by Webb, Peggy
All the rage of his childhood weighed Hunter down, and he would give Johnathan no quarter.
“I had no name. I was a bastard, fighting for everything I had.”
“Do you think a convict father would have enhanced your childhood?”
“What do you want from me? More money?”
Johnathan took a step closer. It was difficult to hold on to his rage, looking straight into his father’s blue eyes.
“I feel the same obligation you felt for me,” Hunter said. “None.”
“I don’t want your money....” His father was close enough now that Hunter could see the tears. “I want your forgiveness.”
Rage propelled Hunter to shout No! but caution held him back. For every man there was a pivotal moment that decided his destiny. In the hushed stillness of that room, with the only sound coming from the fire that crackled in the grate, Hunter understood that he had come to a crossroads.
He swiveled his head to look at Kathleen. The instant his gaze fell upon her, he knew. She reached out to him, and he took her hand.
They didn’t need words. Her courage flowed through him, and his strength fortified her. He squeezed her hand once for reassurance, then turned to face his father.
“Being a part of this family doesn’t come without a price,” he said. “There are rules that must be obeyed.”
Johnathan squared his shoulders. “I reckon a man is never too old to learn.”
Kathleen’s arms slid around Hunter, and he drew her close.
“The first rule is don’t hover over Kathleen,” he said.
Johnathan McFarland threw back his head and laughed.
“Hell, I don’t need any young buck to tell me that. She’d the damnedest woman I ever met... besides your mother. Now, there was a woman....”
Hunter reached for his father’s hand and drew him into the circle beside the warm fire.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Lincoln Center was filled to capacity, and thousands lined the streets hoping for a glimpse of the world’s greatest ballerina, who had come back from the dead. In the front row center seats were three feisty women, one stout proud old woman and two men who had the look of fierce lions, one young, one old.
Resplendent in his tuxedo, Johnathan held his breath as the curtain opened. The stage looked like something out of a fairy tale. Hell, his whole life lately was something out of a fairy tale. It was filled with every luxury imaginable—expensive clothes, fines houses, new cars.
The thing he wanted most, though, was the love and respect of his son. He had done everything possible—given up the bottle, which turned out to be one of hardest battles he’d ever waged. He hadn’t thought of himself as an alcoholic until he’d begun to fight that difficult battle. He’d mostly given up cussing, though he still liked to mix it up with Hunter’s guards just to keep in practice.
When Hunter had shaved off his beard, Johnathan had taken to shaving daily, but he refused to cut off his ponytail. Judging from the predatory looks some of the women in the section on his right were giving him, he figured he’d made the right decision. Even Martha looked at him with a light in her eyes.
Of course the thing they didn’t know was that Janice was enshrined in his heart and there would never be room for another woman.
Sometimes his life seemed like a dream to him, and he had to pinch himself to know it was all real.
The orchestra began playing, and Hunter drew in a sharp breath. Johnathan turned to look at his son. He was rigid with tension, his eyes riveted to the stage.
“She’ll be all right,” Johnathan whispered.
Helen, one of the three women who called themselves Forever Friends, said, “She’ll be magnificent, and his son said, “Damned right.”
Johnathan had to fight against tears when Hunter smiled at him. If it wasn’t love and respect, it was close. In time, the rest would come.
“There she is,” Johnathan whispered.
Kathleen Shaw La Farge, the program said, dancing excerpts from Giselle.
Johnathan didn’t know squat about ballet, but he knew that Kathleen was the best and that she’d never danced as anything except Shaw, even when she was married to Earl Lennox.
La Farge. A fictitious name that Hunter had made worthy. A name that Kathleen would make famous on the stage.
A hush fell over the audience. Kathleen stood in the spotlight with her chin pointed upward.
Lord, could she do it? Johnathan gripped the edges of his seat. When she began to dance, he knew that he was watching magic.
She finished to thunderous applause. The audience rose to its feet, chanting her name.
“Kathleen... Kathleen... Kathleen...”
He turned to see how Hunter was taking the pressure, but his son was already headed backstage.
“That’s my daughter-in-law, you know,” he said to the woman sitting behind him.
“Really?” The woman beamed. “We saw her in Paris two years ago. She’s even better now than she was then.”
Not blind, but better. He’d have to remember to tell Kathleen.
“By the way, I’m Mrs. Gertrude Walton.”
Suddenly he knew that there was one final act of trust he could do to make them a family; he would officially take his son’s name.
“I’m Johnathan La Farge,” he said. “And damned proud of it.”
o0o
Kathleen took her final bow. Applause and shouts of “Brava!” washed over her. This was the moment she’d waited for, the dream she’d worked for.
