Our Now and Forever(6)

Caleb had never seen Snow this passionate about anything. She’d never even raised her voice in all the time they’d been together. Which was one of the reasons he’d been so confused when she disappeared. They hadn’t even had their first fight yet.

“I have nothing to do with the fact that my family is wealthy. You don’t get to pick which family you’re born into, Snow. And don’t give me that crap about a college education. You’re one of the smartest people I know.”

The compliment took her by surprise. “Really?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “Really. And so I haven’t pinned down a career. I work. I do things. I know life isn’t easy.”

Shaking her head as if to break a spell, Snow returned to looking agitated. “That doesn’t change the facts.”

“You mean the fact that we’re married?”

“That’s a technicality,” she said, dismissing his words.

Caleb pinched the bridge of his nose. “Pretty big technicality, don’t you think?”

“One that can be easily fixed.”

He opened his eyes to see Snow standing before him, hugging herself as if she might break apart otherwise.

“Are you saying you want a divorce?”

Lifting one shoulder in a half shrug, she said, “Don’t you?”

A divorce had never entered his mind. Okay, that was a lie. After six months with no word, he’d agreed to let his mother have the papers drawn up, mostly to stop the nagging. But he never really planned to use them. Not if he could help it.

“No,” he said. “I want my wife back. Why else would I be here?”

“But . . .” she started.

“There is no but, Snow. I made a vow,” he said, pointing to the ring on his finger. “For better or worse. And so did you.” Caleb’s parents may not have faith that he could make a commitment and stick with it, but in this he would prove them wrong. He and Snow would make their marriage work, but Caleb couldn’t do this alone. Marriage required two participants. “You got spooked. Fair enough. So we start over. Come home and we’ll work this out.”

Snow backed way. “This will never work. That’s proof of it.”

“What’s proof?” he asked. “What are you talking about?”

Pulling her coat on the rest of the way, Snow said, “Look around, Caleb. This is a business. My business. I’m not walking away from it.”

Registering his surroundings for the first time since he’d chased her into the room, Caleb took in the shelves of dusty knickknacks. The cracked vases, water-marked tables, and stacks of faded fabrics. Nothing looked as if it was worth much.

“You can sell this one and we’ll open another back home,” he said, presenting what he thought was a perfectly reasonable plan.

“Baton Rouge isn’t my home,” Snow argued. “Ardent Springs might not be my forever home either, but I’ve made a place here. I’ve worked my butt off to build this shop, and I’m not about to hand that over to someone else.”

Caleb tried not to panic. He wasn’t giving up his wife, and she wasn’t giving up this dinky town. There was only one solution. At least until he could convince her to come home with him.

“Fine,” he said. “We’ll live here.”





Chapter 3




Snow tilted her head. “What did you say?”

“You heard me. If this is where you want to live, then I’m good with it.”

A new panic raced through Snow’s system. Caleb may be Southern, but contrary to what many believed, growing up in the South did not make a person “country.” Snow had grown up in a small town. She was used to the slower pace and nosy neighbors. Her husband lived in cities. With malls and skyscrapers and things to do. Caleb was not the rural type.

“You’re not kidding, are you?”

“Nope,” he said. “Not kidding.”

Now what was she supposed to do? Their location had not been the only reason their marriage had been a fiasco. There was his father and the hateful words she’d overheard the night she left. Not until her parents came to visit did the McGraw clan, Caleb included, learn that Snow’s father was half black, landing Snow squarely and immediately in the undesirable category.

After one of the most uncomfortable dinners in the history of family meetings, when he’d assumed Snow was out of earshot, Jackson McGraw had demanded that Caleb get rid of her at once. Her husband’s response had been that a divorce would mean giving Snow half of everything. No, “But I love her.” No, “I won’t give her up.”

Only that he had to protect the McGraw fortune.