“Is she sick?” Caleb asked.
“My guess is she feels like you and I did yesterday,” Jake said.
“Can I wake her up?” Caleb’s whisper came out just shy of a shout.
Allison moved her head and blinked a few times. A smile formed on her lips. “Caleb,” she said releasing her grip on the covers to reach for her godson. “I missed you. Where were you?”
Caleb threw his arms around her neck and squeezed as if he’d been gone a week. “We went to see Jake’s brother. He died. Just like my other mommy and daddy.”
Jake watched her smile grow, then falter as the child’s words sank in. “Other?” she silently repeated.
Jake knew they had a lot to talk about—the past, the present and the future. Some of it required privacy.
“Hey, champ,” he said, ruffling Caleb’s blond locks, “I bet the cats missed you. Do you think they’d like a treat?”
The boy jumped back, his expression gleeful. “Oh, yeah, I know where you put the box. I’ll do it. Come on, cats.”
While not renowned for following orders, the two animals apparently did understand the word treats. They jumped off the bed and followed Caleb out the door.
Once alone, Jake didn’t know where to begin. “When you told me that part of Cordelia’s problem was she never got to tell Pam goodbye, it struck me that that might be my problem, too. My father wouldn’t let me attend Phillip’s funeral. Kenny’s mom took me to the cemetery a week or so later, but it wasn’t the same. I’d missed the process.”
Allison nodded. “You visited Phillip’s grave?”
“This morning.” Jake wanted to hold her, kiss her, but he didn’t know if he dared. She looked so fragile and ethereal.
She stared into his eyes for several seconds. “How do you feel?” she asked.
He sat down beside her and touched her hair. “Great. I must have had a twenty-four-hour bug, but it wasn’t chicken pox. Turns out I’m immune. I talked to my old caseworker. He said he remembered me coming down with the worst case he’d ever seen. It sort of stuck in his memory and for years he told people about this poor kid with spots on every conceivable inch of his body.”
Allison reached out to touch his face. She was wearing an oversized pair of flannel pajamas. The button-up V-neck offered a provocative glimpse of her chest. Her spotted chest.
“How do you feel?” he asked, putting his hand to her brow.
“Crummy.” She brushed his hand aside. “You probably shouldn’t get too close to me. In case I have a different bug.”
“Actually, sweetheart, you don’t have the flu.”
“I know. It’s typhoid fever or something, isn’t it?”
“Have you looked in the mirror today?”
Allison pressed her hands to her cheeks. Not only had she not bothered washing her face or combing her hair this morning, she hadn’t even brushed her teeth. “No,” she said, holding her palm in front of her mouth. “Let me get up. I must look like a disaster. I fell asleep on my couch last night and then this morning I ran across...” She could see he was holding back a smile. “I know I look ugly, but it isn’t very nice of you to laugh.”
He let out a chuckle and pulled her into his arms. “Oh, sweetheart, you are beautiful. You could never be anything but beautiful to me because I love you with all of my heart.”
“You do?” She pulled back to confirm his veracity.
He took her hand and pressed it to his chest. “I do. And I want to marry you, and adopt Caleb, and have a dozen more kids with you.”
“A dozen?”
“We can find lost children to fill that quota. Society’s cast-offs.”
Allison could barely believe her ears. She felt like pinching herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. “What about Cordelia?”
“We’ll adopt her, too.”
Allison’s eyes filled with tears, and she had to fight to keep from crying.
“Actually, Cordelia and I had a heart-to-heart talk between Bakersfield and Delano,” he told her. “She expects to come home next week, and because she doesn’t want to intrude on a pair of newlyweds, she plans to do something that she intended to do ever since she moved to California.”
Newlyweds? “What’s that?”
“Build a house on the lot next door. She owns it. She and her husband bought it the same time Pam and Kenny bought this place. She’d always planned to build her dream home, but she got comfortable living so close, and Pam depended on her a lot.”
“I kinda remember hearing about that,” Allison said. “Pam thought it was a waste of money.”
Jake shrugged. “I told her I thought it was a good investment.”
Allison was dumbfounded. “All this happened between Bakersfield and Delano? How far is that?”
Jake laughed. “It happened because you were honest with her. Plus, Padre helped her realize that Pam had picked us for a reason. Cordelia is a cool lady, and I’m looking forward to getting to know her better once she’s well enough to come home.”
Allison’s heart swelled. “Pam was right,” she said, fighting tears.
He cocked his head in question.
“She said, ‘He might look like Jake the Rake, but deep down, he’s a father waiting to happen.’” She opened her arms to him. “I love you, Jake.”
“Oh, Ally, I missed you.” He squeezed her tight then tried to kiss her.
She avoided his lips by ducking her head. “No, I have germs.”
“I’m immune.”
He kissed her soundly, but when she moved her hand to thread through his hair, the sleeve of her horribly un-sexy pajamas got pushed back, exposing her arm. Her mind failed to register the image for a moment, but when Jake angled his head to deepen the kiss, she suddenly let out a yelp and pushed him away.
“Spots,” she cried, clawing at her arm.
Jake sat back on the mattress and started to laugh. “I know.”
She yanked up her oversized shirt. Her belly was covered in fiery red dots, which seemed to multiply before her eyes. “Chicken pox?” she gasped, looking at Jake to confirm her fear.
“Oh, yeah,” he said matter-of-factly. “Looks like a pretty severe case. Someone told me adults get it a lot worse than kids.”
She gave him a dirty look before demurely covering herself. “Well, this isn’t possible. My mother said...”
Jake leaned close and kissed her nose. “Mothers make mistakes.” He shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe mine thought she was teaching me to be strong.”
