"Of course you do," he muttered. "What was I thinking?" He hung up and then started to laugh.

Natchez had not changed, nor had his lawyer's att.i.tude toward Joey's natural mother.

"My G.o.d!" Travis Marley said. "I knew she was off the wall, but I never thought she'd pull something like that. Whatever was Carly thinking? Hasn't she ever heard of parental kidnapping?"

Joseph shrugged. His lawyer had reacted just as he'd supposed, but it did nothing to stop the worry he'd been living with. He still had nightmares of Carly swooping down and spiriting Joey away again without his consent. It was why he'd come back to his hometown so suddenly, and to the lawyer who'd seen him through the trauma of trying to lay legal claim to his own son.

"I don't think Carly thinks, that's what I think," Joseph said.

Travis grinned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I'm frustrated, and worried as h.e.l.l. You're the lawyer. You tell me. What can I do to make sure that this doesn't happen again? Tell me something good. I didn't come all the way to Mississippi just to hear myself talk."

"Well...I can tell you this much. Carly Jordan is up to her ears in debt here. She skipped out on a lot of unpaid bills, and from what I hear in the courts, if she shows her face in town again, she'll wind up as correspondent in a very, very messy divorce. From what you've told me, I don't think you were anything to her but a port in a storm."

Joseph sank into the chair opposite Travis's desk and felt a bubble of tension slowly dissipating.

"Thank G.o.d! I should have suspected something like this. I couldn't imagine what on earth would have made her change. The woman I knew would eat her young. The Carly who showed up in Oklahoma City, swearing undying love and devotion to the both of us, didn't quite fit."

His expression darkened, remembering another time in his life and the devastation of finding out that the woman he thought he loved had existed only in his mind.

Travis nodded in agreement. "I'll file the information you gave me with the rest of your papers just to keep your file updated on the situation. But I hardly think you'll be seeing anything of her again. Rumor has it that she's gone south...and I do mean south, as in...of the border. I hear she's gone on to bigger and richer things."

"I hope he has an iron const.i.tution, a taste for barracuda, and a lock on his safe," Joseph drawled.

Travis laughed and stood as Joseph shook his hand. "Have a safe flight home, and invite me to the wedding."

Joseph grinned. It hadn't taken Travis long to read between the lines of his concerns.

"I've got to ask her first," he said.

The door flew open and Joey burst through, running, then jumping, into his father's outstretched arms.

"Sorry," Travis's secretary said. "I hope you two were through discussing business, because your son is through with me."

Joseph laughed. "We were, and thanks again for watching him while we talked." He turned back to his lawyer and grinned. The dimple that Molly loved so much came and went at the side of his cheek. "I'll let you know about the wedding later. Right now, we've got a flight to catch, and then a woman to see about the rest of her life."

Molly hung up the phone and tried not to cry. Marjorie's message wasn't exactly what she'd expected to hear. Granted, she'd been slow about confronting her own feelings regarding Joseph. But she'd never imagined that he'd do anything so rash as leave the state without telling her, especially after all they'd been to each other.

It never occurred to Molly that she was the single reason he'd gone. Joseph was bound and determined that Molly Eden would never have cause to doubt him again. And the only way he knew to insure that was to make sure that his past was past tense.

"Okay," Molly told herself, "don't make a big deal out of anything until the roof falls in. I didn't exactly give him a golden opportunity to let me know he was leaving. It could be any number of things that sent him back to Mississippi. I don't believe for a minute that any of them have Carly Jordan's name on it."

"Did you say something?" Cora asked.

Molly made a face and tried to laugh. "Nothing worth repeating. I'm just feeling sorry for myself, and from the looks of these orders, I don't even have time to do that."

Cora grinned. "He'll come around. I know men, and that neighbor of yours is true blue all the way. Here, grab that pot of poinsettias and I'll get the other. We've got places to go and flowers to peddle."

Molly hugged Cora. "I don't know what I'd do without you and Harry."

Although pleased to hear the compliment, Cora was unaccustomed to so much sentimentality. She flushed, then smoothed her flyaway hair, yanked at her smock, and flipped a bit of wet leaf off the knee of her pants. "You'll do just fine, girl," she said. "You wait and see. I have a real good feeling about your Joseph...a real good feeling, indeed."

Oooh, Molly thought, he gives me real good feelings, too. And then wished she'd kept her memories to herself. She didn't have time to dwell on men, and love, and making love. Not even if hers had chocolate-chip eyes and shy dimples and made love with perfect pa.s.sion.

