Brides on the Run (Books 1-4): Small-Town Romance Series

by Jami Albright

  “I said, goodbye.”

  Marci rushed to her and tried to take her hand. She calmly pulled it away. “Charlie, don’t be like this.”

  “You two have made yourselves perfectly clear, and now I’m making myself equally clear. Get out. Get off my property. Get out of my life.”

  They both made their way out of the house without a word. Just before they got into the car, Ron lobbed his parting shot. “You were a nobody when I found you, Charlie. I made you who you are today. Without me, you’ll go back to being a nobody. Is that what you want?”

  “Nothing sounds better, Ron. Absolutely nothing. Drive safe.” She closed the door on her old life and threw away the key.

  Chapter 7

  “Mom!” Hank didn’t know why he bothered to yell. Between the barking dogs and the screech of the screen door, people in Austin forty miles away knew he was at his mother’s house.

  “I’m in here, honey.”

  He followed the sound of her voice to the bathroom. His mom was leaning over the bathtub, up to her elbows in bubbles, while two squealing kids splashed and played in the water.

  “Uncle Hank!” his four-year-old twin nephews yelled at the same time.

  He leaned his shoulder against the door frame. “Hunter and Eli, are you giving your Grandma a hard time?”

  “Hello, son.” His mom grinned at him over her shoulder. She looked tired, but who wouldn’t be after keeping these hoodlums all day, five days a week? “They found the one mud puddle in the yard and had a big time. I thought I’d bath them before Roxanne gets here, one less thing for her to do.”

  He rolled up his sleeves and knelt beside his mother. “Here, let me wash their hair.” He grabbed the kiddy shampoo and squirted a dollop in his hand. “Come here, Hunter. You little maniac.” He’d lay money on the fact that the mud fight started with Hunter. He was definitely the instigator of most of the trouble the twins got into.

  His mom pushed herself up and sat on the toilet lid. “Thank you, son. I’m not as young as I used to be.”

  No, she wasn’t. Patrice Odom had raised her kids. First Hank, then his twin brothers Derek and Jett had come along thirteen months later. Three kids in less than a year and a half couldn’t have been easy, but she’d done it and done most of it by herself after his father up and left her high and dry.

  His mom should be having lunch with her friends or participating in activities at the Senior Center. Instead, she was babysitting his irresponsible brother’s kids. His brother Jett had taken off five months after Hunter and Eli were born, leaving his wife with two little boys to raise on her own.

  “Uncle Hank, too hard,” Hunter whined.

  “Oh, sorry, bud.” It was hard to control his emotions when it came to both his unreliable brothers. “Lean your head back.” He poured a couple of cups of water over the boy’s blond head, careful to keep it out of his eyes. “Alright, out you go.” He slid his hand under Hunter’s armpits, then handed the boy to his mother, who wrapped him in a towel.

  “J-E-T-T sent Roxanne a thousand dollars yesterday.” His mother always spelled his brother’s name in front of the twins. Probably just as well—the news was rarely good.

  He repeated the hair-washing treatment with Eli, who grinned at him the whole time. Where Hunter was a hellion, this kid was a charmer, and could usually cute himself out of most trouble. “Don’t grin at me, kid. You’re in as much trouble as him.” He jutted his chin toward Hunter. Eli only laughed. God, he loved these kids. “J-E-T-T didn’t happen to say where he was, did he?”

  Patrice vigorously rubbed the towel over Hunter’s head. “There was no return address and no note. Just a padded envelope with cash in it like before.”

  What kind of dumbass sent cash through the mail? But that was what Jett had been doing for the last three and a half years. According to the postage stamps, they’d come from Oklahoma, Louisiana, Montana, and now Alaska. Hank was pretty sure his brother was working as a roughneck in the oil fields, but there was no real way to know. The only thing he did know was that the shithead broke his vows and ran out on his wife and babies, an unforgivable offense in Hank’s eyes. “Okay, buddy. You’re done.”

  The second twin was toweled off, then the two took off, naked as jaybirds. “Hey, come back here.” The only answer he got was howling laughter as they ran from the room. He chuckled and pulled the plug in the tub to drain the water, then rose to his feet. He took his mom by the hand and helped her to stand. “Come on woman, I’ll make you a cup of coffee.”

