by Brenda Novak
“If she’s as smart as I think she is, she’ll wise up someday.”
“It’s pretty tough for a lowly mechanic to compete with a big-ass horse breeder.”
Rebecca playfully batted Josh’s hands away. “Yeah, well, they’re not all they’re cracked up to be.”
“Next time try saying that like you mean it,” he said.
“That might be the best I’ll ever do,” she admitted. Then she told him he owed her a birthday present, hung up and called her mother.
“There you are,” Fiona said, obviously in the middle of what her father called a dither. “Where have you been? Are you all right?”
Rebecca skipped the first question to focus on the second. “I’m fine.”
“Your father’s definitely not happy with you, Rebecca Paige Wells. You made him miss an important meeting this morning.”
“I did?”
“Yes! When you didn’t come home last night, he was sure that hunk of junk you call a car had finally given out on you and you were stranded on the side of the road somewhere. Or worse. He’s driven all the way to Boise looking for you.”
“And now he’s going to be upset that I’m okay?” she teased.
“You know what I mean.”
Rebecca smiled to herself. “Yeah, I do. But there’s nothing to worry about. And you can tell him…” When she hesitated, Josh lifted his head and looked up at her expectantly, and the magnitude of what she was about to do suddenly hit her. She was going to marry her childhood nemesis. She was going to bear his children. Her mother-in-law would probably hate her forever, but Rebecca had never been happier in her life. “…Tell him I’m getting married, after all. That should make everything better.”
“You’re what?”
“I’m getting married. And Greta can do the wedding in ivory and green, if she wants. It doesn’t matter to me.”
“Are you drunk?” her mother demanded.
“No!”
“You don’t sound right. And I don’t know if marriage is such a good idea, after all. Your father and I have talked about it, and we really don’t think Buddy will make you a good husband. I mean, maybe if he’d agree to move here….We don’t think you should leave your friends and family. We’d never get to see our grandkids and—”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” she interrupted. “I’m not moving to Nebraska.”
A moment of silence met this statement. “Well…that’s a relief, at least.”
“And you did make all those little poem scrolls. We should probably use them, don’t you think?”
“They were an awful lot of work….”
“Exactly. What time is dinner?”
“Five. We’re having your favorite—homemade pot pie and German chocolate cake.”
“Can I bring a guest?”
“Booker?” she asked, obviously not pleased.
“No, my fiancé.”
“Oh!” The tone of her mother’s voice instantly changed. “Of course. It’ll be good to see Buddy again. Doyle has a few things he wants to say to him.”
“Uh…we’ll see about that,” she said and hung up.
“We’re making the big announcement today?” Josh asked, putting the phone back in its cradle.
“I thought it might be a good time. The whole family’s gathering for my birthday.”
“Then we’d better get going. I want to have your ring.”
“It’s Thursday. Don’t you have to work?” Rebecca asked.
“That’s the beauty of being in business with your big brother,” he said. “Mike will cover for me. He owes me for all the time he’s spent in McCall.”
“Hey, you two interested in breakfast?” Mike called from the kitchen.
“Boy, you do have it good,” Rebecca said.
“Not half as good as I’m going to have it,” he told her and drew her into his arms. A few minutes later he yelled for Mike to eat without them.
* * *
JOSH TOOK A DEEP BREATH as they pulled up in front of the Wells family home. He knew relations between Rebecca and her father were strained. They had been for years. And he had no idea how this latest development might change things. He hoped he wouldn’t have to tell Doyle Wells exactly what he thought of the way he talked to and about his daughter. But Josh knew he didn’t have the forbearance to put up with more of what he’d seen in the past. Rebecca was going to be his wife now. That gave him the right to protect her, even from her father.
“Are you okay?” he asked as she eyed the cars around them. Randy and Greta’s blue minivan was parked behind Doyle and Fiona’s Lincoln Towncar in the drive. Delia and Brad’s red minivan was parked at a sloppy angle right at the curb, along with Carey and Hillary’s truck.
“The whole gang’s here,” Rebecca said, giving him a smile that didn’t look nearly as self-assured as she probably thought it did.
“They’re just your family,” he told her. “No big deal, right?”
“Of course.”
“You ready?”
“Sure.” She scrambled out of the Suburban and marched decisively toward the house.
“Whoa, what’s the hurry?” Josh asked, breaking into a jog to catch up with her.
“I want to get this over with, that’s all.”
“Not a real positive slant, Becky. What’s going on?” he asked.
“They’re not going to believe it, you know. Especially my father.”
“We’ve got proof.” He held up her hand, on which sparkled a much bigger diamond than any she’d initially picked out. She’d lived on a shoestring for so long, she didn’t seem to understand that ten thousand dollars to him wasn’t the same as it was to her. During their shopping, she’d told him several times that she felt too guilty about his Excursion to let him buy her anything very expensive, that a simple gold band would do. Which made it all the more fun for him to insist she have a full carat marquis with the best clarity they could find. He’d never forget the look on her face when the salesperson slid the ring he wanted her to have on her finger. Her eyes went wide. She stared at it. Then she turned to him. “This is obscene,” she whispered, but she laughed as though obscene wasn’t a bad thing at all, and he’d known then that it was perfect—just as flamboyant and beautiful as she was. Any woman who occasionally dyed her hair some wild color, sported a butterfly tattoo on her belly, and mentioned having his name tattooed on her hip (okay, maybe he’d suggested that in the throes of passion last night, but she hadn’t disagreed), had to have something flashier than a simple band.
