The Second Time is Sweeter, page 23
Sophia nodded. Riley had figured that out before she did. He’d been right. She hadn’t been strong or resilient enough to be the military wife he needed.
“I sometimes wished he’d at least tried to come after me sooner. But I’m sure that’s just the Italian romantic in me.”
Eileen made a sound between a choke and a gurgle. “I thought maybe I’d get away with never having to tell you this. But this is as good of a time as any. While we wait.”
“What is it?”
“Well, dear, he did come back. It was three years ago, and the restaurant was doing so well. You were content. You’d recently hired Angie as your full-time chef and Lizzie had been working for you six months. You three were like the Three Musketeers and to anyone else from the outside looking in, you looked quite happy. And remember, I thought you were divorced!”
“I know.”
“I was meeting your father for dinner that night and running a little late. I ran into Riley standing outside the restaurant door, looking like a man who’d lost his best friend. I followed his gaze. You and Lizzie were laughing at the table with your father, looking like you didn’t have a care in the world. He said he was on a short leave visiting Lucy. Said he’d only dropped by to see how you were doing. Make sure you were okay. I should have known then that it didn’t sound like any divorced couple I’ve ever known. Why should he care? I swear, if I had been lying in the street bleeding, my ex-husband would have stepped over me. Anyway, he made me promise not to tell you. But I wouldn’t do it. Until he promised me that if he still cared this much about how you were doing when he got out, he’d look you up.”
Three years ago, she’d been online dating Montana Guy and her family rightfully believed she’d moved on. Why not? She’d made it sound like she and Montana Guy would meet up any day. Riley hadn’t chosen her over the Marines, but he also hadn’t re-enlisted at the end of his contract. It may have taken him some time, but in the end he’d chosen her.
“I was right not to tell you, wasn’t I? Please tell me I was.”
Poor Eileen. Sophia had been so unfair to her. So unloving at times. “If anything, you made him consider coming back to me.”
“He would have done that on his own. I’ve never seen such a look of longing and love on any man’s face. Except your father’s. And, of course, Billy with Brooke and Wallace with Gen and Scott with Diana. Well, I digress.”
Other than her family, Riley was the only real thing she’d ever had in her life. Yes, sometimes he was a little too much reality all at once. He made her breathless both in the good way and the bad way, too. But she’d never lived as large as when she’d been with Riley. Never held her heart in her hands, taken big risks and watched them work out.
And wasn’t that what she’d wanted her whole life? To live a rich life full of love and…reality. It couldn’t be escaped, good or bad, because it came right along with the risk of living out loud.
In a way she’d been moving toward Riley her whole life. Waiting and longing to trust someone enough to love them completely. And he’d made loving him so easy.
No more sitting on the sidelines watching life pass her by. But there was one more thing she had to do, as long as she was straightening out her life. Might as well start with the woman sitting right in front of her. She took a deep breath and went for it.
“I wish I’d let you in sooner. I appreciate the way you’ve made my father so happy. You might be the best thing that ever happened to him. And I do know you’re the best thing that has happened to me in a long time. I needed a mother, and it took me a while to realize that I was lucky enough to have two. One in heaven and one right here on earth.”
“Oh, honey. You’re so precious to me. I never had a daughter.” Eileen grabbed Sophia in a hug that practically swallowed her whole.
These constricting hugs used to bother her a long time ago when it felt like Eileen was a blubbering mess of a stepmother. She used to complain about it to Scott, Gen, Diana, and to anyone who would listen. She’d kept her distance from Eileen out of a sense of misguided loyalty to Mama, who truth be told would probably also love Eileen. It was hard not to love her.
“Excuse me,” a nurse said. “Are either one of you Mrs. Jacobs?”
“She is.” Eileen answered for Sophia.
“You can see him now.” She turned to lead the way. “Make it short, but he’s asking for you.”
“Eileen, can you?”
Come with me? No, she couldn’t. Riley’s family only, they’d already said that. And what was up with her asking Eileen for help, like she was a little girl again?
“Light a candle? Yes, I will.”
Right. Because she had to do this alone. Go see her husband, the victim. Easy-peasy. Sophia walked behind the nurse down the glossy-floored hallway, counting beds in the glass-walled rooms of the ICU. One, two, three. Far too many already. Most of them were elderly, eyes closed because they were sleeping. They weren’t dead.
Riley wasn’t dead.
But this was the hallway that wouldn’t end.
She hadn’t seen Mama in the hospital. Sophia’s last memory of her had been Mama at home in bed as she’d been for weeks. Sick with the flu. When Daddy-o had taken her to the hospital that last time, she’d simply asked Sophia to be a good girl and mind her sisters because she’d be back from the hospital in a few days.
Keep walking, Sophia.
Riley’s was the fifth bed. He was by far the youngest patient in ICU. Simply because he didn’t belong in here. That’s right. A cruel twist of fate put him in that bed.
His eyes were closed but they immediately fluttered opened when she crossed the doorway.
“Hey,” he said. “C’mere.”
Until that moment she hadn’t realized that she stood at the foot of the bed. Frozen and stiff. Not moving. Staring at the IV hooked to him, bandages over his arm and shoulder. A blue and green something all over his naked chest—were those bruises? Was that blood?
