He brushed at her furrowed brow with his thumb and said, “Something’s still bothering you, Mandy. What is it?”
“You realize I don’t want to have children. Not right away. Maybe not for a long time.”
“We’ve got plenty of time,” he said. “I’m in no hurry.”
“You’re sure?”
“You’re all I want, Mandy. All I need.”
She stepped into his embrace, knowing it was right. “Then we’re agreed,” she said. “I’ll marry you on Saturday.”
He whooped and picked her up and swung her in a circle.
His celebration was so loud, she almost didn’t hear the doorbell. He stopped and they looked at each other, then stared at the door.
“Who the hell could that be?” he muttered as she slid down the length of him.
“I don’t know. Stay back out of sight,” she said, tightening the tie on her robe and holding out a flat palm to ward him off.
He grinned and crossed his arms. “I don’t think anyone would blame us for anticipating the wedding.”
“Shh,” she said as she opened the door. And then, “Why, Faith. What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you,” the young woman said.
Before Amanda could stop her, Faith had stepped inside.
“Oh,” she said, staring wide-eyed at Rabb.
Rabb scratched the hair on his chest and grinned at Amanda. “Do you want to tell her, or should I?”
Faith looked from one to the other and said, “You’re getting married!”
“Bingo,” Rabb said. “On Saturday, as a matter of fact.”
“That’s wonderful!” Faith said.
“It is?” Amanda said.
“Of course. Now Jake and Hope—” Faith cut herself off and said, “I’m sorry, Miss Carter.”
“No need to be sorry,” Amanda said. “Jake knows about me and Rabb. He’s agreed to be best man at our wedding.”
“I’m so glad everything’s turned out all right,” Faith said.
“How’s your sister?” Amanda asked pointedly.
“Which one?”
Amanda had forgotten about Charity. “How’s Hope?”
“Unhappy,” Faith admitted. “Unfortunately, Jake’s being—”
“A jackass,” Rabb finished for her.
Faith smiled. “That sounds about right.”
“Anything we can do?” Rabb asked.
“To be honest, I came here to see if I could help you two along,” Faith said. “But you’ve managed things just fine on your own.”
“I can’t imagine you’re going to have much luck with Jake and Hope,” Rabb said. “He seems pretty determined to make himself miserable.”
“Oh, I hope not,” Faith said. “But I’d better get going. There’s not much time left till Saturday.”
“You really think you can get the two of them together by then?” Amanda asked. “He’s resisted your sister for three years.”
Faith shrugged, grinned and said, “Hope springs eternal.”
* * *
FAITH
* * *
FAITH DIDN’T BOTHER EXPLAINING to Rabb and Miss Carter that it wasn’t Hope and Jake she was worried about at the moment. She was much more concerned with Charity and Kane.
If at all possible, Faith wanted Charity to live nearby. That way, Charity would have the opportunity to get to know their mom and dad, and Faith and Hope would have a chance to get to know their sister. If Charity left now and went away, there was no telling when they’d see her again.
Faith was delighted things had turned out so well between Rabb and Miss Carter, especially since that left her more time to finagle things between Kane and Charity.
She used her cell phone to call Kane’s house, hoping that’s where she would find Charity.
“Kane and Charity are at the hospital,” Kane’s mother said. “They’ve been there all day.”
“Together?” Faith asked.
“As far as I know,” his mother said. “From what Kane said, Charity’s worried that Mrs. Butler might not come through all right, so she’s been checking in on her through the day.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Longstreet,” Faith said.
“Can I take a message?”
“No, thanks. I’ll see them at the hospital,” Faith said, disconnecting the call.
It was a good sign that they were together, Faith thought. But she had no idea how to encourage them to stay that way. She called Randy and said, “Hi, honey. Thought you’d like to know Miss Carter and Rabb are getting married on Saturday.”
Randy laughed and said, “What did I tell you? What’s going on between Jake and Hope?”
“Nothing at the moment,” Faith said. “I’m heading to the hospital. It seems Charity’s been there all day with Kane.”
“That sounds promising,” Randy said.
“I think so, too,” Faith said. “I’m going to the hospital now to check on Mom. With any luck, I’ll run into Charity and Kane.”
“Got any hot matchmaking ideas?” Randy asked.
“Nope. Not one,” Faith admitted. “But I’ll do my best to come up with something on the way to the hospital.”
“Hey, babe,” Randy said, his voice lower, softer, more seductive. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Faith said.
“Do you want me to join you at the hospital?”
Faith shook her head, then realized Randy couldn’t see her. “I think I can do this better alone,” she said.
“Call me if you need me.”
“I will.”
Faith disconnected the phone, marveling at how nice it was to have someone who believed she could manage the situation, but was there if she wanted help. That’s what a marriage should be, she thought.
