by Kay Stockham
“And for taking care of me. You put me first and kept your feelings for Beau buried so that I—I’m glad you did what you did, that you didn’t send me back there after you found out. Thank you.”
Barry nodded, his expression solemn.
“Did you call the military yet?”
“I didn’t want to until I knew you’d be okay with it.”
How could he be ready to face the fallout? He just hoped charges weren’t filed against him. As bad as a dishonorable discharge would be, prison would be worse. His mind laughed at him. He’d be just like Joe. There was a twisted irony in that. “It’s fine. I know you want to get Beau’s body moved. It’ll need to be done soon.”
“He’s at peace, Jack. When the time’s right, it’ll happen. You’re the one who needs to be ready for it all. Have you been in contact with Dr. Steinman?”
“No.”
“You should go see him.” Barry lost more color, the paper crunching in his hands when he squeezed it. “Before you thank me for not sending you back, you need to see these.”
Jack hesitated before accepting the sheaf of papers.
“Marley brought them by yesterday evening. Her brother did some research and…You need to read it, Jack.”
His heart thumped in his chest. If this was an obituary for his father he’d—“Oh, God.” Brody Declared Innocent After Release From Prison. “He was innocent? They sent him to prison and he was innocent?”
“Your father was right.”
Jack walked to the end of the truck bed. Innocent?
“We’ve all made mistakes, Jack. You weren’t the only one who didn’t believe him. How do you think those jurors feel knowing they sent him to prison?”
He stared down at the picture of Joe. His brother was unsmiling, looking as though he tolerated the camera for the sake of the woman beside him. His…fiancée. The article was nearly three years old, which meant by now they were probably married and—Where was Pop? He scanned the article but saw no mention of Ted Brody anywhere. “Joe said he didn’t do it. Pop said Joe didn’t do it. I hated them both for lying. I hated him for pretending it wasn’t true. Pop took Joe’s side when everyone in town, everyone including me—Dammit!” He crushed the paper in his hands.
“Are you mad because he’s innocent—or because you were wrong?”
Jack didn’t answer. He was angry because everything was so screwed up. He sighed, his breath emerging as a white cloud in the cold morning air.
“What happens now, Jack?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yeah, you do. It’s time to go home, son. Do you want the military having to explain why they’re digging up that grave, or are you man enough to spare them the pain of having a soldier on their doorstep a second time? What do you think they’re going to feel if they’re told you’re alive but you’re not there to see them?” Barry put his hand on Jack’s shoulder and turned him around to face him. “If they can see your face, know you’re alive, all the anger and resentment and everything else? Those will just disappear.”
“How can you be sure? You either believe in the family or you’re not a part of it, that’s what Pop said. I didn’t believe in either one of them, especially Joe.”
Barry’s expression, the pain in his eyes, was hard to look at. “Your father may have said it, but he didn’t mean it. Do you have any idea how many things I said to Beau in anger that I didn’t mean? That I wish I could take back? Your father didn’t mean it, son. You had more pride than brains, and he was a man struggling to get up in the morning because Joe had broken his heart.” Barry squeezed his shoulder. “No one knows someone else’s thoughts. Your father took up for Joe, defended him, but there’s no way he could’ve been a hundred percent sure that Joe didn’t do it. Jack…I lost my only son. Right now, your father thinks he’s lost one of his, the son he drove away because of his own blind stupidity. That’s not something a man takes lightly. He’s had time to think about things, knows he messed up. Just like you’ve had time to grow up. Let him have Christmas with his boys, Jack. You might have run away as an eighteen-year-old kid, but go home a man, one old enough to own up to your faults and willing to ask for forgiveness. You do that, and no father or brother will turn you away.”
There was only one way to find out if that were true. But where was he going to find the courage to face them?
MARLEY SHOOK THE CORD in her hand with an exasperated sound. “Come on, don’t do this now. Work!” The official ceremony announcing the winner of the Winter Festival competition was about to start. Wouldn’t it just figure that half the lights on her display would go out?
