"This is great news," Gerald said. "Thank you, Chief."

The police chief nodded. "Well, if the rumors at city hall are true, you all have quite a situation on your hands. So I'll leave you to your meeting."

Cecelia offered him some coffee cake, which he took to go. When Cecelia returned to her dining room, Spring and David were alone and facing each other. She smiled and headed to the living room, where the rest of her guests were.

"I'm sorry I didn't read what you sent," Spring said.

David shrugged. "That's all right. It may not even matter now."

"It matters," she said, touching his arm.

"My company needed this contract," he said. He told her about the firm's precarious situation. "It's not in danger of going under, but I feel an obligation to provide for my employees. Laying off half of them is untenable."

"It doesn't have to be that way."

Spring wasn't sure exactly when and how she'd come to the realization, but she loved this man.

She blinked. Had she really just been stunned and blindsided by her own thoughts?

Loved?

Loved.

She'd tried to fight it. Tried to claim their differences were too great to overcome. But the obstacles had been made of smoke and fears with no basis in reality.

Spring wanted to know where this unlikely relationship was going. She had run hot and cold when it came to David. In the beginning, she thought he was a homeless man just trying to get care for his son. Then she'd discovered he was here in Cedar Springs to destroy the one thing she loved the most.

Over time, she'd come to realize that there was more to David, so much more, including a strong but quiet faith like her own, a value system that put integrity first and, on top of it all, a deep and abiding love for his son.

She didn't think it was possible, but she'd fallen head over heels in love with David Camden. And Jeremy... The little boy had stolen her heart from the first. She was having a hard time envisioning her life without both of them in it.

The thought actually frightened her. She'd given her heart to a man just once before. And he'd returned her unconditional love with a betrayal that still stung fifteen years after the fact. David wasn't anything like Keith Henson, who'd wanted not her heart but her family's money. Comparing them would be like comparing a birthday party to after-school detention.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Spring pulled one of the chairs out and sat, tugging him into its twin.

Instead of answering his question, she asked one of his own. "What happened to Jeremy's mother?"

He mouth curved up in a bittersweet smile. "I wondered when you'd ask that."

"I've wondered since the first night we met."

"Katy died," he said. "Jeremy was barely six months old when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was gone before he turned one."

"I'm sorry."

"I didn't think I would ever find a love like the one we had," he said. "I thought my world had ended. My mother moved in and eventually made me go back to work. She dragged me and Jeremy to church, to meals and into life again. When I met you, it was like storm clouds had dissipated and the sun again shone bright and beautiful. You were that sun, Spring. Jeremy and I love you. I love you. Would you do me the honor of being my wife and Jeremy's mom?"

Spring's mouth opened and closed. "I... You want to marry me?"

"I didn't come here tonight with the thought of proposing." He glanced around the room. "The dining room table of your friend's house is lovely, but not quite what I would have planned as the setting of a proposal. But, yes, it's a proposal, Spring. Will you marry us?"

She nodded.

They still had a lot to learn about each other, but, yes, she wanted to marry this man.

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes," she said. And then she kissed him to seal the proposal.

When the Cedar Springs City Council met again, it was the day before the engagement party for Summer Darling Spencer and Cameron Jackson. Council chambers at city hall overflowed with angry residents. Chairs had been brought in from the multipurpose room, and people stood two deep along the walls.

News of an economic development project that could reshape the region drew the attention of media well beyond the Cedar Springs Gazette. A couple of the television stations from both Raleigh and Fayetteville were there to report the proceedings, and the business reporters from the Charlotte Observer, the News & Observer from Raleigh and even the Norfolk, Virginia, newspapers were at the press table along with Mac Scott, the Gazette's editor. The police chief had eight officers stationed around the room to quell any potential violence.

But the only truly violent outburst came from Mayor Bernadette Howell when, during the public comment period of the meeting, she was served a pet.i.tion for impeachment recall.

The vote on development projects of any type or size was unanimously tabled for further study by city council, who then concluded the meeting and scuttled out of chambers under the protective escort of Cedar Springs' men and women in blue before a single reporter could approach.

"It's not over yet," Spring said as talk from residents about the meeting flowed all around them.

David sat next to her in the front row, right behind the table that had been filled with journalists.

"Nope," he said.

"For the record, I really like your proposal that incorporates our history and heritage center in it."

"The grant application you and Cecelia have is very strong."

She gave him a sidelong smile. "Thanks to the addition of some architectural renderings from a certain Charlotte-based firm that shall remain unnamed."

In the back of the city council chambers, Dr. Cecelia Jeffries confronted a man who'd shuffled in and had claimed a standing-room-only spot on the wall to watch the proceedings.

"Sweet Willie," she said.

He nodded his head toward her. "Dr. Jeffries."

In deference to the formal ambiance of the city council chambers, he'd shed the hoodie from his head. Cecelia realized it was the first time she'd seen him without the hood covering. His hair was more gray than black and he'd clearly not been a.s.sociated with a razor in a few days.

