Forever His Bride. Lisa Childs

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      THE GROOM STOOD ALONE atop the five-tier wedding cake, which was bedecked with red and white frosting flowers. In his plastic tux and with his painted-on smile, he looked quite happy. Certainly not like a man who’d been left at the altar. But as with Josh, this groom’s bride also was missing.

      A big hand slapped Josh’s shoulder, causing him to stumble forward. Grabbing the edge of the table, he caught himself from falling headfirst into frosting. The tiers jiggled, and the lone groom wobbled on the top. But he didn’t fall down.

      “Sorry, boy, so sorry,” offered Emmet “Pop” Kelly, his strong fingers grasping Josh’s shoulder.

      Mr. Kelly was a mammoth man with burly arms and a bulging belly that started just below his neck. Despite the lines of age on his face, his hair was still black—all but for one shock of white that fell across his brow. “Mr. Kelly…”

      “Pop. I told you everyone calls me Pop.”

      “Pop…”

      “Damn shame, boy, about the bride. I can’t figure out what happened to her. She was just gone.”

      “She left a note,” Josh explained. “She needs some time to think…”

      “No, not your bride. His.” He pointed toward the plastic groom. “I swear she was on the cake when it left the bakery. I loaded it into the truck myself. Well, that nice kid helped me—Harold’s nephew.”

      A headache pounded at Josh’s temple. While he’d fallen for the whole town of Cloverville the minute he’d set foot into it, he would need to live there a while before he’d be able to catch up on who was related to whom and who lived where and what used to be located in some spot before weather, age or redevelopment had brought it down. Hell, he might never catch up. Even so, the first time he’d come to Cloverville, he’d realized that it would be the perfect place to raise his boys, and that had been before he’d met Brenna Kelly.

      His eyes narrowed as he glanced again at the lonely plastic groom. Could they have…Spying small fingerprints in the frosting on the bottom tier, he asked, “Have you seen Buzz and TJ?”

      The older man laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “The boys have been having a great time.”

      At least someone was, then. Josh had barely been able to eat for all the townspeople staring at him and casting him sympathetic glances. Mrs. McClintock turning the event into a welcome-home party for Abby and Lara had taken some of the attention away from him. Before he’d met them, Molly had filled him in on all her friends. Eight years earlier Abby had left Cloverville in disgrace, but apparently the town had forgiven her her transgressions because now they genuinely welcomed her back. Well, everyone but Clayton.

      And the town had welcomed Josh and his boys, as well. Even though Molly had backed out of marrying him, Josh couldn’t back out of moving there. He’d been right to believe this town was the perfect place to raise his boys.

      “When did you see them last? And where?” he asked Pop. “They weren’t heading to the bathroom?” With a little plastic bride. He patted the pockets of his tux and breathed a sigh of relief. At least they didn’t have his cell phone. Or his pager. Or his wallet. But, man, if that bride had a train on her plastic dress, they could clog the whole plumbing system of the American Legion Hall.

      Dark paneling showed through the thin coat of white paint on the walls, and underfoot the linoleum was worn and cracked with age. His ex-wife would have hated this place. He’d had to book a swanky hotel in Grand Rapids for their small wedding. But with white and red lights and balloons, Brenna had transformed the dark hall, the only place in town for a reception, so that it was as enchanting as…she was.

      As the older man rambled on, Josh scanned the hall. He should have been searching for his mischievous boys, but instead his gaze locked on Brenna. In her red satin gown, with her hair flowing around her shoulders and her pale skin shimmering with the glow from the fairy lights, she looked like a princess. Not like one from the old fables, which Buzz and TJ had grown bored with long ago, but one from the hormone-fuelled dreams of a teenage boy. Something about Brenna Kelly brought Josh back to that time before med school, before marriage, before kids, when life had been simpler—when his breath had caught and his pulse had raced at the mere sight of a pretty girl.

      Brenna turned, and across the hall, their gazes met. Her lips, nearly as red as her gown, lifted in a smile. And Josh’s breath caught. And his pulse raced.

      “Son?”

      “Yeah,” Josh, distracted, responded to the older man.

      “So it’s settled then.” The old man clapped his meaty hands together. “I’ll tell Mama. She’ll be thrilled.”

      “Huh?” Josh pulled his attention away from the daughter to concentrate on her father. “What?”

      “Mama was already fretting that she didn’t have enough time with the boys,” Pop elaborated. “They bring so much energy and life to the old house.”

      “I’m sorry.” Josh shook his head. “I don’t understand…”

      “Well, if Molly just needs time, you’ll want to wait for her. She’s a smart girl, nose always in a book. She’ll figure things out quickly,” Pop said.

      Josh knew Molly had already figured out one thing—that she didn’t want him. When she turned up again, he doubted it would be to marry him. “Mr…. Pop…”

      “Despite all the development on the east side of town, Cloverville still doesn’t have a hotel or motel. So you’ll stay with us,” the older man concluded.

      Spend more time in close proximity to Brenna Kelly? He couldn’t. He shook his head. “You’re generous to open up your home to me and my sons, but I can’t impose,” he insisted. “You’ve already done too much.”

      Pop’s meaty hand smacked Josh’s shoulder. “Nonsense. The house is too big for just us and Brenna.”

      Josh couldn’t argue with him. The old Victorian house, with its turret and wide wraparound porch, was huge, but the Kellys had done their best to fill it to the rafters with antiques. Breakables had been his first thought when he’d seen their home initially the day before. The boys had thought it a gingerbread house, with its bright yellow siding and teal-and-purple trim. He’d had to watch them to make sure they didn’t try to break off a corner in order to taste it.

      “Your house is beautiful,” Josh complimented the older man, “and full of lovely treasures. I adore my boys, but they’re not very careful with fragile things. I’d hate it if they broke one of your collectibles. Really, we’re better off going back to Grand Rapids for the moment.”

      And he’d be better off away from Brenna and temptation.

      Pop laughed. “That junk? Mama and I inherited most of it from our families. We don’t have much left now.”

      “Family?” Josh asked.

      The old man nodded, his eyes glistening.

      “You have all those keepsakes to remember them by.” Josh offered comfort, he hoped, to СКАЧАТЬ