Yesterday's Embers (Clayburn Novels Book 3) Page 14

  She breathed his name out in a trembling whisper. “I…I think I do love you.”

  He lifted his chin and dared her with his gaze. “Then marry me.”

  “Doug…” He was going to break her heart if he didn’t shut up. “Don’t joke about this.”

  He pulled back and looked into her eyes again. “Mickey, I’ve never been so serious about anything in my life.” His eyes said he meant it.

  “Maybe it’s too soon. Maybe you’re asking me in—in the heat of”—she fanned herself with the flattened palm of her hand––“this thing that seems to happen whenever we touch each other.”

  The smile he gave her melted any doubts she had.

  Behind them, the teakettle started to hiss. She reached around him and turned down the heat. If only she knew how to turn the flame that burned between her and Doug down a notch.

  He drew her close, rested his chin on top of her head. His voice broke. “I don’t know how I would have made it through these last months without you. You—healed a place inside of me that I didn’t think could ever be whole again.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “God did that, Doug. All I did was love you. And that was easy.” Her heart blossomed inside her. She felt blessed beyond words that this man wanted her in his life. He’d known one true love and lost it. To think that he’d chosen her—that he loved her enough to share his life with her—took the breath from her.

  Doug pulled away, beaming from ear to ear. “Let’s do it then. Let’s get married.”

  She must have looked a little bewildered because he laughed and planted a kiss on the end of her nose.

  “When? What exactly are you thinking about?”

  He struck a swaggering John Wayne pose. “That would not be appropriate for me to say, ma’am.”

  She laughed at his pathetic impression, but quickly sobered. “This isn’t something to joke about, Doug. Are you…are you seriously asking me to marry you?”

  A shadow passed over his face. For one horrible minute she thought he was going to laugh at her for thinking he could have possibly been serious.

  But he took both her hands in his, took a step back, and held her eyes with his. “I’m dead serious, Mickey. I’ve known true love, and I know that what I have with you couldn’t be more true.”

  Could this really be happening? She’d dared to let herself dream about such a declaration from Doug, but she’d never thought it would come now—today. Joy inflated her until she thought she might float right out of Doug’s reach. But his arms kept her tethered to earth, to the strong anchor of him.

  One thought pricked at her, a slow leak that tempered her elation. “Are you sure, Doug? It hasn’t been very long. Maybe you should…wait a while before you make such—declarations.”

  He squeezed her hands so tightly she almost winced. “Kaye’s not coming back, Mickey. God put you in my life. I have no doubt of that. Why would I deny His gift?”

  His words made her forget every rational reason that had been swimming in her head a moment ago. “I—can’t think of a good reason.” She tried to smile, but suddenly tears were too close. She pressed her lips together to keep from having a complete meltdown. God, what are you doing here? Doug was offering her the thing she’d prayed for all her life, and now she wasn’t sure she was ready?

  “Then marry me. Tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow!” She yanked her hands from his grasp and pulled away. “That’s not even funny, Doug.”

  He laughed. And catching her own reflection in the door of the microwave oven behind him, a look of horror still painting her face, she joined him. But it brought her to her senses. He might not be serious about “tomorrow,” but he was serious about the “marry me” part, and if she said yes, her life was about to change in ways she probably couldn’t even imagine. Wonderful ways, but change, nonetheless. And she’d never been great with change.

  She backpedaled until she was leaning against the counter opposite him. “Could you please be serious for one minute?”

  He took a step in her direction. “I am serious, Mickey. What do I have to do to convince you of that?”

  “Stay away.” She held up her hand to stop him. “I can’t think straight with you so close.”

  “I rest my case,” he said.

  She trained her eyes on him. “Define tomorrow.” She was starting to be frustrated with the perpetual twinkle in his eye.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You said, ‘marry me tomorrow.’ Define tomorrow.”

  As if to prove that he was making an effort to be serious now, he retreated to his corner of the boxing ring that her kitchen had become. “Okay, you tell me. When’s the first possible moment you could do this?”

