Calamity Jena (Invertary Book 4) (38 page)

“Where’s Matt?” Jena said when she came to.

Her head hurt. Her mouth felt like it had been washed out with sand and her eyeballs were scraped raw every time she blinked. It felt a lot like a hangover.

“He had to stay in Invertary and arrest Frank.” Heather, Matt’s mom, came into focus. She was smiling down at Jena.

Jena blinked, wincing at the scraping sensation. “Where am I?”

“Hospital. Fort William,” one of the twins said as she grinned from the other side of the bed. “You broke a couple of bones when you were sucked underground by the explosion.”

The words made the memory rush back at Jena. She closed her eyes and groaned.

There was a smacking sound. “Good job, freakoid, you’ve upset her.” That had to be the other twin.

“Girls.” Heather used her mom voice, which was strangely reassuring. “One of you give Jena a drink of water and the other one fetch the nurse.”

A cup with a straw appeared in front of her face. She accepted it gratefully.

“Samuel, raise the bed,” Heather ordered.

The bed was promptly raised. Jena looked out of the corner of her eye to find Grunt grinning at her.

“Glad you’re alive,” he said.

“Thanks.” Jena shifted on her pillows, groaning at the ache in her side.

She looked down her body and took stock of the damage. Her ribs were strapped beneath the hospital-issue gown she was wearing. Her lower leg was in a bright pink fibreglass cast and her left hand was bandaged. She held up the hand. She didn’t remember that one.

“Nasty cut,” Heather said. “Same as your head.”

Jena reached up with her right hand and, sure enough, there was a dressing attached to her temple.

“Did they have to cut my hair?” Why she was concerned about her hair and not her broken bones she wasn’t sure, but it seemed the most important worry.

“No, dear, your hair is fine.” Heather patted her hand, and for a moment Jena felt as though she was being mothered. It was nice. Strange, but nice. It brought tears to her eyes. She worked hard to blink them away.

“It was nice of you to come,” she told them. “But you don’t need to stay. I’m sure Matt will be here when he’s finished knocking Frank into next week.”

“We’re staying,” Claire said. Jena knew it was Claire because she was sitting in Grunt’s lap.

“You’re a member of the family now,” Heather said.

Jena felt her bottom lip tremble. She felt stupid. Twenty-six years old and the thought of having a family made her insides turn to custard.

“I’m not. Matt and I aren’t even dating.” Her words came out all pathetic and trembling.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Heather said. “We’re the Donaldsons. We don’t date. We tend to get married and worry about the other stuff later. Matt proposed to you while you were trapped. So it’s a done deal. No getting out of it now.”

“He didn’t propose, he ordered me.”

“Same difference.” Heather seemed unconcerned.

“Doesn’t it bother you that your son wants to marry me?” Jena demanded. “I’m a mess. My house is rubble. I have fourteen dollars, I mean pounds, in the bank. I don’t have a proper job and I can’t teach dance like this. My mother can’t stand me. My ex-boyfriend tried to kidnap me and turn me into his pet stripper.” Her bottom lip wobbled. “I just found out I’m living here illegally. All of my belongings are now under a house. I don’t even know where my clothes are. I know I was wearing some when I was rescued. On top of that, everything I touch breaks. And everyone around me gets hurt at some point. I’m the last person you should want your son to marry.”

The tears came. She couldn’t stop them. She was a joke. A useless waste of space. No good for anything.

“No.” At Matt’s voice, Jena’s head snapped to the door. “You’re not the last person I should marry. You’re the
only
person I should marry. You’re the only woman I
want
to marry.”

He stepped into the room. His eyes only for her. Jena chewed her bottom lip as tears fell. She was so relieved to see him. At the same time she knew he should run far, far away from her. “You’re only saying that because you feel sorry for me.”

Matt burst out laughing. “Silly girl.” He stepped up to the bed, sat on the edge and put his palm on her cheek. His thumb brushed away her tears. “You make me laugh. You make me take things less seriously. Your enthusiasm and sense of adventure means every day around you is fun. You’re hard-working. You’re kind. You’re so optimistic you make the sun shine just by being you. You look out for everyone.” He leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead. “You are incredibly sexy. You’re unpredictable. Eager to learn. Slightly mad and seriously accident-prone.”

Jena gave a sad little laugh.

Matt’s beautiful blue eyes held hers. She saw in them the truth of every word. She saw the depth of feeling he had for her. It was all there. Raw and open for her to read.

“Don’t send me away, princess,” he whispered. His voice husky with emotion. “I need you. Without you I’ll become one of those sad, uptight old men who only cares about rules, regulations and how neat his house is. I need you to drive me crazy every day of my life and remind me what I’m living for.” He kissed her lips ever so gently. “I’m living for you, princess. You’re my soul mate. Don’t take that from me.”

“I love you so much,” Jena whispered. “But I don’t deserve you.”

He smiled at her, making her heart melt further. She was defenceless against him. “I’ll remind you of those words frequently.”

She shook her head at him. Matt looked over his shoulder towards the door. “Come on in,” he called.

From the looks on his family’s faces, they were none the wiser about who he was talking to either. The door opened and the vicar of Invertary Presbyterian Church walked in. Jena shot a confused look at Matt. He held her uninjured hand tight and pinned her with his gaze.

“We’re getting married. Now. Here. Don’t argue. It’s a done deal. Just accept it,” he said.

“What?” Jena gaped at the vicar. “Shouldn’t I agree to this first?”

“Generally, yes,” the vicar said, but didn’t seem at all bothered that she hadn’t.

