“I need to go to the bathroom, Mama,” Pete whined, beginning an impressive potty dance.
Greg sighed. “Listen, I’ll take the boys with me down this way and meet you at Information.”
“Thanks, Greg. And please pray.”
A young woman stood behind the information desk, phone to her ear, white uniform blouse perfectly starched. Eisley tapped the counter, talked to Emily, and tried not to worry that Wes might never want to talk to her again. She had to find him.
The receptionist hung up the phone and pressed the intercom mic. “James Lincoln, please report to the information desk in the baggage area. Your party is waiting for you. Thank you.” She turned to Eisley. “May I help you?”
Eisley sat Emily up on the desk and leaned forward. “Yes, I need to get a message to someone quickly. He’s probably trying to board a flight to London, England and—”
“England?” She checked her computer. “We have one flight boarding for New York as a connection to London, and another with a connection to Chicago-O’Hare.” She typed something into her computer. “Then there is one to Atlanta boarding now.”
“Now? Which way do I go?”
Her face registered compassion. “Unless you have a ticket, you can’t make it through security, honey.” She picked up the phone and spoke to someone, then returned her gaze to Eisley. “They just gave the last boarding call for Atlanta, and New York won’t be far behind.”
Eisley leaned forward, one arm hooked around Emily. “There’s got to be something I can do. The man I love is getting on one of those flights.” Eisley stretched so far over the counter she lifted to tiptoe. “He thinks I don’t care, or at least that leaving is the easiest way to protect me, but he’s wrong. I’ve got to stop him. Please, can you get a message to the people on the plane? Or something?”
The woman lifted a curious brow. “What is his name?”
“Wesley Harrison.”
She took the microphone and gave her head a little shake. “Wesley Harrison, please report to the information desk at the front of the building, Terminal B entrance.” Her voice echoed through the airport. “Your party is waiting.”
She clicked the microphone back into place on the counter.
Eisley stared at her. “That’s all?”
Greg and the boys came up to her side. “What’s going on?”
“The receptionist says there’s nothing we can do.” She sighed. “He’s not answering his phone, and I’ve got to talk to him. Maybe if he knows how much I want him to stay, then he won’t leave.”
Greg looked over at the information desk and then back to the crowd, a very sneaky grin rising into the pattern of his face. “You think the intercom will work for your message?”
“What do you mean?”
Greg winked and walked over to stand in line next to a few people. He looked around, touched the handle of a suitcase nearby and then tried to take it. The business man nearby turned. “Take your hands off of my bag.”
Greg looked shocked. “Your bag? This is my bag. You get your hands off of it.”
Oh, good grief! Was he serious? He was going to add arrested to his resume—no wait, he’d already been arrested once for picketing an inhumane dog shelter.
“It is not yours.” The man’s voice rose. “I’ll call security if you don’t unhand it.”
“Call them, then.” Greg shouted. “Better yet, I’ll call them.” He turned to the desk. “Miss. This man is trying to steal my bag.”
The plan worked. Unbelievable.
The receptionist left her spot to try and resolve her brother’s master plan. Greg sent Eisley another wink and nodded toward the information desk, propelling her forward. Could she be arrested for this? Did it really matter at this point?
Eisley’s attention landed on the intercom mic. She chewed on her bottom lip for a second and then sent a glance toward the crowd. On tiptoe, with Emily in her arms, she rounded the desk, both boys trailing behind.
“What are you doing, Mom?” Nathan’s voice interrupted her stealth.
“I really need to use this microphone to get in touch with Wes.”
“Are you supposed to be back there?”
His question paused her forward momentum and she cringed. “Not technically. This is an emergency.” She turned and pointed a finger to the boys. “But you’re never to do something like this okay? Never.”
Pete’s eyes rounded. “Oh, is this one of those pretend we don’t see it moments?”
“Or do what you say not what you do times?” Nathan added.