  “A…wedding you mean.” He was serious. Yikes!

  “Yes. A wedding. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy.”

  She took a halting breath. She’d always dreamed of a big church wedding with all the trimmings. But that hardly seemed appropriate, considering Doug’s circumstances. And really, besides her brothers and their families, and Brenda and the part-time girls at the daycare, who would she invite? Doug would probably have more guests than she would.

  A small wedding wouldn’t cost so much either. She’d put most of her disposable income into her house and the garden. In fact, though she never touched her IRA, she’d almost drained her other little savings account paying to have five trees planted in the backyard last month. Still, that money would have been a drop in the bucket toward a big church wedding.

  As if he could read her thoughts, Doug frowned. “How would you feel about a small wedding?”

  She nodded slowly. “That would probably be best. But…define small.”

  He shot her another comical look and parroted her. “Define tomorrow. Define small. Do I look like a dictionary to you?” But he quickly held up a hand again. “Okay, okay…I’ll be serious.”

  She kept a grin in check. “Thank you.”

  “I was thinking maybe just immediate family and a few other close friends.”

  “You do know I have three brothers and a ton of nieces and nephews. Do you count that as immediate family?”

  “Of course.” He thought for a minute. “So if we keep it that small, how soon do you think we could do this?”

  She didn’t have a clue how to calculate the answer to his question. She had a quick vision of years’ worth of Brides Magazine checklists that all started with: 12 months before the wedding. She didn’t think that was what he had in mind. She clicked off calendar pages in her mind. It was April. An autumn wedding would give them six months. That would be cutting it close, but she could probably do it. Somewhere in her closet she had some files for wedding plans she’d made…before she’d given up hope.

  “How about October?” As soon as she said it, she wanted to retract it.

  He gave her an incredulous look. “October? Are you crazy?”

  “What?” Maybe twelve months was how he defined “tomorrow.”

  “I’m not waiting that long, Mickey. I love you, the kids adore you. It makes no sense to wait.”

  This didn’t seem like the time to bring up the fact that Kayeleigh didn’t exactly adore her. Mickey ran a hand through her hair. “Then give me a date,” she huffed. “I don’t know what page you’re on.”

  He crossed the kitchen in two strides and took her in his arms again. “I’m on the page that makes you my wife at the first possible moment. What could possibly take six months?”

  She tilted her head to study him. “You didn’t have much to do with making your wedding plans, did you?” She looked away and softened her voice. “With Kaye…”

  He shrugged. “I plead the Fifth. She and her mom had things pretty well under control. My job was to stay out of the way.”

  “So when did you two get engaged?”

  He studied her. “You really want to talk about this?”

  They hadn’t exactly avoided the subject of Kaye in the past. But certain aspects of it—the
romantic part of their relationship—had sort of been the elephant in the room between them. But it was time to acknowledge it. “Yes, I really want to know.”

  He pulled a stool out from under the counter, but instead of sitting on it, he placed it between them, leaning on the counter and propping his feet on one of the rungs. “We picked out Kaye’s ring at Christmas and—” A sheepish look came over him. “Oh, I suppose you’d like a ring? An engagement ring, I mean.”

  She raised a brow. “That would be a nice touch.”

  Doug straightened and reached behind him to slide open a long, narrow drawer that held boxes of aluminum foil and plastic wrap. Holding her gaze, he rummaged through the drawer and after a minute, triumph sparked in his eyes. “Ah-ha!” He pulled a plastic silver twist tie from the drawer and held it up.

  “Come here.” He took her hand and motioned her to sit on the stool. “Give me your hand.”

  She held out her left hand and sat motionless while he wrapped the twist tie around her ring finger. His mouth worked as he fashioned a diamond-like knot from the wired ends of the twist tie. Stifling a giggle, she looked up to meet dead-serious blue eyes. He held her hand tighter, until the wire from the twist tie pinched.

  “Mickey Valdez, would you do me the honor of marrying me?”

  “Oh, Doug.”

