Finally a Bride. Lisa Childs

expanding the town included a banquet hall, he doubted any true Clovervillians would use anyplace but the American Legion. The town, like his uncle Harold, was loyal and steeped in tradition.

      She groaned. “Didn’t Abby read them the note?”

      “You didn’t ask them to leave me alone,” he pointed out.

      She grinned, amused by their friends’ ingenuity. “Leave it to them to find a loophole.”

      “To find you.”

      “Even though they know where I am, I think they’ll leave me alone for a while,” she said, her earlier panic seeming to have subsided.

      “If they let you be, it’s probably only because of your mom.” Mrs. McClintock would make sure the others laid off.

      “Probably,” she agreed.

      “I guess it doesn’t matter why—as long as they agree to do it,” Eric allowed.

      Molly glanced up at him and blinked, as if she hadn’t heard a word he said.

      “That’s what you want, right?” he asked, wondering if she’d changed her mind. “Time to think?”

      “Yes,” she said vaguely, leaving Eric to consider whether she was answering his question or another one she’d asked herself.

      “If you’d rather be completely alone, I can take off,” he offered. “I have a buddy I can crash with in Grand Rapids. I stay with him when I work doubles. He’s closer to the hospital.” Maybe that would be far enough away so that he wouldn’t think of her. But he doubted it, since even the Middle East hadn’t been far enough away.

      “I don’t want you to leave.” Her dark eyes shone as if something had just occurred to her. “At least I don’t want you to leave without me.”

      “I know I’m going to regret asking,” he said, his stomach muscles tightening as he braced himself for her response, “but what exactly do you want, Molly?”

      She flashed him a smile as her eyes took on a mischievous glint. “I want to crash my wedding reception.”