The Christmas Inn (22 page)

“Celebration?”

“We’ve been together one full year.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, yeah…”

“You don’t want to celebrate?”

“Absolutely. And we have something else to celebrate.” Her lips
lingered on his before releasing him. She pushed her hair off her face, looked
up at the ceiling and back into his eyes. “We’re going to have a baby.”

“We’re going to have a what? A baby?” He stared at her.

“You’re not happy,” she said.

“I am. I’m really happy.... Are you sure?” he asked, his words
cautious.

“Of course!” She scowled and climbed off his lap.

Damn! “I fumbled this pretty badly. Can I start over?”

She crossed her arms over her chest as she settled back beside
him. “Be my guest.”

“Probably the smartest thing for me to do right now would be—”
he reached into his pocket and brought out the velvet box “—to give you this. I
planned to tell you the minute we sat down here, but you beat me to it. I’ve
been waiting months to do this.”

She gasped as he snapped the lid open. Her eyes widened. “Oh,
my goodness…”

“Hold it. I want to get this part right.” He took the ring from
its velvet setting. “Marnie McLaughlan, will you marry me…be the mother of our
children?” he asked as he slid the ring onto her finger.

She stared at it, a gleam in her eyes as she held up her hand
to inspect it more closely. “Luke Harrison, I love you. And I accept your
proposal, provided you promise to love, honor and share in the diaper
changing.”

He grinned and kissed her. “I do.”

She kissed him back and climbed back into his lap. “And you
made the right move at the right time.”

“How so?” he asked, overwhelmed by his love for this woman who
made his heart sing.

“If I had had to go home tomorrow after we opened our gifts,
and tell my brothers that I was pregnant and you hadn’t proposed…yet. Well, I
couldn’t have been held responsible for the consequences.”

“Your family has nothing to worry about.”

“I’ll be sure to tell them,” she murmured, working the buttons
on his shirt free as she kissed him again, her lips more demanding than
before.

“Go ahead. Have your way with me,” he growled, shifting her
body on top of his as he stretched out on the floor in front of the tree.

“I plan to,” she murmured against his lips. “Just as soon as
you feed me. By the way, where’s the dinner you promised?”

“Max is waiting for my call.”

“Then, call him. I’m famished,” she said.

He laughed and hugged her close. They were going to have a
baby, their baby, their life…together. “Merry Christmas, darling.”

“Merry Christmas.”

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from
The Road to Bayou Bridge
by Liz Talley!

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CHAPTER ONE

August
2012
Naval Station, Rota,
Spain

T
HE
PAPER
ACTUALLY
SHOOK
in Darby Dufrene’s hand—that’s
how shocked he was by the document he’d discovered in a box of old papers. He’d
been looking for the grief book he’d made as a small child and instead had found
something that made his gut lurch against his ribs.

“Dude, come on. The driver needs to go.” Hal Severson’s voice
echoed in the half-full moving truck parked below the flat Darby had shared with
the rotund navy chaplain for the past several years. His roommate had waited
semi-good-naturedly while Darby climbed inside to grab the book before it was
shipped to Seattle, but good humor had limits.

“Just a sec,” Darby called, his eyes refusing to leave the
elaborate font of the certificate he’d pulled from a clasped envelope trapped in
the back of his Bayou Bridge Reveille yearbook. How in the hell had this escaped
his attention? Albeit it had been buried in with some old school papers he’d
tossed aside over ten years ago and vowed never to look at again, surely the
state of Louisiana seal would have permeated his brain and screamed,
Open me!

Yet, back then he’d been in a funk—a childish, rebellious huff
of craptastic proportions. He probably hadn’t thought about much else except the
pity party he’d been throwing himself.

The moving truck’s engine fired and a loud roar rumbled through
the trailer, vibrating the wood floor. The driver was eager to pick up the rest
of his load, presumably a navy family heading back to the States, and his
patience with Darby climbing up and digging through boxes already packed was
also at an end. Darby slid the certificate back into its manila envelope, tucked
it into his jacket and emerged from the back end of the truck.

Hal’s red hair glinted in the sunlight spilling over the tiled
roof, and his expression had evoled to exasperation. The man was hungry. Had
been hungry for hours while the movers slowly packed up Darby’s personal effects
and scant pieces of furniture, and no one stood between Hal and his last chance
to dine in El Puerto de Santa Maria, the city near the Rota Naval Base, with his
best comrade. “Let’s go already. Saucy Terese and her crustacean friends await
us.”

“Not Il Caffe di Roma, Hal. I don’t want to look into that
woman’s eyes and wonder if she might greet me with a filet knife.”

“You ain’t that good, brother,” Hal said in a slow Oklahoma
drawl. “She’ll find someone else on which to ply her wiles when the new guy
arrives.”

“You mean the new guy whose name is Angela Dillard?”

“The new JAG officer’s a girl?”

Darby smiled. “Actually she’s a woman.”

Hal jingled his keys.
“Entendido.”

“Your Spanish sucks.”

