Made For Loving You (Rescue My Heart Book 3)

by Kait Nolan

  “Oh my God. Oh my God!” He scooped her up into a massive, spinning hug, then abruptly set her back down, worried he’d break her. “Are you okay? Is altitude bad for the baby? Are you feeling sick? I’ll get some ginger ale. Can you have ginger ale?”

  Bethany practically wheezed with laughter, her long-lashed eyes glittering, and he couldn’t even care it was at his expense. He was too consumed with this bubbly, buoyant feeling in his blood. It took him a few moments to recognize the alien sensation as joy.

  Paisley got in on the hug train again. “This is amazing! How far along are you?”

  “A little over four months. So, I feel confident in actually announcing it. That’s what today is about. I’m glad y’all got here early, though, so I could tell you first.”

  “What do you need?” Ty demanded. “How can I help?”

  “I’m good. I’ve sold the house, and I’m moving home. My dads have always wanted me to join the practice, and they’re over the moon at the chance to be active grandpas. Plus, Garrett’s family will want to be involved.” She laid a hand on her belly. “This baby will be incredibly loved.”

  Already thinking about all the things he wanted to teach the kid and stories he wanted to share about Garrett, Ty’s throat went thick again. “Yeah.”

  The doorbell rang again.

  “Host duty calls.” Bethany squeezed Ty’s arm and brushed a kiss to his cheek. “I’m glad you’re here.” She looked to Paisley. “Both of you.”

  As they watched her walk into the house, Paisley cuddled up close. “You okay, Galahad?”

  Looking at the door where Bethany disappeared, he nodded. “Yeah. I think maybe I finally am.”

  Epilogue

  They were among the last to leave the party. Paisley had happily caught up with other Coopers Bend friends she hadn’t seen in years, while Ty stuck close to Bethany. He was doting and ecstatic. After the added guilt she knew he’d carried about the baby she’d lost after Garrett’s death, it was lovely to see. It was also intriguing.

  In high school, neither of them had been thinking about children, and in their time together as adults, it certainly hadn’t come up. Paisley had long ago given up on the idea of having kids. She liked her life, liked the one she was building with Ty. Unlike Emerson, her biological clock wasn’t sounding a gong. But watching his solicitous attention to the mama to be, it was hard not to wonder whether he’d ever wanted to be a father and what it would be like to be the focus of that kind of attention.

  By the time they slid into his truck, the sun was sinking below the horizon. Paisley slid off her heels and began to massage her arches. “Well, that was not at all what I was expecting of today.”

  “It’s a helluva thing. I can’t decide if she’s brave or crazy, doing this on her own. I mean obviously she’s not entirely on her own, but it won’t be the same.”

  “I expect it’s a little bit of brave and crazy. Although personally, I think that essentially defines parenthood in general. Still, I’m sure there will be a whole host of challenges that come up that she didn’t anticipate.”

  “Isn’t that parenthood, too?”

  “True enough.” Although she wondered if Bethany wouldn’t have it worse. The choice to have her dead husband’s baby, well after his death, was going to have tongues wagging. There’d be some who assumed it wasn’t IVF and she was covering up involvement with someone else. People could be awful. But Paisley kept that to herself. No reason to dampen the joy.

  Seeing her opening, she asked the question that had been circling all afternoon. “Did you ever want that? Parenthood?”

  Ty shot her a speculative look from the driver’s seat.

  “That’s not a hint, in case you were wondering. I’m legitimately curious.”

  “Most of the other guys on my team talked about it often. Some of them had families and wives back home. I couldn’t have done that for all the same reasons I couldn’t stay with you. Since I didn’t have anybody waiting on me back home anyway, it seemed a moot point. I was career military. Until I wasn’t. Then I was a mess. And now, here you are again. I admit, I hadn’t thought about it before. Hadn’t let myself. But I wondered today.”

