Let It Be (Butler, Vermont #6) - Marie Force Page 0,21

to think twice.”

“But then you wouldn’t have us,” Max said, gesturing to himself, Lucas and Landon, the youngest three siblings.

“And that would’ve been a tragedy for sure. I’ve put up with him because I got all of you.”

“Which is why the two of you have been scheming for years to get us all paired off,” Ella said with a kind smile for her grandfather. “Because you can barely tolerate him.”

“Exactly. As soon as you kids are all happily settled, I can be done with him once and for all. Impertinent upstart, showing up holding hands with my Molly like he has a right to hold her hand.”

“He did have a right, Dad, so you can knock off that tired forty-year-old nonsense.”

Her father smiled sweetly at her. “What fun would that be, my dear?”

Molly rolled her eyes at her father. “I insisted we go to see his family when we set a wedding date.”

“I didn’t want to go,” Linc said. “I was afraid they’d find a way to mess with the perfection I’d found with your mother.”

“Were they unkind?” Hannah asked, her brows furrowing as if she couldn’t imagine parents being unkind to their own child.

“It wasn’t that so much as my father had a vision for how we ought to live our lives, and if we stepped outside the lines, he was quick to set us straight. It’d always been that way, and it had gotten much worse after we lost Hunter, so I had to believe it would be even more so in this case. And unfortunately, I was right.”

Chapter Seven

“Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted.”

—John Lennon

Linc had lived in a blissful state of denial for more than two months by the time Molly insisted they take a trip to Philadelphia so she could meet his family and they could share their plans with them. He’d taken to life in Butler, Vermont, like the proverbial fish to water. He loved everything about small-town living—the ability to walk to just about anywhere, the friendly people, the charming store that Molly’s family ran and, of course, Molly herself.

If she’d been lovely in Mississippi, she was even more so in her hometown, surrounded by her beloved family and friends. After being there with her, he could plainly see that she wouldn’t be content anywhere else. She had the same desire to travel and see the world that he had, but her home and her heart would always be in Vermont.

Before he met her, he would’ve wondered if he could be satisfied living in a small town like Butler, but if she was nearby, he had what he needed. It was really that simple. And he loved working with her dad, even if he still treated him with the same suspicion he might bestow upon a serial killer who’d expressed an interest in dating his daughter.

Linc was able to see through the bluster. He respected Elmer for being concerned about the man in his daughter’s life, but he was determined to prove he had nothing to worry about where Linc was concerned. Linc wanted the same thing Elmer did—for Molly to be safe, happy and loved for the rest of her life. He was more than prepared to live up to his end of that bargain, if only the showdown with his own family didn’t loom so large, like a black cloud hanging over his happily ever after.

“I’m sure that once they see we’re truly in love, they’ll be supportive,” Molly said as they worked late into the night at the barn in early October.

They planned to get married in January, after the holiday rush at the store, and he was counting the days until she was his wife. He couldn’t wait to sleep with her in his arms every night for the rest of his life. The time they spent at their future home filled him with anticipation for when they’d finally be living there together, rather than sleeping separately at her parents’ home, where he’d been relegated to the basement. He’d been tempted to sneak upstairs, but after Elmer had staked out Molly’s room that first night and later shown him his hunting rifle, he’d chosen to stay put, which, of course, had been Elmer’s goal.

But here at the barn, they were completely alone, and even though they had more work to do than they could complete in a year, all he wanted was to be with her.

“I wish I was so certain,” Linc said. “Of course they’ll love you.