by Linda Warren
Myra came to stand by his side, still keeping an eye on Daniel.
Ms. George reached for an envelope in her purse. “Mr. Stevens left this for you. I am to act on your instructions.”
Levi frowned, unsure of what was in the envelope. He ripped it open and pulled out a letter and began to read.
Dear Levi, you have been the best friend a man could ever have. I’ve asked more of you than a man should ever have to give. But I’m asking one more thing. I would like for you to raise Daniel. If you feel you cannot take on this responsibility, I ask that you find a loving family to place my grandson with. I know you’ll do what’s best for Daniel. Your old friend, Stu.
“What is it?” Myra asked.
He handed her the letter. “Stu wants me to raise Daniel.”
Ms. George looked at her watch. “I just need an answer, Mr. Coyote. If you’d rather not have the responsibility, I can take the baby and find a home for him.”
“No,” he answered immediately. Daniel was not going to strangers. “I...I’ll keep him.”
“Then my work here is done. Have a good day.” She reached down and ruffled Daniel’s hair. “I love it when people are willing to step up.”
She walked away, leaving Levi and Myra staring at each other and both wondering what to say.
“Stu chose the right person,” Myra said. “You’ll make a good father.”
He heard the pain in her voice and wanted to hold her and tell her everything would be okay, but at that moment Daniel disappeared under a pew and he had to rescue him. When he stood up, Myra was gone.
* * *
MYRA WENT INTO her apartment with a heavy heart. What did she expect? She’d told Stu numerous times she didn’t want to be a mother. He had no way of knowing she’d changed her mind and that raising Daniel would mean the world to her. Now Levi would raise him—without her.
Kicking off her heels, she sat on the sofa and told herself she wasn’t going to cry. She’d cried enough, but her heart was breaking and she did what every woman did when there was nothing left. She curled into a ball. Right now she needed a really big hug from her mother and she hadn’t needed one of those since she’d been a teenager or even then. She’d always been independent, strong and vocal. Well, now she was broken and all her dreams were like fairy-tale dust.
She must’ve fallen asleep because a pounding woke her. Someone was at the door. Dragging herself off the sofa, she went to look through the peephole.
Levi stood there with Daniel.
She couldn’t talk to him, not now. If she didn’t open the door, he’d go away.
On the way to the living room, she heard a sound and stopped. She listened closely.
He whistled.
A smile tugged at her lips and the weight of rejection lifted.
I’ll whistle so you can always find me.
It brought back memories of their time in Mexico, the danger, the fear and the closeness they’d shared. He’d risked everything for her.
“Myra, c’mon. We need to talk.”
He had her. She unlocked the door and walked into the living room. Levi followed. He placed Daniel on the floor and the baby scurried off, searching new territory. She sank onto the sofa again and Levi sat beside her.
“I can’t do this alone, Myra. Daniel needs a mother and I know and I think you know Stu wanted you to be that mother. You and I carried that baby out of Mexico and we both need to carry him into the next phase of his life. Your job is important to you but I’m sure we can work out some kind of solution. What do you think?”
She narrowed her eyes, feeling a fire burning in her chest. “You think we can find a solution? That’s all you have to say?”
Levi ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, Myra. I’m a little overwhelmed at all this and feeling my way.”
“Well, when you figure it out, you let me know.” She made to get up, but he caught her arm.
“I’m getting this all wrong. Maybe this will be better.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. Unfolding it, he took out the most beautiful diamond ring she’d ever seen, and for one of the few times in her life she was speechless. “I bought this ring seven years ago. I was going to give it to you the night of the shooting. You know what happened after that.”
She fought to breathe. “You kept it all these years?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know why. I should have returned it, but I stowed it away in my sock drawer. You know, the one with all the mismatched socks.”
She smiled through her tears.
“I can easily get a job here, but we’ll have to go to Willow Creek often to check on Pop and―”
“I quit my job.” The words burst from her throat without her even realizing it.
“What? When?”
“Two days ago.”
He stared at her with hope in his eyes, a hope she’d been longing for. “Does that mean...”
“It means I love you. I can’t seem to stop.”
He held up the ring. “Myra Delgado, will you marry me? I’ve tried to stop loving you, but it hasn’t worked. I can’t seem to stop, either. I love you more today than I did seven years ago and I’m not sure how that happened since I’ve been mad at you for so long. But I think I’m one of those guys who only gives his heart away once.”
Myra just stared at him, her eyes watery, but she saw everything she wanted on his face. That look of forever suited him.
He held up the ring. “So what’s your answer?”
“Y-yes.”
He slipped the ring onto her finger and kissed her, a deep, everlasting kind of kiss that went on and on until neither of them knew where they were or what they were doing. They just needed to touch and hold on to make sure that never again would either of them hurt the other.
