Shoreline Drive (Sanctuary Island) by Everett Lily

Author:Everett, Lily [Everett, Lily]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2014-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

In the midst of one of the most beautiful, clear, sun-dappled autumns coastal Virginia had ever seen, the day of Ben and Merry’s wedding dawned gray and dismal. A chill fog lay over the island like a shroud, turning the winding roads and wild fields into a dangerous maze of blind curves and hidden sinkholes.

“Good,” Ben said, glancing out the window over the kitchen sink as he rinsed out his coffee mug. “Maybe everyone will stay home and we can get married in private.”

Merry shook her head, fighting a smile. She didn’t want to encourage Ben’s grumpiness, but it was hard when she was bubbling over with a hectic mixture of nerves, excitement, anticipation, and last-minute plans.

In fact, she was on the phone with her mother at that very moment, half tuning out the recitation of who was bringing the flowers and where they’d be placed, the potluck items she’d been promised by various townsfolk, and what Jo had still to bake before meeting Merry and Ben at the courthouse at eleven.

Covering the mouthpiece with her fingers, Merry watched as Ben sat down to continue his grand experiment of introducing Alex to solid foods. In this case, mashed sweet potatoes Ben had boiled the night before.

After the phone call to Ben’s parents that Merry had insisted on and then regretted when it seemed to make Ben so sad, they’d gone back in the house to put Alex to bed. Of course, once he’d gotten his way and had both Merry and Ben hovering over his crib, tucking him in, Alex went down without a fight.

Hesitant to bring up the whole parents-and-family talk again, but not quite ready for the evening to be over yet, Merry had followed Ben out of the guest room instead of turning in.

She was still glowing from the promise Ben had made, to be there for Alex. The words that were engraved on her innermost heart as her deepest wish, and he’d plucked them out of thin air and handed them to her.

The connection between Merry and Ben had strengthened over the past two weeks. There was nothing like seeing a person first thing in the morning, with pillow creases on one cheek and his dark curls tousled by sleep, to forge a new intimacy.

But that night, in the cozy comfort of the welcoming old farmhouse Ben had put so much work into, Merry felt a tug she couldn’t deny. As if he felt it, too, Ben had turned to her suddenly enough to make her gasp.

The moment had felt fragile, suspended like a shimmering soap bubble between them. Merry’s mind was a blur of home and warmth, sweetness like maple syrup trickling through her veins. Every breath seemed to pull her closer and closer to him.

The little voice in the back of her head that usually piped up to caution her about getting too close was silent, for once … but just as she was about to tilt her head and lift her lips for the kiss she could almost taste, Ben stepped back.

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