“Yes, Robert McCormick.”
“Are you going to try to get in touch with him?”
“I don’t think I will, Lizzie, at least not right now. When I read the letter, I was shocked to learn that Carl wasn’t my biological father. No wonder he hated me. Now I understand what he meant in the nursing home when he said I was no kin of his.”
“I understand, but why don’t you try to contact this man? He’s your father. I should’ve been so lucky.”
“I don’t think I could handle being rejected again. According to mother’s letter, this man doesn’t know she got pregnant with his child. My blonde hair made her suspicious and she had a blood test done to see if I was Carl’s daughter. Apparently she had a brief affair with this man, but Carl found out and threatened to smear his name and ruin his reputation. Fortunately, the man wasn’t married at the time and she says she never had another affair after that incident.”
“Yes, but don’t you see, he may have wanted you. Mother says she didn’t love that man the same way she loved Carl. Her words made me sick to my stomach. And, she said she was afraid Carl would kill him, that’s why she stopped seeing him.”
“Can you believe he’s the owner of the Sage Canyon Copper Mine?”
“He’s got to be very wealthy. Next time you speak to Stede, casually ask him about the mine and see what he has to say.”
“I don’t want to do that, Lizzie. This man probably has a family now and they’ll think I’m nothing but a gold digger. I’m not about to give this stranger a chance to reject me and treat me like a rag. I’m finished with people maltreating me.”
“Oh, sweetie, I never meant not to send for you.”
“I don’t blame you, Lizzie. You were the only real friend I ever had. I’m bitter because we had to be torn apart all those many years, both of us fighting the demons of abuse and neglect. Now we live far away from each other.”
“Why don’t you get some rest? Call me at the shop tomorrow. I hear Royal pulling into the driveway now. I love you, Mary. Take care,” Lizzie whispered and cut off the phone.
Carolina shook her head. As far as her sister and mother were concerned, she’d always be Mary to them.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Back from a month-long working trip to London and Frankfurt and anxious to get to the Mormon Tabernacle Genealogy Museum to finish her projects, Carolina pulled into the heavy Monday morning rush hour traffic on the beltway when her hands-free cell phone rang.
She pressed the control button on the steering wheel of her Toyota to activate her Blue Tooth. “Good morning, Carolina Palmer speaking.”
“Hi, Sis. How are you?”
“I’m fine, Lizzie. And you?”
“Great. Mondays aren’t usually very busy at work and I wanted to call you and thank you again for the money. I am now a partner in the franchise. We have three salons in the area and hope to open another one in an office building in downtown Dallas before Christmas.”
“That’s fantastic news, Lizzie. I was going to call you later. I wanted to tell you that I’m going to my bank on Friday to discuss opening up college funds for the children, but I need you to send me their social security numbers.”
“Oh, Carolina, that’s so sweet. Are you sure you can afford to do this?
“Yes, I’m positive. You’ll be able to contribute to these accounts as well. I’ll send you all the information after they are open.”
“Royal will be overwhelmed. Tell me, what do you hear from Stede?”
Carolina raised her eyebrows and made a face filled with doubts, thankful Lizzie couldn’t see her. “Not much lately. I’ve been away and before I left, he had planned a trip with Jenny and Manny. They were headed up to Montana to go camping. I sent him an e-mail on Saturday when I got back, but haven’t heard from him yet.
“I know he’s going to be busy planning for Thanksgiving. His folks are going to visit him and his grandmother awhile—I hoped he would have called, but he may be at a rodeo somewhere. All the championships run from now until December,” she spieled out, hoping Lizzie wouldn’t realize how concerned she felt because he hadn’t called her. But what did she expect; she only had herself to blame?
“Why don’t you come here for Thanksgiving, Carolina? There’s no reason for you to spend holidays alone anymore. Please. We’d love to have you.”
“I’d love to see you, but I’ve overcommitted on my assignments. I’d rather get my research caught up here, and maybe come for Christmas.”
“Wow! That would be wonderful. I won’t tell the kids yet, because they’d be disappointed if you had to change your plans and didn’t come. Thank you again for everything. I love having you back in my life.”
Coming around the sharp curve to take the exit onto Connecticut Avenue, Carolina turned on her blinker to signal she was changing lanes and checked in her mirrors to make sure the lane was clear before moving from the middle into the far-right lane.
But the man behind her had decided to beat her to the exit and tried to pass her on the right, grazing her back bumper and causing her to hit the car in front of her, and bounce off its rear bumper. Another car hit her from behind and she spun out of control.
As her car left the road, she screamed, jerking the wheel to get back on the beltway. But she was too late. The car rolled over and over as her life flashed before her mind’s eye like a movie reel. The last thing she saw was Stede’s face and she wondered if she’d ever be able to kiss him again or tell him all the things in her heart that she wanted him to know…
****
“Carolina?”
A woman’s voice called her from afar and she moaned a response.
“Can you open your eyes?”
This time a man’s voice spoke. She attempted to open her eyes. She wasn’t quite sure how much time had passed, but she knew she was hurt and in a hospital, although she didn’t know how she’d gotten there. She had no memory of riding in an ambulance.
