She didn’t answer his knock, but he knew she was still there because the dogs were barking on the other side of the door. He pounded again and smiled grimly when he heard Bennie let loose an extended howl. She wouldn’t be able to put up with that for long.
The door swung open. Her tear ravaged face made his chest ache, but she’d never been more beautiful to him. He held out the small bag in his hand.
“Humor me.”
She took the bag, started to pull out the contents, then shoved her hand back inside the moment the initials on the box were visible. “I can’t believe you’d even ask this.”
He eased her inside and shut the door. “You’re so sure you’re not pregnant, so what have you got to lose?”
“I am sure, that’s why I don’t need to pee on a damn stick.”
She shoved the bag at his chest and turned away.
“I love you.”
She halted. He waited, his heart threatening to beat from his chest. When she turned around, the calm was back in her expression. She held out her hand. Not exactly sure what to hope for at this point, Rick pulled out the pregnancy test and laid it in her palm. She paused in the bathroom doorway, but didn’t look at him.
“I want you to leave the moment it’s done.”
When the door closed, Rick leaned against the wall and scrubbed his hands over his face. Please, God, let this work out. Pregnant or not, I don’t want to lose her.
He went to stand by the door and spent the next two minutes looking at his watch every ten to fifteen seconds. Pacing helped for another minute, then he stood by the door again. About the five minute mark, he raised his hand. Dropped it. Raised it.
The door opened before he could knock. She was crying again and his hope died. What had he done? Allie’s gaze met his, but the stunned expression in them sucked the air from his lungs. And then she smiled through her tears and held out the test.
“I love you, too.”
Speechless, his gaze dropped down to see two pink lines. He’d just gotten everything he wanted, yet when he opened his mouth, the only thing that came out was, “Really?”
She held up her other hand with a second test; two more pink lines.
“Do I still have to leave?” he asked.
Her smile widened as she shook her head no. Rick grinned and swept her into his arms, lifting her off her feet as he swung her around.
“Stop—please,” she begged in the middle of a laugh. “You’ll make me throw up again.”
He stopped spinning, but instead of setting her down, he leaned back against the wall and kissed her for all he was worth. Her arms wound tight around his neck as if she’d never let go. Fine with him.
Pulling back, he gazed into her eyes. “You really love me?”
She nodded. “And Lukas.”
“I’ve been dying to ask you this for the past week, and now seems about right. Will you marry us?”
Moisture brightened her eyes. Through her tears, he glimpsed pure happiness.
“Yes.”
Chapter 16
Allie arrived at Dr. Lannoye’s office late Friday afternoon happier than she’d ever been in her life. The moment he confirmed the pregnancy, she planned to dance for joy down the middle of Salvation Ave—after she went to her fiancé’s office and dragged him out to join her.
She grinned at her reflection in the door’s glass. Amazing how fast life could change.
A half hour later she walked out into the cold sunshine, completely numb.
“I’m so sorry, Allie. False positives are not that uncommon.”
“Yes, even with two tests.”
Now what?
Her cell phone rang on the seat next to her purse. She picked it up to look at the name before dropping her head back against the seat with resignation. Rick. He’d been so happy yesterday. And last night. And this morning. How could she face him now? He was supposed to pick her up in an hour.
She took the easy way out and answered the phone. “Hey.”
“Hi. You sound tired. Are you okay?”
How could he tell from just one word?
“Did you get some rest today?” he asked.
“Um-hm.”
“You still up for Lindy Spalding’s housewarming party tonight? I heard she went all out.”
There was absolutely no way she could get through the evening with him in public.
“Allie?”
Squeezing her eyes shut tight, she tightened her fingers on the phone. “Rick, I’m so sorry—” we’re all so damn sorry, aren’t we? “—but, I can’t do this.”
“Hey, it’s okay, we don’t have to go. Mom’s keeping Lukas at her house tonight, so believe me, I’m fine with staying home. I’m actually feeling a little und—”
“Rick, I can’t marry you.”
There was a moment of silence. “What?”
“I said—”
“I heard what you said,” he bit out. “What I should’ve asked is, why?”
His anger swelled across the line and slammed into her. She straightened in her seat, relieved in a way. Anger she could deal with. “I’m not pregnant.”
“The test was positive. Both of them were.” Fear grew in each of his statements.
“The tests were wrong,” she said. “I saw the doctor today.”
“Oh, God, Allie.” Now his voice was full of concern again. “You should’ve told me you were going. I’d have gone with you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Obviously you’re not. I’m coming over.”
“No, don’t!” she exclaimed.
“Allie, this doesn’t change anything. Pregnant or not, I still love you.”
“I can’t talk about it right now. I’m sorry. I know this is awful to do over the phone, but I can’t—I just…can’t.” The last word caught on a sob as her shell cracked, and she disconnected the call. When the ring tones sounded seconds later, she turned the phone off.
It took a few minutes to pull herself together enough to start the Bug and back out of the parking spot, but when she turned on the left turn signal, she realized she couldn’t go home. Rick would be waiting for her there, and she wasn’t strong enough right now to relive yesterday. Telling him it wouldn’t work between them had been hard enough, but repeating it after he’d told her he loved her would be impossible.
