“Damn, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Boone commented as he handed Kendall another beer.
“Heard from one is more like it.” Kendall handed Boone the letter. Boone sat down and read with Richard looking over his shoulder. Kendall sat on the couch in shock.
If he had the chance for a do-over with Maya, would he let her slip through his fingers again? Hell no. Boone handed him the letter, and Richard sat in the recliner. This involved more than just him. It concerned the two of them as well. Maya Daire’s new social status had been the topic of conversation for weeks. Living in Divine and getting to know his cousins had changed the way he thought about relationships, just as it had for his brothers. If she’d loved both Morgan and Kendall was there a chance she could find happiness with the three of them?
Richard gazed at Kendall through piercing, pale eyes and asked, “You going after her?”
“Yes.”
Kendall sensed their reactions in their body language. They both looked ready to charge through the front door and climb in the truck.
The three of them wanted—no, craved what their cousin Jack had with his wife, Grace, and Jack’s distant cousins, Ethan Grant and Adam Davis. They wanted a woman to love and to share. Kendall smiled and looked at them both.
“Do you think lightning can strike twice in the same place?”
“Of course,” Boone replied. Richard remained silent on the couch, but nodded.
“Well, let’s see if it’ll strike three times.”
Chapter Two
Maya sat on the couch with the stack of mail in her hand as she laid her phone aside. Something about Kendall’s soothing voice always made her feel better, especially since Morgan’s death, but before then, also. He’d talked her off more ledges than she could recall, some small and some larger than he probably realized.
She finally reached for the envelope and opened it.
Another one.
After helping his mother deal with the sudden death of his father due to a heart attack, Morgan had decided to write Maya a series of letters to help her in the event she had to deal with his death. His mom had been totally unprepared to handle tying up his father’s loose ends and making financial decisions that would affect her livelihood. Maya was grateful for every letter she’d received, both as a tie to him and because she’d been in a fog those first few months and had needed his counsel on many occasions.
Her heart clenched with the pain of Morgan’s loss for a moment, and she waited for the buried-under-an-avalanche feeling that always accompanied these letters. Each time one came, her emotional response to it was not as bad as with the previous one.
This time she only felt like skipping supper and going straight to bed. The last time, she’d wanted to stay in bed for a week. Steeling herself, she tore open the envelope. A small key fell into her lap. She lifted the cover letter from Morgan’s attorney and close friend and read it.
The key was to a safe-deposit box at Hill Country Bank and Trust in San Marcos. In the letter, the lawyer apologized for the delay in getting the key to her. Somehow the key had been placed in the wrong envelope, and she should have received it much sooner. It had only recently been discovered in the envelope with the final letter. Laying the key aside, she carefully opened the envelope and slid the enclosed letter out.
Lovely Maya,
This is my last letter. The reason for that is not because I’m tired of writing them. That would be like getting tired of making love to you. If it was the only way I could be there for you, I’d go on for years with letters, but I can’t back up what I’d write with action.
I want you to do something for me. Live your life. If you’ve already begun to move on, I’m proud of you. But will you do one thing for me? Go to Kendall. Tell him you’re ready to move on. Be the daring girl I married and ask him for what you’ve needed for so long. He’s loved you since the moment he laid eyes on you, and I know you’ve loved him just as long.
If I could have one wish granted, it would be that we lived in a world where we could’ve shared our lives together. No, Kendall and I aren’t in love with each other, but we are both in love with you. I was the lucky guy who asked first, and being the stand-up guy he is, he let you go.
I can’t fulfill that wish, but this one I can. Go love him and have the life you wanted and didn’t dare ask for. If you’ve followed my suggestions in previous letters, the house should be paid off and you should be through with your degree. Sell the house. Put the money into your investments or the JWB.
I love you with my whole heart,
Morgan
Her hand shook as she reread the letter. Be the daring girl I married…Could she? She’d never stopped missing Kendall when he’d moved on after they’d gotten married. He’d stayed in touch and they’d visited him, but something had always been missing. No, someone was missing. She looked down at Morgan’s careful script, and a tear splashed onto the page.