Barefoot by the Sea (Barefoot Bay)

  For a long minute they looked at each other, both hands clasped over the shell, the connection as real and powerful as when they made love.

  “Well, then, that’s unconventional,” the mayor joked. “But good enough for me to pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride, sir.”

  They both waited a second, then leaned into each other, angling their heads, meeting their mouths, and finally breaking their clasped hands to put their arms around each other.

  “Don’t throw that shell away,” he whispered in her ear.

  “Not this time,” she promised.

  The cheer went up over the beach, but the crowd really didn’t know what they were cheering for. A life found, that was what.

  Ian threw an arm around Tessa and walked through the small gathering, nodding to a few people he recognized from the resort and restaurant, holding his wife tight to his side. As they got through the crowd and reached the sea grass, he stopped.

  “We’re going over to Rockrose to sign the papers,” she said. “That’s where we’re supposed to meet the mayor.”

  He shook his head.

  “No?”

  “Yes, but not yet.” Taking her shoulders, he pulled her closer. “Tessa, listen to me. This is important. I made a—”

  “John Brown?”

  He whipped around, ready to jump down the throat of whoever felt it was necessary to congratulate him now. Then he just froze and stared at the very last person he ever dreamed he’d see here. Bloody hell.

  Sharp-eyed, bearded, and leaning in to lower his voice, Henry Brooker always had impeccable timing. “You need to come with me. Now.”

  Instinctively Ian stepped in front of Tessa, wanting to protect her from this part of his life, this dark, broken, abnormal life of his. “Why?” he demanded.

  “It’s now or never if you want any chance of getting Shiloh or Sam. Things have changed. Drastically.”

  Yes, they had.

  “What’s going on?” Tessa asked, her face china white now, her eyes wide with horror.

  “Nothing.” Damn it, he wouldn’t let Henry toss him around like a rudderless boat on whitewater. He had to have a life, and Tessa was his—

  “Ms. Galloway,” Henry said softly. “John is going to leave now. You have about one minute to say good-bye.”

  “What?”

  “One minute,” he said gruffly.

  She put her hand on her chest, and, right in front of him, Tessa collapsed in the sand.

  Chapter Thirty

  Sign the paper. Sign the paper. Tessa had to sign the paper before that man took John—

  “Tessa? Honey, wake up.”

  John. No, no, that was…“Ian.”

  “Shhh, wake up, sweetheart.”

  Using every ounce of strength, she managed to open her eyes, the face in front of her a blur before the features crystallized into…“Ian.”

  He put light fingers over her lips, his eyes flashing enough so she got the message.

  “Is she awake?”

  “Is she okay?”

  “Tess, you fainted.”

  She managed to tear her gaze away long enough to focus on Lacey. And Jocelyn. And Zoe. All of them and at least a dozen others peered at her over Ian’s shoulder. Not Ian. John. She had to call him John.

  And she had to say good-bye to him. One minute.

  “Tess?” He stroked her face. “You still with us, honey?”

  She nodded and opened her eyes, pushing herself up, feeling sand under her elbows and backside. God, she was lying on the sand surrounded by wedding guests. “This is a nightmare,” she whispered, trying to laugh but, honestly, nothing was funny.

  “Brides faint. I’ve seen it a lot.” The comment came from the back of the group—the girl with blue hair.

  Oh, Lord, the wedding planners. The fake wedding was a complete failure—unless she signed that paper. At least John could get his kids.

  She grabbed his hand and tugged him closer. “We have to sign the papers before you go.”

  He shook his head, using her hand to help her up. “You have to get steady on your feet.”

  “In Rockrose,” she insisted. “Take me into the villa.” That was where the marriage certificate waited to be signed and witnessed. “Where’s the mayor?”

  “Right here, dear.” White-haired Mayor Lennox stepped through the circle of people.

  “I’m fine,” she said, standing now and still holding John’s hand. “Where’s…” She tried to speak silently through her eyes. “That man?”

