Mary Louise saw the sincerity and love shining from his eyes. Tears welled up in her own and spilled down her cheeks. “Oh, Danny,” she whispered, her heart overflowing.
“Is that a yes?” Willie Ron asked impatiently. “All this dillydallying is getting on my nerves.”
Mary Louise laughed and launched herself into Danny’s arms. “Yes,” she said jubilantly. “Yes, I’ll marry you and make a family with you.”
“Seems to me like you’ve got a head start on that,” Willie Ron noted. “Now, go away, so I can get my beauty sleep.”
“As if you could be any handsomer than you already are,” Mary Louise said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “In fact, you’re so good-looking, I think I’ll have you stand up for me at our wedding.”
“Now, won’t that be a pretty sight,” Willie Ron murmured. There was a smile on his lips as he drifted off.
She turned to Danny. “You wouldn’t mind, would you?”
“He protected you and our baby,” Danny said. “I’d say he’s in our life to stay. I’ll owe him for that till the day I die.”
She gave his hand a grateful squeeze. He winked at her.
“Want to go back to your room and make wedding plans?” he asked.
“Sweetie, we won’t need to do much planning,” she told him. “I’ve had my wedding all worked out since I was four. We’ll just have to tweak it a little to make sure we can pull it together before I’m too huge to waddle down the aisle.”
“You’d still be the prettiest bride ever,” Danny said. His expression sobered. “I’m going to make you happy, Mary Louise. That’s a promise.”
“Oh, Danny,” she whispered, her voice choked with tears. “Don’t you know, you already have?”
Caleb’s mind wasn’t on their card game, Max concluded when he won three straight hands. “What the devil’s gotten into you?” he demanded. “There’s not much point in playing if you’re not going to concentrate.”
“I thought you’d be happy to win some of your money back,” Caleb retorted.
“Well, I would be, if I thought I was winning it fair and square and not because your head’s a million miles away. Haven’t you talked Amanda into marrying you yet?”
Caleb scowled at him. “I told you, I left the decision up to her.”
“And I told you you were a damn fool,” Max said in disgust. “What kind of man leaves his destiny up to somebody else?”
“One who’s trying to do the right thing,” Caleb said.
Max studied him. “Is there something I don’t know about you? You got a bunch of skeletons kicking around in the closet?”
“None that concern you,” Caleb assured him.
“But they might matter to my daughter?”
“They might,” Caleb acknowledged.
“Care to explain that?”
“No.”
Max glowered at him, but Caleb didn’t wilt—or change his mind. He just dealt another hand and feigned concentration on his cards.
“Okay, be that way,” Max muttered just as the doorbell rang. “Now, who on earth would that be at this hour?”
“Want me to go answer it?” Caleb asked.
Max heaved himself up. “The day I can’t answer my own door is the day I take to my bed and give up.”
He walked to the front door, flung it open impatiently and then stared in shock at the woman standing there. “Margaret!”
Her confident expression wavered ever so slightly. “Max, it’s good to see you.”
Max felt as if someone had yanked the rug right out from under him. “Wh-what are you doing here?” he asked, thoroughly flustered.
“If you’ll ask me in, I’ll explain,” she said, her lips curving into a small smile.
He backed up a step. “Of course,” he said, his heart thundering in his chest every bit as hard as it had on the day he’d waited at the altar for her to say “I do.”
She walked past him and headed straight for the living room, barely sparing a glance for anything along the way. Only when she spotted Caleb did she hesitate.
“Reverend Webb, I wasn’t expecting to find you here. I thought Max would be alone. That’s why I called so late in the evening.”
“Please, call me Caleb. We were just playing a few hands of poker. Since Max is winning for a change, you’ve given me the perfect excuse to call it a night.”
Max wasn’t at all sure he wanted him to go. He’d been feeling okay most of the evening and his mind hadn’t betrayed him, but he wanted backup in case that changed. “Stay,” he ordered, drawing surprised looks from both of them.
Caleb seemed to catch on quick enough. He nodded and sat back down. Margaret shot a questioning look in his direction, but then sat on the edge of the sofa, her hands folded in her lap. Max sat in his favorite chair and took the time to look at her.
She was more self-possessed than she’d been as a young wife. Her face had matured, though there was hardly a line in it. She’d dyed her glorious hair a dark shade of red. Despite his earlier misgivings, he was forced to admit it suited her. It seemed to emphasize the sparkle in her blue eyes.
“I suppose you’re wondering why I came after all this time,” she said eventually.
He nodded. “Seems like a logical question.”
“Amanda told me you’re sick,” she began.
Max felt something inside him shrivel and die. “So you came to make sure I’ve taken care of you in my will,” he accused. “Amanda should have kept her mouth shut.”
Margaret looked vaguely taken aback by the venom in his voice. “Actually, I came because of something else Amanda said. I wanted to ask your forgiveness.” She paused, then, “I treated you badly, Max. Over the years I’ve regretted it more than I can say, but I couldn’t bring myself to call or write it in a note. I figured you wouldn’t believe me, anyway. Or that it wouldn’t matter in the end, even if you did think I was sincere.”
