The Returning Hero

by Soraya Lane

  Jamie knew when to change the subject, and that time was now. They’d told Logan what they needed to tell him, and it had gone down without anyone having their teeth knocked out, so now they just needed to hang out.

  “Want to let the dogs have a swim?” she asked.

  Logan laughed. “You ever had Bear in your car, soaking wet?”

  Brett was laughing, too, and she couldn’t not join in. “A quick swim and then a long walk so they can dry off, then,” she suggested.

  The guys exchanged looks and kept laughing, even as she told Bear to jump in and he did so with a massive bound, like he was a professional lifesaver. Ranger was barking on the sidelines, glancing back at Logan, waiting for the command. When he got it, he launched into the water, too, both dogs swimming toward a group of ducks.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked.

  Brett’s cheeky smile made her glare at him. “You. For thinking for a moment that you’ll ever get your dog out of the water.”

  “What do you mean? He’s so obedient.” she said, annoyed with the way they were both grinning at her. “You told me he’ll obey me at all times, Brett. Was there something you neglected to tell me?”

  “Even Sam couldn’t ever convince that dog to get out of the water. You? Not a chance.”

  Jamie threw her hands up in the air. “Maybe you could have told me that before he showed off his dive?”

  “Nah, this is going to be way more entertaining,” Brett said with a laugh.

  “The joke’s on you, Brett,” she told him, hands on hips. “Because you’re in the back with him if he’s still dripping wet when it’s time to go home.”

  Logan was almost rolling on the grass he was laughing so hard.

  “On second thought, he won’t be wet, because we’ll be using your T-shirt to dry him,” she said.

  “I take it all back,” Logan said, still smiling. “You guys are perfect together. I’ve never seen Brett bossed around like this—ever.”

  Jamie grinned, but she had to move fast when Brett burst into a sprint and hurtled toward her.

  “Don’t you dare!” she squealed, running as fast as she could to get away from him. “Logan, help!”

  Brett grabbed her around the waist, almost knocking the breath from her, before tossing her over his shoulder and leaving her powerless to do anything other than try to kick him.

  “Take me anywhere near that water and I’ll kill you,” she hissed.

  “Oh, baby, I like it when you talk rough,” Brett whispered, slapping her on the backside.

  “I mean it, Brett. Logan!” she screamed for him to help her again, but he never came to her rescue. “Logan!”

  “Hey, you told me not to interfere,” Logan called out. “This is me not interfering.”

  “Bear!” she yelled. “Bear, help me. Get Brett. Get Brett now!”

  The dog who was supposed to be impossible to get out of the water leaped out with as much gusto as he’d leaped in, his big bark echoing around the park.

  “Good boy, Bear!” she told him, still upside down over Brett’s shoulder.

  Brett stopped moving and put her back on her feet, watching the dog as he wagged his wet tail and kept barking.

  “Jamie?”

  “Get him, Bear!”

  Bear launched at Brett and knocked him to the ground, giant paws landing square on his chest before he took him down.

  “Just licks,” she told him. “Lick Brett.”

  Her dog did as he was told, and now it was her laughing, watching Brett pinned to the ground with Bear lying on top of him, soaking wet, pleading with her to make it stop.

  “Who’s wet now?” she asked.

  Logan held his hand up for a high five, and she gave him one back. This was how it was supposed to be—Brett and Logan getting on like they always had. And she felt good. Ever since Sam had died, she’d been like a fish out of water, but all that had changed, and she couldn’t have been happier.

  “Come on, Bear, let him go,” she commanded. “That’s no way to treat your new daddy.”

  EPILOGUE

  JAMIE LOOKED AROUND the large table and couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. A year ago, she’d been a widow, and even her friends had struggled to know what to say to her, or how to treat her. And now? Now she was married to a man she could be herself with. A man who wasn’t scared by the fact that she would always love the husband she’d lost, who was okay with her wearing her old wedding ring on her other hand, because Brett had loved Sam, too. Perhaps even as much as she had.

  A tap on a glass made her turn to her new husband, eyes locking on his as he grinned and leaned sideways to give her a quick kiss.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered to him.

  “I’m about to do my speech, unless you want to go first?”

  A speech? She hadn’t even thought about speeches, had been so preoccupied with her vows that she hadn’t even considered having to speak in front of everyone at the table.

  She watched as Brett stood up beside her, their friends and family lowering their voices until they were eventually surrounded by silence.

  “I guess I need to start by thanking you all for being here,” Brett said, one hand holding his champagne flute, the other falling to rest on her shoulder. “This was a day we only wanted to share with those people closest to us, and there is one person that isn’t here today that I would like to acknowledge.”

  Jamie reached for Brett’s hand, her palm covering his fingers. She didn’t want to cry, but the whole day had been so emotional and now she had tears caught in her lashes again.

