He had to remind her, didn’t he. She blinked and pulled herself away from the spell he was casting over her, standing up and facing away. “Why didn’t you tell me Jett was back in jail?”
“I just found out myself the other day, and we haven’t spoken since then.”
“It’s something I should know, right? I mean, I should know if everything I went through was for nothing and he still hurt other girls.”
She felt Bryce’s hands slide around her upper arms. “It wasn’t for nothing, Phoebe. You showed all the girls in our high school what it meant to be strong. You gave them voices. Did you know that Melissa Hughes turned in the captain of the football team for sexual harassment after she found out what you’d done?”
“No, I think I must have been gone by then.”
“That’s right—you were. You have to believe me—you did so much good.” He gently turned her around to face him. “Not one tear was wasted. Look at what you did for those girls, look at how strong you are now, and look what you did for me. You gave a bum of a kid the chance to redeem himself and do the right thing. My life changed that day. I still made a ton of mistakes, but I stopped drinking and I stopped goofing off so much. I got serious about a career. Okay, it was a career that broke my back, but I was serious about it.” He smiled, but then he grew solemn again. “I wish you could see yourself as I see you.”
Phoebe couldn’t help it. He had that look in his eyes again, that soulful look, and she went up on tiptoe and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He responded immediately, returning her kiss and holding her closely against him. Then he flinched.
“Ow, ow, ow,” he said, taking a step back. “I’m sorry—it’s just—broken back.”
“I’m so sorry!” Her hand flew over her mouth. “I was just trying to have a romantic moment, and I hurt you, and that was the worst romantic moment ever.”
He grinned even as he rubbed his back. “I think it was the best moment ever because it was ours. I would like to try again, but maybe you could hang on me just a little bit less.”
“Okay. How about I let you do all the holding? Like, I’ll just stand here, and you put your arms where you need to be, and I won’t move a muscle, and—”
It was very hard to finish her sentence when he was already kissing her again, and quite wonderfully too.
Chapter Seventeen
“Well now, would you look at that? I thought the lilacs were all done for this year,” Vi said when Phoebe walked into her room at the rehab center carrying a huge vase.
“Here’s the thing—when you have friends with greenhouses, almost anything is possible.” Phoebe set the flowers down on the table under the window, then plunked down in the chair next to the bed. “How are they treating you? This place looks a little more plush than the hospital.”
“Oh, it’s a lot more comfortable, let me tell you. And I have some cute male nurses, too.”
Phoebe laughed. “Vi!”
“What? I’m old, but I’m not dead.” Her eyes twinkled. “Speaking of young men, how is Bryce? I heard his surgery went well.”
“It did go well, and I’m heading over to see him when I’m done here. He’s on round-the-clock supervision right now, but he can come home in three days, and he’s hired a nurse to come in until he’s a little more stable. A team of nurses, actually, because that’s a pretty intense job.”
“And you’ll take shifts too?” Vi asked, sounding every bit like a Yiddish yenta.
“Of course. You might say that things are going very well in that department.”
“Well, good. It’s about time, don’t you think? I was starting to worry about you, young lady. Independence is good, but you can have a little too much of it to be good for you.”
“Like getting up to use the bathroom by yourself when you’ve been told a million times not to?” Phoebe gave her a pointed look.
“All right, you got me on that one. I won’t even try that again—they watch me so closely here, if I even sniff, they run in to hand me a tissue.”
“That’s good. How long are they keeping you?”
“Until I can get around on my walker again. It could be weeks, or it could be a few months. We really don’t know. I’m doing my exercises every day, but I don’t seem to be coming along very fast.”
“You just do the best you can, all right? Don’t hurt yourself even more by pushing too hard.”
“You’re right. I know you are. I just get a little frustrated at the delay.” She smiled. “Enough about me! Go see your handsome man, and tell him that if he needs a place to be, he should come be my roommate. They’d feed him well, and we could play Scrabble.”
