Page 96 of Barbed Wire Fences
“Did they add that to your mayoral duties?” I joke, throwing Rae a wink.
She laughs. “Someone has to hold the torch for autumn around here. Winter hogs all the attention, but if you ask me, fall is the—”
“—most wonderful time of the year,” her husband interrupts, cutting her off with a kiss that would be borderline rude if it weren’t so obvious how obsessed he is with his wife. Rae melts right into him, and honestly, I can’t even blame her.
“Good job with the cupcakes,” Rhett murmurs against my ear, low enough for only me. “You looked cute making them this morning in nothing but my shirt.”
It doesn’t matter that it’s been almost two months since I officially moved in with him and back to Whitewood Creek. My pulse still sprints at the sound of his voice, at the clean, soapy-sweaty scent of him pressed into my side, and at the way he looks at me like I'm his whole world.
“Thank you.” I tilt my face up, beaming when his brown eyes soften and crinkle at the edges.
“You ready to tell everyone the good news?”
I bite my lip and nod. We’ve kept our engagement a secret these last few weeks, soaking in the intimacy of only us knowing. But tonight feels right. Tonight feels like the moment with all our friends and new family around us.
Rhett doesn’t waste time once I give him permission. “Hey everyone!” he calls, his voice booming over the yard.
The Mayberry Manor is sprawling, tucked right up against North Carolina's stretch of the Blue Ridge Mountains, their peaks glowing orange, gold, and crimson in the last slant of sunset. The whole place is gilded in light, like it’s been waiting for this moment.
“As you all know,” Rhett says, gripping my hand tight and tugging me against his side, “Jael’s back for good now that the Whitewood Creek Community Hospital’s opened its new ICU. She’s the lead nurse there and I couldn't be prouder of her.”
“Woo-hoo!” Cash hollers.
“Atta girl,” Lawson Marshall calls out with a grin, his arm slung around his fiancée, Daniela.
“We’re lucky to have her,” Hayes Walker adds, his doctor title forever banned since I’ve apparently been adopted into their family. His words, not mine.
“Settle down, she’s mine,” Rhett teases, though his eyes soften when they find mine. A beat later, they grow more serious. “Jael’s the first girl I ever loved, my best friend, and I’m so damn thankful she found her way back to Whitewood Creek. And now—” he lifts our joined hands high, pride radiating off him, “—we’re getting married.”
The whole group erupts into cheers. Suddenly we’re swallowed in hugs, congratulations, and well wishes from every direction. For a girl who grew up without a family, without anyone ever really claiming me, this moment stitches together parts of me I hadn’t even realized were broken.
For so long, I told myself I could close that chapter, bury Whitewood Creek and the pain that came with it. But God… if I hadn’t come back? If I’d kept running? I never would have known this kind of love.
I never would have seen Rhett,reallyseen him, standing right where he’s always been, hoping that I'd notice we were meant to be.
His grin is wide enough to split his face as Lawson claps him on the shoulder and drags him into a rough hug. Meanwhile, the Marshall women surround me, squealing over the emerald-green diamond on my finger, firing off a dozen rapid-fire questions like only girlfriends can.
“So, will you get married in Whitewood Creek?” Regan asks, bouncing her and Hayes’s toddler on her hip. The little girl is all Regan’s eyes and Hayes’s smoldering grin—a heartbreaker in training. She’s got a former bull-rider turned small-town doctor for a father and the sweetheart of our small town for a mother.
I nod instantly. “Yes. I can’t imagine marrying anywhere else.”
Her smile softens. “If you’d like, we could host it here at the Manor and have the reception out on the farm. I'd love to put it all together for you. No pressure, though.”
My heart does a little flip. “I would like that so much.”
“And I’ll plan the bachelorette party!” Rae shouts.
Molly groans. “Make sure you know what you're committing to. May I remind you of my baby shower? Halloween-themed, Jael. The baby shower was Halloween-themed.”
“It was Halloween when you had it!” Rae defends, grinning.
“Still.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “It’s fine. You can plan it. I wasn’t really thinking of doing anything.”
“Vegas,” Rae declares, final and dramatic.
“Did someone say Vegas?” Lydia Prescott pops into the circle, her long, blonde hair bouncing. I don’t know her well yet but the rest of them do. She’s the only child of Whitewood Creek’s reverend and Regan’s longtime friend, but she also runs the Boys and Girls Club at the Community Center and might be one of the kindest souls in town.
