It Took a Rumor

by Carter Ashby

  A laugh escaped, then. Jake reached over and brushed the backs of his knuckles down her neck.

  “I think that’s the wrong way to go about finding a wife,” Jake said. “I think when you fall in love, you don’t start looking for if she can fit your expectations. You spend time getting to know who she is and what she wants and how your two lives might be able to fit together. What do you think about that?”

  She thought that there wasn’t enough time left on this short drive and her heart was pounding too hard for her to speak. “I think that’s…wise.”

  “Wanna pull over and work off some of this nervous energy?”

  The abrupt change of subject had her laughing again. “God, Jake. I would love to, but I can’t show up in church looking like what I’d look like.”

  “I won’t mess you up too much.”

  She looked at him, seriously considering his proposition. He was grinning, watching the road, his head bobbing with the dips and bumps in the highway. What would he say if she told him to pull over?

  Unfortunately—or maybe fortunately—they reached the parking lot of the church before she could make her decision. Jake’s expression turned to a frown. “Damn. Record attendance today.”

  Ivy temporarily forgot her feelings in the wake of a surge of disgust. “This is why Myra’s stupid blog is so successful. People eat up the drama.”

  Jake had to park on the side of the road since the parking lot was full. But before he got out, he turned and took her hand. “Now I wanna say something to you.”

  She gazed into his dark eyes, trying not to smile. “Okay.”

  “You and I didn’t get off on the right foot, and I acted like a jerk several times, I fully understand that. But you told me there was no relationship here. You said all we had were hookups. Now, you can’t possibly have meant that. Did you?”

  She gulped, a wad of emotions stopping up her throat, and shook her head.

  “Good. Because last week, you and I were partners through some tough situations. We were at each other’s sides. We had good conversation, good cooperation, and good lovemaking. That’s a hell of a lot more than hookups. That’s the beginning of something that can last forever. Don’t you think?”

  She nodded, tried to breathe, ended up gasping, and threw her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry,” she squeaked. “I didn’t mean it. I was just angry.”

  “Well, I was stupid. You had a right to be angry.”

  She shook her head to disagree, but before she could, he took her mouth with his own, kissing her deeply and calming her in the process. His hands trailed up her arms and neck and cupped her jaw. She gripped his forearms, feeling their strength and gentility. When their lips finally parted, she opened her eyes. His were still shut, his brow furrowed as if in pain.

  “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

  He opened his eyes. “Nothing. Everything’s right. It’s just a lot. I feel a lot for you right now.”

  “Oh, Jake.”

  He smiled, kissed her again, more lightly this time, and hopped out of the truck. Ivy got out on his side, and they held hands as they walked toward the church building.

  Boone met them outside, just a few steps from the door. “Sheriff called me in this morning. They’re charging the pastor with murder. Found a baseball bat with your blood on it, Ivy. Found other evidence, too.”

  Ivy closed her eyes, pity warring with relief. “It’s so horrible, but I’m really relieved for you, Boone.”

  “Yeah. Me, too. I feel guilty about it, but relieved. I know for a fact I’m going to hell for what I did to Molly and her husband, but I’m sure glad not to be going to jail.”

  Ivy and Jake followed Boone into the church building. He veered left to sit with his mom and Dallas.

  The atmosphere had changed from prior weeks. It was partially due to all the nosy nellies crammed in the church hoping for more drama. That would pass. The people would fade back into their lives, not to be heard from again until the next big drama. But after they left, Ivy knew that some changes remained permanent. Like the fact that Jake’s dad wasn’t there.

  Clara sat in their regular pew with Boone and Dallas. No sign of Cody, even though Jordan was with the other ranch hands, songbook in his lap at the ready.

  “Where do you want to sit?” Ivy asked.

  “I’ll sit with you. Wouldn’t want to make your old man sit all by himself.”

  So with a big smile, she slid in next to her father, sandwiched between what was quickly becoming her new understanding of family. Jake slid his arm around her shoulders, something her father would likely never do again at church, having handed that particular torch to his future son-in-law.