  “Make it a glass of wine, and you’ve got a deal.” She winked.

  “Like you’d drink with those two here. Not that I’d blame you.”

  She laughed and glanced at her watch. “I’m only half joking. Roxanne should be here any minute to get the kids, then I can have that glass of wine.”

  He held his arm out to her. “Then I’m at your service, and I think I’ll join you.”

  “Where’s Karen tonight?”

  The vise that seemed to live around his neck tightened at the mention of his wife. “Teaching an extension class at the community college in Austin.” He narrowly avoided a collision with a naked preschooler when he entered the kitchen. “Boy, get some clothes on!”

  “Oh, she’s doing that again? That seems like a lot with her full-time teaching job at the high school.” His mother grabbed Eli and wrestled some underwear and a t-shirt on him before he wiggled out of her grip and took off after Hunter.

  He pulled a bottle of his mother’s sweet white wine from the fridge, then rummaged around in her junk drawer for the corkscrew. “It is, but she enjoys it. She teaches there on Tuesday and Thursday nights. This is her third week. She—”

  “My eyes! My eyes!” The shrill girly scream came from the front room.

  He glanced at his mom. “Lottie?”

  A warm, loving smile spread across his mom’s face. “Yes. She’s staying with Roxanne tonight.”

  His seven-year-old niece ran into the room with a naked four-year-old hot on her heels. “Save me, Grandma!” She flung herself at Patrice laughing like an idiot.

  His sister-in-law Roxanne grabbed the naked four-year-old and hauled a pair of underwear up his legs. “Stop tormenting your cousin, Hunter.”

  Hunter gave Lottie a loving smile. “But I wuv her.”

  A shirt and pants covered Hunter’s body in two seconds flat. Eli got a pair of shorts and a kiss on the head. “Go play for five minutes, then we’re leaving.”

  “‘Lottie come wif us?” Eli asked.

  “Sure, I’ll come too.” She took the boy’s hand and started out of the room.

  Hank cleared his throat. “Have you forgotten something, Lottie girl?”

  “Oh.” She ran to him, and he picked her up. Her skinny arms went around his neck, and she gave him a toothy smile. “Hello, Uncle Hank. I love you.”

  His heart, the one that had disintegrated in the alley when Charlie walked away from him, regenerated with Lottie in his arms. “I love you too.” He put her down, and the three kids ran from the room.

  “Hey, Hank.” Roxanne wrapped him in a hug.

  He kissed her head. “Hey, gal.”

  “Where’s Karen?”

  “She’s teaching an extension course at the community college in Austin tonight.” He poured his mom a glass of wine, then lifted the bottle to Roxanne. “Want one?”

  The frazzled mother of two shook her head. “No, I need my wits about me for the evening.”

  He grabbed a beer from the fridge. “You have Lottie tonight?”

  “Yeah, Hailey got called into the bar.” She shook her head. “She’s obsessed with keeping that place open, and her dad is no help.” She took a cookie from the jar on the counter. “I don’t mind keeping her. She’s a big help with the boys. Besides, we Odom cast-offs have to stick together.”

  His mom coughed. They both turned to see her stricken face.

  Roxanne went to her immediately and knelt next to her chair. “Patrice, I’m so
sorry. I didn’t mean…”

  Anger boiled through him again at his shit-for-brains brothers. First, Jett left Roxanne without so much as a kiss my ass. Then his brother Derek left his wife Hailey for their next-door neighbor, flaunting the affair right in front of her face. He couldn’t understand them at all. You make a vow, and you keep it.

  His mom ran her hand over Roxanne’s dark head. “Oh, darlin’, I’m not upset with you. I love you. It’s those lousy sons of mine whose necks I’d like to wring for hurting y’all.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I still don’t understand. They weren’t raised that way. Thank God for Hank. He seems to be the only one who understands commitment.”

  It was true. Regardless, or maybe because, of how his dad had taken off on his family, that was what they’d all been taught by their ever-faithful mother. It was also true that Hank seemed to be the only one who took it to heart.

