Their Small-Town Love Read online

  Ryan suspected that he might be suffering the first throes of infatuation. He had not felt like this, in fact, since he’d developed a secret crush on Mary Alice Whitesall in fourth grade. She and her bright red ringlets had moved away in midterm, and he had been heartbroken right up to baseball season. That had been the year he’d discovered that he could hit a baseball almost as hard as he could hit a linebacker. He hadn’t thought of Mary Alice since then, he realized with a slight pang. Something told him that Ivy would not be so easy to forget.

  Rose met them at the door with beaming smiles and warm hugs. Despite the shadows that lurked behind her gaze, she looked healthy, strong and pretty in neat jeans and a turquoise blouse, her brown hair piled on top of her head in a froth of waves. She put her head close to her sister’s and whispered, “Dad’s here, but don’t worry. It’s going to be fine.”

  Ivy shot Ryan a troubled glance. Instinctively, he stepped closer and slid his arm about her waist. He would not allow Olie to attack her again. It was that simple. Ivy must have understood, because she smiled at him gratefully, and his heart swelled.

  Rose went ahead of them into the family room, announcing brightly, “Look who’s here!”

  The boys were on the floor, as usual, already playing with one of the birthday gifts, a set of toy farm equipment, as Olie watched indulgently from the easy chair. Wrapping paper littered the area around them and scattered as they shot across the room to throw themselves at the newcomers.

  “Aunt Ivy! Mr. Jefford!”

  Ryan spared a hard glance for Olie, whose expression abruptly shuttered, before sweeping Scott up in one arm, while Ivy bent and engulfed a bouncing Hunter in a big hug. Suddenly realizing that there were more gifts to be had, Hunter jerked away to snatch Ivy’s package with one hand and Ryan’s bag with the other.

  “Hold on,” Ryan warned, keeping a hold on the handle of the gift bag. “There’s a little something in there for your brother, too.”

  “Me?” Scott squealed, instantly bucking to get down. Ryan set him on his feet.

  Ivy’s gift went by the wayside as the boys ripped into the bag while Rose laughed. Daniel, Ryan noticed, turned and went into the kitchen. Olie sat like a stone, frowning, his gaze averted. Sensing Ivy’s unease, Ryan stayed close to her, quite literally standing guard, ready to throw himself into the fray should Olie seek to cause another disturbance.

  It was bad enough, Ryan reflected, that Olie had gotten away thus far with spreading those vicious, filthy rumors about her, rumors Ryan prayed she would never hear. Why should she have to know? He’d just keep her away from any place where she might hear them until the talk had died down, as surely it must. No reasonable person could believe what was being said about her.

  Hunter seemed pleased with his video game and action figure, while Scott crowed over his animated movie on DVD. Ryan said a silent prayer of relief. He hadn’t had time to shop outside of Eden, which meant he’d only had the scant offerings at Booker’s from which to choose. Both boys dutifully thanked him before Hunter turned to Ivy’s gift.

  Going down on her haunches, she watched him shred the paper and dig into the box. Shrieking with glee, he produced a miniature toy karaoke system, complete with working microphone.

  “Oh, my word, what have you done to us?” Rose joked as Ivy showed Hunter how to turn it on.

  Olie humphed, muttering, “That’s the least of it.”

  Ryan trained a scowl on him, but the older man had already turned his head away and lapsed back into silence.

  Rose moved to Ivy’s side and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Help me get the cake ready?”

  Nodding, Ivy rose and followed her sister into the kitchen. Ryan sat down on the couch and listened to an impromptu concert that had more screeching, grunting and blowing raspberries than actual singing. To Ryan’s surprise, Olie seemed to enjoy the show, encouraging the boys even as Daniel called sharp warnings from the kitchen to tone down. Apparently, for his grandsons’ sakes Olie would tolerate even Ivy and her gifts.

