As Sierra drove the twenty miles to San Antonio, she wasn’t sure her mother was right about leaving Bowie with her. But then it probably wouldn’t matter if the baby was right in front of Alex or back in Red Rock; she expected the man to be a hard case.
A half hour later, Sierra entered the front door of Calloway Law Office. No clients were seated in the small waiting area and Pauline was two-stepping around the room with a feather duster while on the radio George Strait was singing about coming unwound.
“Oh, Sierra. I didn’t realize anyone had come in,” she said the moment she spotted Sierra standing just inside the doorway.
The woman hurried over to the radio and turned down the volume. “Sorry about that,” she said as she wiped her hands against the hips of her black slacks. “Alex is out and I’m all caught up on paperwork. And since I double as janitor, too, I thought it would be a good time to stir up some dust around here.”
Sierra looked around the long, wood-paneled room. It was filled with a couch, several wooden hardback chairs, two lamps and three magazine racks. In one corner, a small television was tuned in to a soap opera, but the sound was turned off.
“Alex doesn’t deserve you, you know,” Sierra told her. “You should tell him that you don’t do windows.”
Pauline laughed. “I don’t mind. Gives me a little exercise. Besides, I feel the same way as Alex. I don’t want some stranger coming in here sniffing around our private papers and things. You can’t trust anyone these days.”
She motioned for Sierra to follow her over to the couch. “So I’m guessing you’re here to see Alex.” The woman sank onto the end cushion and crossed her legs out in front of her.
Sierra continued to stand. Now that she’d learned Alex was out, there wasn’t any need for her to stay. She might as well get on back to the Stocking Stitch and relieve her mother of Bowie.
“I—was hoping to talk to him. I just took a chance that he’d be in.” She hadn’t wanted to call before making the drive over. She hadn’t wanted to give Alex the chance to snub her without facing her first.
“That’s too bad. He had opening arguments on an insurance fraud case today. And Judge Brookings is on the bench for this one. The old judge doesn’t want to waste a minute of the taxpayers’ money. If there’s a spare half hour left in the day, he’ll try to run two or three witnesses through examination.”
Disappointment swamped Sierra. She’d gotten herself all psyched up for this meeting. Now she felt deflated.
“Oh. Well, I’ll try to catch him later,” she said to the secretary.
Sierra started toward the door and Pauline jumped up to follow her.
“Uh, you wouldn’t happen to know what’s been wrong with Alex, would you?” she asked. “He’s turned into a regular monster. I think he’s sick, but he refuses to go to the doctor.”
Sierra shook her head. She hoped the other woman was wrong. To even think of Alex being ill caused her stomach to clench with alarm.
“No. I haven’t seen Alex in…a few days,” she said.
Pauline released a wistful sigh. “Well, at least he seemed better today. I guess spending the weekend with his parents helped him.”
Sierra looked at her. “Alex went to Dallas?”
Pauline nodded. “Yes. Surprised the heck out of me. He doesn’t go up there too often.”
This news sent Sierra’s head spinning and she replied in an absent voice, “No. He doesn’t.”
“Should I tell him you stopped by?” Pauline asked as Sierra reached to push open the door.
“Uh, no,” Sierra answered. “Whenever I see him, I want it to be a surprise.”
She said goodbye to Alex’s secretary then stepped out into the late-evening sun. A humid breeze was blowing directly from the south and it fluttered the hem of Sierra’s skirt and tossed the black curls around her head as she walked down the sidewalk toward her parked car.
She was trying to tell herself not to feel dejected when she heard someone calling her name. Turning, she was suddenly frozen by the sight of Alex hurrying down the sidewalk in her direction.
“Sierra, what are you doing here?”
His tie was loosened, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled back against his forearms and his brown hair windblown against his forehead. His muscular body appeared thinner through the midsection, his face gaunt and tired. Sierra suddenly wanted to burst into tears at the sight of him.
“I came by to see you.”
