SomedayMyGoodOleBoyWillCome Page 5

  “Derek? Of course I like him. It was—”

  “No, David.”

  “Ahh, Honey. It’s not that I don’t like him, I just don’t know him yet. Don’t worry; I’m sure that the more time we spend together and the better I get to know him, the more I’ll like him. Why are you worrying about this?”

  “It’s just that he said you were questioning him. Why, Jacey?” Her voice had begun to get worried and almost defensive.

  “Honey, all I did was ask him what he did for a living. That was it. Nothing more. I care about your happiness, and if he makes you happy and feel safe that is all that matters.” She shifted gears and easily maneuvered it around a sharp corner in the road. “I’m sorry he thought that I was prying, but I didn’t think it was that horrible of a question.” Jacey flicked her eyes up towards Heaven and asked God to forgive her lie, now was not the time to tell Honey about her doubts. She still had some time to do some digging and let her know if something popped up that was cause for concern.

  Honey grabbed her hand and squeezed. With a deep sniff she finished, “I know. I’m sorry. With things the way they are right now I guess I am just a bit on edge.”

  She perked up at that. “What way are things?”

  “Oh nothing. Never mind. So tell me about Caleb. Did you see Derek’s face when I handed you the phone? It was like he was pissed that you had a man in your life.” Laughter, forced at first, became easier as it continued.

  “I don’t know why he would be angry. Maybe he was upset over something Shelby said.”

  “I doubt that, he barely took his eyes off you all evening. So tell me the truth. Where did you see him? Was it after he had been stuck behind enemy lines?”

  She knew about that? “Yes. Look, Honey, some things I just don’t feel right talking about. I’m sorry, but I just don’t.”

  “Jace, I’m sorry. That was really, really insensitive of me. Of course you wouldn’t want to talk about it. Derek doesn’t say anything about it.”

  “Surely he spoke to someone about what they went through out there?”

  “I don’t think so. But it is nice that you care.” She poked a finger in Jacey’s shoulder as they entered the Moser Farm driveway.

  “Who said I cared?” she quipped as she playfully shrugged off the finger on her shoulder.

  “Humph. You know you do,” Honey stated, her tone positive she was right.

  “Of course I do. He’s my family too.” Even more so now that she knew he was the father of her child. Shit. That meant she had to tell him. A confrontation she was not looking forward to in the slightest.

  The women exited the vehicle and each grabbed two bags before heading up the rickety steps of the old farmhouse. The porch light was on and enveloped the women in a faint gentle glow.

  Honey went into the house first, leaving Jacey to follow on her own time and at her own pace. Jacey went in slowly, her eyes roaming around the kitchen, memories taking her back to the many sleepovers that she and Honey had.

  The same wooden kitchen table sat in the middle of the small room, covered in a lacy white tablecloth, handmade by Auntie Ro and Honey. Six chairs with peeling paint sat around the table. The floor looked the same with the old white linoleum covering it. Even the appliances looked the same, that horrid avocado green. And it never looked better to her.

  The smell of cooled rhubarb pie reached Jacey’s nose and she located it by the window sill, just like they always sat. A warm rush of comfort hit her and hit her hard, bringing tears of joy to her eyes. It was like coming home.

  “Come on, Jacey, you are staying in my room with me.”

  Jacey smiled softly at those words and headed all the way through the kitchen and into the living room.

  Still jammed with mismatched pieces of furniture, the room was very warm and inviting. An old plaid couch sat along one wall, two recliners covered in old and worn material were in the room as well. Uncle Frank’s chess table sat along one wall with two chairs, that he hand-carved himself, on either side. The rocking chair where Auntie Ro did all of her sewing, crocheting, and other household tasks still sat beside a small table with a lamp.

  Threadbare woven rugs lay on the floor and Jacey knew that they were the same rugs from when she had lived in Leeburg. With a small smile for Carson and Derek, who sat in the living room, she kept going to the back of the house to Honey’s room. Jacey felt their gazes on her as she walked through, but it was Derek’s that made her quiver.