  “I’d feel like a total failure if it weren’t for him.” The look his mother gave him made the beer ferment in his gut.

  Roxanne swiped a tear from her cheek and gave him a sad smile. “Yeah, Hank gives us all hope in men.”

  He gave her a tight-lipped smile. Oh, for fuck’s sake. Someone stab him now. They knew about his and Karen’s separation. Hell, the whole town knew because she’d filed for a legal separation and then divorce. Once the papers were filed, the gossip began spreading before the ink was dry. Zachsville was his town, his responsibility, but sometimes he hated living in such a small place.

  That was why he’d been in Austin the night he ran into Charlie. He’d just needed to get the hell out of town and away from all the scrutiny and speculation. That night had been the happiest he’d been in years. It was shit timing that Karen chose that moment to try to patch things up.

  He’d been trying to get her to go to counseling for months, and she’d refused. But once she agreed to get help, he couldn’t tell her no. No matter what had just happened between him and Charlie or how horrible he felt about it.

  He loved Charlie, always had, and after that night, he knew he always would, but that wasn’t enough of a reason to break the vows he’d made to Karen. Sticking with his marriage was the right thing to do, and he always did the right thing.

  Even if it killed him.

  Chapter 8

  The sight in the hall mirror stopped Charlie in her tracks. A hot mess didn’t even begin to describe her reflection. No sleep and nausea would do that to a girl. Her morning sickness was all-day and middle-of-the-night sickness—basically, debilitating nausea twenty-four seven. Yay. She didn’t recommend trying to come up with a life plan while puking your guts up.

  Thank God the paparazzi couldn’t see her now. She pushed back her blonde waves and squinted at the woman that stared back at her. Even though she looked like hell, there was peace behind her eyes that hadn’t been there in a very long time. Which was crazy, because her only hope of making any real money, and a life for herself and her tagalong, had driven away in a rented Audi yesterday.

  Didn’t matter. She was free.

  The sound of gospel music and perfectly pitched humming floated down the hall to her. She should know—she had perfect pitch too. That and her natural comedic timing was why she was a household name. Why the Carousel Network had created a whole show around her and ended each episode with her performing a song, whether it made sense to have her sing that song or not.

  Her hand went to her belly. She’d be a household name again for sure once word of this pregnancy was public knowledge. The good news, as Ron said, was that she’d be a nobody, and they wouldn’t care for very long.

  She followed the sound of the melody to the kitchen. Honey stood at the stove stirring a skillet. The older woman wore a Zachsville Raiders t-shirt that had ‘Raider Pride’ spelled out in rhinestones. Loose-fitting jeans tucked into fuzzy boots made to keep your feet warm rounded out the outfit.

  “Good morning, Honey. Did you stay the night?”

  Honey threw her head back and laughed. “Lord, no. This town would be beside themselves if I stayed the night with Wardell. Have you been away so long that you’ve forgotten this town has eyes everywhere and tongues ready to wag?”

  “No. I remember that.” She tipped her head at Honey’s shirt. “Nice shirt.” Coffee. She needed coffee. The sweet sound of the hot liquid being poured into a cup gave her hope for the day.

  “It’s game day, baby! Zachsville Raiders football is the hottest ticket in town. It wouldn’t be fall in Texas without Friday night football.” Honey pumped her fist in the air. “Go Raiders!”

  Charlie raised her mug in a toast. “Go Raiders.” Then she glanced around the kitchen. “Where is Pops?”

  “Boys’ morning out.”

  “What?”

  “’Scuse me.” Honey stepped past her to grab the salt and pepper shakers from the cabinet. “You know what boys’ night out is, right?”

  Charlie sipped her coffee and nodded.

  “Well, the men at the Senior Center are all in bed by nine p.m., but every one of ’em is up at four a.m., cause they’re old, so they get together early and play dominos and drink coffee once a week. This is his first day back since the accident.”

  A horrible thought hit Charlie. “He didn’t drive himself, did he?”

  “Oh, no. Regardless of what that man says, he’s not ready to drive. I took him.” She checked the clock on the wall. “I’m supposed to pick him up in an hour.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever asked…how long have you been seeing each other?”

