Suddenly Engaged (A Lake Haven Novel Book 3) Read online

  Chapter Eighteen On a bright morning more than a week later, Kyra kissed Ruby good-bye, waved at Dax, then got in her car, and drove to work, giggling. Giggling. She didn’t know when or why the giggling had started, but she couldn’t help herself. She still couldn’t believe this had happened to her. She couldn’t believe that the guy next door had fallen into her lap and she was now falling for him—and hard. She was falling so hard she was going to splatter in one big, gooey, heart-shaped puddle when she landed. Even more amazing was that Dax was falling for her. He hadn’t said it in so many words, but he’d said things like, “I’m crazy about you two, you know it?” At times she would catch him staring at her, and he would have this dreamy look in his eyes . . . oh, yes, he was totally into a broke single mom with a six-year-old who wouldn’t stop talking. This was not some one-sided, Kyra’s-desperate-again kind of relationship—this was real. She marveled at how perfectly it was all working

  Chapter Nineteen Ruby Coconuts wanted to stop at McDonald’s on their way back from Teaneck. “Mommy never lets me go there,” she said, pouting. “Maybe next time,” he said. “But we always go to McDonald’s when we visit the baby.” Dax snorted. “Your math doesn’t add up, Coconut. This is only the second time you’ve seen Jonathan. You haven’t gone enough times for always.” Ruby didn’t say anything, and Dax glanced at her in the rearview mirror. Her gaze was fixed on the window, but she was holding her hand up at her chest, and the fingers were fluttering. Dax wondered if it was his imagination that the seizures were growing more frequent or if he just noticed them more now. She suddenly looked at him. “Can we go to McDonald’s?” “McDonald’s, huh?” It was odd, he thought, how sometimes Ruby stepped back in time after a seizure instead of picking up with whatever she’d been doing. That didn’t seem to fit with what he knew about absence seizures. “We always stop at McDonald’s when we visit your

  Chapter Twenty Dax was right, Kyra decided. She couldn’t spend another moment beating herself up with bad-mother guilt. For Ruby’s sake, she had to focus on the positive. So she picked herself up and clung to the fact that Dr. Green was still optimistic. That was her new mantra—optimism in all things. But privately Kyra couldn’t stop comparing Ruby’s situation to her mother’s. She even called her dad one night, needing to commiserate with someone else who understood. It had been months since she’d talked to him—they’d drifted so far apart over the years that now their only communication seemed to come around the holidays. “Haven’t heard from you in a while,” he said when he answered the phone. For the record, Kyra hadn’t heard from him, either. “I have news,” she said. Her dad was silent as she told him about Ruby: the seizures she didn’t know were seizures. The tests, the tumor. When at last he did speak, he asked, “Is it hereditary?” “I don’t think so. The doctor said probably not. B

  Chapter Twenty-One There had to be another pair of pink cowboy boots in the universe, and Dax was determined to find them. Ruby’s toes were sticking out the ends, and one of the boots had stopped lighting up at all. So one afternoon he piled his trusty sidekick into his truck—the two-legged one instead of the four-legged one—and headed to Black Springs to find them. It turned out that pink cowboy boots with lights were not as common as Dax had assumed. But he did manage to convince Ruby that a pair of tennis shoes with Velcro straps and lights might be a suitable substitute. They walked through a very long aisle of pink and purple shoes, none of them acceptable to the coconut until she suddenly gasped, screeched, “Elsa!” and begged for them. Elsa, Dax learned, was a character in the Disney movie Frozen, and Ruby seemed more than a little perturbed that he didn’t know it. He reminded her that there were a lot of things that she didn’t know, either, and he didn’t hold that against her. S

  Chapter Twenty-Two Kyra was getting married. She still couldn’t believe it, and sort of floated through the next day, marveling at how her life had spiraled and flipped and somersaulted into this engagement. She was equal parts happy and worried and confused and certain . . . but she could not deny that after last night in Dax’s dark room, when he’d made love to her so tenderly that it made her heart ache with longing, she’d felt something inside her move off center. She couldn’t pinpoint the moment when she’d changed her mind about his offer, or what had made her kiss Ruby’s forehead while she slept and then slip out of the cottage last night. But it had happened during her conversation with Mrs. McCauley. After Dax had left yesterday afternoon, Kyra had walked up to Mrs. McCauley’s to fetch her daughter. Mrs. McCauley was marginally aware of the issues with Ruby’s health, and she’d asked why Ruby was talking about doctors. Kyra told her landlord the truth, spelling out certain words

  Chapter Twenty-Three Dax drove Kyra and Ruby to Black Springs for Ruby’s second MRI. On the way home, he pulled into McDonald’s, because Ruby said that’s what they always did when she went to see a doctor. This Friday, Dax and Kyra would be married on the lakeshore by a lay preacher whose wife would witness the ceremony. On Monday, Ruby would start first grade. On Wednesday, Kyra would take her real estate exam. On the following Monday, Ruby would have her surgery. Dax was feeling optimistic about things in spite of the looming surgery. His adoration of Ruby had only grown. And even though things had been a little tense from time to time, he thought he and Kyra were good. Solid. He believed they’d come to a mutual understanding of how their relationship was unfolding. Whenever he felt a distance from her, it would magically disappear when they were in bed. Yessir, their sex life was magic as far as Dax was concerned—they’d had some mind-bending experiences together, and every one of th

