No, he’d send the papers by regular mail. He sealed the envelope and, because it was already addressed to Lawrence, only needed to add a stamp. Considering the thickness of the envelope, he slapped on another one for good measure.
He put the envelope in his outbox along with the other outgoing mail.
As he left the office, he stopped at April’s desk. “I’ll be out of town for a couple days. I’m not sure how long, but at least overnight.”
She frowned. “Out of town? Where are you going? Or is it a secret?”
“No secret. I’m going to Seattle. There’s some mail in my outbox that needs to go out today. Don’t forget to pick it up when you make your rounds. It’s important.”
“I never forget the mail.”
He’d already arranged for Sasha to stay overnight with Eileen, so all he had to do was throw some clothes in a duffel bag and be on his way.
He made good time until he hit Olympia and I-5, and then traffic slowed. Finally, he reached Seattle and the exit his GPS told him would lead to Eva’s office building. Once there, he pulled into the underground parking garage, where he caught the elevator to the sixteenth floor. His breath came short, and his heart thumped.
At the end of the hallway, he saw Seattle’s Best spelled out in large black metal letters on a white wall next to glass double doors. He thought of the Herald’s office, where the name of the newspaper was painted on the window.
The doors burst open, and a group of four or five women breezed out in a blur of colorful outfits, high heels and huge purses slung over their shoulders. Talking and laughing, they barely glanced at him as they passed by. He caught the open door before it closed again and stepped inside the office.
He headed across a thick carpet, past chrome-and-black-leather furniture to a receptionist sitting behind a counter that took up nearly all of one wall. The scent of roses from a bouquet on a glasstopped table filled the air. Abstract prints in a variety of bold colors hung on the walls. Everything shouted elegance and sophistication. He thought of the Herald’s office with its molded plastic chairs and wooden tables and the sorry-looking philodendron.
No comparison, but so what? Other things in life mattered more. Like love. He was here to state his case, and state it he would.
He lifted his chin, straightened his shoulders and marched toward the receptionist. He’d almost reached her desk when a woman coming down the hall to his right caught his eye. Eva? He blinked and looked again. Yes, the woman was Eva. And yet not Eva. Not the Eva he’d come to know anyway. Her hair was in the twist thing. Her light blue suit fit her snugly in all the right places, with the short skirt showing plenty of leg. He had to admit she made a striking figure. She looked as if she belonged on the staff of a high-class magazine.
She, too, was headed for the receptionist. “Claire…”
Then she saw him. She stopped. Her eyes widened.
“Hello, Eva.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you.”
Alarm flashed in her eyes. “Sasha? Did something happen to Sasha?”
Her concern for his daughter brought a smile to his lips. “Sasha’s fine.”
“What, then?”
A small group had gathered, keeping their distance but watching with undisguised curiosity. He tipped his head toward them. “In private?”
Eva raised her eyebrows at the onlookers. They muttered about having to get back to work and disappeared through doorways and down hallways.
She turned back to Mark. “There’s a conference room down the hall.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
HEART HAMMERING, Eva led Mark down the hallway to the meeting room. What could he possibly want to see her about? Must be the newspaper. Except for Sasha, nothing meant anything to him. Was he here to try, one last time, to talk her out of selling to Boyd Carlstrom? Or had he heard already that she hadn’t? Only yesterday she’d been at the lawyer’s, unable to sign the papers. Still, there would have been time for her lawyer to call him.
Thankfully, no one was using the room. She led Mark in and closed the door. An oval table and chairs filled the space. She motioned to a chair, but he shook his head and held up one hand. “No, thanks.”
She remained standing, too, unable to take her eyes off him. How could she have missed him so much in only a few days? But she had. She still didn’t know why he was here. Her nerves tingled.
“Mark, why are you here? If it’s about the newspaper, you should be glad about what I did. Now you don’t have to worry.”
He tilted his head and raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
“Then you don’t know…”
“Know what?”
“That I didn’t sell. I changed my mind. I told my lawyer to contact you and arrange for you to buy me out on whatever terms suit you. That was only yesterday, but word travels fast.”
“What?” He stared, openmouthed.
“Did you hear a word I said?”
“Yeah, but I’m having trouble understanding. You didn’t sell to Boyd?”
“No, and now you can have the Herald for yourself. And I can get on with my life—here.” She looked away.
“There’s a little snag in that scenario.”
“What snag?”
“I just sold my half to Boyd.”
Now it was Eva’s turn to stare. “Am I hearing right?”
“Yep. Signed the papers this morning before I left to come here.”
“Why on earth would you do that? Are you insane?”
He lifted a shoulder. “I thought selling my share would prove I love you for yourself, not just because I wanted to own all of the paper. So that’s why I’m here. With the hope that—”
“Oh, Mark.” Tears sprang to Eva’s eyes. “You really love me that much?”
