The Bachelor's Sweetheart

by Jean C. Gordon

  “Yes, I need it. You’ll pick me up at the house?”

  “Sure thing,” Jerry said.

  Josh smiled at his father and moved the chair he’d been sitting in around next to Tessa. “Tell me about it,” he said when he heard the outside door click behind his father.

  “The other day when you called and I had to take another call. It was about the stage lights. They were supposed to be delivered to the shipping facility in Ticonderoga but didn’t make it.”

  Josh looked past her to the stage and the lights.

  “They were delivered to Saratoga instead. Jerry and I drove down and got them.”

  Josh drummed his fingers silently on his thigh, wanting to push Tessa to get to the point but sensing she needed to tell things in her own fashion.

  “We installed them with Neal’s help yesterday, and when we tested them, the circuit breaker blew. Neal installed a new one and it blew, too.”

  “So you don’t have any stage lights?”

  “No, we do. It turned out the circuit box amperage was too low. Neal had to put in a new higher amperage box. I used your rent check for it.”

  “That’s good, isn’t it?” As with a lot of other things he’d missed, he hadn’t realized she was that close on money with the renovations.

  “Too good. We kept running up against obstacles and the Lord provided. But when the building inspector gave us the go-ahead for the Monday opening, I should have been psyched. Instead, I felt nothing, less than nothing. Hollow.”

  Josh placed his right arm on the table and leaned forward. “This was your dream. You’ve been talking about it almost as long as I’ve known you.”

  “It was what I wanted. And when you said you were taking the job in Boston, I told myself if I didn’t have you, I had to have the theater. I’ve got the theater, and I feel no sense of accomplishment. Like I said, nothing.”

  “Whoa, who said I took a job in Boston?”

  “You, Monday on the phone.”

  He took the note of irritation that had seeped into her voice as a positive. It certainly beat the despondency she’d been drowning in.

  “You asked me if I could give up the theater and come to Boston with you and hung up before I could answer.”

  “Wait.” He jerked straight. “Back up. What do you mean, if you didn’t have me?”

  The corners of Tessa’s mouth curved up in a weak smile. “Think about it.”

  He slid his left arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him. “You’ve had me since the day we met. It took me this long to own up to it.”

  She leaned her head on his shoulder. “I did tell your father that I thought your skull was made of titanium.”

  Josh laughed. That was his Tessa. His Tessa. He liked the sound of that.

  “Let’s take care of the wine,” she said.

  “I’ll do it.” He jumped to his feet.

  “No, I have to.”

  They walked to the kitchen and Tessa lifted the wine bottle over the sink but didn’t pour it down the drain. It hit him like a punch to the solar plexus. She had no more control over alcohol than his father did.

  “Part of me still doesn’t want to do this.” The bottle wobbled in her hand.

  He unconsciously stepped back, and Tessa tilted her head to look up at him, her gaze clear and direct.

  “I know that—now.”

  She accepted his admission and tipped the bottle over.

  He placed his hands on her shoulders, bent down and pressed his lips softly against hers. The sweetness was almost too much to bear. When he lifted his head, she put her arms over his, hands on his shoulders, and studied him.

  “I love you, Joshua Donnelly.”

  Still racing from their kiss, his pulse went into overdrive. “And I love you, Tessa Hamilton.”

  She rose on her toes, her face lifted to him. “I believe you do.”

  Those words filled his heart to bursting and then some. He pulled her close and kissed her again with every ounce of love he had for her, accepting her love in return.

  Epilogue

  Five months later

  The unseasonable late fall heat was unbearable, worse than anything Josh had ever experienced, even during his National Guard tour of Afghanistan. A rivulet of sweat ran down his back. He wanted to pull at his collar so he could breathe, cool off his back. But people would see him. He looked at Connor in front of him, ready to officiate, Jared, his best man, beside him and his father beside Jared. To add to the torture, they all grinned at him. He and Tessa should have eloped.

  The Lohengrin wedding march began and Josh shivered, the heat of a moment ago suddenly gone. Tessa appeared on her father’s arm, a vision in a froth of white. He stood mesmerized. Then he saw it, there nestled in the yellow roses in her bouquet where only someone on the raised altar might see it. A fluffy stuffed yellow chick. He choked back a laugh, remembering their dance at Connor’s wedding. Best buds is how they’d started and what they’d always be, that and so much more. His vision blurred. Must be dust in his eye. He blinked Tessa back into focus and watched her father lift her veil and kiss her on the cheek before whispering something in her ear. She’d worn her hair down as he liked it. He blinked again. Hadn’t Connor had the church cleaned for the ceremony?