“I love you,” he whispered, pushing her into the cushions on the sofa. She sighed and they were lost in each other until a piercing cry broke them apart. Daniel was crying at the top of his lungs.
“Hey, buddy. I’m not hurting Myra. Come here.”
Daniel crawled to the sofa and Levi picked him up with one arm and brought him up beside them. “Meet your new parents.”
Daniel gave a wobbly grin and wanted down again. “I hope that’s a good sign.”
Myra noticed the baby’s socks. “His socks are mismatched.”
“No, they’re not,” Levi insisted. “They’re white.”
She lifted Daniel’s feet. “One has ducks on it and the other has teddy bears.”
“Well, that makes him my son, then.” He kissed her briefly.
Daniel climbed down and Levi pulled her into a sitting position. “Are you ready to start a new life as a wife and a mother?”
“As long as you’re with me.”
“You got it. Let’s go home and make a grouchy old man happy.”
As Myra packed the rest of her things, she couldn’t help but feel Stu had planned everything. He knew her weakness and Levi’s. She would forever be grateful for his caginess.
The new door was wide open and she smiled as she stepped into this life with Levi and Daniel. It was exactly what she wanted.
EPILOGUE
Three months later...
AN OLD LOVE slept with his arms around her, his hand on her heart, his soul touching hers. In the past seven years, they’d come full circle and when the circle was complete, they’d found happiness and it was more than either of them had ever imagined because they’d learned how to forgive with love in their hearts.
Myra caressed the hand beneath her breasts.
“You awake?” Levi whispered into her neck.
“Mmm.” She turned to face his sleepy-eyed look and loved everything about him, from his five-o’clock shadow to the twinkle in his dark e
yes. “We have to get up. It’s Christmas morning.”
“Not just yet.” His lips found hers and she melted into every inch of his hard masculine frame. They were lost in each other for the moment as the world waited outside their door.
They didn’t want to move from the warmth of their bed, the warmth of their love, the warmth of each other as they lay skin on skin with their hearts in their eyes.
“I love you. Merry Christmas,” he said.
She stroked his dark stubble. “Merry Christmas. I love you, too. Now let’s wake up our son and watch his excitement as he opens his gifts.”
“I heard him moving around earlier, but he must have gone back to sleep.” Levi slipped from the bed, pulling her with him.
Myra reached for her robe. “He’s going to be so excited, we’ll never be able to calm him down. But it’s Christmas, so anything goes.”
Arm in arm, they went across the hall to Daniel’s room. The bed was empty. Myra looked at Levi, trying to calm her erratic heart rate.
“Don’t get upset,” he warned. “He has to be here somewhere.”
They hurried into the living room and stopped short. Pop sat sleeping in his recliner, a fire blazed in the fireplace and Daniel was beneath the Christmas tree in his red reindeer pajamas, asleep on John Wayne.
“Get the video camera,” she whispered to Levi. “That’s adorable.”
Pop woke up and blinked at them. “’Bout time y’all got up.”
Levi came back with the video camera. “Pop, how did Daniel get out of his bed?”
“He’s a big boy and—”
“Pop.” Levi stopped filming and looked at his grandfather.
“Okay. I heard him moving around so I got him out of his bed. I let him run around a little bit and he tore some paper off packages and went to sleep. It’s Christmas. That’s what kids do.”
“If their great-grandfathers let them,” Levi remarked with a tone of amusement.
Myra sat down by the tree and gathered her baby into her arms. He stirred and rested his head on her chest and she wondered why it taken her so long to realize she needed this connection in her life—someone to love, someone to mother.
She caught Levi’s glance and smiled. He knew exactly what she was thinking and she loved him all the more because he could read her mind. Without him, none of this would be exactly what it was—happiness.
Levi sniffed the air. “Do I smell coffee?”
“Yeah,” Pop replied. “Rosa was over here and put a turkey in the oven and she made coffee, too. She’s cooking a ham in the trailer and a whole bunch of other stuff. Does she know there’s only five of us? She’s cooking enough to feed an army. I’m not complaining. I’ll give it my best cowboy try.”
“There’ll be eight of us. Nine with Daniel,” Levi reminded him.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot.”
Levi’s mother, stepfather and sister were coming. Feeling blessed and loved, Levi had let go of the resentment toward his mother and they’d been talking on the phone. He’d invited them for Christmas, wanting them to meet his wife and son. This day would be filled with love.
After the first of the year, they would be renovating the house to make it larger so they could have a master bedroom and bath. They would have to be out of the house, so they bought a mobile home to live in in the meantime.
“I’m sorry we’re tearing up your house, Pop.” Myra rubbed Daniel’s back.
“It’s not my house. I signed everything over to Levi years ago.”
