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“Thanks for having me over.” Trent kissed Reese’s forehead. “I’m going to help your father before he ends up with prickles all over.”
“Okay.” Reese waved to her father.
“Thank you,” Judith said. “He’s having a heck of a time with that trellis.”
“We’ll get it fixed up.” Trent crossed the patio. “Hi, David. What can I do to help?”
Reese’s father had one hand on the wooden trellis and the other on the rosebush. He grimaced and said, “If you have a trick for making the thorns on the rosebush not poke me every few seconds, that would be great.”
“Here, let me get in there.” Trent moved beside him and held back the thick rosebushes. “I spent years helping my father with our gardens. I’m used to being poked by these buggers. I’ll hold them back while you nail up the trellis.”
They worked in silence for a few moments before David said, “Reese seems happier than she’s been since she came back to the island a decade ago.”
“So am I, David. I’m glad we have a few minutes alone to talk.” Trent took a deep breath as David lowered the hammer and turned to face him with a serious gaze.
“I know that Reese needs more time before we move forward, and I will give her all the time and space she needs. But she’s the woman I love and cherish, and I want to have a family with her. I’d like your blessing to ask her to marry me again when the time is right.”
When David didn’t respond immediately, Trent said, “I also want you to know that I’m selling my practice and staying on the island for good.”
“That’s good to hear, Trent. But my earlier warnings still apply. Don’t hurt my daughter again. Do absolutely everything you can to make your relationship work. Forever, this time.”
“I will, sir.”
David smiled and scrubbed his hand down his face. “I know you will, but as her father, I still need to hear it. It’s a dad thing. You’ll understand when you have children of your own someday.”
“I already understand, because we both have a common goal—loving and protecting Reese.”
David put a hand on Trent’s shoulder and said, “When you’re ready, know that Judith and I are overjoyed that the two of you have found your way back together.”
He pulled Trent into a warm embrace, and the scent of fresh-baked muffins wafted out the screen door. “Now, let’s get this thing fixed so we can go eat some of my beautiful wife’s, and your beautiful girlfriend’s, down-home cooking.”
* * *
REESE FILLED FOUR mugs with coffee, working shoulder to shoulder with her mother in the kitchen. She couldn’t have been happier to be spending Sunday morning with her three favorite people. Watching Trent and her father work side by side made her feel good all over.
Her mother glanced at her for the hundredth time in the last ten minutes, smiling like she could barely stand to hold in whatever happy thoughts were going through her mind, and finally Reese couldn’t hold back her curiosity any longer.
“What is it, Mom?”
“Nothing.” She turned back to the eggs she was making and began humming a tune. She hadn’t seen her mother with so much energy in a long time. It made her look several years younger, though that might have also had something to do with the cute new jeans and sweater she was wearing.
“You’re humming, Mom. You only hum when you’re super happy.”
“Then I’m super happy,” her mom said with a grin. “Aren’t you?”
“Yes. I’m happier than I ever expected I would be again. I never dreamed Trent and I would get back together, or that if we did, it would happen in a whirlwind.”
“Oh, honey. I think you did.”
“How can you say that?” She set the mugs on a tray and glanced toward the sounds of her father and Trent laughing in the backyard.
“You never really gave anyone else the time of day since your divorce.”
Reese held out the plates one at a time as her mother put eggs, bacon, and a freshly baked muffin on each one, then added a sprig of berries.
“I gave them the time of day. They just weren’t”—she smiled as she thought about what had been wrong with the men she’d dated—“Trent.”
“You don’t look nervous anymore, like you did when you told me you were first starting to date him again. Are you?”
“Not anymore. We’ve talked about everything. I mean, really talked, in ways that I don’t think we ever even tried to back then, or would have known how to. I feel like I know him so much better now. And I also feel like I know myself better now, too.”
Her mother touched her hand. “All your father and I have ever wanted was for you to be happy, and I can see that you are.” She leaned in close and said with a grin, “I have to thank you, too, Reese. Your happiness has rubbed off on me.”
