“So what are you saying, Cade?” Sara asked, her heart in her throat, and most likely in her eyes, too.
He widened his stance, as if facing a shoot-out at high noon. “I’m sayin’ that, if or when you get back your memory, if that means having to work through your love and loyalty to your dead husband, then—then I’ll be here for you, however you need me to be. I won’t give up on you—and I won’t leave you.”
He cracked a one-sided smile that broke her heart. “I’d say I’ve already got the waitin’ part down pat, and that you can depend on.”
“Oh, Cade,” Sara sobbed.
And, tears blinding her, she ran into his arms.
Cade caught her to him. His mouth pressed against hers until her knees buckled.
Oh, how she’d thought she’d die for want of just this connection, so strong and sure!
She wrapped her arms around his neck, remembering how she’d done the same that very first night. Yes, those memories were a part of her now. Cade was a part of her. He’d always be in her heart, never to leave.
And just like that night, his gaze fell to the ring at her throat. Without a word, Sara reached behind her neck and unclasped the chain. For a moment, she grasped the gold band in her hand as it rested against her heart. Then, with infinite care, she laid it aside, and opened her arms to him again.
“Tell me again,” she said simply, and his eyes glinted in perfect understanding.
“Wherever you came from,” he said huskily, “whatever happened before, you’re here now in my arms, exactly where you need to be, with me.”
He took her hand, weaving her fingers in his, and brought them between their chests, so that their clasped hands were pressed against both their hearts. “And I won’t ever let you go.”
Their hearts, bodies and souls were completely attuned, the bond between them as powerful as ever. Fated, as if it had been carved into time itself. Every thought, emotion and action in the universe seemed to converge deep inside her, and needing to look into Cade’s eyes, needing something else, something more, that was still missing, Sara lifted her face to his. When their eyes met, she found what she sought, once more and forever. The force of that ultimate connection resounded like the stroke of a clock, bright and clear and vibrant, that pealed over and over again.
Yes, this was right where she belonged, where they both belonged.
And that’s when she knew...knew it all, past, present—and future.
She blinked. “Cade.”
He brushed her hair back with infinite tenderness, his breathing ragged. “What, darlin’?”
“I remember,” she said simply.
He moved not a muscle, but Sara felt every inch of him turn to stone.
He asked, “You do?”
“Yes.”
Apprehension entered those brown eyes of his, but only for an instant before it was replaced with caring concern. “Are you all right?”
“I’m...fine,” Sara said wonderingly. It was so strange, like an out-of-body experience in reverse as her mind seemed to settle back in to her head, and all that had been missing was suddenly just there. Including Greg—and what had transpired that fateful day two months ago.
“Really,” she told Cade quietly, “everything is...fine.”
He shifted to the side and helped her sit down on the bed.
“So what do you remember?” he asked, taking her hand in his. “Tell me.”
She tried to sort it out chronologically. “I was...driving to Albuquerque when the storm started to blow into the Panhandle. The movers had taken two hours longer than I’d thought they would to pack up my stuff, so when they finally finished and left I was in a hurry to get on the road and forgot to check the weather, like Loren said.”
She gave an involuntary shiver. “Stupid of me, I guess. That alone could have been disastrous for me.”
“Aw, I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself, Sara,” Cade consoled, his thumb rubbing the back of her hand. “Even if you had checked the weather report, I don’t know that you wouldn’t still have decided to make your trip as scheduled. Nobody knew that cold front was gonna turn into an all-out blizzard.”
She gave him a grateful smile for his support. “At least when I realized I was heading straight at that big gray cloud I stopped at that café to call you to see if you’d mind me waiting out the storm.”
“So I was who you called?”
“Yes, and when there was no answer, I decided to come anyway, thinking if you still weren’t home, surely having to break into your house for shelter would be preferable to trying to beat the blizzard. But once I got off the main road, I discovered my purse had been stolen from my car while it was in the café parking lot.”
Sara bit her lip. “I was...pretty distraught, what with the stress of the movers and leaving O.K.C. late and the storm coming on. By that time, my emotional reserves were pretty low. Plus I’d been feeling twingey all day. That’s when the labor pains started.”
The fear she’d experienced at that moment came pouring back. She found it disturbing, but not debilitating.
“But you didn’t go into labor till you got to my place,” Cade pointed out.
Sara shook her head slowly, trying to keep straight the feelings and impressions flying at her. “Not in earnest, no. But I was terrified to think I might be starting to have this baby. I knew if I had him out in the middle of the Texas Panhandle as early as I believed he was going to be, I’d lose him.”
She gave another of those involuntary shudders, and Cade squeezed her hand tighter. “The thought wasn’t to be borne. I’d already lost Greg—I simply wasn’t going to accept fate dealing me another such loss.”
