Authors: Jean C. Gordon

The Bachelor's Sweetheart (18 page)

BOOK: The Bachelor's Sweetheart

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Tessa dropped her head, but not her grip, refusing to meet his gaze.

Josh swallowed to stop himself from being sick to his stomach. He'd seen that look before on his father's face.

“Son.” His father placed his hand on Josh's forearm.

“Don't
Son
me. You're no father to me, to any of us.” Josh grabbed his father's shirtfront and pulled him out of the chair. “Go, get out of here. I don't want you near Tessa or me ever again.”

“Stop!” Tessa screamed. “Just stop. It wasn't your father. It was me.”

Josh released his father. “What?”

She released the bottle. “I bought the wine after Jerry left. He came back for his watch and found me...”

Josh stared at her in disbelief.

His father's nod confirmed what she'd said.

He closed his eyes, needing to black out the picture of Tessa he was seeing. “You were helping Tessa. Sober support.” Josh's voice trailed off. His father... Tessa. A long-blocked-off spot inside him opened. “I'm sorry, Dad. I saw you. I lost my temper.”

“I understand,” his father said with tears in his eyes.

Josh did, too, seeing his father in the present, not the past. He offered his hand and when his father took it, Josh pulled him into a bear hug. “Thanks.”

His father hugged him back. “I owed you.”

Josh had a feeling he owed Dad more. “But why?” he asked, looking from his father to Tessa and motioning to the wine bottle. “Didn't the inspector sign off?” He glanced around the room, unable to think of anything else that could have pushed Tessa over the edge.

“No, he did sign off. That was the problem,” she said.

Josh's insides churned with confusion. “I don't understand.”

His father reached by him and picked up the wine bottle. “I'll put this over here.” He placed it on another table. “You can take care of it after you talk. Tessa, we're on for the Saranac meeting tonight?”

“Yes, I need it. You'll pick me up at the house?”

“Sure thing,” Jerry said.

Josh smiled at his father and moved the chair he'd been sitting in around next to Tessa. “Tell me about it,” he said when he heard the outside door click behind his father.

“The other day when you called and I had to take another call. It was about the stage lights. They were supposed to be delivered to the shipping facility in Ticonderoga but didn't make it.”

Josh looked past her to the stage and the lights.

“They were delivered to Saratoga instead. Jerry and I drove down and got them.”

Josh drummed his fingers silently on his thigh, wanting to push Tessa to get to the point but sensing she needed to tell things in her own fashion.

“We installed them with Neal's help yesterday, and when we tested them, the circuit breaker blew. Neal installed a new one and it blew, too.”

“So you don't have any stage lights?”

“No, we do. It turned out the circuit box amperage was too low. Neal had to put in a new higher amperage box. I used your rent check for it.”

“That's good, isn't it?” As with a lot of other things he'd missed, he hadn't realized she was that close on money with the renovations.

“Too good. We kept running up against obstacles and the Lord provided. But when the building inspector gave us the go-ahead for the Monday opening, I should have been psyched. Instead, I felt nothing, less than nothing. Hollow.”

Josh placed his right arm on the table and leaned forward. “This was your dream. You've been talking about it almost as long as I've known you.”

“It was what I wanted. And when you said you were taking the job in Boston, I told myself if I didn't have you, I
had
to have the theater. I've got the theater, and I feel no sense of accomplishment. Like I said, nothing.”

“Whoa, who said I took a job in Boston?”

“You, Monday on the phone.”

He took the note of irritation that had seeped into her voice as a positive. It certainly beat the despondency she'd been drowning in.

“You asked me if I could give up the theater and come to Boston with you and hung up before I could answer.”

“Wait.” He jerked straight. “Back up. What do you mean, if you didn't have me?”

The corners of Tessa's mouth curved up in a weak smile. “Think about it.”

He slid his left arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him. “You've had me since the day we met. It took me this long to own up to it.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder. “I did tell your father that I thought your skull was made of titanium.”

Josh laughed. That was his Tessa.
His
Tessa. He liked the sound of that.

“Let's take care of the wine,” she said.

“I'll do it.” He jumped to his feet.

“No, I have to.”

They walked to the kitchen and Tessa lifted the wine bottle over the sink but didn't pour it down the drain. It hit him like a punch to the solar plexus.
She had no more control over alcohol than his father did
.

“Part of me still doesn't want to do this.” The bottle wobbled in her hand.

He unconsciously stepped back, and Tessa tilted her head to look up at him, her gaze clear and direct.

“I know thatânow.”

She accepted his admission and tipped the bottle over.

He placed his hands on her shoulders, bent down and pressed his lips softly against hers. The sweetness was almost too much to bear. When he lifted his head, she put her arms over his, hands on his shoulders, and studied him.

“I love you, Joshua Donnelly.”

Still racing from their kiss, his pulse went into overdrive. “And I love you, Tessa Hamilton.”

She rose on her toes, her face lifted to him. “I believe you do.”

Those words filled his heart to bursting and then some. He pulled her close and kissed her again with every ounce of love he had for her, accepting her love in return.

