She Loves Me

by Foster, Melissa

  Marshall laughed. “I’ve missed you, Dee.”

  “Me too,” Delaney said. “I’m glad you’re back.”

  Their mother fussed over them in the kitchen, giving Marshall an orange-cranberry muffin, his favorite, and Harley a blueberry scone. She looked ten years younger than she had on Saturday, all because of Marshall’s return, driving Harley’s guilt even deeper for running Marshall off after their father’s funeral. He had a feeling he’d better get used to that guilt. It clung to his bones, like an unwanted yet deserved hitchhiker.

  They settled in around the kitchen table, where the remnants of Delaney’s favorite chocolate croissant littered her plate.

  “You boys need to learn to speak with words, not fists,” their mother said. “Can you do that for me? Please?”

  “Yes,” they answered in unison, sharing a knowing grin.

  Delaney said, “You shouldn’t lie to your mother. I can’t get over your beard, Marsh, and all that ink. You look so different.”

  “I am different,” Marshall said, and then he told them about where he’d been and all he’d gone through. He showed them the picture of Annie and Destiny, and their mother and Delaney cried. Marshall put on a brave face, shifting a tight expression to Harley.

  Harley knew he was seeking support and nodded accordingly. He tried to focus as his mother told Marshall about how depressed she’d been when he’d disappeared, but Harley couldn’t stop thinking about Piper, wondering if she was okay and where she was. He touched his phone in his pocket, wishing she’d text or call.

  “I’m sorry, Mom. I had no idea I’d hurt you so badly. You and Dad must have hated me,” Marshall said, bringing Harley’s mind back to their conversation.

  “No, honey,” their mother said emphatically. “We could never hate you. We missed you, and it was easier for your father to let you go than to think about all the things he felt he’d done wrong that made you leave. He wasn’t happy that you gave up on college when your dream was to become a smoke jumper, but he put that blame on himself for not doing more to help you.”

  “Nobody made me leave, Mom,” Marshall said, glancing at Harley again. “I blamed everyone else for a long time: Harley for being hard on me, Dad for giving up on me and treating me like I would never amount to anything, while he helped Harley and Delaney learn all kinds of shi—stuff. But I left of my own accord, and I know that blame was misplaced.”

  “Honey, your father didn’t think you’d never amount to anything,” their mother said. “He—we—were trying to give you what you needed, not force you to be someone you didn’t want to be and fight with you about it.”

  Marshall put his hand over their mother’s and said, “I’ve gone through enough therapy to understand that now, but as a kid I didn’t see anything very clearly. I don’t want to rehash all of that. I’m in a good place now, and I’m on medication for depression, which I should have probably been on even as a teenager, when I felt like my world was spinning out of control. It wasn’t, but that’s what anxiety does to a person.”

  Marshall went on to tell them about his idea for Annie’s Hope, and Harley’s thoughts turned to Ralph. He said, “When I lived in the city I had a friend who fell apart under the pressure of the job and became suicidal. A place like Annie’s Hope could have offered help and hope. I think what you’re planning will be beneficial for many people.” Myself included if Piper ends things with me.

  “I would have loved to be able to walk into a café setting for a support meeting when I was first diagnosed with cancer,” Delaney said. “We met at the YMCA in a meeting room, and it always felt cold and weird. Are you thinking of helping kids, too? Teenage years are so hard, and if there are peer groups and therapists who can sit down and talk in a comfortable setting, maybe more kids could get help instead of bottling everything up.”

  “That’s the hope. We’ll serve all ages. Wynnie, the therapist I told you about, will help me connect with medical professionals in the area, from pediatrics to geriatrics,” Marshall explained. “Mental health issues don’t discriminate by age. I’d like to create an environment where dealing with emotional issues isn’t seen as something that sets people apart, but a place where it brings them together for support. Imagine if there was a meeting for stressed-out single fathers, like the buddy I’m staying with? I bet they’d love to have a place where they didn’t need to pretend everything was cool all the time.”

  Their mother fidgeted with her napkin and said, “Your father could have used a place like that, too, even though he never would have gone.”

