Lucky's Choice (14 page)

“Your association with them may make regaining your position difficult,” Angus Berry brought forth the fears of the other deacons.

“I understand and will be moving back into the church. My future wife and I are looking forward to serving the community.”

“You’re getting married?” Lucky could imagine Angus’s furry grey brows lifted in surprise.

“Willa and I plan to be married in two weeks.”

“You’re marrying Willa?” Angus didn’t give him time to answer. “She’s a sweet girl. She made my seventy-fifth birthday cake and didn’t even charge my wife. You couldn’t have made a better choice. Damn … Excuse me, Pastor. I’ll finally be able to look forward to a service again. The pastors who have been visiting and Merrick have been giving me a sour stomach. My ass couldn’t take another long-winded sermon.”

Lucky laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind when I’m writing mine out.”

“Do that and I’ll put an extra five in the collection plate.”

Lucky disconnected the call with a smile on his face. It didn’t take long for his smile to disappear as he punched in the next number.

The voice answering the phone was brisk and short. “What do you want?”

“Colt, I need a favor.”

“Why is it that you and the rest of The Last Riders only call when you want something?”

“Because we can’t stand you,” Lucky said truthfully.

Dead silence was on the other end.

“I can’t stand you fuckers, either. What do you want?”

“I’m getting married.”

“Bridge know?”

“Not yet.”

Lucky knew he had won when he heard a deep sigh.

“What do you want?”

Chapter 11

Willa fed the kids then laid the younger girls down for a nap. Both Leanne and Charlie looked exhausted and took her advice to rest for a while, seeking their own beds. She was just as tired, but instead of lying down, she rushed around her home, picking up the clutter.

Pushing back her hair from her face, she straightened and froze in place when the doorbell rang. Maybe, if she didn’t answer, they would go away. She didn’t want to see Lucky or Flora. She wanted to go to bed and pull the covers over her head.

“Open the door, Willa,” Lucky’s voice demanded.

Willa stiffened her spine, telling herself she could do this.

Her mouth almost dropped open when she opened the door. Lucky was standing in the doorway in a suit she recognized from when he was a pastor. She was familiar with all his expensive suits since she had stared at him enough on Sundays that every detail of his appearance had become ingrained in her memory.

She took a step back to let him enter, making sure there was enough room between them to avoid having him brush against her.

“Where are the kids?”

“They’re taking a nap.” She closed the door behind him as he walked into the living room.

“Let’s pray they don’t wake up until Flora leaves.”

Willa frowned. “That wasn’t nice.”

“The less Flora sees them, the better.” Lucky took a seat on her couch, making the flowery furniture seem silly against his muscular body. “Are you ready for her?”

“As much as possible.”

When Lucky stared at her doubtfully, Willa smoothed her blouse down over her jeans.

“We have a few minutes, so why don’t you take a shower and get changed into that blue dress with the black belt?”

“I haven’t worn it for a while. It’s a little tight,” Willa was ashamed to admit. She had worn the dress to church only one time.

“Perfect. Usually, your clothes are so loose you can’t tell that you have breasts.”

Willa’s face flamed at his comment. Her mouth opened and closed while his mouth twitched at her reaction.

He was right; her clothes had been so loose it had made her appear even heavier. She had bought the dress when she had been at her smallest weight since high school. Lucky had been dating Beth Cornett at the time, and they had seemed serious about each other.

The last time she had tried it on, it had been tight through the breasts. Her dieting had gone through a snag when Lucky had stepped down from being a pastor. The diet had gone out the window entirely and the ice cream had come out of the freezer when she had noticed his visits to Jenna’s home.

She had stopped attending his church before he had left, but it had still been shocking to see him enter the woman’s house in jeans and a leather jacket. She had despised herself as she kept track of the time he spent at her neighbor’s house, eating a pint of chocolate cookie dough ice cream while she watched Jenna wave goodbye to him from her front door. The look on both of their faces had been self-explanatory.

That moment was even worse than when she had found out he was dating Beth years ago. They had only dated a few months, but Willa had tried everything she could to emulate Beth during that time. She had dyed her hair blond, lost weight, and even bought similar dresses.

