A Wedding in Apple Grove (29 page)

The sheriff gritted his teeth and said, “Let's just get this done.”

Dan realized the sheriff was a braver man than anyone knew. “How long have you been afraid of heights?”

Their gazes met. The sheriff looked away first. “Didn't say I was.”

Dan nodded. “Your secret is safe with me. Here, let me.” He reached for the can of paint and the brush.

“How do I reach high enough?”

“Well now,” the sheriff drawled. “That's the tricky part. See that rope up there?”

Dan groaned and glanced down at Meg. She waved at him and he thought she might be smiling but couldn't really see; the spotlight only illuminated the tower, not the ground.

“You grab a hold of that to steady yourself as you step up on that pipe up there.”

Dan drew in a deep breath and let it go. “You must really love the people of Apple Grove.”

The sheriff grinned. “You must really love Meg.”

Dan laughed. “I do.”

“Keep saying those words,” the sheriff told him. “It's good practice.”

Meg's cell phone woke her from a deep sleep. She rolled over and reached for it, but it wasn't under her pillow. She started to roll over and smacked into a warm, hard body—Dan.

“What's up?”

“My phone's ringing. Do you remember where I left it?”

He smiled and pulled her into his arms. “They'll call back.”

“But it's all part of the process and I've waited a long time for this.”

“You mean me?”

She kissed him with all of the giddy excitement sprinting through her heart. “I've waited half my life for you. Now where the heck is my phone?”

He sat up and looked around and then leaned across her. He grabbed her phone off the bedside table, but it stopped ringing.

“Damn. I wanted to answer that first call.”

At the buzz, her gaze shot up to meet his before she read the message. “It's from Pop.”

“Your dad?”

“He said he's got the coffee on and he'll be waiting for us.”

“Why?”

She was busy texting and ignored him, saying instead, “I told him we haven't had breakfast yet.”

“Great, so he knows we're still in bed.”

“Where else would we be after you slapped paint on the water tower last night?”

“Is he mad?”

She laughed as she read her father's reply. “He says you just might be good enough for me.”

“He's right. Tell your dad we're on our way.”

“But we didn't get cleaned up yet.”

“You go first and make it quick. I'll see if he has anything else to say.”

She hopped out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom. He heard her singing but couldn't quite make out the words.

Knowing he'd have to get cleaned up next, he walked over to the bathroom door and heard her singing. “…in letters three foot high, and the whole town said that he should have used red, but it looked good to Charlene in John Deere green…”

He had no idea what song she was singing, but she sure sang it with gusto. “You almost done?”

She laughed. “Yes. Come on in.”

He chuckled. “Can't. I just told your dad we were on our way. You know what will happen if I get in there. Hey,” he said. “Are you getting your hand wet?”

“Not really wet… just a little damp. Besides, today's the day I change the bandage, check it, clean it, and rewrap it, and report to Doc Gannon.”

She shut off the water, opened the curtain, and smiled. “Next.”

“You will pay for teasing me,” he ground out. “You do know that, don't you?”

She laughed as she wrapped herself in a towel and started humming.

He hauled her close for a brief kiss and then got in the shower. “Did you know that you hum when you're happy?” He scrubbed himself clean in half the time it usually took. She hadn't answered him, so he figured she was using her phone.

He pushed the curtain aside and reached for the towel she'd left on the toilet seat. It was too quiet. Unease sprinted through his system. Wrapping the towel around his waist he called her. “Meg?”

“In here.” She was dressed and sitting Indian-style on the bed. “Pop said he might change his mind about you if you don't ask him properly.”

“Ah,” he said as he got dressed. “I didn't ask him for your hand.”

She got up and walked over to him. “No, you didn't.”

He grabbed her hips and yanked her close. “I guess I was distracted.” He bent his head and brushed a kiss over her sweet lips. “We have got to go now, or I'm stripping you bare and having my way with you.”

“I could text him back.”

It sounded good to him, but the need to ask her father for her hand the traditional way had him pulling back on what he wanted to do, going with what he needed to do. He may have done the asking out of order, but he owed it to Meg and her father to do the right thing. “No. Let's go.”

***

“Turn here,” she told him.

“But your dad's house is that way.”

She nodded. “I just wanted to see the tower in the morning light.”

