Second Chance Suitor

by Lucy Evanson

  Tess may have been by herself when the fire broke out, but she was alone no longer. Bill’s arm was around her even now, unmoving, but still shielding her. Maddie grabbed Bill’s shoulder and shook him hard. He didn’t move, didn’t open his eyes, didn’t even moan in pain.

  “No, no, no,” Maddie said through gritted teeth as she slid his arm aside and pulled Tess close. Her skin was clammy and covered in greasy soot. She looked more dead than alive, and as she clutched Tess to her chest, Maddie wasn’t even sure she was breathing. She wasn’t sure either of them were breathing, in fact.

  “Help!” She struggled to her feet but could see nothing but a blur of tears. “Help us,” she cried out, and hugged Tess’s limp body with all her strength. There was nothing else she could do.

  ~

  The reception area was small and more than a little dusty, as if it were rarely used. One of the chairs had a wobbly leg and the other had a stain of dubious origin, so she had taken the one with the wobbly leg. When the doctor finally emerged from the rear of the clinic, she caught a glimpse of the rows of beds before he pulled the curtain across the doorway.

  “Has he woken up yet?”

  Doc Sterling sighed and rubbed his eyes. Maddie took no offense. It was plain to see that he was exhausted, rather than annoyed with her question, in spite of the fact that she’d been asking him the same thing, morning and night, for three days now. “No, not yet,” he said. “But his respiration is back to normal. His reactions are normal. I think his body just needs time to rest.”

  “But he will wake up, won’t he?”

  The doctor’s hesitation spoke volumes. “It’s too early to tell,” he finally said. “But I’m optimistic that he will.”

  “What about Tess?”

  A smile rearranged the wrinkles on his face. “Your Tess is doing just fine. In fact, you can take her home today. If she’ll go, that is.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ever since they got here, she won’t leave Bill’s side,” Sterling said. “Even when she’s going to sleep, she wants to share his bed. Probably for the best; we only have six beds anyway, and we need the room.”

  “Can I see them?”

  He looked at her closely, then shortly nodded. “Come with me,” he said, leading her to the back of the reception room and pulling the curtain wide. It was the first time Sterling had permitted it since the fire, but then again it was the first time when she hadn’t presented herself as a frantic, bawling wreck in the reception room. With all the others recuperating in the same room, it had probably been for the best.

  Still, she nearly burst out crying when she finally laid eyes on her daughter, though now it was from relief. She was napping as the doctor had described, her head on Bill’s chest and her arm slung over him as if she were now the guardian. Her hair had been singed and her skin still bore smoke stains, but she had made it through otherwise untouched by the disaster that had erupted around her.

  Bill, on the other hand, had not been so lucky. He had taken the brunt of the harm as he’d shielded Tess, and it showed. His body was more bandaged than not, from his head to his feet, and she could only imagine how sore he would be when he woke up. Everywhere she looked, he had bruises and burn marks.

  “Are they going to be all right?”

  “Tess should be fine,” Sterling said. “They both inhaled a lot of smoke, but the effects should diminish with time.”

  “And what about Bill?”

  The doctor sighed again, though his eyes showed concern. “Bill’s worse off, as you can see. He got some burns, though not as badly as some I’ve seen. He has multiple contusions. And he broke a few ribs. Two, maybe three. It’s hard to tell.”

  “How did that happen?”

  “I found rope fibers embedded in his flesh,” he said. “Looks like he got whipped by a snapped line when the tent was coming down. I can’t imagine how painful that must have been.”

  Maddie reached into her sleeve for her handkerchief. She had used it often over the last few days, and she had the feeling that she was about to need it again.

  “Still, I guess a man will do anything for his family, won’t he?”

  Maddie could only nod as she wiped her eyes, though it did nothing to stem the flow of tears.

  Sterling reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “Eventually he should be back to his old self, but he’s got a long road ahead of him before he fully recovers.”

  Her throat felt like it was on fire, but she swallowed hard and managed to get some words out. “Thank you, doctor.”

  “It’s going to be a long road for a lot of folks, in fact,” he said. “It’s a miracle more people weren’t hurt. Actually, I take that back. It wasn’t a miracle, it was quick thinking. If your husband hadn’t cut a hole in the tent like that, I’m sure people would have died in the fire. I lost track of how many people said they followed him out that way. He’s a hero.”

  “I already knew that,” Maddie said.

  The doctor stared down at the floorboards while he waited for her to dab at her eyes again. “If you’d like a few moments with them, I suppose that would be all right,” he murmured. “Just try not to make a lot of noise. These people need rest.”

  She nodded and sat down on the bedside stool, simply staring at the two of them for a long moment, longing to touch her daughter, but afraid of waking her. Instead, she slipped her hand into Bill’s and leaned close. Just about the only spot she could see on him that wasn’t hurt in one way or another was the crook of his right elbow, and she softly kissed him there before lowering her head to the mattress.

