by Annie Jones
She had counted that twice, then taken some fresh pies out of the oven and served them to the regulars, who gobbled them up, each making comments about her secret ingredient. They’d noticed it this time because Josie had been leaving it out. Or experimenting with different things trying to come up with a substitute. But today, with the Crumble on the line, it only seemed right she’d make her pies with the Carolina Crumble Pattie mixed into the top crust.
Adam should have called with some news by now.
“You ever tell anyone that secret?” Jed poked the last bite of his pie into his mouth.
“What secret?” Warren scraped up the last of the cherry filling on his plate with the side of his fork. “Only secret she’s keeping is when she’s going to wise up, toss over that Burdett and run off and marry me.”
“You old fool. Who in their right mind would toss over a strapping young fellow with a great big inheritance burning a hole in his pocket, just waiting to get reinvested right here in Mt. Knott, for a broken-down ol’ pie hog like you?” Jed laughed.
“He really going to invest in Mt. Knott no matter which way the vote goes at the Crumble, Miss Josie?” Warren wiped his mouth then took a sip of coffee.
“That’s what he says,” she confirmed.
“Good for him.”
“Good for us,” Jed threw in. “’Cuz if the Crumble goes…”
If the Crumble went—meaning the Burdetts sold out and Global shut them down and restricted them using the recipe ever again—then it didn’t matter how much money Adam invested in the town, Josie’s pies would never be the same. And she couldn’t help wondering what would become of other parts of her life?
R-rr-rr-ring!
Josie jumped.
“That might be the call.” Warren slapped his hand on the counter.
“You think so, Captain Obvious?” Jed nudged him with his elbow.
“Hello?” Josie held her breath, expecting to hear Adam on the other end. “Oh,” was all she could muster when she heard the voice of the paper-goods rep on the other end, wanting to know if she needed to place an order. “Nope. Sorry, I still have a bit left over from the barbecue.”
“Not him?” Jed asked.
“Now who’s Captain Obvious?” Warren wanted to know, before he added to cheer Josie up, “Won’t be long now.”
“Can’t draw it out forever,” Jed agreed.
“How long can it take to plan out the future of one family and a whole townful of fine folks?”
“Adam!” It was as if a light had been flicked on and her whole day had turned bright just to see him standing there. She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. “What do you know? What did they decide? What happened? Tell me the good news first, okay, sweetie?”
“Yeah, sweetie, tell us the good news first,” Jed and Warren chimed in unison.
“The good news?” Adam’s dark eyes sparkled. He touched Josie’s hair, stroked his thumb along her jaw, then placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Well, I was going to save this for a more-private time, but if you want the good news first…”
“Hurry up!” she demanded, knowing he was toying with her.
“Okay.” He nodded then dropped to one knee before her.
“What?” She looked down at him, confused and more than a little excited. “What are you—”
“Shhh. You asked me to tell you the good news first, right?”
“Right.”
“The good news is that I plan to take care of you and Nathan for the rest of your lives, no matter what happens at the Crumble or with our extended families. And toward that end—” he reached inside his black leather jacket and pulled free a small red velvet box “—Josie Redmond, will you marry me?”
Josie held her breath. She had imagined him coming in here and telling her everything from they had saved the business to telling her he had to ride off on his Harley, never to return. But this?
“M-marry you?”
“You know what this means, don’t you?” Jed asked his counter mate.
“Yup. That she is never ever going to wise up and marry me.” Warren sulked, then brightened. “Although, my wife will probably appreciate that news to no end.”
“No, you fool, it means that them Burdetts sold out the Crumble. If they didn’t, he wouldn’t want to propose first, he’d have told her the good news up front.”
Josie put her hand to her throat. “Is that an accurate assessment of things?”
“Has anything those guys come up with ever been accurate?” Adam’s smile grew, slowly at first, then spread wide until he couldn’t contain a roll of joyous laughter. “We did it, Josie.”
“We…did?”
“The family turned down the buyout.”
“Yee-hooo!” Jed hollered.
“Well, I’ll be!” Warren shook his head.
“But why? How? What’s to keep the place from bottoming out and going bankrupt?”
“New blood.”
She winced. “What?”
He took both her hands in his. “We have a third party, new investor. Came in at the eleventh hour with some great ideas for restructuring, starting some new product lines and running the business based on Biblical principles.”
“Biblical?” Josie had heard Adam and the brothers discussing that before. “And this new investor…”
“Wants to partner with the family. One member of the family more than others, I suspect”
She shook her head. Nothing he had said since the proposal had really sunk in. “I don’t…”
“Dora Hoag. My old boss.”
“Oh!” Josie laughed at last.
“That made sense to you?”
“Love always makes sense to me.” She put her arms around his neck.
“Then you are a wiser person than I am, Josie, because love has had me baffled until I met you.”
She went up on tiptoe and kissed him.
“Does that mean she’s accepting his proposal?” Jed asked.
“Yep. Get out your Sunday best, you old fool, looks like you and me are going to be flower girls.”
And they were.
Not flower girls, but they did have the responsibility of bringing Nathan down the aisle and holding him there to bear witness to the marriage of his parents.
Everyone they loved was there, Ophelia, Conner, Burke, Jason, Cody and Carol. And Bingo. And even Dora came.
And when the minister pronounced them man and wife, Nathan wasn’t afraid to put in his two cents. “Dada! Mama! Ya-ya-ya!”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-0604-9
SOMEBODY’S BABY
Copyright © 2007 by Luanne Jones
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either 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.
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