Eva glanced over at West. His stupid plan for her to play a damsel in distress was backfiring. “Do something! Cole just got attacked by the scone mauler again. She’s ruthless!”
West wasn’t paying her any attention. His face could be set in stone. He was too busy playing the dragon. Talk about getting lost in his role! He shrugged off all condolences. That chiseled scowl of his turned more vicious as yet another well-wisher dared approach him. He wasn’t playing anymore.
He’s going to cause a scene.
All thoughts of Cole’s attacker fled her mind as Eva’s hand tightened over West’s sleeve. This wasn’t healthy. She’d failed to reach him so many times before, but she had to try this time. He was suffering horribly. Her heart broke for him. She put her mouth to his ear to whisper out her help, “Please, just… try to enjoy this for what this is… for your momma.”
“What?” he exploded. He swung around to face her.
There it was—turning his pain into rage. Eva called him on it, still keeping her voice low. “You’re so full of anger. Is that your only emotion? It’s getting really boring. You have to open your heart to something other than your anger at losing your momma. For once. For her!”
The flashing storm in West’s blue eyes narrowed on her.
She’d gone too far, but he’d better think again if he thought she’d back down. Saying her piece was too long in coming. He needed to hear this, even if it shattered the torn remnants of what was left of their friendship. “It’s okay to just…feelsomething that’s not toxic,” she said.
His lips firmed. She braced for the scathing set down. She was ready for him.
“There you are, West,” Cadence said to the side of them. His sister-in-law sifted through her envelopes carrying his momma’s letters. She found a pretty blue one in the center.
West’s attention veered to the neat pristine handwriting—his momma’s, no doubt. Swallowing, he lifted his brows at Cadence, turning the challenge in his strained eyes on her. His jaw was tight with the effort of keeping in whatever emotion that he couldn’t let go.
“You, West, are her ‘Beloved,’” Cadence said.
Oh, that elicited a response from him, all right! His cheeks flamed like he’d just been slapped.
The Beloved? His momma had given him her favorite rose… or as Eva called it, the Beauty and the Beast rose.
Cadence reached into the basket hanging over her arm to retrieve a pot that held a velvety rose that rivaled any other with its flush, deep red petals.
It was gorgeous!
But Eva wasn’t such a heathen that she didn’t know the Beloved meant something much, much more, especially to West’s momma. It would be almost religious in its symbolism.
West would get that too.
“You know your momma loves that rose,” Cadence said softly. “She waters it carefully, nourishes it just right. It flourishes with the warmth she’s given it. She never wants it to go away.” Cadence held out the potted flower for him to take.
West jerked back from it. “Wait, wait, what do you want me to do with this?” His question seemed more defiant with the rash of stark emotion glistening in his eyes.
His sister-in-law didn’t act intimidated in the least. In fact, her gaze gentled on him. More than anyone, she might understand where he was coming from. She harkened from a rough background and had done things in her life that she hadn’t always been proud of. “I’m sure your momma would love for you to take care of it.”
“She’ll love that, huh?” he snarled. “How is that? I don’t see her around here. You’re really so sure about that?”
Eva’s jaw dropped, even as Cadence gave a shrug of her delicate shoulders. His momma’s brave new messenger purposely misinterpreted his rough tone by giving directions for its care. “Make sure it’s warm. The Beloved was meant for a steamy, tropical climate; one might say a rougher, unforgiving one.”
“Is that so, huh?”
Cadence matched his tone. “You know what? The Beloved is alluring, I’ll give it that, but it’s also one of the toughest flowers out there, so I doubt you’re going to kill it, even if you try, which you always do! Lily raised it from a bud and those roots are strong! She told me the Beloved will always be hers, so it doesn’t matter how much the world tries to snatch him from her grip. She wants her Beloved with her. To stay.”
His forehead wrinkled. He knew exactly what she was saying. They all did.
“Uh huh,” West said in a distracted way. “Real cute...” His fingers brushed over his pockets like he searched for something. His eyebrows were knit together. He turned his head aside to Eva. “I need a smoke,” he said under his breath.
“You quit,” she hissed in return.
Growling out in surrender as his fingers met nothing, West met Cadence’s eyes again. “What do you want from me?” Cadence waved the beautiful blue envelope at him. Her head tilted at him as if to take her dare. West’s chin lowered and he snatched the letter from her, ignoring the rose. He stared down at the sealed envelope. His lips curled. “I’m almost afraid to read what she has in here for me.” He went silent, lost in his thoughts as he studied his momma’s elaborate cursive spelling out his name.
Eva shifted.