Was he crazy to build all these castles in the air? To believe he could make her happy in his world? He’d failed miserably with Clare.
His cell phone rang. He had it on hands-free and assumed Emma was calling him back. Not Emma. His mother. “Hey, Mom, what’s up?”
“Where are you?”
“Halfway between Nashville and Williamston. If there’s a problem…”
“Oh, dear. I think you’d better pull over.”
He went cold and pulled over onto the shoulder. “Mom, are you all right? Is it Emma?”
“I’m not even sure I should tell you. It’s about your father.”
He rubbed his jaw with one hand. He already could use a shave. “What’s he done now?”
“Please don’t be angry. I know she’s trying to help. She’s such a dear girl.”
“Mom, what is it?”
“I should’ve told you earlier, but I know how you get. Everett has been calling me every day since he’s been back in town. He says he wants to make amends. It’s one of those twelve-step things he does. He’s also been talking to Emma, asking her to set up a meeting with you. Maybe have lunch.”
“He what?”
“She’s worried that you’ll be angry with her.”
“She’s got that right. Thanks for telling me, Mom. I’ll take care of it.”
How long had this been going on? How often did Everett call her? Did he actually meet with her? She should’ve told him after the first call.
What kind of man did she think he was? Did she think he could hurt his father? His hands were cold on the steering wheel. She was afraid to tell him. Afraid of what he’d say, or worse, do.
He’d warned her off the first time they met his father. Yes, he’d been angry, but he thought he’d gotten his point across. Stay away from the man. But she hadn’t. Instead she tried to intervene, to fix things between them. He didn’t want them fixed, and he couldn’t accept her interference. He’d grown up with secrets. He couldn’t live with them the rest of his life. If she’d lie about this, what else had she hidden from him? Or would in the future? For his own good? What gave her the right to make that decision for him?
By the time he turned down his road he was mad at both his parents and the woman he loved. She had betrayed him with the man he hated.
Emma’s car was parked in her driveway. Instead of going into his own house, he headed for hers.
She flung open her front door and threw her arms around him. “I missed you,” she whispered and kissed him.
He held her away from him. “How often have you seen my father?”
“What?”
“Mom told me he’s been calling you, coming by to see you…”
“Only calling. And in the parking lot after the rehab class. He wanted to come by the clinic, but I told him no.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He’s asking to see me, not you. I knew you wouldn’t like it. He’s trying to be nice.”
“So he’s been in contact with you, and you’re willing to help him hide his attempts from me. Not your concern. Nobody asked you to intercede.”
“He did. I thought—”
“Well, don’t. Keep your hands off my life. Leave my family to me. It’s not your family, it’s mine.”
The wounded look in Emma’s eyes told him he’d gone too far.
“Fine. As of this minute I’m out.” She shut the door in his face.
“Emma! Emma!” He slammed his fist against the old oak.
“Get out of my yard and out of my life!”
He considered breaking the pier glass in the door. No, he had to cool off and give her time to cool off, as well. Their first real fight, and it was a doozy. Going to take more than roses to smooth this one out. If he could. He turned on his heel, stormed across the street and slammed his front door. He’d go over later to make up. If she would. She’d expect an apology he couldn’t give.
What if she was serious about getting out of her life? She’d done it before with Trip.
* * *
“EMMA, DO YOU KNOW what time it is?” Nathan asked. “I was in bed watching the news.”
“You’re not asleep, then. Nathan, can I have my job back?”
“Say what? Are you serious?”
“Dead serious. I don’t belong up here.”
“Of course I want you back. Same money, same job description.”
“More money, more responsibility. I’m worth it.”
“This is not a conversation to have over the phone. When can you come to Memphis?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Can you get to my office by ten?”
“Barring car trouble or a flat tire.”
“See you then. Oh, and Emma…welcome back.”
She called Andrea and asked for her old room for the night. “My town house is too dusty to sleep in.”
“Sure. We’d all love to see you. Are you coming alone, or is your hunk coming with you?”
“Alone. Definitely alone. I’ll be there in two hours.”
“It’s late. Be careful driving. You know those semis are lunatics in the middle of the night.”
Emma tossed toiletries and a change of clothes into her duffel. She had plenty of business clothes at her town house. She could stop by and dress there for her meeting with Nathan. If she left now, she could even get a few hours’ sleep before her appointment. As much as she liked her town house, she was in no mood to put fresh sheets on the bed and knock the top layer of dust off the kitchen counters before she went to sleep. For once she needed the feeling of being home where she grew up, in her own bed. Seth had made it perfectly clear that she was still an outsider in his life. That she wasn’t good enough. He was willing to let her in so far and no farther. Parts of him were always going to be off-limits.
Seth’s house was completely dark when she drove out. Apparently he didn’t need her in bed with him to sleep soundly. She might never sleep again. She would not cry. She loved the man! Thought he loved her. How wrong could she be?
She slowed down to exactly the speed limit. All she needed was a wreck or a speeding ticket.