Lucky had never noticed her. No man would when Beth was the epitome of femininity, with males always eyeing her appreciatively. With Willa, unless they needed her skills as a baker, she was avoided. She would never forget when she was in the grocery store and had passed a man she had made several cakes for. She had smiled at him and had been about to greet him when he had turned around in the aisle and pushed his buggy away as fast as possible.

“I’ll get changed. I’ll be right back.” Willa excused herself, actually glad to get away from him long enough to gather her thoughts.

As she changed, she worded her thoughts carefully. She had the tendency to lose track when he gave her attention, and she hoped her mental practice would make her seem more composed.

She turned white when she saw herself in her mirror. Lucky must have been horrified when she had opened the door. Her brown hair was in a tangled ponytail, her blue blouse had splashes of spaghetti sauce that she had fixed for lunch, and she also noticed the faint odor of garlic clinging to her.

No one in their right mind would believe the sophisticated man sitting downstairs was engaged to her. She showered as fast as she could, nearly slipping when she stepped out of the shower and then almost electrocuting herself when she blow-dried her hair at the same time as brushing her teeth.

She brushed on some mascara before pulling on the blue dress Lucky had mentioned, sliding on the matching shoes before bracing herself to face the mirror again. She sat down on the edge of the bed, nearly in tears. Just once, she wanted to see herself in the mirror and like what she saw.

She would have to change; the dress was even tighter than she remembered. It was her own damn fault. Had she really needed spaghetti for lunch? She had intended to stick to her salad, but the mouthwatering aromas had broken her determination. She had the determination of a rabbit needing to use birth control.

As she reached to take the dress off, she heard the doorbell, heralding that she was out of time. Putting on an unconcerned look, she left her bedroom.

Lucky had let Flora in, and they were sitting next to each other on the couch. He was handing her a thick envelope.

“This should provide you with enough adequate references,” Lucky was stating.

Flora, who usually had a perpetually sour expression when dealing with her, was giving Lucky a gracious smile and fluttering her mascara-caked eyelashes at him.

Willa walked by the couch, intending to take the lone armchair, but Lucky reached out, tugging her down beside him. She jumped when he placed his hand familiarly on her thigh, his fingers tightening in silent warning.

“How long have you been seeing each other?”

Willa stared at Lucky out of the corner of her eye, not knowing how to answer Flora’s question.

“We’ve been seeing each other off and on again.” Technically, he didn’t lie.

It went against everything she believed in to deceive the woman, but the mental picture of the girls being taken by the Wests soothed her guilty conscience.

“I see.” Flora tore open the envelope, pulling out a sheath of papers. “You must be very understanding, Willa. I’ve seen you”—she pointed to Lucky—“around town with several women.”

Willa had known deep down that there was no way anyone would believe there was a relationship between her and Lucky.

“I don’t deny it wasn’t love at first sight. I’m afraid I have a lot of work ahead of me to convince Willa that I’m going to make her a good husband. She’s a special woman, that I will have to prove to both Willa and God that I am worthy of being her partner.”

Willa kept a smile pasted to her lips despite the astonishment she was feeling at Lucky placing himself as the one who wasn’t good enough for her.

Flora read through the papers, her face paling before she refolded them and placed them back in the envelope. “I’ll give these to my supervisor, but I don’t anticipate any problem with the outstanding personal references you’ve given. I apologize if I offended you, Willa. Congratulations on your engagement. I hope I’ll be invited to the wedding?”

This time, Willa wasn’t able to keep her jaw from dropping at Flora’s about-face.

“I haven’t thought that far ahead—” Willa began.

“It’s going to be a private ceremony, but we’d be very happy if you attended the reception we’ll be having at the church,” Lucky cut her off. Standing up, he gave Flora one of his handsome smiles that had Flora blushing as she gained her feet. “I’ll make sure you receive an invitation.”

“Now I have two things to look forward to: you returning to the church and a wedding.”

