Southern Bride

by Knight, Ciara

  Dylan jumped from the blanket and pulled back his hand to his ear. “Then I’ll chuck it into the lake.”

  I ran after him and grabbed his arm. “No! You can’t do that.”

  “Why not? If no one will ever wear it, what does it matter?”

  Before I knew what else to say, he slid the ring onto my finger.

  A perfect fit.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I sat cross-legged on my bed that night, staring at the engagement ring that once belonged to Dylan’s mother. I’d seen it once or twice over the years. The night of our argument, I found it in the glove box of his car, but I hadn’t thought anything of it at the time. Now I realized he wasn’t holding on to it to be close to his mother but to save it for me.

  The thought of slipping the ring back on my finger warmed my heart, but it would be wrong. I knew I couldn’t run away with him. This wasn’t fair. No one should have to make a major life decision in a matter of days.

  “Oh my God! What is that?” Zoey raced into my room and hopped onto my bed, sending the ring flying in the air.

  We both grabbed for it, but she won. “Are you getting married?”

  “No. Don’t be ridiculous,” I snapped.

  “Why is that ridiculous?” Zoey held the ring up toward the light, as if to inspect the clarity.

  I snagged the ring from her, put it back in the box, and stuffed it under my pillow. “Because I’m not following him halfway across the world. My life is here.”

  Zoey patted my knee with a condescending look. “You call this a life? Girl, I haven’t seen you smile in three years except at Sadie’s wedding and a few half grins here and there. Your cheeks must be hurting from fatigue since Dylan arrived.” She softened her sarcastic tone. “What do you have here that you’re clinging so tight to? Yes, it’s the only home you’ve ever known, but you’ve had dreams of escaping since you hit puberty.”

  “Maybe so, but I was young then and a troublemaker.” I studied the pale-pink flowers on my comforter. A hand-me-down that Sadie tried to throw out and replace after marrying Ashton, but it was what I was comfortable with. What I knew.

  Zoey threw her hands up. “I don’t understand you. Tall, Dark, and Protective is in love with you. Do you know what I would do to get him to look at me that way?”

  “Him who?” I asked.

  “No. I mean, in general. Any man.” There was something she wasn’t telling me. I knew she didn’t have feelings for Dylan, but him was somebody.

  “Oh please. Men throw themselves at you. That sweet charm of yours can manipulate a man into throwing his coat down over a puddle for you. Literally. Do you remember prom?”

  “Stop. This isn’t about me. It’s about you. Tell me why you’re staying here. If you give me a valid reason, I’ll leave you alone.”

  “First tell me who he is.”

  She huffed. “Don’t try to change the subject.”

  “Fine. School,” I said in a matter-of-fact tone.

  She waved a hand. “You could do that online nowadays. Heck, you could probably take all the pre-requisites online in the fall if you wanted to, but you didn’t even look into it. So, try again.”

  I studied the floor. She was right. My one big argument had been torn apart. “Now isn’t the time. Sadie is expanding her business, and she needs me. You’ll be going back up to Atlanta for school in the fall. You can’t be running down here each day to help.”

  “That’s why she’s hiring staff. Next.” Zoey stood and crossed her arms, looking down at me. “You don’t have a good reason, do you?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “What if I leave?”

  Zoey’s brows drew together. “That’s the point. You should. Listen, you aren’t the glue holding us together.”

  “I know. I’m the troublemaker who made Sadie suffer for so long. Who made you suffer. I’m just like Mom. We all know it. The woman is selfish to the core. If she could drain the Dumont fortune somehow, she would. I owe you for all the ridiculous stunts I pulled growing up.”

  “No, you don’t. You were a suffering adolescent who felt abandoned. Look at you now. You’re nothing like her. You’re solid now. I’ve never seen anyone work harder than you to help a sister’s dreams come true. Sadie even told me how she could never repay you.”

  “She said that?” I asked, my voice cracking.

