by Misty Simon
****
Chelsea gave her report to Paige over the cell phone as she packed her things. Mazzy was not going to be happy about leaving early to go home, but it was time. She couldn’t stay here another night. During the reception, Belinda had insisted Chelsea and Jack dance together as the people who made this all possible. Being in his arms had been heaven and a little bit of hell. His strong embrace surrounded her, making her feel cherished, something that had been missing for so long it made her heart hurt. It had drawn her tighter than the wires on a brand-new piano. It was better to cut and run now. There was nothing else to do here but make more memories that she might not be able to recover from.
“Yes, Paige, I’m going home. It wasn’t a disaster and everyone lived at the end. But I’m ready to get back to my normal life.”
“That’s what your words are saying, but your tone is saying something totally different. Now, you know you can’t lie to Paige, so don’t go there. I could have sworn you were really falling for my brother the last time we talked, when you were trying to convince me this was all a lie.”
“It was a lie. It’s not something I wanted.” That was more a lie than anything else she’d said this week. “We can talk about this when I get back. I just want to leave and forget all about this.”
“So it really was fake. I had hoped for something else, but I guess you have to do what you have to do. Was he really that horrible? Should I come beat him up? I’m sorry I put you in this position by not being able to do my job.”
“Oh, no, that wasn’t a problem at all. In fact, I had a lot of fun with all the lists and stuff. I learned you are the master organizer and I am not nearly as organized as I thought I was. But it all came together at the end and was wonderful except for that part where the bride tried to change everything and was a pain in the rear end.” This was agony and she just wanted to be done and home where she could kick herself for her stupidity in peace and quiet.
“So if that wasn’t the bad part, then what was?” Paige asked.
“We’ll talk when I get home. I can’t do this right now.”
“Or you’ll cry? I can hear it in your voice.”
“Yes, all right? I’ll cry if I talk about the other part right now, and I don’t want to do that.”
“Well, then be prepared to talk for a long time when you get home. I have tons of time and you don’t go to work until Monday. We’ll make a night of it and talk on the phone.”
“Deal. Now I have to get my car loaded up so I can start the drive. I have a feeling Mazzy is not going to be happy about leaving her Grammylove and Poppydove.” Chelsea tucked more clothes into her suitcase.
“Good luck, then. And be safe.”
After closing her phone, Chelsea leaned her head against one of the cornerposts of the bed. Some pretty amazing things had happened in this room, the way Jack had loved her not the least of them. But she had to go back to what she knew, what she had worked for. She knew in her heart things with Jack wouldn’t work in the long run. She couldn’t trust that they would. She couldn’t put everything she had on the line.
And she would not put Mazzy through that a second time. Especially when she would understand, at this age, that someone who had loved her no longer did.
Chelsea threw the last few things into her suitcase and zipped it up. Mazzy’s room had been cleaned out yesterday. There was nothing else to do. Nothing to hold her here. She had packed up all the stuff from her office this morning to avoid Jack. A part of her had thought maybe Jack would come in and they could talk, but he hadn’t.
Now she was planning on leaving without saying goodbye. It wouldn’t matter, anyway. She took the ring off and laid it on the dresser, not sure she would make it through handing it back without crying.
Dropping her bag to the floor, she popped up the handle and set it on its wheels, ready to roll out. But when she looked up, there was Jack blocking the doorway.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“No, Mazzy is waiting for me, and so is my mom. I have to get going.” She walked purposefully forward, fully intending to run him down if she had to. But when it came to the last second, she couldn’t do it. She backed up and said, “Please.” Her voice was pathetically weak, but she was on the verge of tears and she couldn’t help it.
He moved, but only to close the door behind him and lock it from the inside. “We have to talk.”
Now the tears spilled and she felt like a fool. She would have liked to keep some of her dignity intact, but apparently that was not in his plan. What she wanted didn’t really matter. “Fine. Talk.”
“I don’t know what happened since this morning, but I feel like something broke between us and I didn’t see it coming.”
“I did. We would have never worked out, so I’m leaving. Now, if that’s all, then I need to go. Mazzy is waiting for me.”
“Actually, I called your mom and told her that you’d be a little late coming to pick her up.”
“So then I’ll just be a little earlier than you told her. Now please move.” Because she was going to crack in about two seconds and would not, could not, do it in front of him.
“No.”
“The ring is already on the dresser. It’s over, Jack. Thanks for being such a good sport about being my fake fiancé for the week, but it’s time to go now.”
He stepped forward and caged her arms in his hands. “Look at me, Chelsea.”
“I don’t want to.” She’d rather have her eyes poked out with a skewer than show him the hot tears burning her eyes. This was supposed to have been a fun something to get her out of having the week of bachelors. It was her own fault that she had let herself be drawn into something that was never real.
“Please.”
“No. Now let me go so I can leave.” She was dying right here and now.
“But I can’t let you go.” Tugging her over to the window seat, he sat and pulled her to stand between his legs. “I can’t let you go now that I’ve finally found you again.”
“I was never lost.”
