His son had been after him to get back into law. Since his retirement, Gordon had acted as a legal adviser, reviewing cases and offering opinions and recommendations, but he’d let that slip away. Let most things slip away.
Before he met Nessa, he’d simply been waiting to die. Not in a morbid sense, but as the natural end of human existence. He’d lived a productive life, had a fulfilling career, married, fathered a son, served his community and retired. He’d completed his purpose. Death was the next logical step. He didn’t fear it, didn’t dread it.
But thanks to Nessa, Gordon had discovered a new enthusiasm for life. He greeted each day with anticipation. Their telephone conversations had become his secret addiction. He’d never been much of a talker, especially over the phone, but all that had changed. The phone was his only contact with Nessa, and it had become essential to spend part of every day with her.
“Dad.” Miles walked into the den, surprising him. “I thought you must be home, but you didn’t answer the door.”
“I didn’t hear it.” Caught up in his plans and reveries as he was, the sound of the doorbell must have escaped him. A visit from Miles was rare indeed. “Sit down. What can I get you to drink?”
His son sank into the matching chair on the opposite side of the fireplace. “I thought you must’ve been reading and dozed off.”
Gordon didn’t confirm or deny his son’s comment. It would be a bit embarrassing to admit he’d been deep in thought—about a woman.
“What are you drinking?” Miles asked.
Gordon had forgotten about the glass on the end table at his side. “Wine. It’s a merlot.”
“I’ll have some of that.”
Gordon stood and headed for the dining room, checking the time as he went. Nessa would be expecting his call in a few minutes. He got another goblet from the buffet and poured his son a glass, then hurried into the kitchen to use the phone there.
Nessa answered on the first ring.
“Miles is here,” he explained. “I’ll call you back as soon as he leaves.”
“Oh, do,” Nessa said, sounding stressed. “Please. No matter what time it is.”
“Is everything all right?”
“Yes,” she said, then added shakily, “I don’t know…Sylvia’s gone, but Gordon, I feel like such an old fool.”
“If you’re a fool, then so am I. I’ll phone as soon as I can. Goodbye for now, my darling.” It was the first time he’d said the endearment aloud, although that was certainly the way he thought of her.
He returned to his son a moment later and was surprised to find Miles standing at his desk. Miles glanced up with a mildly guilty expression and stepped forward to accept the goblet.
“Something on your mind?” Gordon asked as they both sat.
“Work. Kids,” Miles said, resting his head against the cushion and closing his eyes. “There just don’t seem to be enough hours in the day. I need a vacation.”
“Take one,” Gordon advised. “It’ll do you good. Karen, too.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Gordon was proud of his son, who had a number of fine traits and qualities. Most of those had come from his mother, in Gordon’s opinion, but his keen legal mind and good business sense he’d inherited from his father, if Gordon did say so himself.
“You enjoyed the cruise you took a few years back, didn’t you?” Miles asked.
“Very much.” But not for the reasons his son assumed. Gordon had agreed to the cruise under protest. The idea had been Miles and Karen’s, and the ticket was given to him as a gift. They were making an effort, he’d realized, to lift his sagging spirits. So he’d gone. He’d found the experience moderately enjoyable, but the best part of the cruise had taken place the last evening, when he’d gotten to know Dovie. They’d stayed up nearly the entire night talking. She was in love with her sheriff friend and took pains not to mislead him, for which Gordon was grateful. That night had been a valuable lesson for him; spending time with Dovie had proved he could still feel attracted to a woman. Could still enjoy music and moonlight and a bit of flirtation.
It seemed ironic—and somehow right—that he’d met Nessa through Dovie.
“Karen’s been looking at brochures.”
“Take a cruise,” Gordon said. “Perhaps as an anniversary gift. I could—”
“Dad, no. Thank you, but no.”
Miles had a stubborn streak. “All right, if you insist, but I’d be more than happy to pay for it.”
“Didn’t you meet someone special while you were in the Caribbean?” Miles continued, not looking at him.
“Special?”
