“Me, too,” Connor said.
Warren and Edward Jessop approached them, both men looking just a bit uncomfortable in the social setting, yet clearly determined to deliver their best wishes.
“I want to say congratulations, but there is some discussion as to whether or not it’s acceptable to congratulate the prospective bride,” Edward said.
“Not sure why,” Warren said. “But what do we know? Also questionable, apparently, is for us to say ‘good luck’ to any of you.”
“Now that one I do understand, I think,” Edward said. “As it may imply that the speaker thinks the recipient of that wish is really going to need it. Good luck, that is.”
“Well, I think it’s the intention, and the purpose, that count.” Too late Emily Anne realized that she’d echoed words said in a more private setting. She leaned forward and kissed both men’s cheeks. “So thank you for your good wishes, and for coming out to celebrate with us. We’re very happy you’re here.”
“You’re welcome.” They’d both said that at the same time. They seemed a little less awkward shaking hands with her men. Then they moved off, as one, not toward the buffet table, as she would have expected, but toward the back of the room.
The door opened to laughter and even more friends. Chloe Rhodes led the pack, her minor mountains of fiancés following, and behind them were Ginny, Adam and Jake Kendall. The Kendall men each held one of their babies.
“I’m really very happy for you, friend,” Chloe said. Her hug was sure and tight, and Emily Anne returned it full measure. A new, special bond had grown between them, after what they’d been through together. They, along with Lucy Carter soon-to-be Owen, had gotten together once since then already, and planned to enjoy girl-time out from time to time in the future.
New friendships were one of life’s greatest treasures, and Emily Anne planned to cherish the treasures she’d been given.
“Huh. Imagine that. Those two don’t always come out to these little shindigs,” Grant said.
Emily Anne followed his line of sight and grinned. He was talking, of course, about his cousins, the paramedics. As she watched, she noticed who they sat close to and began speaking with. Awkwardness seemed to be the mood—for all three of them.
Carol Ashwood looked to be as nervous, and smitten, and trying to hide it, as those two Jessops were.
Emily Anne bit back her grin. So that’s who they’ve had their eye on! Despite the deep discussion during which they’d asked for her advice a few weeks before, clearly they hadn’t yet gotten up the nerve to make the first move on the pretty esthetician.
Emily Anne was looking forward to watching that little romance unfold.
“Maybe they came for the free food,” Andrew said.
Chloe had clearly seen the same thing Emily Anne had. At Andrew’s observation, she just rolled her eyes, as if to say “men,” and laughed.
Benny Kendall bounced from foot to foot, and manfully shook hands with both Mel and Connor. Neither man acted as if he was just a kid, which pleased Emily Anne immensely. Then the young boy looked up at her.
“Mom says you’re not gonna move, that you’re going to stay here in Lusty. I’m glad.” Then he hugged her. Emily Anne proved that she knew the boy pretty well, because she accepted that hug but didn’t fawn over him. She shared a look with Ginny and understood that woman’s misty gaze. Her firstborn was growing up. Someday soon, as was the way with all boys growing into themselves, the hugs would be few and far between, especially in public.
Benny gave her his usual cheeky grin, and then ran off, always eager to visit with everyone in sight, as every single person in the restaurant he knew by name.
Ginny shook her head. “He is growing up so fast.” Then she smiled. “But that’s as it should be. And I’m glad you’re staying, too.”
“We all are,” Adam said. Then he looked from Connor to Mel, before he fastened his gaze on her. “Any more hassles from that Billy J character?”
Emily Anne put her hands up to her cheeks. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I forgot to tell y’all!”
“Tell us what?”
Emily Anne knew she didn’t imagine the edge to Connor’s voice, or the way he seemed to tense beside her.
“Well, apparently, Miss Linda Sue Powers, status seeker extraordinaire, the daughter of the richest man in the Comanche area and the bee with an itch who found out for Billy J where I was living and told him…is pregnant. And also, apparently, Billy J is the daddy of that yet unborn bundle of joy.”
Adam struggled to keep a straight face. “Reckon that will put the brakes on his plans for that big Nashville music career.”
“I pity the woman, and the child,” Connor said.
“As we speak, Billy J is preparing to be wed at the point of Mr. Powers’s shotgun, and then, rumor has it, to be turned into the perfect corporate son-in-law. And I wouldn’t discount that career, either. Linda Sue Powers, soon to be Linda Sue Cooper, is a money- and fame-hungry little bit of goods. I’ll lay odds that within a few years Billy J will have his first song on the charts—with his wife, Linda Sue, as his manager.” She grinned. “But I do believe that the all-you-can-scoop groupies part of his big dream is never going to come true.”