“They might try to talk us out of it,” she said. “They’re not going to think we have a chance in hell of staying together.”
“Fortunately, they’re not the ones who get to decide.”
She bit her bottom lip. Josh bent and kissed her, his movements quick because he could hear the front door opening and knew they wouldn’t be alone much longer.
“I love you,” he whispered, because it was true. For the first time in his life he felt he could offer his whole heart. Rebecca wouldn’t be the easiest woman in the world to live with. He already knew that. But he knew something else—he couldn’t live without her.
A tentative smile crossed Rebecca’s face as she looked from her ring to him. “I love you, too.”
Josh could tell by the stilted way she said it that she wasn’t comfortable expressing her feelings so openly—at least to him. She preferred to avoid that kind of self-exposure. But he knew she meant what she said and that eventually she’d learn to trust him. After twenty-four years, he’d finally won the girl who’d always thumbed her nose at him. And his obsession with her wasn’t about challenge or conquest, as he’d once believed. It was about something far simpler—it was about falling in love.
“I thought you said you’d never tell me that,” he taunted.
Her smile turned into a devilish grin. “It’s okay. You said it first.”
“Rebecca?” her father called, stepping out onto the front stoop. “Is that Josh Hill you’ve
got with you?”
“Unless Buddy’s grown a foot since we’ve seen him last, that’s not the guy from Nebraska,” Randy said as he and the rest of the family gathered behind Doyle.
“It is Josh,” someone else marveled.
“God, now I’ve seen everything!” Randy said.
Rebecca slipped her hand inside Josh’s and pulled him forward. He could tell she was much more settled than she’d been just a moment before. It made him proud to think he had such a bolstering effect on her. He’d be good for her. He’d love her and take care of her his whole life. And she’d be good—er…keep things exciting for him.
“I want to introduce you to my fiancé,” she said to her family. Then she flashed her ring and let her sisters and mother “Ooh” and “ahh.”
“What happened to Buddy?” Doyle asked above the melee of voices.
Josh shrugged. “You were right. He wasn’t the man for her.”
Doyle chewed on a toothpick while he considered them for a few seconds. Then he moved the toothpick back to the corner of his mouth so he could speak. “You think you can handle her?”
“Do you know of anyone who’d have a better chance?”
Doyle scratched his head. “Now that you mention it, I guess I don’t.” He chewed on his toothpick some more. “What’re your parents going to say?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
He accepted this without comment, but Josh got the impression his answer had somehow been the right one. “It’ll take a strong hand.”
“I know.”
Doyle’s eyes lighted on Rebecca and seemed to soften. “But I’ll admit one thing.”
“What’s that?” Josh asked.
“She’s worth the trouble.”
Rebecca must have been listening because she looked up at her father and something passed between them, the depth of which Josh could only guess at. Stepping through the cluster of women surrounding her, Doyle embraced his youngest daughter. It was about the roughest hug Josh had ever witnessed, but it was a start. And it made Rebecca smile.
Fortunately, she didn’t hear what Doyle muttered next. “But one’s enough. Pray you don’t have a daughter just like her.”
* * * * *
If you enjoyed this story, don’t miss Brenda Novak’s newest novel in her Silver Springs series,
UNFORGETTABLE YOU,
Available now from MIRA Books. Keep reading for a sneak peek!
CHAPTER 1
Jada Brooks was pushing her brother in his wheelchair at the farmer’s market on the second weekend in June, a Saturday morning that inspired the cliché “picture perfect,” with nothing but blue skies and the usual mild, Southern California weather, when she caught a glimpse of something that made her stop dead in her tracks.
“What’s wrong?” Atticus twisted around in his seat to look up at her. It’d been thirteen years since he’d been shot, so he was accustomed to the paralysis in his lower body and could propel himself with his arms—he was adept at doing almost everything, including driving now that his truck was properly equipped—but it was more relaxing and easier to stick together in a crowd if she took over. Visiting the market while Maya, Jada’s twelve-year-old daughter, helped her grandmother at the cookie store, was something they’d become accustomed to doing every now and then since Jada had divorced her husband and moved back to town three months ago.
“I just…” Jada shook her head to clear it of the image that stubbornly remained. Surely, she was wrong about who she thought she’d seen. Maddox Richardson had left town right after she’d gotten pregnant, and there was nothing to draw him back. It wasn’t as if he had family in the area, like she did. The only reason he’d moved to Silver Springs in the first place was because he’d been sent by the courts to attend New Horizons Boys Ranch, a boarding school for troubled teens. And when he left, it was because he’d been enrolled at a different school somewhere else, somewhere she was never even told. After that terrible night, Maddox had essentially been banished at the request and expense of her parents, which hadn’t been an easy thing to accomplish given all the red tape his mother had had to go through in order to accommodate them.