“Still, it’s your home.”
“Aw, that’s just woman stuff, missy.” He waved a gnarled hand. “I can live in that trailer y’all bought.”
“You will not. This is your home.” Myra made that clear. “My parents will be using the trailer for when they visit.”
“Aw,” was Pop’s grumpy reply.
Her parents had come in last night and were staying in the trailer for Christmas. It still felt a little strange to realize for years she thought she’d disappointed them. When, in fact, they were just waiting for her to accept them into her life. What a way to learn a lesson. Her parents were ecstatic for her and over the moon about Daniel, their first grandchild.
Levi glanced at his grandfather. “You have your robe on this morning and your cowboy boots.”
“Yeah. Thought I’d better since we got company. You know things are changing around here.”
Levi sank down by Myra. “Yep. It’s not just the two of us anymore.”
“Fine by me.”
“Fine by me, too.”
There had been a lot of changes in the past few months. Adjusting to marriage and small-town life had been the easiest thing she’d ever attempted. But she didn’t leave her old life completely behind. Levi had a friend who was a lawyer, a child advocate attorney, and Myra worked for her two to three times a week. There was a playroom in the office and it was easy to take Daniel with her to work.
Her mother insisted, though, that she keep Daniel at least one day a week. That brought out a little tension between Pop and her mother, but they were working on getting along and being grandparents together. Everyone was making the relationship work.
There’d been changes for Levi, too. He’d closed his P.I. office and was now an investigator for the D.A. of Travis County. He basically had a nine-to-five job. They were a normal couple raising a family together.
“Let’s tell him,” she whispered to Levi.
He smiled that smile that made her stomach weak. “Pop, we have news for you.”
“I’ll use the phone, okay? Just don’t give me any other kind of fancy thing I have to learn.”
“It’s not about the phone you won’t use. I don’t think you’ll have a problem with this.”
Myra could hardly stand it and blurted out, “We’re having another baby.”
“Hot damn. Now we’re talking. I guess it was time to make this house bigger. I’m happy for y’all. Wait till I tell Walt.” The old man’s eyes were watery and Myra knew the little ones were putting a little sugar in his grumpy. “Do Rosa and Felipe know?”
“No,” Myra replied. “I’m telling them this morning.”
“I knew I was the favorite.” Pop grinned. “Now wake up the little fellow and let’s have Christmas.”
“We have to wait for Mama and Papa.”
“What for? The real grandfather’s already here.”
“Be nice, Pop,” Levi said.
Rosa and Felipe came through the back door and hurried into the living room to watch their grandson. Daniel woke up and looked around, his mouth forming a big O as he looked at the tree with all the lights and the brightly colored packages.
Levi gave Rosa the camera and he and Myra helped Daniel open his gifts. He giggled and laughed and was a happy little boy. His parents were happy, too. It truly was a magical day.
Pop had redone an old wood wagon of Levi’s and it was Daniel’s favorite toy as he pulled it around the living room with John Wayne yapping at him.
Easing into his chair with a smile on his face, Pop said, “A letter came in the mail yesterday and no one has opened it. It’s on the counter.”
“I didn’t see a letter,” Myra said, and went to find it.
“It came while y’all were visiting your friend Jessie.”
She found the letter and brought it to Levi.
“It’s from a law firm,” Levi said, and ripped it open. Inside was another envelope and on the front was written “Levi and Myra Coyote.” “It’s from Stu.”
Myra wrapped her arm around Levi’s waist and he kissed her cheek because they knew what was inside would touch both of them.
Slowly, he opened it and they read: “It really was that simple. Merry Christmas, Stu.”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from THE RANCH SHE LEFT BEHIND by Kathleen O’Brien.
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CHAPTER ONE
PENNY WRIGHT JERKED awake, her heart pounding so hard it seemed to beat against her eardrums. What had happened? What was wrong? There’d been a sound...something big....
Oh, no... She sat up, tossing aside the covers, and swung her bare legs toward the floor. “Coming, Ruth!” She fumbled for the lamp switch. Had her aunt fallen again? “Don’t move, Ruth. I’ll be right th—”
But the act of sitting up was enough to start clearing the cobwebs out of her mind, and she knew there was no point in finishing the sentence. Ruth hadn’t fallen. Ruth couldn’t hear her.
Ruth had died two months ago.
The town house was silent around her. So silent she could hear the gears of the banjo clock move, preparing to sound the hour in the downstairs parlor...
So what noise had she heard just now?
It must have been something major, to wake her up like that, to make her heart hammer so hard. Or had it been just a dream noise? She dreamed a lot these days—dreams of flying, of dancing, of climbing mountains and riding wild palominos. Freedom dreams. It was as if her subconscious was trying to tell her to get out of this town house and do something.