1022 Evergreen Place

Linc collected the keys to the garage and went home, hoping to pick up Lori and take her down to see the garage. He had a notebook filled with ideas on how to build the business. He wanted to tell her about them, and above all, he wanted to share this moment with her. They’d take the wine over to the property and toast there.

When Linc arrived home, he saw a black Town Car parked in the very spot where he normally left his truck. Even before he reached their apartment, he heard raised voices.

“Don’t say that, Daddy!” Lori cried. She sounded close to tears.

Oh, boy. Lori hadn’t told her family yet that they were married. Linc didn’t understand why she’d delayed, but the decision was hers. When he’d asked her about it, Linc could see how uncomfortable the subject made her, so he’d dropped it.

Now her father was upset, and frankly, Linc didn’t blame him. He’d do his best to set things straight.

Squaring his shoulders, Linc opened the door and walked into the living room. Lori stood next to the fireplace, her father—a balding, heavyset man—no more than a foot away. One of his hands was raised, as if he’d been wagging his finger at her. The other was clenched at his side. At Linc’s entrance, they both turned to stare at him.

“Hello,” Linc said, hoping he sounded calm and composed. “You must be Lori’s father. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bellamy.” He thrust out his hand, which the older man ignored.

Instead, Leonard Bellamy turned back to his daughter. “Is that the man?”

“Daddy, this is my husband, Lincoln Wyse. Linc … this is my father.”

Linc walked over to Lori’s side and placed his arm protectively around her shoulders.

Bellamy continued to ignore him. “You’ve pulled some stupid stunts in your life, but this takes the cake.”

“Mr. Bellamy, I realize—”

“If I want to hear from you, I’ll say so,” the older man shouted. “Don’t you have any sense, Lori Marie? You married this man and you don’t even know him? What about his family? Who are his people?”

“If you’d allow me—”

“You,” Leonard said, pointing an accusing finger at Linc, “mind your own business. This is between me and my daughter.”

Lori squeezed his arm, indicating that Linc should do as her father said. He didn’t like it, but he clenched his jaw and waited impatiently for the other man to get to the end of his rant.

“First, you were engaged to that … that felon.”

“Geoff was a mistake.”

“A mistake!” Leonard shouted. “So that’s what you’re calling him. He was a major embarrassment to the whole family. How do you think your mother and I felt when we had to cancel the wedding? We couldn’t even say it was wedding-day jitters or make up a decent excuse. Oh, no. Geoff’s name was plastered across the front page of every newspaper on the Kitsap Peninsula. Everyone in the entire county knew why the wedding was canceled.”

“I … I didn’t know what kind of man Geoff was,” Lori said, defending herself. Her voice quavered with mortification. “I agree I misjudged Geoff, but you liked him, too, remember?”

Her father brushed off her comment. “What makes you think you have better judgment this time?” he demanded. “How long did you two know each other, anyway?”

“Long enough,” Linc said, unable to remain silent.

“I asked you to stay out of this,” Bellamy shouted. He started pacing, then stopped and glared at Lori. “What were you thinking?” Briefly he closed his eyes. “What on earth possessed you to marry a stranger?”

“Daddy …”

“Can you imagine how your mother felt to have a friend—mind you, a friend—announce that you’d recently married?”

“Daddy, please …”

“You couldn’t have told us yourself?” he bellowed, refusing to let Lori explain.

“Mr. Bellamy,” Linc said, trying again.

Lori covered her face with both hands and began to sob.

“You’ve really done it this time,” Leonard said. “You’ve consistently shown poor judgment, and worse, you never seem to learn from your mistakes.”

Frowning, Linc took a step forward. He understood why Lori’s father was upset, but the man was crossing the line now.

“No one in the family has ever done anything like this. Your mother’s beside herself.”

“I’m sorry,” Lori sobbed.

“As you should be. You made one stupid mistake and then you immediately followed that up with another.” He whirled around and studied Linc through narrowed eyes. “A mechanic, Lori? For heaven’s sake, why would you marry a mechanic? It isn’t embarrassing enough that our daughter elopes without a word to her family, but then you have to marry a man with oil under his fingernails, an uncouth, uneducated … mechanic? What’s the matter with you, girl? Don’t you have a brain in your head?”

“Mr. Bellamy,” Linc said, his voice hard. It was one thing to belittle him, but Linc wasn’t going to stand idly by while Lori’s father chastised her as if she were a child. “I can see why you’re upset. I’ll be the first to admit that we rushed into this marriage, but that doesn’t give you the right to come to our home and ridicule my wife.”

“Your home?” The other man’s face reddened.

Lori’s hand tightened around Linc’s forearm and she squeezed hard. “This building belongs to my parents,” she whispered. “I don’t pay rent.”

Linc hadn’t known that—and wished she’d told him. “If you want us to move, we’ll be out by the end of the month,” he offered.

“I want you out, all right,” Bellamy raged, jerking one thumb at the door. “Out of my daughter’s life.”

That wasn’t going to happen. Rather than argue, Linc shook his head. “Lori and I are married.”

Her father snorted contemptuously. “You saw a good thing, didn’t you? Lori was easy prey. She was at a low point in her life and you decided to take advantage of her because of her name.”

The name meant nothing to Linc. “Bellamy?”

“Lori comes from a wealthy family and you were trying to—”

“Now, just a minute here!” Despite his efforts, Linc was fast losing his temper. “I don’t need your money or your name.”

Bellamy scowled back at him, his expression filled with disbelief and disdain. “We’ll see about that.” His threat hung heavy in the air.

Linc wouldn’t allow Bellamy to intimidate him. “You might own this building, but you don’t own your daughter. I suggest you leave now, before we both say or do something we’ll regret.”

Bellamy jabbed his index finger at Linc several times, then whirled around and stormed out the door. He slammed it so hard the windows rattled.

The room seemed to vibrate with tension. Lori burst into tears, and Linc put his arms around her. He held her tight against him, his shirt absorbing her tears as he gently stroked her hair.

“My mother’s friend Brenda owns the dress shop and … she must’ve told Mom. She promised she wouldn’t say anything until I’d spoken to my parents but …”

“It’s okay, Lori,” Linc whispered into her hair. “We should’ve told them sooner.”