And wondered how Hope ever imagined she and Jake could make a go of it. Did Jake trust her? Could Hope depend on him? Were they really right for each other?
Faith forced her thoughts away from Jake and Hope. It was Kane and Charity she had to focus on. Her life could easily continue without Charity being a part of it, but now that Faith knew about her sister, the deep sense of loss she’d always felt would be magnified if Charity left again.
The solution to that problem was to keep Charity nearby.
Faith wasn’t above manipulating another marriage, especially if she could be certain her sister was in love with Kane Longstreet.
And if she wasn’t? She’d worry about that problem when it arose.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHARITY
CHARITY SAT ACROSS FROM KANE AT a table in the hospital cafeteria, where they’d been most of the afternoon. They’d gone there for a cup of coffee and had never left.
“I have a feeling I need to be here,” Charity had explained to Kane. “Something might go wrong and...”
“You don’t have to explain yourself,” Kane said. “I understand.”
“You do?” Charity couldn’t understand her feeling of foreboding, she only knew it was strong enough to make her heart palpitate when she thought about leaving the hospital.
“You’ve just found your birth mother and you’re afraid of losing her,” Kane said. “I’m happy to stay with you as long as you need to be here.”
She reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “Thanks, Kane.”
“There is something I’d like to discuss, since we’re going to be here for a while.”
“What’s that?”
“You told your father we’re engaged,” Kane said. “I’m wondering if you’d consider getting married on Saturday.”
Charity laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
Kane shook his head. “My whole family’s here
. And now we know your family—your original family—is here, too. Why not marry me and stay?”
“I have a semester of college to finish.”
“I’m sure we can find a way to work around that. Don’t you want to stay here with me? And with them?”
Charity made a face. “I should hate my biological parents for what they did to me. I don’t know why I don’t. Not that I’m not angry with them. I am.” She made a disgusted sound in her throat. “I don’t understand myself.”
“It explains a lot, doesn’t it?” Kane said.
“What do you mean?”
“Being abandoned like that. It explains why you don’t trust me not to do the same thing.”
She stared at him. “I’ve agreed to marry you, haven’t I?”
“Yes, you have. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad. But I’m also aware that your feelings can’t have changed overnight.”
“Why not?” Charity challenged. “Now I know why I’ve always felt like you might leave me someday. I’ve been left before, and not just by my adoptive father.”
“I’m not ever going to abandon you, Charity,” Kane said, looking into her eyes.
“Stop saying that. You don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. You might change your mind about being married to me. It could happen!”
He shook his head. “Nope. I’m a sticking kind of guy.”
Charity shook her head. “There’s no way to tell—”
He grabbed both her hands. “I want to marry you so much I ache inside. But this isn’t going to work unless you’re as committed to making it last as I am. I don’t want you watching over your shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop, holding part of yourself back, saving yourself from whatever pain you think might be lurking out there somewhere. I want all of you, every blessed inch of you, with me.”
“I can’t give you that,” Charity said, feeling panicky at the thought. “You can’t expect me to trust you—”
His hands tightened on hers painfully. “I do expect it. I insist on it,” he said. “I want a wife who loves me the way I love her, heart and soul. No half measures. No holding back.”
“I’m doing the best I can,” Charity cried. “I do love you, Kane. I do want to be with you. I just... I’m afraid.”
“Look at me,” he said, his eyes focused on hers. “If you never believe another thing I tell you, believe this. When we speak those vows in church—to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer—I will consider myself committed to you for as long as I live.”
“People make those promises every day. And break them,” Charity said bitterly.
“Not me,” Kane said. “I will always love you.”
“Oh, Kane. How I wish I could believe that.”
“Give me your heart, Charity. I’ll protect it and cherish it. I’ll keep it safe.”
She was so tempted to take the giant leap of faith he was asking of her. “I want to,” she said. “I want to so much.”
He leaned over and kissed her lips, his mouth lingering on hers. “Trust me,” he whispered. “I love you.”
“How can I know you mean what you say? How can I know you’ll live up to what you promise?”
“You have to believe in the power of love,” he said.
She made a face. “My parents loved me and look what they did. How can you say the circumstances would never arise that would make you give up on marriage to me?”
Kane let go of her hands and sat back with his arms crossed. “You’re never going to let go of the past, are you?”
“How can I?” she protested.
“At least you’re honest,” he said.
Charity felt her heart sinking. “Does this mean you don’t want to marry me after all?”
“I want you any way I can get you,” he shot back. “I just wish there was some way to convince you that the past is just that—the past.”
