Then Comes Love: Welcome to Bellhaven

by Sophia Sasson

  Someone knocked on the door, and her heart kicked before she remembered Joe had gone home. He’d texted her when he got to Mississippi to let her know he was safe. She’d been worried about him driving through the night. No way he had made it back to Hell’s Bells that quickly.

  She opened the door to find Mrs. Cregg standing there with a pie in her hand. “I had an extra, so I thought I’d bring it by.”

  She walked inside and set her big sewing bag on the coffee table. “Nancy, that’s m’niece, said she wasn’t gonna get married unless I made her dress. I told her my old bones can’t sew like I used to, but would she listen?”

  It took a full minute for Lily to remember that she had asked Mrs. Cregg to come by with the wedding dress she’d promised to help with. Too late to back out now. She motioned to her couch, and they got to work. Mrs. Cregg kept up a chatter, which helped the time pass as Lily sewed little beads onto the bodice.

  “Y’know, Becky asked me to make her a dress too.”

  Lily rolled her eyes. No way was she helping make that dress.

  “I told her I wasn’t gonna do it on account of what she did, stealin’ your fella.”

  Lily gave her a grateful smile. Mrs. Cregg had always been on her side. “But she told me she never stole him from you. He was usin’ you to get her attention.”

  Lily kept her eyes on the sharp needle, stringing the bead onto the thread and into the cloth. Down, then up, down, then up.

  “I ain’t tellin’ you ’cause I wanna hurt you, but I thought you should know he never deserved you anyway.”

  Yeah, that much she always knew. Who would want her when they could have Becky? Or Carrie, for that matter. Joe, that’s who. She silently admonished that loud voice in her silly heart that still believed Joe was going to come back and sweep her off her feet, that his love was true.

  “Anyhow, I told Becky I wasn’t gonna do her dress, but I know this lady up in Culpepper who would do it.” Lily kept on sewing, Mrs. Cregg’s words barely registering. She had no interest in who would make Becky’s dress.

  “Mrs. Lewis said her hands are arthritic like mine, so she’s quittin’ her dressmaking business. If you want, I can put in a good word for you. She might hire you on.”

  Wait, what did she say? She mentally shook Joe from her head and asked Mrs. Cregg what she was talking about. Apparently, Mrs. Cregg’s friend had a small business making custom wedding dresses but was getting on in age and wanted to take on an apprentice who could help her with the sewing. Lily promised Mrs. Cregg she’d go see her friend soon.

  When she said good-bye to Mrs. Cregg, she was excited at the prospect of making money doing something she loved. Once upon a time when she was in high school, she’d thought about going to college to learn fashion. But then her mother got sick, and Lily got all hung up on a boy who was never interested in her to begin with. She squared her shoulders. Not anymore. For too long she’d laid her happiness on someone else’s shoulders, blamed others for her lot in life. It was time for her to take charge. And the first thing she needed to do was forget she’d ever met Joe.

  CHAPTER SIX

  JOEhad picked up the phone a million times to call Lily, but he didn’t know what to say. A month had passed since he’d seen her, and not an hour had gone by that he hadn’t thought about her. But she’d made it very clear she wasn’t going to take his call unless he had squared things at home. So what was the point in calling her? What would he tell her? That he was a coward? A man who would follow through on a promise he never meant to make, but break one he wholeheartedly wanted to keep?

  He stared at his face in the mirror as he shaved. The same mirror where he’d first seen Lily. He had his own bathroom, but for some reason used this one every chance he got. It was crazy, of course it was, but he could smell her scent in here, feel her presence.

  He heard the front door open and walked into the hallway to see if his mother had come home. Carrie’s voice floated up from the foyer, and he froze. He went to one of the unused bedrooms and silently closed the door. Carrie came up the stairs and knocked on his bedroom door. She opened the door, then left after a minute. “Looks like he’s not home,” Carrie said. “I’m due at the Hendersons’ place for dinner in two hours, and I must wash my hair. This humidity is just killing my new cut.”

  “Oh, don’t I know it, darlin’. Why don’t you come over tomorrow, and I’ll try to keep Joe home,” came his mother’s response.

  He breathed a sigh of relief when Carrie left. It was time for him to man up. “Mom.”

  She lifted her head in surprise. “Where were you? You just missed Carrie.”

  “Oh, I didn’t hear her. Listen, I need to talk to you.”

  She gestured to the kitchen, and he followed her. She set about making a pitcher of iced tea, and he realized he’d never seen his mother do anything in the kitchen other than give orders to the staff. She rang for iced tea; she didn’t make it. He’d talked to a few army buddies about job prospects. He could make a decent living for his family, but he’d never be able to pay the mortgage and back taxes on the estate. It would be a much more humble life. One he wasn’t sure his mother could get accustomed to.

  “Here’s the deal. You get chemo first, you beat this cancer, then I marry Carrie.”

  “The estate will be in ruins by then.”

  “So be it. It’ll be worse if I don’t marry Carrie.”

  “No can do, Joe. I’m your mother. I know what you’re playing at. You’ll have me go through chemo, be miserable, then talk me into selling the estate when I’m weak. You don’t give a hoot about this place, but you care about your mother’s life.”

