Shoving the rest of the cracker in her mouth, she gripped the knob and eased the door open.
“Gray?” she called out as she stepped inside.
She’d never knocked before, so she didn’t now, plus he knew she was coming.
Kate stepped into the living area and stopped short. The picture over the sofa was no longer the tacky Dogs Playing Poker. Tears pricked her eyes as she stepped closer to the image, one she’d seen so many times, but never like this.
A young Kate stared back at her. On either side of her in the portrait were her parents. All three smiling, not knowing what the future held. Kate had this exact picture in her bedroom.
“You like it?”
Kate was startled as Gray’s easy question pulled her from the moment. Without turning, she nodded. Emotions formed heavy in her throat as her eyes burned with unshed tears.
“I remember that day so vividly,” she told him, taking in every feature of her parents’ faces. “We’d just gone for a picnic at one of the state parks. Then Dad took us on a small hike. My mom tripped on a rock and tore a hole in her tennis shoe. We laughed because she was always so clumsy.”
She could still hear her mother’s laugh—so sweet, almost wistful. “Not a day goes by that I don’t miss them.”
“They’d be proud of you.”
Kate smiled as she turned to face Gray. “I hope so. I wonder what they’d think of me becoming a mother. Not having mine right now is...”
She blew out a breath and tried to gather her thoughts.
“I’m sure it’s difficult,” he told her as he remained in the doorway to the bedroom. “My mother passed when I was little, so I don’t remember her. You’re going to be a great mother and you’ve got those fond memories that will help.”
She met his gaze, biting her bottom lip to cease the quivering.
“And you’ve got me,” he added.
Kate blinked away the moisture and turned back to look at the picture. “Why is this hanging here?” she asked.
“This is your birthday present. It didn’t come in on time, but I want you to have it.”
This is what he’d done for her. For years he’d given her chocolate-covered strawberries, and this year had been no different. But he’d gone a step further and done something so thoughtful, so unique. Damn it, why did love have to be a one-way street with him?
“How did you get a copy?” she asked.
“Social media. I pulled it from one of your accounts and had it blown up on the canvas.”
Crossing her arms, Kate turned her attention back to Gray. “If it’s my birthday present, why is it hanging here?”
“Because you didn’t like the other painting.”
Confused, Kate shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
Gray pushed off the doorway and closed the distance between them. He stood directly in front of her, within touching distance, but didn’t reach for her. As she studied the fine lines around his eyes, she realized he was tired. Had he not slept lately? Was he regretting his decision not to sell the bar?
“You and this baby are my priority now,” he stated simply. “Not the bar, not moving and taking that money. Nothing else matters but my family.”
What? Did he mean...
“I don’t care where we take the picture I got you,” he went on. “If you want to live here, we leave it here. You want to stay in your house, we hang it there. Our child will know your parents and I want to create a family with you.”
“Gray,” she whispered.
She dropped her face to her hands as another wave of emotions overcame her. He was only saying this to appease his dad, to make his father see that Gray was ready to settle down.
Kate swiped her face and met Gray’s eyes. “We’ve been over this.”
Now he did reach for her. Those large, strong hands framed her face. “No, we haven’t, because we’re about to have a whole new conversation. I need your undivided attention when I tell you I’m in love with you.”
Kate’s heart clenched. She stared up at him, gripped his wrists, and murmured, “You—you’re in love with me? As in...”
“As in I want to make you my wife, not because of the baby and not because I’m staying here and keeping the bar.” A ghost of a smile formed on his lips. “All these years I thought there was a void, but there wasn’t. You were here all along and the only thing missing was having you even deeper in my life. That was the void. I need you, Kate. I know you’d be fine without me and we could share joint custody of our baby, but I want this life with you. I want this child and more with you.”
Tears spilled and there was no way she could even think of holding them back. “You’re serious?”
Gray laughed, then nipped at her lips. “You think I’d get rid of my dog picture for just anybody? I love you, Kate. I love this baby.”
“But you were so angry the other night and I thought...”
“I wasn’t angry with you,” he assured her. “I was angry with that jerk who held you in his arms. I was angry with myself for being a dick to you, for not realizing sooner exactly how much you mean to me.”
Gripping his wrists tighter, she so hoped he meant that. Every part of her wanted him to love her, to love this baby and to want to be a united family.
“Are you sure this isn’t because of the baby?” she repeated.
“It’s because of us,” he stated, swiping the moisture from her cheeks. “If you weren’t pregnant, I’d still be in love with you. I’d still want to spend my life with you.”
