by Hart, Renee
***
About a week after the accident, Graham woke up to find the nurse running through her checklist. Seeing his eyes open, the woman began talking to him like they were well acquainted. Graham listened to her words carefully for some clue as to his condition. Her words weren’t giving him any clarity.
“Good morning! It’s good to see those eyes of yours open for a change. You just missed your wife. She went home to check on your little girl. She sure is a devoted woman trying to watch over you and your little one all this time. I don’t think I ever saw her take more than a few minutes to go to the bathroom the first three days after you two were brought in. You must love her very much…”
“My wife?” was all Graham managed.
“Oh, don’t worry. She said she’d be back within an hour.”
This last statement was said as the nurse headed out the door to let the doctor know Graham was fully alert. She didn’t notice the look of confusion she left in her wake. When she returned with the doctor, Graham was trying to move himself to a sitting position. The effort left him dizzy and disoriented and he groaned as he lay back down.
“You’re going to need to take your time,” the doctor said. “You’ve got some serious internal bruising to your right side. We don’t want to cause anything to start bleeding by moving too fast. Can you tell me your name?”
Graham was certain about that and gave the correct answer.
“Do you know the date or maybe what day it is?”
The blank look on Graham’s face was enough of a response.
“Do you know where you are?”
“Hospital?”
“Can you tell us what happened to you?”
Graham thought back to the last thing he remembered. The accident was clear in his mind. Everything that came after was a blur until this point in time. He was just about to answer when Ashley came into the room with Lacey.
“Daddy!”
Her little voice burst forth with excitement at seeing Graham awake. She hurried to his side and rubbed his good arm. He wrapped it around her ignoring the pain in his side and pulled her close.
“Hello Darling! How are you? You look like you’ve been eating something with ketchup.”
“I did! We had some French fries for lunch.”
Graham looked up at Ashley who’d come to stand behind Lacey. She was looking down at him with a worried look. Before he could react, she leaned over and plopped a kiss on his forehead.
“It’s so good to see you awake, honey,” she said in a fake kind of way.
“You see,” the nurse said, “I told you your wife would be back within the hour.”
The doctor scribbled a couple of notes and headed out the door. The nurse was right behind him as Ashley pulled up a chair next to the bed.
“My wife?”
“Oh, Graham, I’m sorry. They wouldn’t let me stay with you and Lacey unless I was a family member. They wouldn’t even let me on the rescue plane, but Ravensong told them I was your wife. I was so worried about you and Lacey so I went along with it…”
Graham grinned at her embarrassment.
Lacey was watching the two of them anxiously. She wasn’t sure what was going on between them. All she was sure of was how much she wanted Ashley to continue to be a part of their lives. The last few days reminded her of the void her mother’s death had left in her life. It was nice having a mom.
Suddenly Graham’s face darkened.
“Where’s Devin? Is he okay?”
“Don’t worry. He’s safe. He stayed in the village with Ravensong. There wasn’t any more room on the plane for him. He’s back there basking in the praise of the elders for rescuing you and Lacey.”
“Yeah! He’s a real hero,” Lacey piped up. “He saved us from the tree!”
“You bet he is, Sweetheart! I can’t wait to tell him how proud I am to be his dad.”
The three of them talked for a little while longer before Graham started to drift off. He wanted to thank Ashley for staying by his side, but the words wouldn’t come. As she and Lacey got ready to head out, he hugged and kissed his daughter. Ashley stood back shyly, but the nurse came in at that moment. The two of them made a show of saying good-bye for her benefit. Lacey just looked at their performance in confusion.
Waiting until they were outside, Lacey asked, “Are you going to marry my daddy? That would be okay with me.”
Ashley didn’t know what to say so she just kneeled down and gave the little girl a hug.
“I’d like for you to be my mommy,” Lacey whispered quietly.
Ashley pretended not to hear the little girl.
***
Graham spent another two weeks in the hospital before the doctor would even consider releasing him. Ashley took Lacey back to the village to check on Devin during that time. She needed to finish taking care of her business and make preparations to leave Alaska. With the two children in her care, it was hard to hide from them what she was doing. They didn’t know how to grasp the idea of her leaving with the thought of wanting her to be with them as a family.
Ravensong and Devin brought the dogs into the village and found a temporary home for them with another man. This fellow had an experienced team and quickly integrated Graham’s dogs with his own. He was interested in making a deal to buy them. They’d matured into reliable sled dogs and needed very little training to take to the trail with his team.
When word came that Graham was going to be released from the hospital, Ashley flew up to Fairbanks to bring him home. She left the children with Ravensong’s family. The short flight gave her very little time to think about her next step. She could only hope he’d be able to handle the challenges he faced with his injuries.
