Right All Along

by Heather Heyford

  “If your daddy had kept to the plan, he’d have picked those stragglers right then and there. But he had the courage to change course, even though he didn’t know how it was going to turn out. Took a risk. That was Don Friestatt’s genius—knowing when to play it safe and when not to. I don’t need to tell you what happened next. Pure magic.”

  Jack appeared to consider that.

  “There’s a place for planning. Without planning, your dad wouldn’t have had any grapes to begin with. But you can’t anticipate every curve life throws at you. Sometimes going off-road helps you see through the bullshit to what really matters.”

  “And just how am I supposed to do that? It goes against everything I’ve been taught. Everything I am.”

  “You gotta stop listening to other people and learn to trust your own gut. Take Harley, for instance. If you’da stuck fast to your plan, you’d have walked right by her. But something made you stop and look. Trust that.”

  “It doesn’t matter now,” Jack said miserably. “Whatever chance I had with her, it’s gone.”

  “Nah, don’t say that. Something’ll come up. You’ll see.”

  Chapter Forty-three

  Early one evening a week later, Mother came downstairs more dressed up than usual.

  “Where are you off to?” asked Jack.

  “Debora has dinner already in the oven. I have a committee meeting in town, and afterward, a few of us are going out to eat.”

  “It’s Friday. What about Cait?”

  “You and the girls will be here, won’t you?” she asked, checking the mirror in the hall as she tied a scarf around her neck. “Besides, it’s not like Cait needs to be entertained. She’s not a guest. She’s family.” She opened the door to leave. “Don’t expect me till late.”

  Jack opened his mail and tried to concentrate on an important business letter. Without Mother as a buffer, dinner was going to be awkward. Despite what she’d said, he wasn’t sure exactly where Cait belonged in the scheme of things.

  He was on his way upstairs to change his shirt when he passed a window and saw Cait’s car drive up. She might be his sister-in-law and the twins’ aunt, but she still didn’t come into the house without knocking. He took a detour, opening the door as Cait came down the walk carrying a large tote bag.

  When Cait saw Jack standing in the doorway, her smile reached her eyes. “You were waiting for me.”

  “No, I was just on my way to—” That sounded rude. “I mean, yeah.”

  She deposited her tote onto a chair and began pulling things out of it Mary Poppins–style.

  “What all have you got in there?”

  “Just a few things. Some oranges, a new piano book for Freddie, and this board game.” She held up a cardboard box and read from the back. “It says it’s easy enough for kids and tricky enough to keep adults entertained.”

  He had to hand it to her. She was really trying.

  “The girls are upstairs.”

  She glanced at the letter in his hand. “Don’t let me interrupt what you were doing. I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

  * * *

  To Jack’s surprise, dinner wasn’t bad. The twins were in a rare, upbeat mood. And afterward, Cait brought out her new game.

  They played for over an hour. After the third round, Jack said, “Okay, girls, that’s it. Time to go up.”

  “Do we have to?” whined Freddie, looking sideways at her aunt.

  “I want to stay up till Mimi gets home,” Frankie pouted.

  It was almost as if they were testing Cait.

  Without saying a word, Cait raised an eyebrow as she began putting the game pieces back in the box.

  On cue, the girls rose and pushed in their chairs.

  “Carry your plates out on your way,” said Cait. “Don’t forget to brush your teeth. We’ll be up in a minute to kiss you good night.”

  After that first time tucking them in with Jack, Cait had made it a habit.

  Jack rose and started clearing the table. Cait came into the kitchen behind him, carrying the rest of the dishes. As they rinsed and scraped, she bumped arms with him. “Oops.”

  And then, again.

  “Well, that’s it,” said Jack when they were done, hanging up the dishtowel.

  “All set,” said Cait.

  He realized being alone together made her a bit nervous, too.

  Cait followed him up the stairs.

  Jack still said good night first. But afterward, he watched from the doorway as the twins hugged Cait around the neck.