  Tessa handed her bouquet to her grandmother, who she’d chosen to be her matron of honor, and took her place beside him. His muscles turned to spaghetti. She was so beautiful it hurt. She returned his gaze, admiration and something more shining in her eyes. Then she grinned and he straightened to his full height, offering up a quick prayer in the moment before Connor started the ceremony.

  Dear Lord, give me the strength to be all Tessa deserves me to be. Help me to show her the boundless love only You know that I have for her.

  “Good morning,” Connor said. “Today we’re gathered here in the sight of God to celebrate one of life’s greatest moments, to give recognition to the worth and beauty of love and to add our best wishes and blessings to the words uniting my brother Joshua Michael Donnelly and Tessa Marie Hamilton in holy matrimony.

  “Marriage is a most honorable estate, created and instituted by God, signifying unto us the mystical union, which also rests between Christ and the Church; so, too, may this marriage be adorned by true and abiding love...”

  Josh tried to keep his attention on Connor’s words, but Tessa’s nearness and his joyful wonderment at her becoming his wife kept distracting him.

  “Joshua, what token do you give as a pledge of the sincerity of your vows?”

  Jared nudged him. “A ring,” Josh said.

  “Tessa, what token do you give as a pledge of the sincerity of your vows?”

  “A ring.” She took Josh’s ring from her grandmother.

  “Please join hands and repeat after me,” Connor said.

  Following Connor, Josh repeated the words he’d committed to memory. “I, Joshua Michael Donnelly, take you, Tessa Marie Hamilton, to be my wedded wife, to live together in marriage. I promise to love you, comfort you, honor and be with you for better or worse...”

  Josh didn’t care if everyone heard his emphasis on better or worse. It was what was in his heart, what Tessa needed from him. And he had no doubts the better would far outweigh the worse.

  “For richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to you, for as long as we both shall live.” His hands trembled as he slid the wedding band onto Tessa’s finger.

  With a shy smile that spoke her joy to him, Tessa did the same, the contrast between the softness of her fingers and steadiness of her hands as she slipped the ring onto his finger nearly brought him to his knees with his love for her.

  “Josh and Tessa,” Connor said, “insomuch as the two of you have agreed to live together in matrimony, h
ave promised your love for each other by these vows, the giving of these rings and the joining of your hands, I now pronounce you husband and wife. May the Lord bless you and keep you, lift up His countenance unto you and give you peace.”

  “Congratulations,” Connor said then turned to Josh, adding, “Bro,” for their ears only. “You may kiss your bride.”

  Josh sealed his promise to Tessa and she to him. They joined hands and turned to their friends and family.

  “And now,” Connor said, “I present Joshua and Tessa Donnelly.”

  Josh squeezed Tessa’s hand and she squeezed it back.

  He bent to her ear. “So far, this marriage thing is okay,” he said.

  Their wedding went on record as the only one at Hazardtown Community Church where the ceremony ended with the bride knocking the groom in the shoulder.

  * * * * *

  Pick up these previous DONNELLY BROTHERS stories from Jean C. Gordon:

  Hometown boys make good...and find love.

  WINNING THE TEACHER’S HEART

  HOLIDAY HOMECOMING

  You may also enjoy these other books from

  Jean C. Gordon set in the town of Paradox Lake

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  SMALL-TOWN DAD

  SMALL-TOWN MOM

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  All available now from Love Inspired!

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  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for choosing to read The Bachelor’s Sweetheart. I hope you enjoyed Josh and Tessa’s story. Of all the books I’ve written, this book was the hardest to write and, ultimately, the most rewarding.

  I’ve seen firsthand the toll alcoholism, any addiction, takes on family and friends. Josh and his brothers have dealt with their father’s alcoholism most of their lives. Tessa and her family with hers only more recently. Tessa and Josh’s story is a tribute to what love can overcome when it has the power of God behind it.

  To keep in touch with me, please sign up for my author newsletter at JeanCGordon.com. And feel free to email me at JeanCGordon@gmail.com or snail mail me at PO Box 113, Selkirk, NY 12158. You can also visit me at Facebook.com/JeanCGordon.author or Tweet me at @JeanCGordon.

  Blessings,

  Jean C. Gordon

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  Small-Town Girl

  by Jessica Keller

  Chapter One

  Kendall Mayes shoved the freshly signed contract papers into her purse as she turned the corner and walked through the main section of downtown Goose Harbor.

  She couldn’t hold back her grin.