How could he say no? He turned in the opposite direction and drove out of town.

“Here's good. Pull over!” She was out of the car and snapping a picture with her phone.

Dan walked over to where she stood staring up at the tower. “Sorry, it dripped a little.”

She spun around and he realized she was crying.

“Hey, I can go back up with paint remover and fix the drips.”

“Silly man… these are happy tears.”

“So it's OK the way it is?”

She grabbed a hold of his hand and turned back around and read his proposal out loud. “‘I love you, Meg. Marry me? Dan.' It's perfect.” She tugged and he followed. “Come on.”

Her father was waiting for them. One look at Meg and he had to fight to hide his smile. “You had to drive out past the water tower first.”

She laughed and flung herself into her father's arms.

“I can read you like a book, Megan.”

Dan noticed the catch in her father's voice but didn't say anything. This moment was for Meg and her dad. His would come in a few minutes.

“Come on in. I poured the coffee when I heard your car.”

They followed him into the kitchen and Dan was struck by how homey it felt. He'd noticed it that first night and realized it had as much to do with the people in the room as the room itself.

Meg added milk and two sugars to his mug and handed it to him before doctoring hers.

“Thanks.”

While they drank, Joe broke a few eggs into a bowl and started to whisk them with a fork. “So, I take it you two realize what's going to happen now?”

Dan had no idea what he was talking about, but Meg seemed to.

She set her mug down. “I texted a picture of Dan's proposal to Rhonda… just in case the sheriff was too tired to do it last night.”

“Good man, Mitch Wallace,” he said, pouring the eggs into the pan. “Glad he finally saw the light where Honey B.'s concerned.”

Dan agreed. “Wait. Why Rhonda?”

They looked at him as if his question was odd. Then Meg told him, “She'll do the write up in the
Apple
Grove
Gazette
to spread the word.”

“Because?”

“That's how things run around here,” her father told him. He turned off the burner and served up the eggs. “I decided to let you two eat before Dan and I take a walk out to the barn.”

He choked on that last mouthful of coffee. “There are no witnesses out there.”

Her father laughed as he grabbed the toast. “I like your sense of humor.”

Meg was vibrating with happiness and Dan was so damned grateful she'd given him the time to sort things out in his head so that he could follow his heart.

They finished eating and her father refilled everyone's mug. “Your sisters should be up soon. Why don't you put on more coffee while Dan and I take a walk?”

“OK, Pop.” She followed after them and stopped Dan at the back door. “I love you, Dan Eagan.”

Before he could speak, she stood up on her toes and planted a kiss on him that had his eyes crossing and his heart pumping.

“Give the man a chance to digest, Megan.”

She was laughing when she closed the door.

“I love all of my daughters.”

Dan didn't think he was expected to say anything, so he nodded.

“Meg's the most like me—she's good with her hands, quick to rile, but honest as the day is long. You won't find a better woman than my oldest daughter—unless of course it was one of her sisters.”

“She's got a heart of gold and goes out of her way to help people,” Dan added.

Her father paused with his hand on the barn door. “That she does.” He opened the door and flicked on the overhead lights. “She suffered for a long time when that idiot up and left town… left my darling girl hanging on a promise that he never intended to keep.”

Dan stiffened. “I'm not an idiot. I want to marry your daughter, have kids with her, and grow old with her.”

Her dad nodded and started pacing. “Sometimes life doesn't play out the way you want it to.”

“If the next six months is all we have together, then we'll make the most of every day.”

“What if she makes you mad? She's got a way of getting under a man's skin, and not always in a good way.”

Dan laughed. “I know. She can make me mad as hell at her, but I'd never lay a hand on her in anger… she's my life.”

Her father stopped and looked over at Dan. “That's what I wanted to hear.”

“I've been through the ringer myself and know how it feels to have your love flushed down the damn toilet, literally, but that only taught me to recognize the real thing when I saw her walking along the top of that damned fence.”

Before her father could say anything else, Dan added, “I want to marry your daughter, sir. Do I have your permission?”

Dan watched as moisture filled Joseph Mulcahy's eyes, but the older man let the tears gather and fall. He wiped at his eyes and sniffed. “If she'll have you—and judging by the way she's looking at you this morning, I'm guessing she will—then you have it.”