  Ian barely nodded in acknowledgment, taking her a step forward.

  “Is he gone?” she asked in a soft whisper.

  “Come with me, Tess.” He gestured to move her friends back. “Let me take Tessa into Rockrose for a few minutes.”

  “We’ll come with you,” Lacey said, already on her other side.

  “No.” Tessa gave her a firm look. “I need to be alone with John.”

  Confusion and maybe a flash of hurt passed over her expression, but Lacey was a friend for life, and she got the message. “Okay. I’ll take care of…everyone.”

  “I’m sorry,” Tessa said quickly. “I think the wedding is a bust.”

  Lacey almost smiled. “Vows felt real enough. And you dropped this.” She put the junonia in Tessa’s hand. “Go rest a few minutes and we’ll take it from there.”

  Tessa squeezed the shell, grateful. Behind Lacey, in the distance, the hot-air balloon waited for the sunset wedding flight that was supposed to be the showstopper for the consultants.

  “Zoe, c’mere,” Tessa said, reaching for her other friend. “Can your pilot take the VIPs up instead of us? It would be a good way to deflect some of this mess.”

  “We can do that,” she said. “I’ll talk to them.”

  That would buy some time. Enough to sign the papers and…say good-bye. The thought almost made her dizzy again, damn it. Taking a slow, deep breath, Tessa looked up at John.

  She would not be that woman. She would not be weak, helpless, faint, or pathetic. He needed her help for the most important thing in his life and she’d give it; somehow, explanations would follow.

  “Let’s go,” she said when he hesitated. “We’re not done…yet.”

  The crowd backed off enough for them to walk to the closest villa near the beach, with Mayor Lennox offering to meet them in a few minutes so Tessa had a chance to recover. But they weren’t alone when they stepped inside the living room, and Tessa wasn’t the least bit surprised about that.

  “How are you feeling?” Henry Brooker’s British accent was thicker than John’s, she noticed, and maybe that was why the question didn’t feel exactly sincere. Or maybe it was his tense demeanor, like he was ready to bolt any second.

  And take John with him.

  “You better have a damn good reason for this, Brooker.” John guided Tessa to one of the dining chairs, pulling it out for her. “Your timing sucks.”

  Henry angled his head, silent.

  “Don’t be coy, either,” John said, standing behind her and placing solid, protective hands on her shoulders. “Tessa knows everything there is to know. Say what you have to say and be prepared to leave. I’m not ruining this day any more than we already have.”

  Drawing back with a little surprise, Henry crossed his arms and scowled. “This is not my timing,” he said quietly. “This timing was dictated by your son.”

  John’s grip tightened. “What?”

  “Edward is sick.”

  “Sam,” John said softly, coming around the table as if the news somehow drew him closer to Henry. “His name is Samuel. What’s wrong with him?”

  “They don’t know. He’d developed a strange infection and he’s been hospitalized overnight. To be blunt, it’s touch and go and you need to get there, fast.”

  “Good Lord.”

  At John’s pained whisper, Tessa stood, her own light-headedness forgotten and replaced by his. She put her hand on his back. “You better go.”

&
nbsp; He gave Henry a questioning look, then nodded solemnly.

  Tessa barely breathed and John turned to her, his anger at Henry replaced by something else even more intense. Raw, rugged determination and the same certainty she had seen on the beach.

  “Come with me.”

  The words stunned her.

  “John, I—”

  “Tess, please. Please. Come with me. We’re married now. Stay with me, be with me, don’t ever leave me.”

  She stood paralyzed by the invitation and sincerity in his eyes.

  Henry stepped closer, practically between them. “If you get the children in your custody, we’d still strongly recommend you start over with a new name in a new location.” He looked hard at Tessa. “You’d have no contact with anyone.”

  “Come with me,” he repeated as if Henry weren’t even there. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her closer. “I meant every bloody word I said out there, woman. I love you. I love you. Come with me, live with me, be my reason.”

