From Neighbors...to Newlyweds?

by Brenda Harlen

  This time when he took her back to bed, he showed her with his hands and his lips and his body the words he knew she wasn’t ready to hear. And in the morning, when he woke with her in his arms, he had absolutely no doubt that this was how he wanted to wake up every day for the rest of his life.

  Over the next several days, they resumed their normal routines with only a few minor adjustments—the puppies’ bed was moved into Georgia’s kitchen in the evening, he spent the nights in Georgia’s bed, and she’d stopped pretending that she didn’t want him there.

  But as much as he enjoyed the new physical aspect of their relationship, he also enjoyed just being with her. There was so much he didn’t know about her, so much he wanted to learn, and they often stayed awake late into the night just talking.

  One night, after filling her in on the exploits of Finnigan and Frederick during a recent trip to Luke’s office for their nine-week checkup, Georgia commented, “You’ve got a great relationship with your brothers, but I’ve never heard you mention any other family.”

  “That’s because both of my parents died a few years back.”

  She winced. “I’m sorry—I shouldn’t have pried.”

  “It’s hardly a big secret,” he said, and certainly not in comparison to the other, bigger secret that he’d yet to confide. Not because he didn’t want to tell her, but because he knew that the time and place of the telling were crucial to ensuring her understanding, and this was not the time or the place.

  Then when? the nagging voice of his conscience demanded.

  Followed by Georgia’s question: “Can you tell me what happened?”

  It took him a second to comprehend that she was referring to the loss of his parents and not the failure of his marriage. “After my dad retired, they decided they wanted to see the world—the Great Wall of China, the Australian outback, the Serengeti—and they were having a great time. Then they decided to sail around Cape Horn, but the captain’s years of experience were no match for the storm that capsized their boat. My parents—and all the crew—drowned.” She took his hand, a silent gesture of comfort and encouragement.

  “That must have been horrible for you and your brothers—losing them both at the same time,” she murmured.

  He nodded. “It was hard to find solace in anything under those circumstances, but once we’d started to get over our frustration and grief, we were able to take some comfort in the fact that they were together. Because we knew that, after almost forty years of marriage, neither one of them would have wanted to go on without the other.

  “Losing them so unexpectedly was tragic,” he continued. “But we were lucky to have been witness to such an example of a strong and stable marriage, to have seen, day in and day out, the evidence of their deep love and enduring affection for one another.”

  “My mother has never found that kind of forever-after love,” she told him. “And not for lack of searching. Yet she still believes it exists.”

  “It does,” he said, and lowered his head to press a soft kiss to her lips.

  “Did you think you’d found it with your wife?”

  He leaned his forehead against hers. “Are you trying to kill the mood?”

  “I guess I’m just curious,” she said. “I can’t imagine that you would get married without believing it was forever, and—believing it was forever—I can’t imagine you ever giving up on your vows. At least not easily.”

  “It wasn’t easy,” he admitted, resigned now to spilling the whole sordid story of his ex-wife’s deception.

  Except that the puppies suddenly broke into a chorus of yelps and howls.

  Georgia froze. Matt threw back the covers and swung his legs over the edge of the mattress, but she grabbed his arm, halting his movements.

  In the midst of all the frantic puppy sounds, the muttering of a female voice could be heard. Matt couldn’t actually make out the words, but he thought they sounded like, “You’d think she could have told me about the dogs.”

  “You stay here,” Georgia said, reaching for her robe. “I’ll go.”

  He shook his head, baffled that she would even suggest such a thing. “There’s someone in the house, and there’s no way—”

  “It’s not just someone,” she interrupted. “It’s my mother.”

  * * *

  Georgia had faced more than a few curveballs in her life, and having Charlotte Warring-Eckland-Tuff-Masterton-Kendrick-Branston show up unannounced and in the middle of the night was only the latest one.

  The puppies heard the creak of the stairs before Charlotte did, and they happily abandoned the unfriendly stranger in favor of the human who occasionally fed them dinner and took them for walks. Georgia bent to pat them both on their head, reassuring them that they were excellent watchdogs, before she addressed her mother.

  “This is a surprise, Mom.”

  Charlotte kissed each of her daughter’s cheeks in turn before she offered a smile that was wide, and just a little bit forced.

  “Well, that was my plan—to surprise you. But I didn’t mean to wake you up, baby girl,” she said, a note of apology in her voice. “And actually, I don’t think I did, it was the dogs. Why didn’t you tell me that you were turnin’ the house into a kennel?”

  “It’s only two puppies, and they’re not mine.”

  “Then why are they here?”

  “I’m helping out a friend,” she hedged. “Why are you here?”

  “As far as I know, this is still my house.”

  “You know it is,” Georgia agreed. “But why are you showing up here at two o’clock in the morning?”

  “Because it’s nearly a three-hour drive from the airport,” she said, as if that explained everything.

  “Okay,” Georgia said, trying not to lose patience. “Why did you choose to make the trip from Montana at this particular point in time?”

  “I was just missin’ my grandbabies so much I simply couldn’t wait another day to put my arms around them, so Trigger bought me a plane ticket and here I am.”

