“You were welcoming and never asked for anything back. I was a brat when I was younger but I had all these feelings. All these emotions. And once they started to change, I didn’t know how.” Hiccup. “I didn’t know to break the wall of ‘best friend’s little sister’ with you. And I didn’t understand. I still don’t understand. Why couldn’t we just talk as Jim and Bree?” she demanded. “I hate that it took an invention of stupid Monique to make you see me.”
Jim reached out and brushed her tears away. “I believed in you.” Jim’s voice cracked with emotion, and his own eyes grew damp with unshed tears. “I get that people of Harper’s Mill think that anyone with the last name of Harper must live a charmed life.” His broke eye contact and let a few tears fall unnoticed to the table. “But it isn’t, Bree. It’s a life full of competition and jealousy. Where we are all under a microscope to succeed.”
Bree couldn’t stand the distance anymore. She rushed around the table and sat next to Jim. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” She burrowed her head in his shoulder and mumbled something.
Jim sniffed and ran his long fingers through his hair. He grinned down at her golden curls despite the pain still crawling through his heart. “What was that last part?”
Bree grabbed another napkin and blew her nose before facing Jim. “I knew the minute I met you at thirteen,” she said. Hiccup “I knew I wanted to be with you and only you.” Hiccup. “I love my family. I need their support. But it was always you that made my heart beat a little faster. It was always you who made me smile. Who made my heart beat a little faster.” Hiccup.
“Aw, Bree, c’mere,” Jim said, pulling her closer. She went willingly. “You had me so confused these last few weeks.” He pushed her hair away from her sweat and tear stained face. “Monique was easy to talk to because I could just be me with her. Without all the baggage of Harper’s Mill and the legacy of being related to John Harper. But it’s always been you for me, too. I was so afraid of Drew figuring it out and beating the crap out of me.”
She giggled and wiped at her damp face. “I hadn’t thought about Drew’s reaction,” she said softly.
“Or your father if he found out I was interested in his baby girl.”
“Oh,” Bree said. And blinked. “Yeah, I guess. I never dated before. That didn’t occur to me, either.”
“Well, trust me, I’ve done nothing but think about your dad and brother since I noticed you growing up,” Jim said with a rueful chuckle.
“One large cheese pizza,” their waiter announced as she approached the table.
Jim and Bree exchanged a look. “Could we get that to go, instead?” Jim said,
The waiter sighed. “Sure, let me go get you a box.”
Jim popped the pizza in the oven to heat it up while Bree went to wash her face and clean up. She wasn’t a “pretty crier” and sure enough she was greeted by a splotchy face and swollen eyes. She splashed her face and dampened her curls.
“Jim?” she said as she approached the kitchen.
“Yeah?”
“I never saw you as just dollar signs or a trust fund. You were a real friend to Drew when we first moved to Harper’s Mill. You helped him find his way. And of course, meeting Madison and Ashley Anna helped me. They’re my best friends.”
Jim nodded. “You girls are tighter than a ship’s knot,” he commented.
“I didn’t want to risk losing Madison’s friendship, either,” she said, her voice a gentle sound in the quiet room. “Of how she would feel if I made moves on her brother.”
Jim set up plates of the now piping hot pizza and, they took seats on his garage-sale chic couch. “It was always too complicated. If I started telling you how I felt, it would all gush out. You’d be scared off.”
Bree smiled. “Same here. And besides,” she said taking a nibble on her slice, “you were the boy. You had to make the first move!”
“That’s kind of old fashioned for a modern woman.” Jim smiled and wiped a smudge of pizza sauce off her face. Her chin trembled and she put the pizza down. “You never answered. Can you forgive me?”
Jim pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “Haven’t you figured it out yet?” he asked, guard down and soul bared. “I’d forgive you anything,” he admitted. He closed his eyes. “But please don’t ever lie to me again, Bree. It hurts too much.”
“I won’t,” she vowed, her eyes solemn.
She pulled her class ring off her finger and unhooked the necklace she wore around her neck. She carefully combined the ring and cross and presented it to Jim. “To show you. Tangible proof that Bree adores Jim and Jim adores her right back. They will always be honest and even occasionally talk about fears and emotions and all that stuff.” Bree smiled as Jim’s beloved crooked grin appeared.
She attached it around the supple column of her neck. She couldn’t quite resist placing a kiss near the sensitive area behind his ear, causing him to chuckle with the pleasure of the evening.
After they had cleaned up from dinner, he walked her to her car. She smiled up at him, her hand firmly enclosed in his larger one. This, she decided, was her perfect, incandescently happy moment. Fall wind blowing, snuggled into her favorite cashmere sweater, and snuggled warmly against her boyfriend.
