“I understand your concerns,” Matthew replied, slipping his arm around Cory’s shoulder. “But I love her as I’ve never loved anyone before. I only want her best interests. And yours.”
What could my mother possibly say to that, Cory thought, leaning into Matthew’s embrace.
Joyce must have sensed the sincerity in Matthew’s voice, because Cory saw the tight lines around her mouth ease.
“I’ve spent many years trying to keep Cory safe,” her mother said, not done yet. “You have to know that I can’t so easily let her go.”
“I’m a big girl, mother,” Cory said, intervening. “I think you’ve taught me well enough to know when and who to trust. And I trust Matthew.”
She felt the tension in his arm shift, which made her smile. He was nervous.
He pulled in another breath, as if he had something else to say. “There’s something else I think you should know. Just in case you might think I was interfering in your lives.” He gave Cory a gentle smile. “We have been looking for your brother,” he said.
Her mother pulled in a quick breath. “What? You’ve been looking for Nik? My son?”
Cory’s heart thudded, her breath quickened as an old hope reignited. “You have? You didn’t tell me. We’ve been trying for years to find Nik with no luck, no leads, nothing.”
“I have more connections and resources than you and your mother do,” Matthew said, tightening his hold on her. “I’m fairly confident we’ll find him.”
Joyce looked dumbfounded, but Cory saw the same hope in her mother’s eyes that made her own heart beat faster.
“Please don’t make a promise you can’t keep,” her mother pleaded, vulnerability seeping into her voice.
“I won’t promise you, but I can tell you that we’ll do what we can. Like I said, we have access to files and people you couldn’t possibly.” Matthew sounded as confident as her mother was leery. “I was just in Edmonton, working with my father. The firm has an investigator they use, and he’ll be on the firm’s payroll. I’m very confident we’ll find him.”
Her mother leaned back in the chair, her fingers fluttering to her lips, as if to hold back her next words.
Matthew released Cory and walked to Joyce’s side, placing one hand on her shoulder. “I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for you to make the choices you’ve had to make. I pray that we can find a way to rectify that. To make things right for you and your son.”
To her surprise, Cory watched her mother place one hand on Matthew’s, lips trembling.
“Don’t disappoint us,” was all she said. Then she got up and walked to Cory’s side. She gave her a gentle hug and then pulled back, her gaze fixed firmly on Cory’s face. “I trust him because you do, and I pray that he will take care of you. You two have my blessing.” She brushed a kiss over Cory’s face, and then, with a quick smile Matthew’s way, she left.
Cory watched her go, relief surging through her. She had never realized how stressed she was about her mother’s reaction until Joyce gave them her blessing.
She turned back to Matthew, who was leaning back against the counter behind him, blowing out his breath on a sigh of relief.
“That was harder than a cross-examination of a hostile witness,” he said.
“You did good,” Cory assured him.
Matthew pushed himself away from the counter, then pulled her tightly into his arms.
“I wanted to do this the moment you opened the door,” he murmured, laying his head on hers. “But I couldn’t. Not with your mother looking at me like I was about to cheat her again.”
“She’ll come around,” Cory said, laying her head on his chest, reveling in the warmth of his embrace. “Especially if you’ll help her look for Nik.”
“I can’t promise anything, but we have some good leads and some good people working on this.”
Cory smiled up at him, surprised that she preferred to talk about them than the brother she had always hoped would arrive when they needed him.
She returned his embrace, clinging to him with love and gratitude.
Then he drew back, smiling down at her. “I wanted so bad to do this right, with flowers and walks by the creek and bended knee. I can’t wait for everything to be exactly right, so I’m asking you now. Cory Luciuk, will you marry me?”
Her eyes held his and to her dismay, tears of joy prickled her eyelids. All she could do was nod and throw her arms around his neck, holding him close, her heart so full that she couldn’t believe it could stay in her chest.
They kissed, but this time with a fervor they couldn’t express in front of Joyce. They clung to each other, his mouth warm, soft, inviting.
“I need you, Cory. I missed you so much. I’m so sorry about the will.” His words rained down on her, interspersed with kisses. “I wanted to tell you, but I was scared you would hate me.”
“I wanted to,” she said, holding his face in her hands. “But I couldn’t. I’m sorry, too. I was wrong to be so angry with you, but it was such a disappointment.”
