Discovering Harmony (Wishing Well, Texas #3)

by Melanie Shawn

  The thought scared me more than anything else ever had.

  Chapter 13

  Harmony

  “You look more confused than a boy ladybug.”

  ~ Loretta Reed

  “Am I too late?” I called out before the sliding doors that led into the maternity wing even opened.

  “No!” Cara jumped up from my brother’s lap and ran over to me. She threw her arms around my neck. “I’m so happy you made it in time!”

  I held my friend and felt my eyes fill with tears. I wasn’t sure if the newly-sprung waterworks were because of what had happened back at the barn—which I couldn’t even begin to process—or the fact that I was about to be an auntie for the first time.

  Growing up, Destiny, Cara and I had always promised that no matter what, we would be there for life’s big milestones. Graduations. Weddings. Births.

  The big three.

  And, knock on wood, we’d been able to keep our promise. Of course, so far only Destiny had crossed the second two thresholds. But Cara was on her way. She and Trace were getting married this fall, and she wanted to have a big family. And I knew they would, one way or another. I knew that Trace was looking into adoption, since Cara had gone through chemo and radiation and given her history there was a good chance that she wouldn’t be able to conceive naturally. That was heartbreaking because—unlike me—being a mom was something she’d always wanted. Desperately.

  I’d never imagined my life the way they had. I’d never wanted to settle down, get married and have babies. I’d wanted to travel. To live in New York. Maybe even abroad. At least, that had been my dream.

  But ever since I’d graduated last year, it just didn’t hold the same appeal. In fact, it didn’t hold any appeal at all. Maybe it was because growing up I’d thought that I wanted out of Wishing Well. Now, I wasn’t in such a hurry to leave.

  There was that running joke in my family that I only wanted something when I couldn’t have it and then, once I got it, I lost interest. I hated to admit that they had a point. Once I graduated I was free to travel, relocate and live my Sex and the City life…I just didn’t want to anymore.

  “Come. Sit.” Cara pulled back and took my hand, pulling me to where she’d been sitting.

  I waved a quick hello to all seven of my brothers, who were deep in some sports discussion, and to my dad, who was pacing and barely noticed my arrival.

  When I settled into the seat next to Cara, I was surprised that Hud slid in the seat next to me. I was sure that he was going to head to the empty seat next to my brother Beau across the room. After JJ, he and Beau were the closest. They’d grown up playing little league together. They were still good friends.

  As he settled back into the less-than-comfortable hospital waiting area chair, his arm brushed mine. The innocent contact caused all kinds of not-so-innocent reactions spiraling out of control in my body. Wild, lust-filled heat spread through me faster than a prairie fire with a tail wind. I didn’t dare look up at him. The last thing I needed was for the entire waiting room to pick up on whatever was going on between us.

  Cara snuggled up to Trace, whose arm had wrapped around her the second she was within range, but she shifted her legs so she was facing me. “I was so freaked out when you didn’t answer. I thought you were going to miss it.”

  “Oh well, we were…in the barn.” I cleared my throat after stumbling over my words. Thank god this wasn’t a trial because I sounded guiltier than a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “I didn’t hear the phone.”

  Cara’s brow knitted as she tilted her head slightly and her eyes bounced between Hud and I. She opened her mouth in what I was sure was going to be an inquiry that I didn’t want to answer. Or one that, even if I wanted to, I would have no idea how to answer.

  Since my BFF psychic alarm bells were ringing, I gave her “the signal” which came out a lot more exaggerated than I’d meant it to. I was fairly certain that I looked about as subtle as Elizabeth Montgomery on Bewitched, but it worked. Like the good best friend she was, she shifted gears at the drop of a dime, or in this case the drop of a signal. “Speaking of the barn, what exactly is that place going to be, Hud?”

  That was my girl. She didn’t just change the subject to some small-talk; she went in for the right-to-the-point kill shot.

  Cara for President!

  Not able to resist, I turned my head towards Hudson. If I was a cat, I would’ve used up all nine of my lives and then some over the past couple of weeks. Even not being of the feline persuasion, my curiosity was killing me.

