“Told ya!” Jeb said triumphantly. He hurried over to stand by Clay, who scooped him up into his arms, gave him a hug, and then put him back on his feet.
“Go on upstairs and brush your teeth, and we’ll get ready to go to grandma’s house like I promised.”
“Okay!”
Regret that they weren’t attending her and Griff’s wedding that day instead passed through Tessa, but the feeling left the second Jeb turned and beamed at her. “Love ya, Tessa!” he said, and then flew down the hall to the stairwell.
Her heart jumped with joy. Even though Jeb hadn’t called her mom, that was okay. She didn’t expect him to. His declaration of love was enough to warm her through and ease up the sick feeling in her heart. Where Jeb was concerned, maybe, just maybe, everything was going to be okay.
“You can go with Griff, Tessa,” Clay said quietly, coming into the room to sit across from her. “I told Jeb you’ve loved Griff for a long, long time. That your marrying him is the right thing, and always has been.”
She searched his eyes, and then it hit her. “You sent the e-mail telling Griff about the wedding, didn’t you?”
He nodded slowly. “I was hoping you and he would finally come to your senses and marry each other.”
“I thought you believed you and I getting married was a good idea—for Jeb’s sake.”
He shrugged his shoulders and gave a shake of his head, reminding her of both Jeb—and Griff. “I knew how badly you wanted to be Jeb’s mom again, and I kind of felt like I owed it to you to give you that chance because my brother screwed up. I knew Jeb needed a mother, and I have no wish to get into a real relationship. Lindy was enough for me.” He paused, gazing down at the floor.
He was still hurting over his wife’s death. Tessa’s heart went out to him, but there was nothing she could do.
He continued, “But I also knew how much you loved Griff, even if you refused to admit it to anyone. Hell, the whole town knows how much you love Griff. Basically I got cold feet. It wasn’t right our getting married, but I didn’t want to destroy your dreams. But then I figured if I got you a new dream in the shape of my brother, maybe that would be the right thing to do to fix the mess I got myself into. So I did it.”
“Yes, you certainly did,” she agreed.
“The question is, what are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to stay here and be with my son,” she said, her voice determined. “Even if Griff wanted to stay here and give up flying to be with Jeb, he apparently feels like he needs to be away so Jeb doesn’t worry. It just isn’t ever going to work out for the two of us, and I’ve got to accept that and be happy alone. Besides, my staying here and his leaving is what he wants, and for a change I’m going to put his wishes before mine.”
Clay stared at her for another long minute. It was a good thing she hadn’t married him, she thought, he would have driven her crazy with his stares.
The doorbell rang and Clay practically jumped to his feet. As far as she knew, he wasn’t expecting anyone, but she figured he was eager to answer the door so he wouldn’t have to deal with her any longer, and she understood that. She could hear laughing at the door, and wished she was someplace else. This was not a happy day for her.
She had a wedding to cancel.
Then, suddenly, Clay was back, with a proclamation that stunned her.
“Looks like,” he drawled out, “I’m going to have to kidnap you.”
Griff’s father was being stoic at his departure, but his mother’s face showed every bit of the pain Griff was feeling, and more.
“You promise you’ll write?” she asked, sorrow lacing her soft voice. What she really wanted to say, Griff knew, was, “Do you have to go?”
He nodded and patted her shoulder, trying to comfort her. It didn’t seem to help. Why should it? He’d been trying to do a lot of things lately, and hadn’t been succeeding.
“I promise. And I won’t stay away so long this time.” He meant that. Even though coming back here would bring him as much pain as it ever had, it would bring him joy, too. He’d made peace with his parents, and he had a son—even if he couldn’t exactly claim him to the world. It was a feeling like none other he’d ever experienced.
Except maybe the first time he’d realized he loved Tessa.
But that was over. She had to stay with their son, and even Griff understood how awkward and worrisome his being here would be to Jeb. With a heartfelt sigh that only began to mirror the loneliness he was feeling, he headed toward the door.
“Wait!” Mary said. “You just wait one minute.”
Turning, he watched her bolt down the hall and soon, he could hear her footsteps over their heads on the second floor. Griff shot his father a puzzled look and got a bewildered shrug back.
A minute or so later, he got his answer when Mary returned with the cardboard box full of his old toys.
“As long as you are riding through town, drop these off at the Mission Donations box for me.”
“It’s still in the same place?”
She nodded.
That would make it in the back of the First Faith and Hope Church of Claiborne Landing, which was a small church about a third of a mile down from Tessa’s house, but he guessed enough trees blocked the view that he didn’t have to worry about the two of them seeing each other again.
“Tessa was talking about saving some of these things…” He couldn’t complete the sentence, but his mother seemed to know what he was getting at. For Jeb.
“Well, she walked off the other day and left them and I guess it might confuse Jeb to get them now, so I want them out of here,” Mary said firmly.
“Okay.” He hoisted the box into his arms, leaned over, and kissed his mother goodbye again. Before she could say anything else, he walked toward the door.
“But isn’t that where—” he heard Jacques say quietly behind him, only to be hushed by his mother. If he didn’t know any better, he would think something was up, but what could that be?
