“Don’t put us in the same sentence. We are nothing alike.”
“Please don’t fight over me,” Liz said, reaching out to place a hand on Bingham’s arm, to show him that she could find a way to love them both. “I just want—”
A sharp pain shot through Liz’s face. It took a moment to realize she’d been slapped by Bingham—the same way her mother had been many times over the years. She’d never known. She’d never known.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice shaking. “I didn’t mean to hit you. I was aiming for him, but you got in the way.”
Ben took her in his arms and stared Bingham down. “You shouldn’t be hitting anyone. That’s the point. This all needs to stop now.”
“It won’t be over until you’re rotting behind bars.” Bingham shot one more poisonous look toward Ben, then charged back toward the parking lot.
“Wait,” Liz cried as she watched Bingham tear across the meadow. “It doesn’t have to be like this!”
“Don’t,” Vanessa said, grabbing Liz’s shoulder and holding her back.
“He can’t leave! Not like this!” Liz’s whole body shook as her tears fell double-time. Meeting Bingham was supposed to make everything better, not worse. He couldn’t send her father to prison. He couldn’t!
“I’ll see if I can stop him,” Dorian promised, breaking into a jog as he chased Bingham back down the trail to the parking lot.
“I’m going, too,” Ben insisted, but Vanessa also stopped him.
“Let Dorian handle this. You’ll only upset the man even more,” she reasoned. “While we wait… Liz, your father brought this for you.” Vanessa reached into her purse and pulled out a tattered, old toy horse.
“Mr. Hooves!” Liz cried, hugging the stuffed animal in her arms. “How did you—?”
“I found him in the attic,” Ben explained as he watched this much happier reunion with a smile. “I never threw him away. He meant too much to you, and I thought you might like to have him back now that the truth is out. Maybe one day you can share him with a daughter of your own.”
“Thank you, Dad,” Liz sobbed, burrowing into her father’s embrace. This man was her real father. He was the one who loved her, who would protect her no matter what it cost him—and it had already cost plenty.
Both Bingham and Dorian blurred against the horizon as they grew more and more distant. Now all they could do was wait and hope that Dorian could find the right words to bring the other man back.
“Thank you for the flight and car and hotel,” Liz said, reaching out to hug Vanessa now, too.
“It was my pleasure.” Even through the thick layers of makeup, Vanessa’s face took on a new glow. “I know we didn’t get off to the best start, but I do truly want what’s best for you. We’re family now, and—well—I’d be very pleased if Victoria and Valeria grew up to be as kind, loving, and brave as you are.”
Liz didn’t know what to say other than “thank you,” which she did.
Her father joined their hug, told the women he loved them both.
This was how you formed a family. Liz had hoped to gain a father that day, but perhaps she’d gained a mother instead.
Maybe it was too late for her and Bingham to start anew. Only time would tell that truth. But while she waited, she could make a real effort to form bonds with her new mother and sisters. It’s what she wanted, both for herself and for her father, Ben.
Finally, they had a full family to call their own.
And—
A sudden screeching of tires sliced through the peaceful moment. All heads turned toward the sound, but it was too late to catch what had happened. A red mist clouded the air surrounding a livestock trailer.
Mr. Hooves fell from Liz’s hands as she rushed toward the scene. Who had been hit? She wanted neither man to be hurt, but her heart clenched at the thought of Dorian’s broken body lying in a jagged heap on the ground.
He had never asked for any of this. He’d simply been trying to earn enough money to get by. He hadn’t asked to fall in love with her, or to chase after Bingham now when Liz had failed to make him understand.
He had done all of this for her. And now?
Ben and Vanessa shouted from behind her. The driver paced back and forth, crying out every time he looked back at the grisly accident. And then there was Dorian, hunched near the ground. Not the victim, but rather a shaken, scared man trying to revive the other who lay motionless before him.
Charles Bingham. Her rightful father, the man who would trade her happiness to clench his revenge. He’d hurt and terrified her mother. He’d chased her and Ben for years.
And now it all ended here.
She’d offered him her love, and he’d run away straight into the path of a charging engine.
“He just f-f-f-flew out of nowhere!” the driver stuttered. “Lucky I didn’t hit that one, too.” He pointed to Dorian who now noticed Liz standing nearby.
Dorian shook his head slightly, then attempted CPR once more.
“I’m calling an ambulance,” Vanessa declared.
Liz studied Bingham’s body, trying to discern what she was feeling now. More than sorrow, she felt awed by the absolute fragility of life.
One man’s decision to take her had set her on an entirely different path.
Another man’s inattention behind the steering wheel had stopped a beating heart.
Single moments in time forever altered history.
Sometimes things changed in the blink of an eye. Other times there was no stopping what had already been set into motion.
