Heart of Love Read online

  Jake and Callan heard Anna’s sigh as she walked out of the master bedroom and shared a secret smile. They’d already decided to bring the room to life a week before the wedding. Jake ordered the furniture and accents he wanted for the room weeks ago. Callan took the ideas he shared, added some of her own, and together they planned a master suite that would make Anna’s heart melt every time she walked inside.

  Two weeks before the wedding, Anna and Jake worked in the backyard, finishing the landscaping. The sun shone brightly overhead on the beautiful April morning as they placed plants in the ground, spread bark, and added landscaping stones.

  Sam and Lisa volunteered to help them and were ready to knock at the front door when a commotion in the backyard drew their attention.

  “Anna, you put that down, right now.” Jake’s voice sounded uncharacteristically stern. “I mean it. Put it down. Right. Now.”

  They heard Anna’s throaty laughter. “I don’t think so.”

  “Now, Sugar…” Jake’s voice changed, sounding as smooth as warm butter. “You just put that down and I’ll forget all about this nonsense.”

  “Don’t you ‘now Sugar’ me, you big bully. What’s wrong, fancy boy, afraid I might muss your do?” Anna teased.

  Sam and Lisa hurried around the corner of the house. Jake stood with his hands out toward Anna as she advanced holding a wad of mud in her hand. If Sam wasn’t mistaken, there was at least one earthworm caught in the mess, trying to escape, not that Anna paid it any mind.

  Grass and twigs poked out of her braid and random clumps appeared to be tumble out of her T-shirt.

  “What’s going on back here?” Sam hollered, sounding gruff. It was challenging when he was so thoroughly entertained by the scene playing out before him.

  Anna spun around, noticing Sam and Lisa watching her. Jake didn’t waste a second in lunging forward and capturing her in his arms with her back to his chest, effectively pinning her arms to her sides.

  What he failed to calculate was that Anna could maneuver well enough to throw the mud up at him, splattering it all over the side of his head and into his shirt. Jake let go of her and jumped around, tugging on his T-shirt as a clump of mud and the worm fell out.

  “Dang it all, woman! What are you trying to do to me?” he shouted, wiping away as much mud as he could with his glove. Anna ran over to hide behind Sam, hoping he would provide some protection.

  “See, Sam, I was minding my own business, working away, when he dumped a handful of grass and twigs down my neck. I couldn’t just let him get away with it, could I?” Anna forced herself to sound innocent and not giggle.

  “Why don’t you tell the rest of the story, Anna?” Jake pulled off his gloves and reamed mud from his ear. “Tell Sam how you threw grass and bark at me every time I turned my back. Why don’t you tell him that?”

  “I don’t know anything about that.” Anna stood straight and proper, feigning offense that Jake would defame her character in such a manner. “I’m sure it was your imagination.”

  Jake grabbed a handful of mud and started toward Anna. “Imagine how cold and goopy this mud will feel sliding down your back.”

  “Jake, you stay away from me. Sam, make him stop,” Anna pleaded, using her brother as a human shield.

  Sam laughed and stepped out of the way. “I’m not getting in the middle of this. I thought you two needed some help working. Maybe we should come back another time when you’re in the mood to work and not act like a couple of spoiled brats.”

  He took Lisa’s hand in his and started toward the front yard when mud splattered against the back of his shirt. Stopping, he turned around to see both Anna and Jake grinning innocently.

  “So that’s the way you want to play…” Sam grabbed two handfuls of mud and threw it at both of them.

  Lisa wasn’t sure what happened next, but the four of them were throwing mud and laughing so hard, they all ended up sitting on the grass, covered in mud splats, trying to catch their breath.

  “This is a fine sight. Didn’t anyone teach you kids how to plant shrubs?” Ken asked as he and Sue walked into the backyard. “I thought we taught our children better than this.”

  “You better hush up, Ken. It looks to me like there’s still plenty of mud available for slinging,” Sue said, laughing.

