Sunny brought the boxes over to the bed. “And I have the earrings and bracelet to match. You’ll give her those on your wedding day.”
“
Okay.”
If there was a wedding day.
The nerves had returned, but not because he wasn’t sure he wanted to marry Jenna. He’d known for the past three years she was the one. Only one pestering memory had clouded his judgment about that. But the pestering memory didn’t seem threatening anymore, now that he could trace it to its origin. He’d loved Jenna Morgan from the first moment their eyes met and he loved her still.
The threat now came from Jenna herself. He wasn’t sure she’d want to marry him. He could never quite get a read on her feelings for him.
She wasn’t one to be rushed back into a relationship. That much he knew. He’d learned that lesson at the pond.
He wasn’t even sure she really wanted him around their son.
“
Crystal told me she’s having serious financial problems,” his mother said. “Boone thinks that’s why she telling you that boy is your son.”
“
No,” Sam answered. “He’s mine. I’ll do a DNA test if it’ll shut Boone up.”
What really worried him were the money problems he kept hearing about. And that was something he could help Jenna with.
But he didn’t like the idea of her marrying him for his money. To escape her financial problems. He wanted her to marry him because she couldn’t live without him any more than he could live without her.
Sunny found the jewelry set that made him see what she’d meant about the flashy ring he’d bought. She held the necklace setting over her finger. A square blue stone with a diamond on either side. It was dainty and pretty and the light blue stone was the color of Jenna’s eyes.
“
See?” she said, smiling. “This is the right one. This is the one for her.”
He did see. It was exactly right.
And Jenna was exactly right.
If only he could find out if she felt the same way about him.
“
Food’s on the table!” Marna called through the intercom.
Sam was about to stand when his mother caught his arm and stopped him. “You need to be here with your new family now,” she said, making sure to make eye contact. “Now that your granddaddy’s gone, there’s really no reason for you to go and live out there on the ranch on your own. Bucky has everything well in hand. Come and be back with your family for a while. We all miss you.”
He went ahead and stood. He’d imagined Jenna and Ethan living with him in Texas. He’d promised his dying grandfather he’d stay and take care of the ranch. “I’ll think about it.”
In the kitchen, Marna had set out quite a spread for him. Ham and eggs, biscuits with sausage gravy, fried potatoes, toast with homemade strawberry jam, orange juice and coffee. He left his mom to take advantage. He’d missed Marna’s cooking. She’d been with the family as long as he could remember and credited herself with all the Strickland boys growing up tall and strong.
His dad, Knox, came in the back door and yelled, “There’s my boy! Saw his truck. Why didn’t anybody call me?”
Before Sam made it to the table, his dad grabbed him around the middle from behind. Once, he’d have lifted Sam off the floor, but he couldn’t anymore.
“
Big as an ox,” Knox said, laughing as he gave up. He went after his wife instead, grabbed her in a hug and lifted her feet off the floor. She squealed to be put down, swatting him away when he did. But she was laughing.
Marna was laughing, too, nodding as she pointed insistently to the food at the table.
And suddenly everything seemed like it always had. Like it should have been.
Becky was right. Once the decision was made, truly made, the fear vanished.
And Sam knew exactly what he had to do.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“
What’s with you?” Brianna asked as she drove Jenna home. “You’re acting weird.”
Jenna looked back at Ethan who was singing softly to one of his stuffed animals.
“
Am I?”
Bri gave her arm a slap. “You look happy.”
Jenna smiled. She felt happy. “I got a promotion today. And a raise. A big raise.”
Bri gasped, swerving on the road. Jenna pointed for Bri to pay attention. “Don’t get too excited. It won’t solve all our problems but at least now I’ll earn enough for Ethan and me to live on after we move and I can help you with college.”
Bri sighed. “But not Vanderbilt?”
“
Not yet. It’s not like they made me a partner.”
But thanks to her college degree, and the experience she’d gained at the firm, she would soon be a paralegal. Maybe one day she’d go back and finish her law degree.
And she’d won a slight victory over Brandon Stewart, and all the Stewarts, today. After Mr. O’Hara had explained all about Kenneth Stewart’s demands, and threats, Jenna had tried to talk her way out of the firing, to use some of the verbal skills her father had taught her. But Mr. O’Hara had held up a sharp hand and stopped her. He’d declared he didn’t like demands and wasn’t going to be threatened. By anyone. His grandfather had started the firm eighty years ago and they hadn’t survived this long by cowering to threats.
Besides
, he’d said,
it’s an idle threat. Winston Stewart needs to get his boys in line and I plan to tell him so myself at the club this evening
.
“
And get this,” she told Brianna. “Brandon’s grandfather isn’t sick at all. Mr. O’Hara said he’s healthy as a horse. I think Brandon made all that up, about the will and having to get married. I knew it sounded fishy.”
“
He’s crazy,” Bri said, seeming genuinely worried. “Why would he say all that? What does he want?”
“
I really don’t know,” Jenna answered. She’d been wondering the same thing herself.
“
Don’t ever talk to him again,” Bri ordered.
“
Don’t worry.”
But as Brianna pulled up the drive, Jenna saw the silver Porsche parked in the front of the house, in place of Sam’s truck.
Bri hit the brakes hard, sending them all leaning forward. She was about to put the car in reverse but Jenna stopped her. “Just park in the garage and take the baby inside. I’ll deal with this.”
“
What if he does something bad?”
“
He won’t. He wouldn’t dare. Other people know he’s out to hassle me now.” Whether Brandon was crazy or not, she couldn’t say, but she knew how much he valued his reputation. “I need to put an end to this.”