"You and your folks got a victory tonight."

"Not unlike your own," she said, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at him.

"Beg pardon?"

"Why weren't you arrested with the other criminals in that burglary ring?"

"Didn't have nothing to do with it, ma'am."

She narrowed her eyes. "Why don't I believe you?"

He shrugged. "Maybe 'cause you the suspicious type." He grinned as if he'd made a joke.

Cecelia was not charmed. "There's something going on with you," she told him. "I don't know what it is, but I don't buy your act and I'm going to keep digging."

His grin grew broader. "I'm looking forward to it, Dr. Jeffries."

As the reporters either typed on laptops at the front table or moved about the council chambers interviewing city residents about the meeting and the seemingly thwarted plans for a giant retail complex in the city, David and Spring continued to talk quietly at their seats.

She laced her fingers together, stared at them for a moment, then glanced over at him. "David, I have a confession to make."

"What's that?"

"I told CeCe our secret."

"I know."

She punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" He rubbed his arm where she'd hit him. "That hurt."

"It was supposed to. I work out just about every day at my sister's gym. And how did you know?"

"The other day she winked at me and said, 'Welcome to the family, honey boy.'"

Spring laughed. "She is like a fourth sister to me."

He lifted her left hand and ran a finger along her ring finger, which remained bare of an engagement ring. "Are you sure you want to keep us just between us?"

She nodded. "For now. This is Summer's time. I don't want our news to overshadow her engagement party. She's already stressed about it. It's turned into an incredibly huge to-do. Cameron threatened to s.n.a.t.c.h her and go to Hilton Head or Savannah for a justice of the peace service and honeymoon on Tybee Island."

"And deny your mother her country club wedding and social event?"

Spring shook her head. "I feel bad for Summer and Cam. Lovie is delighted to have a wedding to plan, flowers to order, menus to see to and whatnot. And Cameron's mother is just as bad as she is. Between the two of them, this engagement party is likely to rival the actual wedding next year."

He smiled at her, an indulgent and loving smile that made Spring's insides tumble.

"That's what moms do," he said. "Indulge their kids. I know one who gave her son a teddy bear as big as he is."

Spring laughed out loud. "Something tells me we're going to end up outfitting a teddy bear for a tuxedo."

"Probably," he said.

More than 125 people milled through the formal garden at The Compound, Lovie Darling's large home.

Lovie and Carol had gone all out for the engagement party of their daughter and son. They were both dressed in identical summer suits with lace insets, Lovie's suit peach colored and Carol's in honey yellow.

Guests nibbled on finger foods, including miniature stuffed mushrooms, a.s.sorted bruschetta and spinach-and-goat-cheese tartlets.

Autumn Darling snagged a fat shrimp from Winter's plate and chomped on it.

"You can put the coach in a dress, but you can't make her a lady," Winter said, moving her small plate out of her sister's reach.

"Back at ya," Autumn said.

She, Winter and Spring, all dressed in feminine summer shifts and heels, stood together near an arbor that, like all the garden's shrubbery and the tent's support beams, had tiny white fairy lights twinkling. The garden, always beautiful under the care of Lovie and her landscapers, was enchanting this evening. The sisters surveyed the crowd of friends and city movers and shakers and watched their sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law mingle with their well-wishers.

"By the time people finish with the appetizers, they'll be full," Autumn noted. "Do they know that Lovie has carving stations and enough food to feed half the city?"

"They're called hors d'oeuvres," Spring said.

"Thank you, Dr. Magnolia Supper Club," Winter intoned.

Autumn groaned. "Please, guys. Let's not have that fight tonight." She nudged Spring. "Who is that over there talking to David?"

Three pairs of blue eyes focused in on a tall man with s.h.a.ggy hair who threw his head back and laughed at whatever David had just said. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties and had a casual air about him that differed from the men in suits all around him. Although he wore a suit jacket, he seemed to have just a T-shirt on underneath it.

"My, my," Autumn said. "Is he one of David's architects?"

Spring shrugged. "I don't know."

"He is a looker," Winter said. "And tall, too, just the way I like them."

"I called dibs," Autumn protested.

Spring rolled her eyes at her sisters. "I'm going to go mingle. Why don't you two do the same instead of acting like you're thirteen?"

As she started to head off toward David, a tinkling of silver on crystal drew the guests' attention to a portable microphone near the arbor.

"May I have your attention, please," Cameron said. As the guests quieted down and turned his way, Spring reached David. She slipped her hand in his.

"Your mom knows how to throw a party," he said.

"That's what she majored in in college, being a gracious Southern hostess. She graduated summa c.u.m laude in it."

He smiled. "They make a nice couple," he said, nodding toward Cameron and Summer, who stood beaming together as Cam talked.

"They do," Summer said. "And so do we."