“In my case, the past has become my present. I’ve just met my biological parents and discovered I have two sisters with whom I shared the womb. I need time to absorb it all, Kane. What’s the hurry? Why do you want to marry so soon?”
“My cousin has offered me a job here that starts right after the new year. If you go back to South Texas we won’t see each other for months. I want our lives together to start sooner, rather than later. Is that asking too much?”
“It’s only a few months.”
“It’s time enough for you to start doubting yourself. And me.”
“I won’t—”
“You will,” he interrupted. “I want to wake up with you in the morning. I want to come home to you at night. I want us to start a family of our own.”
Charity had often imagined having children of her own. She would love them and protect them and make sure they knew they were wanted. “I want all that, too,” she said softly. “I want it so much.”
“Why wait?” Kane said.
“Why hurry?” she countered.
“Life is short. And uncertain,” he said. “None of us knows how long we have. I want the rest of my life with you to start right now.”
What Kane said resonated with Charity. Enough that she reached out and intertwined her fingers with his. She met his gaze, took a deep breath, and said, “All right. My heart is yours. Take care of it. Please.”
The smile on his face was dazzling, and caused her to smile in return. “Thank you, darling,” he said. “Saturday can’t get here soon enough for me.”
He was on his feet a moment later.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“I’ve got a million things to do if we’re getting married on Saturday, not the least of which is to see if I can reserve the church and make sure the minister’s available.”
“I want—I need—to stay here,” she said. “Can you understand that?”
“Stay,” he said. “I’ll be back as soon as I’ve made all the arrangements.”
He took off without a backward look.
Charity searched inside to see what she was feeling. There was no regret. No feeling of anxiety. Nothing but joy. And anticipation. And hope.
Even the feeling of foreboding that had been with her all afternoon seemed to have disappeared. She wondered if her mother truly was better, or if the joy she felt at having committed herself to Kane was interfering with her perception of the true state of affairs with her mother.
She rose abruptly and headed for the ICU. She had to see her mother’s condition for herself. She was going to live close enough to see her mother and father and sisters often. She was going to have a chance to get to know them.
If only her mother recovered from this heart attack.
* * *
FAITH
* * *
FAITH WAS SURPRISED TO FIND Hope and Charity in the waiting room at the hospital when she arrived. She was glad she’d come when she realized her sisters were circling one another with stiff legs and raised hackles, like two big cats stuck in a tiny cage.
“Hello, you two,” she said, putting a smile on her face.
Faith watched as the night nurse did a triple-take when she realized the three girls had identical faces. “What’s going on?” Faith asked.
The nurse answered her. “I’ve been trying to explain to these young women that Mrs. Butler needs her rest.”
“I need to talk to her,” Hope said.
“And if she’s going in, I’m going in,” Charity said.
“I need to see her, too,” Faith said as she put a hand over her womb, where her child was growing. She turned to the nurse and said, “Believe me, our mother will feel better once she hears what I have to say.”
“If she’s going in, I’m going in,” Charity said.
“She’s not g
oing in without me,” Hope said, jutting her chin in Charity’s direction.
“I can’t stay here and guard the door,” the nurse said in exasperation. “I have work to do. Just remember, your mother needs her rest.”
“We won’t bother her for long,” Faith promised. “And we won’t upset her,” she said as she met each of her sisters’ gazes.
“Very well,” the nurse said. “Be as quick as you can.”
She headed down the hall, leaving the three girls staring at one another.
“Shall we?” Faith said as she gestured toward the open door to their mother’s room.
She watched Hope and Charity abortively stop and start a couple of times, vying to be first inside, then stepped into the room in front of both of them. A small fluorescent light above her mother’s bed was on, illuminating her face—and the fact she was awake.
“Did you hear any of that?” Faith asked as she stepped up beside her mother.
“You mean Hope and Charity hissing at each other like she-cats?” her mother said.
Faith smiled. “Guess you did.”
Hope and Charity appeared a moment later, Hope joining Faith on one side of the bed, while Charity crossed to the other.
Faith saw the smile on her mother’s face as she eyed the three girls. “I’m glad to see all of you here together,” she said.
“I need to talk to you privately,” Hope said, eyeing Charity.
“Has something happened between you and Jake?”
“You could say that,” Hope said.
“I need to talk with you privately, too,” Charity said. “I’m sure what I have to say—”
“I’m pregnant,” Faith announced.
All eyes turned to stare at her. She made herself stand still for their scrutiny, aware of the moment when everyone’s eyes left her face and lowered to her still-flat belly.
She splayed her hand across her stomach and said, “I don’t show yet. I’m only six weeks along. But I’ve been to see a doctor, and he confirmed I’m pregnant. Randy’s proposed and I’ve accepted.”
“Come here, sweetheart,” her mother said, opening her arms.
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