When she left the stage, the audience was still calling her name. Jake would be waiting for her in the wings to take her back to the dressing room.
“Magnificent, Kathleen.” It was Helen Sullivan, reaching for her hand.
“Flawless,” Maxie Corban said, holding onto her other hand.
“Superb,” B. J. said, and Kat knew she’d be joining hands with her sister Maxie and Helen, making the circle of Forever Friends complete.
The backstage crew surrounded her, offering their congratulations. So many voices. So many people she couldn’t see.
And yet she felt so secure she didn’t even reach for Jake’s harness.
Suddenly she felt his presence. Her husband. Hunter La Farge. The man she could pick out in a crowd of millions. The man who made all other dreams pale by comparison.
“Hunter...”
His footsteps sounded and her friends parted to make way. Hunter wrapped his arms around her, and his lips brushed hers. “You are magic, Kat. Watching you, I almost forgot that you’re my wife.”
“I don’t ever intend to let you forget that.”
“Go on, Kat,” B. J. said. “Celebrate with your husband. We’ll be waiting for you at the hotel.”
Kat blew a kiss in the direction of her friends, and headed off with Hunter. When they reached her dressing room, she stationed Jake outside the door.
“Don’t let a soul in, Jake,” she said. “Guard it with your life.”
“Sounds ominous, Mrs. La Farge.” Hunter slid her elaborately beaded costume off her shoulders. “Should I be worried?”
“Indeed, you should.” She laced her fingers through his hair and pulled him down to her.
Soon the waves of passion that swept over her would become a full-fledged hurricane. Soon she would be beyond speech.
“This is just the beginning,” she said. “London. Rome. Paris. Jefferson Parish.”
“Jefferson Parish?”
Her body screamed in protest as Hunter left off his erotic attentions.
“There’s a little back room at the cottage that will make a perfect nursery,” she whispered.
“You want children?”
Kathleen trembled inside. They’d never discussed children. What if Hunter didn’t want them? What if the scars of his own childhood were too deep? Most horrible of all, what if he were afraid for her to be a mother because she was blind?
“Yes,” she said. “When the time is right.”
A
great stillness descended on him, and she waited, entrusting her last dream to him. With children, her life would be perfect; but even if he said no, her world would be complete. She had ballet and she had Hunter.
“Kat...” He caught her hands and pressed her palms against his mouth. His lips were warm, and on them she felt his tears. “It will do me great honor to be the father of your children. I will make La Farge a name to bear with pride.”
“My love... my dearest love... La Farge is already a name to bear with pride.”
She pulled him down to her, and as their bodies merged, so did their hearts and souls. As always, Hunter knew what she was thinking. Before they started that long journey that would take away reason, he lifted himself on his elbows and brushed his lips against the golden locket that nestled between her breasts.
“We are one, Kat. Now and forever.”
-o0o-
Coming August, 2013, (literary fiction, MIRA, will be available in trade paperback, E-book and audio) - The Sweetest Hallelujah by Elaine Hussey (pen name for Peggy Webb). In 1955, two women cross color lines to save a child.
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Excerpt , romantic comedy, spring, 2013
Bringing Up Baxter (Forever Friends, Book 3 of 4)
Peggy Webb
Chapter One
B. J. slid the knife through the tape as carefully as if she were dissecting a frog. The cardboard box parted and she took out a fat volume, Criminal Law, Second Edition, LaFave and Scott, then carried it to the shelves with the same precise movements she’d used in opening the box.
In control. That’s what she was.
“B. J.,” her sister called from the next room. “Come in here and see this. It’s gorgeous.”
B. J. looked at the huge stack of boxes, the wall of empty shelves, the curtainless windows at the end of the large empty room. A million tasks needed her attention.
“I’m busy, Maxie.”
She took another book from her box then checked it off her list. A tousle of red curls appeared around the doorframe, followed by her sister’s paint-spattered face.
“Come on, B. J.” Maxie swept into the room, trailing paint brushes, wallpaper borders, and the scent of Jungle Gardenia. “You’ve got to see this.”
Maxie grabbed her arm and propelled her down the paneled hallway into the spacious front room.
“Ta-da!” Her sister made a sweeping gesture.
“My God. It’s red.” B. J. put her hand over her throat. “Maxie…you’ve painted the walls red.”
“I know. I figured the people who come to you could use some perking up. Do you like it?”
“When I told you to paint any color you wanted, I never dreamed you’d choose red…I think I’m going to have to sit down.”
What would soon become the law offices of B. J. Corban, formerly of a ritzy address in Philadelphia but lately of her sister’s modest address in Tupelo, Mississippi, was now only an unfurnished, partially painted 1950s house on Broadway Street. B. J. sat on the floor.
“You don’t like it?”
