Chapter 2

Hudson didn’t answer the captain. He looked down at Jean, and the corner of his mouth lifted before he caught himself.

I’d spent years learning how to read his face across a crowded room. I knew what that little smile meant. For a second, he’d let himself picture the life the captain had just described.

Everyone in the courtyard knew why Hudson had gone to prison. A man from a rival crew had been harassing Jean. Hudson went after him with a brick, and the man died. The Farleys still talked about the plea deal that had put him away for three years.

They knew my part of the story, too. I’d kept going to see him, even when he told me to stop. The way his friends liked to tell it, I’d made such a nuisance of myself that marrying me was the only way he’d ever get any peace.

What they didn’t know was that Jean had left the country as soon as Hudson went to prison. She was afraid somebody would ask what she knew about that night. Hudson took the fall alone, and she stayed gone.

I kept writing when he stopped taking visitors. I was there when he walked out. Later, when he pushed me away once too often and I finally left town, he drove more than six hundred miles to bring me back.

He looked as if he’d been behind the wheel all night. When I opened the door, he asked if he could come in. Then he stood in the hallway and promised he’d spend the rest of his life making sure I never had a reason to leave again.

“Even if Jean comes back?” I’d asked.

“Even then.”

For months after that, I’d wake up in the middle of the night and find his arm locked around my waist. Once, when I tried to get up for a glass of water, he woke and asked where I was going before his eyes were even open.

Now Jean was back. I’d told him to marry her, and he’d smiled.

I should have walked away the first time he told me to.

Hudson finally met my eyes. The smile was gone. For a second he looked scared. He opened his mouth, but Jean spoke first.

“Tabitha, I’m grateful you took care of him while I was gone.” She slipped her arm around his waist. “But being grateful to someone isn’t the same as loving them. You can’t hold everything you did for him over his head and call it a marriage.”

She said it gently enough for anyone standing a few feet away to mistake it for kindness.

“He’s always loved me,” she added.

She moved until she was standing directly in front of him. The veil I’d put on her brushed his sleeve as she tilted her face up.

“Now that I’m here, Hudson, will you marry me?”

Someone on the chapel steps cleared his throat. Hudson glanced past Jean at me, then back down at her.

“You just got back,” he said. “There are things I need time to sort out.”

Jean’s smile held a beat too long. Then she looked away.

Nelson stepped in before either of them could say anything else.

“Come on. There’s a six-foot picture of Hudson and Tabitha in the entrance hall. If you two decide to get married, we’ll throw you a wedding of your own.”

Hudson swallowed. He didn’t correct him.

“Congratulations, then,” I said. “I hope you’re happy together.”

“Thank you,” Hudson said.

I’d expected him to say he hadn’t agreed to anything. He thanked me.

The sun was in my eyes. I could have stepped back into the shade, but I stayed where I was until I trusted myself to speak again.

Jean ducked her head. Her cheeks had gone pink.

“If you need time, I’ll wait,” she told him. Then she turned to me. “Tabitha, would you be my maid of honor when it happens?”

I realized I’d gathered a fistful of my skirt. I opened my hand and let the fabric fall.

“Sure. I’ll bring my fiancé. You can put him down as best man if you’re short one.”

Jean put a hand over her mouth. “Your fiancé? Have you had somebody else lined up all this time?”

She looked around to make sure the others had heard.

“That explains why you’re taking this so well. You practically handed Hudson to me.” She smiled. “I guess I did you a favor.”

I looked down. Hudson was still holding her hand. He hadn’t said a word.

Then I laughed. It was the first time all afternoon I hadn’t stopped to think how I might sound.

“I’ve known him a long time. I only accepted his proposal today. I still want to get married, Jean. I’ve just changed my mind about who I want to marry.”

I looked at Hudson.

“You and Mr. Farley are welcome at my wedding, Jean.”

The courtyard went quiet. The captain who’d been talking about Hudson and Jean’s children looked down at the steps. Nelson glanced at Hudson before he spoke again.

“Who is it, Tabitha?” he asked. “Come on. If you’re saying it to save face, we’ll all forget you said it. But if there’s really somebody, give us a name.”

I took out my phone and opened the exchange from the bridal room.