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“Are you okay?”

Reena glanced up from showing Kirby how to adjust the dials on the magnifier to size photographs. “What?”

Kirby bit her lip. “I don’t mean to be rude, but you just looked upset, so I was wondering if everything was okay?”

“Are you sure you’re only thirteen?” Reena wondered, smiling slightly.

“Last time I checked, yeah. So, are you okay?” Kirby asked again.

Reena sat back on her stool and sighed. “I think I hurt your dad’s cousin.”

“Uncle Brian?”

“Yeah.”

Kirby’s brows lifted. “That’s kind of hard to do because he’s always really upbeat about everything. What did you do?”

“I told him I didn’t want to date him because he’s already dating Dr. Stevens,” Reena explained, wondering how appropriate it was that she was telling a teenager this sort of stuff.

“But he’s not dating Juliet anymore,” Kirby told her.

“Excuse me?”

Kirby nodded. “Yeah, he broke up with her this morning. I heard Aunt Chris telling Aunt Callie about it when I was at Astra’s house after school.”

“Well.” Reena was glad she was already sitting for it felt like the floor beneath her had been pulled out. Brian had come to talk to her after he’d broken up with Juliet? The thought made her feel…well, she wasn’t quite sure. What she was even more uncertain about was whether or not Brian had broken up with Juliet because of her or because he’d felt that their relationship wasn’t what he wanted anymore. “Well,” she repeated for lack of anything else to say. “He’s still upset with me, Kirby, and the fact that he’s no longer with Juliet doesn’t change that.”

“You’re sorry you hurt him, right?”

“Well, of course, I am!” Reena sighed again. “I don’t like hurting people, and Brian’s been nothing but gracious to me since I met him. I guess I’m just hoping I can make it up to him.”

Kirby scrunched her nose as she thought for a few moments. “You really want to get on his good side and make him feel better?” Reena nodded. “Well, Uncle Bri really loves macaroni and cheese, and I’m thinking that if you made it for him and took it over to his house, he’d probably forgive you. He forgives really easily.”

“Really?” She was finding it hard to believe it would be that simple to fix things between her and Brian. “Well, I guess I’ll give it a shot.”

“Great.” Kirby grinned. “Now, do you think you could explain that whole part about the magnifier again?”

***

Gwen pressed a hand to her stomach where the butterflies were mercilessly beating their wings. She was sitting next to Howie at the table on the high school auditorium’s stage. The painting Kevin had done of her model of the Seven Falls memorial sat on an easel next to the table, and she was hoping the three hundred people gathered together in the room would approve of it.

“Relax.” Brian smiled at her as he took the seat next to hers.

“What are you doing up here?” she wondered.

He gestured to the painting. “I initiated this project, and I’m chair of the committee supervising this. Why did you think Howie had me come meet you on Monday?”

“Oh. I thought it was because it had just been your idea.”

Brian shook his head. “Well that, too.” He nodded at one of the women in the front row of seats, who was smiling flirtatiously up at him. “Damn it. I hate being in front of people.”

“Aww, poor Brian doesn’t like women ogling him?” Gwen patted his arm and realized her butterflies were nearly gone.

“It’s not that I don’t like women, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t like when they stare at me like they want to eat me up.” He gulped visibly as another woman winked and waved to him. “Man.”

Gwen couldn’t help but chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from their lecherous advances.”

“Why, thank you, Gwen. Whatever would I have done without you here to save me?” He fluttered his lashes but stopped when he saw Reena take a seat towards the back of the room. “Your sister’s here to give you support, huh?”

Gwen scanned the rows and grinned when she saw Reena. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t she be?” She looked over at Brian, who was frowning. “Do I have to ask what’s going on with the two of you?”

“Nothing’s happening because she said it wouldn’t.” Brian tore his gaze away from Reena’s face. “That’s the beginning and end of it.”

Gwen opened her mouth to say something, but Howie stood now and called the meeting to order.

“We’re all here tonight to begin the next phase of the Seven Falls memorial project,” Howie began. “Last year, Brian Littrell brought up the idea to commemorate the Seven Falls legend and its tri-centennial anniversary with a memorial in Dormet Park. We voted unanimously to do so, and, two months ago, architect Gwendolyn Phillips moved to town to begin her work on the project. Tonight, Miss Phillips’s proposed structure for the memorial is up for approval by the assembly gathered here tonight.” Howie gestured to the painting next to him. “This is an artist’s rendering of the proposed memorial. Everyone is welcome to come up here and look it over. Miss Phillips and Brian Littrell, who is also the head of the supervising committee for the project, are here to answer any questions you may have. Again, we’ve allotted thirty minutes to allow everyone to review the proposal and ask any questions before we vote.”

