But David needed an answer. He looked at her, expectantly. “Are you okay, Babe?”
She nodded and coughed. Sputtered.
Will you marry me?
She couldn’t imagine her life without him either. She didn’t want to. But since coming home to Bluegrass Crossing, she’d thought a lot about what life without him would be like. If he came back to Kentucky and she stayed in Chicago . . . the idea made her hurt inside.
Would their love be enough? So far their long-distance relationship in Chicago had survived in spite of her misgivings. They’d found friendship and love in her big city. But would it survive if they moved to Kentucky?
“I . . . I need to think about it. I do love you, David.”
He pulled the ring from the box. “Please, wear this while you think about it. I know tonight was a surprise—”
“Yes, and what a lovely surprise it was.”
“I know you’re not a fan of surprises.”
“This was definitely worth being surprised for.” Bella let him slip the solitaire on the third finger of her left hand. The diamond winked at her in the candlelight. She turned to face him where he still knelt and kissed him.
She could give presentations before hundreds in auditoriums or crowded boardrooms filled with corporate suits, but the applause now coming from fellow dinner patrons made her face warm as if she’d just finished a jog.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked. She nodded.
David paid the check and they left. During the whole drive home, she played with the solitaire on her usually bare ring finger. Some of Bella’s friends from her college days had married, convinced they were in love, only to divorce a few years later. Even college sweethearts. She’d skittered away from love and romance herself until David. Until now. She glanced at him, and he took his eyes off the road a brief moment to look at her.
“When I said, think about it,” he said, “I didn’t mean you have to give me an answer by tomorrow. Or Christmas. Or even New Year’s.”
“I know.” Bella didn’t want to keep him waiting—not for long.
“Okay. I wanted to make sure you knew that. Take your time. I’ll be here. I’m not going anywhere. But I would consider it an honor if you would say yes. No pressure though.”
“Thanks for giving me time to process this.” She decided she would call one of her colleagues to see if he’d heard anything more about the company restructuring the Chicago office.
Turning off the two-lane road, David pulled into the long, familiar driveway to the horse farm. Lights still glowed in the house. It wasn’t that late really, so everyone must still be up. When Jo-Jo saw the ring, she’d freak out and want to know all the details about their wedding plans.
Plans? She didn’t have any at the moment, but the ring on her finger told her she needed to make some decisions. Typically, she knew exactly what she wanted and how to reach her goals. Lately, a few curveballs had struck home in every aspect of her life and career. Then tonight, David had proposed unexpectedly. She should have known it would happen someday. He’d shown her how committed he was to making their relationship work. But how committed was she?
David smiled at her as they held hands, walking up the stone porch steps. Then she stopped and looked back, remembering.
“The shopping bags. We left them in the trunk.”
“I’ll get them. You go on inside.” He descended the steps as she opened the front door.
“Hey, we’re home.” Christmas music—a carol played on a mandolin—met Bella’s ears as she entered the toasty great room. “It’s freezing out there.”
Jo-Jo looked up from where she sat on the worn leather sofa, looking at something on Bella’s iPad that she’d loaned to her. Her little sister couldn’t afford her own, so Bella had decided it would make a great Christmas present for her along with the sweater. Louisville should have an Apple store.
“Did you have a good time?” Jo-Jo asked.
“The best.”
“Next time, if you go for breakfast or lunch, you should try the Bluegrass Bistro. It’s really good. Jed and I have been twice.” Jo-Jo held up the iPad and turned it to face Bella. “I’ve been looking at roofing materials tonight—isn’t that exciting? Here, take a peek.”
When she reached for it, Jo-Jo grabbed Bella’s hand and gasped. “What’s that on your finger?”
“David proposed tonight at dinner.”
Jo-Jo shrieked and tossed the iPad on the sofa beside her before enveloping Bella in a hug.
“Bell! I’m so happy for both of you.”
“Well, I . . . I haven’t exactly said yes yet.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Jo-Jo stepped back and shook her head, her dark hair bouncing past her shoulders. “You’ve been dating for years, and now you’re hem-hawing around?”
“He had roses ready at our table before we arrived and arranged for a special dessert. It was all such a big . . . surprise.” Bella fumbled for the words. “Where’s Jed?”
“At home, working on plans for the horse auction. Stop trying to change the subject.” Jo-Jo’s eyes widened as David carried the shopping bags into the house. “Oh my. You did do some shopping.”
Bella nodded, relieved David had interrupted their conversation. “The shops downtown had some good sales. I wanted to make sure there’s something under the tree, especially gifts for Timothy, just in case by some miracle Amy and Sophie decide to come. We can always send them by UPS if they don’t. I think we guessed well, choosing things a seven-year-old might like. Don’t you think so, David?” She knew she was talking too fast.
David glanced between her and Jo-Jo, a questioning look on his face. He finally nodded. “I think we did. It’s been a long time since I was seven. Uh . . . I’ll let you two talk and take the bags to your room.”
“Thanks.” Bella loved this man’s thoughtfulness.
Jo-Jo hopped back around the coffee table to the leather sofa. “Don’t tell me you’ve already decided no!”
