Chapter 38

Landon opened the cabin front door and Grace stepped inside with two grocery bags in her arms. A dog followed her inside.

“Hi, Landon,” she greeted him kissing his cheek. “Meet Peaches, my new dog. A farmer friend of mine gifted her to me.”

Scout’s tail wagged frantically when he saw Peaches, but he looked more suspiciously at Grace’s companion. He approached Peaches, who trembled at first, but she then let Scout sniff her, and they sat down together when he decided the new member of the pack was on the approved list.

Landon leaned down and gently rubbed Grace’s dog’s ears. Peaches’ tail wagged.

“You’re a friend now,” Grace said approvingly. “I knew our dogs would get along.”

“How is everything going?

“It’s a beautiful chaos. My job is to keep track of the different groups. They pretty much run themselves.”

“Everything gets around in Middletown, doesn’t it?”

Grace nodded. “It bothers the hell out of me sometimes, but I also know that they’ll have my back if I need it.”

Grace smiled at Landon.

“Every place I go, I hear your name. People can’t believe you talked Marcus into cooperating with this project.”

“It didn’t take much convincing Marcus, to be honest. I think he was just waiting for an opportunity to reconnect with people,” he interrupted her.

“But no one else recognized it.”

Landon had no reply.

“Your script got lots of praises too.”

“I borrowed a lot from the journals. It wasn’t hard to write the scenes.”

“How’s the history project going?”

“It’s going well. I’ve already finished a timeline and have the first chapters ready. Diana offered to do the proofreading and editing job. She is driving me crazy with her questions and her nit-picking, but she gets the job done.”

“She is truly impressed with your writing.”

Landon looked up at Grace. His eyes regarded her with so much tenderness her heart melted. For his part, Landon thought how safe he felt with her! Not physical safety, he could take care of himself that way, but he knew to the depth of his soul that she would understand and protect who he was inside. In this short time, he sensed she knew him better than anyone ever had.

What they had was the real thing.

“It’s too soon to know that”, the devil inside him whispered, but more powerful feelings were ruling him now.

When they were together, he was the man he had been before Afghanistan. Without him realizing it, Grace had guided him out of the darkness that had enveloped him, and into the sunshine.

“Thank you,” he blurted out.

“For what?”

“For helping me in ways you probably will never know,” he said.

The corner of her mouth turned up in a smile. “I’m not sure that’s true, but you’re welcome.”

Landon just looked at Grace. He touched her cheek, ran his fingers over the soft angles of her face, touched the eyebrows that framed her eyes, and then moved down to her lips, merely touching them.

How could it become so familiar so quickly?

Grace tiptoed and kissed him lightly. “I’ve taken a fierce fancy to you.”

“Now, that sounds like something one of the characters in the play might say,” he said, trying to lighten the tension.

Her arms slipped around him, and her fingers moved to the back of his neck. She stood on tiptoe and lifted her head so she could touch his lips with hers.

He kissed her again, long and tenderly, so tenderly Grace thought she couldn’t bear it.

Then Landon backed away. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone,” he said slowly. “But I didn’t ... I ... didn’t expect ... Dammit!” He took a deep breath trying to calm down his nerves. “I don’t know how this happened, but I think I fell in love. It scared the hell out of me. It still does,” he confessed.