“You don’t have any choice and neither do I.” He pulled something from his front pocket and held it against his heart for a moment. With his eyes closed, he looked like he was praying. “Angelita, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, even if we can’t have kids, even if we never try. I simply can’t go another day without you in my life. I know you’ve been through a lot and we’ve got a lot of stuff to work out, but I don’t care about any of that. I want you to be my wife.” He held out his hand and in his palm was what looked like an antique diamond engagement ring. “This was my mother’s. Cal gave it to me before I left to come down here.”
She’d seen a ring like that before, in an antique store glass case. She remembered thinking how lucky a woman would be to have a ring with history, a ring that had been through life and death and unimaginable love. Here, in her tiny home where she’d dreamed of things bigger than herself, stood the very man she’d waited her whole life to find. It wasn’t just the ring he offered her, it was his heart. She was stunned beyond words, unable to speak, unable to move.
“I’ll give you two weeks to figure it out. Kerri Ann wants you at her wedding and I’ll need you to have an answer for me by then.”
“They’re getting married?” she sputtered.
“In two weeks. That’s all the time I’ll give you.”
She watched as he lifted her arm, put the ring in her hand, and turned around to retrieve his bag by the door. He turned to face her. “If you don’t come to me, I’ll come after you, so don’t even think about hiding out here.”
He stared at her a long moment, his eyes the color of the sky at dusk, his face so serious. Then the door closed behind him and she was left holding her future in her hand. A smile, as big and broad as the mountains she’d soon call home, broke out on her face. “Jesse,” she called as she ran for the door. He wasn’t in the hallway or the stairwell leading to the parking garage. How long had she just stood there? Cinching her robe tight around her waist, she ran out into the bright sun just as his car was pulling away from the curb. Barefoot, nearly naked, and panting, she lunged for the hood. He braked to a halt. The hopeful look on his face behind the windshield nearly did her in. He was out of the car in a heartbeat.
“If you think you can just propose to me and then leave for two weeks,” she said as she made her way to where he stood by the open car door, “you’re not as smart as you look.”
A truck driver blew his horn; Jesse’s car sat blocking the narrow road. They ignored it. “If you think you can run half naked-down the street and expect not to get…attacked, you’re not as smart as you look,” he said with a decided twinkle in his eye.
“I guess we’d better pool our meager resources and muddle through the rest of our lives together, then.” She settled into his arms. “We’re just not smart enough to go it alone.” She handed him his ring as the truck honked again. “Put it on me like you’re supposed to,” she ordered. “On bended knee.”
He sent her a scathing glare before bending down in the street like a hero out of an old movie. “Marry me, Angelita. Please.”
She held out her hand and he slipped his mother’s ring on her finger. “It fits.”
“I knew it would.” He stood and pulled her into his arms. “Is that a yes?”
“Jesse,” she purred. “You’re smarter than that…” The honking turned into catcalls. Angelita heard nothing but the beating of her heart.
Chapter 34
The pretty Methodist church, with its long stained-glass windows and stone foundation, sat at the end of town, its parking lot full. The banisters, wrapped in tulle whose ends flapped in the late afternoon breeze, gave away the wedding about to happen inside. Lita picked up the box from her passenger seat and rushed through the doors.
“I need to see the bride,” she said to the formally dressed older woman who stood near the entrance and seemed to direct the flow of guests. “It’s important.”
The woman’s brow creased as she poked her head inside the chapel, rapidly filling with jubilant guests. “Now?”
Lita nodded and tapped her hand over the box. “Please, it’ll only take a moment.”
The woman ushered her along the back hallway, past an office and several rooms used for children’s Sunday school. She pointed up a narrow staircase. “Top of the stairs, first room on the right.”
The wooden stairs creaked as she climbed. The potpourri sitting in bowls along the small windows couldn’t mask the musty smell of the church. Lita heard the murmur of muted voices behind the closed door before she knocked. A woman, small, slender, but with the same bright green eyes as Kerri Ann, answered. “Can I help you?”
Lita heard a gasp and then Kerri Ann’s familiar voice. “Mama, let her in.”
When the woman stood aside and opened the door, Lita caught her first glimpse of Kerri Ann, so stunning in her pale gown. “Oh, Kerri Ann. You look…spectacular.”
“Thank God you made it,” Kerri Ann said. “I was about to send out a search party.” She pulled her inside. “Don’t you dare start crying. I just finished retouching my makeup.”
Lita fanned her face, blinked furiously. “Okay, okay, I won’t cry.” She held out the box. “I hope you like them.”