“I’m not sure they do co-ed rooms here, Vi,” Phoebe said with a chuckle.
Vi waved that off. “They just don’t want me to have any good Scrabble partners. Take care, dear.”
Phoebe gave her a quick hug. “You too, Vi.”
She felt around inside her bag for the papers she’d placed there that morning, glad to see she hadn’t forgotten them. There were a couple of things she needed to discuss with Bryce, things of a business nature.
***
Bryce had been asleep when Phoebe left earlier. She was glad to see that he was awake now, but he was loopy on pain meds, and she wasn’t sure this conversation was going to go how she wanted.
He’d originally been scheduled for his back surgery a month from his consult, but Dr. Mathis had a cancellation and asked him to come right in. That was a blessing because it meant he could get it over with sooner, but everything had been put on hold—talks about the house, everything—while they prepared him for this life-changing procedure. She’d kept herself busy during his operation by making some phone calls, and she hoped he’d be pleased, but she might have to wait until he was a little more sober to find out.
“Hey,” he said when she walked into his room. “There she is. There’s the most beautiful girl in the whole world. The whole wide world.”
She smiled. “Hey there yourself. How are you feeling?”
“I’m great as long as they keep this little pump thingy in my arm going. How are you?”
“I’m great, and I brought you a surprise. Well, two surprises, and you get to choose which one you want.”
“I can’t have them both?”
“Nope.”
“Oh.” He looked disappointed for a minute, but then he brightened. “Okay, what are they?”
She set two envelopes on the tray table in front of his bed. “This envelope has the offer for the house we looked at—the one with the stainless-steel kitchen.”
He nodded. “And the other one?”
“The other one is the sample contract for buying the Weiker house together. I’ve made an awful lot of phone calls and I talked to the bank, and they’ve given us a tentative preapproval. They can’t do much more than that until we’re officially a business, but I think it’s a go.”
“You did all that while I was in surgery?”
“I did. It was a pretty long surgery.”
He reached out and took her hand. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me. Nobody has ever, ever in my whole life been so nice.”
She brushed his hair out of his face with her other hand. “You’re welcome. So, what do you think? Which house? You’re all set to go either way, pending final approval, of course.”
He held up one finger. “Actually, actually, what if I don’t want any?”
Her heart plummeted so fast, she felt it drop. She had to remember that he was on meds, and he probably had no idea what they were even talking about. She should have waited until later—she shouldn’t have let her excitement get the better of her. “What do you mean?” she asked, keeping her voice neutral.
“What if we buy Mr. Weiker’s house together, but we don’t have a contract? What if . . . what if you married me?”
She’d been leaning forward on her chair to see him more clearly, but now she sat back with a thud. “What?”
<
br /> “I know what you’re thinking.” He was still waving his finger around. “You think I’m very drugged, and it’s true, I’m very drugged. But I thought of this before I was very drugged, and I’m just telling you now. Um, asking you now. Phoebe, will you marry me?”
“I . . . don’t know what to say,” she said at last. He couldn’t actually be serious. There was no way.
“I tell you what,” he said. “You think about it while I take a nap, and then when I wake up, you can tell me your answer. And that would be a good idea because I’m falling asleep right now.” And he did, while she was sitting there, watching him, completely stupefied and trying to figure out if she was dreaming the whole thing.
If she was, it was the best—if weirdest—dream she’d ever had.
Epilogue
Phoebe walked down the garden path toward the white-painted trellis carrying a bouquet of yellow roses in front of her. The Weikers’ yard—no, her yard—had been set up with rows and rows of chairs, and all her friends and dear family members who could make it watched with shining eyes as she walked toward Bryce, who stood proudly next to the pastor. He leaned on a cane, but he’d been told that was just a step in his recovery and he’d be walking normally in a matter of weeks. A glance to her right made her chuckle—Rocky had come to the wedding and stood off to the side, his bridle being held by a young man in a suit. Rocky himself had some yellow roses braided into his mane, and he looked very festive indeed.
