He shook his head. “Not yet.” He pulled the notes off his car and read each one.
I love your eyes.
I love your smile.
I love your…
He finished all the ways she loved him and moved on to the promises she made him.
I promise to love you.
I promise to love your dog.
I promise to take my EpiPen everywhere.
I promise to stitch you up.
I promise to never leave you.
I promise my heart belongs to only you.
“How many promises did you make me?”
She shrugged. “At least a hundred. I’ll make you a hundred more if you unlock these damn cuffs.”
He slid the key into the lock but didn’t release her.
“I only need one promise from you.” He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Promise me the second you’re loose, you’ll be in our bed and naked. I don’t have the proper stuff, no ring or pretty words, but when our bodies connect it means forever, sweetheart, so when the cuffs are loose you’ve got two choices. Turn and leave or promise me forever.”
The cuffs fell to the ground and Lydia raced for the door.
She was naked and waiting when Wes arrived. He was as good as his word. He gave her his body and took her heart.
Three weeks later, Wes made her his forever. Leave it to a contractor to figure out a way to tent the whole backyard so she didn’t get stung. Wes wasn’t leaving anything to chance when he stood inside the screened pergola and made her his wife.
Doc was almost finished with their official vows when Wes held up his hand.
“Lydia and I wrote a few things we wanted to add.” He held her hands and looked deep into her eyes.
“I promise to be your forever,” she began.
“I promise to be your more each day of our lives,” Wes said.
“I promise to kiss your boo-boos and heal your wounds and hide any needles.”
“I promise to pour your wine, make your coffee, and run your baths.”
“I promise to love you more than anything.”
Wes gave her a devious smile. “I promise to love you more than chicken wings.”
Lydia reached inside his tuxedo and pinched the tiniest bit of skin. When he yelped, Doc said, “I give you Mr. and Mrs. Covington.”
Wes and Lydia kissed to the whoops and hollers of the people they now called family.
On the tiny stage in the corner, Samantha sang them a song she’d written called “Passion and Post-it Notes.”
“I love you,” Wes told her.
“I love you more.” Dressed in a simple white gown, Lydia turned her back and tossed her bouquet into the air only to have the spry Agatha Guild catch it.
“Hey, Doc, looks like I’ll be calling you Uncle Parker soon.” Wes patted the old man on the back.
Doc dismissed him with a wave and walked to the bar.
The men lined up while Wes took a knee and removed the lacy garter from Lydia’s thigh. He pulled the elastic back and let it loose into the crowd. The white piece of satin flew straight for Sheriff Cooper. It popped him in the head before falling to the ground. He picked it up and smiled before tucking it inside his pocket.
“You’re next, Sheriff,” Lydia razzed.
“I’m game if you got the girl.”
“I hear there’s a new single mother in town. Her name is Marina and she’s renting the house next to yours.” Marina had brought her adorable daughter in for a checkup, and the second Lydia met her, she knew she’d just met the sheriff’s perfect match.
Louise Williams tore the foil from the dishes on the buffet table. She was feeding two for the eighth time. Since her last child was born in the clinic, Lydia hoped the updates her husband planned would be finished by the time the next baby Williams was born, which should be around Christmastime.
As a child she’d dreamed of her wedding day. She wanted lots of flowers, a big church ceremony, and a massive reception with a champagne fountain and a three-tier cake.
In a small town, there was no need for a caterer. Everyone brought a dish to share. There was enough tamale pie to last Lydia a lifetime. A champagne fountain, while nice, didn’t beat the bar the Bishops set up along the fence or the alcohol they donated. Knowing the resident baker made getting a wedding cake easy. That it tilted to the right by an inch made it that much sweeter because nothing was perfect in Aspen Cove, but Aspen Cove was the perfect place to live. As she looked around her backyard at the people she’d grown to love, she knew it would always be enough.
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Sneak Peek of One Hundred Excuses
Blackmail is a dirty word…a crime really, unless you’re doing it to stop something much worse.
Marina Caswell was certain of three things in life. The first was Lord Acton had it right when he said, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The second was that all the good men were married or dead. Lastly, she’d do anything to protect her daughter—anything.
Marina sat on the couch in the middle of the living room. The tiny bungalow was small and filled with a wall of boxes—boxes that should contain the memories of a beautiful life and not the remnants of a painful past.
“Hey, Ladybug, are you hungry?” She looked at Kellyn’s sweet little face and thanked her lucky stars they’d escaped.
Big hazel eyes looked up at her through a fringe of milk-chocolate brown hair. Marina saw gratefulness in her four-year-old’s expression. Little Kellyn Caswell had walked through hell and come out on the other side.
