by Emily March
“Ah, hell, Hannah. Any other time. Any other place.” He rested his elbows on his knees, leaned forward, and dropped his chin to his chest. “I gotta tell you something.”
Following a pregnant pause, he heard her stand and move toward him. “Sounds like a confession,” she said lightly. Sitting beside him, she added, “Does it have anything to do with New Year’s Eve?”
He gave her a sharp look. “What have you heard? No. Wait. That can wait. I gotta tell you this, and get it out there.”
Her smile faded, and concern creased her brow. “What’s wrong?”
“You have to trust me.”
Her hand clutched his thigh. Her tone intensified. “Boone, what’s happened?”
“It’ll be okay. Truly, it will. I’ve been down this road before—well, a similar road, anyway—and I have experience. I know what I’m doing. I’m a good attorney, an excellent attorney. This won’t happen. I don’t want you to freak out and … and … oh, hell, Hannah. I’m scared.”
Hannah closed her eyes. “It’s Brianna, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I’m going to be sued for custody.”
“Rachel changed her mind?”
“No. It’s the grandparents. The father’s parents. I got a letter from Ashleigh, and then I called her. She gave me the details. The woman knows everything that’s going on in the legal field in Fort Worth. Somehow, the grandparents found out about Brianna, and they’ve decided they want her. We’ll fight it, of course. They won’t win. I will not let them win. But things might be, um, unsettled for a while.”
“Will we have to give her up to someone?”
“I cannot see that happening. I will not allow that to happen. I know the attorney representing the grandparents, so I tried to reach him but couldn’t. Honestly, I’m hopeful that this is a shot across our bow. I’m guessing that these are grieving parents who lost their son and want to know their granddaughter. They think this is the way to ensure that it happens.”
“Well, that’s stupid. All they had to do was ask. Right?”
“Right.”
“So why are you scared?”
Boone shoved to his feet and began to pace back and forth in front of her. “I’m afraid that my patience is going to bite me in the ass. I haven’t had time to lock this thing up. Under the circumstances, I wouldn’t blame you for running for the hills. You need to protect your heart. I get that. But, ah hell.”
He went down on his knees in front of her and took her hands in his. “Don’t leave us. Please, Hannah, don’t leave us.”
“Oh, Boone.”
“I know you’ve bonded with Bree already. You love her. I see it in your eyes as you gaze down into hers. I hear it in your voice when you speak to her. You struggled to resist her, but she’s irresistible. She won your heart. Now it’s my job to make certain it doesn’t get shattered again. I will do that, Hannah. Your heart is precious to me. I love it. I love you. I will protect your precious heart. You have my word. You can trust me. You can lean on me. I am here for you and Bree and for our family. Because that’s what we are—a family. Maybe we don’t have a legal license yet, but we are a family. You and Bree are my family. And I will protect our family with my life. I’ll be your strength. You have my word on that. So don’t leave us, Hannah. Please, don’t leave us.”
She reached out and tenderly cupped his strong chin in the palms of her hands. She stared deeply into his silver-gray eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Tension began seeping from inside him like air from a slowly leaking balloon. “You’re not?”
“Except maybe to Texas if our fight for our family takes us to Fort Worth. I love you too, Boone.”
He exhaled a heavy breath and rolled back on his heels, rubbing his hands up and down his thighs. “Whew. Okay. I knew you were falling for me. Wasn’t aware I had a one hundred percent commitment.”
“Then why have you reserved the Honeymoon Cottage at Angel’s Rest for New Year’s Eve?”
“Where did you hear that? No, doesn’t matter. We can talk about that another time.”
“Now is good. We are not going to lose Brianna. I have total confidence that Boone McBride, Esquire, has what it takes to settle the situation with her grandparents in a way that’s good for everyone involved. I also have it on good authority that Bree has two little guardian angels watching out for her.”
Sophia and Zoe. One corner of Boone’s mouth inched up as he pictured older sisters with wings fluttering over Bree’s crib.
