Surrender to Love

by Adrianne Byrd

  A low murmur rippled through the surrounding people as Julia accepted the first ball from Pierce.

  Carson cocked his head, a sly grin slowly spreading across his face. “I see the little lady is feeling confident,” he taunted.

  Someone laughed in the distance, which seemed only to fuel Julia’s confidence. “You look a little hot sitting in there,” Julia shouted.

  “You think you can cool me off?”

  More laughter.

  Julia launched the first ball. It ripped past the red-white-and-blue target by a mere hair and banged on the iron board behind it.

  “Aaagh,” the crowd chorused with disappointment behind her.

  Carson’s smile beamed brighter. “Being close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades,” he teased.

  She snatched another ball and didn’t hesitate before hurling it at the target and again missing it by mere inches.

  Another “Aaagh” resonated around her.

  Carson’s rich laughter boomed from behind the cage. His antics, though dramatic, started to grate on her nerves, but everyone seemed to love their little combat.

  Robin and Bobbi pushed through the crowd, with Grace trailing after them. The girls both wore bright smiles and began chanting Julia’s name. Within seconds everyone seemed to chime in.

  Pierce’s eyes twinkled as he picked up the chant and handed her another ball. “Make us proud.”

  Julia nodded and accepted the ball from his outstretched hand.

  “You can do it, Mommy,” Robin called out of sync from the chant.

  This time Julia took her time focusing on the multicolored target before swinging her level gaze to Carson’s devilish one. Then, grasping the ball firmly in her hand, she drew back and threw the ball with everything she had.

  The ball beamed the center of the target, setting off a loud buzzer.

  Carson’s arm flailed when his small bench unceremoniously dunked him into the pool of water below.

  A roar rose from the crowd.

  Robin and Bobbi rushed to embrace her, while a sputtering Carson managed to find his footing. The girls erupted with laughter while pointing their fingers at him.

  “Ha-ha-ha,” Carson mimicked with a sly smile, then announced to the crowd, “Lady’s luck.”

  The jubilee faded a bit as everyone recognized a challenge when they heard one.

  “Oh, yeah?” Julia’s eyes narrowed, but a small smile twitched at the corners of her lips.

  “Yeah.” He winked.

  Julia held out a hand, and Pierce dropped a new ball into her palm. “Get ready for another swim,” she warned.

  “In your dreams,” he taunted.

  Robin and Bobbi returned to Grace’s side.

  “Let him have it, Mom.”

  Robin’s encouragement was followed by Bobbi’s affirmation: “Yeah!”

  “Hey.” Carson perked up, shifting his gaze to his daughter. “Just whose side are you on?”

  “The ladies’ side,” she responded playfully with her hands on her hips. Her spunk won another roar of laughter from the crowd.

  Julia was, once again, filled with giddiness as she took firm hold of the ball and let it rip through the air—and missed.

  Her heart sank almost to her kneecaps.

  The crowd moaned their disappointment.

  Carson’s head rocked back as a gust of laughter seized him. “What did I tell ya?”

  Pierce didn’t wait for her to reach for another ball. He grabbed her hand and plopped one into her palm with a vote of confidence: “You can do it.”

  Carson was still laughing when she launched the next one. In fact, he was still laughing when it smacked the center of the target.

  The buzzer went off, and Carson was dunked into the tank with shock plastered on his face.

  Julia sprang gleefully into the air. Her small cheerleading squad chanted, “You did it,” and bounced excitedly over to her.

  “Nice job,” Pierce said with a smile.

  “Thanks,” Julia said, then glanced over at Carson in the dunking tank.

  He wore a grin that rivaled the size of Georgia, even as he bore the taunts of his friends.

  “I believe this fella belongs to you,” Pierce said, handing her a smiling teddy that was nearly as tall as she was.

  Julia and the girls turned to leave when Carson called out to them, “Hey, wait up.”

  They turned to see Carson climbing out of the tank, and while he pulled on his shoes, another volunteer took his place.

