A Small-Town Bride

by Hope Ramsay

  Good. There was no time like the present to have a serious conversation with her brother about his surprising behavior. But as she approached, she heard Brandon say, “Pushing people around is exactly what you’d expect from a guy like McNeil.”

  Amy lost it. She stalked right up to Andrew. “What’s the matter with you? Since when do you pick fights with people?” Then she turned on Brandon. “And for the record, Dusty didn’t push anyone around. He simply responded to a sucker punch and defended himself.”

  “Amy, don’t be dumb. Dusty McNeil is a loser,” Brandon said.

  “Are you saying I’m stupid?” Her hands came to rest on her hips.

  Andrew threw his hands up palms outward. “Amy, please calm down. No one is saying you’re—”

  “I. Am. Not. Stupid,” she said, getting right up into Brandon’s face before turning on her brother. “If you told Brandon that Dusty picked that fight, then you’re a liar. And I never thought I’d see the day that you behaved so badly. Andrew, really, this is none of your business.”

  “Amy, I’m–”

  “You screwed with my life, Andrew. And I don’t like it. What gives you the right?”

  Brandon sounded off before Andrew could get a word in. “Amy, you turned down Grady for a loser like McNeil. In my book, that makes you an idiot.”

  She wanted to strike back at Brandon, but Andrew stepped between them. “Look, Amy, I’m sorry, but you can do better than that guy.”

  How could someone she loved be so blind? He’d messed up everything. The tears came rushing to her eyes and took control of her throat. She couldn’t speak, and maybe that was just as well.

  Instead, she fled to her third-floor office, where she allowed herself exactly five minutes to get the anger and sadness under control. She actually channeled Aunt Pam, a woman who had impeccable control over her emotions. It surprised Amy to realize that she’d learned something from a lifetime of observing and dealing with Pam.

  Dusty, Andrew, Daddy—none of them would rain on her parade. If she wanted to be independent, she’d have to take the good with the bad, and the only way to show her family she could manage her life by herself was to just do it.

  So for the next week, she threw herself into her job. There was plenty to do. Eagle Hill Manor had no less than three weddings scheduled for the following Saturday, plus all the work involved in the Vegas Girls wedding shoot only two weeks away. She crossed paths with Dusty on a regular basis, but she kept her head down and avoided eye contact because it hurt way down deep every time she gave in to her desire. She didn’t want to behave like Zoe. She didn’t want to grovel. She wanted to be strong and show him she’d put him in the past.

  In the meantime, she interviewed no less than three potential roommates, none of whom were ax murderers, proving that Pam was overprotective. On the other hand, none of the potential roomies were a particularly good fit. As the days grew longer and warmer, Jeff’s cabin seemed more and more like home. She felt lonely sometimes, but maybe she needed the solitary time to figure out who she wanted to be in life. Besides, she had Muffin for company, so she survived and even thrived on her own.

  She might have continued along that way except for Easter Sunday. She’d never boycotted the family’s Easter brunch. And when Daddy turned her cell phone back on, the family calls started. Andrew apologized profusely and tried to explain that he’d only been trying to protect her, which simultaneously ticked her off and made her love him all the more. At least he cared about her.

  Then Aunt Pam called and pleaded with her not to be too judgmental. Sometimes brothers and fathers could do silly things in the name of love.

  Finally, Danny called and advised her not to burn too many bridges, and the sadness in his voice made her rethink. If she didn’t like the family expressing their views about Dusty, she could hardly turn around and do the same to Danny. Arguing with him about his choices would only make him harden his heart and double down on his decision.

  That single phone call rattled around in her head for a couple of days until she remembered something. Last Monday, the day everything fell apart, she’d caught a quick glimpse of Danny with Roxanne Kopp out in the meadow by the Laurel Chapel. They had been sitting in the grass, their heads together, with the baby between them. They’d been laughing and gazing into each other’s eyes, like they were a young family. A husband and wife, deeply in love with each other and their child.