“I really do. And you must care about me, at least a little,”
“Oh, I do. That’s why I didn’t sell to Boyd.”
A big grin lit his face and he held out his arms. “C’mere, honey.”
They both stepped forward and met halfway. In an instant his arms were around her, holding her close. She drank in his oh-so-familiar scent, felt the strength of his embrace. Nothing had ever felt so good.
“I missed you so much,” he whispered against her ear.
“I’ve missed you, too.”
He tilted her chin and covered her lips with his. With a soft sigh, she clasped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss.
It was everything she’d dreamed of since she’d left Willow Beach.
He deepened the kiss for long moments, then eased away. “Let’s get out of here. There must be somewhere we can go to be alone.”
“I have appointments,” she murmured.
“Not anymore, you don’t. Your only appointment today is with me.” Clasping her elbow, he drew her toward the door.
Eva pulled to a stop. “Wait, Mark. What are we going to do about the Herald?”
“The newspaper is the least of my concerns at the moment.”
“We have to think about the future before we jump into something we both might regret.”
He leveled her a solemn gaze. “We love each other. Does anything else matter?”
“No, I guess not.”
“And, Eva, if Seattle is where you want to be, Sasha and I will be here, too. It’s a big city. I’ll get a job somewhere.”
“You don’t like big cities.”
“I like wherever you are. Don’t you get it yet?”
She smiled and her tension melted away. “Yeah, I get it. Tell you what, since you’ve signed over your half to Boyd, I’ll go ahead and sell him
my half, too. Then we’ll decide where to go from there.”
He raised an eyebrow. “If you’re sure that’s what you want to do.”
“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”
“All right. I know we’ll find a place that’s right for both of us. All I ask is that you promise me forever.”
“Forever,” she murmured. “Yes, I promise you forever.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her again.
The door to the conference room opened and Susan came in. “Somebody said you were in here, Eva…. Oh, excuse me!” Her face turned red.
Eva motioned to Susan. “Come on in and meet Mark.”
“Mark. From Willow Beach.” Susan grinned. “What took you so long?”
*
THE FOLLOWING DAY, having spent the night at Susan’s fiancé’s, Mark pulled his SUV into the Herald’s parking lot. He sat there a moment, preparing for what lay ahead when he entered the building. He must tell the staff that the Herald soon would belong entirely to Boyd Carlstrom. He’d no doubt they would all leave and be happy in new endeavors. Still, putting an official end to the newspaper they’d known and loved brought tightness to his chest.
Better get it over with. Taking a deep breath, he got out of the SUV and entered the building’s back door. As he headed to his office, he spotted Bernie coming down the hall toward him.
Bernie waved. “Hey, man, glad you’re back. How’d it go in Seattle?”
Mark grinned. “Real good. I’ll fill all of you in later.”
“Okay, but there’s something you need to know.”
Bernie’s serious tone put him on alert. “What’s that?”
“April left early yesterday. Then she called this morning and said she wasn’t coming in. Said there’s a letter on your desk.”
Mark shook his head. What was April up to now? “Thanks, I’ll check it out.”
Mark reached his office and went in. The blinds were closed and the room was dim. He crossed to the window and opened the blinds, then approached his desk. As Bernie had said, an envelope lay there. It was addressed to him, in April’s handwriting. His curiosity growing stronger by the second, he slid his thumb under the flap. He took out the letter inside and read:
Dear Mark,
When you told me you were going to Seattle, I decided that, no matter what the outcome of your trip, I don’t belong here at the Herald anymore. You were right. I will be happier working someplace else. I’m moving to Morganville to live with my sister.
If I’m lucky, someday I’ll find someone as nice as you.
April
Mark stared at the letter. He never would have thought she’d actually take his advice and seek employment elsewhere.
“I wish you well, April,” he whispered.
Since she’d left early yesterday, he wondered if she’d collected his mail, as he’d asked her to do before he left town. Probably. April may have been difficult, but she was efficient and conscientious.
He stepped to the corner of his desk and peered into his outbox. The stack of mail still sat there. On the top was the envelope to Lawrence Prentiss.
Wearing a big grin, Mark picked up the envelope, ripped it open and pulled out the sheets of paper. Clutching the documents in both hands, he began tearing them in half. He kept tearing until all that was left of the contract was a pile of little pieces of paper. He swept them into the wastebasket, then brushed his hands together, making sure every bit of the contract was disposed of.
He picked up the phone and called Eva. “You’ll never guess what happened,” he said when she came on the line.
*
“A MR. LAWRENCE PRENTISS to see you,” Claire told Eva over the phone.
Eva frowned and glanced at the list she’d been making of all that she had to do. Her life was changing by the minute, it seemed. Today, she’d given James her resignation. He’d been understanding and sympathetic, as she knew he would be. Now her father’s lawyer wanted to see her. Why? She’d fulfilled the terms of the will, hadn’t she?