  “Yes. You’re a good person, Avery. Accepting Dylan’s proposal isn’t running away from life. It’s running toward a real future.”

  “What if I get there and I can’t handle it? Mom and Dad couldn’t handle each other or us. How could I ever be good for Dylan? He deserves so much better. Look at him. Look at what he’s done with his life. We were bad for each other, always getting into trouble.”

  “Again, you were a hurting teenager. You’re an adult now.” She tilted her head. “At least I think you are.” Zoey backed toward the door. “Don’t blow this.”

  I could only nod. My insides were stirring and mixing with indecision. “I still have a week.”

  Zoey’s phone chimed, and she looked down and then at me with fear in her eyes.

  “What is it? Is Sadie okay?” I hurried to her side.

  “It’s not Sadie. It’s Dylan. He’s been arrested.”

  I turned in all directions multiple times, as if I would find an answer, until Zoey stopped me. “Go to him.”

  “Right. Um…I can’t. My car needs a new battery. Can you take me?”

  Zoey ran to the door and then turned back. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go get your man out of jail.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I stormed into the precinct with all the Aunt Cathy southern attitude I could muster up. “Sheriff Milton, you’re crazier than an outhouse rat. What on God’s green and people’s littering Earth could you possibly arrest Dylan for?”

  A deputy’s eyes went wide, but Sheriff Milton stood there like a rebel soldier defending his land. “Good evening, Ms. Dixon. How may I help you?”

  Anger flooded me. I lunged forward. I would’ve smacked him across that smug face if Zoey hadn’t held me back.

  Zoey pulled me to her side. “Sheriff, could you please tell us what the charges are?”

  “Trespassing,” he said in an authoritative tone.

  I yanked my arm, but Zoey had more strength than her little frame should allow. “Where was Mr. Markham trespassing?”

  “At the bakery. It was closed up for the night, and he was entering the back door.” Sheriff Milton lifted his chin. “Last time I checked, that was owned by Sadie and Ashton Dumont.”

  “And did he tell you that he had a key and why he was there?” Zoey asked.

  I felt like I was missing something.

  Sheriff Milton picked up a folder and eyed it as if our conversation was a waste of his time. “Lies. That’s all they were.”

  “I demand you release him now!” I shouted.

  Sheriff Milton looked at his deputy, who remained silent in the corner. “Now you see why.” He cleared his throat and looked back at me. “He’s already gone.”

  My arm fatigued into submission, and Zoey let go of her finger-bruising grip. “Why didn’t you tell me that?” I slid my phone from my pocket to see if he had called me. He hadn’t, so I dialed him and waited for the ring.

  Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

  I turned toward the vibration behind the counter. Sheriff Milton lifted a bag with Dylan’s phone. “He decided he didn’t want to wait for the paperwork to be processed, so he headed out without this.”

  “Why? What did you say to him?” I marched back toward the counter.

  “It doesn’t matter now. He’s gone, headed for the airport, and we’ll all be better for it.”

  “No. He wouldn’t do that.” My hands trembled, but I forced the fear down. “He wouldn’t leave me again.”

  Sheriff Milton slammed the folder against the desk. “There’s no way he’d stay after what I told him. Not if he was a go
od man.”

  Zoey bolted in front of me. “What did you tell him?”

  Sheriff Milton leaned back against the wall behind him, his nostrils flaring. “Only the truth. That if he stayed, he’d murder Avery the way his father murdered his mother.”

  “His father didn’t murder her. She died in a car accident,” I protested. My breath came in short, tight bursts.

  He smiled, an I-know-more-than-you-do smile. “I still can’t believe the town never questioned that accident report. A woman, who grew up on a farm outside of town and drove these streets her entire life, swerved to miss a deer?”

  My insides squeezed tight, warning me this wasn’t going to be good. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about the former sheriff altering the scene of the accident. Dylan’s dead-beat dad was driving while intoxicated and killed his wife. The sheriff took pity on his friend and filed a different report because he thought Dylan would be better with his biological father than in foster care.”

