She smiled as he described playing with Mrs. Matthews’ baby boy. Much to her surprise, he didn’t slow down and turn to go to Rock and Miko’s place, but drove past the Phillips’ place then turned onto a side road.
“Where are you going, Zane?” Billie asked, curious when he turned off the road and pulled onto a lane lined with apple trees that had already been harvested. He topped the hill and Billie gasped, gaping at the farmhouse of her dreams. The one she’d always longed to have. It was as though Zane had peered into the corners of her mind and found the exact place she’d fantasized of calling her own. She recalled driving past the place when he was trying to teach her to drive, but never imagined it would feel so much like home.
“Zane?” she asked again, excited yet confused by his continued silence.
He kissed her fingers then parked the car in front of the house. The house she’d seen hundreds of times when she’d closed her eyes and envisioned the place she hoped to one day call home. A welcoming porch, surrounded by fall flowers, looked exactly as she knew it would.
When Tuffy loped around the corner of the house and barked in greeting, she laughed and hopped out of the car, bending over to pet the dog.
“What are we doing here?” She looked up at Zane as he stepped beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
He grinned and nudged her away from the house. “I told you. Having a picnic.”
Together, they strolled past a barn, corral, and several outbuildings, following a path strewn with leaves from the apple trees. They walked up a gently sloping hill. At the top, someone had left a faded quilt with a picnic basket holding down one corner. Tuffy raced around them, chasing leaves as they drifted from the trees.
“Oh, Zane,” Billie turned and gazed at the view below them — at the house and barn, the trees in the distance, and the hope and possibilities bubbling around her. “It’s perfect!”
“What’s perfect? The place? The picnic? An afternoon with a handsome and dashing cowboy soldier who adores you?”
“All of it,” she said with a laugh, throwing her arms around him and giving him a tight hug.
“Settle down there, Billie, girl. Let’s eat our lunch, then you can flit around like a hummingbird full of fermented flowers if you want.”
“I’m not a drunken bird, I’ll have you know,” she said, taking the hand he offered and sitting on the blanket.
“Oh, I’m well aware of what you are, Billie Brighton, but before I let that distract me, let’s eat.” He opened the picnic basket and removed a feast.
“Did Miko make this?” Billie asked as she bit into a piece of crispy fried chicken.
“She did make the food and Rock brought it out here for me,” Zane said, taking another piece of chicken. He tossed a piece of meat to the dog. “I assume Tuffy followed him over.”
When they’d eaten the delicious meal, Billie removed her hat and leaned back, letting the sun warm her face. “It’s so peaceful here and the air smells so good. Like apples and autumn and home.”
“What does home smell like?” Zane asked, haphazardly stuffing the leftovers back in the basket then scooting close to her.
She turned her face toward his and smiled. “You.”
Zane made a sound low in his throat, something between a groan and a growl. In a blink, his arms were around her and he was kissing her so passionately, so thoroughly, Billie could think of nothing beyond how much she loved him, needed him, cherished him.
“I love you, Zane,” she whispered, pressing her face against his neck and breathing in his scent, letting it fill her nose and heart. This was the smell of home. Zane. Purely Zane.
“I love you, too, more than I ever dreamed I’d love anyone.” Zane hugged her tightly before he hopped to his feet and pulled her up with him.
Hand in hand, they walked along the ridge of the hill and he pointed to the house below. “This is the place where Petey’s friend Ryatt lived before his folks died. Come to find out Ryatt’s aunt is married to Klayne Campbell.”
“Really?” Billie asked, surprised by the news. “How about that?”
Zane nodded and moved behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back against him. “Mrs. Campbell wants to sell this place and gave me a price I can afford. What do you think, Billie? Is this the farm you always dreamed of? The place you pictured as your home?”
She turned to him, tears in her eyes, and smiled. “Truthfully, Zane, it’s exactly how I pictured the home of my dreams, but I realized something today. The home I’ve always wanted isn’t a building. It isn’t a place.” She reached up and bracketed his face with her hands. “It’s you. You’re the dream of my heart, Zane West. You’re what I’ve spent my lifetime longing for. Home is the love I hold in my heart for you. The love you’ve given me in return.”
Zane picked her up and kissed her tenderly, yet with an urgency that she completely understood. “I love you so much, Billie, and if you think you could make this place into our little haven against the world, it’s ours.”
“Ours?” she asked, leaning back to better look at him.
“Oh, take the deuce, but I’m about bungling this badly,” he said, setting her back on her feet. He removed his sunglasses, took something from his pocket and dropped to one knee. “Billie Adaleen Brighton, I fell in love with you the first time I saw you at the hospital and if I live to be a hundred, I’ll love you still. In fact, I predict our love will grow and deepen each day we’re together. I can’t picture my future without you in it, by my side. I know things aren’t gonna be easy with the war and our responsibilities, but would you do me the great honor of marrying me? Would you be my bride and make me the happiest man who ever lived?”
“Of course I’ll marry you,” she said, not waiting for him to stand. She threw her arms around him and they tumbled to the soft grass on the hilltop.