  Honey’s skin took on a pinkish tone. “Truth be told, Wardell’s been chasing me for a while.” She struck a pose with one hand on her hip and the wooden spoon in the air like a wand. “You can see why, right?”

  They both laughed. “Absolutely.” Charlie loved this woman who was so good for her grandfather.

  “And why wouldn’t he? I’m the best thing to ever happen to him. No offense to your grandmother. Lila was a lovely woman.”

  Charlie leaned a hip against the counter and cupped her mug in her hands. “None taken. She was lovely, and I miss her every day, but she’s been gone a long time now.” Bitterness mixed with the coffee she’d drunk, making a nauseating concoction. Of all the things her mother had done, she’d never forgive her for not letting Charlie come back for her grandmother’s funeral. Because of a stupid television show, she’d missed the opportunity to comfort her grandfather and say goodbye to her beloved Grams.

  Honey patted her on the arm. “I know you do and so does Wardell, just like I miss my Joe, but life goes on. I think in the beginning Wardell just chased me to have something to do, and I told him so. I told him I wasn’t interested in being anyone’s second choice. But he kept pursuing, and I kept resisting. Then he was in the accident, and I almost lost him.” Her bottom lip wobbled, and Charlie had to force down her own emotional lump. Honey waved her hand in front of her face. “Anyway, I knew it was time to fish or cut bait. And as you can see, the fishing is fine.” Honey’s happy laughter filled the kitchen.

  Charlie wrapped her arm around the older woman’s shoulder. “I’m so glad.”

  Honey leaned her head against Charlie’s. “I’m glad I could be here to help, especially with you in your condition.”

  “What?” Charlie jerked her head back and chuckled. It sounded more like an admission than a nonchalant giggle. Suddenly she was very interested in the contents of the pot on the stove.

  “Darlin’, I may never have been pregnant, but I know the signs.” One of Honey’s drawn-on eyebrows slipped up her forehead.

  Grits? Oatmeal? What was Honey cooking?

  Don’t make eye contact or she’ll know.

  Charlie turned and rested her butt against the counter. In a way, it was a relief that Honey knew, or suspected. But could she trust one of the town’s biggest gossips with her secret? Doubtful. Then she remembered that Honey’s niece, Scarlett, was married to Gavin Bain, superstar rocker. They had to have things they didn�
�t want made public knowledge, and there hadn’t been one bit of gossip from that camp, so maybe Honey could be trusted.

  She glanced at the woman patiently stirring her concoction and took a chance. Frankly, it wouldn’t be long before everyone knew. “Yes, I’m pregnant.”

  Honey threw her arms into the air and squealed. Then Charlie was wrapped in a fierce hug. “Oh, how wonderful!”

  The scent of gardenias had nothing to do with the tears stinging her eyes. Someone besides herself was happy about the Pea Pod. She’d never be able to tell Honey how much that meant to her. She clung to her grandfather’s girlfriend and let a few of those tears loose. “Thank you, Honey.”

  Warm, soft hands cupped her cheeks. “What’s this?”

  “It’s just…” She choked on a sob. “That…”

  “You’re afraid?”

  Charlie nodded as much as she could with Honey holding her head. “Yes. I’m by myself.”

  “Awww, darlin’.” Honey pulled her back in for another soul-fortifying embrace. “You aren’t alone. You’ve got Wardell and me, and that’s all you need right now.”

  Charlie melted into the woman and stole as much strength as she could. Then she pulled away and gave a half laugh. “I’m sorry. I guess I needed to tell someone.”

  Honey handed her a tissue. “Wipe your face and sit down. We’re gonna have a talk.”

  “Okay.” She sat at the worn table and tried to get herself under control. Eventually, her shaking breaths evened out. A plate of food was placed before her. Eggs, two biscuits, and oatmeal. “Honey, I can’t eat all of this.”

  “Nonsense. I see that bird food you’ve been eating, and now I’m gonna fatten you up. You’re eating for two now.”

  “I only need an extra three hundred calories a day, according to what I’ve read online.”

  “Oh.” Honey reached over and took one of the biscuits from Charlie’s plate. “I’ll eat this one then. I’m a giver like that.” She winked one blue-shadowed eye.