  He winked. “Saturday we’ll go shopping…for the real thing.”

  “O…kay…”

  “I haven’t gotten an answer yet.”

  She grinned. “I’m thinking.”

  “And October is way too far away.”

  “When then?”

  He wasn’t wasting any time. “We can talk more about dates Saturday…nail something down. But first I have to have an answer.”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  He wrapped her in his arms then, his touch sucking the breath from her, leaving her light-headed. Doug may not have worked as an EMT for a while, but he hadn’t lost his skills, and he quickly resuscitated her with mouth-to-mouth.

  Chapter 24

  “Don’t take your eyes off her for one minute.” Kayeleigh eased Harley off her hip onto Miss Valdez’s deck. She straightened and rubbed her achy hipbone. “I mean it, Landon.”

  “I won’t.” He glared at her. “Just don’t take forever.”

  “I won’t. I’ll only be a minute.” She went to the sliding door and tested the latch on the screen. It slid open easily and she stepped into the kitchen. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust from the bright sunlight, but when she became accustomed to the dim light, she froze right where she was standing.

  Dad and Miss Valdez stood at the stove, tangled in each other’s arms, breathing hard and making out like a couple of characters in the stupid soap operas Grandma watched.

  She tried to clear her throat, but no sound came out. She couldn’t catch her breath and, in spite of the voice in her head telling her to run, she couldn’t make her feet move. But Miss Valdez must have heard something because in the middle of messing up Dad’s hair with her fingers, she looked over at Kayeleigh and gave a strangled gasp. Pushing against Dad, she tried to get loose.

  For a few seconds, Dad kept pulling her closer, trying to keep kissing her, but finally Miss Valdez practically screamed his name. “Doug…Doug!”

  Dad’s head came up and when he saw her, he blew out a heavy breath. His face turned forty-six shades of red. The only time she’d ever seen him blush like that was when he was mad.

  Miss Valdez straightened her clothes and acted like she was all busy pouring hot water into teacups.

  Dad moved to the opposite side of the kitchen. “What do you need, Kayeleigh?” He sounded like he was mad at her.

  Well, she wasn’t too happy with him right now either. “I need to use the bathroom.”

  “Oh!” Miss Valdez put on her bright-and-cheery teacher’s voice and pointed down the hallway. “Go right ahead. You remember where it is…last door on the right.”

  Kayeleigh finally got her feet to work and all but ran down the hall.

  “The light switch is right over the sink, honey,” Miss Valdez called after her.

  Kayeleigh shut the door on the fakey, chipper voice. “Don’t call me honey.” She hissed the words between clenched teeth, wishing they’d hear her, but knowing they couldn’t. She stood in the dark, trying to think what to do. Her own cheeks grew warm, then hot.

  She groped for the sink, turned on the cold water, and splashed her face. What did she have to be embarrassed about? She hadn’t done anything wrong. They were the ones who should feel guilty.

  Through the door she could hear them talking, their voices low and hurried. Like they were trying to figure out how they were going to explain everything when she came out of the bathroom.

  She was no dummy. She knew what they’d been doing, and it made her want to puke. Maybe she’d just stay in here forever. It was pitch dark in the bathroom, but she held her hands out in front of her. She couldn’t see her fingers, but she could feel them trembling.

  She fumbled around on the wall, looking for the light switch. What was Dad doing? Why was he acting like this with that dumb woman? She was so mad at him she thought she might explode. Had he forgotten about Mom already?

  She wanted to hit something. Instead, she finally located the light switch and used the toilet. She washed her hands twice and dried them on the fancy towel that wasn’t much bigger than a washcloth. She turned off the light again and stood by the door trying to listen for Dad and Miss Valdez. They were quiet now. Maybe they’d gone outside.

  She opened the door a crack and looked down the hallway, listening again. Silence. She crept down the hall and peeked into the kitchen. Empty. The curtains covering the sliding doors had been pushed all the way open, and she could see Dad and Miss Valdez sitting on the deck with their tea, acting like nothing had happened.

