Stranded: A Mountain Man Romance

by Piper Sullivan

  I dragged my hands through my hair and sighed frustratingly. Going after her now would simply provoke her, I had to give her some time to calm down and then talk to her. So, I watched her leave and I cursed under my breath.

  “She’s up to something, Caleb, otherwise she would have agreed to a paternity test. What has she got to hide?”

  I strode towards Grant and grabbed him by his shirt, I was fuming, I had enough of managers trying to rule my every decision and journalists hounding me down, “She is not hiding anything!” I said angrily before shoving him away from me, “Braden is my son, and I don’t give a shit what everyone else believes. You do what you’re supposed to do and handle it, it’s what you get paid for.”

  Grant stumbled back and then fixed his shirt and headed for the door, “This will leave a mark on your career.”

  “Then maybe you should start looking a replacement.”

  I looked at the time and although I desperately wanted to get home to Rae to sort this mess out, I had to attend the general board meeting first. I cursed under my breath and then marched to the boardroom.

  Chapter 18

  Raedene

  A week later I sat in my own apartment back home in Lafayette, and every day there was a few more missed calls from Caleb, which I refused to answer. The fact that he even suggested a paternity test was enough for me to make up my mind. To find out that he had the slightest doubt about Braden hurt more than anything and I simply refused to stay under the same roof as him.

  I paged aimlessly through a magazine trying to keep my mind off Caleb, but in all honestly reading a local sports magazine wasn’t the best therapy either. On every second page, there was mention of the famous Caleb Hayes, or the Denver Stampede and although I didn’t exactly read the articles his name jumped out at me like a bad memory.

  “Mommy,” Braden called out as he came running into the room, “look what I made.”

  My heart stopped and I dropped the magazine. Did he just call me mommy? I was beside myself, he has never referred to me as his mom, but I knew I couldn’t exactly make a fuss about it, so I forced my own excitement aside and looked at him, “Let’s see what you have there.”

  It was a picture with a house and a family; this time instead of his other family, he had drawn three people and I knew exactly who the third person was. A lump formed in my throat and I fought back the tears. What on earth was I going to do?

  “Wow, this is beautiful, is that Uncle Caleb?” I asked and cleared my throat.

  “Yep, he’s my new daddy, I want to visit him.”

  I let out a controlled breath and hugged my little boy. Decision made, I had to move to Denver so that Braden could see Caleb whenever he wanted, but that would mean I would have to agree to a paternity test. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea, but I don’t think I would be able to put my heart on the line again. I was sure that I could live in the same town as Caleb without melting into a puddle of goo every time he looked at me.

  “I’m sure he would like that,” I said and then lifted him unto my lap, “Caleb is playing Rugby now, do you want to watch the game with me?”

  “He’s on the TV?”

  “Yes he is,” I said and flicked to the sports channel.

  We sat and watched the game and at half time I made us a quick snack. Initially the sport did not interest me, but seeing the players on the field and how excited Braden got each time he saw Caleb had me hooked. Half time was over and the players all jogged back onto the field and the game got underway. The Denver Stampede was leading 18 – 6, but the players looked exhausted from their efforts. Each bone crunching tackle had me on edge; I’ve never been one for such barbaric sports, and watching players being carried off on stretchers or with cuts in their faces made me nervous.

  Ten minutes into half time, Caleb was sprinting to the try line, one of the opposition players came storming him from the side and when he collided with Caleb, he was catapulted into the air and came down head first and that’s where he stayed. I looked at Braden and was grateful that he was busy playing with his Legos instead of watching the game. I glanced back at the screen; the referee had blown the whistle and raised his arms above his head with his wrists crossed. Within seconds, paramedics came rushing unto the field with a spine board and I held my breath for a second and when the live broadcast was interrupted, I knew something went horribly wrong.

  Hours later I sat next to Caleb where he lay in traction. He had suffered a compression fracture on his C5-C6 vertebrae which caused pressure on his spinal cord, leaving him paralysed. And although the doctor reassured me that it was only temporary, I couldn’t help but worry.

  In his sedated state, I took his hand in mine, “I know you can’t hear me, but I’m going to say this anyway. You have to get better, Braden needs you and-and I need you.”

  Realisation swept over me as I rubbed my thumb over the back of his hand. I still loved him after all these years and coming so close to losing him after just finding him scared me more than anything. Outside reporters gathered to get a scoop of the story but Samson was determined to not allow anyone in, which I was thankful for.

  “Rae…”

  Caleb was waking up and even though he couldn’t move, a smile tugged at his lips.

  “Caleb, you stupid fool,” I said and shifted closer to him, “You scared the hell out of me. How are you feeling?”

  “Right now I’m not feeling much at all,” he said and I could see the laughter in his eyes. Unbelievable! Even at this point he could make silly jokes.

  “It’s not funny, you could have broken your neck,” I said and squeezed his hand.

  “It will be convenient though, you would have to look after me for life then,” he said in his croaky voice.

  His response caught me off guard and I could only smile, “I’m serious Caleb, what would I have told Braden?”

