The Perfect Homecoming (Pine River #3)

“In other words, you’re perfect,” she said earnestly. “You can look past the physical and see the person inside. You did it with Leo the first day you met him. You didn’t look at him like there was something wrong with him, you looked at him like you saw the person he was. You are without prejudice, Cooper Jessup, and you are everything I never believed I deserved in a man. You are everything any woman would want, and look, you’re standing here with me. And I . . . I love you for it.” She pressed her fist to her heart. “I love you,” she said again, her voice breaking. “So much.”


Cooper stared down at her, almost as if he was waiting for the but. Waiting, Emma supposed, for her to say he should leave now like she had so many times. She was overcome with emotion. It was as if some internal dam had burst, and all the hopes and desires she’d secreted away came spilling out, washing over this man who wouldn’t give in to the barrier she’d erected. Who waited patiently until he could see over it. “And if you never love me, that’s okay,” she blurted. “You deserve real happiness. If that’s not me, I understand.”

Emma stopped there, before she managed to ruin her speech by saying something painfully truthful.

After a long moment, Cooper let out a breath of relief. He put his arms around her waist and drew her in. “Okay,” he said. “Okay. That’s what I’m talking about, Emma. You just made a giant leap forward in the quest to change the direction of your life. And if you’re serious, if you really want to put your life back on track, I’m here for you. And while you’re trying, you should know that I love you, too, Emma. I love the unordinary. I love hard and, what, flinty?” He laughed a little at that. “I love you.”

“Cooper, really?” She thought she could actually feel her heart swelling. “I promise, I swear to you I will try and be what you need.”

“I just need you to be you, Emma. Just you.” He picked her up to kiss her as he turned them in a slow circle.

Emma kissed him, and quite passionately, too. She heard the cheers, heard Luke shout Yes! But she didn’t realize that the shout was for her and Cooper until Bob put his hand on her back and said, “Knock it off. This ain’t the time for that.”

Emma lifted her head and laughed. She laughed as brightly and as fully as she’d ever laughed in her life. This was exactly the time for that. This was the time for shouting and singing and dancing and whatever it was people did when they were delirious and drunk on love.

With Cooper’s arm securely around her, Emma joined in the raucous toasts to the newly married couple, lifting her flute of champagne, smiling at Cooper when the wishes for a long and happy life were tossed out. She kept her hand in his as they inched around that crowded little house, mingling with other guests. He was there beside her when conversation became stilted and she didn’t know what to say, stepping into the conversation to save her. He was there beside her when Leo declared dancing was in order, and everyone tried to move in that tiny room, their laughter pealing over the strains of holiday music.

Emma couldn’t take her eyes off Cooper. She couldn’t believe this man, this gorgeous, wonderful man, had come back for her. And every time she looked up, there was Cooper, looking at her. Seeing her. The one man who could look past her exterior and see what she really was, the sweet and the sour. And he loved her.

Emma had never felt so easy in her skin as she did that night. For that, she loved Cooper all the more. She would never let him go. She would never let this magical night go, either. She would carry this moment forward and not look back, because Emma believed with all her heart she’d finally found her calm waters and safe shore.





EPILOGUE

The memorial service for Leo was held on a mild early-February day at the Methodist church in Pine River, and it seemed to Emma as if the entire town packed into those pews. There was hardly any room for the marching band.

The service was short and sweet, with “nothing too political,” as Leo had advised her when they’d planned this, his final party. “You know how some of them can get,” he’d warned her.

Emma was never sure who “them” was in that sense, but she’d gone with his wishes.

Only family and close friends were invited to the burial service, which was held at the Kendrick family cemetery halfway between Pine River and Homecoming Ranch. This was where the Kendricks had been laid to rest since the turn of the century. “It’s just like the Kendricks to make it, like, super inconvenient for anyone who wants to stop by and chat,” Leo had complained of its location.

Per his wishes, his send-off was not a maudlin affair. “I swear to God, Luke, I will haunt you like Rosemary’s Baby if you let them all get weepy-eyed on me,” Leo had threatened in the last few weeks. With Luke’s help, Emma had convinced the local high school marching band to come and march around the cemetery playing the theme from Rocky, just as Leo had wanted. “I’ll be in fighting shape then,” he’d explained.