Loving The Country Boy (Barrett's Mill Book 4) (16 page)

“You are?” He relaxed a bit but still looked ready to take off at the first sign of trouble. “What about the divorce? I just assumed you’d take your mother’s side.”

“Because I’m a girl? Please. I think there’s plenty of blame to go around on that one, don’t you?”

Deep circles shadowed his eyes, telling her the last few months had taken a serious toll on him. But now a tentative smile lightened his features enough for her to see that he’d made the right decision in ending his failed marriage. “I suppose so. I never expected you kids to understand that, though.”

“I’m starting to,” she said, doing her best to sound upbeat. Now that she’d gotten to know the family who’d raised him, she saw the contradiction between what he’d grown up with and what he and Mom had created in California. The difference was sobering, to say the least.

He stared down at his father’s grave with a frown. “Dad never could, and now it’s too late to tell him he was right.”

“About what?”

Grimacing, he hung his head before looking at her. “Your mother and I met in college, and I brought her home to meet my parents. Dad took me aside and warned me not to marry her. He said she wasn’t the kind of girl I needed, and I’d do better to keep looking. Obviously, I didn’t listen.”

“That’s why you never came back,” Tess filled in the blank for him. “You didn’t want him to see how unhappy you were.”

“I really hate being wrong.”

Boy, could she relate to that. Lately, though, she’d evolved a new perspective on that issue. Being wrong wasn’t the problem. Obstinately denying the truth was, especially when it hurt you and the people you loved.

“Don’t you think he knew?” She got a sharp look and hurried on. “I mean, he was your father, and he probably knew you better than anyone. Isn’t it reasonable to assume he put the pieces together on his own?”

“Then why didn’t he tell me?”

“Because he was as stubborn as you are,” she shot back with a chiding look. “I’m finding out that’s a family trait. Apparently, it comes with the brown eyes.”

To her astonishment, he chuckled and shook his head. The reaction reminded her distinctly of her uncle Tom, and she felt a tug of empathy for this strong-willed man who’d come to his senses too late to mend fences with his father.

Tucking her arm through his, she drew him back to where he’d been when she found him. “Granddad’s happy to see you. I know it.”

He gave her a long, dubious look. “How?”

“Because that’s the kind of man he was. Even if he was standing right here, he wouldn’t scold you for being away so long. He’d ask how your trip was, or something like that. Right?”

His eyes fixed on the granite arch, he slowly nodded. “Yes, he would.”

“You know who else is gonna be thrilled to see you? Gram. I didn’t tell her I invited you for Thanksgiving, so this will be a great surprise for her.”

He didn’t reply at first, and it didn’t take her long to figure out why. “She invited you, too, didn’t she?”

“Last week.
We
were hoping to surprise
you
.”

It was all too funny, and they both started laughing. But he quickly sobered. “This isn’t the place for laughter, Tess.”

“I don’t think he minds a bit.” Now it was her turn to glance at Granddad’s resting place. Turning back to her dad, she added, “More than that, he’d probably think it was hilarious that we both ended up here at the same time. Isn’t that strange?”

“Very. But since it gave us a chance to clear the air, I’m not going to question it.” Relief flooded his tired features, and he put an arm around her shoulders and steered her toward the footpath that led to the parking lot. When he saw the mill truck, he laughed again. “That thing was ancient when I was a kid. Are your cousins playing some kind of trick on you?”

“In their dreams,” she retorted with a grin. “I like driving it. It has character.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

“Why don’t you lead the way, and I’ll follow you to Gram’s?”

He shot her a suspicious look. “Making sure I don’t turn back onto the highway and run off again?”

“Something like that.”

Fortunately, he didn’t argue with that, either. Her father had always been a complex man, but while they made their way through his hometown—the place she’d come to adore—some of her old quarrels with him began to fade. He’d stood up to his own father to be with the woman he loved. It hadn’t worked out, but she had to give Dad credit for facing up to his mistakes and returning after so many years away. It couldn’t have been easy for him to do, and she admired his courage.