  Suddenly the jigsaw puzzle pieces fit together to make a coherent picture. All those years ago Danny had let Roxy tag along on their kid adventures, calling her a pest, teasing her, but never sending her away. Danny had a thing for Roxy. Maybe he always had.

  She needed to explore this idea further. And what better way to confirm it than to show up at Charlotte’s Grove for Easter brunch. Danny would be there. And the Kopps always came too.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The rain on Easter Sunday thwarted Aunt Pam’s plans for Scarlett’s first Easter egg hunt, snarled the traffic on Route 7, delaying the boys’ arrival, and caused Amy’s hair to go limp and lifeless—a fact that Aunt Pam noted the moment she walked through Charlotte’s Grove’s door. After accepting the commentary with as much grace as she could muster, Amy entered the family room.

  Daddy sat on the love seat with ten-year-old Natalie, their heads together as they focused on an iPhone screen. Daddy was so engaged with his niece that he didn’t even notice Amy when she entered the room.

  Neither did Uncle Mark, Uncle Charles, David, or his sister, Heather, US Representative for Jefferson County, who huddled in the far corner of the room talking politics. Meanwhile, Roxy Kopp, Aunt Julie, and Willow occupied the larger sofa, their attention riveted on baby Scarlett, who was being her adorable self.

  So Amy managed a nearly perfect stealth arrival and made a beeline to the bar, where she found Danny sitting by himself, obviously hiding out as well. He turned on his stool as she approached. “Can I interest you in a drink?” he asked. “We’ve got Merlot, Cabernet, and Pinot Grigio, as well as beer and hard stuff.” Danny left his stool and assumed his post behind the bar.

  “I’ll take the Pinot.”

  He poured the wine and pushed the wineglass in her direction. Sometime in the last few days, Danny had gotten a haircut and shaved off his stubble. Even more surprising, instead of a Hawaiian shirt, he wore the standard family uniform: khaki pants, a striped golf shirt, a blue blazer, and tasseled loafers.

  “So how does Mia like the new button-down, clean-cut you?” Amy asked.

  He sipped his beer and didn’t answer.

  “Danny, come on, talk to me.”

  His gaze drifted across the room to where Roxy played patty-cake with Scarlett, the look on his face one part sad puppy and one part dangerous guard dog. Whoa. She didn’t need anything more to confirm what she’d been thinking. Danny wanted Roxy—in the flesh. And he hated himself for it.

  “So where is your bride?” Amy asked, knowing that she would probably provoke him. But maybe he needed a butt-kicking.

  “Upstairs. She says she has a headache.”

  “And her friends?”

  “They’ve taken off for New York this weekend. They can’t wait for this shoot to be over. They’re bored out of their minds.”

  “And you?”

  He shook his head. “Not so much. Melissa and Jeff had us over for dinner last night. I like Jeff. A lot. It’s a shame his mother kept him away from the rest of us when we were kids. Now that he’s here in Shenandoah Falls, it’s weird that he won’t show his face at Charlotte’s Grove. But I guess I admire the way he’s taken a stand.”

  “And I’m grateful he’s letting me stay at the fishing cabin rent free,” Amy added.

  “Speaking of fishing, David introduced me to your friend Dusty. In the wee hours this morning before the rain set in, we skipped church, and he took us to his favorite fishing spot on the Shenandoah River. The guy knows his stuff. I’ll give him that. He’s also soft-spoken and polite. Hardly the a-h
ole your brothers and father have tried to make him out to be.”

  “Thanks for the support. And I hope you’re not just saying that so I’ll have to come up with something nice to say about Mia. Because that would be a challenge.” She gave him a little smile. “I know that’s harsh, but it’s just how I feel. Even so, I’m not going to try to talk you out of marrying her. Also I should tell you that my brief affair with Dusty McNeil is officially over.”

  Danny returned to his stool, picked up his beer, and lifted it in a toast. “Guess we’re a couple of sad cases, huh?” He gazed across the room toward Roxy, who seemed to be having the time of her life playing with Scarlett. The yearning in his eyes said it all. “The more time I spend here at home in Shenandoah Falls, the more I realize that I want Scarlett to grow up knowing her family. I don’t want her to be like Jeff, a stranger who’s still angry with his absentee dad.”