“A woman,” his son elaborated.
“Dovie Boyd,” Gordon said.
“From somewhere in Texas, right?”
“Promise, Texas,” Gordon replied. “Why?”
“You really liked her, didn’t you?”
“As a matter of fact, I did,” he answered, wondering at this line of questioning.
“Whatever happened with you and Dovie?” Miles persisted.
Gordon sighed and sipped his wine. “She married the local sheriff soon after she returned from the cruise.”
“She’s married.” Miles straightened, and the sly smile he wore vanished. “Married!”
“It happens every day, son. People in love get married.”
“I see,” Miles muttered and shook his head sadly.
“I probably didn’t mention it, but that’s because I only found out myself.”
“I see,” Miles muttered again. “You were recently in Texas, weren’t you?”
“Last month for that international law conference,” Gordon confirmed. He was about to explain that he’d rented a car and driven to Promise. But before he could, Miles’s cell phone rang.
“Miles Pawling,” he said, flipping open the compact telephone with the dexterity of a frequent user.
Gordon could tell from his end of the conversation that the caller was his daughter-in-law, and that something had gone awry.
“I have to go,” Miles said, snapping the phone shut and slipping it into his pocket. “Chrissie’s sick and Karen needs me to stop at the drugstore on my way home.”
Gordon walked him to the door. “Take my advice, son, and book the cruise.”
Miles stared at him as if he hadn’t heard a word Gordon said. As if he didn’t recognize his own father.
“Is everything all right, Miles?”
His son rubbed his face. “Oh, yeah,” he replied with a tinge of sarcasm, “everything’s just fine.”
Shrugging, Gordon closed the door and returned to the den. He knew Nessa was waiting, so he sat down at his desk, reached for the phone and punched out her number. Shifting papers, he saw the phone bill and groaned. Even with a special long-distance service, these daily calls were expensive.
“Hello,” Nessa answered, sounding more cheerful.
“It’s Gordon.”
“Did you mean what you said earlier?” she asked without preamble, her voice soft. “Am I your darling?”
“If you want to be. Do you?”
“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate. “Oh, yes.”
Relaxed now, Gordon leaned back in the chair and set the phone bill aside. These moments with Nessa were worth every penny. “Tell me about your daughter’s visit,” he said—and suddenly remembered Miles standing at this very desk. Was it possible his son had seen the telephone bill with page after page of long-distance calls to Promise?
CHAPTER 15
The engagement of Annie Applegate and Lucas Porter didn’t come as any surprise to the community of Promise, thanks to Louise Powell, who took delight in being the one to spread the word. If anything, people seemed genuinely pleased.
In the last week of June, Annie did more business at the bookstore than at any time since she’d opened. Almost everyone in town dropped by to offer congratulations and best wishes. Talk of their engagement was all over town. People assumed it was a love match, and the jokes
about the brevity of their courtship flew fast and furious.
Both Annie and Lucas took the teasing in stride. She didn’t let it bother her and knew Lucas didn’t, either. Other than Wade, no one needed to know the details of their agreement. Annie didn’t tell anyone, not even Jane.
The two weeks between the Cattlemen’s Dance and the wedding passed in a blur. Annie sewed identical dresses for Heather and Hollie, went shopping in Austin with Dovie and Jane for her own wedding dress and spent the rest of the time packing up her tiny apartment to move in with Lucas and the girls.
Mrs. Delaney left for Kansas with a clear conscience. Heather and Hollie spent almost every day with Annie. She loved these girls and they in turn loved her.
On the day of the wedding, Savannah brought a lovely wedding bouquet filled with delicate white rosebuds to Annie at the church. She hugged her close. “I hope you’ll be happy,” she whispered.
“I intend to.”
While the ceremony was small and private, the reception would be in the church hall later the same day. Annie was astonished and pleased at how many people had asked to be invited. Dovie had baked the wedding cake, and the women’s church group provided the decorations.
“Are you ready?” Jane asked Annie when she arrived at the church with Cal.