She looked at him. “I was so set on denying it in my mind, in defying fate, I repressed...everything. When I came to, it was with the piece of paper with your name on it in my hand, and the certainty that if I could just make it to you, everything would be all right. And everything was, thankfully—except for the loss of my memory.”
They sat silently for some time, both of them absorbing all that had happened to bring them to this moment.
Chin down, Cade asked, “So—so how do you feel now about what you’ve remembered. Y’know, about—Greg?”
Greg. She could picture him in her mind so clearly now, it was almost surreal. Everything was so sharp and distinct, she could see only now how much of a state of suspended animation she had been living in, even before she’d lost her memory. A state of grief.
“Sarah Ann was right,” she said, “I was completely devastated by his death in that car accident, especially coming as it had on the heels of that...silly little argument we had.”
She pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them. “To tell the truth, I still can’t remember what it was about, it was so trivial. When he walked out, I’m sure it was simply because he felt he could do with some perspective and nothing more. And for the same reason, I let him leave.”
Resting one cheek on her knees, Sara admitted, “Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t have let him go. That must have been the reason why, even without memory of it, I was terrified to let you leave.”
His chin shot up. “I’m sorry, Sara! I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t. I didn’t.” Tenderly, she feathered her fingers through his thick chestnut hair, her hand lingering at his nape. “But this I do know. Greg will always be in my heart for what we shared and the son he gave me. I can see now that my amnesia wasn’t so much about not being able to think about living without him, because my heart did know that that’s part of life and loving. It was my mind that couldn’t put it together. So I guess I had to forget him in order for my heart to lead me where my mind didn’t dare go. And that was to let myself believe in life again. To have faith that I did have some say in finding happiness again.”
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “To have faith that I could fall in love again.”
“You never gave up faith,” Cade vowed. “You’ve always had it right there inside you. It’s you who gave it to me again.”
Tears stung behind her eyes as she realized the gift she’d been given in having two such men in her life. She would never forget either of them, ever again.
She smiled tremulously at the one who’d seen her through that valley of darkness. “Do you know how much I love you, Cade McGivern? I have from the first. I couldn’t have stopped myself from falling in love with you, can’t stop myself from loving you now, any more than I could stop myself from loving Baby Cade.”
A teardrop fell, trailing down her cheek, but she couldn’t be bothered to brush it away this time. Not when it was one of joy. “And that will never change, no matter what happens.”
She could tell Cade was as moved, his features ravaged with the strength of the emotion he felt, too, as he said roughly, “I love you, too, Sara with the blue eyes.”
He slid his hand behind her nape to draw her close, and she let him, offering herself to the touch of his kiss, which she knew with all her heart she’d never grow tired of, would never stop wanting. Would never, ever forget.
After a few moments, Cade pulled away, his brow furrowed. “Why do you expect you recovered your memory now, of all times? And without that awful fear sendin’ you into a tailspin?”
“I don’t know. Although...remember what you said when you were explaining to me about how you trained Destiny, how you can’t make anything happen?”
For some reason, he lowered his gaze, giving an embarrassed cough. “Sure, I remember.”
“Maybe that’s what happened with both of us. We were both fighting loving each other so I could remember my past. But we couldn’t not love each other. So when we stopped trying to do the wrong thing, the difficult thing, and let ourselves do what was easy and right—loving each other—then that’s how we got to the place where we needed to be.”
“That’s quite a theory,” Cade drawled, a wry smile playing at his lips as he concentrated unduly on his finger tracing the life line, heart line, and love line of her palm.
“But it makes sense, doesn’t it?”
He shrugged one muscled shoulder. “Only if you don’t forget the most important part.”
“What’s that?”
His lashes lifted and he hit her with those rich, brown eyes again. “It only works as long as we give ourselves up to feeling the right thing for each other.”
He reached out and stroked her jaw with the back of his index finger, then trailed it down her throat.
Their mouths found each other again in a kiss that flowered within her.
“Sara,” he said breathlessly minutes later. “Please tell me we’ve got time for another kiss?”
“Time?” Over his shoulder, she glimpsed the bedside clock. “Oh my! I was supposed to meet that client fifteen minutes ago!”
There was a mad scurry for Sara’s portfolio. Sara smoothed out her skirt and jacket but could only gaze hopelessly into the mirror at her bedraggled hairdo. One side of the French twist had come completely loose and hung down over her ear. Hairpins stuck out all over. She had no choice but to take them out and wear her hair in a tumble around her shoulders.
“Do I look thoroughly kissed?” she asked Cade worriedly, pressing her hands to her flushed cheeks to cool them.
He only grinned and slid his arms around her waist from behind. “Not by half.”
She blushed even more furiously. “Oh... you.”
They hurried down the stairs and across the parking lot to the restaurant. Inside, Sara searched the patrons at the tables for a self-described Texas good old boy, short on hair and wide of waistline, in glasses and a brown Stetson. But no one in the restaurant fit that description.
