Lasting Shadows: Shadows Landing #3

by Kathleen Brooks

  “Savannah, my heart knew you were for me the first time I touched you. Our souls met and they’ve been entwined ever since. Your passion, your love, and your kindness feed my soul. I can’t imagine a day without you in it. Will you marry me?”

  Savannah had been holding her breath, afraid she’d miss a single word Ridge said. Her body was physically reacting to him as she felt as if she vibrated with energy. Her whole body shook as she looked into his eyes and said, “Yes. It would make me the happiest woman in the world to be your wife. I love you, Ridge.”

  Ridge let out a relieved sigh as he slipped the ring onto her finger. “I could hear you say that a million times and never get tired of it.”

  Savannah gasped and laughed as she bent over to cup Ridge’s face in her hands. She kissed him then and when she pulled away she finally told him about the other million in her life before they proceeded to completely ruin her mascara, which caused them to arrive an hour late for her own party.

  Epilogue

  “You wanted a wedding in two weeks, you got a wedding in two weeks.”

  Savannah looked around Harper’s bar in wonder. Harper stood in a plum bridesmaid’s dress with her arms crossed and her long hair hanging down her back. Savannah thought she’d cry and ruin her mascara—again. She’s ruined it twice the night before—once before the rehearsal and once after the dinner. All in the best possible way.

  The ceiling of the bar was covered with strings of pretty lights and gauzy white fabric. The normal lighting was covered in greenery and flowers to make hanging floral arrangements. The left side of the bar was set with tables for dinner and the right was a dance floor. Gator, Turtle, Junior, and Skeeter were part of a country band that she and Ridge had hired to play the reception.

  “This is beyond my wildest dreams. Thank you all so much.” Savannah hugged Harper before hugging Tinsley and Trent who had all helped decorate.

  “Did you find someone to help you tonight so you can enjoy the party?” Savannah asked Harper. “I want you out on that dance floor with me.”

  Harper nodded. “I finally got around to putting an ad in the paper and hired someone yesterday. Tonight’s her first night at work. It’s trial by fire.”

  Trent snorted. “It’ll be a snap. Skeeter, Turtle, and Gator will be busy playing music instead of sitting at a bar.”

  They all nodded. That was true.

  “Evie! Can you come out here for a minute,” Harper called toward the kitchen.

  A woman who looked to be in her late twenties walked out to join them. Her hair was a bright sunshiny blonde that stood out against her form-fitting black V-neck sweater. Her eyes were a brilliant blue and were framed by the loose bouncy curls of her long hair. She smiled at them and clasped her hands to her chest. “Oh, you’re stunning! Congratulations.”

  Evie wrapped Savannah into a quick, but touching hug. The kind that left a smile on your face.

  “Savannah almost-Faulkner, this is my new employee, Evie Scott,” Harper introduced before doing so with Trent and Tinsley.

  “You sure you can handle all of us and all the Davies?” Trent teased.

  “Not all,” Tinsley said with a disappointed frown. “Cousin Jackson can’t make it. Aunt Paige said he’s out of the country.”

  “Yeah, but Suze Bell told me she got a text from him today saying he’ll be here in ten days to stay at her new cottage. So at least we’ll get to see him then and if he stays long enough, you’ll be able to meet him,” Harper told Savannah.

  “Well, I’m all ready,” Evie told them. “I can’t wait to meet everyone. I’m new to town so what better way to become a part of it?”

  Harper took Evie into the kitchen for some last minute instructions. People were beginning to arrive at the church across the street. Tinsley and Trent both hugged her before they hurried to the church to get ready for Savannah’s entrance.

  “Harper, time for you to go!” Savannah called out. Harper hurried from the kitchen, and as she ran by Savannah gave her a wink.

  Tinsley was serving as Savannah’s maid of honor while Harper, Ellery, and Darcy were her bridesmaids. Lucy was a junior bridesmaid. After all, if it hadn’t been for her, Savannah wouldn’t have known how to handle the dagger that saved her life.

  The bar door opened and there stood a tuxedo clad Granger Fox. “They’re ready for you.”

  He held out his arm for her to take. With each step closer to the church, Savannah’s pace quickened. She couldn’t wait to start her life with Ridge. Kord greeted her with a low whistle as she heard the music from outside the church. Kord and Granger were ushers for the wedding.

  “You sure you don’t want to run away with me?” Kord asked and then pretended to be wounded when she just laughed.

  “Did the nurse come?” Savannah asked as Granger took his place at the other door.

  “Nah, she wasn’t the one. But my one is out there somewhere,” Kord told her.