  “We all know I wouldn’t be standing here today with Jamie if Sam was still alive,” Brett began, taking a big breath before continuing. “Sam was my best friend, and I always promised that I would look after Jamie if anything ever happened to him. I know he wasn’t meaning it quite so literally when he said that—” Brett paused as a few of their guests chuckled “—but I also know that he would have wanted us both to be happy in his absence.”

  Jamie stood then, needing Brett to know that she wanted to hear what he was about to say, what he was already saying, and not knowing how to. She looped her arm around his waist, holding him tight.

  “Sam was the only one of us who was married, and no matter how much we teased him about marrying so young, we loved Jamie as much as he did. I just want to say, Sam, if you’re up there—” Brett wiped his eyes with the back of his hand before holding up his glass “—that I will look after this woman until my dying breath.”

  Jamie had tears falling fast down her cheeks, curling into her mouth. There was nothing she could do to stop them, and she also didn’t want to. Because she had loved Sam with all her heart, and now she loved Brett, too, just as deeply but in a different way. And she needed to hear what he had to say.

  Brett turned toward her, putting down his glass and taking both of her hands into his.

  “I always told Sam he was the luckiest guy in the world, and I mean it when I say I will look after you. One day, I might have to give you back to Sam, because I don’t want to be fighting him in the afterlife, but while we are here, on this earth, I will never let you down, Jamie. I will always be here for you, and I will do anything to be the husband you need me to be. I love you.”

  Brett wiped away the tears that had stained her cheeks, before leaning in and kissing her softly on the mouth. She put her arms around his neck and held on tight, not wanting him to stop, but the clapping and clinking of glasses around them forced the kiss to an end.

  Even though her throat was choked up still and her eyes wet with tears, Jamie turned to face the table. She needed to say something, and they were her family, her friends. They were here to celebrate, and if they saw her cry it didn’t matter.

  “I don’t have anything planned to say, and I’m sure you’re all ready for dinner to be served, but I’d like to say thank you to all of you for being here today.” Jamie looked at the light hanging above the table, needing a second to gat
her her strength and force her emotion back as best she could, so she could get the words out. Brett took her hand and squeezed, and it was all she needed to find the strength to continue. “When I married Sam, I knew I’d found my soul mate, but it seems that I’m one of the lucky ones.” She squeezed Brett’s hand back. “Brett was our friend for so many years, and now he’s my husband. Life has a way of throwing us curveballs, some so bad that we wonder how we’ll ever live through them, but Brett has proven to me that sometimes we have more than one soul mate in the world. I am so grateful to be standing here today, with the man I love.”

  Jamie reached for her glass and held it up. “To Brett, for being the love of my life, and teaching me that falling in love for a second time might be a miracle, but it was one that I deserved.”

  “To Brett.” The words echoed around their table as everyone raised their glasses.

  “I love you, Brett. So much,” she whispered to him.

  “And I love you, too, baby,” he said, dropping a kiss to her forehead.

  As they sat down, two waiters appeared with the main courses, but it was the tapping against a glass again that had Jamie’s attention, followed by a deep huh-hmm. She scanned the table and realized it was Logan, sitting directly across from them.

  “I’ll make this quick because dinner is being served,” Logan said, standing. “For the past ten years, the two most important people in my life have been Sam and Brett. When Sam died, we were all hit hard, and thinking about Jamie being on her own was almost as hard as losing him.” He gave her a wink across the table. “I might have given Brett a black eye when I first found out, but I honestly believe, now I look back on what happened, that Sam would have told me what a jerk I was being. Because looking at these two today, it’s obvious they were meant to be together.” He held up his glass. “And let’s not forget Bear, Sam’s loyal dog, who has taken up the role as Jamie’s number-one protector. If anyone didn’t approve, it would have been Bear, but even he seems to accept this union.” Logan laughed. “To Brett and Jamie, two of my favorite people in the world.”

  Jamie smiled at Logan—the man who had been her first husband’s best friend and was undeniably Brett’s best friend, too—and held up her glass. She took a slow sip before looking at every single person seated around the long table again. The white tablecloth was set with low candles from one end to the other instead of flowers, because she’d wanted to be able to see and talk to everyone, and she loved watching the smiles and chatter as she looked at them all now.

  Brett nudging her broke her trance, and she switched her attention to him.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “More than okay,” she assured him, looking down at the plate of food in front of her.

  “Then eat up, Mrs. Palmer,” he said, waggling his eyebrows and making her laugh. “Because you’ll need all your energy tonight.”

  Jamie elbowed him in the ribs but he was having none of it, swiftly grabbing her arm and pulling her in for another quick kiss.

  “I’m so pleased I married you,” he said, his mouth hovering over hers.

  “Ditto,” she said, laughing as he kissed the tip of her nose instead of her lips.

  She reluctantly turned her attention back to her food—king prawns, calamari and scallops tossed in her favorite linguine with garlic.

  Life didn’t get much better than this.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from ROAD TRIP WITH THE ELIGIBLE BACHELOR by Michelle Douglas.

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  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘HELLO.‘ QUINN LAVERTY tried to find a smile for the customer service clerk on the other side of the counter. She raised her voice to be heard above the jostling crowd. ‘I’m here to collect the car I booked.’