The air smelled like antiseptic and the bright light above her was nearly visible through her eyelids. Vaguely aware of movement around her, she listened to snippets of conversation between a man and a woman speaking in whispers, but she couldn’t decipher their exact words.
“Wake up, sweetie,” she heard the woman say. Then she felt a gentle nudge on her shoulder.
Once again she tried to open her eyes. When she did, she quickly closed them and turned her head away from the light, wincing at the pain the motion caused. Using her arm as a shield against the glare, she raised her hand to explore the pain’s source.
She felt her arm being moved away from her eyes and when she opened them again, a man whose face was now inches from hers blocked the light. A tanned face with high cheekbones and deep blue eyes…
“Stede?”
“No, Miss Palmer, you must be dreaming again. My name’s Susan. I’ll be your nurse for the day. I’m here to take your blood pressure and temperature,” she said, placing the digital thermometer in her ear. “How are you feeling today?”
“Sore. What day is it?”
“Tuesday. Do you remember what happened yesterday?”
She nodded. “I had an accident.”
“Do you remember what the doctor told you about the accident when you were brought up to the room?”
Carolina shook her head.
“Well, you’re lucky you had your seatbelt on and were in a new car. The airbags in the front and on the side of the door saved your life. Your ribs on your right side were pushed into the buckle of the belt, which is why you’re in pain, but they will heal. You have some bruises and your right wrist is sprained, but other than that, you’re all right. You’ll be able to go home in a day or two. You’ve had a CAT scan and there were no internal injuries or bleeding internally, but the doctor still wants to keep an eye on you for another day. You’re doing fine. If you need anything, push the button on the remote.”
“Thank you, Susan.”
A hospital volunteer walked into Carolina�
�s room carrying a vase of pink and yellow roses.
“Are those for me?”
“Yes,” the woman said, handing her the card.
“They must be from my office. No one else probably knows I’m here,” she replied, at the same time the phone in her room rang.
The volunteer handed her the receiver and left.
“Hello.”
“How are you, Carolina?”
“Stede! How did you know where to find me?”
“Lizzie.”
“Lizzie?”
“Yes, she apparently was still on the phone when you had your accident and heard you scream. Someone at the scene gave her the name of the hospital where they were taking you. She’s on her way to Washington.”
“Today?”
“Yep. She’ll be there around dinnertime.”
“Oh! I don’t know what to say. I can’t wait to see her.”
“Did you get the roses?”
“How did you know I got roses? Did you send them?”
“Open the card, Carolina, and read it to me.”
She put the receiver between her shoulder and chin, and tore open the envelope. “Just whistle?” she asked, frowning.
“Yes. You do know how to whistle don’t you?”
She laughed, wet her lips and whistled.
“You can do better than that,” he said, entering her room.
“Stede!”
The nurse stood in the doorway with the volunteer standing behind her, smiling. “That’s Stede, I’m Susan,” she said, laughing as she walked away.
Stede didn’t waste a second closing the distance between the doorway and Carolina. He ran his fingers through her silky hair and lowered his face close to hers.
“Kiss me and convince me I’m not dreaming.”
His soft lips took hers tenderly and once he was satisfied she wasn’t in pain, he deepened the kiss passionately.
“You taste so good. I missed you more than I thought possible to miss anyone. How did you get here so fast?”
“Truth is, King and I were already on our way. We were in Tennessee when I got the call from Lizzie about the accident and Jenny and Manny said if I came back without you, not to come back.”
He pulled a chair up beside her bed and wrapped his hands around one of hers. “I want a chance to make things right between us, Carolina. I acted like a selfish fool. Seeing you like this, I can appreciate why you’d want to be with me at the rodeos in case something unspeakable happened, rather than be left alone at home wondering about me.”
He brushed a few stray wisps of hair gently off her forehead. “We came to offer you a compromise.”
“We?”
“Yep. King’s downstairs at the security station.”
“I can’t wait to see him.”
“We want you to come back to Arizona with us. I’ll ride the southwest rodeo circuit only, which means we will only travel on weekends. If I make the championships, which will be farther away, then we can travel to them together, too. This way, if you have to go to another state to do research or travel to Europe, I’ll be free to go with you most of the time.
“Once we have children, we’ll work out something. I’ll probably be retired by the time the kids are old enough to go to school and then the rodeo won’t be a problem. If this arrangement doesn’t meet with your approval, do you at least believe we can reach a happy medium?”
“This accident has taught me one thing, Stede. I could have been killed yesterday, as easily as you could be seriously hurt bronc riding. And, although I get nervous watching you ride, I’d rather risk my heart breaking being with you than not being with you at all.”
“Does that mean you’ll marry me, because I don’t want to be separated from you ever again?”
“Yes, I’ll go anywhere with you, Stede, even without any commitments because I never should have left you. I’ve been miserable without you.”
He kissed her tenderly, then fished in his jeans pocket and produced a blue velvet box that he opened for her.
