“No entertaining going on here,” Jeff interjected. “Just switching cars. Then I’m on my way.”
Sue’s head tilted in question. “Where are you staying in Murray?”
Damn! “A hotel out by the mall.” God, he hoped Murray had a mall. He watched her brows draw in. “Not too far from the football stadium.”
“Oh, you mean the strip mall. I’m sure you could’ve found other accommodations closer than that.” She shifted her gaze back to Mags, who was gouging her knuckle into his leg. No one said anything for a moment, so Sue let her eyes drift back to Jeff. “Well, it’s good to see you again. I gotta tell you, that’s something I never dreamed would ever happen.” She shifted her all-seeing eye toward Maggie one last time. “I’m planning on visiting Eli tomorrow, Maggie, so I expect I’ll see you there.” She smiled sweetly. “Bye now.”
As the car rolled away, Maggie groaned and sank back into her seat. “I am so screwed.”
“What? You don’t think she believed us?” Jeff thought it had actually gone pretty well.
“Not a chance.” Her head rolled from side to side on the seat back. “But what if...” She pulled upright and lifted her chin defiantly. “What if we beat her at her own game and really give them something to talk about.”
She had his full attention. “How?”
She laid out what she had in mind and then waited.
Instead of telling her she was certifiably crazy, he gave her a nod. “I’m in. Let’s do it.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
OH, GOOD LORD, what was she doing?
What was this strange power Jeff Wells had over her, which made her think that some of the most preposterous things she’d ever done were good ideas? Getting married at nineteen. Having a fling with her ex-spouse. And now...this.
Maggie filled her lungs with what would probably be her last good breath for the next half hour and slid slowly out of her car.
On the way there, she’d tried to downplay the impact their appearance would make. But she’d obviously misled herself...and Jeff. As they crossed Yager Circle to the crowded park at the center of Taylor’s Grove, all conversation came to a halt. Eyebrows raised, eyes widened, jaws went slack and mouths gaped. It was as if some alien life form had materialized in the midst of the townspeople.
Of course, Jeff was from California.
“Maggie!” Faith O’Malley came toward them, arms outstretched. “I was just telling everyone how great Eli did. Come fill us in on the latest.” She patted Jeff’s arm affectionately. “And I’m glad to see you took us up on the offer to visit Taylor’s Grove. The people who couldn’t come to the hospital have been dying to see how you look now.”
IvaDawn Carroll rested her palm against her cheek and sighed. “I’ll s’wan, Jeff Wells, you are just as handsome as ever. And Russ is the spittin’ image of you at that age.”
People clustered around, and, while everyone was within earshot, Maggie decided to unload her news. It was a bit like plunging into Kentucky Lake the first time each spring. Easing in wouldn’t do. You just had to jump in and get it over with. She took a gulp of air and dove in headfirst.
“I decided it was silly for Jeff to be out the money for a hotel when I have that big house with all those empty rooms. He’s staying with me until he leaves Wednesday morning.”
There were a couple of audible gasps—not as many as she’d expected—and what seemed like a long period of stunned silence. Then Ollie Perkins clapped Jeff on the shoulder.
“Glad to hear that, Maggie. I worry about you being way out there all by your lonesome. Seems I can put my fretting off a couple more days, at least. Then I’m gonna have to talk you into a dog.”
“What’s Eli think about this?” Tank Wallis’s deep voice boomed from behind her, and Maggie turned to meet his concerned frown.
“Dad doesn’t know yet, Tank.” She grinned sheepishly. “And I would appreciate it if nobody told him before he gets home. I want to make sure those stitches up his sternum have healed enough to hold good and tight when he blows that gasket.”
Tank guffawed and most of the others laughed with him. Most...but not all.
“He’s doing well, though,” she finished.
For a little while, all attention drifted from her and Jeff to Eli. Then the current changed, pulling Jeff into the gang of men and she into the circle of women, where she met much more personal questions.
“What does this mean?”
“Are y’all getting back together?”
“Whatever has gotten into that brain of yours because you sure can’t be thinking clearly? Have you forgotten what it was like...before?”
Maggie fielded the questions like a major leaguer, throwing out answers as if she’d practiced them for months. Most she simply answered honestly.
“This doesn’t mean anything.
“Heavens no, we’re not getting back together.
“We figured it was time to put the past behind us and behave like adults. We can be friends, and Russ can benefit from our ability to get along, at last.”
She tossed away any suggestions of impropriety as if the very notion was unthinkable and, therefore, unworthy of an answer.
By nine-thirty, the crowd had started to thin. The people had been treated to a feast of gossip and could go home full as a tick—and Maggie knew full well it was her blood they were engorged on.
She yawned, exhausted. Jeff caught her eye, indicating he’d picked up on the signal with a nod over the heads of the group of men still surrounding him.
“It’s time to go home before I fall asleep on this bench, ladies.” Maggie excused herself, and the women who remained either went to locate their husbands or headed home alone.
Faith slipped a hand through Maggie’s arm and walked with her to the car as Jeff finished up the last bit of a story that had all the men chuckling.