“You and I are meant to be Brianna’s parents,” Hannah continued. “She is meant to be our daughter. We will fight for her. Fight for what is best for her. And we will win. I have no doubt, so we don’t need to discuss it any further at the moment. I want to talk about this wedding. I’ll have some say-so in the planning. Frankly, New Year’s Eve in Eternity Springs doesn’t work for me.”
Wedding. Planning. She said wedding and planning. The last of Boone’s tension disappeared in a blast of joy. She loved him. She’d said it. She couldn’t take it back.
Then, because a man must do what a man must do, he rolled to his feet and faced her, his stance wide, his arms folded. “Marrying me on New Year’s Eve in Eternity Springs doesn’t work for you? Why the hell not?”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s cold.”
“I’ll keep you warm.”
“And I don’t like snow. Oh, flurries are fine, and a storm or two is okay, but feet on the ground for months on end?” She wrinkled her nose. “Not a fan.”
Boone was tempted to lean down and nip at that cute little nose. “Well, that’s a bit of a problem for someone who has moved to the mountains and started a new business, don’t you think?”
“It is. Luckily, I’ve thought of a way to fix it.”
“You have, have you?”
“Yep. Consider it as an addendum to my business plan. I’ve already talked to Angelica about it.”
Now, that one shocked him. “Angelica!”
“Seems the children’s store in Redemption is up for sale.”
“Wait a minute.” He held up his hand, palm out. “A moment ago you said you weren’t going anywhere. Now you want to leave Eternity Springs? You want to move to Redemption?”
“From October to March sounds good. Maybe April. Come home to Eternity Springs for the good weather and the tourist season.”
“Oh. Well…” He slowly began to nod.
“Your cousins and their new wives have both settled in Redemption. It’s an easier trip for your parents to make from the ranch. Brianna should grow up with family, don’t you think?”
“I do, but—”
“Of course, our friends here in Eternity Springs are family too. It’s the best of both worlds, the way I see it. I realize this schedule could pose a problem with your legal practice, but frankly, from what I’ve seen, you don’t do all that much work.”
“Hey!” he protested. “It takes a lot of effort to keep Benjamin Karr from disinheriting his daughter.”
Hannah rose from her seat atop the rock wall. She faced him and reached for his hands. “Teleconference. It’s all the rage.”
Boone gazed down at their linked fingers, and his heart swelled. “I am so lucky. So blessed. It scares me to think I might have driven right past you that morning in June. I love you. With all of my heart and soul, I love you. You’ve changed my life, Hannah. You’ve completed my world. You’ve completed me. You are who and what I came looking for when I moved to Eternity Springs.”
The time had come to do this thing right. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a ring in his pocket, but that was a minor issue. His grandmother’s engagement ring was at home in his safe. He’d cook up some real romance for this evening and present it to her then.
His fingers tightened on hers as he moved to go down on one knee. Her tug halted the movement.
Love shone in Hannah’s eyes as she held his gaze. “On a morning not too long ago, I found myself here at Lover’s Leap in the middle of nowhere
. Today because of you, here in the middle of nowhere, I have found myself. I have a heart that is mended and whole and ready to be shared. And I have wings to wrap around my loves as shelter from life’s storms. Wings that on clear days will enable me to soar, to leap like a lunatic and land safely with you beside me.”
Hannah caught Boone totally by surprise when abruptly, she went down on one knee. “Will you marry me, Boone? Will you marry me in October in Texas, at the Fallen Angel Inn in Enchanted Canyon, with Tucker and Jackson as your best men and Brianna and Haley as our flower girls? Will you dance a first dance with me at the Last Chance Hall and skinny-dip with me in the moonlight pool beneath the waterfall?”
She’d rendered him speechless. For the first time in Boone’s entire life, his facile tongue failed him.
He didn’t say yes. He just stood there staring down at her like six feet two and a half inches of tongue-tied Texan fool.
Hannah giggled. “Are you going to leave me hanging here, McBride?”
Finally, he managed, “This is wrong, so wrong. It’s backward. I’m supposed to be the person down on one knee! I’ve been planning. It’s Operation Lightsaber. I was going to do a big, over-the-top proposal. That’s the way we do it in Eternity Springs.”