“Spend your life with me?”
Gray let out a soft chuckle as he stepped back and dropped his hands. “You keep answering me with questions.”
Kate watched as he went to the bedroom and came out a moment later holding something behind his back.
“I got something else for you.”
Honestly, she wasn’t sure how much more she could take. Between the photo and the declaration of love, she had more than she’d ever wanted.
Gray pulled out a thick book from behind his back. No. It wasn’t a book at all.
Kate busted out laughing. “A planner?”
Gray got down on one knee and her breath caught in her throat. “Not just any planner, babe. Our life starts now. Marry me.”
The front of the planner had a big gold heart on a white background. Gray opened the cover to reveal an attached satin ribbon to use for marking pages.
“Gray,” she gasped.
Tied to the satin ribbon was a ring.
“I was just going to propose with the planner because I realize that’s more important than jewelry to you,” he joked. “But I hope you’ll take this ring. It was my mother’s. My dad saved it for me to give to the woman I love. There’s nobody else I would ever give this ring to.”
Kate’s nausea chose that moment to make an appearance. She swayed on her feet, and Gray instantly came to his and wrapped an arm around her waist.
“I hope that’s the baby and not my proposal,” he said, guiding her to the couch.
“Definitely the baby,” she told him.
He set the planner down on the old, antique trunk. “What can I get you?”
Kate closed her eyes, willing the dizziness to pass. “The ring on my finger, for starters.”
She risked looking over at him and found him smiling, his eyes misting. “Are you going to cry?” she asked.
“Me? No. I don’t cry.” He sniffed as he untied the ring and held it up to her. “My dad said my mom loved pearls, but if you want a diamond or, hell... I don’t know. I’ll get anything, Kate. I just want you.”
She held out her left hand. “And I want you and this ring that means so much to you.”
Gray slid the ring onto her finger and let out a breath. “I so hoped this would fit.”
Kate extended her arm a
nd admired the ring. “It’s perfect.”
He pulled her into his arms. “We’re perfect. I’m sorry I didn’t see this before. When you said you needed me to love you like you deserve, I didn’t get it.”
Kate slid her arm around his abdomen and toed off her sandals. She propped her feet on the trunk and nestled deeper into his side.
“I’ve always loved you,” he went on. “I even loved you like a husband should love a wife, but it took a reality check for me to fully realize it.”
“Was it Chris coming back to town?”
“Part of it,” he replied, trailing his fingertips up and down her arm. “When you weren’t here, I felt empty. Once we slept together that first time, everything changed. I wanted you more and more, not just for the sex, but because I felt alone without you.”
Kate smiled and eased up. “Then you took me camping to seduce me.”
A naughty grin spread across his face. “I took you camping to mark an item off your bucket list. The seducing was just a handy by-product.”
His face sobered as he studied her. “I meant what I said before about helping you fulfill your list. Have you heard any more from the genealogy expert?”
“Not yet, but he’s starting his research and that’s a step in the right direction.”
Gray kissed the tip of her nose. “What do you say we go pick out that dog you wanted? Sprout, right?”
Her eyes widened. “Right now?”
With a shrug, Gray sat up. “Why not? The local shelter is open.”
Of course he’d want a shelter dog. As if the man couldn’t be more perfect. She reached out and fisted his unruly hair in her hands, pulling his mouth down to hers.
“You’re so perfect,” she muttered against his lips. “Let’s go get our Sprout.”
“Want to get married, too?”
Kate stilled. “Today?”
“You still looking for something spontaneous for your list?”
The planner inside her started to have anxiety, but the woman who stared at this man wanted him to be hers in every single way.
“Don’t worry about the perfect venue or the gown or flowers,” he told her. “Marry me, Kate. Now. Today.”
She let out a laugh, completely shocked at her response. “Let’s do it.”
Gray lifted her up into his arms and held her tight. There was no one else on earth who could make her want to ignore her plans and throw caution to the wind. But Gray made her want to live in the moment.
“Maybe I should write this in my planner,” she told him.
He set her down on her feet and smiled as he reached down to flip the pages of the planner. “I already did. I had a feeling you’d say yes.”
Kate glanced at the open pages. Her heart leaped in her chest at Gray’s writing on today’s date: Making Kate My Wife.
She smacked a kiss on his cheek. “I’m going to turn you into a personal planner after all.”
“As long as you’re mine, I’ll make a thousand lists with you.”
