Honeysuckle Summer (The Sweet Magnolias #7)(105)

A full-time job? Maybe even a real career? Sure, it would be nice if she could define herself as something other than an agoraphobic at long last. Volunteer work of some kind? There was nothing to stop her from doing that, even if she were married and working. Travel? Well, what fun would it be to see the country or the world without someone to share the trip?

But even though she was reaching those conclusions on her own—okay, with plenty of helpful prodding from Annie and Sarah—she couldn’t bring herself to pick up the phone and call Carter to tell him she’d made a mistake. She’d given him the freedom to move on. Now she had to let him do just that. If the path ultimately led back to her…well, she’d be waiting.

Carrie’s declaration calling her an idiot rang in her head. She probably was. In facing down Paul, she’d discovered that she was a fighter, after all. So why wasn’t she fighting for this, for the future she knew she wanted? What was stopping her? Fear? Hadn’t she had more than enough of letting fear rule her life?

Somehow she had to find the courage—and a plan—for going after what she really wanted.



When Raylene looked outside the next afternoon, to her astonishment she saw Carter working in her garden. Most of the flowers had died back and weeds had taken over since that fateful day when Paul had turned up. She hadn’t gotten around to buying any of the fall plants she’d intended to put in. What was left looked sadly neglected.

On this unseasonably warm day, Carter was shirtless and wearing a pair of jeans that fit like a glove. He made her mouth go dry. Then, again, he inspired that reaction pretty much whatever he wore.

She opened the door carefully, but it brought his head snapping around. His gaze met hers and held.

“I’m surprised to see you here,” she said.

He gave her a sheepish grin. “It’s been brought to my attention that I’ve been behaving like an idiot.”

She laughed at that. “Mine, too. Your sisters, Annie, Sarah—all of them have expressed that at one time or another.”

He chuckled, but then his expression sobered. “One of the things they all have in common is that they’re smart. I have been acting like an idiot. I’m in love with you and I walked away from that just because you told me to. That’s exactly when I should have stuck around to fight.”

“So you came over here to fight for me?” she asked, her heart in her throat.

“I did,” he said, pulling a pink envelope out of his back pocket. The incongruous sight made her smile. “It’s all in here. Read it.”

He crossed the yard and handed it to her.

Raylene took the thin envelope and sat down. When she pulled out the single sheet of paper, she saw that it was a list of all the things she’d ever mentioned wanting to do if she got her life back. Beside each one was a promise.

“Whatever job you decide you want, I will support you in that a hundred percent. No matter how time-consuming it is, I’ll never complain, as long as you come home to me at the end of the day.”

She lifted her gaze to see that he was watching her intently. “Good start,” she said softly, fighting tears.

“Keep reading.”

“If you want to volunteer or help out in the community, I’ll be by your side,” he’d written. “We’ll both give something back in return for all the blessings in our lives.”

She swallowed hard as the words in front of her swam on the page. She tried to keep reading through her tears.

“Wherever you want to travel, I’ll do everything I can to make sure the trip is memorable. We’ll fill a hundred albums with all our memories so we can look at them again when we’re too old to roam.”

Now Raylene’s tears were flowing freely as she came to the next item on his list.

“We’ll have the family you wanted, starting with Carrie and Mandy and adding all the kids you dreamed of, raising them together with love, through good times and bad, from colic to acne and angst.” She smiled at that.

“And last,” he’d written, “we’ll grow old together and spend our evenings sitting outside with the scent of honeysuckle in the air, holding hands and remembering the wonderful life we built together.”

When she looked up, her eyes shimmering with tears, he met her gaze, then held it. She couldn’t have looked away even had she wanted to.

“Make that dream with me,” he said quietly. “Please don’t go off on your own, Raylene. Let’s do it together. Marry me.”

Raylene’s heart swelled at the sincerity she heard in his voice and the words he’d written on that ridiculously feminine stationery. It was all there, her hopes and dreams, the role he wanted to play in the rest of her life. All she had to do was take a few steps away from the house that had been her haven for so long and walk into his arms.

She’d conquered her fears weeks ago, all except this one, reaching for the dream that mattered the most. Now, once more, her heart was in her throat as she stepped off the patio and onto the grass. She walked slowly until she was right in front of him, close enough to feel his heat, near enough to reach up and touch his amazing face.

“I love you,” she whispered as she placed her hands on his warm, sun-kissed shoulders. She waited for the faint flicker of fear at the risk of embracing an untested future, but all she felt was yearning and need.