Page 51 of Stranded with the Billionaire
“That didn’t work,” Sterling said softly. She knew her brother. When he had an idea in his head, he generally didn’t budge. If he thought he was unworthy of Melody, then he wouldn’t ever give her any hope for a future between the two of them.
“No. It didn’t work,” Dixby worked on the label again. “I doubled down and told him how it all made sense. Melody wanted a family and a home. I had a house and said some drivel about how Joy needed a momma so we’d decided we’d suit. That Melody and I had friendship going for us and since Brant didn’t seem to want Melody, I’d taken it upon myself to propose and she’d accepted. Unless, of course, Brant knew a reason why we shouldn’t get married.”
“He didn’t say anything?” she looked at Dixby in the dark. It was obvious he regretted the whole episode. “Who is Joy?”
“You don’t know?” he paused, bottle raised partway as he turned to look at her. “I got married. I have a daughter, Joy Grace Cooley.”
“You’re married?” Sterling couldn’t quite believe it. “No one told me.”
“Suppose they didn’t think it was important,” Dixby shrugged. “You being in the big city, you might not want to hear all the local gossip.”
“Who is she?” she asked with curiosity. Sterling had never thought of Dixby as being mature enough to be a husband and father. Somehow Sterling had the idea that everyone in Pendle would have just stopped moving forward in her absence but that wasn’t what had happened.
“Her name was Grace. She came from Buford. Right pretty little thing,” Dixby’s smile faded. “She passed three years ago from cancer.”
“I’m sorry,” Sterling was. She’d always known that she and Dixby wouldn’t end up together, even when they’d been dating. It was only right that he should move on and be happy with someone, Sterling decided.
“I glad of the time we had. She gave me joy in more ways than one,” Dixby looked over the lake and gathered his thoughts. “It’s a sad thing when two people who love each other so much are so stubborn. If both of them only knew what it is like to be with someone you love. How life can be so short and fragile…”
“What did Brant do when you told him you and Melody were getting married?” questioned Sterling, partially because she wanted to know the rest of the story and partially to get his mind off his deceased wife.
“He punched me,” a grin came to Dixby’s face. “Broke my nose and gave me a black eye out of the process. Never was I so satisfied by being hit by another person. I thought, finally! Brant is going to do what he should have done years ago, tell Melody that he was the one for her and persuade her to choose him. Not that it would have taken much persuading. Instead, Brant swallowed it all down, shook his finger in my face, told me to treat Melody right and walked out. We haven’t talked much since then.”
“You’re still pretending to be engaged?” Sterling frowned.
“Melody won’t back down. She’s decided to remain engaged. I suppose I’ve let her, but this farce has gone on long enough. It’s past time to end it,” he breathed in deeply. “My biggest worry is that if I do, Melody will find some other willing dupe to be her boyfriend and get married to. Right now, I can stretch this out to be the longest engagement on earth, or at least as long as it takes for them two to get some sense and get together.”
“You’re a good friend Dixby,” Sterling commented.
“I don’t feel like one. I lost my best friend over this and Melody is right miserable,” Dixby grimaced and pulled the label off the bottle in one piece. “I told her the longer this goes on, the harder it’s going to be on her and Brant, but she won’t listen. Maybe you could talk some sense into her?”
Sterling shook her head at his hopeful gaze. “I’ll do it but I’m not sure how much help that will be. I’m not exactly a success story in the area of love.”
“What? No big city guy caught your eye?” Dixby asked curiously.
Sterling shrugged. “Not really.”
“Remember how I could always tell when you were lying?” he reminded her. “I can still tell.”
“There was one guy,” she admitted reluctantly.
“Who is he?” Dixby questioned.
“The guy who bought Dubious, the tabloid I wrote for, shut it down and then proceeded to blacklist me so that I can’t write at any other paper in the country,” Sterling looked at her dented can of Palm Bay.
He whistled. “Must be a pretty rich guy if he can just buy up a tabloid business just like that.”
“I wasn’t after his money,” Sterling confessed ruefully. “I was after a story. I wanted to take some pictures, write some articles and drag his name through the tabloids because that’s what I did, and it paid well so that I could help out with the financials here at home for the family. I made him very angry. He felt betrayed and had every right to feel that way. I did betray him.”
Suddenly the story was pouring out of her. How she’d snuck on the plane. The crash and Jake’s help as they struggled through the snow to the cabin. Dixby laughed as she talked about the bat, the argument over the stove and finding the map with its story written on the back. She explained her worry over Jake being gone for so long, how they were rescued and going to the small town of Carver Bend, where they were graciously taken care of by its residents.
Where Jake had found out the truth about who she was.
“You’re in love with him,” Dixby stated kindly. He’d wrapped an arm around her and Sterling found herself leaning on his warmth.
“I barely know him. We met five days ago,” she protested.
“Love comes at different times and in different ways for different people,” Dixby remarked. “When I saw Grace, I knew she was the one for me. It took me three months to get her to say yes to a date. Over a year before she said yes to one of my many proposals.”
