One True Love by Barbara Freethy Page B

understood.”
    “You did forget. “”No she yelled. “I didn’t forget. How can you forget when a part of you dies?” She stared down at her hands, subconsciously twisting the engagement ring around her finger. “But I did move on, Nick. I wish you had done the same thing.”
    “If you’ve truly put everything that happened in the past behind you, why are you afraid to go into the house?”
    She couldn’t answer his logic, so she gave up. “Fine. I’ll go into the house. I’ll look in every room. But I won’t relive that night with you. I won’t talk about what happened or why. Not now. Not ever.”
    Lisa stepped out of the car just as a bird swooped across the yard and lit on one of the lower branches of the tree. Her heart stopped. The first robin of spring.

Chapter 7
    “It’s too early,” Lisa whispered, turning to see the same stunned expression on Nick’s face.
    He looked into her eyes. “They haven’t been back since Robin died.”
    “No.”
    “Yes. That spring they built their nest, but something happened, and they never came back. Don’t you remember?”
    She shook her head. “I don’t remember.”
    “I guess you put them out of your mind like everything else, but I couldn’t. It seemed so symbolic, that goddamn empty nest. I used to sit out there in the late night and the early morning, staring at that nest, wondering why they were gone—wondering why Robin was gone.”
    Lisa watched as the robin flew from branch to branch, as if it weren’t quite sure where it wanted to be.
    “Are you trying to tell me that what happened had something to do with the birds’ abandoning their nest?”
    “Maybe. Your mother thought it meant something.”
    “Well, she would. If the robins left that spring, it’s because they found a better place to go. It didn’t have anything to do with what happened.”
    “Then how come the robin has come back now—with you?” he challenged.
    “It’s not with me.” But was it? Lisa remembered the robin in L.A.” the one she’d seen outside her office building. No, it couldn’t be the same bird. Los Angeles was a hundred and fifty miles away. She strode briskly toward the house. “I thought you wanted me to see the place. I’m here, so let’s go.”
    “Fine.” Nick followed her up the steps and unlocked the front door. He motioned her inside. “After you, milady.”
    His voice faltered.
    “Oh, Nick.” Her eyes filled with moisture as she remembered.
    “This is our palace, milady,” Nick said with a grin as he carried her up the stairs, her wedding gown trailing over his arm and down to the floor of the porch. “I’m the king and you are my very beautiful queen.” He lowered his head and kissed her warmly on the mouth.
    Lisa sighed with pure pleasure. She had just married an incredible man and was about to be carried over the threshold into her very own home.
    She didn’t think she could be any happier. “If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up.”
    He looked into her eyes with a seriousness she hadn’t expected. “It’s not a dream. It’s reality. It’s us. I’ve wanted you forever, since Maggie brought you home in the seventh grade.”
    “You sure waited long enough to ask me out. Like six years.” She punched him on the arm. “A little slow, weren’t you?”
    “I was afraid of you, afraid of the way you made me feel, like I was out of control, like I was starving for something I couldn’t have.”
    “You made me feel the same way.” She traced his face with her fingers, loving the feel of his strong jaw, his smoothly shaven face. It was the first time she’d felt the silkiness of his skin. Usually he wore a five o’clock shadow by three o’clock in the afternoon. “Did I tell you that I love you, Nick Maddux?”
    “Yes, but keep saying it.” He paused. “I love you, Lisa Maddux.”
    “I like the sound of that.” And she did, not just because it was Nick’s name, her married name, but because it wiped away the