  For the first time, Ryan wondered what Olie hoped to gain by spreading such ugly gossip about his own daughter. He dropped the thought as others began to arrive, members of Daniel’s family Ryan knew only in passing, if at all. Daniel came out to greet them, walking right past Ryan without saying a word. It occurred to him that Dan hadn’t spoken since their arrival, but with chaos building to a crescendo around them, it didn’t seem important.

  By the time the candles had been blown out, “Happy Birthday” sung, the cake served and eaten and all the presents opened, Ryan’s ears were ringing. At least when supervising a school function, he mused, he could impose some level of order. Here he could only endure the clamor of the chaos, not to mention Olie’s angry glowers. He sprang up from the sofa the instant Ivy suggested that they go. If her own smile seemed a bit strained, Ryan chalked it up to her father’s sullenness and the din of children running through the house screaming at the top of their lungs.

  Rose saw them out just as she had seen them in, with hugs and smiles and whispers of thanks. “I’m so glad you came,” she said, looking at her sister. “Don’t mind Danny today. He gets in these moods. It has nothing to do with you.”

  Ryan wasn’t so sure about that, but he remained determined to spare Ivy the knowledge of the rumors going round if he could. He wondered if even Rose was trying to do the same. His arm tightened around Ivy’s shoulders, he knew he would do just about anything to protect this woman. That’s how deep his…infatuation…was.

  “Well, that went better than it could have,” Ivy commented brightly as they drove through town toward Highway 81.

  In truth, the party had been some of the most intensely uncomfortable hours of her life. Her father’s unexpected presence had definitely put a damper on the party for her. His disdain could not have been more obvious, but at least he hadn’t made a scene. A few snide remarks meant nothing compared to what he might have done and said. If not for her long-suffering sister and the great loss that Rose had so recently been through, Ivy felt sure that the afternoon would have gone much more roughly.

  Ryan made a noncommittal noise and shot her a smile. He had been the one truly bright spot in the whole day for Ivy, though Rose had tried, God love her, to make a normal family party of it.

  Dear Rose. Ivy had never loved her sister more than at that moment. To think that, after all Rose herself had been through, she would stand up for her wayward big sister against their father both humbled and amazed Ivy. Even if their father never forgave her, Rose’s unswerving love and loyalty, after all these years of neglect, made coming back to Eden worthwhile.

  It was Ryan, though, who truly gave her hope. Their growing closeness meant more to her than he might ever know. Because of his acceptance of her she could finally envision what a new life might eventually look like.

  Ivy settled back in her seat with a sigh, releasing the tension that had gripped her.

  “Thank you for taking me to dinner, Ryan. After the week I’ve had, I really needed something to lift my spirits.”

  The moment the words left her mouth, she wished them back. Ryan’s smile turned to a frown.

  “What do you mean? What’s wrong? Has someone said something to upset you?”

  “Only my boss,” she muttered, displeased with herself. She had firmly determined well ahead of this visit that she would not mention the difficulties that had cropped up with her job.

  Ryan whipped the car to the curb and threw the transmission into park, demanding, “And his problem is what, exactly?”

  Ivy shrugged, a little unsettled by Ryan’s vehemence. “Nothing too surprising really. He hired the on-air Ivy persona, but the FireBrand taint seems to have followed her.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  Ryan draped an arm over the top of the steering wheel and bowed his head, seeming partly relieved, partly ticked and a little embarrassed. She could only wonder what had brought this on and tried
to let him know that this latest obstacle was bound to be par for the course for her.

  “I expected it in a way, really. Anyone who ever heard the original show would know that I was the straight man, so to speak. It was my function to be the voice of reason on air, to balance Brand’s lunatic behavior, but these kooks who used to listen to the old show keep calling in, and that’s got the powers-that-be upset. It doesn’t fit their target demographic.”

  Ryan shook his head. “I don’t know what that means.”

  “This station and its advertisers are going after working women with disposable income,” Ivy explained, “but most women don’t like the wildly manic and controversial stuff that the old show was built on. That’s why the boss doesn’t like it when these guys who used to listen to the old show call in to give me a hard time the way Brand did.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard some of that,” Ryan said. “What I don’t get is why those people call you.”

