A Fool's Gold Wedding

by Susan Mallery

  She blinked. “You’d do that for me?”

  “Of course. You’re amazing and I don’t want to lose you. Unless I already have.”

  His mouth twisted, then he cleared his throat. “That’s all I have. Just my apology and who I am. I guess it’s not very much.” He turned away, then glanced back at her. “You will be a part of me always. I am better for having known you. I wish you could say the same about me, but you can’t. I apologize for that, as well.”

  He started to walk away.

  Abby thought about what her mom had told her and how hard the last two days had been. She didn’t know if it was love, but she was sure it was more than she’d ever felt before. Yes, Joaquin had screwed up in a really awful way and she was mad at him, but maybe the fact that he got that, that he was sorry, meant something.

  She didn’t want to wake up in ten years and think she’d made a horrible mistake.

  “Wait,” she said.

  Joaquin spun back to face her. The hope in his eyes blinded her. “Abby?”

  “You hurt me so much. I trusted you and you betrayed me.”

  “I did. I have no excuse. I was wrong.”

  She drew in a breath. “Chances are I’m going to screw up, too. Not that badly, but some. People make mistakes. It’s not the messing up, it’s what you do afterward that speaks to character.”

  He waited.

  She smiled. “It was a good speech. Thank you for telling me about Montana. I’ll let her know she doesn’t need to keep working on her plan.” She paused. “This is where you ask if it’s okay to kiss me.”

  “Is it?”

  “Yes.”

  Joaquin reached for her, pulling her close. His mouth claimed her in a kiss that offered her all he was. She wrapped her arms around him and gave herself up to him. Her broken heart began to mend as she realized that this was where she belonged.

  He drew back. “I love you,” he whispered, gazing into her eyes. “I know it’s too soon, so I’m not going to say it again for at least two months, but I want you to know that you are all I’ve ever wanted. Only you, Abby. For—”

  She pressed her fingers against his mouth. “Stop. You are headed in a direction that we’re not ready for. Let’s be honest—neither of us has been wildly successful at romantic relationships. We both have our reasons. I’m still pretty young and you’re freakishly smart, so we’re going to figure it out together. But if you propose right now, you’ll send me screaming into the night.”

  One corner of his mouth turned up. “Point taken.”

  “Good. We’ll do the L thing, like you said. In two months. And you can think about proposing in a year.”

  “I will note my calendar.”

  She put her hands on his chest and leaned in. “But just this one time, until then...” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I love you, too.”

  He’d just pulled her into his arms again when she heard someone approaching. She turned and saw her uncle Simon walking toward them.

  He looked between them, then settled his gaze on Abby. “Montana is still working on her plan, but it seems that won’t be necessary.”

  Abby grinned. “Probably not.” She took Joaquin’s hand in hers and faced her uncle. “So here’s the thing. He was very wrong. Incredibly wrong. The wrongest of wrong. He knows that now and he’s apologized. He didn’t try to weasel out of it. He accepted responsibility. And I really like him and we’re going to keep seeing each other. So you have to be nice to him.”

  “I see.” Simon’s gaze was sharp. “Anything else?”

  “Yes. He might try to get a job with the trauma center. Don’t blackball him or whatever it is you could do.”

  Simon looked at Joaquin. “Are you going to let Abby speak for you?”

  “In this case, sir, it seems like the intelligent thing to do.”

  “Interesting.” Simon paused “Joaquin, you should get your affairs in order.”

  “What?” Abby glared at her uncle. “You’re not having him killed. How would you even do that? Mom talks tough, but she’d never help you hurt anyone.”

  Simon sighed. “I meant for the move. I’ve decided to admit him into the fellowship program. He’ll need to be in Fool’s Gold for that.”

  “You can do that?” Abby asked. “For real?”

  Simon touched her cheek. “I can, and let me be clear. I’m doing it because I like the character of the man. Not so you can date him.”

  He turned to Joaquin. “Your skills were never the issue. It was all about who you were. We like our doctors to have heart and understand the value of compassion. If you’re still interested, of course.”

  Joaquin vigorously shook his hand. “I am. Thank you, Dr. Bradley.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Seriously,” Abby said. “You’re going to make him call you Dr. Bradley?”

  Simon smiled. “For now.” He pointed toward the hotel. “Come on, you two. There’s a wedding and you are both in it. Get inside. You can coo over each other later.”

  They all went inside. Joaquin kissed Abby one more time before heading off to meet his brother. Abby returned to the bride’s room. As she stepped inside, Liz glanced at her.

  “You look happy,” her mother said quietly.

  Abby smiled. “I am. We made up and he’s moving to town. We’re going to be dating.”

  “Just dating?”

  Abby grinned. “Really, Mom? Do you want me to talk about my sex life?”

  “Ah, no. Actually, I don’t.” Liz hugged her. “I’m glad it worked out. Despite everything, I really like Joaquin.”

  “Me, too.”