  “Dad wasn’t depressed,” Harley said. “The man worked like a dog. He had a right to be moody.”

  “I never said depressed,” his mother clarified. “But he had his own issues.”

  “Wouldn’t we know if Dad had emotional issues?” Delaney asked.

  “Not necessarily,” she said. “He was a proud man, and you kids were busy living your lives when you were still at home. Then you were off at college, and then you were off building your futures, getting started with your careers.”

  “I would have noticed. I was home every weekend,” Harley said.

  “He was proud of the way you stepped up to help Delaney when she moved back home, honey,” their mother said. “But there was no reason for your father to be on your list of people to watch over.”

  Harley sat back, feeling like he’d somehow failed his father.

  “Harley, don’t beat yourself up. Why do you think Dad worked so many hours?” Marshall asked. “It’s a trick people use to keep themselves distracted from the things they can’t control.”

  “He’s right, sweetheart,” their mother said. “The mind is a powerful thing. Your father would have worked himself to death before he’d let you kids see him as something less than the man you needed him to be.”

  Harley shook his head. “So he suffered alone.”

  “You can’t go back and be his hero, Har,” Marshall said. “Don’t take on that burden. You’ve got enough on your plate. Besides, Dad’s generation was built on tough love. He wouldn’t have known what to do with you hovering over him.”

  Delaney looked at Harley over the rim of her coffee cup as she took a sip. Her joy was apparent in her eyes. She set her cup down and said, “Looks like our baby brother has become all kinds of smart.”

  “He’s always been smart,” their mother said. “And he’s right about our tough-love generation, which was probably why Harley was so tough on Marshall when you boys lived at home.”

  Harley and Marshall exchanged a glance. Even with their fights, they’d never ratted on each other.

  Their mother looked at them coyly. “Come on, boys. Give your mama a little credit. Do you think I really bought all those tales you two told when you were kids? How many accidents can two kids have? Bicycle, skateboard, Jet Ski, or—your father’s favorite—the one you told all the time when you were just little boys and you’d both come home with bruises and scratches.”

  Marshall chuckled. “The one where we said we fell down a hill chasing Mrs. Treadway’s lost dog and then climbed under the boathouse at the marina when it hid there?” Mrs. Treadway was a teacher at the elementary school.

  “I thought that one was our best,” Harley said.

  “It might have worked if Mrs. Treadway had a dog,” Delaney said.

  A dog barked outside. “Jiggs!” Harley jumped to his feet and looked out the window. Jiggs was standing by the passenger door of Piper’s truck barking, and Willow was walking around the front of the truck, wearing pink pajamas and slippers. What the . . . ?

  “Jiggs?” Delaney asked, popping to her feet next to Harley.

  “Why is Willow wearing pajamas?” Marshall asked from behind Harley.

  “No idea.” Harley ran to the front door with his family close behind and flew out the door. He ran down the steps, and Piper hobble-hopped toward him with one arm around Willow’s neck, her right knee bent. His chest constricted. She was barefoot, and her right foot w
as swollen and black-and-blue. Her hair was tangled and streaked with green, as were her cheeks. She didn’t appear to have any pants on, only one of his sweatshirts, which hung halfway down her thighs.

  Jiggs was running between the truck and Harley, barking.

  Piper looked up, locking eyes with Harley as he closed the distance between them. She put her hand out and said, “Stop.”

  He stopped cold a few feet away. The fissures the long night had left in his heart split wide open. “What happened?”

  “Don’t ask,” Willow said.

  He was going to fucking ask—after he apologized. “Piper, I’m sorry about—”

  “Stop talking or I’ll cry!” Piper snapped. “Please don’t say a word. Darn it!” She motioned impatiently with her hand, beckoning Harley closer.

  He took a few steps. Jiggs ran over and sat beside him. Harley absently scratched his head. Now that he was closer, he saw pieces of food in Piper’s hair and on her sweatshirt. He couldn’t miss her red-rimmed eyes or the dark circles beneath them, sending his heart into another frenzy of distress.

