“Don’t second-guess, Agnes,” Gramma Finnie said, smiling at Sadie. “I can see now that she has a yen to be a mayor, so…”
As they talked a little more, Connor did a quick headcount, just as Liam and Andi, with their young son, Christian, and toddler, Fiona, came outside from the house. Then came Alex and Grace, with Alex’s twin, John.
That was it. Every family member who lived in Bitter Bark was present and accounted for.
Something Sadie said made everyone laugh, pulling his attention back to her.
“Oh, I like this lass,” Gramma announced. “And she would have been perfect for our Connor.”
That got a big laugh, loud enough that no one heard him whisper, “Would have been?” Except Sadie, who turned to him with a question—no, that was more of a playful challenge—in her eyes.
“She has every attribute for our next mayor,” Connor said. “Except one.”
“That Frank can beat her,” Garrett said.
True, but Connor didn’t answer. Instead, he reached into his pocket to close his hand over the tiny box with the fake diamond ring. As he did so, he slid one knee to the hard wooden planks of the patio, getting a very noisy gasp from damn near everyone gathered there.
Everyone except Sadie, who just stared at him when he lifted the box.
“Oh…” The sound escaped her lips like a soft whimper, somewhere between shock and…fear. “I thought you were going to just…hand it off to me.”
“And miss this moment of…” He slid a side-eye to Gramma Finnie. “Impressing my grandmother with how real this is?”
“Real?” Sadie coughed softly. “It’s not real, Connor.”
“She means the diamond, Gramma,” he said quickly. “It’s lab grown.”
“Whatever that is,” Gramma Finnie said, lifting her glass for another deep drink. “But by all means, continue, lad.”
“Please,” Sadie said, trying to make light of the moment with an easy laugh. “Don’t stop now that you’ve got the crowd, Connor.”
He narrowed his eyes, trying to silently communicate his intent. “It’s not a charade.”
“It’s not a…” She hesitated as if she didn’t even want to finish, searching his face, looking for some kind of explanation. “It’s not?”
“Not at all.”
Her eyes flashed with what could be described only as fear. Because…
She will never, ever love another man like she loved…Nathan Lawrence.
With him on one knee and her sitting, they were eye-to-eye, and for a long stretch of too many heartbeats, neither said a word as he held her gaze. He heard someone’s phone click with a photo, which he would definitely want to give to the Bitter Bark Banner.
He sensed his mother leaning closer to witness something she probably thought she’d never get to see. He was aware of Uncle Daniel standing in the door, looking down like the patriarch putting his very own blessing on the moment.
“Mercedes Hartman,” Connor said softly.
“Oh, her full name,” Gramma whispered, leaning over to Yiayia. “That’s promising.”
“Will you do me the honor of officially and honestly and really…” He slid a glance to Gramma, who had both hands pressed against her mouth, her eyes watery with tears.
He froze for a second. What it would feel like to really mean this? To look into the eyes of a woman he didn’t want to ever lose, a woman who could be his partner, his lover for life, and the mother of children he didn’t even think he wanted, but every time he held Annabelle, he realized what he was missing…
Was it Sadie giving him those insane thoughts? Or was it because of this classic, clichéd moment that unfolded due to a weird set of circumstances and needs?
As he got a little lost in the depths of her eyes, he had a shocking thought.
It could be Sadie. It could be real with her. Someday.
But he had to ask now because everyone was looking, she was waiting, and his knee was starting to hurt like hell.
“Will you marry me?” he finished, opening the box to another noisy round of gasps and reactions.
She gave a light, uncertain laugh. Like she might say no. Or maybe she was wondering the same things he was.
“Say yes, lass,” Gramma Finnie whispered.
Sadie slid a teasing look at the older woman. “Is that an order, Gramma?”
“It’s…a wish.”
Sadie smiled and tapped the lid of the box, and then he could read her look. He knew what she was about to say. That’s not real. That’s not organic. And neither is this.
Which would ruin everything he was trying to do here.
Was it all an act for the grandmothers? Was it all just for the pictures and the signatures and the election?
In that one flash of a moment, he wasn’t sure, and maybe neither was she.
“Of course I will,” Sadie said, holding out her left hand.
A cheer rose up, with glasses clinking and cousins hooting and even a few dogs barking as he pulled the ring out and put it on her finger. Leaning close to her, he brushed her lips with a kiss, which made the crowd noise louder.
He gave her a hug, their mouths next to each other’s ears.
“Nice fake, fiancé,” she whispered.
“The ring or the proposal?”
“Both.”
He opened his eyes and looked over her shoulder to meet his grandmother’s gaze. She looked utterly and completely joyous.
Job done. Proposal sold. That had to be why both their hearts were hammering out of their chests, and they were both trembling. That had to be it.
Chapter Seventeen
Sadie checked the mirror in the little bathroom one last time. She’d skipped the skirt and jacket, opting for a simple navy sheath dress with gold buttons and white epaulets on the shoulders that felt professional without being too formal.
She pulled her hair back into a clip, wearing minimal makeup and simple diamond-stud earrings. Mined diamonds…unlike the one on her hand, which she still hadn’t quite gotten used to.
