To Love

by Laura Scott

He’d turned his back on his old life but now realized that maybe turning away from the people who were important to him, like his parents, wasn’t right.

  Jazz’s caring was a gift that he didn’t deserve but longed to have anyway.

  That’s it. He spun around and headed back out to the highway. It had taken him five hours to walk here from Jazz’s place and now he wanted to run back to her as quickly as possible. He stuck out his thumb, hoping he didn’t have to spend another five hours heading back.

  He forced himself to remember Jemma and Trey. So much like Debbie and Davy.

  But he could admit now that the similarities were only in his mind’s eye. Not in reality.

  As he walked, holding his thumb out, he thought about what Jazz had asked. Would Debbie and Davy want him to spend the rest of his life alone?

  Deep down, he knew the answer was a resounding no. Debbie didn’t have a mean or nasty bone in her body.

  A car slowed down beside him. He glanced over, surprised to see Melanie Ryerson behind the wheel. Her smile was hesitant. “Hi, Dalton. Need a ride?”

  “That would be great.” He took the knapsack off his shoulders and stored it in the back seat, before sliding in beside her.

  “Where are you headed?”

  He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Back to the McNallys’.” He hoped it wasn’t too late.

  “The Stevensons have accepted your offer,” she said. “If you’re still interested.”

  Surprisingly, he was. His heart quickened with excitement. “I am, yes.”

  “Great! Let’s head back to my office to fill out the rest of the paperwork, if you have time that is?”

  He wanted to get back to talk to Jazz, but maybe having the sale of the house squared away would work in his favor. He could show her not just with words but with actions that he was serious about staying.

  “Why not?”

  The entire ordeal took far longer than he’d anticipated. Afterward, he was relieved to know that within the next two weeks, since this was a cash deal, he could take ownership of the property.

  And if he had his way, he’d start working on that upstairs bathroom first thing.

  Melanie offered to drive him to Jazz’s place, and he gratefully accepted. She dropped him off in the driveway, and he hesitated when the house looked completely dark.

  Was it possible she was already asleep? It wasn’t that late. He hadn’t been hungry for dinner, but now he was ravenous.

  Instead of knocking at the front door, he decided to head around to the back by the gazebo. If Jazz was asleep, he’d pitch his tent and wait until morning to talk to her.

  “Don’t come any closer.” Jazz’s voice was sharp with fear. “I mean it, Tom. Jemma will hear me scream and call the police.”

  “You’ll be dead, and I’ll be gone before they get here,” a man’s voice said.

  Dalton silently set down his knapsack and dropped to one knee, digging around for his fishing knife, the only weapon he had. He desperately wished he had a phone, but the lack of one wasn’t going to stop him from rushing to Jazz’s defense.

  He found the knife, then began to run directly toward the man who was within arm’s reach of Jazz. He held something stretched between his two fists, piano wire?

  Was this guy really going to kill her?

  “Hey, get away from her,” Dalton shouted.

  As he’d hoped, Tom spun around to face the new threat. Dalton was glad to have the guy’s attention on him, hoping Jazz would take advantage of the diversion. She did, running away from Tom as fast as she could, hugging the shoreline.

  Tom hesitated, then must have realized the odds were against him. He turned and ran in the opposite direction.

  Dalton considered following him, but the guy was ridiculously fast and he’d already walked twenty miles that day, so he let him go.

  “Jazz!” Dalton called out. “Are you okay? We need to call the police.”

  The sound of a car starting up proved Tom would be gone by the time the authorities arrived.

  “Dalton?” Jazz altered her course to meet him. “What are you doing here?”

  “I love you,” he said. He tossed his knife to the ground and swept her into his arms, burying his face in her hair. “I’m sorry, Jazz. I was being stupid. Of course, your sister and her son aren’t Debbie and Davy. I was just overcome with grief for a moment, scared to death to make another commitment. Will you please forgive me?”

  “Yes, Dalton.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “I forgive you.”

