His first thought had been
hell no!
But he knew she wasn’t referring to his love life. “Yeah. Why?” he answered, wondering what was up.
Heather combed her fingers through Grace’s hair. “You’re not looking to make any changes to our relationship, are you?”
“Changes?” He folded his arms across his chest. “You know I’m no good at reading between the lines.” If he was, he’d have understood what Abby really meant when she told him she didn’t want to see him anymore.
“Did you buy an engagement ring?”
Grant clenched his eyes. After the breakup, he’d been in a fog for days. He barely remembered staggering into the kitchen downstairs and shoving the ring in a drawer. He let out his breath all at once. “Yes.” Then he held up his hands to ward off the barrage of questions that had to be coming his way. “But not for you.”
A smile played at the edges of her mouth as she made the keep going motion with her hands. When he didn’t answer right away, she grumbled. “Talking to you is like pulling teeth. Who is the ring for?”
“Abby Roberts.”
Heather blinked several times. “I didn’t know you two were dating.”
“We’re not.”
She barked out a laugh. “She’s going to be pretty surprised when you give her that ring.”
Grant got to his feet and began pacing. This was not a conversation he wanted to have with anyone, least of all his ex-wife. “We were seeing each other, but she broke it off when she decided to take a teaching job in London.”
She stared down at Grace’s little table. “Oh, that’s too bad. I’m sorry.”
He didn’t deserve Heather’s sympathy. The mess was his own damn fault. Perhaps if he hadn’t pushed to make their relationship public, or mentioned babies, she wouldn’t have felt cornered. “No big deal. Shi….” He shot a look toward Grace, minding his language. “Stuff happens,” he corrected.
“Why did she break up with you?”
Reliving what had happened with Abby wasn’t high on his must-do list, but he couldn’t help feeling he’d missed something. He pressed his hands to either side of his head. Maybe if he squeezed hard enough, his brain might pop out a clue.
The morning of the Help and Hope picnic everything had seemed fine. She was more than glad to see him and they’d decided to meet back at her house later to discuss what to do about her new job. After that he’d spent the rest of the day with Heather and Grace. A thought niggled at the back of his mind. Abby had always seemed okay with the amount of time he and Heather spent together. She encouraged it even.
“Holy…” He clamped his hand over his mouth before the rest of the phrase slid between his lips. “Surely she didn’t,” he groaned.
Heather’s eyes widened. “What?”
“I’m not sure, but I think Abby thought if she broke things off, you and I would get remarried.”
“Nooooo,” she breathed then plunked down on the end of Grace’s bed. “So, what are you going to do?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. It’s too late. She’s leaving in the morning.” Katie had been keeping him posted on Abby’s agenda.
Heather narrowed her eyes. “Who are you and what have you done with my ex-husband? Because the Grant I knew wouldn’t have given up so easily.”
Her mocking words were a verbal kick in the ass.
She was right.
Grant wasn’t going to let Abby leave without hearing him out. If she truly didn’t want him, that she wanted to start a new chapter of her life, he’d back off. But he needed to make sure she was making that decision based on the truth: that the only woman he wanted to marry was her.
He bolted toward the door then just as quickly spun on his heels. “Can you cover for me?”
“Of course. Go, before she gets away.” Heather chuckled, moving to join Grace at her table. She called after Grant, “wait,” then tossed the black velvet box to him. “Here, nothing says ‘please hear me out’ like jewelry.”
On the way out the door, he punched up his sister’s number. “Katie, where’s Abby’s farewell party?”
****
Abby jerked her attention to the sound of loud voices. Grant erupted from the house and stalked toward her. One look at his snug T-shirt and jeans and her body heated, knowing exactly how good the well-worn cotton and aged denim felt under her hand.
“Grant. I didn’t know you’d been invited.” She went for light and casual as she spoke, but failed miserably. A month had done nothing to lessen the pain of seeing him again.
Chris and Jackson followed quickly on Grant’s heels, with Jackson cutting off Grant’s trajectory. “He wasn’t invited.”
Grant towered over Jackson, menace in his eyes. “I need to speak to your mother alone.”
