A Worthy Heir

by Pat Ballard

  Pam leaned back into the circle of Reese’s protective arm. Was she dreaming? Were they really in a big limo, leaving the most beautiful wedding she had ever seen? Her wedding?

  Almost having to pinch herself to make sure it was all real, Pam looked up into the loving eyes of Reese Bainbridge. His lips lowered to cover hers. She immediately responded to him. All it took was a look or a touch, and she was on fire for him.

  “If we live together for fifty years, you’ll continue to amaze me,” he whispered against her lips. “When I thought I’d lost you, I realized that life without you wouldn’t be living. I’ve never loved anyone like I love you, Pam. I’ve never even dreamed of loving anyone like I love you. Promise me that you’ll never leave me again.”

  During the past few weeks of their engagement, while they planned the wedding, Reese had opened up to Pam. He had shared all of his desires, longings, and how badly he’d missed his parents as a child growing up. He told her how much he’d resented Fiona because he blamed her for driving his parents away from him.

  “I promise, Reese. I won’t ever intentionally hurt you. And I won’t ever try to stop you from being the man that you are.” If she could only make him know how much she loved him, Pam thought.

  Reese sat forward and tapped on the glass that separated the driver from them. When the window slid open, he directed, “Drive to the cemetery.”

  At Pam’s questioning look, he explained, “I want to say goodbye to Fiona. I didn’t do a very good job of it the day we buried her.”

  When they reached the grave, Pam meant to wait in the car, but Reese took her hand and pulled her out with him. “I think she’d like to see us together, don’t you?”

  They walked hand in hand to Fiona’s grave. Reese took the corsage from his lapel and, kneeling down, placed it on the grave. Pam knelt beside him. He kept her hand clutched in his.

  “Fiona, I wanted to come by today and thank you for knowing me better than I knew myself. Thank you for bringing me the woman of my dreams. You old bat, you knew as soon as you saw Pam that I couldn’t resist her, didn’t you? You had already confiscated my stash of magazines!”

  He stopped and wiped tears from his eyes, and from Pam’s. But he soon continued, “Fifi, Pam and I got married today. I mean for real. Not some fast Vegas job that was done on the sly. We got married right here in Dallas, and all your snobby friends were at the wedding. We made you proud, old girl. I just wish you could have been here. I’m sorry for all the grief I caused you. I know now you mainly had my best interests in mind, but just didn’t always know how to let me know that. Like I didn’t always know how to let you know how I felt. Goodbye, Fifi, I love you.”

  As Reese stood and helped Pam to her feet, her attention was drawn to a flock of wild geese that flew overhead in a perfect V formation, honking and squawking their warnings that cold weather was on its way.

  As she watched, the birds shifted and a new bird took the lead position. Pam was sure she heard Fiona’s familiar cackle ring through the sky.

  Epilogue

  Pam put the finishing touches on the turkey and placed it in the oven. Reese put the tossed salad he’d been making into the refrigerator, and then opened his arms to Pam.

  “Have you hugged your husband today, Mrs. Bainbridge?”

  “Only about a hundred times,” she answered, coming into his warm embrace.

  “Well, do it again. I seem to have forgotten how wonderful it feels.”

  “Oh, my. He’s already getting senile, and we haven’t even been married a year yet,” she spoke to the open room.

  “I may get senile, but I’ll never forget how to make love to you. That comes too naturally to forget.”

  “Is that a promise?” Pam asked, not able to comprehend the happiness she continued to experience.

  “That’s a promise,” he assured her, claiming her lips in his.

  “Reese, do you think they’ll make it okay?” Pam asked, when she’d caught her breath.

  “For the tenth time, they’re going to be okay. We left the Jeep at the airport for them to come up the mountain in. Now relax and stop worrying. Everything’s ready for their arrival, so come on over here and sit by the fireplace with me.”

  Pam sat snuggled against Reese and watched the fire sizzling and popping in the huge fireplace. Occasionally she glanced out the window at the gently falling snow. The peaks of the distant mountains were already white, and the ground outside the house was beginning to be covered, turning their home into a winter wonderland.

  November. Thanksgiving. And the dreams she’d had of entertaining in this beautiful house were finally coming true. Tom and Jan were coming to South Carolina to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with them.

