Winter's Proposal

by Sherryl Woods

  He frowned at her. “What about Sharon Lynn?”

  “She’s with Mother.”

  “I’ll drop you off and go get her,” he suggested eagerly.

  “She’s probably still taking her nap,” Melissa said.

  She said it in such a rush he had the feeling she thought he intended to kidnap the baby and take off with her. As much as he resented the implication, he kept his tone perfectly even. “She won’t sleep forever,” he countered reasonably. “I’ll bring her straight home. I promise.”

  “You don’t have a car seat,” she noted pointedly.

  Damn, but there was a lot to remember. “We’ll stop now and get one.”

  “All of that ice cream will melt.”

  He frowned at the obstacles she kept throwing in his path. “Not in this weather. It’s freezing out. And if it does, I’ll buy more.”

  “Couldn’t you just drop me off at home?”

  “No, you need to come with me. You can show me the best kind of car seat.”

  Melissa sighed heavily. “Cody, what’s the point? They’re expensive and you probably won’t...”

  He guessed where she was going. “Won’t what? Won’t be here long enough to use it? You can get that idea right out of your head.”

  He tucked a finger under her chin and forced her to face him. “I’ve quit my job in Wyoming. I am home to stay, Melissa. Get used to it.”

  She held up her hands. “Sorry. I didn’t mean anything. I was just trying to keep you from wasting money.”

  “If it’s for my daughter, it is not a waste of money,” he said curtly. “Now, can I find the kind of car seat I need at the discount superstore out on the highway?”

  She nodded.

  He turned the truck around on a dime, spewing gravel. He drove ten miles before his temper had cooled enough to speak again. He’d set out today to woo Melissa into changing her mind about marrying him. His first overtures, however, appeared to have gone awry. He’d lost his sense of humor, right along with his temper. It was no way for the two of them to start over. He sucked in a deep breath and made up his mind to mend fences.

  “Truce?” he suggested, glancing over at her. She was huddled against the door, looking miserable. She shrugged.

  “I’m not an ogre,” he stated. “I’m just trying to fit into Sharon Lynn’s life.” Her gaze lifted to meet his. “And yours.”

  She sighed. “We don’t need you,” she repeated stubbornly. “We were doing just fine before you came back.”

  He ignored the tide of hurt that washed through him at the dismissive comment. “Maybe I need you.”

  Melissa frowned. “Yeah, right,” she said sarcastically. “As if Cody Adams ever needed anybody. Didn’t you pride yourself on staying footloose and fancy free?”

  He saw no point in denying something she knew better than anyone. “I did,” he agreed. He thought about the agonizing loneliness of that cabin he’d sentenced himself to in Wyoming. “Maybe being alone for the past eighteen months has changed me. Maybe I’m not the selfish, carefree, independent cuss who stormed away from Texas.”

  “And maybe pigs can fly,” she countered.

  He grinned at her. “Maybe they can,” he said quietly. “If you believe in magic.”

  “I don’t,” she said succinctly.

  Cody heard the terrible pain in her voice, even if her expression remained absolutely stoic. Dear heaven, what had he done to her by running off and leaving her to face being pregnant all alone? He saw now what he hadn’t observed before. Not only was Melissa stronger and more self-sufficient, she also had an edge of cynicism and bitterness that hadn’t been there before. The blame for that was his, no one else’s.

  At the discount store, when Melissa would have grabbed the first car seat they came across, Cody stopped her, deliberately taking the time to read the package for every last detail on safety. If nothing else, he intended to impress on Melissa that he took his parenting responsibilities seriously. Nothing was too trivial, too expensive, or too complicated to tackle if it had to do with his daughter.

  Nearly an hour later they finally loaded the new car seat into the truck.

  “I think that salesclerk despaired of ever getting you to make a choice,” Melissa said, the beginnings of a smile tugging at her lips.

  “It wasn’t for her kid,” he retorted.

  “Okay, forget the salesclerk. Should I point out that the one you ended up taking is exactly the same one I tried to get you to buy when we walked in?”

  He scowled at her. “What’s your point?”

  “That I had already done the exact same research, reached the exact same conclusion. You insisted I come along because you claimed to want my advice. When it came right down to it, though, you didn’t trust me.”

  Cody carefully considered the accusation before turning to meet her gaze. “You’re right. I should have listened to you. It’s just that this is new to me. I’m trying to get it right. I don’t want to mess up with something this important.”

  Her expression softened. “Cody, I can understand that. Really, I can. I was just as obsessive when I first brought Sharon Lynn home from the hospital. Mother and Daddy thought I was a lunatic. I didn’t trust a piece of advice they offered. I was convinced it was probably outdated. I had to do it all for myself. Talk about reinventing the wheel.” She shook her head. “I wasted more time, only to find myself doing exactly what they’d suggested in the first place.”