He’s not dead.
But his brow furrowed as he studied her. Until she remembered to move. To breathe.
“Hey, baby.” She walked to the side of the bed and gripped the railing. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
He reached for her hand and squeezed it. Hard. “This isn’t at all what I’d planned. I’m sorry.”
Her fingers felt squished in his larger hand because he was still so strong. A good sign. Yay. “You’re sorry? For what?”
“For scaring you.”
Really? Even now he was still thinking and worrying about her. Always putting her first. No wonder she loved him so much. He wasn’t the tough Marine everyone else saw. He was a man who happened to have a heart as big as his country. And somehow he’d managed to see her. The only one who’d seen more than Leah’s daughter, more than Mama’s youngest girl. The Sophia who wanted to live large and fearless but didn’t quite know how.
“Oh, that’s okay. Yeah. I’m fine with this. I’m doing good.”
“Yeah?” he quirked an eyebrow. “You know what’s not too convincing? The red around your eyes.”
“So, I did a little crying. But I’m okay now.”
“How many candles did you light?”
“None.”
There. That should prove she wasn’t worried. Not at all. She smiled smugly and squeezed his hand back.
His eyes narrowed. “Should I be insulted? I don’t rate a candle?”
“All right, Eileen’s doing it for me.”
Riley cracked a smile. For some reason, he’d always liked Eileen and said she was a good mother. Encouraged Sophia to talk to her as she would her own mother. Sophia hadn’t wanted to hear it at the time. No one could replace Mama any more than another man could replace Riley. But that, like so many other things, had changed.
“Who did this to you?”
“If you’re worried he’ll hurt me again, don’t. You heard about the license plate?”
“But you saw who it was, didn’t you?”
“Lucy’s ex, some guy named Richard. Dick.”
“Yeah, she talked about her boyfriend that night she showed up at your house drunk.”
“She sure knows how to pick them.”
“Why would he do this to you?”
She’d certainly seen a violent side of Riley that handled bullies. A side of him that wouldn’t back down. They’d once been in a bar in North Carolina when a drunk man pushed her for no apparent reason. That man had wound up flat on his back wondering what anvil had landed on him.
He’d certainly do the same for Lucy. “Were you protecting Lucy?”
“I had words with him. Made him angry. Obviously.”
“You have a way of doing that to bullies.”
“He deserved it, no doubt. But I should have seen this coming. Even I underestimated the blockhead.”
“Seriously? Tell me you’re not blaming yourself for this.”
He winced. “I got too complacent, and he got the jump on me.”
“He hurt you and he’s going to pay for this.”
“You’re right, he will. You should know that this almost never happens. There are few idiots who will even attempt to kill a police officer. He’s going away for a long time.”
“Okay, Riley.”
“Still love me?” Riley winked.
As her answer, she climbed up in the hospital bed with him, squeezing herself into the small space left between him and the railing. A monitor beeped and Riley groaned.
“What’s wrong?”
“Dick ran over me.” He grimaced but pulled her in closer with his good arm. “Here comes the nurse. Always trying to ruin my game.”
Since the door was open, they could see the nurse scowl at her station and head in the direction of Riley’s room.
“I love you,” Sophia told him as the heart monitor beeped an alarm.
“Young lady, get out of that bed before I have to give him more medicine to bring down his heart rate. It spiked when you walked in the room, and again when you climbed up in there.”
“I tried to stop her, nurse,” Riley said with a grin. “She’s a bad girl.”
Sophia did a mock jaw drop and laughed. “Shut up, you. I’m the good girl in love with the bad boy.”
Riley stole a kiss. “Don’t forget it.
EPILOGUE
Six months later
The stick was pink.
Oh. My. Lord. The. Stick. Pink.
“Open up!” Angie’s voice called out from outside the bathroom door.
“What’s going on in there?” Lizzie asked.
“Nothing!” Sophia shouted back.
Only the most significant event in her entire life. Nothing more. And she couldn’t share with her two best friends. Couldn’t. No way. Not yet. Because she had to tell Riley first. That was in the Rule Book.
“Then why did I hear you scream a few minutes ago?” Angie demanded. “Is it a review? Did we finally get reviewed?”
Sophia should just lie and say yes to buy some time, but mothers didn’t lie. And she was going to be a mother.
“Are you okay in there?” Lizzie said.
“I’ll be right out.” Sophia started the faucet and washed her hands.
Keep calm. But she was so excited there was a clear and huge possibility that she would talk like she’d been given a truth serum when she walked out that door. She should have just waited till she got home to do the test but having picked it up at the drugstore on the way in to work this afternoon, she found that she couldn’t stand not knowing another second.
Sophia dried her hands and opened the door to a waiting Angie and Lizzie.
“My God! What is it?” Angie said. “Your cheeks are all pink and you look happy enough to explode! What is it? It’s a review, isn’t it? Five stars? I’m going to be famous.” Angie bounced up and down. “I’m sure it was the risotto.”
“It’s not a review.”
“What is it, then?” This was from Lizzie.
“I can’t tell you!” Sophia picked up her purse and keys.