She could see that her answer had shocked him. It was clear in the way his brows lifted and his green eyes widened ever so slightly. But after a moment he appeared to collect himself and he glanced over her shoulder toward her parked car.
“You don’t have Bowie with you?”
She shook her head and his expression instantly turned fearful.
“What—you haven’t done anything, have you? I mean, Bowie is still with you, isn’t he?”
She wanted to ask him why it mattered to him, but she kept the sharp words buried inside of her. At least they were talking. That was better than what had transpired between them these past several days.
“Why, yes. My mother has him at the Stocking Stitch. Showing him off to all her knitting customers, I’m sure.”
He let out a sigh of relief, then glanced thoughtfully down the sidewalk in the direction of his office. “Uh, come on,” he told her. “Let’s go back to the office. We can talk there.”
His hand closed around her upper arm and Sierra’s heart began to trip over itself. To have him touching her again was so exciting and familiarly sweet. No man had ever made her feel as Alex did and she was absolutely certain no man ever would.
They strode down the sidewalk and entered the law office. Alex quickly caught Pauline’s attention and jerked his thumb toward the door. “Go home,” he ordered.
Jumping to her feet, the secretary pulled her purse from a desk drawer and shoved her chair in place. “You don’t have to tell me twice. But what happened with Brookings? I thought you’d be gone ’til six tonight.”
Alex grinned slyly. “Brookings got mad at the A.D.A. for not turning over a piece of evidence to me. Called us both in chambers and said he was fed up and for us to go home and come back in the morning.”
Pauline laughed. “So now you have the judge in your pocket. I wish I had your charm, Alex Calloway.”
She slipped out the door and Alex, who was still holding on to Sierra’s arm, dropped it long enough to lock the door behind his secretary. Once he’d finished that task, he led Sierra to his private office.
After he’d closed the door, he took both her hands and led her over to his desk where a banker’s lamp was still burning in the shadowy room.
“You look beautiful, Sierra,” he said softly. “Do you know how happy I am to see you?”
Fear and pain and hope all coiled together inside of Sierra until all she could do was shake her head. “I—I haven’t seen or heard from you in days…weeks now. How can I believe that you’re happy to see me?” she asked doubtfully.
A frown quirked the muscles around his mouth as his hands released hers and began to slide seductively up her arms. “Maybe showing you would be better,” he said huskily.
He leaned in to kiss her, but Sierra held him off, placing both hands against his chest. “No! None of that right now, Alex. We’d wind up right over there on your couch. And that wouldn’t get us anywhere.”
As far as Alex was concerned, it would get them everywhere. But he could see from the set of her jaw that she was resolute and the last thing he wanted to do was anger her more than he already had.
“All right,” he gently agreed, but his concession didn’t stop him from taking a firm hold on her hands once again. “I’m glad to see you because I want to apologize, Sierra. I was wrong. Flat wrong. And I’m asking you to forgive me.”
Alex was apologizing to her? Sierra was shocked. It was a rare thing for the man to apologize to anyone, much less her. He usually considered a wink and a pat on th
e cheek a sufficient apology.
“Forgive you for what?” she asked. “Being a jackass?”
Alex tried not to outwardly flinch. “Honey, I—” He paused long enough to shake his head, then tried again. “Yeah, I guess I was a jackass. But I’m not anymore.”
Her chin tilted to a challenging angle. “You’ve changed overnight?”
His little dove had turned into a tigress, Alex couldn’t help thinking, as he studied the fiery sparks in her brown eyes. “Sort of. I don’t know. Oh, hell, Sierra, don’t keep me in misery. Are you going to forgive me or not?”
She studied him beneath dipped lashes. “What will it mean if I do?”
With a groan of misery, Alex reached out and brushed his knuckles against her throat and down the rosy-tan skin exposed by the deep V of her blouse.
“It means, my darlin’, that the three of us will be together again. The way we should have been all along.”
