by Jillian Hart
He dived, eyes open, searching the rocky riverbed for anything unusual. Summer trout as big as his arm skidded out of his way and he spied a tennis shoe. The teenager was crushed against a granite outcropping, pinned in place by the current’s undertow. His eyes were wild with panic.
Ben planted his feet, grabbed the kid firmly around the wrist, twisted and pulled. Piece of cake. The boy spun away from the boulder and into his arms. Before the boy’s panic could take control, Ben calmly wrapped him in a cross-chest carry and kicked off from the river’s floor.
Silt kicked up to cloud the water around them as they bobbed to the surface.
A hysterical woman was making her way into the dangerous current. The kid’s mom.
Ben shouted at her, “He’s fine, I’ve got him. Go back!”
Before the woman could get herself into trouble, too, there was Cadence, taking her by the forearm and talking calmly to her. They waited as he hauled the boy in, and the teenager was already struggling, but no longer from panic.
“Hey, let me go!” He coughed, fighting, indignant.
Ben let the kid take over. He wasn’t hurt, just scared. And embarrassed in front of his friends.
“Where is your life jacket, young man?” his mother demanded in a voice filled with relief and outrage at the same time. “And thank these fine people for helping you.”
“Uh…thanks.”
“No problem,” Ben assured them both, watching the mother grab her son by the ear and haul him toward the picnic area.
A glance downstream told him Cadence had been successful at reuniting the boy with his tube, and he was floating away with his friends, distant on the swift current. He and Cadence made quite a team. She was dripping wet, her silk dress soaked and probably ruined by the river water, but she didn’t look troubled by it.
His soul filled with light, more blinding than the sun, as endless as eternity.
She swiped a strand of hair out of her face. “What were you saying—something like once a lifeguard, always a lifeguard?”
“Yeah. Or maybe it’s just us.”
“We’re both out to save the world in our different ways.” She shrugged. “Well, I’m not saving the world.”
“It’s how you live your life every day, helping people. Teaching kids to swim so they won’t drown some day.”
Her smile was pure radiance. “Then you understand.”
His entire being ached with love for her. He took her by the hand while the river rushed by and the picnickers went back to their picnics and kids splashed in the shallow water. He led her toward the bank where wildflowers carpeted their path.
It felt right, holding her hand, walking at her side where he wanted to be for the rest of his life. She was his home, his everything. “I was hoping you’d like to teach kids to swim and dive in Florida. If you’d consider giving up everything here to marry me? To be my wife?”
There, he’d said it. The toughest task he’d ever had put in front of him, and he trembled with the importance of it. Everything he’d ever wanted rested on what this incredible, awesome woman would say next. He’d faced ambushes, night fighting, freeing soldiers held prisoner, but he’d never been so afraid and so certain of what he wanted.
“You want me to marry you?” She stared up at him as if afraid to believe. “You want me to marry you,” she repeated as if she couldn’t believe what he’d said.
The anxiety tight in his chest disappeared, because he felt her answer in his soul. True love was strong enough to build a future on. He knew this now, for he saw their future happy and loving stretch out before him—a fulfilling marriage, a happy home and kids. A little girl and a little boy.
Nice. And he’d retire in a few years, and they’d come home here, to Montana. But until then, he’d do what he could for his country. And then give everything to his family.
She came into his arms like a dream. She felt the choice before her—to trust him wholly, this man heaven kept bringing into her life, or to turn away everything that God was offering her.
“Yes, I’ll marry you.” She laid her hand on his jaw, this wonderful hero of her very own. This man who filled her soul. Who was her life.
Thank You, Lord, she prayed, aware of this great blessing heaven was giving her. “I’ve always wanted a September wedding.”
Epilogue
Two weeks later
Sunlight glinted through the high windows in the rafters and into Cadence’s eyes. She wanted to blame her tears on the sun, and not the sentimental feelings rising from her heart. Because if she admitted her feelings, on this last day of coaching, then she would break down in endless tears.
As sad as this door closing in her life was, a wonderful new one was opening. Her wedding was tomorrow. A new life was beginning. First with a honeymoon cruise to Alaska and then the long-distance move to Florida. So much change, but it was exciting, too.
Opening her heart to Ben’s love had been worth the risk.
“I’m gonna, like, really miss you.” Ashley climbed out of the diving pool, water sluicing off her, from the last dive of her lesson. “I’m never gonna find another coach like you. Dad says he’s gonna put in for a transfer. So maybe I can still keep training with you.”
“That would be great, Ashley. You have my e-mail address, right? So we can keep in contact no matter what. I want to know how you progress with that armstand forward somersault. Promise?”
“Like, I totally promise!” Ashley grabbed her towel from the bench and draped it over her shoulders. From her pack, slumped on the bench, she withdrew a small wrapped box. “A wedding gift. Kinda early, but it’s little, so I didn’t want it to get lost with all the others you’re probably gonna get. Don’t open it, cuz I’ll be embarrassed.” Ashley gave a long sigh and blinked hard, but the tears came anyway. “Like, I don’t wanna say goodbye.”
“I know. I’ll be coming home to visit. I promise I’ll come here and we can work on your dives.”
“Really? That’s so cool! Thanks, Cadence!” Relieved that this wasn’t a final goodbye, Ashley scampered off to the locker rooms, leaving her alone.
Her last day. She’d had some great times in this pool. It was her first real job, aside from picking berries in the field, which she’d got when she was fifteen.
She’d trained here as a girl filled with impossible dreams. She’d come back when most of those dreams had shattered. And rebuilt her life…and she’d learned to dream again.
Only, this time she knew her dreams of happily ever after would not fail. She knew, because of Ben. There was no man more dependable, more true. And he was hers.
Ben. She felt him like a change in the air. He was here. Her soul stirred and she turned toward him, always to him, the man she loved more than her life. Her soul mate.
Her one true love.
He came to her with open arms and hauled her against his strong chest. His kiss was a tender promise. His joy was hers.
“I’m on my way out to the airport, to pick up Jake.” His closest buddy on his squad and his best man at their wedding. “But I wanted to stop by here first. I had to see you one more time.”
“I thought we were having dinner in, what, three hours?”
“Yeah, but I missed you.” He kissed her again. “I’ll pick up Jake, get him settled and then I’ll be out to pick you up.”
It had been Ben’s idea for them to spend the evening before their wedding together. He’d made reservations at an exclusive restaurant at a Bozeman resort that served only the finest meals. A five-course intimate dinner awaited them, with dazzling views of the river and the incredible mountains. Hours spent alone, just the two of them, planning, talking, cuddling.
“Will your friend be all right alone?”
“Jake’s an independent guy. He’ll be fine. Besides, I sweet-talked Rachel into cooking dinner for him at the house. She promised to feed him, keep him company and hand over the remote control.” He pulled back enough to study her face as he asked, “Are you too sad abo
ut leaving here? Am I asking you to give up too much?”
“No. I’m sad, but I can work in Florida, too. And Ben, look at what I’m getting. You.”
Her dear, strong, wonderful Ben. To have and to hold. To love and to cherish. For all the days of her life. “I can’t wait until tomorrow. Our wedding day. The start of our life together.”
“And it will be happy.” And like a promise meant to be kept, he kissed her long and sweetly.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8393-4
HEAVEN’S TOUCH
Copyright © 2005 by Jill Strickler
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*The McKaslin Clan