“Hell,” Harley repeated when her father turned to storm out.
Amelia did some storming, too, to stop him, but Harley was faster. With a couple of long strides, he bounded down the steps and got between the two men.
“They’re going to fight,” her mother yelled to no one in particular. Apparently, her socialite training had prepared her to watch, fret and wring her hands, but it was training that Amelia had obviously failed because she ditched the hand wringing and fretting and went to stand by Harley.
“There’ll be no fights,” Amelia warned her father and Marty, and she made sure there was some meanness in her voice.
“Marty, don’t hit him,” Tracy yelled. She came running from the direction of the main house, and Liv and Darla were right behind her.
“I didn’t start this,” Marty insisted. “But I’ll damn well finish it.”
Spoken like an idiot because he had in a way started it when he’d slept with a married woman.
“You heard Amelia,” Harley snarled. “There’ll be no fights.”
“I called the sheriff,” Darla shouted. “He’ll be here any minute.”
Great. Just what they didn’t need. Amelia knew Sheriff Leyton Jameson, and he had a reputation for being a good cop, but he was also one of Marty’s “love children.” The law wouldn’t help this situation. They all needed to calm down. Unfortunately, what she was about to say probably wouldn’t accomplish that, but it might get her parents to leave.
“You filed for a divorce,” Amelia reminded her dad. “If you truly believed that was the right thing to do, you wouldn’t be here. Did you come to try to reconcile with Mom?”
“No,” he spat out with far more volume than necessary. People three states away had probably heard him. “I just want an explanation from him and your mother as to why they’d do something like this.”
Amelia sighed. This was like shower sex with Harley all over again. There was no reasonable explanation other than sexual attraction for what had gone on between Marty and her mother.
Except...
There was more between Harley and her. What she had with him wasn’t only a single dazzle-induced indiscretion. It was multiple emotion-induced beddings. Along with dinners, long conversations and shower sex. And it hit her like a massive bag of bricks. She couldn’t lose that.
Correction—she didn’t want to lose that.
She didn’t want to lose him.
Where the devil had her head been all this time for her not to have already realized that? Maybe the great sex had just caused her to focus on that and not see the big picture here.
Amelia turned to Harley, and he must have seen some of what she was feeling on her face because it put some alarm and worry in his eyes. He shot warning glances at both Marty and her father before pulling her into his arms. He brushed an incredibly tender kiss on her temple.
“You’re the big picture,” Amelia murmured.
Of course, Harley didn’t understand that. He wasn’t a mind reader. Apparently, neither was her mother.
“You’re upsetting Amelia,” Nadine declared. “And that’s not a good idea in her possible condition.”
Amelia could hear her mother hurrying to her, and some part of her appreciated the concern, but this moment was about Harley and her. It was that big-picture deal, so she tuned out Nadine. Tuned out everything except him.
“Will you ask me to marry you again?” Amelia blurted out, and she wasn’t sure who she surprised the most. Maybe herself.
Harley smiled. However, he didn’t get a chance to say anything because her phone rang, the sound shooting through the sudden silence. Amelia hated to break the moment, but this call could be important. One look at her screen, and she knew that it was.
“It’s the doctor,” she whispered to Harley. And answering it, she went back onto the porch.
“Amelia,” the caller said. “This is Dr. Mendoza, and I have the results of your pregnancy test.”
CHAPTER FIVE
HARLEY COULDN’T BE SURE, but he thought all the people in his yard were holding their collective breaths. He certainly was, and he kept his attention pinned to Amelia. Either way this went, he wanted to be there for her.
She might not let him, though.
It was promising that she’d asked him to propose to her again. That meant she was at least thinking about saying yes. However, this call from the doctor might send her into an emotional tailspin no matter what the test results.
In the distance, Harley heard the sound of sirens, and he cursed. Sheriff Leyton Jameson was obviously on the way. The threat of a fight seemed to be gone. For now anyway. But they wouldn’t just be able to send Leyton on his merry way without giving him some kind of explanation as to what was going on. That meant slogging through all the messy details of Nadine and Marty’s affair when Harley didn’t care a rat about it. Not with what Amelia and he could be facing.
“Thank you,” Amelia murmured into the phone, barely loud enough for Harley to hear.
She ended the call, turned slowly back around, and her gaze zoomed right to him. That was all Harley needed to hurry to her. He definitely didn’t want an audience for this, and to the chorus of groans from everyone else in the yard, Harley led her back into his house. He couldn’t tell from her expression if the test had been positive or negative, but whatever the result, it could wait a few more seconds.
“Before you say anything,” he told her, “I want you to know that I’m in love with you.”
She’d already opened her mouth to say something, but Amelia paused, shook her head. “I’m not pregnant. The test confirmed it.”
Harley figured news like that would have caused some men to feel a whole lot of relief. He didn’t. And he thought Amelia was experiencing the same thing. He was almost positive there was disappointment in her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he said. That was as far as he got because the sirens stopped blaring in front of his house, but the yelling started up again.
Hell. Judging from the cursing, threats and thuds, Marty and Patrick were now actually fighting.