  To the untrained, unversed-in-all-things-Hudson-Reed eye, his expression remained the same. Stoic. Unmoved. But since I’d been studying that face since I was in pigtails, I knew better. I noticed the nearly indiscernible changes. His lower jaw tightened and the corners of his light brown eyes squinted by a finite degree.

  That was decision-making face. He was making a mental pro/con list—weighing his options. I’d seen him make the same face right before he dove off of the Calhoun’s two-story roof into the deep end of their pool when he was twelve. It was the same expression I’d seen on his face right before he tried smoking weed for the first time with my brother JJ when they were fourteen. They were camping out in my parent’s basement, so naturally I’d hidden in the closet like any good little sister with a crush on their older brother’s friend. And it was the same expression I’d seen on his face seconds before he’d kissed me less than an hour ago. That time the scales tipped in my favor by, well, begging. This time I waited, not quite sure I trusted myself to speak.

  The drive to Grace Memorial in Parrish Creek had been a silent one, unless you counted Romeo snoring, or the music playing on the radio. There were no words exchanged. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on me—I’d missed the perfect opportunity to grill him and get the answers I’d been hell-bent on demanding when I’d gone on my wild goose chase and set up my Timmy-in-the-well scheme. But that was before the kiss.

  Kiss. That noun didn’t sound right. It was such a passive, benign description of what had taken place between us. Another word needed to be invented to encapsulate the monumental, soul-deep experience that we’d shared, and it needed to be solely a verb, not a verb/noun combo. Because that was more than just a kiss, and whatever it was had short-circuited my brain. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. What to say. What not to say. Thus the silent thirty-minute ride to the hospital.

  “I’m sorry, is it top secret?” Cara teased lightly after Hud didn’t respond.

  When I saw the corners of his mouth twitch in amusement, I was pretty sure that the jury was in and the verdict had come back in our favor. I was on pins and needles as I waited to hear what the heck we’d been doing up there.

  “It’s a ranch.”

  Cara and I waited for him to continue.

  When he didn’t her hands lifted, palm side up, as she leaned forward. “Sooo, you’re going to sell it? Flip it? Rent it out? Live in it? Are you moving there?”

  Live in it? Are you moving?

  My heart skidded to an abrupt halt. Was Hud moving up to Emerald Cove? Why did the thought of that terrify me more than the thought of watching The Shining on repeat?

  I knew the answer before the question even fully formed in my head. It might only be a half an hour away, but if he moved to Emerald Cove, I wouldn’t be able to run into him at the Pit Stop, The Flower Pot, Sugar Rush, The Tipsy Cow, or any of the other places where I spotted him several times a week. If he lived there, I wouldn’t see him on Saturday nights when the town gathered for Movies in the Park. Or I couldn’t “happen” to stop by the softball fields on Tuesday nights when his league played.

  “No. I’m not.”

  A breath I didn’t even realize I’d been holding exhaled and my world righted itself again. Even when I’d dreamed of traveling, of living abroad, I’d always fantasized about seeing Hud when I came home. He was as much Wishing Well to me as the well itself that sat in the middle of the downtown plaz
a.

  “My aunt and uncle are.”

  “Oh that’s nice, so you’re renovating it for them?” Cara continued her line of questioning.

  “No, they’re going to be the caretakers.”

  Normally, I kind of thought that Hud’s man-of-few-words persona was hot, but right now…not so much.

  Possessing the patience of a saint, Cara pressed on. “Oh, so they’re—”

  “Oh for the love of Willie Nelson. Just tell us what the place is!” I cut her off.

  Unlike Cara, my patience, which was more often than not in short supply, was at an all-time low thanks to weeks of being on the sexual frustration edge, culminating in a life-altering lip-lock that I had no idea how to process, what it meant, and most of all, when it was going to happen again.

  “The love of Willie Nelson?” he repeated, his left brow rose in amusement, and that’s when I knew that all of these non-answers were just to mess with me.