He thought about it the entire five miles to the church, but decided that the shushing had been his mother’s softhearted attempt to save him from learning something he didn’t want to know. Maybe Clay and Tessa had already decided to go back to their marriage of convenience. The very idea tore him up, but since he didn’t know anything for sure, he decided he couldn’t worry over idle thoughts.
Bless his mother for finally keeping quiet.
After a left off of Highway 518, he followed the loop driveway around the picturesque church, under the trees, to the back where the big silver canister was kept for people to drop off donations for the needy. He got out and went to the back of his truck bed, where he unhitched the tailgate and slid the box forward.
The second his eyes set on the toys, he had to go through them again, one last time. He didn’t know why, just that it was that kind of day. He was leaving everything he loved behind, from his parents and brother, to Jeb…and Tessa. Why not take something familiar with him?
The catcher’s mitt reminded him of the ball games his dad took him to, faithfully, even when Jacques had been working in the scorching sun and humidity all day. Funny, he hadn’t appreciated back then how much of a sacrifice his dad must have made for him, but now he could. Now, that was, that he’d worked himself as a fully grown man on the roof the week before in the blazing heat, with no pay—not that money was the issue—and been able to do nothing afterward more strenuous than collapsing into an easy chair. His father must have been exhausted, but he’d gone to the games. For his kid.
He put the mitt aside. The fire truck was next. He remembered the year he’d received it, they’d taken a beating on the crops—lousy weather. Very little money, but still there had been presents to open on Christmas.
And finally, the toy planes. His mother had always bought him one whenever she could afford it, just as she’d always listened to his dreams of becoming a pilot. It must have torn her up knowing that meant he would be leaving home, probably never livi
ng nearby again, and he’d hated the way she’d tried to get him to farm with his dad instead, but she’d always gotten those planes for him, and admired them when he’d finished putting them together.
As the good memories swept over him and multiplied, the thought of giving away the toys made him sick inside. But he couldn’t bring back the past. He had to go on. Still, he couldn’t make himself slide the box into the big one beside him. He stood there, feeling like a fool, undecided.
Beep, beep…beep beep beep.
He raised his head to see who was trying so hard to get his attention, and saw first one vehicle, then another, and another, of assorted makes and colors, coming up the driveway and rounding the church. His mother and father, Sadie and Horace, Jasper and his wife, and others. Once the first of the vehicles was on the other side, they parked between the trees on one side and the church on the other, so that they neatly blocked access out. Two more cars blocked almost all of the driveway coming in, and more came up behind them, until one last vehicle, Clay’s truck, threaded through the small lane that was left and totally blocked after that by a last car.
Frowning as he listened to vehicle doors opening and shutting, Griff’s attention stayed on Clay’s truck. His determined-looking brother was behind the steering wheel, with Tessa next to him, and Jeb by the window. Tessa was biting her bottom lip, which meant she was worried.
What the hell was going on? Then he remembered his father’s question to his mother right as he was walking out the door of the farmhouse. Isn’t that where…?
“Isn’t that where what, Dad?” he asked as Mary and Jacques, the only ones of the arrivals who weren’t hanging back, approached him. He couldn’t blame the others. He figured he was looking pretty irritated about then, even if he had been taking his own sweet time about driving on.
“Where your wedding was supposed to be held.” Jacques looked sheepish. “We couldn’t have the rehearsal here last night because the rugs were being cleaned, but your mother wanted you two to get married in some place different than…” His words trailed off.
Different than where Tessa and his brother’s aborted wedding had been.
“Well, the wedding’s off,” Griff grumbled, being careful not to look toward the truck where he knew Tessa was, even though he heard the door to it open.
“From what I heard,” Clay said, ambling up to stand with their parents, with Jeb beside him, “you two never talked that over between you. Tessa was all for letting you make this decision, because she wants you to be happy and to have your way and she knows that if she’s here, you’ll feel better about leaving Jeb behind. But me, little brother, I think you’re being an idiot walking away from everyone who loves you, but especially walking away from Tessa. So we kidnapped the two of you so you could be together and work it all out.”
“That’s about the longest speech I’ve heard out of you in quite a while, Clay,” Griff said, feeling off guard.
“I never talk much unless there’s something important to be said. Makes people listen to me better that way.” Clay crossed his arms over his chest. “I hope it’s working with you.”
“It is,” he said dryly. “I’m an idiot. I was standing here coming to that very conclusion myself.”
A slow grin spread across Clay’s face. “Then I guess we’ll all leave you two alone to reason this out.”
A buzz of noisy chatter went up behind him as he headed toward the church doors and the group of friends and family followed, but the only thing Griff wanted to hear was what Tessa had to say.
What was she going to say to him? Tessa leaned back against Clay’s truck and took deep, even breaths. She watched as he waited until everyone but the two of them had gone inside, and then walked over to join her by the truck. With that lopsided grin that she loved, he settled next to her, assuming her same stance, arms crossed over chest, back against the truck door, hip against her. She didn’t mind that part at all. He didn’t mind being close. That was good.
“Did they really kidnap you?”
She offered him a tentative smile. “I never go anyplace I don’t really want to go, Griff. You know that.”
