by Nicola Marsh
So much pain.
Shaking her head to dispel the fog of gloom surrounding her—she’d promised herself to cheer up this morning—she fished around in her handbag for her mobile. She needed to ring Tahnee and check how the shop was doing, and see if she minded staying on for longer than anticipated.
Thanks to Brody, she’d come to a decision last night. It was definitely time for a holiday—a long, leisurely holiday—in some exotic hotspot where she could unwind, have daily massages and not set eyes on a guy for the duration!
As she wrapped her hand around her mobile, something grabbed her attention, and she slipped her sunglasses up and rubbed her free hand across her eyes, wondering if the sleepless night had taken more of a toll than she’d thought.
Blinking, she opened her eyes and refocussed. No, it wasn’t a mirage.
There, on the opposite street corner, stood a billboard. Not just any billboard, but a huge billboard that up until today had advertised the latest exclusive sports car.
However, the car was gone, and in its place stood a whole bunch of giant letters, spelling out a message that had her leaning against the nearest wall for support.
I LOVE YOU, CARISSA LEWIS.
FOR YOUR BEAUTY, INSIDE AND OUT, YOUR CARING, YOUR ABILITY TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN ME AND EVERYONE AROUND YOU.
YOU ARE THE ONE AND ONLY LOVE OF MY LIFE.
WILL YOU MARRY ME?
She rubbed a hand across her eyes again, opened them and took another look. Yes, the message still read the same.
‘So, what do you think? Will you?’
While she’d been in a daze, Brody had sidled up to her and now stood leaning against the same wall she did, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
‘Are you insane?’
‘Yeah. Insanely in love with you.’
‘But…But…’
‘And your cute butt. And your smile. And your expressive eyes. And your—’
‘Okay, okay. I get the picture.’ A tiny bubble of happiness worked its way to the surface through the mire of self-doubt and pain and burst into a smile. ‘How? When? Why?’
‘How? By calling in a few favours from the guys on the force and the fire team. When? In the wee hours of this morning. Why?’ He slid an arm around her waist and hugged her close. ‘Because I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you.’
The feel of his arm anchoring her to his side, the tender expression in his eyes and the words she’d dreamt of hearing blurred into one amazing kaleidoscope of joy. However, when something seemed too good to be true, it usually was, and at the risk of bursting the happiness bubble surrounding them she had to ask the tough questions, silently praying he had the right answers.
‘What about Jackie?’
‘Huh?’
‘I thought she was the love of your life, and I don’t want to compete with that. I can’t compete with that.’
Cradling her close, he tipped her chin up with a finger and stared into her eyes. ‘Jackie and I were a heat-of-the-moment item, and the main reason we married was because she fell pregnant.’
‘Oh.’
‘Not long into the marriage I realised it was a mistake, but for the sake of Molly I stuck it out. To compound our problems, she wasn’t the best mother in the world, and I found it difficult to forgive her for that.’
‘So when she died you were estranged?’
Pain flickered in his eyes and she reached out and smoothed his brow, knowing it was a futile gesture but wanting to touch him, to convey in some small way that she understood, that she sympathised.
‘Emotionally, I guess we’d been estranged for a long time. But then, when I realised the part I’d played in her death, I felt worse than ever.’
‘But it wasn’t your fault. Surely you can see that now?’
‘Lately I’ve been doing some thinking, and I guess it’s time to stop feeling so guilty and get on with my life. In a way, I think I’ve been hanging on to the guilt to stop me from really examining how I felt at the time, and as much as I hate to admit it relief was mingled in there alongside the grief.’
He glanced away for a moment, his gaze focussing on the billboard before returning to look into her eyes, a new resolve adding a sheen to the dark brown depths. ‘It sounds like I’m a sort of monster when I say it like that, but in accepting my feelings as legitimate at the time I’ve been able to sort through how I feel now. I was too afraid to open up to you—too afraid that if I got too close and then I lost you I wouldn’t be able to cope. I didn’t love Jackie, and losing her ripped me apart. Loving and losing you would finish me.’
Carissa had asked for answers and she’d well and truly got them. Brody Elliott was a man in touch with his feelings. He was a man who could face his demons and come through the other side with a whole new perspective on life. In short, he was a man she admired, respected and loved. And she’d make sure he knew it every day of however long they had together in this lifetime.
‘That’s a pretty big statement you’ve made up there, Elliott.’
