* * *
Jenny only dimly remembered coming home from the day of medical tests. Nerves, rather than the tests themselves, always took everything out of her. By the time she got home she felt limp as a dishrag. She remembered coming in. She remembered collapsing onto the sofa. She remembered… A puzzled frown knit her brow. Had Frank been there? Had he issued some sort of crazy ultimatum or had that been a lovely dream? She drew in a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes. Then she blinked and blinked again. One part of the dream at least had been real.
Jenny had never seen so many balloons before in her life. Laughter bubbled up as she stared at the reds and greens, blues and yellows bobbing above her, trailing curls of matching ribbon. She reached for one and drew it down, then caught another and another until she held an entire bouquet of vibrant colors.
“Careful or you’ll float away,” Frank teased from somewhere just beyond the balloons. He ducked beneath them to sit beside her. So it hadn’t been a dream at all. He was here. She was glad enough to see him not to ask how he’d gotten in. She could guess anyway. Carolanne had the only other key to her apartment, and Carolanne thought she’d been wrong to cut herself off from Frank, from a chance at love.
“How do you feel, sleepyhead?” he asked.
“Better. What time is it?”
“Nearly eight. Are you hungry?”
“Starved, but there’s nothing in the house for dinner.”
He grinned. “Ah, but there is. Veal piccata, pasta and a chocolate mousse cake that will make you weep.”
Her mouth watered at the tempting descriptions. “If you prepared all that, maybe we do have something to talk about after all.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that I will reconsider on the spot marrying a man who can make a chocolate mousse cake.”
Frank didn’t seem especially pleased by the concession. Either he hadn’t made the cake or she was missing something. “You’re going to marry me, cake or no cake,” he reminded her. “That’s been decided.”
Her gaze narrowed. “Since when?”
“Since three hours ago, when you swore to stop fighting me.”
“I don’t remember that conversation.”
“Then let me remind you. You and me. Together, always. Those were the exact words.”
“Yours or mine?”
“Mine, but you agreed. How can I take you on a honeymoon to Hawaii if you don’t say yes?”
“Honeymoon?” she repeated weakly. “Did I agree to that, too? I must have been more out of it than I thought.”
“Just sensible, for a change.”
“Frank, I can’t get married and I can’t go to Hawaii. I have to wait here.”
“For the test results,” he said matter-of-factly. “No problem. They can call us in Hawaii. I hear the phone lines are very modern. No more tin cans or drums.”
“No,” she said, feeling the pressure build in her chest. “I will not marry you. Not until I know for sure.”
He waved the tickets under her nose. “Nonrefundable. For tomorrow. We’re going, Jenny Michaels, if I have to sling you across my shoulder and carry you onto that plane. You deserve a break, you need a rest and I’m going to see that you get it. If you want to wait to get married until after the honeymoon, that’s a little weird, but it’s something we can talk about.”
She stared at him. “You want to take the honeymoon first?”
“I don’t want to do it that way, but I’m willing to compromise. Just to prove what an agreeable sort of guy I am, what a catch.”
She touched a hand to his cheek. “You are a catch. Any woman would be proud to marry you.”
“I don’t want any woman. I want you and I mean to have you.”
“By bullying me into it?”
He grinned and taunted, “I learned from a master.”
Jenny saw her own tactics coming back to haunt her. But even as she fought the idea of marrying Frank or even taking this idiotic trip he’d planned without consulting her, she couldn’t deny that Hawaii with Frank sounded like heaven. Would it be selfish of her to go? Would it be cruel to start something they might not be able to finish?
As if he’d read her mind, Frank said, “We are going to live every single day as if it’s the only one we’ve got. We are not going to put our lives on hold for ‘what ifs.’I won’t have either one of us waking up one day with regrets.”
He kissed her then, stealing away her breath, teasing her senses until her spirits were soaring every bit as high as the balloons she’d allowed to drift away. “I’ll go,” she said, when she could finally catch her breath. It might be wrong, it might be selfish, but oh how she longed for a few more days of magic.