Kerri Ann took the box in her hands and lifted the lid. “Oh, they’re gorgeous.” She looked up at Lita and smiled. “They’re better than I imagined.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Try them on.” Kerri Ann slipped out of the plain, dyed-to-match shoes hidden under her gown.
She eased her foot into the three-inch peep-toe pump Lita had designed with lace. “Look at the color. They match perfectly.”
“You’ve got great taste, Kerri Ann, in wedding dresses and in men.”
She clasped Lita’s hands and stood up, towering over the two women in the room. “Mama, this is Lita. Lita, my mama, Trudy Russell.”
Lita shook the woman’s hand and kissed Kerri Ann on the cheek before heading for the door. “I’ll see you later.”
“Have you seen Jesse?”
“Not yet. I will, after the ceremony.”
Kerri Ann cocked her head and raised her brows. “Bryce said he’s been a nervous wreck waiting on you to get here.”
“You’re not supposed to see Bryce on your wedding day!”
“Don’t get your panties in a wad. I wouldn’t push my luck that way, especially today of all days. We’ve been texting. He’s said the most wonderful things. I’m the luckiest woman in the world.”
“And the most beautiful bride. Kerri Ann, I’m so very happy for you.”
Kerri Ann waved her hands in front of her face. “You’re gonna get the water works started again.”
“I’m sorry, honey, but it had to be said. Now, I’m off. Don’t you worry. Bryce wouldn’t care if you came down in clown makeup. That man is in love.”
“He’s not the only one.”
Lita gave her a quick hug and scooted out of the door and down the stairs to the chapel.
It was packed, both sides jammed with suits, multi-colored dresses, and even a few hats among the crowd. She slipped inside and eased into a seat in the last pew. A teenaged girl slumped over a piano playing an incredibly moving “Ave Maria”. Lita took her first steady breath since she’d left Atlanta.
Just as she’d begun to relax, a side door opened and the minister emerged in full white robes, followed by Bryce, Ty, and Jesse. Her chest constricted and she felt tears sting her eyes. They looked so handsome, the three of them in dark suits and white rose boutonnières. Bryce stood ramrod straight, looking like a prince waiting for his princess, not a trace of nerves on his face. Ty fidgeted with his tie and seemed unable to stand still. Jesse set a reassuring hand on Ty’s shoulder before adjusting his own tie.
Jesse scanned the crowd, his expression serious. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, his dusty blond hair darker with gel, every hair in place. Clean-shaven, his face seemed even more angled, more handsome, more dangerous. Everything inside of her crav
ed his touch, his smile, but he continued to look through the pews, searching. She rose when the music changed to the bridal chorus and watched as Kerri Ann strode confidently through the doors, her face radiant beneath the thin veil of lace. Lita turned to see Bryce’s reaction and that’s when she realized Jesse had found her; his eyes bored a hole through her heart. When he winked and flashed his crooked smile, she knew she was home.
The ceremony was quick and business-like, just like the bride, and before long the couple headed down the aisle to the wedding march. She lost Jesse as he headed through the doors with a bridesmaid on his arm and guests filed out of the pews into the center aisle. Even with her three-inch heels, she could barely see above the people in front of her. When she finally reached the vestibule, the wedding party had disappeared and the guests, after milling around a bit, began heading to their cars. She spied Cal as he emerged from a back hallway, smiling and nodding to a group of older women.
“Cal.” She reached for his arm.
He turned and smiled. “Well, if it isn’t my soon to be daughter-in-law.” He placed a kiss on her cheek before stepping back to examine her from head to toe. “And looking mighty pretty. How have you been?”
“Anxious to get back.” She scanned the thinning crowd. “Have you seen Jesse?”
“Not since the ceremony, but I assumed he’s with the wedding party in the back. There are a slew of lights and cameras being set up in the chapel for pictures.”
Pictures. She hadn’t thought of that. “Oh….”
“Why don’t you head on over to the reception with me.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “That ought to get the old tongues a-flapping to walk in with you on my arm.”
She had to laugh when he raised his brows suggestively. “Okay, I guess it would be silly to wait.”
She had a drink at the reception as Cal wound her through the crowd and introduced her to his friends. He didn’t mention her status as his son’s fiancé, as they’d all agreed it was Kerri Ann’s day. She declined a second drink when her stomach began to twist with anticipation. Where in the world was Jesse? The band had begun playing country music cover songs and the crowd, minus their jackets and ties, seemed to settle under the pavilion at Jesse’s raft shop, ready for a long night of fun.
