Ethan noted that Samantha appeared to be marveling at the scene. He leaned down. “Good time to make your escape, don’t you think? Once you’ve changed out of that dress, maybe they’ll forget all about you showing up here still wearing it.”
“Oh, you sweet dreamer,” she whispered back. “But I will change. If they turn on you, my bedroom’s the second one on the right at the top of the stairs. I’ll protect you.”
“Oh no, you don’t,” he said. “You are not luring me up to your room.”
“But...” she sputtered. “I wasn’t trying to...”
“I think I’d better take my chances by staying right here. The second I head for those stairs, I’m afraid there will be a posse after me.”
“Your choice,” she said, then winked. “But it would be a lot more interesting upstairs.”
Ethan shook his head. “You really do like to live on the wild side, don’t you? How’d I miss that?”
“You were too busy trying to figure out how to evade my devious trap,” she told him.
“Too late now,” he said. “Now my focus has to be on keeping your addiction to danger from getting us into more trouble than we’ll know how to handle. Now scoot. I’m going to stay right here and do some damage control.”
She frowned at that. “How?”
“Never mind. I’ve got it.”
“Do not go that whole honorable-thing route,” she warned. “Remember what I told you.”
“Duly noted,” he agreed, but committing to nothing. He’d do whatever it took to keep her family from thinking any less of him, while assuring them that her heart was in good hands.
19
Cora Jane looked around her kitchen with satisfaction. Wade and Gabi were hovering over the baby. Ethan was gazing at Samantha with stars in his eyes. And her son—she bit back a smile—well, Sam looked a little dazed by the very determined woman at his side. Sophia Grayson obviously was a woman who went after what she wanted, and for whatever reason she’d apparently decided she wanted Sam. It was an unexpected twist, but not an unwelcome one.
“What’s on your mind?” Jerry asked, pulling his chair a little closer. “You’re looking awfully pleased with yourself.”
“I’m feeling more optimistic than I have in years,” she told him. “I saw my granddaughters achieving great things in their professional lives, but I couldn’t help worrying that they were going to miss out on the best thing life has to offer.”
“Falling in love,” Jerry guessed.
She nodded. “Just look at them. Gabi’s a devoted mother with a man who adores her and that baby of hers. Samantha’s found not only a new dream right here in Sand Castle Bay, but the right man to share it with her.”
“And your son? Is he part of this contentment you’re feeling?”
“I have to say, I never anticipated that,” she admitted. “But look at him. His expression’s more animated than I’ve seen in years. Sophia is openly disagreeing with him, something his wonderful wife never did, and he’s clearly loving it. Maybe they’re just caught up in all the romance that usually surrounds a wedding, but I can’t help thinking she could be good for him. She’s not the sort of woman who’ll sit back and let him get away with hiding in his work. She’ll draw him out, ensure that he has a life. It could be downright interesting to watch.”
Jerry laughed. “What on earth will you do when you have your family happily settled?”
“Enjoy it,” she said at once. “Especially if it turns out that so many of them are underfoot right here.”
“Are you including your workaholic son and the globe-trotting Sophia in that image? I find that a stretch.”
She smiled. “Stranger things have happened. Sam could retire tomorrow and live comfortably for the rest of his life. Sophia obviously has the means to do whatever she wants, as well. And she has committed to helping Emily start a safe house project in this part of North Carolina. It makes sense for them to settle here.”
“And you?” Jerry asked, regarding her intently. “What are your plans, beyond basking in everyone else’s contentment?”
“I’m living exactly the life I want to live,” she told him, only to see a frown crease his brow. “What’s wrong with that?”
“I was hoping you’d find time to think about putting some of that balance you espouse back into your own life.”
Startled by the exasperation in his tone, Cora Jane stared into his eyes. “Are you losing patience with me, Jeremiah?”
“I’ve had years and years to practice being patient,” he responded. “I can hold on a little longer, but I have to wonder why you’re so set on wasting any more of the precious little time we might have left on this earth.”
Cora Jane thought of Caleb, the man she’d fallen in love with as a young girl, the man with whom she’d raised a family, the man she’d lost so many years ago. Why was she clinging to the past with such a determined grip when the man beside her now was everything she could hope for? Jerry had loved her in silence for years, respecting her marriage. He loved her still now, when there were no more obstacles, other than her own stubbornness and nostalgia.
“Do you want to move in here?” she asked, her heart in her throat at the daring suggestion.
He smiled. “Only on one condition,” he replied. “That we’re husband and wife. I won’t settle for less, Cora Jane, but I can wait some more, if you’re not there yet. I just think with all this love around us, it’s time for us to claim some for ourselves.”
She hesitated, terrified to take the leap and shatter the way things were for something far less certain. At her age shaking up the status quo seemed like a particularly risky business.
Then she once more gazed around her kitchen at the people she loved, people whose lives were changing in front of her eyes. Surely she was capable of taking the