  She took his hand, and he felt hers trembling, breaking his heart even more.

  “I’m sorry for freaking out,” she said softly.

  “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have proposed.”

  “You proposed?” his mother said from behind him.

  He’d forgotten his family was there.

  “She’s not wearing a ring,” Delaney said. “Oh my God! Did you say no?”

  Harley said, “Delaney!” at the same second Piper said, “Yes!”

  “Yes, you said no?” Delaney asked. “Or yes, as in you accepted? Did you know this, Marshall?”

  Harley looked over his shoulder, scowling at Delaney. “The first one. Now, can you please give her a chance to speak? I’m dying here.” He turned his attention back to Piper and said, “Sorry.”

  “I have to start over,” Piper said anxiously.

  She inhaled a few deep breaths, exhaling so damn slowly Harley thought he’d lose his mind.

  “I’m sorry I freaked out,” she said shakily. “I know I’m messed up because I don’t want to get married, but—”

  “Ever?” Delaney asked.

  “Shh, honey,” their mother chided her.

  Piper’s eyes remained trained on Harley as she said, “I don’t want to get married, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want forever with you. I want the same things you do, Harley. I want to have our babies one day—not right away.” She glanced apologetically at his mother. “But one day. And I want to be with you and know we’ve committed ourselves wholly and completely to each other—”

  Her words were drowned out by a line of cars and trucks honking their horns as they pulled up to the curb. Piper glared at Willow.

  “I didn’t do it! It must have been Heaven,” Willow said frantically.

  Heaven? Harley was officially lost.

  “Wait!” Bridgette yelled as she, Bodhi, Zane, and Louie climbed out of her minivan. Louie sprinted across the lawn toward them.

  The rest of their family members piled out of their cars and trucks, followed by Remi, Mason, Kase, and a few of the other guys who worked for Piper. Louie skidded to a stop beside Jiggs. Jiggs leapt up to lick his face, and Louie tumbled down in a fit of giggles as Jiggs smothered him with sloppy kisses. Bea wiggled from Ben’s arms and held his hand as she toddled across the yard.

  “Marshall?” Ben extended his hand. “Good to see you, man. Derek, Mason, get over here and meet Harley’s brother.”

  “Are you freaking kidding me?” Piper said, exasperated. “I’m kind of in the middle of something here!” She looked like she was chewing on nails as everyone gathered around them, murmuring behind their hands.

  Roxie linked arms with Harley’s mother and said, “We did good, Mama.”

  Harley arched a brow in his mother’s direction. She and Roxie mimed zipping their lips and throwing away the key.

  “I don’t know who spilled the beans about this, but somebody’s head is going to roll,” Piper said with a scowl. She looked around, and pain rose in her eyes. Her shoulders slumped. “Jolie and Sophie should be here. It’s practically their fault I’m doing this, and Sophie knew about the nachos . . .”

  “Nachos?” Harley asked, earning an adorable eye roll from a very flustered and injured beauty.

  “I’ve got this,” Delaney exclaimed, and she whipped out her phone. “Thank goodness for videos.”

  Piper sighed with relief. “Thank you. Willow, can you help me down, please.”

  “Down?” Harley watched as Willow helped Piper down to her knees, her injured foot dangling a few inches off the ground. Harley followed suit and started to get down on his knees.

  Piper gave him a deadpan look and said, “You’re supposed to stand.”

  He straightened up. He’d stand on his head spitting wooden nickels if she asked him to.

  She took his hand in hers and said, “Harley, I love you with every ounce of my stubborn soul. I know that when you proposed, you were speaking from the heart, and now I’m speaking from mine.”

  His heart filled to near bursting as the pieces fell into place, and he got all choked up.

  “Harley, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, every free minute. I want to hang out at the pub while you work, watching sports and watching my man. I want to go on moonlight boat rides and take Jiggsy for walks.”

  He heard sniffles behind him and noticed Bridgette wiping her eyes. Would they think he was lame if the tears he was holding back fell?

