Sunny Chandler's Return Read Online Free PDF Page B

ever hearing about another bride who, when asked, ‘Will you...’ et cetera, said, ‘No, I don’t believe I will,’ and turned on her heel and marched down the aisle and out of the church, leaving everybody, the bridegroom included, flabbergasted.”
    Sunny’s cheeks were fiery and it had nothing to do with the slight sunburn she was getting. Memories overwhelmed her. Like quagmires in the nearby swamp, they had been concealed, waiting for her to slip and fall into them so they could suck her under and smother her.
    “That took a lot of guts,” Ty said, watching her closely.
    She had thought he might laugh at her or joke about the bizarre way she had halted her wedding ceremony. Instead he looked almost commiserative. Well, she appreciated his not making fun of her, but she sure as hell didn’t need his pity.
    “I couldn’t marry him.”
    “I don’t think I could, either. If I were a woman, that is. Don Jenkins is as dry and crusty as yesterday’s toast. He would never have satisfied a sensuous woman like you. He wouldn’t even know where to start.”
    Scooting on his bottom, Ty moved closer to her. “It just seems to me that you would have known that before the preacher posed that all-important question. I mean, there you were in your long, white lace wedding dress.”
    “It was ecru,” she corrected absently. Lost in memory, she picked at the frayed hem of her beach towel.
    “From what George told me, everybody in town was there.”
    “Yes.”
    “Why’d you do it, Sunny?”
    Memories and lethargy were swept away by a sudden clarity. Her head snapped up. Her eyes were glowing like hot coals. “None of your damn business, Mr. Beaumont.”
    A laugh started as a low rumble deep in his chest. “And apparently nobody else’s, either. To this day no one has figured it out. There’s been speculation, of course.”
    “I’m sure there has been.”
    “Like a baby.”
    “
What
?” Sunny’s breath rushed out. She had to drag it back before she could add, “They think I was pregnant?”
    “According to George, that was everybody’s first guess. You left because you couldn’t bear the shame.”
    “Latham Green isn’t that far behind the times. Lots of girls have been pregnant on their wedding day.”
    “But the babies belonged to the men they were marrying.”
    Sunny only stared at him in speechless amazement. “You mean everybody thought...” She couldn’t even verbalize the scandalous idea.
    Ty shrugged. “It was mentioned that the baby belonged to someone besides Don.”
    Disgusted with the fertile imaginations of small-town minds, Sunny said, “There
was
no baby, for heaven’s sake. Don’s or anyone else’s.”
    “I didn’t think so. No stretch marks.” Before she could prepare herself for it, he ran his finger over the taut skin of her lower abdomen. “Naturally I’d have to see your breasts to be positive.”
    Sunny retreated beyond his reach. “I’ve never had a baby,” she ground out.
    He poked the air with his index finger. “Now
that
was everyone’s second theory. You were supposed to have a baby, but you didn’t.”
    “An abortion?” Sunny, horrified by the thought, could barely breathe the word. “Everybody figured that I ran off to New Orleans to get an abortion?” She covered her face with her hands. “No wonder my parents had to leave.” After a moment, she flung her head back and glared up at Ty. “Tell me the rest of it. What else do they say?”
    “It gets real nasty from here.”
    “I want to know. Fran never would tell me what everybody said about me after I left. Tell me.” He seemed reluctant. “Tell me,” she repeated stubbornly.
    He drew a deep breath. “Some thought you might have been on drugs.”
    “Ridiculous. What else?”
    “VD was a consideration, but thought highly unlikely. Some thought you might like girls better than boys.”
    “You’re kidding!”
    “I’m only repeating what George said, you understand. The most popular theory,