The Path to Sunshine Cove
Page 29
How would he go on without her?
The world suddenly seemed as bleak and gray as a January afternoon.
“I think I’ll go take the dogs on a quick walk down to the cove,” he said, seizing on any excuse to escape.
“That’s a good idea,” Eleanor said. “If you want to go, Sophie, I’ll be all right by myself. You two don’t need to babysit me all day.”
Sophie shrugged. “I’m okay. I want to see if I can finally beat you.”
He whistled to the dogs, cuddled together on the floor next to the bed. They both jumped up and eagerly followed him to the door.
“I’ll be back shortly,” he said.
“Take your time. We’re fine,” Eleanor said.
He hooked the dogs’ leashes on, wishing he could throw on his wet suit and grab his board for a little wave therapy.
He didn’t want to take that much time away from Eleanor. Despite her claims that she was fine, she had only been out of the hospital less than twenty-four hours.
He would have to be content with a walk for now.
He headed outside and had only made it a few steps when a vehicle suddenly pulled into the driveway.
A baby blue pickup pulling a vintage Airstream.
He stared, frozen in place as he watched Jess expertly back into the very same spot where she had parked for the past two weeks, overlooking the path to the sea.
She climbed out and reached into the back of her pickup for chocks, which she put behind the wheels.
That was when he finally released the breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding and took a step toward her, gripping the dogs’ leashes hard as wild, fierce hope began coursing through him.
His heart beat hard as he crossed the space between the house and her trailer, where she had started the process of removing the ball hitch and sway bars from her pickup.
She stopped working the electric jack long enough to give him a quick, unreadable look before she continued on with what she was doing.
“Jess. What’s going on? Did you leave something?”
She reached down to unpin the emergency brake and the chains from the trailer.
“In a manner of speaking.”
“What did you forget?” he asked.
She didn’t answer for several seconds as she continued the process of unhitching the trailer.
Finally it was free of the ball hitch and she rose to face him.
“My heart,” she finally muttered. “I know, it sounds corny. But it’s true.”
She looked so uncomfortable that he fell in love with her all over again.
“I’m not ready to leave. I...would like to stay and was wondering if you and Eleanor would mind if I, um, park my trailer here for a few more days.”
“You can park your trailer here whenever you want and for however long you can spare,” he said. “You’ll always have a spot right there.”
She met his gaze and only then did she smile. It was bright, radiant, full of promise.
“Thank you.”
“Can I pull your truck out of the way?”
“I’ve got it.”
She would always do things her own way, his Jess with the fierce streak of independence. That was fine with him. He wasn’t threatened by a woman who could take care of herself. How could he be? He had been raised by Eleanor.
She climbed in and pulled the truck forward. When she turned off the engine and went to climb out again, he stood in the way so she had no choice but to fall into his arms.
“I see what you did there,” she said.
He laughed, all the sad restlessness and uncertainty of the past hour floating away on the sea breeze.
She threw her arms around him and kissed him so hard, he fell against the pickup door.
“You know those feelings you were talking about?” she finally said when they both came up for air sometime later.
“You mean when I said I was falling in love with you? Those feelings?”
She nodded, looking uncomfortable. “I’m not very good at this but, um, there is a very good chance that I’m falling in love with you, too.”
His joy seemed to expand exponentially. “Is that right?”
“I’ve never been in love before so I can’t be a hundred percent sure that’s what this is. But it’s scary and wonderful at the same time. I think about you all the time and want to do anything possible to make you happy.”
He smiled, deeply touched at her words and the quiet sincerity in them. Love wouldn’t come easily to Jess, which made it all the more rare and precious.
“That sure sounds like love to me.”
How was he lucky enough to deserve a woman like her? He had no idea. He only knew that he intended to do everything he could to show her that giving her heart to him didn’t have to scare her. He would cherish the gift, honor it, with everything inside him.
He had never expected to fall in love with Jess when he found her unhitching her trailer that first day but right now, it seemed as inevitable and eternal as the sunrise climbing the mountains, as constant as the sea lapping at the cove.
She was absolutely the right person for him. The only person.
And Nate intended to spend the rest of his life proving it to her.