When Howie had sat again, he patted Gwen’s hand as they watched the town members come up in groups to go over the model. Some occasionally had questions about the materials that would be used, others asked about the estimated cost, and yet others asked Gwen whether she believed in the legend or not. She answered the questions the best that she could, remembering her conversation with Kevin about using an alloy, and assured others that she did indeed believe in the legend. After spending time with Kevin and knowing her sister had had dreams about Laurent, how could she not believe it? When it came to the matter of the cost, Howie answered as diplomatically as he could.

“Great job,” Kevin told her when he’d managed to find room to step up onto the stage. He kissed her cheek. “Of course, I knew you’d be fine.”

“Thanks, and it’s nice to know someone believes in me, even if I don’t.” She smiled up at him and found herself breathless when he smiled back. My goodness, her brain murmured, dazed. The man is breathtakingly beautiful.

Before her brain found its function again, Reena had stepped up next to Kevin, and, not meeting Brian’s eyes, hugged her sister. “You’re winning them over! I heard a lot of them talking about how great it is, and how they’ll probably vote in the affirmative for the project. Congratulations!” She finally looked over at Brian. “Both of you.”

He shrugged. “It was all your sister’s idea. I just had the good sense to send her up to the Falls before she could decide on something else.”

“Either way, both of you are going to win this meeting,” Reena assured him. When Gwen’s attention shifted to an elderly man who’d approached her with a question, Reena moved closer to Brian. “I dropped by your house before coming here. I-I wanted to talk to you.”

“There’s nothing more to talk about,” he replied, throwing her words from that morning back at her.

Reena took a deep breath. “Brian, please. I really do need to talk to you in private. Please.”

How could he say no, Brian wondered, when she was looking at him with those gorgeous green eyes cloaked in remorse? “Okay.” He sighed. “I’m heading up to the Thursday Fall right after this meeting. Can you meet me there?”

“Sure, of course,” she answered quickly before he’d had a chance to change his mind. “Brian, thank you. Really.”

“No problem.” He glanced over to see Howie and Alex ushering people back to their seats. “I think it’s time to vote. You’d better get back to your seat.”

Reena nodded and headed off the stage, relieved that Brian wasn’t so hurt that he refused to see her.

When everyone had taken their seats again, Howie stood. “Well, now that everyone has had a chance to review the model and ask their questions, we’ll begin the voting procedure. We’re a small enough town that we can trust each other not to vote multiple times or sabotage the vote in any way. I have a list here of each registered member,” he held up a file. “When Jenny calls your name, please answer with an “aye” or “nay” depending on whether or not you approve of the Phillips model.” He handed the file to his secretary. “Jenny, you may begin.”

Jenny flipped open the file and leaned forward to speak into her microphone. “We’ll be voting alphabetically. The first member is Daniel Adams.”

A middle-aged man stood. “Aye.”

“Michelle Adams.”

“Aye.”

“Linda Allen.”

“Aye.”

“Robert Allen…”

Half an hour later, Gwen let Kevin pull her out the back door of the auditorium. When he pulled her off the ground and swung her around, she grinned down into his eyes.

“You did it, Gwen! Your plan was approved! Congratulations, baby!” He punctuated his cheer with a kiss.

She ran her hands through the dark waves of his hair and kissed him back. “Thank you for painting it,” she murmured as she broke the kiss. “I couldn’t have done it without you taking me up to the falls, giving me the legend. Kevin, you were my inspiration.” And she was starting to believe he was more than that to her, too. It scared her how much she felt for him in such a short amount of time, but she didn’t want to worry about that now.

“Listen.” Kevin set her down and slid an arm around her waist as they walked to his car. “I’ve got something special planned for you. To celebrate.”

“Oh, but you didn’t”

He pressed a finger to her lips. “Of course, I did have to. And I did. I’ll pick you up around eleven thirty tonight. Is that okay?”

“Isn’t that a little late?”

He kissed her again. “Not at all. Trust me, Gwen?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then I’ll see you in a few hours, and don’t wear anything too special. Just be you.”