Annie inhaled deeply. “I think so.” She wore an antique-white suit that fitted her perfectly. Dovie had been the one to find it. This wasn’t the type of outfit Annie would normally have chosen, but she’d tried it on at Dovie’s insistence. The minute she saw her reflection, Annie knew. It felt as if the suit had been especially designed for her and this day.
“You’re beautiful,” Jane said softly, her voice full of emotion. “I wish your dad had come.”
“It isn’t necessary.” Annie understood and accepted her father’s detachment.
Lucas and the girls, along with his parents, arrived next. As soon as Heather and Hollie saw Annie, they raced to her side, their new patent-leather shoes tapping in the vestibule.
“Oh, Annie, you look so pretty!” Heather cried.
“So do you,” Annie said and bent down to hand each girl a small bouquet of pink roses. They were serving as her bridesmaids and looked angelic in their pink floral dresses with wide satin sashes.
“Does everyone know where to stand?” Wade asked, signaling that it was time to start the ceremony. Annie had decided not to walk down the aisle; with such an informal wedding, it seemed unnecessary. Grandiose.
The small group gathered at the front of the church. Annie hadn’t paid much attention to Lucas until then. He wore a dark suit and looked wonderfully handsome, if a little nervous.
She could hardly take it in—a few minutes from now, she’d be this man’s wife and stepmother to his daughters. At some time in the future, she’d bear his child. From this day forward, Lucas and the girls would be part of Annie’s life.
Perhaps she should have been more nervous, more uncertain, but she wasn’t. She stood confidently beside Lucas, waiting for her future to begin.
Wade McMillen opened his Bible, and with a warm engaging smile, looked first to Annie, then to Lucas.
After a few introductory words Wade said, “Lucas, if you’ll repeat after me. I, Lucas James Porter, solemnly promise to love, honor and cherish Ann Marie Applegate in sickness and in health…”
Lucas shifted his weight from one foot to the other, then held up his hand. “Could you stop?” he murmured.
Annie’s gaze flew to the man she’d agreed to marry, her heartbeat echoing in her ears. From the way he avoided looking at her, Annie knew.
Lucas had changed his mind.
“Son?” Carl Porter, Lucas’s father, sent Annie a quick nervous glance. “Is something wrong?”
“I don’t know.” Lucas sounded ambivalent. Unsure.
“You don’t want to go through with the wedding, Lucas?” Wade asked gently, without censure.
He didn’t answer. “Would it be all right if I spoke to Annie privately for a moment?”
“Of course,” Wade told him.
Annie saw Jane and Cal exchange looks as she accepted Lucas’s hand and walked with him, her heart in her throat, all the way to the back of the church. Not knowing what to expect, Annie waited for him to explain.
“I can’t do it, Annie.”
Of all the things she could have thought just then, what came into her mind was the fact that her dress had cost nearly three hundred dollars. She was worried, too, about moving all those boxes back into the tiny apartment above the bookstore. Crazy concerns. Mundane meaningless problems.
“Are you saying you want to call off the wedding?” she asked, doing her best to remain calm.
“No,” he said, his expression utterly miserable. “I want us to do this—more than anything—but I can’t vow to love you. I can’t stand in this church, and before God, promise you something that isn’t possible.”
Annie’s knees were about to collapse, and she lowered herself onto the closest pew. Her hands gripped the bridal bouquet with a ferocity that numbed her fingers.
“I have little enough to offer you as it is,” Lucas said in a low hoarse voice. “The benefits of our union seem to be almost completely one-sided. I refuse to mislead you. I’ll never love you—not the way you deserve, Annie. I buried my heart with my wife.”
“I see,” she whispered.
Wade joined them. “Is there a problem I can help with?”
“It’s the vows,” Annie explained when Lucas wasn’t immediately forthcoming. “We aren’t in love.”
“Ah, I see,” Wade murmured. “Would you be more comfortable if I omitted the word ‘love’?”
“Can you do that?” Lucas seemed at a loss. “I’ll cherish Annie and honor her as my wife. I’m willing to commit my life, my resources and my future to her. Is that enough?”