  Chapter Twenty-Four This was what insanity must feel like, Kyra thought, a bewildering state where a person was so at war inside her own thoughts that she couldn’t make a decision on even the smallest things. Kyra couldn’t seem to grasp how to do the smallest things. As evidenced by the fact that Deenie had just pointed out her work shirt was inside out. Kyra looked down at herself. “Wow,” she said, startled by that. She’d put on makeup, put up her hair, and looked at herself in the mirror, but she’d been so distracted she’d never noticed the shirt. “You’re losing it,” Deenie decided. “Tell me about it,” Kyra muttered. “Are you nervous about the big day?” Deenie asked and nudged Kyra with her shoulder. Kyra supposed she meant her wedding and not Ruby’s surgery, which was the Really Big Day in her book. At least Deenie had come around since their talk at the park. She’d even apologized for being judgmental. “I should have been more supportive,” she’d said. “I just wish you’d asked me be

  Chapter Twenty-Five Dax couldn’t sleep. As loath as he was to leave Kyra, he couldn’t just lie there beside her with the splinter of his heart cracking in his head. As painful as it was for him, he really did understand Kyra’s decision—what parent wouldn’t? But it hurt in a way he’d not expected. There was a moment, a very brief and panic-inducing moment, when he’d almost blurted that he wanted to marry her no matter what. But he caught himself, and he didn’t say it, because it wasn’t exactly true. There was a part of him that was relieved that he wasn’t swearing to honor and cherish until his dying day a woman he’d known a little more than a month. He wasn’t certain about anything about the two of them, other than he believed he did love her, and he loved Ruby, and he was devastated by this sudden turn of events. He returned to Number Three early the next morning. He was leaving, but not without speaking to Ruby. The coconut was eating cereal, her feet swinging beneath her chair. Kyra

  Chapter Twenty-Six Ruby’s surgery was a success, although Kyra found that hard to believe when her daughter came out of the recovery room with tubes coming out of her and half her head shaved. The surgeon had come to the waiting room where Kyra, Liz, and Josh were waiting and said, “We got it all.” He said a lot more than that, but all Kyra could hear was that they got it all, and the results of the biopsy would be available within a few days. She texted Dax at some point during that very long day: Surgery over. They got all of it. A moment later, her phone pinged. Thank God. I wa
nt to come and see her. Okay? Okay? It was more than okay. It was the best news Kyra had heard since we got it all. It filled her with happiness. And hope. And longing, such indescribable longing. Yes. Yes, yes, Kyra texted back. I’ll be there Thursday. Thursday! That was only a few days away. She wished she didn’t look so puffy with all the carbs she’d been stress eating, but it didn’t matter—Ruby would be so

  Chapter Twenty-Seven A few days after Dax returned from Indianapolis, he got a text from Kyra with a huge smiley face and the word benign. He was so overcome with emotion at the news that he fell into a chair in his kitchen and buried his face in his hands . . . until Otto began to lick them. Two weeks after he returned from Indianapolis, he got another text. This one included a picture of a gap-toothed Ruby. Her hair had been cut short to match where they’d shaved her head for the surgery. Kyra wrote, Ruby returned to school today and told everyone a pirate had scalped her. She attached a GIF of a woman drinking from a giant wineglass. The coffee tables Dax made were so good that people were wanting copies. And then they wanted more—hutches, craft tables, dining tables, headboards. He was busier than he’d ever been. He never went to the Green Bean anymore, either—he went to Teaneck to spend time with Jonathan. He’d scouted out a few houses in Teaneck, a couple of workshops he could re

  Epilogue The following July Fourth holiday It was only the second barbecue Dax had ever hosted. He still didn’t believe in barbecues, but Ruby had made friends with the O’Reilly children in Number Six, and she was desperate to show off her new backyard fort. The McCauleys had put it up for their grandchildren, but Ruby had full use of it. Or rather, she had full use of it when Otto didn’t walk up the plank and make himself at home. That old dog liked to lie there with his paws hanging out the door, his head propped against the side, watching the comings and goings on the lake. Dax had bought a house in Teaneck over the winter, one near enough to his boy so he could see him every day, but one close enough to East Beach that he could see the coconuts every day, too. He still hadn’t proposed, as the timing had not yet been right, and neither of them seemed in a hurry. He and Kyra had committed to each other, and that’s what mattered. They were taking the time to know each other like a cou

  About the Author Photo © 2010 Carrie D’Anna Julia London is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of more than forty romance novels. Her historical titles include the popular Desperate Debutantes series, the Cabot Sisters series, and the Highland Grooms series. Her contemporary works include the Lake Haven series, the Pine River series, and the Cedar Springs series. She has won the RT Book Club Award for Best Historical Romance and has been a six-time finalist for the prestigious RITA Award for excellence in romantic fiction. She lives in Austin, Texas.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2017 by Dinah Dinwiddie

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Montlake Romance, Seattle

  www.apub.com

  Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake Romance are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

  ISBN-13: 9781477848616

  ISBN-10: 1477848614

  Cover design by Eileen Carey

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Prologue

  The pregnancy test kits were lined up in formation like a marching band on her bathroom counter. Seven of them in all, one for each day of the week, four digital wands in the back row, three nondigital wands in the front.

