by Kim Law
“You’re back.” The words were all she could get out. Her chest burned as if from lack of oxygen.
Zack nodded. “I’m back.”
It was interesting that no one around them complained for him to sit. Holly took a quick glance around to find all eyes on them. She returned to Zack. “So now what?”
He might have come back, but she had no idea what that meant. And she hadn’t forgotten the brusque way they’d parted.
“I don’t want you kissing other men,” he stated.
She nodded. “I picked up on that.”
Kyndall giggled behind her hand and Holly shot her a quick look. When she did, she saw that her entire family now stood behind her niece, all watching the two of them. Janet Winston was also there. He’d brought his mother?
Holly’s heart beat faster.
“Stand up.” He spoke the words softly. They reminded her of other commands he’d given. Unzip your dress. Lift your ass.
She stood up.
Nerves made her hands shake.
“I screwed up,” he told her. “I shouldn’t have left.”
“But you said you had a case.”
He nodded. “I did have a case. A career-making one.”
“Then what are you doing here now?”
He cracked a wry smile. “I couldn’t let you watch a movie with the wrong man.”
She licked her lips. Jesse had most definitely been the wrong man. “And you’re the right one?” she asked.
The crowd around them was silent.
Zack’s eyes roved over her as if checking to make sure she hadn’t changed in the six days since he’d seen her. “I want to be,” he finally admitted. “If you’ll let me.”
She gulped. Then nodded. “I—”
“I’m not done,” he interrupted as if needing to get something out. “I forgot to tell you something before I left.”
“Okay,” she whispered. He was killing her. “What was it?”
He looked away from her then. He took in the crowd that had closed in until the two of them were merely a dot in the middle of a thick circle. Someone had even turned off the sound to the movie. The moment was theirs.
Then he returned those sexy browns to her and said solemnly, “That I love you.”
Sighs came from every spot around the circle.
“That makes you cry?” he asked. He reached out and swiped a thumb under her eye.
“Apparently.” Though she hadn’t realized she was crying.
“Why?” He left his hand at her face, and his fingers cupped her cheek.
“Because I love you too,” she whispered. More tears fell.
His mouth turned up in a gorgeous smile. “That’s nothing to cry about, babe. That’s good stuff. Because it means that I get to ask you a very important question.”
Oh. Shit.
He was going to ask her a question. Now? Here? In front of everyone?
All she could do was nod for him to go on. Off to her right, she heard her niece whisper, “Oh my gawd.”
Zack let her go and took a step back. But instead of going to one knee, he merely pointed to her feet.
“Why in the world,” he asked, “are you wearing plain white shoes?”
A breath burst from her chest. As it did from several others around her. “That’s your question?” she asked. “About my shoes?”
She had on a pair of white leather Keds. For some reason, she hadn’t felt like anything more tonight. In fact, she hadn’t all week. Not since Zack had left. Brian had pointed this fact out with disgust more than once. He’d declared the world not right if she actually matched.
“Kind of makes me look silly standing here in these when you’re wearing something so boring,” Zack remarked.
He had a point.
“What if I said I would never wear boring shoes again?” Because she wouldn’t. That wasn’t who she was. She planned to burn these just as soon as she got home.
He pulled something from his pocket then and held it up. “Then I’d say, ‘Marry me?’”
This time there were gasps all around. Including hers.
Hell’s bells, the man had brought her a ring.
Before she answered, she took in the scene before her. He stood in the middle of all of her friends, a few strangers, and both her family and his. And though she knew he had to have at least some trepidation about the night, he didn’t look nervous in the least.
He looked confident.
And he kind of looked like he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
She peeked at his mother. Janet was wiping a tear from her own cheek.
“Do we get to live at the big house?” Holly asked instead of answering. Because yeah, she’d follow him anywhere. She’d keep her store here, though. Her mirrors belonged here. She’d just hire someone else to run it. But she could already imagine turning one of his big garages into a studio.
Only, Zack shook his head no.
Oh.
“The penthouse, then?” She could deal with that. She’d just take over the kitchen.
Again, it was a no.
“Then . . .” Her shoulders sagged. She was confused. “What?
“Will you just answer?” he asked. “My arm is getting tired.”
He also gave her his scary look.
Which still wasn’t scary at all.
She laughed instead.
“Holly,” he growled out.
And then she slowly nodded. A wide smile broke out over her face and she had to fight to keep from shouting.
“Yes!” she said. It didn’t matter where they lived. As long as they were together. “Yes, Zack Winston, I’ll marry you. But only if you promise to never wear those shoes again.”
Zack closed the distance with a predatory gleam and swept her into his arms. As his lips closed over hers, he muttered, “It’s a deal.”
When they came up for air, he added, “And we’re building onto your cabin. That’s going to be our home.”
“Oh,” she murmured and snuggled in tighter. “I like that.”
He gave her one more kiss. It was a long one, but this time when they parted, he looked at her with the kind of love in his eyes that she once hadn’t even realized she’d been missing. She had her mirrors, her family, her town, and her man.
She had it all.
“Can we keep the geese?” she asked.
Zack merely shook his head and laughed. “I couldn’t imagine my world without your geese in it.”
Epilogue
Do you take this man . . .”
Nerves revved inside Holly when the preacher asked Lee Ann if she would take Cody to be by her side forever. A contented smile formed across Lee Ann’s mouth. Her eyes shone bright.
Her look said that she most definitely would take her man.
They were all standing on the stage where the movie screen typically hung. The majority of the town’s residents were there, all sitting on white chairs lining the grassy area before them. It was nighttime, and there were tiny white lights strung through the branches of the trees and dipping in and out around the stage. The wedding party was huge, fanning out on both sides. Girls in red sleeveless dresses, guys in black tuxes with royal-blue ties. Bridal white completed the Independence Day theme.