Eleven.

Joseph stood at his bedroom window, watching as Molly unlocked her car and slid behind the steering wheel. He hadn't missed the number of longing glances she'd sent toward his house. Even from here he could see her frown. Regret for what he'd put her through overwhelmed him. But he had a plan, and nothing-absolutely nothing-was going to deter him from seeing it through.

He stepped away from the window before she saw him watching her, although the urge to dash outside and drag her into his house and into his bed was strong. At this point, he didn't think caveman tactics would get him far, and with Molly, he wanted to go all the way.

Joey came dawdling from the back of the house, dragging his Barney backpack along the floor. "Come on, kid, you're going to be late for day care and miss your morning snack. You don't want daddy to be late today, either." He scooped Joey up into his arms. "I think it's time to go find your momma."

Joey frowned. "Found my momma," he said, slammed his thumb in his mouth, and wiggled to be put down.

"Yes, you sure did," Joseph said, grinning as he kissed his son's soft cheek. "And we've got to hurry before someone else takes her. You found her, all right, but it's going to take a lot of sweet-talking on my part before she lets us keep her. Especially after what we put her through."

Joseph smiled to himself as he buckled his son in his car seat and then slid behind the wheel. He backed from his drive, easing carefully onto the main drag, always with one eye on the traffic and the other on his precious cargo. At a stop light, he fidgeted, anxious for it to turn green. He could hardly wait to start his day.

Molly twisted the piece of floral wire around the handful of ribbon she held looped in her hand, then fluffed it and stuffed it into the centerpiece she'd been working on for over an hour.

It was a vivid a.s.sortment of fresh greenery, holiday pine, holly berries, and Christmas poinsettia. But the pleasure she would normally derive from creating such a masterpiece was gone. All she could think of was the last time she'd lain in Joseph Rossi's arms, and the way his mouth had fit precisely across her lips, and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She shivered and bit her lip to keep from groaning aloud.

The scissors she was holding fell to the floor with a clank.

"Cramps?" Cora asked, thinking that Molly's fingers had finally given out as hers had done hours ago.

Yes, but only of the heart, Molly thought. "Just clumsy, and a little bit tired." She glanced at the clock. "And it's only 9:30 in the morning."

Cora smiled. "If you're already watching the clock, I know you're tired. Buck up, here comes a customer. You take him. I'll finish this centerpiece."

Molly nodded and headed for the counter, wiping the bits of Styrofoam from her hands as she went.

"May I help you?" Molly asked.

The young man glanced down at his clipboard to check the name. "Is there a Molly Eden here? I have a delivery for her."

"I'm Molly Eden. Where do I sign?"

"Right here." The messenger handed her a small, square box wrapped in green paper.

Moments later, the bell over the door signaled his departure, but Molly was too busy tearing into the package to notice his exit. She opened the lid, tearing through the matching green tissue paper, and then stared open-mouthed at what was inside. Even from here she could smell the crisp, sweet scent of the dark red fruit.

"What is it?" Cora asked, and leaned over Molly's shoulder to snoop.

"An apple!" Molly turned the box upside down and shook it, expecting a card to fall out. But nothing did. There was no way to tell who the odd gift was from.

Cora frowned. "Who's it from? Be careful...don't bite into it until you check."

Molly shrugged, then grinned. "For what? Worms?"

Harry came sauntering in from the back room where he'd been unloading a new shipment of plants. He saw the women staring into the small box in Molly's hands.

"What's going on?"

"Someone sent Molly an apple," Cora said.

Harry shoved his cap to the back of his head and grinned. "Someone sent an apple to the Garden of Eden? That's a hoot!"

The light dawned. Molly began to wonder. Could he...would he?

She carried it, and the box, into her office, set the apple in the center of her desk, and then stood back, trying to imagine what message lay behind this unexpected delivery.

It was fairly large as apples go, and so shiny a red that Molly knew it must have been polished. The stem was intact, as if someone had just plucked it from the tree. She smiled, letting her imagination run free as she pictured Joseph reaching up, pulling it from the branch, and then turning to her with a smile on his face and the apple in his hand.

In her mind, she watched his even, white teeth bite down, saw the juice run from the apple onto his lips, and then shuddered as his tongue snaked out and caught the drip before it escaped. He chewed, swallowed, and then with a slow, sensuous smile, leaned forward and at the very spot where he'd taken the bite only moments before, touched the apple to her lips.