“I know the money from the will wasn’t important to you, but I knew that you were making plans around them.” Matthew sighed, toying with her hair, his fingers trailing down her neck. “I wanted to fix everything for you, make your life better. I want only good things for you, my dear. I love you so much.”
She leaned back and smiled at him. “I love you, too.”
A small tension seemed to release from his shoulders as she said the words that she was so hesitant to say before.
“I love you in so many different ways. Now you’re helping me and my mom find my brother.” She smiled tremulously, tears threatening. Her heart overflowed with happiness. “I don’t know if you saw my mother’s smile, but you’ve made her very happy. We’ve been trying so long to find Nik, and we had just about given up.”
“You have help now,” Matthew said.
“That makes me happy,” Cory returned. “I love that it’s you that’s helping us.”
“And I love you. You need to know that. Your needs are going to come first with me. I don’t ever want you to think that I am anything remotely like Zeke Smith. I am not going to put what I want and what I think I need before your needs.”
“I believe you.”
“That’s all I can hope for.”
He kissed her again, then sighed as she laid her head on his shoulder, his cheek resting on hers. “You know, from the first time I saw you, I hoped that we would end up here. Together. Not divided. Not against each other.”
“You know we’ll probably fight from time to time,” she murmured, her hand splayed over his chest.
“I’m sure we will. I pray that we will be able to find our way through it all.”
She drew back, smiling up at him, unable to resist one last barb. “You know what they say: ‘A good lawyer knows the law; a good lawyer knows the judge.’ And I am confident that you know our heavenly judge, and that with God’s help, we’ll be able to get through anything life throws our way.”
“I’ll say amen to that,” Matthew said, kissing her again.
Cory returned his kiss, so thankful they were together, divided no more.
Divided Hearts is the fourth book in a new series I’m releasing - Sweethearts of Sweet Creek. Tap the book title to find out more.
#1 - HOMECOMING
#2 - HER HEART’S PROMISE
#3 - CLOSE TO HIS HEART
#4 - DIVIDED HEARTS
Coming Soon
#5 - A HERO AT HEART
#6 - A MOTHER’S HEART
In this series you’ll get to know the residents of this town set in the Kootenay mountains and surrounded by ranch land and populated with interesting characters.
Nadine Laidlaw, a newspaper reporter, who can’t seem to get rid of her meddling, matchmaking Grandmother and Clint Fletcher, her new boss, who is a reminder of all she wants to forget.
Tess Kruger whose pain has sent her back to her hometown of Sweet Creek trying to find redemp
tion. When her ex-fiancee, Jace Scholte shows up and she’s forced to work with him on a fundraiser she struggles with her old feelings for him and the secret she can never tell him.
Kelsey Swain, a widow with a small boy has seen her share of sorrow when her husband died. She now runs the Riverside Cafe, struggling to get it off the ground. Then his ex-partner comes back to Sweet Creek and with him a reminder of what she lost.
And finally, Claire Kruger, Tess’ sister, who, with her daughter, has moved back to Sweet Creek to start over. She yearns for a home for her daughter and is planning to buy the house she grew up in. But Nik Austen, recently come to Sweet Creek to reconnect with his mother and sister, wants to buy it too. But he wants to tear it down.
You’ll have to read to books to find out how it all works out. I hope you have a chance to visit Sweet Creek and get to know the people there and read their stories.
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If you enjoyed this book, you might enjoy my free book, Toward Home.
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Dear Reader
When I first started writing, one of the suggestions a writing coach gave me was to recognize that a good conflict can come out of a simple concept called Differing Scripts. One character has one view of the story and they believe they are right. The other has a different side. In Cory and Matthew’s case, Matthew had a different idea based on his experiences with Cory’s step-father. Trouble was, Cory didn’t know what his ‘script’ was so tended to judge him based on what she had experienced. And vice versa. Which led to conflict between them.
I hope you enjoyed reading Matthew and Cory’s story. I often buy books based on other people’s reviews so I’m hoping you’re willing to leave one on this book to give future readers some idea of what to expect. You can leave a review by clicking on the title below.
REVIEW - DIVIDED HEARTS
I have another series that’s out now. You can find the books below:
Holmes Crossing Series
THE ONLY BEST PLACE
ALL IN ONE PLACE
THIS PLACE
A SILENCE IN THE HEART
ANY MAN OF MINE
Places to find me
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