Page 176 of You Found Me
The driver, a boy probably fresh out of high school, climbed out and ran to throw open the van’s back doors.
Diggs hopped out first.
Three men with the combined star power of a small planet jumped out after him. The four spoke briefly, then Diggs moved out of sight behind the van.
Ward groaned. He hoped like hell the neighbors weren’t watching this. His yard was about to be filled with enough celebrities to make the entire town lose their collective minds.
“Hey, I know that guy!” Mason’s excitement made him sound a lot younger, and, Ward was relieved to hear, less antagonistic. “That’s Adam Brooks! He’s the lead singer for Delusions of Glory! Wow. What’s he doinghere?”
“He’s Mattie Bellamy’s fiancé,” Sam informed him with an air of superiority. “Which you’d know if you knew anything about music.”
“I know plenty about music, I just don’t stalk The Bellamy Sisters the way you do,” Mason said. “Who’s the other guy?”
Elyse’s hand fluttered to her throat. “Th…that’s Blake Ryan. He’s a fantastic actor. My goodness. Who’s the other man? He’s quite something. Is he an actor too?”
“No.” Ward would rather they not meet the third guy, but he didn’t see a way around it. Maybe if he avoided job titles, Masonwouldn’t notice the star-maker. “That’s Renic. He’s Della’s brother-in-law.”
Samantha slipped her hand into Ward’s. “Are all of The Bellamy Sisters coming? Even Piper?”
“Better be,” Ward muttered. He still didn’t see any sign of Della.
The rational part of his brain knew she was here. Diggs wouldn’t be here without her. Neither would anyone else.
The irrational side knew that if she didn’t show her face soon, he was going to rip all the doors off that van.
Lizzie appeared next. Renic held out his hand to help her down. She frowned at it. He flashed a pointed look at her obviously pregnant belly, then lifted her down.
Mattie emerged, then turned back to the van. Piper handed her two vases of sunflowers.
She immediately shoved them into Adam’s arms.
“Mason, let’s go help them with those flowers,” Dad said.
“Yeah, okay.” Mason gulped. “Wow. Adam Brooks.”
Ward squinted at the front window of the van. He was about to go find out exactly where the hell she was, injured leg be damned, when Diggs appeared at the front of the delivery van with Della holding on to his arm.
Relief, palpable and painful, flooded him.
She wore a simple yellow dress that revealed all the scratches and bruises on her legs, and her hair glowed in the afternoon light like a fiery orange beacon.
Ward was at the front door before Della made it to the steps.
Della’s eyes met his, and her face lit up brighter than her hair. “There you are.”
She limped up the steps and flung herself into his arms like it had been weeks since they’d seen each other.
He savored the feel of her in his arms as he buried his face in her curls.
“Don’t make me do that ever again,” Della said in his ear. “I don’t want to go anywhere without you.”
“You won’t have to.” He kissed her cheeks, then her lips.
For a second, or maybe a century, it was just the two of them. He wanted to take her upstairs, shut the bedroom door behind them, and keep it that way for a long, long time. They could take their time…recovering.
“Hey, love birds, go nest somewhere else,” Piper said. “You’re in the way.”
Ward lifted his head enough to scowl at her.