His Marriage to Remember - By Kathie DeNosky Page 0,55

big is the house you’ve rented?” Bria asked, following her sister to the door.

“You’ll have to come down for a weekend once I get settled in,” Mariah said, becoming animated. “It’s a cute little two-bedroom cottage just outside of town with a white picket fence around the yard and a swimming pool and hot tub off the back patio.”

“It sounds ideal for you.” She gave her sister a hug. “Let me know when you’re ready for company and I’ll drive down for a visit.”

“Absolutely,” Mariah said, hugging her back. Opening the door, her sister stopped dead in her tracks. “Oh, dear.”

“What’s wrong?” Bria asked, looking around Mariah to see what had startled her sister.

Bria’s heart came to a screeching halt, then took off as if she were running a race at the sight of Sam climbing the steps to her apartment. He was dressed as always in a chambray shirt, well-worn blue jeans, scuffed boots and his wide-brimmed black Resistol, but she didn’t think he had ever looked more handsome or sexy.

“Are you going to be okay with him being here?” Mariah whispered. “I can stay if you need me.”

“Don’t worry,” Bria said. “I’ll be fine. We need to discuss a few details about the divorce anyway and now is as good a time as any to get that done.”

* * *

“Hi…Sam,” Mariah said, sounding a bit hesitant.

“Mariah.” Sam nodded at his sister-in-law, but his eyes never left the woman standing just behind her.

“I, uh, have to go.” He watched Mariah turn to glance at Bria.

“You have a safe trip and call or text me when you get to Shady Grove so that I’ll know you made it all right,” Bria said calmly.

“I will,” Mariah assured her. “Good luck, Sam,” Mariah mouthed silently as she walked past him to descend the stairs to the apartment-complex parking area.

He smiled and gave the pretty brunette a short nod of understanding, then focused on Bria. She looked good. Damn good. It had been two weeks since she left the ranch and seeing her now was food for his soul.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call,” he said when he reached the landing and came to stand in front of her. They stared at each other for a moment before he asked, “Is this a good time for you?”

She hadn’t moved from the open doorway and he wasn’t entirely sure she was going to invite him in. As she stared at him for several more long, agonizing seconds, he thought she was going to refuse, but finally nodding, she stepped back for him to enter the small apartment.

“I do need to talk to you about changing some of the terms in the divorce papers,” she said, leading the way to the living room.

Looking around, Sam noticed the pictures that used to hang on the wall by the staircase at the ranch house. They were all there—pictures of his brothers and her family—except their wedding picture. It was conspicuously absent from the collection. He briefly wondered where she had put it, but that was secondary to his main concern. He had to find a way to get her to give him one more chance. And this time he was determined to get it right.

“This seems like a fairly nice place,” he said politely. He didn’t mean a word of it. It wasn’t their ranch house where she belonged.

“It’s a little small, but I don’t need a lot of room,” she said, motioning for him to sit down on the couch.

Sam took a large folded envelope from his hip pocket and lowered himself to the cushions while she settled herself in a chair across the coffee table from him. Neither spoke, and he hated the awkwardness between them.

“Here are the signed papers,” he finally said, placing the envelope on the coffee table. “Getting a divorce isn’t what I want now any more than I did three and a half months ago.” He took a deep breath. “But I love you too much to stand in the way of you being happy, sweetheart.” He looked directly into her eyes and hoped she recognized the truth in his words. “I swear, your happiness is all I’ve ever wanted, Bria.”

“But I wasn’t happy, Sam.” He watched her capture her lower lip between her teeth to keep it from trembling a moment before she added, “You gave me everything you thought I wanted—clothes, the house, jewelry. I appreciated them, but none of those things meant as much to me as being with