  Often, Jack left to do work after the girls went to bed and Mother sat with Cait. But without Mother, he could hardly leave her by herself, even if she was family.

  “That wine at dinner was really good. Is there any more of it?”

  There was a twinkle in her eye. She knew very well that when it came to wine, he had an unlimited supply.

  “I think I can find some,” Jack replied.

  He poured them each a glass and they carried them to the couch, where Cait slipped off her shoes and curled her feet beneath her legs.

  “Have you thought any more about what I asked you?”

  Jack sipped from his glass, not sure how to answer. He felt nothing for Cait. But earlier that night, as he looked around the table at his girls laughing and talking, he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe this was as good as it got.

  “I know what you said about not being in love. But maybe, in time, we could grow fond of each other.”

  “Cait—”

  “Is it that you’re not over Emily? You still miss her? I understand. I miss her, too. I’ll never stop missing her.”

  The fact was, Jack had stopped missing Emily a long time ago. “Emily was a devoted mom and a welcome firebreak between my mother and me.”

  Cait gave him a sideways look. “Melinda can be a touch overbearing. I mean, it’s no wonder you feel the way you do, after what happened.”

  Jack blinked, confused.

  A sound halfway between a cough and a laugh of disbelief came out of Cait’s throat. “Don’t tell me Emily never told you.”

  “Told me what?”

  Cait leaned back into the couch cushions, still not believing what she was hearing. “I’m sorry. I never should have assumed—never mind,” she said with a wave of her hand. “It’s nothing.”

  “It’s something or you wouldn’t have mentioned it. Tell me what you were going to say.”

  Still, Cait hesitated. Finally, she sighed. “I guess it doesn’t matter now. Emily was everything Melinda ever wanted in a daughter-in-law. She told her as much, very early on. Inheritance aside, she was just easy. Melinda wasn’t the only one. My parents saw it, too. They knew exactly what kind of life Emily could have with you; the security a life with you could offer. Why do you think we went on all those joint family vacations?”

  “Our parents liked each other?”

  Cait smiled patiently. “Of course they did. But lots of people who like each other don’t vacation together.”

  Emily’s parents were in cahoots with Mother? Jack had never had a chance.

  “There was just one problem.”

  Jack met Cait’s eyes, reading what was in them.

  Harley.

  His mind raced.

  “Melinda and Emily had to come up with a workaround.”

  As Cait’s story unfolded, her voice took Jack back in time until he was hearing her words through a long tunnel. Finally, all the puzzle pieces fit together.

  His heart slammed against his ribs. With long strides, he headed out of the living room.

  He needed to see Harley.

  Now.

  He was already in the doorway when he remembered the twins. Torn between the things he loved best, he braced his arm against the doorframe and gritted his teeth.

  “Jack . . .”

  Cait’s voice was close behind him.

  “Go to her.”

  He turned his head and looked at her, to be sure he’d heard her co
rrectly.

  “I’ll stay here with the twins. Go to Harley . . . the one you love.”

  Chapter Forty-four

  Harley snapped off her desk lamp and padded downstairs. She had worked until well after dark. Finally, her greeting cards were finished, her contract fulfilled.

  She scooped herself a bowl of ice cream for her supper, carried it into the living room, and cocooned herself beneath a throw. Lately, she found perverse satisfaction in watching shows about women who gave birth without ever realizing they were pregnant and expectant teenagers.

  When the doorbell rang repeatedly during the third episode of 17 and Pregnant, Harley didn’t even consider answering it.

  She heard the door click open and footsteps. Dad, she thought. Mom had left for Spain and her hiking trip. She waited for him to appear.

  But instead of Dad, it was Jack, wild-eyed and out of breath.

  Harley licked the ice cream from her lips. “This better be important, because Bambi’s about to tell Summer she’s secretly in love with her and not her baby daddy.”