“Yeah, I guess I do.” Shifting his gaze away from her, he said, “Mom got me to come here by having me drop off those old toys in my room.”
Tessa gazed with horrified eyes over at the big silver box as if it was a steel monster that had eaten a small child’s toys.
Griff caught her expression. “Don’t worry, I didn’t put them in there. I was just standing there, staring at them, wondering how I screwed up my life so badly that I was fixing to leave everything that means anything at all to me behind. Namely you.”
“Griff, I talked to Jeb, and you don’t have to leave me behind,” she said in a rush, hating to see him hurting and wanting desperately to reassure him. “I’ll go with you. I want to, and Jeb wants me to.”
Bewilderment covered his features. “He said that?”
She told him of the conversation she’d had with their child after Griff had left Clay’s house. “He told me he has Clay, and he was sad because he wanted you to have someone to love, too.” She paused. “By giving up all claim to Jeb so he wouldn’t have to be afraid, I realized you were putting Jeb and me first. I adore you, and so how could I do less? Wherever you need to go, Griff, I want to be with you. And I promise I’ll be happy, as long as we can come back to visit on a regular basis. I trust Clay to take care of Jeb, just as you were trusting him when you drove away.”
He slipped his arm around her shoulders, unable to say a word.
“I was so afraid you’d be gone by the time we got here, and I’d have missed my chance to be with you again.”
He stared at her intensely. “That’s why I was standing here for so long instead of dumping my past into that box and leaving. I was thinking that I didn’t want to leave. I can fly anywhere, but I can’t have a life just anywhere. Not one with great memories, the kind that are keepers—like the ones I had here since I came back. All the time I was working with you at the bakery, and with Dad on the roof, or watching you with Jeb—our son—in the pool, it wasn’t the agony I remembered. It was wonderful. I felt like I was part of something really special, and I haven’t felt that in years.”
“Part of your family,” Tessa said simply.
“That’s right.” He nodded in agreement. “A family with you in it.”
“Oh, Griff,”
“I can’t envision one without you, Tessa. When I was thinking about the toys, and remembering baseball games with Dad, I wondered what it would be like to go to one with you and our kids. When I was remembering waking up on Christmas morning and seeing Dad next to Mom on the couch, I knew I wanted you next to me on Christmas morning, watching our kids unwrap gifts.” He shook his head. “I can’t have a life without you, nor without being close to those we love.”
Her heart was beating thunderously, and she was almost afraid to ask. “Does that mean we’re staying here?”
“Only if Jeb doesn’t mind, and only if you’ll walk into that church with me and marry me right now.”
“We’ll have to ask Jeb, but I’ll be happy to marry you this very minute, only…what about flying?”
“My hitch is up. What would you think about me processing out of the Air Force and opening up a flying school right here as soon as we can get the cash together?”
“I would love it!” She took his hand and they walked to the church to ask their son the most important question Tessa thought they would ever ask him. If Griff’s staying would be okay with him. And to their delight…
Jeb said yes.
Once that happened, Tessa and Griff were whisked off to small, separate Sunday school rooms, Tessa to dress in the gown Mary had brought and Griff in the suit Clay provided since Griff hadn’t brought any dress clothes with him. Then Sadie played “The Wedding March” and Tessa came down the aisle on Griff’s arm, because he wasn’t going to let her get away again. Before she knew it, Griff was kissing her, and th
ey were being presented to the congregation as man and wife.
The breakfast club, for once, was amazingly silent.
Sadie cried with happiness, and Reba and Claudette sighed over the romance of it all.
The congregation cheered.
And Tessa finally had everything she’d ever dreamed of—an extended family, her son, and the man of her dreams.
Epilogue
One year later…
“Mom’s trying to match Clay up with one of her friend’s daughters,” Griff told Tessa in an attempt to get her off the subject of where they were going. Having dropped their three-month-old daughter, Sherrie, off with his parents, they were driving down the parish highway toward Minden and the anniversary present Griff had to show her, which was supposed to be a surprise.
“Matchmaking Clay? Now she knows that will never work. I’ve ruined Clay toward getting involved with any woman.”
“What?” Griff glanced swiftly at her, taken totally by surprise. “Did Clay tell you that?”
“Of course not.” Tessa loosened her fingers from where they were snugly resting in Griff’s free hand. “Sadie did.”
Griff thought about that for a minute. “Hmm. If it came from Sadie the Sage, it’s probably true. Maybe we ought to put some serious thought into making it up to him.”
“Help find him a wife, you mean?” she asked hopefully.
“I mean, send him a ticket for a vacation in Alaska. Think that’s far enough away from Mom’s schemes?”
“Probably not.” Tessa giggled, but then her mind went right back to what was really important at the moment. “So what exactly is my anniversary gift?” She snuggled closer to him.
“Now, you know I can’t tell you.”
“Won’t,” she contradicted. But she could fix that. After their wedding, she’d quickly discovered she could make him tell her anything. With a crafty smile, she snuggled up to him and skimmed her fingernails lightly up and down his thigh, closer and closer to—
Kidnapping His Bride (Silhouette Romance) Page 15