Just a Little White Lie(31)

“I’m sure you have.” Lucinda walked up the stairs, closed the distance and extended her hand. “I’m Lucinda Darling.”

“Welcome.” Mrs. Parker took Lucinda’s extended hand, then reconsidered and startled her by pulling her in close for a quick hug. “I’m Trudy, Jake’s mom.” She fairly beamed. “But I’d guess you’ve figured that out by now. I can’t tell you how happy we are to meet you.”

“The pleasure’s mine.” And it was, but deceiving Jake’s family was tearing a hole in her heart. The whole idea had bothered her from the start. Now that she’d met them, now that there were faces and warm hugs to go with the names…it was worse. Much worse.

“Well, shake my tail feathers,” Hattie said. “Birdie was telling the truth. That girl goes off half-cocked more times than I can keep track of. I figured Jake brought home somebody who looked a little like Lucinda Darling, and she got confused.” Jake’s grandmother shook her head. “But it is you.”

“Yes, ma’am.” A smile tugged at Lucinda’s lips.

“I swear, you’re even prettier than in all those magazine pictures.” She looked from Lucinda to Jake. “And you’ve taken up with our boy here.”

“I…Jake…” Lucinda looked to him for help.

Jake grinned at her, his little-kid about-to-get-into-mischief smile. She recognized it as a sign she should run for the hills. He moved closer, slung an arm over her shoulder and pulled her to his warmth. “She gets flustered. But yep, we’re engaged. Show them your ring, darlin’.”

Her stomach hit the porch floor. Her ring? The one Donald had given her? This was beyond bizarre. How could they stand here and do this? Fib to these two wonderful women. How could she become his partner-in-crime?

But before she could extricate her hand from behind them, an old black lab lumbered through the doorway. Rheumy eyes on Jake, it whimpered and whined ecstatically, its whole body shaking with excitement. Lucinda swore the dog was grinning.

“Hey, guy!” Jake knelt, sandwiching the dog’s silvered muzzle between his hands. “You’re turnin’ gray, boy.”

The dog’s tongue flicked out to lick Jake’s hand.

“Lucy, this here’s Ray-Ray. I think I was in kindergarten when we adopted his great-grandma from the animal shelter.”

He looked up at her, and Lucinda saw his eyes, those incredible eyes, were damp.

Again, memories…of the kind she’d never had. She guessed Jake and one of Ray-Ray’s predecessors had run wild through this yard, slept away many a quiet summer afternoon on this porch, camped overnight in a tent pitched behind the house. That’s what she wanted for her children. Normal.

But she’d thrown away the chance for that, hadn’t she, when she walked out on her groom? To have kids, she needed a real daddy. No sperm donor for her. No raising kids alone. Nope. She wanted both the kids and the man who created them with her.

And love. Most of all, she wanted the love. Given freely and unconditionally.

So, she really hadn’t tossed out anything when she escaped the church and Donald, because he wasn’t what she wanted.

She wanted this. All of it. Her gaze moved back to Jake and his quizzical expression.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She swallowed. “I was just thinking about you and the dogs…when you were younger.”

“We had ourselves some good times here.”

“I’ll bet you did.”

Trudy cleared her throat. “Why don’t you two come on in? Let me get you something cold to drink.” She held the door open wide. “Have you eaten? I’m sure there’s something in the fridge. Or I could make—”

Jake laid a hand on her arm. “Don’t fuss, Mom. We ate. Stopped by Annie’s on the way here.”

“In that case, I wanna hear all about your hot affair,” Grandma announced.

“Mom!” Trudy stared at her mother-in-law.

“Well, I do. You do too.” Grandma Hattie stuck by her guns. “You’re just too polite to ask. You’re his mother, for heaven’s sake. It’s your job to find out what’s going on here. Why this pretty redhead up and ran away from one groom and is here with our Jakey now.”

Grandma started inside, stopped with her hand on the screen door. “And I want to know when you’re planning to hold the wedding. Better be soon. I can’t wait to fuss over them grandbabies. There’s nothing better than holding a baby in your arms.”

Feeling overwhelmed, yet at the same time a whole lot like she’d come home, Lucinda followed Grandma Hattie inside. When she laid a hand on the doorframe, the sun caught on her diamond. A shimmering rainbow sparked. A reminder.