  “It’s important. It’s real important.”

  Something about his manner made her sit up. She picked up the remote and froze the action.

  He sat down next to her. “First, how are you?”

  “My parents aren’t baby-sitting me anymore. And I’m back to work.”

  “That’s a good sign. Take it from someone who knows—these things take time.”

  “What’s going on?”

  Jack held out his hands and let them fall again. “I don’t know where to start. I thought my future was carved in stone. I know now that I wasn’t living. I was just existing. Going through the motions, ripping off the pages month after month, year after year, until my calendar was used up.”

  “Jack. You’re not making any sense.”

  “I just got through talking to Cait—Emily’s sister. After the parade, Mother panicked. She realized she couldn’t keep me away from you, that my feelings for you were too strong.

  “She took Emily into her confidence. They set up the plan for our families to go to Mexico together over Easter. Bribed the bartender to overserve me. Emily stole my room key off the bar so I’d have to spend the night in her room. You know why I don’t remember having sex that night? Because I didn’t.”

  Harley couldn’t think clearly. Her brain had OD’d on junk TV and it was wobbly, like Jell-O. “But the twins . . . “

  “Emily didn’t get pregnant until after we were married. The twins weren’t premature after all.”

  Harley shook her head. “How can that be? How could they . . .”

  “Cait told me. If they hadn’t tricked me, I never would have married Emily. We’d probably still be together. All this time . . . wasted.”

  All the things Harley had blamed him for—none of them were his fault. She ignored the throw slipping off her shoulder.

  “I know there were times when I took us for granted, back when we were teens. I didn’t know any better then. But now I do. Now that I’m free, I want that back. I want us back, Harley. We have so much to catch up on. We have our whole lives ahead of us. Nothing but time.”

  She was still trying to absorb everything.

  He brushed a strand of hair back from her face. “I love you, Harley. Don’t you see? I never stopped loving you.”

  “I’m no traditional, soulless, hostess wife. I’ve always had my own identity.”

  “That’s what I love about you. You might not be what I was looking for. But your return to Newberry was like a gift that I didn’t even know I wanted but was exactly what I needed. When it comes to a place in my heart, no one else could ever compete.” He took her hands in his. “It’s going to take a while. I don’t expect you to trust me right away. But in time, I’ll make you see that you’re all I ever wanted.”

  He studied her anxiously. “What are you thinking?”

  She slipped a hand from his grasp to swipe at a rogue tear. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to hear you say those words?”

  “Get used to it, because you’re going to be hearing a lot more of them.”

  He took her into his arms, squeezing her with a ferocity that took her breath away. Then he gazed into her eyes. “Marry me.”

  Her head spun. “What?”

  “Marry me. Right now. Let’s not wait another minute.”

  “But—”

  “Let’s hop a flight to Vegas.”

  “Jack!” She chuckled doubtfully, but it was just the kind of thing that revved her motor. He could already see her turning it over in her mind.

  “What about the kids?”

  “We’ll take them with us! Why not?”

  A laugh burst from her. “Because you never do anything spontaneously, that’s why not.”

  “It’s high time I started.”

  Harley rose and walked toward the fireplace, hands praying against her lips, thinking.

  Jack stood, watching her every move, hoping against hope.

  She turned to face him from across the room. “I always pictured myself walking down the aisle in a long white gown in front of a church filled with people, my groom’s hand over mine as we cut the cake, dancing to a live orchestra . . .”

  “Uh . . .” That was the last thing he’d expected her to say. “Is that really what you want?”

  A grin spread across her face. She ran to him, laughing, and leaped into his arms, knocking him backward onto the couch in a cloud of feminine scent. “No, you idiot.”

  “Then—”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes?”

  “Yes! Let’s do it. Vegas,” she thrust her pointer finger to the ceiling, “here we come!”

  Jack flipped her over onto her back, their eyes smiling into each other’s. The whole world was wrapped up in the kiss he gave her. He reached beneath her bottom and brought her hips flush against his.