  There was something about Charlotte’s explanation that struck Georgia as a little off, or maybe it was the deliberately casual tone that tripped her radar. Whatever the reason, Georgia was suddenly convinced that there was more to this impromptu trip than her mother needing a baby fix. And she was pretty sure she knew what it was.

  “You left him, didn’t you?”

  “What are you talkin’ about?”

  “Trigger—your husband. The one who made you feel a jolt as if you’d stuck your finger in a socket,” Georgia reminded her.

  Charlotte pressed a perfectly manicured hand to her chest, right over her heart. “It was just like that,” she agreed.

  “So where is he now?”

  “At his ranch, of course. He couldn’t just abandon his animals ’cause I had a whim to see my baby girl and her babies.”

  “You’re actually sticking to that story?”

  “Really, Georgia May, I don’t understand why you’re being so confrontational.”

  Upstairs, she could hear Pippa starting to fuss, wanting to be fed, and Georgia was eager to get to the baby before her mother decided to trek up the stairs.

  “I’m sorry. Maybe we should continue this conversation in the morning—or rather, at a more reasonable hour in the morning.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Charlotte agreed. “It’s been a long day and I could definitely use some shut-eye.”

  Georgia nodded, though she didn’t expect that she would get to sleep any time soon. First she’d have to feed and change Pippa, then when the baby was settled back down and she was sure that Charlotte was asleep, she’d have to get Matt out of the house. She didn’t doubt he would balk at being shoved out the back door but even though she was thirty-one years of age, Georgia still wasn’t willing to risk her mother catching a man in her bed.

  Another soft coo drifted down the stairs, followed by a chattier babble that was the little girl’s version of a conversation. Which meant that Matt
had heard the baby and, knowing that Georgia was occupied downstairs, had gone in to Pippa’s room to check on her.

  “Oh, the baby’s awake,” Charlotte said, her voice filled with genuine pleasure. “I have to take just a little peek—”

  “Why don’t you wait until morning?” Georgia suggested. “If she sees you now, she won’t settle down again.”

  Charlotte waved a hand dismissively as she started up the stairs. “Don’t be silly. She’ll settle down just fine if she’s tired.”

  Short of physically restraining her mother, Georgia knew there was no way to prevent Charlotte from going into Pippa’s room. Which meant there was no way that she wasn’t going to cross paths with—

  “Matthew Garrett,” Charlotte said, her voice tinged with both surprise and approval. “I was wonderin’ whose size-thirteen shoes I nearly tripped over downstairs.”

  * * *

  “Well, that wasn’t as awkward as I thought it might be,” Matt said, after Georgia had finished nursing the baby and Charlotte had gone back to the main floor master bedroom.

  “It felt plenty awkward to me,” Georgia told him.

  “You’re just embarrassed because your mom gave you two thumbs up before she said good-night,” he teased.

  “The fact that she approves of our involvement does make me wary,” she admitted. “My mother has notoriously bad taste in men.”

  “Are you saying that because her exes were of questionable character or because the relationships were unsuccessful?”

  “I’m not sure the distinction really matters.”

  “Sure it does. If she truly made poor choices, then you should be wary. But if they were good men, then there could be any number of reasons that things didn’t work out.”

  “Like her habit of bailing whenever a relationship hits a snag rather than trying to find a solution?” she suggested.

  “That could be an issue,” he agreed.

  “I don’t think she’s here for a visit,” Georgia finally said. “I think she left Trigger.”

  “Wouldn’t she have told you if that was the case?”

  She shook her head. “No. Not until she’s figured out a way to spin it so that it isn’t her fault.”

  “That’s kind of harsh, don’t you think?”

  She sighed. “Maybe. And maybe I’m wrong. I honestly I hope that I am, because if she did walk out on her marriage, her heart is completely shattered but she won’t let anyone know it.”

  “I guess that proves you come by your tough demeanor honestly enough.”

  “You think I’m tough?”

  “On the outside,” he said. “On the inside, you’re all soft and gooey like a marshmallow.” He lowered his head to kiss her, softly, deeply. “And very, very sweet.”

  “Mmm.” She hummed her approval as she linked her arms around his neck. “You’re trying to distract me, aren’t you?”

  He slid his hands beneath her shirt and unfastened the front of her bra so that her breasts spilled into his hands. Her breath hitched; her nipples pebbled. He rubbed his thumbs over the taut peaks, making her moan. “Is it working?”

  Her breath shuddered out between her lips as he nibbled on the lobe of her ear. “Is what working?”

  Smiling, he lowered her onto the bed.

  * * *

  Matt got called in to the hospital early the next morning, leaving Georgia to face her mother’s barrage of questions and unsolicited advice alone. And Charlotte didn’t disappoint. In fact, Georgia had barely begun cracking eggs into a bowl when her mother said, “You picked a good man, baby girl.”

  Considering that Matt hadn’t moved in until after her mother had left for Vegas, she had to ask, “How do you know?”

  “There’s no disputing the Garrett boys were all players in their youth, but everyone in town agrees that they’ve grown into fine, upstanding citizens. Or at least Matt and Luke,” her mother clarified, a slight furrow in her brow. “There seems to be some difference of opinion with respect to Jack.”