She squeezed her eyes closed and sighed. God, please protect them from their mother. “Yeah, buddies, something like that.”
With a little fumbling, she picked up the microphone, fingers moving to the button she’d seen the woman push. She took a deep breath, shot one last look at the gathering crowd in the center of the room, and then pushed the button. “Umm…hello…um…”
The information desk lady’s head swiveled like an owl’s, eyes wide with surprise.
Might as well fully commit now.
“Wes Harrison, if you can hear me, don’t you dare get on that plane.” Her voice echoed through the cavernous expanse around her and carried right toward the woman’s reddening face. “Um…please. I…I…know that what happened wasn’t your fault, and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.”
The woman pushed through the crowd, her progress slow, eyes narrowed with purpose. Greg tried to intersect her with a question, but it barely stunted her forward momentum.
Emily giggled and the trill resonated like surround sound.
“Please don’t leave. You are better than any fairy tale.”
The woman rounded the counter, eyes furious, and grabbed for the microphone.
Eisley leaned back as the woman pulled against her. “I love you, Wes.”
The microphone jerked free and the woman stumbled back. “I should have security called. What were you thinking?”
“I’m sorry, but I had to try.”
Emily giggled again and the woman’s expression softened a little. “If you remove yourself at once, then I’ll overlook this.” She pointed toward the doors. “Go.”
Eisley gathered up the kids and followed the direction of her pointing finger.
Greg ran to catch up with her. “Who’d have thought it was that guy’s bag after all? My bad.” He shrugged and grinned. “What are you going to do now?”
“I’m not sure.” She stopped in the middle of the room, at a complete loss for what to do next; except maybe cry.
The buzz of her cell stopped her descent into the depths of despair. She adjusted Emily in her arms and put the phone to her ear. “Hello.”
“I’m on number thirteen of your seventeen messages.”
“Wes.” Tears of relief clogged her voice. Calling him every ten minutes as they careened toward the airport at record speed saved the day? Oh please, say yes!
“Hi Wesh.” Emily pulled at the phone. “I talk Wesh.”
“No honey, not right now. Mommy needs to talk to Wesh—I mean Wes.” She placed Emily down and followed her busy little feet across the glossy floor while Greg sat down on some nearby chairs with the boys. “Where are you? Are you on the plane?”
“The intercom announcement was quite…impressive.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks and she laughed. “Well, whatever it takes to get a guy’s attention, you know?” She lowered her voice. “Seriously, please don’t leave. Obviously, I’m not afraid of what people think, right? I just announced my undying devotion to you throughout all of Charlotte-Douglass International. So, no more worries about those nasty tabloids. I can handle them, which means you should probably stay here.”
A brief silence had her checking her connection.
“I’m sorry about Vivian, pet.”
The endearment washed over her. She breathed it in. “Vivian doesn’t matter to me, or the tabloids or the articles. What does matter is you, me, and you staying with me. So, where are you?”
She scanned the flight display for the next flight to London.
“Wesh!” Emily squealed and took off at a run.
Wes parted the crowd at full speed, phone in hand, bag over his shoulder, and smoky gaze sifting through the distance directly to her heart. Eisley nearly squeezed her phone to mush in her hands. Every word she tried to form stuck to the roof of her mouth and a knot of tears crowded against her vision.
He dropped his bag at his side and swept Emily into his arms, giving her a little swing. Her giggle played the mamba all the way through Eisley’s quivering middle. Oh, how she loved this man.
She stepped forward, blinking through tears. “You…you didn’t leave.”
His gaze found her and held. “I didn’t leave.”
She moved closer, swiping at her fountain-eyes. “I’m so sorry. I should have seen through Vivian’s scheme, but…but I was distracted by the whole towel-scene. I figured it out after I got home, but I was too late and then you were gone. I promise, I’ll do better next time.”
