The Soldier and the Single Mom

by Lee Tobin McClain

  “Thanks for what you did with the picture,” she said. “In the confusion afterward, I couldn’t find you. I wanted to make sure to tell you, I think that’s what turned the tide.”

  “Only after you spoke up and told the truth.” He shrugged. “And Miss Minnie did a pretty good job of telling them off.”

  “She did, for sure. But it wasn’t until the whole town—and Dion—saw that picture that we really got rid of them.”

  He looked up at the stars, breathed in the smell of night blossoms. Now that he was here with Gina, he might as well talk a little. Besides, it would take a while for his brain to regain control and make him leave. “I should have stayed with you when they first came. I had something to work out, but I shouldn’t have left you.”

  “I was upset you did,” she admitted. “Pretty mad at you, in fact, but it all turned out all right.” She put a hand on his arm. “You’re not perfect, Buck, but you’re a good man.”

  Just like that, he was forgiven. He shifted and knocked a boot against his duffel and it tipped out into the middle of the porch floor. She looked at it, then at him. “You’re leaving?”

  He looked down at the duffel, then up at her. “Yeah.”

  “Again, without telling me?” There was hurt in her voice.

  “I wrote you a letter. Lacey has it.” He looked out across the silvery, quiet street. Should he go into it with her? Would he be able to leave at all if he stayed here, talking with Gina in the moonlight?

  Talking with the woman he loved?

  The answer, obviously, was no.

  He forced himself to stand up. To put his duffel over his shoulder. One step at a time.

  Bobby stirred, then opened his eyes and saw Buck. “Buh! Buh!” he said sleepily, holding up his arms.

  Buck picked the baby up, a lump in his throat. This inimitable little man had helped him to heal, and Buck hated to leave him. “Hey, it’ll be okay,” he said, jostling the sleepy boy.

  Don’t go, then, his heart mourned. Stay! “I could...” He started. Then stopped himself. No. Don’t reopen that door. “See you,” he croaked out, handing Bobby back down to Gina. And then he turned and walked slowly down the porch steps, feeling older than any resident of the Senior Towers.

  * * *

  Gina watched him go with a perfect storm of pain and confusion swirling inside her.

  Why was he leaving? Because he didn’t care for her, or because he did?

  Because he was honorable or dishonorable?

  “Buh,” Bobby fussed, reaching toward the vacant spot where Buck had been.

  Babies and dogs, they could sense who was a good person. And she could sense it, too. She hadn’t trusted herself, and she hadn’t made good decisions in the past, but she’d changed. Grown. Toughened up.

  If Buck were a danger to her and Bobby, she’d let him go, no question. But she knew with every fiber of her being that he wasn’t a danger, that he was, in fact, perfect. Not a perfect, flawless person, maybe—there weren’t any of those—but perfect for her.

  The sound of his truck starting pierced the darkness, and suddenly she was on her feet, clutching Bobby to her hip. She rushed down the steps to catch him. “Buck! Wait!”

  But he was already pulling out in the street, his jaw square, face grim. He didn’t look to the right or left, but only forward. And he drove away.

  Despair gripped her heart. If he left, would he ever come back? Would he know she cared for him? That she loved him?

  She walked out into the street, looking after him. She was wearing flannels and a T-shirt, fuzzy slippers on her feet, a robe billowing around her in the slight breeze. She looked like a fool.

  Moonlight illuminated the shops, now dark and empty of people. The streetlamps cast a soft glow. She loved this town. But it wouldn’t be home without Buck.

  She started speed walking down the middle of the street, Bobby tight against her chest. She passed the Senior Towers, where one or two windows still glowed, and thought of the parade of helpers that had come to save Bobby today.

  She wanted to stay here, to raise Bobby here. But she didn’t want to do it alone.

  “Buck! Come back! Come back!” She started running down the middle of the main street of Rescue River, the robe flying behind her like wings, chasing those two red taillights. Waving her free arm frantically. “Hey! Come back!”

  The lights were getting dimmer. She slowed to a walk, straining her eyes.

  She couldn’t see the taillights. He was gone. She blew out a sigh that ended in a sob and stood, holding Bobby in the middle of the downtown she loved.

  “Come back,” she whispered. “Please, come back.”

  But there was no sound except the rhythmic croaking of a couple of frogs in the creek. No sign of a truck turning around or coming back.

  Bobby’s fussing rose to a wail, and she felt like wailing, too. She couldn’t—she had responsibilities—but she felt like it.

  Despair made her shoulders hunch over as she carried her crying son back toward the guesthouse.

  * * *

  He had to do this. He couldn’t look back.

  He put on his turn signal, being careful even though there was no other traffic on the road. By the book, by rote—that was the only way he could force himself to leave Gina and Bobby behind.

  He started to turn and glanced in his rearview mirror. He thought he saw something back in the middle of the downtown.

  What was that? Billowy, floating, but half looking like a woman?