Epilogue
Rachel
One Year Later
She had managed to throw the perfect wedding, if she did say so herself.
Rachel stood in the sand of Sunshine Cove admiring her own handiwork.
From the grapevine arbor draped in filmy curtains to the little fairy lights twinkling along the path from Whitaker House like fireflies, everything was exquisite.
She hadn’t done it by herself, she had to admit. Eleanor and Sophie had helped her string the fairy lights and make the table decorations, and Cody and Nate and their crews had worked for two days to build the arbor and the wide wooden dance floor as well as hauling down all the tables and chairs.
It would have been easier to have the wedding on the terrace at Whitaker House. She had suggested that but Jess and Nate had both insisted on having it here.
This was their wedding. If they had wanted to build a pedestal out in the water to exchange their vows, Rachel would have figured out a way to make it happen.
Fortunately, they didn’t. They had only wanted a quiet ceremony near the high tide mark as the sun was beginning to set.
They were right. Having the wedding here in the cove had been perfect. The scenery alone would have been gorgeous enough without any other decorations.
Rachel wasn’t sure she had ever been to a more beautiful wedding. Jess simply glowed in the simple yet elegant dress Rachel and Yvette, who shared matron and maid of honor duties, had helped her pick out and Nate looked so hot in his bespoke gray suit, she had seen several other women, both married and single, looking more than a little disgruntled that he was now taken.
The best part for Rachel had been seeing the look in her new brother-in-law’s eyes as Jess had come toward him down the path and across the sand. He looked as if Jess was everything he could ever want or need wrapped up in one lovely package, his fierce love obvious for everyone to see.
As for Jess, joy seemed to radiate out of her, spilling out across the cove.
Rachel had a hard time remembering the tough-edged, solitary person Jess had been a year ago when she came to help Eleanor clean out Whitaker House.
The past year had been a time of change and readjustment for all of them.
Jess still traveled with Transitions, though not as often. She was limiting the jobs she did away from Cape Sanctuary to one week a month and had chosen to focus on more regional jobs so she could be home with Nate and Sophie at night.
She and Yvette had hired two other people to help them with the more far-flung projects.
Jess seemed so much
happier over the past year. She laughed more, she loved being with the girls and Silas, she had even made other friends in town and had started coming to Rachel’s book club.
Rachel loved seeing her more often. They were still busy with their respective lives but made time at least once or twice a month to get together, and talked or texted far more often than that.
She was watching Nate lead Jess out to the dance floor, both surprisingly graceful, when Rachel sensed someone coming up behind her. She instinctively knew it was her husband.
His job throughout the ceremony had been to wrangle Silas and keep him out of trouble while Rachel performed her official wedding party duties.
Out of habit, Rachel scanned the area and spotted their son now with Eleanor, whom he adored, sitting at a table on the edge of the dance floor and eating a piece of cake.
The past year had been challenging with Silas, as well. She had found, though, that as his communication skills improved, his frustration level seemed to decrease.
She knew they still had a long road ahead but being his mother seemed much easier than it had been a year ago, when everything had felt so raw and new and terrifying.
He was a sweet boy who loved their dog, adored his sisters and would follow his father around all day if he could.
“Great job, babe,” Cody murmured as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. “Everything is stunning.”
“Isn’t it?” She sighed with happiness, loving this magical day.
“Especially you,” Cody said gruffly.
She turned and found him looking down at her much the same way Nate had looked at Jess.
Rachel’s heart seemed to sigh with happiness. She turned and wrapped her arms around him, this man who knew her better than anyone else in the world and somehow loved her anyway.
Life wasn’t about reaching a single, perfect destination. Of all the lessons Rachel had learned through her difficult childhood and now raising a child with autism, that might be the most powerful.
Instead, the path was continuous and ever-changing. It might be treacherous at times, arduous, complicated. Amid the hard, though, one could always discover unexpected beauty and grace.
She held her husband, looking over his shoulder at their children, her sister, her foster family—all the people she loved most in the world.
No matter how difficult the road they traveled, the way was made easier and certainly more beautiful because of the loved ones who helped them along the way.
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ISBN-13: 9781488077852
The Path to Sunshine Cove
Copyright © 2021 by RaeAnne Thayne LLC
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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