Finally a Bride (14 page)

“Yeah.” Brenna sighed. “He must want more kids—a bigger family.”

“Molly would make a great mother.” His hands shaking slightly, Eric grabbed two glasses from a cupboard and splashed some whiskey into them. Then he pushed one across the counter to Brenna and lifted the other to his lips.

“Do you think she loves him?”

He nearly choked on the sip he’d taken, the liquid burning his throat. And shrugged. “I don’t know what to think.”

Brenna tapped her glass against his. “Cheers to that.” She downed the fiery liquid in one gulp.

“You’re staying here, you know,” Eric said as he took another tentative sip from his glass. The whiskey had belonged to Uncle Harold. Eric hadn’t opened the bottle since the old man had gone into the VA home. He wasn’t much of a drinker.

But Brenna helped herself to another glass, gesturing at him with the bottle as her gaze skimmed him from head to toe. “Why did you and I never…” Before he could answer, she nodded in response to her own question. “Molly.”

Molly, for too many years his life—his dreams—had revolved around her. He gripped his drink so tightly the glass shifted beneath his palm, as if about to break. With a sigh, he set the shot glass on the counter and relaxed his fingers, letting it go.

As he had to let her go.

Finally. He’d held on to his crush twenty years too long.

Molly’s hands tightly gripped the wheel as she steered her car down Eric’s rutted driveway toward the cabin. Her sister wasn’t the only one who had discovered inner strength. Molly had, too. She had the strength to fight for the man she wanted—the man she loved.

But her conviction weakened as she pulled up behind an all-wheel-drive station wagon. Brenna’s. With the sun barely streaking the sky with pinks and purples, she had to have spent the night here. Jealousy stung like a cold slap.

Brenna and Eric? They were just friends. But, then, Molly and Josh had been just friends when he’d proposed and she’d accepted. And Eric and Molly…Well, she realized now that they had never been
just
friends.

But Eric and Brenna were both single. They weren’t engaged to other people. Maybe they had…Maybe they would…

Her brief spurt of bravery evaporated, and she backed out of the long driveway onto the street and turned her car in the direction of the Kellys’.

Matchmaking schemes notwithstanding, she should have done this a while ago. She owed Josh more than the near-hysterical apology she’d left on his voice mail. In the driveway of the purple, teal and yellow Victorian, she parked her car behind his Suburban.

Reminding herself that she was strong, she walked up the steps of the porch. Glimpsing a shadow behind the gauzy drapes on the windows of the turret-room parlor, she knocked softly on the French doors and held her breath.

The doors jerked open to a dark-haired man who looked more like a movie star than a brilliant surgeon. His voice full of relief, he said, “Thank God you’re back.”

As he lowered his gaze by the several inches in difference between Brenna’s height and Molly’s, and met her eyes, the relief turned back into tension. Apparently her matchmaking had been successful, at least halfway. Josh clearly had fallen for Molly’s maid of honor.

She smiled at his disappointment. “Somehow I don’t think you’re talking about me.”

“Molly…” Josh closed his eyes and released a breath. “Thank God you’re all right.”

“Yes.” His concern touched her, reminding her why she had accepted his proposal in the first place. He was such a fine person; he didn’t deserve to be humiliated as she had undoubtedly humiliated him. “I know you probably hate me.”

“No.”

“You can’t even
look
at me,” she said, pointing out that he still hadn’t opened his eyes all the way.

A muscle jumped along his jaw as he confessed, “That has nothing to do with what
you
did.”

“Josh,” she said, amusement creeping into her voice. Being so nice, he obviously felt like a heel about falling for her friend. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He opened his eyes fully, his body tensed as if he braced himself for an ugly confrontation. “You have no idea what’s been going on since you left.”

She smiled. “Oh, you’d be surprised what I know.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, “I know when I proposed I made you a promise.”

“When I took off,
I
broke that promise,” she interrupted him. “So anything you’ve done can’t hurt me.” Only Eric could hurt her—and he had when he’d pushed her away again. Her smile slid away. “So what have you done?”

He dropped his gaze from her as color flooded his face. “I think I’m falling for your best friend.”

“Eric?” she teased, even though it was hard to say his name.

“Brenna…”

Satisfaction filled her. Maybe she hadn’t screwed up everyone’s life—just her own. “Good.”

“What?” He pushed a hand through his hair. “You wanted me to fall for someone else?”

She shook her head. “Just Brenna. I realized a while ago that you two were perfect for each other, and I should have broken our engagement then. But I was being selfish.”