“Beat you to it. You snooze, you lose. Besides, it’s a brand-new world, Texas. A brand-new life. So what do you say? Are you going to live it with me?”
“On one condition.” He tugged her back onto her feet. His arms slid around her waist.
“What’s that?”
He pulled her hard against him. “You don’t breathe a word about the way this happened to Jackson and Tucker. They’ll give me hell.”
She giggled again. “Nope. No conditions. No negotiations. Yes or no. What’s your answer?”
“Unbelievable,” he grumbled. “Outmaneuvered by a Yankee. I’m going to have to turn in my cowboy card.”
His lips swooped in and captured hers in a long, steamy kiss. When he finally broke to breathe, he gasped, then said, “My answer is yes. Yes. Yes. Oh holy hell, yes, I’ll marry you whenever and wherever you want, although I really like your suggestion. Now let’s go home where we can roll around naked without having to worry about rolling right off a cliff, shall we?”
“I like that plan, but first, I have something to give you to mark the occasion.” She picked up the leather jacket and tugged open one of the zippers. She placed something gold and lightweight in the palm of his hand.
Boone stared down at the chain and pendant in shock. He recognized it, all right. “An Angel’s Rest blazon? Where did you get an Angel’s Rest blazon?”
“Celeste gave it to me.”
“Celeste gave it to you,” he repeated. “You got one, and I didn’t? What the heck? That’s not the way it works!”
“Take it up with the angel, McBride. Later. Let’s go somewhere and make love.”
“The Angel’s Rest blazon.” He scoffed. “Well, that solves one problem, I guess.” He began tugging at the buckles on her motorcycle chaps.
“What are you doing?” she asked, slapping at his hands.
“I’m going to make love to you. Right here.”
“No, you’re not!”
“Right now.” He estimated he could carry her to the backseat of his truck in two point seven seconds.
“This is a public place. You’re an attorney! Besides, what about the rolling-over-the-cliff thing?”
“We’ll be fine, Hannah.” He dangled the Angel’s Rest pendant in front of her eyes before swooping her up into his arms. “After all, we’ve got wings.”
Epilogue
REDEMPTION, TEXAS
On the morning of his wedding day, Boone met his cousins Jackson and Tucker for a motorcycle ride through Enchanted Canyon. Just as he’d done on their first visit three years ago, Tucker led the way out of Redemption on his H-D Road King. Jackson followed on his Harley Fat Boy, while Boone brought up the rear on a Kawasaki Ninja. They made the fifteen-mile trip to the canyon at a leisurely pace, though they gunned their engines and stirred up dust just for fun when they turned onto the original narrow dirt road that cut through the scrub brush and flat, rocky terrain.
It was a perfect day for a ride, not a single cloud in the brilliant blue sky, and the current temperature hovering in the sixties. The forecast for this evening was for clear skies and temps in the seventies—perfect for an outdoor wedding and the wedding night he had planned for them beneath the stars. Hannah had enjoyed their visit to Stardance River Camp so much that he’d decided to create their own luxurious glamping tent here in the canyon. He’d finally found a purpose for Ruin, the outlaw conclave at the far end of the canyon, and renovating it into a glamping resort would be his next big project. Once he felt like tackling big projects again, that is. For the next little while, he intended to concentrate on his little family, his wife and child, Hannah and Bree.
Life was good for Boone McBride, and he was a happy man.
Where the road curved and the canyon first came into view, the three men cycled to a stop, switched off their engines, and climbed off their bikes. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder gazing out toward where the earth had fallen away.
It was a beautiful spot. Jackson had a vivid way of describing Enchanted Canyon that had always stuck with Boone: “It’s like God plunged his fingers into flat, barren land, ripped it asunder, and then breathed life into it.”
Below him, patches of summer green clung to life amid the changing colors of autumn. Listening hard, he could hear the distant roar of a waterfall, and he knew if he paid attention as he descended to the canyon floor, he’d see a variety of wildlife. Enchanted Canyon was different from Eternity Springs, but every bit as beautiful. How lucky was he that he’d get to live in both places with the people who mattered most to him in his life?