  “Me too. I don’t know where I stand on kids. It’s not a dealbreaker for me one way or the other. I figure we’ve got plenty of other details to figure out before that becomes a relevant question. I mean, we haven’t even closed on the house, yet.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Happy to have her curiosity satisfied without it turning into a Thing, Paisley stretched. “In other news, did I imagine Jonathan Bane watching Bethany?”

  “No, no, you did not. I was surprised he was there.”

  “They were friends as kids. I remember Bethany saying he grew up on the farm next door.”

  “Yeah, he did a lot of volunteering with the veterinary clinic back then. I think Doc Rollins mentioned he’s maybe doing something with training therapy dogs now. Not sure. It’s something that has him working with their practice.”

  “Huh.”

  Ty arched a brow. “What is that huh about?”

  “I just wonder if he’s finally going to make a move.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, he totally had a thing for her back in high school. But of course, he never acted on it because there was always Garrett.”

  “He’s younger than her.”

  “Only by three years.”

  “How do you even know this?”

  She offered a supercilious grin. “I had a nose for romance, even then.”

  “I think your romantic heart is seeing something that isn’t there. She’s pregnant with another man’s baby. That’s not exactly a prime dating situation.”

  “Do you think she shouldn’t date?”

  He considered the question. “No. No, Garrett wouldn’t want her life to be over any more than he did mine. He’d want her to find someone else to love her. But that’s a big, complicated mess of a situation. Lots of baggage. I don’t know many—or frankly any—men who’d want to sign on for that.”

  “We’ll see.” Realizing he wasn’t driving them back to the hotel, she straightened in her seat. “Where are we going?”

  “Another walk down memory lane.”

  She knew, even before he turned toward the river, where he was headed. Apparently, this was a trip for banishing ghosts. As he parked under what she’d always thought of as their tree, she arched a brow. “Did you have plans of steaming up the windows? Because I will remind you that your truck does not have a bench seat, and it is too cold after dark to make use of your truck bed.”

  “As appealing as that is, no. That wasn’t why I brought you out here.” He turned off the truck. “Walk with me.”

  Wishing she’d known he wanted to walk, she slid her heels back on and joined him, taking the hand he offered. There was a well-groomed path that hadn’t been there years ago. They stuck to it for a ways, lost in their own thoughts as the river burbled beside them.

  “So many memories here,” she murmured.

  “Which ones are you thinking of?”

  “The day you carved our initials in our tree. Dozens of picnics on the banks. Lazy afternoons dreaming about the future. Our first time.” There were others. So very many others.

  “Is it only the good ones for you?”

  She understood what he was asking. “It is now.” And why shouldn’t she hang on to those beautiful memories, when the boy who’d given them to her had grown into the man by her side?

  He pulled her to a stop, tugging her back against his chest and faced them toward the river. “This place was important to us. But we never came back after that day.”

  She didn’t have to ask which day and didn’t think he needed her confirmation.

  “I feel like I ruined it for us.”

  At the self-recrimination in his voice, she stroked her free hand down his arm. “You did what you had to do. I don’t hold it against this place.”

&nbs
p; “Did you ever come back here without me?”

  “No. It would have hurt too bad.” She leaned back against him, soaking in the comfort of his nearness. “I’m happy to be here with you now.”

  “Me too. And that’s part of why I brought you. Because I wanted to do something to reclaim this place for good memories.”

  “Oh?” Where was he going with this?

  Turning her to face him, he skimmed the hair back from her face. “I love you Paisley Ann Parish. I love your laugh, your smile, and how you make everything more fun. I love your romantic’s view of the world and how it keeps me from dwelling too long in the dark. I love that stubborn streak that meant you never gave up on me, even when I probably deserved it.”

  Lifting both hands, he brushed a kiss over her knuckles that had her halfway to swooning. “You’ve been it for me since that kiss at the homecoming dance all those years ago. I knew it then, and I’m doing now what you thought I was that day the last time we came here.” He dropped to one knee. “Marry me.”

