CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
As the truck ate up the pavement, Ivy’s anxiety and fear quadrupled.
“Do you want me to turn around?” He squeezed her thigh with his wide hand.
Every cell in Ivy’s body screamed yes! But the fact that Noble knew she was an angst-ridden mess and was offering to save her from, well, from herself warmed her soul and melted her heart.
Without a doubt, he was living up to his name. Ivy knew there was never a more gallant or gorgeous knight willing to slay her dragons of insecurity. Still, she wasn’t a helpless princess, locked in the tower of some evil queen. She was simply letting her weaknesses overshadow her strengths.
“No. Keep going.”
“You sure? Because the worry rolling off you is going to give you an ulcer before we reach town.”
“I know. I can’t help it. I’m not sure I’m ready to see what McMillian did to my shop or face the reporters. There’s so much work to be done and so many outside forces pulling at me, I’m not sure where to start.”
“We start with contacting your insurance company. Then we’ll hire a structural engineer to come out and see if the structure is sound enough to rebuild. If it is, we’ll get a crew in to gut it and start putting it back together. We’ll figure out the rest as it comes.”
His steady reassurance was like a balm. Ivy laid her head on his shoulder and threaded her fingers through his. “You kept saying we through all that.”
Noble lifted their entwined hands to his lips and kissed the flesh beneath her knuckles. “We’re a team, darlin’. I’m in for the long haul. Don’t you ever doubt or forget that. Got it?”
“I won’t. Thank you.”
Before Noble had turned onto Main Street, the acrid scent of smoke wafted into the cab of the truck. Ivy leaned up and peered past him, catching sight of not one but three news vans parked at the curb in front what used to be Sweet Flours.
A spike of panic pounded through her system. “I’m not ready for this.”
“I know. That’s why I called Nate while you were in the shower. I’m going to pull into the alley behind the bar. He and Gina are awake and waiting for us.”
“No,” she blurted out, blindsided by gratitude and fury. She knew Noble’s preparations hadn’t been contrived maliciously, but the sense that he was stripping control from her thundered through her. “Park in front of the bar and we’ll walk in together. I’m through hiding from those people. They’re not going to force me to cower in fear anymore.”
A slow smile of admiration spread over his lips. “Do you have any idea how strong, brave, and independent you are?”
“I’m trying,” she whispered.
“You’re succeeding,” he said beaming before claiming her mouth in a potent and powerful kiss. “Let’s do this.”
As Noble turned and eased onto Main Street, Ivy scooched across the bench seat—instantly mourning the loss of his body heat—and peered out the passenger window. Ignoring the news crews lingering next to their trucks, Ivy took in the sight of her gutted and charred business. Tears stung her eyes. But when she spotted Emmett Hill, sitting alone on the wooden bench beside the remnants of Sweet Flours, wearing a lost and forlorn expression, a sob slid off her lips.
Grief, thick and suffocating, pressed in all around her.
“Pull over,” she instructed in a voice that sounded like sandpaper.
“Here?” She nodded. “But the news crews…”
“Pull over. I need to talk to Emmett.” She pointed, drawing Noble’s attention to the old man.
“Aw, hell,” he muttered and swung the truck in alongside a big white news van.
Ivy hopped out and rushed to the bench. Emmett lifted his head and sent her a forlorn smile.
“You’re a damn good sight for sore eyes, missy.” He patted the wood beside him.
“Ivy, what do you have to say about Eugene McMillian’s claims that you killed his wife?” a woman yelled out to her.
“Miss Addison, do you know why Eugene McMillian was handcuffed and taken to the Dallas County PD this morning?” another woman shouted.
“Does his arrest have anything to do with the fire at your bakery?” a male reporter yelled.
In a frenzy, the reporters started rapid-firing questions at her.
Ivy ignored them, focusing only on Emmett. “What are you doing here?”
“Back the fuck off…all of you,” Noble bellowed from behind her. “Now!”