Meanwhile, Matt’s mum burst into tears as she hugged Matt. “This is wonderful. I love it. Your dad would have loved it. It’s exactly the kind of thing he would have done.”

She wiped a tear from her eye before giving Jena an equally enthusiastic hug. Jena winced, and Matt’s hand shot out to pull his mom back. “Remember her ribs are cracked.”

“Oh, sorry, Jena.” His mother fussed over her, and it was kind of nice.

“Right, let’s get this over with,” Reverend Morrison said.

“Hey,” Matt said. “Attitude.”

The old man rolled his eyes. “I’ve got the paperwork. There aren’t any rings. So all we need to do is say the vows, sign the certificate and you’re done here.”

Matt scowled at him before smiling at Jena. “We can have another wedding when you feel better. A proper one. We can go shopping for rings together.”

Jena blinked at him. “Is this really happening?”

Heather and the twins laughed as Matt smiled at her. “Oh yes,” he said.

“Does she have concussion?” the minister said. “Is she in her right mind? I can’t marry her off to you if she doesn’t know what she’s agreeing to.”

“Jena, tell the man you want to marry me,” Matt ordered.

She stared at him for a long couple of minutes while everyone in the room seemed to hold their breaths. “Yes, I absolutely want to marry this idiot,” she said.

The women squealed with delight. The vicar sighed heavily and Matt winked at her. “Good decision. Well done. But how about less of the idiot stuff?”

Before she could answer, the vicar cleared his throat. “Dearly beloved,” he started, and Jena didn’t hear anything else.

All she could see, all she was aware of, was Matt’s smiling face and his eyes full of love.

Love for her.

Jena Morgan had found a home at last.

Epilogue—six months later

The frame for their new house was going up, and Jena couldn’t wait to see it happen.

“Get up.” She bounced on the bed beside Matt.

He groaned and shoved his head under the pillow. “Go away. This is my first day off in months.”

“Liar. You were off last weekend.”

“I was on call last weekend. There’s a difference.”

She grabbed the pillow and lobbed it over the room. “You need to get dressed. We have to get to the building site. I want to see the house go up.”

Matt rolled onto his back, momentarily distracting her with his pecs. Yum. She shook her head. No. Not yum. There was no time for yum. His eyes sparkled as he guessed what she was thinking.

“Why don’t we stay here for a while instead?” He reached for her, but she jumped out of his way.

“I don’t want to miss this. Get up and get dressed right now.”

He groaned. “Explain to me why I have to be there so you can see it. You can see it perfectly well without me.”

“Matthew Donaldson, this is our first home. Probably our last home. We’ve been planning it for months. This is important. It’s something we need to share together.”

“Fine, I’ll get up, but you owe me.”

She clapped her hands and bounced some more as he hauled himself out of bed. “You shower, I’ll get your clothes. Hurry.” She shooed him in the direction of the bathroom.

Apart from the fact it was exciting to see their house being built, she was also excited that there was an end in sight to living in Matt’s horrible police-issue house. No matter how much colour and mess she threw at it, it still seemed sterile. Not to mention the orange glass windows made her want to vomit. She did a little twirl as she waited for Matt to finish in the bathroom. Normally she would have climbed into the shower with him, but she actually wanted to leave the house sometime before lunch.

She could never have guessed how fabulously things had turned out. Her old house had building insurance. It wasn’t enough to cover building a new home, but it had been damn close. Then the government had gotten in touch. It turned out they planned to pay damages for the fact her property sat on an unsafe mine. It meant Jena and Matt had more than enough to build the house of their dreams. Not that Matt was bothered. He kept telling her that his savings were now her savings. Which was great, kind, generous, all of those things. She still felt better sharing his savings when she had something for them to share too.

An arm wrapped around her waist and Matt buried his face in the crook of her neck.

“Delicious,” he rumbled against her skin. He kissed her shoulder before nuzzling the spot behind her ear that made her go weak at the knees.

She stepped away, thrusting his clothes at him. “No distracting me.”

He laughed, the devil. “Are Gordon and Brenda coming?”

Jena nodded. “They’re meeting us there.”

“I hope they’re bringing food.”

Jena ignored him. Everything revolved around food for Matt. She was pleased Gordon would be there for the start of their house. He’d really taken her under his wing at the hardware store. She’d learned so much the past few months, and after her house had blown up, Gordon started paying her in money rather than materials. She loved it. She loved everything DIY, and Gordon was talking about her becoming a partner in the business. He said he wanted to change the sign above the door to “Stewart and Daughter”. It made her cry—much to Matt’s amusement.

“Hurry up,” she told him.

“I’d go faster with coffee,” he grumbled.

She held up the to-go cup she’d put on the dresser. His eyes lit up.

“Have I told you I love you?” He reached for the coffee.

“Once or twice.” She laughed.

At last they managed to get down the stairs and out of the house. Jena wriggled in her seat all the way through a town that looked pretty empty for the time of the morning. Highland folk tended to start their days early, yet there was no one in sight.

“Just think,” Jena said, “in a few short months the house will be finished and decorated and we can move in.” She grinned wickedly. “Then, of course, we’ll have to christen every room.”

“Evil woman,” he said.

They drove up the quiet country lane towards her land, and Jena could see the field the council had been working in. They were filling the holes the mine made. By the time they finished, the area would be stable and safe. It was slow work, but at some point the field would be covered in grass once again. As they turned the corner to their new build, Jena’s jaw dropped. The road was filled with people. It seemed like the whole town was there.