  “That’s your source of information—town gossip?”

  “News—good and bad—travels fast in Pinehurst. And I’ve heard nothin’ but good things about Matt Garrett.” Charlotte dropped her voice, as if revealing confidential information. “Did you know that he’s a doctor?”

  She focused on whisking the eggs and ignored the fact that her mother actually thought Georgia might sleep with a man without knowing something as basic as his occupation. “Yes, I know he’s a doctor. In fact, he put the cast on Shane’s arm when he broke it.”

  Her mother nodded. “Smart, charming and very handsome. It’s almost too much to hope that he’d also be good in bed.”

  “Mom!” Georgia felt her cheeks burn hotter than the skillet on the stove.

  Charlotte smiled. “Well, well. My baby girl’s discovered that there’s passion in her blood.”

  “A true revelation after having three children delivered by the stork,” Georgia said dryly.

  “The earth doesn’t have to move for a woman to get pregnant,” her mother pointed out as she gathered plates and cutlery for the meal. “And while I never doubted that Phillip was a good man, I did wonder if he was a good husband.”

  Georgia was baffled by the statement. “Why would you ever wonder about that?”

  “Because I never saw him look at you the way Matt looks at you—and vice versa.”

  Georgia hated to admit that it was probably true. In so many ways, she and Phillip had been well suited, but while they’d shared a certain level of attraction, they’d never generated any real sparks. Certainly nothing that could compare to the kind of sparks that flew whenever Georgia and Matt were together, but acknowledging that fact—even to her mother—seemed disloyal somehow. “I loved my husband.”

  “I know you did,” Charlotte said. “But do you love Matt?”

  She pushed the eggs around in the pan. “I’ve only known him a couple of months.”

  “I only knew Trigger a couple of days,” Charlotte reminded her. “But that was long enough to know that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.”

  Except that, for some inexplicable reason, she was here and her husband was in Montana. But Georgia wasn’t going to get into that with her mother today. Instead, she only said, “I’m not ready to make that kind of leap.”

  “Well, don’t wait too long,” Charlotte advised. “If you don’t snap up that sexy doctor quick, another woman will.”

  “If he let himself be snapped up that easily by someone else, then maybe I’m better off without him.”

  Charlotte huffed out a breath, unable to dispute her daughter’s logic, and Georgia took advantage of her momentary silence to call the boys to the table.

  They were just settling down to eat when the doorbell rang. Not just once but three times in rapid succession, and then, before Georgia could even push her chair back, a fist was pounding on the door.

  A quick glance across the table revealed that her mother’s face was whiter than the napkin she’d twisted around her fingers. Since she obviously had no intention of going to the door, Georgia did, pulling it open to a tall, broad-shouldered cowboy, complete with hat and boots. “Can I help you?”

  The man on the porch swiped the Stetson from his head, revealing neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper hair. “I’m Henry Branston. I’m here to get my wife.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Your driveway’s starting to look like a rental-car agency,” Matt commented to Georgia when he got home from the hospital later that afternoon.

  “I know. I walked to the grocery store with all the kids today because it was easier than moving three vehicles around. That and it allowed me a brief opportunity to escape from the drama.”

  “You can always stay at my place,” he offered. “If you want some extra space.”

  “I might take you up on that if they don’t go back to Montana soon, because after all the accusations and tears were done and they’d kissed and made up, they went straight do
wn the hall to her bedroom and locked the door. And then I heard noises.” She shuddered at the memory.

  “Does that mean they’ve worked things out?” he asked cautiously.

  “I think so. But what’s even more bizarre, from what I overheard of their argument, I think I understand why she left. I don’t agree with her decision, but I understand.”

  “Want to explain it to me?”

  “My mother felt as if she was the only one who made any kind of sacrifice when they got married. She left her home and her family and moved to an environment completely unfamiliar to her in order to be with the man she loved. And the more time she spent in Montana, the more she recognized that his life hadn’t changed at all.

  “She didn’t necessarily want him to make any changes, she just wanted to know that he loved her enough to be willing to do so. The fact that he dropped everything to follow her halfway across the country to take her back home seemed to prove to her that he did love her enough.”

  “And now everything’s okay?”

  “Apparently.”

  “So when are they heading back to Montana?”

  “Probably not soon enough,” she said.

  He chuckled. “As long as they’re not leaving today, then I don’t have to change our plans for tonight.”

  “Our plans?”

  “Last night, when you were nursing Pippa, your mom offered to babysit the kids so that I could take you out on a real date.”

  She lifted a brow. “Have we had fake dates?”

  He nudged her with his shoulder. “You know what I mean.”

  “Actually, I’m not sure that I do,” she admitted. “What is a real date?”

  “Dinner in a restaurant that doesn’t have a kiddie menu, a movie that isn’t a cartoon.”

  “Those things are beyond my realm of experience,” she warned.

  “Are you willing to give it a try?”

  “We could,” she allowed. “Or we could order pizza with spicy sausage, hot peppers and black olives, and watch a movie on the TV in your bedroom.”