Pelican Court (Cedar Cove #3)(103)

“Oh, Jon.”

“I haven’t seen or talked to my father since the day I was sentenced. I want nothing to do with him. I don’t know how I would’ve survived without my grandfather’s support. He did everything he could to help me.”

She understood more and more of what he’d been through, the experiences that had shaped him.

“Jim died while I was in prison. My father wrote to tell me, but I never wrote him back.” He didn’t hide his pain or bitterness.

“How long were you in prison?”

“I was sentenced to fifteen years.”

She gasped. Jon, who loved the out-of-doors, had been locked in a jail cell.

“I served seven of those years, and it was seven years of hell.”

“Jim walked away scot-free?”

Jon looked down at their linked fingers and he squeezed so hard she nearly cried out from the pain. “He got a slap on the wrist with probation and then died of a heroin overdose the year before I was paroled.”

Maryellen desperately wanted to comfort him, to hold him in her arms.

“Now you know.” His eyes were cold as stones as he held her gaze. “You can give this information to any court in the land and take my daughter away from me.”

Now she knew why he was putting the land his grandfather had left him up for sale and selling the house he’d built with his own hands. Why he was quitting his job. Leaving Cedar Cove.

“You don’t trust me,” she whispered. He was relinquishing everything that mattered to him because he believed he was going to lose it, anyway. Because the minute he lowered his guard, he took the risk that she, too, would betray him.

“I can’t.” He didn’t bother to deny it. “The only person I can trust in this world is myself.”

“What about Katie?”

“She’s a baby….”

“She’s your daughter.”

“I love her.”

“But doesn’t she deserve to know her father?”

His jaw tightened again.

“Eventually you’ll have to trust someone. You can’t close yourself off from everyone. Sooner or later, you’ve got to stop running.”

He didn’t look at her, didn’t respond.

“I can deal with it if you don’t want me in your life, but Katie needs you. Jon, please don’t walk away from her.” She wanted to ask the same thing for herself, but wouldn’t.

“You know everything now.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“You won’t try to get sole custody of Katie?”

“No,” she said. “I promise.”

“You probably could, you know.”

“Jon,” she cried in frustration. “Haven’t you been listening to a word I’ve said? Katie needs you…. I need you. I’m not going to do anything to keep you out of Katie’s life. Or mine.”

His eyes narrowed. “Would you marry a felon?”

“Are you asking?”

He hesitated and then gave a jerky nod. She watched as he thrust his hands back inside his pockets, hunching his shoulders forward.

She blinked hard to keep the tears from spilling onto her face. “It would be the greatest honor of my life to marry you, to be the mother to your children and—”

“Children?”

“I’m thinking Katie could use a little brother or sister.”

A tentative smile came first and then Jon broke into the most wonderful deep-chested laugh. The sound of it drifted toward the cove, competing with the sharp cry of the seagulls.

Before Maryellen knew it, they were both standing and she was securely wrapped in his embrace. They hugged each other tightly and then he kissed her again and again.

Maryellen raised her face and wept openly as Jon’s kisses traveled over her forehead, her cheeks, her chin, moving toward her lips. When their mouths finally met, it was a kiss that spoke of faith and trust and love, and she returned those feelings in full measure.

She was breathless by the time he eased his mouth from hers. “I want us to get married soon.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Promise me you’ll never threaten to leave us again.”

“I promise,” he said, and kissed her.

“Promise you’ll always love me.”

“Promise.” Another deep kiss.

“Anything else?” he asked, his eyes so full of love it was almost painful to see.

“Lots more,” she whispered. In fact, Maryellen was just getting started.

Twenty-Eight

Home from a Saturday afternoon spent volunteering at the Humane Society Animal Shelter, Grace pulled into her driveway. She enjoyed her work, found real purpose in helping animals. There was such satisfaction in seeing lost pets reunited with their owners and in connecting abandoned or mistreated cats and dogs with people who’d love them.

The vet had a notice about the Humane Society on her bulletin board, which Grace had seen the afternoon she’d taken Buttercup in. She’d decided to respond to the call for volunteers. Buttercup had come into her life at exactly the right moment and Grace wanted others to find the same pleasure.

Her first thought once she’d parked the car was to retrieve her mail. Although she tried not to be hopeful, she couldn’t help looking for a response from Cliff. Two weeks earlier she’d written him, reiterating how sorry she was. Although it meant having to swallow her considerable pride, Grace had asked him to give her a second chance. So far, she hadn’t heard from him, and now, after two weeks, she suspected she wouldn’t.