SING ME HOME (Love Finds A Home - Book One)
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Jon had hooked an arm under Melanie’s knees, another around her shoulders and was struggling to lift her from the truck. Lil hurried to help. Between them, they managed to extract her. Jon set her on her feet, and she promptly collapsed into a cross-legged heap, eyes still staring at nothing. He dropped beside her and hauled her into his lap, running hands over her limbs, her skull, murmuring her name.
Weak-kneed, Lil slid to the ground next to them, keeping the light trained on his hands. In the distance, sirens wailed. Done with his examination, Jon bundled Melanie close and rocked her.
His eyes found hers, the gold flecks in their dark depths reflecting hope. “Only shock, I think. Belinda?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
A policeman arrived, soon joined by a crew of paramedics. Emergency lights washed in waves over the treetops. After a brief examination of Melanie confirmed Jon’s suspicion she was in shock, they turned their attention to Belinda. Hauling some evil-looking equipment, firemen scrambled down the hillside. Soon the whine of power tools rent the night.
Melanie blinked. Blinked again, then squirmed. “Daddy?” Her voice shrilled over the racket.
“It’s all right, Mel baby. Everything’s okay.”
“Daddy?” Her arms snaked around his neck, and she sobbed against his chest. “I was so-so scared. Mommy and Lil—” She pushed back, hysteria tinging her voice. “Is Lil okay?”
Lil touched her shoulder. “I’m here, sweetie. I’m fine.”
“Oh, Lil.” Without loosening the hand clutched on Jon’s neck, she reached over and tugged Lil’s sleeve.
Completely ruining her suit and not caring, Lil scooted across the rough, wet ground. As naturally as the sun rising, Jon opened an arm, and she settled herself against him, hugging them both, reveling in their warmth.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
AT MERRY-GO-READ the next afternoon, Lil picked up a Laura Ingalls Wilder book from the window display and dusted it for the third time. Behind her, tuned to a country station, the radio played softly. Lost in thought, she stared across the square. St. Andrews glowed in the sunlight, its doors flung wide to let in the warm breeze. The square was empty.
But Jon would come soon. She knew it.
Last night, after the first ambulance had left with Belinda, he’d ridden with Melanie in the second while Lil had returned home to reassure her family. After Melanie was thoroughly checked, he’d brought her back to the house. Amid Zinnia’s fluttering and Mari’s exclamations, they’d been unable to talk. So much lay between them, so much needed to be said, but she was still rattled by events and had avoided conversation.
Quite early this morning, she’d phoned Murphy to tell him to destroy her third-party petition. It was no longer needed. Then she’d traveled to Camden County Courthouse alone, slipping into a seat near the back just before the proceedings began. The courtroom overflowed with reporters.
Jon sat with his attorneys at the petitioner’s table. Belinda wasn’t there. She was in the hospital recovering from broken ribs and contusions. The baby had died. Lil cringed when she thought of the tragedy and was glad Seamus was with Jon’s ex-wife.
The proceedings were perfunctory. Belinda’s lawyer approached, advising the judge the mother would not contest the petitioner. Having expected a circus, the media let out a collective sigh of disappointment. Then evidence and reports were efficiently presented, everyone eager just to get the thing done. She occasionally glanced at Jon but didn’t catch his eye.
As expected, the judge ruled in Jon’s favor but not without admonition.
He looked at Jon over his half glasses. “While marrying a relative stranger in order to protect your children was an unorthodox action, at least your reasons are understandable. And according to Ms. Langlie’s report—” Here he’d sought Lil’s eyes, and she’d thought she detected a twinkle. “You certainly chose the right woman.”
He sobered and turned back to Jon. “The court, however, does not like the element of perjury, which was almost introduced into evidence. Be glad, you rapscallion, you didn’t do it. Nor is the court impressed by your patterns of absence with your children.” He took off his glasses and fixed Jon with a stern gaze. “Work’s the footing for life, son. Not the other way around.”
Jon twisted, his gaze roaming the room. Their eyes met and held. Promise—regret?—passed between them. Then Jon turned back to the judge. “I understand that now.”
Judge Dougherty had given him a long look, then nodded. Formalities were completed in short order, and the judge swept from the room.
Lil sat back, well satisfied. She’d kept her promise. And she trusted Jon to fulfill the terms of their agreement…at the very least. And if he didn’t? She smiled wryly to herself. Once, long ago, he’d threatened her with a breach of contract suit. Well, he wasn’t the only one who knew his way around a courtroom now.
While press and well-wishers surrounded Jon, she slipped out of the courtroom, feeling like she was throwing Jon to the lions and also feeling it might be no less than he deserved. Outside, she phoned home and told an ecstatic Melanie the news, asking her to have Roy call Zinnia. She didn’t want to face her mother’s questions yet. She wanted a quiet moment to think. She wanted to be sure. She wanted Jon to be sure. She’d headed to Merry-Go-Read, certain Jon would know where she’d gone.
Now she looked down at the book in her hand and gave herself a mental shake. As she did, the bells over the door jangled, although the placard on the door still read Closed. She glanced over her shoulder.
Jon stepped inside, eyebrows raised over his tiger eyes. For a long moment, they simply looked at each other.
Finally he spoke. “You took a risk. A big one. What would you have done if things hadn’t played out like you thought they would? The judge might have thrown up his hands and awarded the kids to Belinda.”