Bella’s heart quaked inside her. He’d proposed. It had really happened. And all her “hem-hawing,” as Jo-Jo put it, now put her in a bad spot. What if she told him no after all she’d put him through? She would end up hurting the man she loved. But did she love him enough to marry him?
“No, it’s not that.” Bella darted a look down the hallway, then lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’m scared, Jo-Jo. I don’t want to end up like Mom and Dad. David doesn’t deserve that. Out of all of us, I think I’m the most like Tuck.”
Jo-Jo hugged her again. “Stop it. You need to stop those thoughts right now.”
“I don’t know how.”
“I do,” Jo-Jo said. “You aren’t our father. Take the letters Tuck wrote to Mom when you leave for Louisville tomorrow and read them. Find out what really happened to their marriage. While you’re gone, I’ll be praying for you to make the right decision.”
An icy wind bit into David as he and his father propped the ladder on the side of the house. Inside, snug as bugs in the proverbial rug, Bella and his mother were having coffee while looking at a myriad of family photos. David didn’t know whether he should go inside to run interference or let his history unfold for Bella picture by picture.
“Okie-dokie.” His father eyed the roof. “I wanted to start with the roof first. But this wind makes getting up there, and probably staying up there, a mite tricky. Maybe this year I’ll just outline the roof instead of zigzagging strands of lights on top.”
David almost sagged against the ladder in relief. He wasn’t super keen on heights anyway and didn’t mind this change of plans one bit. “Maybe tomorrow the wind will die down, and I can go up there for you.” He hoped.
Dad nodded, scratching the stubble on his chin. “Then again, when it snows, the lights would be covered up anyway. We’ll just decorate the rosebushes with the extra lights.”
“Did you ask Mom about covering her roses with lights?” His mother fussed over those bushes like children.
�
��Aw, it won’t matter. Poor things’ll be too cold to notice anyway.”
David tried to ignore his numb fingers while helping Dad with the same decorating ritual he and his brothers had groaned about when they were kids. After all, how many more Christmas seasons would he have the chance to do this with his father? With the passing of Bella’s dad, even though they were estranged, it was a reminder of David’s own borrowed time with his parents.
They took turns scaling the ladder while one of them held the strand of lights on the ground.
“Alrighty.” Dad climbed down from the ladder, the last string of lights now edging the roof. “Next, we’ll trim the windows and around the doors.”
For the next several hours, until the sun slid behind the barren maples to the west, David worked beside his dad, attaching strands of lights to the house. Tomorrow would be devoted to setting up the standing displays of reindeer, a sleigh, and candy canes.
Lights glowed in the living room windows. How had the afternoon gone for Bella and his mother? He hoped Bella didn’t regret coming with him.
Chapter Seven
Mrs. Moore didn’t like her. The woman smiled and welcomed Bella into her home, but Bella’s gut told her the older woman was putting a good face on things for the sake of her son.
They sat around the dining room table, now cleared of the supper dishes. Bella had offered to help load the dishwasher, but David’s mother declined. Instead, water ran, dishes clanked, and the coffeepot gurgled as it brewed another pot of coffee.
After David’s mother served them fresh coffee and cheesecake, David and his father dominated the conversation, discussing the Kentucky winter so far, whether the kids would get snow for Christmas, along with the real-estate market in the area. Silently, Bella ate her slice of cheesecake and wondered how she could break through the polite, but cool, exterior of David’s mother.
“So, how did you like all those family photos? Did Mom put you to sleep after a while?” David took a sip of coffee.
“No, she didn’t put me to sleep at all. I loved seeing the pictures. You all look like you had a lot of fun growing up.”
“We did. With all the stitches, broken bones, and bumps that come with a bunch of boys,” David joked.
“That’s true enough.” His father polished off his cheesecake. “I can't remember how many trips we made to the emergency room.”
“I can.” Mrs. Moore dabbed her mouth with a napkin. “Nineteen stitches, one broken nose, two broken wrists, a few sprained ankles, and one concussion. Oh, and one broken leg.”
Bella laughed out loud. “Wow. Were y’all accident prone or just ornery?”
“Both.” David slid his arm around her. “What’s with that y’all I just heard?”
“I’m off the clock and on vacation.” She smiled up at him. “It was a momentary lapse.”
“You can take the girl out of Kentucky, but you can’t take Kentucky out of the girl.” David’s Dad raised his coffee cup to Bella in a salute.
Bella shrugged. “Maybe so.”
“Tell us about your family, Bella,” Mrs. Moore said. “Davie said you own a horse farm.”
“We do. My father passed away not too long ago, and my sisters and I inherited it. It’s a working farm for retired racehorses. Some are eventually sold as riding horses, and some are kept for therapy purposes or teaching children to ride here. We’re still deciding whether to sell the property since none of us live in the area.”
“That’s sad,” David’s mother said. “It’s a shame you can’t keep it in the family.”
“At least one of us would need to make a big life change to move back here. Then there’s the cost of upkeep on the horses and maintenance on the house, stable, fencing, bunkhouse, and outbuildings.” Surely the woman could understand that reasoning. Plus, Bella resented the need to justify her family’s decision to a virtual stranger.
