Precedent for Passion
Page 18
The lobby reminded him of another day. When snow covered the hillside and Abby glowed with life. Jason had promised to keep an eye on her while he got his act together. He said she was okay, but if she was even half as lost as he was without her—
“What are you doing here?” Romney glared at him above the batwing doors.
This could be a battle he didn’t need when the biggest one still lay ahead of him, so Glen chose his words with care. “I’m here to apologize.”
“And?”
“And make Abby happy for the rest of her life. If she’ll still have me. If it takes the rest of my life to do it.”
David emerged from the dining room to his right. “Good answer.” He turned to a younger man standing behind him. With reddish-brown hair and thick blue glasses, he could only be Hume. “What do you think?” David asked him.
“I don’t know. What do you think?” Hume looked to Romney, who was no longer glaring but instead scowled at Glen suspiciously.
“I think we’d better go with him. In case Abby needs backup.”
With his entourage in tow, or guards depending on how you looked at them, Glen entered the main dining room. He could hear people in the back room. It was the biggest one and had always been used for functions, something he knew from working nights here as a busboy in his teens. He also knew when he entered through the archway everyone would see him and all eyes would be on him as effectively as if he were on stage.
His hands grew clammy. The room dipped and swayed, the tables and chairs going in and out of focus.
“You all right?” Hume asked, real concern in his voice.
Glen grabbed the back of a chair and took a deep breath. He couldn’t answer. If he tried to speak just then, he might throw up all over the braided rug.
“Glen?”
Hearing David’s voice helped him recover some control. He let go of the chair back and shook his hands, deliberately trying to relax his muscles so he could cross the eight or ten feet remaining between where he stood and that archway.
“I’m okay,” he croaked. Then, to the three men still staring at him, he explained, “Glossophobia.”
“Say what?” This from Romney.
“Fear of public speaking,” Hume explained.
So he was smart like his big sister.
Thoughts of Abby centered him even more. Gave him the strength to cross the portal into the back dining room and suffer the attention of the bridal shower guests who immediately stopped talking. He didn’t know if there were five people in the room or twenty. The only one that mattered to him sat before the fireplace surrounded by cast-off wrapping paper. Her gray-green eyes were wide with shock. Her chestnut hair was piled up on her head in a sloppy bun, and she wore a shapeless, green top that made her look four feet wide. He wanted to scoop her out of the chair and run away with her.
Someone nudged him in the shoulder none too gently. Romney, reminding him that he should speak.
“Sorry to crash your party, Sara.”
“Don’t you dare apologize to me.” The implication being he owed that to someone else.
He cleared his throat. “Sixteen years ago I stood in the courthouse at Guildhall and thought my life was over. My marriage was ending. I wasn’t going to see my kids every day, wasn’t even going to see my daughter born, and the circumstances of my divorce meant that I would have to leave the Northeast Kingdom and start a career away from everyone who meant anything to me.”
From the corner of his eye he saw Linda exchange a glance with his mother. Even his mother was here?
Momentarily distracted, he scanned the guests for the first time. Not only was his mother there, but Trevor’s girlfriend Amy sat beside Sara holding a notebook and pen, presumably the gift log. No one acted surprised to see him; it seemed everyone knew Abby carried his child and wanted to support her. He had been the only one withholding that support.
“It was the worst day imaginable, but one good thing came out of it. There was this girl clerking for the judge. She had gray-green eyes and thick chestnut hair and a body—” He looked at his mother, remembered Abby’s brothers behind him, and felt color staining his cheeks. “Well, never mind about that. What’s important is I never forgot her. Let’s just say she set a precedent for me that day. No one else could compare to her or measure up to that memory. And it seems she never forgot me, either.”
Abby no longer looked shocked, but she did look wary, and who could blame her? A declaration of infatuation was less than she deserved. She probably thought it was all he had to offer.
Advancing into the room, he came to a stop in front of her, wrapping paper at his feet and a frilly decoration suspended from the ceiling bouncing against the side of his head.
“I love you, Abby.”
She bit her lower lip, and he could tell she was battling tears. He didn’t want to make her cry ever again, so he continued before she could say love wasn’t enough.