She released a shaky breath and Alex decided he couldn’t keep his distance any longer. Slipping his arms around her waist, he pulled her close against him. The scent of lilac drifted up from her windblown hair.
“Alex, you’ve got to understand right now that I still have plans to adopt Bowie. With or without your help.”
“I’m glad.”
Disbelief swam across her face as she tilted her head back to look at him. “Glad? You said it was the wrong thing to do! What’s happened to you Alex?”
Lifting his hands to her hair, he threaded his fingers through the silky strands until he was cradling the back of her head.
“I went to see my parents.”
“Yes, Pauline told me. But you’ve gone to see your parents before. What has that got to do with you and me and Bowie?”
He smiled because he was a different man now and he desperately wanted her to understand that. “Because this visit was different, Sierra. When I first caught sight of my parents waiting for me at the terminal gate—I don’t know—everything inside of me seemed to turn upside down. I was seeing my parents in a totally different light. I suddenly wanted to hug them close, to talk with them, listen to them, just be with them in a way I’d never wanted before. Does that make sense?”
Somewhere deep inside Sierra, a tiny flicker of hope tried to flare to life. “Yes. It does make sense. But why? Why now after all these years? There’s been so many times that I’ve urged you to be thankful for your wonderful parents.”
The smile on his face broadened even more and Sierra could only stare at him in wonder.
“I know. They are great, aren’t they?”
“I’m glad you’ve finally realized that. But—”
“Don’t you see, Sierra?” he interrupted. “It’s because of you and Bowie. Being with you two, as a family, opened my eyes in a way I’d never expected.”
“And when were you going to let me in on this change?” she asked accusingly. “I haven’t heard from you since you walked out!”
Groaning with regret, he pulled her close. “You probably won’t believe it, but I was planning to drive over to your place tonight, after court had recessed for the day.” His gaze roamed adoringly over her face. “I couldn’t believe my eyes a few minutes ago when I spotted you on the sidewalk. I—I was afraid you’d never speak to me again. The last thing I expected was for you to come here to me!”
“Alex—” She paused, her face marred with doubt as she looked at him. “Are you trying to tell me that you want to help me adopt Bowie now?”
He chuckled softly as his hands roamed her back and crushed her up against his hard body. “I’m trying to tell you that I want to marry you. I want for us to adopt Bowie.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Marry you?” Sierra asked, shocked.
Alex grinned down at her. “That’s what I said. I think we should get married. Don’t you?”
This was not the sort of marriage proposal Sierra had dreamed of. She’d always pictured a ring, and maybe roses or lilies. Much more important, she’d believed she would be listening as the man in her life to be vowed his love and devotion. But love had never been mentioned.
Alex had never been bashful about speaking his mind. Getting the point across was his job. Knowing that, Sierra could only assume his feelings didn’t include love.
“I—don’t know, Alex,” she said hesitantly. “Marriage is a huge step.”
He studied her face for long seconds. “You don’t want to marry me?”
She tried to breathe as a ball of emotion threatened to burst her heart. “I didn’t say that.”
He frowned. “Well, you sure don’t seem to be cottoning to the idea.”
She couldn’t think rationally when he was holding her close. Not when every inch of her body was begging her to snuggle against him, to seek his kiss.
Pulling out of his embrace, Sierra turned and walked across the room. With her back to him, she said, “It’s not that, Alex. You’ve shocked me. I don’t know what to think.”
“You don’t believe I’ve changed. Is that it?”
Turning, she looked at him and instantly wished she hadn’t. Just the sight of him was enough to remind her of all those nights they’d made love, all those mornings she’d woken in his arms.
“If you’ve changed your mind about adopting Bowie, then you must have changed.”
He left the desk to stride quickly toward her and in that moment Sierra thought that she’d never seen him look so serious or so humble.