  Please let him get better. Let them both come home to me, whole and hale, she prayed. I’ve been such a fool. I always thought I could do everything, that I didn’t need anybody else. The truth is, I need them both. I need my family with me.

  “I don’t know if you can hear me, Bill,” she whispered. “But I need you to forgive me. I’ve been so proud—too proud—that I didn’t want to take any help even when I needed it. Even that day we first met, you took us in when we had nowhere else to go, and I still thought I was doing you a favor.” She paused to wipe her eyes again, though it didn’t help much. The handkerchief was soaked.

  “Even when we got married, I said the words but I didn’t believe them. It was something I understood with my head, but didn’t feel with my heart,” she said. “But the truth is, you saved us that day. And now you’ve saved us again. I’d give anything to have our wedding day back, so I could say those things for real this time.”

  “Without you, I wouldn’t have my daughter—I wouldn’t even have my life,” she said. “And I don’t want a life without you. I love you and I thank God for you.” She was about to slip her hand out from his to dry her cheeks again, but Bill’s grip had suddenly gone tight around her fingers.

  “And I thank God for you,” he murmured.

  “You’re awake!” She whipped her head around to look for Sterling, but he was nowhere to be seen. “I have to go get the doctor!”

  His grip tightened. “The doctor can wait,” he said. “Stay with me now.”

  She nestled her head against him lightly, fighting against her urge to throw herself on him and hug him as hard as she could. “I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “I’m going to stay with you forever.”

  “You were talking to me just now, weren’t you?”

  “Yes, I was. How much did you hear?”

  “Not much. What were you saying there at the end?”

  She reached to brush away the hair from his forehead, and let her hand slide down to cradle his cheek. “I said that I loved you.”

  A hint of a grin appeared. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Could you say that again?”

  She leaned closer, nestling her head against his. “I love you.”

  “One more time.”

  “I’ll say it as often as you like,” she whispered. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

  ~

  “I don’t even w
ant to think about all the work that needs to be done,” Bill called from his bedroom.

  “I told you, don’t worry about that,” Maddie called back. She was just down the hall in the kitchen, cleaning up after dinner. “Did you forget that I’m used to running a farm anyway? Plus with a baby?”

  “I know, but I’m going to need some help with things too, at least for a couple of weeks. I can’t even put my own shirt on yet. It’ll be like two babies.”

  “Two and a half,” she said. “You’re a little more work than that.” She finished scraping the last plate and set it aside to wash later. “But I already arranged for Gus to come out and help until you’re back on your feet.”

  “What? How’d that go?”

  “Fine,” she said, as she wiped a few crumbs from the dinner table. “I got directions from Abe down at the mercantile, and I went out to Gus’s place to ask him.”

  “What’d he say?”

  “Say? Not a word. But he nodded when I asked him to show up, so I think we’ll be all set.” Maddie left her dishrag to dry near the stove and went to the doorway of Bill’s room. She leaned against the frame and smiled. “Must feel good to be home.”

  “You have no idea,” Bill said. He dropped his chin and glanced at Tess, who had fallen asleep next to him, her head on his chest. “I thought she was about to burst when she saw the chickens again.”

  Maddie laughed. “They missed her too,” she said. “I’m afraid I don’t spend as much time socializing with them as Tess does.” She stepped to the bedside and listened to her daughter’s breath, which was deep and even. “I’m going to take her to her room. You can finally have the whole bed to yourself.”

  Bill smiled as Maddie hoisted Tess up to her shoulder. “I have to admit, that does sound good.”

  “Well, good night, then.” She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze, then turned and went to the hall, stepping as quietly as she could. She managed to get Tess into bed and covered up without waking her, and then began to get ready for bed herself.

  She changed into her gown and sat down to brush her hair in the light of a short candle. Everything is back to normal, she thought, taking a deep breath for the first time in what seemed like weeks. She pulled the brush through her hair smoothly and slowly, just as she always had, but a sudden snag had appeared. She tried again, and again felt her hair pulled at the unexpected tangle. That’s when it hit her. I had decided that normal wasn’t good enough anymore, she remembered. Or, at least, we’re going to change what’s normal. She set the brush aside and took the candle.

  Bill’s room was dark and quiet when she opened the door. “What is it? Is something wrong?” he asked.

  “Not a thing.” She stepped into his room, shielding the candle with her hand, and placed it atop the wardrobe. “Everything’s perfect, in fact,” she said. “But I lied to you before. You’re not going to have the whole bed to yourself. Move over.”

  “What? Are you sure?”

  She stepped to the side of his bed and slipped her nightdress off, letting it fall to the floor. “That is, if you think you’re up to it,” she said. “The doctor said you need to take it easy.”

  His jaw dropped as he looked at Maddie there in the warm, flickering light. “He said not to do any work,” he said, his voice oddly strained. “This won’t be work.”

