The Cowboy’s Sacrifice
Page 18
“You almost died,” Ty said. “I know everyone is talking about how wonderful it is that you got your transplant and you’re going to be okay, but I was there when you collapsed. I know the feeling of helplessness at almost losing you.”
He hated the way his voice cracked. Maybe someday he could share this part of the story without almost crying. But he’d done it with Ricky, Janie and his parents, so he supposed it was only right that Rachel see his emotion, as well.
Rachel gave him an encouraging look. “But that’s just it. I did get my kidney in time. I did survive.”
“No thanks to me,” Ty said. “I’ve wasted so much time dragging my heels on things related to you, and it almost cost you your life.”
That was the part he was having a hard time getting over.
“So why are you dragging your heels now?” she asked. “You can keep fighting this, or you can acknowledge that there are real feelings between us, and stop looking at all the excuses we’ve both made and start asking how we can make this work.”
Which was exactly the place he knew he needed to get to. Where he’d thought he’d gotten to. But now facing it in front of Rachel meant also facing where he’d gone wrong.
“I’ve spent my whole life telling myself that I don’t need anyone, and then when Katie came along, I made my life all about her,” Rachel continued. “But being at the Double R, being with you, has made me realize I was a fool for thinking that. I don’t know how I did it on my own for so long, but now that I’m part of this wonderful community, I never want to be on my own again. I want to be part of the community. I want to work through things, because that’s what happens in normal relationships.”
He wanted all those things, too, and as he heard the earnestness in Rachel’s voice, Ty realized just how much he had needed her to come into his life.
This was also about Ty being afraid of opening his heart and trusting. He put all the fear on Rachel, but the truth was, he was scared, too. And here was Rachel, offering him the chance to face his fears.
Not alone, but with an incredible woman by his side who would be willing to fight to make the relationship work.
“You’re right,” Ty said. “Doing everything on your own is a terrible way to live. I should know, because as you pointed out that day in the truck, I carry the weight of everything on my shoulders and I’m not good at sharing my burdens. But that’s not how God designed us to live.”
Another admission that made him realize just how desperately he needed Rachel in his life.
Rachel nodded. “Exactly how I feel. I once asked you to become Katie’s dad in the event I couldn’t be her mom. But now I’m asking you to join our family, not because I’m going to die, but because I’m going to live. And I can’t imagine living without you.”
Even though Ty knew he was probably going to hear some squawking from his mom at the sound of him lowering the recliner and getting out of his seat, he did so and walked over to Rachel, then sat beside her.
“Truth be told, I can’t imagine living life without you, either. I told myself it would be enough to give you a kidney so that you could live and raise Katie, regardless of who it was with or where you were. But I was deceiving myself, pretending not to care because I didn’t want to get hurt.”
He took her hands in his. “I want to spend my life with you. Yes, I wanted you to live for all the reasons I’ve said, but I would really love for you to live so I can share your life with you.”
The smile lighting up her eyes made all the pain, emotional and physical, worth it. No, he hadn’t given up a kidney for her to have one so she’d want to be with him, but he had done it so she could live, and now she would—with him.
“Then I guess we’re both on the same page,” Rachel said.
The joy on her face was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. None of the doctors’ instructions on his post-op care said anything about kissing the woman he loved.
Ty put his hand on her cheek, feeling the silky softness of her skin and thanking God that despite all Ty’s stubbornness, God had still seen fit to save Rachel’s life.
“I love you,” Ty said. “I know we just were talking about making a relationship work, but I would really like it if we were making it work in the direction of marriage.”
Rachel giggled. “I kind of thought that’s what we were talking about all along. But if we need to make it official, will you marry me?”
He grinned. “I thought I was supposed to say that. But since you asked, I sure will.”
Rachel leaned forward. “I know what I want. And I’m not afraid to fight for it.”
Just as he was leaning in to kiss her, she kissed him, and it was better than anything he could’ve initiated. Her touch spoke of absolute love for him, and as they kissed, he couldn’t stop the overwhelming feeling of gratitude washing over him.
It hadn’t been an easy road, and he’d almost lost her. But he could either dwell on his mistakes or accept the gift she was offering him here and now.
He broke off the kiss and smiled at her. “Well, since you asked, I would love to marry you. I know we still have work to do, but I think we can both agree that we’re willing to do whatever it takes to get through the good times and the bad. Together.”
“I like the sound of that,” Rachel said, bringing him in for another kiss.
Epilogue
The wedding was small, but it was everything Rachel could have hoped for. Just her, Ty, Ricky, Ty’s parents and their close friends at the ranch.
They’d just finished with the pictures when she spied Katie and Sam arguing.
