1105 Yakima Street - Debbie Macomber [109]
“I figured she might.” The other woman had said she’d be seeing Chad, although Gloria hadn’t expected it to be this soon.
“She broke off our relationship.”
Gloria felt almost sick to her stomach. “I’m sorry.”
“She knew it was over. It was from the minute I learned about the baby. The problem was, I didn’t realize it myself, not until recently. I never stopped loving you, Gloria. I tried to get you out of my mind and my heart, but it didn’t work. At night you haunted my dreams. During the day I imagined you around every corner. You’ve had a grip on me from the night we met.”
Gloria’s experience had been the same, only she hadn’t been willing to admit it. “I’m so sorry, Chad,” she whispered. She stepped closer and he did, too. “I can’t seem to do anything right when it comes to you.”
He broke into a smile. “I disagree. You’re giving me a son.”
“I’m giving you my heart, too.”
He opened his arms and she walked into them. He held her tight against him and whispered into her hair, “It took you long enough.”
“I don’t understand why I fought you so hard.”
“I don’t, either.” He kissed the top of her head and moved down the side of her face, finally reaching her lips.
When Chad pulled away minutes later, Gloria felt weak and breathless. She thought about taking him to her bedroom, which was how these sessions usually ended. But she wouldn’t allow that to happen this time. They couldn’t let sex confuse the issue or distract them from what they needed to work out.
“Why do you make me feel like this?” She’d never reacted physically to any man the way she did to Chad.
“I don’t know. I don’t care. Just don’t change.”
She clung to him, kissing him with tears running down her cheeks.
“I want us to get married,” he said.
“Okay.” It wasn’t the romantic proposal she’d always dreamed of, but it was good enough.
“Soon.”
“Okay.”
“Before Christmas.”
“Christmas?” That was three weeks away!
“You’ll move in with me.”
All these commands were given between lengthy, heated kisses. “With you…”
“Yes, move in with me,” he said again.
“Can’t you move here?”
“No.”
“My family’s here. My job…”
“You have a new family now. You, me and the baby. And there are jobs in Tacoma, too.”
“Yes. Maybe, later on, I can join their police force.”
He nodded. “Besides, it’s not like you’d be that far from Cedar Cove and the McAfees.”
“True.”
Another kiss, this one even more potent and powerful. “Chad,” she whispered, gasping for breath. “I do love you.”
“I know. I’ve always known.”
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.”
“You talk too much.”
“Sorry.”
He laughed. “Don’t apologize.”
“About Joni…”
He kissed her again. “She’ll be fine. Another doctor is crazy about her.”
He said more things, but everything else was lost on Gloria. All she knew was how happy she felt.
Thirty-Four
Sunday afternoon, Grace and Cliff Harding were stringing Christmas lights around the roofline of the house. Cliff stood on the ladder while Grace held the lights and kept a careful eye on her husband. Beau was on his leash, which was tied to the porch railing.
A car appeared at the head of the long driveway between the two fenced pastures. Cliff’s horses, lazily chewing grass, looked up at the vehicle.
“You expecting anyone?” Cliff called down to Grace.
“No.” It wasn’t unusual for one of her daughters to stop by without phoning first, but neither of them drove an SUV. “It’s Beth Morehouse’s car,” she told him a moment later.
“Has she come for Beau?”
Grace had been adamant from day one that she wouldn’t keep the puppy. He gnawed on her shoes and hid Cliff’s socks and he was constantly underfoot. Besides, he insisted on following her everywhere she went.
“Grace?” Cliff called again.
“I don’t know,” she said. They hadn’t actually set a date for Beth to pick up the puppy. If she’d found a good home for Beau then…great.
Beth parked in front of the barn, got out and walked over to them.
Cliff climbed down the ladder and placed his arm around Grace’s shoulders, as Beau whimpered and barked excitedly.
“Hi, Beth,” Grace said. She bent down