  Honey’s room also looked as if it hadn’t changed. Her double bed still had the same ruffled bedspread on it. A pristine white that seemed so clean, so pure it almost looked out of place. A thick, braided multicolored rug sat on the floor, new, so Jacey understood why there were older ones on the living room floor. Auntie Ro had made a new one for Honey.

  Her dresser had turned even more golden in color with age, matching her schoolgirl desk and chair. The desk and chair were a set of furniture that Jacey’s father had gotten for Honey as a present.

  “I’m sorry.” Honey’s voice broke into her thoughts.

  “Sorry for what?” Jacey asked with a smile as she set her two bags down by the closet.

  “That it probably isn’t what you are used to.” Her voice was rimmed with shame.

  Jacey looked at her friend as she stood by her dresser absently moving around figurines, many that Jacey herself had given her. Little did Honey know, it wasn’t what she was used to, it was better.

  “It feels like home to me. I can’t tell you how glad I am to be here.”

  “Jace, you don’t have to pretend. Everyone knows that your parents are filthy rich.”

  “My parents are. I’m not. Besides, what does that have to do with anything?” Jacey walked over to her and grabbed a hold of her wrist, forcing Honey to look at her.

  “Just that you are used to new things. Nice things, beautiful things. I mean, look at these clothes you have on. I still have the same bed I did when I was sixteen. At times I wondered if that was why you didn’t come visit me.”

  “How could you think that? Honey, who cares how much money you have? None of that matters to me. It never has. Why would you think otherwise?” This was new to her, Jacey didn’t expect this turn of events. She had never known just how insecure Honey was about money and herself.

  “I don’t know. I’m so confused. I am just so worried that something is going to go wrong with the wedding. I’m sorry.” Honey messed with her long hair, twisting it around her fingers.

  Jacey looked at her friend. “Apology accepted. Now, help me unpack. I am hungry and if I know Auntie Ro there are some cookies out there with my name on them.”

  Something just wasn’t right here in Leeburg.

  * * * *

  Eleven o’clock found the family and Jacey sitting around the table, drinking milk and eating cookies. Auntie Ro had just cried off and kissed everyone goodnight before heading to bed when Jacey’s cell phone began to chime.

  “Didn’t know you got cell phone coverage out here,” Derek commented, disliking the fact that someone was calling her after eleven. His phone had quit working about two miles out of Leeburg.

  “It’s a satellite phone.” She pressed the button to answer it. “Thompson,” she said in a perfectly businesslike tone. A smile crossed her face, softening her features as she answered the person on the other end. All professionalism left her voice, just pure tenderness for the person on the other end. “Hey, baby.” She looked at the people at the table and said, “Excuse me.” Jacey headed outside.

  Derek excused himself not long after she left and headed out the door, totally ignoring the looks on his family’s faces. He would talk to her before the night was out.

  Chairs scraped across the floor the moment after Derek disappeared from sight as the rest of the people jumped up from the table headed for the nearest window to witness the interaction between them.

  Derek caught up with her as she was ending her conversation. So all he overheard of the conversati
on was her rich laughter and her farewell.

  “Good night, baby. Yes sir, Semper Fi, Marine. Sleep well. I know, I miss you also. I love you too, Caleb.” Sucking on her lower lip, Jacey put her phone in the pocket of her coat.

  Chapter Six

  Derek was standing there when she turned around. When she finally did he asked his question. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were? Why did you tell me your name was Jack?” Who the hell was that man you were talking to that made your voice get all damn sexy?

  “Why didn’t you tell me? And it wasn’t like I really knew who you were, anyway. Jack is what people call me.” The faint light from the porch barely allowed him to see her features. But from what he could see, Jacey was concentrating on his face. He knew the folks inside could barely hear the words between the two of them, only snatches crossed the night air to their ears.

  “Would that have made a difference? Are you saying that you do this with men you don’t know?”

