Past Due
Page 27
Mother cut her eyes to me, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. I could hear her thoughts, loud and clear. You could have had a baby with Todd.
“We wanna get married,” Rafe said. I blinked. He certainly hadn’t mentioned that to me.
He shot me a sidelong glance before turning his attention back to Mother. “I talked to your son last night. He gave me his blessing.”
He waited. Mother still didn’t speak. I could have told him she wouldn’t. If he was waiting for her approval, he’d have a long wait.
And he must have realized it, because he turned to me. “I love you. I wanna be there for you. And the baby. I want us to be a family.”
I blinked. My eyes were tearing up. “I want that, too.”
“I can’t promise it’s gonna be easy. Being married to me likely won’t be.”
“I don’t care,” I said.
“I don’t know that you’ll ever get everything you deserve. My salary prob’ly won’t ever stretch to a mansion.”
“That’s OK.” We had a nice Victorian house we could move into. With plenty of room for this baby, and any others that came along. If we gave it a few years, the yard might even be safe for them to play in. With a TBI agent in residence, it might cut down on the drive-by shootings in the neighborhood.
“But I’ll take care of you. And our baby. I won’t let nothing happen to either of you.”
“I know you won’t.” I blinked away tears. “I love you.”
“That mean you’re gonna say yes?”
Was there any doubt?
“Yes. Of course I’ll marry you.” I sniffed. “I thought you’d never ask.”
He smiled. “Just knocking down roadblocks.”
Roadblocks?
And then I realized: he’d been getting Dix’s approval, and Charlotte’s approval, and had worked things out with the sheriff. He’d even tried to get my mother’s approval. And I was pregnant, so he probably figured I’d be less likely to say no. He was trying to make sure I had no reasons to turn him down.
“I would have said yes on Christmas Eve,” I said. “You didn’t have to wait.”
“I wanted you to be sure.”
“I’m sure.” I’d been sure then, too. I’d never been more sure about anything. “If we leave now, we can be home by nine.”
He grinned, and I felt my cheeks heat up. Yes, I wanted to celebrate in the privacy of our own home. Not in my girlhood room in my mother’s house.
I turned to my mother and the sheriff. “If you’ll excuse us, we’ll head home now.”
They both nodded. The sheriff looked a little shell-shocked. My mother, on the other hand, looked like her dinner had included slices of lemon she’d been expected to chew and swallow.
I took pity on her. I had everything I wanted—almost; and the rest was on the way—so I could afford to be magnanimous. Instead of saying something cutting—“We’ll send you an invitation to the wedding,” came to mind—I said, “I love you. Thanks for letting me stay this weekend.”
She managed a nod.
“I’ll call you in a few days. When you’ve had some time to think.” And when she would hopefully be able to at least pretend to be civil.
“Of course, darling,” Mother murmured.
Good enough. And under the circumstances, probably the best I could hope for.
I turned to Rafe. “Are you ready?”
“Whenever you are.”
“Then let’s go home.”
“Home,” Rafe said, and took my hand.
# # #
About the Author
Jenna Bennett writes the USA Today bestselling Savannah Martin mystery series for her own gratification, as well as the New York Times bestselling Do-It-Yourself home renovation mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime under the pseudonym Jennie Bentley. For a change of pace, she writes a variety of romance, from contemporary to futuristic, and from paranormal to suspense.
For more information, please visit her website: www.jennabennett.com
To sign up for the occasional email newsletter with news and updates, please go HERE
Copyright
PAST DUE
Savannah Martin Mystery #8
Copyright © 2014 Bente Gallagher
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
About the Author
Jenna Bennett writes the USA Today bestselling Savannah Martin mystery series for her own gratification, as well as the New York Times bestselling Do-It-Yourself home renovation mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime under the pseudonym Jennie Bentley. For a change of pace, she writes a variety of romance, from contemporary to futuristic, and from paranormal to suspense.
For more information, please visit her website: www.jennabennett.com
To sign up for the occasional email newsletter with news and updates, please go HERE
Copyright
PAST DUE
Savannah Martin Mystery #8
Copyright © 2014 Bente Gallagher
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.