  She had him there. “I’m also as stubborn as my mother. You get the chemo, or I reenlist and everything goes to hell.”

  “Joe!”

  “You know I’m serious. I like being a soldier, and I’ve done it before. So, what’s it gonna be?” He mentally crossed his fingers. He needed a way out of this mess, to get back to Lily, but he couldn’t live with himself if something happened to his mother because of him.

  “Then you best be prepared to bury me next to your daddy.”

  LILY held up the dress and marveled at what she’d done. It was the first wedding dress she’d sewn by herself, and it was beautiful. The bride happened to be her size, which had made this an easy dress to make on her own.

  It felt good to take charge of her life. In the last three months, she had cut back on her hours at the diner, an added benefit being not having to listen to Becky talk nonstop about the color of her flowers, the pattern for her table settings, or the fonts of her wedding invitations.

  Things were finally going well for her. And yet she felt an emptiness the size of the Grand Canyon inside her. She had to forget Joe. Or so she told herself every few minutes. But there was this irritating voice in her soul that just kept getting louder, shouting that he’d come for her. Lily didn’t know how to silence that voice. How to close it down and exorcise him from her soul.

  She studied the dress. Why not? She shucked her clothes and carefully unzipped the dress. She and the bride had spent hours discussing the design. Like her, the bride wanted something demure but sexy, and here it was. A dress with cap sleeves but a deep round neck and an empire waist. The lacy front gave it a romantically Grecian feel. Lily swirled. It fit perfectly. The knot in her stomach grew and twisted, burning her from the inside out. She unzipped the dress and stepped out of it. What was she thinking?

  It wasn’t as if she had hope to hold on to. Joe had called the first few days he’d gone back. She texted him to say that unless he’d broken it off with Carrie, not to call her again. He stopped calling. She began checking his Facebook postings. It wasn’t as if she was stalking him. Just because she checked each of his social media accounts a few times a day and her emails obsessively did not mean she was crazy. Okay, yes, it did, but she couldn’t help it. His soul had infused every cell in her body.

  She had a mental countdown from the last tim
e she’d seen him. It had been exactly ninety-one days and eighteen hours. He had called and left a message a month ago, begging her to call him back. She had been thrilled, but then saw a picture Carrie posted of them together. It wasn’t just one picture either, Carrie constantly tweeted about the fun they were having planning their wedding. Yes, she was also stalking Carrie’s social media accounts, watching her life to see what she had that Lily didn’t. Aside from a size-two body, flawless skin, witty repartee to articulate her fabulousness in a tweet, and oh yes, Joe.

  Except her heart refused to believe what was plain to see. People made stuff up on social media all the time. But if Carrie was doing that, why hadn’t Joe come to see her? He had left her two messages, then stopped calling.

  She folded the wedding dress, then wrapped it neatly in tissue paper. She’d been so excited about it that she’d stayed up all night to finish it even though she wasn’t scheduled to deliver it to the bride until next month. She put it away, in the back of her closet. She didn’t need to be looking at it.

  There was a knock on the door, and she frowned. Had she asked Mrs. Cregg to come by today?

  She opened the door, and her heart slammed into her chest. There he stood, in his army fatigues, with such a forlorn look on his face that the air left her lungs.

  “Joe!” Then it hit her. “Why are you in fatigues?” The last time he was here, he told her his army tour was up at the end of the summer. He was home for good, unless he’d reenlisted.

  She stepped back, hand on her mouth. “You didn’t.”

  He nodded. She stood in the doorway, staring at him.

  “Can I come in, please?”

  She stepped aside, out of reach. It was his eyes—they held a world of sadness and hurt in them, and she put a hand on his arm. “What happened?”

  “She lied to me.” He turned his face, but she could see the tears in his eyes as plainly as she heard the crack in his voice. She went to him, his pain too much to bear. He opened his arms, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding onto him as tightly as she could. She wanted to take away whatever pain was causing that expression. He buried his face in her shoulder.

  “Your mother?”

  She could feel him nodding.

  “She never had cancer. She lied to me. She knew I wasn’t gonna marry Carrie so she… That house is so important to her, it means more to her than my happiness.”

  Lily felt anger bubble deep inside her. What kind of mother would do that? Put her only child through such a terrible lie. She squeezed him tighter, needing him to feel the truth of her emotions for him.

  He lifted his head. “Her doctor thought she had breast cancer ’cause her first biopsy was concerning. When they did the second biopsy, she was clean but she wasn’t going to tell me until I married. I backed her into a corner, and that’s when it finally came out. The whole sordid tale of how she told everyone she was sick after the first biopsy. Since her sister died of it, she thought she was done in. The diagnosis brought her sympathy, including from the bank, so she kept it going even after the doctor told her she was fine.”

  She could feel the uncried tears in his chest.

  “What hurts the most is that she was stringing it out. Lettin’ me believe she was going through this horrible thing. She even pretended to go to chemo, insisting she wanted to do it alone. I showed up at the hospital one day, to surprise her, show my support, and they told me they never heard of her. That’s how I found out. I tracked her smartphone and found her lunching with a friend.”