Dan held out his hand and was surprised when Joe grabbed his hand and yanked him in for a hard hug. “Now before we go back in, do you know how much a Mickey Mantle rookie card is worth?”

“Yes, sir,” he answered. “I pawned one to buy my ex a ring. The damned pawnbroker sold it out from under me, to my ex–best friend.”

“Sounds like the rest of the story will require a couple of beers.”

Dan grinned. “It's funny now… it wasn't at the time.”

Joe nodded and then opened the barn door. “Let me show you what else I did to the engine after you left.”

Dan's face lit up like a kid at Christmas. “There's nothing like a Ford.”

His father-in-law-to-be grunted. “Never could abide anyone who drove a Chevy.”

***

Meg watched them disappear and knew that her father would say yes. He'd already told her as much earlier, but she also knew her dad needed to hear Dan tell him how he felt about her.

Her phone buzzed again; this time it was Caitlin.
Did you say yes?

She laughed and shot off her reply, adding,
Coffee's ready.

Judging from the squeals coming from upstairs, her sisters finally figured out that she was in their kitchen.

“Oh my God, Meg!” Grace ran across the kitchen. “Your name is on the water tower!” She was crying when she hugged Meg.

Meg tried to be strong, but the harder Grace cried the weaker Meg's resolve became. Soon they were both crying.

“What gives?” Caitlin asked, walking into the kitchen. “I thought there was coffee?”

Grace was sniffling when she let go of Meg. “Check out the picture Rhonda posted this morning.” She held her phone up so their sister could see.

Caitlin grinned. “I know. Cindy texted me this morning. Seems the sheriff got an early start today.”

“I know I shouldn't have disturbed him and Honey B., but they'll have the rest of their lives together, if he follows through and marries her. Besides, I'm betting he'll be making up for lost time every chance he gets.”

The sisters all agreed. “If you could have seen him stalking into Honey B.'s shop yesterday afternoon—he was definitely a man on a mission.”

“We heard and we saw the picture Mrs. Hawkins took,” Grace said.

“Good news certainly travels fast.” Meg wiped her eyes and got down two mugs. Pouring their coffee carefully with her left hand, she confessed, “I wasn't sure it would feel the same, seeing Dan's proposal up on the tower, since he wasn't from around here and I asked him to do it for me.”

Her sisters drank their coffee while she told them about last night. “I didn't think he understood how much it meant to me, but if you could have seen the look on his face when he was standing at the bottom of the ladder looking up, you'd know how much he loves me.”

“Well, the whole town will know pretty soon,” Grace said.

“I bet Mrs. Van Orden knows,” Caitlin added. “She's probably telling Jimmy right now over breakfast.”

The house line rang and the sisters looked at one another and laughed. Caitlin answered the phone and smiled. “He's out in the barn with Pop. I'll tell him you called. We are too.” She smiled as she hung up. “That was Dan's aunt; she can't wait to talk to him.”

Meg was about to ask why Miss Trudi didn't want to talk to her, when Caitlin added, “She said she can't wait to welcome you into the family, but knows you'd understand that she needs to talk to Dan first.”

“I'm hungry,” Grace said. “Who wants hotcakes?”

The three of them were laughing and making wedding plans when the men walked back in.

Dan strode across the kitchen and picked Meg up off her feet and hugged her tight. “He said yes.” Before she could say anything, his lips were locked on hers and she was kissing him back.

“Get a room, guys,” Grace grumbled.

Meg heard Caitlin laughing as her sister said, “She's just jealous that it isn't her name on the water tower.”

Dan kept Meg glued to his side while they sat around and gorged themselves on buttermilk pancakes. When he'd cleaned his plate, he leaned close and whispered in Meg's ear, “I didn't think I was still hungry.”

Meg giggled and her father frowned at them. “How soon is the wedding?”

Her sisters laughed out loud. “From the looks of things, Pop,” Caitlin said, “it'd better be soon.”

Dan lifted Meg's hand to his lips. “Where did you want to get married?”

She looked at her dad and then her sisters before turning back to answer, “Here.”

He nodded as if he expected that answer. “I figured you'd want to get married in the church in town, but is there somewhere nearby where we could have the reception?”