A large marquise shaped diamond ring with baguettes on both sides, sat in the box, its facets sparkling brilliantly in the afternoon sunlight. “O-o-h, Stede! This is the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.”
“For the most beautiful woman, inside and out, I’ve ever seen,” he said, slipping the ring on her left ring finger. “When we get to Sage Canyon, we can plan our wedding. I don’t want you to have a lot of time to think and then change your mind.”
She reached over and touched his cheek. “Trust me, I am never going to change my mind.” And, what’s more she trusted he wouldn’t either.
“King and I are counting on you,” he said, and turned his mouth into her palm and kissed it before seeking her lips to seal their engagement with a kiss that had them both yearning for more before they came up for air.
“Before our kisses make me forget everything I ever knew,” he breathed against her ear, “I brought some letters for you.”
“From my mother?”
He shook his head back and forth. “The one I found sticking out from under my bed. But there’s more.”
“One from Jenny?”
“Nope. One’s from my mother.”
“Your mother?”
“Yes, it’s a letter of apology.”
“That wasn’t necessary to make her do that.”
“If she wants to ever see her grandchildren, she darn well had better send us a letter of apology. And I plan on us getting started on that family real soon,” he said giving her the one-dimple half smile. “Think wedding bells over Thanksgiving. My family will be there and your family can join us also.”
“Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away! How am I going to be able to get ready to move in my condition let alone plan a wedding?”
“You don’t have to do a thing but give orders. I brought Jenny and Manny’s motor home with me and when Lizzie arrives, we’re going to pack your things and put them in the motor home. Whatever you decide not to keep, we’ll make arrangement to have someone come in to buy the items.
“Later, you can decide if you want to rent or put your condo on the market, then we’ll call a real estate agent. On the way home to drop Lizzie off in Texas, you two can work on the wedding.”
“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”
“Well, Lizzie and I spent a lot of time on the phone while I was on the road.”
“I see. Who’s the other letter from, you mentioned?”
As he handed it to her, he shifted. “Your biological father?”
“My…” her voice trailed off, a thousand questions popping into her mind and tumbling one over the other in a jumble until they distilled into one overriding inquiry.
“You read my letter? Does he know?”
“He does now. I went to see him and he asked for a few days to give him time to break the news to his family. Read the letter he sent. They want you to come meet them and they are excited to have you be part of their family. You have three half-brothers and they said they always wanted a sister.”
Soon after that, Stede left to go to the airport to pick up Lizzie and they were going to have dinner together in her hospital room. She closed her eyes to nap, and smiled. She had Lizzie and her family, her mother, a real father and his family, and friends. But most of all, she’d have a grandmother—Mrs. Dugan.
And Stede. A man who loved her and offered her a home in Arizona that would bring many great and unexpected treasures and a life even Proud Mary never imagined.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Having spent many years alone with Carl until she ran away, and even the years in South Carolina, when she at least was accepted as part of that family, Carolina never had a family of her own.
Now, she had three families and while she was used to always doing everything for herself, she no longer stood a chance.
Lizzie and Stede took over packing her personal things, arranged for the pieces of furniture she wanted to keep to be shipped
to Arizona and after much discussion, put her condo up for sale and into a real estate agency’s hands.
After visiting with her boss to say goodbye, he agreed to allow her to continue working for the company since the computer age would make that possible. She agreed she’d travel back and forth if necessary to meet with the clients from different cities, instead of always making them come to Washington.
They took a long leisurely trip across country in the motor home, fixing breakfast and lunch in and eating dinner out every evening. Lizzie got delivered off at her home in Dallas and everyone agreed to come to Arizona for the wedding over Thanksgiving, that she and Lizzie had planned during the trip.
Arrangements were made with the help of not only Jenny and Manny, but with her biological father and his wife and their grown sons and their wives.
The wedding was to be held at her father’s estate. Stede took her to meet her new family, Robert and Ellen Gray, their three sons, Bob, Jr., Ken and Craig, the day after they arrived back at Sage Canyon.
Two of her new half-brothers were married, and there were three young children. The two sisters-in-law were young and friendly and they all welcomed her and Stede as if they had known them forever.
Her father had built his home on top of mountain himself, using the lumber he had taken from clearing the land. The house was built in the side of the mountain, and the front of the home had huge windows looking at the landscape across the mountains and the down below in the forest.
A wide porch surrounded three sides of the home with retractable awnings for shade when needed. There were two bedrooms on the top floor and four bedrooms below, under the wraparound porch that gave the rooms shade. Those rooms had sliding glass doors that opened onto a wraparound patio.
The décor inside was as breathtaking as the outside of the house, and her father and his wife suggested they have the wedding outside on the deck and the reception to take place afterwards opening all the sliding doors into the great room.
Her father and his wife were a handsome couple, they were very friendly and warm toward Carolina and Stede, and made her feel welcome into their family. Carolina worried about her mother coming for the wedding, seeing him and meeting his wife. They discussed the situation and since her father had not met Ellen until several years after he had the brief affair with her mother. Under the circumstances that Stede had told them about their lives in Sage Canyon, that meeting wasn’t going to be a problem.
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