Molly closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and then let out a little squeal as the phone's loud ring startled her reverie.

"Oh my goodness," she gasped, and leaned against the desk. "I've got to get back to work. I must be losing my mind. I don't have time for daydreams of s.e.xy men and apple juice."

Time and the telephone soon had her back at work, vivid reminders that the business of loving would have to wait for the business at hand.

Two hours later another messenger arrived with another delivery, and this time, Cora and Harry stopped what they were doing just to watch Molly's face as she began unwrapping the second box.

"What do you suppose it is?" Cora asked, pushing her husband aside none too gently in an effort to get a better look.

Molly's hands shook and her heart pounded as she quickly tore into the gilt-colored wrappings. The box was small, flat and narrow, and she couldn't imagine what...

"Oh!"

Her gasp said it all. The long fluorescent bulbs from the ceiling overhead caught the glimmer of gold as Molly lifted the delicate chain from the satin interior of the jeweler's box.

"Why...it's a necklace," Cora said. "And what's that little charm on the....?"

"It's an apple," Molly said, unable to wipe the silly smile from her face. "It's definitely another apple."

"But it's gold!" Cora shrieked, turning it toward the light.

Harry nodded, grinning sagely as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and sauntered away. "I told you someone was sending apples to the Garden of Eden. When I'm right, I'm right, by gum."

Cora rolled her eyes. "We'll never hear the end of this," she warned. "Harry worries a subject to death, you know."

Molly didn't care. If this meant what she hoped it meant, Harry could be right forever. She undid the tiny clasp and fastened the necklace around her neck, then pulled gently until the miniature apple was exactly in the middle of the long, gold chain and very, very, close to her heart.

Now work was impossible. Whenever a customer came in, everyone stopped what they were doing just to make certain that it was truly a patron and not another delivery in progress.

Lunch time came and went. The phone continued to ring, and they got so busy they let down their guard. That was why they didn't see the man until he came in the door. And they didn't actually see the man...only what he was carrying. All six feet plus of trunk and skinny limbs minus their leaves.

"Delivery for Molly Eden," the man said. "Where do you want it?"

Molly handed a porcelain reindeer to her customer and started to grin.

"What is it?" she asked, eyeing the heavy pot and the tall, skinny trunk of the tree he was carrying.

He leaned down, fingering the tag, then straightened and looked around curiously at the abundance of flowering things inside this shop and shrugged.

"Someone sent you a tree, lady. Not much of a present for a florist, but nevertheless, it's a tree."

Harry hooted from the doorway and slapped his leg, shaking his head with laughter as he helped a customer carry an armload of poinsettias to her car. "I'll bet it's an apple tree," he yelled over his shoulder.

The messenger looked startled. "How did he know?"

Molly grinned again, unable to stop the smile from spreading. "Is it really?" she asked.

"Says right here," the messenger said. "It's a Red Delicious."

"Of course," Cora smirked, eyeing Molly's auburn hair. "What else would it be?"

The customers inside the store began to grin, uncertain of the implications, yet positive that they were being let in on a very good joke on Molly.

"Oh, my!" Molly said, and blinked, surprised by the gush of tears that threatened to fall. She couldn't be crying in front of her customers, not even if it was from joy.

"No card-am I right?" Cora asked.

Molly could only nod.

It was 3:00.

The Garden of Eden was full of last-minute shoppers who'd left their own jobs just in the nick of time to visit the shop before Molly closed for the day. In honor of the holiday season, she always stayed open an hour later than usual, just for her working customers' convenience.

Answering phones and questions and ringing up sales, she was too busy to notice the bright pink van in the act of parking in front of her store. Had she looked, the multihued name, FANTASY MESSAGES, painted on the vehicle's side doors, would have been a hint of what was to come.

Also, had she looked up in time, she would have seen, along with her staring customers, a man dressed as a large green snake who was trying to make a professional entrance into the store while carrying a basket of apples. It was impossible. His tail kept getting caught in the door.

What she did notice was the sudden silence and then a couple of snickers from the corner of the room. She looked up and then gasped as the man wiggle-walked toward her, trying to alternate the swing of his tail with the scoot of his feet.

"Delivery for Misssss Molly Eden," he hissed.

Molly's grin was a bit lopsided as she stared at the basket of bright red apples he was carrying.