“Let me take care of this, and then we’ll talk,” she whispered.
On a heavy sigh, Amelia went back outside, and Harley was right behind her. No way would he let her deal with this alone. Of course, there was no alone in this scenario since there were now even more people in his yard, including some guy with a camera. Probably the reporter that Amelia had spotted the day before.
Two of those people, Patrick and Marty, were indeed fighting. Or rather they were attempting to fight. There were punches being thrown, nearly all of which missed their targets unless Patrick was aiming at Marty’s elbow. Marty was mainly ducking, and considering there wasn’t a mark on him, he appeared to be doing a good job of it. Maybe he’d had lots of practice because Harley doubted this was the singer’s first experience with an irate husband.
“Stop them!” Nadine yelled.
Leyton was trying to do just that, and he got a punch on the shoulder for his efforts. A punch from Patrick that earned him a very badass glare from Leyton. Obviously, the sheriff had had enough, and he latched on to the back collars of both of the fighters’ shirts.
“If either of you tries to hit anybody again, I’ll bash your heads together,” Leyton warned them. “Then I’ll arrest you for being stupid.”
That stopped the attempted punches, but it didn’t cool tempers one bit. Marty and Patrick stood there, glaring and with their breaths snorting out like angry bulls.
“Now, using your inside voices and keeping the cursing to a minimum, tell me what’s going on here,” Leyton said, and despite his calm tone, no one in the yard mistook it for anything but an order from a cop.
Patrick went first. “She cheated on me.” He flung a finger at Nadine. “With him.” The finger got flung at Marty that time.
Nadine also g
ot in on finger flings. She aimed hers at her husband. “He’s divorcing me.”
“Who are you people?” the reporter asked, earning him glowers, narrowed eyes and some cursing from everyone but Marty.
“They’re just some fans of mine,” Marty said. The man was smooth as spit, and he smiled at the reporter. “And you are?”
“Dan Deavers.” The reporter couldn’t have been more than twenty, and he grinned in a proud way that proved he was also an idiot. There was nothing about this situation that warranted a grin. “I do freelance work for a couple of magazines.”
In other words, a paparazzo out for a story. Sadly, he’d gotten one.
Proving that he was an idiot, too, Marty matched the reporter’s grin, and he went to him, sliding his arm around Dan’s shoulders. “You and I need to talk. Give us a minute,” he added to Leyton. “I’m about to offer Dan Deavers here the interview of his life. Not just with me but plenty of my music friends. In exchange, he’ll hand over any pictures he just took and develop amnesia about anything he heard.”
So, maybe Marty wasn’t an idiot after all. Apparently, neither was Dan because he went right with Marty as they strolled out of Harley’s yard. They didn’t go far, just out onto the road, and Leyton cast them a warning glance before turning back to Tracy, Liv and Darla.
“Do the three of you need to be here?” Leyton asked them.
All three women not only hesitated, but in unison they turned their gazes to Amelia. Harley didn’t have to guess what they were waiting for. They wanted to know Amelia’s test results.
“I’m not pregnant,” Amelia announced.
The yard went silent again, but Harley saw some reactions that surprised him. His mother and sister looked disappointed, and there wasn’t a lot of relief on Patrick’s and Nadine’s faces, either.
Maybe because they could see Amelia’s sadness.
It was strange that just the day before the pregnancy had been a heart-stopping scare, but today there was no “scare” to it. Harley felt the loss of there not being a baby, and he was pretty sure that Amelia was feeling that right along with him.
Nadine went to Amelia and pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry if you didn’t get the test result you wanted.”
That was a huge concession coming from Nadine, but maybe it proved how much she loved her daughter. Of course, that didn’t stop her from being a snooty busybody who couldn’t mind her own business, but her loving Amelia could make her at least tolerable in Harley’s eyes.
“This was for the best,” Patrick said, making him intolerable in Harley’s eyes. What an asshole thing to say to his daughter, who was clearly hurting.
Just when Harley was ready to give Patrick a piece of his mind, the man also went to Amelia. He hugged her, too, and since Nadine still had her arms around Amelia, it turned into an awkward embrace. Then again, awkward embrace was another term for family as far as Harley was concerned.
“I love you,” Patrick told Amelia.
Okay, so Harley didn’t have to launch into that whole “piece of mind” lecture or put the man on an intolerable list.
“I love you, too,” Nadine told her daughter, and it didn’t seem as if she’d done that only because her husband had. It appeared to come from the heart, and there were fresh tears in Nadine’s eyes. These didn’t seem to be tears for her own marital situation, either.
“I love you,” Amelia said, glancing first at her mother, then her dad.
Then at Harley.
Amelia kept her gaze on Harley. “I really love you,” she repeated.
Those few words helped to wash away the disappointment over the test results. But it did a heck of a lot more than that. His heart swelled, and for some stupid reason, the rest of his body took that as a signal that he should haul Amelia off to bed so they could celebrate.
Later, he’d do just that.