Epilogue

Five months later

T
he unseasonable late fall heat was unbearable, worse than anything Josh had ever experienced, even during his National Guard tour of Afghanistan. A rivulet of sweat ran down his back. He wanted to pull at his collar so he could breathe, cool off his back. But people would see him. He looked at Connor in front of him, ready to officiate, Jared, his best man, beside him and his father beside Jared. To add to the torture, they all grinned at him. He and Tessa should have eloped.

The
Lohengrin
wedding march began and Josh shivered, the heat of a moment ago suddenly gone. Tessa appeared on her father's arm, a vision in a froth of white. He stood mesmerized. Then he saw it, there nestled in the yellow roses in her bouquet where only someone on the raised altar might see it. A fluffy stuffed yellow chick. He choked back a laugh, remembering their dance at Connor's wedding. Best buds is how they'd started and what they'd always be, that and so much more. His vision blurred. Must be dust in his eye. He blinked Tessa back into focus and watched her father lift her veil and kiss her on the cheek before whispering something in her ear. She'd worn her hair down as he liked it. He blinked again. Hadn't Connor had the church cleaned for the ceremony?

Tessa handed her bouquet to her grandmother, who she'd chosen to be her matron of honor, and took her place beside him. His muscles turned to spaghetti. She was so beautiful it hurt. She returned his gaze, admiration and something more shining in her eyes. Then she grinned and he straightened to his full height, offering up a quick prayer in the moment before Connor started the ceremony.

Dear Lord, give me the strength to be all Tessa deserves me to be. Help me to show her the boundless love only You know that I have for her
.

“Good morning,” Connor said. “Today we're gathered here in the sight of God to celebrate one of life's greatest moments, to give recognition to the worth and beauty of love and to add our best wishes and blessings to the words uniting my brother Joshua Michael Donnelly and Tessa Marie Hamilton in holy matrimony.

“Marriage is a most honorable estate, created and instituted by God, signifying unto us the mystical union, which also rests between Christ and the Church; so, too, may this marriage be adorned by true and abiding love...”

Josh tried to keep his attention on Connor's words, but Tessa's nearness and his joyful wonderment at her becoming his wife kept distracting him.

“Joshua, what token do you give as a pledge of the sincerity of your vows?”

Jared nudged him. “A ring,” Josh said.

“Tessa, what token do you give as a pledge of the sincerity of your vows?”

“A ring.” She took Josh's ring from her grandmother.

“Please join hands and repeat after me,” Connor said.

Following Connor, Josh repeated the words he'd committed to memory. “I, Joshua Michael Donnelly, take you, Tessa Marie Hamilton, to be my wedded wife, to live together in marriage. I promise to love you, comfort you, honor and be with you
for better or worse
...”

Josh didn't care if everyone heard his emphasis on
better or worse
. It was what was in his heart, what Tessa needed from him. And he had no doubts the better would far outweigh the worse.

“For richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to you, for as long as we both shall live.” His hands trembled as he slid the wedding band onto Tessa's finger.

With a shy smile that spoke her joy to him, Tessa did the same, the contrast between the softness of her fingers and steadiness of her hands as she slipped the ring onto his finger nearly brought him to his knees with his love for her.

“Josh and Tessa,” Connor said, “insomuch as the two of you have agreed to live together in matrimony, have promised your love for each other by these vows, the giving of these rings and the joining of your hands, I now pronounce you husband and wife. May the Lord bless you and keep you, lift up His countenance unto you and give you peace.”

“Congratulations,” Connor said then turned to Josh, adding, “Bro,” for their ears only. “You may kiss your bride.”

Josh sealed his promise to Tessa and she to him. They joined hands and turned to their friends and family.

“And now,” Connor said, “I present Joshua and Tessa Donnelly.”

Josh squeezed Tessa's hand and she squeezed it back.

He bent to her ear. “So far, this marriage thing is okay,” he said.

Their wedding went on record as the only one at Hazardtown Community Church where the ceremony ended with the bride knocking the groom in the shoulder.

* * * * *

Pick up these previous
DONNELLY BROTHERS
stories from Jean C. Gordon:

Hometown boys make good...and find love.

WINNING THE TEACHER'S HEART

HOLIDAY HOMECOMING

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All available now from Love Inspired!

Find more great reads at
www.LoveInspired.com

Keep reading for an excerpt from
SMALL-TOWN GIRL
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Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing to read
The Bachelor's Sweetheart
. I hope you enjoyed Josh and Tessa's story. Of all the books I've written, this book was the hardest to write and, ultimately, the most rewarding.

I've seen firsthand the toll alcoholism, any addiction, takes on family and friends. Josh and his brothers have dealt with their father's alcoholism most of their lives. Tessa and her family with hers only more recently. Tessa and Josh's story is a tribute to what love can overcome when it has the power of God behind it.

To keep in touch with me, please sign up for my author newsletter at
JeanCGordon.com
. And feel free to email me at
[email protected]
or snail mail me at PO Box 113, Selkirk, NY 12158. You can also visit me at
Facebook.com/JeanCGordon.author
or Tweet me at
@JeanCGordon
.

Blessings,

Jean C. Gordon