A triumphant smile broke across his rugged face. “The wedding?”
“One step at a time,” she pleaded. “I can’t take any more than that.”
He nodded slowly. “One step at a time. We start with the honeymoon of a lifetime.”
Less than twenty-four hours later they were on the beach in Maui where the breezes smelled of frangipani and the sun caressed almost as seductively as Frank. For three days they rested and swam and made sweet and tender love. There was no forbidden talk of the future, only the here and now and the delicious thrill of Frank’s most persuasive touches, the joy of being together. Jenny felt healthier, more alive and more desperately in love than she ever had before.
On the fourth day when they came back to their cottage, there was a message on her cell phone to call her doctor’s office. The brisk voice of the assistant was like a punch in her midsection. All of the energy and hope seemed to drain out of Jenny in the scant thirty seconds it took her to cross the room and to the phone.
As she dialed the number of her doctor in San Francisco, Jenny reached instinctively for Frank’s hand. Instead of taking her outstretched hand, though, he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, sending shivers down her spine, reminding her of all that was at stake. It was no longer simply her own existence that hung in the balance, but their future.
“I love you,” he said urgently. “Marry me, Jenny. Say yes.”
She stopped dialing and turned in his arms, meeting his gaze. Her heart thundered in her chest, nearly breaking with despair. Oh, how she wanted to say yes, wanted to believe in the future, but she couldn’t. It wouldn’t be fair. “I can’t answer you now,” she said, but the words were an uncertain, breathless tremble.
He shook his head. “I want it settled before you make the call. I don’t want there to be a single doubt that I’m asking because I love you or you’re answering because of what’s in your heart. Tell me now, Jenny. Do you love me?”
She wanted to do the right thing, the fair thing and deny it, but she couldn’t. “More than life itself.”
“Then that’s our answer, isn’t it?”
With a wobbly smile, she touched his lips. “Frank, are you sure? Really sure?”
“Absolutely. In sickness or in health.”
She read the certainty in his eyes, heard the conviction in his voice, felt the love in his touch. “Then I guess that’s our answer. I’ll marry you.”
Holding her tighter, giving her his strength, he said, “Now make the call.”
When the nurse answered, Jenny had trouble even getting her name out. Her voice shook, but she took courage from Frank’s embrace, from the commitment they had made only seconds before.
“Jenny,” Dr. Hadley said in that low, soothing, bedside voice he had. “We have your results.”
“And?”
“Everything looks good.”
Hope, radiant and joyous, spilled over her like sunshine. “Everything?” she repeated.
“Not a sign of a recurrence. I’ll want you in here a year from now, but I think there’s every reason to be optimistic.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, her eyes locked with Frank’s. Only one more year until that fateful fifth anniversary. One more. “You can�
��t know how much this means to me.”
“To both of us,” Frank murmured huskily.
He took the phone from her grasp and replaced it in its cradle. With a sigh, he slanted his mouth over hers, filling her with an incredible sense of euphoria.
They had a chance, a real chance at a future, she thought as he tugged at the buttons on her beach coverup. When the gauzy material caught and tangled, he ripped it away with a fierce urgency that matched the rising tide of her own need. His hands were rough as he stripped her of her bathing suit, but the heated look in his eyes had her body shivering with the need for speed far more than finesse.
At the first daring touch of his tongue to her breast, excitement streaked through her like lightning. The last shred of self-consciousness between them shimmered, then disintegrated in a hot whirlwind of magical feelings. When he lifted his head to look in her eyes, cautiously seeking her reaction, she arched her back and drew him to her, wanting that exquisite, all-but-forgotten tug of need to go on forever. As pleasure built deep inside, she savored the bold strokes that told her again and again that she was woman enough for him. When his fingers sought the scar on her chest and his gaze locked with hers, she closed her hand over his and showed him the gentle caresses that inflamed and delighted.