“They’re sold out of the white lights.” Angel panted as she jogged up to the booth. “I even tried to buy a set from the car lot. That ugly tree they have in the window could use some toning down, but they refused.” She pulled a boxed set of bright blue bulbs from a bag. “This was all I could get. Maybe we can make it look sort of retro and flower-powered.”
“I could give you a hand.”
Marley froze at the sound of the masculine voice behind her. She stared at Angel’s face, watched as her friend stared at Jack with an expression full of relief before it tightened into a protective glare.
“So, you finally decided to show up?”
“Angel.”
“I came to apologize.”
“Well, okay, then. Get to it.” Angel grinned cheekily. “And don’t screw it up.” Her gaze dropped to Marley’s and she stared hard. “You, either.”
Marley closed her eyes with a sigh, conscious of Jack’s husky chuckle. A moment later he knelt beside her, close enough that she felt the brush of his knee, his hands plucking the cord from hers.
“You probably blew a fuse.” He pulled the plug-ins apart and shifted so that the lights from the other displays illuminated the flat surface. Using his fingernail, he opened the tiny covering, popped the fuse out and nodded. “Where’s the new set?”
Her hands shook but she somehow managed to open the box and find one of the little plastic bags of fuses and extra bulbs. Within seconds all of her lights were working.
The image she’d tried to perfect was that of a house, a window. Inside the house she’d placed a Christmas tree draped in vintage-style red, white and blue ribbon, added old-fashioned glass bulbs and tucked antique toys beneath the limbs. A weathered sleigh, a rocking horse with a fuzzy mane, baby dolls and wind-up toys, symbols of Christmases past encircled by a train. An old chair, faux mantel. Braided rug.
A clapboard wall was her “house” and the window’s support. Beneath that, the foundation of her display was made up of Keystone Rock. Pretty on their own with their basket weave design. The base was heavily landscaped with lighted shrubs and ornamental trees, winter-hardy pansies and forced bulbs. An old wooden fence draped with rose hips and greenery served as her backdrop, red velvet bows placed at the arches. Her intention was to remind people of old-fashioned Christmases spent with the ones they loved.
“It looks beautiful, Marley.”
“Thank you. And thanks for the—the help.”
Awkward silence surrounded them, broken by the school choir singing carols on the corner.
Why was he here? Jack hadn’t been Jack when they’d made love and even though it had meant everything to her, who knew what it meant to him? She closed her eyes and sent up a quick prayer, something she’d been doing a lot of lately as her mother began to withdraw from her medication. The road ahead wouldn’t be easy, but they’d survive as a family.
“Marley? You all right?”
She kept her eyes closed and added another prayer, wondering if her imagination was overcompensating for her lack of sleep because Jack’s voice had sounded so caring. Loving.
Loving?
Calloused fingertips brushed her hair from her cheek and mouth, tucking the strands behind her ear, gently turning her face until…
“Marley, look at me and tell me…Tell me you don’t hate me for putting you through this. Tell me I didn’t
blow everything with you.”
Sniffling to hold back a sudden rush of tears, she blinked and it took everything in her to keep those tears in check. “I d-don’t hate you. I still can’t believe it. I know you must be in shock.”
“I was. I needed to think and I wasn’t sure if you or Barry would want to see me again.”
“I did. I—I do.” Jack looked as tired and worn-out as she felt. As anxious and nervous, too. Marley pushed herself up, and he stood with her, but he didn’t back away. Face-to-face, she asked, “Are you okay? Really okay?”
One side of his mouth pulled up in a sad, lopsided grin so endearing and sexy she felt the pain inside her heal just a bit. If he was still smiling at her after all of this…
“As good as I can be, I guess. There’s a lot that has to be dealt with.” He glanced around and lowered his voice. “The military has to be notified so that I can be declared living. And then there’s the fallout from switching tags.”