  He lifted his head and tried to read the expression in her eyes, impossible in the darkness. “I can’t believe I almost lost you. I love you, Jazz,” he repeated, in case she hadn’t heard him the first time. “I didn’t intend on falling in love ever again, until the day we met. Now I realize I can’t live without you.”

  “Oh, Dalton, are you sure?” He could hear the wistfulness in her voice. “I don’t want you to rush into anything. We have plenty of time.”

  “I’m sure,” he said firmly. “The farther I went away, the more I realized what an idiot I was. Love isn’t logical, it simply is. And I realized how fortunate I am to have found love not just once, but twice in one lifetime. You’re a precious gift, Jazz, one I simply couldn’t walk away from. I love you, and I bought the Stevenson place to prove I’m ready to put down roots here, with you.” He paused, then added, “If you’ll have me.”

  “Yes, Dalton,” she whispered. “I’ll have you, because I love you, too.”

  “Thank goodness,” he muttered, then lowered his head to kiss her.

  The kiss held the promise of a wonderful future. So much so that he didn’t want to let her go. But eventually they needed to come up for air.

  “Melanie will be thrilled you returned,” Jazz said with a smile. “The Stevensons accepted your offer.”

  “I know. Melanie picked me up as I was hitchhiking back into town, so we finished all the paperwork. It’s a cash sale, so we don’t have to wait long.”

  “Really? It’s a done deal?”

  “Yes, the place is officially ours.” He sobered, remembering the man who’d just threatened to kill her. “Come on, we need to go inside to call the police. Tom may have gotten away for now, but he can’t hide forever.”

  Both Deputy Lewis and Deputy Waldorf arrived about fifteen minutes later. Jemma had come out to join them, and this time Dalton looked her straight in the eye and introduced himself.

  “Glad to meet you,” Jemma said. “But you should know if you hurt my twin again, I’ll hunt you down and make you regret the day you were born.”

  Deputy Lewis cleared his throat. “Ma’am? It’s not smart to threaten a man in front of a cop.”

  Jemma lifted a brow. “That wasn’t a threat, Officer,” she said, smiling sweetly. “It was a promise.”

  Dalton choked back a laugh. “Point taken,” he said. “And I won’t.”

  Jazz rolled her eyes and turned toward Deputy Lewis. “Here’s what happened. I was walking along the lakefront when my ex-fiancé, Tom Duris, stepped out of the shadows at the Stevensons’. When I accused him of vandalism, he told me since I ruined his life, it was only fair he should ruin mine.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Jemma protested. “He cheated on you, not the other way around.”

  “I believe he’s a narcissist,” Jazz said soberly. “He views the world and the people in it as existing only for his benefit. He wanted our real estate companies merged and decided the way to do that was to marry me. He told me his kissing Melanie shouldn’t matter.”

  “The guy’s a psychopath,” Dalton muttered.

  “Wait a minute, he actually confessed to the vandalism?” Deputy Lewis echoed in surprise.

  “Not only that, but I heard him threaten to kill her,” Dalton added. “He was holding a thin wire between his hands.”

  Jazz lifted her fingers to her neck, looking sick to her stomach. “I wanted to run awa
y, but Tom’s a marathon runner, so I kept trying to talk some sense into him. If Dalton hadn’t showed up when he did . . .” Her voice trailed off, and she shivered.

  Deputy Lewis’s expression turned grim. “Okay, try not to worry. We’ll find him.”

  “You better,” Dalton said in a low voice, wrapping an arm around Jazz. “Because he’s evaded capture this far.”

  The two deputies exchanged a solemn look before Deputy Waldorf said, “If you can think of anywhere he might be, let us know.”

  Dalton did his best to hide his annoyance. “How many hotels and motels are there in the area? Have you started there? He’s obviously been staying somewhere close by.”

  Deputy Lewis didn’t appreciate his tone. “Yeah, in fact, we have been checking the motels in the area. And as I said, we’ll find him, especially once we have his picture plastered around town.”