“I do,” Lee Ann stated without hesitation.
Every pair of eyes turned to Cody. His dark gaze burned hot as he took in his bride, prompting Holly to shift her eyes to Zack. He was watching her.
And yes, his gaze burned just as hot.
Holly’s nerves settled into a low hum as she felt his love reach across the stage and wrap solidly around her.
Fifteen days ago he’d shown back up in her life. And fifteen days ago she’d known without a doubt that she would take him forever. He was it for her.
He’d quit his job in Atlanta, already had a new one lined up in Knoxville, and was readying his own location in Sugar Springs. He’d also been by her side at the Atlanta gallery as she’d signed a contract for them to carry some of her work.
Then he’d jumped into the fray of getting her own store ready. Her front windows displayed her original pieces while Zack and Nick created a showroom meant to wow. She had taken calls daily asking how soon she would be open, and had even fielded a few from boutiques across the country. Tourists had passed the word along, and it seemed she might soon spread out farther than Atlanta.
“I do,” Cody stated with clarity.
The preacher turned his sights from Lee Ann and Cody. “And do you . . .”
Joanie and Nick stepped forward from their respective spots next to Cody and Lee Ann, to come together and stand before the preacher.
Joanie’s wedding dress was different from Lee Ann’s, but in sticking with the patriotic theme, she, too, had on white. Whereas Lee Ann’s was a sleek beaded lace, perhaps a bit more “mature” in taste, Joanie’s rocked the fun. It was the perfect mermaid dress for someone who changed the color of her hair each week to match her cupcakes. Strapless, full-torso ruching, with an explosion of ruffles making up the bottom.
Nick’s white tux sported the same royal-blue tie and cummerbund as Cody’s.
And Zack’s.
Holly’s wedding dress was a replica of her grandmother’s.
It had been a rush job when the brothers had suggested they all get married at the same time, but Holly had managed to locate a seamstress who would take it on. Wanting to bring her grandparents into her wedding day, she’d opted to wear the traditional look her granny had chosen when she’d once stood before her betrothed.
Only, Holly had to make a few alterations.
She’d kept the sweetheart neckline and cap lace sleeves of the silk sheath. Even included the peekaboo lace that striped down the sides and into the train. However, she’d raised the front hem to midcalf. To show off her shoes, of course.
Because as usual, her shoes spoke a different language than everything else.
The heels were high, ending with crisscross ties climbing past her ankles, while the shoes themselves were a mix of colors atop hot-pink soles. Orange, red, pink, yellow, purple, blue, and green. All bright splashes on a background of white. They looked like sprinkles. And she loved them.
She especially loved that Zack had been the one to pick them out for her.
The preacher looked at her, and Holly’s nerves were suddenly nowhere to be found. Zack stepped forward, meeting her in the middle of the stage, and wrapped her hands in his. She shared a look with her future husband that let her know all was right in the world. Whatever was handed to them, they could handle together.
Six weeks ago she’d come home broken and rejected, certain she’d never have a life that would truly make her happy. The thought of a husband certainly had been nowhere in the mix.
Today, she had a man, a career, and a renewed love for the town she’d grown up in. Life couldn’t get much better than that.
“Holly?”
She jerked her head around to the preacher. “What?”
Giggles skated through the crowd.
“Do you?” the preacher asked.
Her eyes went wide. She’d missed everything he’d said. But that was okay; she knew the words by heart.
Just as she knew that the man those words went with was a deeply ingrained part of her heart.
As she looked at Zack, she overflowed with love. In one way, she couldn’t believe they were getting married so fast. Yet at the same time, this was where they belonged. Zack wasn’t just standing with his brothers as they got married, but was committing to a lifetime alongside them. He was promising to love her forever, but he was making a promise to them, as well.
As they were to him.
Someone cleared her throat in an obvious manner, and Holly peeked to the front row where Ms. Grayson sat primly beside Zack’s mother.
She wore a haughty look, and Holly knew she was thinking, “I did this.” And heck, maybe she had. Maybe Zack wouldn’t have been inspired to ask her out if he hadn’t gotten jealous watching her date other men.
But she didn’t believe that. Something told her the two of them would have found their way to each other no matter what.
However, if it made a busybody happy, who was she to burst her bubble?
“I do,” she said simply, turning back to Zack. Tears appeared in her eyes and she whispered, “Forever.”
He nodded and, waiting his turn, agreed. “Forever.”
“By the power vested in me—”
The boom of fireworks blocked out the remainder of the preacher’s words as everyone in the park tilted their faces skyward. Hounddog had set off the fireworks fifteen seconds too early.
As red, white, and blue rained down on them, the preacher finished with, “You may kiss your brides.”
And that was exactly what all three men did.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Acknowledgments for this book go screaming out to one amazing person: my agent, Nalini Akolekar. Oh my goodness, thank you so much. This book almost killed me in so many ways, and without you helping me through it (and reading it numerous times!), I’m not sure where my sanity level would be today. (And we know it wasn’t high to begin with!) Thank you so much, and fingers crossed no other books are this painful to get to production.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PHOTO © 2012 AMELIA MOORE
As a child, award-winning author Kim Law cultivated a love for chocolate, anything purple, and creative writing. She penned her debut work, “The Gigantic Talking Raisin,” in the sixth grade and got hooked on the delights of creating stories. Before settling into the writing life, however, she earned a college degree in mathematics and then worked as a computer programmer—for far too many years. Now she’s pursuing her lifelong dream of writing romance novels. She has won the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Award, has been a finalist for the prestigious RWA RITA Award, and has served in varied positions for her local RWA chapter. A native of Kentucky, Kim lives with her husband and an assortment of animals in Middle Tennessee.
