He folded his arms. “You’re right. Too many emergencies arise, over which I have no control, like the one this afternoon. Besides, our daughter’s old enough to decide these things for herself.”
“I agree. You’ve been such a wonderful father, Nick. I know you don’t want to hear it from me. But please let me say it just this once. She’s a remarkable girl, and all of the credit goes to you.”
His heart gave a fierce kick. “Jessica inherited her mother’s protoplasm. It gave her a head start.”
Sam laughed softly. “Spoken like the scientist you are. You love it here, don’t you.”
“Yes.”
“I love it here, too. The Tetons have a majesty that speaks to your soul. Today I put money down on the log house. You know what sold me? The view of the Grand Teton from the office window. This is God’s country.”
It was a fact. Another fact was that one of His most beautiful creations was standing in front of Nick right now. “Do you think you’re going to want to set up your own law practice, or work in an established firm?”
Her eyes ignited, making them an even more intense blue. “I’m glad you asked that question. I—I have a proposition for you.” Her voice faltered.
“What’s that?” Any attempt to tamp down his excitement over being here with her like this failed.
“Since you have a lot of influence with Pierce, do you think the park might hire me to be their legal representative?”
Just when he thought she couldn’t do or say anything else to surprise him… “He’d welcome you with open arms, but there’s no funding to pay you a salary.”
“I know. The thing is, I don’t need one.”
“Sam—”
“Hear me out, please? My maternal grandparents left me an inheritance of five million dollars. I’ve already given half away to cancer research. Since I found out I have a second chance at life, I know where I want the other half to go. A fund could be created that would last for many, many years. It would be anonymous, of course. I’d be paid the normal salary for a park employee.”
With a surge of emotion he grasped her shoulders, drawing her close. “You would give away that much money to work for the park just so you could be with our daughter?” He could hear his own voice shaking with emotion.
Her eyes filled with tears. “Yes. I don’t want to be anywhere else ever again.”
Nick had difficulty swallowing. “Sam…” In the next instant they were in each other’s arms. He needed her kiss more than he needed air to breathe. This time she gave him the response he craved without pulling away. Her beautiful mouth and body were his for the taking.
“Dad? Mom?”
Jessica’s timing couldn’t have been worse.
“Hurry and unlock the door! I’m shivering out here!”
For once it was Nick who was forced to relinquish the luscious mouth clinging to his. Samantha’s protesting moan made his heart leap.
CHAPTER TWELVE
NICK UNLOCKED THE DOOR before Samantha could even begin to think about moving her limbs. Jessica rushed in, bringing the freezing air with her.
“How was the party, honey?” he asked.
“It was fun. What have you guys been doing?”
He shut the door. “Your mother and I have had things to discuss.”
The way he moved in slow motion as he removed their daughter’s coat and draped it over the end of the couch, Samantha knew he too was having difficulty pulling himself together after their explosion of passion.
There was no question she’d shocked him with her proposal. If she did become the park’s attorney, she would make up part of Nick’s inner circle.
Outside of marriage, that was about as up close and personal as you could get to the man you adored. When Marilyn heard about this, she could never again accuse Samantha of being inscrutable.
She gave Jessica a hug. “I thought you were going to phone us to come and get you.”
“Sandy’s mom offered to bring a bunch of us home.”
“That was nice of her.”
Jessica nodded before tucking her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. She eyed both of them expectantly. “What happened at the house after I left this afternoon?”
Nick flashed their daughter a mysterious smile reminiscent of the old Nick who used to love to surprise Samantha with little treats. When he looked like that, her bones melted. “The answer is sitting over on the table.”
“Oh my gosh!” she cried the minute she recognized the wallpaper samples. “You bought the house!”
Samantha smiled at Nick. She couldn’t help it. Their daughter was in heaven. “I made an offer, but I think we can safely assume it’s ours—mine,” she amended. “One of those books has some Waverly prints like the ones you admired in the upstairs bedrooms at your grandparents’ home.”
To Samantha’s joy, Nick walked to the table with her. They sat down on either side of Jessica, who’d already started poring over them. For the next hour all three of them became amateur decorators, expressing their preferences like any normal family.
“I like this one best!” Jessica had her eye on a small print of tiny blue flowers against a white background. She’d gone back to it again and again.
“It’ll be perfect in that upstairs bedroom with the window seat. We’ll have to buy you a big four-poster bed and an armoire.”
“I can’t wait!”
“We’ll shop for them online and have them shipped.”
“I wish we could do it tonight.”
Moments such as this were so precious, Samantha held her breath for fear it was a dream that would disappear the longer she tried to hold on to it.
“Look at that, Dad!” Jessica had turned to the last page in one of the books. It displayed a tiny all-over print with a border done in a charming horse motif.
“It’s cute.”
Samantha thought it was very cute. “I can see it in the guest bathroom between the office and the door leading out to the barn.”
“That’ll be perfect!” Jessica’s sparkling blue eyes dazzled her.
When Nick’s cell phone rang, there was a collective moan of protest. Samantha held her breath while he answered it. Please don’t let it be an emergency.
