by Avery, Joy
“You do care, Christian. If you didn’t, you would have been here before now. And you have the right to care and to hear the truth. Your grandmother—” She stopped abruptly, staring deep into his eyes. Pain still lingered in them. As much as she wanted to reveal every cruel and hateful word his grandmother had spewed at her to cause Emory to end their relationship, she couldn’t. She refused to hurt this man any more than she already had.
“My grandmother, what, Emory?”
Though Mrs. St. Claire was as lethal as a king cobra, Emory knew she loved Christian in her own twisted way. In good conscious, she couldn’t do anything to destroy their relationship. The truth would most certainly do that. If he were okay with the past being the past, so was she. “Loves you. Your grandmother loves you.”
Before Christian could respond, the doorbell rang.
Emory rested a hand on the side of her neck, still not believing she’d protected Amelia St. Claire. The woman who’d made her life a living hell. “It’s Jordyn. We were going out to dinner.”
“Make sure you pat her down for any sharp objects. You may not know this, but your sister’s a little crazy.”
Emory chuckled at the expression of genuine concern on his face. The second she pulled the door open and saw her visitor, she gasped. “Mrs. St. Claire?” Emory refused to go another round with her. What was she doing there anyway? Hadn’t she done enough damage?
“Gran?” Christian inched Emory away from the door as if he expected his grandmother to tackle her. “What are you doing here?”
“May I come in?”
The woman’s tone was soft and kind, but from experience, Emory knew this was simply the gentle breeze before the hurricane. Christian glanced to Emory for approval. When she nodded, he stepped aside.
The usually callous woman didn’t regard Emory’s house with the same disdain she had the shop. In fact, she didn’t take a single glance around. Emory was eager to learn why the matriarch had gotten down off her high horse to stand in her living room.
Mrs. St. Claire eyed Christian. “I owe you an apology. And you, as well,” she said, facing Emory. “Especially you.”
Mrs. St. Claire apologize? Emory waited for the cameraman and crew to jump out, because she was sure she was being pranked.
“Admittedly, I’m not the easiest person to like or love. And sometimes, I need to be put in my place. Earlier, my grandson did just that.” She refocused on Christian. “He called me out. He asked what’d happened to me.” She paused a moment. “After your grandfather died…I abandoned all memories of love, including how it felt to truly give and receive it. Instead, I welcomed grief, loneliness, despair. It slowly turned me into a bitter woman.”
Amelia St. Claire showing vulnerability? Any minute now, Emory thought. This had to be some kind of prank.
“Today you reminded me so much of your grandfather. A great, great man. He would have been proud of you, but appalled and ashamed of me.”
When Mrs. St. Claire smiled, it stunned Emory. She’d actually smiled, and her face hadn’t cracked.
“Your great-grandmother did not care for me to be in your grandfather’s life. The daughter of a maid and a field hand wasn’t good enough for her son. I was beneath him, she’d once told me.”
Emory bit at the corner of her lip, reliving the moment Mrs. St. Claire had said something similar to her.
Mrs. St. Claire continued, “But your grandfather and I were determined to be together. He sacrificed everything to be with me. I saw that determination in you today. You were willing to sacrifice for the woman you love.”
What had Christian done? What kind of sacrifice had he attempted to make?
Mrs. St. Claire turned her focus to Emory. “I’ve said some horrible things to you. Have done even worse. I’ve lied and manipulated you both.”
Emory cradled herself in her arms and willed her tears not to fall. In a thousand years, she’d have never imagined this callous, never yielding woman exposing herself like this. “It’s okay.”
Mrs. St. Claire shook her head. “No, it’s not.”
To Christian, Mrs. St. Claire said, “I’m the reason your relationship ended. I did to this young lady exactly what your great-grandmother did to me. The only difference, she loved you enough to keep it from you. I imagined she knew it would ruin our relationship.”
Christian eyed Emory. “Tell me this is not true.”
When she remained silent, he turned away from them both.
“Jesus,” he said.
As much as Emory wanted to run to him, wrap him in her arms, she held back.
“I know I’ve hurt you, grandson. At the time, I believed I was doing what was best for you. When I forced the money on her, I’d learned—”
Emory intervened. “Mrs. St. Claire, you don’t have—”
“Yes, dear, I do.”
Christian slowly turned to face them. “When you forced the money on her?”
“Yes. She never asked for the money as I stated. I’m ashamed to admit this, but I’d learned of her mother’s diagnoses of Alzheimer’s. I told her if she loved you, she wouldn’t burden you with it. That you were doing great things and this would only be a distraction. I told her how expensive it would be to care for her mother on a secretary’s salary and that I could help. I bent her until she broke.”
“Jesus,” Christian repeated.
“I could have said no,” Emory said, surprising herself by coming to Mrs. St. Claire’s defense.
“No one can says no to my grandmother. She doesn’t process the word.” Christian rested his hands on either side of his neck, closed his eyes, and shook his head. “You could do that to me, Gran? You could do that to your own grandson? You knew how much Emory meant to me. You knew—” He choked with emotion. “You knew and you did it anyway.” Opening his eyes, he said, “Who are you?”