  The girls smirked as he approached. Rivulets of water trickled down from his hairline, and his clothes made a strange swooshing sound when he walked. Even Grace couldn’t contain her laugher as her son approached.

  “I guess you finally met your match,” Grace said with an uplifted chin.

  Carson’s eyes quickly centered on Julia. “One could say that.”

  Warmth coursed through Julia as she pretended not to read the open fascination written across Carson’s face.

  “You got yourself quite an arm there, Doc.”

  “It stopped all that trash you were talking, didn’t it?”

  The girls laughed again.

  Grace slapped a hand against her son’s back. “Maybe you should stop while you’re ahead.”

  He nodded. “Good advice.” He smiled as he looked back at Julia. “Are you girls hungry?”

  Bobbi crossed her hands over her stomach. “I couldn’t possibly eat anything else today. You two go ahead.”

  Carson frowned. “I wish that you’d waited, sweetheart. I told you I wanted to eat with you.”

  She shrugged apologetically. “What can I say? We were hungry, right, Robin?”

  Robin jerked and blinked up at them. “Right. We’re stuffed. You two go on ahead,” she encouraged.

  “But what are you guys about to do?” Julia asked.

  “Grandma promised to take us to ride the ponies,” Bobbi reassured her.

  Julia looked up at Grace. “It’s not necessary for you to take them. I know that they’ve been with you all day.”

  “Don’t you fret none. I’ve enjoyed the girls’ company. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I have a promise to fulfill.” She winked at the girls. “We’ll catch up with you later.”

  With that, Julia watched them stroll off and fade into the crowd. She turned to look back at Carson.

  He shrugged, then said, “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

  “Then I guess it’s just me and you,” she replied, wondering if her smile looked as awkward as it felt.

  “Allow me.” Carson took the large stuffed teddy bear from her.

  “Why, thank you. You are a gentleman after all,” she said with a hearty laugh.

  “Shh. Don’t tell anybody. I do, after all, have a reputation to maintain.”

  She laughed. “Your secret is safe with me.”

  Bobbi, Robin, and Grace watched Carson and Julia with knowing smiles.

  “I told you they liked each other, Grandma,” Bobbi whispered.

  “So you did, sweetheart. So you did.”

  The Fourth of July was just another day to Frankie and Nicholas. Though Frankie wasn’t used to working with a partner, he tried to make the best of a bad situation. They arrived in Atlanta sometime around midnight and hopped in an older-model Buick Regal that the Montello family had arranged for them.

  The car fit their need to be inconspicuous, as did their reservations at a low-grade motel on the outskirts of downtown Atlanta. By 5:00 a.m. he’d already heard from most of his contacts in and around the city.

  According to Tyrese, Dr. Kelly hadn’t made any attempts to contact anyone in her office. The other six doctors at the practice were still up in arms as to what they needed to do about replacing her.

  Keisha Washington reported that Robin hadn’t attended dance classes in the last month.

  Somewhere around 8:00 a.m., Frankie slammed the phone down in disgust. “The woman must be related to Houdini,” he grumbled.


  Nicholas sat across the room, absently shuffling a set of cards. “Be patient. She’ll turn up.”

  Frankie shot him a murderous look. “The last thing I want to do is spend another ten years looking for these damn diamonds.”

  Nicholas simply laughed. “It’s easy work.”

  “Personally, I don’t see why Vinny still cares about the damn things. Sure, they’re worth something. But it’s not like the Montello family is hurting for money. You know what I mean?”

  Nicholas’s amicable smile flat-lined, while his eyes turned ominous. “No one steals from the Montellos and gets away with it. Do you know what that can do to the family’s rep?”

  Frankie drew in a deep breath. The Montellos’ infamous reputation. Wasn’t that what it always came down to? Eric and David Mercer had had their own rep long before they’d crossed paths with the Montellos, and a part of Frankie believed that the thieving brothers had no idea that they had broken into the Montellos’ warehouse—had no idea that they were stealing from the Mafia. Not until it was too late.