“Promise me you’ll be careful, sweetheart,” Faith whispered, and Maggie turned to see the concern in her eyes. She knew then that Faith knew the truth, but it was okay. She also knew Faith understood.
“I will,” she answered, the words landing deep in her belly.
“This was a smart move.” Faith gave her a knowing smile.
Maggie shrugged and grinned back as Jeff joined them. “Sue met us in my driveway tonight, so we decided if people were going to hear, anyway...”
Faith nodded her approval. “And Rosemary?”
“Tomorrow.”
“She already suspected today.”
“Then we’d better get there early.”
Jeff opened the car door for her and handed her the keys.
* * *
“MOM, WE NEED to talk.”
Maggie’s tone brought Rosemary’s heart to a standstill.
Her daughter had been uncharacteristically chatty all morning, pleasantly reminding her of the girl she used to know. The ICU waiting room had been filled to capacity, so most of the visitors from Taylor’s Grove came in small groups and stayed only a few minutes.
To her surprise, everyone acted as though Jeff Wells’s presence in place of his son’s was a fine thing and was to be expected. She guessed those who came yesterday had filled in the rest of the community about Jeff.
But why in the world was everyone so nonchalant about it?
Something in Maggie’s tone told her she was about to find out.
“I wanted to tell you earlier, but the waiting room was too crowded. I thought it best to wait until we got a private room.”
As the doctor had anticipated, Eli was doing well enough to be released from ICU to a room on the cardiac floor. They’d sent the family ahead, confirming he would be there within the hour. Thank goodness Maggie had insisted Jeff stay in the waiting room.
Rosemary eyed her daughter warily. “This has
something to do with Jeff, doesn’t it?”
Maggie nodded. “He stayed with me last night.”
White-hot anger flashed through Rosemary, singeing away any filter that might have guarded her tongue. “You’ve done some pretty foolish and irresponsible things in your past, but this beats them all.”
Maggie’s eyes widened slightly. “Maybe not. You haven’t heard all of it.”
Rosemary waited, steeling her spine for the next slicing blow.
“We thought we could keep it a secret. Figured it was nobody’s business, honestly.” She drew a long breath. “But then Sue was in my driveway last night when we pulled in.”
Rosemary’s heartbeat shifted from idle to overdrive.
“She would’ve told everyone, anyway, so we went to the park and beat her to the draw.”
So everybody knew, which meant it was only a matter of time before Eli’s fragile heart would be split wide open by the news. “How could you do this, Maggie—knowing what your father and I are going through right now? Don’t you even care how this is going to rip him apart?” Her mouth became the catapult for her feelings. “Being nineteen and a silly teenager is one thing. Your dad and I accepted your foolishness back then and did everything we could to support you. But now you’re a grown woman, and you ought to have learned your lesson about Jeff Wells.”
Tears welled up in Maggie’s eyes. So her feelings were hurt? Too bad. Better to have hurt feelings than a twice-broken heart.
“He’s just feeding his ego with you—making sure he can still make you jump at his command. Have you forgotten who was there to help you pick up the pieces of your life and glue them back together after he left you high and dry?” Rosemary knocked her fist against her chest, mimicking her heart’s intense rhythm. “I was. Your dad and I. Jeff Wells was long gone, but we were there. We supported you and Russ, making sure you had a life like you’d always been used to.”
“And I’m grateful for all that, Mom.” Maggie’s voice was quiet and tight. “This has nothing to do with that. This is just me wanting to feel alive...like a woman again.”
“You never think of anybody but yourself,” Rosemary snapped. She knew that wasn’t really true; Maggie had a kind heart. But it seemed that, too often, other people were on the receiving end of that kindness, and right at that moment, she wanted it to be her.
“I asked everybody not to say anything to Dad until we knew he was well enough to take it.”
“Like that’s supposed to make all this okay? Listen to yourself, Maggie.” Rosemary was on a jag now. The frustration that had been building since last Thursday night came pouring out. “Just sit back and hear what you’re saying. The person who ruined your life—the person you finally got away from—has stepped back in for a week, and you’re already opening yourself up to let him in again.” She threw up her hands in disgust and backed away, then came back with a vengeance, thrusting a finger toward Maggie’s visibly shaken face. “Well, you’re on your own. You’re going into this with your eyes wide-open as a grown woman, and I won’t try to stop you. But find somebody else to lean on when you start to fall apart, because your dad and I have quit that business.”
The door swung open and the orderly started backing into the room, bringing Eli to his home away from home for the next week.
The discussion had to stop, and it was just as well. Rosemary had said everything she needed to say. And if her daughter had anything else to add, she didn’t want to hear it.
“Anybody home?” Eli called.
With a look of understanding passing between them, she and Maggie stepped up to greet him, happy-face masks pulled securely into place.
* * *
“I’D NEVER REALLY thought about the embarrassment they went through back then.” Her mom’s harsh words had echoed over and over in Maggie’s mind since that morning.
