Then she saw him walk out of the church, pause to lock the double doors behind him and stare briefly at the snowy lines of the town that, from the vantage point of the church steps, resembled a Thomas Kinkade painting. Then he walked toward the truck.
Lucky held her breath. He hadn’t seen her yet. Then the driver’s side door opened and Josh started to swing his duffel bag into the back.
Josh stopped short when he realized she was there. “Lucky.”
“Josh.” She greeted him with a small smile.
“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at the shop?” Josh asked quickly.
“Mrs. Chambers said she would watch it for the next few days. Maybe longer if I need it.”
“Few days?” Josh was wary. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m going with you.” Lucky tried to sound as sure as she could but there was a tremor in her voice.
“What about the Duck, your house, your friends?” Josh’s voice was strained. “You’d leave them?”
Lucky nodded.
“Why?”
“Because I love you, Josh. Where you go, I go.”
“But your business?” Josh was still grappling with what Lucky was telling him. She could see that on his face.
“—is mostly on the Internet. I can do that anywhere. But to have a chance with you, I have to leave Fenelon Falls.”
“Mr. Chambers told me that was exactly why I had to stay,” Josh said quietly. “That I didn’t need to stay for my grandfather or my father or the congregation. I needed to stay for you. But I can’t. I’ve got to go, even if it means leaving you behind.”
Lucky scooted across the bench seat and dangled her feet off the side of the truck. Then she tugged at his jacket until his hips were nestled against her thighs. Taking his face gently in her hands, she kissed him. His eyes closed and his lips clung to hers. After a moment of exploration, Lucky smiled. “That’s the beauty of love, Josh. It’s not about what either of us can do individually. It’s about what we do when we’re together. It’s just about love. I love you, Josh. And if it means I sell knickknacks on the Internet and not in Fenelon Falls then that’s what it means.”
“But your store, your life.”
“My store is taken care of and my life is with you, whether or not you want to marry me.”
“I’m not going to let you do this.” His voice cracked but his arms were wrapping around her. “I don’t even know where I’m going.”
She pressed her cheek to his chest and heard the muffled pound of his heart. “That’s okay. If you get lost, you won’t be on your own. Whatever you do, I’m there to support you.” She pushed a box into his hands. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Josh.”
Josh looked at it guardedly.
Lucky laughed, feeling freer than she had in a long time. “It’s not a ring and a proposal. But before you open it, do you remember this?” She pulled the heart off her neck and showed it to him.
He nodded. “Isn’t that the necklace we got out of the gutter?”
Lucky smiled. “Don’t you remember giving it to me?”
“I gave it to you?” Josh’s forehead wrinkled.
Lucky nodded. “We were eleven or twelve. I’d lost the necklace my mother told me not to wear because I’d lose it. I was sad for days, and you gave me this to replace it.”
The look on his face told her Josh really didn’t remember. But that didn’t matter.
“You sort of tossed this at me and said it didn’t mean you loved me or that we were going steady. You told me it was just to make me happy.” Lucky felt her voice grow husky. “You knew what love was when you were twelve. Love is wanting another person to be happy.” She tapped the box he held in his hand. “Open that now.”
He almost dropped the box, but finally got it open, pulling out not a heart, but an angel.
“You’re my angel, Josh.” She traced her index finger over his lips. “Don’t you get it? Even angels need angels sometimes.”
And Josh did get it. But Lucky was mistaken. He wasn’t the angel. She was.
First Week of October
LUCKY LAY ACROSS the first pew in the newest church in Fenelon Falls and stared at the glorious stained glass window behind Josh’s head.
“Do you want to sleep there?” Josh teased his wife.
She turned over and grinned at him. “I do. I love them, I love them, I love them!” She slid back and forth on the smooth wood.
“Well, they’re your dream.” Josh said.
Lucky sat up and shook her head. “No, they’re our dream.”
So much had happened since February, more than Lucky could have even predicted. But it had started with her making Josh drive across the street so she could pick up the card he’d left on the door. Becca had outdone herself. A simple sketch of two rubber ducks bobbing together on the edge of a waterfall. Josh had been right. Change had to happen. They’d had to let the old church die in order for something new to rise. While Josh had worked at his new post in Chicago, Lucky had made the Internet her primary store. With Jane’s financial advice, she’d sold her parents’ cottage and ended up with enough money to start repairs on the old church, which had eventually led to tearing down the whole building, keeping only the front doors.