  She wasn’t about to go out there. Harley was playing on the steps to the deck, singing and talking to herself. Miss Valdez was keeping an eye on her, and Dad was right there. Kayeleigh tiptoed away from the doors and walked through Miss Valdez’s house to the front door. She let herself out and walked to the Suburban parked at the curb. She climbed into the backseat and sat there, her back stiff against the dingy upholstery, her thoughts totally messed up.

  She heard a noise across the street and saw some kids come out of the house across from Miss Valdez’s. She slunk down in the seat, praying they hadn’t seen her.

  When her muscles ached from the awkward slumped position, she slowly eased her legs up onto the bench seat and curled into a fetal position. She closed her eyes and forced herself to think about other things—allowed herself to daydream about Seth Berger kissing her the way Dad had kissed Miss Valdez.

  She wondered if Seth ever thought about that night they’d danced together at Vienne Kenney’s wedding. Did he think about it as much as she did…which was pretty much all the time? He’d been flirting with her at school. At least Rudi called it flirting when Seth starting acting crazy any time she was around, making jokes and even getting in trouble with the teachers because he was trying to make her laugh in the middle of class.

  She got in trouble with the teacher once when he was goofing off, making her laugh. She couldn’t help it. The guy was funny. Seth had been really nice to her after class that day, like he was trying to let her know he was sorry for getting her in trouble. She didn’t care about that. Mrs. Lawson was stupid anyway.

  She wished Mom were here to talk to. That thought brought back the image of Dad kissing Miss Valdez, and her stomach went all queasy.

  A tree branch brushed the roof of the Suburban. Back and forth, back and forth. She felt herself drifting toward sleep in the quiet warmth of the vehicle. A part of her wished she could just go to sleep and never wake up.

  Doug pulled into the garage and turned off the engine. Barking orders to the kids, he opened his door and got out, then slammed it, hoping it would wake up Kayeleigh. She’d scared him half to death disappearing l
ike that. He and Mickey had searched for her for ten minutes before he’d thought to look in the Suburban. He hadn’t chewed her out because he knew why she’d gone into hiding.

  She crawled out of the backseat now, shooting him a look of contempt as she swept past. He sighed. He’d have to talk to her about what happened…what she’d seen. Well, of course. He’d have to talk to all the kids. He was engaged. They needed to know that. And the sooner the better since he’d pretty much given Mickey permission to tell the world. Oh brother…that meant he’d have to call Harriet, too. Well, fine. Now she had a legitimate reason for running off to Florida.

  Engaged. It had sounded like such a good idea when Mickey was in his arms and they were making plans. But now, in the dim light of the messy garage, with Kayeleigh glaring at him, it didn’t fit quite so comfortably.

  A sinking feeling gathered in his gut, and he yanked Harley’s seatbelt harder than necessary. She jammed a thumb in her mouth and looked at him from beneath a rutted brow.

  “Come on, punkin, let’s get you to bed.” He tried to make amends with his voice. It wasn’t Harley’s fault he was out of sorts.

  Forty-five minutes later, with all the kids in bed, he sank down on the sofa. He kicked off his boots and, with one stockinged toe, nudged a stack of dirty dishes to one corner of the coffee table before propping his feet on its sticky surface. He needed to regroup. He’d set something in motion with Mickey tonight that would change his life forever. And not only his, but his kids’. And Mickey’s.

  There were a million questions to be answered. Would she come here to live? Her house wasn’t big enough for all of them, but he couldn’t imagine her giving up the garden she’d worked so hard to create. Looking around their house…his house. He had to quit thinking in terms of they and we, meaning him and Kaye.

  Trying to see this house through Mickey’s eyes, he cringed inwardly. The place was in shambles. Kaye never would have earned any “world’s tidiest housekeeper” awards. With six kids and a part-time job, he’d never expected her to. But without her to do even a modicum of housekeeping, things had gone beyond “cluttered” and straight to “filthy.” With the crazy schedule he was keeping between the farmwork and the pressroom, he’d let things go.