In Memphis in her parents’ house she found a note on her bedroom door from Andrea. “Go to bed. We’ll talk tomorrow if you want to. Love.”
She thought she’d lie awake most of the night. Instead she was out the instant she pulled the familiar duvet over her.
The next morning she avoided explaining anything either to Andrea or her father by taking a mug of coffee and a couple of sweet rolls with her and driving away before either of them intercepted her. She stopped by her town house on the way downtown to change into business clothes. She’d always been proud of the decorating she and Andrea had managed in a minimum of space, but now the little house seemed like a bad stage set and carried the dusty odor of unoccupied and unloved homes. She couldn’t wait to get away.
She still had her parking pass for the garage at Nathan’s office, but after nine o’clock the lower floors were filled. She drove round and round searching for a place. She’d forgotten how tiring it was to fight traffic, fight to park, fight to drive out to an appointment during the day and fight for a parking place all over again when she got back.
She’d also forgotten how much she hated four-inch heels, panty hose and skirts. Small annoyances, but still annoyances. The traffic noise seemed louder and more incessant, as well. Made the barking dogs and yowling cats at the clinic seem almost pleasant.
Time to think positive. She’d loved the craziness of her job, her city life. She’d be happy to plunge back into the long nights, the endless sodas and coffee. Her friends. Her team. She’d be back in the swing in two days, tops. Or so she told herself.
She arrived at the office for her meeting with Nathan ten minutes early. Her office mates might have avoided ca
lling her while she was in Williamston, but they seemed delighted to see her back. Instead of the office pariah, she’d become the office hero. Nathan even came out of his office to hug her.
“Grab some coffee and let’s go talk,” he said. He leaned against the receptionist’s desk. “Then I’ll take you to lunch at The Peabody.”
At that moment Seth shoved through the glass doors from the foyer and strode over to Emma. He was wearing his full dress uniform.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. Every woman in the room went instantly on point. In his uniform, he looked so good, so strong—but still angry. Had he tracked her down here to yell at her some more?
“Why didn’t you leave me a message to say where you were going?” he snapped. “Barbara was birthing a foal. She didn’t tell me you’d driven back to Memphis until this morning. When I couldn’t find you, I was one step away from putting out an APB on your car.”
“It’s none of your business if I drive home to see my family. You made it quite clear yesterday that you don’t care whether you ever see my face again.”
“Not see your face again? Why would I not want to see your face again? I love your face.”
“Keep your hands off my life doesn’t sound like a mating call. It sounds like we’re over, we’re through and you leave me alone for the rest of our lives.”
“I was mad. Okay, I was furious. The only way I’ve been able to deal with Sarah’s death was by ignoring it—digging down deep and burying it. You stuck your cute little hook in my soul and dragged it all to the surface where I had to stare at it.”
“I didn’t mean to cause you pain.” She tried to sound very cool, but her voice was trembling. Everyone in the office was standing in doorways or sitting at their desks listening to the whole thing. Oh, who cared. Let ’em listen. They might learn how to lose a good man in ten easy steps. Or less.
“Well, you did. Big-time pain. When I cooled off, I started thinking maybe you hadn’t done such a bad thing, after all. Like sticking a hot poker on a wound to cauterize it. Hurts like hell, but you don’t die of gangrene.”
“How nice to know I’ve saved you from gangrene. Just what every woman wants to hear.”
“You want this job back?” he asked. “Go back to being a city mouse?”
“I’m good at it. I’m lousy in your world. I keep messing up your life and everyone else’s.”
“Fine. If that’s what you want, then I better start trying to find a desk job in Memphis or close enough to commute. God only knows what I’ll do for a living, but I’ll have to be a city mouse, if that’s what you’re going to be.”
For the first time she smiled. “You’re too big to be a city mouse. More like a city rat.”
“Whatever. I have some connections with the local government people. Money might even be better, if I work it right. Maybe go with one of the security firms.”
“You’d hate it. Why would you do that?”
“Because I love you, you mutton-headed chump. I want to marry you, and if you want town, I’ll take town, so long as I get you with it.”
“Even though I messed around in your relationship with your father?”
“That’s what families do. It’s one of the problems you’ll have to deal with if you take me on.”
“Sort of like skunks?”
This time he grinned. “Exactly like skunks.”
“Can I be a country mouse instead?”
“So you’ll marry me?”
The office erupted around her, male and female. Above the din, Ashley, one of the assistants who’d worked closely with Emma before she lost her job, called from her office door, “Marry him, Emma! He’s gorgeous!”
EPILOGUE
“WEDDINGS ARE SUPPOSED to be insane,” Andrea said. “That’s so the bride and groom will be so glad it’s over they’ll have a blissful honeymoon away from it.”
“That’s one I’ve never heard,” Emma said. “Isn’t there supposed to be a limit to the madness?”
“This has actually been relatively calm. Most weddings take up to a year to plan. We’ve done this one in two months.”
