She neededhim.
She crossed the worn floorboards in three strides.Cody still hadn’t moved.His eyes were bright, almost dazed.
“You look as if you’re waiting for lightning to strike,” she murmured, low enough only he could hear.
“Feels like it already did,” he rasped.“I didn’t know how to make it right.”
She reached for him, her strong hand pressed flat over the hard thump of his heart and smiled.“You just did.”
She kissed him, slow and certain, and everything fell back into place.
The noise in the hall swelled.Cheers, applause, laughter, but she didn’t care.
When she pulled back, she didn’t drop her hand from his chest.She made sure he couldn’t look away.
“You already made it right,” she said again, clearer this time, so there was no chance he’d ever forget it.
Another hush swept through the crowd, just long enough to feel the weight of it, as if everyone there knew they were watching something inevitable.
Fern turned her head slightly, her voice carrying with perfect calm.“I’ll be taking this one home.If that’s all right.”
Someone hollered, “Amen!”Another voice crowed, “About damn time!”
Cody let out a squeaky laugh.A sound so raw and relieved her heart squeezed.
Chance cleared his throat, his grin nearly splitting his face.“As much as I’d love to call it done, we do have other bachelors still hiding in the wings.”
“Then we’ll clear the stage,” Fern said sweetly.She slid her hand into Cody’s.Steady or not, she knew exactly how to hold him up.
Chance tipped an imaginary hat.“Be my guest.”
And then, because she knew him down to the marrow, she turned back to Cody and lifted her chin.“Ready?”
His voice was rough but sure.“With you?Always.”
Fern kept hold of him, refusing to give him even an inch of retreat.“Your truck?”
He nodded voice rough when he said, “Across the street.”
She didn’t let go until he’d unlocked the door.She climbed in with her heart battering her ribs.
Cody slid behind the wheel and just sat there.One hand still grasped her forearm.When he looked over, his eyes were glossy in the dim glow of the dash.
“I love you,” he said hoarsely.
She let the words sink into her bones.Let them fill every crack his absence had left.
“Of course you do.”
His laugh cracked on a sob.
“You scared me,” she whispered.
“I scared myself.”
Fern reached over and caught his cheek in her palm.“Drive me home.”
He did.