“I have changed, Sierra. I realized that all these years I didn’t really resent my parents. Somewhere in the deepest part of me I knew that they loved me. I—well, all that anger I’d harbored was really directed at the man and woman who’d chosen to give me away, as if I were just a thing they didn’t want.”
Sierra felt as if her heart was tearing right down the middle. How awful that he’d lived all this time with that sort of pain, she thought.
Closing the space between them, she touched his face, then stepped into his arms. “Oh, Alex, I’ve missed you so much. It’s been awful since you left. I never want to go through that again.”
Relief poured through Alex and he closed his eyes as he stroked her hair. “I haven’t been able to eat or sleep or work. All I could think about was you and Bowie.” He slipped his thumbs beneath her jaw and tilted her face up to his. “I never want to go through that much misery again, either. I want us to be married. I want Bowie to be ours and the three of us to be a family again.”
Sierra wanted that, too. Desperately. But he didn’t love her. He cared about her, but he wasn’t in love with her. Could she live with that?
“Alex, maybe we should go slow and think—”
“Slow! Bowie is growing up even as we speak. If we file adoption papers, we need to be married. Sierra, you know that much without me having to tell you.”
She drew in a long, shaky breath and let it out. “Alex, marriage is very serious. We haven’t been a couple for very long. We need to know—”
He gave her a placating smile as he bent his head and touched his lips to her forehead. “Sierra, darlin’, we’ve been friends, close friends, for nine years. We know more about each other than most couples that go through long engagements. Our marriage will work, honey. We’ll make it work.”
And she had to believe that, Sierra thought. Because, sensible or not, she had to have this man beside her.
“All right,” she said with a little hesitant smile. “What sort of wedding date are you wanting?”
“Uh, how about tomorrow?” he asked quickly.
“You’re not serious! We can’t. I want to be married in church. Like my sisters.”
“Dear Lord, Sierra, your sisters are planning huge, expensive ceremonies! Do you need all that to feel married to me?”
In her heart she already felt married to him and she clasped her hands around his. “I don’t mean I want a fancy ceremony like that. I just don’t want to settle for a quick exchange in the judge’s chambers. I want the priest to pray over
us.”
“And so do I, Sierra. But we can do that in a week’s time, can’t we?”
“A week!” His suggestion was so wild that excitement began to pour through her and she began to laugh. “I’ll have to put my sisters to work on this!”
Laughing with her, he bent his head and kissed her. “Let’s go get our baby,” he whispered.
The next morning after a bite of breakfast, Sierra made a beeline to San Antonio and dropped Bowie off with the good sisters at St. Anthony’s child care services. Since Gloria had learned she was expecting, she’d already made a point of searching out reputable day cares and she’d suggested to Sierra that she might want to use St. Anthony’s once she started back to work. And with that time being only two weeks away, Sierra figured today would be a good time to give Bowie a chance to get adjusted.
Once she’d made sure the baby was safely settled and content, she drove straight to Gloria’s jewelry shop, the Love Affair. When Sierra entered the building, there were already two customers inside perusing her sister’s beautiful creations.
Sierra waited by one of the glass counters while Gloria waited on the two patrons. Eventually they both made purchases and left the shop. By then Sierra was about to burst with her news.
“Sierra! What are you doing out so early? And where’s my sweet Bowie?”
Sierra cast her sister a sly smile. “He’s at St. Anthony’s. And I’m here in the city to do a bit of clothes shopping.”
Gloria giggled. “You, clothes shopping? This is a first. You’ve never been into fashion. What’s brought this on?”
Sierra couldn’t hold it in any longer; a bubbly laugh burst past her lips. “I’m getting married! This coming Saturday! I need a dress, and fast. Will you help me find one?”
“Married! Next Saturday!” Gloria was clearly shocked and she hurried around the glass showcases to take Sierra by the hand. “Sierra, are you—did you take something that’s made you delusional? The other day you were crying because you and Alex had split. Now you’re saying you’re getting married!”
Fortune's Heirs: Reunion Page 50