“Who are you?” another reporter asked him.
“I’m your worst nightmare if you don’t get those goddamn cameras and microphones out of my face,” Noble snarled.
Ivy smirked and sat down beside Emmett.
Glancing up, she saw that Noble had his back to her. His legs were slightly spread, shoulders thrust back, and arms stretched wide to keep the press back. He reminded her of an impenetrable wall. She could only imagine the intimidating expression chiseled into his handsome face. Over his shoulder she saw Nate and Gina sprinting toward them from across the street.
“Looks like you could use some reinforcements.” Nate chuckled, assuming the same stance next to his brother.
“Morning, sugar,” Gina called to Ivy with a wink before sidling in next to Nate, twirling the end of her Louisville slugger, Martha, in her fingers.
Emmett chuckled beside her and slapped his knees. “I was waiting for you to get here. And now that you are, I’m enjoying this here circus somethin’ fierce.”
As the reporters pelted more questions, Noble, Nate, and Gina lobbed insults and warnings for them to pack up and leave town.
“Yeah, well, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.” Ivy cringed. “Hang tight. I’m going to go calm the masses.”
“Aw, just when it was beginning to get interesting. I wanted to see Gina start doing a little batting practice.” Emmett chuckled.
“You’re incorrigible.” Ivy rolled her eyes, stood, and stepped in beside Noble.
“That’s enough!” She glared at the faces of the anxious reporters clamoring in all around her. “I’ll say this one time and one time only… No comment.”
A collective groan rippled through the news teams before they started calling out questions on top of one another.
“You heard the lady,” Noble barked. “Respect Miss Addison’s privacy and go on home. You’re not welcome here. I’m sure there are bigger news stories that will boost your ratings back in Dall—”
Noble’s words were cut off by a short whoop of the siren from Jasper’s cruiser as he pulled in behind the news vans. The sheriff stepped out of his vehicle and scowled.
“Great, here comes Barney Fife,” a male reporter, wearing a thick layer of camera-ready makeup and hair slicked back, groused.
Jasper’s arrival didn’t go unnoticed by the citizens of Haven. The door of Toot’s Café opened as patrons spilled out onto the sidewalk. Several other business owners and customers exited shops lining Main Street, and like a well-choreographed Labor Day parade, they gathered to watch the chaos unfold.
‘Y’all gone and done it now… Not only did you go pokin’ the good people of Haven, you went and riled up the po-po, as well,” Emmett cackled from the bench.
Gina snorted and Ivy nearly burst out laughing.
“They surely did, Emmett.” Jasper smirked before sending Ivy a quizzical look. “Have you given your statement yet, Miss Addison?”
“She did. It was, no comment,” Noble snarled.
Jasper nodded thoughtfully as he rested a palm on the butt of the gun strapped at his hip. “Then you all got what you came here for. Have a nice trip back to Dallas.”
“Or what?” a blonde reporter countered with a smarmy smile.
“Or I’ll arrest you for loitering, sweetie,” Jasper replied with a feral smile. “We got laws against that here.”
“Git’em, Sheriff,” Emmett said with a snicker. “Toss ’em in the slammer and throw away the key.”
Exasperation rolled over Jasper’s face. As he turned toward the old man, Ivy’s dad whipped his Audi into the space beside Noble’s truck. She glanced up to see Noble’s brows slashed in confusion.
“My folks,” she whispered.
Noble nodded and grinned as Ivy’s dad, mom, sister, and lawyer climbed out of the car and rushed over to join the fray.
“Shit, her lawyer’s here,” groused one of the reporters.
“Damn right she is,” Margaret Neill announced haughtily. “My client has no comment.”
“They already know that, ma’am,” Jasper said with a thoroughly intrigued grin.
Margaret, equally captivated, skimmed an approving gaze up and down his trim, uniform-clad body and smiled. “Thank you, Sheriff…?”