  “Danny, quit kidding yourself. You want more than that, don’t you?”

  He remained silent for a long time before he shook his head. “What I want doesn’t matter. Scarlett trumps everything. I’ve made up my mind, Amy. I’m going to marry Mia come hell or high water. I don’t expect the marriage to last too long, but by the time it falls apart, I hope to have what I need to ensure that Mia loses custody. Right now all Mia wants is to be the center of attention for this shoot. Once she gets her moment in the spotlight, she’ll move on to the next thing.”

  “Who’s to say the next thing won’t be worse?”

  “Amy, I appreciate your concern, but—”

  “Danny, look at Roxy. Tell me you don’t care about her.”

  He frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “You cut your hair for her, didn’t you?”

  “I—”

  His response was interrupted by the boys’ arrival.

  “Hey, everyone,” Andrew said in an über-jovial tone as they entered the room. “We made it despite the floods and the traffic. Hope you guys don’t mind, but we brought an extra mouth to feed. I think you all know our friend Grady.”

  A giant-sized expletive escaped Amy’s mouth, and everyone turned from Grady to Amy and back again as if they were watching a match at Wimbledon.

  Danny leaned forward on his stool and whispered, “Holy crap. This looks like an intervention.”

  “Count your blessings. If they weren’t so hung up on trying to keep me in line, maybe they’d figure it all out and throw Roxy at you.”

  “Amy. Don’t.”

  “No. You don’t. Don’t miss out on a good thing. You could fight Mia in court. You don’t have to marry her any more than I have to marry Grady. Now, seriously, I gotta get out of here before I make a scene.”

  She turned away, scouting the room. The only exit that didn’t take her in Grady’s direction was out the French doors and into the rain. She headed in that direction, but it was too late. Grady had seen her and blocked her escape route.

  He grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a kiss on the lips. Thank God he didn’t try to French her or she might have bitten his tongue and made a bloody scene, quite literally.

  “You told everyone we were engaged,” she whispered the moment his mouth retreated. “But I said no. Emphatically. You embarrassed me.”

  “I know you said no. The first time. But you’re going to change your mind. And don’t worry about your dad. I met with him a couple of days ago and made my intentions clear. He’s given me his blessing. And Andrew is ready to help us talk this thing out.” Grady let her go and pulled a little red Cartier box out of his jacket pocket.

  “No. No, no, no, no,” she said, putting up her palms and backing away. “No!”

  “Marry me,” Grady said in a loud voice as he dropped to one knee.

  She couldn’t speak, but that didn’t matter since Grady didn’t listen anyway. So this time, instead of refusing politely, she ran. Right out of the French doors and into the pouring rain.

  * * *

  Dusty spent Easter Sunday guiding several fishing parties along the Shenandoah River, where they caught a number of largemouth bass.

  By all accounts, the expeditions had been successful, but Dusty felt restless and out of sorts all day. This feeling was nothing new. He’d been consumed with thoughts of Amy ever since he’d broken up with her. It didn’t help that he saw her almost daily at the inn, but it was downright annoying that she occupied his thoughts even on his days off.

  There were all kinds of things he wanted to tell her about. Like the fact that he’d finished his business plan and had scheduled a meeting next week with Jeff Talbert. He didn’t hold out much hope that Jeff would invest in his idea, but at least he’d taken the first steps they’d outlined that day, before her father had returned. He never would have gotten this far without her.

  In truth, he wanted to do more than talk to Amy about his plans. He still wanted to teach her to fish. He still wanted to make slow love to her, over and over again.

  He was smitten, all right. And on Sunday night he even had a nightmare about her. He dreamed that she’d built a fire in the old Liberty Stove up at Jeff’s cabin, but something went wrong. The stove melted down and set the cabin ablaze, trapping Amy and Muffin in an inferno that billowed great clouds of smoke. Dusty’s eyes and throat burned as he wandered through the black clouds, unable to find her as his panic mounted.