Glancing down, she twirled the solitaire and swallowed, remembering, as she did every time she looked at it, how dizzying that proposal had been. Yes, it was obviously for the grandmothers’ benefit. She and Connor knew they needed those ladies to brag about another matchmaking success to get the town to believe them and ignore the work Mitch was doing in the background to undermine their plan.
But that didn’t make the whole thing—everything with Connor, as a matter of fact—less thrilling. And damn, the thrills hadn’t stopped all week long.
She’d spent the better part of the past week with Connor when he wasn’t on duty at the fire station, visiting various businesses and meeting people. He generously introduced her to everyone he knew, which was pretty much the entire town. He was skilled in sliding the attention to Frank, but had backed off a lot on his dog jokes and spent plenty of time listening to people.
She shouldn’t underestimate his ability to be mayor…which he could showcase at today’s event.
As she grabbed her bag, she glanced around for Demi.
“Where are you, kitty?”
At the unexpected meow to her left, she turned, doing a double take to find her long orange body draped around the Susan B. Anthony bust on the shelf.
“Look at you, little suffragette.” She stepped closer to scratch Demi’s head and ease the clay sculpture back to a safe corner. “You cling to Aunt Sue and wish me luck, okay?”
She purred and pawed the slightly misshapen base that Sadie and her father had once worked so hard to create.
Then they both heard a loud bark outside, and Demi sat straight up, her ears turning like little radars.
“Is that your new boyfriend at the door?” Sadie asked.
Demi meowed and gave her a look as if to say, Is that yours?
She rubbed her thumb along the engagement ring as she walked to the door. “I guess the answer is yes. But what’s he doing here? We were supposed to meet at town hal
l.”
“Sadie?” Connor called. “Please tell me I didn’t miss you.”
She opened the door. “I don’t know. Did you miss me?”
He inched back as if the impact of her was just too much. “Oh, hell yeah. Love the military look.”
“Is everything okay?” She stepped to the side to let Frank in, since nothing was going to stop him from getting to Demi. “I thought we were meeting at the town hall before the debate.”
“We need help,” he admitted. “Frank’s having a setback.”
Frank headed straight to the bookshelf, and Demi jumped down to meet him. In less than two seconds, he rolled over, and she pawed at his belly, nuzzling her nose in his fur.
“Looks like he’s on his back. And happy. What’s wrong?”
“He will not go six inches from me. And if I even talk to someone or bring him near a group, he cowers in fear.” He let out a sigh. “He’s gonna tank today.”
They both turned to watch their pets, with Frank looking like he’d died and gone to heaven, while Demi walked over him like he was her personal playground.
She bit her lip, because it was funny, and they were adorable, and she’d never, ever dreamed Demi could show such affection to a dog. “People are coming to hear you, Connor, not see Frank perform tricks like he’s a trained seal.”
“Tricks?” He snorted. “If he’d look a stranger in the eye, that’d be a good trick. He’s supposed to be the guy who puts the fun in functions, remember? The whole dog-as-mayor thing can only work with a really friendly dog.”
“He looks pretty friendly right now.”
“Because the only creature he responds to is Demi.”
“Especially if by ‘responds’ you mean ‘turns into a quivering mess of submission and need,’” she said on a laugh.
“The right woman can do that, I guess.”
The way he said it and the flirtatious look he added sent an unholy heat right through her. And just a hint of suspicion. “What are you buttering me up for, Connor?”
“Would you bring her?”
She choked softly. “Bring Demi? To the debate? In the town council meeting room? She’s a cat! Besides being unpredictable and possibly draping herself on Mayor Wilkins’s head for amusement, I can’t leash her like you can a dog. And let’s not forget that I would be giving a pretty major unfair advantage to the competition.”
“And getting the votes of the cat people.”
She crossed her arms, watching the antics as they started chasing each other’s tails again. “It would provide comic relief.”
“And she’s not going to go far from him. If she does, someone will pick her up and give her to you.”
“And Mitch would have a cow.”
“Side bonus, but I think we’ll have enough animals for one small-town mayoral debate.” He tipped her chin up toward him. “Is that a yes?”
“You ask me that a lot, you know that?”
He held her gaze and drew a little circle on her chin with his thumb, sending chills right down to her toes. “When you say yes, I’ve won. And I love to win.”
“Think you’re going to win the debate today?”
“Against you? Probably not. But we have a mutual goal: defeat Mitch. We’ll let the cat-vs.-dog people figure out who they want to vote for.”
She smiled. “You’re right. Then yes, we’ll bring Demi.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, but he didn’t have to. She could feel the electricity arc between them as he moved a centimeter closer. And she had zero ability to step away. No, in fact, she tipped her face up and was as complicit as he in the kiss they shared.
It was light, a seal of the deal, but left her wanting more.
Frank barked, suddenly on his feet and trying to get between them. Demi mewed with fury that he’d left her. And Sadie just slid her arms around Connor’s neck and parted her lips to taste more of him.
Another bark and mew.
“They don’t like when we kiss,” she murmured into his mouth.
“Tough. I do.”
“We’ll kiss when we beat Mitch today,” she promised.