Allison let out a long sigh then threw her arms around Jake’s neck and kissed him soundly. “I love you, Jake. And, yes, I will marry you—even if it means having a bicoastal husband.”
Jake made an odd, strangled sound. She knew him well enough to know that this meant trouble. “What? You’ve changed your mind? You don’t like women with spots?”
He kissed the rash on the inside of her wrist. “I would marry you if you were plaid. That’s not the problem.”
“Then what is?”
“I have something to tell you. You might be mad.”
“Mad is better than scared. What?”
“Did a check arrive at Jeffries Computing yesterday?”
She nodded. “A new company...” She couldn’t finish. Her throat closed shut.
“A new investment firm that’s opening a branch office in California,” he completed for her. He put out one hand in supplication. “It’s my company, Allison. I offered to make my assistant a partner if he’d handle the Miami office. He jumped at the chance, of course, and has been working with my lawyer to set up the partnership.”
Allison, wasn’t sure how she felt—elated or angry. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I planned to—after I proposed. I was afraid you’d think I was trying to look heroic by bailing out your firm. Which isn’t the case, of course. I gave you the business because Kenny always said you were the best.”
Allison was touched. “Well, thank you. I promise you won’t be disap
pointed in my company.”
He started to reach for her, but paused, his attention shifting to the doorway, where Caleb stood, his arms filled with a big white cat. Allison motioned him to come closer. “We have room in this hug for you, love.”
Caleb jogged toward them. As soon as he jumped on the bed, Cleo let out a displeased cry. The surprised child opened his arms and the cat scrambled up Jake’s torso for higher ground. Rom bulleted into the room and disappeared under the bed.
Allison pulled Caleb into her arms and started to laugh. She and her spotted son might make a funny-looking pair, but nothing beat the image of Jake wearing a white cat hat.
Her world was complete. Not a world she ever would have asked for—void of her two dearest friends. But she knew that somewhere in heaven, Pam was holding Ally’s baby while Kenny and Phillip played jacks.
About the Author
Winner of Romantic Times Reviewer's Career Achievement "Series Storyteller of the Year" award in 2006, Debra Salonen's 26 titles for Harlequin Publishing sold more than 2.3 million copies, worldwide.
A six-time nominee for RT's Best Superromance of the Year award, Debra took home that honor in 2010.
Channel your inner maverick with dynamic, sexy, take charge heroes and the Montana women who know what they want and make their own rules to get it. Read all 9 titles in Debra's Big Sky Mavericks series from Tule Publishing.
And come join the rendezvous in the Black Hills of South Dakota where Hollywood meets the real wild west. This ten-book series continues in April 2017 with a new “Inheritance” title.
Available on all platforms and in print.
Readers and reviewers of Debra's romance novels say:
"Debra Salonen captures readers' attention with multifaceted characters, layered conflict and fast pacing." ~ Pamela Cohen, RomanticTimes Bookclub
"No one writes drama like Debra Salonen." ~ Huntress Reviews
"Great chemistry, great one liners and a sexy cowboy!" ~ C. Arcidiacono
"This novel had everything, family drama, love, a little bit of sexy and a lot of heart." ~ gertyp
"...one of the most heartfelt novels I've ever read." ~ Kaitie Campbell
"Debra Salonen pens a bittersweet love story with a fresh storyline and a love that stays with you long after the book is over." ~ Tami Sutton, The Best Reviews
Please keep in touch!
@debsalonen
Debra Salonen, author
www.debrasalonen.com
[email protected]
Also by Debra Salonen
The Big Sky Mavericks series from Tule Publishing:
MONTANA COWGIRL - "Cowgirl, you can go home--and love--again."
MONTANA COWBOY - "He's nobody's cowboy until his new neighbor rocks his world."
MONTANA DARLING - "Her land. His tent. And this is Montana, where property disputes can lead to a range war...or love."
MONTANA MAVERICK - "A lone wolf PhD rescues a rancher--and gains a life."
HER FOREVER GIFT (a FREE holiday novella) - "The system failed him, but she never would."
MONTANA HERO - He may be her hero, but who's going to save him?
MONTANA ROGUE - He's more than meets the eye--eye candy, that it.
MONTANA MIRACLE - It takes a Montana village to create a Christmas miracle.
MONTANA REBEL - Defying death is all part of the game...until you have something to lose.
coming in December: MONTANA SECRET SANTA, book 3 in the Love at the Chocolate Series, set in Marietta, Montana.
THE BLACK HILLS RENDEZVOUS series:
BLACK HILLS BABY - His sperm for a share in her gold mine? What could go wrong?
BLACK HILLS BILLIONAIRE - What if his $$ isn’t enough to save her?
BLACK HILLS BAD BOY - Bad to the bone…in his dreams, at least.
BLACK HILLS BACHELOR - A miner and a Hollywood princess? Only in the moves.
BLACK HILLS NATIVE SON - A journey of discovery brings him the son he never knew, and the woman he was meant to love.
BLACK HILLS OUTCAST - Hiding out from life worked just fine…until he met Rachel.
BLACK HILLS WHITE KNIGHT - William Hughes to the rescue? Hardly. His suit is Armani--not armor.
BLACK HILLS RANCHER - Picking the right twin to be a role model for his daughter should be easy--not dangerous.
coming soon: BLACK HILLS STRANGER, BLACK HILLS DESTINY
For something naughty and wildly irreverent, try JUDY UNCENSORED, which features a 54-year-old, self-proclaimed "trailer trash" heroine and spin-off holiday novella JUDY DOES CHRISTMAS.”
Caleb's Christmas Wish Page 25