  Memories slammed into him, of that first night he’d encountered Gina and Bobby on that lonesome road outside town. So much had happened since then. He’d relearned how to feel, how to love. He’d grown to where he could put aside his own past, his temptations, because that was best for the people he cared about. The two people he cared about most in the whole world.

  The truck was coasting into the turn and he couldn’t help it; he stopped and looked back, squinting through the darkness.

  There was definitely someone there.

  He’d better go back just to make sure it wasn’t someone intent on harming Gina and Bobby. Some lowlife sent by her rich former in-laws to scare or threaten them.

  He turned the truck around and headed back, slowly, trying to see.

  Clouds skittered over the moon, throwing the street into darkness. He let the truck coast quietly, watching.

  And then his heart gave a great thud. It was Gina, walking back, head down.

  Walking slowly, as if she’d come out into the middle of the street.

  As if she’d been chasing him.

  If there were any chance at all...

  He pulled the truck crookedly into a diagonal parking place and got out, not even bothering to close the door. “Gina! Wait!”

  She turned. Her eyes widened. “Buck?”

  “What are you doing out here?” He strode toward her. “I...I just had the thought...” He hesitated. And then realized he needed to put his pride aside and tell the whole truth. “Gina, if you have any interest in pursuing this thing we’ve got...”

  Her free hand went to her mouth, her other arm around Bobby. Slowly, her eyes never leaving his, she nodded her head.

  He was in front of them in two seconds, wrapping his arms around her right in the middle of Main Street. “Gina, I promise you, I’ve changed. I’m a new man, with a new life.”

  Her eyes got shiny, and as she stared up at him, a tear spilled out.

  He reached down and thumbed the dampness from beneath her eye. “I know you’ve got baggage, and the Lord knows I do, too. But with God’s help...”

  That gorgeous smile spread across her face, and it was like the sun coming up. “With God’s help, we just might make it work.”

  “You’re willing to try?” He was
laughing a little and yet his own throat felt tight. “Gina, I love you so much you wouldn’t think there was any extra room in my heart, but there is, because I love Bobby just about as much as I love you.”

  She stepped into his embrace. “I love you, too,” she murmured against his chest.

  “Buh,” Bobby said sleepily. “Buh. Buh.”

  They both laughed a little and cried a little. “Come on,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go home.”

  Headlights flashed behind them. Buck shepherded Gina and Bobby to the sidewalk.

  A marked car pulled up beside them—Dion. “Everything okay here?”

  “More than okay,” they both said at the same time. Then laughed.

  Dion gave them an assessing look. “You left your truck running, buddy, but I’ll take care of it. Looks like you’ve got something better to do.”

  As they walked back to the guesthouse, Gina clutched his arm, making him stop. “But what about your reputation, the troubles you’ve had here?”

  “I still have some reparations to make,” he said, “but this community is forgiving. I figured that out yesterday, when the seniors all defended me.” He smiled down at her. “When you defended me.”

  “We take care of each other here,” she said.

  “And you? You’re okay being with someone who’ll probably go to AA meetings for the rest of his life?”

  “Absolutely,” she said, moving closer to his side. “I trust that you’ve turned a corner.”

  He had turned a corner, Buck reflected as they climbed the stairs together. And he was sure glad he hadn’t turned the corner out of Rescue River. Because this was the start of the new life he’d always wanted.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The last day of the festival was drawing to an end when Gina came downstairs, having just gotten Bobby up from his nap. She carried him toward the front room, pausing to stand in the doorway.

  Buck was there, and Gina’s breath caught when he smiled at her. They’d spent almost every moment together since Friday night, talking and dreaming.

  It was as if the Lord had taken away all her anxiety and stress, and she was able to accept that Buck loved her, that she was lovable and that this was God sanctioned and could work. Feeling his arm around her as they’d walked through town yesterday, taking in the festival, had been bliss.

  At the front of the room, Mr. Love and Miss Minnie Falcon sat telling the story of their ancestors and how the house had served as one of the most prominent stations on the Underground Railroad. They’d held visitors rapt both days, and they were thriving on the questions and interest.

  Bobby started babbling, so Gina backed away, not wanting to detract from the elders’ storytelling. Lacey waved her over to the front desk. “Look at this,” she said, showing Gina the computer screen.

  “What am I looking at?” Gina leaned closer. “Are those...bookings?”

  Lacey nodded, beaming. “Starting this fall, we’re booked every weekend up until Christmas.” She blew out a breath. “Which means we’ll have to work like crazy to get this place done, but with all these reservations, I’m feeling confident enough to cut down to part-time at work so I can help, too.”

  “That’s wonderful!” Impulsively, Gina hugged the woman.

  “I owe it to you,” Lacey said. “You believed in what could happen before I did, and your work and PR abilities are what tilted the balance.”

  Gina leaned back on her elbows, looking around. “It does look great. And what’s happening in there—” she gestured toward the front room “—that’s just serendipity. Good for everyone.”

  “It’s good for me, seeing you and Buck together,” Lacey said. “He deserves happiness.” She looked wistfully into the room, where her brother was kneeling to help Mr. Love hold up the large door, with its tiny peephole, that had camouflaged the fugitives’ hiding place in the basement of the Falcon home.