“My father says they’ll probably change your discharge status from Honorable to Dishonorable, but that you shouldn’t be reprimanded otherwise.”
“I hope not.”
“It’ll be okay, Jack. There are worse things that could happen than that and the people who count know how honorable you are.”
“Meaning you?” He swallowed, the sound audible, when she nodded. “Marley, are you okay that it’s me and not Beau?”
“You never were Beau.”
Jack stiffened and started to step away, but she stopped him by grabbing the open front of his coat and holding him in place. If he went anywhere she was going with him. “You never were Beau,” she repeated softly, “because from the very beginning I saw the differences in you. Jack, that’s what I meant, nothing else. Am I okay with you being kind and caring and gentle and good? Yes. Is it surreal that you’re all of those things and look like Beau? Most definitely, yes. I was so confused. I didn’t understand how someone could be so different, but…That’s just it. You are different. Totally different. You’re the man he wasn’t, the man Beau never could be because the boy I knew can never match up to you. You are…” She knew the words she wanted to say but—
“Someone you want to spend time with?”
She smiled up at him. “Definitely.”
Jack was silent, his gaze searching. “Do your parents know?”
“My father does. He says he’ll represent you if there are problems, or find someone who can help you if things get complicated. Don’t look so surprised. I think he’s relieved that you aren’t Beau and wants to make up for the way he treated you that day. And my mother—I’ll have to tell you about her later, but…she’s going to be okay with it. I know she will be. The Pierce family have all become more understanding and enlightened to a lot of things while you’ve been gone.”
“What about you?”
Heat slid into Marley’s cheeks. She was surrounded by people who knew her parents and would no doubt be on the phone gossiping about her standing there latched on to Jack, but she didn’t care. Now that he was here, she could look into his face and see that he didn’t hold her past with Beau against her. “I’m okay,” she whispered. “I’m okay because I love the man you are. The one who carries trees for me and—and sees me to my door to make sure I’m safe. Are you okay with me thinking at the time you were a new and improved Beau?”
Jack pressed his lips to her ear. “I don’t like the thought of you with anyone else. But you didn’t know what was going on and neither did I. You love me?”
She smoothed her hand up to his jaw. “Yes,” she said, aware that he hadn’t said the words to her. Given all he’d been through she wasn’t going to rush him. The new and improved Marley, the girl who’d grown up and learned to be a better judge of character, saw it in his eyes. Jack would tell her when he was ready. “We can take things slow. As slow as you need. You’ve got a lot to deal with right now and so do I, but together…”
He kissed her, a seductive meeting of lips that reflected all the need between them. A heartbeat later he deepened the caress, sweeping into her mouth with hot, sweet strokes that confirmed what she felt for him. No one had ever made her feel like this. No one.
The kiss ended and Marley gasped when she opened her eyes and saw the sparkle of tears in his gaze. He blinked twice and they were gone, but they were there. Tears for her. For them.
“You saw me, knew me, when I didn’t know myself.” Jack kissed her again. “And I love you for it. I always will.” He dropped a kiss to her nose and drew away, holding out his hand. “Hi.”
Bemused, Marley slowly put her palm in his. “Uh…Hi?”
“I’m Jack Brody.”
Catching on, she tilted her face toward his, uncaring that from the stage, the chairperson for the competition had begun announcing the runners-up. Some things were more important. “Marley Pierce. You new to town? Maybe I can show you around sometime.”
“And the winner is…”
“I can’t wait.” Smiling the smile that made her toes curl in her boots, Jack pulled her flush against him for another kiss. Her blood pumped quickly through her veins, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with every ounce of love inside her.
A loud roar of applause erupted around them. Jack stiffened. She felt it, but she didn’t care. He tried to end the kiss and raise his head, but she wouldn’t let him.
“Marley,” he murmured against her mouth, “you won.”
She blinked up at him, dazed, then realized exactly what he’d said. Realized they were surrounded by laughing, clapping people, all of them giving her and Jack knowing looks and grins. Heat flooded her cheeks when she spotted Clay shaking his head at her while Angel stood beside him giving Marley a thumbs up.