  Kyra watched Brandi closely as she stared down at the sticks. “You’re pregnant,” Brandi announced.

  “Maybe it’s the brand,” Kyra suggested hopefully. “Maybe I should try different brands just to be sure.”

  Brandi gave her a side eye. “You’re pregnant, Kyra.”

  Kyra swallowed down a swell of nausea. What was that, morning sickness? Or was she just sick with worry? She couldn’t be pregnant. There was no room in her life for pregnant. “Maybe I should try the test in the middle of the night. You know hormones fluctuate at night.”

  Brandi didn’t bother to respond to such inanity. She turned around and walked out of the bathroom.

  Kyra reluctantly followed.

  Brandi draped her supermodel-thin body over Kyra’s secondhand couch, then flipped her blonde Brazilian Blowout over her shoulder. “Did you call him?”

  Kyra sank much less gracefully onto the matching secondhand chair. “I’ve called him, I’ve texted him. He hasn’t responded.”

  “He’s ghosting you. It’s those damn destination weddings.” Brandi sighed. “Weekend romances are so intense, and then they never work once you’re back to real life. You should really avoid them.”

  Kyra looked curiously at her friend. “It was your destination wedding, Brandi.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Yes, she knew what Brandi meant—she should have been more careful. Generally, Kyra was on board with Brandi’s advice. They’d met when Kyra landed a job at US Fitness, a magazine devoted to weekend warriors. It was Kyra’s first real job out of college; she’d been hired on as a junior copy editor. She’d had great ambition when she’d started—she wanted to run her own magazine someday, just like she’d run her high school yearbook, and she saw the job at US Fitness as her springboard. She’d worked hard and volunteered for any extra work anyone would give her, and it had paid off—in six months’ time, she was promoted to copy editor.

  Brandi was a senior editor at the magazine and had seen promise in Kyra. She’d taken her under her wing, told her about an editorial position opening up at the end of the year. When she’d found out Kyra was new to New York, she’d helped set Kyra up with a personal life. She’d made sure to invite Kyra when a group was going for drinks or to join them for a weekend outing . . . if that outing didn’t include a thirty-mile bike ride. Kyra hadn’t exactly gotten on board with the fitness part of her job.

  Brandi had been engaged to Mark when she and Kyra first met. As good-looking and as fit as his fiancée, Mark introduced Kyra to his handsome and successful friends, several of whom Kyra had dated . . . maybe a bit indiscriminately. Why not? She’d been a full-fledged, card-carrying adult, and it was New York! Dating and sex were mandatory recreation for a single woman in New York. Before she knew it, Kyra had morphed into a party girl, and the party girl had lit up like a bonfire when Brandi and Mark decided that they would host a destination wedding in Puerto Vallarta.

  “You have to come,” Brandi had said.

  “I don’t know if I can swing it,” Kyra had responded, thinking of money.

  “Kyra!” Brandi had said laughingly. “Since when do you turn down a good time?” She’d been standing over Kyra in her little work cubby, wearing fabulous high heels and a miniskirt that sho
wcased her runner’s legs. “You cannot pass this up! It’s a chance of a lifetime, and it will be so much fun. And just wait until you get a look at the groomsmen.” She’d winked at Kyra. “My assistant is looking for a roommate,” she’d added as she’d walked on.

  No doubt about it—a long weekend in Puerto Vallarta had sounded fabulous.

  Kyra had wanted to go, but after a quick study of her bank account, she’d found it wanting. She’d called her dad in Florida to borrow the money for plane fare.

  “Puerto Vallarta,” he’d repeated gruffly. Kyra’s father was a working man and didn’t think highly of vacations. “Sounds like a cheap beach hotel.”

  “It’s a town in Mexico, Dad. On the Pacific Ocean. It’s supposed to be really beautiful.”

  “Ocean! Come to Florida. We’ve got ocean, and it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than what you’re talking.”

  “But Brandi isn’t getting married in Florida,” she’d pointed out.

  In the end, he’d lent her the plane fare with a lecture about how he was an electrician and wasn’t rolling in dough.

  Kyra had booked her flight, had shopped online for two fabulous dresses—one for the party the night before the wedding, one for the wedding—and made arrangements with Lisa, Brandi’s assistant, to share a room. And then she’d flown out of the country for the first time.

  She’d met Josh at the beach resort where the wedding was held and the guests had stayed. It was a beautiful oceanfront property with three pools and a private beach—all the amenities dozens of twentysomethings could possibly want. Kyra had noticed Josh, but at first she hadn’t realized he was following her around. When she figured it out and called him on it, he laughed and bought her a mojito.