  The door to the room opened unexpectedly and I turned to see who entered expecting Samson, but instead it was two men I haven’t seen before.

  “Mr. Hayes, I’m from the Daily Tribune…” one of them started and I instantly got my back up and glared at them.

  “Have you no consideration, you can see he’s not well, get out of here this instant!” I ground out and went to stand between Caleb and the parasites.

  “Are you Miss Callaway, the mother of his child?”

  God, he was relentless. I was about to attack him physically when Caleb spoke up.

  “It’s okay Rae, I can handle this,” he said.

  I hesitated and then stepped aside.

  Caleb looked at me and then at the reporter, “For the record, Miss Rae Callaway is the mother of my child, and no, I’m not going to fight for custody. I plan on marrying her,” he said and then glanced my way.

  I was too overwhelmed to say anything; my mouth fell open and closed a few times.

  “That is if she will have me,” he continued while the reporter’s camera man clicked away taking photos.

  I glanced at Caleb and caught him watching me. What just happened? He just stated to the reporter that he wanted to marry me. I was sure it was his concussion speaking, so I moved closer and leaned down to whisper, “You don’t have to pretend for the press, they can make their own conclusions, I don’t really care, I just want you to get better.”

  “I’m not pretending, it’s the truth, I am in love with you.”

  Shocked I sat down not trusting my own legs, even the reporter and camera man stood silently watching. I knew I had to say something but words failed me, so instead I leaned over and pressed my lips against his.

  “Is that a yes or a maybe?” he asked against my lips.

  “It’s a maybe, first get better so that you can get on your knees to propose,” I whispered and then kissed him, the other people in the room forgotten.

  THE END

  Epilogue

  Two months later Braden and I went with Samson to meet Caleb at his physiotherapist. He had been working hard to get back on his feet, and was
finally able to take more than twenty steps before having to rest. When I entered the rehabilitation centre it was decorated with gold balloons and white roses all over the place. At the far end, I spotted Damien and his fiancée standing among the staff along with a bunch of really big bulky men who I could only assume were Celeb’s rugby mates. Caleb stood near the parallel walking bar in a suit. I glanced around the room and slowly approached him with Braden holding my hand.

  Caleb looked at me and smiled and with the help of his physiotherapist he went down on one knee and held out a little velvet box.

  “Rae Callaway, I’m on my knees finally, so will you do me the honour of being my partner in crime?” he said with a grin. Around us everyone stood holding their breaths and waiting in anticipation, some of the women were dabbing tears from their eyes and I was pretty close to tears myself.

  I looked down at Braden and then asked him, “So do you want Caleb to be your real dad?”

  Braden didn’t even wait; he launched at Caleb and hugged him tightly. I smiled and went down on my knees then leaned in and kissed him, “I would want nothing more,” I said softly and Caleb slid the ring unto my trembling finger.

  Finally, my life was starting to get direction, my son finally accepted me as his only mother, while I had the love of my life right by my side, nothing could be more prefect that this.

  THE END

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  Billionaire Boss’s Baby

  Chapter 1

  “Order up!”

  As a child, my Mom had always asked me, after every single cartoon or sitcom, what catch phrase I would like to respond to when I grew up. She always told me the best heroes always knew when they had to step up to the plate by a certain ‘call to action’ they would receive.

  I never quite got around to answering her question, it was far too difficult for a kid to answer, I suspect, and I never really saw myself as a larger than life character to begin with. It’s either you got it or you don’t, right?

  So I wasn’t larger than life, but I was starting to feel like I was too large for my uniform as I stood up to respond to my call of duty. I tugged on my uniform to straighten out the creases that had set in from me sitting down and folding napkins. I looked down at myself, seeing the polyester hug onto my figure, and that reminded me so much of my Mother’s figure. I always feared the day I would cross the line, where I didn’t just weigh more than average.

  I didn’t have that much to worry about though, I wasn’t getting any heavier. I spent most of my day serving people food, I hardly had time to eat any food myself, but I would have to tell my Dad to order me a new uniform anyway. This uniform was still too tight on me.

  My dad and I were your modern day partners in crime and the Baxter’s Family Restaurant was our main gig. We’ve had a family restaurant in the middle of nowhere since I was a little girl and as much as my Mom filled me with fantasies of doing bigger things with my life, responding to some great catch phrase of a call, the semantic version of a bat signal perhaps, I found myself pretty content spending my days responding to my Dad’s voice calling “Order up!”.

  Muleshoe, Texas, was a notoriously small town and our family restaurant was the cornerstone of its dining culture. As a little girl, it was great, from what I remember. I spent every evening helping my Mom clean tables and talking to the locals as they waited for their meals. Seeing as the town was so small, we knew every customer we had on a first name basis, and our restaurant was like an extended home to everyone in our town, and my Mom was virtually, I daresay, the town’s ray of sunshine. All anyone had to do on a stressful, barren day was order the special at the Baxter’s family restaurant and ask my Mom for five minutes of her time, and it would be all okay, and if it wasn’t, all you had to do was add some Sangria to your order, we were the only place in town that stocked it. I liked to see my parents as small time heroes of a small time city, and I gobbled up every chance to learn the ins and outs of the business. They always talked about how in their post-adolescence, when the world was but a stage and they had an infinite pool of dreams and potential to pick from, that they would dream of having a restaurant, and it elated me that they had being able to achieve their goals in their lifetime – especially now that Mom was gone.