Sitting in the chaise with Jeff at her back, she found the courage to explore the subject a bit more. “Having to face everybody in town with the news I was pregnant. Can you imagine the things Sue probably said to Mom...and behind her back? They’d always doted on me. Treated me like I could do no wrong. It must’ve been quite a shock to admit their precious baby girl had screwed up royally.”
Jeff’s hand rubbed her arm. “I don’t remember it as all that bad. I mean, I remember telling them. I thought your dad was going to kill me—and I do believe it ran through his head. But when I told him I loved you and wanted us to get married, he calmed down...some, anyway.”
His phrasing brought a lump to her throat. I loved you and wanted us to get married. Over the years, people—well, specifically her mom—had tried to tell her what she and Jeff had back then wasn’t the real thing. Sure, it might’ve been undeveloped and immature with a load of lust mixed in, but this week convinced her it had been real. She turned her face and leaned to the side to watch his reaction. “How would we react if it were Russ?” Living so far away and having so little contact with each other, this was one of the many things they’d never discussed.
Jeff’s eyes held hers steady. “We would be supportive of whatever he wanted to do.”
“But what if he wanted to marry her, and we realized she was some gold-digging bimbo?”
Jeff’s arms came around her front to press her closer. “A gold-digging bimbo who would be carrying our grandchild,” he reminded her as he kissed her forehead. “We would have faith he was making the right decision and support whatever he decided.”
Maggie turned and faced the pool again. “Did you ever have ‘the talk’ with him?”
“Every time he visited, starting when he was twelve.”
“Twelve!”
Jeff’s laugh vibrated against her back. “As soon as he started noticing the bikinis on the beach, I started talking. How about you?”
“As soon as he started car dating. Before every date.”
“Man, he must’ve thought we were paranoid.”
“We were.”
They laughed together, and the question niggling at her brain broke loose. “So...did your parents think I was a gold-digging bimbo?”
“No.” Jeff rested his chin on top of her head. “They loved you, and you know Chloe idolized you. But they did realize you were spoiled rotten, and they warned me you weren’t going to be happy living on my paltry minimum wage salary.”
“And they were right.”
“Yep.”
“Admitting our parents were right. Examining their side of the situation.” Maggie faked a shudder. “Gosh, we’ve gotten old.”
Jeff ran his hands under her blouse to fondle her breasts. “Maybe we should go to bed before we get over-the-hill.”
Had the situation been different, she would’ve said to heck with going to bed and would’ve insisted on making love right there in the chaise by the pool. But tonight was their last night together—ever. And while she didn’t want to get maudlin about it, she also wanted to acknowledge it and draw it out as long as possible.
She stood and held out her hand. When he took it, she pulled him out of the chaise and led him to her bedroom.
Unlike the night in Chicago, tonight there was no haste in their movements. They undressed each other slowly, covering each newly exposed area with kisses that seemed almost reverent. Knowing it was their last time made such a difference, and Maggie wondered how that could be applied to everything in life.
How differently she would’ve behaved if she’d had warnings of the last time something would happen. The last time Russ sat on her lap. The last time she threw the ball for Snickers, her old collie.
The last time she and Jeff made love back then...
If she’d known it would be the last time, what would she have done differently?
She took that question to heart and answered it with her actions. Back then, she would’ve done everything
she could to satisfy him enough to want to stay. This time, she wanted him satisfied enough to have good memories of her the rest of his life.
She sought to give him perfection, and he answered in kind. Every kiss, every nip, every lick, every touch was perfectly timed...perfectly placed. They moved forward and retreated, two steps forward, one step back, in a perfectly choreographed dance that was bittersweet and intoxicatingly erotic. Time became a nonentity—an invention thrust upon the human race that had no place in their world. Their passion deepened and carried the night along for the ride.
When he loomed over her for the last time, their eyes met and held, hearts acknowledging the importance of the moment, minds tucking the image into the deep recesses of those things never to be forgotten.
She raised herself on her elbows, capturing his mouth as he entered her. Then she shifted her arms to grasp behind his neck, pulling him down onto her as she arched up into him, aching to touch every inch available.
She met his thrusts with a heat that fused their bodies, made them one...one last time.
She cried his name, willing the walls to catch the sound so that every night thereafter she could hear it if she listened closely. Her head and eyes rolled back, and she lost focus as the exquisite spasms erupted from her core and spread outward. But her name bursting from his lips brought her back to the moment, and she rode it to exhaustion.
Jeff collapsed and rolled to his side, pulling her to him in a fierce embrace she couldn’t have broken from if she’d wanted to.
But she didn’t want to. She stayed in the same position all night, content to be sleeping in his arms this one last time.
* * *
“DO YOU FIND this entire situation as frustrating as I do?”
Jeff had avoided the obvious throughout the two-hour drive to Nashville, acknowledging the futility of their situation. But with the airport exit looming, he’d lost the urge to be careful and wanted to speak what was on his mind...and in his heart.
Maggie didn’t try to play coy. She shrugged, not taking her eyes off the road. “A little.”
My Way Back to You (Harlequin Large Print Super Romance) Page 14