  Paisley’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my God. Are you serious?”

  He slipped out a ring box from his pocket and flipped it open.

  She squeaked. That was a real, shiny engagement ring in there. In his hand. Where he knelt on the ground. The ache in her feet told her in no uncertain terms she was definitely awake and not dreaming this whole thing.

  And here she’d thought Bethany’s baby announcement was going to be the biggest shock of the day.

  “We spent a lot of years apart. Years that showed me in no uncertain terms that life is short. I wasted a lot of time feeling unworthy and broken. You changed that. In a very real way, you brought me back to life, and I don’t want to lose another minute with you. So marry me, Paisley.”

  She considered herself a practical romantic. It was the small, everyday things that usually did her in. Much as she loved them, she didn’t expect or want grand gestures. Flashy wasn’t her style. So, that he’d brought her here, where they’d had so many of their firsts, to ask her to be his and heal the wound of their previous, painful end, was exactly right. He was exactly right and exactly hers. Finally.

  Tears burned her eyes, and she swallowed against the emotion in her throat to find her voice and give him a sassy smile. “Well, since you asked so nicely…”

  “I did promise to work on the bossy thing. Sorry about that. Paisley, will you—”

  She pressed a finger to his lips. “I think you can get away with orders just this once. Because the answer is yes. For you, the answer will always be yes.”

  His answering grin lit up the night. “Then let’s make it official.” Pulling the ring from the box, he slid it onto her finger.

  A perfect fit.

  As he rose and slipped his arms around her, she linked her hands behind his neck. “You know…Tennessee is a no-waiting-period state for marriage licenses.”

  “Oh? Do I even want to know why you know that?”

  “The same reason I know most random trivia. Book research. I’m just saying, Gatlinburg is only a three-hour drive. We could swing by on our way home. In the name of not losing any more time.”

  His delighted laugh warmed her already overflowing heart. “Have I mentioned I love the way you think?”

  “Once or twice, but a girl never gets tired of hearing it.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  And with the moon rising behind them, she kissed the first love she was going to marry.

  Choose Your Next Romance

  I hope you enjoyed this conclusion to the Rescue My Heart trilogy! If you’d like to read all about Emerson and Caleb (and see where Paisley first made it onto the page), then their hot, younger best friend, firefighter next door, empty nest romance is the book for you. Check out Let It Be Me, the first of the Men of the Misfit Inn series.

  If you want more Ari, she features heavily in the books of all her aunts, beginning with When You Got A Good Thing, Kennedy and Xander’s story. Theirs is another second chance romance that’s sure to warm the cockles of your heart.

  Can’t decide? Keep turning the pages for a sneak peek!

  Sneak Peek Let It Be Me

  Men of the Misfit Inn, Book #1

  Four years ago, firefighter Caleb Romero saved a child and met the woman of his dreams. But trauma killed the timing, so he’s contented himself with being the friend she needed as she navigated sudden parenthood.

  Four years ago, Emerson Aldridge became a mom in the worst possible way. Without qualm, she abandoned her own dreams to shepherd her teenage daughter through their shared grief. Her number one priority has been to raise Fiona the way her best friend would have wanted.

  Now Fi’s headed off to college and Emerson has no idea how to feel about her suddenly empty nest. She barely even remembers life before motherhood, but Caleb’s right next door to give her a reminder—along with a toe-curling kiss that catapults them past friends and into something more. The life she wanted before the accident is still within reach. He just has to convince her that their age difference means nothing.

  Piece of cake. Right?

  “I am not drunk enough for this.”

  As truly horrific honky-tonk music slammed into her like a freight train, Emerson wished for a shot of something stout and the silence of the recording booth. She almost turned around to go home to Hamilton as the blonde on stage reached the ear-splitting chorus of “Stand By Your Man.” But her boyfriend had blown their plans tonight because of work, and she’d promised Paisley she’d meet her new man. It seemed a shame to waste all the effort she’d put into her appearance for the cancelled date, so she’d dragged herself all the way into Nashville to Lower Broadway.

