That thought made her sit up straighter. She was willing to look past her father’s mistakes but not Vance’s. Maybe she was being unfair to him. Maybe she should give him a second chance.

“The thing is,” her father said, “if your mother decides we’re finished, I don’t know if I’ll be able to love anyone else.”

“Oh, Daddy.” Hearing him say that made Annie want to weep. This was the kind of love she hoped to find one day. A forever kind of love.

“Also, before I forget, I wanted to thank you for telling me how much your mother admired that Civil War button. If there’s anything else she likes, please pass the information along. I’m looking for ways to spoil her. I have six years to make up for.”

“Oh, Daddy, you can be so thoughtful.”

“Not always,” he muttered. “I want your mother to realize how much I love her.”

“If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know.”

“Great. I appreciate it.”

He seemed in an optimistic mood and that pleased Annie. She glanced down at her computer. “Can I talk to you about something else?” she asked. “I could use your advice.”

“Sure, baby, anything.”

Annie flattened the paper napkin in her lap. “You remember Vance, don’t you?”

“He’s the guy you were dating.”

She nodded. “The one I thought was about to propose.”

“Oh, right.” He frowned as if he’d welcome the opportunity to give Vance a piece of his mind.

“But instead,” she went on, “he told me he was taking off for Europe. For a year.”

“That was a real disappointment, wasn’t it, honey?”

The sympathy in his voice soothed her hurt feelings. “I was devastated,” she said. “I cried buckets.”

“He doesn’t deserve you, Annie. No one treats my daughter like that and gets away with it.”

Annie loved the way her father rushed to her defense. “Vance is coming home at the end of August.”

“So this European adventure didn’t work out the way he planned, huh?” Her father’s eyes flashed with satisfaction, as if to say this was what Vance got for hurting Annie.

“Apparently, Europe wasn’t what he expected.” She tried to hide the pleasure it gave her to tell him so. “Now he seems to think everything will go back to the way it was before he left.”

“You’ve got to be kidding!” His voice rang with righteous indignation.

“The problem is, I don’t know how I feel about Vance anymore. I’ve gone out with a couple of other guys during this trip, but it isn’t the same as being with him. He was more than my boyfriend. Vance was my best friend, too.” She sighed. “For a while I thought I missed him so much because I was just so used to being with him. I decided that wasn’t a good enough reason to get back together. But now…”

“You’ll get over him, honey. Vance needs to know he isn’t the only bird in the flock.”

“I couldn’t wait to tell him about Jason. He’s the guy I met in Vegas. Jason was nice, and so is Craig. I talked to Mom about it and, well…”

“What did she say?”

It’d been a really helpful conversation. “We discussed me wanting Vance to be sorry for the way he treated me. Mom said—” Annie paused “—she said the real problem is that I wanted to make sure Vance understood that what he did was wrong. If he’d told me about this trip, it would’ve been different but to hide it from me and then expect me to be okay with it was too much.”

“I couldn’t agree with your mother more. Like I said, Vance doesn’t deserve you. You aren’t really going back with him, are you?”

“That’s just it. I…I don’t know.”

“Don’t, honey. If he’s making plans behind your back now, that behavior isn’t going to change.”

“What do you mean? Are you saying that even if he apologizes I shouldn’t give him another chance?” Annie was surprised to find herself sticking up for Vance, but she felt compelled to be his champion.

“Annie, you’re smarter than this.”

Annie stared at her dad.

“Once the pattern’s set, nothing will change. Save yourself a lot of grief.”

She continued to stare.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.

“So I shouldn’t forgive him?”

“No way.”

Annie blinked, more confused now than before. “But, Dad, you want Mom to forgive you.”

Her father’s eyes narrowed slightly. “That’s different.”

“Is it?”

“Yes! Listen, you can forgive Vance, if that’s what you want. But can you trust him?”

Annie sucked in her breath. “Don’t you think that’s the same thing Mom’s asking herself? Can she trust you, Dad?”

He blinked as though the question had caught him unawares. “Yes, she can. I’ve learned my lesson. I promise you before God and man that I will remain faithful to your mother. Never, ever again will I take her for granted.”

Annie hoped that was true. She believed him—she had to—and prayed her mother did, as well.

Thirty

Bethanne, Annie and Grant drove to the airport in his rental, while Royce was taking Ruth in his own car. It was obvious to Bethanne, and no doubt everyone else, that the older couple had picked up where they’d left off fifty years earlier. All the resentments and regrets had apparently been laid to rest. Ever since the night of the prom, they’d spent nearly every minute together. And the class reunion the other evening had been, according to Ruth, the second-best event of the year.