“Next time?” He gave a ferocious shake to his head, which Emily imitated to perfection, even with the crinkled brow. “I’m trying to prevent a next time. I can’t bear the thought of anything of this nature hurting you again.” He smoothed a palm over Emily’s crazy sprigs of hair. “Or your family.” His expression hardened. “You were right all along. You didn’t want a romance with me. I chased you and brought all of my past mistakes with me.”
“But if I have to take all of them to have you too, then so be it, Wes. My family was up in arms to get you back.” She gestured toward the bench where Greg and the boys sat. “You care more about me and my family than for yourself.” She stepped closer. “And I can assure you, Mr. Harrison, I want a romance with you and a whole lot more.”
He produced a crooked grin and narrowed his smoky eyes. Yep, she was making good progress, so she went in for the win. “Listen, you have your baggage from the past and I have mine.”
“Yours are much cuter.” He stared down at Emily, a tender look washing over his features. “My life isn’t easy or simple.”
“Life isn’t simple, not when you really live it. And easy?” She shrugged away his words and moved close enough to touch his arm. “If you leave, I’ll hurt more from missing you than I will from what happened today. You’ll hear my breaking heart all the way across the Atlantic.” She pointed her finger at him and put on her most intimidating look.
“I don’t ever want to break your heart, Eisley. I’d break my own first.”
“Okay, you need to understand two things, buddy. One, I’m not a wimp. I might have been a little slow putting the pieces of Vivian’s arrival together, but I’m strong enough to handle whatever comes our way. So is my family. They believe in us.” She pointed another finger at him. “And two, I would rather take the risks or pain and have the comfort of your love through it all, than to let the fear of the past, or of things we can’t control, steal this beautiful…” She waved her palm between them, waiting for his reply.
His smile spread to two dimples and he bridged the small gap between them. “Relationship?”
“Exactly.” She pressed her palm against his cheek and noticed the tears in his eyes. Oh, sweet heaven, he was remarkable. “I don’t want to lose you.”
He swept back her hair with his fingers. “I don’t want to be lost.”
“Then don’t leave. Ever. Not from here.” She placed her palm on her chest. “I’ve become a lot stronger since knowing you, but I don’t want to have to be strong enough for that.” She took hold of his jacket lapel and pulled him closer, squeezing Emily in between them. “I love you right now, and I’m choosing to love you for tomorrow and the next day and the next, no matter what comes.” She caught his protest with her finger. “Just the way you are, Christopher Wesley Harrison.”
His gaze roamed her face, caressing over all of the last remnants of uncertainty with a fresh touch of faith. He pulled her deeper into his embrace, one arm hooked around her waist, the other holding Emily on his hip. “You love me, do you?”
She breathed in the scent of him. “Without one doubt.”
With the gentlest of movements, he brushed his lips over hers.
“Wesh have boo-boo?” Emily took his face in her hands and pulled his attention to her. “Me tiss it.” She proceeded to plant a loud kiss directly on Wes’s mouth.
“Thank you, chicken.” He jostled her against his side. “I’m feeling much better now.”
“Mama tiss it.” Emily ordered and pointed to Wes’s mouth.
“Well, okay.” Eisley exaggerated a sigh and then placed both hands on either side of his face to kiss a very severe boo-boo away. Twice.
“Oh gross, do you guys have to kiss in public?” Greg’s voice broke through the tender moment like a clap of thunder.
“You kissed him on the mouth, Mom.” Pete’s face wrinkled into a hundred creases, all screaming disgusting. “Why would you do something like that?”
Nathan nudged his brother and smiled with a hidden knowledge his seven years and love for his mom seemed to understand. Obviously, Greg hadn’t matured to that level yet.
“I love your mom, guys. I love her more than—” Wes looked up at the ceiling in search of the right description.
“Spiderman?” Pete asked, his lips wide in complete disbelief at the possibility.
Wes kissed Eisley’s cheek and chuckled. “Yes, I love her more than Spiderman, and even more than Aunt Tilley’s chocolate pie.”
