"i...i didn't know what kind of man geoff was," lori said, defending herself. her voice quavered with mortification. "i agree i misjudged geoff, but you liked him, too, remember?"

her father brushed off her comment. "what makes you think you have better judgment this time?" he demanded. "how long did you two know each other, anyway?"

"long enough," linc said, unable to remain silent.

"i asked you to stay out of this," bellamy shouted. he started pacing, then stopped and glared at lori. "what were you thinking?" briefly he closed his eyes. "what on earth possessed you to marry a stranger?"

"daddy..."

"can you imagine how your mother felt to have a friend-mind you, a friend-announce that you'd recently married?"

"daddy, please..."

"you couldn't have told us yourself?" he bellowed, refusing to let lori explain.

"mr. bellamy," linc said, trying again.

lori covered her face with both hands and began to sob.

"you've really done it this time," leonard said. "you've consistently shown poor judgment, and worse, you never seem to learn from your mistakes."

frowning, linc took a step forward. he understood why lori's father was upset, but the man was crossing the line now.

"no one in the family has ever done anything like this. your mother's beside herself."

"i'm sorry," lori sobbed.

"as you should be. you made one stupid mistake and then you immediately followed that up with another." he whirled around and studied linc through narrowed eyes. "a mechanic, lori? for heaven's sake, why would you marry a mechanic? it isn't embarrassing enough that our daughter elopes without a word to her family, but then you have to marry a man with oil under his fingernails, an uncouth, uneducated...mechanic? what's the matter with you, girl? don't you have a brain in your head?"

"mr. bellamy," linc said, his voice hard. it was one thing to belittle him, but linc wasn't going to stand idly by while lori's father chastised her as if she were a child. "i can see why you're upset. i'll be the first to admit that we rushed into this marriage, but that doesn't give you the right to come to our home and ridicule my wife."

"your home?" the other man's face reddened.

lori's hand tightened around linc's forearm and she squeezed hard. "this building belongs to my parents," she whispered. "i don't pay rent."

linc hadn't known that-and wished she'd told him. "if you want us to move, we'll be out by the end of the month," he offered.

"i want you out, all right," bellamy raged, jerking one thumb at the door. "out of my daughter's life."

that wasn't going to happen. rather than argue, linc shook his head. "lori and i are married."

her father snorted contemptuously. "you saw a good thing, didn't you? lori was easy prey. she was at a low point in her life and you decided to take advantage of her because of her name."

the name meant nothing to linc. "bellamy?"

"lori comes from a wealthy family and you were trying to-"

"now, just a minute here!" despite his efforts, linc was fast losing his temper. "i don't need your money or your name."

bellamy scowled back at him, his expression filled with disbelief and disdain. "we'll see about that." his threat hung heavy in the air.

linc wouldn't allow bellamy to intimidate him. "you might own this building, but you don't own your daughter. i suggest you leave now, before we both say or do something we'll regret."

bellamy jabbed his index finger at linc several times, then whirled around and stormed out the door. he slammed it so hard the windows rattled.

the room seemed to vibrate with tension. lori burst into tears, and linc put his arms around her. he held her tight against him, his shirt absorbing her tears as he gently stroked her hair.

"my mother's friend brenda owns the dress shop and...she must've told mom. she promised she wouldn't say anything until i'd spoken to my parents but..."

"it's okay, lori," linc whispered into her hair. "we should've told them sooner."

"i know...i know-but i was afraid of what my father would say, what he might do...."

"he'll get used to the idea soon enough." linc said, hoping that was true.

"you don't know my father."

"we'll give him time," linc said. "i'll do everything i can to prove to your family that i'm going to be a good husband."

"it won't matter," she whispered. "daddy will never forgive me.... he was still angry about geoff and-and then i married you."

"do you want to end the marriage?" he felt obliged to ask.

"no, never," she said, her arms tightening around him.

"me, neither," linc murmured, and he thought he felt her smile against his shoulder. "come on," he said, easing her out of his arms. "we have some celebrating to do."

she looked up at him blankly.

"i signed the final papers for the garage this afternoon, remember?"

lori smiled weakly, then slipped her arms around him again. "i don't care what my family thinks. i'm grateful i married you."

linc was grateful, too. swinging her into his arms, he moved toward the bedroom.