Bingham wanted revenge more than he wanted his family back. Nothing she’d said that day—or would have said in the future—could have changed that.
That was life. You had to live it while the living was good.
Because you never knew what secrets, what dangers lay waiting just around the corner.
14 months later
She walked across the fresh grass while surveying the land. Although night had arrived hours ago, light still clung to the sky—the unrivaled beauty of an Alaskan summer.
“What do you think?” Dorian asked as he fell into step beside her.
“I think it’s every bit as perfect as I’d hoped it would be. I love it.”
“And I love you.” He swept her into his arms and kissed her for the first time at her new home.
It hadn’t been difficult to prove she was Jane Bingham, nor had it been difficult to claim the inheritance her late father, Charles Bingham, had left fully to her. The only people who knew of Ben’s crimes refused to report them, and once the prosecutors saw that Jane Bingham was, in fact, alive and well, they closed the case for good.
She still wished she had gotten the chance to know her birth father, but he had made his choice—and God had sealed the deal. She chose not to linger on what could have been, but rather to work hard toward a future that honored what they had both lost over the years.
“Memory Ranch,” Dorian said, holding her to his chest as they slowly turned and took in the expansive property. She could hardly believe this was all hers. Now that she’d completed her own journey down memory lane, she wanted to help others on their paths—people like Dorian’s grandmother who had lost their memories to sickness. People like herself who’d had them stolen away. People who were hurt by their loved ones’ inability to remember, and even people who were haunted by the post-traumatic stress of memories that refused to leave them be.
Memory Ranch would be a refuge to them all.
They could escape the pressures of their everyday life and remember on their own time. Part resort and part group therapy home, the Memory Ranch would use the therapeutic power of horses and the freedom that came with riding combined with supportive counselors and a peaceful sanctuary to recover.
She wanted to help others heal, to remember, and also to learn to move beyond the memories when needed.
“It’s really happening. It’s all yours.” Dorian kissed her forehead, and she smiled.
Just over a year had passed since their time in Charleston, and they would be married in the fall. Soon it wouldn’t matter if she called herself Bingham or Benjamin, because she’d be a Whitley.
Mrs. Dorian Whitley.
They’d both returned to school last autumn. She had originally stopped after two years of college, but was now re-enrolled as a proud Psychology student. She wouldn’t just stop at her bachelor’s degree, either. She loved learning about the human mind and all its hidden intricacies, and she planned to get her Ph.D. even if she’d be forty by the time that happened.
Dorian had already finished his bachelor’s degree, so he’d enrolled as a master’s student in Criminal Justice. It seemed to him that his entire life had been leading there—from growing up in the slums, to his PI gigs and their tangle with Bingham. He’d learned to respect justice, and his desire to keep people safe only grew as he let more and more into his life.
Bingham had taught them both about the razor’s edge between justice and vengeance and how the law needed more people to uphold not only its mandates, but also its spirit.
People like Dorian who had found her when she couldn’t even find herself.
And now Elizabeth Jane’s memories had never been so sweet, her future never so bright, and her present never so full of passion, love, and life.
As special and powerful as memories could be, she knew now that life wasn’t the sum of all the little moments that filled out your days.
It was the people you loved and who loved you in return that made this the most glorious journey of all.
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Loved how Liz and Dorian turned their initial distrust of each other into true love? Then you won’t want to miss what happens next!
The next book, Season of Mercy, is now available for pre-order. Be sure to pick up your copy today at www.MelStorm.com/SledDogs
***
Sofia Stepanov believes in right and wrong, but she doesn’t believe in following the rules. Naturally, when she finds a wolf hybrid being illegally kept and abused by its captors, she vows to come back and free him herself. Soon the exhilaration of one successful mission leads to many more, leading Sofia to set her sights on the most ambitious rescue yet.
Hunter Burke has never faced a case like this before. A serial dog-napper is on the loose and the community is up in arms, demanding justice. As he delves deeper into the string of thefts, he finds himself admiring the vigilante criminal. Still, it’s his job to capture—and punish—her, and Hunter has never questioned his duty before.
Will Sofia complete her mission, or will Hunter catch her before she can? And what happens when these two finally come face to face? Are the obstacles too great to hope for a happy ending?
Harkening to the great literary traditions of Crime and Punishment and Snow White, Season of Mercy is a new twist on the most epic of love stories.
Don’t miss the chance to lose your heart to a courageous cast of sled dogs, wolf hybrids, and the humans that love them in this tale set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Alaskan wilderness. Pre-order your copy today at www.MelStorm.com/SledDogs
Afterword
I must’ve started and stopped writing this afterword a dozen times. Due to the nature of this book and the fact she chose to dedicate it to my dad, Mrs. Storm asked me to write something about fatherhood. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a lot harder to describe than you might think, because I think it takes something truly special to be a real dad.