  I bit the inside of my lip as my hands fisted in my lap. If we weren’t in a hospital, I might’ve socked him in his jaw. Actually, that might be just the place to do it. If I caused any real damage, it could be tended to tout suite.

  Hud’s face was spared when my brother Travis walked up, holding a cup of vending machine coffee. “Hey man, I heard that you might be able to take the calf and foal from old man Stiller’s place that didn’t sell at the auction.”

  Old Man Stiller had passed away a few weeks ago and I knew that both Travis and Trace had been working with his sons, who had moved out of Texas decades ago, to find homes for all of the cows, horses, goats and chickens that he’d left behind. But I had no idea why my brother would be talking to Hud about them. Especially the calf that I’d heard him tell my dad was born with a deformity and the foal that was blind. Hud lived in a nice ranch-style house, but he didn’t have any cows or horses on his property, or any place to put them for that matter, much less ones with special needs.

  “Maybe. When do you need an answer?”

  Maybe?

  “End of the week would be good,” Travis explained.

  My eyes bounced back to Hud who answered in a nod.

  In frustration, my hands flew up. “What are you two even talkin—”

  “Nine pounds, six ounces!” My brother JJ, decked out in scrubs, announced loudly over the chatter of the packed waiting room. “Delilah Rose is here and both mommy and baby are doing great! They’re perfect!”

  Tears sprang to my eyes and I covered my mouth.

  Everyone stood, hugging and cheering and we only quieted when JJ spoke again. “Destiny wants to see Harmony and Cara first—we just have to wait for Mom and Dixie to vacate before they’ll let more visitors in. It might be a minute, but stay close.”

  Yeah. Like I was going anywhere.

  Cara grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight. Just like what happened in the barn, I didn’t know how to put this experience, what I was feeling, into words. Joy felt too subdued. Happiness was bland. Excitement was an understatement.

  Destiny was a mom. My niece was here, in this world. And I was going to meet her. More tears flowed down my cheeks.

  “You okay?” Hud’s deep voice rumbled as his lips grazed my ear. His hand rested on my lower back and his thumb rubbed in a slow circle, the seductive and supportive movement caused my knees to go all wobbly and weak.

  I nodded as I inhaled a steadying breath. I was okay. Better than okay. I was, this was, perfect.

  Chapter 14

  Hudson

  “Seeing something you can’t un-see is sometimes a blessing but usually a curse.”

  ~ Loretta Reed

  “Take care guys, drive safe.” I waved at Trace and Cara as they made their way out of the hospital.

  They were the last, besides Harmony, to leave. Even Destiny’s Grandma Dixie had headed out half an hour ago. I hadn’t seen Harmony in over three hours, since JJ said she and Cara could go back to see Destiny.

  Cara had gone in and out, letting all of the Briggs brothers have a turn at meeting their niece. The last time she’d come out, I’d noticed she had dark circles under her eyes. Apparently, Trace noticed too because that’s when he’d insisted that she go home to rest.

  He wasn’t just being some overbearing, overprotective husband. Cara had survived a rare form of childhood Leukemia and was now, thank God, cancer free. But I’d noticed that he kept a very close eye on her. It was actually pretty damn inspiring to see the two of them together.

  Trace had always loved Cara, but he hadn’t done anything about it while she was sick, and even for a while after. He waited for her to be ready and then when she was, he hadn’t wasted any time locking her down. In fact the entire town had overheard his less-than-traditional proposal that he thought was private, but thanks to the wall of JJ’s office not going all the way to the ceiling, was very un-private. Seeing the two of them together now, it was almost impossible to remember a time when they weren’t a couple.

  As I watched them step out into the parking lot, Trace bent, picked Cara up, and carried her like a bride over the threshold. She threw her head back and laughed. Trace was smiling too, but there was an underlying tenseness, a worry as he looked down at his bride-to-be, and my chest constricted in a dull ache.

  I’d always liked Trace and thought he was a good kid, but seeing the way that he was with Cara…I had a newfound respect for him as a good man.