‘I had to do it. I don’t think you believed me last night when I said I love you. And I do, Carissa. I love you with every bone in this grumpy body. And then some.’
Reaching up, she cradled his face in her hands, enjoying the rasp of stubble against her palms, knowing it would feel heavenly on the rest of her body.
‘I love you, grumpy bones and all. There’s nothing more sexy than a man in touch with his feelings, and, boy, have you run the gamut with those. Am I dreaming? Is this real?’
He smiled, and she caressed his lips with her thumbs. ‘It’s real, Fairy Princess. Believe me, after the amount of ribbing I copped from the guys over that—’ he pointed at the billboard ‘—it’s real.’
‘If I’m a fairy princess, doesn’t that make you my Prince Charming?’
‘Hey, let’s get one thing straight. I may love you, but I’m no prince. I’ll still be moody on occasion—though for the bulk of the time I’ll do my damnedest to live up to the charming part.’
‘In that case, how about you start by giving your princess a kiss?’
‘Your wish is my command,’ he murmured, his lips descending to hers, unleashing the latent heat that had been bubbling between them for months.
‘Hey, why don’t you get a room?’ a teenager called out as he skateboarded past at a million miles an hour, and they sprang apart, laughing.
‘So, your answer is yes?’
She snapped her fingers. ‘Oh, did I forget about that part?’
He tried a mock frown and failed. ‘Yeah, you did.’
‘Of course I’ll marry you. Though there is one thing we haven’t discussed. How will Molly feel about all this? I don’t want to do anything to hurt or frighten her.’
Her heart hoped the little girl would be ecstatic at the news, but the logical side of her brain—the side that remembered how she’d felt when finding herself lumbered with new parents—told her something quite different.
Though initially happy to leave the orphanage behind, she’d soon resented the Lovells, and it had looked as if the feeling was mutual. She loved Molly too much to inflict that sort of baggage on a child at her age.
Brody cupped her face and stared at her with those incredible melted-chocolate eyes. ‘Molly has been a major part of my decision. I think you of all people understand that. I’ve always put her needs ahead of my own, despite what you thought at the start, but this time it just so happens our needs match. We both need you, Carissa. We both love you, and we can’t wait for you to become a part of our family.’
She swatted his hands away, tears clogging her throat. ‘Where does it say in the fairy tale that the princess turns on the waterworks?’
Smiling, he dropped a light kiss on her lips and took hold of her hand. ‘From this moment on we’re living our own fairy tale. With the happiest ending of all.’
EPILOGUE
‘HIGHER, Mummy. Higher!’
Carissa smiled at Brody over
the skipping rope, doing as Molly asked with one hand while resting the other on her growing bump.
‘Just a little while longer, munchkin. Mummy’s getting tired.’
Molly stopped jumping immediately and rushed over to Carissa. ‘Is it the baby? Is he making you tired?’
Carissa squatted down with all the grace of an overweight hippopotamus and pulled Molly close. ‘So you think it’s a he, huh?’
Molly placed one hand on Carissa’s swollen belly, screwed up her eyes tight as if deep in thought, and nodded. ‘Yep. It’s a he. Has to be. Boys are always trouble.’
Chuckling, Brody bent down and joined them on the lawn. ‘Even me?’
Doubt flickered across Molly’s face as she looked up at her father, blue eyes staring into brown. ‘Only sometimes.’
Brody hid his face behind his hands, pretending at being hurt, before splitting his fingers apart and peering out from between them. ‘Like when?’
‘Like the time you went away to Sydney to see Carissa and didn’t take me.’ Molly waggled a finger at Brody, and Carissa stifled a laugh. ‘You were in big trouble then.’
Brody dropped his hands and kissed Molly on the cheek. ‘You’re right, munchkin. But look what I brought you. Isn’t Carissa a great present?’
Molly giggled and slipped a hand each into hers and Brody’s, completing their family circle. A circle that would soon include a precious baby as the perfect addition to the Elliott family. Her family.
Life just didn’t get any better than this. A husband who adored her, a daughter who grew into a more gorgeous girl with every passing day, and a new life to seal the bond they’d created. Together.
‘You’re right, Daddy. You brought me a mummy, and that’s the best present ever!’
‘Hear, hear,’ Brody said, sending Carissa a look of such love, such tenderness, that she knew she’d finally come home.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-6698-1
WIFE AND MOTHER WANTED
First North American Publication 2006.
Copyright © 2006 by Nicola Marsh.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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