She saw him grimace before he said, “I’m on my way.”
“What’s wrong, Dad?” Jessica had just taken the words out of Samantha’s mouth.
“A tourist hit a moose on the Teton Park Road. Sometimes the animals use it as a corridor to migrate at night, but the ranger summoned to the accident says this moose looks sick. It could be disoriented and that’s why it wandered onto the highway. I have to investigate. See you tomorrow, honey.”
After giving Jessica a kiss, he shrugged into his jacket. His glance flicked to Samantha. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“I am, too,” she said in a whisper.
Their daughter let him out of the rental cabin. That was good, because Samantha wasn’t capable of moving one foot in front of the other. Just then Nick had sounded as if he really meant it. She’d felt a lingering warmth in his regard. She longed to bask in it forever.
Her thoughts darted back to that first precarious moment when they’d seen each other in the foyer of the Elk Inn. One arctic look from him had shriveled her. She couldn’t believe how different the situation was tonight.
“It sounds like your father has just given you more information to put in one of your newspaper articles. How’s your latest one coming, by the way?”
“Thanks to something you said in one of your cases about the foresight of enlarging the Wild Clearwater country, I’ve almost finished it. The headline will read Yellowstone and Grand Teton, One park? Extravagant Concept or Visionary Thinking?”
“That’s an attention grabber if I ever heard one! Bravo!”
Jessica sounded so savvy, Samantha couldn’t wait to tell Nick. Being around Leslie Gallagher had rubbed off on her. Maybe Samantha and Nick were wrong and their daughter was going to grow up to be
like Pierce’s wife, a former staff journalist for the New York Chronicler.
On the other hand, Jessica showed signs of being a dedicated conservationist who’d been absorbing her father’s philosophy. Whatever she ended up doing, it was going to be exciting to watch, because her analytical thinking exhibited real brilliance.
Overwhelmed by emotion, since at this time last year Samantha hadn’t expected to survive the winter, she hurried to the couch to turn it into a bed for Jessica.
“After you’ve slipped on a nightgown, I want to hear about the party.”
“We watched the old version of Freaky Friday and had pizza.”
“That was a fun movie. After the way I’ve been twice mistaken for you, we would probably be able to pull off a mother-daughter switch and no one would notice.”
“Except Dad. Did he like the house?”
Amused that the child was vetting the parent, Samantha decided honesty was still the best policy. “I’m sure he did, but mostly we discussed how things would work once I’m living here practicing law.”
“Dad has to plan everything out, even though he rarely sticks to it.”
“But he gets points for trying, right?”
“Right! Marsha always says she wishes she had a dad like him.”
“Your father’s one in ten billion.”
Jessica studied her for a long moment before she removed the locket around her neck. “Want to see what I put in this?”
Samantha’s heart raced as she opened it. Her daughter had added a picture of Nick. The very serious look brought his handsome features into sharp relief. Yet it underlined his male beauty, which reached out to her like a living thing.
“Cory took it at the wedding last month and gave it to me.”
Sam had to clear her throat before a sound could escape. “It appears Leslie is turning him into quite the amazing little photographer.”
Her daughter nodded. “I think Dad looks sad. Don’t you?”
“Yes. It’s not every day your best friend gets married.”
Jessica flashed her a perplexed glance. “He and Pierce didn’t lose each other.”
“Of course not. But when two people marry, they cling to each other. It’s so special, everyone around them feels it.”
“Do you wish you’d married Dad?”
Oh Jessica…
The truth, Samantha.
“Yes.”
SODIUM CYANIDE POISONING. All the signs were there. Slobbering, bleeding from the nose. As soon as Nick studied the stomach contents and ran tests on the blood and liver of the moose, he’d have viable proof.
How in the hell had it been poisoned? Moose were plant eaters. He surmised the poor cow had probably found some tender willows in the snow, and had accidentally caused the spring of the hidden ‘coyote getter,’ or M-44 as they called it, to discharge the poison capsule.
Using the flashlight, Nick followed the animal’s split hoofprints through the snow into the forest. Every so often he discovered scat, the long round pellets, and traces of the animal’s vomit.
Toxic fumes created when the moisture in its mouth activated the dry poison had killed it before the Jeep had crashed into it. Nick shuddered to imagine the animal’s terrible agony before it died.
Almost every day he encountered evidence of man’s destruction. Though there were laws on the books, the park had little money to enforce them. Nick couldn’t help but consider Sam’s proposition.
He shut his eyes for a moment. Her generosity and legal expertise would be a godsend.
“Nick?”
At the sound of Pierce’s voice he stood up and turned. “How come you’re not home in bed?”
“On the way home from Jackson, I checked in with dispatch and heard you suspected we have a poisoned moose on our hands. I thought I’d drive over and see what you found.”
“Sodium cyanide.”
“Damn.”
Their breath curled in the freezing night air.
Like Nick, Pierce grieved over every treacherous human act against the wildlife they put their lives on the line to protect.