  I couldn’t begin to imagine what it must’ve been like for him to spend all of those years being completely helpless as she was in and out of the hospital, on and off treatments.

  Today when I’d thought something had happened to Harmony, my entire world had stopped spinning. It’d only taken me a few minutes, five tops, before I’d been able to get to her, but in that short time I felt like I’d aged at least a decade. The thought of her being hurt, being scared, or worse, had stolen years from my life.

  “Hey man, I didn’t know you were still here.” JJ stood in the corridor that led to the maternity ward.

  “Yeah, I’m waiting for Harmony.” I hoped that JJ wouldn’t read too much into the statement.

  His eyes narrowed.

  “We got the call when we were up at Emerald Cove, I drove us here.” That should answer any lingering questions. Especially considering Grace Memorial was about half an hour from Wishing Well. It wasn’t like she could just call someone to pick her up.

  “Oh.” He didn’t look quite convinced. But after a small shake of his head, he lifted an iPhone. “Did you see Trace and Cara? He forgot his phone.”

  “Yeah, they just left. Do you want me to see if I can catch them?” I asked as I stood.

  JJ and I both looked out over the parking lot and saw Trace’s truck pulling out onto the main road.

  With a shrug, JJ lowered his arm. “Harm can take it to him later.”

  “All right.” I started to sit down when JJ stopped me.

  “Have you been in yet?”

  “What?” It took me a second to realize what he was talking about. “Oh, no. That’s okay. I’m sure Destiny’s tired.”

  “She is, but she won’t mind. Come on, I want you to meet my daughter.” JJ beamed larger and brighter than I’d ever seen, and I’d been at game six when he’d pitched the game that won the Long Beach Waves their first World Series championship.

  “All right,” I agreed.

  I’d pop in and say hello and then head back to the waiting room until Harmony was ready to go. What could it hurt?

  Light gleamed off the checkered tile as we walked down the hall. I really was trying to be present as JJ talked about stats that, for once, were not baseball-related. He talked about Delilah’s Apgar score, weight, and height. But I was only half-listening.

  With each step I took, I realized my heart rate sped up at the knowledge that I would be seeing Harmony. It’d only been a few hours and I missed her. Really missed her. On the drive to Parrish Creek, I’d tried to get my feelings in check. To get my head, heart, and hormones all back on the
same page in the Harmony is Off-Limits book. Sadly, that turned out being about as easy as standing on a grease-covered log.

  Every time I thought I’d found my balance, that I’d pushed away all thoughts of the way Harmony’s soft, plump lips felt against mine, the way her curves melted into me, of how sweet she tasted, of how sexy the small gasps of pleasure she made were, I would catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye, sitting in the passenger seat beside me, and even the slightest peripheral visuals sent my feet slipping out from underneath me causing me to splash back into the emotional waters I was trying so desperately to stay out of.

  I’d even tried to concentrate on the things about her that annoyed me. Or at least would annoy me if any other girl did them. Like a girl baby talking. It was, if not number one, at least in the top three list of things that turned me off faster than a teenage boy shuts off his computer when his parents come into the room. Whenever Romeo would stir, or snuggle closer to Harmony, she’d tell him he was a good, handsome boy in a goo-goo, ga-ga tone that would normally have my skin crawling.

  But when the words came out of her mouth, somehow they were cute. Endearing. Adorable. Harmony Briggs defied all logic, broke every rule, and bound past every obstacle in a single leap. If I was Superman then she would be my kryptonite, no question about it.

  “We’re in here.” JJ pushed the door open and my heart lodged in my throat, cutting off my oxygen.

  Harmony was sitting in a chair beside Destiny’s bed, cradling the baby in her arms. Her gaze was focused on the tiny bundle as she whispered and gently rocked back and forth. She looked so natural, so peaceful, so damn beautiful. The sight squeezed my heart like a lemon being pressed for lemonade.

  “She’s a baby hog.” Destiny grinned up at her husband as JJ stepped beside his wife, bent down, and kissed her sweetly on her forehead.