The Bachelor's Unexpected Family

by Lisa Carter

  Canyon recognized he’d just been given a community seal of approval. “I’d like that, Mr. Duer.” He gulped. “A lot.”

  “Good.” Seth squeezed Canyon’s shoulder and dropped his hand. “I’ll look forward to it.”

  When the organ prelude began, he found himself and Jade seated between Kristina and Gray. It hadn’t escaped Canyon’s notice how Gray’s features lit whenever Jade got within five feet of him. Canyon hadn’t forgotten what it felt like to be a gawky fifteen-year-old boy. Around Gray’s mother, he knew the feeling all too well.

  He vaguely recognized the opening song and shared a hymnal with Kristina.

  O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come. Our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home.

  Thereafter, it was a matter of standing or sitting as the bulletin indicated.

  From the pulpit, Reverend Parks read about soaring on wings like an eagle. Soaring was something Canyon understood. Soaring in life—a yet unrealized goal.

  The scriptural discourse provided an unexpected solace. The reverend was also a contemporary of Canyon’s erstwhile mother. She’d been the first in a long line of Colliers to discredit the family name. Like mother, like sons.

  Like Jade? His mouth tightened. Not if he had anything to say about it.

  Afterward, because it was a fourth-Sunday-of-the-month tradition, Long Johns and hot coffee were served in the fellowship hall. He snagged a powdered doughnut off a serving tray. This time of year, there were few tourists, only the faithful year-round Kiptohanock residents.

  Somehow Canyon found himself surrounded by a group of men. Sawyer led the effort in recruiting him to help with the volunteer fire department’s pancake supper in a few weeks.

  He elbowed Sawyer. “Thanks a lot, my friend.” But he acknowledged the effort for what it was—a way for him to prove himself among the Kiptohanock men.

  Unrepentant, Sawyer grinned. “That’s what friends are for. Getting you plugged into the community.” The ex-Coastie smirked. “Kicking or screaming.”

  He bit into the Long John. This whole church thing hadn’t been as bad as he’d feared. Either no one remembered what Beech had done or chose not to blame him and Jade for Beech’s crimes.

  Kristina received many compliments on the altar arrangement, a recognition she duly shared with Jade, who blushed as vividly as her sweater at the praise of the women. In her eyes Canyon caught a flicker of pride.

  And perhaps the partial melting of the glacier that was Jade Collier.

  Kristina gave Jade a one-armed hug. “Next Saturday? Same time, same job?”

  “Really?”

  Jade didn’t pull away. A first. He gave full kudos to Kristina and her way with those of the teenage species.

  Kristina smiled. “You’re the best floral assistant I’ve got.”

  Jade’s tinted lips pursed. “I’m the only floral assistant you’ve got.”

  “Exactly.” Kristina tapped her chin with her forefinger as if thinking out loud. “About that border of violets...”

  As they moved away to make plans, the high school principal cornered him in the annex. He spent the next twenty minutes filling out Jade’s registration papers.

  “I hope your niece will have a successful school year, Mr. Collier.”

  Mrs. Savage had been a media specialist when he and Beech shadowed the hallowed halls of learning. Like Seth Duer and the reverend, she was also a contemporary of his mother’s.

  He flushed. To the best of his knowledge, Beech hadn’t defaced any library property. At least, Canyon prayed not.

  Who’d have thought? Him, Canyon Collier. Praying. Between Jade and the church thing, Canyon would be on a first-name basis with the Creator before long.

  “Believe me, Mrs. Savage, no one hopes that more than me.”

  Should he address the elephant in the room? Mrs. Savage settled the issue for him.

  “The past is the past, and I want you to know, Mr. Collier, we’re here to help your niece make a smooth transition. I’ll place Jade in the sophomore class, pending receipt of her official transcripts.”

  He shuffled his feet. “I appreciate that, Mrs. Savage.”