Maybe Eric was right; maybe she had used Josh and his sons as a way to get out of her deathbed promise to her father. Shame filled her.

“Molly, I’m sorry…”

“I’m the one who should be sorry,” she insisted. “I don’t love you. I never should have accepted your proposal in the first place.”

Josh shook his head. “I don’t understand…”

“Neither do I and that’s why I took off. I needed to sort out some things.” She tapped a fingertip against her temple.

“So, have you?” he asked with friendly concern in spite of everything.

She nodded, then grimaced. “For all the good it’s done me. I really made a mess of things.”

Josh sighed. “You’re not the only one.” He pushed a slightly shaking hand through his hair. “I don’t even know where Brenna is.”

“I think she’s with Eric,” Molly said sympathetically. “At least I saw her car parked by his cabin.”

Josh uttered a short laugh. “So I’ve lost two women to this man I’ve never met.”

“I think we both know that you never had me. And I never had you. We’re just friends, Josh,” she said, crossing the room to his side. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. “That’s not enough. We both need—we both
deserve
—more.”

“I know.”

He deserved Brenna. Hopefully, her friend had fallen for him, too. Then Molly would have no cause for jealousy over Brenna and Eric.

She released his hand, after pressing his engagement ring into his palm. He glanced down at the diamond-and-platinum band, then shoved it into his pocket.

She sighed. “I guess some friends are just friends.”

“Is that true of you and Eric South?” he asked, his blue eyes bright as he studied her.

Molly blinked back the tears that were pooling as she realized that the fear she had harbored during high school—the fear that if she and Eric tried to be more than friends she would lose his friendship—had come to pass. “I’m not sure we’re even friends anymore.”

Josh’s arms wrapped around her as he pulled her into a hug, the kind of embrace she might have shared with one of her brothers. “He’s a fool, Molly. You’re a special woman, and you deserve someone who loves you, too.”

“Everyone has told me, for nearly twenty years, that Eric loved me,” she told him, laying her head against his chest. “But I always said they were wrong.”

“Even though you hoped they were right?”

She nodded. “But I think
I
was right. He doesn’t really love me.”

And if he didn’t love her, she hadn’t used him. He’d used her.

“H
OW ARE YOU GOING
to manage that box on the back of your moped?” Eric asked as Rory struggled with his oldest sister’s books.

The teenager flashed him an impish grin. “So give me the keys to your truck.”

“Yeah, right.” Eric bit his lip to hold back a grin. “I don’t think you even have your permit yet.”

Rory shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I
can’t
drive.”

Eric scrutinized the curly-haired kid. “Why do I have a feeling that you might not stop at your house?”

“Molly’s back, so that means there’s yet another female in my house.” He uttered a long-suffering sigh. “I gotta get out of there. Can I stay with you?”

“I don’t think your mom would like that.” Or Molly. She hadn’t sent her brother for her things. Rory, over for their Sunday-afternoon fishing appointment, had volunteered to bring back the stuff she’d left behind. They hadn’t been able to go fishing, since Eric’s boat was still at the bottom of the lake. Molly had literally turned his life upside down.

“She won’t care if I leave,” Rory said, his eyes darkening with resentment. “You know what she did, right? She’s wearing
his
ring.”

“Who?” He’d lost track of their conversation. Was Rory talking about his mother—or Molly? Was Molly wearing Towers’s ring again?

“Mom,” Rory said, his brow furrowed as if he’d thought either she—or Eric—had gone mad.

Relief eased the pressure on his chest. “Oh.”

“She accepted
Wallace’s
proposal,” Rory said, his resentment even more evident as he uttered his teacher’s first name. “She’s gonna marry him.”

“Tell her congratulations,” Eric said. He would tell her himself, but he didn’t want to run the risk of seeing Molly again. He saw her enough in his dreams. Naked, her skin flushed with passion as they…

“Right,” Rory said with heavy sarcasm.

“I mean it,” he said. “Your mom is one brave lady to take another chance on love.” To risk again the kind of pain she had already endured.

“But Wallace is a dweeb,” Mr. Schipper’s future stepson complained.

“Wallace is great,” Eric assured him. “You just have to give him a chance.”

“I can’t believe Mom said yes.”

“Like I said, she’s brave. She has the guts to take a chance again.” Too bad he didn’t. But he had decided a while ago that he was better off living his life like Uncle Harold—single.

“I think she’ll be happy,” Eric predicted. “I think you’ll be happy, too, if you let yourself.”