  “Hell yes! And of course not to the second question.”

  “Why were you with a Reconnaissance team? Don’t you know that’s dangerous?”

  “Don’t you dare,” she seethed. “I work my ass off in the Corps and I am damn good at my job.”

  “I know you do.” Derek held out his hands in an attempt to placate her rising fury. “You were amazing, but why would you want to be in a Recon team? I have known you since you were four and I never would have thought that about you. You were always quiet and shy.”

  “Because of you. That day I told you how I felt and you said to me ‘What in the world would make you think that I would ever want anything to do with a girl like you?’ From that day I vowed never to be weak or fat again.” She never moved from her position before him.

  “So I joined the Marines, after which I found I had an aptitude for what was needed in other places. No, no,” Jacey interrupted his forward motion with a raised hand. “I am not telling you this to make you feel bad. Just answering your question. I have since gotten over your treatment of my confession.”

  “But why didn’t you tell me who you were? And why did you say it makes a difference? Are you really saying that if you knew who I was, you would have acted differently?” His astonishment wasn’t hidden.

  Jacey placed her hands on her hips. “Hello, of course it would have made a difference. Don’t you think it would have? And I did tell you who I was, it just wasn’t how you used to know me.”

  “No. Why would it? I wanted you and you wanted me. Still do. End of story. Are you saying if you knew who I was it wouldn’t have happened?” Now he was getting angry. Here was the woman that had the power to bring him out of the darkness and she didn’t want to be with him.

  In the back of his mind, he was well aware Honey, Carson, and Uncle Frank were listening avidly, wishing they were closer to the confrontation and wondering what happened between them. There were, unquestionably, plenty of sparks between them.

  “Damn straight. That’s exactly what I am saying, Derek, or should I call you Eric? If I had known who you really were I wouldn’t have touched you with a ten-foot pole. I grew up with you; you were like a brother to me.”

  Hell no. I’m not accepting that excuse from you, my princess. Derek’s jaw clenched as he ground out from between his teeth, “But that shouldn’t have mattered, you wanted me when we were young. And I’m not your brother, not even remotely close.” His voice dropped an octave and got all seductive. “And you did. You touched me all right. All night.”

  “Shut up. That is in the past.”

  “I never forgot about that night. Are you saying you have?”

  “No. I remember it.” Her voice cracked slightly.

  “Well you sure have one hell of a way of showing it.” His voice had risen.

  “What do want from me, Derek? I haven’t seen you for seven years and you are acting like I should be falling into your arms. What is the problem? And lower your voice. I don’t really want your whole family to know about this.” Her words came fast and sharp.

  “I never forgot about you. I still wake up smelling your skin.” He stepped closer, but he did respect her wish for him to lower his voice. “I want my family to know. I never wanted to agree to that no strings thing anyway. I only did so I could touch you. Five years after it happened I found myself still dreaming about you and wanting you beside me. I tried to find you, but I couldn’t. I was no longer in the Corps. It was like trying to make a pecan pie from persimmons, no one was very forthcoming.”

  He moved closer to her, that apricot scent filling his nostrils. “I would have thought that finding out who the female Marine Recon was wouldn’t be that hard. I didn’t even know who your regiment was, and I still don’t. You are a ghost to the Corps. All I knew was I wanted to find you. I hated that you were gone when I woke up. Didn’t you even have the decency to say goodbye?”

  “It was ‘no strings.’ I got beeped and was called back off of leave. Besides, you would have done the same thing.” Confusion laced her tone.

  “No way. I wanted a life with you, and I still do.”

  “No!”

  “No? What in the heck is so wrong with me?”

  * * * *

  His deep accent got lower and thicker, making her toes curl tighter and tighter. Nothing like a thick drawl to make her knees weak. Did I misread something and he’d felt something more? Or is this nothing more than my own childhood fascination flaring back to life?