Epilogue
Sam stood outside his front door. Well, not his front door, since he and Tara had separated. Everyone thought their divorce was final and he’d never said otherwise. Tara had wanted the divorce, and he deserved all of her anger, but he’d never signed the papers. Sam Bailey never gave up and he sure as hell didn’t intend to now—even when his entire world was slipping from his grasp.
He tapped his knuckles on the door—a door he’d installed when they’d bought the house only three years ago, a door he’d walked through thousands of times without thinking twice. Those days were gone. He’d severed his right to just walk in. At this point, he just hoped Tara talked to him.
The dead bolt flicked and Tara eased the door open, pulling her robe tighter around her chest.
“Sam, what are you doing here?”
She always looked gorgeous. Whether she wore her ratty old bathrobe or she had on a formfitting dress. His Tara was a complete knockout. Only she wasn’t his anymore.
“Marley called me.”
“What?”
“She said you’d been crying.” He studied her face but didn’t notice any traces of tears. “Everything okay?”
“I wasn’t crying,” she stated, but her swollen, red eyes gave her away. “Nothing for you to worry about. What else did she tell you?”
Sam swallowed. This wasn’t the first time Marley had called him, trying to find a reason to get him to come over. He knew his little girl wanted her parents to live together again, but it just wasn’t possible right now.
Even so, he and Tara had made it clear they would put Marley first at all times. They didn’t want her to suffer any more than necessary. Keeping her happy, feeling secure, was top of their priority list.
“I’m fine.” Tara licked her lips and raked a hand through her hair, then opened the door wider. “Do you want to come in and see her? She’s getting ready for bed. Or I thought she was. I’m sorry. I had no idea she called you.”
Again.
The word hovered between them because this wasn’t the first time, and likely not the last. But Sam would come every single time if there was the slightest chance something was wrong with Tara.
“I shouldn’t come in.” Though he desperately wanted to. He wanted to walk in that door and tuck his daughter into bed and then go to his own room with his wife. “I don’t want her to think she can keep doing this when there’s nothing wrong.”
But there was so much that was wrong. So much pain, so much heartache. All of it caused by his selfish desires, his addiction. An addiction he’d put ahead of his own family.
Tara glanced over her shoulder, then eased out the front door and closed it at her back. Sam adjusted his stance to make room for her. The glow of the porch lights illuminated her green eyes. It was those wide, expressive eyes that had initially drawn him to her.
“I know you’re trying to move forward, to seek forgiveness or even more from me.” She looked down to her clasped hands and shook her head. “But you can’t keep leaving notes, Sam.”
That’s how he’d originally started to get her attention when he was serious about dating her. Stonerock was a small town, so they’d known each other for years, but something had shifted. He’d leave random notes asking her out and then, once they were together all the time, he’d leave little love notes. He’d done that for years, wanting her to know how special she was.
He’d messed up. There was no denying the facts. All he could do now was try to prove to her, to Marley that he was the man they needed him to be. No matter how long it took.
“I’m a patient man,” he told her, fisting his hands at his sides because he wanted to reach out and touch her. He wanted to brush her hair back from her face and feel the silkiness of her skin once more. “I know I hurt you. I know I hurt Marley. But you know me, babe. I’m going to make this right.”
“It’s over,” she whispered. “I don’t want to keep dragging this out. What happened is in the past and we both need to move forward. It’s not healthy, Sam.”
“No, it’s not,” he agreed. “I’m starting over, Tara. I’m trying one day at a time.”
“Maybe you should just sign the papers,” she whispered through her emotion as she went back inside.
The door closed. The click of the lock seemed to echo in the dark of the night. But Sam couldn’t give up. His family needed him.
He had every intention of proving to Tara that he could be a better man.
* * * * *
Don’t miss any of the stories
set in Stonerock, Tennessee!
Only from Jules Bennett!
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FROM BEST FRIEND TO BRIDE
THE COWBOY’S SECOND-CHANCE FAMILY
FROM BEST FRIEND T
O DADDY
Keep reading for an excerpt from A KISS, A DANCE & A DIAMOND by Helen Lacey.
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A Kiss, a Dance & a Diamond
by Helen Lacey
Chapter One
Kieran O’Sullivan was home.
For good.
He rubbed the back of his neck, stretched out his spine and figured he should down another cup of coffee since he had three hours to go before the end of his double shift. It had been a busier-than-usual afternoon in the ER at the Cedar River Community Hospital, but nothing like he’d been used to when he’d lived and worked in Sioux Falls. Still, he’d treated two minor burns, a dislocated shoulder, a baby with a bad case of croup and a teenager who’d fractured her arm after falling off a horse.
From Best Friend to Daddy Page 15