Brianna pulled up to the house and let Jenna out then did as she was told. Brandon sat slouched down in his car with the top down, just sitting there as superior as ever, with his arm resting on the door and his shades pushed up on his head.
“
You need to leave me alone,” she told him as she approached.
“
Have a good day at work?” he asked, smirking.
She stopped within speaking distance, but put herself between him and the porch steps. “Actually, I did. I had a great day. I got a promotion.”
Brandon’s eyes widened instantly and he jerked to an upright position, causing his shades to fall at a crooked angle. He grabbed them and threw them to the seat beside him. Apparently, he hadn’t heard the news yet.
“
Liar,” he said, his face reddening.
“
Ask your father. Or, better yet, ask your grandfather.” She checked her wristwatch. “You’ll probably want to catch him before he leaves for the club.”
Eyes still wide, face still red, Brandon started his car and put it in gear. “We’re not done,” he said and sped off.
“
Oh, yes, we are,” Jenna whispered and jogged up the steps, feeling lighter than she had in years.
Brianna had been spying with the door cracked. She opened the door wide now, Ethan perched on her hip. “What did Brandon Buttface have to say?”
“
Not very much,” Jenna told her sister.
“
Good.” Bri held up the phone. “You got a text. Sam’s on his way over.”
A sharp and sudden thrill almost tripped her up but she tried to hide it since Brianna was raising a teasing eyebrow at her. She gave Ethan a kiss on the cheek. “How was he today?”
“
Charming and handsome,” Bri said. “Just like his father.”
Jenna couldn’t help but shake her head and smile. “You can stop that any time now. Let me change and then you can take the car or do whatever you want. You still need to look for a job.” She stopped on her way upstairs to change. “I keep forgetting. Sam wants pictures of Ethan.”
Brianna followed her into the den. “So,” she said, “what’s going on with you two?”
Jenna knelt down to pull out the photo albums and shoeboxes of loose photos from the cabinet beneath the bookcase. “What do you mean?”
Bri set Ethan loose to go play. “Are y’all dating? Is he staying? What’s happening?”
Jenna carried the albums into the solarium, following Ethan to his playroom. Bri brought the shoeboxes. Jenna sat at the table to look for the most recent photos of Ethan. She’d had a coupon and taken him in to a department store only last month for his second birthday. She had some extra wallet-sizes somewhere.
“
Still waiting,” Bri sang, pulling out a chair.
“
Still not answering,” Jen sang back.
“
Why?”
Jenna stopped a moment to think. “Because I have no idea. We’re still adjusting. He’s only been here a few days.”
Bri plopped down in a chair. “It seems like he’s always been here.”
It did, once Jenna thought about it. It was beginning to feel as if Sam had never left. Even with the excitement over her promotion, she’d spent most of the day thinking about Sam, wondering if he would come over again or wait until Friday. Wondering if he would call.
Wondering if he might kiss her again.
He’d said it wasn’t over. And the thought of his hands on her again, his lips on hers, made her dizzy with excitement, and full of hope he wouldn’t forget his promise to at some point pick up where they’d left off in the foyer.
She wasn’t as afraid as she’d been, just hours before, that he only wanted to use her and leave her. It occurred to her that she’d been transferring all her recent fears, of going broke, of losing the house, of Brianna losing her future, of Ethan ending up homeless, onto Sam. Now that her financial situation didn’t seem so scary, the idea of letting herself get closer to Sam didn’t seem so scary, either.
She wanted to be around him, see his handsome face, look into those dark blue eyes, be with him, near him, and feel his heat again. She wanted more of what he’d shown her that night on his brother’s pond. Even if it never meant more than that. More than the physical. She was ready to let herself be a little more reckless. And have a little more fun.
She watched her son alternately playing with his blocks and toy piano on the floor, softly singing a dada song. A song with words that almost sounded like ‘daddy.’
Her only real concern was Sam’s relationship with Ethan. And there, she had to be very careful. He was proving himself slowly, sticking around, and facing his fears of committing – if not to her, then to Ethan. But would it last?
Maybe she could try harder, do more to make him connect with Ethan and feel more like a father. And give him more reasons to commit to his son. Maybe Sam would think of staying instead of returning to his ranch.
“
What?” Bri asked, watching her.
“
He has to go back to Texas, eventually,” Jenna shared, turning to rest her arms on the back of the chair so she could watch Ethan more comfortably. “That’s where he lives. That’s where his life is.”
“
Why is that?” Bri asked. “Since his family is here?”
“
It’s a long story.” And one that made her a little sad.
“
Don’t get all blah again,” Bri said, giving Jenna a push on the arm. “You were happy before. Finally. Be happy again.”
Jenna smiled and turned back to the photos. “I’m still happy.” She took a good look at her sister, wondering about something. “Do you remember Mom?”
Bri jerked back in surprise. “Why?”
“
You were two when she died. I was wondering if you remember her. Not just from pictures.”
Bri looked off and shrugged, frowning. “I don’t know. I’m not sure if what I remember is from real life or from what people told me. I guess I don’t. Why?”
“
I was just thinking of Ethan. Whether he’ll remember meeting Sam.”
Bri stared at her, still frowning. “Probably not.”
The doorbell rang and Bri jumped up. “He’s here!” She ran to let Sam in.
Jenna stayed, setting aside photos she thought Sam might want, that intense jolt of excitement returning when she heard his deep voice travel through the house. Followed by that rumbling laugh she loved so much.
She thought back to those wild, threatening Strickland men in the post office and wondered if Sam was actually related to them. If maybe sharing the same last name was only a coincidence. That had to be it. He was so different from those men.