figure out I could trust my own judgment. I have had reason to question it, you know.”
“You can trust yourself this time, darlin’. I will love you till my dying breath, Patsy Longhorn. I will never hurt you. I will treat Billy as if he were my own and I will make absolutely sure that we have a house crawling with brothers and sisters for him, if that’s what you want.”
“Oh, it is definitely what I want,” she assured him. She gazed into his eyes. “No doubt about it.”
He lifted her hand and admired the ring that fit perfectly. “You stole my thunder. I was going to ask you last night,” he said. “But you had other plans for the evening.”
“I didn’t hear any complaints at the time.”
“No way. Now, though, I want your full attention. No funny business, okay?”
“Okay.”
He surveyed her from the open collar of his shirt to her bare thighs. She could feel the heat of his gaze everywhere it touched.
“Maybe you ought to get dressed.”
She grinned. “My choices are pretty limited. It’s this shirt, the negligee or the raincoat.”
He groaned. “Never mind. I’ll just have to concentrate a little harder.”
“Can’t remember what you had in mind?” She waved the ring under his nose, then dropped it into his palm. “Does it have anything to do with this?”
Justin looked as if he’d never seen the diamond engagement ring before in his life. “This? Yeah.”
His reaction, his inability to focus on anything but her couldn’t have pleased her more. Will had always acted as if half his attention was on a speech he had to make later in the day.
“How about the future?” she coached. “Does it have anything to do with that?”
“You’re beautiful, you know that.”
“The future, together, you and me,” she persisted, refusing to allow him to distract her, too.
“Mmm-hmm,” he said, and reached for her.
Sometime later, Justin finally managed to get out the words and get the ring on her finger, but the moment was almost anticlimactic. She’d given him her answer long before, in his arms, when she’d murmured yes over and over in his ear. And one day soon, when her divorce was final, the whole world would know, too.
* * *
The wedding plans had been taken completely out of her hands the very instant the divorce decree was final, but for once Patsy wasn’t feeling the least bit defensive about losing control over her life. It gave her more time to spend with Justin and Billy, more time to indulge in the incredible romantic fantasy her life had become.
Watching her son with his prospective stepdaddy always brought a lump to her throat. And listening to Will explain to Billy that he would always be his daddy, but that it was okay with him if Billy loved Justin did bring tears to her eyes.
“Thank you,” she told Will as he walked to his car after his visit.
“You deserve to be happy. Your being happy will insure that Billy’s happy, too. How could I want anything less for my son?” He gazed into her eyes. “There’s something I need to thank you for, too.”
“What’s that?”
“For snapping me back to reality and for agreeing to let Billy spend time with me and my family while you’re on your honeymoon. I think it’s time both of us learned something about our roots.”
“You’ve always known who you were, Will. You just got lost for a little while.”
He grinned sheepishly. “Well, that’s one way of looking at it, I suppose.” He gave her a peck on the cheek. “Good luck, sweetheart. I think you’re getting a better deal this time around.”
Patsy didn’t say it, but she knew she was. Her gaze lifted just in time to see Justin coming toward them. Will turned slowly and met Justin’s gaze steadily.
“Make her happy,” he said.
“I intend to.”
“Okay, then, I’ll see you two tomorrow night, right after the wedding reception.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Patsy said.
“You’d be welcome,” Justin added.
Will seemed startled by the sincerity of the gesture. “No, but thanks. Patsy ought to start her new life without a reminder from her old one staring her in the face.”
He got into his car then and drove away, leaving Patsy staring after him, her expression thoughtful. “Maybe he’s not such a bad person, after all. Maybe it was just the circumstances and the timing.”
“I don’t know about that,” Justin said. “The only timing I’m concerned about now is seeing to it you make it to the church on