  After they got back to work, the six of them made good time. They finished the backyard plantings, spread the bark, and placed the flat stones Anna chose for the walkway to the rose arbor, where the ceremony would take place. Everything was coming together just like she’d planned.

  In two short weeks, she’d become Mrs. Jake Chandler.

  The Saturday before the wedding, Sue and Lisa took Anna to the city for a day of shopping. Jake had begged them to keep Anna away from the house while he and Callan finished the master bedroom. A trip to Portland seemed like a good distraction.

  Jake, Clay, and Callan spent the previous evening rolling paint on the walls while Anna attended a bridal shower hosted by her friends at the library. Bobbi and Steve offered to take the girls for the weekend so Clay and Callan would be free to help Jake as needed.

  After choosing a Tuscan finish for the walls, Callan showed him how, with the help of a split paint tray and roller, to use warm brown and golden yellow paint on top of the already tan walls to achieve a marbled effect that emanated both depth and warmth.

  With the three of them working, they finished painting in no time. Jake was excited to see how good it looked. It could have passed as a room in a quaint Tuscan villa.

  Early the next morning, Clay and Jake met the furniture truck out front and unloaded the bedroom set. Callan watched as they carried the beautiful pieces inside.

  While she and Anna assumed Jake wanted the bedroom to be masculine, what he really wanted was for it to be romantic. In all the years she’d known Jake, Callan wouldn’t have guessed it was in him to come up with so many sentimental touches for the bedroom.

  Jake didn’t want a footboard and instead settled on a massive headboard of honey oak in a traditional old-world style, featuring intricate carvings of vines and swirls. Two carved pineapple finials highlighted each end of the headboard, “for a warm welcome,” Jake informed Callan when she questioned his choice. A large heart surrounded by curlicues and filigrees adorned the center of the tall peaked headboard. Two solid nightstands, a large chest of drawers, and a lovely dresser with a carved mirror all matched the headboard.

  Before Jake set up the bed, he had Clay help him add an antique keyhole to the center of the heart in the headboard. At the time, it made no sense to Clay, but before they finished the room, even he admitted it was a clever idea.

  The massive king-sized bed took up residence along the center of the wall across from the entry door. Crisp white sheets were tucked under a soft cream blanket and a fluffy comforter with a cream, chocolate, and white damask pattern. Matching throw pillows danced across the bed and a cream chenille throw draped along one corner.

  Jake and Callan installed a piece of wall art made of dark brown vinyl lettering in a flowing script above the headboard. Jake took the poem Anna wrote him for Christmas and used the last four lines, changing the word “he” to “true love.”

  To the hidden places of my heart

  True love held the only key,

  And opened up the door

  By simply loving me.

  “Wow, Jake!” Clay made the connection between the poem and the heart with the keyhole in the headboard. “That’s incredible. If Anna wasn’t already head-over-heels in love with you, this would surely push her over the edge.”

  “Maybe you could take a lesson from your cousin, Clay,” Callan teased, giving her husband a flirty smile. Jake grinned, remembering when he was in college and Clay enlisted his help in sweeping Callan off her feet as their marriage recovered from a rocky period. He could more fully appreciate the work Clay and Callan put into their marriage now that he was preparing to make that commitment with Anna. It was something that took co
nstant attention, but the benefit was more than worth the effort.

  Jake glanced around the room, pleased with the results of all the labor he, Clay and Callan put into making it a special place for Anna.

  Billowing white curtains hung from a wrought iron rod high above the French doors leading out to the porch. They were thick enough to provide privacy, but could also be drawn back to let in plenty of light.

  An oval love seat and matching round ottoman Jake found online sat in front of the fireplace. Upholstered in a soft chocolate-colored fabric, the two pieces could be slid together to make a completely round couch, or pushed apart with the ottoman serving as a coffee table or footstool.

  A wrought iron candlestand held five plump cream colored candles on the chest of drawers and two matching individual candle holders stood on either end of the fireplace mantle. The center of the mantle held a carved oak clock. An arrangement of silk flowers filled a vase on the dresser. Beside it sat a framed photograph taken of Jake and Anna at Sam and Lisa’s wedding. It was a candid shot that showed them lost in each other’s eyes and was Jake’s favorite photo.