How wonderful did that sound? she thought. Her boyfriend.
Her brow creased in thought and then cleared. “I’m going to miss you.” It only just dawned on her how much. Before, she had missed her friend. Now, she’d be missing so much more.
“I’ll come home next weekend,” he said, smiling and tugging on one of her curls. He laughed with delight as it quivered and sprang back into shape.
“I’d like that,” she said, blushing softly. She looked at one of the buttons on his shirt for a moment before shyly meeting his gaze.
He brushed a kiss across her forehead. “You gave me your class ring, but I didn’t give you anything.”
“Jim, you know I don’t expect anything,” she said. “We’ve talked about this. Just because you’re a Harper doesn’t mean I want you to spend money on me.”
Jim nodded and pulled something out of his coat pocket. “When I turned fifteen, my father gave me this.” He held up a bold-linked silver bracelet. “It seemed old fashioned and I probably only wore it the first week after my birthday but I kept it.” She looked at it and admired the heavy well-made links and the deep engraving of his name. “Would you be my girl?” he asked.
Bree’s grin lit up the night. He held her right wrist out for him to attach the old-fashioned symbol of their relationship. The weight and heat of the bracelet was warm and reassuring and she hugged him with her excess enthusiasm.
“We can seal our promises with something a little more pleasant,” he said tenderly, pulling her into his arms.
Bree sighed as the silky soft skin of his lips touched hers. “I think,” she gulped, eyes wide and interested and intrigued, “that sounds like the best idea I’ve ever heard.”
And beneath a waning December moon, as autumn slipped seamlessly into winter, they sealed it with a kiss.
The end
Harper's Mill stories follow the lives and loves of a small town in Northwestern New Jersey. The town, once settled by a family of light mages, has become home to many families and generations. Story-lines center on the interactions among members of its core families — the Old Families, who each have certain supernatural gifts — as well as their neighbors.
Pick up a book and enjoy the adventures!!
Author’s Notes:
I love writing these books. Love exploring all that Harper’s Mill has to offer. I hope you do, too.
Where to find me? I’m on Twitter @terrybelle13. I gear up Sunday nights for The Walking Dead, but I’m getting hooked on Badlands, too.
You can find me on Facebook and love talking to my fans. I may also have a slight obsession with men in kilts. If there’s a cure, please don’t tell me about it, okay?
https://www.facebook.com/Summer.Donnelly25/
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nbsp; Witches of Warren County books
(in suggested reading order, but each book is a standalone in the series)
Cupid’s Bow Anthology – Dear Kitty
Hummingbird Dreams
Hummingbird Lost
Fae and Frost, a Christmas Romance
Dandelion Wishes
Releasing Sloane Harper (part of the Creek Corner sub-series)
Loved by Beauty (part of the Creek Corner sub-series)
Honeysuckle and Roses
The Failed Ex-periment
Earth Angel
The Three Wish Mermaid
CyberWar: Digital Battlefield Anthology (CyberPrime) – Stronger Together
Harper’s Mill YA universe
(in suggested reading order, but each book is a standalone in the series)
Autumn Kisses
A Snowball’s Chance
Spring’s Promise
He Loves me, He Loves Me Not
Creek Corner Road stories
(Set in the Harper’s Mill Universe)
Phoenix Romance Anthology – Adventures in Bobby-sitting
Holiday Heartwarmers Anthology– One Dollar and Eighty-Seven Cents
Releasing Sloane Harper
Loved by Beauty
Apple Blossom, NC books
Phoenix Romance Anthology - Waiting for Poppy
Midnight Honey
Mysterious Hearts Anthology - Girls just Want to Solve Crime
By Any Other Name – Shortshanks and Sweet Porridge
Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisamalousa (Primed Fairy Tale)
Standalone Anthologies
Prime Fiction (Phoenix Prime Anthology)
Prime Fantasy (Prime Tales)
Journal With a View: July - August - September (Phoenix Journals)
Belle-Belle and Geirald the Coward (Primed Fairy Tales Book 6)
Bluebeard (Primed Fairy Tales Book 7
Fairy Ointment (Primed Fairy Tales Book 8)
The Klondike Bride Series (with Mildred B. Lewis)
Sweet Charity
A Touch of Grace
New Series Thistle Grove Tales
Red (coming September 29, 2017)
Snow (Coming Soon!)
Standalone books
Adela of Stone Keep (coming soon!)
Seasons of Love (Witches of Warren County) Page 12