“How did you get Ty to be your dad?” Sam asked, looking angrier than Rachel had ever seen him with Katie. “I’ve known him since I got borned, and I’ve asked God lots of times to make Ty my dad. It’s not fair.”
The poor little boy looked like he was about to cry, but Katie put her arm around him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to steal him from you. But Ty loves my mom, so he gets to be my dad.”
Janie must have overheard the kids, as well, because she stepped in. “I’ve told you lots of times that Ty and I don’t love each other the way moms and dads do. We should be happy that he and Rachel found each other and that Katie finally has a daddy.”
“But I want a dad, too.” Sam’s eyes filled with tears.
Katie gave her friend a hug. “Just like you were going to share your Poppa and Gramma with me, I’ll share my dad with you. And, now that I have another grandma and grandpa, we can share them, too. They said they’re excited to have someone to spoil, so they can have two someones to spoil.” She looked over at Rachel. “Right, Mom?”
Rachel tried not to laugh, especially since Janie was doing her best to hold in her own laughter.
Before Rachel could answer, Ty joined them. “I have always promised that I’d be there for Sam. But I think it might be confusing to others if he called me Dad.”
Katie ran over to him. “But I get to, right, Dad?”
The happiness on her daughter’s face brought tears to Rachel’s eyes. But they started to fall at the sheer joy in Ty’s expression.
“You sure do.” Then he looked over at Rachel, giving her the heart-melting smile she loved so much. “We’re a family. Today just made official what we all felt for each other.”
When they’d signed the marriage certificate, they had also signed adoption papers, making Katie officially Ty’s daughter. And as Katie hugged her new dad, Ty held his arm out to Rachel.
“Come here. Let’s make this a proper family hug.”
Rachel did as she was asked, but after one tight squeeze, Ty opened his arm again. “Come here, Sam. You and your mom are part of our family, too.”
Even though he hadn’t needed to, Ty had made the effort to make Sam feel special on this big day. When they all finished hugging, Katie took Sam by the hand.
It didn’t seem like Janie overheard, which was probably a good thing since she’d sworn off men, but Rachel couldn’t help adding a prayer of her own that Janie would find a love as deep as the one she’d found for herself.
* * *
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Keep reading for an excerpt from A Mother’s Homecoming by Lisa Carter.
Dear Reader,
A while back, a dear friend of ours became ill and needed a kidney. Ed did everything he could, including putting a decal on the back of his truck to see if people would be willing to donate a kidney to him. While that decal attracted national attention, the source of his new kidney ended up being another dear friend who felt that giving a friend a chance at life was the right thing to do. No, they didn’t have a romance, as they are both happily married to other people, but Tara’s gift has always sat with me as an incredibly loving act. Our daughters have all been part of the same youth equestrian organization for years, and while we aren’t in a small town like Columbine Springs, our organization is like a family, and it’s always been touching to me to see how we care for one another.
While I did take some artistic liberties with the timeline and romance, it was important for me to share, at least in a very general way, the inspiration I found from watching my friends navigate this incredibly difficult time. I hope you will also find this kind of loving sacrifice inspiring, because there really are heroes out there willing to give the gift of life to another.
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May the blessings of the Lord be with you,
Danica Favorite
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A Mother’s Homecoming
by Lisa Carter
Chapter One
Maggie Arledge made it a point to never attend church on the second Sunday in May.
Yet here she stood on the sidewalk outside Truelove Community Church.
She’d spent the last three years trying to forget what had happened to her. And she’d been largely successful. Wrapping herself in a cocoon of numbness. Taking each day as it came. Staying too busy to dwell on the past.
Calling out greetings, friends surged around her. Like the river diverting around the boulder in its path before the water merged once more.
Her own personal boulder hadn’t proved as easily overcome. Life and love flowed around her. Leaving her feeling high and dry. Unable to find a way to rejoin the flow.
Last year, she’d made a lame excuse for missing church. But this year she traded toddler duty with her friend AnnaBeth before realizing she’d signed up for the second Sunday in May.
Normally, she loved working in the toddler room. But today was fraught with reminders of what she’d lost. Compounding the loss, after church she and her dad would go to the cemetery to put flowers on her mother’s grave.
During her childhood, she and her mom often had to attend church without her father. In a small-town police department, there was usually an emergency demanding the police chief’s attention. He used to joke that crime didn’t observe the Sabbath.
On the steps in front of the sanctuary, she spotted her dad talking to a tall, broad-shouldered man in a police uniform. He must be the town’s new police chief.
With the opening of the town’s new community center and her teaching schedule, she’d been too busy to pay much attention to the man hired to take her retiring father’s position.