  Two side chairs, a large woven basket for magazines, a wrought iron floor lamp and a small side table completed the furnishings.

  Cream and chocolate towels carried the bedroom’s colors into the bathroom, where a few more candle accents and a small vase with another cream floral arrangement finished the look.

  On the wall next to the walk-in closet, Jake installed a few pegs where bathrobes or towels could hang. Above it, a piece of wall decor featuring art accents of interwoven vine read:

  Wrap your love around me,

  Entangle me in your charms,

  Weave our hearts together,

  Forever in your arms.

  Callan’s favorite thing in the entire master suite, though, was the painting above the fireplace. When Jake told her about the picture he wished he’d taken of Anna on the backyard swing, Callan referred him to one of her friends who was an artist. In no time at all, she captured on canvas not only the art elements of that day, but also the feeling that Jake wanted to remember. At the bottom of the frame, the painting bore the title “Serenity.”

  As they took one more glance around the room, Callan squeezed Jake’s hand. “It’s perfect, Jake. Absolutely perfect. She’s going to love it.”

  “I certainly hope so.” Jake locked the French doors and then the bedroom door. “But it’s going to be a challenge to keep her out of there for another week.”

  Clay laughed. “Good luck with that!”

  Two days before the wedding, Anna arrived at The Cottage with a load of her belongings in Sam’s truck. Sam and Lisa both helped her pack in boxes. The only things she’d left behind were a few clothes and personal items she’d need before the wedding.

  When Jake first moved in, she dug what kitchen items she owned out of storage and brought them over. Now she had her books, files, and equipment for her office space as well as boxes of keepsakes that would go into one of the storage closets.

  They unloaded the boxes and suitcases containing her clothes first. Anna asked Sam and Lisa to stick them in the master bedroom. Lisa rattled the locked door and glanced back at Anna. “Any suggestions?”

  Anna ran outside and tried the French doors, but they were locked as well. White curtains hung over the doors, blocking her view into the room and blinds over the windows prevented her ability to see inside.

  Blast that Jake! Anna was dying to know what he’d done in the room. When she rushed inside the mudroom, she nearly collided with him as he ran upstairs from the basement.

  “Hey, Sugar.” He kissed her warmly and swung her around by the waist as he walked into the kitchen. “I didn’t know you were here.”

  “Sam and Lisa helped me bring my stuff over. I want to put my clothes and things in the bedroom but the door’s locked. Could you please open it?”

  Jake needed to distract Anna or she’d pitch a fit about him refusing to open the door to their room. He stared into her eyes, offering a slow, tantalizing smile, while he trailed his fingers up and down her back. The look of determination on her face gave way to an undeniable look of longing. “No.”

  “Huh? What?” Anna snapped back to reality. “Did you say no?”

  “That’s exactly what I said.” Jake leaned over and nuzzled her neck. “No.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I need to put my things away, so please either open the door or give me the key.” Anna stepped back and held her hand out to Jake, impatiently wiggling her fingers.

  When he didn’t produce the key, she narrowed her gaze, pinning him with one of her stern librarian glares. The look didn’t work on him in the library and it sure wasn’t going to work on him at home.

  “No.” He kissed her cheek and walked into the foyer where Lisa and Sam carried in more of Anna’s boxes.

  Jake smiled at Lisa and shook Sam’s hand in greeting. “Hey, you two want to stay for dinner? I could barbecue some steaks.”

  “That sounds great,” Sam said, hefting a box of sweaters in his arms.

  “Just let us know where to move all this plunder and we’ll help put it away.” Lisa said carried another box to the bedroom and left it outside the locked door.

  “Just stack it by the door and I’ll take care of it later,” Jake said as he carried a suitcase and two duffle bags down the hall.

  “You will not.” Anna’s temper began to bubble as she followed the trio down the hall with a box full of shoes. “Jake, I insist you open the door right this minute. Your adamant refusal is unacceptable. I find your pertinacious bearing repugnant. Please produce the key, posthaste.”