  Because that was what Jake was. Ivy knew that whether they married or not, however they chose to manage their respective businesses, whether merging them or keeping them separate, for all intents and purposes, Jake was her man. Forever.

  The choir director started the song service and everyone who was able stood to sing. Ivy felt dwarfed by the heights of the two men on either side of her, but she felt oddly powerful, too. Being loved so fully by two such strong men…it was very empowering.

  After the singing, everyone sat and Lyle, the assistant pastor, stood to give a sermon. He thanked everyone for coming and said absolutely nothing about the pastor’s scandal, much to the disappointment of eager ears in the audience, Ivy was sure.

  After the sermon and another song, Lyle invited announcements and prayer requests. Ivy jumped at the movement to her right as Jake stood and moved to the front, standing on the floor in front of the podium. He ducked his head and started to reach up, almost as if to remove the hat he wasn’t wearing. He flashed Ivy a quick grin before saying,

  “My family and I wanna thank all of you for the cards and flowers when Dallas was in the hospital. He’s here this morning, doing much better.”

  There were murmurs of “amen” and “praise God.”

  Jake cleared his throat. “I also want to ask prayers for my mom. She’s starting a new life for herself, one she deserves very much.”

  Ivy saw Clara dab at her eyes with a handkerchief.

  Jake frowned at the floor for a moment, apparently thinking about what he would say next. When he looked up, he said, “I don’t wanna pretend like we don’t all know why we’re here today. I ain’t gonna pretend like you don’t know all about my family’s business…the lovely Myra Tidwell sees to it on a regular basis that we all know everything that goes on in each other’s lives, even some things that aren’t going on.” He nodded with a mischievous smile to Myra who returned his looking with a wave of her hand and a bow of her head, queen of her domain.

  “So…I ain’t a preacher,” Jake said glancing back at Lyle, “but I hope we’ll all think about how our decisions affect others. My baby brother made some choices that had dire consequences and he’s gotta live with that for the rest of his life. A woman’s dead and a man’s in jail…that’s what you all came here for isn’t it? You wanna see what will happen next?

  “Here’s what’s gonna happen. We’re gonna go back to our jobs tomorrow. We’re gonna talk and speculate about Molly Allen’s murder and Richard Allen’s guilt until we get tired of the subject. We’re gonna internalize it and make it personal. We’re gonna write ourselves into the story, giving ourselves the biggest role we can realistically manage. Then we’re gonna get sick of hearing each other talk about it and it’s gonna fade into the background.

  “But the fact is, for some people, this will never fade away. For some people, Molly’s murder was real. Richard will be living with it forever. Boone will. Dallas, he’s gonna have to live with the consequences of his actions…for the rest of us it’s just a story. For Myra, these are just stories. Just entertainment. So, I guess I just ask, for just this one moment, that we all take a second to understand that our entertainment is someone else’s personal tragedy.”

  The room was quiet. Some heads lowered in shame. Others raised in defiance. Everyone wa
s guilty of what Jake was describing.

  He let out a breath. “Anyway, I know in this community that when push comes to shove, we step up and help each other out. And I also know it’s somehow built into us to get a thrill out of learning other people’s secrets. Who didn’t get a kick out of learning that Miss Louisa used to be a cabaret dancer?”

  There was low laughter. Louisa, a spunky woman older than dirt, grinned and blushed.

  “Or that Mr. Andrew Philbert’s magical secret barbecue sauce is really just the off-brand he buys in bulk at Costco.”

  “Now that’s a flat-out lie!” Andrew shouted, eliciting laughter from the crowd.

  Jake grinned and shook his head. “I guess, overall, this past couple of weeks the gossip’s hit too close to home. It’s gotten a little dark. A little too harmful. And I hope we’ll all keep that in mind in the future.”

  He started to walk away when Myra stood, phone in hand, camera on. “I notice you’re willing to address everyone else’s business, yet you conveniently avoid anything to do with you.”