  Weaving her way through the crowd that didn’t seem in the least deterred by the steady drizzle of spring rain, Emerson scanned the bar for familiar brunette curls. As she edged past too many bodies, her phone vibrated. Fishing it out, she saw Fiona Gaffney flash across the screen. Her goddaughter. One of the lights of her life. It was too damned loud to answer now. She’d get this meet and greet over with and call her back on the way home.

  “Emmy!” Paisley’s excited squeal reached her, even over the catcalling toward the stage. She materialized out of the throng and looped an arm through Emerson’s. “You came!”

  “You did not tell me it was karaoke night. You know how I feel about karaoke.” She had to lean close to be heard over the noise. Bad music aside, Paisley knew she avoided places like this because she had to protect her voice for work.

  But her long-time friend didn’t wilt under the accusatory stare. “Oh, don’t be a fuddy duddy.” She began to drag Emerson through the bar. “You need to hear Dustin sing.”

  “Please tell me you haven’t latched on to another country music hopeful.” Her excessively romantic best friend had definitely had a type back in college. They’d attended more than their fair share of open mic nights and karaoke competitions in the name of being supportive.

  “God no. He’s just got a gorgeous voice.” Paisley winked. “And a really great ass.”

  Stopping at a high-top table with a sandy-haired guy in jeans and an untucked black button down, she waved an enthusiastic hand. “Dustin, baby, this is my dearest, darling bestie, Emerson Aldridge. Emerson, my boyfriend, Dustin Phelps.”

  Emerson shook his proffered hand and slid onto one of the chairs, sending up a prayer of sincere gratitude as the caterwauling from the stage finally stopped. Why? Why couldn’t they have picked one of the other venues that had actual good music? There were so many to choose from.

  Once the waitress had taken her order, Dustin leaned across the table. “So Emerson, what is it you do?”

  Yet again she had to lean too close to be heard without shouting. “I’m a voice actor.”

  “Yeah? Like, what? Cartoons? Video games?”

  “Sometimes. But mostly I do audiobooks.”

  He blinked. “So you read for a living.”

  She performed entire casts of characters,
giving unique voices to each, such that listeners had a well-rounded experience and felt immersed in the story. But sure. They could just reduce her life’s work down to reading. He clearly wasn’t an audiobook listener. A lot of people didn’t understand, and she was not in the proper mood to educate him, particularly as she suspected he wouldn’t last the month once Paisley had her fill.

  “I suppose.”

  Did he even know that Paisley wrote romance? If he didn’t, how serious could this relationship be?

  One drink. She’d have one drink and visit for a bit, then the social niceties would be discharged and she could go back home to the quiet. As the next pair of singers took the stage for an extremely drunk rendition of “Beer Run,” she knew that would be sooner rather than later. She was absolutely not in the mood for this. But she did her best to engage in conversation during the lulls between singers, listening to Dustin talk about his job as assistant baseball coach for one of the area universities. That explained the nice ass. Nearly a dozen more tone-deaf performers took the stage, each progressively worse than the last. Emerson wondered if blood was leaking from her ears. Where the hell was her drink?

  Paisley studied her face. “You are not in a fun-loving-Emerson frame of mind.”

  She definitely was not. But that wasn’t Paisley’s fault, and it wasn’t fair of her to spoil the night. Reeling in her lousy mood, she offered an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I’m disappointed that Blaine’s work schedule ruined what was supposed to be a romantic date night. Again. I know he’s trying to make partner, but I’m feeling a bit neglected lately.” The past few months, he’d been so dialed into work. At first, she’d been fine with it. It had given her time to really dig in and expand her own portfolio, making her name known in the industry. But she missed coming out like this with him. Being third wheel was not what she’d had in mind for tonight.