They turned into the driveway, and he stepped out of his car, looking around the neighborhood where he’d spent his childhood. Glancing over at her, he seemed totally bewildered by what he’d seen. “Nothing’s changed.”

“Around here,” she said, quoting Heath, “things pretty much stay the same.”

“Except my father’s gone.”

Seeing the misery in his eyes, she firmly shook her head. “He’s still here, watching over things, making sure the family’s okay. When we keep someone in our hearts, they’re never really gone.”

“I’m sorry you never met him.”

“So am I,” she confessed with a sad smile. “But I’ve gotten to know him in other ways, and I think he was a really great guy.”

“Yes, he was.”

Her father seemed ready to say something more when the creak of a door interrupted their conversation. Wearing a ruffled bib apron, Gram shielded her eyes with a flour-covered hand and squinted into the setting sun. “Tess? Who’ve you got there?”

He looked over at her, and her face broke into a delighted mother’s smile. “George?”

“Hello, Mom.” Hands shoved deep into the pockets of his coat, he stood awkwardly rooted in place. “How have you been?”

“Missing my boy, that’s how. Are you planning to stand in the driveway gawking at me, or are you coming up here for a proper greeting?”

He didn’t run onto the porch, but it was pretty close. As he swept Gram into a joyful hug, tears stung Tess’s eyes. She’d never been one for mushy reunions, but this one suited the day perfectly.

After all, she reasoned as she dabbed her eyes, tomorrow was Thanksgiving. And this year the Barretts had a lot to be thankful for.

* * *

Heath had been in more precarious situations. Dangling off the sheer side of a canyon came to mind, and so did scaling the arm of a disabled excavator to repair the hydraulics. But nothing he’d ever done had scared him as much as introducing Tess to his parents.

He’d never done that before, he realized while he set the table for dinner. Mom thought he was being extra helpful because she’d just gotten home, but in reality he was desperate for something to do besides watch the hands on the old mantel clock drag toward seven. That afternoon at the new house, he’d sensed a shift in Tess’s usually cautious demeanor. While she hadn’t come right out and said she’d made a decision about where she planned to settle, he had the feeling she was pretty close to it.

Which way would she jump? he wondered again. During the time he’d known her, he’d learned it was best not to try to predict what was going through that quick mind of hers. He loved her more than he’d once thought was possible, and he believed her when she said she loved him. Since he didn’t have a choice, he was doing his best to stay light on his feet and accept whatever turn was coming his way.

But it wasn’t easy.

When the doorbell sounded promptly at seven, he called out, “I’ll get it!”

Setting down the last glass, he hurried into the foyer and opened the door to find her wearing the same flowered dress he’d admired at church. Smiling because he couldn’t help himself, he kissed her cheek and stepped back to let her in. “Hey there. Right on time.”

“Hey yourself.” Moving closer, she murmured, “Could I talk to you out here a minute?”

A wave of dread hit him like a truck before he got a grip on emotions that were hovering dangerously close to the surface. Trying to mask his reaction, he joked, “That depends. Am I gonna like what you have to say?”

In response, she gave him a siren’s smile and grabbed his arm to tug him out onto the porch. After following that up with a long, luscious kiss, she gazed up at him with joy glittering in her dark eyes. “I’m staying in Barrett’s Mill.”

Spinning her into a twirl, he kissed her soundly before putting her down. Studying her carefully, he searched for some sign that she’d spoken impulsively and might regret what she’d said. He saw nothing but certainty in her expression, but for his own sake, he had to be absolutely certain. “You’re sure? This is really where you want to be?”

“Yes, and yes. Are you happy?”

“Very.” Wrapping his arms around her, he tried to come up with some words that properly expressed what he was feeling. Like so many guys before him, Heath fell back on the three that had brought him to where he was now. “I love you.”

“And I love you.”

“Is that why you’re staying?”

“Yes. Is that okay with you?”

The eagerness in her tone contradicted the confident, assertive woman he’d come to treasure, and he laughed. “I think I can make it work.”

“By the way, you won’t believe who I ran into at the cemetery this afternoon. My dad.”