  One of her biggest surprises had been Tom and Jan. It seemed they’d had a “thing” for each other since the first time Tom had come to the Winger & Thomas offices to see Pam, and had met Jan. She knew they liked to joke around with each other, but after Tom’s accident, he’d stopped joking with Jan. Come to find out, he wasn’t about to ask a woman to share his life if it was going to be spent in a wheelchair. But as soon as his back surgery was deemed a success and he was released from the doctor’s care, he and Jan had started dating. They were going to be married in March.

  They would live at Bainbridge Hall, with Reese and Pam’s blessings, as Reese and Pam never wanted to live anywhere except here on the mountain. But Reese and Pam did go back to Dallas on a fairly regular basis because Reese had agreed, after much persuasion from Tom, to sit in on the board of directors of Bainbridge Corporation during their quarterly meetings.

  “Pam?” Reese’s voice brought her back to the present.

  “Hmmm?” she mumbled, gazing into the fire.

  “Do you see what I see?” he asked, pointing out the window.

  Headlights of a vehicle were creeping slowly up the last incline of the mountain and approaching the house. Pam recognized Reese’s Jeep.

  Excitedly, she jumped up from the couch, pulling Reese with her, heading for the door.

  Life just couldn’t get any better than this. She was about to spend Thanksgiving with the people she loved the most. Just briefly, she wished Fiona could be here, but she soon forgot her glimpse of sadness as she welcomed her brother with open arms.

  About the Author

  Pat Ballard writes motivational romance novels with Big Beautiful Heroines to show that plus-size women can be just as sexy, romantic, and exciting as their slim sisters. Visit Pat at www.patballard.com.

  Email TheQueensLetter@pearlsong.com to subscribe to a free email newsletter about Pat & her books.

  For as long as I can remember, I loved “making up” my own stories. Being the oldest of six children, and next-to-the-oldest of 25 grandchildren, I had a lot of practice spinning my yarns “on request.”

  I learned to love romance novels after discovering author Emilie Loring. I collected and read every book I could find by her. I knew that this was the type of book I wanted to write.

  My wonderful sisters, Ellen and Jerri, became weary of hearing me say I was going to “write a book,” so one day they approached me with a pen and spiral notebook and said, “do it.”So, thanks to them, I wrote my first novella. And in doing so, I proved to myself that I could.

  After I decided to stop the self-destructive fad diets that I had lived on since the age of 11, and accept myself as who I was born to be, I set about to write romance novels with Big Beautiful Heroines.

  But the books aren't just for plus-size women. The message is for all women to love ourselves as we are and stop trying to be something we were never meant to be.

  Read on for a bonus article from Pat & information on her other books available from Pearlsong Press.

  My Woman Within

  For years the so-called “experts” of this society told me that there was a skinny woman inside of me, just waiting to come out. And for years, I made myself believe this lie. Occasionally that skinny woman would peek out, only to ru
n back inside and not be seen again for some time.

  I spent 22 years giving that skinny woman every chance to come out that she could possibly want, but she never took full advantage of the opportunities I gave her. Then one day, after a long period of soul-searching and question-answering, I realized the woman inside of me wasn't skinny at all! She was a perfect size 22!

  She was an outgoing, exuberant, happy woman. She was beautiful and healthy and warm. She was sexy, alluring, and intriguing. And after twenty years of freedom, she still surprises me with her confidence, her fearless approach to life, and her total love and excitement for each new day. She has a love of life that most people only long for.

  I apologize to her for all the wasted years I kept her shut away like some hostage, starving her, making her skip meals and only allowing her one “good” meal a week, then feeding her laxatives or making her throw up to get rid of what she did eat. I'm sorry for the times I made her go to bed so hungry that her growling stomach kept her awake long into the night. I cry sometimes when I remember how I ruined her precious health, causing her to come very close to a total breakdown, both mentally and physically. And I am in horror when I think of how close I came to ending her life because of that destroyed mental and physical health.

  I regret the hours, days, months, and years that I wasted her intelligent time obsessing over what to eat or not to eat, when she should have been using that time on more productive endeavors. And I promise her that I'll spend the rest of her life feeding her correctly, giving her proper exercise, and making sure she's healthy and happy.

  But most of all, I promise to love her just the way she is.

  An earlier version of Pat’s article was published in the Sept. 12, 1995 issue of Woman’s World magazine under the title “A Diet of Acceptance.”

  Other books by Pat Ballard:

  Dangerous Curves Ahead

  Short Stories

  Ten romantic tales pack suspense and sizzle into this collection of short stories by Pat Ballard, all featuring amply curved women.