Willa went to the door, practically wanting to beg the woman to stay. She didn’t want to be left alone with Lucky. She knew they needed to discuss how to get out of this mess, but she could offer to meet him at the diner or King’s where other people were around to buffer his affect on her.

Willa stood, staring at the closed door, listening to Lucky walk back into the living room.

“I believe she’s gone.”

Lucky’s amused voice gave Willa the courage to turn around.

“How are we going to get out of this? We’re both going to go to jail for fraud.”

“We’re not going to jail,” Lucky reassured her.

“People go to jail for committing fraud.”

Lucky shook his head. “What fraud? Couples get engaged all the time.”

“But we’re not really engaged. When we don’t get married, they’ll know we’re lying. I need to hire a private detective to find the children’s uncle. Maybe I can find him in time, and no one will find out the truth. We can tell everyone you changed your mind.”

“Calm down. I already have several people searching for their relative.” He cocked his head to the side. “Why not tell them you broke up with me?”

Willa rolled her eyes. “No one will believe that.”

“I’m getting tired of you putting yourself down. Don’t do it again.”

Willa felt the chill of his displeasure and unconsciously shivered. Desperate, she changed the subject.

“Thank you for helping me keep the children and finding a place for Sissy. I know she regrets her actions.”

“No, she doesn’t. I didn’t do this for the children and for damn sure not Sissy. I did it for you.”

“Why?” She was confused. Why would Lucky help her?

“You’ve worked hard to keep that family together. They owe you a debt, not the other way around. Lewis attacked you. No one blames you for killing him.”

“I blame myself. I should have hit him with the gun, tried to knock him out.” She had bought the gun to protect herself. Lewis had been more and more demanding, frightening her into the rash purchase, a decision she would regret to her dying day.

“What if you hadn’t? What if he took it away and killed you?”

“I wish I had never bought that gun.”

“Why? It served its purpose. It protected you and Rachel. What if you didn’t have it that day?”

Rachel would be dead, and she would be, too. There had been a mad glaze in Lewis’s eyes that day. Willa saw it every night in her nightmares.

“You can’t bring the bullet back, Willa. Unfortunately, there aren’t any do-overs where a life is concerned.”

“No, there aren’t,” Willa agreed.

“Since you’re dressed, I suggest we wake the children and go out to dinner. We need to let people see us around town together. Go wake the girls. I’ll get Charlie.”

“But I have orders I need to get done for tomorrow.”

“I’ll help you when we get back.”

“You’ll help?”

“I can keep the kids occupied and put them to bed. It will get them used to me.”

“Why do they need to get used to you? We’ll have to pretend to break up before the two weeks are up.” Willa tried to think about how hard it was going to be to get out of the lies they had told.

“We’ll worry about that when the time comes. Right now, our priority is to make Child Services believe us.”

Willa nodded. The threat of the Wests taking the girls was the only incentive she needed to keep the pretense of being engaged.

She woke the still-sleeping girls.

“We’re really going out to dinner with Lucky?” Leanne asked, rising up in her bed when Willa told her where they were going.

“Yes,” she answered, dressing Chrissy and Caroline in warm clothes.

“Why does he want to take us out to dinner?” Leanne asked, jumping out of her bed.

“He wants to get to know all of you better.”

“Sissy got us into a lot of trouble, didn’t she?”

“Yes, and Lucky wants to help.” Willa studied the girl seriously. “Leanne, if you want to stay with the girls and Charlie, we have to show that I can care for you and your cousins. Can you please help me with that?”

Leanne lowered her head, unable to meet her gaze. “I’m really sorry, Willa. I didn’t think they would take us away. I shouldn’t have let Sissy talk me into not telling you she was sneaking out.”

“She could have really gotten into a bad situation and been hurt.”

“I realize that. I was stupid.”

“Not stupid, you were just trying to make your big sister happy.” Willa handed her the hairbrush after she brushed out the two little girls’ hair.

“Ready?” Willa asked the apprehensive girl when she was done with the brush.

Without her sister, a different girl was emerging, although she didn’t like to think unkindly that Sissy wasn’t a good influence on Leanne.