“That’s funny, ’cause I was talking to my folks, and they remember him from high school. They’d love to see him again. You should invite him over to join us.”

“I think he’d like that, too,” she replied. “You’re sure it’s not an imposition?”

“There’s always room for one more.” Adding another kiss, he asked, “Are you hungry?”

“Definitely. Something smells incredible in there.”

“Roast beef.”

“Let me guess,” she teased, “it’s your favorite.”

Opening the door, he chuckled. “Yeah. Mom always makes it for me when I’m home.”

“Maybe after they get settled in, she can give me the recipe. And teach me how to use it,” Tess added in a wry tone.

“That’d be cool. Then I’d get to eat it even more often.”

“And do the dishes,” she added tartly. “I’m gonna be busy with work and school, so I won’t have time for all that domestic goddess stuff.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

While her announcement had more than a little bite to it, her genuine enthusiasm for the future softened the impact. He wasn’t the greedy type, and right now the fact that she was settling in his hometown was more than enough for him.

* * *

After being awakened before dawn by the scent of fresh cinnamon rolls, Tess was occupied in Gram’s kitchen, prepping side dishes and babysitting two enormous turkeys the size of emus. The house was gradually filling with family, and she shuttled between greeting new arrivals, filling Gram’s silver chafing dishes and basting. Basically, she was in charge of any culinary task that didn’t threaten to poison anyone, and she was enjoying the hands-on approach to a holiday that Mom had always hired caterers for.

When Tess finally had a moment to herself, she got a glass of water and stood at the window to drink it. Something in the backyard caught her attention, and she nudged the lacy curtain aside for a better look.

Heath had snuck in when she wasn’t looking, and he was adding fresh firewood to Gram’s neat stack beside the garage. That wasn’t noteworthy, since he regularly helped out all over town with things like that. The newsflash was who he was talking to while he worked.

Her father.

Heath said something that made him laugh, and the sight of them together like that made her smile. Dad had made no secret of the fact that he was nervous about seeing his brothers and their families again after all these years. She’d been surprised to discover that, while he hadn’t visited in person, he’d kept in sporadic contact with Uncle Tom, who was the youngest. So while they hadn’t met her until now, the Virginia branch of the family had been aware that Tess existed.

If only she’d had the same knowledge, she thought with a sigh. Life would have been so much easier knowing she wasn’t an odd sock but meant to be part of another set altogether.

Speaking of odd, it was quite the experience watching her Brooks Brothers father chatting with her flannel-and-jeans country boy. Then again, Heath could have a conversation with a post. Since she was on the uptight side, his easygoing nature was one of the things she loved most about him.

Against all logic, she’d done much more than fall in love with the bighearted mechanic. She adored him in a way she once hadn’t even considered possible outside the covers of a romance novel. And if that wasn’t astonishing enough, he’d made it abundantly clear that he felt the same way about her. As Heath and her father came up the back porch steps together, she couldn’t imagine life getting any better.

“So what were you two doing out there?” she asked while they washed their hands at the sink.

“Debating which teams are gonna win the football games today,” Heath answered, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek while he dried his hands. “What else do guys talk about on Thanksgiving?”

“Good point.”

Now that her straightlaced father was back in his childhood home, she was seeing a whole new side of him. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that she’d spent most of her life so wrapped up in her own troubles, she didn’t have energy for much else. Heath had shown her another way to live, and no matter what happened between them, she’d always be grateful to him for that.

“I think I’ll see if Mom needs help with the buffet,” Dad said smoothly, taking a stack of dishes from the counter and into the dining room.

Tess caught the subtle wink he gave Heath on his way past, and when he was gone, she turned to Heath with narrowed eyes. “Okay, Weatherby. What’s going on?”

“Whattya mean?” He flashed her the most innocent look she’d ever seen, but the mischievous twinkle in his eyes gave him away.

“You and Dad were cooking up something out there in the yard. I want to know what it was.”

“I think you were imagining things,” he teased, sliding his arms around her to pull her closer. “All the cooking’s going on in here. We were just piling up some wood for Olivia is all.”

He bent down for a kiss, but she leaned back and glared up at him. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”