“Whatever. Now get your butt in gear. There are some crabs and
sherry with my name on them.”

Darby tried to ignore the heat of the document pressing against
his chest. Of course, it wasn’t actually hot. Just burning a hole in his stomach
with horrible dread. He was an attorney and the document he carried wasn’t a
prank, but he couldn’t figure out how the license had been filed. His father had
virtually screamed the implausibility at him nearly eleven years ago—the day
he’d shipped Darby off to Virginia—so this didn’t make sense. “Fine, but if
Terese comes toward me with a blade, you must sacrifice yourself. If not, Picou
will ply the sacrificial purifications of the Chickamauga on you. She’s been
waiting for five years to get me back home to Beau Soleil.”

Hal rubbed his belly. “Did they perform human sacrifices?”

“Who? The Native Americans or Picou?”

“Either.”

Darby grinned. “I don’t know about the Chickamauga, but my mom
will go psycho if I don’t climb off that plane.”

“Consider it done. No way I’m left to deal with your mother.
She makes mine look like that woman from
Leave It to
Beaver
.”

“Your mom
is
June Cleaver all the
way down to the apron and heels.” Darby knew firsthand. Her weekly chocolate
chips cookies had caused him to pack on a few pounds.

“I know. All women pale in comparison.” Hal opened the door of
his white convertible BMW, his one prideful sin, and slid in. He perched a pair
of Ray-Bans on his nose and fired the engine.

“Except our housekeeper, Lucille. Can’t wait to get my hands on
her pecan pie.” Darby took one last look at his beachfront flat before sliding
onto the hot leather seats of Hal’s car. He’d already shipped his motorcycle to
the States weeks ago. He wanted it available when he got to Seattle and went in
search of apartments, though he knew he’d likely have to sell it in favor of a
respectable sedan. With all that Northwest rain, he’d have little chance to take
as many mind-clearing drives as he had along the coast of Spain. Plus, Shelby
hated it.

“Well, say goodbye, dude,” Hal said, sweeping one arm over the
sunbaked villa where Darby had spent the past two years, before pulling away and
heading toward the motorway that would take them into the city.

“Goodbye, dude,” Darby said, parroting his friend. He smiled as
the wind hit his cheeks, but as soon as he remembered the document, his smile
slipped away. Trouble brewed and this homecoming would be no cakewalk despite
the pecan pie that waited.

“Are you sad? Thought you’d been ready to leave Rota since you
got here, Louisiana boy.”

How could Darby tell him his mood wasn’t about leaving the base
and his small adventure in Spain but about the marriage license he’d found in
his high school trunk? He could, but there was no sense in ruining his last
night with the man who’d become like a brother to him over the course of his
deployment. With Hal being the base chaplain, most would think him an odd choice
of roommate for a formerly degenerate bayou boy, but something about Hal clicked
as soon as Darby met the man who’d been looking for a flatmate. Having Hal as a
friend, guide and trusted mentor had made the move overseas tolerable. In fact,
after a few months, Darby had downright enjoyed himself.

And he’d found Shelby through Hal.

And when he met the blonde teacher who taught at the American
school on base, he knew he’d finally grown up, finally left his confusion and
his past behind. Here was what he’d been looking for—a beautiful woman, a
promising career, if the interview went well, and a clean slate in a new
place—so he’d flung the dice and shipped his things to Seattle rather than home
to Bayou Bridge.

He patted the inside pocket of his jacket.

But maybe he wouldn’t be moving forward as soon as he’d
planned.

Because he was fairly certain he was legally married to Renny
Latioles.

* * *

R
ENNY
L
ATIOLES
ADJUSTED
her reading glasses and
stared at the computer screen. How did L9-10 get so far away from the Black Lake
Reservoir? And even more disturbing, why was the damn crane on Beau Soleil
property?

“She still there?” fellow biologist Carrie Dupuy asked,
mindlessly sipping the bitter coffee that had been sitting in the urn all day
long. Coffee stayed brewing at the Black Lake station where they worked side by
side on the reintroduction of the whooping crane into South Louisiana.

“Yeah, and I don’t get it. It’s over sixty miles from the
habitat you’d think she would prefer. No other crane has gone that far to the
north. There isn’t a lot of marsh in that parish even with the wetlands
receding.”

“It’s been well over a week, Ren. Maybe you better head up and
get a visual. Make sure she’s not tangled up in something.”

“But the bird is moving around in a fairly large perimeter. If
you look at this satellite map, you can see the field it’s inhabiting.” Renny
dragged a finger across the screen. “Look. Woodlands, bayou and one abandoned
rice field.”

Carrie frowned at the computer. “I agree. It doesn’t make
sense, but obviously L9-10 has found a little slice of heaven in St. Martin
Parish. Maybe this is a good thing, this adapting and surviving in an atypical
area, but we need to check this out in person, and since you live up that
way...”

Renny pushed back from the screen, rolling toward the filing
cabinet sitting a few yards away. She grabbed a fresh logbook.