“I’ll be right out,” Eva told Claire.
She left her cubicle and headed to the reception area. Lawrence, looking as thin as ever in his lightweight tan suit, stood waiting for her.
Eva approached and held out her hand. “Lawrence, what brings you to Seattle?”
Lawrence smiled and shook Eva’s hand. “I have a letter for you that I wanted to deliver in person. Is there someplace we can talk in private?”
“I think my cubicle is private enough. Come on back.”
Once they were seated, Lawrence pulled a legal-size envelope from his jacket’s breast pocket and handed it to her.
Eva’s name was written on the envelope. “That looks like my father’s handwriting.”
Lawrence nodded and tucked his long legs under his chair. “He wrote the letter at the same time that he made his will. But I wasn’t to give it to you until your year in Willow Beach was over.”
“He was that certain I’d stay?”
“I honestly don’t know. And I don’t know what’s in the letter. I’m only supposed to deliver it to you.”
She nodded and tapped the envelope. “Which you have done, and I appreciate that.”
Eva decided to not confide in Lawrence about her and Mark’s decision to keep the Herald. The way the town grapevine worked, everyone would know soon enough. She saw Lawrence out and then returned to her cubicle. She sat at her desk and stared at the envelope, then decided to wait until she was at home to read it.
But even when she was back in her condo, she still didn’t have the nerve to read her father’s letter. She let it lie on the coffee table while she drank a cup of tea and stared out the patio door at the nighttime sky.
Finally, she picked up the envelope and opened it. The letter was handwritten.
Dear Eva,
I’m sure you are surprised to receive this letter from me. I can just imagine the expression on your face. What’s he writing to me for?
Well, because I have something important to say. You know it’s always been difficult for me to talk about things and that I do better at writing than at talking.
Anyway, by the time you receive this letter, you will have finished your year in Willow Beach, coediting the Herald with Mark. Yes, I’m certain you took up the challenge. I know you better than you think I do, my daughter. I know you have integrity and honesty and a consideration for others. You won’t let Mark lose his inheritance.
Even so, I’m equally certain you consider my bequest as punishment rather than as a reward. In truth, though, it is neither.
About your brother: your mother and I welcomed both you and Brett into the world with great joy and anticipation. But I know that as the years went by you felt I favored Brett over you. And perhaps it looked that way because I was so intent on him following in my footsteps at the Herald.
You were always more interested in feminine things—dolls when you were little, clothes later on. And I couldn’t relate. Okay, I could have tried harder.
When we lost your mother I thought the world had ended. And when Brett died, as everybody witnessed, I went into another tailspin. But I made sure that you graduated high school and went off to college. Perhaps wanting you to come work for me was selfish, but, Eva, I never considered you second choice. Never. I thought if you came we might have the relationship we hadn’t had before.
I didn’t believe you when you told me Brett was never going to work at the Herald. But after you went to Seattle, I discovered among his things the papers from the recruiters that he’d filled out. I know his death
hit you hard, too, but don’t ever, ever blame yourself for the accident. It was just that: an accident.
I left you an interest in the Herald because I wanted to give you something that means a lot to me, hoping that you will come to love it as I did and love living back in your hometown. And if that love should happen to grow to include Mark, well, that would please me, too. He’s a fine man.
I’ve known about my bad heart for several years now. And, yes, I’ve been seeing a doctor and following his advice and taking the prescriptions he’s given me. But even so, nothing is guaranteed. So, I figured I’d better make a will and arrange my affairs while I still could. Maybe I’ll last until we can be with each other again on better terms.
If not, know that I have always loved you and wish you only the best.
Dad
Eva sat there staring at her father’s bold signature, so characteristic of the man himself. Tears streamed down her face, tears for all they had lost, she and her father. Yet, the letter confirmed that his love for her had never been lost. Amid all the arguments, the misunderstandings, the hurt, his love for her had always been there.
“How I wish I could have told him I love him, too,” Eva said days later, after she’d shared her father’s letter with Mark.
“I know how you feel,” he said. “There’s a lot I wish I’d said to Diane, would have said if I’d known what was going to happen when she got on that bus.”
“I don’t ever want anything to come between us,” she said, gazing into the eyes of the man she loved with all her heart.
He drew her into his arms. “You made a promise to me a few days ago. You promised me forever. And now I have one for you. I promise you, my dear love, my soon-to-be wife, that nothing, nothing in heaven or earth, will ever come between us.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Willow Beach, fifteen months later
“HEY, HONEY, I’M HOME!”
Eva stopped typing and grinned at her husband’s clichéd greeting. “I’m in my office,” she called and then turned to watch him enter the room. He was dressed in his typical jeans and short-sleeved shirt that showed off those muscles she never tired of admiring.
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