She frowned. “Okay. I’ll see you then.” And she watched his car leave, wondering what on earth he’d planned for them.

***

Reena clutched the sack she carried and tried to maneuver down the path that curved behind the waterfalls. She knew her hair was a good deal wet, but she didn’t really want to think about how frizzy it would be when it began to dry. At the moment, she only cared about making it to the Thursday Fall alive.

After another five minutes of stumbling and feeling her way along the rock walls, she stepped into the cave behind the fourth waterfall. Brian sat watching the water drip around him, his face pensive. When she entered, he glanced over at her then directed his gaze back to the water and the late evening sunlight filtering through the liquid droplets.

“I was born here,” he said quietly when she sat next to him.

Reena studied his face. “Really? Right here behind this waterfall?”

Brian nodded, turning to look at her. “Right here. My parents have always liked adventure, and having me behind a raging waterfall was yet another adventure.”

“Wow. What do they do for work? I mean, with that sort of thirst for whatever life has to offer, they’ve got to have unique careers.”

Brian grinned now. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Nah, my dad was a real estate agent who made a huge killing in hotels down in Newport, and my mom was his accountant. They were a good team and made a great home. Now, they’re retired and exploring their way across the world. This morning, my mom called from Nepal.”

“That’s really amazing! Have you ever gone with them?”

He nodded. “When I was younger, every vacation we went on was to somewhere unique. We never went to Disney World like all the other families. Instead, we went to the Amazon, to Egypt and the pyramids, and to see the stone dances in Ireland.” He shrugged. “Not your normal family vacations.”

“No, definitely not. The most memorable place my family went was to the amusement park. We didn’t have that much money,” she explained when she saw Brian’s brow arch.

“Oh.” He smiled. “Well, I would have taken rollercoasters over a choppy whitewater rafting trip any day. I was couldn’t stop shaking for hours after that ride.”

Reena took her chances and placed her hand over his on his knee. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“Forgiving me. After the way you helped me out all week, you didn’t deserve the way I hurt you. You were right—I didn’t tell you much about my past, mostly because coming to Seven Falls was my way of running from it,” she explained. “Chase cheating on me was the last straw in a long line of disappointments in my life, and I just wanted to start fresh and not have to worry about what happened before.”

Brian turned his hand over to grip hers. “Then I’m sorry I was pushy. I didn’t mean to be, but I don’t want to let you go so fast. You’ve caused all sorts of feelings in me, ones I didn’t think I was capable of feeling. Reena,” he lifted her hand to his lips. “I don’t care that I’ve only known you for four days. I care about you. A lot.”

Her heart did a somersault in her chest, and it felt absolutely lovely. “I care about you, too, Brian. It’s just…after I met Juliet yesterday and saw how hurt she was by the way your relationship wasn’t working, I felt awful. She didn’t deserve that.”

“No, she doesn’t. In all honesty, I’ve been unfair to her, keeping her dangling for so long when, deep down, I knew we weren’t really headed anywhere.” Brian sighed. “That’s why I broke things off with her this morning. And, in the way of small towns, I’m sure you already know that.”

“Kirby told me she overheard Christine and Callie talking about it,” Reena admitted.

Brian grinned. “See? It’s the blessing, and curse, of living in a town where you know everyone and they know you.”

“I think it’s nice.” She paused and wallowed in the stunning smile he gave her. It made his eyes sparkle and created irresistible crinkles at the corners of his eyes. “Brian. What now? I mean,” she swallowed nervously. “Does this mean that you want us to be, you know…”

“Together?” Brian suggested. “I want to, Reena. I want to be with you so much, but I won’t push you. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Knowing that he was still wondering and worrying about her ex-fiancé, Reena leaned her head against his shoulder. “Brian, I met Chase three years ago. I’d just gotten out of an internship I did with a professional photographer, and I needed work. When I saw the Hiring sign in this small shop, I went in and asked. Chase took me on right away, and I thought he was the greatest man. He’s five years older than me and was willing to take me on as a partner in his established place. I don’t know when our professional relationship turned into a romantic one, but, one day, he asked me to marry him.” She sighed.

“You don’t have to finish, Reena. I get the picture,” Brian murmured, pressing his lips to her hair.