  She eyed him over pink-framed reading glasses. “The sins of the father won’t be charged to Jade’s account on my watch. But having said that, I sincerely hope Jade will make good use of this opportunity.”

  “I’ll make sure she does. Not many of us get a chance to start over again.”

  Mrs. Savage removed the glasses from the bridge of her nose and let them dangle from the beaded chain around her neck. “You’ve done well for yourself, Mr. Collier. You needed a course correction, but once Hap Wallace put you on the right path, you’ve sailed clear and true with the wind.”

  “Fair winds and following seas, ma’am.”

  She smiled. “I’ll introduce myself to our high school’s newest student.”

  As she headed toward his niece, Canyon prayed he and Jade would prove worthy of her trust.

  Later, he invited the Montgomerys to join them for lunch. “My treat.”

  Kristina bit her lip. “You don’t have to—”

  “I want to.” He locked gazes with Kristina. “How about the Sage Diner?”

  She followed his Jeep to the restaurant on Highway 13. Since it was a popular spot to eat lunch, they had to wait for a table. Gray and Jade amused themselves by reading the local ads posted on the community board.

  “You’re not going to chicken out on me, are you, Kristina? We still have an appointment tomorrow morning, right?”

  She kept her focus glued on the laminated menu. “I’ll pick up Jade about seven fifteen.”

  “That’s not the appointment I meant.” He leaned against the chair railing in the lobby. “But I appreciate how you’ve taken Jade under your wing.”

  Kristina’s gaze rose above the edge of the menu. “Like you’ve taken Gray under yours.” Her lips quirked. “Literally.”

  He scrubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “I have the feeling Jade will go with less duress if you’re the one to drop her off.”

  “Jade is going to be fine.

  “I wish I had your faith.”

  She blinked. “My faith?”

  “Faith has always come hard for me.” He blew out a slow breath. “But maybe in the long run, when it’s hardest is when faith means the most.”

  Kristina swallowed. “Something I’m still learning. Though I think you may be right.”

  “Another first.”

  Her expression eased. “A first that you’re right? Or a first that I agree with you?”

  “Take your pick.”

  When she smiled, he thought his heart might go into overdrive. He strove for a nonchalance he didn’t feel. Cool your jets, man. He cared way more about the widow than he ought to.

  After lunch, he couldn’t get out of there fast enough, but Jade wanted to linger over dessert. So Kristina offered to bring her home.

  He was already regretting his offer to take Kristina in his airplane. But it was too late to back out now. And considering who he was, it was probably too late for a lot of things.

  * * *

  On Monday morning, Kristina drove the kids to school. Jade huddled in the backseat, sullen to the point of silence. Gray overcompensated by chattering nonstop.

  Gray was nervous for Jade. A nervousness Kristina shared. The teenagers lurched out of the car and plodded toward the entrance. Jade looked like a prisoner headed for the firing squad.

  Kristina said yet another prayer for Jade. Returning home, she made a few phone calls regarding employment, emailed a few résumés.

  Rattling around her empty house, she couldn’t help counting the minutes. And at 0900 sharp, she reported to the airfield.

 
Music blared from the loudspeaker attached to the corner of the hangar. An old song. The Big Band sound of World War II.

  “A sentimental journey,” a long-dead singer warbled. Was that what this was about for her? A journey to reconnect with Pax? Or a journey toward the rest of her life?

  She hovered on the precipice of a new world. The sensation was both thrilling and terrifying. Her anxiety mounted.

  Kristina scanned the hangar for signs of Canyon. Skirting a workbench, she followed a trail of oil rags to a truck. A pair of legs in dark blue overalls poked out from beneath the undercarriage.

  His rich baritone emanated from below. She smiled at Canyon’s crooning about setting his heart at ease.

  Fears momentarily forgotten, she crouched beside the dolly and thumped the truck with the flat of her hand. “Canyon?”

  “Kris?” He sat up so fast he banged his head. “Ow!” He fell back.