“I didn’t say that, Maxie.”
“You didn’t have to. I can tell by the way you squint your eyes and scrunch up your mouth when you don’t like something.”
“You make me sound like a dried up old prune.”
Which wasn’t far from the truth. Otherwise, why would she be sitting on a dusty floor in Tupelo with her sister, while Stephen Matthews III combed the beaches of St. Cruix and St. Thomas with another woman? A younger woman, at that.
And on B. J.’s honeymoon.
-o0o-
Maxie’s book is Angels on Zebras (Forever Friends, Book 4 of 4), coming in the spring of 2013.
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If you love the Forever Friends series, you will also enjoy the 5- book Donovan’s of the Delta series and the 3-book Mississippi McGill series and its sequel – all romantic comedies.
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About Peggy Webb
In a career that spans 28 years, the Mississippi author has written 70 books. As Peggy Webb, she writes romance and the hilarious Southern Cousins Mystery Series starring Elvis, the basset hound who thinks he’s the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll reincarnated. She writes literary fiction under the pen names Anna Michaels (for Simon & Schuster) and Elaine Hussey (The Sweetest Hallelujah, MIRA, August 2013). This best-selling, critically acclaimed author has won many awards, including a Romantic Times Pioneer Award for creating the sub-genre of romantic comedy. Several of her romances have been optioned for film.
The Tender Mercy of Roses, 2011, written as Anna Michaels, is a Delta Magazine Top Five Pick, a Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club Featured Alternate. Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides, calls it “astonishing.”
Peggy is a member of Novelists, Inc., International Thriller Writers, and Romance Writers of America. She is excited about bringing her romance classics (originally published as Bantam Loveswepts) back to readers as E-books. The award-winning Touched by Angels and A Prince for Jenny, as well as the Donovans of the Delta series, are Kindle Top 100 bestsellers.
Follow the author on her websites: www.peggywebb.com , www.annamichaels.net and, www.elainehussey.com and on Facebook as both Peggy Webb and Anna Michaels.
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Other E-Books from Peggy Webb
Classic Romance (originally published as Loveswept)
Dark Fire
Touched by Angels (RT Reviewer’s Choice)
A Prince for Jenny, sequel to Touched by Angels
The Edge of Paradise
Duplicity (Rave review, RT Reviewer’s Choice)
Where Dolphins Go (RT Reviewer’s Choice, women’s fiction, optioned for film)
Night of the Dragon (time travel romance)
Christmas in Time (time travel, prequel to Only Yesterday)
Only Yesterday, (time travel, sequel to Christmas in Time)
Summer Jazz
That Jones Girl,( sequel to the Mississippi McGills series)
Taming Maggie, (# 1 on romance bestseller lists)
The Donovans of the Delta Series:
Donovan’s Angel (Paul Donovan’s story)
Sleepless Nights (Tanner Donovan’s story)
Hallie’s Destiny (award winning book, Hallie Donovan’s story)
Any Thursday (Hannah Donovan’s story)
Higher Than Eagles (Jacob Donovan’s story)
The Mississippi McGills Series (spin-off from Donovans of the Delta)
Valley of Fire (Rick McGill’s story)
Until Morning Comes (Jo Beth McGill and Colter Gray Wolf’s story)
Saturday Mornings (Andrew McGill’s story)
Forever Friends series
Can’t Stop Loving You (Book 1, Helen’s story)
Only His Touch (Kat’s story, Book 2, available now)
Bringing Up Baxter (B. J.’s story, Book 3, spring, 2013)
Angels on Zebras (Maxie’s story, Book 4, spring, 2013)
Romantic Suspense, originally published as Bantam Fanfare
Witch Dance
From A Distance
E-books Coming Spring of 2013
Bringing Up Baxter and Angels on Zebras, Books 3 and 4, Forever Friends series
Southern Cousins Mysteries, Peggy Webb (available in print and e-books)
Published by Kensington
Elvis and the Dearly Departed, 2008
Elvis and the Grateful Dead, 2009
Elvis and the Memphis Mambo Murders, 2010
Elvis and the Tropical Double Trouble, 2011
Elvis and the Blue Christmas Corpse, 2012
Coming October, 2013
Southern Cousins Companion and Cookbook (digital only)
Jack Loves Callie Tender (prequel to the series, digital only)
Book Six of the Southern Cousins Mysteries
Novels written as Anna Michaels (available in hardcover and e-book)
The Tender Mercy of Roses ( Gallery, Simon & Schuster, May 17, 2011)
The Language of Silence (Gallery, Simon & Sc
huster, coming summer of 2013)
Novels written as Elaine Hussey
The Sweetest Hallelujah (MIRA, August, 2013)