When she reached Bryce’s side, she handed her bouquet to Ashley, and together, bride and groom faced the man who would join them together as man and wife.
She couldn’t remember much of what was said. All she knew was that Bryce loved her with his whole soul, and that she was the luckiest woman in the entire world because of it.
After the ceremony, everyone came up to greet them, and Eileen was among the first. “I’m so glad you bought the house,” she said, her eyes filled with tears. “Now I can leave, knowing that it’s in good hands.”
“We promise we’ll take excellent care of it,” Bryce told her.
“I know you will, and I wonder if you’d take care of one more thing.” She handed him Gertie’s leash.
Phoebe looked down at the ground. The little dog was sitting smartly at Bryce’s feet, her tail brushing the grass, a doggy smile on her face.
“I think you remind her of Mike,” she said, “and I want her to be happy. Will you take her and let her live out her final days in the only house she’s ever known?”
“Of course we will,” Phoebe said, knowing how much this must be costing Eileen. “We’d love to have her.”
“I’ve already asked Ashley if she’ll watch her while you’re on your honeymoon,” Eileen said. “I just . . . I just want her to be happy.”
Phoebe leaned forward and gave her a tight hug. “We’ll do everything we can to make that possible.”
After Eileen moved through the line, Ashley took the dog and tucked her away inside the house where she could nap without getting her toes trampled on, and Bryce took Phoebe’s hand.
“I can’t stand up much longer, but I think we need at least one dance before I sit down,” he said.
“You’re okay for that long?” she asked.
“I’m okay as long as you’re holding me,” he replied. “I’ve never known anyone as strong as you are.”
And there, in their own backyard, surrounded by everyone they loved, Mr. and Mrs. Bryce Davidson had their first dance, the first as husband and wife and the first of many they would have at that house where relationships would always come first and where kissing in the kitchen was most definitely allowed.
About Amelia C. Adams
Amelia C. Adams is a wife, a mother, an eater of chocolate, and a taker of naps. She spends her days thinking up stories and her nights writing them down. Her biggest hero is her husband, and you just might see bits and pieces of him as you read her novels.
You can reach her at [email protected].
Please join Amelia on her website to learn more about her, sign up for her newsletter, stay on top of news and upcoming releases, and follow her on Facebook.
And if you’ve enjoyed any of her novels, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. It’s much appreciated!
The Kansas Crossroads Series:
A New Beginning (free!)
A Free Heart
The Dark and the Dawn
A Clean Slate
A Clear Hope
The Whisper of Morning
A Careless Wind
A Narrow Road
The Bitter and the Sweet
The Calm of Night
A Begrudging Bride
A Broken Wing (A Kansas Crossroads novella)
A Twisted Fate
An Unspoken Dream
A Joyful Noise
The Nurses of New York series:
Sea of Strangers (free!)
Cause of Conflict
Touch of Tenderness
Heart of Hearts
Test of Time
The American Mail-Order Brides series:
Hope: Bride of New Jersey
Tabitha: Bride of Missouri
The Hearts of Nashville series:
Whiskey and Women
Records and Rebels
As part of the Brides of Beckham series by Kirsten Osbourne:
Mail Order Molly
As part of the River’s End Ranch series:
Accidental Agent
Rugged Rockclimber
Welcome Wagon
Santa’s Shopkeeper
Delivering Destiny
Lucky Lifeguard
As part of the Grandma’s Wedding Quilts series:
Meredith’s Mistake
As part of the Magnolias and Moonshine series:
Sweet Georgia Peach
As part of the Burnt River series:
Ashley’s Hope
As part of the Rocky Mountain Romances series:
Utah Sunrise
As part of the Mail Order Mounties series:
Bride for Joel
Bride for Jonathan
Phoebe's Fate (Burnt River Contemporary Western Romance Book 9) Page 9