“Well, we do what we can for family,” Mrs. Moore said, smiling tightly. “Your father left that farm to you. What do you think he would say of your decision?”
“Now, Barbara, it’s really none of our business,” David’s father interjected.
“Mom . . .” David shook his head in warning.
David’s mother waved their words away. Bella felt her stomach tighten as she put on her corporate face, anger building inside her, but she held tight control over her emotions.
Mrs. Moore turned to her son. “I think if the tables were turned, I’d appreciate someone else giving you something to consider. Isabella, you’re wearing David’s engagement ring. Since you have both committed to spending the rest of your lives together, surely I can tell you what I think?”
“If we had a close relationship, of course. But you don’t really know me, do you, or where I’ve come from or my family dynamics? I barely knew my father, and my mother passed away when I was nineteen and away at college. I have no ties to that property. In fact, none of us have lived there in years. As your husband pointed out, it really is none of your business.”
“Well, I never! Catelynn would never speak to me in such a manner.”
“Who’s Catelynn?” Bella asked, trying to remain calm.
“She and David were engaged. In fact, she stopped by the other day after David arrived.”
Something snapped inside her. Bella stood, her face hot with anger and her nerves frayed. If she had driven herself, she’d put David’s ring on the table in front of the nosy woman, walk out, and drive back to Bluegrass Crossing alone.
Christmas music played softly in the background. She hadn’t noticed the music before. “Silent Night.” Right. She could use a silent night. How dare the woman!
Bella touched the ring David had given her. It shouldn’t matter to her that David had been engaged before. In a matter of a few days, since being here in Kentucky, she found that her inclination to step back from their relationship had turned into an inclination to move forward. This revelation, though, brought her to a standstill.
David stood, his expression pleading for her understanding. “Bella, that was almost six years ago.”
Bella nodded curtly. “It doesn’t really matter to me whether you were engaged before.” The words were out before she really thought about them. Did it matter?
“Let’s go for a walk,” David said, taking her hand.
She tugged her hand away. “It’s freezing out.”
“I’ll take you somewhere warm, where we can talk.”
David’s mother stood and looked at her son. “Now, honey, I wasn’t trying to cause any trouble. You just need to think things through.”
“I have, Mom.”
Bella maintained control, but she could tell David was almost as angry as she was. “I love Isabella Tucker and I know she loves me.” He took Bella’s hand and squeezed it. “She’s been through a lot, and we’ve been through a lot together. Love is work, but both of us are hard workers.”
Without another word, she and David hurried through the kitchen and out the back door, leaving their coats behind. They made the short trek to his father’s workshop. Within a few minutes, David had the portable heater up and running.
“There. Better?” He settled onto a stool at his father’s workbench and patted the stool next to him.
“Better, thank you.” She lifted her hands. “You don’t have to explain about Catelynn to me. Like I said, it’s all right.”
“I want to, okay?”
She hesitated before nodding yes.
“Catelynn and I grew up together and graduated in the same high school class and headed off to the same college. After we graduated from college, it was sort of expected we’d end up together. I proposed; she said yes. We made wedding plans. Then right before she mailed out the invitations, she called everything off.”
“Ouch. That must have hurt.” Her anger lowered to a simmer.
“It did, very much so. But then I went to Chicago and eventually met you. Catelynn and I had been split for three years before you stepped into my life. You
were like a breath of fresh air in my world.”
Bella focused on the workbench beside her, staring at a group of Christmas bulbs scattered on the top. She lined them up, one by one, sorted by color.
He lifted her chin and turned her face to look at him. “You’ve been safe for me, Bella, with our schedules and your traveling. I realize that. There’s been nobody else for me, and I know there’s been nobody else for you since we’ve been together, even with all the hours we put in at work.” He reached for her hand. “I don’t want to just feel safe anymore. I’m grateful Catelynn called off the wedding. That’s why I spread my wings, got out of my comfort zone, and moved to Chicago. I would have never met you otherwise. For that, I’m grateful to her.”
Bella squeezed his hand. “Thank you for telling me. I’m not upset or angry you never told me until now. I’m glad you did, but your mother—”
“I know, I know. She crossed the line. I’ll talk to her.”
Bella searched his eyes and finally nodded. She cupped his face in her hand, and he kissed her palm.
Two forces of nature had collided tonight. Bella worked with COOs and other upper-level management for companies around the world. And she proved tonight she could hold her own against one persnickety mother, namely his.
His mother had never acted this way before. Then again, she’d known Catelynn throughout their school years so there was never that getting-to-know-you period.
Once they returned to the house, they bypassed David’s parents, who had retreated to the family room to watch TV. David and Bella mounted the stairs and said good night outside his kid brother’s bedroom door.
“Everything will be fine,” David said, rubbing her arms. “Tomorrow’s a big day for Mom. She always makes a ton of food. Wait till you see how the whole neighborhood shows up to celebrate Dad’s light display. It’s a tradition in this area to officially kick off the Christmas season.”
She looked up at him, her brow furrowed in the dim hallway light. “What about your mother? Does she even want me here now?”
Her Old Kentucky Home Page 5