Tears glistened in the broken woman’s eyes. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you. You and your brother are all I have. I’d die if…”
Tears streamed freely down Emory’s face. To watch this unfold was both heartbreaking and beautiful. Beautiful because she was seeing a side of Mrs. St. Claire many would never get to see, or believe existed.
“How can I forgive you for this, Gran?”
“The same way you were willing to forgive me,” Emory said. “When you came here tonight, you were prepared to forgive and forget the past for me. You have to do the same for your grandmother.” Emory turned to Mrs. St. Claire. “I forgive you. I never wanted to come between the two of you. All I ever wanted to do was love him.”
Mrs. St. Claire nodded, clearly struggling to keep her tears at bay. “Looks like we do have something in common. Our love for my grandson. I’m sorry I made your life a living hell. Hopefully, in time, you’ll discover I’m not the wicked witch I appear to be.”
Emory wasn’t sure anyone on earth had enough time to debunk that theory.
After a moment, Christian took his grandmother in his arms and held her tight. “I love you.” Kissing the top of her head, he said, “We’ll talk later.”
Mrs. St. Claire smiled. “I’d like that.” To Emory, she said, “Thank you.”
Emory smiled and nodded. It felt good to take the highroad.
When Christian returned from walking his grandmother to the waiting town car, he cradled Emory’s face between his hands. “How could you ever believe I wouldn’t have loved and supported you through your mother’s diagnoses? Why didn’t you tell me what my grandmother had done? Why—?”
Emory placed her index finger over his lips. “Kiss me. Kiss me like it’s the first time you’ve ever touched my lips.”
“I spent two years without you, Emory. Two years that—”
“Kiss me like you’re making up for the twenty-four months we were apart.”
Christian chuckled—a smooth, sexy sound that caressed the deepest part of her soul.
“Is this your way of shutting me up?”
&nbs
p; She rested her warm hands on his cheeks. “Yes, it is.”
Christian wrapped his large hand around her neck, but he didn’t apply pressure. Something about the move warmed her entire body like a shot of fine whiskey. His hand coiled to the back of her neck, then glided upward until his fingers tangled with her hair. Fisting her locks, he guided her head back gently. His mouth dipped low and hovered over hers. The heat escaping from his mouth aroused her like a gentle touch to her most sensitive areas.
“Don’t ever walk away from me again, woman,” he said.
“I won’t,” she said, eager to taste him.
He searched her eyes. She hoped he found whatever he was probing for soon, because the waiting to explore him was driving her insane. A smirk played at the corner of his mouth. Yep, he’d found it.
He captured her mouth and kissed her as if the world was minutes from ending and he wanted his delicious pain to be the last thing she felt. She wrapped her arms around his waist to keep from losing her balance—revealing just how powerful and intense the kiss was.
Christian’s hot breath against her cheek grew heavier and heavier, mimicking her own rugged breathing. If by chance the world had ended, she would have gone a very satisfied woman.
In theory, this could actually be labeled the twenty-four-month kiss because that’s how long it appeared it would last. The deep satisfying exchange made her feel as if she were floating. Then it hit her, she was floating. Into Christian’s arms. When he’d lifted her off the floor, her legs wrapped instinctively around his waist.
Christian lowered to the carpet, Emory holding tight. Finally abandoning her mouth, he lifted his head and stared down at her. She witnessed so much strength, so much truth, so much love in his eyes it took her breath away.
“My life restarted the second I stepped into your shop,” he said in a whisper. “If anyone would have ever told me I could love another human being the way I love you, I would have called them a liar.”
A tear ran out the corner of her eye, and Christian kissed it away. His tenderness caressed her heart.
“Close your eyes,” he said.
When she did, he kissed both lids. The tender act sent a jolt of warmth through her entire body.
“What do you see?”
She laughed. “Darkness.”
“Look beyond the darkness.”
Searching, she smiled. “I see the first time we met. I see the first time you said ‘I love you’. I see the first time we made love.”
He chuckled. “Really?”
“No. All I see is darkness, Christian.”
“That darkness is our clean slate. No heartbreak. No loneliness. No me without you. Just our present and our future with no remnants of the past.”
A wide smile curled her lips. “I see it now.”
“It’s beautiful, right?”
Emory opened her eyes. “Gorgeous.”
“A clean slate, Em. Nothing holding us down. Agreed?”
Emory frowned. She couldn’t agree. Not until… “I need to share something with you.”
Before he could question her, she’d wiggled from underneath him, got to her feet, and held out her hand for him to take.
A look of confusion shadowed his features. “What’s going on?”
She could show him better than she could tell him. Leading him into her bedroom, she directed him onto the bed. “I’ll be right back.” She entered the closet and exited a moment later dragging a coconut-colored chest. Placing it at his feet, she said, “Open it.”
Christian arched a brow. “What’s in it?”
“The last piece of the past,” she said.
With caution, he unlatched and lifted the lid. “Wh…?”