  “But they’ve been taken care of. Why go after an innocent woman?”

  “We don’t know if she’s innocent.” Nicholas shrugged again. “Besides, we’re still missing the merchandise.” He stopped shuffling and met Frankie’s gaze again. “You’re not suddenly growing a heart on us, are you?”

  Frankie waved off his ridiculous question with a sweep of his hand. When Nicholas returned his attention to the stack of cards in his hand, Frankie tried to stifle the voice inside his head. He was having problems with tracking down this Julia Kelley and her daughter. What if she did have the Montellos’ diamonds? What then—kill her, then track down her second cousin twice removed? When was it time to cut their losses?

  He rubbed at his throbbing temples just as the phone rang. “Yeah.”

  “I got something for you,” the voice said in a low whisper. Frankie reached for the notepad lying on the nightstand. “Let me have it.”

  “1962 Chevy Impala.”

  He wrote it down. “So they did own another car?”

  “She does. It was a little difficult to find because it’s registered under her maiden name. The tags were renewed two months ago, but the car is missing.”

  Frankie’s heart sank. “All right. What’s the tag number?” He wrote the information down. “The Feds know?”

  “Yep. So be careful,” the voice said, then the line went dead.

  When he placed the phone back down on its cradle, he looked up to see Nicholas now reading over his shoulder. “It looks like we finally got our first big break.”

  “Yeah, it appears so.”

  Sheri watched Carson and Julia gallivant through the fair seemingly as though they hadn’t a care in the world. Everyone, it seemed, pointed and giggled at the preoccupied couple. Meanwhile, all Sheri could think about was how Carson could publicly humiliate her like this.

  “I think it’s disgraceful how he’s fawning over that girl,” Erma, her best friend, pointed out.

  Sheri’s back stiffened as she continued to hand out miniature flags to everyone she passed. She knew that Erma said this only as a show of support, and she appreciated her for it.

  “I don’t care what he does,” Sheri lied bravely.

  Erma smiled. “You don’t have to put on a brave face. We’ve been friends since grade school. You’ve had your heart set on marrying that man for as long as we’ve known each other. I just knew that any day now you two would be announcing your engagement.”

  Sheri had, too. “Well, that’s all over with now. I don’t intend to waste another minute thinking about that man.” It was another lie, she knew.

  “Humph. You’re a better woman than I am,” Erma complimented under her breath.

  “Can we please change the subject?” Sheri nearly begged.

  Erma glanced over at her friend, then shrugged. “All right, if you insist. Are we still sharing a room when we go to the Southern Baptist Church Convention?”

  Sheri had almost forgotten about their planned trip up to Atlanta. “Sure, sure. I probably need a little break from this place anyway,” she mumbled.

  Erma wrapped a supportive arm around Sheri’s shoulders. “Of course you do. And Atlanta is just the place to forget your troubles.”

  Chapter 20

  Carson and Julia were having a ball. They rode every ride in the fair—twice—and ate until they thought they’d pop. Neither returned to their volunteer positions because everyone insisted that they were no longer needed.

  A few times, Julia sought out her daughter, but was told by Grace that the girls were having fun with her and for Julia to just go and enjoy herself. And she did just that.

  Even now, as they rode the Ferris wheel and watched the stars come out in the distant sky, Julia found herself wishing that the day would never end.

  When the ride was over, Carson slipped an arm around her shoulders and brought her compliant body into the curve of his arm. “Are you having a good time?” he asked.

  She nodded, and for no reason at all tears gathered in her eyes. None of this was supposed to happen. She wasn’t supposed to fall in love with this town and its people. She wasn’t supposed to like the way Carson held her, or enjoy the way he said her name.

  Hadn’t she promised herself when she’d signed the divorce papers that she’d never go through this again—that she’d never allow herself to feel the emotions that she was now feeling?