  Jake looked at her. “I think you kind of missed the point, Ms. Tidwell.”

  “Oh, I got your point just fine, young man. But I’ve been on this earth a good deal longer than you. I’ll make right my wrongs, but don’t think your little speech is going to stop me doing what I do best. Now, do you care to clear the air about you and Ivy Turner?”

  Ivy’s face flushed. God, Myra was ruthless. Right in front of the whole church, too. Surely Jake would put her in her place.

  He hung his head, but when he looked up, instead of an angry frown, he was fighting back a smile. “Ivy Turner and I will be mixing business with pleasure. A lot. In the near future. So any rumors you hear on that front are probably true.” With that, he winked at Myra, and came back to his seat, sliding his arm over Ivy’s shoulders and bringing her against him.

  She stared at him in shock until she started laughing. She had to bury her face in his chest to keep quiet as the final prayer was said.

  Epilogue

  Myra’s Blog

  Far be it from me to speculate on anyone’s motivations. But it seems to me the engagement of Jake Deathridge and Ivy Turner happened fairly suddenly. And then to run off for a weekend and show up married the following Monday? Something doesn’t sit quite right. I’m sure you all will agree with me that there are only a few reasons to logically explain an elopement of this sort. Please vote in the poll below. I’m sure you know where I land on the subject. Ivy was no bride in white, after all, and she has been wearing a lot of loose-fitting tops lately. If you know what I mean.

  Jake stood on the hill overlooking the lake as the last of the framework was erected for his house. But he wasn’t watching the house, he was watching his phone. Ivy had indeed been wearing looser clothes, lately. In fact, though she still looked hot as hell, if he was being honest, she was becoming slightly squishy around the middle.

  “Oh, shit,” he said.

  “What is it?” Cody asked, sauntering toward him.

  Jake showed him Myra’s video. Cody watched, then rolled his eyes and handed Jake back his phone. “Are you kidding? She’s just making shit up.”

  “Yeah, sure. But, Ivy did complain about some nausea the other day.”

  Cody’s eyes went wide. “Oh, my God. Are you serious? Well, that confirms it. Congrats, Pops.”

  Jake punched him in the chest. “Don’t let these guys knock off before five,” he said, “I’m going to talk to her.”

  “Sure, boss,” Cody said, rubbing his chest.

  Jake climbed on Eloise, situated the hat he was still breaking in on his head, and rode to Ivy’s office. The trailer was situated about as far as it could get from where Jake was building his and Ivy’s new house. The ride seemed to take forever.

  But at last he arrived at the trailer, hoping Edna was gone for the day. She wasn’t. She was at the front desk, smiling sweetly at him.

  “She’s on the phone,” Edna said, which was silly, because Jake could clearly see off to his left that Ivy was at her desk on the phone. But he thanked Edna anyway.

  He mouthed, I need to talk to you, to Ivy. She nodded and held up a finger. He turned and stepped outside, stroking Eloise as he waited for Ivy to join him in the gravel lot outside the trailer.

  She stepped out, threw her arms around his neck, and nipped at his ear, making him almost giggle. “I want you,” she whispered. “Right. Now.”

  For a split second, he was turned all the way on. But it vanished when he remembered hearing some women talk about increased libido being a symptom of pregnancy.

  He stepped back and held her at arm’s length. “Did you see Myra’s blog today?”

  “No. I swore off it, you know that. What’d she say to get you so upset?”

  Jake swallowed and looked her body over. She hadn’t worn the prissy business clothes he’d first met her in, not since they’d started dating. She’d taken to dressing more like a cowgirl, no longer fighting herself and her environment. Jake took in her jeans and the loose-fitting blouse that hung mid-thigh on her. “She commented on your clothing.”

  Ivy looked down. “Mine? What’s wrong with my clothes?”

  “She just mentioned that you’ve been wearing a lot of stuff that fits kind of…loose. Since we got married.” He looked at her, hoping she’d figure it out without him having to say it outright.

  Instead, she just frowned at him. “So? What’s that got to do with anything?”