Wade looked to Annie for the answer.
“It’s enough,” she told him.
Lucas relaxed visibly. “Thank you.”
Wade patted Lucas on the back. “Shall we continue, then?”
“Please,” Annie said. She stood and placed her hand in Lucas’s. She’d had all the words about love before, and they’d been hollow. To anyone else it might seem she was being cheated, but Annie felt no such loss. She was prepared to pledge her life to an honest man who refused to mislead her in any way. He would honor and cherish her, and that was more than any other man had given her.
Jane studied Annie as if she wanted to pull her aside for a second consultation. Annie tried to reassure her with a smile. “It’s fine,” she whispered.
“You’re sure?”
Annie nodded.
The ceremony proceeded without further pause and was immediately followed by the reception. Annie barely knew most of the people there. The support from the community she’d lived in for such a short time was a blessing she hadn’t expected. For three wonderful hours, there was laughter, music and good food. Wade and Cal offered toasts to the newlyweds. Carl Porter spoke to Annie in such a welcoming way she was moved to tears. And then it was time to leave. Amy and Jane accompanied Annie when she went to change out of her wedding dress.
“There’s something very special about Promise,” Amy McMillen said when Annie mentioned her surprise at the number of people. “I arrived in Promise only a few years ago myself,” she continued. “At the time, I felt as though I didn’t have a friend in the world. But somehow…it was as though the entire town wrapped its arms around me. It felt almost as if everyone had been…waiting for my arrival.”
“Wade certainly was,” Jane teased, joining them.
Amy grew still. “I thank God for my husband. I love him more every day.”
“I thank God for mine, too,” Jane said and rested her hands on her very round stomach.
“I’m grateful for Lucas,” Annie admitted, and the three women hugged each another.
“Darn it, you’re going to make me get all weepy,” Amy mumbled. “I know you’ll be happy with
Lucas, Annie. You’re both such special people.”
Come to Promise, Jane had written all those months ago. It won’t be long before it’ll be like home.
Two months after her arrival, and Annie felt she was part of a real family for the first time since her mother’s death.
Jeannie French had hoped Sheriff Jordan would show up at the reception for Annie and Lucas Porter. But she hadn’t realized how many people would be there. Everyone she knew in Promise had crowded into the church hall to wish the newlyweds happiness. Jeannie didn’t know either Annie or Lucas well, but she admired Lucas’s reputation and was fond of his daughters. Heather would be going into the third grade, and Hollie would begin first grade. Annie Applegate seemed both pleasant and sincere; her bookstore was a boon to the community and a place Jeannie visited often. Annie had helped her find several hard-to-locate books on the history of the Texas hill country. History, particularly state history, was a passion of Jeannie’s.
Jeannie was in the mood for romance, in the mood for real-life love and happy endings. She also recognized that she’d completely misjudged Adam for months because of some trivial incidents and minor accidents. Now she’d ruined any chance with him. What she needed was a way to let Adam know she was interested. That she’d revised her opinion. If he did attend the reception, she might have an opportunity to hint at her feelings. So far, he was nowhere in sight.
The church hall was beautifully decorated, with flowers everywhere. A table set off to one side was stacked high with exquisitely wrapped gifts, and the wedding cake was lovely. Not until Gina Greenville served her a piece did she realize this wasn’t a traditional white cake, but cheesecake with a basket-weave frosting made of sweetened cream cheese.
Jeannie had just taken her first bite when she finally saw Adam. He was standing on the opposite side of the room, wearing his uniform; he’d apparently stopped by either on his way to or from work. She wondered why she hadn’t noticed earlier how attractive he was. He looked great—masculine and authoritative—and it wasn’t just the uniform.
Her mouth closed around the plastic fork, and she simply stared. He must have felt her gaze because he glanced up and their eyes connected. Jeannie swallowed the bite of cake, which slid down her throat like a solid piece of cheese. Her heart pounding, she attempted a friendly smile.
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