She drove around until the street lights came on, and then a little while longer. Finally, she turned on her phone, erased the six messages from Rick, and called Dana.
“Al, where are you?” Dana asked. “Rick called twice to see if I’ve heard from you. He sounds worried.”
“Are you at home?” Allie asked.
“Charlie and I are at Lindy’s housewarming party. What’s going on? Aren’t you and—”
Allie closed the phone, shut it off again, and turned her car around. When she arrived at the old Kendall mansion, it looked like half of Redemption had shown up.
On the way to the front door, she nodded to a couple of people she knew, then paused when she remembered something about red in the invitation. Casual dress was fine, but everyone was supposed to wear something red. She looked down at her gray sweater, old jeans, and white sneakers. Damn. Why hadn’t she asked Dana to meet her somewhere? She turned around, thinking, there had to be a back door to this monster, right?
“Allie? Would you like to come in?”
She pasted a smile on her face and did another about-face. “Hey, Lindy. Beautiful house.”
“Thank you. Wait’ll you see the inside.” Lindy’s gaze swept over Allie’s jeans and sneakers, but she didn’t say a word about her lack of color when she looked over Allie’s shoulder. “Is Rick parking the truck?”
Allie waved a hand but didn’t bother to answer. She stepped inside the foyer and made appropriate sounds of appreciation before facing her hostess. “Have you seen Dana?”
“Check the library off the formal dining room,” Lindy said and pointed Allie in the right direction. “I'm pretty sure she and Char
lie headed that way.”
“Thanks.” Allie wove through the crowd and spotted Dana across the room next to a large mahogany desk. Charlie stood next to her, his arm curled possessively around her waist as they talked with his sister, Tara, and her fiancé, Wes Carter. Allie leaned against the doorframe. They all looked great together, and so happy.
Another crack formed in the ice around her emotions.
Charlie spotted her, and leaned to whisper in Dana’s ear. Dana looked up quick. She pushed her drink into Charlie’s hand as her concerned gaze locked with Allie’s.
Allie lifted her hand to wave, only to have her vision blurred by a rush of tears. Seconds later, Dana’s arm encircled her shoulders and steered her back through the dining room. Allie let her lead since she couldn’t see a thing.
Next thing she knew, Dana urged her to sit down, and she felt a chenille comforter under her hands. Dana took hold of both her hands as she sat next to her on the bed. Someone rubbed her shoulder on the opposite side and Allie saw Tara had come with them. She looked around the room, but there was no one else until a light knock sounded on the door.
Lindy poked her head inside with a concerned expression. “Is everything okay?”
When Dana’s green gaze turned back to her, Allie’s damn burst. “I’m not pregnant,” she wailed.
Dana’s brows rose as she glanced up at Tara. “Okay. Shouldn’t that be a good thing?”
Allie shook her head. “Rick asked me to marry him.”
“What’d you say?” Dana asked.
“I said yes, but only because I thought I was pregnant. And I think he only asked because he thought I was pregnant.”
“But you’re not.”
Allie accepted a handful of tissues that Lindy pressed into her hands. “No.”
Dana’s expression turned indignant. “So, what, doesn’t he want to get married now?”
“He said it doesn’t change things.”
“Um, okay. So…I don’t understand what the problem is.”
Allie blew her nose, looked from Dana, up at Tara and Lindy, back down to her hands where she shredded one of the tissues. She clenched her fingers and lifted one hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. “I have a medical condition, and I’ll never be able to have kids.”
“Oh, Al, I had no idea.” Dana covered her mouth with her hand as tears formed in her eyes. “Last Sunday...I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, how could you know? I never told anyone. But now, do you see why I can’t marry him?”
“Hold on a second,” Tara protested. “Does he love you?”
Allie’s shoulders slumped. “He said he does…but…”
“Do you love him?” Dana asked.
Allie sniffed and nodded at the same time.
“Then I really don’t understand the problem,” Dana said.
“He wants more kids—you said so yourself.” She blew her nose again, but fresh tears flowed, and she buried her head against Dana’s shoulder. “You should’ve seen him yesterday. And this morning. He was so excited, he kept touching my stomach, saying he wanted a little girl that looked just like me.”
Tara rubbed her back as Dana hugged her close.
“But it doesn’t matter how much I love him, I can’t ever give him that,” she sobbed. “So I have to let him find someone who can.”
“Shouldn’t that be my decision?”
The fierce question nearly stopped Allie’s pulse. She lifted her forehead off Dana’s shoulder to see Rick standing in the doorway. He looked awful. His hair was a mess, his face flushed under his five-o’clock shadow, and the glassy, wounded look in his eyes made her entire being hurt even more.
Dana leaned over, pressing her cheek to Allie’s as she whispered, “Please don’t be mad, I had Charlie call him.”
Allie couldn’t take her eyes off Rick. He looked ready to do battle; feet planted shoulder width apart, arms crossed over his chest.
Dana and Tara eased toward the door. Allie realized Lindy had left at some point and she hadn’t even noticed.