  ‘Name, please?’

  Quinn gave him her details and tried to slide her credit card free from its slot in her purse with one hand. Chase hung off her other hand, all of his six-year-old weight balanced on one leg and her arm as he stretched as far as he could reach along the counter with his toy car, making the requisite ‘broom-broom’ noises.

  She made him straighten and stand on two legs and then grimaced at the customer beside her who’d been ‘driven over’ by said toy car. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘No problem at all.’

  He flashed her a smile and she found herself smiling back. Nice smile. Really nice eyes. Actually…

  She frowned. There was something faintly familiar about him. She stared and then shook herself and shrugged it off, turning back to the clerk. It might just be that he was the exact model of son her father had always wanted—clean-cut, professional and respectable. She did her best not to hold that against him.

  Speaking of sons…

  She glanced to her left. Robbie leaned with his back against the counter and stared up at the ceiling, his face dreamy. Quinn tried to channel some of his calm. She hadn’t expected this all to take so long.

  Mind you, when she’d booked the car over a month ago she hadn’t thought there’d be a national plane strike either.

  ‘I’m afraid there’s been a slight change to the model of car you booked.’

  Her attention spun back to the clerk. ‘What kind of change?’

  ‘Ow!’ Chase pulled his hand from hers and glared.

  ‘Sorry, honey.’ She smoothed down his hair and smiled at him, but a fist tightened in her chest. She glanced back at the clerk. ‘What kind of change?’ she repeated.

  ‘We no longer have that model of car available.’

  But she’d booked it a whole month ago especially!

  The commotion in the car rental office didn’t die down. Beside her she sensed her neighbour’s frustration growing too. ‘I have to leave Perth today!‘ He didn’t shout, but every word was clipped and strong.

  He glanced at her and she suddenly realised she was staring. She sent him a buck-up smile and turned back to the clerk, doing her best to block out all the background noise. ‘I’m driving across the Nullarbor Plain. I need a car that can go the distance.’

  ‘I understand the reasons you booked a four-wheel drive, Mrs Laverty, but we just don’t have any available.’

  Brilliant.

  She didn’t bother correcting him on the Mrs. People made that assumption all the time.

  She lifted her chin, preparing for a fight. ‘I have a lot of luggage to fit into the car.’ Another reason she’d chosen a four-wheel drive.

  ‘Which is why we’ve upgraded you.’

  Was that what they called it? She folded her arms. She’d chosen the car she had because of its safety and reliability rating. As far as fuel efficiency went it was one of the best too. It was the perfect car to take them across the country.

  ‘We’ve upgraded you to a late model station wagon.’

  ‘Does it have four-wheel drive?’

  ‘No, ma’am.’

  Quinn closed her eyes briefly, but all that did was underscore the scent of desperation and outrage in the air.

  ‘I want to speak to the manager,’ the man beside her clipped out.

  ‘But, sir—’

  ‘Now!’

  She drew in a breath and opened her eyes. ‘I need a four-wheel drive. The fuel consumption on that wagon will be outrageous and as I’ll be travelling to New South Wales in it that’s an awful lot of fuel.’ She’d be driving the car for
forty hours. Probably more. ‘And, I might add, with none of the benefits the four-wheel drive offers.’

  Driving suddenly seemed like the stupidest idea a woman had ever had. She lifted her chin another notch. ‘Thank you, but I don’t want an upgrade. I want the car I originally booked.’

  The clerk scratched his nose and shuffled his feet, staring everywhere but at her. ‘The thing is, ma’am, with the plane strike, you understand there just aren’t any four-wheel drives currently available.’

  ‘But I booked this over a month ago!’

  ‘I understand and I do apologise. We won’t be charging you for the upgrade. In fact, we’ll be offering you a discount and a credit voucher.’

  That was something at least. Quinn couldn’t afford to stray too far from the budget she’d set herself.

  ‘And the crux of the matter is…’ the clerk leaned confidentially across the counter ‘…there isn’t anything else available.’ He gestured to the crowded room behind Quinn. ‘If you don’t want the station wagon we’ll have plenty of other takers who will.’

  She glanced back behind her too and grimaced.

  ‘I can’t guarantee when a four-wheel drive vehicle will become available.’

  She bit back a sigh. ‘We’ll take it.’ She didn’t have any other option. They’d sold up practically everything they owned. The lease on their house had run out and new tenants were expected within the next few days. Their lives no longer belonged here in Perth. Besides, she’d made a booking at a caravan park in Merredin for this afternoon. She didn’t want to lose her booking fee on that as well.

  ‘Excellent. I just need you to sign here and here.’

  Quinn signed and then followed the clerk out through a side door. She made sure both boys had their backpacks—they’d refused to leave them with the rest of the luggage back at the house.

  ‘Keep the paperwork on you. You’ll need it for the Newcastle office. And if you’ll just wait here the car will be brought around in a jiffy.’