  Granger rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry, he didn’t come alone.”

  Kord smirked. “You see this smile? It’s because I have a date. You see his frown? It’s because he doesn’t.”

  Savannah giggled as they teased each other until she heard the sound of the music she and Ridge had picked for her walk down the aisle. Kord and Granger looked at her, and when she nodded they opened both doors at the same time Savannah took her first step toward the rest of her life.

  Ridge danced with his wife under the soft lights. He hadn’t stopped smiling since she’d said, “I do.” But all too soon they were separated as the women swooped in and had to have all the details on the proposal. And then Uncle Miles from Keeneston held up a bottle of very good bourbon and wiggled it at Ridge.

  “I’ll be right over there,” Ridge whispered to Savannah.

  “Newlyweds. You’re so adorable,” Aunt Morgan, Miles’s wife, sighed.

  “I don’t know, I say they get better with age,” Aunt Gemma said, looking at her husband, Ridge’s Uncle Cy, across the room.

  The male Faulkner cousins stood with the Davies uncles and male cousins as Ridge joined them. Evie lined up tumblers and Miles poured a toast before they all held up their glasses. “To Ridge and Savannah.”

  “Cheers!”

  “What I want to know is if I won the bet,” Ryker asked with a smirk.

  Walker, who was born and raised in Shadows Landing but married to a Davies, pulled out his phone. “Let’s see. I keep everything on a text loop. Back in Keeneston, we have an app for betting on personal lives,” he said as he began to scroll.

  “Ryker, you did say two months,” Walker said as he read through the texts.

  “It hurts to be so good.” Ryker grinned before taking another taste of his bourbon.

  “But in this case, it hurts to lose so badly,” Walker said with surprise and then laughter. “You didn’t win.”

  Ryker’s eyes narrowed. “Who did?”

  “I did.” They turned and looked at Harper. Evie took the bottle of bourbon from Miles and poured Harper a tumbler full of the amber liquid. “Nice try, boys,” Harper said before silently toasting them and shooting the bourbon before snatching the cash from Walker’s hand.

  Trent watched as Harper walked away. “How did she win? Ryker said two months.”

  “Yeah, but don’t you remember I told you the more specific the better?” Uncle Cade said, looking over Walker’s shoulder. “Harper guessed the day of the wedding.”

  The men groaned.

  “I do not like losing,” Ryker said, pulling out a twenty. “Twenty on Harper getting married next.”

  Harper could still taste the bourbon as she danced with all her cousins. She’d heard Ryker place a bet on her getting married and wondered if she could bet against him. She wasn’t the marrying type. She was married to her life here at the bar. She loved it. This was her place. These were her people.

  She’d never met a man who could hold a candle to the happiness she found there. Plus, there wasn’t what you’d call a big select
ion of men in Shadows Landing. She’d dated all the available ones and there hadn’t been any chemistry. For all her toughness, she wanted love.

  Harper looked around her bar. This love. The love between family. The love between her aunts and uncles. The love Gavin and Ellery, Wade and Darcy, and now Ridge and Savannah had found. Harper sighed with deep feeling as her eyes landed on her Great-Aunt Marcy and Great-Uncle Jake Davies. They sat together, his hand holding hers, as they talked to friends and family. Decades of marriage and they still looked as madly in love as any newlyweds.

  And until a man did that for Harper, there would be no wedding. And considering she was thirty and had never found it, she was pretty sure Ryker would lose his bet.

  “Harper?” Great-Aunt Marcy called out. “Come sit for a moment.” Harper noticed that the crowd had cleared from around Marcy as she joined her. “Jake, be a dear and grab that bottle of bourbon from Miles, would you?”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s my favorite and he didn’t offer me any. So snatch it from him and tell him he can have it back when he finds his manners.”

  Harper tried to stifle her laugh. Uncle Miles had been in Special Forces, yet Marcy still treated him as a young boy.

  “Yes, dear.” Jake leaned over and kissed his wife’s cheek. “Stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”

  Marcy grinned. “One, he knows better. And two, I still enjoy that view.” That time Harper did laugh out loud. There were many layers to her great-aunt. “I wanted to ask you a favor, dear.”

  “Sure, Aunt Marcy. What is it?” Strange how two years ago Harper had only heard of Aunt Marcy and now she was the most stabilizing force in all their lives. Harper looked over to her parents and grandparents who were talking to Jake and some of the aunts and uncles from both Keeneston and Shadows Landing. It was good seeing them all come together as one family. And they owed that to Layne Davies and Marcy Davies.

  Marcy took Harper’s hand in hers and then patted it. “You know your uncles have that little school of theirs, right?”

