Take a Chance on Me(116)

“Is that all, Miss Madison?”

“Absolutely not, Your Honor. If it please the court, I have character witnesses who will testify to the points laid out in the petition.”

“Character witnesses?” the judge asked.

That’s what Jensen wanted to say. He looked up at Ivy. But she didn’t spare him a glance.

“Indeed, Your Honor. I have a list here of everyone who has agreed to testify.” She opened her file folder again.

“How many are there, Miss Madison?”

Ivy paused, glanced at Jensen, then looked behind her. “Well, see for yourself.”

Jensen frowned. Turned.

And then he was a child, his mouth gaping open. The courtroom was filled to overflowing, people standing in the back, against the wall. He saw Kyle Hueston and Emma Nelson, Claire’s bandmates. Sharron and Noelle, who’d worked with him at the thrift store. Annalise Decker, from the animal shelter, and her husband, Nathan, the real estate agent he sometimes cleaned for. They grinned at him. Beside them were Lucy and Seb Brewster, the mayor, and Caleb Knight, whom he mowed the school football field for every summer. He saw Joe Michaels, of course, and Marnie Blouder from the sheriff’s office waved to him. Pastor Dan stood in the back, his hand on his wife’s shoulder, wearing a pastorly, affirming grin. Phyllis McCann from parks and rec held up a cup of coffee and winked, and in the front row sat Donna Winters with his favorite Meals On Wheels blue hairs, who’d turned out to give him a thumbs-up. Ruby and the folks from the Garden took up an entire row. Gabe Michaels waved. Beside him sat Grace Christiansen, beaming. And Ingrid, who looked like she might cry.

Yeah, him too.

He felt Ivy’s hand on his shoulder. “Who wants to go first?” she asked the crowd.

Every hand shot into the air.

Jensen tightened his jaw, knowing he was way too close to weeping.

And then Darek came forward. He had slicked up, wearing—no, a suit? He held Tiger’s hand and now handed him to Nan Holloway, who sat in the front row. Tousled his son’s hair.

Tiger waved. “Hi, Ivy!”

A chuckle murmured through the courtroom.

Then Darek turned and faced the judge. “Your Honor, I’d like to be the first witness on behalf of the defense, if I may.”





“I hope I didn’t embarrass you too much,” Ivy said as she closed her apartment door behind her.

Darek had to choose between finding words and simply drinking her in. Her beautiful green eyes, the red hair now falling over her burnt-orange shirt. When he was quiet, she looked up at him with a frown.

“You’re not angry, are you?”

Angry? He could hardly breathe with the joy in his chest. He managed to shake his head. “No, Ivy, I’m not angry.” He cupped her face, lifted it for a kiss. Just one because if he got going, then . . . well, he knew it was too early to ask her to marry him, but . . . soon.

Very soon.

But not tonight. Tonight was a different kind of night, for someone else. He slipped his hand into hers. “I am glad you told me before you announced it to all of Deep Haven, however.”

He would never forget the moment when she’d revealed her part in Jensen’s sentencing. The way she sat a little away from him, her hands tucked between her knees as they watched Tiger swing on the community playground. How she hadn’t looked at him once, until the end. Then her eyes said it all.

And what was he going to do? “Of course I forgive you,” he’d said. “There is nothing to forgive, really. You saw the truth, tried to find justice for us all in a case where there was no justice. How could there be? You did a good thing, even though it was hard on all of us.”

He’d folded her into his arms then, and it seemed like he felt the last of something she’d been holding on to slip away. She sank into him, and he didn’t know how he’d ever let go.

He didn’t plan to.

The air was thick with the scent of rain, the streets and air still soggy from yesterday’s drenching.

Jensen had arranged for their family and others who’d lost their homes to rent from the vacation home owners of Pine Acres. Darek had a feeling that Jensen might be footing the bill on a number of the properties. Meanwhile, Darek’s family was meeting with the insurance agent and planning to use the extra cash to acquire Gibs’s property.

Darek hadn’t expected that phone call from Claire’s parents, offering his family the land. Nor did he expect, when he asked Claire about it, for her to willingly agree.

“I don’t need it anymore,” she’d said, and he guessed the way Jensen wrapped his arm around her had something to do with that.

If they were wise, and the family helped with the rebuild, they could afford the land. Someday Evergreen Lodge Outfitter and Cabin Rentals might be more than any of them had ever dreamed. But that’s the way God worked, apparently.