“If I had the money, I’d track down the person who did this and make certain he or she was sent away for the duration. It’s times like this I wish I believed in the lottery and could use the winnings for something truly meaningful.”
A half moon had come up over the Grand Teton, bathing them in enough light for Nick to see the lines of tension in his friend’s face.
“What if I told you I know someone who holds the winning ticket for two and a half million dollars, and is ready to give it to us, no questions asked?”
Pierce let out a bark of laughter. “Then I would say you’ve been going heavy on the Jack Daniels tonight.”
“Do you smell alcohol?”
His friend sobered. It was starting to dawn on him Nick was being serious. “Run that by me again.”
“You heard me the first time. However, there is one small catch.” Pierce stared at him as if he’d never seen him before. “It all has to stay in the family, so to speak.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Sam.”
“I don’t understand. Speak English.”
“She wants a job only you can create for her. The job we’ve needed doing around here since day one.”
“You’re joking…” His head reared back. “Lord, you’re not joking. Her family has that kind of money?”
Nick nodded. “Her grandparents. No one can ever know. Once the funding’s in place and the superintendent informs you, then you would have to open up the job to all who want it. The board will have to vote on the best candidate.”
“Which Sam would win hands down.”
“When she comes in for the interview, you’ll see she’s a force of nature.”
They studied each other for a full minute before Pierce said, “I take it Cory’s going to be sleeping in that loft in a few weeks.”
“And riding his own pony next spring. Jessica has it all planned out.”
Pierce cocked his head. “When’s the wedding?”
“I don’t know. Right now I’m letting nature take its course and I’ll see what happens.”
A silence ensued, followed by a whoop that filled the forest. Before Nick could react, Pierce gave him a bear hug that would have knocked the wind out of him if he’d been a smaller man.
“Chief?” One of the younger rangers came running through the trees, kicking up snow. “Is something wrong?”
“Nope.” Pierce tried to hide the ecstatic grin on his face. “A private joke, but I appreciate the concern.”
“Sure.”
As soon as the other man was out of earshot again he said, “Let’s go to headquarters and work out the details right now.”
“I’ll drop by my lab first, then meet you there.”
“Good. In the morning we’ll all have breakfast together at my house. I’ll take Sam aside and have a chat with her before she leaves for Coeur D’Alene.”
Nick felt dazed. “You realize what this means if everything comes together….”
“I do,” Pierce muttered, “but I know for a fact it hasn’t hit you yet.”
“THE MOVING VAN’S HERE, Mom!”
It wasn’t too soon for Samantha, who’d had to forgo spending Christmas with her daughter, and had flown into Jackson only this morning, her last commuting flight.
Until now there’d been too much to do in Coeur D’Alene. Besides getting ready for the move, she’d had to go over important cases with the lawyer hired to replace her at the federation. She had yet to be interviewed though by the U.S. Attorney General’s office in Cheyenne for her job with the park. That would happen on Monday.
With only two days before New Year’s, she still had a house to put together before her parents arrived tomorrow afternoon. She was determined to see the New Year in with her daughter and Nick, having put down her roots here for good.
Jessica and Nick had spent Christmas in Gillette with relatives.
School was out for the break, and Jessica was dying to help. Samantha had never seen anyone so excited, except herself, of course.
The painting and wallpapering had been done. She’d bought some new furniture, all of which was now in place, including the pieces for her office, her daughter’s bedroom and the guest bedroom.
Samantha greeted the driver at the door and gave him a quick tour of the house so he and his partner would know where to put things.
First off the truck came the endless string of boxes containing the law books belonging in her office library. A euphoric Jessica called Cory on the new cell phone Nick had bought her for Christmas. She told him to hurry over as soon as his mom could drive him.
The two of them were like brother and sister. Samantha couldn’t have loved him more if he were her own flesh and blood. She loved the people who made up her daughter’s world. She loved Nick, whom she hadn’t seen for two weeks! If he didn’t show up soon, she didn’t know how she was going to stand it.
For the next fifteen minutes the movers brought in more boxes marked for the various rooms. Then came the furniture. Samantha turned up the heat to compensate for the freezing air entering through the open doorway.
“Oh my gosh!” Jessica cried out when the black Steinway baby grand was wheeled in on a dolly. She turned a glowing face to Samantha. “You didn’t tell me you had a piano like this!”
Samantha just smiled and told the men to set it up in the corner of the living room next to the stone fireplace and inner wall, away from any windows. While they were attaching the legs, she heard voices outside, among them Nick’s. She thought she would faint from the thrill.
“Dad!” Jessica pulled him inside the living room. “Look!”
“I’m looking,” he said, but when Samantha chanced a glance in his direction, their gazes collided, sending a shock wave through her system. “Welcome home, Sam.”
“Nick—” It was the only word that would come out with any coherence.
In the background Sam noticed Cory and realized he and his parents had also arrived. Everyone was dressed in casual clothes, ready to go to work. No one looked better in a T-shirt and jeans than Nick. Being a ranger kept his body fit and well-defined. It was a body she’d once known intimately.
To Be a Mother Page 18