And Then Forever (22 page)

Emma looked at Kincaid, then looked at Darcy. Her brow furrowed in confusion. “He is? But you didn’t tell me.”

“I know, honey, and I should have.” Darcy hesitated, clearly unsure how to explain that. She glanced at Kincaid.

“I asked your mommy to wait to tell you who I was,” Kincaid said, “so we could make it a surprise. I wanted to be sure you liked me and my dog first.” Considering he kept calling Mooch his dog, he was clearly not giving the pup up for adoption. And that was a good thing, because his daughter loved dogs. And he was going to try his best to do whatever made his daughter happy.

“I do. I like your dog a lot.” Emma nodded.

Kincaid laughed. He’d take that. “Good. And I’d love to go to your daddy-daughter picnic.”

“Really?” Emma’s eyes filled. Her smile wobbled on her face. “Because you’re gonna be my daddy?”

Kincaid nodded. “I am. Forever. I promise, Emma.”

Emma surged forward and into his arms. Kincaid hesitated only a second, then he wrapped his daughter in a hug. He leaned down, inhaled the strawberry scent of her shampoo, then looked up at Darcy. Tears fell from Darcy’s eyes, but they were tempered by the smile on her face. So Kincaid reached out and pulled Darcy into their hug, and held on tight, because for the first time in his life, he truly had a family.

*~*~*

E
mma asked ten thousand
questions, all about where Kincaid lived and what his dog was doing and if he was coming back tomorrow. When she finally fell asleep, Kincaid tucked her in while Darcy talked to Nona.

A few minutes later, the two of them were back at The Love Shack. Business had picked up since Darcy had left, and even though Whit, Gracie and Jillian all insisted they had it under control, she could tell they needed her help. Kincaid disappeared into the kitchen to lend a hand in prep work and cleanup, while Darcy tended the tables.

To be honest, she was glad for the distraction. It gave her time to think about all the changes in her life in the last few hours. Kincaid returning. Proposing to her. The two of them telling Emma the truth. The plans for the future, for this newly formed family of three.

From time to time, her gaze would stray to the dollar bill Kincaid had stapled on the wall earlier.
Marry Me, Darcy

Then work would call, and she’d stop thinking about his proposal.
Marry him.
The thought scared her and thrilled her, all at once.

Finally, shortly before one in the morning, only a couple of customers remained in the bar. The jukebox cycled through its last few songs. Kincaid came out of the kitchen and slipped in behind her. “Looks like the night is over. And you still owe me an answer, Cinderella.”

She grinned. “I thought we were going to think about it.”

“We did. All night. Now it’s after midnight, so it’s tomorrow.” He took the rag out of her hands, tossed it in the bucket, then led her over to the wall. “There’s a big question up there. And it needs an answer.”

She fingered the loose edges of her own dollar bill. Only one staple held it in place now, and at any moment, it could fall to the floor. She worked her fingernail under the last staple, pried it out, then took down the dollar bill.

Kincaid’s face fell. “Guess that’s my answer.”

“Not so fast, smarty-pants.” She grinned, then reached over, picked up the stapler they had left there earlier, and re-tacked her dollar bill under Kincaid’s. Then she fished in her apron for a pen and rose on her tiptoes. She took a deep breath, then wrote the three letters that would change her life.

She stared at those letters for a long time. “When I was a girl,” she said to Kincaid, her gaze on those bills, on the choice she had just made, “I would sit on the wall in Plymouth and look out at Fortune’s Island. I would dream about my life here, and how happy I would be. I thought everything I wanted was here, on this island, far from what I was leaving.”

“And it is,” Kincaid said, wrapping his arms around her, turning her and drawing her into his chest. He placed a tender kiss on her cheek. “It’s right here, Darcy.”

“No, it’s not.” She turned in his arms and cupped his face in her palms. She drew back until their eyes met, held. “Everything I ever wanted is in Emma, and you, and the friends and family we have here. It’s the
people
that I was looking for when I sat on that wall, not the island. The people I love.”

A slow smile curved across his face. A smile she knew as well as her own, a smile she would never tire of seeing. “I love you, Darcy,” he said. “I always have.”

She leaned against him and listened to his heartbeat. It was a sound as steady and dependable as the ocean, and Darcy thought she could get used to this sound, very, very used to it. “I love you, too, Kincaid. And like my dollar bill said, I always will.”

He tipped her chin to kiss her. The last song came on the jukebox, and the gang joined in to sing along with the B-52s. Everyone except Darcy and Kincaid. They stayed where they were, holding each other beside the wall filled with hundreds of hopeful heartfelt messages.

Darcy closed her eyes, and leaned into Kincaid. All those years ago, she had sat on the rocks and looked out over the ocean, searching for a dream. And now, she had finally found it, found everything she wanted, right here, in Kincaid Foster’s arms.

Coming October 2015

J
illian Matheson dumped her
longtime boyfriend Zach Gifford after their engagement stalled. When a new man on Fortune’s Island catches Jillian’s eye, Zach finally ups his game and decides to win her back—but is he too late to capture the heart of the girl who got away?