  “No,” I mumbled. That would’ve sent Dylan into a mind spin. All these years he didn’t know. “Why would you tell him that now?”

  “Because I’m not going to allow another girl in our community to be hoodwinked by a Markham. The night of his father’s accident has haunted me my entire career. I didn’t have a choice back then since I was new on the force, but I have a choice now. I can keep him from killing you. Don’t you see? I’m trying to protect you.”

  I shook my head. “Dylan isn’t like his father.”

  “He already proved he was that night I drove him out of town.” The sheriff’s snarl turned into a knowing grin. “Did you know he was coming to get you when he was drunk, and instead of reaching your house, he hit a tree?”

  “Yes, I knew that. He made a mistake, but he’s a good man.” I raised my voice, ignoring Zoey’s raised eyebrow, mouth-opened gaze.

  “Where is he?” I said in my most authoritative tone.

  “Headed to the airport. If not, the MPs will be here tomorrow.” Sheriff Milton rocked on his heels. “Best you move on with your life. He chose to leave you behind again. Take the hint.”

  The deputy moved forward but didn’t look at the sheriff, only at us. “You can catch him. He had to return the truck to his buddy. He’ll be on the road back this way any minute.”

  I looked to Zoey, to the deputy, to the sheriff.

  Sheriff Milton rounded the desk and marched toward me, but the deputy stepped forward. The sheriff stopped, but he looked like a bull ready to charge. “If you go after him, I’ll put him back in that cell and he won’t have any way out of trouble.”

  Zoey put an arm around me and nudged me toward the door. “You forget… We’re part of the Dumont family now. We’ll have the best lawyer by morning.”

  “Won’t change the fact that he found trouble. Any mark on his record will still haunt him. Especially after I give the MPs my statement.

  My blood ran cold, but my skin was hot. I wanted to slap the man across his smug face, but it wouldn’t do any good and would only land me in jail.

  Zoey led me out the door and back to her car.

  “Did he really leave me again?” I gulped down a cry. “Everyone leaves,” I mumbled under my breath, barely able to find the energy to move, let alone speak.

  “Don’t do that. Listen. I have something to show you.” Zoey popped her trunk, and inside were a bunch of flowers and streamers and all sorts of party supplies. On top was a sign that read, Will You Marry Me?

  Zoey pointed at the party supplies. “Dylan thought that if he got the entire town to back him and all of us by his side that you’d see that he wasn’t his father and that he would never leave you again.”

  A lump rose in my throat. The sight of Dylan’s terrible script in the most beautiful yet terrible words I’d ever seen made me waver on my feet. “But he left me again.”

  “Then go after him. Hon, he isn’t running away from you. He’s doing what he thinks is best for you. It’s different than Mom and Dad, who left for selfish reasons. Dylan loves you so much, he’s willing to be miserable without you so that you can have a good life. I would do anything to have a man who would fight for me like that.”

  I looked at the sign.

  I looked at my sister.

  “You’re running out of time. What is it going to be? Are we going after the love of your life, or are you going to let him go forever?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Zoey took a sharp curve at top speed. I grabbed the handle and held on for safety.

  “You sure about this?” Zoey asked.

  The road narrowed and twisted. “Stop up here. Pull over.”

  Zoey steered her car into the grass field. “Once you do this, there’s no going back.” She shoved the car into park.

  “That’s just it, I don’t want to go back. I want to go forward. I love Dylan. We had a rocky past and we clung to each other because of it, but that man who came into our town is an even better version of my childhood crush. He is strong, and this is the only way that I’ll convince him that he is not his father. What Sheriff Milton told him would have tortured him into believing I deserved better, but I don’t. We deserve each other. We both worked so hard to overcome our pasts. We did it on our own, the way it needed to be. To allow us to figure out our own lives. Now we can be together.”

  Zoey opened her door and followed me to the edge of the empty side road that was the only way to the main highway from his friend’s house. “What about school?”