“Let’s get a muffin. I know a lady in town who makes the best baked goods within a hundred miles.” Marina rolled from the couch to her feet and offered Kellyn her hand. They made it to the door, when Kellyn ran back to get her Mrs. Beasley doll.
It warmed Marina’s heart that the old doll had become her daughter’s favorite. It had been Marina’s mom’s doll, and then hers, and now Kellyn’s. The blue-and-white polka-dotted dress had dried lots of tears. Gone were the black-rimmed spectacles. The blond hair had thinned to bald in a few places, but she was a beloved friend to three generations—a grandma doll loved by three women.
“That’s right, you can’t leave Mrs. Beasley behind. She’ll want her tea.”
Marina pulled the string and the doll spoke. “Long ago, I was a little girl just like you,” it said. Kellyn hugged Mrs. Beasley tightly to her chest.
They walked into the sun. The first day of their new lives lay before them. Over her shoulder sat their little house. It wasn’t much, but it was affordable. It would only take a few haircuts a month and a coloring or two to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies.
The money Craig would pay in child support was needed for Kellyn. He owed her that much if not more. Something told Marina it was more. Way more.
She lifted the little girl into her booster seat and buckled her in. Thank God she’d been able to talk Craig’s parents into giving her their old car. It was funny how a two-year-old SUV was old to them, but new to her. The Caswell’s loss was her gain. They liked perfection and the minute the housekeeper backed into it, no one had driven it again. In their minds, anything needing fixing wasn’t worth their time. It was probably why they didn’t argue when she demanded full custody of Kellyn, a little girl who held none of her DNA but all of her heart.
Marina was about to hop into the driver’s seat when a police car pulled in next door. A dark-haired man stepped out and walked toward her. His shadow ate up the sun that had once welcomed her. Surely their freedom hadn’t come t
o an end already?
“Stay here, sweetie, I’ll be right back.” Marina closed her door and met the uniformed man halfway. “Can I help you?” Her spine was steel straight. Her heart beat like wings of a hummingbird inside the hollow cage of her chest.
“Welcome to the neighborhood.” When the man smiled, the hard edges of his face softened. It would be so easy to get pulled in by a smiling face. That was what had happened two years ago when she met Craig. He’d come in for a haircut and left with her number. The rest was history.
“Thank you”—she looked down at his name tag—“Sheriff Cooper.”
“I’m your neighbor.” He pointed to the cute bungalow next door. Where hers had peeling paint and a yard that hadn’t seen a mower in years, his was picture perfect down to the flower boxes under the windows.
“Oh, okay.”
“If you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask. I’m happy to help in any way I can.” He held out his hand and she stared at it for a slow second. How long had it been since a man’s hand offered something other than agony?
She gave him a solid shake and smiled. “Thanks, Sheriff.” She glanced over her shoulder to where Kellyn had her face pressed against the glass. Terror danced in her baby’s eyes. “We’re good, but I’ll let you know.”
Walking back to the SUV, she could feel his eyes on her. The heat of his stare at her back. She hated that she had to question the intentions of all men but that was what being married to the devil did to you.
She opened her daughter’s door and squatted in front of her. “It’s okay, honey.” She brushed the tear that ran down Kellyn’s cheek away. “He’s a good guy.” Lord, she hoped she was right. “Not all men are bad or mean or hurt people.” She could take a lesson from that herself. “Let’s go get that muffin, okay?”
Five minutes later, they were parked on Main Street. Had it really been months since she was here?
There was a line at the bakery three-deep, so hand in hand Marina and Kellyn waited their turn. When they got to the front, the little blonde standing behind the glass display squealed with delight.
“Oh my God, you’re here.” She raced around the counter and pulled Marina in for a big hug, then pulled back to look at her. No doubt she was searching for cuts and bruises. A staple in her old wardrobe. “I wondered what happened to you.” She looked down at Kellyn. “You have a daughter?”
With pride, Marina moved Kellyn, who’d hid behind her legs, to the front. “This is Kellyn. She’s four.” She pointed to the doll. “This is Mrs. Beasley and she’s about forty or so. We came for tea and muffins.”
“Hi, Kellyn, I’m Katie Bishop. Let’s have a tea party, okay?” She looked at Kellyn and waited for an answer.
Marina smiled. “Kellyn doesn’t talk.”
“Oh. Can she—” Katie pointed to her ear.
“She can hear you. She’s a great listener, and it’s not that she can’t talk. There’s nothing physically wrong with her. She chooses not to talk.”
Katie smiled, “Conversation is overrated. Why talk when we can have tea and eat carrot cake muffins?” She turned to leave but stopped and kneeled in front of Kellyn. “Do you really want tea or would you rather have chocolate milk?”
Kellyn’s eyes opened wide and rosy lips lifted into a smile.