  “Because they don’t want to let the old show go,” Ivy said. “They like it when some brash, cocky man tells an intelligent, reasonable-sounding woman that she’s an idiot. They just don’t realize that it was all an act.”

  “Was it?” Ryan asked, turning his head to look at her. “Was it really all an act?”

  She couldn’t lie to that kind, handsome, concerned face, not that she wanted to or had intended to do so. Besides, what was the point, now that she’d stopped lying to herself?

  “No,” she said. “It ratcheted up on-air, but more and more over the years Brand treated me with the same contempt and derision that were staples of the show.”

  “I’m so sorry, Ivy.”

  “Not your fault. Look, I paved this road I’m on, laid the bricks with my own dainty hands. Now I have to follow it to the end.”

  “I’m still sorry.”

  She smiled. “Still not your fault.”

  He smiled back. “It will end,” he told her, “and the road ahead will be smoother.”

  “If I didn’t believe that, Ryan, I wouldn’t be here with you now.”

  “I’m glad,” he said, sitting back in his seat and engaging the car’s transmission. “I’m also hungry.”

  “You just ate cake!” she teased.

  “I didn’t eat the cake,” he countered, guiding the car back out into the street. “I just ate a piece of it, a fairly tiny piece of it.”

  Ivy chortled. “I think Rose is dieting, and she underestimated how many her cake would feed, but like I told her, it’s all good, because we’re off to eat catfish now, right?”

  “Wrong,” he said, cutting her glance from the corner of his eye. “We are off to a surprise.”

  Ivy’s jaw dropped. “What kind of surprise?”

  “You’ll see when we get there,” he told her.

  “Well, well,” Ivy mused, “and here I was all psyched to hit the old Watermelon Patch again. I hear it’s still jumping.”

  Ryan shifted in his seat, suddenly seeming uncomfortable. “It’s as popular as ever.”

  “Whole town still goes out there?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Have they replaced that glass sliding door with something that doesn’t threaten to fall out every time it’s opened?” she asked, just making conversation while she tried to figure out where he was taking her. He turned the car north on 81 and accelerated, shaking his head.

  “Nope. I don’t think that thing’s ever been bolted in. Then again, the whole building is falling down.”

  “Good grief, Ryan, that place was falling down ten years ago. I thought surely it would be toast by now.”

  “The place we’re going,” he told her, sounding almost apologetic, “is much nicer.”

  Ivy just smiled. If he didn’t know by now that she’d rather eat frozen pizza with him than filet mignons with anyone else, well, that would just have to be her secret.

  Filet mignon, as it turned out, would not be on the menu, but Duncan did boast a pretty good Mexican restaurant, and when the hostess showed them to their table, Ivy found her surprise waiting for her.

  “Devony!”

  The tall thin blonde got up and came to meet her, a smile decorating her face. Although she was not exactly beautiful, her wide grin transformed her appearance. Her smile could light up whole buildings.

  Matt then rose to greet Ryan with a handshake and a grin. “Man, I’m so glad you called.”

  “I’m glad the two of you were free to join us,” Ryan said. “How’d the job interview go?”

  “Aced it!” Devony crowed.

  Matt rocked back on his heels, obviously pleased with himself. “As of June first, I’ll be the new assistant director and head of foreign language instruction at The Moriah Academy for Boys. Sounds a lot loftier than it is, but thanks again for the recommendation.”

  “Again,” Ryan said, “I apologize.”

  Ivy had to wonder what that was about, but Matt didn’t seem disturbed. “No, no, it all worked out just as it should.”

  “God always takes care of us,” Devony said, sliding her arm through Matt’s. She twinkled another smile at Ivy. “Guess what? We’re moving to Tulsa. Isn’t that wild? I never even gave Tulsa a thought until you contacted me.”

  “And if you hadn’t contacted her,” Matt put in, “I’d never have met her.”

