Ozark Sweetheart

by Helen Gray

  Monday morning Callie went to work in a peaceful frame of mind. Money and buying things no longer held priority. If God wanted her to ride, He would provide the means. In the meantime, He had provided her with good health and two strong feet. She would walk and be content. Better than that, she no longer felt resentful at the financial circumstances she had been forced to endure all her life. God had control and knew what she needed. Thank You, Lord, for always being there for me, no matter what.

  They only had a smattering of customers at the restaurant all day, but a quartet of diners lingered well past the end of Callie’s shift. By the time she emerged from the building it was seven o’clock, and the sky was beginning to darken. She breathed in the fresh spring scents and basked in the pleasant duskiness.

  As she headed up the sidewalk, Callie spotted a car across the street that made her come to a standstill. The aquamarine Chevrolet Superior looked so much like the one that had been on display at Gentry Chevrolet last fall that it brought a rush of emotion. A driver sat behind the wheel, but all she could see was the back of his head.

  Suddenly he opened the car door and got out. Callie resumed motion, not wanting to be caught staring. Then she froze midstride and looked closer. Her heart leaped into her throat. She couldn’t breathe—and it had nothing to do with pollen. She gulped as the man came across the street toward her.

  “Trace,” she whispered, unable to believe her eyes. Then her feet acted in place of her brain and carried her toward him. She got to the middle of the street and skated to a stop to keep from throwing herself into his arms.

  He walked right up next to her and smiled into her face. “Hello, Callie. Your aunt told me where to find you.”

  “But...but why are you here?” she stammered, dizzy from the remembered spicy scent drifting from him.

  He looked around at where they stood. “I think we should find a better place than the middle of the road to discuss it.” He took her hand and led her back the way he had come.

  Callie walked as if in a dream. This could not be real. Trace could not be here. He was back in Deer Lick, selling cars and causing female hearts to flutter. She would wake up at any moment.

  They rounded the aquamarine car and stopped next to the driver’s door.

  “I brought you something.”

  Her heart thudded in alarm. He had brought bad news. “What’s wrong? What happened? Did someone get hurt at the mill?”

  He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Nothing’s wrong. I hope. Like I said, I brought you something.”

  A cautious quality in his speech made her realize that he was nervous. The realization calmed her.

  His eyes searched hers, his head at an angle that gave her a direct view of his expression. He reached back and drew something from his hip pocket, a folded sheet of paper, and handed it to her.

  Callie reached out tentatively and accepted it. A letter?

  “Look at it,” he said when she just stood there.

  With trembling fingers she unfolded it, and her name jumped out at her from a document. She looked back to the top of the sheet and read it. When she finished, she reeled back against the car, the strength draining from her legs. Trace looped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her to him to keep her from falling.

  Callie looked up at him, her mouth moving soundlessly. Then she tried again. “This is the title to that car.”

  He nodded and reached into his pants pocket. He pulled out a set of keys. “These go with it.” He turned her palm up, placed them in it and pressed her fingers closed.

  She blinked back tears. “Why?”

  He didn’t speak for several moments. Then he tipped her chin up and directed a warm gaze over her face. It lingered on her chin, her mouth and then her eyes. “So you can have a car.”

  Her words from their last conversation came rushing back at her.

  A faint smile squiggled at the edge of his lips. “I didn’t have a clue how to buy you a new dress, but I have an inside track on cars.”

  A huge lump shifted in Callie’s throat. “You bought me a car?” Her words came out wispy with disbelief.

  He cleared his throat. “Along with a new dress, you said you wanted a car more than anything.”

  “But you didn’t have to buy it for me.”

  “I know. I wanted to do it. I wanted to make you happy.”

  Callie was too overwhelmed to know what to say to such an act. But then her brain came back from the dead. “I can’t take this. It’s too much.” She tried to press the keys and document into his hands.

  He shook his head and refused to take them. “It’s yours. Please keep it.”

  She went still. Disjoined thoughts tumbled through her mind. What was his motive? What did he get from such a generous act?

  “What do you want?” she blurted.

  Steely blue eyes sliced through her, and then she thought she saw a gleam of mischief enter them. “Would you consider sharing it with me?”

  Her jaw dropped. “Share it with you?”

  He nodded and put a hand on her shoulder. Then, before she could gather her wits enough to protest, he pulled her close. “Live with me. Share everything with me. As my wife.”

  The last words were spoken so softly Callie was sure she had dreamed them. “As your wife?”

  He nodded. “After you told me you wanted a car, you said that you care for me.”

  “I want you more.” Callie couldn’t believe she had said that.

  A wide-eyed glow of pleasure lit his face. “I love you, Callie.”

  The simple declaration stunned her. But he wasn’t done.

  “Will you marry me? Have babies with me? Spend the rest of your life with me? Come back to Deer Lick with me to do all that?”

  Her heart raced and soared. “I’ll do all that, and even let you ride in my car once in a while—if you’ll kiss me.”

  He laughed. And then bent his head. The lips-to-lips contact took her breath away, but it only lasted seconds. He drew back and took her hand. “Let’s get in your car where it’s more private and pursue this further.”

  He opened the door, and Callie scooted under the wheel to the center of the seat. He got in after her and shut the door. Then he pulled her to him. “Ah, this is better. Now, was that kiss enough for an answer, or do you need further persuasion?”

  Callie breathed deep, unable to get enough of his spicy scent. Emboldened, she tipped her head back and aimed a teasing look at him. “It’s enough, but further persuasion would be welcome.”