  “Your reason.”

  He squeezed and practically shook her, his eyes on fire. “For living. For breathing. For everything.”

  Blood pulsed so loudly she couldn’t hear herself think. And she needed to. She needed to think hard and straight. “You want me to leave and go into the program with you?”

  “Yes. It’s wrong. It’s selfish.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “But I love you. Tessa, I love you so much, but I love my kids, too.”

  And now one of them was sick. When push came to shove, that was the family he’d choose—as he should. Just like…

  She closed her eyes as the image of her mother popped so unexpectedly into her head. Her mother who gave up everything for a man who wouldn’t give up a damn thing for her. And look how she’d ended up. Alone.

  She’d promised to help him, but did that mean she would give up everything so he could have—everything?

  “Does he still have to prove he’s married?” she asked Henry.

  “It’s going to help the process, yes. All I know is I was sent here to fly you up there immediately because of the situation with your son. Beyond that, I can’t say what will happen, but I’m confident that you’ll be taking a new identity and so would your…” He gestured to Tessa.

  “She’s my wife,” he said simply.

  Three words that nearly buckled her knees again. Then the front door opened and Mayor Lennox walked in.

  Henry didn’t wait or bother with introductions. “I’ll be outside,” he said. “I have a car waiting.”

  “You two going somewhere?” The mayor asked as Henry brushed by him and left.

  They didn’t answer but looked at each other, John’s stare so hard that prickles of heat stung Tessa’s neck, her pulse thrumming every vein in her body.

  She’s my wife.

  Not quite yet.

  “Here’s the certificate of marriage.” Mayor Lennox flipped open a manila envelope and pulled out a sheet of paper, taking it to the table. “Most people have a photographer here for this part.”

  “We’re not most people,” John said.

  He chuckled. “I got that impression during the ceremony.”

  “In fact, we’d like to be alone.”

  The mayor’s white brow shot up. “I need to witness the signatures.”

  John gestured around the room. “You see anyone else?”

  “Like I said, unconventional.” But he took out a pen, set it on the table, and gave a nod. “Have at it, kids.”

  Neither of them moved, even after the door clicked shut and they were alone. For a long moment, they looked at each other, both taking slow, uneven, slightly terrified breaths.

  “Are you going to sign that?” she finally asked.

  “Are you going to come with me?”

  “How can I do that?” she asked, wishing he really had an answer but knowing he didn’t. “How can I walk out of here and get in a car and disappear from the people who love me most in the whole world? They’d never stop looking for me.”

  “They’d never find you.”

  And that hurt. “I love them too much to put them through that.”

  He closed his eyes and nodded. “I understand that, but I want you to know something, too.” He reached for her hands, pulling her closer. “I meant every word I said during that wedding. I really did. I’ve been given a second chance and a second life, so I wanted to—”

  She put her hand over his mouth, not sure she could take this confession. It would hurt too much on lonely nights to remember these words and how close they came to happiness.

  “You’ve been given a second chance with your children. Love—our love—is great and glorious. But that love? The parent love? That is it, Ian. That is what counts the most. And, honestly?” She smiled as the real truth descended. “I would make the same choice, if I only could.”

  He bit his lip, eyes filling, pulling her into an embrace so tight she couldn’t breathe. “I know you would.”

  “Go to them, Ian,” she whispered. “I could never love a man who wouldn’t, and I could never forgive myself if I went with you.”

  Sighing in agreement, he kissed her head. “I will never forget you, Tessa. I’ll never forget you.”

  She pinched her eyes shut and fought the tears, nudging him away. “One more thing,” she said, her voice hoarse. She picked up the pen. “We’re not quite married yet.”

  “You don’t have to sign that,” he said. “I understand if you don’t want to.”

  “I want to.” She scratched Tessa Galloway above her typed name. “Here.”

  He took the pen, looking miserable, unable to do anything but stare at the document.