  Piper squeezed his hand and said, “The truth is, I don’t care what we’re doing as long as at the end of the day, it’s you that I get to come home to. I love you, Harley, and I know you want marriage, but I’m hoping you’re willing to meet me in the middle and accept me as I am, quirks and all.” She inhaled a loud breath and blew it out fast. “Will you do me the honor of being my partner in life, forever and always, without a contract saying we have to?”

  Harley dropped to his knees as “Hell yes” fell from his lips. He swept his arms around Piper and kissed her.

  Cheers and applause rang out, causing Jiggs to bark and run around them.

  Harley lifted Piper onto his lap. He gazed into her teary eyes and said, “I love you so damn much. You’ve always been my forever, but it took Marshall to get me out of my own way and show me that. I promise to never ask you to change or to marry me again.”

  Piper laughed and wound her arms around his neck. “Never is a long time.”

  “So is forever and always, and I’m in, baby. I’m so in.” He pressed his lips to hers, earning more cheers and whoops.

  Willow yelled, “Wait!” The cheers quieted to murmurs as she crouched beside them. Ignoring Piper’s death stare, she said, “This girl is one hot mess, Harley. She broke into my bakery and ate everything without caring about the damage she caused. She forced me to help her wake up Heaven Love at an ungodly hour, and—”

  Piper gasped and thrust out her hand. “Give them to me! I almost forgot!”

  Willow reached into the pocket of her pajamas and set something in Piper’s hand. Piper turned to him, clearly elated. Her eyes were brighter than the sun. “I know you wanted rings, so I had them made for us.” She handed him a thick silver band and said, “Read the inscription.”

  He needed someone to pinch him to be sure he hadn’t keeled over and gone to heaven. He read the engraving aloud: “Back off, bitches. I’m taken.” A deep laugh rumbled out, and he hauled her in for a kiss.

  Laughter, cheers, and barks ensued.

  “That’s my girl,” Piper’s father called out.

  As Piper slid the silver band on his left ring finger, he said, “Taken by the best woman in the world. I couldn’t love our commitment, my ring, or you more than I do right now.”

  “I bet you will in a second,” Piper said, handing him the other ring. “Since I ripped you off of having a Mrs. Dutch, mine’s engraved on the outside.”

  Te
ars stung his eyes as he read the inscription. “Harley’s.” He slid the ring on her finger, and the love in her eyes nearly did him in. He said, “I love you, baby,” and pressed his lips to hers.

  “Congratulations, boss!” Kase hollered, causing another uproar of cheers.

  “Are they married?” Louie asked.

  “No,” Harley and Piper said at once, making everyone laugh.

  Piper gazed into Harley’s eyes and said, “But in our hearts we are.”

  “Always and forever,” he said, and then he sealed their promises with a kiss, silently thanking the powers that be for the water on the floor that had caused him to fall and land in the hospital all those weeks ago.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “HOW ABOUT ‘OLD lady’?” Harley asked later that evening. He’d spent the last ten minutes trying to come up with a word to use instead of wife.

  “Sure. Unless you like your balls.” Piper snuggled closer to him on the couch.

  After her proposal, Delaney had picked up the girls early from school, and they’d celebrated with their family and friends, messy cake-hair, pajamas, and all. When she and Harley had finally come home, Harley had taken his sweet and ever-so-delicious time helping her bathe. They’d made excellent use of the bench she’d installed in the shower. He helped her ice her foot and rearranged his schedule to chauffer her to and from the job site for the next few days until her foot was better. He’d always been good to her, but she hadn’t expected him to be good for her. He made her see him for who he really was, forcing her to open her eyes and feel his love—and to see that she was not only lovable forever, but that she had loads of love to give, too. She looked forward to giving him every ounce of it for the rest of their lives.

  “Well, I can’t use spouse, and partner is too generic.” He held up his left hand, admiring his ring for the millionth time that evening. “How about my sexy thang?”

  “Too hookerish.”

  He chuckled. “Sex slave?”

  “Let’s see how that’ll go over in public. ‘Hi, God-loving friend. Meet my sex slave, Piper.’”