by Liz Isaacson
“I can’t wait to have you there.” He tucked her against his side and brushed his lips against her temple.
A glow like the rising sun started inside Navy, and she basked in the golden warmth of it. And she finally knew what it felt like to be loved by a man that she also loved.
Two hours later, she curled into Gavin’s side on the top step of his front porch. She’d fallen asleep almost instantly on the drive from Three Rivers to Springville, even though it was less than an hour away, so they hadn’t had a chance to talk about anything.
And she didn’t want to start now either. Her heart just felt so…blocked up, and she didn’t want to ruin their reunion with needless talk. He didn’t say much either, but he yawned about three times before she clued in to his exhaustion.
She jumped to her feet. “So we’ll talk in the morning.” She held out her hand for his keys. They’d agreed she’d take his truck that night to a hotel in town. He’d scoured the town for a place for her to stay, but she wanted to choose a place. “And we’re going to look at those four houses, right?”
Gavin stood too, his gaze intense and diving right into her soul. “Right. You can come out anytime. I have chores here until about nine or ten at least.”
“All right.” Navy stretched up and pressed her lips to Gavin’s, thrilled at the gentle way he stroked his fingers down the side of her face as he deepened the kiss. Navy ducked her head before she got too carried away. “I’m sorry, Gavin.”
“We’re fine, Navy.”
She looked right into his eyes, and found the peace there. The joy. The love. She nodded, wishing she could forgive herself as easily as he seemed to have forgiven her. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Look,” she said, leaning into the doorway of the barn where he worked. He glanced over his shoulder, a smile forming on his face.
She folded her arms. “I didn’t leave you and Three Rivers for my job.”
He approached as she spoke, his grin fading the closer he came. “I never thought that.”
“I did.” She frowned up at him. “Why did you think I left?”
He sighed. “Because you weren’t sure I was your match. You didn’t see a future for yourself in Three Rivers. That kind of thing.”
She gawked at him. “I told you to your face that I loved you.”
“It’s easy to forget when a person calls and texts and only gets silence.” He shuffled back a few steps and resumed his feeding of the horses.
Familiar shame darted through her. “I…I couldn’t answer. I was embarrassed.”
“Of what?”
“Of disappearing without giving you a chance to explain.”
“What changed your mind?”
“I told you about the mother who had a baby with the arm deformities.”
“Ah, yes. She had to be brave.”
“Right.”
“So why did you leave?”
Navy swallowed her fear now, the way she wished she had months ago. “I was afraid,” she said. “I loved you, but I was being torn in several directions, and Dallas was the easiest one to go in.” She shrugged against the doorframe, hoping her explanation would be good enough for him.
“All right.” He barely looked at her as he finished up with the last horse. He dusted his hands together. “So let’s go find you somewhere to live.”
Navy finally made it to church several days after she’d settled into her new lodgings on the outskirts of Three Rivers. Gavin had helped her brighten up the walls, hang curtains, and tame the weeds that had taken over the lawn. She’d contracted a trucking company to get her furniture up here, and it had just arrived yesterday.
So she and Gavin had spent the morning getting the heavier items in the right rooms, and then he’d gone back to the ranch. He worked, and worked, and worked. Navy had managed to put in her application at the hospital in Three Rivers, and she’d go to the emergency center and doctor’s offices if she had to.
“You ready?”
She glanced away from the gold-brick building that had a cross inlaid on the side. There were a surprising number of churches in Springville, and they’d passed several before Gavin had pulled into this one.
“Yes.” She flashed him a smile and followed him out of his truck. “What’s the pastor’s name again?”
“Pastor Nye. He’s fun. He laughs really loud. I think you’ll like him.” Gavin led her into the church and gestured her into a row near the back. Several pairs of eyes landed on her and stayed, checking her out. She wondered how many of them had befriended Gavin; he didn’t seem to get off the ranch much.