  The sound of her abbreviated name on his lips gave her a fluttery feeling. No one had ever called her that before. A new name for a new life?

  She peered underneath the truck. “Are you okay?”

  Using his legs, he propelled the dolly out into the open. Rubbing his forehead, he gave her a sheepish look. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

  She motioned toward the speaker as the old song wound to its conclusion. “No wonder.”

  He flushed. “A favorite of my grandmother’s.”

  She tilted her head. Grease streaked his cheekbone. “If the aerial application business doesn’t work out, you can always find work as a backup singer.”

  He laughed. “Thanks. I think...” The flash of even white teeth almost blinded her.

  Wow, he was handsome. Heart-stoppingly so. Good thing her heart lay in a coffin at Arlington or—

  Or what? She stood so quickly, her head spun.

  His face constricted as if he sensed more than her physical withdrawal. He rose and extracted a semiclean grease rag from the pocket of his overalls. He swiped at his brow.

  She pointed at her own cheek and gestured. He nodded and scrubbed his face. More forcefully than the stain warranted.

  His blue eyes glinted. “Did Jade do okay this morning?”

  “So-so. We’ll see what she has to say this afternoon.”

  He grimaced. “Of that, we can be certain. Jade isn’t one to hold back.”

  “But the good news is you’ll always know where you stand with a child like her.”

  The playlist had moved into a rendition of “We’ll Meet Again.” She caught a whiff of Canyon’s aftershave, interlaced with a faint trace of oil. The woodsy aroma set her pulses thrumming.

  She took a step backward, poised to flee. This was a bad idea. An insane idea.

  What was she doing here? Pax... Her hand flitted upward.

  Canyon’s hand shot out and caught her arm. She stared at his hand on her jacket.

  “Winds are favorable. The plane’s on the tarmac. Fueled and ready to go. Are you ready to give it a try, Kris?”

  She moistened her lips. No fair when he called her Kris. She could grow attached to the sound of it.

  “Last chance to renege.” He released her arm. “It’s up to you.”

  She missed the pressure of his fingers against her sleeve. And if she didn’t go with him this morning, she had an unsettling feeling she’d be missing more than just a bird’s-eye view.

  He stepped out of his coveralls and tossed them onto a workbench. “I liked that verse yesterday. Appropriate for a pilot like me.”

  She searched her memory. Isaiah 40. “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

  “That’s the one.”

  He left the hangar and moved toward the yellow fixed-wing aircraft on the runway. He threw her a smile over his shoulder. Her insides got that bottom-dropped-out feeling like she’d gone airborne.

  “Come fly with me, Kristina.”

  “What if I fall?”

  Canyon offered his hand. “But what if you soar? Don’t you think it’s time to find out?”

  Her heart jackhammered in her chest. But she slipped her hand into his.

  One way or the other. Ready or not. Time to take a leap of faith. Time to soar.

  Chapter Seven

  The landscape outside the yellow airplane blurred. Faster and faster, the wheels ate up the runway. In the cockpit, Canyon gave Kristina a thumbs-up and pulled back on the stick.

  Her stomach dropped for real this time. The plane lifted off the ground, climbing higher and higher. She panicked at the sight of the huge sycamore at the edge of the forest on the far end of the airstrip. But Canyon expertly cleared the tree. And she found herself at a dizzying height above the receding airfield.

  The plane banked, the wing dipping. She clutched the straps of the belt holding her in the seat.

  “Kristina?” Above the ear-pulsing roar of the engine, his calming voice drifted through her headset. “Are you okay?”

  She loosened her death grip and nodded.

  He tapped his finger on the attachment mounted on the headphones. “Fix the boom closer to your mouth so we can talk to each other. Or, every man’s dream, I’ll talk, and you listen.”

  She adjusted the tiny microphone. “I assure you my vocal cords are fully functional.”

