future bride at the beach.
Future bride. That’s how Troy sometimes referred to his wife in his letters. Destiny unfolded the one she’d been reading and scanned his tender words again. Six kids with Troy. She shouldn’t even dream about it, but for some reason, she couldn’t stop at least considering the possibility.
“What is it about the guys you choose? Bevvie met Jared and said she knew he was the one. Haven’t you felt that way about anyone?”
She glanced at the letter. Was that what was happening? And wouldn’t that be her luck, that her heart would fall hook, line and sinker for a guy looking for someone totally different? Because Destiny wasn’t the kind of “down home” girl he described in his letters. She didn’t have the faith he listed as the most important quality for his future wife. And she certainly didn’t know anything about being part of a big, happy family.
Her mother huffed out a breath. “You know, maybe if you actually did something with your life and got out in the real world a bit, you would meet someone and have a relationship, too.”
Destiny swallowed past the urge to argue. It never did any good and would only make her feel worse. “Mom, I’ve got to go. There’s a festival on the town square tonight.”
After a pause, her mother snapped, “Working hard, I see.”
“I’m writing stories about the people here, so going to the town’s activities is a part of my job. And yes, I am working hard.” Though her current definition of working hard meant working hard to gain Troy’s trust.
“Fine.” Geneva cleared her throat. “Did you say you saw your sister’s engagement photos?”
Destiny welcomed the subject change. “I did, and they were beautiful. Like I said, I’m very happy for them.”
“They were beautiful, weren’t they? I tried to capture the lighting right so that they practically glowed in the pictures, or that’s the way I thought they turned out. What did you think?”
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br /> “That’s how they looked, very pretty.”
“I thought so, too.” She sighed. “Destiny, think about coming home and letting us try to help you get a regular job. Your daddy and I have a lot of contacts, you know.”
“I know.” But she didn’t want to work for any of their country-club friends. She wanted to go for her dream, and her dream was the magazine. She wished her mother understood.
“All right, then. Have fun at the festival.”
Destiny blinked. What had happened in the past two minutes that changed her mother’s tone and made her sound more like...a mother? “O-kay, I will.”
“I do love you, you know.”
“I love you, too.” And as she disconnected, she realized that the words were true. She loved her mother, felt sorry for her sometimes, even. Because while she did have her tennis buddies and a few friends who were closer than others, the majority of the time she roamed that huge house by herself, watching the clock and waiting for her husband to return home. She usually seemed absolutely miserable, but every now and then, Destiny would hear a hint of happiness again. She’d thought she caught that a moment ago. Probably because of Bevvie’s engagement. Yeah, that had to be it. Maybe if Destiny ever found “the one,” her mother would find a little happiness for her, too.
Not wanting to spend any more time analyzing her mother’s bizarre behavior, she decided to head to the First Friday Festival. Troy was undoubtedly on his date with Haley Calhoun, and so she planned to keep herself busy, very busy, so she wouldn’t have time to wonder whether he had traded in his player reputation and decided that the pretty vet was “the one.”
Bride Wanted Page 7