  He jolted awake to the piercing wail of his smoke detector and the acrid reek of smoke. The dream held his consciousness for a few moments as the panic spiraled. He had to find Amy.

  No, he had to get out. He jumped up, at first thinking his tiny house was on fire, but the lurid orange glow coming through his big picture window told him otherwise. The fire burned outside, its light flickering over the barn-wood walls and beamed ceilings of his home.

  He jumped into his jeans, golf shirt, and boots, grabbed his cell phone, and raced out the front door in a matter of seconds. For an instant, standing on his deck, looking west, he thought the sky was on fire, so bright were the flames in the darkness.

  He soon realized the glow came from the Liberty Furnace building, which burned like a bundle of well-dried kindling. The blaze licked through the broken windows and danced along the roofline, consuming the building’s wooden beams and floors and sending out so much heat he could feel it even at this distance.

  Sirens wailed as police and first responders arrived on the scene, the lights on their vehicles flashing. He took a step in the direction of the chaos, but his jangling phone halted him. The phone’s screen said 4:30 a.m. when Dusty punched the talk button. “It’s Dusty,” he said.

  “Chief LaRue here.”

  The police chief’s angry tone froze him where he stood. “I know the foundry building’s on fire,” Dusty said. “The smoke set off my smoke detector a minute ago.”

  “Yeah, boy, it sure is on fire. And your daddy set it.”

  “What? How do you—”

  “I don’t know all the facts yet. But here’s what I do know. Your daddy was in that building when it caught fire. It’s anyone’s guess what he was doing in there since the fire marshal condemned that building a year ago. He shouldn’t have been there. And you own the building, Dusty.”

  A familiar guilt seized him. No, Daddy shouldn’t have been there. He should have been camped out in Dusty’s living room. More important, when Daddy took off a few days ago, Dusty should have known to look for him in the foundry building, but he hadn’t.

  “Is he okay?” Dusty asked, his voice shaking.

  “No. He’s burned and unconscious. We’re medevaccing him right now to the Washington Hospital Center’s burn unit.”

  “Damn.”

  “You better get down there, boy, because I don’t think your old man’s gonna make it. But maybe that’s a blessing, because if he lives I plan to charge his ass with arson and assault.”

  “Assault?”

  “Yeah, assault. Officer Pierce was the first man on the scene. When Ryan realized someone was in the building, he
had to be a goddamn hero and rush into it without any protective gear. Damn fool should have waited for the fire department. But he didn’t. Probably because he’s a goddamn Dudley Do-Right Marine.”

  “Chief, I’m sorry about this. I—”

  “You can keep your apologies for Ryan and his family. Maybe you’ll see them up in DC, because he’s also been medevacced to the Washington Hospital Center with third-degree burns. He’s gonna live, but he’ll be living with the scars.”

  The chief paused for a moment before he said, “If I could arrest you, boy, and hold you accountable for this mess, I would. Honestly, if you’d let the county tear that place down, we wouldn’t be where we are right this minute.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Jeff’s cabin was so back of beyond that Amy didn’t have to turn her cell phone off to avoid the barrage of phone calls from her family. There were no bars of service way up on the ridge.

  But on Monday morning when Amy ventured into town to do her laundry at the coin wash, her personal phone—the one Daddy paid for—reconnected with civilization and started buzzing like the end-times had arrived. Various family members had left dozens of new voice mails, texts, and e-mails, and they all took her to task for being rude to Grady.

  No one took her side except for Danny.

  What’s more, neither Daddy nor Andrew apologized for the way they’d assisted Grady in ambushing her. Andrew seemed to think he had been doing good work trying to resolve the conflict between Amy and Grady. What the hell? Did they not listen to her, ever? Andrew, especially, should have known better.

  And did Grady think she needed her father’s approval to get married?

  She and Muffin sat in the Laundromat waiting for her dryer to finish while Amy reviewed her life and her options. By the time she’d folded her laundry, she’d come to a life-affirming conclusion.

  Jeff had resigned from the family, and everyone wanted him to come back into the fold. Danny had walked away from the family, and the family seemed perfectly willing to stand by while he married a bitch of a gold digger.