  The photographer arrived and began taking pictures. The wedding coordinator kept things moving along until it was time for the ceremony itself. Abby took her place, ready to walk down the aisle in front of her sister. As she stepped slowly, keeping time with the music, she couldn’t help locking eyes with Joaquin. It almost seemed as if he was waiting for her, instead of Davis waiting for Melissa.

  Abby smiled at the thought. Maybe she was rushing things. Now that she and Joaquin had figured it all out, they had their whole lives ahead of them. They would take it slow, getting to know each other before falling madly in love. But all things considered, they were off to a really good start.

  EPILOGUE

  One year later

  ABBY PULLED A loose T-shirt over her damp swimsuit. As the boat headed back for the dock, she took the bottle of sunscreen Joaquin held out and dutifully applied another coat. With her fair skin, avoiding a sunburn in Hawaii was a challenge, but she was doing her best.

  “That was incredible,” she said, smoothing the lotion on her arms. “I can’t believe how blue the water is and how many fish there were. And the coral. I love the ocean. Can we go snorkeling again?”

  He smiled at her. “We can go as many times as you want. When we get back to the hotel, let’s figure out everything we want to do and make a lesson plan.”

  She laughed. “You do know the way to my heart.”

  “I hope so.”

  She dropped the bottle of sunscreen into her tote, then shifted so she was leaning against him. Their first real vacation together was even better than she’d hoped it would be. Of course, when Joaquin was involved, everything was pretty perfect so she shouldn’t be surprised.

  The past year had gone by so quickly, she thought, watching the island of Maui appear to get closer and closer. Joaquin had moved to Fool’s Gold for the fellowship with her uncle Simon. He’d found working with burn patients gratifying and, in May, Simon had invited him to join his practice.

  While he’d been doing that, she’d been busy with her first year of teaching. She’d loved her work and the kids even more than she’d thought she would. Every day had been an adventure and she couldn’t wait for the school year to start again in September.
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  She’d moved into her own apartment, as planned. Living on her own had been good for her, not that she was by herself all that much. Either Joaquin was at her place, or she was at his.

  Three months after they’d met, he’d taken her up to Lake Tahoe for a long weekend where they’d declared their love and she’d given herself to him. She chuckled, thinking that the man really was good with his hands.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked.

  “I’m amazed at how much has changed in the past year. I’m kind of impressed with us.”

  “You’re the impressive one.”

  The boat docked. Joaquin collected her tote bag and their towels as they waited for the other passengers to disembark. They took the open-air shuttle bus back to their beautiful hotel and returned to their room.

  “Mind if I shower first?” he asked when they were inside. “I won’t take long. Then you can have the bathroom. We’ll go to dinner after that.”

  She wrapped her arms around him. “Or we could shower together.”

  He kissed her, before stepping away. “Let’s wait on that. I want to see if you’re sunburned from today.”

  “Worrywart.”

  He grinned. “That’s Dr. Worrywart to you, young lady.”

  While he was in the shower, she picked out a dress to wear to dinner, then walked out onto their balcony and stared at the ocean. What an amazing vacation, she thought happily. Being here in this beautiful place with the man she loved. Life didn’t get much better than moments like this.

  She wandered back inside, just as he exited the bathroom.

  “All yours,” he told her.

  She kissed him, then went to shower and get ready for dinner.

  Thirty minutes later, when she’d finished dressing and putting on makeup, she walked into the bedroom and said, “There’s that fish restaurant we talked about...”

  The rest of the sentence trailed off as she took in the room’s transformation.

  There were orchids everywhere. On the bed, in vases, in a lei around Joaquin’s neck and in the second lei he held in his hand. She could see a small dining table and two chairs had been placed on the balcony. A bottle of something chilled in an ice bucket, and if she had to guess, she would say it was champagne. Music played from the sound system.

  She stood there, blinking, trying to understand what it all meant.

  “You did this for me?” she asked as he put the lei around her neck.

  “I did.”

  “So that’s why you wouldn’t shower with me?”

  “It is.”

  She grinned. “Good surprise.”

  “I’m glad.”

  He took her hand and led her to the center of the room, then stopped and faced her.

  “Melissa and Davis were married a year ago today,” he said.

  “I remember. I was there.”

  “Do you also remember what you told me?”

  “At the wedding? What did I—Oh!” She swallowed as she recalled exactly what she’d said. You can think about proposing in a year. “Joaquin?”

  He pressed her hand against his chest and stared into her eyes. “Abby, these past months with you have been the happiest of my life. You are the most incredible woman I’ve ever met. You are kind and funny and smart and beautiful. Every day with you is a blessing. You’ve shown me the value of relationships and the importance of family. You make me a better man, and I’m grateful for that, as well. And for you. I love you with all my heart. I have almost from the day we met and I will continue to love you until I breathe my last.”

  He released her and dropped to one knee. “Marry me, Abby. Marry me and let me be your lover, your husband, your partner, for the rest of our lives.”

  Tears filled her eyes as she tugged him to his feet, then threw herself at him. “I love you and yes, yes, I’ll marry you.”