“We’ll let you two have some privacy.”
Allie wanted to tell them to stay, but knew she had to face Rick by herself. Rick nodded when Dana touched his arm, then reached back to shut the bedroom door without taking his eyes off Allie. The silence stretched. She looked down, trying to find a large enough piece of tissue to wipe her face. She must look like death warmed over.
“How dare you decide what’s best for my life.”
Her heart lodged in her throat at the anger in his voice. She forced herself to lift her gaze to meet his. “Do you want more kids?”
“I want you.”
His hands dropped to his sides as he approached the bed. She started to stand so he wouldn’t tower over her, but he hunched down in front of her first.
“Yes, I’m heartbroken over the fact that you are not going to have our baby, but that does not change how I feel about you.”
She loved him, and part of her was overjoyed by his willingness to fight for her. But the other part was saddened that he refused to admit what he’d lose by staying with her. She was as barren as the frost covered tree in her photograph.
“Maybe not now—”
“Not ever.”
God, he sounded so sure. Allie wanted to believe him, but still…
“In five or ten years you’ll wake up and realize you could’ve had so much more. There’s someone else out there who can give you what you want.”
“How many times do I have to say it, Allie? I want you.”
Frustration roughened his words. She dropped her chin and resisted the urge to tuck her hair, allowing it to obstruct his probing gaze. Only Rick reached up and did it himself. When his palm cupped her cheek, she instinctively leaned into his touch with her eyes closed.
“I have Lukas,” he told her, his voice thick with emotion. “I have a woman I love, who said she loves me back, and better than that, she loves my son as if he were her own.”
She opened her eyes. He was right. If Lukas were her own, she couldn’t love him any more than she did now.
A tender smile touched his lips when she finally held his gaze. “So tell me, Allie, how could I want more than that?”
In the dark of night, the sun began to break the horizon. Pure conviction shone from his gaze and thawed the numbing ice around her heart. She took a deep, shuddering breath as the warmth spread through her whole body.
“And that really is enough for you?”
Rick took both her hands in his. “The question is, is it enough for you?”
Her fingers clenched tight. “It’s more than I dared dream of these last couple years,” she whispered.
“Then I have one last question for you.”
She bit her lip with renewed apprehension, but he only shifted onto one knee while reaching into his pocket. Her eyes widened when he held out a beautiful emerald cut diamond ring.
“Allie Daniels , will you marry me?”
Her hand shook as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “Rick Wilde, I believe you’ve already asked me this,” she said with a wobbly smile.
“Not properly—and I recall you like things done proper. Not to mention the phone call I got about three hours ago…”
Something else occurred to her and she felt the chill creep back in. She hesitated, then forced herself to face one last possible obstacle and eliminate any chance of her heart freezing again.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Anything,” he said.
Getting oxygen past the lump in her throat was difficult, but no matter his answer, she had to know before she said yes. “You’re not just doing the right thing again, are you? Like when you—”
Rick placed his fingers against her lips. “I am hopelessly, one hundred percent, head-over-heels, till-death-do-us-part in love with you.”
She fell for him all over again. “Then, yes, I’ll marry you.”
Relief flooded his expression, quickly followed by joy
. He lifted her left hand and kissed her palm. “Tomorrow?”
She laughed.
“I’m serious,” he said, turning her hand over. “I don’t want to risk you changing your mind again.”
Pure happiness, like she'd never expected to feel again, swept away the desolation of the past four hours. She smiled through her remaining tears and watched him slip the beautiful diamond onto her left ring finger.
“Swear to God, I won’t change my mind.”
Done placing the ring, he looked up again. She could drown in the love shining from his eyes as he knelt before her. His gaze dropped to her mouth, prompting her to lean forward and meet him half way. Only he pulled back fast to avoid the kiss.
“Ah, you really don’t want to do that.”
She smiled in confusion. “Why not?”
A wry grin twisted his lips. “I think I have the flu.”
Allie leaned back to survey his face as she laid a hand on his flushed forehead. Seeing his glassy eyes, feeling the heat of his fever, she couldn’t help a soft laugh and kissed him anyway.
~~~~~
I hope you enjoyed Rick and Allie’s story. It broke my heart when Allie found out she wasn’t pregnant, but Rick and Lukas will be so good for her.
Thank you for hanging out in Redemption with us. The series will continue on as we have new stories in the works, so keep an eye out for us!
About the authors:
Donna Marie Rogers
Donna Marie Rogers inherited her love of romance from her mother. Romance novels, soap operas, Little House On the Prairie--her mother loved them all. And though it wasn't until years later Donna would come to understand her mother's fascination with Charles Ingalls, Donna's love of the romance genre is every bit as all-consuming. A member of Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Wisconsin Romance Writers (WisRWA), she's served on the board for years and has been blessed to make many wonderful friendships that will last a lifetime. Donna's books have received rave reviews and finaled in numerous contests, including the Aspen Gold, EPIC Awards, and her chapter's own Write Touch Readers Award.
Welcome To Redemption: Series Collection (Books 1-6) Page 56