“Jasper… Jasper Straub.”
While her lawyer and the officer briefly undressed each other with their eyes, Janice and Celina rushed over and nearly tackled Ivy in a tight hug. Without thinking, her mom pressed a hand to Ivy’s stomach as tears glistened in her eyes.
“Holy shit! She’s pregnant!” the blonde reporter screeched.
Like sharks in a feeding frenzy, the news crews charged her, shoving microphones and camera lenses in Ivy’s face.
“Oh, god. I-I didn’t mean…” Janice whispered in a tone of pure mortification.
Like an avalanche, their questions tumbled over Ivy, suffocating her in a blanket of sheer panic.
“Who’s the father?”
“Does McMillian know you’re pregnant?”
“Tell us who the father is, Miss Addison.”
“Is that McMillian’s love child cooking inside you?” the Ken doll wannabe chortled.
“Motherfucker!” Noble snarled as he charged the reporter. In a blur, he pulled his arm back and punched the prick in the jaw. The man’s eyes rolled back in his head, just like Harvey’s had in Vegas, before he tipped onto the pavement.
“I’m the father, you cocksucker!” Noble bellowed.
Like a gong, a collective gasp from the people of Haven reverberated in the air.
“Oh, shit!” Ivy whimpered as a veil of blackness converged behind her eyes.
Her knees began to fold out from under her. And as the inky darkness swallowed her up, Ivy heard her mother scream.
“Open your eyes for me, sweetheart!”
Noble’s voice tugged at her from the shadows, but his whiskey-smooth tone was edged in so much desperation and fear that it made her heart hurt.
Like hummingbird wings, soft feminine sobs fluttered in the distance.
“Goddamn it, Ivy! Open your eyes…please, baby…please!” Noble begged unabashedly.
Suddenly, the potent scent of alcohol burned her nose.
“Give her a minute, son. This will help,” a familiar voice Ivy couldn’t readily place, implored.
When she forced her eyes open Ivy found Noble and Doc Knight hovering over her. She glanced around and recognized the exam room. It was the same one the doctor had delivered the news that she was pregnant.
“There she is,” the concerned physician said with a reassuring smile.
“Thank fuck!” Noble said on an explosive exhale. His eyes were brimming with unshed tears as he dropped his head to the crook of her neck. “You scared the ever-loving shit out of me baby.”
“Noble,” Ivy whispered as she draped her arm around his wide shoulders.
It was then that she noticed her mom and Celina hugging each other, sobbing. Her dad stood beside them wearing a frightened, shell-shocked expression. Nate and Gina clung to one another as worry lined their faces, while in the corner, Margaret Neill’s formidable façade had cracked as she stood helplessly wringing her hands.
“What happened?” Ivy asked reflexively. The question had no more left her lips than the memory of Noble knocking out the reporter and his declaration slammed her memory banks. “I passed out again, didn’t I?”
“Yes…yes, you did,” Doc Knight confirmed. “Isn’t any wonder what with all the hullabaloo going on out there.”
“She won’t be coming back into town until those vultures are gone,” Noble vowed, lifting his head.
“It’s not them,” Ivy pensively began. “It’s…you.”
“Me?” Noble blanched.
“Y-you just told the whole town that…” She groaned and smoothed a palm over her stomach.
He covered her hand with his as a slow, sexy smile spread over his lips. Keeping his eyes locked on her, Noble softly shook his head. “Y’all mind giving us a couple minutes alone?”
Doc Knight chuckled softly before he stood and quickly ushered everyone from the examination room. When the door snicked shut behind him, Noble eased onto the table beside her and carefully scooped her up into his arms.
“I’m ready to climb to the top of the water tower with a bullhorn and shout for the whole world to hear, sweetheart.” He cupped her face and held her prisoner with his fiery gaze. “I lived four long months missing you every empty day and endless night. I’m not spending another five minutes without you…without our child beside me. You told me you were afraid that eventually you wouldn’t be enough for me…remember?”
