Wild Mustang
Page 18
“I don’t blame you for nabbing him right on the spot,” Jade said. “Still, we all felt a tad left out, since we missed the wedding. So we decided to get together and have an informal reception for you and Shane. Mostly family, but with a few guests who feel like family.”
Laura stared at her. “You mean—tonight?”
Karen nodded. “But you don’t get to open the presents until later. First we eat.”
Blinking back tears, Laura tried to thank them all. At that moment Sage came in with a little red-haired toddler by the hand.
Steve and Victoria’s Heidi, as it turned out.
“You have to come see the twins,” Sage told Laura. “They’re so cute.”
Moments later, as Laura found herself surrounded by children of all ages—though none as old as Sage—it came to her that part of loving a man was wanting his child.
Later, after everyone had eaten, Karen shooed Laura and Shane off, insisting they take a stroll to the gazebo before the grand finale of opening presents. “It’s a tradition,” Karen said. “Most of us did it before we got married, but we’ll make an exception for you two.”
She pointed them in the right direction and, hand in hand, Laura and Shane walked toward the side garden.
“You didn’t tell me Zed and Talal were twins,” he said. “Took me a while to get used to who was which. I’d’ve married you even sooner if I’d known what a great extended family you have. Talal wants to donate some money to our fishery, and Zed’s all set to take my scout troop on a camel ride.”
“I didn’t realize how accepted I was. Do you know Steve and Victoria flew all the way from Virginia so they could be here for our reception?”
“You didn’t mind Gert being invited?”
She shook her head and smiled at him. “Not now that I can look at her as a possible friend instead of a shrink.”
“She and Grandfather must operate on the same wavelength. I’ve been told she’s coming out to visit us—him, really. Seems she’s fascinated by how Native American medicine men successfully treat mental problems in their own cultures.”
“They make an interesting combination.”
“A dangerous one. If Gert knows even half as much as Grandfather, we all better watch out.”
The sweet scent of roses surrounded them as they came to the gazebo. The moon, fading toward its dark period, cast little light, but the crescent rode high among the stars.
“A gazebo might be nice down by the honeysuckle,” she said dreamily. “The children could play in it.”
He stopped and put his hands on her shoulders. “You mean Sage and her friends?”
“They’re getting a little old for that. I was thinking of—ours.”
Shane closed his eyes for a moment, overwhelmed by the wave of feeling that broke over him. Their children. His and Laura’s. Opening his eyes, he gazed down at her upturned face. To him, the most beautiful face in the world.
“Aren’t we lucky we found each other?” she asked.
He nodded. “But I’m still not completely sure that somehow Grandfather didn’t have a hand in it.”
She laughed. “I don’t care if he did. I love him, too. And Sage. And, right now, the whole world. But especially you.”
Shane drew her close and kissed her, knowing however it had happened, he’d love this woman until the end of time.
Chapter Sixteen
Because the last of the New Mexico wild horses were rounded up and shipped out of the state before she was to go there, Laura completed her grant work sooner than she’d expected. On a sunny Saturday in late November, she leaned against the corral fence, watching as Sage led the gangly Star around the enclosure with a halter.
“He’s quit fighting it,” Sage called to her.
“That’s because he trusts you,” Laura said, thinking privately that Star would follow the girl wherever she led, do anything she wanted him to.
“I’m glad he’s mine, but sometimes I’m sorry he can’t run free like the other mustangs.”
Laura smiled, thinking of Shane. She was glad he was hers, but she couldn’t say she was sorry he wasn’t running free.
She heard the pickup pull into the drive and stop. Grandfather was back from Tourmaline. He’d spent several days there visiting Gert Severin so she knew he’d be in good spirits. The sound of distant hammering told her Shane was still working down by the garden.
“Mail’s here,” Grandfather announced, coming into view. “Seems to be a letter here from some strange place in the Middle East.”
“Kholi!” Sage cried and came running over, halter forgotten, the colt trailing her anyway.
“Didn’t say it was for you,” Grandfather teased, as she held out her hand.