  Jake cleared his throat, sensing he was moving out to where the ice was much thinner. “She commented on how quickly and quietly we got married. She’s got people voting on why that is.”

  Ivy’s expression went cold, and she dropped her arms to her sides. “Are you asking what I think you’re asking? Based on gossip?”

  Jake shrugged, helpless. He needed to know. “I mean, there have been changes.”

  Her arms folded over her chest and an eyebrow cocked up. Not a good sign. “Changes? Do tell.”

  “I mean, you were feeling kind of sick the other day.”

  She nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

  “You’ve been really,” he lowered his voice and glanced around, “horny, lately.”

  Her jaw dropped at this.

  For some reason he couldn’t comprehend, he opened his mouth and said, “And your jeans have been fitting a little tighter.”

  “Oh, my God! You are an idiot, you know that?”

  He slumped. “Yeah, I know,” he muttered.

  “I’m getting fat? Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “No, not at all. You’re not getting fat, you look great. Amazing even. It’s just, I’ve noticed the change—”

  “You think you haven’t put on weight, Jake?” she grabbed his shirt, lifting it before he could stop her. “Where’s that six-pack, huh? I used to could trace the ridges every time you exhaled. Where is it now?”

  He grabbed his shirt and shoved it back down. “It’s hidden under all those cookies you make for me, that’s where.”

  “And?”

  “And all the big breakfasts and lunches and dinners. The pancakes and the chicken and dumplings and the turkey sandwiches, and…you’re an amazing cook, Ivy!” he shouted at her accusingly.

  “Thank you!” she shouted back. “But surprise, I eat, too. We got married, we spend a lot of time in bed, and we’ve packed on a few pounds. So sue me. And I was sick the other night because you made me eat that very questionable Mexican food leftover in your fridge. And as for my being…horny…I’m sorry if I can’t get enough of you, okay? I love you, you stupid ass. I love your body, I love being with you.”

  “I love you, too! I wish we could stay naked together all the time!”

  “Me, too!”

  They ran out of words and breath. And then he looked up at the sky and laughed. “Shit.”

  After a long moment, she finally exhaled. “I’m not pregnant. I’m just chubby.”

  “You’re not chubby. You l
ook incredible.”

  “Shut up. The damage is done and I’m going on a diet as of right now.”

  He swooped his arm around her waist and pulled her in, looking down into her eyes. “I’m sorry. I saw Myra’s video and I just freaked. It was stupid. You’re right, I’m an idiot.”

  She nodded in agreement. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Anything.” He pushed her hair back and brushed his lips along her cheekbone.

  Her breath grew a little airy. “Were you excited or disappointed at the prospect of a baby?”

  He kissed beneath her ear. “Neither. Just shocked.”

  “Because we talked about it.”

  He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “Just you and me for two years. Then we can talk about it. I remember. No worries, Ivy.”

  She smiled sweetly, and he kissed her.

  “Now,” he said, pulling her toward Eloise, “let’s go down by the creek and take care of your needs. Can’t have a wife of mine left unsatisfied.”

  He climbed up and pulled her on behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and they rode toward the sunset.

  The End

  Acknowledgments

  I’ve always felt like inspiration for creativity comes from somewhere outside myself. Like there’s some kind of pool of stories that we all have access to if we’ll only tap into it. So first and foremost, thanks to whatever higher power or muse I’m feeding off of to enjoy this creative life.

  Writing is an evolving skill. When I started out, it was a very solitary pursuit. As I grow, I’m finding it to be more and more social. Thanks to my local critique group, Amy D., Amy E., Debra, Rexanna, and Robin for your support and your practical, insightful criticisms. You’ve all opened new avenues of information and inspiration to me, as well. Plus you’re just a hoot to be around.

  Thanks to everyone who beta read for me: Becky, LB Dunbar, Alexis Noelle, Jessica Hawkins, and the aforementioned critique group. You’ve each left your marks on this book, so I hope it’s something you can be proud of.