  They held each other for a while. When she let go, he looked at her with so much longing, it ripped her heart into pieces.

  “Can I stay the night?”

  She stepped back. “Joe…”

  “I was never gonna marry Carrie. I was trying to get my mother into chemo, then I was going to do what needed doin’ with the estate. I wouldn’t marry her, not feeling the way I do about you.”

  “Why did you reenlist?”

  He swallowed.

  “You did it to punish your mama.”

  “It was an impulsive decision. You wouldn’t take my calls, and Mom wouldn’t budge even after I caught her in the cancer lie. Then her theatrics just increased. A buddy of mine called to say he was going back in and I went with him. It’s just for a year. We’re gonna make contacts so we can start our own security firm when we come back.”

  “When do you leave?”

  “I report for duty in three days, but I’ll be back, and when I am, we’re gonna be together.”

  It was what she wanted. Except her chest hurt so much, she could barely breathe. “That’s what m’ daddy said too, and he died.” She swallowed, her throat so tight, she could barely get a breath in. “I need you to go, Joe. I love you, more than I ever thought I could. But I can’t do this. I can’t.”

  “C’mon, Lily, it’s late. I drove all day to get to you.”

  She checked her watch. It was late. She couldn’t send him to Norma Jean. She’d know something was up and then blab it to the town. Same with Marty. “I have a place you can go.” She picked up the phone and called Jake. He owned the ranch on the outskirts of town. He had a guest cottage he rented out when Marty’s guesthouse got full. She called him and asked for his discretion. Joe didn’t take his eyes off her, and she made the call and wrote the address on a slip of paper for him.

  “Lily…”

  “I can’t. I know you’re hurtin’, and I wish I could give you what you want, but I can’t set myself up for that kinda heartbreak.”

  Somehow, him leaving hardly left her feeling better. She cried herself to sleep, then spent the night tossing and turning. She could barely look at herself in the mirror the next morning. What was wrong with her? Joe had come back. For her. Like she knew he would, and she had thrown him out. He was in pain, suffering from the betrayal of someone he’d given his whole life to, and Lily had pushed him out of her life.

  She couldn’t go through another year the way she’d gone through the last three months without him. She’d die. No, it was better thinking she couldn’t have him. Except that wasn’t true anymore. What if he died overseas? Her throat was so tight, she thought she’d choke.

  She was due at the diner an hour ago, but she called and left a message that she was sick and would be out for the next few days. Joe had three days before he had to report for duty. She was going to spend them with him. If that was all she was going to get with him, she was going to pack in a lifetime of love in that short time.

  She dressed quickly, then drove to Jake’s ranch, where she had worked as a teenager. After opening the trick lock on the gate, she drove to the carport on the side of the big stone house, but Joe’s car wasn’t there. Had he left?

  She put her head on the steering wheel, unable to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks. She’d blown it.

  A tap on her window made her raise her head. It was Jake, thumbing his hat back from a sweaty brow. His shirt and jeans were covered with dirt and straw. “You here for him?”

  She nodded. Jake was a straight shooter. He had been her friend when all the other kids laughed at her. She trusted him completely, so she didn’t pretend with him.

  “He didn’t say a word this morning, just thanked me and left.”

  “How is he?”

  “Like he’s been stomped on by cattle, then run over by a truck. You sure about this, Lily?”

  She shook her head. She wasn’t sure about anything. “I don’t know… What should I do, Jake?”

  He laughed mirthlessly. “I am not the person to be askin’ about love.”

  “I heard about you and Jolene,” she said sympathetically. Jolene had been his childhood sweetheart, and the whole town knew that she’d left Jake. They were the Romeo and Juliet of Hell’s Bells. Jolene leaving Jake had been all anyone could talk about over Thanksgiving. Lily didn’t know Jolene as well as she knew Jake, but any woman who would leave him was crazy. Which was probably what anyone would say about her throwing Joe out l
ast night.

  He took off his hat and pushed back his sandy-brown hair. “If I loved Jolene half as much as Joe loves you, I’d have built a wall before I let her leave the ranch.”

  Whoa! From what she heard, Jolene leaving had left Jake heartbroken. She blinked, trying to stem the flow of tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “You gonna be okay?”

  She nodded without conviction. She wasn’t going to be okay. She was never going to be okay. Her chest hurt so much, she didn’t know how she was breathing. She thanked Jake for putting Joe up. Not sure what else to do, she drove to her house and nearly collapsed with relief. There was Joe, standing beside his car. She parked and ran up to him. He had his arms wide open, and she collapsed into him. She’d left in such a hurry that morning, she hadn’t even grabbed her coat and stood shivering in his arms.

  “Where did you run off to so early in the morning?”

  “To find you.” She snuggled into him, eager to feel his strength, to hear the beat of his heart that matched her own.

  “I did it all wrong, Lily.”

  She shook her head. “No, I shoulda been there for you. I wanted to, but I…”

  “Will you come with me for a few minutes?”

  I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth. She nodded. There was no point in fighting it. She went inside and grabbed her coat. When she came out, he opened the passenger door, and she got in. He drove her to the town square, parked on the street, then took her hand as he led her to the gazebo.