Staying at the cabin this winter wasn’t going to be possible with his arm and shoulder in a cast for the next couple of months. Without his strength, she knew that even if she agreed to stay with them, she couldn’t handle what it would take to get them through the winter. He was being forced to make some hard decisions by this situation.
She decided to head straight for the hospital when she arrived in Fairbanks. Finding his room empty, she headed to the nurses’ station. The nurse directed her to the physical therapy room. As she stood looking in the doorway, she watched Graham working with the therapist on his balance. He was still a bit shaky on his feet. A cast covered his right arm from the wrist up over his shoulder with straps across his back and chest.
Sensing someone watching him, Graham turned and saw her standing in the doorway. His face lit up at the sight of her and the therapist looked around to see what was going on.
“You can come in,” the therapist called to her.
Embarrassed at being caught watching, Ashley blushed, but came over to greet Graham. She put her arm around his good side and kissed his cheek. Surprised when he returned the hug, she stumbled a bit, but he caught her.
Turning to his therapist, Graham proudly introduced Ashley.
“This is my wife, Ashley,” he said with a big grin.
“Well, why don’t you show your wife the exercises I’ve taught you and then you can be done for the day.”
“That sounds like a deal,” Graham said. “I could sure use a break from this torture.”
Going through his routine until the therapist was satisfied, Graham was finally given the green light to head out. Ashley walked alongside his wheelchair as he was driven back to his room. She filled him in on things back at the village while they walked. As she talked about the children, he reached up and took her hand for a moment. Giving it a squeeze, he let go when she smiled at him.
Once he was settled in his bed, it was time for supper. She was invited to join him and two meals were brought for them. As they sat there eating, Graham studied her face carefully. He wasn’t good at making long speeches, but this was one time in his life, he knew he needed to say the right things. Taking a deep breath, he laid down his fork and looked her straight in the eye.
“Ashley, I’m not
good with words,” he began. “I came to Alaska and built a cabin way out in the woods thinking I’d never have to talk to anyone ever again. I never expected to be a father again and I really didn’t expect to fall in love…”
Ashley’s eyes widened as she listened.
“The bottom line is that I do love you and I want the four of us to be a family, and we can live wherever you want. I know what you said back in the village is true and my children deserve to have more than I can give them out in the bush, and you deserve more...”
Ashley’s eyes filled with tears as she looked into Graham’s.
“So, what do you say? Can we make this ‘wife’ thing official?”
“I’d like that,” was all Ashley needed to say.
Epilogue
Ravensong looked up as an unfamiliar pick-up truck came to a stop in front of him. As the young man got out and came around the front of the truck, the old elder laid aside his knife. The carving in his hand dropped to the floor when he stood up.
“Devin! My boy, it’s so good to see you, but you’re not a boy anymore, are you?” Ravensong said with a grin as he stepped forward to grasp the young man’s hand.
“No, my oldest friend. I’m not a boy anymore. Thanks to you, I’m a man,” Devin replied as he pulled the elder into his embrace.
“It’s been a long time since you or your father has come back to the village.”
“True. It’s been a very long time, but we’re going to make that up to you this summer,” Devin said. “My Dad and Mom are on their way here as we speak with the younger children. We came on ahead to get the cabin ready.”
“We?”
At that moment, a young woman opened the passenger side door of the truck and slipped out to the ground. Her obvious belly made its own statement, much to Ravensong’s delight.
“Ravensong, this is my wife Lisa and our baby, yet to be unnamed,” Devin said proudly as he put his arm around her.
“Lisa, this is the man who gave me back my childhood.”
“Oh, and just how did he manage to do that?”
Devin grinned widely as he said, “Let’s just say he took me out back of the woodshed and showed me the error of my ways.”
He and Ravensong winked at each other and began to laugh as Lisa pondered the humor in his statement. At that point, she was more interested in finding the nearest bathroom, and the two men hurried to direct her accordingly.
“Have you been out to the cabin lately,” Devin asked as they sat down on the porch.
“Actually, I was out there this morning. I wanted to check on the preparations. I sent two guys out there a few days ago to make sure everything was ready for your arrival.”
“What do you mean? Who told you we were coming,” Devin asked as he looked confused.
Ravensong bent over to pick up his carving from the porch. Turning it over in his hand, he noted the cuts he still needed to make to finish it.
Devin realized he wasn’t going to get an answer. He looked around at the nearby houses and the paved road.
“There’s been a lot of changes since we were here last,” he said.
“Oh, sure. There’s a road out to the cabin now and we have electricity and a bigger store. It’s been more than ten years since your last visit. Will Lacey come?”
“She’s planning to show up in a couple of weeks. Her fiancé is supposed to come up with her and she wants to get married here. She claims this is the place she learned about love.”