“All fifty thousand. I could never bring myself to spend a single dime of it.
For a moment, Christian appeared to be at a loss for word. Finally, he eyed her. “You’ve been struggling, Emory. This money could have really helped you. Why didn’t you use any of it?”
“Because, in my heart, it would have been like betraying you, betraying our love.”
Christian took another glance at the stacks of money, then closed the chest. Pushing to his feet, he stood directly in front of her. “Do you know how amazing you are? How truly amazing you are, Emory Chambers?”
Emory shrugged. “Yeah, I do.”
They shared a laugh.
Christian wrapped her in his arms and she snuggled against his chest. “Santa gave me exactly what I wanted for Christmas,” she said.
“Oh, yeah? And what was that?”
She tilted her head to eye him. “You.”
Christian pecked her lips gently. “Looks like we both got what we wanted.”
Emory fiddled with the scarf around his neck. “Remember when I said I’d pay you back every dime you spent on my car.”
His eyes narrowed in questioning. “Yeah.”
“Well, would you like that in big or small bills?”
They shared another laugh.
“Didn’t we establish I wouldn’t accept a dime you offered?”
“You have to. You’ve done so much for me. My car. Paying off my shop, mother’s mortgage. I owe you so much, Christian. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. You are the amazing one. And I’m eternally grateful to you and for you.”
He tipped his head forward and kissed her. “Clearly, I haven’t convinced you that I would do anything for you.”
Emory smiled. “Yeah, you have. But now you have to do one more thing for me.”
“And what’s that?”
“Accept this money as repayment.” She smiled. “You know I don’t like to be indebted.”
Christian studied her a moment. “I have a better idea for this money.”
Christian reached inside the chest and removed a single twenty dollar bill. He folded and refolded the currency. Tucked here, creased there.
Emory laughed. “Are you making a money airplane?”
A couple of minutes later he was done. It wasn’t an airplane. Cleary, he, too, possessed a few talents she wasn’t aware of. “You want to make fifty thousand dollars worth of origami rings?”
“No. I wanted to make one ring. We’ll spend the other forty-nine thousand, nine-hundred and eighty dollars on our wedding.”
“On our wed—” When he lowered to one knee, Emory’s mouth fell open.
“We’ve been through a lot. Things meant to break us. But we held strong to our love for each other.”
Emory draped her hand over her mouth and nodded, tears stinging her eyes.
“I can’t promise you we won’t have bad days. I can’t promise you that every day with me will be perfect. I can’t promise you that I won’t make mistakes. What I can promise you is that I’ll be your lover and your best friend. That I’ll be everything a good man can and should be to his wife. I promise my trust, my loyalty, my devotion. I promise that I will love you fervently and unconditionally ’til the ocean runs dry. And even then, I won’t stop loving you. Emory Gale Chambers, will you marry me and make me the happiest man on this planet?”
“Are you sure about this, Christian?”
“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”
A tear escaped down her cheek. There was no need for hesitation. She wanted to spend her life with this man. “Yes, yes, yes. I’ll marry you.”
Christian slid the money ring onto her finger. “A perfect fit.”
Emory regarded Christian with admiration. “We’re a perfect fit.”
When he came to his feet, he captured her mouth in a heady kiss. The idea of a lifetime of kisses like this thrilled her. She protested when Christian tried to pull away.
He dragged a bent finger down her cheek. “They say whatever you’re doing when the New Year comes in is what you’ll be doing all year long. I want to marry you on New Year’s, at the stroke of midnight, because vowing my love to you is what I want to be doing every single day of my life. What do you say?”
“I say…yes.”
Thank you, Santa.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
By day, Joy Avery works as a customer service assistant. By night, the North Carolina native travels to imaginary worlds—creating characters whose romantic journeys invariably end happily ever after.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Garner, Joy knew she wanted to write. Stumbling onto romance novels, she discovered her passion for love stories. Instantly, she knew these were the type stories she wanted to pen.
Real characters. Real journeys. Real good love is what you’ll find in a Joy Avery romance.
Joy is married with one child. When not writing, she enjoys reading, cake decorating, pretending to expertly play the piano, driving her husband insane, and playing with her two dogs.
Joy is a member of Romance Writers of America and Heart of Carolina Romance Writers.
Also by Joy Avery
Smoke in the Citi
His Until Sunrise
Cupid’s Error-a novella
His Ultimate Desire
One Delight Night
A Gentleman’sAgreement
Dear Reader,
I’d first like to say THANK YOU so much for your support! Many of you are spreading the word about Joy Avery romances like wildfire, and I’m eternally grateful! My goal is, and will always be, to write beautiful love stories that take you on an emotional and satisfying journey toward happily ever after. I hope you will stay along for the ride.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTIAN. Please help me spread the word about Emory and Christian by recommending their love story to friends and family, book clubs, social media, and online forums.
Also, I’d like to ask that you please take a moment to leave a review on the site where you purchased this novel.
I love hearing from readers. Feel free to email me at: [email protected]