  “School is your thing, not mine. I only went to prove to myself that I could do it. And you and Sadie were right… I did want to be better than Mom, to overcome my selfish nature.” The sound of a car echoed from around the bend in the road. This was it. I knew it had to be him. I gripped his sign tight and stepped out into the road.

  The frogs croaked their encouragement, but my sister gasped and yelled, “You’re crazy. Get back here.”

  “No. Last time I didn’t have a choice, even though Dylan and I both know deep down inside that I wouldn’t have left Magnolia Corners. I couldn’t leave my sisters. I couldn’t be my mother, but this time, I can be me. A girl wanting some adventure with the man she loves. That’s what our life will be together if I can get him to see that he’s worthy.” I stood firm.

  Bugs buzzed around me, and the moonlight shone through sparse clouds. I only hoped it was enough for Dylan to see me before I was run down.

  “By getting yourself killed?”

  “No, by showing Dylan it could happen any way at any time. That me being with him is no more dangerous than me being on my own.”

  The car curved around the bend, and I held the sign over my head and only hoped the big bright letters caught his eye before I had to jump out of the way.

  Tires squealed. The smell of rubber burning hit me.

  “Avery!” Zoey screamed, but I stood firm.

  The car slid sideways and stopped a few feet from my thighs. Dylan jumped out of the passenger seat while his friend shot curses at me.

  “What are you doing? You could’ve been killed!” He was dressed in his full uniform except his hat. He looked dangerously handsome. My heart still beat like a machine gun in my chest but more from the sight of the love of my life in front of me than almost getting run down.

  “I’m stopping you from running again,” I said, my voice shaking.

  “By getting yourself killed?” Dylan threw his arms up in the air. “I just about died when I saw you. What if Kevin couldn’t have stopped?”

  “Then I would be dead,” I said in a matter-of-fact tone that obviously shocked Dylan into silence. “I could die today or tomorrow in a car accident, on a plane, from some weird genetic condition. Who knows? But I know one thing for sure. I won’t die by your drinking. You are not your father.”

  He shook his head. “What are you saying?” Dylan’s hard lines on his forehead softened.

  “I’m saying that I don’t want to let you go. That I don’t n
eed any more time to know what I want. It’s obvious that I want you.”

  Dylan walked toward me, eyeing the sign as if seeing it for the first time.

  I cleared my throat and willed Dylan to hear me. “I know what Sheriff Milton told you, and I can only imagine how much that had to hurt, but don’t run. Not from me.”

  His gaze drifted to Zoey, then to his friend, and then back to me.

  “You still have a week left of leave,” I said.

  Dylan shook his head. “What can we say or do in a week to change things?”

  “Everything! A week is plenty of time for a honeymoon.” I handed him the sign, slid the ring out of my pocket, and got down on one knee. “Dylan Markham, will you marry me? Will you spend your life with me and trust me and yourself that we will be better than our parents? That we will live sober and happy and see the world together?”

  Tears streamed down my face, and although I was scared, I finally let go of the pain because there was only enough room left in my heart for love.

  Dylan looked down at me, his face expressionless. “You remember that movie you made me watch when we were kids?”

  I blinked at him, trying to follow his train of thought.

  He smiled, the largest smile I’d ever seen. “You didn’t say hello, but you had me before you even held up that sign.” He dropped to his knees in front of me. “I wasn’t running. I was getting out of town and then calling you to explain. There’s no way Sheriff Milton would let me get to you. He told me he had a road block set up to your house. I’d just told Kevin what was going on, and he handed me his cell phone when we turned the corner and saw you.”

  His voice cracked, and he clasped my hands in his, kissing my knuckles. “Saw you in front of his car.” He sucked in a stuttered breath. “I’ll marry you if you promise never to do anything that stupid again.”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes, you’ll marry me, or you promise not to do anything that stupid again?”

  “Both.”

  Zoey clapped and squealed.