Zed, Talal and Jade’s grandmother had visited from Kholi in the fall, bringing with her two grandnephews. The younger one, Tabuk, was twelve. Sage’s way with Star had impressed Tabuk—a girl actually training a colt! Unheard of in his country. He was also interested in her Native American heritage, finding it comparable to his own Bedouin ancestry. So he and Sage had become friends. Now that he’d returned to Kholi they were pen pals.
“Tabuk says his father has agreed he can go to the University of Nevada at Reno when he’s eighteen,” Sage reported, scanning the letter. “He’ll be right here in Reno—isn’t that great?”
Laura reasoned that Tabuk’s father wanted Talal to keep an eye on the boy and that might well be why UNR had been chosen. In the meantime, she thought it was great that Sage could enjoy this long-distance friendship.
“Look, he sent me a picture.” Sage waved it in the air. “Isn’t he way cool? Donna’s going to just die.”
All the Zohir men Laura had met were handsome, and Tabuk was no exception. “He’s a good-looking boy,” she agreed.
Handing over the letter and picture to her, Sage said, “I’m going to put it in a frame like I did little Joey’s.”
“Joey’s cute, too,” Laura said smiling.
“Yeah, but he’s only a baby and my baby brother besides. Tabuk’s different.” Sage turned to Star who was nuzzling her shoulder and threw her arms around his neck. Laura smiled. She wouldn’t have to start really worrying about Sage and boys for a few years yet.
As for Joey, Shane’s change of heart had been good for all of them. He’d tolerated Bill and Connie’s visit with the baby surprisingly well. It boded well for a continuing relationship even though she knew Shane and Bill would never really be friends.
Returning to the house to put Sage’s letter in her room, Laura found the phone ringing. “We’ve done it!” her brother cried when she answered. “Anna Isabel, eight pounds, three ounces, mother and child in great shape.”
Tears of joy in her eyes, Laura offered her sincere congratulations. After Jade’s miscarriage, they’d wanted this baby so desperately.
“Tim is as excited as we are,” Nathan added before hanging up.
Laura smiled as she left the house by the front door, taking the path toward the garden. Toward Shane.
He stopped his carpentry work when he saw her coming, holding out his arms for her to walk into. After his bear hug, she told him about Anna Isabel.
“That’s good news,” he said.
They talked about Nathan and Jade for a few minutes, and then he gestured toward the half-built structure and asked, “What do you think?”
“I think it’s going to be the most fantastic gazebo ever built, and it’ll put every other one to shame.”
He grinned at her. “If I ever get it finished, you mean.”
“Oh, I expect you’ve got time enough.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Time enough for what?”
“To get it done before He-Who-Is-Coming arrives.”
Shane stared into her eyes, and she saw the dawning joy in his. “Are you—?”
She nodded. “And, since Grandfather had one of his true dreams last night, he very kindly told me it’s a boy.”
“He didn’t know you were pregnant?”
“If you mean had I told him—no. But there’s never any way of telling for sure what he knows or doesn’t know. He says we’ll have to wait until he dreams the right name before we can even think about what we want to call the baby.”
“Do you mind?”
Laura shook her head. “No. Grandfather makes me feel we’re all safe somehow. Watched over. Which I suppose is foolish of me.”
“No more foolish than marrying me in the first place.”
Suppressing a smile, she said, “It was purely a business arrangement.”
“That’s what I thought. All I wanted was a woman in the house so I could keep Sage and look what happened.”
“I hear love’s like that—sneaking up when you’re not looking and zap, you’re trapped. I tried to stay out of your bed, but—”
“That written agreement was doomed before the ink was dry,” he told her, pulling her back into his arms.
“With Grandfather and Love with a capital L opposing me,” she murmured, “what chance did I have?”
His kiss showed her that, from the moment they’d met, she was meant to be right where she was. In his arms, loving and loved, and free of the past forever.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5553-4
WILD MUSTANG
Copyright © 2000 by Jane Toombs
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