Mel snickered. “Some men need a dominatrix in order to thrive.”
Emily Anne laughed even though she felt her cheeks heat. Oh, my God, he’s nailed them both to a tee!
“We’ve had a bit of news, too, regarding the Baxter case,” Jake said.
Emily Anne wondered about his timing, and the fact that Chloe and her men were still standing with the Kendalls, and them.
She knew that the authorities had indeed exhumed human remains from under the concrete slab of that one shed on Baxter’s property, and those remains had been identified as having been Neil Jackson. Baxter had been charged not only with kidnapping and forcible confinement, but with murder.
“It seems the district attorney has identified all of the safe-deposit boxes belonging to Baxter, aka Bruce Smith. They’ve inventoried the contents of same, and report that the amount of money they held totals over three and a half million dollars. I’ve filed petition with the court to have that money turned over to Carrie and Chloe as part of their inheritance.”
“Oh, goodness! That’s wonderful!” Emily Anne knew that the money hadn’t been as important to Chloe as the fact that her father had been betrayed by a man he’d called friend. “What are you going to do with it?”
She hadn’t noticed Carrie come over, but the tiny waif-like woman slipped in next to her big sister. They smiled at each other, and Emily Anne recalled the first time she’d set eyes on Chloe. The sisters had banded together then, too, but now the subtle sadness was gone from both of their faces.
“We actually talked about that, just after you were hired,” Carrie said, nodding to Mel and Connor. “Under the category of ‘what if’”
“We’ve done fine, all these years without that money. We don’t need it,” Chloe said. She smiled. “So we’ve decided to endow a scholarship in our parents’ names. An award is to be given each year to a student at the University of Texas who is an abuse survivor—an extra hand up to someone who’s on the road to a better life, who’s already overcome some heavy obstacles.”
“As well, we’ll be donating money to children’s charities, especially those that benefit orphans,” Carrie said.
“That’s a very fine thing,” Mel said. He hugged each of the Rhodes sisters. “I’m very proud of you both. And I know your folks are looking down on you, and they’re proud of you, too.”
“Amen to that,” a very familiar voice said.
Emily Anne nearly squealed like Kelsey’s baby. She didn’t wait, just headed to the woman who’d spoken those words. Fortunately, Kendalls and Jessops parted so she could get to the diminutive woman.
“Grandma Kate! I am so happy you’re here!”
“Sweetheart, I’m happy you’re here, and going to remain so. And I am not at all surprised
that these two obviously very smart men have scooped you up.”
“Thank you, Grandma Kate. You made me feel like a part of your family from the first moment we met.”
“You don’t have to thank me for that, Emily Anne Bancroft. I’m smart, too.” She grinned in response to the chuckles of nearly everyone in the place. “Now, did everyone hear the news? We have even more family coming home to Lusty.”
Emily Anne’s hand was caught up in Kate’s surprisingly strong grip. “It was after we chatted that one day not long after I returned from that sad visit to Canada, that it occurred to me, what my grandson Clayton needed to do was come home to Lusty. Well, school has been out up north for about a month, and Clayton called me today. He and his children will be moving here before the end of August. A man needs family around him when he has to raise his three children without their mother.”
“If anything can help—both the father and those children—it’s coming here.” Emily Anne looked at all the people present. It seemed to her that they’d all gathered around, surrounding them. She guessed that was to be expected, because Grandma Kate was here, and every member of this community, be they actual family or honorary, loved her.
“We have another set of new arrivals that we’ve just confirmed today as well. Two of James, Jacob and Rosie’s great-grandsons are coming to live here. Their grandfather—my husbands’ uncle Emerson—headed out to Montana just after the war, back in ’46. He settled there, and raised his family. They were ranchers, most of them, which isn’t surprising as the land is something Benedicts have always held dear, no matter where they are. Cord and Jackson Benedict will be here in mid-September, and they’re going to be working with Chase and Brian at the Benedict North ranch.”
“Why do those names sound familiar?” Connor asked. And then he answered his own question. “Good God! The Wonder Twins? From the Billings Bobcats pro football team?”