  “You said Henry will arrange the annulment,” she reminded him. “This is a formality.”

  He squeezed the pen in a death grip, staring at the certificate. “It’s not a bloody formality to me.”

  “It’s a way to get your children, and that’s all that matters.”

  “Is it, Tessa?” He didn’t look up from the paper, but his jaw clenched tight and a vein in his neck throbbed at about the same rate as her heart. “Because I think it’s a fucking lie.” He tossed the pen on the table and took a step back. “And we made a promise never to lie to each other.”

  “You’re not lying to me,” she said softly.

  He turned to her, eyes blazing. “I’m making a mockery of marriage and of us. I won’t do that. When I sign that, it’s forever and it’s real. I won’t do that for some stupid board who thinks they know what’s right for me and for my family.”

  She fisted her hands, fighting another wave of emotion and dizziness. “Your family consists of two little children, one of whom is sick. I am not part of this decision.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong.”

  An impatient tap on the door made Ian step back and look around the room.

  “I need a piece of paper,” he said. He scanned the living room, seeing none. “Damn it.” He took the marriage certificate and ripped a corner off, then grabbed the pen to write on the scrap. “This is Henry’s secure, private, and totally trustworthy number. If you ever need anything, absolutely anything, or if you want to get a message to me, call Henry.”

  He stuffed the paper into her hand, then grabbed her fingers and pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her. Tessa closed her eyes and nodded into his chest, his heart hammering against her, yet not loud enough to drown out her thoughts.

  Go with him, you idiot! Go!

  But she simply couldn’t move.

  He slipped out of her arms, brushed her hair back one last time, and gave her a smile. “I don’t blame you, Tess. Not at all.”

  “Okay. Bye.” She closed her eyes and turned away, incapable of watching him walk out the door. When she finally opened her eyes, she focused on the scene out the window in front of her.

  The hot-air balloon was lifting off, surrounded by the people she loved, all cheering and waving and wishing them well. Everyone was too immersed in the excit
ement to notice the groom walking across the path, on his way to a car that would take him away forever.

  Forevah and evah.

  She squeezed the shell so hard she thought she heard it crack. But it didn’t. The seashell was stronger than that. Only her heart was broken.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  The verdict’s in. Meet at my house. Now!

  Lacey’s text went to all three of her best friends and business partners simultaneously. Instantly, Tessa dropped the composting fork and pulled off her gloves, throwing them on a work table as she headed out of the gardens toward Lacey’s backyard.

  It had been two weeks since the wedding planners left Barefoot Bay; and, of course, two weeks, one day, and fourteen hours since John had left.

  Stop counting, Tess.

  Her friends had surprised her by accepting the “family emergency” explanation—though she’d caught their looks of worry and pity when they thought she wasn’t paying attention. However, Willow, Arielle, and Gussie hadn’t been quite so understanding and, with the groom gone, the reception fizzled. And so, they feared, had their chances of being a “recommended resort” at the next meeting of the American Association of Bridal Consultants.

  Willow said she’d be calling Lacey today to deliver the final news, and they’d all agreed they wanted to be together for the announcement. Tessa’d done a masterful job of avoiding her friends for the better part of the past two weeks, even begging off as sick for the Thanksgiving feast Lacey had hosted. That hadn’t been a lie; heartache had wrecked her physically and emotionally, and her friends had read her cues perfectly. But that couldn’t last too much longer.

  Especially if the AABC said they thought the wedding had been a bust. Then there’d probably be some serious questions sent Tessa’s way. She’d stick to her story: The wedding wasn’t real and she’d never expected a drifter like John Brown to stick around long. His inexplicable “personal emergency” was the excuse he needed to disappear from any emotional entanglements.

  And, honestly, none of that was a lie. It just wasn’t the whole truth.

  “Hey, Aunt Tess.”

  She stopped at the urgent but soft cry, peering into the shade of a live oak tree at the edge of Lacey’s property. “Ashley?”