She nodded as his brutally honest words and her tumultuous hormones sent tears spilling down her face.
“Darlin’, you’re so much more than I could have ever hoped to find.” His voice cracked. “I love how brave and strong you are even when you’re frightened or unsure. Love the tinkling sound of your laughter. And I definitely love your sinful screams of pleasure. I love that when you’re snuggled up next to me, like you are now, that you fit like you were made for me alone. Love the little sizzle of electricity that still shoots up my arm when I touch your soft skin. I love your smart-assed comebacks and the sassy way you’re not afraid to tease or confront me.”
She could feel the emotions bleeding from Noble’s unexpected confession. Each profound and revealing word that rolled off his tongue stripped another layer of uncertainty from her soul.
“I could go on for days, but what I’m really trying to say…what I’ve never said to any woman before is that…I. Love. You.”
He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her…kissed her with a passion and promise she’d never felt before. The walls of denial she’d tried so fiercely to hide behind crumbled to dust at her feet. The lies she’d told herself since Noble had waltzed back into her life swirled like smoke on the wind and blew away.
His declaration split her wide open.
Stripped naked, vulnerable…more exposed than she imagined possible, she drank in Noble’s love like a life force.
She’d never felt the sense of rightness that was rising up inside her before.
Ivy knew, without a shred of doubt or fear, that she belonged with him…to him, now and forever.
She kissed him back, trying to fill his soul with the emotions overflowing inside her.
Noble moaned as he clutched her tighter.
Ivy tore away from his mouth and cupped her hands around his face. She gazed into his twinkling emerald eyes and confidently lifted her chin.
“I love you, too,” she bravely confessed.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words came out.
She didn’t need to hear him…Ivy could see and feel each and every spectacular emotion bursting through him, because they were erupting inside her, too.
A watery laugh slid from her lips. “So when do you want to make an honest woman out of me?”
Noble’s eyes grew wide.
His megawatt smile nearly blinded her.
He threw back his head and roared in triumph.
Ivy broke into a blissful fit of giggles.
He kissed her hard, then lifted her into his arms and stood. “We’re gonna do this the right way, darlin’.”
“What do you mean?” she asked as he strode toward the door.
He didn’t answer, simply flashed her a wide grin. As he carried her into the hallway, everyone rushed toward them.
“You stable enough to stand, my love?” Noble asked.
My love.
It was the sweetest music she’d ever heard.
Ivy nodded. Noble gently lowered her to the floor and took hold of her hand.
“What was all the yelling about?” Concern laced her mom’s words.
“This,” Noble cryptically replied before turning to face her father and clearing his throat. “Mr. Addison, I’m sorry for sullying Ivy’s reputation and for any embarrassment I’ve caused your family by getting her pregnant. But sir, I’m deeply…no, I’m hopelessly in love with Ivy. I’m begging permission to marry your daughter.”
Her heart damn near exploded out of her chest.
Jeff lifted his chin and studied Noble as if he were a bug under a microscope.
The air around them stilled, becoming so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
Ivy held her breath.
The muscles in Noble’s jaw twitched as he squeezed her hand tighter.
“Under one condition,” Jeff announced in a deadly serious tone she’d never heard him use before.
“What condition is that, sir?” Noble bravely asked.
“That you marry her here and not in Las Vegas, for shit’s sake,” Jeff barked as a wide grin crawled across his face.
She and Noble exhaled in unison.
Laughter filled the hallway as he extended his hand. Jeff latched on to it and the two men shook. “Deal, sir.”
Congratulatory hugs, handshakes, and, of course, a few tears were shared.
As Nate busily texted on his phone, Gina put two fingers in her mouth and let loose with an ear-piercing whistle.
“Let’s move this celebration over to the Hangover…drinks are on the house!”
Nate looked up from his phone and frowned. “Baby, it’s eleven in the morning.”
