Heaven, Texas (Chicago Stars #2)(116)

Judy Baines craned her neck to watch as they disappeared. She turned to Bobby Tom and clucked her tongue. “I think he’s taking her behind the barn.”

“Hanky-panky, for sure.”

“You gonna do anything about it?”

“Give the bride away, Miz Baines, and hope for the best.”



Way and Suzy couldn’t stop kissing each other. He had her backed up against the side of the barn with the shirttail of her prim white blouse pulled out and his hand up underneath it. They were both breathing heavily, and Bobby Tom’s silly warning had left them with a giddy sense that they were getting away with something.

“I love you, Suzy. I’ve been waiting for you all my life.”

“Oh, Way…”

“Say it, sweetheart. Tell me. I need to hear the words.”

“I love you, too. You know I do. I’ve loved you for a long time. And I need you so very much.”

Way kissed her again, then voiced the question that had to be asked. “What about Hoyt? I know how much your marriage meant.”

She brought her hand from the back of his neck to cup his jaw. “I’ll always love him, you know that, but Bobby Tom made me understand something tonight that I should have been able to figure out a long time ago. Hoyt would want this for me. He’d want you for me. I guess I’ll always believe that somehow he gave us his blessing tonight through his son.”

Way stroked her cheek. “This has been hard on Bobby Tom. I know the way he felt about his dad.” For the first time since he’d started kissing her, he looked troubled. “It’s no secret your son doesn’t like me, Suzy, but I promise you that I’m going to do my best to change that.”

She smiled. “He likes you a lot; he just hasn’t figured it out yet. Believe me, the two of you are going to get along fine. He would never have turned me over to you if he hadn’t already made up his mind about that.”

He looked relieved, then he began taking tiny nips out of her bottom lip. At the same time, his thumb found her nipple. “Sweetheart, we’ve got to get out of here.”

She drew back and gave him a mischievous grin. “Bobby Tom said you were supposed to treat me with respect.”

“I am. First I’m going to get you naked, then I’m going to treat you with respect.”

She pretended to think it over. “I don’t know if we should. He was awfully intimidating.”

He groaned. “It could take a couple of weeks for us to put a wedding ceremony together, and there’s no way I can wait that long to touch you. Your son can just learn right now to respect the needs of his elders.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

Way kissed her once again. When they finally parted, he threw back his head and laughed. The biggest hood at Telarosa High had finally won the heart of the prettiest girl in the sophomore class.



As Bobby Tom leaped up on the platform to recognize the golf tournament winners, he was halfway giddy he felt so good. High on love and the realization that life held more for him than football, he had just decided exactly how he was going to go about letting Gracie know that everything had changed. Making the grand gesture had always appealed to him, and he intended to give his future wife a marriage proposal she’d never forget.

Gracie, in the meantime, was counting the minutes until the agonizing night would be over. She tried to find some sort of peace in accepting the knowledge that she would never again let herself be satisfied with less than she deserved, but nothing could ease her heartbreak.

Terry Jo had refused to handle the drawing for the quilt raffle, so she found herself on the platform, standing as far away from Bobby Tom as she could get. While Luther thanked the athletes for participating, she looked out over the crowd. Willow and the rest of the Blood Moon people stood in a group, Elvis had fallen asleep in Natalie’s arm, and Buddy and Terry Jo were standing with Jim Biederot, Bobby Tom’s old teammate, and the Calebows.

A number of Bobby Tom’s athlete friends had danced with her this evening, and most of them had been amused by her ignorance of who they were rather than being annoyed. Unfortunately, she had discovered that they had somehow learned she was the one who had broken off with Bobby Tom, instead of the other way around. Women would have been sympathetic if they heard their friend had been dumped, but Bobby Tom’s friends seemed to think this was unbelievably funny, and she was certain they’d been ribbing him about it all evening. She knew what kind of blow this would be to his pride, and a vague sense of apprehension settled around her pain.

Luther picked up the glass fishbowl containing the stubs of the raffle tickets that she’d given him earlier and gestured for her to approach. “Before Bobby Tom recognizes our guests tonight, we’re going to draw for the beautiful quilt the folks at Arbor Hills Nursing Home are raffling off. Most of you folks know Gracie Snow. We sure are going to miss her after she leaves and let’s give her a big round of applause for all the hard work she’s done.”

Enthusiastic applause broke out, accompanied by some loud whistles. She reached into the fishbowl to draw out the winner.

“Number one-three-seven.”

The ticket, as it turned out, was the one the crew members had bought for Elvis, who awakened as his mother brought him forward. Gracie handed over the quilt to Natalie and gave the winner a special hug and kiss, realizing, as she did, how much she was going to miss this sweet-tempered baby. With the drawing completed, she tried to step down off the platform only to discover that Luther was in the way.