  “I’ve missed you,” Harley said.

  “I’ve missed you more. Can you tell?”

  The unmistakable evidence of his arousal prodded her lower belly. “I didn’t know it was a contest,” she chuckled.

  But he was no longer in a laughing mood. His breathing had grown heavy. He drew his palm along the curve of her hip to her waist and slipped it between their abs into her waistband and then, lower, lazily parting her.

  At the intimacy of his touch, she sucked in a breath.

  “Well, I’ll be,” he murmured. “Seems like you might be the winner after all.” He buried his nose in her hair. “What should we do about that?”

  She pressed against him, forcing him up, and she stood over him. “It’s too late to get a flight tonight, especially one with four seats together. Come. Let’s go to bed.” She took him by the hand and led him upstairs.

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, Jack was lying naked between Harley’s clean sheets, his shape fitted against her hourglass curves, and she was drawing little circles between his pecs with her fingertips.

  “We’re going to be so happy.”

  His words flowed through her like a fortifying broth, nourishing her, body and soul.

  “What are we going to do about the twins, later?” asked Harley.

  Jack propped himself up on his elbow. “You’re an enigma, you know that?”

  “I am?”

  “I’d have laid odds you weren’t thinking past deciding whether you wanted to say our vows at the Graceland Chapel, in a gondola at the Venetian, or in the Grand Canyon.”

  “As ready for this as we are, that doesn’t mean the twins are. We can’t just drag them away from the estate. Their grandmother is a big part of their lives. It wouldn’t be right for them—or for her.”

  Jack gazed down on her. “After the way my mother’s treated you, I don’t know of anyone else in the world who would take her feelings into consideration.”

  “Don’t get carried away. I don’t exactly see Melinda and myself relaxing at a spa day or baking cookies together.”

  “You�
�re suggesting you and I live at the Victorian without the girls?”

  “You and I will have each other. As for the girls, I would never want my stepdaughters to feel manipulated into doing this or that. That would only lead to them resenting us.

  “The Victorian and the estate are within walking distance, and even if your mother can be difficult, she loves them. The girls have choices. Why not take advantage of that? We’ll make our home a warm and welcoming refuge where they can feel free to come and go as they please, and then trust them to do what’s right for them from day to day. They’ll know better than anyone else.”

  Chapter Forty-five

  The twins dragged their rolly bags out the door of the estate and down the walk, chattering excitedly about taking a helicopter ride to Tower Butte, innocently oblivious to Melinda behind them, taking in every word.

  At least Jack and Harley had been compassionate enough to tell her where they were taking them.

  Powerless to stop them, she followed them all the way out to Jack’s truck. After Harley and the twins were seated and their doors thunked shut, she tried one last time to talk some sense into her son. “Jack. Are you positive this is what you want? Harley’s never been anything but trouble. Starting way back with you sneaking out at night with her, and the float wreck.”

  Jack turned to face her. He squared his shoulders, surprising her with how much he’d matured in the past six months since they’d come home. “I don’t want a type. I want Harley, with all her impulsive, reckless ways. There is no better wife, mother, or lover for me. As for what you think of her, I really don’t care.

  “But just so you know, Harley doesn’t deserve all the blame. She didn’t sneak out that night we wrecked my minibike. She had no curfew; she had no need to sneak around. And she didn’t coerce me into sneaking out. I did it of my own volition. What’s more, I was the one who wrecked the float, not Harley. She took the blame for me without being asked.”

  He reached for the truck’s door handle, but Melinda stopped him with a hand on his arm.

  “Wh-what’s going to happen with the girls when you get back?”

  “If you’re worried that we’ll keep them from you, that was my initial thought, too. Don’t worry. Harley thought a gradual change would be better for them. Let them come and go as much as they want, at least until school gets out. After that, we’ll see. Right now, I have a plane to catch.”