AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ma-ma?” Marisol’s dark eyes, exactly like her father’s, looked up at her mother with concern.
“It’s all right,” Callie whispered, wiping her eyes and giving her daughter a tremulous smile. “Everything is fine.” All she had to do was sign the papers and her lawyer would file them. She’d be Callie Woodville again. Callie Cruz would disappear.
Across the small kitchen, where it sat in a small woven basket, the gold and diamond double “CC” key chain flashed at her in the morning light. It seemed forlorn and out-of-place in the key basket, amid the clutter of pens, sticky notes and unpaid utility bills around the twenty-year-old phone. But even her keychain wasn’t as out-of-place as the shipment that had arrived at their rural North Dakota farm yesterday. Picking up her steaming mug of coffee, Callie went to the kitchen window and pushed aside the red gingham curtain.
Outside, beside her father’s red, slightly rusted 1966 pickup truck, her sleek silver car was now parked in front of the barley field.
Callie closed her eyes. She’d never thought she would have the strength to leave Eduardo.
But then, she never thought he’d let her go.
And he’d already moved on. She’d already seen pictures of Eduardo in a celebrity magazine, attending a charity gala in New York with the young Spanish duchess. Callie wondered if they’d marry, once his divorce to her was final. Her heart twisted with jagged pain at the thought, and for the first time, she truly understood what Eduardo must have felt when he’d thought she was in love with Brandon.
How hard it was, to set the person free that you loved most on earth. But Eduardo had done it.
Now so must she.
Callie heard an engine coming up the long driveway. Looking back out the window, she smiled. About time. Taking another sip of her coffee, Callie watched Brandon and Sami leap out of the Jeep.
Brandon’s heart hadn’t remained broken for long. Since their return from Morocco, now freed of his guilt and concern over Callie, he’d finally allowed himself to give his heart to the young woman who’d been his constant companion for nine months. Yesterday, he’d asked Sami to marry him.
Their parents had been cautious at first, then ecstatic. News of the engagement had rapidly spread across Fern, and thanks to Jane’s eager posting, to all her internet friends, across the world. Callie swallowed, feeling a little misty-eyed. Engaged. Her best friend and little sister were planning to be married in September.
As the two vagabonds traipsed through the door, Callie shook her head with a wry laugh. “Engaged or not, sis, Mom and Dad are not happy you stayed out all night.”
“It was totally innocent!” Brandon protested. Then his full cheeks blushed beneath his black-framed glasses as he gave Sami a sudden wicked grin. “Well, mostly innocent …”
“We were up at McGillicuddy’s Hill,” Sami said quickly, “to see the comet away from the lights. There were so many stars.” She looked dreamily at her fiancé. “Brandon knows all the constellations. We just lost track of time …”
“Good luck explaining that to Dad.”
“Dad knows he can trust Brandon,” she protested. She turned to him. “Like I do. With my life.”
Brandon looked back at Sami with love in his eyes. Taking her hand in his own, he kissed it fervently. And Callie suddenly felt like an intruder, standing in the cozy, warm kitchen in her old purple sweatpants and ratty T-shirt. “All right,” she said awkwardly. “You should talk to him, though.”
“Where is he? Out in the fields?”
Callie nodded. “Alfalfa by the main road.”
“Don’t worry.” Brandon clutched Sami’s hand. “You won’t have to face him alone.”
“I know.”
As he pulled his car keys out of his pocket, they turned toward the door. On impulse, Callie blurted out, “Wait.”
They paused, staring at her questioningly. Crossing to the key basket, Callie took the “CC” keychain and held it out to them. “I want you to have this.”
“What?” Sami exclaimed. “Your car?”
Brandon glowered. “Why?”
“It’s—” Callie grasped at straws “—an engagement gift.”
“Are you kidding?” Sami blurted out.
“We don’t need anything from him.” Brandon looked mutinous. It was possible he still nursed a grudge. “My Jeep works just fine.”
Sami turned to him. “Think of it as compensation for him punching you,” she said hopefully.
