Part 21 (1/2)
”I don't usually go in the pool,” Emily Anne said. ”I usually just sit with the older folks and watch as my cousins horse around in the water.”
Mel shot her a look and opened his mouth to speak, but she held her hand up. ”I don't usually. But I found a web site that specializes in plus-sized clothing, and so I bought a bathing suit. And yes, I brought it with me.”
Mel grinned and met Connor's gaze. ”So we have to mind our p's and q's,” Connor said, ”and then you'll reward us by putting on that s.e.xy bathing suit?”
”It's kind of plain, and a one piece. Not s.e.xy at all, I'm afraid,” Emily Anne said.
”That's where you're wrong, precious. If you wear it, it will be s.e.xy as all h.e.l.l.”
Emily Anne gave him such a big smile that Mel felt he'd redeemed himself from his earlier ”unreasonable” comment. He followed her directions, taking the turns she indicated that would bring them to her parent's farm about five miles outside of Comanche.
”We're nearly there, just down this road about a mile or so.” Fields of cotton lay spread out on both sides of the road. They'd also pa.s.sed wheat and corn fields. Mel had grown up in the city. His only exposure to growing things had been his mother's vegetable garden, which she'd planted faithfully every year.
”Granddaddy was a farmer, and so was my daddy, even though he went to college and took all sorts of business courses.”
”I imagine that business courses would help a farmer run his farm better.”
”That's what daddy has always said. But even so, when the economy got shaky a few years back, he took a position with Orville Powers as his accountant. Daddy still farms, and usually hires one of the local boys to help him for the busy times of planting and harvesting. I think Momma would just as soon he quit farming altogether.” Emily Anne shrugged. ”I'm not sure why she feels that way, so I'll stop talking about it. I don't want to pa.s.s judgment.”
”It could just be that farming is such hard work, angel eyes. Maybe she thinks your daddy is getting older and needs to take it easier, now.”
”Maybe you're right. Maybe I need to be thinking kinder thoughts about my momma.”
Mel kept his eyes on the road and his odometer as they talked. Up ahead, he saw something that made him blink. A single, two-story farmhouse set back from the road featured a long, fairly straight driveway that appeared to be lined by what had to be at least a couple dozen vehicles.
”Precious...is that your place?”
Emily Anne turned from Connor and looked out the winds.h.i.+eld. He heard her gasp, and then she exhaled.
”d.a.m.n it, Momma, what on earth have you done now?”
Emily Anne couldn't remember one time that there'd been so many cars parked at the place, excepting for her granddad's funeral. Of course, Granddad had been a member in good standing of nearly every agricultural, church, and political organization in this part of the state, so the fact that he'd have so many turn out for his laying to rest was just to be expected.
She was grateful that Mel brought the car to a stop and gave her a few minutes to try and process what it was she was seeing. She couldn't imagine what on earth her mother could have meant, to have invited so many people to their Fourth of July picnic without letting her know! Why, this had always been a family time.
”Um, angel eyes?”
Emily Anne wrenched her gaze away from the long line of parked cars. Everything inside of her went still when she saw the look on Connor's face. That was a guilty expression if ever she'd seen one-and she'd never thought to see one on him. ”Yes, Connor?”
”What are the chances that Billy J might have high-tailed it home and told someone about our little...discussion at the l.u.s.ty jail?”
”When he was sober? None at all. You embarra.s.sed him, I reckon, and I can't imagine he'd want to say anything to anyone about that. The trouble is, Billy J doesn't stay sober for long. He likes his beer, and the more he drinks the looser his yap gets. Now, let me ask you a question. What, exactly, did you say to him?”
Connor looked over at Mel. For his part, Mr. Richardson seemed to think this entire situation was amusing. Even though he tried to school his features she knew her men, and it was all Mel could do not to burst out laughing.
Mel smiled and said, ”Hey. I've got your back, pal, you know that. But I think this might be your payback for using that double-headed coin.”
”I know.” Connor looked toward the house and then back to her. ”I told Billy J nothing but the truth. He asked me who I was and I told him I was the man who hoped to marry you.”
Emily Anne's heart melted. She reached up and stroked his face, then looked at Mel. ”I told you it had to be both of you, or neither of you. I can't-I won't-choose.”
”You listen here, Emily Anne Bancroft. I never for one moment even considered it being just you and me.” He looked over at Mel. ”As a matter of fact, if we follow l.u.s.ty's tradition, it would be Mel who'd be your legal husband, because he's the oldest.”
”I'm all for following l.u.s.ty's traditions,” Emily Anne said. ”There's just one thing.”
”Yes, we know,” Mel said. ”We know we still have to work on our intimacy problem. And we are. We're talking, and we will overcome that. It's on us, precious, not on you. You just need to give us a bit of time and have some faith in us.”
”I do have faith that the two of you can and will do anything you set your minds on doing. But there's still just one small problem.”
She tried not to laugh as the two men she loved beyond all reason looked at each other and tried to figure out just what it was that could possibly be the problem she was concerned with.
”All right, we give. What's the small problem?”
”Neither one of you has even asked me to marry you.”
The look on their faces was priceless. Emily Anne thought if she hadn't already been all the way in love with them, she would have fallen right there and then.
Mel nodded to Connor. ”I think we should take care of that little thing right now-even if this is not even close to any of the different scenarios you and I discussed.”
”Maybe the 'where' and the 'when' aren't as important as we thought,” Connor said. He reached out and gently stroked her hair. ”Maybe the only thing that really matters is the 'who.'”
”I think, my friend, that you are absolutely right.” Mel used his finger under her chin to turn her face toward him. ”Emily Anne, I think I fell in love with you the first moment I laid eyes on you. All I know is that from that moment on, you were the only woman in the world I could see, the only one I wanted, and the only one I could imagine carrying my child. I love you, and I will love you until the day I die. Will you marry me?”
His beloved face blurred because tears clouded her vision. Before she could answer him, Connor turned her just exactly the same way, so she faced him.
”Emily Anne, I never believed I would find anyone who would love me, either. I told you that you redeemed me, and you did. Before I met you, I was only half a man. I fell in love with you over that first plate of burger and fries you set down for me. In that moment, I knew it wasn't the food I craved, but you. I will love you, and cherish you, for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
Then, together, they said, ”Will you marry us?”
She could see well enough through her tears to know their expressions were tender. They didn't worry about the fact she was crying. Maybe they knew what her answer would be.
”You told me that my saying I wanted to make love to you that first night when you brought me to your house in l.u.s.ty was a dream come true for you.”
”It was, precious, for both of us.” Mel reached over to the glove box and pulled out a packet of tissues. He took one, and then offered the package to Connor.
Both men took turns blotting her tears.
”Everything we've ever said to you has been the truth, Emily Anne,” Connor said.
”I never thought I would ever find anyone to love me. To love me and cherish me and respect me. I was getting better, with how I looked at myself, but I was nowhere near where I knew I needed to be. I couldn't picture myself with a man, with any man. I reckon I know why, now. I wasn't meant for one man. I was meant for two. I was meant for the two of you.”
”You've got the two of us, angel eyes. So...is that a yes?”
Emily Anne laughed. She hoped that loving these men would never be without moments of laughter. ”Yes. Yes, I will marry you both.”
Mel leaned in and laid his mouth on hers, his tongue masterful as it swept her mouth. Hot and carnal, his kiss promised her pa.s.sion as yet untapped. She drank him in, reveling in the taste of him, and in the knowledge that he was hers.
He lifted his lips and she turned, her mouth already reaching for Connor. He kissed her, his tongue bold and aggressive as he lapped at every bit of her, sucking on her as if he could take her completely into himself.