Free Cricket Cove by T. L. Haddix

years apart because of the woman’s interference and had only by the grace of God found each other again.
    “If he hurts her again, I’m ripping his head off,” he countered as he parked beside his mother’s car.
    Ainsley nodded. “If that happens, you’ll have my blessing and then some. I just hope it doesn’t come to that. Though if it does? Honestly, there might not be enough of him left for you after Archer gets hold of him.”
    “She’s right,” Jonah said as they got out and made their way to the front door. “If you think you’re unhappy about this, I don’t even want to know how upset Archer would be. And given how long he and Emma have waited for each other, I think we’ll all have to work hard to pretend nothing is wrong. At least for a few weeks until they’ve had time to enjoy each other. It wouldn’t be fair to them to do anything else, or to Amelia. She’d feel so guilty if their honeymoon was ruined.”
    Ben conceded the point. “Then I guess we keep our mouths shut. Mom and Dad, John, Rachel—the whole rest of the family. If Pip wants them to know, she’ll speak up. But I don’t like it.”
    “Neither do we, love,” Ainsley assured him. “Neither do we.”

Chapter Eight

    T he three days went by much too fast. Thursday morning found her on the road home, feeling much closer to human than she had when she’d left Hazard. She’d called Lori before leaving, as she’d be missing their regular Tuesday-morning get-together.
    “Will you be okay?”
    “I’ll be fine. I’ve told you, you don’t have to stop by and bring groceries every week.”
    But Amelia felt that she did. Roger kept Lori on a very tight budget, so tight that she barely had enough money for groceries even though he made a good salary. He had laid the law down to her, had her trained so that she bought what he wanted first, and if she had any money left over after that, she could get what she needed and wanted.
    “I’ll stop by when I get back to town Thursday,” Amelia had promised.
    Now, feeling happy and relaxed, she turned off the main highway and down the secondary road Lori and Roger lived on. When she pulled up in the driveway that led to the small house, she was surprised to see that Lori’s little car wasn’t there.
    In addition to his restrictiveness with regards to the grocery budget, he only let Lori keep enough gas in her car to get to and from the store once a week, with a little extra just in case she needed it. He kept a close eye on her mileage, and if it exceeded what he thought it should, Amelia knew he would grill Lori for hours, making her retrace her steps over and over again until he was satisfied that she wasn’t meeting some other man.
    She sat there for a few minutes in the hopes that Lori would return, but she didn’t. After twenty minutes, Amelia gave up and headed to the library to browse for new books. Her mom wasn’t working this week, as she and Owen were keeping Sydney. Archer and Emma weren’t taking a honeymoon out of town as they’d both been off from their respective jobs in recent months, but they were taking the evenings for themselves. As they’d decided to wait until after the wedding to consummate their relationship, Amelia figured there wasn’t a single member of her family who would go knocking on their door this week unless there was an emergency.
    She took her time browsing, enjoying not having a full plate of responsibilities. When she made her way to the checkout desk, she was surprised to see Logan there. She plastered a smile on her face as she joined him.
    “Hey, stranger. What’s shaking?”
    He held up the paper he was filling out. “Getting my library card. How was Lexington?”
    “Wonderful. How are the newlyweds?”
    “I’ve only spoken to Archer once, and he sounded… um, tired but happy.”
    A laugh spilled out before she could prevent it. “I can’t imagine why he’d be tired.”
    There was a pregnant pause as Logan’s cheeks turned just