  It had only been a few years since my Mom had lost her fight with cancer, and that’s when life really started to change. My Dad had vowed to her that he would keep their dream alive until his dying breath, but she had forced me to take a different kind of vow. Okay she didn’t really force me, but she urged me not to stay in this small town forever – she told me a secret she had never shared with dad. Although she loved our little town of Muleshoe with all her heart, and loved every family she was connected to in it, she had always dreamed of seeing the world, or at least travelling to a bigger town, and she regretted dying without doing it. She asked me to find the courage in myself to explore what the world had to offer, and not limit myself to the family restaurant. She said it was made to let our dreams become a reality, not to hold us back. Of course at the time this sounded almost ludicrous. She was supposed to get better! All that talk about death was superfluous and quite stifling, all she had to do was get better and we could all see the world. Together.

  “Teresa! Did you hear me? Table seven’s order is ready,” the sound of my Dad’s voice was stern, but still held its gentle tendencies. That’s just the kind of guy he was, it was always difficult to keep a grudge against him.

  “Sorry, Dad. Does this seem a little too tight to you?” I asked, tugging at the hemline of my dress. My dad called them ‘traditional style uniforms’ which was pretty much code for ancient and unattractive if you asked me.

  “What are you talking about?” he asked, not even glancing at my uniform. He was too busy getting his act together for lunch hour. “The lunch rush is happening in ten minutes, and you need to be on top of your current tables. So, could you please take this food to the Martins?”

  I sighed and grabbed the two plates out of the window, trying to push back down the rising levels of self-consciousness my shrinking dress was giving me. I noticed my Dad was smirking, and for the briefest moment I thought he might be mocking my dress in his head, until I realized he was just admiring his ‘work’. Dad’s Masterpiece Meatloaf was on the day’s special board, and he was really proud of his recipe. Both plates were filled with a gracious amount of portions, along with mixed vegetables and a roll. He always kept things simple. He constantly reminded me that keeping things simple was what the locals wanted, every time I suggested a bit of a change to our almost archaic menu. The business had managed to stay profitable in this small town for over thirty-five years, so maybe he did have a point, but all it was going to take to give us a serious run for our money was a new restaurant with a new menu. I turned around with the Martin’s orders and headed to their table.

  The Martins, like most of the folk in this town, were a peaceful couple well into their twilight years. They just sat there, sipping on their hot tea and engaging in small talk about seeds for their garden, how good a job the painter did or whatever it was old couples considered small talk. They lived a few blocks down, so they were practically our neighbors. I had graduated high school with their grandson, Gavin. He had left our little town a few years back and Dean and Phyllis were the only members of that household left.

  “Here you go,” I smiled as I placed a plate in front of Phyllis. “Take it easy diving into the food now, we don’t want another incident, now do we?” I teased Dean as I lay his meal in front of him.

  “Don’t worry about me, pumpkin!” Dean responded, smiling voraciously as he got ready to eat.

  “Anything else you would like?” I asked as I arranged the napkins and cutlery the same way my Mom taught me all those ye
ars back.

  “No, dear,” said Dean in his earnest and elderly voice. “I’m ready to eat this meal up. How ‘bout you Love?” he glanced away from his meal for a split second, almost as if to register with his wife to show that he always remembered his love for her, even when faced with his favorite meal.

  Phyllis gave a subtle roll of her eyes at Dean’s feigned concern then shot me with a kind smile. “Everything’s fine, Teresa. Thank you.” I nodded and stepped away from the table, but before I could get two steps away Phyllis called out to me, “Oh, Teresa.”

  “Yes?” I spun around. The way my dress moved brought back my over awareness of my size.

  “I forgot to tell you. Gavin insisted I tell you he will be in town next weekend. He knows we spend a lot of time here and that you still work here.”

  “Oh,” I responded. Gavin, huh? I wondered what his life was like, outside our small town life. I hadn’t seen the guy since we graduated, nor had I heard anything about him until this very moment. The little bits of detail I could recall all came from town gossip, which was rather inconclusive, people simply said he had gone to college. Nobody said what he went to do or where he went to do it. I was close to him as a kid because we lived on the same street, but we drifted apart when we entered high school. I was more into sports and he was more into Physics. That kind of stuff can make or break a friendship in high school. “How is he doing? I bet he’s having a grand time with his big city family, isn’t he?”

  Phyllis chuckled a little. “Family? Gavin doesn’t have any family except those of us he left here. That boy is married to his work, I tell you. Treats his contracts like babies, instead of having real children. I’m still trying to accept the fact that I won’t have any great-grandchildren, but at least we made it this far, right Dean?” She looked at Dean, who was engrossed in his meal already and hardly paying any attention.