“Why not just take your computer?”

Pushing tendrils of hair out of her eyes, Renny shook her head.
“Nope. Going old-school. Especially since Stevo lost the tablet in the basin.
I’ll take handwritten notes and then add them to our files when I return. If
L9-10 decides to stay in her new digs, I’ll have to spend a bit more time close
to Bayou Bridge.”

“Easy for you because you live there.”

Renny shook her head. “It actually worries me since you’re
heading to Virginia in a few weeks.”

“I’ll call Stevo in Baton Rouge and see if he can send Ruby
back to work on field notes and mind the fledglings. The captive cranes seemed
to like her. She even got L-3 to take walks with her.”

Renny nodded. “She’s a good grad assistant. Glad we got her
instead of that smarmy ex-fraternity president.”

As the project manager carrying out the reintroduction of the
whooping crane into the wintering grounds of Southwest Louisiana, Renny had
tremendous pressure to succeed on her shoulders. The federal and state grants
only stretched so far, and after losing one of the released cranes to natural
predators earlier that summer, she felt even more driven to prove all was going
as planned. Private donors liked to see results—successful results—or they
didn’t open their wallets. And at the rate their funds were dwindling, they
needed to tread carefully.

Renny felt something sink in her stomach. Ironically, L9-10 was
on Beau Soleil property, which, come to think of it, wasn’t so odd considering
the Dufrenes owned lots of land in St. Martin Parish. No problem except there
were far too many painful memories attached to anything named Dufrene—even an
abandoned rice field.

Darby.

His image flashed in her mind. Long legged, brown from the sun,
alligator smile. He’d been pure pleasure in a pair of worn jeans. God, she’d
loved him so much. Loved the way he touched her, loved the way he made her feel.
Wild, alive, made for him.

Of course that had all been a lie.

A young girl’s dream of what love should be. And she wasn’t a
young girl anymore.

The real Darby hadn’t looked back. He’d left Louisiana and the
girl he supposedly loved behind. Left her behind broken both physically and
spiritually. But his dismissal had made her stronger. Had made her who she now
was, and she was damn proud of what she’d become.

She shook herself.

“Rat run over your grave?” Carrie asked.

“Yeah, something like that.” Renny pulled off her reading
glasses and tried not to think about the rat. Darby was behind her and she’d
made peace with herself and what had happened...or rather what had not happened.
They’d been eighteen, high school seniors and majorly naive. She’d long ago
forgiven both herself and the wild Dufrene boy who’d talked her into loving
him.

Besides, she was too old to worry about those feelings again,
even if she would soon have to deal with his mother. And Picou was never easy to
deal with. On the surface, Picou Dufrene seemed docile and enlightened in her
yoga gear and caftans, but underneath the feathers and fluff was a woman of pure
steel. A woman who always got her way.

Just like her youngest son.

“You heading out now?” Carrie wrinkled her nose at her coffee
cup. “How long has this been sitting in the pot?”

“Long enough to grow hair on your chest,” Renny said, sliding
the journal into the beat-up leather tote she’d bought the day she got her
master’s in biology. “And, yeah, I’m going to head up and see what’s going on
with L9-10. She was always such a skittish bird. Should have known she’d settle
down in some weird location. Damn storm.”

Carrie set her mug down. “But a good opportunity for us to see
how far they’ll stretch the habitat. Go. Call me later and let me know what you
find, and then go have yourself a good weekend. As in, go do something fun for a
change.”

“I have fun.” Why was everyone pushing her to go out and lasso
a man? Even her mother, who’d formerly harped on the evilness of the opposite
sex, had started “suggesting” Renny go somewhere other than church for her
social life. Renny was Bev’s only shot at grandchildren. Forget biological
clocks. Grandmother’s clocks were wound tighter.

“If you call sitting in a pirogue watching herons mate fun,
then I guess you do. Come on, it’s Friday, Renny. Don’t let your leg keep you
from shaking it.”

“Shaking it?”

“Your booty, girlfriend.”

Renny pushed through the door leading to the lobby of the
office. “Sure. I’ll think about it.”

But she wouldn’t. Carrie had poked a soft spot in her
psyche—one she tried to ignore. Renny didn’t want to squirrel herself away like
some disfigured misanthrope. No, she wanted to be that game gal who didn’t mind
the stares, whose zest for living and glowing smile chased away any thoughts of
pity. A small part of her wanted to be the girl she used to be...but it was only
a small part. The rest of her liked her life as it was. Simple. Driven.

Safe.

She dashed that last thought because what was wrong with living
safe anyway? Having control was a good thing, considering she’d spent a good
deal of time having no control over anything—even her body. Most of her doctors
were convinced she’d never walk again. And here she was walking out of her
office door.

Okay, the pitch in her step still bothered her. Vain, stupid
and weak, sure, but walking into a bar, aka meat market, wasn’t fun when a girl
unintentionally lurched herself at men. So she didn’t go to bars. Or singles
mixers. Or on blind dates.