“I thought you were lost to me, and that was worse. Now we have a chance and I’m begging you not to throw it away because I was stupid. I don’t want to have to live with the regret that I ruined it all when I finally had a chance with you. I love you, Chelsea, and I want you to stay. Please don’t leave.”
She was pretty sure her heart stopped in her chest and then began beating double time. “You love me?”
“I did for years, but that was nothing compared to how I’ve fallen in love with you over the past week. Before, it was like wanting something I never had or could have. But being with you this week has shown me who you really are, and I am deeply in love with that person. I want to be smart enough to keep you this time, Chelsea.”
“But…”
“No buts. Tell me you love me, too. Tell me you’ll stay, and we’ll figure things out together. Even if you don’t want to live here at first, I’ll take you any way I can get you. Mazzy, too. I can’t bear to see you leave. I can’t bear the thought of not seeing that little girl grow up. To be a part of her growing up. To listen to her and influence her. I’m asking you to marry me and be with me always. You and Mazzy. If you want to go back to Bettleton, I’ll go with you once I get Adele trained on running this monstrosity herself. She’d probably love the power.”
“I…”
“I talked to Frank just now, after he slapped me in the head, and what he said made sense. We’re good together. I need you. I need Mazzy. I’m going to have a hole the size of Antarctica in my chest if you go without knowing how I feel. I won’t ask you to give up everything. I won’t ask you to change it all for me. I just want you to include me. Make room for me in your life and I’ll be there.”
She put her hands to his chest and held him back for a moment. “Will you let me get a word in edgewise?”
“Not unless that word is yes.” He said the words with a quirky smile but she could see the worry behind his eyes, feel it in hi
s hands gripping her forearms.
She let her gaze trace the shape of his face and the way his hair fell along his brow. His face was burned into her brain in so many different variations—little boy chubby to gawky teenager to this man who stood in front of her laying his heart on the line. She could choose to walk away from this or she could choose to share herself with him in a way she hadn’t with anyone. To trust him with her heart and her daughter’s heart. What Claudia had said at the shop rang in her head. Did she want to sacrifice everything for something that would never happen? Was she going to let her doubts and insecurities keep her from making a loving life with someone who wanted her? All of her?
For the first time in a long time it was her choice, and she had to make the right one. Not the one based on other people’s expectations or needs. Not based on what would make other people happy, but what would ultimately make her happy. She just had to let her past go and move beyond it. Or risk losing the one chance she had to make herself happy.
“I’m scared. What if we can’t make it work? I know you said you’ve loved me for years, but what if I’m not all you think I’m cracked up to be?” she finally said, looking him dead in the eyes and not flinching at the admission.
He hugged her hard, dragging her into his arms. “I know you are. We’ve had this week together and you’re everything I knew you were plus interesting facets I didn’t know about. I want you to dance around the house and make additions where you see fit. I want to sit across the table from you with Mazzy asking for Big Man kisses and tromping me at Candyland. I want to teach her to ride a bike and take long walks with you.” He kissed her on the temple. “With you it’s all possible. I want to share with you. It’s natural now to seek you out, to have you be my best friend, my soul mate, my everything. I can’t tell you it’s all going to be roses and rainbows, but I promise I will never let you down and I will always love you. Now tell me you love me, too.”
Her brain short-circuited as she stood staring down at him. How could he not think that was rainbows and roses? It was everything and so much more than she had ever hoped for. More than she had ever allowed herself to hope for.
“Oh, Jack, I do. I do love you!” She sought his mouth for a kiss, one that curled her toes. “I want a life with you. Here, right here. We are not leaving when I finally get to live in the house I’ve always loved, with the man I should have known I would love, all those years ago.”
He smoothed her hair back. “Mazzy is precious and the world would be far less bright without her. Everything happens in the right time. Like your sister’s wedding. And now us. As long as the rest of your days are spent with me, that’s all that matters.”
“It is.” And with his next kiss, she let all her fears slide away. He loved her. She loved him. And they both loved Mazzy. Their life together might have some bumps, but she was willing to weather anything with Jack, the man who had her heart firmly in his grasp.
Mazzy was going to be thrilled.
“We should go get Mazzy and tell everyone the news that I’m going to stay.”
“Not yet,” he said, as he started inching up the hem of her shirt. “I told your mom you were going to be busy for a little while tonight and she could keep Mazzy overnight. She said she hoped I was finally going to really make an honest woman out of you instead of trying to pull a fast one with a fake engagement.”
“Oh, God. They knew?”
“Yep, according to Belinda, they figured it out the second day. But they played along, hoping we would figure stuff out on our own before the week was up. Belinda was downstairs with Frank when I went in to get a drink, and she was actually the one who slapped me in the head, not Frank. I wasn’t going to tell you, but I want only truth between us.”
“So we pretended for an entire week for nothing?”
“I wasn’t pretending.” His eyes smiled at her as his mouth descended for another kiss.
“I kept fighting how real this all felt. I wanted so badly to be with you, but I couldn’t let go of the hurt Paul caused. And I didn’t want to trust that things would be different with you, even though I knew they would be, saw they would be by the way you were with Mazzy and with me.”
