Never Say No to Love (Sonoma Summers Book 2)
Page 7
"God, she's beautiful, Jacks," sniffed Rita on my left. "Simply gorgeous." My cousin smiled, then blew her nose loudly into a tissue.
"She's made from love," Carl said, his melodic voice quivering. I turned my head to look at him, finding not only Jenna's teary-eyed father, but also a tall black man in a charcoal suit, a bible in his huge hand.
"Where the —"
"I have a lot of explaining to do, but Reverend John here has another event to get to, so if we are going to do this, we have to do it now." Carl's hand cupped my cheek. "If you will..."
"Do what?" I stared at the tall man, my initial impulse to ask the stranger to leave, but then I saw the softness in his eyes as he looked at Jenna.
"Marry you," the reverend said, his deep bass voice filling the room. "If you still want to marry Mr. Martin, that is?" He looked down at Carl, his bushy eyebrow crooked, as if anyone in their right mind would undoubtedly want to think twice about it.
"How..." I couldn't process the events unfolding. I felt Rita's hand on my shoulder, a support and a comfort.
Carl quickly explained, his voice husky with emotion. "We finalized the divorce today. I gave Victoria everything she wanted. Everything. We're broke, Jacqueline, but we're free. John here agreed to come to the hospital and —"
"Aren't you the guy who played running back for that New York team...." my cousin Rita interrupted, staring up at the huge John.
"I was," the big man smiled, "but now folks call me Reverend John. As for this marriage gig, I'm happy to help out my man Carl, but we best get to it, if you don't mind. I'll read the short version, and you both can say your piece." Reverend John chuckled. "Can you be a witness, doc?"
"As soon as I finish stitching this lady up, I'll be glad to give you my John Hancock," Dr. Pollock laughed.
"And you, young lady?" John said to Rita. "Would you be a witness?"
"Hell, yeah," my cousin laughed. "It's about time."
The gray-haired maternity nurse appeared suddenly behind Rita and tucked a small pink rose beside me on the bed. "It was the best I could do for a bouquet on short notice," she smiled, then immediately rushed off.
"All right then." Reverend John cleared his throat, and opened the bible in his large palms. "Do you Jacqueline Carmichael take this man Carl Jacobs Martin...."
I smiled up into Carl's wet eyes, my hands clutching my precious daughter to my chest. "We do, Reverend. By God, we do."
Excerpt: Never Say Goodbye
Sonoma Summers Novella Series (Book 3)
A fresh start. A new beginning. A chance to rebuild her life. That is precisely what Rita Garcia wants when she flees her broken engagement and leaves her ex-fiancé behind on the East coast where he enjoys his new fling, who also happens to be Rita's best friend from childhood. If only it wasn't true....
When Rita arrives in Northern California, she knows she's made the right decision, except time isn't healing her wounded heart. She still thinks about her ex all too often.
Until she meets him...
When Dave Higgins steps into the office, he never expects to meet a woman like Rita. She dazzles him from the start, and he knows, they just fit. And they do. In all the ways that matter. The whirlwind romance is like nothing he's ever experienced before, and he never wants to let her go.
But when life decides to play another cruel joke, he has to make a difficult choice, and love might not be enough.
Excerpt
No one would ever call Dave Higgins a pretty man. Not by a long shot. But there was something about the man's wide shoulders and dishwater blond curls that made me feel like running my hands all over him just for fun. Or maybe I wanted to see what I might find beneath the flannel shirt and blue jeans.
"Customer, Reet," said Guy Salvatore, bringing my attention back to earth. His bushy brown eyebrows waggled at me, his teeth set in a ferocious grin. The man sensed something bubbling between Dave and I and filled in the rest with his dirty imagination. Some days I wished he wasn't so damn happily married.
"Got it," I said, climbing to my feet and yanking my emerald v-neck sweater slightly lower. I approached the counter, black skirt swaying.
Dave chewed the side of his lip, pretending to peruse one of the catalogs. He'd recently taken the Operations Manager position at Nowalk Transportation, helping refurbish and expand the truck fleet, so I'd seen a lot of him the past few months.
"Good morning, Dave," I smiled.
"Morning, Rita." he smiled back, green eyes wandering across my face, down the curves of my sweater and back up to my grin.
"Let me know if I can help you. I mean, if there's something you'd like to order up." I cocked my head and raised my painted eyebrows expectantly.
"Oh, I will. I definitely will." Dave chuckled.
I watched thoughts flit across his chiseled face. Typically, I could make a pretty good guess at those delicious thoughts, but I kept it professional and waited for him to direct the conversation. After all, I could be wrong. He could be in there just to buy gaskets or a water pump for one of Nowalk's trucks. But I was rarely wrong about men — at least not ones I wasn't head over heels in love with.
"Lemme ask you, Rita. Where you from? East Coast somewhere?" Dave's voice was calm and smooth, and he looked me right in the eye as if I mattered. His aftershave smelled like orange spice tea.
"New Yohk," I said, allowing my accent to flourish. "Moved here two years ago."
"Sounds like a story I'd like to hear. Come with me on a run up to Sacramento someday and fill me in." He motioned toward his red Chevy pickup with his chin. "Let me make you an offer you can't refuse."
"Mister, I don't even know you," I teased. But I wasn't all that alarmed by Dave's quasi-invitation. I had an eye for troublemakers and although he probably wasn't a Boy Scout, Dave didn't seem overtly dangerous — but he didn't strike me as someone who could be pushed around either. I studied him thoughtfully, wondering how far we'd make it down the highway before I wiggled my way onto his lap.
"Easy way to fix that," he said, his voice casual. He flipped pages in the parts catalog, dog-earing a few for future reference.
"Are you a magician by chance, Rita?" Dave asked, changing the subject. A frown creased his lips.
Momentarily confused, I looked into his serious eyes. His green irises were actually a combination of olive and golden brown, a color that reminded me of a sunny autumn day. "What makes you think that?"
"Because whenever I look at you everyone else disappears," Dave smiled. Then we both laughed. To his credit, his chuckle was self-conscious, as though he hadn't really meant to spin that corny line, at least not in such a public place. No one was there to hear it except me though, so he shrugged it off, looking almost like a teenager with a flush in his cheeks.
He hooked me then, although I don't think he knew it.
About the Author
Jesse Devyn Crowe lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her fisherman husband and two adventurous Labrador Retrievers. Originally born and raised in New England, Jesse had the distinct pleasure of living seven years in both California and Alaska, two great lands that left a distinct mark on her writing. The rest, as they say, is herstory — a tale of a girl who grew into a woman and a mother and a waitress and a writer and lots of other hats in between. An introvert by nature, Jesse enjoys living off the beaten path at the very edge of the grid (her preference being hot showers, not to mention electricity to power her laptop). She enjoys gardening, bird-watching, and hiking, as well as the occasional weekend gathering of wild women friends. She is currently finishing a novel series.
jessedevyncrowe.com
Also by Jesse Devyn Crowe
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