A few people spoke to him, and he murmured hellos back to them. He didn’t introduce her to anyone, and no one asked. Maybe they already knew about her. Maybe Springville didn’t have nearly the gossip circles of other small Texas towns.
The choir started singing, startling Navy. She’d never heard such a rousing rendition of the hymn, and she was even more surprised when the people wearing royal blue robes parted, and out came a tall African-American man wearing the same robes and clapping for all he was worth.
He wore a giant smile and he went all the way to the pulpit before turning back to the choir. He waved his hands left and right and then cut them off. They silenced instantly, and the man turned around.
“Brothers and sisters!” he bellowed into the mic. “Isn’t it a great day to be alive?”
“Isn’t he great?” Gavin asked, leaning over.
Two seconds passed while Navy’s mind whirred. “He’s the pastor?”
“Now you know why we passed all those other churches.” Gavin settled his arm around her as Pastor Nye began his enthusiastic sermon on forgiveness. Navy groaned inwardly; the last thing she wanted was a lecture on forgiveness.
But Gavin was right; everything Pastor Nye said made her want to hear what he said next, and she couldn’t look away from his animated face.
“Have you taken your problems to the Lord?” he asked. “He has already borne all our griefs. He has already been wronged the way you have. Why carry that burden?”
Navy found herself nodding and adding a whispered “Amen,” when the rest of the congregation did. Gavin said nothing but he maintained his focus on the man at the front of the chapel.
“And not only that, my friends, but we must examine ourselves too. Do we have things we need to be forgiven of? People we can beg for that forgiveness. I say to you today: Don’t delay. Go to them. Apologize. Set things right.” He scanned the congregation, his mood sobering the slightest bit. The power and fire in his eyes did not, and Navy felt his words all the way down in her toes when he said, “And the hardest type of forgiveness of all—that of forgiving one’s self.”
Navy stiffened and Gavin’s fingers curled around her shoulder protectively.
“We all do things we regret,” he said. “Even when it seems the other party has forgiven us, we may struggle to let go of our own shortcomings. Don’t do that to yourself.” He shook his head and smacked his lips together. “Just don’t. I know how hard it can be to let go. It requires faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to Him. He will help you find your way to forgiveness.”
He stepped back from the microphone then, grinned for all he was worth, and turned back to the choir. Navy found herself—and everyone else in the chapel—smiling too. The choir launched into another hymn that seemed a bit too loud and raucous to belong in a church, but Navy still felt a peaceful power coursing through her.
She wanted to forgive herself for leaving Three Rivers the way she had. She’d apologized to Gavin. He’d obviously forgiven her. Now she just needed to figure out how to give away the burden currently weighing down her entire frame.
24
Gavin watched Navy struggle with her inadequacies for a week. Then two. Just before their third Sunday of attending church together, she bounded out of her two-bedroom house on the east edge of Three Rivers, a big smile on her face. Her deep plum dress billowed behind her and he couldn’t
get out of the truck fast enough to receive her.
She yanked open the passenger door and climbed in, scooting over to place a kiss on his cheek. “Guess what?”
He could answer in any number of ways, but he chose to simply go with, “What?”
“I got a job.”
Joy lifted his spirits. “That’s great, sweetheart. Where?”
“The hospital finally decided I was the one they wanted.”
He knew she’d interviewed several times, and that they’d narrowed the candidates down to two and then kept them waiting for a week. He laughed and leaned over to kiss her properly. “That’s great. We should celebrate.”
“It’s Thanksgiving this week. I think that will be celebration enough.”
“You do keep bragging about your pecan pie.”
“I do not brag about it.”
Gavin settled behind the wheel, more happiness and harmony in his heart than he’d ever had. “You’re coming out to cook at the ranch, right?”
“My place is way too small,” she said, studying the side of his face as he drove. “It’s still okay, isn’t it?”
“’Course. And we’ll come on Friday too. Visit my grandparents.”
