Wild Girl (Wild Men Texas #3) - Melissa Belle Page 0,68

messages.

My cell phone rings almost immediately.

“Mama’s here!” Riley says into the phone. “We know! You and Logan are going to be so famous, and I would be super jealous if I wasn’t so damn happy for you!”

“So y’all saw the cell door?” I say.

“Oh, we saw the cell. We tried to call you, but your phone was off, and then Mama’s incessant screaming distracted everybody. God, she can yell. Poor Mr. Bingley was traumatized—I had to cuddle him forever to calm him down afterward. Anyway, Daddy saw the open door first, and Mama found the cactus flower. And as if that wasn’t enough, while everyone else was carrying on about Jane finally going free, Daddy found the broken glass near your desk. He took one look then bent down and touched his finger to the liquid pooling around the glass and touched his finger to Mama’s mouth. Guess what she tasted? A Loganiskey!”

I laugh. “Daddy’s a good detective, huh?”

“Yeah, that’s when he knew you two had been in there and that you saw the open cell door. I mean, why else would Logan just drop his favorite drink to the ground?”

“Well, that is pretty much how it happened,” I say. “We heard a bang, and there was the door—wide freaking open. And I saw her ghost, Riles—I was so stunned, I had to take some time to process it all.”

“Unbelievable,” she says. “Mama says she’d still be passed out from shock if she were you. She wanted me to call and make sure you were conscious. Mace, I can’t believe you and Logan are the couple that saved Jane Austen’s ghost! That is the most romantic thing ever!”

I hear a rustling and some arguing, and then Mama’s on the phone.

“Riley refused to hand the phone over even though you and I both know I called this first. Didn’t I Mace?”

“I don’t remember you calling me and Logan the soul mates, Mama,” I say. “You thought I was cursed, remember?”

“Oh, let’s not talk about such bad times,” Mama says. “That’s all in the past. What’s in the present is that you, my firstborn, my baby, are the heroine of this town. You’re Elizabeth Bennet! And you married your Mr. Darcy after all!”

“Well, you did teach me to settle for nothing less, Mama. And I have to admit that you were pretty spot on with your research. My scar is gone. Disappeared this morning.”

Mama’s shriek nearly breaks my eardrum. “You and your hero have saved the Queen! God save the Queen!”

“Mama, that’s British,” I say.

“So was Jane,” she says. “What did I always say about my ancestry, huh? I think I have more than a drop of British blood in me, you know. I think it might be a bucketful of Olde English Type O that keeps me going in this world. God knows it’s not my father’s weak Italian lines.”

Another rustling, and then—

“Baby, it’s your daddy. At first I was sad to lose Jane’s ghost.”

I roll my eyes at Logan. “I’m sure you were, Daddy.”

“But then I realized something—this is a win-win. My baby girl is happy, and I can still do tours of the jail cell.”

“You can?” I glance at Logan.

“You bet I can!” he says enthusiastically. “In fact, this will be even better for business. I’ll show off the open cell, tell tourists about the new town legend of how my daughter and her husband broke the centuries-old spell and freed a legendary author. And you and Logan will show up and sign autographs. Your babies will be so blessed to come from this historical union.”

I did not see this coming. I should have, knowing my parents, but I didn’t.

“Plus, it’s great marketing for your book, Mace!” Mama screams into the phone. “You’ll get so many new fans!”

“Oh, my God. I don’t know how I feel about being a prop. And Logan and I don’t have babies…”

“Not yet,” he whispers in my ear.

I smile at him.

“Maybe he was spying on us last night when we jettisoned the condom,” Logan says in a louder voice.

I shush him as Daddy adds, “That’s just details, darlin’. Now, I’d like to talk to you about your schedule so you can be sure to be at The Cowherd during tour time…”

A call waiting saves me.

“Daddy, I have to go. I have another call.”

It’s my agent. “Ghost Love has interest. No guarantees, but it looks good. We have to wait until after the holiday week to be sure, so stay patient.”

I close my eyes and