  “I’m glad,” he whispered against her ear.

  She wanted to ask him what they were doing. Shouldn’t they put on the brakes? But there was a part of her that forbade her to ruin this moment—this very special moment.

  “We’d better go and find the girls,” she finally said.

  “Yeah, we’d better head on over to the other side of the park and pick out a spot before the fireworks begin,” he agreed.

  It took a while, but they finally located the girls at the pony rides. By the time they got their blankets and walked back to the park, they had a hard time picking out a good spot to see the show.

  When they were all settled, Carson purchased fluorescent necklaces for Bobbi and Robin to wear. The girls laughed at their glowing toys while they snacked on yet another hot dog.

  Julia shook her head and leaned over toward Carson. “I’ll be amazed if we all don’t wake up with severe stomachaches.”

  “Nah.” He waved off her concerns. “Pop a few Pepto-Bismol tablets and we’ll be just fine.”

  She laughed. “I hope you’re right.”

  “There you guys are,” Lilly said. Behind her were Grace and Rick, who carried their own blankets. “Do you mind if we join you?”

  “Of course not,” Julia answered. “The more the merrier.”

  Carson stood and helped his brother-in-law with arranging their blankets, then helped his mother to sit down.

  “Your father is probably like a kid in a candy store around about now,” Grace said with a tender smile.

  Julia had no trouble believing that. “How long do the fireworks usually last?”

  “About thirty minutes,” Grace answered, then leaned over conspiratorially. “One year the show lasted nearly an hour. Everyone loved the show, but when the bill finally came…Let’s just say Charles nearly lost his job.”

  “How long has he been in charge of this project?” she asked.

  “For about thirty years.”

  Julia blinked in surprise. A local band took the small stage in the center of the field and immediately launched into a rendition of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” At the end, all lights went out and the first firecracker shot into the air.

  Soon the sky was lit with an array of sparkling lights while low murmurs of “oohs” and “ahhs” came from the crowd.

  It was the most spectacular show that Julia had ever seen. She could tell the town had spared no expense for this production, and thought, judging by the crowd’s reaction, that it was well worth it.

  “So what
do you think?” Carson questioned against her ear.

  A pleasurable heat skipped along Julia’s spine. It took everything she had not to melt against him and most likely make a fool of herself.

  “I think it’s beautiful,” she whispered back, and when he didn’t respond she tore her attention from the sky to glance at him.

  His dark gaze was like a warm caress against her skin. “It doesn’t hold a candle to you.”

  Julia’s heart pounded in her ears, and the sounds of the surrounding crowd disappeared. She was doing it again, her inner voice accused. But she couldn’t help it. There was something about Carson. There was something about the way he looked at her and the way he made her feel.

  Hesitantly, she favored him with a fluttering smile. And only afterward did she wonder whether her fragile emotions were reflected in her eyes.

  Somehow she managed to shift her gaze to the brilliantly lit sky. It was beautiful, she thought, then broadened her gaze to take in more of her environment. Everything was beautiful.

  Her gaze lowered to her daughter’s joyful expression. In her hand she waved a small flag. Bobbi had draped an arm around Robin’s shoulders and pointed at different flares of light. The precious image, she knew, would be permanently etched into her memory, as well as every detail about this night—about this day.

  Suddenly Julia’s vision blurred at the realization that everything was perfect—had been perfect since Carson had rescued her from the side of the road.

  The symphony of music that played over the speakers built to a dramatic crescendo. The flare of lights multiplied and grew larger, creating a canvas of brilliant colors.

  When the show ended, thunderous applause rose from the crowd, as well as piercing whistles and the chant for more.

  Grace, still clapping, turned misty eyes toward Julia. “So what did you think?”

  “It was by far the best show I’ve seen.”

  “Pop has definitely outdone himself,” Lilly chimed into their conversation.

  Grace nodded. “It’s going to be something, living with that ego of his in the coming weeks.”

  Her comment won plenty of nods of agreement.