“Only because you’re amazing. I haven’t been much help. I’m juggling the wedding with my part-time job with Barbara and the rehabilitation classes and Nathan’s projects. Somewhere in there Seth and I have to find time for each other.”
“You’ve done everything I asked you to do,” Andrea said. “Thank heaven for cell phones and the internet. Now we can relax.”
“This is relaxing?” Emma laughed. “Barbara is off collecting a hawk with a broken leg and probably won’t be here. Earl and Janeen almost didn’t find an overnight babysitter for their monsters. They’re good kids, but they don’t belong at the ceremony. Nor, heaven help us, at the reception. It would not have been fun if Earl and Janeen had been forced to bring them. The steeple on top of the church might not have survived. We have no idea whether Seth’s father, Everett, will turn up, and if so, what state he’ll be in. Laila swears he’s sober again, but that could change with one drink. Catherine is having a meltdown because she hates the way the salon did her hair. Patrick wants to wear jeans to the ceremony—not going to happen.”
“I’m still sane,” Andrea said, “although I can’t vouch for your father. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him as nervous, not even at our wedding.”
“I hated you at first, you know,” Emma said. “I wanted to run away from home so Daddy would be sorry he married you.”
“I knew that. I didn’t like you either.” Andrea slipped off her celadon satin pumps. “That jeans thing of Patrick’s seems like a great idea after thirty minutes in these shoes.”
“You do know I love you now, don’t you?” Emma asked.
“Likewise. If you and I could get to this point, there’s at least a faint chance that someday Everett Logan may shape up enough so he and Seth will be able to tolerate each other.”
“I doubt that, but it would make Laila so happy. Seth just wishes his father would move to the Mojave Desert or American Samoa.”
“Speaking of which, where are you going on your honeymoon?”
“To Laila’s cabin. We can’t take time off right now. Seth has summertime crazy people to save, rescue or arrest, and Nathan wants me on call to drive into town for meetings at least once a week.”
“So you are going to keep working for him?”
“Under contract for special projects only. I can do most everything from home on my computer, except meet clients face-to-face. The money he’s offering is too good to pass up. Besides, I loved my job, and I want to keep my hand in.
“Plus we have to clear out my town house to sell, and find some way to integrate Seth’s household goods with mine. Not that he has much. Clare took most of it. I still think it would’ve been easier just to cohabit, but Daddy would have keeled over in horror. He kept worrying that I’m pregnant. I’m not.”
“Yet,” Andrea said. They both jumped when someone knocked on the vestry door.
“Emma, Andrea, it’s time.” Laila stuck her head in. She wore a teal silk suit that contrasted beautifully with her white hair. “Oh, Emma, you look lovely! I’m so glad you decided to have a real wedding, even if it is the middle of July.”
“And a reception in air-conditioned comfort in the parish hall,” Andrea added. “I’ve never believed in weddings and receptions out of doors. Too many miserable things can happen.”
“Emma,” Laila said, “I brought you something. It’s a very old tradition. A sixpence to put in your shoe for good luck. Maybe if I’d used one, Everett and I would have made a better marriage. Oh, dear, I’m going to cry.”
She patted Emma on the shoulder of her white silk gown. Andrea winked at Emma and slipped out into the narthex of the little church. She waited to walk down the aisle and take her place up front as Emma’s matron of honor. In the m
eantime she attempted to calm David French’s jitters before he walked down the aisle with his daughter.
“I’m so glad you’re marrying Seth,” Laila said with a sniffle. “I knew it was the wrong bride the last time. I know it’s the right one this time.”
Emma hugged her. “Thank you. Now, let’s do this thing.”
Emma had nixed the twelve bridesmaids and dozen groomsmen, although Seth’s warden buddies would have enjoyed showing up in their dress uniforms. They came in civilian clothes as guests instead. Emma’s simple, classic white silk gown didn’t have a train or ruffles or a hoop, nor was her veil French lace. She’d never been a ruffles kind of woman.
As the organ began playing the Purcell wedding music, Laila walked down the aisle on Patrick’s arm. He was already taller than his father.
“We can still call this off,” David French whispered as Emma took his arm. “It’s not too late.”
“It was too late the first time Seth opened his front door and found me on his doorstep.”
“If you’re sure…”
“Sure and unafraid. That’s a first for me.”
The doors opened. Standing in a ray of sunlight by the altar was Earl, handsome in his gray morning suit, dwarfed by Seth, who stood beside him looking incredibly handsome. How could she ever have thought he wasn’t?
Andrea walked to the front and took her place as matron of honor.
After Andrea was seated, Emma held her father’s arm and went joyously to her beloved.
She had a crazy thought as she took her first step. Could she and Seth possibly find where her babies were nesting? They’d adore the wedding cake.
* * * * *
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Superromance.
You want romance plus a bigger story! Harlequin Superromance stories are filled with powerful relationships that deliver a strong emotional punch and a guaranteed happily ever after.
Harlequin Superromance May 2018 Box Set Page 52
