He nearly drove straight through Dothan before he caught the name on a flower shop sign. Jake turned around at a little convenience market and went back.
A bell chimed as he entered the flower shop and he smiled at the women behind the counter. “Hi. Do you think one of you could tell me where this is?”
He handed one of them the scrap of paper with Selena’s address on it.
“I’ll do you one better,” the younger one said with a wink. “I’m just heading out to make a delivery to her next door neighbor. You can follow me if you like.”
“That’d be great.” Jake glanced around and said, “Oh, hey, if you’ve got time to wait on me for a sec, I’ll take an arrangement.”
“No problem. Do you know what you want?”
He thought about it for a moment and smiled. “Yeah, I do. Do you mind if I step back there and see what you’ve got?”
After he paid for his purchase, Jake climbed in his car and followed the van back the way he came. He noted with amusement that none of the roads seemed to be marked. They had to stop at one place to let a couple of escapee goats get out of the road. He was beginning to think that Dothan was bigger than he first thought. It was full of hidden little back roads that twisted through the countryside like snakes.
Finally, the flower woman blew her horn and stuck her arm out the window to point at a neat looking brick house as she turned into the driveway of the house across the road. Jake tooted his thanks, and pulled in the drive.
Chase was out in the front yard, his head stuck under the hood of an old pickup truck. He grinned when he saw Jake get out of the car with his bouquet of wildflowers.
“It’s about time,” he said. “I’m getting sick of hearing about you.”
Jake laughed. “Is she here?”
“I don’t think she went with Mom and Dad. Check around back.” He gestured vaguely to the backyard and resumed work on his truck.
Feeling a little unsure of himself now that he was here, Jake wandered around the side of the house. Selena sat on a porch swing on the far end of the porch, looking lovely in a red sweater and long white skirt. She was staring at the field behind the house and Jake coughed to get her attention. Her gaze snapped to him.
Her mouth flew open in a stunned O.
“Jake!” she gasped.
When he saw the joy on her face, Jake wished he’d come sooner.
***
He appeared so suddenly she was almost afraid he wasn’t real. Selena stood and walked on wobbly legs to meet him as he climbed the step. She saw the flowers in his hand and tried not to get her hopes up.
They’re not roses, she realized. Does that mean something?
“I was afraid that you’d forgotten all about me.” She forced a smile, but felt dangerously near tears.
Jake gave her a sad smile and she wished she could read the look in his eyes. He held out his arms and she folded herself around him.
“How could I have possibly forgotten you?” he whispered, as he stroked her hair. A tear slipped down her face as she remembered the night she asked him the same question.
“I’ve missed you,” she said, and felt his arm tighten around her.
What had he come to say? Would he come all this way to tell her there was no chance for them?
She tried to tell herself he wouldn’t, but she knew he would try to do the right thing, even if it was inconvenient for him.
He pulled away from her and gestured toward the swing. As they sat, he asked, “So, how have you been doing, with your memory and everything?”
“It’s been amazing,” she said, “I can remember almost everything now, up until the day of the accident. I remember going to that motel and checking in, but I can’t remember meeting Nikki. My therapist thinks my subconscious was repressing my memories, because…well, you know.”
She shot him an embarrassed look.
Because she had fallen for him and didn’t want to remember that she wasn’t his wife.
“Everybody misses you,” Jake said quietly.
“Elaine came to see me last week. Did she tell you?”
Surprise registered on his face. “No.”
“She went to Montgomery with Rick Montebelle and said she wanted to check on me since she was this close. I thought it was sweet.”
Elaine had been seriously dating Rick since the Marshall’s party, and Selena was glad she finally found a nice guy who seemed crazy about her.
They made small talk about Catherine, and Eliot, and then lapsed into an awkward silence. Selena found herself almost childishly afraid to meet his gaze, as if that would keep him from saying the words she didn’t want to hear.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come here before now. I’ve been spending a lot of time alone, thinking about things, and I want to be completely honest with you.” He cleared his throat. “Selena, I loved Nikki—”
Uh oh, here it comes, she thought, and hoped she could be strong enough not to cry in front of him.
“From the first day I met her, I said I’d never love anyone else—”
“Stop!” She jumped to her feet, and paced as her white skirt swirled around her ankles. Her eyes stung. “I thought I could do this, but I can’t. You don’t have to explain anything. I understand. You thought I was her and anything you felt for me was because of that.”
Standing, he caught her wrist. “That’s not true.”
Jake held out the bouquet and gave her a crooked smile. For the first time, she noticed how odd it looked. He sat back on the swing and tugged her down beside him. “Aren’t you going to ask me what your flowers mean?”
She found it painfully hard to breathe. Surely he wouldn’t drag it out if he had bad news, would he?
He touched a long, flowery white bloom. “This is hydrangea. It means thank you for understanding.” Pointing at a similar purple bloom he said, “This is a purple hyacinth. It means forgive me.”
She was drowning in those blue eyes. He took her hand and rubbed her fingers across a frilly pink flower. “Zinnias mean I miss you very much.”
