The Wedding Wish

the brink of divorce. But each time, some unforeseen legal precedent had blocked it. Susan had assured him that abandonment was their big ticket. It might take longer to work through than the other strategies they’d tried, but according to her, it was the best thing they had. They’d win this battle for his freedom at last. After so long of holding on, Robert had almost lost faith in a hopeful outcome. Now, incredibly, it had arrived.
    Isabel brought a hand to her heart. “What does this mean?”
    “I’m a free man.”

    Isabel steadied herself on shaky knees as the waves of these truths crashed over her. First he was married… Now he wasn’t?
    “Are you okay?” he asked, walking to her. “You look a little pale.”
    She stunned him by latching on to his coat lapels, and for a crazy instant, Robert feared she might tackle him to the ground just as her dad had. “So you’re saying…” She gripped tighter and pulled him toward her. “You’re… not …married? To anyone? Anymore?”
    He vehemently shook his head. “That’s the good news,” he said with a squeak.
    She narrowed her gaze, and his heart thumped in his chest. “And you didn’t tell me before because… ?”
    “I wasn’t sure how you would take it. Plus…”
    She cinched his lapels in her hands and pulled him right up against her as she stood on tiptoes to stare into his eyes. “Plus what?”
    “Oh God, Izzy. I didn’t want to jinx it. I’d wanted out of that marriage for a while, but after I met you, I became desperate to leave it. I didn’t tell you because I was still working things out. I didn’t want you to worry. Have you agonizing and waiting over some timeline only to have some last-minute thing go wrong. I couldn’t put you through that. Wading through the abysmal legal maneuvers. Watching and hoping for it all to be done. Becoming painfully disappointed time and again.
    “I apologize if I screwed up by handling things this way, but you’ve got to believe that I never meant to hurt you. I would never…in a million years…hurt you. I care for you far too much.”
    She relaxed her grip but still held on.
    “You’ve got to trust me when I say there’s never been anyone but you. When I saw you again that day on campus, it was all over for me. You’re the only one I want, Izzy. In some ways, I see now that you’re the only one I’ve always wanted. Please, say something.”
    “You know, Robert Reed, you’re making me crazy with this.” Tears leaked from her eyes, but she smiled softly just the same. “He loves me, he loves me not…”
    “Isabel,” he said, steadying her against him. “You’re not hearing me. I said, I’ve always loved you. The heart remembers. At least this one does.”
    He looked deep in her eyes, and her whole world went off-kilter. He had to be telling the truth. The Robert she knew had never been much of a liar, not even as a kid. And he was all grown up now, and strong enough to hold her—even though her legs seemed to be giving way. He’d turned her emotions inside out with his confession, but the words that she hung on to were the ones that spelled forever. Robert did love her; she was sure of it. Whatever had gone before was over now. And if it wasn’t, the two of them would deal with it together. For together with Robert was where she’d always longed to be. She tilted her chin toward his, her lips trembling.
    “You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted too.”
    “I was so hoping you’d say that.”
    Then he claimed her mouth with his and swept her away with his kiss.

Chapter Nine

    Isabel sat beside her mother on the porch swing while Kip perched in a rattan chair nearby. “I don’t see why I have to talk to Robert,” he said, feeling grumpy.
    “You don’t,” Trudy said, her dainty shoes rocking back and forth. “All you have to do is listen.”
    “And remember.” Isabel studied him sternly. “You promised to be nice.”
    Kip didn’t like being cornered, and this corralling was among the worst of them. Something was going on here, something that had his wife and daughter in cahoots, Robert in the know, and Kip on the outside. “You already explained all about his ex-wife,” he said to Isabel. “Why do I need to hear the same story again from him?”
    Trudy and Isabel innocently looked at each other and shrugged. “Maybe he wants to tell it to you man to man,” Trudy offered.
    “That’s right,” Isabel inserted. “Clear the air.”
    If there was an air