Josh hadn’t really believed that fixing the building would be enough to bring back the congregation, but he believed in Lucky, so he’d told the people from Mega Mart the property was no longer for sale. Demonstrating uncharacteristic flexibility, Jane shelved the endowment project to spearhead the rebuilding effort. Ever resourceful, Jane had been the main force in getting things done. And then a wonderful thing happened and the people of Fenelon Falls had pitched in. The Chambers donated most of the lumber, Max, Elle and a group of brainy teenagers supplied much needed labor. The Conners, too, had helped. Even though Rachel had gone into full remission, they never forgot the support Josh and Lucky had given them. Even the support of the old congregation wouldn’t have been enough, though, because there were some jobs they just couldn’t do. But as often happened when Lucky became involved in a project, a miracle seemed to occur. At the second meeting of the rebuilding committee, a pair of brothers appeared. The brothers were contractors who’d moved to Fenelon Falls because they wanted their children to grow up in a town where neighbors cared enough to help neighbors. To set an example for their families, they offered their expertise to rebuild the church and became the first new members of the congregation.
Their first service had been that morning, and the trees of Fenelon Falls were burning red, orange and yellow. Mrs. Simmons had sat in the first pew, and with Mrs. Simmons came a whole slew of people.
The church was packed with old faces and many, many new ones.
“I counted eighty-three people,” Lucky said.
Josh sat down next to her. “And I was looking just at you.”
Lucky leaned into him, wriggling her way under his arm, and admired the new wedding band on her finger, the best ring Josh could find on eBay.
EPILOGUE
One Year Later
“SORRY! Sorry, I’m late,” Lucky cried, bringing into the Cup a draft of cold February air. “I was over at the Conners’ and I totally lost track of time.”
“Don’t worry,” Elle said, kicking off her shoes and sliding down onto the couch with a sigh and a huge smile. “Jeez, I’m beat. Being a stepgrandma is wearing me out.”
“I hear you,” Rebecca groaned, kicking her feet up onto the ottoman and nearly upsetting the plate of shortbread. Between the growing demand for her cards, her after-school program and the wedding, she knew how Elle felt. Some days she was more beat than blissful, but usually she was able to keep a pretty good balance.
Lucky unwound her scarf and shrugged out of her coat, throwing both over the back of the plush purple chair that had been hers on shortbread night for three years now. From Cupid assassination plots to wedding plans, they’d come a long way.
“So, ladies?” Lucky asked with a merry twinkle. �
��What have I missed?”
Rebecca laughed. “I was just boring Elle with more wedding plans.”
“I wasn’t bored,” Elle protested.
“Please, Aunt Elle, your eyes glazed over when I told you about the problems with the roses.”
“They were sympathy tears.”
Rebecca snorted.
“What do you say we skip the tea tonight?” Elle asked. “I’ve got a bottle of red that Max gave me for our ‘Finally Got Our Heads Out of Our Butts’ anniversary.”
“I can’t,” Rebecca and Lucky said at the same time and slowly turned to look at each other. Lucky’s hands rested on her flat belly.
“I know I’m not drinking so I can fit into my wedding dress. Why can’t you?” asked Rebecca.
“We’re having a baby,” Lucky said, her face alight.
Elle and Rebecca leaped to their feet and pulled Lucky into their arms. They smiled at each other like three dorks until Elle started laughing.
“Well, thank God we never killed him,” she said.
“Who?” Lucky asked.
“Cupid,” Elle said. “The little twerp came through for us after all.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1702-7
WHO NEEDS CUPID?
Copyright © 2007 by Harlequin Books S.A.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
THE MAX FACTOR
Copyright © 2007 by Debra K. Salonen.
A VALENTINE FOR REBECCA
Copyright © 2007 by Molly Fader.
LUCKY IN LOVE
Copyright © 2007 by Susan Kimoto.
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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Who Needs Cupid? Page 23