Zane laughed and rolled over, leaning on one elbow above her. He took her left hand in his and slipped a silver band adorned with emeralds and pearls onto her ring finger. “The ring belonged to my grandma. It just seemed perfect for you, with those beautiful green eyes of yours.” He kissed her again, reverently, softly, with a promise for the future.
His forehead touched hers and he kissed her nose. “I do love you so, Billie, girl, with all my heart.”
“And I love you, Zane. With all my love today, and with all my tomorrows.”
Epilogue
April 1946
“The apple trees are sure full of blooms this year,” Zane said as he and Billie strolled through their orchard on a warm spring day.
Billie squeezed his arm and tipped her face up to the sweet, pink blossoms overhead. “I love how pretty the orchard looks. This is the first time since you bought the place that we’ve been able to watch the orchard come to life after winter.”
“But it won’t be the last. By next year, we’ll have a herd of fat cattle grazing in the pasture and a few more horses to go with the two already in the barn.” He smiled at her. “I’m glad we purchased the farm when I proposed to you. Even if we rented it out these last few years, it sure gave me something to look forward to coming home to, besides you.”
Billie scowled at him. “I should hope I made the list of things you wanted to come home to, Zane West. Why else did you talk me into marrying you a week after you proposed?”
Zane laughed and swung her into his arms, lifting her so her mouth lingered just inches from his. “I talked you into marrying me on that fine October afternoon because I couldn’t stand to live another day without you as my wife, Billie, girl. Don’t you know by now how much I love you?”
“I do, cowboy, but I don’t mind if you want to tell me again. A wife likes to hear these things once in a great while.” She offered him a coy smile as she removed his cowboy hat and settled it on her head. Her fingers toyed with the thick hair at the back of his neck.
“Billie, I swear, some days I ought to just paint your back porch red. There probably isn’t a woman a
live who gets told ‘I love you’ more times a day than you do.”
She giggled and he gave her a quick kiss, then tossed her over his shoulder, drawing out a squeal when he playfully swatted her bottom.
“Zane, you stop that right now!” she protested, smacking his jean-clad backside with his dusty Stetson as she dangled across his shoulder like a sack of feed.
He shifted, taking her in his arms like a new bride, and walked beneath the trees, lavishing kisses on her with each step. When he reached the top of the hill where they could look down on the house and barn, he stopped and kissed her so thoroughly Billie’s toes tingled.
“Now that’s what I mean by telling me how much you care,” she whispered against his lips.
Zane pulled back, his smoldering blue gaze fusing to hers. “I do love you, beautiful Billie, more than anything in the world. I’m just so grateful we can put all the trials and tribulations of the war behind us and focus on building a wonderful life together.”
“Together. I love the sound of that, Zane.” She kissed the dimple in his right cheek then trailed kisses along his jaw to his ear. “Know what else I love?” she asked on a whisper.
“I have an idea, but tell me anyway.”
“You, Zane. I love you with all my heart.”
His lips captured hers in a sizzling kiss. Even after three and a half years of marriage, albeit most of it spent apart, a look from Zane could make her heart race and his kisses could make her melt faster than ice cream left in the summer sun.
Billie thought of the long, hard days she worked at the hospital while Zane was stationed in Pendleton. They were blessed, compared to many couples who spent years apart during the war. Zane managed to come home two or three times a year, and she went to Pendleton several times. Once, she took along Petey Phillips so he could visit his friend Ryatt on the ranch where he lived with Klayne and Delaney Campbell. Through Zane’s time in Pendleton, they’d both become good friends with the couple. Zane had spent many happy hours at Sage Hills Ranch riding and roping, and enjoying the occasional home-cooked meal.
Zane hadn’t returned to the warfront, but he’d done his part, training new pilots and developing ideas to help them fly and fight more effectively. Although his eyesight never fully returned, he managed well with glasses and a positive attitude.
The months and distance that separated them only deepened her love for Zane. Now that he was home to stay, she planned to be beside him each and every day.
“There are two things I need to tell you,” she said, pulling back when he leaned in for another kiss.
He gave her a boyish, pouting look that threatened to throw her off track, but she continued. “Behave, husband of mine, for a minute or two.”
“Go ahead. What do I need to know?” he asked, carrying her beneath the shade of a big oak tree. He sat down with her settled across his lap. Tuffy, their ever-faithful dog, ran over and plopped down beside them, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth and tail fanning the grass.
Billie grinned at the canine then looked back at her handsome, wonderful husband. “The first thing is that I spoke to Doctor Ridley and let him know he’ll need to find a replacement for me beginning in June. I figured six weeks should provide ample time for him to find someone to do my job.”
“I know you love nursing, Billie. You don’t have to give it up if you don’t want to,” Zane said, taking his hat from her and tossing it on the grass by the dog. He ran a hand through her golden curls and smiled at her. “You know I’d love it if you were here all the time, but if you want to keep working, I’ll somehow survive.”
“That’s a half-hearted encouragement if I ever heard one.” Her tone held a hint of amusement as she scowled at him. Unable to hold back, she broke into a smile. “But I’m glad to know you miss me when I’m at work. However, it’s time for me to quit and stay home, with you.”
“I’m mighty glad to hear that, Billie, girl.” Zane nuzzled her neck.
