The Perfect Homecoming (Pine River) (31 page)

“Demanding?”

“In other words, you’re perfect,” she said earnestly. “You can look past the physical and see the person inside. You did it with Leo the first day you met him. You didn’t look at him like there was something wrong with him, you looked at him like you saw the person he was. You are without prejudice, Cooper Jessup, and you are everything I never believed I deserved in a man. You are everything
any
woman would want, and look, you’re standing here with
me.
And I
. . .
I love you for it.” She pressed her fist to her heart. “I
love
you,” she said again, her voice breaking. “So much.”

Cooper stared down at her, almost as if he was waiting for the
but.
Waiting, Emma supposed, for her to say he should leave now like she had so many times. She was overcome with emotion. It was as if some internal dam had burst, and all the hopes and desires she’d secreted away came spilling out, washing over this man who wouldn’t give in to the barrier she’d erected. Who waited patiently until he could see over it. “And if you never love me, that’s okay,” she blurted. “You deserve real happiness. If that’s not me, I understand.”

Emma stopped there, before she managed to ruin her speech by saying something painfully truthful.

After a long moment, Cooper let out a breath of relief. He put his arms around her waist and drew her in. “Okay,” he said. “Okay.
That’s
what I’m talking about, Emma. You just made a giant leap forward in the quest to change the direction of your life. And if you’re serious, if you really want to put your life back on track, I’m here for you. And while you’re trying, you should know that I love you, too, Emma. I love the unordinary. I love hard and, what, flinty?” He laughed a little at that. “I love you.”

“Cooper, really?” She thought she could actually feel her heart swelling. “I promise, I
swear
to you
I will try and be what you need.”

“I just need you to be you, Emma. Just you.” He picked her up to kiss her as he turned them in a slow circle.

Emma kissed him, and quite passionately, too. She heard the cheers, heard Luke shout
Yes!
But she didn’t realize that the shout was for her and Cooper until Bob put his hand on her back and said, “Knock it off. This ain’t the time for that.”

Emma lifted her head and laughed. She laughed as brightly and as fully as she’d ever laughed in her life. This was
exactly
the time for that. This was the time for shouting and singing and dancing and whatever it was people did when they were delirious and drunk on love.

With Cooper’s arm securely around her, Emma joined in the raucous toasts to the newly married couple, lifting her flute of champagne, smiling at Cooper when the wishes for a long and happy life were tossed out. She kept her hand in his as they inched around that crowded little house, mingling with other guests. He was there beside her when conversation became stilted and she didn’t know what to say, stepping into the conversation to save her. He was there beside her when Leo declared dancing was in order, and everyone tried to move in that tiny room, their laughter pealing over the strains of holiday music.

Emma couldn’t take her eyes off Cooper. She couldn’t believe this man, this gorgeous, wonderful man, had come back for her. And every time she looked up, there was Cooper, looking at her.
Seeing
her. The one man who could look past her exterior and see what she really was, the sweet and the sour. And he loved her.

Emma had never felt so easy in her skin as she did that night. For that, she loved Cooper all the more. She would never let him go. She would never let this magical night go, either. She would carry this moment forward and not look back, because Emma believed with all her heart she’d finally found her calm waters and safe shore.

EPILOGUE

The memorial service for Leo was held on a mild early-February day at the Methodist church in Pine River, and it seemed to Emma as if the entire town packed into those pews. There was hardly any room for the marching band.

The service was short and sweet, with “nothing too political,” as Leo had advised her when they’d planned this, his final party. “You know how some of them can get,” he’d warned her.

Emma was never sure who “them” was in that sense, but she’d gone with his wishes.

Only family and close friends were invited to the burial service, which was held at the Kendrick family cemetery halfway between Pine River and Homecoming Ranch. This was where the Kendricks had been laid to rest since the turn of the century. “It’s just like the Kendricks to make it, like,
super
inconvenient for anyone who wants to stop by and chat,” Leo had complained of its location.