“I would have kidnapped them and run off to Tahiti, I guess.”
Jon’s mouth quirked, but she was quite serious. She needed to know if he understood how close to disaster he’d led them.
She put down the book and faced him calmly. “Jon, I did the only thing I could think of to buy you more time. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I knew you’d try to stop me. And I was angry.”
“And I was acting like an asshole.” All trace of a smile was gone. “You fought for us, when I gave up. You fought for the kids, when I might have destroyed their lives. You have more courage and compassion than anyone I’ve ever known.”
She held still, wondering if this was a declaration of love…or what?
“I don’t know if—” He raked a hand through his hair. “Ah, Lil. I got so caught up in self-pity and guilt, built such a mountain out of it, I couldn’t see around it. I wasn’t even willing to listen to you. But you… You wouldn’t let things be. Since the day I met you, you chipped away until last night that mountain crashed down around me.”
Her heart softened, but still she said nothing.
Jon drew a deep breath. “I want you, Lil, and I love you, more than life itself. I know now I deserve you. I deserve us.” His gaze held hers. “Will you still have me?”
A long sigh escaped her. He’d told her what she needed to hear. She closed the space between them.
He caught her around the waist, crushing her against him, searching her face. “Are you sure?”
She let the kiss she gave him answer for her. On the radio, a song ended, and a new one began. China Blue Eyes. For a long moment, they clung to each other and let the music wash over them. Then Jon drew back.
Smiling into her face, he whispered, “Take me home, Lil.”
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About the Author
Award-winning author, editor and former bookseller Jerri Corgiat lives in the Midwest with her husband, son, dog Rosie—and the true queen of the house
, their cat, Princess Piggy-Britches. Their home is located in rolling woodlands reminiscent of the Ozarks, where she spent her childhood summers and where the Love Finds a Home series took root in her imagination. The five books in the series were originally released by Penguin Putnam to critical acclaim; two were featured selections of Literary Guild, Doubleday and Rhapsody book clubs. She is currently working on her sixth book. Visit Jerri’s web site at www.jerricorgiat.com, or email her at email@jerricorgiat.com.
Read an interview with the author at the Istoria Books blog:
http://istoriabooks.blogspot.com/2011/06/abso-damn-lutely-romance-deserves.html
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Also available from Istoria Books:
The story of the O’Malley family continues
in the Love Finds a Home series:
Note: Although this is a series, each book stands alone and the novels do not need to be read in sequence.
Book Two:
Follow Me Home by Jerri Corgiat
Alcea O'Malley Addams lives the life of luxury...until her banker husband shatters their marriage and her self-esteem with his infidelity. Humiliated and broke, she takes a job at a local diner where she begins to restore her psyche and to relearn the value of what matters most in life. An old high school crush -- Dakota Jones, a man with his own inner struggles -- helps her appreciate her own worth as an intelligent and loving woman.
Book Three:
Home at Last by Jerri Corgiat
The youngest daughter of the O’Malley clan, Marigold (Mari), returns to Cordelia, Missouri after her big city career took a lurch in the wrong direction, propelled by an affair with a married man. At home, she is enlisted by her sisters to take care of their mother, recovering from a heart attack and subsequent surgery. Mari’s heart needs mending, too, though, and the tonic she finds is strong medicine--a relationship with a “bad boy” childhood friend. In Home at Last, Ms. Corgiat tells the story of many journeys home--not just Mari’s, but that of the troubled children of Lilac and Jon, the focus of the first book in this moving series.
Book Four:
Home by Starlight by Jerri Corgiat
A member of the O’Malley clan through marriage, Patsy Lee O’Malley has struggled ever since her husband died, raising four children and taking care of a small farm in Cordelia, Missouri. Others have been the focus of her own life for so long that she’s thrown for a loop when she can’t take care of herself. A broken ankle knocks her off her feet both emotionally and physically until Zeke Townley, formerly of Jonathan Van Castle’s (Book One) band, comes to help out. But all that “down time” has Patsy confronting questions she’s put off for far too long--such as what she wants to do with her life and whether she thinks she can love again.
Book Five:
Take Me Home by Jerri Corgiat
In Book Two readers met Florida Jones as the lover of Alcea’s philandering husband, Stan. Now, years later, Florida has joined Alcea in the Stan’s Exes Club, but she’s about to get her happy ending, too--marriage to rich and handsome Daniel. Then, her mother shows up--the mother who’d abandoned her as a girl. This rocks Florida’s world so much that she ends up in a car accident that seems to result in only minor injuries. That is, until her vision fades, and she has to face an uncertain future. An unlikely hero helps her accept her new impaired state, as Florida comes to finally “see” what’s really important in life. Gripping, gritty and compelling, Take Me Home is not your average romance. Its resolution combines pathos with rediscovered joy.
"If a reader is very lucky, sometimes a new author will come on the scene and steals her heart... Jerri Corgiat is that kind of author, and Follow Me Home is that kind of incredible book." -- Affaire de Couer
"...a talented mix of plot, characters and emotional discovery. Fast-paced, with flowing phrases and realistic characters and situations..." Readers & Writers Ink Reviews
"An intricate, well-written tale of family drama...a compelling story." -- Romantic Times Book Club
"...a powerful tale. The pages turn quickly...a superb character study of human strength." -- Diana Risso, Romance Reviews Today
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