Jackson interrupted Boone’s reverie by saying, “That first time we rode out here, I was so damned miserable. I’d just lost the custody battle for Haley, and I couldn’t write a decent song to save my life. But the instant I laid eyes on this place, I experienced the weirdest sensation. I knew that my life had irrevocably changed, but I never would have guessed that the change would be so huge. I never dreamed I could be this happy, this blessed. Married to the most fabulous woman in the world, Haley living with us, and a new baby on the way.”
“Plus, you are writing kick-ass songs, and your vision for the dance hall has proven to be a huge success,” Tucker offered. “Good job, cuz.”
“Good job, yourself,” Jackson replied. “You’re not doing too shabby either.”
“That’s the damned truth.” Tucker shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans as a slow, satisfied grin spread across his face. “Who would have thought that a rough old army man like me would become so enthralled with satin and lace? Gillian rocks my world.”
Boone eyed Tucker thoughtfully. “So are the two of you thinking to give little Caroline Junior a cousin anytime soon?”
“Emma,” Jackson said. “We’ve settled on Emma.”
“Emma McBride. Beautiful family name. Excellent choice, Jackson.” Tucker’s grin widened, and a gleam entered his brown eyes as he added, “Actually, Gillian doesn’t want to steal any of Hannah’s thunder, so we’re waiting until after your wedding, Boone, to make any announcement.”
“Hah!” Jackson said. “Awesome.” He clapped Tucker on the back.
Boone snapped his fingers. “I knew it. Gillian didn’t drink any champagne at the rehearsal party last night. I bet Hannah five dollars that you’d knocked her up.”
“Don’t be crass. Like Grandma used to say, she’s in a family way.”
The three men shared a grin, then Boone punched Tucker’s shoulder in the way that substituted for a hug among the McBride cousins. “I’m really happy for you, Tucker. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
“So all three of us will have little ones close in age,” Jackson pointed out.
Boone nodded. “History repeating itself
. How about that? Maybe Tucker and Gillian will have a girl too. Brianna, Emma, and Gillian Junior.”
“Haley will be in heaven,” Jackson observed.
“Four girls.” Tucker frowned. “That scares me to death. Imagine what it’ll be like if our girls want to date guys like us.”
“Won’t happen,” Boone declared. “We’ll choose their boyfriends for them.”
Sagely, his cousins nodded in agreement, then they resumed their ride.
Boone reflected on the changes in his own life as they snaked their way down to the canyon floor, retracing the path of their first visit. He recalled that on the very day when he’d received word that Great-Aunt Mildred had bequeathed this property to his family, Celeste Blessing had offered some profound advice.
And remember, Boone, she’d said. The trick to breaking the chains of the past is to reject it as your master and embrace it as your teacher.
Well, he sure hadn’t rushed that particular task, had he? Nevertheless, breaking those chains had taken the exact right amount of time. In less than eight hours, he was going to stand up in front of friends and family and marry his soul mate.
What better place to do it? Hadn’t Celeste always said that Enchanted Canyon was where troubled souls came to find peace? He was determined that his soul mate would find not only peace in Enchanted Canyon, but everlasting happiness and joy too. And when Boone made his mind up about something, he made it happen.
He intended to make Hannah the happiest woman in Texas, Colorado, the United States, then the entire world. Hell, he’d make it his life’s work to make her the happiest, most joyous woman in the universe! She was his soul mate.
His soul mate.
The words echoed through his mind shortly after six o’clock that evening. A string quartet played Bach, and roses perfumed the gentle evening breeze. With Jackson and Tucker standing beside him, Boone watched Brick Callahan seat Quetta McBride in the right front row of the white garden chairs next to Boone’s father. Then Gabe Callahan escorted the figure whom Hannah had chosen to serve the role of the bride’s mother up the aisle. Once Celeste was seated in the left front row, the bridesmaids dressed in autumn gold gowns started up the aisle—Caroline, Gillian, and his sisters, Lara and Frankie.