Early thirties, she estimated. Three or four years older than her. He had short-cropped black hair. Beard stubble shadowed a strong jawline.
Waving, her dad beckoned her over. “Magpie, come meet Bridger, our new chief.”
The police chief’s head snapped around. She walked toward them. Smile lines crinkled out from the corners of his startlingly blue eyes.
“Miss Arledge,” he rasped in a gravelly voice.
And inside her chest, something altogether surprising fluttered like the barest flicker of a butterfly’s wings.
She slammed to a standstill. “I—I’m late for the nursery. Sorry.” Abruptly turning on her heel, she called over her shoulder, “N-nice to meet you.”
In her haste to be away, she raced into the building. What was it about him that had affected her so? When he’d glanced at her, the sensation she felt sent her into flight. Somehow threatening the carefully protective barriers she’d placed around herself.
She didn’t believe in love at first sight. Nor instant like, either. But she couldn’t deny the awareness—a kind of recognition—that pulsed between them.
Inside the doors, she stopped to catch her breath. Recalling her inglorious dash, she cringed. The new police chief probably thought her the rudest, strangest person he’d ever not quite met.
But she had needed to go inside. The other worker was probably up to her eyeballs in toddlers.
A woman wearing a red rose in remembrance of a living mother bustled past Maggie, urging her brood toward the elementary classrooms.
Her stomach knotted again. During the unsettling encounter with the new police chief, she’d somehow managed to shove the significance of the day to the back of her mind.
Since moving home, she’d reconnected with her childhood faith. Become a regular attendee. Just not on the second Sunday of May—Mother’s Day.
“You can do this,” she whispered.
She pushed off toward the toddler room. If she could get through today, she’d be home free for another eleven months.
Keep moving forward.
Her motto for the last three years. Not fixating on the event that changed her life forever. Not wallowing in the wrenching loss that changed her heart forever.
She rushed down the hallway. Disengaging the child lock on the half door, she slipped into the toy-strewn classroom.
A small girl concentrated on building a tower of blocks. A little boy pounded on the play workbench. She was thrilled to realize that the other worker was her close friend Callie.
Maggie stowed her purse in the cabinet underneath the sink. “Sorry I’m late.”
The very pregnant Callie McAbee smiled. “Just in time.”
With four-year-old Maisie, her husband’s child from his first marriage, this baby would make a sweet addition to their family.
Callie was a dear friend. Yet sometimes her radiant happiness scraped still-raw places in Maggie’s heart. Reminding her of all she’d never have.
Inexplicably, her thoughts flitted to the new police chief.
Callie nudged her chin toward the open door. “I think our numbers are about to double.”
Holding tightly to the hands of two toddler twin boys, an older woman hesitated on the threshold.
Maggie’s heart skipped a beat. But she pushed forward. “I’m Maggie Arledge.” She usher
ed them inside. “I don’t think we’ve met.”
Not identical, the twins did share the same big brown eyes. So, so adorable in their pint-size khakis and blue button-down shirts.
“I’m Wilda. We’re new in town and decided to visit GeorgeAnne’s church today.” The sixtysomething woman with kind blue eyes brought the two boys forward. “My grandsons are almost two. Are we in the right place?”
“GeorgeAnne is my aunt.” She reached to take the navy blue backpack from the woman with the salt-and-pepper hair. “And you are most definitely in the right place.”
Letting go of one boy’s pudgy little hand, Wilda eased the backpack off her shoulder. She handed it to her. “You must be Tom Arledge’s daughter.”
Clinging to his grandmother’s side, the darker-haired twin peered uncertainly at Maggie.
She deposited the backpack into an empty cubby. “You know my dad, too?”
“My son is Truelove’s new chief of police. He had to finish a case at the office so we’re meeting him here.”
As she clicked the half door shut, heat bloomed in her cheeks over her out-of-the-ordinary reaction to Wilda’s obviously married son. “Weekend duty is tough.”
The matronly woman shrugged. “We’re a law enforcement family. Weekend duty comes with the territory.”
Her father had been a good police chief. The citizens of Truelove knew he’d taken his duty to protect and serve seriously. Sometimes to his own family’s detriment. He would be missed.
She handed Wilda the check-in paperwork to complete. “Hello, guys.” Carefully tucking her skirt around her legs, she crouched to their height.
Letting go of the other child’s hand, Wilda filled in the blanks on the paper. “Everyone in Truelove has been so friendly. Boys, introduce yourselves to Miss Maggie, please.”
The twin with the short blond curls stuck his baby thumb into his chest. “Me Wostin.”