  He pulled her close and kissed her. After a few minutes of very sexy kissing, he drew back and slid a ring on her finger. They both stared at the glinting diamond.

  “Was this your plan all along?” she asked softly. “You were so particular about exactly when we came to Hawaii.”

  “I thought it would be a good place to propose. As for asking you today, I wanted to respect your wishes.”

  “It was a general suggestion, not an order.”

  “I just want to make you happy, Abby.”

  She leaned against him. “You do. Always.”

  They walked out onto the balcony where he poured her a glass of champagne. Behind them, the sunset sent colors of fire across the sky, but Abby and Joaquin only had eyes for each other.

  “You know we’re going to have to have a big wedding,” she told him.

  “Absolutely. At least three hundred. Your family alone is close to fifty.”

  “Plus our friends and the people we work with. Or we could run away, if that would be better for you.”

  He sat down and pulled her onto his lap. “No way. When I marry you, I want the whole world watching. Let them all be amazed that I got the girl.”

  “And I’ve got you right back.”

  * * *

  Keep reading for a special preview of

  Happily This Christmas

  a brand new Happily Inc. story from #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery!

  Wynn Beauchene and Garrick McCabe are pained by their past mistakes, but there’s nothing like a small-town Christmas to heal these two wounded souls.

  Available October 2020 from HQN Books!

  Happily This Christmas

  by Susan Mallery

  Chapter One

  ANNOYING OTHER PEOPLE was one thing. Wynn Beauchene could completely get behind that idea, mostly because more often than not, people deserved to be annoyed. But annoying herself? What was up with that? Not only was it a total waste of time, it made no sense. The only solution was to stop acting like a sixteen-year-old girl with a crush on the quarterback. She was a mature adult, a single mother with a successful business and a life she really liked. If she was attracted to her handsome neighbor, then she needed to stop hanging out by the front window of her house, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. She should march over to his place, knock on his front door and say... And say...

  “I’m an idiot,” she muttered out loud, not for the first time. No matter how she envisioned the “march over there” scenario, she couldn’t figure out what she was supposed to say when he opened the door.

  Hi, Garrick. I was wondering if maybe we could, um, well, you know, go out sometime.

  Really? That was how she was going to start the conversation? Shouldn’t she lead into it? Maybe mention she’d enjoyed having him as her neighbor for the past year and tell him how nice it was that he was a police officer and the whole street liked the fact that he parked his patrol car in the driveway. Not that crime was a problem in Happily Inc, because it wasn’t, but still, having a cop as a neighbor was great. Although her interest was more personal, what with how he’d looked over the summer, mowing his lawn...shirtless. Not that she hadn’t noticed him before—she had. Until the lawn mowing season, she’d managed to ignore him, but now she couldn’t and it was already November and she’d done absolutely nothing to take their nonrelationship past the waving and hi-ing stage, and here she was, hanging out by her front window and she was ready to slap herself upside the head.

  It was the dating thing. She wasn’t good at it because she didn’t do it very often. There were a lot of reasons, very few of them interesting, but in the past five or six months, she’d been thinking that maybe it was time to let the no-dating rule go and have a personal life. But while she’d spent a lot of time thinking, she hadn’t done much on the doing front.

  “I’m better than this,” she muttered, ignoring the little voice in her head whispering that she obviously wasn’t.

 
It was just that in every other area of her life, she was capable. Hunter, her fourteen-year-old, acting out in school? She could deal with that five ways to Sunday. A printing order gone awry at work? Easy-peasy. A friend with an emotional crisis? She was all about the hugging and straight talk. But when it came to dating, or wanting to date, or thinking Garrick was sexy and supersweet with her son and lately she’d been wanting them to get to know each other better, she was a mess. Worse than a mess—she was pathetic.

  As proof, she was standing in her living room, looking out the picture window, staring at his house, waiting for him to get home. It was Saturday afternoon. She had a lot of things she should be doing, and none of them included staring at some guy’s empty driveway.

  If only there weren’t something about him. But there was. Not just the whole tall with broad shoulders thing, although that was very nice, as were his gray eyes and dark hair, but that wasn’t really what got her attention. It was more the fact that while Garrick was always friendly and pleasant, there was a hint of something a little dark and dangerous lurking beneath the surface. Ridiculous, but true, and like most reasonably intelligent women who knew better, she couldn’t help responding to the possibility of a great guy who just might have a whisper of a dangerous streak.

  She turned away from the window just in time to hear a dinging sound. After walking into the kitchen, she pulled two cookie sheets out of the oven. Because she’d made chocolate chip cookies, if you could believe it. Things were that bad.

  Oh, not the baking—she baked all the time for Hunter, and most likely she would pretend she’d made these for her son, as well. Only she hadn’t. She’d baked them thinking she would take them over to Garrick, in a neighborly kind of gesture that—hopefully—would lead to some witty conversation, lots of laughter and him confessing that he’d spent the past few months wanting to ask her out.