“The very ones!” Kate grinned. “I’ve been in touch with members of that branch of the family for years, of course. Rosie’s boys all left to find their own way, but they’ve always been Benedicts, and I’ve corresponded with all of them.” Then a look that Emily Anne had never seen on Kate’s face before—a look she would have to call worry mixed with fear—came and went so fast she wondered if she imagined it. The nonagenarian met her gaze and Emily Anne knew it hadn’t been her imagination. “Jackson’s had a time of it lately.” Then she nodded. “I’ve been trying to convince their youngest sister, Veronica, to come, too. She’s a sweet, sweet girl and could use some of what we have here.”
Kate didn’t have to elaborate, not for Emily Anne. She nodded. “There’s not a better place to be if a body is in need of love and support and belonging, than right here in Lusty.” Emily Anne knew she was a little misty eyed, but she figured that was okay.
“I am so very pleased you said that.” Kate looked over at her son, Caleb, who’d worked his way to the front of the crowd and was standing near his mother. “Do you have it?” she asked him.
“I do, indeed.” Caleb smiled, and handed an envelope to Mel.
“What’s that?” Emily Anne’s curiosity was piqued by the way her men were both, suddenly, smiling.
“That’s our future,” Connor said.
“We petitioned the Town Trust for permission to have a house built, just on the edge of town—actually, just down the road from where Greg, Cody and Rebecca are building their place.” Mel’s eyes held a teasing twinkle when he added, “I think you know the spot as we’ve been by there a time or two.”
Emily Anne gasped. She knew, suddenly, the exact piece of property he meant. It was that lovely place they’d taken her parking that first time—and where they’d gone back, a couple of times since, to make love on a blanket under the stars.
“We won’t own the land, or the house, but the lease is ours for as long as we want it.”
“If you want to, angel eyes, we can build that house you’ve been dreaming of—right down to the swing set and sandbox and tiny pool.”
“If I want to? Y’all are making the only dream I ever had come true! How could I ever ask for anything more than that? I love you, both of you.” She wiped at the tears—tears of joy—she couldn’t hold back. “And I love this town. Oh, God, how I love this town! Do I want to? Oh, yes! Yes, I want that, I want all of that. Thank you all so much!”
To the sound of rousing applause, she hugged her fiancés, and then she hugged anyone and everyone who’d let her—starting with Grandma Kate.
Surrounded by these good people, she took one moment to remember the wary and weary young woman she’d been less than a year ago. She would never forget the day she walked through that door right over there and screwed up her courage to ask the owner of Lusty Appetites for a job.
How she had grown in such a short time! Emily Anne had gone from the despair of believing she was nothing to the sure and certain knowledge that she deserved every good thing that came her way.
The years ahead were bound to be filled with laughter and love. Lusty was her home, and the men and women who lived here were her family—the family of her heart.
New town, new family, new life.
Emily Anne clasped her hands together in joy. She could hardly wait to see just what happened next!
THE END
WWW.MORGANASHBURY.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Morgan Ashbury, also writing as Cara Covington, has been a writer since she was first able to pick up a pen. In the beginning it was a hobby, a way to create a world of her own, and who could resist the allure of that? Then as she grew and matured, life got in the way, as life often does. She got married and had three children, and worked in the field of accounting, for that was the practical thing to do and the children did need to be fed. And all the time she was being practical, she would squirrel herself away on quiet Sunday afternoons, and write.
Most children are raised knowing the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. Morgan’s children also learned the Paper Rule: thou shalt not throw out any paper that has thy mother’s words upon it. Believing in tradition, Morgan ensured that her children’s children learned this rule, too. Life threw Morgan a curve when, in 2002, she underwent emergency triple bypass surgery. Second chances are to be cherished, and with the encouragement and support of her husband, Morgan decided to use hers to do what she’d always dreamed of doing—writing full-time.
Morgan has always loved writing romance. It is the one genre that can incorporate every other genre within its pulsating heart. Romance showcases all that humankind can aspire to be. And, she admits, she’s a sucker for a happy ending. Morgan’s favorite hobbies are reading, cooking, and traveling—though she would rather you didn’t mention that last one to her husband. She has too much fun teasing him about having become a “Traveling Fool” of late.
Morgan lives in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a mysterious cat, a new Morkie puppy who thinks he’s a German shepherd, and her husband of forty-one years, David.
For all titles by Cara Covington, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/cara-covington
For titles by Cara Covington writing as
Morgan Ashbury, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Love Under Two Private Dicks [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 31