“You can leave the ranch?”
“Cruz will take care of the ranch for a few days.”
“Ooh, look at you, all fancy with your cowboy employees.”
Gavin’s chest swelled with a bit of pride. He hadn’t anticipated how much work the ranch would be, and he’d relied a lot on Jake, the previous owner of the ranch who still lived just down the lane. Cruz and Bowen were cowhands who had come with the ranch, and Gavin had relied on them a lot too.
“His family is coming here,” he said. “Remember?”
“I remember. They’re sleeping in your basement and we’re feeding them turkey and cranberry sauce.”
“And mashed potatoes. Cruz said his grandmother has never had mashed potatoes.”
“I won’t mess them up.” Navy criss-crossed her heart and giggled. “I still can’t believe she’s never had them.”
They went into the church, took their usual seat. Gavin was used to the staring, to people watching him and whispering about him. It had happened a lot in Three Rivers too, especially during his fifteen minutes of fame after saving Navy. The talk had mostly died now, but since Navy had come to town, it had revived.
Pastor Nye spoke about being grateful this holiday season, and Gavin’s heart swelled. He had so much to be grateful for. So much had changed this year, and he scarcely recognized himself and his life from this time last year.
Lost as he was inside his own mind, it took him several minutes to realize Navy was weeping. When he did, he leaned down and cradled her close to his chest. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head and buried her face against him. He enjoyed the closeness he felt with her, and he couldn’t wait until June so they could get married and experience this closeness all the time.
He let her cry through the end of the sermon and he bustled her out of the chapel so she wouldn’t be embarrassed. Once in the safety of the truck, he turned to her. “What’s going on? Are you all right?”
She looked at him with those beautiful eyes, tear-stained as they were. “I finally figured out how to forgive myself.”
Emotion overcame him, and hot tears pricked his eyes too. “That’s great, sweetheart.”
She reached up and ran her fingers down the sides of his face as if seeing him for the first time. “I love you.”
“And I love you.”
She stretched up to kiss him, and Gavin received her gladly. His desire for her never seemed to lessen, something for which he would be grateful for until the end of his days.
Seven Months Later
Gavin paced in his office, which had been set up as a staging room for him, the groom. He stared at the framed ticket to Three Rivers Navy had hung beside the door the previous afternoon.
He traced his fingers around the edge of the frame, looking at the date on the ticket. The date she’d come back to him. The date he’d always remember as the time he’d stopped being so angry about the legends and myths surrounding the town where he’d spent his whole life.
“You’re still in there, right?” Grandmother’s voice came through the closed door.
“Yes, Grandmother.”
“Granddad is coming. Don’t come out until we say. Navy doesn’t want you to see the dress until she’s walking down the aisle.”
More foolish traditions, in Gavin’s opinion, but if she didn’t want him to see her dress, he wouldn’t see it. He loved her, romantic fantasies and all.
“We’re almost ready,” Grandmother said. He’d given up the master bedroom for Navy, and she was currently shut in there with her mother, her sister, and her best friend Lynn. He was sure Grandmother was about to join them.
He’d been entertaining Navy’s family for three days already, and he was ready for this shindig to be over and done. Then they’d all go home. He and Navy would take their honeymoon to Hawaii, and when they returned to the ranch, she’d be here permanently.
She’d already moved all her stuff into the house. She’d been living out of a suitcase in a hotel room for two days. Her family had been staying in his basement, and Gavin had heard more about Navy than he wanted to know. Her sister talked incessantly, and her mother seemed to agree with everything Lexie said.
He could no longer fault Navy for not getting along with them very well. Her brother and father were much more tolerable, as John seemed genuinely interested in what Gavin did on the ranch. He asked questions about the horses and the cattle, which they’d taken out to the wild land a couple of months ago. Noah, her father, helped around the house, and he kept Gavin company in the evenings. Yes, Gavin rather liked both of them.