“I think that’s probably true for both of you, am I right?”
Devin looked at his friend as he considered the question. He’d learned a lot of things that summer when he was eight. Love wasn’t the first item on his list, but it was clearly a part of everything that happened. He found his father and gained a new mother. The time he’d spent with Ravensong helped to put his feet on the right path and finally, he’d found himself. The Elder showed him how to be a little boy again and from there, he grew up in a good way.
“I’d have to say yes to that,” Devin stated firmly.
“And just what are you agreeing to,” Lisa teased as she waddled around the corner of the porch.
The two men rose as she came up onto the porch.
“I’m agreeing with my friend here that we’ve been away from this place too long and we should come back to visit more often,” Devin said with a wink at Ravensong.
“I’d like that,” Lisa agreed, “but first, we’re going to have to make some improvements to the plumbing!”
The three of them burst out laughing. It was clearly going to be an interesting summer.
THE END
***
If you enjoyed Together In The Wild, look for three more standalone books in the Alaska Romance Series:
A Single Year,
The Summer Nanny
and
End of the Road
by Renee Hart,
are available on Amazon.com
Keep reading for bonus books.
BONUS BOOKS
From Impassioned Romance Books
Transforming Jude
A Contemporary Romance Novella
MARISA LOGAN
Copyright © 2016 by Marisa Logan
All rights reserved, worldwide.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Book Description
Judith Dawkins has given up on trying to dress for work. She gets most of her clothing from her teenage son's closet, a fact that's not lost on her customers and her boss Nicky.
Despite her immature and often frumpy appearance, Judith is a devoted single mother, a hard worker, and charming in her own funny way.
There's only one person who looks past her strange outfits...her hot neighbor Daniel.
Nicky secretly enters Judith in an office raffle. It's an unwanted favor that will take Judith far out of her comfort zone.
This romantic comedy focuses on the beauty within, and what happens when that beauty shines through on the surface.
This is a 13,000 word novella with an HEA ending and no cliffhanger. Look for The Makeover series, My Makeover & The Makeover 2, on Amazon.com
Chapter One
“Judith, you’re doing it again.”
Judith Dawkins was in her boss’ office for the 4th time in 2 weeks. She knew why she’d been called in there and she let out a big sigh. She looked sheepishly down at her torn up Vans slip-ons. They were once black and white, but overuse turned them more into a dirty tan and black. The skulls and flowers on them had seen better days too.
Her boss, Nicole Royes wanted to talk to Judith about just that. Judith was a faithful and hardworking employee. Everyone liked working with her, and she drew in the most customers. The one problem Nicole had was that Judith never seemed to be dressed like she was there to a serious job.
Judith, in her early 30s, dressed much like her teenage son Anton. On occasion, like today for instance, she'd borrowed her son’s plaid button up shirt. She wore it over a black t-shirt with a giant cat face on the front. The cat was realistic, but it was wearing cartoon sunglasses with the galaxy in the lenses. It looked like she belonged in the early 90s, and worse, she dressed like a teenager.
“I get that this job is pretty nonchalant. We sell abstract and up and coming art. We don’t have Pollacks or Basquiats here, but we’re still a branch in a major art firm,” Nicole said. She tried to speak as delicately as she could. Even though this wasn’t the first time she was speaking to Judith about this, she knew Judith would try to dress more professionally for a short time before slowly going back to dressing like she belonged in a Nirvana cover band.
“Ahh, but Nicky, when I started working here you said that the dress code was ‘
anything that makes you feel comfy’. I'm quoting you verbatim,” Judith said. She had a smug smile on her face and used air quotes when she repeated what Nicole had said to her.
“Very funny Jude. But you gotta make our customers feel comfortable too,” Nicole said. She tapped her foot on the ground. She had on cute striped ballet flats. She was also wearing tight black pants with 3 gold buttons down the front in place of a zipper, and a striped shirt. But where her flats had gray and white stripes, her shirt had black and white. She looked fresh and hip even though she was about 3 years older than Judith. Her short dull brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her makeup was so natural that you could barely tell she was wearing makeup at all.
“Customers said something about me?” Judith pouted comically at first, but those words really did affect her. She took pride in her work and making others feel happy, but she was just too relaxed, to the point of being slack about her own appearance. She never remembered a time in her life where she considered herself to be glamorous. She was always wrapped up in her art, or school, and then when her son was born, she was wrapped up in his life too.
Anton was almost fifteen. He had long ago reached the age of being embarrassed to be seen with his mother. Even worse now, because they almost dressed alike. He had a way of making his own clothes look cool on him, but Judith wasn't trying to look like anything and it showed.
Now she was standing in front of her boss having the same conversation that she’d had several times over the six years she'd been working there.