  “The answer is still no,” Jake told Anna as he set down the suitcase and bags, then went back for another load, ignoring her huff of irritation.

  Sam grinned from ear to ear. Jake wasn’t going to have any problem handling his little sister, even when she had a hissy fit. However, mindful of Anna’s temper, he felt the need to warn Jake of the approaching storm. “When she starts talking like a dictionary, it means she’s about ready to blow a fuse. You might want to watch yourself.”

  He and Sam picked up the last of the boxes with clothing and carried them to the bedroom door. Anna waited there tapping her foot, looking like she seriously considered smacking Jake upside the head.

  “Why are you being such a troglodyte?” Anna asked, about to reach the boiling point. She didn’t have time to fool around with Jake’s stubbornness and needed to get her things put away. Why couldn’t he understand that? Nevermind the fact that she really wanted to see if he had done anything in the room other than hang up curtains and blinds.

  Despite her anger, Jake remained unruffled by her name calling and her sour attitude. He swung his weight onto one hip, hung his hands in his back pockets, and leaned forward until his nose nearly touched hers. “You can call me whatever you want, but I’m still not opening the door. Let it go, Anna.”

  He delivered a playful swat to her bottom on his way back down the hall and walked outside. Sam and Lisa weren’t sure what to do, but following Jake seemed like the safest course of action.

  The guys carried in the office equipment and hauled it upstairs while Lisa continued to bring in boxes of Anna’s plunder.

  Anna jiggled the handle and was half-tempted to kick the door before it dawned on her she behaved like a spoiled child. Chagrined, she wandered out to the pickup and helped finish carrying in the last of the boxes.

  Jake and Sam took the steaks and went out back to the barbecue while Lisa washed up and looked around the kitchen, wondering what she should do.

  Anna washed her hands then opened the fridge and took out the makings for a green salad. Not saying a word, she slid a cutting board and knife toward Lisa along with vegetables. Lisa chopped the tomato and sliced a cucumber while Anna washed a head of lettuce then mixed the salad with dressing.

  “Anna, what’s got you so upset?” Lisa hoped she wouldn’t get an earful of words she’d have to l
ook up when she got home. “It isn’t really about the door being locked, is it?”

  Jake and Sam’s laughter drifted through the partially opened window. Anna looked out toward them and sighed.

  The anger that had starched her spine seemed to suddenly drain out of her. “No,” she agreed. “It isn’t about the door. I’m just aggravated that Jake wouldn’t let me decorate our room in the first place and now it’s turned into this top-secret project he won’t let me see. I feel left out and like he’s intentionally keeping me from seeing the room. It’s our home and that’s going to be our room, so I should have some involvement with it. Not to mention, our wedding is in two days and as far as I know, the room is still bare and empty.” Anna shrugged her shoulders. “I know it’s silly.”

  “It isn’t silly, Anna.” Lisa arranged rolls Anna pulled out of the freezer into a pan and popped them into the oven to heat while Anna sliced potatoes into a hot skillet. “This being married thing, being partners in everything, is a lot of work. You and Jake will both make mistakes. Learn from them, forgive one another, and go forward. Lesson number one is the fine art of compromise. Goodness knows, Sam and I have had to work on that a lot. I don’t know if you realize it or not, but we both can be hardheaded and set in our ways.”

  Anna laughed as she stirred the potatoes and added seasoning. “I can only imagine. I guess I need to look at the big picture, which is this wonderful house, instead of just one room in it. Right?”

  “Exactly.” Lisa nodded her head in agreement. “And don’t forget how much Jake loves you and adores you, and most often spoils you.”

  “You’re right. I’m may have been a little stubborn and childish earlier about the whole thing. Maybe.” Anna grinned at Lisa while the tension drained from her shoulders. To apologize for losing her temper, Anna quickly whipped together a berry crisp. It was one of Jake’s favorite treats. With his love for sweets, she hoped the dessert would help make amends for her bad behavior.