  He gave her a two-fingered salute. “Duly warned.” He nudged his chin at the window. “There’s your house.”

  Inching forward, she peered out the window. The tin-roofed bungalow gleamed in the early-morning light. “I can’t believe you can see the garden from here.”

  A beat of silence. Her eyes flicked to him. His mouth compressed into a thin line.

  “My grandmother’s idea. This time of year, the white camellias stand out from the ground. In the summer, it’ll be the white gardenias.”

  “I love white gardens. They glow, even in the dark.”

  Canyon checked a gauge on the instrument panel. “She planted them to be visible from the air. A beacon of sorts.”

  “How wonderful.” Kristina smiled. “The first thing you see when you’re headed home.”

  A muscle pulsed in his cheek. “Not meant for me. Before my time. For someone else. For someone lost.”

  She sensed something more to his story, something painful. But his reserve stopped her from asking further questions.

  Heading toward the coastline, he drew her attention to the lighthouse on the Neck.

  She clapped her hands. “Weston’s house.”

  Canyon brought the plane low over the waves. Thirty feet above the water, she fought the urge to draw up her feet. The cocky pilot shot her a teasing glance.

  She gritted her teeth. “Dusting the waves, Collier?”

  Eyes gleaming, he pulled the plane to a higher altitude. Her stomach nosedived again before the plane leveled out.

  He flew north, tracing the outline of the Atlantic coastline. Over the tidal marshlands. Skimming the barrier islands.

  Near Assateague, Canyon gestured at a herd of small horses below.

  Her breath hitched. She leaned for a closer look at the Chincoteague ponies, which swam across the open channel of a tidal estuary between the barrier island of Assateague and a deserted portion of maritime forest.

  She smiled. “I’m looking forward to Pony Penning in July with Gray.”

  Canyon groaned. “Please, don’t tell Jade about it. Or I’ll get roped into taking her to see it, too.” His lips quirked. “Roped...did you catch what I did there?”

  She made a face. “What’s wrong with Pony Penning? It’s an important moneymaker for the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department.”

  “True.” He veered lower, giving her a be
tter look at the wild horses. “The saltwater cowboys drive them over to the mainland, where they auction them off to horse lovers. If they didn’t cull the herd, the rest wouldn’t be able to survive on the scrub available on the barrier island.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  He shrugged. “Kind of a tourist thing. Locals stay away on purpose. Congested roads and restaurants. We lose our splendid isolation for the duration.”

  She wondered if that was how he regarded his hermit-like, pre-Jade existence. But visualizing him alone and isolated with only his airplanes filled her with dismay. Causing Kristina to feel oddly off-kilter.

  “What would you suggest about Pony Penning Day then?”

  He performed a 180 and headed south again. “Watch the swim on the local news. Read the book and visit Chincoteague the week after penning. Many of the horses are still corralled and accessible before being shipped off to their new owners.”

  “You’ve read the Misty of Chincoteague children’s book?”

  He snorted. “Every child on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware has read the book. Required reading in elementary school.”

  “Gray likes to read. Probably too juvenile for him, but he’s interested in local history.”

  Canyon shook his head. “It’s your traffic jam. I’m just glad Jade is beyond the doll–princess–tea party stage.”

  Kristina smirked. “Right, ’cause the raging hormones–puberty–dating stage is so much easier.”

  “When you put it that way...”

  The airplane bypassed the lighthouse again. Her heart lifted at the sight of her favorite fishing hamlet ahead. “Kiptohanock already feels like home.”

  “Guess that’s why I came back. Why did you? Why not Richmond where you grew up?”

  “I met and married Pax in Richmond. He didn’t have any family left. With too many memories of him there, we needed a fresh start in a new place. Having Wes and his family nearby was a bonus I couldn’t refuse.”

  Canyon buzzed the harbor before heading west toward the bay. “Family is important. I’m glad you decided to settle in Kiptohanock.”