Per his wishes, his send-off was not a maudlin affair. “I swear to God, Luke, I will haunt you like Rosemary’s Baby if you let them all get weepy-eyed on me,” Leo had threatened in the last few weeks. With Luke’s help, Emma had convinced the local high school marching band to come and march around the cemetery playing the theme from
Rocky,
just as Leo had wanted. “I’ll be in fighting shape then,” he’d explained.

Leo’s death had been terribly painful for all of them to watch and excruciating for Leo to endure. He’d lost his ability to swallow, as the doctors had predicted, and suffered horrible bouts of choking. Shortly after that, he lost the ability to talk, his breathing labored and shallow, and as Leo himself had warned, that signaled the end.

Bob was desperate to take him to a hospital, but unbeknownst to him, some time ago, Leo had asked Jackson to prepare an advance directive, in which he’d said he did not want to be kept alive by artificial means.
Because you know you won’t be able to let me go, Dad. But I will be ready. I
am
ready,
he’d said in the note that accompanied the legal document.

“I want to die at home, Dad,” Leo had said through an endless bout of wheezing a few days ago.

That plea had nearly put Bob Kendrick on the floor. But he had given his boy what he wished.

It was a merciful death when it came one Tuesday afternoon, right after
Days of Our Lives
and before
Dr. Phil.
As heartbreaking as it was, Leo’s family and close friends gathered around and felt nothing but relief for him. His suffering was over. Most of all, Emma thought, Leo must be relieved. He’d once told her the first thing he was going to do on the other side of life was run. “I mean,
run,
like Usain Bolt. You saw him in the 2008 Olympics, right?
No?
Seriously, now, how big is that rock you live under? Like, is it a
meteorite
?”

God, how they would miss him.

When the service was over, and the marching band dispatched, and the party balloons released to the sky, and the streamers thrown, they all trooped back to Homecoming Ranch for the real party. A local band had come out to play, and the Grizzly Café had set up a buffet in the old barn.

It was Bob who started talking about his memories of Leo, from the time he was a boy and got himself hung in barbed wire trying to escape a bull, to the day he called home from college and mentioned in passing that he couldn’t grip a football. Before long, everyone was laughing at the memories of Leo, repeating the things he’d said, the messages he would get across in the form of sports parables. It was a fabulous send-off, just what Leo wanted.

But Emma wasn’t ready to laugh yet. Her memories were still swollen and bruised and tender. She owed so much to Leo. Along with Cooper, Leo was the person who had slowly convinced her to open herself up to the possibilities life offered. To let go of the prison she’d put herself in, especially because Leo couldn’t. He’d convinced her one cold afternoon to stop looking back and to start looking forward.

The dance was gearing up when Emma walked out onto the porch and sat on the steps. The dogs came out from under the porch one by one to be petted. She heard the screen door open and close behind her. In the next moment, Cooper sat beside her. “You okay?” he asked, putting his arm around her.

“I am,” she said, and she meant it. “You know, the last thing he said to me was to laugh at his funeral. But I can’t laugh, Cooper.”

He smiled. “The last thing he said to me was to take care of you.”

Emma’s eyes widened with surprise. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he said, and looked out over the meadow. “He said you are horrible about asking for help and probably need it more than anyone. And that you’re super hot and guys will always be hitting on you.” He chuckled. “It’s no wonder the two of you were lovebirds over there. Probably had a great time together, calling it as you see it.”

Emma laughed. “Yes, we did.”

“There, you see?” Cooper said with a wink. “He made you laugh.”

“He also wanted me to promise to never leave Pine River,” she said. “But he finally gave in and said it would be okay to go back and forth between here and LA.”

Cooper kissed her temple. That was their plan for the time being—they’d go back and forth between LA and Colorado until the solution of where to settle presented itself. Neither of them felt an urgency to make that sort of decision. They were okay in flux for the time being, because the big decision had been made—they loved each other, and they were going to give this a go. That was challenging enough, given Emma’s past and the need to build trust with Cooper. But Emma had never felt so wanted as she did with Cooper, and she basked in the feel of that. She wanted Cooper to feel as secure as she did, and was devoted to making sure he knew every day how much she loved him. Truly, deeply,
loved
him.

Leo would be so proud of her. And he would be the first to congratulate her that in spite of the somber note of the day, she could see just how bright and shiny the future was looking.