The Fortune’s Island Series:

And Then Forever

Can’t Get Over You (Coming October 2015)

Collaborative Titles:

Ask Me Why

(with Marie Force, Virginia Kantra, and Jodi Thomas)

The Sweetheart Sisters Series:

The Sweetheart Bargain

The Sweetheart Rules

The Sweetheart Secret

The Sweet and Savory Romances:

The Bride Wore Chocolate

The Devil Served Desire

The Angel Tasted Temptation

The Playboy Savored Seduction

The Boss Courted Trouble

That Thing You Do
by Maria Geraci

Special Excerpt:

T
he horror of her
current situation was not lost on her. For the first time in twelve years, Allie was completely alone (as clichéd as it sounded) with The One Who Got Away. Or rather, The One Who
Ran Away,
tossing pieces of her broken heart along the highway.

Okay, so maybe that was a tad bit dramatic.

She watched Tom Donalan out of the corner of her eye. His big hands gripped the steering wheel—strong, and masculine, and…lovely. It was an odd trio of words to describe a man, but there it was. Tom was gorgeous. Always had been. And probably always would be, no matter how much Ben and Jerry’s she overdosed on.

Allie forced her attention to the road in front of them. She had no business thinking about his hands. Or any other part of him. He was a Class A jerk. Best not to forget that.

She settled back in the truck’s leather seat and tried to relax.
Ten minutes
. If she could spend eight hours on her feet wiping down tables and pretending she loved dishes with the name of Tofu Surprise, she could certainly do ten minutes in a car with Tom Donalan.

Relax. Concentrate. On anything but him
.

She discreetly took in her surroundings. The inside of the truck was clean, not fancy or new, but well kept. No empty McDonald’s wrappers or beer cans strewn on the floor. A faint hint of
him
lingered in the air. Sniffing things out had always been a talent of hers. Some people remembered faces. Allie remembered smells.
Eau de Tom Donalan
was a mixture of ocean air, soap, and aftershave. Clean and sexy, not too overpowering. In other words, just right.

Growing up, Zeke had grudgingly nicknamed her The Nose. She’d been able to smell Buela’s
picadillo
halfway down the block. But a more practical trick had been her ability to sniff out any lingering traces of pot (no matter how much Zeke had tried to mask it). Sibling blackmail had helped finance the ten-speed bicycle she’d used for beach transportation the summer before middle school.

Had she imagined the lemon smell back at the senior center? She didn’t think so. But where had it come from?

Tom glanced at her. “So, how are you?”

“Well, let’s see. My license is suspended and some twit won’t let me spend a few hours in an abandoned building so I can make a living. But other than that, just peachy.”

He shifted in his seat. “No, I mean, how have you
been
?”

“You mean, as in the past twelve years?”

He nodded.

“I’ve been great, Donalan. Really. I mean, other than the night you took a blowtorch to my heart, I’ve been just
great
. Of course, there was that year I spent in rehab after taking all those pills. But I hardly ever relapse anymore.”

He looked mortified.

Or ready to laugh.

She couldn’t tell which (or which she preferred). Mortification, she decided. After all, why shouldn’t Tom Donalan feel bad for the way he’d dumped her? And a mighty dumping, it had been. But she didn’t want his pity. Or anything else from him, either.

Correction: She did want something from him. She wanted to spend time inside his precious building.

“Oh, relax. It was just a high school romance. I was over you within two weeks.”

He didn’t say anything, not that she expected a response, but it felt even more awkward now than before. So she began to babble, because that’s what she did whenever she got nervous. And it was hard not to be nervous around the guy she had practically begged to take her virginity. She wished she could say this was an exaggeration, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.

Tom, please, just do me
.

Had she really said those words to him?
Yep
. She most certainly had. The Night of The Great Humiliation Part One, as she liked to call it. She wished she could say that over the years the sting had eased some. But it hadn’t.

She kept her eyes on the road ahead and told Tom all about her current life back in Tampa. Her part time job at The Blue Monkey, her roommate Jen and her crazy antics—which elicited a laugh from him and startled her into glancing his way. She was shocked to find that the truck was parked in front of her brother’s house.

How long had they been here?

It was only a ten minute drive but she’d managed to talk non-stop. He, on the other hand, hadn’t gotten in one word.
Geez.
She’d probably bored him to death.

Only, he didn’t look bored. He looked—

“So what about you? Are you happy?”

He broke eye contact. “Happy enough.”

Allie waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. She’d practically spilled out her entire life for him and all she got in return was two words?

Great!
She was happy.

He was happy
enough
.

N
ew York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author Shirley Jump spends her days writing romance so she can avoid the towering stack of dirty dishes, eat copious amounts of chocolate and reward herself with trips to the mall. Look for her all-new novella in the anthology ASK ME WHY (with Marie Force, Virginia Kantra and Jodi Thomas), as well as the Sweet and Savory Romance series, including the USA Today bestselling book, THE BRIDE WORE CHOCOLATE, on Amazon, and her Sweetheart Sisters series, starting with THE SWEETHEART BARGAIN.

Visit her website at
www.ShirleyJump.com
for author news and a booklist, and follow her on Facebook at
www.Facebook.com/shirleyjump.author
for giveaways and deep discussions about important things like chocolate and shoes.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Copyright © 2015 by Shirley Jump

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

Book cover design by The Scarlett Rugers Design Agency

www.scarlettrugers.com

eISBN: 978-1-942356-27-1