Tears slipped, unchecked, down her face as Jake withdrew a swirling red flower from the arrangement and caressed her cheek with it. “A Mona Lisa anemone. It means, I don’t want to lose you.”
“Jake,” she gasped.
He smiled. “Another red one here. A chrysanthemum means I love you.”
She touched his face, tracing the path of the tear that wound down his jaw with her fingertip. He seized her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist.
“And this is the most important one of all,” he said, fingering the woody-looking foliage around the flowers. Smiling, he said, “Believe it or not, it’s called Hawthorn. It’s a symbol of hope…” He tugged a black box out of his pocket and opened it. “And marriage.”
Selena gasped and he reached to stroke her cheek with his free hand. “I love you for completely different reasons than I loved her. I’ve been miserable without you. I’ve missed your smile and your laughter. I miss your snowmen in the yard and watching you run around in my old T-shirts. I know this is a strange situation, but, if you still want me, I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy.” He laid the flowers aside and dropped to one knee in front of her. Holding out the ring, he said, “Will you marry me, Selena?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Jake slid the ring on her finger and kissed her.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I wished I’d have come sooner. We belong together. I can’t wait to make you my wife.”
Selena took a deep breath and gave him a crooked smile. “Going to make an honest woman out of me, huh?”
Jake gave her a puzzled look, and she took his hand, placing it on her still flat stomach.
“I’m almost nine weeks,” she said quietly.
“But you took that birth control shot back in – ah,” Jake faltered, remembering it was Nikki that took the birth control shot back in October. “Oh.”
Selena gave him a worried look. The shock w
as still registering on his face.
“Oh,” he said again. “Are you okay? Is it okay with you?”
“I’m thrilled,” she admitted. “Look, Jake, I was going to tell you soon, but some selfish part of me wanted to wait, to see if you would come back just for me. Are you upset? I know you weren’t expecting this—”
“Selena, how could I be anything but happy to find out the woman I love is carrying my child?” he interrupted. He laughed and swept her up in his arms. “In fact, I can think of only one person who’ll be happier—”
“Catherine!” they said in unison.
They sat back on the swing and discussed baby names, and what it would be like to have a little one of their own.
“Just think,” Selena said excitedly. “The baby already has its first little friend on the way. Jake and Eliot, the second generation.”
“Eliot and Kelly are having a baby?” Jake asked. He shook his head and said, “Honey, I’m glad you’re coming home. Nobody tells me anything when you’re not there.”
Epilogue
“Whew!”
Jake gave his small daughter a reproachful look as he fastened her overalls and lifted her from the changing table. He tossed the soiled diaper in the disposal and said, “Nat, couldn’t you have saved that for your Nana? She and Grandpa Matt will be here in a few minutes.”
He nuzzled his face in the baby’s downy hair and breathed in of the soft, sweet scent of her.
“Oh, Catherine’s coming by?” Selena asked from the doorway.
Jake felt his smile widen as she came into the room. He realized he was grinning like an idiot, but he couldn’t help it. He kissed her and tried to restrain himself from blurting out his surprise.
As her beautiful green eyes regarded him quizzically, he said, “Mom and Matt are coming over to baby-sit. I have an early birthday present for you that just can’t wait until tomorrow.”
“What is it?”
Jake gently laid the baby in her crib and took Selena in his arms.
“When you said you’d marry me, I promised I’d do whatever I could to make your dreams come true, and I know one of them was finding out about your birth family.”
He pulled a business card from his back pocket and held it up for her inspection. “How would you like to meet your father?”
Selena gaped at him.
With a trembling hand, she took the card and read the name and address he’d scribbled on the back of it.
Ryan Grant
345 Blackberry Lane
Seymour, Indiana
“My contact at the adoption agency remembers him. She says he calls in periodically to make sure his contact information is updated. The records are sealed from his end, but he tells them he wants to make sure his daughters can find him if they’re looking.” Jake paused and gave her a hopeful grin. “Well, what do you say? Do you feel like driving to Indiana to meet him?”
“Yes!” Selena answered immediately.
He saw tears in her eyes before she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him so tightly he could barely breathe.
***
As they neared their destination, Selena became increasingly nervous. Her anxiety blossomed as Jake cruised into her father’s neighborhood, checking the street signs for Blackberry Lane. It was a pleasant-looking, middle-class neighborhood. All the houses looked like they were cut from the same mold, the only differences in the color of the trim.
Selena clutched Jake’s arm. “We can’t just drop in on him!” she blurted. “What if he doesn’t want to see me?”
“Honey, the lady at the agency said he was desperate to reunite with his daughters. I’m sure he’d be glad to see you if we showed up at midnight,” Jake said patiently, as he reached to squeeze her hand. “Besides, here we are.”
He pulled to the curb, parking in front of a neat white house with green shutters.
“Look at all those people!” Selena gasped in dismay.
A group of men stood clustered around the side yard, some inspecting a car with a raised hood, some apparently in the middle of a barbeque.
“Let’s go and come back another time,” she pleaded, watching Jake’s face as he scanned the crowd.
“Too late,” he replied. “There he is.”