Emma hadn’t told anyone but Leo that she’d taken her tote bag with its contents and thrown it in a Dumpster by the Wal-Mart. The past was a fallen tree on the river of life, and so far behind her now that it wasn’t important.

“You know what he told me?”

Cooper and Emma started—they hadn’t heard Libby come outside. “I was holding Marisol’s baby, and he said I should have some stinkers of my own. Lots of them, because Marisol was not the sharing kind.” Libby laughed. “I’m so glad I got to tell him I was pregnant.”

“Tell who what?” Madeline had followed Libby outside and sat down beside her.

“I got to tell Leo about the baby.”

“Oh,” Madeline said, and scooted over to make way for Sam, who’d come out, too. He sat behind Libby, and she leaned back against his knees.

“He asked me to promise not to put a birdhouse on his grave,” Sam said. “Apparently, he had something against blue jays and doesn’t want them hanging around.”

“What’s the last thing he said to you?” Libby asked Madeline.

“Oh, what did that man
not
say?” Madeline sighed and looked heavenward. “He said, ‘Blue Eyes, Luke has had to take care of us his entire life. Promise me you’ll take care of him and Dad.’ I said, ‘Of course I will, I love Luke and Bob.’ And he proceeded to tell me that Bob was used to being in charge and might try and boss us around, and to let him.” She smiled.

“What’s going on out here?” Luke asked from the door. He walked out and stared down at them all. Madeline reached her hand up to him, and he sat on the step behind her, wrapping his legs around her.

“We were talking about the last thing Leo said to us,” she said softly, and leaned back into him. “What did he say to you?”

“A lot,” Luke said with a snort. “You know Leo, full of unsolicited advice.” He laughed a little, but tears were glistening in his eyes. “He told me that in some ways he was glad it was over. But that he wished he could stick around a little longer because he’d built such a great team. He was taking full credit for all of us, you know, and more. Most of Pine River was on his list.”

Emma laughed.

“He also told me to hang on to Homecoming Ranch,” Luke said, and paused a moment, looking out over the lawn. “I was set to argue with him about that, but Leo pointed out that we’d all come home to it. I hadn’t looked at it that way, but he’s right. We all found home here.”

No one spoke for a very long moment. Emma stared out over the meadow and the mountains across the valley. She imagined Leo running, his legs and arms pumping, that crooked smile of glee on his face.

“I guess he really was a genius.”

With surprise, they all looked back to see Bob Kendrick on the porch. He was sitting in a chair off to one side, alone and unnoticed.

“He was, Dad,” Luke agreed. “What’s the last thing he said to you?”

Bob Kendrick squinted skyward. “He said, ‘Thank you.
’
”

No one spoke, all of them lost in their private thoughts, remembering.

Cooper was the one to break the silence by lifting his beer bottle. “Here’s to Leo, the world’s greatest armchair quarterback.”

“To Leo!” the rest of them echoed.

“And Homecoming Ranch,” Libby offered. “His home.
Our
home.”

“To Homecoming Ranch!” the seven responded.

“While we’re at it, we better include the Denver Broncos,” Luke said. When everyone hesitated, Luke laughed. “I forgot to mention that’s another thing he made me promise. To make sure Dad never missed a game and to explain the nuances of a nickel defense because Dad didn’t get it.”

“Good God, that kid had a mouth on him,” Bob said.

They laughed, and raised their glasses once more. “To the Denver Broncos!”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PHOTO © 2010 CARRIE D’ANNA

Julia London is the
New York Times–
,
USA Today–
, and
Publishers Weekly–
bestselling author of more than thirty romantic fiction novels. Her historical romance titles include the popular Desperate Debutantes series, the Scandalous series, and the Secrets of Hadley Green series. She has also penned several contemporary women’s fiction novels with strong romantic elements, including the Homecoming Ranch trilogy,
Summer of Two Wishes
,
One Season of Sunshine
, and
A Light at Winter’s End
. She has won the RT Bookclub Award for Best Historical Romance, and has been a six-time finalist for the prestigious RITA Award for excellence in romantic fiction. She lives in Austin, Texas.