Texas Hope: Sweetgrass Springs Stories (Texas Heroes Book 16) (31 page)

She took a step back. “How did you know?”

“The question is, why weren’t you the one to tell me?”

“Michael, he just mentioned it this afternoon—a lot has happened since then.”

“Would you have told me? Did you even consider it?”

She glanced away.

“Of course not. You told him no, didn’t you? Because God forbid that you give me an inch, that you relent even a fraction and let me in. You’re not going to give us a chance, are you, Laken? All that you saw, all the people who welcomed you, they’re just—what? A pesky annoyance in your busy climb to…what, exactly?”

She shook her head. “Michael, I don’t—”

“Don’t what? Don’t love me even though I lay my heart out for you to trample on? Don’t like the place that welcomed you so warmly? Don’t want to find a way for us to be together?” He stalked to her and knew he was looming over her but didn’t care. “I’m not your father, Laken. How much more evidence do you need? How do I prove to you that I’m never going to leave you? That I’m the guy who stays, the one you can count on?”

The air stung with his rapid-fire accusations, and he was pretty sure he’d just sundered any possibility of a future with her, but he was too desperate to stop now. “You keep going through life as this island who never lets her heart get touched—but is that what you really want? To always be alone? To never have anyone who will take care of your heart?”

Her yearning showed in her eyes. “I…” She swallowed hard. “Michael, if there was anyone I’d trust—”

“
Would
trust? What do I have to do to prove myself to you—no, you know what? Screw this, and screw you. I’m tired of being your father’s stand-in, the whipping boy who takes the punishment you want to give him.” He glared his hurt and fury. “I will never get over you, Laken. I’m pretty damn sure I’m going to have a hole in my heart for the rest of my days, and it’s got your name written all over it. But I’m tired of reaching out and having my hand slapped.”

He leaned in again and spoke softly, knowing he’d been harsh but not knowing what else to try. “I’m the guy who stays. I’m the guy who takes your heart in his hands and treasures it. I’m the man who will love you when you’re sick and old, when you have to wear orthopedic shoes, who will still be telling you you’re beautiful when you’re ninety-five. I can’t prove that to you unless you let me, but I know it in here—” He stabbed a thumb toward his heart “—and you know it, too, right there.” He placed his palm over her heart. “We could have it all, sweetheart. We could have the love you saw in my brother and the woman who’s fighting alongside him to keep their child alive and safe in there. Don’t you want that? Don’t you want to know what that’s like, to spend every day with someone who adores you?”

He made himself shut up then and just stood watching her, waiting for an answer.

She stared at him, tears brimming on her lashes, and her face was as open to him as he’d ever seen her. She began to open her mouth—

“Michael, come quick! It’s Ian!” Rissa shouted from the doorway.

He looked at her, and she stared back helplessly, but now was not the time to finish this.

“I’m not leaving you, Laken, not even now, when you’re tearing my heart out.” He grabbed her hand and took off running, tugging her alongside.

His heart was thundering, and he couldn’t separate how much was fear for Ian and how much fear of what she’d been about to say—

Then they skidded to a stop.

His brother stood just outside the ER doors, his eyes wild.

Michael started forward, scared to the bone.

Ian shuddered, then finally spoke. “She’s okay. They’re both going to be okay. We have a daughter.” He looked proud and fierce and absolutely wrecked.

Then he lowered his face into his hands and his shoulders shook.

Gordon reached him first and took his son in his arms. Everyone surrounded him, tears and laughter in abundance.

Michael hesitated. Looked down at her. “Don’t you want that, Laken? That kind of love?”

She sniffed and wiped at her nose, tears spilling from her own lashes. “I do. I really do, Michael. I’m so scared, but…I really do.”

He reached for her then. “Then grab on tightly and hang on. I’m here. I’ll always be here for you.” Joy and relief and exultation soared as he held her close, and her fingers dug into his back. “Thank God they’re okay.” He made himself lean back so he could see her. He cradled her cheek. “And thank God you’re not a coward. You’re not going to be sorry, Laken. I’m going to make you happier than you ever imagined.”

She brushed at the moisture beneath his eyes, then smoothed back his hair. “Let’s go see your brother, Uncle Michael.”

He smiled and walked toward the family he would give her. The town ready to open its heart.

Epilogue

G
ordon reached for Sophia’s hand as they stood outside the NICU where Ruby was the first to meet the baby whose safe arrival had been so terrifyingly uncertain.

He turned to her, his expression serious. “I want you to stay in Sweetgrass for a while, and not just because you want to help out Ian.” He gazed into her face, her big, handsome cowboy, weathered by hard times and suffering, and he’d never looked more wonderful to her. “I want you to stay for me.”

When she hesitated, he grimaced. “Oh, hell, don’t I ever learn? Why would you like Sweetgrass any better the second time around? So what I mean is, I’d like us to try again, but I can move to where you live and maybe find an apartment or—”

She didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. She wanted to do both. She rose to her toes and kissed him lightly. “I’m not that same woman, and you’d hate where I live. I’d very much like to stay in Sweetgrass for a while and give us a chance.” When he in turn didn’t respond, she rushed on. “But I can find myself a place there and—”

He yanked her against him in a whoosh. Lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her with all the power and pain and passion of their years apart. When he drew back, it was only a breath away, as if he, too, felt how fragile life was, how precious love could be. “Your place is with me. That too caveman cowboy for you?”

