Dead Right (Stillwater Trilogy #3)(100)
Author: Brenda Novak

When she hesitated, he cocked an eyebrow at her. “You don’t knit, Maddy.”

She laughed. “I know. Mom gave me that stuff when she moved away from the farm. I thought I might learn someday.”

“Someday soon?”

“Well, no.”

“Then I say get rid of it.”

“Fine.” She saw him go out to the front yard, where Allie, Irene, Grace and Kennedy were helping her hold a yard sale, but after he left, she expected the old panic to set in. She was finally purging, letting go, moving on. But…it didn’t seem to bother her nearly as much as she’d thought it would. It was time, she decided. And maybe it was easier because she had the prospect of better things to come. She’d be replacing her old junk with objects related to her life with Hunter. He’d be moving in next week, after their wedding.

“You okay?”

At the sound of Hunter’s voice, Madeline turned to see him standing in the doorway of the kitchen, speckled with green paint. “Fine.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “Did you hear about the baby?”

“Are you kidding? That’s all your big brother can talk about. I don’t think he’s going to be able to wait seven more months.”

She stood up to see inside the kitchen. “How’s the painting coming?”

“Great. When I’m finished with it, this is going to look like a new house.”

“Maybe we should sell it.”

“No. You like it here too much.”

She did. She wanted to raise her children in Stillwater, where she’d be close to her family. After everything they’d been through—the realization of all they could’ve lost because of one man’s twisted obsession—they were closer than ever, united in their loyalty to each other and happy at last. But she knew Hunter worried about his daughter and the fact that he was so far away from her.

“We could go to California for a few years,” she suggested. “Until Maria turns eighteen.”

“I may want to revisit that idea sometime in the future, but for now I think we’re fine right here.”

“You really don’t mind?”

“No. Especially because—” he tried to wipe some of the paint from his hand onto his tattered jeans “—she’s coming to visit us this summer.”

“What?” Instantly losing interest in her sorting, Madeline jumped to her feet. “She called?”

He smiled in that crooked fashion she liked so much. “Yeah. Last night while you were out shopping with Grace.”

She picked her way through the boxes to throw her arms around him. She knew she was probably smearing paint all over her clothes, but she didn’t care. This was wonderful news! “Why didn’t you tell me when I got home?”

Lowering his head, he kissed her neck before meeting her gaze. “It was one of those things where…you just want to mull it over for a while, you know? I’ve been trying not to get my hopes up too high, in case she changes her mind again.”

“She won’t change her mind this time,” Madeline said, holding his face between her hands.

“How do you know?”

“Because she’s figuring it out, Hunter. She’s learning that you’re not what her mother’s told her you are, that she’s crazy to shut you out of her life.”

The screen door slammed as Clay came in for another trip to the basement. “Quit making out,” he teased. “We’ve got work to do.”

But Madeline didn’t care who saw them. She kissed the man who’d be her husband in another week and waved Clay out the door when he brought up the next box—without even looking through it.