was laid-back and easygoing. Loved having a good time and believed that life took care of itself, that you really shouldn’t have to work so hard at it. Unlike Honey, who discounted anything that came easily.
His family had loved Honey from the minute they’d met her. Both because her blue-blood status gave respectable cache to their oil field money and because they believed she was exactly what Jim Bob needed to give him some direction in life.
They were right on both counts.
Honey had taken to his family like, well, a duck to water. Her own mother had died shortly after they’d met and she had no other immediate family. She’d told Jim Bob she didn’t get along with her distant relatives, since they’d forsaken her during her mother’s long illness. Medical bills had drained most of the fortune her father had made in textiles. Even her family home had been mortgaged to the hilt. They’d never been back to Philadelphia, and none of Honey’s relatives ever called or came to visit.
But her high-society cache and Honey’s unerring sense of direction hadn’t brought Jim Bob the happiness he’d thought their marriage was supposed to provide. His children had been the only things that had given him real joy.
And then Skylar had been killed.
Honey blamed him wholly, completely. Blamed his permissiveness and what she called his screwed-up priorities. Putting fun ahead of safety. And he couldn’t fault her for it. He’d actually pleaded Skylar’s case for lessrestriction, convincing Honey to untie the apron strings and let Skylar go to that damnable rock concert. Jim Bob never regretted any decision more.
When Honey had told him he would get absolutely no say in raising Delaney, he’d stepped out of the picture as far as discipline was concerned. Even when he didn’t agree with something his wife was doing, like putting Delaney on a strict diet, or pressuring her into plastic surgery, or egging her on to marry Evan, he’d kept his mouth shut. Jim Bob’s ideas on child rearing had gotten his oldest daughter killed. What in the hell did he know? He couldn’t buck Honey on anything.
Jim Bob peered over the top of his newspaper. Honey was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the wedding veil as if it were a poisonous viper. She was so damn determined this wedding had to meet some impossibly high standard she’d set up in her own mind. It was costing him a fortune, but the money wasn’t what bothered Jim Bob. He worried that Delaney was getting married simply to please her mother.
Not that he disliked his future son-in-law. Evan Van Zandt was a good guy and came from a very respectable family. Delaney could do far worse. It was just that, because of Honey’s overprotectiveness, Delaney had never really experienced life. Evan was the only man she’d ever dated. She’d never lived on her own, nor was she well traveled. She hadn’t even worked at anything other than this little business venture she’d started, except teaching undergrads when she was working on her master’s degree.
If it weren’t for Honey pressuring her friends into using All the World’s a Stage when they sold their houses, he doubted Delaney could keep the business afloat without tapping into the trust fund his mother had set up for her.Jim Bob couldn’t help feeling that his daughter deserved so much more out of life.
But how could he advise Delaney on marriage when his own was in such rocky shape?
Where had things gotten so messed up?
He looked at Honey. A sweep of blond hair had fallen across her cheek, and his heart wadded in his chest. The past was gone, and he felt the future ebbing away like hourglass sand. God, he’d screwed things up so badly.
“I’ve let you down,” he said to Honey.
“Excuse me?” She looked up, assessing him with cool green eyes that revealed nothing. The same inscrutable eyes Delaney had inherited.
“Over the years, I haven’t been the kind of husband you deserved.”
She stared at
His family had loved Honey from the minute they’d met her. Both because her blue-blood status gave respectable cache to their oil field money and because they believed she was exactly what Jim Bob needed to give him some direction in life.
They were right on both counts.
Honey had taken to his family like, well, a duck to water. Her own mother had died shortly after they’d met and she had no other immediate family. She’d told Jim Bob she didn’t get along with her distant relatives, since they’d forsaken her during her mother’s long illness. Medical bills had drained most of the fortune her father had made in textiles. Even her family home had been mortgaged to the hilt. They’d never been back to Philadelphia, and none of Honey’s relatives ever called or came to visit.
But her high-society cache and Honey’s unerring sense of direction hadn’t brought Jim Bob the happiness he’d thought their marriage was supposed to provide. His children had been the only things that had given him real joy.
And then Skylar had been killed.
Honey blamed him wholly, completely. Blamed his permissiveness and what she called his screwed-up priorities. Putting fun ahead of safety. And he couldn’t fault her for it. He’d actually pleaded Skylar’s case for lessrestriction, convincing Honey to untie the apron strings and let Skylar go to that damnable rock concert. Jim Bob never regretted any decision more.
When Honey had told him he would get absolutely no say in raising Delaney, he’d stepped out of the picture as far as discipline was concerned. Even when he didn’t agree with something his wife was doing, like putting Delaney on a strict diet, or pressuring her into plastic surgery, or egging her on to marry Evan, he’d kept his mouth shut. Jim Bob’s ideas on child rearing had gotten his oldest daughter killed. What in the hell did he know? He couldn’t buck Honey on anything.
Jim Bob peered over the top of his newspaper. Honey was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the wedding veil as if it were a poisonous viper. She was so damn determined this wedding had to meet some impossibly high standard she’d set up in her own mind. It was costing him a fortune, but the money wasn’t what bothered Jim Bob. He worried that Delaney was getting married simply to please her mother.
Not that he disliked his future son-in-law. Evan Van Zandt was a good guy and came from a very respectable family. Delaney could do far worse. It was just that, because of Honey’s overprotectiveness, Delaney had never really experienced life. Evan was the only man she’d ever dated. She’d never lived on her own, nor was she well traveled. She hadn’t even worked at anything other than this little business venture she’d started, except teaching undergrads when she was working on her master’s degree.
If it weren’t for Honey pressuring her friends into using All the World’s a Stage when they sold their houses, he doubted Delaney could keep the business afloat without tapping into the trust fund his mother had set up for her.Jim Bob couldn’t help feeling that his daughter deserved so much more out of life.
But how could he advise Delaney on marriage when his own was in such rocky shape?
Where had things gotten so messed up?
He looked at Honey. A sweep of blond hair had fallen across her cheek, and his heart wadded in his chest. The past was gone, and he felt the future ebbing away like hourglass sand. God, he’d screwed things up so badly.
“I’ve let you down,” he said to Honey.
“Excuse me?” She looked up, assessing him with cool green eyes that revealed nothing. The same inscrutable eyes Delaney had inherited.
“Over the years, I haven’t been the kind of husband you deserved.”
She stared at
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