Prologue

The three girls peered down at the baby bundled in their mother’s arms. She looked up at them with huge blue eyes, yawned, and fell back to sleep, as if her older sisters were too dull to bother with.

“Go on now,” their mother shooed them. “Little Bailey’s had a big day, what with her christening and all. Why don’t you go play with the other children? Your father has some games set up over by the jukebox.”

The girls drifted away and into the chattering crowd of partygoers. The pub was closed for this private family occasion, though most of the town seemed to be there anyway.

Henny grabbed Walker’s little hand and pulled the toddler along. “Come on, James,” she said over her shoulder.

They made a point of circling the giant cake in the middle of the room that read “God Bless You, Bailey!” in pink icing atop the fluffy white peaks of whipped cream. They knew already that it would be a yellow cake with lemon filling. Mama loved lemon.

“But I don’t wanna play,” Jameson complained as her older sister led them away toward the Twister tournament already in progress. “I’ll get my new dress dirty!”

Jameson was extremely proud of her new dress. It was a pale green color that hung down past her knees in a flowing skirt that billowed whenever she spun around. She’d wanted a pink dress, like Henny had, but her mother was adamant that redheads should never wear pink.

“Suit yourself,” her older sister said with a shrug before disappearing into the sea of adult legs.

She heard it then. Someone had put Mama’s favorite song on the jukebox. The one that she sang along to on the radio all the time. The one that the “Achy Breaky Heart” guy sang.

“Elaine, my love!” her father called out across the pub floor. “Come dance with your husband!”

Mama handed the baby to Mrs. Clarke and made her way to where their father stood. And then he took her in his arms—as he often did—and gave her a gentle spin that made her throw her head back with laughter. Then he pulled her close, held her tight, and whispered into her ear as they danced to the song.

I could offer you a warm embrace…to make you feel my love.

“I’m going to the Grand Canyon.” Jameson looked up to find the Clarke boy standing next to her. “My parents are taking us next week, before school starts. Have you ever been?”

She shook her head. She’d never been anywhere farther than Duluth, and that suited her just fine. She loved Mayhem. Loved living on Main Street above the pub.

“There are eighty-eight different species of mammals there,” he was saying. “And fifty-eight kinds of reptiles.”

“What’s a reptile?” she asked.

“Like snakes and frogs.”

The little girl wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Ewwww. I don’t like repfiles,” she declared.

“Reptiles, silly,” he corrected her. But he wasn’t a teaser like his brother, Win. Scott smiled at her, and she saw he was missing one of his front teeth.

“Rep-tiles,” she repeated slowly, and he grinned his approval. At seven, Jameson didn’t really like boys much. They tended to be mean and gross. Henny once told her that all boys carried cooties. But Scotty was different.

Her parents danced on, oblivious to the dozens of people milling around them.

“I like your hair,” Scotty commented. “It’s like the color of pennies.”

She hated her hair, praying each night that she’d awaken the next morning with a head of golden curls like Henny or the black/brown waves that framed Walker’s tiny face.

“Thank you,” she said shyly. She’d never had a boy pay this much attention to her.

“I’m going to go all over the world one day,” he proclaimed proudly. “Do you want to come? I need someone to read the maps while I steer the ship or fly the plane.”

Her green eyes grew large in her excitement, but she stopped short, feeling the swell of disappointment in her belly.

“I don’t know how to read a map,” she confessed sadly.

Scotty waved a hand at her. “Ah, that’s okay. I’ll teach ya. My dad taught me and my brother.”

“Is he coming, too?” she asked, suddenly alarmed at the possibility that nasty Win Clarke, Jr. might join them on this new adventure they were planning.

“Who, my brother? No. He’s a pain. I’m not taking him anywhere.”

She breathed a sigh of relief.

“O-okay,” she agreed in a whisper.

He was beaming now. “Good. That’s really good. And maybe we can get married sometime, too.”

A triumphant cry went up in the corner as the entire Twister team collapsed into a writhing pile of squealing children. But Jameson didn’t notice them. Nor did she notice when her father rested his chin atop her mother’s head as he rocked her gently in his embrace. She was much too happy about this new development.

“But let’s keep it a secret for now, okay?” Scotty asked.

She nodded and felt his hand reach out for hers. His touch sparked warm tingles the likes of which she’d never experienced. She clung tight and hummed Mama’s favorite song, making a silent vow to never tell another soul about her secret engagement.

To make you feel my love.