She shook her head. “You deserve the truth, so here’s the rest. I didn’t know if I was in love with him, but I believed that I was. All my life, I’d wanted acceptance from someone who wasn’t family and obligated to love me. Gwen was always the head of this club or president of the student body or whatever in high school, and I was always expected to follow in her footsteps. When I didn’t, teachers frowned down on me, and I felt obligated to be different, willful, less conforming.” She sighed. “So having Chase tell me he loved me and wanted to marry me felt like a godsend. We’d been engaged three months and would have married last month if it wasn’t for the fact that I did walk in on him all over a woman I considered my best friend. When Gwen called to say she was moving here, I broke ties with the shop and left.”

When she was quiet for several moments, Brian tipped her chin up so he could see her eyes. They were troubled, and he didn’t like that he’d made her take a trip into a less than happy past. He wanted to convince her that he cared about her, maybe even was in love with her, but he didn’t think she’d believe him if he told her now.

“Reena,” he searched for the right words and spotted the bag she’d brought with her. “What’s that?”

“Hmm?” She looked to where he was pointing and smiled. “I was going to bribe your forgiveness with macaroni and cheese,” she admitted, pulling out a Tupperware container filled with cheese-covered noodles.

He couldn’t help but grin. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. Kirby told me it was foolproof.”

Brian took the bowl from her and set it aside. Framing her face with his hands, he smiled into her eyes. “I think I’m crazy about you,” he told her before his lips met hers.

Reena sighed happily against his lips as her arms wound around his neck, her fingers skimming through his hair. “Does this mean you like the peace offering?” she asked.

He leaned back. “Like? Hell, I love it! You’ve found the way to my heart.”

Her heart leaped as he found the forks she’d brought along and tasted her cooking. “Brian?”

“Baby, this is great! Better than my own recipe,” he complimented her.

“Brian.” She was terrified of what was happening to her heart, her feelings.

He looked up at her when he heard the quiet urgency in her voice. “What’s wrong?”

Reena shook her head. “It’s just…Brian, I think I’m crazy about you, too. I’ve never said this to another man, but I-I need you. Here. With me.”

She’d expected him to laugh it off, smile, or even pat her hand affectionately. So when Brian’s arms came around her and crushed her close to him while his lips found hers, Reena let herself get lost in his embrace and stopped worrying.

***

“This is nicer than what I thought you had planned,” Gwen admitted, sipping from the champagne Kevin had poured and toasted her with.

It was midnight, and she was sitting on a picnic blanket with a basketful of food, leaning against Kevin with moonlight illuminating them and the falls that rose in the distance. Instead of taking her to a restaurant, or dancing, or wherever, Kevin had brought her to the waterfalls and surprised her with a romantic, moonlight picnic. They were far enough away from the falls that they wouldn’t be dewed with the mist, but still close enough to see them spearing up into the night sky.

“I’m glad,” Kevin replied. “I would have hated to be predictable.”

She smiled. “Kevin Richardson? Predictable? Absolutely not.” She popped a juicy grape in her mouth and decided there was something about the scene she was in that made even a grape taste a hundred times better.

Kevin watched her and was glad that she was enjoying herself. He hadn’t seen her all day until the meeting where she’d won over the town with her idea for the memorial, and he was beaming with pride for her. The picnic had been an impulsive idea he’d come up with at the end of the meeting, and he was thrilled that she loved it. He didn’t think he’d ever seen another woman as lovely as Gwen when she was caught up in success and happiness. Which was why he was putting off asking her about her knowledge of Liliane’s pregnancy.

“I’m proud of you, Gwen,” he spoke quietly and watched as her blush was apparent even in the dim light from the moon.

“Thanks.” She kissed him softly. “We make a good team.”

He couldn’t deny that. “We do, but it was your idea that inspired it all. Gwen, I…” he trailed off, the need to tell her what he felt for her nearly bursting out of him. But he didn’t want to frighten her off with the intensity of his feelings.

“What is it, Kevin?” She wasn’t sure what she saw in his eyes. They were filled with swirling emotions that a part of her was afraid to see, while another part of her held its breath in anticipation.

He cupped her cheek. “I feel like I’ve known you all my life instead of just a few days. I can’t imagine not knowing you, not feeling how I feel when I’m around you or even think of you.”

Her heart trembled. “I feel the same way,” she admitted.

His breath whooshed out in relief. “You do? I mean, I thought I was going crazy because I’ve never felt so strongly for someone in so short a time. Not even Mia,” he added, hoping she’d believe him because it was the truth.