  A handsome stranger comes to the aid of rancher Sarah Singley in “Dangerous Curves”—but what does he really want?

  Molly learns the cost of trying to be someone—and some size—she’s not in “Freedom.”

  In “Misconceptions” and “Playboy,” big beautiful women learn there may be more to their handsome new bosses than they suspected.

  Dig into these and other juicy stories for a healthy serving of entertainment and a reminder that love comes in all sizes.

  Dangerous Curves Ahead: Short Stories is available in ebook and trade paperback from Pearlsong Press.

  Wanted: ONE GROOM

  If Hanna Rockwell isn’t married by the time she reaches her 30th birthday, she will lose her home, Rockwell Place, and her entire inheritance.

  Hanna’s mother and brother, who also live at Rockwell Place, are desperately afraid they’re going to lose their home and allowance. Their constant nagging at Hanna to find someone to marry has driven her to challenge them.

  “Start planning the wedding, Mother. And Will, you find the groom. And I’ll get married on my 30th birthday!”

  Feeling confident that her plan will never work, Hanna is dismayed when Will announces that Matt Corbett has agreed to marry Hanna.

  The Matt Corbett? The has-been rock star who was her teenage idol? No way!

  Matt Corbett can’t believe the string of events that has led him to make a decision to marry a stranger. But he’s determined to get back on his feet. And he’s determined to make his former manager pay dearly for getting him in the financial ruin that he’s in.

  Yes, he’ll marry Hanna Rockwell so he’ll have a place to live, just long enough to jump-start his country music career,

  But he hadn’t counted on falling in love with her.

  Wanted: One Groom is available in eBook and trade paperback format from Pearlsong Press.

  His Brother’s Child

  One party. One wild night in her entire life and Faith Carr winds up pregnant! What were the odds?

  And what were the odds of finding out that the handsome stranger who’d gotten her pregnant had only made love to her because of a stupid bet? And that now he didn’t want anything to do with her or the baby growing inside her?

  Edward Brenner knew as soon as he saw Faith Carr that he would love her. But he also knew he had many obstacles to overcome.

  She’d been hurt. She’d been frightened and made to distrust all men. She was scared and vulnerable.

  And she was pregnant with his brother’s child.

  His Brother’s Child is available in ebook and trade paperback format from Pearlsong Press.

  Nobody’s Perfect

  Nella Covington can’t believe she’s agreed to marry the arrogant Samuel L. du Cannon, even if it is only a marriage of convenience. He needs a mother for his young son, and she needs to keep her beloved childhood home. Will she be able to stand his egotistical attitude? His domineering manner?

  But Jake is such a darling little boy—and he’s already captured her heart. What does she have to lose? If Sam’s work keeps him on the road enough, she won’t have to deal with him much at all.

  Maybe, just maybe, this might work.

  All Sam du Cannon wants is a good mom for his son. He’s had it with women. Doesn’t ever plan to get involved with another woman again.

  That makes Nella perfect for him. He’s never been attracted to plus-size women, so if Nella agrees to marry him, he won’t have to worry about being tempted to have a relationship with her.

  At least, that’s what he keeps telling himself.

  Nobody’s Perfect is available in ebook and trade paperback format from Pearlsong Press.

  Find these books and more at

  http://www.pearlsong.com/.

  Coming in 2005

  Abigail’s Revenge

  Romantic Suspense by Pat Ballard

  Eighteen-year-old Abigail Avery had fantasized for years about killing her abusive father, but she’d never gotten the courage to follow through. Someone else did, though. And pinned it on her.

  Now, ten years later, Abigail is on a bus back to her small Mississippi hometown to exact revenge on the judge and jurors who sent her away—and get answers to some questions.

  Why would anyone have wanted her worthless father dead? Why did the town fathers pester her in prison, asking to buy the little house and the forty unproductive acres it sat on? Why did they have to send her to prison to get her out of their way?

  What she’ll soon find out will make even less sense. Desh Elliot, the boy she’d daydreamed about in school, the boy she’d known was totally out of her league socially, financially, and every other possible way, has grown into a handsome man. With his windblown blond hair, green eyes, and sultry Southern voice, Desh will stir feelings in Abigail she never knew existed. He’ll also frighten her with his declarations of love.

  Can she trust him to help her, as he insists on doing?

  Whose side is he really on?

  * * *