“I bought the cottage behind Jason and Sara’s house. I’ve already got contractors lined up to start the renovations and additions to make it big enough for a family. Colin and Darcy are enrolled in Somerset Academy for the fall term, but now they won’t have to live with my parents when it starts.”
He couldn’t define the look that crossed her face. Was she thinking that of course he would take care of his kids but not their child? Did she understand the significance of him telling her this in front of an audience?
“They can live in the cottage. I took the position the company was training Trevor for in Sherbrooke so I can commute to and from work every day. It’s only about an hour drive even with the border crossing. I’ll be living in the cottage with the kids, home every night.”
Kicking aside some of the wrapping paper, he took a deep breath and dropped down onto the cleared space. “I told you once that I would get down on my knees and beg if I had to. And since I’ve been about as stupid as a man can be, you deserve to see me begging.”
She lifted one hand toward him but dropped it back into her lap. Her eyes were wet with tears. Hope and fear shone from them.
“Abby, our home won’t be complete without you in it.” Taking her small hand, he kissed the tips of her fingers. “Will you move into the cottage with us? Will you marry me, let me love you every day and night? Raise our baby together?”
“Babies,” she whispered. So softly he wasn’t sure he heard her right.
“What?”
A watery chuckle spilled from her luscious lips. “Babies,” she said more clearly. “We’re having twins.”
****
“Did you say yes?” Glen asked when he recovered from his faint. Never in his life had he lost consciousness before, so it was embarrassing to do it in the middle of a marriage proposal.
Abby sat beside him on the floor where someone had propped his head up on a pillow. Linda handed her a glass of water, and she held it to his lips. He didn’t want it but drank because she offered it to him. When he had emptied the glass, she gave it back to his sister.
“I have some questions for you first.” Her voice was as soft as her touch on his stubbled cheek.
“Of course. Anything.”
“Are you sorry for being an ass?” Her eyes teared up again.
“I’m sorry.”
“You hurt me more than anyone has ever hurt me in my life.”
“I’m so sorry.” As apologies went, it was inadequate, though heartfelt.
“I should think so.” Her voice was tart now, more like the Abby he was used to. It gave him hope. “And you’ll never do it again?”
“Never.”
“Because I might let Romney castrate you if you do.”
“I’m here for you, little sister.” Her brother grinned from where he stood a few feet away.
Glen wanted to roll his eyes but didn’t dare take his gaze away from her. “Pathos got the better of logos in this case,” he admitted, hoping she would remember their conversation and understand what he was saying.
Abby smiled delightedly. “He would only succumb to emotion if his heart was involved and at risk. He wasn’t thinking with his brain.”
“So it’s a good thing that he made an idiot of himself? First rejecting you and now falling at your feet. I mean, literally falling at your feet?”
“It tells me all I need to know about his feelings.”
“I’ve answered your questions,” Glen said, sitting up and lacing his fingers through hers. “You’ve heard my case. Are you ready to share your verdict?”
“You heard the part about twins, right?”
“I didn’t just faint from public speaking. Mostly, but the twin thing didn’t help.”
Everyone laughed at him now.
“And you’ll raise them the way you have Colin and Darcy? Love them and guide them until they are all grown up?”
“I will.”
“Me too,” Darcy added. “I want to help. I’m the youngest cousin, and it really stinks sometimes. I can’t wait to be a big sister. Please say yes, Abby?”
Glen held his breath. He hadn’t told his daughter he was coming here, hadn’t known she would be here even though she made sure he knew the place and time of the shower, but he hoped what she just said would help his case.
“Thank you, sweetheart.” Abby smiled at the teenager, gray-green eyes warm with affection. She returned her attention to him, stretching over her belly to kiss him softly on the lips. “I love you, Glen Plankey.”
For the first time since arriving at The Gables, he relaxed. Not completely, though. “There’s still one more question to be answered,” he reminded her.
Stroking the side of his cheek with her soft, little hand, she gave him what he was waiting for. “The answer is yes. I said yes.”
A word about the author…
Amber Cross was raised on a family farm in New England, one of a dozen siblings, each one inspiring her writing in some way. She still lives in that same small town with her husband and the youngest of their five children. She loves spending time in the woods, in the water, and watching people because every one of them has a unique and fascinating story to tell.
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