  Ivy looked at Ryan and explained, “Matt just happened to be in Tulsa at the same time as Devony.”

  “You remember,” Matt said to Ryan, “that state workshop for administrators? You were there, too.”

  Ryan seemed stunned. “That’s right, I was.”

  “You and the other people from our area went out to dinner, but I ate in the hotel grill that night,” Matt reminded him.

  “And that’s where he heard Devony on the radio,” Ivy jumped in. “They had the program on in the bar area.”

  “I just happened to be sitting close enough to hear it,” Matt said, “and I don’t mind telling you, I was some ticked off. That Phillips is a jerk! But Devony, oh, wow. I was so impressed with her.”

  Devony picked up the story from there. “He went to my Web site that night and e-mailed me a very nice message, which I just happened to be reading in my hotel room.”

  “The very same hotel where we were staying, as it turned out,” Matt explained.

  “The next day,” Devony went on, “as I was checking out, I was talking to Ivy on my cell phone, telling her what a nice, supportive message I’d received as a result of the show, and guess who was standing next to me.” She traded an affectionate smile with her husband, and Ivy couldn’t help grinning, especially when Devony said, “That show was the best thing that could’ve happened to me.”

  “And me,” Matt added.

  “I never thought I’d say this, but that show with you made everything about FireBrand and Ivy worth it,” Ivy agreed.

  Ryan slid an arm about her shoulders. “That show,” he said in an oddly thick voice, “may actually have been the best thing that’s happened to a lot of people.”

  He hadn’t specifically included himself in that statement but Ivy could read something smoldering in his eyes, something that lifted her spirits and made her heart soar.

  She brightened her smile and injected a note of irony into her tone, quipping, “Wouldn’t Brand just choke to hear that?”

  Chapter Twelve

  “So the photos were posted as retaliation for Devony going public with her experience,” Ryan said, pushing back his plate. He was glad he’d finished his enchiladas because distaste for this despicable act surely would have killed his appetite. He was glad, too, that Ivy and Devony had taken themselves off to the ladies room so he and Matt could have a moment alone.

  “She was a kid and so obviously stoned out of her mind that she didn’t know what was happening,” Matt said. “The good news is that if they ever catch the person who posted them, that character will face a charge of child pornography. What really irks me,” he went on, “is that some good citizen of Hilltown had to have visite
d a porn site to find those photos and send them to the school board, but was that person censured? No, my wife was, and when I think of what she has overcome to be the kind, forgiving, sweet, caring Christian that she is, well, it just—”

  “Makes your blood boil,” Ryan finished for him.

  “You’re telling me! Man, I am working so hard on my anger these days.”

  “I don’t know,” Ryan ventured softly, “maybe we’re supposed to be angry for them. I mean, someone has to stand up for them.”

  “Them?” Matt parroted, an expression of empathy on his kind, freckled face.

  Ryan felt his own face heat, then shook it off. He refused to be embarrassed by his feelings for Ivy any longer. She deserved his regard, just as Devony did.

  Oh, why was he kidding himself? His feelings for Ivy did not compare even remotely to his respect of Devony. He worried about Ivy as he had never worried about anyone else.

  Leaning a little closer to Matt, he muttered, “You won’t believe the rumors that are going around about Ivy. They’re vile, truly vile, and the worst of it is, her father seems to be the one spreading the dirt.”

  Matt sat back with a thump. “And who are the gossips going to believe, her friends or her family? Aw, man.” He glanced past Ryan and suddenly slouched, a studied pose of relaxation. “Here they come.”

  Ryan loosened his shoulders, whispering, “She doesn’t know, okay?”

  Matt nodded and rose as the women neared the table. Ryan noticed that Matt afforded his wife every courtesy, and it pleased Ryan very much to follow suit. He’d thought that he and Hap and Ryan were the last to cling to this particular show of respect, not that they did it all the time in every situation. Still, to stand when a lady approached remained the act of a gentleman. The women, however, did not take their seats. Instead, Devony looked at her husband.