“It’s five o’clock somewhere, sweetheart.” Her innocent doe-eyed expression didn’t sway Nate in the slightest. Gina pouted and let out a heavy sigh. “Oh, fine. I’ll make mimosas then.”
He sent her a wink and a grin, tucked his phone away, and planted a fiery kiss to her lips.
Leaving Doc Knight to tend to the patients sitting in his waiting room, the rest of them left his office and started for the bar. The minute Jasper caught sight of the entourage, a sour expression settled over his face. Leaving the news crew with a loud warning to stay put, Jasper headed Ivy and Noble’s way.
“We’ve got a problem, Grayson,” the sheriff announced.
“Which Grayson?” Nate quipped with a chuckle.
“Noble.”
“Let me guess, pretty boy is awake and wants to file assault charges, right?” Noble spat.
“Yep.”
“Well, shit! Tell that Ken doll asshat it’ll have to wait. We’re going to the bar to celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?”
“Ivy and I are getting married.”
“No shit? Well, congratulations, you two.” Jasper grinned.
Margaret stepped up and cleared her throat. “Y’all go on in and get the party started. I’ll join you in a minute. I need to have a little conversation with my old friend…the Ken doll, Bart Mannford, a.k.a. Channel Fourteen’s wonder boy.”
“You know him?” Noble barked.
“A long time ago when I was young, drunk, and stupid, I made a horrible mistake. But old Bart made an even bigger one. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was married…still is, at least for now.” With a devious glint in her eyes, she flashed a wicked smile.
“Oh, my god,” Ivy murmured.
“Wow. You must have been really drunk,” Celina blurted before slapping a hand over her mouth.
“Oh, I was, sugar,” Margaret assured with a smirk.
“I’ll escort you over to him,” Jasper offered, extending an elbow. As Margaret looped her arm through his, he flashed her a provocative smile. “You know, I’ve always found cunning women damn…stimulating.”
“Git some, sheriff,” Emmett, still sitting on the bench, called out with glee.
The celebration was in full swing when Noble’s entire family came through the front door, smiling and cheering.
Margaret returned to the group a few minutes later and announced with a triumphant smile. “All charges have been dropped.”
An even louder roar of cheers erupted.
Introductions were extended, glasses were filled, and toasts were made as laughter and love filled the room. Through it all, Noble’s steady arm lay wrapped around Ivy’s waist.
Nate tossed some money in the jukebox and sent Noble a wink.
When the first lyrics and notes of “Unchained Melody” began to play, a melancholy smile curled over Noble’s lips.
“Come on, darlin’, we gotta dance to this one,” he whispered in her ear.
She nibbled her bottom lip and nodded as Noble ushered to the open section of hardwood in front of the jukebox. A flutter twirled in her belly. She hadn’t danced since her high school prom. She sent up a silent prayer that she didn’t stomp and bruise Noble’s feet.
The moment he swept his arms around her and began gliding her across the floor, all her insecurities vanished, like they always did when she was with him.
“My graddaddy Grayson used to listen to this song…used to play it over and over when I was young and visited him every day,” Noble explained as their bodies swayed in time to the hauntingly beautiful song.
“I take it he’s gone?”
Noble nodded. “Five years ago. God, he would have loved you.” A sheepish grin appeared. “One day…I was maybe five or six, I promised him that when I got married I’d play this song at my wedding…b-because it was his favorite.”
His voice cracked and he buried his face in the crook of her neck. Ivy choked back a sob and gently stroked the hair at his nape, hugging him tighter. Long seconds later, Noble exhaled and began softly singing along.
Whatever pieces of her heart he hadn’t claimed already, Ivy surrendered to him, without an ounce of reservation.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“For what, darlin’?”
“For proving that that fairy tales really do exist.”
“Thank you for trusting me and allowing me to be your happily ever after, sweetheart,” he drawled before slanting his lips over hers, stealing her soul, and melding it to his.