Then she did laugh a little, and tears were close. “You took my breath away years ago, cowboy, and I never managed to get it back.”

He closed his arms around her and held on tight. “Do you believe in second chances, Sophia?”

She nodded. “I want to. Do you think Ian will mind if I stay? I don’t want to crowd him.”

“You staying isn’t negotiable, but where we are is. Our son is a fair man, and if we ever get his feet back on the ground, we’ll let him weigh in.” He looked down at her. “It is my house, though.” He grinned.

“You’d never throw him and Scarlett out.”

“Of course not. But I’m betting you’re dying to get your hands on that little girl, too.”

“I absolutely am.”

Michael’s voice came from behind them. “Cut it out, you kids. There are children present.”

“Get your own girl,” Gordon shot back with a grin.

“Looks like I might have done just that.”

When she glanced over her shoulder, she saw Michael approaching, his arm around Laken, who was nestled against Michael’s side. Sophia smiled, and her son smiled back.

Then they all peered through the glass and watched Ian as he held his baby, a cable hooked to a monitor taped to her tiny foot. Beside them sat a rocking chair where a still-pale Scarlett waited. On their faces were matching looks of wonder and pride and gratitude as Ruby bent to peer into the baby’s face, her own glowing with what surely felt like a miracle after her long years of standing vigil over a once-dying town.

Then Scarlett spotted them through the window and waved, a bright smile in her tired eyes.

Ian looked up and beamed, no doubt equally exhausted after the harrowing night just passed. After a moment, he placed the baby in Scarlett’s arms and slipped out the door to greet them.

“Is Scarlett supposed to be out of bed?” Gordon asked.

“You want to be the one to stop her, Dad?” He smiled. “She just finished nursing for the first time. She’ll be going back to her bed very soon, but it would have taken an army to keep her there one second longer. It’s hard when you expect to be handed your baby after delivery, but instead she’s whisked away immediately and taken to another floor.”

“Of course it would be. How are you, Ian?”

He exhaled. “Better now that the pediatrician has said that he doesn’t think the baby will have to be here long. Apparently it does help that she was already a good size, nearly six pounds. Otherwise, she’d be over in that other section with the tiny ones who are fighting for life. This was scary as hell, but we’re so much more fortunate than most of these parents. Her lungs need to mature a little more, and they’ll be treating her for jaundice, but—” He glanced away and grappled for composure.

After a moment, his gaze shifted back, first to Michael, then to Sophia. “I don’t know how to thank you. If you hadn’t kept your head when you were alone with her and if Michael hadn’t known what to do, and Laken, you and Dad pulled everything together—”

Michael clapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “It was a privilege to be there to help, but you did the heavy lifting.”

Sophia’s eyes stung at the sight of them together, at the memory of how frightened they’d all been. “Oh, Ian—you were so strong when you had to be scared to death.” She started to reach for him but immediately drew her hand back.

He touched her hand gently, and she had to close her eyes. She’d never thought to experience even this much from the son she’d so wronged.

“I’m sorry it has to be one at a time,” Ian said. “But are you all ready to come meet our Georgia Sophia?”

Sophia gasped. “Oh.” Then she did start to cry.

“That’s beautiful, son,” Gordon said.

“Way to go, bro,” Michael added.

Sophia couldn’t speak. All she could do was stare at Ian.

He met her gaze evenly. “I held her for the first time, and I began to remember things I hadn’t let myself think about in years, like how it felt to be cuddled in your lap and how you always read to me. I’d made myself forget how much you loved me, but I remember now.” Ian paused. “I won’t pretend to understand all that happened, but if you felt the tiniest fraction of what I feel about this child, I am certain of one thing: it couldn’t have been easy for you to walk away.”

“You know I bear the biggest share of blame, son,” Gordon said before she could respond.

He glanced at his father before he returned his gaze to Sophia’s. “It wasn’t easy, was it?” he asked softly.

“My heart died every mile that I traveled away from you. Oh, Ian, if I could do it over again—”

He shook his head. “We don’t get do-overs, but surely we can have second chances.” He glanced back at his child and his wife as if he couldn’t bear to be away from them, his features suffused with love. “That little girl is going to need every one of us who loves her to help her get strong enough to leave this place and to watch over her as she grows. And every little girl needs a grandmother, don’t you agree?”

“I do.” Her voice trembled. “Oh, Ian, I want to be here for her so much. I’m sorry I—”

He shook his head more vehemently. “No. We’re done with accusations and apologies. We’re starting from here, and we’re going to make that little girl’s life as rich in love as is humanly possible. All of us.” He looked again at Scarlett, who was watching them with shining eyes.

He turned back to them. “Love is what matters, Mom. Love always wins.”

Mom
. He would never know what hearing that name meant. “I love you so much, Ian. I do want to help. I want to be there for all of you, if you’ll let me.”

“We all do,” Laken offered.

Michael nodded. “We’re family.”

“I’ve asked your mother to stay in Sweetgrass,” Gordon told them.

Michael’s grin flashed, but Ian didn’t respond immediately.

“I—is it okay with you if I stay, Ian?” she asked, her heart fluttering with fear and hope.

Ian glanced back at his new family, then over to his father, his brother and the woman his brother loved.

At last his gaze met hers, his brown eyes warm and soft as she’d never dared hope she’d see them again. “It is, Mom,” he answered. “It’s very okay.” He smiled and opened his arms. “Welcome home.”