  He cupped her cheeks in his hands and gave her a little grin. “Callie Blake, soon to be Callie Gentry, I see that you’re going to be a tyrant. And I’m weak.” This time his kiss lasted long enough to convince Callie that she was thoroughly addicted to his kisses.

  When he drew back, she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face to his chest, too overwhelmed to speak.

  “How soon?”

  A blast of reality hit her. She sat up. “My job. I can’t just walk away without giving Mrs. Palmer a chance to replace me. She hired me when I needed a job desperately. She trained me, and she’s been good to me. I can’t leave her in the lurch.”

  He smiled. “I understand. How much notice do you think you need to give her?”

  Callie thought fast. “Well, she lost her last girl without warning and was just putting out her sign when I saw it and applied. A week or two should probably be plenty.”

  He tucked her head back under his chin. “How about this, then. Your aunt invited me to spend the night on her screened back porch. I could go home tomorrow and come back for you as soon as you call and tell me that you’re ready to come. Of course, I would have to take your car in order to get home and back.”

  Callie raised her head. “You ninny. I should make you walk just to be m
ean.”

  He chuckled. “But you won’t.”

  She reached up and trailed a finger over his cheek and mouth. Then she turned serious. “I want you to put your name on that title with mine.”

  “After I get both our names on a marriage license. And a ring on your finger.”

  She hugged him. “I asked God to provide for my future, but I never imagined He would do it in such a wonderful way. I love you, Trace Gentry.”

  Epilogue

  “Are you ready to go, Mrs. Gentry?”

  Callie smiled up at her husband of a little over an hour. “Whenever you are, Mr. Gentry.” She basked in his lazy grin that warmed her to her toes.

  He entwined his fingers with hers and led her outside. Callie shielded her eyes against the bright May sun, barely aware of the well-wishers behind them in the doorway of the church. She had been amazed at the number of friends and neighbors who had attended their wedding.

  Trace led her to “their” aquamarine car, which now sported Just Married on the windows with soap and tin cans tied to the back bumper. He opened the passenger door and assisted her inside. Callie smoothed the folds of her new dress, marveling at how God worked even in small details. She never imagined when she’d chosen this cream-colored dress with yellow trim in Springfield that she was buying her wedding gown.

  Trace got behind the wheel and started the motor.

  “Callie!”

  Callie looked around to see Jolene racing toward them. She rolled the car window down.

  Jolene leaned inside to give her an awkward hug. “Be happy, Callie. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Thank you for all the help you’ve been, and for the lovely reception,” Callie said as her friend drew back. “I’ll do the same for you when it’s your turn.”

  Jolene shook her head. “I don’t see that in the near future, if ever. Dad and Irene need me, and I love teaching. Now you two get going.” She stood back and waved.

  Behind them, people cheered as they drove away.

  Once he got on the main road Trace reached over and gave Callie’s hand a squeeze. “You’re sure you don’t mind living in my tiny rented quarters until we can get a house built?”

  Callie squeezed the hand back and released it so he could steer. “It may be a bit crowded, but you have kitchen privileges. We’ll be fine, and I don’t care where we live so long as I’m with you.”

  He grinned over at her. “Well said, Mrs. Gentry.”

  “How long do you think it will take to build the house?”

  The lopsided grin he gave her stole Callie’s heart all over again. “Oh, not too long.”

  Trace turned onto the highway and drove into town, cans clanking behind them. On each side of the street people grinned and waved. At the four-way stop, he turned and drove the length of Main Street. But when he got to the street where he should have turned, he drove on.

  “Where are we going?” Callie asked in surprise.

  “I want to drive around a little more, show off my new wife. And I have something I want you to see.”

  Callie thought she detected a mischievous light in his eyes, but she settled back to enjoy the ride. Moments later she bolted upright. “This is the way to your property.”

  He nodded. “You’re a smart lady.”

  Nothing could have prepared Callie for the sight that met her eyes when he pulled into the clearing and stopped the car. Nestled in the tree-cleared five acres sat a neat white frame house with a rail-enclosed porch wrapped around two sides of it.

  Speechless, Callie turned an accusing look on Trace. “You already had this built before I came home and didn’t tell me.”

  His eyes sparkled in satisfaction. “It wasn’t an easy secret to keep.”

  A suspicious thought swirled in Callie’s brain. “Is this where Riley has been working?”

  “This is it. I asked him not to tell you so I could surprise you. Your dad and Delmer helped some, too, especially recently. Your dad built our kitchen table and chairs. If you hadn’t been so busy these two weeks since you came back, you probably would have figured it out.”

  Callie burst into tears and threw her arms around his neck. “Trace Gentry...you...are...the...most wonderful...man in the...in the world,” she blubbered.

  He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. “I hope you still feel that way fifty years from now.” He buried his chin in her hair. “I love you, Callie.”

  She pulled back and looked up into his face. She wiped tears from her face, but they kept coming. “Oh, Trace, I’m so happy I can’t stand it. But you’ve done so much for my family and me. I can never do so much for you.”

  He gazed down into her eyes. “God has done so much for me. He gave me you, the best I could ever ask for in a wife. All I want from you is your love, and for you to live with me in this house.”

  Callie wiped her eyes again and stared over at her new home. “I love you, Trace. You’ve been in my heart for years. You’ll always be there. I would love to live in this house with you.”

  “The house is all there is right now. Together we can add outbuildings and whatever else we need.”

  Of one mind, they shared a kiss of love and promise. Then Trace took her hand and opened the car door. “Let’s go inspect it.”

  Together they walked toward their future.

  * * * * *

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  ISBN-13: 9781460328071

  OZARK SWEETHEART

  Copyright © 2014 by Helen Gray

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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