"will it always be like this?" she asked, sighing as she kissed his jaw.

"i hope not," he said with a chuckle. "this much happiness just might kill me."

three

staring at the phone on his desk, will jefferson mentally prepared to call shirley bliss-again. twice now she'd come up with a convenient excuse to turn down his invitations. either the woman had an incredibly active social life or she wasn't interested. without being vain, he found that difficult to believe. okay, he was a little vain. he knew he was a good-looking charmer-smooth but not too smooth. smart, successful and sexy, the latter according to more than one woman.

he was also persistent. he hadn't come this far in life without a healthy dose of good old-fashioned grit. he'd returned to his hometown, purchased a failing art gallery and was determined to make a fresh start.

admittedly he'd made his share of mistakes. if he had it to do over again, he would've done certain things differently. for one, he would've paid a lot more attention to his kid sister's best friend, grace.

years later grace did attract his notice, but by then it was too late. they'd reconnected shortly after will learned of dan sherman's death. he'd sent her a sympathy card and, on a whim, added his email address. not long after that, they'd begun a friendly correspondence.

will hadn't known about the crush grace had on him while they were in high school. that information had soothed his ego. his marriage was deteriorating; he and georgia were just going through the motions. about five years into the marriage he'd stumbled into an affair with one of the women from his office. naturally he regretted it and begged georgia to forgive him. she did, and he was grateful. yet his indiscretion had always been there between them, like a bad break that had never totally healed. a broken limb could remain weak forever after, unable to tolerate pressure or stress.

her forgiveness hadn't been complete, he realized now. it was as if she'd been waiting for him to do it again.

and he had.

but will didn't blame georgia. after all, he was the one who'd strayed. still, his wife had given him the cold shoulder for so long that when a friendly young waitress flirted with him, he'd been flattered and receptive. sally was young, attractive and impressionable, and he'd responded.

georgia knew about it. she had to have known, but she didn't say a word and neither did he. sally wanted him to leave georgia and he might have if not for the fact that georgia was diagnosed with breast cancer. he couldn't walk out on his wife when she needed him most. after two years sally ended the relationship.

thankfully georgia recovered and for a while he thought they might be able to have a successful marriage. he'd tried to make her happy, to recapture what they'd shared in the early days. each week he brought home flowers and gifts; he'd suggested date nights and made a genuine effort to win back his wife. yet nothing he did seemed to bring the light of love and affection to her eyes. apparently it was too late; he'd cheated not once but twice, and she never trusted him again.

at that point, he was only in his late forties and, except for convenience and companionship, his marriage was dead. in the years that followed he had several other affairs. georgia no longer seemed to mind and after a while these little flings didn't bother his conscience, either. as it was, he and georgia lived more like siblings than husband and wife. and yet they stayed together. he supposed it was easier for both of them than not staying together, particularly since their business and social lives were intertwined.

he'd misled grace into thinking he was divorcing georgia. he didn't want to lose her the same way he had sally. he'd fully intended to explain his situation...when the time felt right. grace was everything he wanted, but will had blown it. before he could explain the whole complicated mess, she was out of his life. nothing he said or did afterward changed her resolve. what she never knew, what he'd never had a chance to tell her, was that if she'd asked he would've left georgia. not right away but soon. as soon as he'd made the necessary arrangements.

will had done more harm than good in his efforts to get her back. by this time grace had met and fallen in love with cliff harding. she wanted nothing more to do with will. desperate to prove he cared, will had acted like a total fool at the farmers' market and started a fist-fight with cliff. he must've been out of his mind. the incident still made him cringe with embarrassment.

it was at this stage that will's life began to fall apart. georgia found out about grace, although they hadn't done anything more than email and talk on the phone. still, his online relationship was the crack that broke his marriage wide-open. after all the years, all the extramarital affairs georgia had purposely ignored, she left him because he'd sent a few emails to an old friend. ironic, to say the least.

in retrospect, will was relieved. his marriage had been over for years. although he'd never expected to reach retirement age alone, that was his life now. hard as it was to accept at the time, he and georgia were better off apart.

once the divorce was final, will had moved home, back to cedar cove and the only family he had. returning to town after all these years hadn't been easy, especially since he'd arrived with nothing but a rental truck and a few suitcases. he'd sublet an apartment while he searched for some way to fill his time.