“Babe, you won.” Jack kissed her quickly again, then nudged her toward the stage. “Go on, go get your prize. You got what you wanted for Christmas.”
Smiling, Marley ignored the heat in her cheeks and threaded her way through the crowd on wobbly knees. Climbing the steps, she glanced back, her gaze zeroing in on Jack who clapped and whistled, a broad, proud grin on his face. Her heart beat faster. “I most certainly did.”
EPILOGUE
Christmas Eve…
“STOP FUSSING. Jack, you look fine.”
“I should’ve gotten a haircut.”
Marley pulled his hand down and held it in hers, stopping them halfway between the truck and the large Victorian-style house. “If you don’t stop pulling at it, you’re not going to have any left.” She squeezed his fingers tight. “Look at me. It’s going to be okay. Take a deep breath and remember what Barry said.”
They’d pulled up to the B and B Joe and his wife owned a good ten minutes ago, but he hadn’t worked up the courage to go inside.
The house was lit up from top to bottom in white lights. Electric candles in the windows, more white lights in the shrubs. It looked like a happy house, like a happy family lived there. Was he really ready to go in there and screw it up? “Maybe I should wait until after Christmas. Barry knows Beau isn’t ever coming back, and he’s feeling his loss. He could be wrong about my family. Maybe I should let the military make first contact and tell them so that they won’t freak out and think they’re seeing a ghost.”
“They’ll be happy to see you.”
“What do I say? Surprise? There’s been a mistake?”
She grimaced. “Maybe something a little less…I don’t know, but not that.”
“Lot of help you are.”
Marley hugged his arm to her body and prodded him to get moving again. “Maybe you should just knock on the door and let whatever happens, happen.”
That didn’t appeal, either. He needed a plan, but what? He ran his free hand through his hair again. “I wouldn’t get through this without you. You know that, right?” He squeezed the fingers that held his, knowing deep down Marley was as nervous as he was at seeing his family for the first time. “It’s okay what they say to me, whatever it is.” He glanced down to se
e Marley’s expression soften.
“Jack.”
“It is,” he insisted. “They’ve got a lot of reasons not to want anything to do with me. That’s up to them. I don’t want you getting in the middle of things and taking up for me if it turns into a shouting match or something.”
“It won’t. They’ll be happy to see you.”
He pulled her against him, feeling like a coward and needing the feel of her to give him strength. “Marley, I’m just saying that whatever happens, I’m okay with it because I have you. Because I love you.” Inhaling the scent of her hair, he felt the tension leave his body. He’d made peace with himself, with the past. Whatever took place after they walked through that door, he had Marley and she was all he needed. Barry, too. Beau’s father had offered him a partnership in the business, one he planned to take him up on so long as he could open up an office in South Ridge. “More than you’ll ever know. I can face anything with you by my side.”
She thumped his shoulder with her fist. “Stop it. Don’t make me face them crying, it’s not a pretty sight and—Oh, great.”
He laughed huskily and kissed her cheek, releasing her and helping her blot the tears with his fingers. “Perfect. You look beautiful.”
Marley sniffled, pulled herself together and then stood on tiptoe to kiss him. “You’ll be okay. Let’s just knock on the door and do this so that you’ll see I’m right.” She smirked. “I have been right a lot here lately.”
Jack groaned at the reminder even though he prayed she was right this time, too. He stepped onto the bricked patio near the porch. “That you have. But we can’t go in there yet.”
She groaned. “Jack, just—”
“Something’s still not right.” He frowned down at her. “It’s you, but don’t worry, I can fix the problem.”
“Stop stalling.”
He pulled the box from his pocket, the one he’d planned to give her tomorrow morning. Now seemed like a better time, and he was freaked out enough by the whole scenario about to play out that he liked the idea of her wearing something he gave her when she met his father and Joe for the first time.