She’d just drive over to the station right now and tell Riley. This obviously couldn’t wait and no way would she text him or call him with this kind of news. And she was already too close to telling Angie and Lizzie everything.
“Where are you going?” Angie asked, following.
“I can’t stay here, or you’ll make me talk!”
“What do you mean?” Lizzie asked.
“Seriously, I’ve got to go. And don’t follow me!” Sophia flew out the back door and slipped into her car for the short drive to the station.
Suddenly her two-door sedan seemed much too small and she wondered what Riley would think about buying a minivan.
Good news like this needed to be spread far and wide, and after a rough few months they needed some joy.
Sophia had watched Riley help investigators from his hospital bed, and Lucy’s ex had been arrested almost immediately. Riley had recovered at home for a couple of weeks before he’d prepared to testify against the man who’d tried to kill him. He’d looked forward to it, but Sophia not so much. She lit a whole lot of candles in church that week.
Lucy was in rehab in Arizona with plans to settle in the Phoenix area. She’d visit Riley and Sophia now and then, but her disease required her to be completely removed from her prior environment. Possibly permanently. Riley had sold their family home and used the money to help relocate Lucy. She would have a new beginning, even if away from her only family. Riley wouldn’t say it out loud, but Sophia saw how difficult the decision had been for him. A dark cloud had settled around them for weeks as the decisions had been made.
The only bright light they’d had in the past few months had been when Riley decided to honor the two teens from his at-risk group, whom he wholeheartedly claimed had saved his life. The special ceremony had been held at City Hall and Sophia sat in the audience when Riley called up Eric. The sixteen-year-old was dyslexic and had ADD. A teacher’s worst nightmare, Sophia had been told, but a good kid who wasn’t sure what he’d do with his life. Now, according to his parents, he was interested in law enforcement. Riley was determined that he’d be rewarded publicly for once, since the kid regularly missed out on any kind of academic recognition.
Sure enough, Eric stuck his chest out when Riley pinned the brand new Community Hero medal on his shirt lapel.
“Thanks for saving my life.”
“You’re welcome, dude. I mean chief.”
Riley shook hands with each boy. They posed with the newspaper’s photographer.
Sophia wept with gratitude and hugged Eric a little too long.
Yes, they needed more good news.
Sophia couldn’t wait to tell everyone. Spread the joy, Mama used to say. Sophia wondered if she was looking down from heaven right now, happy her daughter was doing the right thing and telling her husband first. It was tradition. She didn’t speed and not just because residents were now judging her with a kind of “Mrs. Police Chief” standard she didn’t particularly appreciate, but also speeding could be dangerous to her unborn child.
She opened the door to the station and found Jennifer in her usual spot. “Hey, Sophia.”
“Is he busy?”
“Well, you know his door-is-always-open policy?”
“Yeah?”
“Mr. Schwanbeck is a frequent abuser. He’s in there now, and he shut the door. Twenty minutes and counting.” Jennifer glanced up at the wall clock.
“Oh, no.” Danger! Sophia was about to bust! “I need to talk to him, and it’s important.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Jennifer said with a sigh. “Should I buzz him?”
“No, no. I’ll wait.”
Except her “waiting” involved pacing the hallway past Riley’s office door with the window. After her second trip, Riley noticed her and smiled. By the third trip, he quirked an eyebrow. By the fourth trip, he was already staring in her direction when she passed the door, his forehead crinkled. On the fifth trip, Sophia plastered her face to the small window and mouthed “need to talk to you.”
Sophia opened the door. “Hi, Mr. Schwanbeck.”
Mr. Schwanbeck turned in his chair, scowling.
Riley stood up and moved toward her. “Is something wrong?”
“No, I’m good. Nothing’s wrong. I just need to talk to you. Now.”
“Young lady, if it’s not an emergency surely it can wait,” Mr. Schwanbeck said.
“No, it can’t!” With that, she hooked her thumb to the door and glared at Mr. Schwanbeck until he finally got up and left.
Riley’s arms slipped around her waist and he pulled her in for a long kiss. “Have I told you how much it turns me on when you’re bossy?”
“You have said that.” She linked her arms around his neck.
“And did I say I love you today?”
“No, don’t think so.”
“I love you. What’s so important?”
“Nothing much. You’re just going to be a daddy.”
Riley’s face split in a wide smile and he swung her up to the balls of her feet. “Seriously, baby? That didn’t take you long.”
“I couldn’t wait to tell you. The stick turned pink!”
“What stick?”
“Never mind,” she said, kissing him again and again. “Hey, can we buy a minivan?”
Riley didn’t answer as he scowled in the direction of his door. Plastered up against the window were Jennifer and Mr. Schwanbeck, fighting for space. “Stupid open-door policy.”
“We’re not going to tell them. Not yet.”
Soon enough, everyone in town would know the good news but not today. Today it was just her and Riley.
A special day. Private.
Personal.
Life changing.
I hope you’ve enjoyed Riley and Sophia’s romance. It is one of my favorites! To read the next book in the series, check out A Sweet Christmas, in which Billy’s ex, three time loser Fallon, finally gets her happily-ever-after!