  Love on a Dime—the business she had dreamed about for so many years—was going to open. Next week. According to the contract, all she had to do was stay silent about her business partner and find a weekly outing that would attract tourists. The weekly outing hadn’t been part of her original business plan, but she could see why Sesser Atwood, her business partner, insisted it was needed. Success wouldn’t come her way simply by waiting for people who wanted events and dates planned for them. A weekly event people could sign up for in advance translated into a more predictable income flow.

  Her heels clipped against the bricked sidewalk. The businesses in downtown Goose Harbor were all situated around a large, grassy parklike square at the heart of the town and then fanned out down the streets that branched off the edges of the square.

  Now one of those businesses was hers.

  Building 836 boasted a slightly curved path made with round pavers that was lined on each side by an intricately carved wooden bench. Kendall traced her finger over the top of the nearest bench. They were beautiful. A mint-and-cherry awning hung above a door that opened to a tiny entryway leading to two more doors. The front door was heavy and squeaked a little when she opened it. The building was divided into two rentable spaces. Love on a Dime would take up residence on the left side, and a sign reading Goose Harbor Furniture let her know who her neighbor was on the other side.

  The sweet smell of sawdust wafted from Goose Harbor Furniture’s propped-open door. Reaching into her pocket, Kendall closed her hand around the key Sesser had handed her after their meeting. Trepidation gnawed away at the pit of her stomach. This was it.

  Laying her other hand on the door, Kendall bowed her head. She didn’t pray as often as she should, but then again, she found it difficult to think of the right words when it felt as if they never made it past the ceiling. Kendall was one girl among millions. The daily issues she faced didn’t matter to the creator of the universe, did they? No. If her earthly father had been able to walk out of her life and forget about her, God could too.

  Still, she had to believe that God had led local tycoon Sesser Atwood to overhear the bank turning down her application for a business loan. If the elderly man hadn’t asked to hear her pitch and then offered to go into business with her, Kendall would be on her way back to Kentucky by now.

  Thank You for bringing me here. For orchestrating all this. If it’s not too much to ask, please let this be a place I can call home. Finally.

  She slipped the key into the old-fashioned doorknob and opened the door. The tiniest bell, hung on the upper part of the door, rang sweetly as she entered. A note taped to the desk from Claire, Sesser’s adult daughter, read that she had picked out the furniture and decorations and hoped Kendall liked everything. The furniture was meant as a gift, partner-to-partner. The note ended with a huge smiley face. Kendall started adding up the costs in her head and was beginning to wonder if she’d ever be able to pay Sesser back if she had to. Could Mr. Atwood really be so generous? Hopefully it came without strings, but in her experience, gifts rarely did. Especially gifts from wealthy men.

  On a separate note card Claire had written a verse in her pretty, swirling script. Kendall ran her thumb over the card, reading Isaiah 43:19 out loud. “‘See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.’” Finding a thumbtack, she stuck the verse onto the corkboard near her monitor. Claire didn’t know her, but she couldn’t have picked a better verse to encourage Kendall. Perhaps God did care about something as insignificant as Kendall’s dreams.

  She laid her purse
on the desk and was just about to turn on the computer when an awful screeching sound vibrated the walls. “Oh. That’s not going to work at all.”

  Instantly she started for the door leading to the shared entryway. A high-pitched beeping sound echoed as she walked through the furniture store’s front door. Goose Harbor Furniture consisted of two sections; one area showcased completed handmade pieces and items that were ready to purchase, and the other was full of sawdust and half-finished projects. In the middle, two men hunched over a block of wood. One was wielding a power saw, which explained the noise.

  “Excuse me!” Kendall hollered.

  Both men turned in her direction. The taller, broader-shouldered man had sandy-brown, close-cropped hair, a firm jaw and a tug of a smile on his lips. His heavy boots, worn jeans and rolled-up flannel shirt screamed hard work. The shorter of the two had floppy brown hair and a full-blown grin lighting his boyish features. But what struck her most was both men had the same unique eye coloring. A pale green, like the underside of a leaf.

  Thankfully the smaller-statured one switched off the saw before swiveling around. “If you’re here for the whittling class, tonight’s lesson is canceled on account of the concert in the square.”

  She quirked an eyebrow. “Whittling? No.” She shook her head. “I’m here about that horrible noise.”

  The taller one walked forward. “Brice Daniels.” He extended his hand for a handshake, the calluses along his palm rubbing against her soft skin. “Back there—” Brice jutted a thumb over his shoulder toward the man with the saw “—is my brother Evan. He owns this place. You can blame him for all the racket.”

  “I’m Kendall. Kendall Mayes.” She laid her hand across her chest. “Nice to meet you both.” Then she zeroed in on Evan. “Do you normally use that during business hours?”