  “Nothing.” You are perfection wrapped in a sinful package. “Look, I don’t have time for any other men in my life. Sorry. I’m here for one thing, Honey’s wedding. That’s it. I’m not looking to pick up where we left off or anything like that.” Jacey made sure her voice rang strong with her conviction, an action that totally belied the tempest roiling her insides.

  “Really?” His voice, silky with challenge, grew from his throat, and Jacey saw one inky black eyebrow had risen in time with his disbelief. “Are you sure about that, because I don’t think you are.”

  Derek closed the distance between them in two steps. “You know you still want me. I hear your body calling out to mine just as it did on the plane and in that hotel.” His breath fanned her face, making her mouth go dry and all of her synapses work overtime.

  He didn’t give her any time to attempt to argue. Just reached out with one muscular arm and curved those lean, strong fingers into her graphite coat sleeve. His other hand, callused from hard work, took her face and cupped it gently, causing her eyes to flutter with the sensation of his touch. Seconds later he hauled her up against him as his lips descended upon hers with swift mastery.

  The kiss started angry and punished her mouth as his tongue dueled with hers. As severe as the kiss was, Jacey responded to him. How could she not, his was the definition of the word kiss. The kiss wasn’t as much harsh as it was demanding, and yet at the same time it made her feel like the only woman in the world. It was heaven being in his arms again.

  Jacey finally pulled away from him. Lips swollen from the heated kiss, her cheeks were flushed. Her breasts rose and fell sharply against the smooth material of her shirt with each heaving gulp of air she ingested.

  “Don’t do that again.” Jacey’s voice sounded like the hiss of a copperhead.

  “You can’t hide your reaction to me, Jacey. Tell me you never thought about that,” he goaded.

  All of a sudden it was just too much, their whole history from childhood to now. All of it, how he had hurt her as a teen and then to find out that the man who had given her the best night of her life, gave her Caleb, was one and the same. Him. Derek Harmon Moser.

  “Yeah, I thought about it, even you, every day,” Jacey said in a yielding voice. How could I not? That night gave me the most precious thing in the world. Our son. In that instant she realized just how exhausted this reunion had made her. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

  “Did you ever think about looking for me?”

  “A few times.” After I foun
d out our rendezvous had left me pregnant.

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “Because it was. . .”

  “I know, I know, no strings attached.” He raked his hands through his hair, frustration evident.

  “Well it was.” She tried valiantly to not sound like a petulant child all the while wanting his touch on her again.

  “Not anymore.”

  “Not anymore what?” Her words sounded slurred. She was too tired for this, having gotten up at three thirty this morning. Not to mention that kiss sucked everything out of her, for that man’s mouth was a deadly weapon. Without any doubt it could render her lifeless. Amazing, all the sleep deprivation training she had gone through to make her a better Marine was gone. This man could get past each and every one of the walls built to protect her.

  “It won’t be that way again,” he vowed.

  “Weren’t you listening when I said I didn’t want or need any more men in my life?”

  “Oh, you want me. Just as much as I want you.” There, in that confident tone of his, doubt of his conviction had no room to even breathe.

  “Doesn’t matter.” Jacey’s whole body was tense as she fought against her own lust for this man. She struggled to keep the trembling inside, but she knew that battle for her soul had been lost. Or won, depending on how she wanted to view it.

  “The hell it doesn’t.” His tone became angry. “Or am I not good enough since I am downright poor compared to you?”

  Jacey’s pain and frustration rose over the edge. Tell him, her mind screamed. “Don’t be vulgar,” she snapped.

  “Is it true?”

  “No. Of course not. I don’t care about things like that.”

  “Now that you know the man I am, besides what you saw at the hotel, all of I sudden I’m not the one for you? Is it because I am white?”

  Tell him, you fool! “What an idiotic thing for you to say or even think. If skin color had a damn thing to do with it then Atlanta never would have happened. Look, I don’t have time for this. Honey and I are getting up early and I have been up long enough already. Goodnight, Derek.”