“Or she’ll kick you out and throw, like, tofu at your head,” Georgia said under her breath.
“Hey. Give him a break.” Seth reached for her hand. “He’s been like a dad to me.”
Henry felt the need to point out a few facts. “I am not old enough to be your dad. Could I be like a kindly big brother?”
Georgia’s lips quirked up. “I don’t know. You have serious dad vibes. But I’m on Nell’s side here. And I think she’s hiding some serious rage under all that happy-earth talk.”
He was okay with having dad vibes. He wanted to be a dad, wanted the chance to raise a child with the woman he loved.
Would she still love him when she knew who he was?
“I’ll look into things from my end,” Seth began.
Henry opened his mouth to argue, but Logan stopped him.
“He’s going to play it safe, Henry, but Seth can’t leave you alone in this,” Logan said. “He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did. Do you have what you need to protect yourself and Nell if something goes wrong?”
He’d checked his stash before dawn, making sure everything was still stowed away. “I’ve got some guns, but I can’t keep them too close or she’ll find them and she’ll have questions I’m not ready to answer. I would walk away, but if they find me, they’ll be able to find her. They’ll be able to figure out she’s my weakness and they’ll use her.”
Georgia held up a hand. “Oh, that is the wrong thing to do. I know I said I was on Miss Nell’s side, but I wasn’t telling you to leave. That would be a mistake. You need to stay and grovel. Like really grovel. Buy her things she likes.”
He wasn’t sure that was how to get to Nell. “I don’t think I can buy social justice.”
“I don’t think Georgia understands Nell.” Logan glanced at his girlfriend with an affectionate grin. “Nell is from Bliss and she can’t be bought with Chanel. But she is a reasonable woman. She’ll be upset, but then Henry’s going to explain to her how much he loves her and how she changed him and she’ll understand.”
“She will, you know,” Seth added. “I’ve known Nell for a long time, and she’s got so much compassion for the world around her. She’s going to be fine.”
His wife was a reasonable woman. She was tolerant and accepting. She was open hearted and loving.
“You two are crazy. She’s a woman. His ass lied, and she will not be happy about it,” Georgia said with a shake of her head.
He had to pray that Logan and Seth knew his wife better than Georgia did.
The three of them started to argue about how to best deal with a woman’s fury, and Henry glanced down at his watch. It was almost time to pick up Nell from Stella’s and head home. She was planning on writing this afternoon, and he would use the time to start to figure out how to get them out of this situation.
A plan. That was all he needed. He would formulate a plan and have something to tell her when he…told her. That would make her feel better. They would get through the wedding and it would put her in a better mood. Weddings always reminded Nell of love and commitment. She would be upset with him, but Logan and Seth were right. She would be okay.
He would make sure of it.
Chapter Three
“The wedding was beautiful,” Nell said, and she felt the smile slide over her face. The wedding of Leo, Shelley, and Wolf had been lovely, and it had bolstered her. The words Lexi O’Malley had said the day before still had the power to move her to tears even in the middle of the farmer’s market that was held once a month outside the Feed Store Church.
Marriage, family, life, they’re all hard and require work. Happily ever after is a choice we have to make every day. You think you’re making your choice today, but I challenge you. I challenge every single one of us. Start each day by choosing. Skip the good morning and say something infinitely more important. I do.
“I heard it was lovely.” Belinda Ellison had a small stall where she sold the extras she had from her large garden. Belinda used no pesticides and had very earth-friendly gardening practices. Nell always purchased from her. “Though it’s so sad about Hiram.”
Another thing that could move her to tears. This morning the announcement had gone out that Hiram Jones, the long-time mayor of Bliss, had passed at the age of ninety-seven. He’d lived a good life, but it was hard to let go of anyone.
“It is,” Nell acknowledged. “It’s hard to go from a wedding to a funeral in the course of a few days. We’ll miss him terribly. He was a good neighbor and a good friend.”
She glanced over and saw Henry looking through the late-summer strawberries. It would be fall soon and she would switch from strawberries and melons and zucchini to pumpkin and apples. She would make Henry’s favorite soups and they would watch the trees change as they waited for their baby.
He looked up as though he knew she was watching, and his expression went from bland to soft and affectionate.
She chose him. She’d been silly to even question him. He’d given up his career for her. He loved her. He was exactly who he said he was. Her lover. Her husband. The father of her baby.
“Did you hear the rumor that they stored him in the freezer at Trio?” Belinda asked.
That made her laugh. “That is nothing more than Zane Hollister trying to create urban legends about his bar.”
It was ridiculous to think they would store poor Hi in a freezer. Caleb had a perfectly good facility for those who had passed. Didn’t he? Surely he did.
“I also heard that he died while…well,