Max recalled the day Margaret had walked out of their lives as if it had happened yesterday. She’d taken his heart with her. He’d alternated between hating her for that and missing her desperately, especially when he was at a loss with Amanda. He’d always believed Margaret would have known how to keep their girl safe and happy. Instead, he’d been left to muddle along doing the best he could. Thank God he’d had Jessie.
“You can’t change the past,” he told her now. “And regrets are a waste of time. I’ve had more than my share and they haven’t changed a blessed thing. All you can do is accept where you are and move on.”
She regarded him with curiosity. “You’ve changed,” she said. “You’re more mellow now.”
Max gave a shout of laughter. “I imagine there are plenty of folks who’d dispute that.”
“You know what I find sad?” she asked.
“What’s that?”
“You say that moving on is what’s important, but you haven’t done that, not really. Neither have I.”
“Of course we have,” he insisted. “Years have passed, Margaret, and we’ve lived them. We haven’t holed up somewhere in isolation.”
“True, but is that all there is to moving on?” she asked. “You never asked for a divorce, Max.”
He got her point and it rankled in a way he couldn’t entirely explain. “Neither did you,” he retorted defensively.
“As I said, neither of us took that final step to move on with our lives. We kept the tie. Why do you suppose that is?”
He shrugged. “Never saw the need to get a piece of paper. Besides, we’d told people you were dead. I couldn’t very well ask for a divorce from a woman who was supposed to be in her grave. You could have gotten one, though. You could have gone off to some island, gotten a quickie divorce with no one here being the wiser. Why didn’t you?”
Her gaze locked with his. “I think because some part of me always knew I’d come back here someday.”
Max felt his heart leap, then his temper. “Hold on just a cotton-pickin’ minute, woman. Are you telling me you wa
nt to come home at this late date and turn the last thirty years into a lie? You’d humiliate me like that, after all I did to give you the freedom you insisted you had to have?”
“Max,” Caleb said softly. “No need to work yourself up.”
“There damn well is a need! I won’t have it,” he said, slamming his fist on the arm of his chair. “I won’t be made a fool of.” He scowled at this woman he’d loved for so many years despite what she’d done to him. “What made you think for a minute I’d agree to this?”
“I thought…” Her voice faltered. “I thought you might need me.”
“Well, I don’t,” he blustered. “I’ve gotten along just fine without you and that’s the way it’ll stay.”
Her expression turned sad. “I see. I suppose you’re right. I suppose it’s far too complicated, which is why you insisted on doing things this way in the first place. You wanted to be sure that coming back wouldn’t be an option, didn’t you?”
“Well, of course I did. I did it for Amanda’s sake.” He scowled. “Did you give one second’s thought to her? Do you think she wants you here after you abandoned her?”
“I was hoping for a chance to make peace with her, too,” she said. “But I can see that coming here was a mistake.” She stood up. “I’m sorry I’ve upset you, Max. I really am.”
“Hold on a minute,” he commanded when she started to walk away. “That’s it? I say no to this crazy plan of yours and you just walk away?”
She regarded him curiously. “What did you expect?”
“I expected you to fight to stay the same way you fought to go,” he told her fiercely. “I expected you to make me believe that staying really matters to you.”
“You want me to fight you on this?” she asked.
“The Margaret I knew could hold her own with anybody, even me,” he said. “Not many people could do that. I suppose that’s why I never forgot you. Don’t destroy my memories now. I haven’t got that many good ones left.”
She cast a helpless look at Caleb, then chuckled. “You always were the most perverse man on the face of the earth, Max. I’m glad to see that hasn’t changed.”
He frowned at her. “Well, then?” he prodded.
“I’m still going,” she said, then touched his cheek with a brief caress. “But I’ll be back from time to time, so you start figuring out what you want to tell people about my miraculous recovery.”
Damn, but she was a pistol. Always had been. He grinned at her. “Maybe I’ll just keep you hidden away here and let them think I’ve lost what little’s left of my mind. The whole town will be talking about me spending my final days talking to a ghost.”
“That’s one approach,” she agreed wryly. “But it might be hard on Amanda and our grandchildren.” Her expression sobered. “Max, you were right about one thing. Before I start spending too much time around here, talk it over with Amanda and see how she feels about it. I know I haven’t earned the right to come back in her eyes, or in yours, for that matter. An occasional visit in the dark of night will do for now.”
Max saw the sense in what she was saying. If he had years left, an occasional visit would be a sensible start. But he wanted to store up a few last memories while he could.
“We’ll work it out,” he told her. He would convince Amanda, if not to forgive her mother, at least to give her a chance, same as she had him.
Margaret gave his hand a squeeze. “Good night, Max. I’ll let myself out.” She nodded at Caleb. “Good night.”
After she’d gone, Caleb turned to Max. “Are you okay?”
“Have to say my head’s spinning a bit,” he admitted. “How do you think Amanda will take all this?”
“If it’s what you want, she’ll go along with it for your sake,” Caleb said. “But I’m a little surprised you’d agree to it so quickly.”