  She smiled. “We’ll see.”

  Bill pulled back the covers and she settled in next to him. For a man who was still bruised and bandaged, he seemed to perk right up once his wife had disrobed and joined him in bed; his first kiss that night was as passionate and thrilling as any she’d ever gotten from him, and it left her breathless. When she lay back and rested her head on the pillow, Bill began to kiss her all over, trailing his lips and tongue from her chin to her soft, sensitive throat and down to her chest.

  She slipped her fingers into his hair and pulled him close. The sensation of his lips on her body was more thrilling than she’d even expected, and she felt her body responding to him in ways she couldn’t control. With her eyes half-closed, she turned her head toward the window and gazed into the darkness.

  Stars were out, bright in the night sky. Autumn was passing quickly, and the night was clear and cold. Soon winter would arrive, with its snow choking the trail and its wind scouring the land. None of that mattered, however, for everything she needed, she had. As for everything she wanted, well, it turned out that she already had that too.

  Epilogue

  Twenty years later.

  “That wind is freezing!” Maddie pressed a hand against the door to make sure that it was tightly closed; even through the wood she could feel the December chill. “Come sit in the parlor to warm up. Your father has a fire going.”

  As they stepped into the parlor, Tess saw Bill in his chair and hurried over to hug him as he got up. “Hi Dad. The tree looks nice,” she said, nodding toward the corner.

  “It should,” he said. “I spent an hour looking for just the right one. Where’s Tim?”

  “He’ll be here later,” Tess said as she slipped out of her coat. “He said that he got a lot of late orders, so the deliveries were going to take longer than normal. Price of success, I guess.”

  “I’m not complaining,” Bill said. “Remind me to give him a holiday bonus for the extra work.”

  “You already gave him a bonus.”

  “Well, I’ll give him another one, then. What’s the fun in being the boss if you can’t spread the money around?”

  “I won’t argue with that,” Tess said. She turned to look at the tree again, and her brow furrowed. “You know, I was halfway thinking that you’d decide to decorate the tree yourselves this year, now that none of the kids are still at home.”

  “Of course not,” Bill said. “We’ll do it together, just like always. That’s kind of the point of a family tradition, isn’t it?”

  “But the family has changed now,” she said. “Tim and I have our own home, and now that the boys are at away at college….”

  “The family has moved,” Bill corrected. “But it hasn’t changed a bit.”

  Tess grinned. “Speaking of that, I was going to wait to tell you all together, but I can’t wait any longer. Mom, sit down.”

  Maddie shot a quick glance at Bill. “What is it? Tim’s not taking that job in Omaha, is he?”

  “And leave Dad to run all the farms by himself? Of course not!”

  “God, I’m glad to hear that,” Bill said, holding a hand to his chest. “You almost gave me a nervous attack.” He coughed slightly, and Tess reached out and rubbed his shoulder. It was something that they had in common. When the air was frigid, she and her father both got the same soft cough, like an echo of something from long ago.

  “The family is changing, though,” Tess insisted. “It’s going to be getting bigger, in about seven months or so.”

  It wasn’t clear whose eyes widened more, her mother’s or her father’s, but her father definitely leaped to his feet first, while Maddie remained stunned on the sofa. “Are you sure?” Bill half-shouted.

  “Pretty sure,” Tess said. “Next year you’ll be grandparents. Merry Christmas!”

  Bill swept her up in his arms, lifting her off the floor as he twirled around. “Our girl’s going to be a mommy!”

  Maddie stood up and embraced Tess, laying her cheek alongside her daughter’s and hugging her tightly. “I can’t think of more wonderful news. I’m thrilled for you. And for me, for us! This is so exciting!”

  “Wait until your brothers hear they’re going to be uncles,” Bill said. “This is the best gift we could have gotten.”

  Tess grinned and hugged him again, then glanced out the window. “Look at that!” she said, pointing. “It’s snowing!” She slipped her arm into her mother’s and went with her up to the parlor window. The flakes were huge and fluffy, shining as they gracefully fell to earth beneath the gas streetlights, and soon the grass and trees were covered with a shimmering coat of white. “Snow at Christmas. Isn�
��t it perfect?”

  Maddie felt her husband’s hand on her arm, warm and firm, and she grasped Tess’s hand as well. “It is,” she said. “It really is.”

  *

  Author’s Note

  Thanks for reading Second Chance Suitor. Watch for the third book in the Westward Hearts series, None the Richer, to be released in 2016. Don’t miss out! Sign up for the Belleport Bookline, our very occasional e-mail, to learn about upcoming promotions, new releases and more. Your e-mail will never be sold or used for any other purpose: http://eepurl.com/_tfc5

  If you enjoyed this book, please take a moment to leave a review. Reader reviews are critical to the success of small publishers and, just as importantly, help your fellow romance fans to identify their next books.

  Thank you, take care, and be well!

  Lucy

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