  Jazz put a hand on Dalton’s arm, as if to settle him down. “Thanks, Deputy, we really do appreciate your efforts.”

  The deputies left, hopefully to do another sweep of the motels in the area. Jemma yawned. “Okay, kids, it’s been a long day, so I’m heading to bed. Good night.”

  “Good night, Jem.” Jazz gave her sister a quick hug.

  When they were alone again, Dalton pulled Jazz in for another long kiss. When the room spun dizzily, he lifted his head and gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry I left you here, alone,” he said in a low voice. “If anything had happened to you in my absence . . .”

  “Shh, it’s okay.” She kissed him again. “We’re both here now and that’s what matters.”

  Dalton couldn’t argue and tucked her head beneath his chin, holding her tightly.

  Love was a precious gift. One that should never be thrown away. Maybe he’d made mistakes, everyone did.

  But it’s the choices you make after learning from those mistakes that really matter.

  And this time, he vowed to do better with the second chance he’d been given.

  Not just with Jazz, but mending the rift with his parents too.

  Jazz wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned against him. “I love you, Dalton.”

  “I love you, too,” he said.

  In that moment, he knew that his ex-wife and son were both smiling down at him from heaven.

  Epilogue

  Six weeks later . . .

  Jazz stretched upward in an attempt to ease the sore muscles in her back. Performing a complete overhaul of Dalton’s new purchase was a much bigger job than renovating her grandparents’ house had been.

  But she loved the progress they were making. The bathroom upstairs was already completely redone and had turned out beautifully. The rotten subfloor had damaged the ceiling below and some of the walls, so when they went down to start that work, they’d decided to change the entire layout of the main level.

  Dalton had created an amazing design, and Jazz just knew it was going to look incredible when they were finished. Yes, there was still a long way to go, especially because they needed to put up new support beams, but she didn’t care.

  It would all be worth the effort.

  The only problem might be when it came to selling the place. She wasn’t sure after all this hard work she’d be able to bring herself to let it go.

  Not that it was hers to keep.

  “Jazz?” Dalton called from the kitchen. “Do you want some lemonade?”

  “Yes, please.” She dropped the sledgehammer, the same one that had put the final nail in her case against her ex-fiancé. It had been no surprise that Tom’s fingerprint had matched the one they’d lifted off the handle. With that evidence, along with Jazz’s testimony, corroborated by Dalton as a witness, Tom had eventually been convicted of vandalism and attempted murder. He was still in jail, where he belonged, awaiting his sentencing hearing.

  After that fateful night, it had taken Deputy Lewis a full week to find Tom, but they’d finally caught him going into a motel they’d already ruled out because he’d been using an assumed name. Apparently, the reason he was in debt was because he’d taken out huge cash advances on his credit card account. Using cash had enabled him to stay under the radar.

  Jazz was just glad the entire ordeal was over. Especially since their B&B was seeing a nice, steady increase in business. She and Jemma were already making a modest profit, with more to come. Three brides had already scheduled weddings with them for later in the summer. Jazz and Jemma hoped that once the word got out they’d see even more reservations coming in.

  And she’d even started talking to Megan again. Their friendship may never be as close as it had been, but when Megan found out what Tom had done, she’d been horrified.

  And deep down, Jazz was grateful that Megan’s actions had stopped her from marrying a narcissistic psychopath.

  “Here.” Dalton handed her a glass of icy cold lemonade. “Come on, let’s take a walk.”

  She gulped from her glass, then followed him outside. She’d been touched at how Dalton had invited his parents over to meet her. His mother, in particular, had given Jazz a hug, thanking her for healing Dalton’s broken heart.

  He took her hand and guided her toward the gazebo, which looked beautiful in the sunshine, the white structure accented with bright red geraniums hanging from each of the octagon-shaped corners.

  The shade in the gazebo felt good. So far, they’d been having an unusually warm June. She hoped the weather would encourage more vacationers to come stay at the B&B. She drained her glass, and Dalton took it from her fingers and set it on the railing.