He captured the hand that had worn his ring all week. Her finger had felt naked the second she’d taken it off. Placing a kiss on her ring finger, he stroked her hair with his other hand. “It will be different this time for you. You can do whatever you want. If you want to go to college that will be fine with me. Registration is running right now for the community college, if you’re interested.”
“No, I’m right where I need to be. You’re right, everything happens for a reason, and I know I want to be right here with you at the inn. I have experience now, if you want my resume.”
He laughed as she meant him to. “No, I know you’re qualified. If we can survive your sister, we can survive anything. Let me know if you change your mind about the college. It’s an open-ended offer. This one’s not, though.”
Chelsea was waltzed over to the dresser and then Jack was on one knee in front of her with the emerald ring on his palm. It wasn’t the gazebo with twinkling lights and a light breeze, but it was perfect. “Chelsea Moore, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife? I don’t think I have to ask your dad, since he already gave us his blessing even if he thought it was fake. I don’t want to live without either you or Mazzy. I want to make more children with you. We could have a whole passel running around, and we’ll make the speakeasy our hideaway when things get crazy. I’ll kiss you there like it was our first time again and again and again.”
“Yes, Jack. Yes.” And the tears came, but these were tears of joy.
He rose to his feet, caught the first tear on his fingertip and kissed the rest away as he slipped the emerald back on her finger. It fit as it had the first time, like it belonged there. And it did.
“Now that you’ve said the first thing I wanted to hear, let’s see if I can make you say the next thing on my list of things I like to hear.”
“What’s that?”
“How about my name while I’m making you mine all over again?” His cheeky smile melted her insides to the consistency of hot chocolate.
She gasped, both from his audacity and from what his hands were doing to her. There would be plenty of time to be embarrassed in front of her mom later. Right now she wanted to concentrate on Jack and how good he made her feel, how loved.
“Tell me I haven’t left you speechless. Not my Chelsea Moore.”
“No, but once we work on your list of things you like to hear, I have a few of my own.”
****
The car ride over to Chelsea’s parents’ house the next morning was filled with plans and her stealing kisses every time they stopped at a red light. She wanted to tell Mazzy they were staying, and she couldn’t wait another moment. She was so happy Jack had persuaded her to take the time to see if he would say the things she wanted to hear. And he’d said them all, plus some she hadn’t realized she craved.
With their hands entwined on the gearshift, Chelsea couldn’t believe her good luck in finding this one man a second time. Life would be full now of so many things, things she hadn’t dared hope for. She was going to call her boss first thing tomorrow morning and let her know she wouldn’t be coming back. There was another woman in Chelsea’s department who would be perfect for the promotion Chelsea was giving up. Maybe she should have been more upset about letting the job go, but not with Jack and the inn to look forward to.
Jack made a right turn when he should have made a left. She opened her mouth to tell him he’d gone the wrong way, but almost immediately they pulled up in front a small cottage with a variety of bikes in the front yard.
He jumped out of the car, then came around to open her door. She could get used to this without a single problem.
An older woman answered his knock at the front door of the house.
“So you did come back for it. I thought you looked sad to leave it behind the other
day, so I put it aside, just in case. Go ahead and take it.”
“What about the other thing we talked about?” he asked, sounding cryptic.
“Ah, yep, I have that, too. You sure you want it now?”
“Yes, I’m positive.”
“Okey dokey. Be right back. Why don’t you load up the bike, and I’ll just be a sec.” She left the door wide open as she disappeared into the depths of the house.
Chelsea stood transfixed as Jack checked out a small bike with a banana seat and training wheels. It had bright flowers that shone in the morning light. She could just see Mazzy on it with a yellow helmet and Jack running along beside her, coaching all the way. She was so full of love she didn’t think she could contain anymore.
And then the woman came back to the door cradling a little ball of calico fuzz. It mewled a couple of times and Chelsea’s heart went to full burst.
“Here you go. Jack put a hold on the kitten, too, saying he had to make sure it would be good at the house. You got a beauty here. She’ll do you good.” She handed the cat over and it started purring. “He said he wanted the calico and he wanted a boy, but I told him that wasn’t possible. Calicos are girls. I figure he’s already outnumbered. Why not a she cat, too?”
Tears spilled again, and again they were happy ones. Mazzy had been asking for a kitty for six months now, but Chelsea had had to tell her no because they couldn’t have a pet at their apartment, not to mention who on earth would take care of the poor thing when they weren’t home.
But now they would have a different home and different circumstances. She resisted the urge to pinch herself to make sure this was all really happening.
She turned with the cat in her arms. Jack’s smile split his face. “You don’t have to bribe her, you know. She already likes you.”
His laugh rang in the blue sky. “I’m hoping that maybe that little fluffball will keep her busy so I don’t get trounced at Candyland all the time.”
Chelsea carried the kitten on her lap the rest of the way to her parents’ house, thinking about how life could change on a dime. Having Mazzy had turned her whole world right, Paul’s leaving had turned it upside down, but with Jack’s help it was now turning back around to perfect.