For now, though, he extracted her from her parents’ hug so he could kiss her. All in all, it wasn’t a bad way to start that celebration. When Harley finally eased his mouth away from hers, they were both smiling.
“You love me,” Harley said, his smile stretching to a big-assed grin.
“I love you,” Amelia confirmed, matching his grin.
Harley didn’t believe he’d ever get tired of hearing her say that, but he remembered they had an audience. Too many people were still on his lawn, including Marty, who’d obviously negotiated terms with the reporter since the guy was gone.
“Now that you’ve heard that Amelia’s not pregnant and that Harley and she are in love,” Leyton said, pointing to Tracy, Darla and Liv, “you can go back to wherever you should be. FYI, where you should be right now isn’t here,” Leyton clarified.
Liv and Tracy were grinning, too, and his mother blew him a kiss before she hooked her arms through Darla’s and Liv’s and escorted them away.
Leyton turned to Marty next. “Please tell me you’re not going to be stupid enough to try to press assault charges against this man.” He tipped his head to Patrick and then stared at Amelia’s father. “Same goes for you. Pressing charges creates paperwork, which in turn causes gossip. I see no need for Amelia and Harley to have to deal with such talk. Do you?”
That “do you?” came out as a very threatening challenge. The kind a person might ask while aiming a baseball bat at your head. Leyton wouldn’t do anything like that, but for a nice guy, he sure could go all mean cop.
“I won’t file charges,” Marty said, and that was followed by a grumble from Patrick where he stated the same.
Leyton nodded, pointed to Marty. “You’ve got some other place to be. Go there right now.”
Marty shrugged as if that’d been his plan all along, and he strolled off in the direction of his cabin.
“You two also have some other place to be right now,” Leyton continued, talking to Harley and Amelia. “I’m guessing that’ll involve some kind of personal celebration that’s none of our business. You can get started on that if you want.”
Amelia shook her head. “But what about my parents?”
“Your mom, dad and I are going to have a little chat,” Leyton assured her. “Maybe at the café behind the reception desk. I’m going to suggest counseling, which I hope they’ll consider since they obviously love you. They probably love each other, too, and I’m going to say that they shouldn’t throw the good out with the bad...and other crap like that. They’ll listen because of that whole part about loving you and each other.”
In the next few seconds, a lot of glancing went on. Amelia to her parents. Her parents to her and each other. Harley even got a few of those glances, including a glare from Patrick. Harley wasn’t going to hold that against him. It was practically a duty for a father to want to murder anyone who’d had sex with his daughter. After all, Amelia was still his little girl.
“I’d be willing to go to counseling,” Nadine admitted.
Patrick opened his mouth, and his expression made Harley think he might lash out at Nadine. That he might remind his wife that she was the one who’d cheated. But the man looked at Amelia again and nodded.
“Counseling,” Patrick agreed.
This time, it was Amelia who initiated the group hug, pulling both of her parents into a family celebration of sorts. She caught on to Harley’s shirt, hauling him into the mix. Yeah, it was awkward. Maybe it always would be with her folks, but Harley would make it work for the simple reason that Leyton had said. Because Harley loved Amelia, too.
“Let’s go to the café and give Harley and Amelia some alone time,” Leyton suggested as soon as the group hug ended.
Both Amelia and her mother had tears in their eyes, but Harley thought those were happy ones. Patrick still shot him another glare, which was decidedly not happy, but then offered his hand for Harley to shake.
Harley accepted it.
If Patrick squeezed a little too
tight and if he still had that murderous look in his eyes, Harley accepted that, too.
There was another round of short hugs, murmured goodbyes and only a smidge of awkwardness left by the time Leyton led Amelia’s parents in the direction of the main house. If anyone could get Patrick and Nadine to bury the hatchet and work on their marriage, it was Leyton.
Once Amelia and he finally had the porch and yard to themselves, Harley slid his arm around her waist. “Are you okay with not being pregnant?” he asked.
She looked at him, nodded. “I’m all right. And I’m all right with you, too.” She added a smile that let him know she was a lot more than just okay.
He tightened his grip on her and coaxed her inside. That way, he could kiss her, touch her, tell her how much he loved her.
And get her naked.
Thankfully, Amelia was on the same page he was because she started the kissing and getting naked part the moment they were inside his house. While nakedness and sex were indeed the end goals here, Harley stopped her from unzipping him.
“I’m waiting for an answer to my question,” he reminded her, and had to speak through his gritted teeth when her nimble fingers located his erection pressed against the front of his jeans. “Will you marry me?”
She stopped fondling him and looked into his eyes. “But I’m not pregnant.”
He checked his watch. “Plenty of time left in the day for that.”
She laughed, and mercy, it was a good sound to hear. A good expression to see, too, on her face. In fact, it was so good that Harley just had to sample some of it. He kissed her long and deep. The kind of kiss that led to shower sex.
And a future together.
“Yes, Harley,” Amelia said, whispering the word against his mouth. “I’ll marry you.”
* * *
ISBN: 9781488078262
That Night in Texas
Copyright © 2020 by Delores Fossen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
That Night in Texas Page 5