Dismay washed over her. “I can’t have missed him. I needed to thank him—I mean, t-to talk to him about this opportunity.”
“Wait a sec.” Cade pointed out the window. “Is that who you’re looking for?”
They ventured outside again, picking their way across a parking lot littered with cars to a man fitting the description Sara had been given. He stood at a white pipe fence, one boot propped on the lower rail and hand outstretched to scratch the broad nose of Destiny, who looked to be loving the attention he was getting.
The man turned at their approach. A smile broke out on his face. “Well, there she is,” he boomed. “You’re Sara, of course. We’ve talked on the phone so much, I feel like we’re old friends already.”
“So do I, Dick,” she said quickly, closing the last distance between them to offer the older man her hand, which he took between both of his. “Sorry to be late.”
He brushed away her apology. “No problem a’tall.”
He released her hand to turn and take
Cade’s with as much enthusiasm. “Hey there, Cade. Didn’t expect to see you for another half hour or so,” he said rather pointedly.
Sara lifted her eyebrows in question. She’d grasped the fact that of course, Cade would know Dick Olin. Loren had mentioned he was an old friend of their grandfather’s.
“Dick’s who I’ve got the lunch meetin’ with at noon,” Cade explained, “to talk about my doing some work for him, too.”
Dick looked from one to the other. “And you two know each other?” He struck his forehead with the heel of his hand. “That’s right, y’all are kissin’ cousins, of a fashion. I guess I plumb forgot to mention it to y’all that I was meetin’ with each of you one right after the other.”
Beneath his gray eyebrows, his eyes were bright with inquisitiveness. “But I guess you both figured out for yourselves what was goin’ on, am I right?”
“Of a fashion,” Cade said cryptically as Sara became even more intrigued. What was going on here?
She indicated her portfolio. “Did you want to get a table in the restaurant so we could discuss some possibilities as to what I might be able to do for you?” she asked.
“Well, don’t know as that I even needed to meet with the either of you.” He clapped Cade on the back. “I’ve known you since you were just a li’l shaver, Cade, and you always were a wonder on horseback, no doubt about it. That’s why I’d like you to take over buyin’ and trainin’ the entire string of horses on my operation. I’m of a mind to expand that side of the business, make a name for the ranch—and give you the chance to make one for yourself, if you’d like it.”
Under the brim of his hat, Cade’s ears turned red with embarrassment. Such a modest man! But still, sure of his talents and purpose.
“I’d be honored, Dick,” he answered, adding, “I’ll look forward to not havin’ to move from town to town like a wanderin’ cowboy.” He slid her a glance. “Look forward, too, to bein’ close to family again.”
“Then it’s settled.”
He and Dick shook on it before the older man turned expansively to her, making her feel like Dorothy just before the Wizard bestowed his last gift upon her. “And you, young lady, I like what I’ve seen of your stuff, especially that brochure you did up for Cade. I’m gonna be needing some work done to get the word out ’bout him and buildin’ the horse-training business on the ranch, plus a bunch of other businesses I got goin’.”
He gave her a shrewd look. “Now, it’s not full-time, but you’d be able to work from home most of the time so’s you could be there for that little one of your’n.”
Sara actually got tears in her eyes. “I’d love to!” she enthused sincerely.
She couldn’t help herself; when Dick offered his hand to her as well, she threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, to which the older man responded with the flaming of his ears, too.
“Enough of that, now, young lady,” he said gruffly.
She realized they were staring at each other like a couple of fools only when Dick coughed discreetly.
“So it’s settled,” he said. “Let’s talk next week to firm up the details.”
He peered at them, and Sara thought she saw what looked suspiciously like a smile of satisfaction lurking around his lips. “Now if it’s all right with y’all, I’m of a mind to read the newspaper while I enjoy my lunch. ’Sides, I’m sure you two young’uns’ve got better things to do.”
It was everything she could do not to look at Cade at that moment as she commanded herself not to blush. Then, as Dick turned to go, she ventured a quick glance up at Cade just in time to see him give a wink to the older man—in thanks.
He shrugged innocently when he saw her staring at him, openmouthed, for it just occurred to her: Cade’s brochure hadn’t been in the samples of her work she’d sent Dick.
“Cade...?”
He didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed as he leaned back against the fence, drawing her into his arms again.
“Just a little lesson in what I like to call creatin’ your own luck,” he drawled triumphantly.
“Oh really? Well, I wouldn’t gloat if I were you,” she said, arching an eyebrow, “because from where I’m standing, it definitely looks to me as if destiny is firmly back in the saddle again, making things happen.”
He groaned. “Don’t tell me this’s still gonna be a point of contention between us?”
Before she could respond, he dropped his chin to take her mouth again in a soulful kiss that had her snaking her arms up his chest and around his neck to pull him closer still.
Minutes later, Cade lifted his head. “So, is it?”
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