“How do you…know?” The last word died on her lips as she saw a dark haired man peer in their direction from underneath the car hood, a man who was surely the dominant contributor to her gene pool.
Selena’s heart thumped wildly in her chest as she took in his ebony hair, luminous green eyes, and olive complexion.
It had to be him.
She jumped when her door opened, so transfixed she hadn’t noticed Jake get out of the car. He smiled and offered her his hand.
Selena stepped onto the sidewalk and watched the man’s eyes widen as she trudged up the driveway with Jake.
Ryan Grant took a shaky step away from the car. With almost eerie clarity, Selena watched a tear streak down the side of his face as she closed the distance between them. He took another staggering step, then leaned weakly against the side of the car. The blind hope on his face clenched her heart.
“You’re one of them,” he said in awe. “You’re one of my girls!”
Selena could no longer see him, blinded by her tears. She nodded mutely and was dimly aware that Jake had let go of her hand, when she felt herself seized up in a pair of strong arms.
“Oh, God!” he sobbed. “I’ve prayed for this day for so many years. Is it really you?”
“I’m Selena,” she said, and hugged him tightly.
She was both shaken and touched by the raw emotion emanating from him.
“Selena!” he repeated reverently.
He pulled back and cupped her face in his hands. ”I’d have known you anywhere,” he said, half-laughing, half-crying.
“She looks just like you,” Jake said.
Ryan Grant gave Jake a pleased grin, seeming to notice him for the first time.
“This is my husband, Jake. He found you for me.”
Releasing Selena, he enveloped Jake in a bear hug.
“Thank you! Thank you so much.”
Belatedly, Selena noticed they had an audience. The men in his yard all stared at them with rapt attention.
Grabbing Selena’s hand, Ryan shouted, “Hey, everybody! This is my daughter.” He looked at Selena and Jake, his green eyes dancing. “I’m sure Dusty can handle the grill. Why don’t the two of you come in so we can talk? I want to know everything about you.”
Ryan excused himself from his guests, and ushered Selena and Jake inside.
“I’ll stay outside so you guys can talk,” Jake said.
“No, please stay,” Ryan interjected with a cajoling smile so much like Nikki’s that Jake was momentarily taken aback.
“You’re family, too.” Ryan gestured for them to sit in his immaculate living room.
Selena wondered if her father lived alone. She glanced at the thin gold band on his left hand and realized he did not.
“There’s so much I’ve wanted to say to you,” he said. “I want you to know, not a day’s gone by when I haven’t thought about you and your sister and prayed you were all right. Giving you up for adoption has been the biggest regret of my life.”
His green eyes pleaded for understanding and Selena squeezed his hand. “Two days after her sixteenth birthday, your mother found out she was pregnant. I was just a few months older, and our parents were furious. When we found out she was carrying twins, they started putting pressure on us to give the babies up for adoption. We were young and broke, and we let them talk us into something neither of us wanted.”
He looked at Selena with tears in his eyes. “I’m not making excuses. I take all the blame for it. I’m just sorry if my irresponsibility has caused you pain.”
“I had a wonderful childhood,” Selena said, and he smiled.
“Your sister. How is she?” he asked.
It was obvious he thought they were raised together
. Selena looked at Jake and said, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but…Nikki was killed in a car wreck nearly a year ago.”
Ryan Grant wilted before her eyes.
“Oh,” he managed. “Was she married? Did she have kids?”
Selena and Jake shared another glance.
“She was married, no children,” Selena said. “We have a lot to tell you about her later, but first…” She slipped her hand in Jake’s back pocket and tugged out his wallet. Removing a photo, she handed it to her father.
“I’d like to introduce you to your granddaughter, Natasha Hawthorne.”
She watched his melancholy expression turn to one of delight as he beheld the tiny face so like his own.
It felt awkward, but she had to know. “What about my mother?” she asked. “Do you know where she is?”
“The store,” Ryan said absently, still staring at the picture. “Picking up a few things for the cookout.”
Selena looked at Jake, dumbfounded. For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to her that they might still be together.
Ryan glanced at her and did a double take as he noted her surprise. His grin widened.
“You didn’t know? I knew from the first time I laid eyes on Rachel that she was the one. I was fourteen years old and it was our first day of high school. She sat in front of me in 2nd period English. I spent half a year staring at the back of her head and daydreaming about asking her out before I finally got up the nerve. She just looked at me, cool as could be, and told me it was about time. I didn’t stand a chance.” He chuckled. “We got married just as soon as we graduated.”
He paused, and pain flickered in his green eyes. “She took things really hard. Even though we love each other, there’s always been an empty place, where you and your sister belong. I finally talked her into having another baby after we’d been married ten years.”
Pointing at a picture on the wall, he said, “You have a brother, Scott. He’s at football camp this week. Even though she loves him dearly, she didn’t want to have more kids knowing we already had two out there someplace. I’m the optimist of the bunch, and I always believed that somehow, if I didn’t give up, I’d see you again. I don’t think your mother ever dared get her hopes up that high. Frankly, I’m a little afraid of how she’ll react—”
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