“I—wow. Um, and here I thought it was me who’d lost her mind.” Gwen laughed softly. “What’s happening to us, Kevin?”

In answer, he pressed his lips to hers and felt her arms wrap around him. It shouldn’t be possible, he knew, that a woman could affect him like this so quickly, but he didn’t care. He wanted, needed, Gwen, and rational thought meant nothing.

Kevin rested his head against hers. “Gwen?”

She heard the question he didn’t ask and realized that she couldn’t stop herself. “Kevin.”

“I need you, Gwen.”

The joy that rushed through her at the simple declaration launched her into his arms and had him tumbling back into the grass as she pressed kisses over his face. When their lips finally met, his hands gripped her hips before running under her top and over smooth skin before he tugged the top off.

Gwen arched under his touch, and, her lips still against his, her fingers unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it aside. Scattering kisses over his shoulders and chest, she moaned, delighted, when his arms stroked over her, unclasping her bra on the way. When Kevin slid the zipper on her jeans down, it was the most natural thing in the world to surrender herself to him and all the feelings he’d made bubble within her.

***

A long while later, they lay quiet, wrapped in each other’s arms. Her skin was still tingling all over from the way his lips had caressed it, and she was astonished to find that she wanted him all over again. Gwen pressed a kiss to his collarbone and snuggled in when his arms tightened around her.

Kevin hadn’t planned on the night turning out this way, but he’d always known that the best things in life were often unplanned. Gwen’s entrance into his life certainly was, but he could only be thankful to whatever higher power had given her to him. His fingers were tangled in her hair, and he was sure his heart was just as tangled up in her.

“Kevin?” Her voice was soft as she lifted her head to look into his eyes. “I have to tell you how I knew about Liliane’s pregnancy.”

He shook his head. “I don’t care. I don’t need to know right now.” He tugged her back down. “I just want to be here with you like this. Let’s not let the legend in on this, too.”

“I was pregnant once,” she blurted out then clapped her hands over her mouth.

Slowly, very slowly, Kevin sat up and pulled her up next to him. He grasped her chin, so he could see her eyes. “Say that again?”

Gwen swallowed nervously. “I was pregnant once, which is how I know Liliane was pregnant. When I saw the way she was sitting, her arms around her belly like she was protecting whatever was in there, I knew. Every pregnant woman has a different way of carrying herself, but I recognized Liliane’s stance because I’d been that way.”

“When?” He didn’t trust himself to say anything other than one-word questions.

“Twelve years ago,” she replied. “I had just graduated from high school and had a full scholarship to go to college. Money was tight in my family, so knowing that my brains had gotten me into a top school for architecture was a point of pride for me. While I was getting ready to go to school, I didn’t know that my father had made a bad deal, one of those ‘get rich quick’ deals, that went sour.” She sighed. “He was desperate to hold onto his life, so he bartered me for his life.”

“What?!” Kevin grabbed her arms. “He gave his daughter up to a lowlife to save himself? What kind of coward was he?”

Gwen shook her head. The sting and anger from the past had long-since worn off. “He loved me, but he was weak, Kevin. For three short weeks, I was the girl toy for a man who had connections to the Mafia. He wasn’t anything like what I thought a criminal would be like. He was kind, sweet, and I couldn’t help but like him.” She looked out at the falls in the distance. “I think maybe I let myself care about him even though I knew he was slime. Three weeks after I was taken, an enemy of his killed him. There wasn’t anyone to prevent me from leaving, so I went home and went to school.”

He couldn’t digest all the information, was finding it difficult to restrain his anger. But he knew that she needed to finish. “You found out you were pregnant?”

“Yeah. Two weeks into the first semester,” she said quietly. “I was terrified and had no idea what to do. All I knew was that I had conceived a child, and it must have been for a reason. So I explored my options and decided that I would give it up for adoption. My family didn’t have the money to support another child, and I wanted my baby to have a better home.” She paused. “Part of it was selfishness, too. I wouldn’t be able to finish up school and be what I wanted to be if I was a mother, so I thought adoption was the best route. I lost the baby when I was four months along.” The breeze blowing lightly raised goosebumps on her skin, so she shrugged back into her shirt. “Anyway, that’s how I knew Liliane had been pregnant. I guess it’s a sort of mother to mother instinct, maybe.”

Not knowing what to say, he did what felt right. Reaching out, he pulled her into his arms and cradled her. And she held on.