  Then he took both of her hands in his, staring deeply into her eyes. “Jazzlyn McNally, do you have any idea how much I love you?”

  She smiled, charmed by the seriously intent expression on his face. “Yes, Dalton, I do. Hopefully, it’s just as much as I love you.”

  He stared at her for a long second, then slowly dropped down to one knee. He released one of her hands and reached into his pocket with the other. Her heart skittered sideways in her chest as she realized what was happening.

  “Jazzlyn, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” He held out a modest but beautiful engagement ring. “Will you marry me and have a family with me? I promise to be a better husband and father this time around. I’ll never let anything come before my family. You, and any children we are blessed with, will always come first in my life and in my heart.”

  She caught her breath as tears pricked at her eyes. She’d never experienced such a beautiful proposal. Too choked to speak, she held out her left hand, inviting him to slip the engagement ring on the fourth finger.

  It fit, perfectly.

  “Yes, Dalton,” she finally managed. “Yes, I’d be honored to marry you and have a family with you.”

  He rose to his feet, swept her into his arms, and twirled her around in a circle.

  “How did you know my ring size?” she asked, several minutes later.

  “Jemma helped me,” he confessed. “Good thing you both wear the same size.”

  “That sneak,” she said, while making a mental note to thank her twin.

  “Oh, and I don’t want to sell the house,” he added. “I’d rather live there with you.”

  Her smile bloomed. “I’m so glad because I don’t want to sell it either. It will be perfect for our family.”

  Dalton kissed her soundly, then whispered, “This is the first day of the rest of my life.”

  She smiled through tears of joy. “For me, too, Dalton. I love you so much.”

  “Right back at you.” He kissed her, and she knew that she wanted to marry Dalton right here, in the gazebo that helped bring them together almost two months ago.

  The sooner, the better.

  Dear Reader

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you enjoyed To Love, the first book in my new McNally Series. I love writing about families, and this idea came to me while I was vacationing in Ireland while staying in a B&B. I may be biased, but in my opinion, The
McNallys’ B&B is much better than the one I stayed in.

  The next book in the series involves Jazz’s twin sister, Jemma, and her son, Trey. I’ve included the first chapter here if you’d like to try a sample. This book is available for pre-order using this link. (insert link here)

  Reviews are very important to authors, so if you would please consider leaving a review with the retailer you purchased this from, I’d greatly appreciate it. Also, please visit my website at www.laurascottbooks.com to sign up for my newsletter. I send them out to inform readers about my new book releases. As a newsletter subscriber you will receive a link to a free novella, Starting Over, which is part of my Crystal Lake Series. Lastly, you can find my author page here (insert facebook link) or on twitter @laurascottbooks.

  Sincerely,

  Laura Scott

  PS Continue reading to see the first chapter of To Cherish

  To Cherish

  Chapter One

  Jemma McNally kneaded a lump of dough while her three-year-old son, Trey, played with his miniature race cars in the living room. The lapping sound of waves hitting the rocky shore of Lake Michigan were audible through the French doors she’d opened to let in the balmy May breeze.

  She put a little more muscle into the dough, determined to push her worrisome thoughts aside to focus on recreating her grandma’s sourdough bread recipe from memory. She wanted to try it out before their first guests arrived the upcoming weekend. She and her twin sister, Jazzlyn, were holding the grand opening of The McNallys’ B&B next Friday. Frankly, her stomach was knotted up at the thought of feeding a house full of strangers.

  Cooking had always relaxed her, until now. The idea of turning her hobby into a business was intimidating to say the least.

  “Daddy!”

  Her son’s voice sliced through her like a knife. Yanking her hands from the dough, Jemma frantically raced into the living room, her gaze sweeping the area for any sign of Randal Cunningham, her abusive ex-husband.

  “Trey?” Her gaze landed on the open French doors, and she immediately rushed outside.