There was no time to revel in each delicious sensation, because there were always more. Her body demanded and Frank gave, his lovemaking totally selfless. He reaffirmed the depth of his commitment again and again, building the aching hunger inside her.
With his kisses, slow, deep, passionate kisses that set her senses spinning.
With his caresses, the tenderest of touches, the boldest of claimings.
With his heart, his enduring love evident in his eyes, with the way he responded to her needs time and time again.
In moments, naked and filled with a wicked hunger, they tumbled together on the bed, a tangle of arms and legs, slick with perspiration, alive with desire.
“I love you,” Frank said as he stilled above her, fulfillment an anxious heartbeat away. “I love you, Jenny.”
“No more than I love you,” she said fervently as their bodies at last joined together in a chaotic rhythm as old as time.
Never had Jenny been more aware of the rough and satin textures of his body, of the scent of saltwater and sweet air that surrounded them, of the way he tasted against her tongue or the way her body ached with need until the moment he slid inside her, making her whole, mending her dreams, reaffirming the sheer joy of living.
They were married on the beach a day later. She wore a white Hawaiian wedding dress, and he wore an impossibly loud shirt. She had a bright yellow flower tucked behind her ear and orchids for a bouquet. When they said their vows, Jenny stumbled over the words, but the commitment was etched forever in her heart.
When the brief ceremony was over and they were alone again, giddy on champagne and passion, Frank said, “You realize we’re going to have to do this all over again in San Francisco?”
“Your family?”
“You bet. And it’s our family now. Don’t ever forget that.”
“Don’t you think with all those sons, your mother wouldn’t mind missing this one wedding? My parents will be satisfied with a phone call.”
“Not Ma. She’ll be convinced we’re living in sin unless she hears the vows for herself.”
Jenny snuggled closer. “Could be fun,” she teased. “It would add an element of danger, when things get too predictable.”
“Things won’t have a chance of getting predictable,” Frank warned. “She’s liable to move in with us until she’s certain we’ve done the right thing.”
“In that case, call ahead and line up the church. I am not going to give this up for a single night.”
“I promise you, Jennifer Michaels Chambers, we will never be separated again. Never.”
* * * * *
“Sherryl Woods writes emotionally satisfying novels about family, friendship and home. Truly feel-great reads!”
—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber
Looking for more great titles from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods?
Download the complete Calamity Janes collection today for unforgettable stories of fierce friends facing challenges in life and love:
The Calamity Janes: Cassie & Karen
The Calamity Janes: Gina & Emma
The Calamity Janes: Lauren (August 2015)
Also available in ebook, discover the incredible Devaney Brothers collection and enjoy the heartfelt tale of five brothers torn apart in childhood, who are ultimately reunited by love:
The Devaney Brothers: Ryan & Sean
The Devaney Brothers: Michael & Patrick
The Devaney Brothers: Daniel
Catch up with the O’Brien family in Chesapeake Shores, where stories of friendship, family and love await. You may never want to leave!
The Inn at Eagle Point
Flowers on Main
Harbor Lights
A Chesapeake Shores Christmas
Driftwood Cottage
Moonlight Cove
Beach Lane
An O’Brien Family Christmas
The Summer Garden
A Seaside Christmas
The Christmas Bouquet
Dogwood Hill
Take a trip to Serenity, South Carolina, where the Sweet Magnolias are always in season and heartwarming romance is only ever a stone’s throw away:
Stealing Home
A Slice of Heaven
Feels Like Family
Welcome to Serenity
Home in Carolina
Sweet Tea at Sunrise
Honeysuckle Summer
Midnight Promises
Catching Fireflies
Where Azaleas Bloom
Swan Point
“Woods…is noted for appealing character-driven stories that are often infused with the flavor and fragrance of the South.”
—Library Journal
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ISBN: 9781460392041
Dream Mender
Copyright © 2010 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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