“Don’t you think you’ve hurt her enough?” Jackson retorted, pushing against Grant’s chest when he tried to outflank Jackson.
Abby hadn’t provided her son with details of the breakup. Shame from the hurt she’d caused rushed back as she confessed, “Grant has never done the first thing to hurt me. I broke things off.”
Shock washed over Jack’s face. “Because of me?”
“Partly,” she admitted. “I couldn’t stand to see what our relationship was doing to you.”
Jackson shifted his focus to her. “Mom, I’ve been so selfish.” He took a breath. “I just want you to be happy, no matter what.”
Emotion clogged her throat. “That’s what I want for you as well,” she choked out. His sentiment helped but ultimately changed nothing. She turned to Grant. “I want you to be happy, too.”
She searched his face, looking for signs of acceptance. Or anger. She’d certainly earned that. Abby found none, just the stubborn set of his jaw. Realizing he’d never gotten the chance to say his piece, she asked Chris and Jackson, “Can you guys give us a minute?” Neither made a move to leave till Abby shot Chris a pleading look.
“Come inside, Jack,” Chris said as he took Jackson by the arm. “Your mom can handle this.” After a scowl directed at Grant, Jackson return to the house.
Grant closed the distance between them, until his body became a wall that blocked everything else from view. He glared at her from underneath hooded eyes. “We need to straighten a couple things out.”
Abby clenched her fist, bracing for the recriminations she deserved. “Okay,” she croaked. “But, first please let me say this.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I truly regret the way I handled things back at the gazebo.” She also owed him the real reason she’d pushed him away. “However, I do think it’s best for everyone if I go to London and you work things out with Heather.”
Heat flared in his eyes. “Listen, if you don’t want there to be anything between us, that’s one thing,” he snarled. His voice softened as he continued. “But, understand this. Heather and I are never getting back together.” He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “How could you think I could remarry Heather when I’m in love with you?”
Abby opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to put her thoughts into words. “I never did see what you saw in me,” she finally managed. She flailed her arms around trying to make her point. “You could have someone younger, prettier, some woman who likes skydiving and scuba.”
He pinned her arms by her side. “Don’t you see from the moment you asked me to call you Abby instead of Ms. Roberts, you’re the only one I’ve wanted.” He bent down to brush a kiss over her lips. “The only one I could even think of.” He feathered the kiss across her cheek. “You’ve got me so tight in knots, it’s a wonder I can even function.”
Even as he was doing exactly what she wanted him to do and saying what she’d longed to hear again, fear screamed louder. Eventually, he was going to want someone who could love as openly as he. “I don’t see how this can work out.”
All the passion bled from his face. He thumbed the tears that trickled down her checks. “Oh my beautiful lady, always so cautious.” He pressed a single kiss on her forehead. “Thanks for hearing me out.” He let her go, turning toward the house.
How could Sarah ever think her brave? Going to London wasn’t brave. It was the same job in a different location, a risk with training wheels. Being brave wasn’t even telling Grant she loved him. If she truly was brave, she’d admit the way he loved her scared the ever-lovin’ crap out of her. God, she wished she were different. Frozen there by the pool, she watched his back as he strode away. “No more regrets,” she called out when she came to her senses. If she wanted to be different, she needed to act differently.
He turned. “What?”
Abby hurried to catch up to him. Pain contorted his handsome features. She bit her lip knowing she was the instrument of that hurt. She was about to alleviate his pain and the mistaken notion that she didn’t love him. In a way he deserved to hear. “There are a couple things I regret leaving undone. I’d like to fix them if you’d let me.” She took him by the hand, interlacing their fingers. “I told Chris I wanted to say a few words to my guests. Please come inside. I’d like you to hear my speech.”
He bobbed his head and let her lead him into Chris’s dining room. Everyone was huddled in the small space, with a glass of something in hand. She reached for two champagne flutes, passing one to Grant. The plan she and Chris had worked out was he would say a few words then she’d go afterward. Abby eyed her friend, signaling there’d been a change in plans.
Abby scanned the crowd, wondering what they would think. Knowing there was really only one important opinion at this point was what gave her the confidence. “I never intended for things to turn out this way. It was just supposed to be one dance.”