  “Your time will come.”

  Lacey laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far. I’m just glad to see my brother happy. And you. And those two crazy rescue dogs.”

  “Things are going to get even crazier when my California dogs come home. My friend Haley is driving them when she comes to visit next month.” But it would work out. She had faith that everything would work out, now.

  As the last group of guests filed out of the front room, Gina slipped inside. Mr. Love waved to the last visitors, and then he leaned over and said something to Miss Minnie.

  “Why, Mr. Love,” Miss Minnie said, her cheeks pink. “I hardly think that’s appropriate at our age.”

  “I’ve buried two wives, and I’m not looking for another,” he said calmly. “But there’s nothing wrong with companionship. And a man is never too old to appreciate a beautiful woman.” He patted Miss Minnie’s hand.

  “Except I know you can’t half see,” she complained, but a smile lit up her deeply lined face.

  Mr. Love turned to Buck and Gina. “Miss Minnie and I, we’ve been talking, and she helped me look through some of the heirlooms we had out at the old farm. I found something pretty special, as this young man knows.”

  Gina looked at Buck and was alarmed to notice perspiration on his upper lip and a pale cast to his face.

  “I’ve had an offer for this particular item,” Mr. Love continued, “that I’m tempted to accept, but only if the buyer can put it to good use.” He pulled out an old velvet box, just a couple of inches square. “The young couple who were going to use this more than one hundred and fifty years ago never got their happy ending. This has been in a cubbyhole in the Old Rose Barn ever since, waiting for the right time to be found.”

  “We can’t help them,” Miss Minnie said, “but maybe we can help to create some happiness right here and now.”

  “I’m hoping.” Buck took the box from Mr. Love and walked over to Gina, drawing her toward the high-backed love seat. “Sit down a minute.”

  Gina’s heart rate kicked up a notch, and she did as he asked.

  The two elders watched, smiling, obviously in on some secret. Lacey was leaning on the doorjamb, smiling as well.

  Buck knelt in front of her. “Gina,” he said, “you know how I feel about you, and I want to ask you, will you marry me?”

  “What?” Her voice rose to a squeal.

  He opened the box, and there was a Victorian-style gold ring, its central diamond surrounded by small diamonds that formed the shape of a cross.

  Gina’s breath caught. “Minerva and Abraham’s ring?”

  Buck nodded. “You haven’t answered my question.” His hands shook a little, holding the ring box.

  Joy rang through her like bells. “Of course! Yes, yes, yes!” She tugged him to the seat beside her.

  “There’s only one condition,” Mr. Love said, “on my selling Buck that ring.”

  “What is it?” Gina asked.

  “Anything,” Buck said at the same time, so fervently that he drew a laugh from Lacey, still standing in the doorway.

  “That the person wearing it has to stay right here in Rescue River.” Mr. Love flashed a smile. “We don’t want you going anywhere.”

  “Why would anyone want to live anywhere else?” Miss Minnie glanced over at Mr. Love, and a dimple appeared in her cheek.

  Tears sprang to Gina’s eyes. “I’ll stay,” she said, and then she couldn’t get out any more words. She just nestled closer to her future husband’s side.

  The sound of barking came from the next room, where Spike and Crater had been confined to their crates, safely out of the way of the festival’s guests. Lacey disappeared, then returned a minute later with the dogs bounding in beside her, in hot pursuit of Mr. Whiskers. Mrs. Whiskers, who’d been weaving through Buck’s and Gina’s feet, jumped up on one arm of the love seat, and Mr. Whiskers leaped o
nto the other arm. Both glared indignantly down at the raucous canines.

  Buck chuckled, then touched Gina’s chin, turning her face toward him for a kiss. And, safe in his arms, Gina knew that she and Bobby had found the home and family she’d always craved.

  * * * * *

  If you enjoyed this book, pick up these other

  RESCUE RIVER stories

  from Lee Tobin McClain!

  ENGAGED TO THE SINGLE MOM

  HIS SECRET CHILD

  SMALL-TOWN NANNY

  Available now from Love Inspired!

  Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com

  Keep reading for an excerpt from THE DEPUTY’S PERFECT MATCH by Lisa Carter.

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  Dear Reader,

  I hope you’ve enjoyed this latest trip to Rescue River, Ohio—a fictional town that incorporates some of my favorite things about my home state. For this book, I dug into the history of the Underground Railroad in Ohio. I also researched renovation and decor of historical houses...and veterinary tools...and twelve-step programs. I love all the things I get to learn about as I write my books. Yes, I’m a nerd!

  Buck Armstrong first appeared in Rescue River as a minor character with a drinking problem, back in Engaged to the Single Mom. At that point, I certainly didn’t envision him as a hero with his own romantic story. But as people keep telling Buck, and as he finally comes to believe, people change...with God’s help. When he can embrace the fact that he’s a new creation, he can be the husband Gina deserves and the father little Bobby needs.