“Oh yeah.” He drew her into him and ignored the dog and cat to kiss her again. “We’ll do more than kiss.”
She backed up, brows raised in question.
“We’ll have dinner,” he said quickly on a guilty laugh. “I’ve been trying to get you out on an official dinner date since we met.”
“Deal. We beat Mitch, and we’ll have dinner.” And do more than kiss, she mentally added. “Color me…incented for victory.”
He gave her a smoky look and reached down to scoop up Demi. “Here’s your good-luck charm.”
She put her nose against Demi’s cold one. “Let’s go get ’em, tiger.”
A few minutes later, she was in Connor’s truck, holding tight to Demi as they neared the town hall on a very crowded Ambrose Avenue.
“We definitely have to do something about the traffic in this place,” Connor mused.
But Sadie was focused on the crowd that spilled into the square. “This many people care about the mayoral debate?”
“More than I expected, too.” He glanced at her. “Do you want to walk through that crowd and shake hands? Because to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure Frank’s quite ready for that.”
“Can we park in the back and still get in?”
“Yes. There’s an entrance only town employees can use that leads into the basement. It’s where the sheriff’s office used to be. And you can see my dad.”
“Excuse me?”
He whipped onto a side street. “There’s a gallery of first responders who died in the line of duty since the town was incorporated. There’s a picture of Joe Mahoney I love to salute when I walk by.”
She reached for his hand and smiled. “I’d like that.”
He parked in an alley she hadn’t known was there, took her through a side door of the town hall and through double doors into a long hallway. On both walls were portraits and paintings of about twenty men from the 1800s to…today. At the second-to-last picture, he stopped, closed his eyes, and then touched his forehead.
Sadie stood back, her gaze locked on Connor, her heart tripping at the quick, quiet, classic gesture. As if he understood just how somber the moment was, Frank sat right down and stared at the picture.
After a second, Sadie stepped closer to look at the photo of Captain Joseph John Mahoney.
She stroked Demi’s head in her arms while she studied the man who didn’t look that much older than Connor right now. His eyes were as blue but the resemblance wasn’t that strong. Still…
She inched closer, a tingling sensation pirouetting up and down her back. “Wait a second.” She held her breath for a moment, letting her mind go back to a rainy day and a helpful stranger…and an umbrella she wished she still had. “I met him!”
“You did?”
“Sadie! Connor! What on earth are you doing down here?”
They turned toward Mayor Wilkins, rushing down the hall, her navy pumps clicking on the linoleum. “I thought I was the only one who used this secret entrance.” She shook her head, smiling as she greeted them. “I’m always finding you two in the strangest places.” Mayor Wilkins looked past Sadie at the picture, then nodded, understanding. “A truly great man,” she said with a sad smile. “I’m sure he’ll bring you luck today, Connor. Sadie, why do you have a cat?”
They exchanged a look, and Sadie laughed. “She’s for my luck, Mayor.”
The other woman rolled her eyes as if she just didn’t get these two. Then she gave a nudge. “Hurry up. We start in a few minutes.”
With one more glance over her shoulder at the photo of a man she’d never forget, Sadie suddenly had a completely different insight into Connor. He’d claimed his father made him some kind of tunnel-visioned winner. But based on one thirty-second conversation, she now saw the man next to her in a very different light.
“When did you meet him?” Connor whis
pered.
“I’ll tell you later,” she promised.
* * *
Traffic. Budgets. School playgrounds. Bushrod Square decorations and teachers’ salaries.
The panelists’ questions were asked and answered, but the audience spent most of the time laughing over the unexpected guests on the small stage where members of the town council normally sat, with Mayor Wilkins in the middle.
Bringing Demi had been a stroke of genius. Frank was out of his shell. In fact, the son of a gun was showing off for his girl, occasionally walking the stage—mostly to get another treat from Connor—and then settling right between Connor and Sadie, with Demi poking out from under his tail while they both napped.
Mitch tried to ignore the animals and made only a few snide remarks, but had the wherewithal to know that more than that would just lose him what little of this crowd he had.
Overall, Connor felt like his own performance was solid, Mitch’s was overconfident, and Sadie sailed through like the master of politics she was. She had a shockingly deep understanding of the issues that faced the town and some innovative ideas on how to fix them, easily showcasing her national-level experience. She also deftly managed two questions about her seventeen-year absence with a story about her childhood and a picnic in Bushrod Square that the crowd ate up.
And there wasn’t a single question about their engagement, even from Rose Halliday, who was one of the moderators. But then, he and Sadie had been out and about in town for a week now, and they’d done a pretty convincing job of being a couple.
Hell, he thought as he glanced over and checked her out as she made her final point, he was convinced they were a couple.
“And that concludes the round of moderator questions,” Nellie Shaker announced from her seat at the center table. “The floor is now open to townspeople if you’ll please use the mic stand at the center of the room. State your name and ask your question. Form a line, if necessary.”
At least five people hopped out of their seats and headed toward the mic, as if they’d been waiting to pounce on the chance.
With one more look at Sadie, Connor gave her a wink as the first woman reached the podium. Sadie smiled, then winked right back.
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