When Mrs. Storm was pregnant with our daughter, I was terrified. What type of father would I end up being? Every night, I lay awake wondering if I would end up like my abuser instead of like a father. You see, for ten years, I lived in hell, being physically abused by my stepfather. I was suicidal at the age of 8. I was severely introverted and preferred to be alone than around people. I had a temper. I had panic attacks. I dabbled in self-harm. I allowed myself to be abused by people well into adulthood. How was someone as messed up as me supposed to be a father to another human being?
But if my stepfather was the devil that I feared becoming, I luckily had my dad to strive to be like. He has three children, and even if we aren’t all genetically linked, we are all bound by his love. My dad loves unconditionally, in a way that seems alien in today’s world. And for him to take me at sixteen, at my most obnoxious, rebellious, and broken, and still find a way to help me… I don’t think there are words to really describe it. For me, everything I could strive to be as a father was embodied by my dad.
And the biggest lesson I learned was one that I’m still learning today. Nobody’s perfect. We all make mistakes. But the perfect father can acknowledge these flaws in himself and strive to do the very best for their child. Sometimes that can be tough love. Sometimes that can be a kind word at a low point. Sometimes it’s just stepping back and allowing your children to make their own mistakes.
Thank you, Dad, for all you taught me. For all the patience you showed me. And, most of all, for loving this broken boy and teaching him to be a father to your granddaughter.
Acknowledgments
This one goes out to all the dads, especially those with daughters. It is that special bond that inspired this story and gave it its emotional intensity.
To the dad who chose not to stick around, thus giving me all the angst I needed to one day start writing.
And also to the dad who picked up the slack, who raised me, adopted me, claimed me as his, shared his outlook on the world. Even though we don’t always—okay, we rarely—agree, I love you, and I’m so thankful to have you in my life.
To my father-in-law who is basically the perfect dad in every way and who raised my own romantic hero into a strong, compassionate man—even though I know a certain Mr. Storm made that incredibly difficult.
To a certain Mr. Storm who shares the greatest gift of all with me, our fabulous daughter, Phoenix. And who is eager to open his home and heart to our future adopted child (I can’t wait to meet you, little one!).
To the dad my little brother will soon be. Oh, boy, is your world about to change in ways you can only begin to imagine!
To all the dads who stay, especially when it’s hard. And to those who don’t, may they find the love they are missing from their lives.
To you, dear reader, and the men in your life—both amazing and less than.
Thank you for inspiring me.
All my love,
Melissa S.
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P.S. Oh, yeah! And also to the people who aren’t dads but still helped make this book a reality: Megan Harris, Jasmine Bryner, Angi DeMonti, Becky Muth, the Storm Super Readers, and my many, many author friends. Thank you!
Also by Melissa Storm
Sign up for even more free stories and uplifting messages from Melissa at www.MelStorm.com/gift
* * *
The Sled Dog Series
Get ready to fall in love with a special pack of working and retired sled dogs, each of whom change their new owners' lives for the better.
* * *
Let There Be Love
Let There Be Light
Let There Be Life
Season of Mercy
Season of Majesty
Season of Mirth
* * *
The First Street Church Romances
Sweet and wholesome small town love stories with the community church at their center make for the perfect feel-good reads!
* * *
Love’s Prayer
Love’s Promise
Love’s Prophet
Love’s Vow
Love’s Trial
Love’s Treasure
Love’s Testament
Love’s Gift
* * *
The Church Dogs of Charleston
The Church Dogs of Charleston is a new series about a very special litter of Chihuahua puppies bor
n on Christmas day.
* * *
Little Loves
Mini Miracles
Dainty Darlings
Tiny Treasures
* * *
The Cupid’s Bow Series
Everyone deserves to find love that lasts. If you love romance, check out these stories set in the 1950s, 1980s, and today.
* * *
The First Generation
When I Fall in Love
My Heart Belongs Only to You
I’ll Never Stop Loving You
You Make Me Feel So Young
* * *
The Second Generation
Total Eclipse of the Heart
Tainted Love
I Want to Dance with Somebody
Take My Breath Away
Eternal Flame
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The Third Generation
Somebody Like You
You Belong with Me
She Will Be Loved
What Makes You Beautiful
I’ll Be Home for Christmas
* * *
Stand-Alone Novels and Novellas
Whether climbing ladders in the corporate world or taking care of things at home, every woman has a story to tell.
* * *
Angels in Our Lives
Diving for Pearls
A Texas Kind of Love
A Cowboy Kind of Love
A Wedding Miracle
A Colorful Life
About the Author
Melissa Storm is a mother first, and everything else second. Writing is her way of showing her daughter just how beautiful life can be, when you pay attention to the everyday wonders that surround us. So, of course, Melissa's USA Today bestselling fiction is highly personal and often based on true stories.
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