She recognized Mr. and Mrs. Collins from the general store, Bryce’s secretary, and just about every other person she’d ever run across in her weeks in Sequoyah Falls. Cal had sauntered away and started dancing with a woman he’d introduced as Sally. By the looks of things, he might not go home alone.
It looked as if the whole town had shut down to celebrate Kerri Ann and Bryce’s nuptials. So where the hell was the wedding party? She’d just decided to wait in line for another drink when she felt a finger run down the length of her arm. She turned to see Jesse, his expression serious, standing so close she could feel his breath on her skin.
“Care to dance?” Before she could answer, he took her in his arms and there, between the fold-up chairs and covered tables, began swaying her back and forth.
“Jesse.” She had so much to say, but the look in his eyes had her throat closing and the corners of her mouth tilting upward. “I’d love to dance.”
She felt his hand on her back through the material of her jersey dress and could have sighed with contentment. She’d come home, to his arms, to this town, to a man who loved her completely. He wouldn’t run, wouldn’t change his mind about loving her, wouldn’t ever make her feel like anything less than what she wanted to be.
“I like the dress. I almost didn’t recognize you in something so conservative.” He looked down. “Of course the shoes were a dead giveaway.”
She smiled and followed his eyes to her ruffled orange sandals, a shocking contrast to her lime green dress. “All eyes should be on the bride today, Bloodworth. Don’t you know that?”
“Was there another woman at the ceremony besides you? I’m not sure I noticed.”
“I hope you never do. Jesse…” She pulled back from his arms. He looked down at her with emotion dancing in his eyes. “I’ve missed you.”
“That,” he pulled her back into his embrace, swaying side to side, his eyes on hers, “is the understatement of the century.”
She tried to pull away when Kerri Ann and Bryce entered the pavilion. “No,” he said. “We’re dancing, and I’ve waited a long time to get my hands on you. Whatever you have to say to them, you’ll have to say it later.”
She feigned frustration when inside she felt content, right down to her toes.
“Have you made any decisions about your business?” His breath tickled the sensitive skin of her neck.
“Sophie wants to quit when the baby comes. She’s not ready to let go completely and neither am I. We’re going to hire a COO to run the day to day, that way she can keep her hand in and I keep designing, which, as you pointed out, I can do from anywhere.”
He stopped swaying, looked at her with furrowed brows. “You’re giving up an awful lot to be with me. I’m not giving up a thing. I don’t want you to have any regrets.”
“I don’t have any regrets, Jesse, and I won’t. Besides, you are giving up a few things. Your bachelorhood, for one, and possibly the chance to have another child of your own, if I can’t carry a child to term.”
“I already have a child of my own, no matter what happens, and I’ll gladly give up bachelorhood to spend the next fifty or sixty years with you.”
“There’s something else I need you to do.” She brought them to a stop. “I’ve seen the size of your closet, Bloodworth, and it’s just not going to cut it.”
Jesse laughed and pulled her tighter. “I’ve already thought of that. Contractor’s coming out next week to take a look at our options.”
“I knew there was a reason I fell in love with you.” She snuggled closer. “I guess we’re really going to make it official.”
“Looks like. There is one thing you’re going to have to do before we get married,” he said. “You’re not going to like it and, as a matter of fact, you’re going to hate it.”
“What?” The look in his eyes had her worried.
“No woman of mine is going to go through life without at least once rafting down the Powollachee.”
She’d climb mountains for him, wrestle demons, and face fire-breathing dragons if that’s what it took. “I’ve agreed to marry you, you big idiot. You think a little thing like a raging river is going stand in my way?” She kissed him soundly, nestled into his arms. “Boy, have you got a lot to learn.”
About the Author
Christy Hayes writes romantic women’s fiction. She lives outside Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, two children, and two dogs.
Discover Other Romantic Women’s Fiction Titles by Christy Hayes
Angle of Incidence
Dodge the Bullet
Good Luck, Bad Timing & When Harry Met Sally
Heart of Glass
Mending the Line
Misconception
The Accidental Encore
The Sweetheart Hoax
Connect with Christy Hayes Online
http://www.christyhayes.com
http://twitter.com/SeaHayes
http://www.womenunplugged.wordpress.com
Keep reading for an excerpt from Book One in the Golden Rule Outfitters series featuring Ty Bloodworth.
Mending the Line by Christy Hayes
Ty Bloodworth had been in a daze for the better part of three months. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes while he waited for the object of his desire to appear. All the things he savored with that one breath captured everything he loved about the woods. Nobody understood why he chose to live alone tucked in the forest instead of in the free wheeling dorms near the fly shop, but at twenty-four, he’d had enough of communal living.
Shoe Strings Page 32
