Angel Falls (Angel Falls Series, #1) by Babette Jongh (inspiring books for teens txt) 📗

a minute, I realized he had no intention of elaborating. Talking to a man can sometimes be worse than talking to a toddler. “So? Were you planning on telling me about it sometime soon?”

“Umm-hmmm.” He cut a sultry glance my way. “I thought I’d wait until you were in a position to be suitably grateful.”

“That sounds promising.”

“I think you’ll like my solution.”

“Tell me.”

“I bought the Informer back.”

I clapped my hands and bounced in my seat. I know it was juvenile and unladylike, but I couldn’t help it. “Ian, did you really?”

“I really did.” His tone was weary. “Lost a load of money.”

“It’s only money.” I put a soothing hand on his damp thigh.

He covered my hand with his. “Easy for you to say. It’s not your money.”

“Thank you, Ian. I love you for doing this.”

“I thought you loved me anyway.”

“I do love you anyway.” I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned across the console to hug him. “You wouldn’t believe how much.”

The car swerved for a second, then righted. “Lass,” Ian scolded, though I could hear a smile in his voice. “Sit down and buckle your seatbelt.”

I sat back and fastened my seatbelt, patting his thigh and grinning so big my cheeks hurt. After a few minutes of watching the scenery fly by, I asked the question that had been burning a hole in my brain. “Will you really move back to Angel Falls? For good? You gonna buy that big house, or move in with me?”

Ian gave a weak laugh. “You’re relentless, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am.” Happiness zipped and zinged through me like a million ping-pong balls. “You might as well give up now.”

Ian parked in front of my house and walked around to open my door. He pulled me to my feet and into his arms. “If I had any sense, I’d have given up the moment I first saw you. It would have saved me a lot of grief—and money.”

My heart expanded with the promise of all the happiness we had ahead of us. “I promise you won’t regret it, Ian. I’ll make you so happy, and I know you’ll love Angel Falls.”

Ian scowled down at me then gave me a hard kiss to disguise the beginnings of a smile that ruined his fierce expression. When he lifted his mouth from mine, the smile he’d tried to tame tilted the corners of his mouth. “You just never let up, do you?”

“Not usually.” He might as well know the truth now. “But if you want me to, I’ll try to change.”

“No, lass.” With an affectionate pat on my soppy-wet butt, he turned me toward the house. We went up the steps with his arm around my shoulders, my arm around his waist. “I’ll take you exactly as you are.”

EPILOGUE

Twenty years later...

We loaded the last few bridal shower gifts into the back of my car, and I slammed the trunk. The candy-apple red of the sleek Cadillac convertible gleamed in the weak February sunlight. I might have bought a VW bug if I’d had any say in the matter, but the Cadillac had been Ian’s idea of the perfect Christmas gift, and of course I was thrilled because it was another expression of his love for me.

A gust of wind fluttered the hem of my long skirt and blew strands of my long, silver-streaked hair into my face. Shivering, I put an arm around Amy’s shoulders. “Let’s go inside. I have something else for you.”

Amy leaned her head against mine. “Aunt Casey, you’re too good to me. You hosted the bridal shower, and you’re letting us take your new car on our honeymoon. Enough, already!”

“This next gift isn’t a big one, just something I wanted you to have.”

“Something borrowed?” she asked as we walked up the steps to the house.

“No. This is for you to keep.”

I held the door open for her and led her into the den, which still looked pretty much the same as the first day I’d walked into it. The leather furniture was a different set, but the hulking shapes and dark soothing colors were similar. The big oriental carpet underneath was different, something we’d found on one of our vacations and then had shipped home. I reached onto a high bookshelf and brought down the photo album, handing it to Amy.

“Something blue,” she whispered, brushing her hand across the pale fabric cover.

I laughed. “I wouldn’t recommend carrying it down the aisle. It is a little heavy.”

Amy took the album to the couch and settled down on the thick cushions. Flipping open the heavy cover, she read the inscription out loud. “To Amy from Aunt Casey, with all the love in the world.”

I sat next to Amy on the couch and put an arm around her shoulders. “Most of it is empty, for you to fill with your wedding photos. I took the liberty of starting it with a few pages of your family’s wedding history. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Mind?” Amy’s voice wavered, and she sniffed back tears. “How could I mind?”

She touched the plastic-covered photograph of Melody and Ben on their wedding day with reverent fingers, outlining Melody’s face with one manicured fingertip. “She was so beautiful. I wish I could remember her.”

“She loved you very much,” I said quietly. “She would have wanted to be here with you today. I’m sorry she’s not.”

Amy gave a sad smile. “Me too.” The photo album flopped open in her lap while she leaned to hug me. “But you’re here, and you’ve been like a mother to me. I never felt deprived, not even before Dad remarried.”

I returned her hug. “That’s sweet of you to say, honey. I know it’s not entirely true, but I appreciate the thought. And I’m so proud of you. You’ve turned out to be a wonderful woman, and you look so much like your mother. I see her every time I look at you.”

I brushed a thick, silky lock away from Amy’s cheek. Her face was a perfect mix of