She looked up at Grant. “But he talked me into one more. Then he kissed me.” His face exploded into a grin. “I tried to keep you away, didn’t I?”
He nodded, then took her hand and began rubbing her knuckles. Her pulse thrummed in her veins, and she needed to take several deep breaths before she could speak. “We even tried the cordial relations route, but eventually you wore me out.”
He raised her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss into her palm. The quiet murmurings of her guests swelled as there were several exclamations of, “Awww.”
She made a point of looking at her family who were standing in front, wide eyed. Abby noted her sister’s face was a contorted mess. Probably thinking only a spontaneous pole dance would be more horrific.
“Then I had to go and be my own worst enemy. All because I thought it was too risky. Goes to prove, just because you have a couple degrees and some age under your belt it doesn’t mean you’re smart.”
She slid her arm around Grant till she was grafted onto him, could feel the heat of his body and breathe in his warm masculine scent once again. She didn’t give the first-flying-fig what anyone thought of her PDA. Abby tilted his face to meet those blue eyes. “Grant Davis, I love you.” She punctuated her speech by dragging his mouth down to hers.
The crowd erupted into cheers, cat calls, and applause despite only a few of the guests having a clue what her drama bomb meant. Abby ignored them all, reveling in being exactly where she needed to be. After a moment when it became obvious she had no intentions of explaining herself or letting go of Grant, her audience left them.
Grant tilted her face to look at him. “I don’t want to keep you from going to London if that’s what you really want.”
Abby shook her head. “I only thought that’s what I wanted because it seemed like the kind of adventure I could handle.” She ran her fingers along his whisker shadowed jaw. “Then I learned that life with you is all the adventure I really want.”
A devilish grin curled his sensuous lips. “If that’s the case,” he began, dropping to one knee. Grant reached inside his jacket and brought out a small box. “Can we begin our adventure as husband and wife?”
“Yes, yes, yes. And
yes!
”
Once she’d finally broken through her wall of doubt, she wasn’t holding back. She threw herself into his arms, tears of joy streaming down her face. “And I know just where we need to have the wedding.”
Epilogue
One month later, Turks and Caicos
“I still can’t do hair,” Chris stated as he took a small cluster of flowers from Abby’s trembling fingers.
In lieu of a veil, she’d chosen white orchids for her hair, which in her imagination would rest on the chignon at her nape. Thank God, despite his insistence, her bestie was good with hair pins. She smiled at his reflection. “Some bride’s maid you turned out to be” she teased, pointing to where she wanted the flowers.
In fact, he’d offered to escort Abby down the aisle to meet her groom, and taking his job seriously hadn’t left her side all day. “Before Katie gets back with your bouquet, I want us to have one more of our talks,” he said, fixing the flowers in place.
“Don’t you make me cry,” she told him. “Between my bridal shower, Jackson’s toast last night, and Heather’s surprise wedding gift, I’ve been teary-eyed more in the last week than I have in the past decade.”
Once the initial shock wore off, Grant and Abby’s friends and most of their family had jumped at the chance to help them celebrate their marriage. Katie was delighted to have Abby doing double duty as both mother-in-law and sister-in-law. She’d only pouted for a second or two at being kept in the dark.
Katherine Davis had been another story altogether. She, along with Sarah, headed the unofficial Shocked and Appalled Committee. The one person who so often got painted as the villain in these stories became Grant and Abby’s champion. Thinking about Heather’s efforts to have Grace at her father’s wedding brought tears to Abby’s eyes. She widened her gaze and fanned her face trying to keep the waterworks at bay.
Undeterred by Abby’s pre-wedding emotions, Chris handed her a tissue. “You have on waterproof mascara, so hush and listen.” He took her hands, his green eyes locking on to hers. “You don’t have to go through with this. Just say the word and I’ll have you out of here in a flash.” He ran his assurances together in a one breath run-on sentence.
Abby’s jaw went slack, but before she had time to voice her shock, his face split into a wide grin. “I know this is what you want,” he told her. “I just thought since I’m giving you away, I needed to act like the father of the bride.”