“Wow,” the boys shouted, including Greg.
“Chocolate and kisses.” Eisley snagged his rolling bag from the floor and shot him a wink. “Two pretty powerful things.”
“I know of something even better.” He breathed the words near her ear and she sank into the heady scent of spice and leather and Wes Harrison.
Adult-rated scenes started a freefall of heat from her cheeks down. Whoa, girl. “What could possibly top chocolate and kisses?”
His lips warmed her cheek, his words taking a breathy detour to her ear. “I can think of a few very specific ones to add to your list, pet.”
Great googly moogly. Where was the nearest closet?
“But I know what’s at the top of the list for me.”
She pressed her forehead against his shoulder as they walked. “And what’s that?”
He paused and turned his lovely gaze on her. “Your love, Eisley. Apart from God’s love, I’ve never experienced anything as sweet and disarming in all my life.”
She swallowed past her dry throat and squeezed him to her side. “I have enough to share for an entire lifetime. Are you up for a happily-ever-after with me? It’s certain to be a wild ride.”
He buried a kiss into her hair and walked toward the doors of the airport, Emily giggling on his hip. “It’s the perfect happily-ever-after, and it’s more than I could have ever imagined.”
Eisley sighed against him. “I really think we should celebrate all of this sweet love, you know?”
He held the door for her to pass. “And exactly what do you recommend?”
She paused in front of him, leaned close for a quick kiss, and then wiggled her brows. “Oh, I think it starts with chocolate, ends in a closet, and has a whole lot of hope sprinkled in along the way.”
“I’ll take it all, as long as it’s with you.”
His arm around her, and the sweet tenderness in his gaze, promised something much greater than chocolate or kisses: Love for a lifetime lingered in his eyes, in his touch. And though, the two of them could make it on their own just the way they were, Eisley had a pretty good feeling they’d be even better together.
Acknowledgements
Despite popular belief, a writer really doesn’t create these books on her own. A wonderful crew of family, friends, and professionals roll up their sleeves and get involved in the process through encouragement, direction, occasional bouts of chocolat
e, and motivation, to make it to the end with some semblance of mental health.
Krista Phillips! You are a Rockstar! Thank you for helping me navigate this new world of publishing by sharing your expertise, friendship, kindness…and long-suffering. Wow! I could NOT have done this without you.
Carrie Booth Schmidt, God knew exactly what I needed in my life when he sent you my way. Thank you for being such an encourager—for putting up with my craziness, indulging in my endless messages, and reminding me (so often) that I have stories in me worth telling.
Katie Donovan, thank you so much for your editorial eyes and fabulous encouragement! Wow! You are definitely on your way to becoming an excellent editor one day.
Thank you, Diane Gage, for reading one of the first copies of this story.
Rel Mollet, you rock! Thanks for being such an encouragement!
Linda Attaway, thank you so much for taking a chance on my story and using your experience to make this book the best it can be.
Dream Team, you guys make this journey So. Much. Fun. Having you on my side, sharing sneak peeks and seeing how you get excited about what’s next, is like riding on a tour bus with a bunch of friends! Thank you all so much!!
AlleyCats, I am ever grateful for God bringing you into my life, and for sharing the joys and challenges of this writing with you. Thank you for always being such a support.
Ames, thank you so much for going through this book with me and making it even better!
Ever grateful for my agent, Julie Gwinn, who continues to champion my stories.
This is my dad’s favorite book I’ve written, and you might even find some of his personality in the pages. Thanks to my parents for always encouraging my writing and for celebrating stories with me.
To my family. I am beyond grateful to my husband and children, who support, love, and inspire me in this story-writing business. Writing children into my books makes me smile so much because I’m blessed with some of the very best ones on the planet.
And, of course, I am grateful to God for loving me just the way I am and giving me the gift of story. Thank you for helping me create word pictures of your love for others to read.
Just the Way You Are (A Pleasant Gap Romance Book 1) Page 33