Granddad slipped into the room. “Your parents are almost here,” he said in his raspy voice. Relief pulled through Gavin. He wasn’t sure his parents would make it with the storms on the east coast canceling over a hundred flights. They still hadn’t met Navy, and Gavin’s relief rushed out of him in favor of panic.
He let Granddad hand him his boots and say, “You seem nervous, son.”
“I’m getting married today,” Gavin said, his voice edged with frustration that he tried to tame. “And I’ve been here before when the bride didn’t show up.”
Granddad nodded and smiled. “She’s here, Gavin.” He brushed something invisible from Gavin’s ultra-black tuxedo and turned. “Your grandmother and I have a gift.”
“Oh, no, you didn’t have to.”
“Of course we did. You cared for us for so long, put your dreams on hold.” Granddad teared up and his voice sounded somewhat squeaky. “We’re so happy for you.” He extended a long box toward Gavin, who took it.
“Granddad.”
“It was my father’s. He wore it on his wedding day, and I wore it on mine. Even your father wore it.”
A sense of reverence filled the office, and Gavin lifted the lid of the box in slow motion. Inside, white tissue paper concealed the gift, and he carefully moved it. A piercing blue tie sat inside, a crest embroidered on the bottom. The crest contained a delicate R intertwined with ivy and flowers, and Gavin’s breath hitched.
“You’re a Redd,” Granddad said. “Remember that you represent more than just you. You wear our name.”
Gavin gathered his granddad into a hug, his heart clogging his throat. “Thanks, Granddad.” He allowed Granddad to put the tie on and fix the knot, his gnarled hands shaking by the time he finished.
The door burst open, and in blew his father. Gavin’s chest cinched and then released at the large presence. “Dad.”
His dad embraced him, bringing with him the scent of musk and leather, and clapped him on the back. “We just met Navy.” He held Gavin by the shoulders. “She’s wonderful.” He beamed at his son, and all of Gavin’s fears evaporated.
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Hey, Dad.” His father embraced his own fa
ther, and Grandmother poked her white-haired head into the office. “Gavin, you better get in position.”
He nodded and he left the office first, the other men in his family behind him. He glanced toward the master bedroom, but the door remained securely closed. His heart kicked out an extra beat at the thought of his bride being so close.
The heat hit him full in the face when he left the homestead, and sweat formed under the brim of his cowboy hat. He strode out to the yard where Navy had selected the flattest part of the yard where they would be married. A trellis and several tents had been set up, along with fans and misters. Most of the chairs were already full, and Pastor Nye worked the crowd in his infectious way.
“Ah, there he is,” the preacher boomed. “Our groom.” He slung his arm around Gavin’s shoulders. “You ready for this?”
Though the rehearsal had just been the previous evening, Gavin still felt miles out of his league. “Yes, sir,” he managed to tell Pastor Nye, and they made their way to the front of the crowd.
“You stand here,” the pastor said. “And I’ll be here.” He looked down the aisle where Navy would walk, and Gavin followed his gaze. The walkway seemed impossibly long and narrow, making his nerves dance a little faster.
There was no organist, but sweet and simple piano music wafted from the speakers set in the corners of the structures. Gavin swallowed; his parents and grandparents took their seats; so did Navy’s mother and her siblings. Only Navy’s father remained near the homestead.
Finally, she emerged from the house, and Gavin stared. Stared at the miles and miles of white fabric. Stared at the curves of her body. Stared at her beautiful face.
He couldn’t believe she was going to be his. His heart pounded and hammered and tried to leap from his chest. Someone switched the piano music to the wedding march, and Navy stepped onto the walkway, her hand in her father’s elbow.
He blinked and she stood beside him. He reached for her hand, and she willingly gave it to him. Willingly gave herself to him. Gratitude and love flowed from him to her as their vows were read, as Pastor Nye united them as husband and wife, as he leaned down and kissed her—the first kiss of the rest of his life.