Whether forcing Maddox to go somewhere else was fair to him was another subject entirely. Jada tried not to think about that. She tried not to think about Maddox at all.
Too bad she wasn’t more successful at it. So many little things brought him to mind, especially now that she was living where she’d gotten to know him. Someone who slightly resembled him or laughed like him or had the same cerulean blue eyes. Even a particular song or smell could bring him back to her. His life had intersected with hers in a way she would never forget—both for good and bad.
“Jada?” Atticus prompted.
She blinked, realizing she’d let her words trail off, but continued to study the crowd around her. Maddox wasn’t there. It must’ve been someone of his general size and shape with the same jet-black hair, but she couldn’t see anyone who resembled him now. Whoever it was had melted back into the crowd jostling around them.
“It’s nothing.” She forced a smile and started pushing again. She couldn’t mention Maddox’s name to Atticus, regardless.
“Should we get some kale for our morning smoothies?” Atticus asked.
He still lived with their mother, had never even been in a serious relationship and talked as though he had no plans for that sort of thing. Although Jada had spent all the years since she’d had Maya in LA, she hadn’t rented a place of her own since returning to Silver Springs, so she and Maya were currently living with her mother, too. She’d been trying to find the right situation to be able to move out, but there weren’t a lot of homes for rent in this artsy, outdoorsy, spiritually focused community, and with her mother sick so often these days, Jada was needed at home.
It’d be different if her father was still around, but…
She steered her mind away from Jeremiah. Losing him last year to a stroke when he was only fifty-five had not been easy, especially because she felt she’d let him down so terribly and never had the chance to make it up to him, as she was trying to do with her mother and brother.
“Sure,” she said about the kale. “Maybe it’ll boost Mom’s immune system. It’s supposed to be really good for you.”
Pausing in front of the closest stand, she chose a particularly healthy-looking bunch of leafy greens and was just handing the vendor her money when she heard her name.
She turned to see Tiffany Martinez, a friend she’d gone to school with from fifth grade on, hurrying toward her in a short-sleeved, button-down blouse, sandals and shorts, similar to what she was wearing herself. Because Jada had had a baby just as everyone else was going off to college, her life had taken a completely different course, one that had put her out of sync with the group of friends she’d grown up with. For the first several years after moving to LA, she’d felt overlooked, abandoned, left behind while everyone else went away to college and documented all the fun they had on social media. Watching them on her computer while struggling to raise a child when she was barely more than a child herself had only made that period of her life harder. But Tiffany had always been supportive and remained in touch. And everything was changing now that so many of their other friends were getting married and having children. Jada had been able to reconnect with several who still lived in the area.
Tiffany would always be her favorite, though. She was also the only one who knew Jada’s most guarded secret.
“Hey, Tiff.” She put the kale into her reusable tote and hung it on the back of Atticus’s wheelchair. Jada had told Tiffany she was going to the farmer’s market when they spoke on the phone last night, which was what had prompted Tiffany to come, too. Like Jada, she was recently divorced, only she didn’t have any kids, so she was always looking for things to do when she wasn’t working at the regional hospital as a nurse. They would’ve come together—they did a lot together—but Tiffany hadn’t wanted to change the chemistry of Jada’s morning w
ith Atticus. “Glad you made it.”
“I’ve been here for a while. I was just leaving when…” She tucked her curly red hair behind her ears as her eyes—so green and clear they were almost startling—darted to Atticus, a captive audience in his chair. “When I saw something that… Well, that reminded me of you and made me wonder if you were still here.”
So Tiffany hadn’t accidentally spotted her and come over to say hello? She’d come looking for her? “What was it?”
Again, Tiffany glanced uncomfortably at Atticus. “A person actually. Someone we knew a…a while ago.”
Jada’s heart began to pound as her friend’s behavior connected with the scare she’d had only a few minutes earlier. With the way Tiffany was acting, so flustered and overly aware of Atticus listening in… “Atticus, would you mind grabbing some purple onions while I talk to Tiffany?”
“Sure. No problem.” Seemingly relieved to escape the girl talk, he rolled away as Jada led Tiffany a few feet in the other direction, just to be safe.
“What is it?” she whispered. “Why do you look as though the world’s about to come to an end?”
Tiffany grabbed her forearms. “You don’t know? You haven’t seen him?”
Suspicion turned to outright fear. “Him? You don’t mean Maddox…”
“That’s exactly who I mean!”
Shit. She had seen him. The question was…had he seen her? And why was he in Silver Springs?
Jada swallowed hard. Had he returned because he’d learned about Maya?
That couldn’t be, could it? Her family had kept her pregnancy so quiet. She had easily been able to hide her rounding stomach beneath baggy clothes as school came to an end. Her parents had kept her home throughout the summer, her final trimester, so almost no one saw her looking unmistakably pregnant. And then she moved to LA with her newborn. Other than Tiffany, the few friends she’d kept in contact with over the years, and loosely at that, knew she’d married almost right out of high school, that she had a child and had recently divorced. But they didn’t know exactly when she’d met her husband or had Maya. Most assumed Maya belonged to her ex.