Plans were already in motion for Royce to visit Seattle the following month. Andrew and Courtney’s wedding was the perfect reason. Bethanne wouldn’t be surprised if they decided to marry before the end of the summer. That would mean one of them would need to move and she wondered how they’d handle it.

“Did you enjoy your stay in Florida?” Grant asked as they approached the Orlando airport. The direct flight into Seattle would have them back in familiar territory within five and a half hours.

“Very much,” Bethanne told him. The highlight for her had been prom night, when she’d felt so close to Grant.

“That was a lovely thing you did for my mother,” Grant said. “You and Annie. It meant the world to Mom.”

Grant had played no small part, although he was eager to give her the credit.

“I had a great time, too.” Annie leaned forward from the backseat. “Even in Branson.”

“Ah, yes, you and Andy Williams,” Bethanne said, teasing her.

“Mom, promise you won’t tell anyone about that, okay?”

Bethanne tried not to smile. “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed.”

“Thank you.”

“I hope you’ll let me drive you home,” Grant said as they took the exit to the airport off the Bee Line Expressway.

“Andrew said he’d pick us up,” Bethanne told him. “We planned that before we left.” She’d missed her son and there seemed to be a hundred things she needed to discuss with him. Now that the wedding was just a few weeks away, they had to go over all the details for the rehearsal dinner.

“We can call him from the airport,” Grant said. “There’s no need for him to go out of his way when I have a car arranged.”

Bethanne shrugged. She didn’t want to make an issue of this, although she’d looked forward to reconnecting with their son. They’d talked while she was on the road, but nothing compared with a face-to-face conversation.

“Well, what do you think?” Grant pressed.

“It’s fine, if that’s what you want.” She made an effort to disguise her lack of enthusiasm.

Grant didn’t speak for several minutes. “I guess what I’m saying is that I want to be with you for as long as I can. If you’d rather ride home with Andrew, I understand.”

Bethanne offered him a brief smile. “I’m happy to spend time with you, too.”

He smiled and held her look. “Are you, Bethanne?”

“What do you mean?” she asked. She noticed that his hands tightened around the steering wheel.

“Annie and I had a short conversation earlier. She wanted my opinion of Vance and whether she should forgive him. I more or less told her to ditch him. Any man who’d treat my daughter the way he did isn’t worthy of dating her.”

“Daddy,” Annie protested from the backseat.

“Then she reminded me that I was asking you to forgive me.”

“I forgave you a long time ago,” Bethanne said.

“But do you trust me?”

She hesitated. “I think so.”

“I don’t want there to be a single doubt in your mind. I told Annie and I’m telling you that there’ll never be a repeat of what happened with Tiffany. I give you my word.”

Bethanne looked straight ahead. He’d given his word before, standing in front of the minister at her family church; he’d promised to love and protect her, to remain faithful until death. She wished she could block out the doubt and tell him what he wanted to hear. It would be so easy to claim she trusted Grant. So easy to assure him that the thought of his cheating again had never entered her mind. Only, she’d be lying.

“Do you believe me?” he asked.

“I believe you’re sincere,” she said, not quite answering his question.

“You can trust me, Bethanne.”

She smiled, hoping that would provide him with the reassurance he seemed to need.

She tried to concentrate on their relationship, on giving them another chance. Yet she couldn’t dismiss her feelings for Max. She wanted to be with him. But she was with Grant, who so clearly loved her.

Grant placed his hand on her knee and Bethanne smiled over at him again, a noncommittal smile. He was trying so hard. But she couldn’t give him the answer he was asking for, not now and maybe not ever. As she kept telling him, she was very different from the woman he’d once loved; the changes in her life had been dramatic. One thing was sure—she’d meet this challenge the way she’d met every other one in the past six years.

When they boarded the plane without Ruth, Bethanne was afraid her mother-in-law would miss the flight. Ruth was the last person to walk on, having waited outside security as long as she could in order to be with Royce. When she settled into her seat next to Bethanne, her face glowed with happiness.

“Royce is booking his flight to Seattle right this minute,” she said, fastening her seat belt.

“So you’ll be together again soon.”

Ruth nodded. “Bethanne,” she whispered, “am I an old fool? Is it possible to fall in love again at my age?”

“Ruth, good grief, you’re not old! Besides, age shouldn’t matter. Does Royce make you happy?”

“Oh, yes, but, well, there are complications. His family’s in Florida and mine is in Washington.”