“Chocolate milk it is.” Katie disappeared behind the counter while Marina took Kellyn to a nearby table and pulled colored wood cylinders from her bag. One green. One yellow. One red.
She set them in front of Kellyn. “You doing all right, ladybug?”
Kellyn grabbed the green and stood it up while the others lay on their side.
“Good, I’m so happy. You’re going to like it here, and someday you’re going to feel safe enough to tell me everything.” She pressed her lips to her daughter’s forehead. “I love you so much.”
Katie rounded the counter with a tray full of goodies. She set it down and went to the corner to get two booster seats, one for Kellyn, and one for her doll.
The four of them sat around a small metal bistro table and chatted. Though Mrs. Beasley and Kellyn said nothing, Marina knew that one of them was paying close attention. Kellyn might be silent, but she was far from unobservant. She often wondered if she somehow consciously stayed mute to enhance her other skills. Was it a survival mechanism?
“I had no idea you were a mother.” It wasn’t a surprise since Marina had only been to Aspen Cove a handful of times and always without Kellyn. Craig would take her to his mother’s before he delivered his beatings. Afterward, she’d hide in the small town while she healed. She loved how the townsfolk always helped her without passing judgment. It was the only place where she’d felt safe.
Marina pulled a coloring book and crayons from her bag and set them in front of Kellyn. It was funny how her purse became a clown car once she became a parent. She could reach inside a dozen times and pull something out to entertain her daughter.
“Yes, Kellyn is my ex’s daughter, but I have full custody of her since last week.”
Katie’s look of surprise told Marina she recognized how unusual their situation was. “He’s…” There were so many questions in her blue eyes.
“Still in Copper Creek. Still running the permits department. His father is still the mayor. His older brother is the chief of police. His younger brother is the district attorney. It’s been a challenge.”
Katie looked at the wall beyond them. Still hanging in the center was a corkboard called the wishing wall. It was where she put her wish for a plan B the last time she sat in the bakery feeling beaten. Not by Craig’s fists but by the power of his family. That wish was granted when Samantha, also known as the pop star Indigo, hired her to color her hair and insisted on overpaying her. That had been the turning point in Marina’s and Kellyn’s lives. It allowed her to buy the nanny cam that caught Craig in action. She’d stood there and taken every hit knowing they would be his last.
“I can’t imagine.” Katie looked at Kellyn. It was obvious how sweet and caring a woman she was. Anyone with a wishing wall couldn’t be half bad.
“No one could.”
Katie pointed to the Lego table in the corner. “She’s welcome to play.”
Kellyn’s eyes lit up.
“Go ahead, sweetie. I’ll be right here.”
Kellyn grabbed her green cylinder from the table and went to play.
“She’s feeling safe.”
Marina knew there would be questions. Everyone had questions, but few people had answers.
“She’s safe here. You’re safe here. We take care of our own. You must be the single mom Lydia mentioned at her wedding.”
“Dr. Nichols is wonderful.”
“It’s Dr. Covington now.”
Marina’s brow lifted. “I think I met her husband not too long ago in my hus…Craig’s office. He seemed nice.”
“He’s great. That means you’re living next to Aiden.”
Marina sipped her tea. “Is that Sheriff Cooper?”
“Yes. He’s a great guy too.”
“If you say so.” She wasn’t convinced there were any great guys left. Her experience was that once men reached thirty, the only ones left were damaged or deadly.
Katie laid her hand on top of Marina’s. “A girl could do a lot worse than Aiden. He’s a solid guy.”
Marina laughed. “Solid isn’t a prerequisite. In fact, it’s not even an attribute I’d find attractive. While I used to love men, I’m not sure having one in our lives is important at this point.”
“You never know until the right one comes along.” Katie’s whole demeanor turned high-school-girl giddy. It was obvious she’d found a keeper.
“How do you know they’re the right one?”
“Your heart will tell you.”
The problem was Marina’s heart had hardened to stone. It would take one hell of a man to drill though the barriers she’d thrown up. The only one to penetrate the fortress was a four-year-old girl who’d been abandoned by her bi
ological mother, terrorized by her biological father, and set aside by her grandparents because they deemed her imperfect.
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Need More from Aspen Cove?
An Aspen Cove Romance Series
One Hundred Reasons
One Hundred Heartbeats
One Hundred Wishes
One Hundred Promises
One Hundred Excuses
One Hundred Christmas Kisses
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About the Author
International bestselling author of more than thirty novels, Kelly Collins writes with the intention of keeping the love alive. Always a romantic, she blends real-life events with her vivid imagination to create characters and stories that lovers of contemporary romance, new adult, and romantic suspense will return to again and again.
Kelly lives in Colorado at the base of the Rocky Mountains with her husband of twenty-seven years, their two dogs, and a bird that hates her. She has three amazing children, whom she loves to pieces.
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