She pushed back and gave him a stern look. “Don’t go distracting me until I tell you the next part.”
“Go on,” he said, picking up her hand and pressing a trail of hot kisses across her palm and wrist, creating a molten fire in her midsection.
She did her best to ignore it and continued. “I have a special anniversary present planned for you this year, but I wanted to tell you about it now.”
He lifted his head and gave her a curious glance. “Oh?”
“Yes. This year, you see, I’ll be giving you that little cowpoke you’ve mentioned you’d like to have, although it could be a princess instead.”
Zane whooped and the dog jumped up, barking excitedly, although the confused canine had no idea why.
“A baby? We’re gonna have a baby?” Zane asked. He pressed a hand to her stomach while he rained kisses across her face. “Imagine that! I’m gonna be a daddy. Wait ’til Rock and Miko hear about it. A baby of our own!”
Billie laughed, wrapping her arms around him. “Yes, Zane, a baby of our own.”
He hugged her close and pressed his cheek to hers. “I love you so much, Billie. Life with you is better than anything I’ve ever dreamed.”
“You are, and shall always be, the dream of my heart, Zane. And now our baby will be, too. Thank you for loving me, for giving me a life far more beautiful than my dreams.”
Recipe
While I was writing this book, I looked through a Victory cookbook from the 1940s Captain Cavedweller’s grandmother had passed along to me years ago and happened upon this recipe. Back in my teen years, when I was the unofficial cookie baker at home, I used to make a bar cookie quite similar to this that we enjoyed.
What I especially liked about this recipe were the fun little notes beside it in the cookbook. One offered tips for packing cookies to ship to soldiers. There was also a tip titled “How our boys enjoy cookies from home!” It said men serving in the military enjoy “cookies fragrant with spices, cookies rich with chocolate, nuts or fruits!” A third hint said, “service men ‘go for’ this rich cookie bar. Packs well, too.”
I could just picture Zane and Bud enjoying this treat with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk.
Canteen Cookie Bars
½ cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs beaten
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup nuts, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream butter. Add ½ cup of brown sugar and mix. Stir in 1 cup of flour until blended. Grease (or coat with non-stick spray) a 7x11-inch baking pan and press mixture into the pan. Bake for 10 minutes, until set.
While it bakes, blend the remaining brown sugar with vanilla and eggs, beating until thick and foamy. Add remaining flour, baking powder, coconut and nuts, then blend. Spread over baked mixture and return to oven and bake 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool, then cut into bars.
Author’s Note
When I wrote Garden of Her Heart and incorporated a feisty little nurse named Billie Brighton, one of the characters Rock met at the hospital, I knew she needed to have her own story. The dilemma was in figuring out what her story would be. Would she travel overseas in the Nurse’s Corp or stay stateside at the veteran’s hospital? And who would be a good match for such a strong, yet fun and delightful girl?
Then I realized another character from that book, the hero’s best friend, would be perfect for Billie. I just had to figure out how a cowboy from Texas would end up meeting Billie. Finding a way to place Zane and Billie together happened to be quite fun for me. I hope it was fun for you, too, to read the story that took them to their happily-ever-after.
Zane West is a pilot, like Rock was from Garden of Her Heart. Except Zane is stationed in the Pacific, having survived Pearl Harbor. When I was reading through historical accounts of which
military groups were stationed there, I happened upon information about the 11th Bombardment Group. Activated in Hawaii in early 1940, the bomber group became part of the Seventh Air Force after the attack on Pearl Harbor. During the dark days following Dec. 7, 1941, the 11th carried out patrol and search missions off Hawaii, flying B-17 airplanes, also known as the Flying Fortress.
Captain Cavedweller and I were fortunate enough to tour through a B-17 at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinville, Oregon. It’s a place I highly recommend visiting if you enjoy history, particularly history tied to aeronautics.
After crawling into the plane and seeing the tight, uncomfortable places (especially the belly gunner’s turret on the bottom of the plane) these men rode in for hours and hours on end, it gave me a whole new level of admiration for what they endured. Our tour guide told us when the bombs got stuck and wouldn’t drop out of the plane (which apparently happened with more frequency than you’d like to think), one of the men would jump up and down on the bombs until they dropped. My stomach flipped over just thinking about those young men stomping on the bombs, trying to shake them loose and the very real possibility of them falling thousands of feet out of the plane along with the bombs.
Anyway, in the story Zane is part of a bombardment squadron that flies B-17s. I used the 26th Bombardment Squadron, part of the 11th Bombardment Group, as inspiration for Zane’s unit. Veterans of the Battle of Midway, they were transferred in July 1942 to New Hebrides.
Many of the details included about the conditions on the islands in the South Pacific came from accounts I read, right down to high-ranking officers helping with a bucket brigade of fuel during a rainstorm!
I think it’s important to mention the Marston mat used in the story. The mat was first used at Camp Mackall Airfield, near Marston, North Carolina, and got its name from the town. The mat was a simple piece of technology that provided a great contribution toward America’s war efforts. In a short time, an entire airstrip or road could be in place, made entirely out of Marston mats.
Dream of Her Heart Page 28