Rory shrugged his bony shoulders. “Yeah, maybe it’ll be good to have another man around. And Molly might not stick around long.”

“Why’s that?”

“She’ll probably go back to the
GQ
doctor.”

Eric winced, regretting that he’d shared that nickname with Rory, and regretting even more that Molly had gone back to her fiancé. “But I thought he and Brenna were…”

Although she was strong, Brenna had to be devastated. He expected she was feeling kind of like he was feeling, with his heart aching for what might have been—if he’d dared to take a chance.

“No.” Rory shook his head. “I don’t think Brenna wants to be his second choice, you know.”

Absolutely. Eric didn’t want to be Molly’s second choice, her backup plan…

M
OLLY LEANED BACK
against the porch railing of the Kellys’ Victorian house. Relief flooded her because her maid of honor had forgiven her. Brenna seemed to be as in love with Josh as he was with her—even though she was unwilling to admit it.

Molly had already explained her cowardly reason for accepting Josh’s proposal, but Brenna, her gaze narrowed on Molly’s face, had another question now.

“Why did you change your mind about marrying him?” she asked. “If you’re determined to
not
marry someone you love?”

“I changed my mind about that, too.” Molly expelled a shaky breath, remembering her “prom night.”

“I want the mess.”

“Me, too,” Brenna admitted.

“Then go after Josh,” Molly urged her. “You have my blessing.”

“I—I—uh…”

Molly grinned. “You’ve already gotten involved with him.”

Brenna sighed. “I’m sorry I was such a horrible friend. I should have waited to make sure you didn’t love him, that you didn’t want him back.”

Molly pulled her into a quick hug. “Hush. I was the horrible friend, letting you do all the work for the wedding then skipping out. I was so ashamed and so sorry. I called a few times.”

“You called?” Brenna asked.

“I talked to Mama and Pop, but they said you were out. And I didn’t have the guts to call your cell.” Because of her guilt and shame and because it might have messed up her matchmaking scheme. “I didn’t know what to say to you, how to apologize.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Brenna assured her friend. “Everything’s fine.”

Molly shook her head. “It’s not fine. You wouldn’t be this unhappy if everything was fine.”

“It’s messy,” Brenna admitted.

“I can tell that you already love him,” Molly said, holding in a satisfied smile. Brenna would not appreciate her matchmaking. “Does he love you?”

Brenna shook her head, tumbling waves of red hair around her shoulders. “Why would he love me?”

“Because you’re perfect for him and Buzz and T.J.”

“I’m far from perfect,” Brenna said with a shaky laugh. “Or I wouldn’t have betrayed our friendship.”

“You didn’t betray anything,” Molly assured her before confessing, “I admit to a little meddling myself. I’d like to see you and Josh together. Happy.”

“What about you, Molly? What about your happiness?” Brenna asked. While she obviously wanted to change the subject away from herself and her feelings, her concern was genuine. “Do you want me to push someone down and sit on him for you?”

“If I thought it would help…” Molly smiled, although she felt like crying. “I guess the old adage is true.”

“Which one?”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Molly warned. “I didn’t want to marry a man I loved. Now I don’t have that option.”

How could everyone have been so wrong about Eric’s feelings for her? Even though she’d spent nearly twenty years denying that he loved her, part of her had believed her friends. Hell, she hadn’t just believed—in her heart, she’d known.

She’d felt his love. She wouldn’t have come to him that night, wouldn’t have given him her innocence, if she hadn’t thought he loved her. But still he’d left for the Marines. Because he was scared to love someone and lose her, the way he had lost everyone in his life before his uncle had brought him to Cloverville?

Brenna shook her head, disappointed. “I don’t understand your accepting defeat so easily. You’ve always been the most stubborn one of our group.”

“Not as stubborn as Eric,” Molly said.

Brenna shook her head. “I’ve known you a long time, Molly McClintock. And whenever you’ve set your mind to something you’ve been single-minded about achieving it.”

“I don’t want to be a doctor anymore,” she admitted.

“You never really did,” her friend told her. “But that didn’t stop you from working hard, from fighting to get into med school.”

She smiled, moved by her friend’s defense of her. “This is different….”

“Because you really want this—
him
—you’re not going to fight?” Brenna asked. “That makes no sense.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Molly agreed.

“So fight. You never really needed me to sit on your enemies or for Eric to bloody their noses. You might be little, but you’re tough.”

Molly lifted her chin with pride. “I am tough.”

Brenna expelled a breath. “I almost feel sorry for him.”