  Harper nodded. “Right. But I don’t know how I can help teach soldiers about Special Forces tactics.”

  Marcy waved her hand as if shooing a bug. “Oh no. It’s law enforcement too. Anyway, I met this nice young boy at the café one day. He spent a week at the training center. We ended up having many meals together. He was so nice I made him an apple pie.”

  “That was nice of him. And you. Your apple pie is the greatest. Just don’t tell Miss Winnie or Miss Ruby.”

  Marcy patted Harper’s cheek. “You’re such a sweetie.” No one had called Harper a sweetie in . . . well, ever. “So, it turns out this nice young boy just moved to Charleston a month ago. He doesn’t know a soul, bless his little heart.”

  Harper’s stomach dropped. No, Aunt Marcy, please don’t, she thought.

  “And I told him my beautiful niece would be happy to show him around. He likes to get out of the big city and I told him about Shadows Landing, but I’m afraid I might have jumbled the pirate history a little. Anyway,” Marcy pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and handed it to her. “I told him you two could get together next Friday. He told me he has that night off. Since I just met Evie and she said she’d take the Friday evening shift, you can show little Dare around town.”

  Well, crap. No getting out of this one.

  Harper unfolded the piece of paper and saw Dare Reigns, Palm Meadows Island Resort Bar, 6:00 p.m. written in Marcy’s spidery handwriting. “There’s no phone number.” She needed to call and cancel this . . . this . . . she didn’t know what this was.

  “Oh dear. I knew I forgot something.” Marcy blinked at her and it was supposed to look innocent but Harper was pretty sure Marcy was gloating. “You’ll do this for me, won’t you? He’s just a nice young boy.”

  Harper knew when she was beat, so she gave a little smile. “Sure, Aunt Marcy. I’ll show him around next week.”

  “Thank you, dear. Oh, I see that nice sheriff over there. I want to go say hello to him. Love you, sweetie.”

  “Love you too.” Gosh, she was a sucker. Harper would go and get this meet-and-greet over with. Show some twenty-year-old kid around Charleston and be done with it.

  “Come on, Harp,” Tinsley yelled from the dance floor. Harper slipped the piece of paper into her bra and joined the party.

  Ridge leaned down and kissed his wife as they stood in the middle of the dance floor. It had been a magical night. Love surrounded them as he’d promised to cherish his wife forever. In her eyes, he saw a lifetime of love.

  Savannah traced her hands from his shoulder to his neck and used them to pull down his head. “I have a treat for you at home,” she whispered into his ear over the music.

  “Oh, yeah? What is it?”

  “Apple pie,” Savannah whispered.

  Ridge grinned. He still had the picture of Savannah and an apple pie on his phone. “A literal or a figurative apple pie?”

  Savannah took a step back and crooked her finger at him. “You’ll just have to find out.”

  Savannah laughed and Ridge took her hand. Together they ran through the cheering crowd and toward their future.

  THE END

  Bluegrass Series

  Bluegrass State of Mind

  Risky Shot

  Dead Heat

  Bluegrass Brothers

  Bluegrass Undercover

  Rising Storm

  Secret Santa: A Bluegrass Series Novella

  Acquiring Trouble

  Relentless Pursuit

  Secrets Collide

  Final Vow

  Bluegrass Singles

  All Hung Up

  Bluegrass Dawn

  The Perfect Gift

  The Keeneston Roses

  Forever Bluegrass Series

  Forever Entangled

  Forever Hidden

  Forever Betrayed

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  Forever Hunted

  Forever Guarded

  Forever Notorious

  Forever Ventured

  Forever Freed (coming January 21, 2020)

  Shadows Landing Series

  Saving Shadows

  Sunken Shadows

  Lasting Shadows

  Fierce Shadows (coming April/May 2020)

  Women of Power Series

  Chosen for Power

  Built for Power

  Fashioned for Power

  Destined for Power

  Web of Lies Series

  Whispered Lies

  Rogue Lies

  Shattered Lies

  Moonshine Hollow Series

  Moonshine & Murder

  Moonshine & Malice

  Moonshine & Mayhem

  About the Author

  Kathleen Brooks is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author. Kathleen’s stories are romantic suspense featuring strong female heroines, humor, and happily-ever-afters. Her Bluegrass Series and follow-up Bluegrass Brothers Series feature small town charm with quirky characters that have captured the hearts of readers around the world.

  Kathleen is an animal lover who supports rescue organizations and other non-profit organizations such as Friends and Vets Helping Pets whose goals are to protect and save our four-legged family members.

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