Max gave him a wry look. “Aren’t you the one who’s always preaching forgiveness?”
“I am, but you usually ignore me.”
“Then consider this one of those times when you managed to get through my thick skull,” Max told him. “Besides, even I recognize that I don’t have time to waste holding a grudge when that woman’s the only person in this world who ever meant a thing to me besides Amanda and those kids of hers. A few weeks ago, I’d have sent Margaret packing out of stupid pride. Now I don’t much see the point.”
“You’ve just proved one of those invaluable life lessons I like to preach about,” Caleb said. “Sometimes, if we’re lucky, with age comes a little wisdom.”
Max regarded him with uncertainty. “Then you don’t think I’m being a sentimental old fool?”
“No. I think you’ve recognized what’s important and you’re grabbing for it and holding on for dear life.”
“What about you? You going to grab Amanda and hold on for dear life?”
Caleb chuckled. “You never give up, do you?”
“Only once before—when I let that woman get away from me—and it was a mistake. Now, tell me. Are you going to fight for my girl?”
“If Amanda considers everything I’ve told her and still wants me in her life, then believe me, Max, I will never let her go. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Max regarded him with disgust. “Sometimes you’re too damned noble for your own good, Reverend.”
“Sometimes it’s the only choice a man has.”
“Well, it’s a big risk, leaving a thing like this up to a woman’s whim. I did that once and look what it got me. Years of being alone.”
“Marriage is more than some whim,” Caleb corrected. “I’m comfortable with letting Amanda think things through and make this decision.”
“Then why do you look like a groom who’s been left standing at the altar an hour too long?”
“Maybe because you won’t let the subject drop,” Caleb said. “You’re getting on my nerves, old man.”
“If I were you, I’d stop wasting time talking to me and go over to Amanda’s and see if she’s come to a decision.”
“I don’t want to pressure her.”
Max rolled his eyes. “Whatever happened to sweeping a woman off her feet? I’d have filled her house up with roses and champagne by now.”
“Your daughter doesn’t care about roses and champagne.”
“All women say they don’t care about roses and champagne till the flowers and expensive bottles of Dom Pérignon start turning up on the doorstep,” Max said. “I could make a couple of calls for you, get this thing started.”
“Stay out of it,” Caleb warned.
Max sighed and shrugged. “Up to you. I just know what I’d do.”
“As if your love life has much to recommend it,” Caleb retorted.
Max grinned. “Thirty years later my woman came back to me. I must have given her something good to think about all these years.”
“Roses and champagne?” Caleb asked skeptically.
“I had one or two other tricks up my sleeve back then, but I’m not sharing all my trade secrets. Let’s see how you do with the simple things first. Now, get out of here. You’re wasting time.”
He watched Caleb leave, then sat back down and thought about the unexpected events of the evening. As gloomy as his outlook had been for weeks now, it was a revelation to discover that life still had a few surprises left in store for him.
Amanda took an entire week to consider Caleb’s announcement about his infertility, not because she needed to, but because he expected it. She used the time to make arrangements for the wedding she wanted to have in a month’s time.
When she invited him over for dinner, she was stunned when he showed up with two dozen white roses and a bottle of fine champagne.
“They’re beautiful,” she whispered, burying her face in the roses and breathing in the sweet scent. “What made you think of them?”
“I shouldn’t admit it, but Max seemed to think I was messing up the whole courting thing. I decided to give his way a try. Is it too much?”
“I wouldn’t want these every week, but it’s the perfect way to start this evening,” she told him. “Let me put the flowers in water and we’ll have dinner. We have a lot to talk about.”
He studied her intently. “We do? Where are the kids?”
“They’re spending the night at Willow Bend,” she said. “Jessie’s helping my father look after them.”
“I see.”
“Do you really?” she asked, amused by the confusion in his eyes. It was good to know she could throw him off balance once in a while.
“What is it you want to talk about, Amanda?” he asked at last.
“These for a start,” she said. She handed him a draft of her proposed wedding invitation, a list of potential caterers and a confirmation from his church that the date was available.
He looked everything over, then met her gaze. His eyes were filled with such relief that she knew she’d done exactly the right thing to prove to him that she wanted this marriage as much as he did.
“You didn’t leave much to chance, did you?” he asked, his lips curving into a slow smile.
Amanda shrugged. “I thought if I started spending money after a couple of years of being so frugal, you’d take me seriously.”
The smile spread across his face. “Then I guess we’re getting married.”
She studied his face. “You okay with that?”
“If you’re sure, then you’ve made me the happiest man alive. Your father will probably be the second happiest.”
“I know. He called me and told me he thought it was time for me to stop waffling around and give you an answer. He’s still trying to control my life, but somehow it doesn’t seem to matter so much.”
“Because this time you’re on the same page?” Caleb asked.
“Because I can finally accept that he’s doing it out of love.”
Caleb looked satisfied, but then his expression changed.
“What?” she asked.
“I have one more thing to tell you, one last thing I’ve kept to myself.”
Waking Up in Charleston Page 31