  He grinned. “You’re just trying to save me traveling over the same learning curve, is that it?”

  “Exactly,” she said. She reached over and patted his hand. “I’m not trying to keep you out of Sharon Lynn’s life, or control your input, or anything like that. I promise.”

  The impulsive touch didn’t last nearly long enough. Cody grabbed her hand and pulled it to his lips. He brushed a kiss across her knuckles and saw the instantaneous spark of desire in her eyes. “I’ll try to watch the defensiveness, if you’ll do something for me.”

  She regarded him with conditioned wariness. “What?”

  “Bring Sharon Lynn out to White Pines this weekend,” he coaxed persuasively. At the flare of panic in her eyes, he pulled out his strongest ammunition—her fondness for Harlan. “I think seeing her would do Daddy a world of good. With Mother gone, he needs something positive in his life, something to cheer him up. You should have seen the look in his eyes this morning when I told him she was mine.”

  The hint of wariness in her eyes fled and was promptly replaced by astonishment. “You told him?”

  “I did. But it wasn’t news. He’d figured it out the first time he saw her, the same as Jordan had.”

  Her mouth gaped. “And he didn’t do anything about it? I’m amazed he didn’t haul your butt straight back here or offer to set up a trust fund for the baby or something.”

  “Frankly, so am I. Maybe he’s learned his lesson about manipulating.”

  Melissa’s expression was every bit as skeptical as his own had to be. “Okay,” he said. “He probably has a scheme we don’t know about yet. Even so, are you willing to take a chance? Will you bring her out? It’s time she learned something about her father’s side of the family.”

  He was playing to her sense of fairness and it was clearly working. He could practically read her struggle with her conscience on her face.

  “I’ll bring her,” Melissa finally agreed with obvious reluctance. “On one condition—no tricks.”

  Cody regarded her innocently. Now that he’d gotten her basic agreement, he could go along with almost anything she demanded. “What kind of tricks?”

  “No preachers lurking in the shadows. No wedding license all signed and ready to be filled in.”

  He feigned astonishment, even though he thought she might actually have a very good idea, one that hadn’t even occurred to him until just t
hat minute. “Would I do that?”

  “In a heartbeat,” she said. “And even if you had an attack of conscience, Harlan wouldn’t. No conspiracies, okay?”

  “Cross my heart,” Cody said, already wondering if there was some way to pull off such a wedding.

  Melissa’s gaze narrowed. “Why doesn’t that reassure me?”

  “And you accused me of a lack of trust,” he chided.

  “I’m not the one whose brother threw a surprise wedding in place of a rehearsal,” she said, reminding him of the sneaky trick Jordan and Kelly had pulled on his parents to avoid the out-of-control celebration his mother had planned for their wedding. The whole town had gossiped about that little stunt for weeks.

  “I’m glad you mentioned that,” Cody taunted. “It does give me some interesting ideas.”

  “Cody Adams, I am warning you...”

  “No need, sweet pea. I’m not fool enough to take a chance on getting rejected in front of my family and the preacher. When you and I get married, it’ll be because you’re willing and eager.”

  “‘When,’ not ‘if’?” she chided.

  “That’s right, darlin’. Only the timing is left to be decided,” he declared with far more confidence than he felt. He unloaded the last of their packages under Melissa’s irritated scrutiny. Apparently, though, his certainty about their future had left her speechless. He considered that a hopeful sign.

  “See you on Saturday,” he said, escaping before he had a chance to put his foot in his mouth. “Come on out about eight. You can have breakfast with us.”

  Besides, he thought, if Melissa was there by eight, that gave him most of the day to convince her to have a wedding at sunset.

  * * *

  Melissa debated bailing out on her day at White Pines. Handling Cody was tricky enough without having to worry about Harlan’s sneaky tactics at the same time. Still, she couldn’t very well deny Harlan the chance to get to know the granddaughter he’d just officially discovered he had.

  That was what ultimately decided her, or so she told herself as she dressed Sharon Lynn in bright blue corduroy pants, a blue and yellow shirt, and tiny sneakers. She brushed her hair into a halo of soft curls around her face.

  “Ma? Bye-bye?”

  Proud of Sharon Lynn’s expanding vocabulary, she nodded. “That’s right, my darling. We’re going to see your daddy and your granddaddy.”

  Sharon Lynn’s face lit up. She reached for the new toy duck that was never far from sight. “Da?”

  Melissa shook her head at the instant reaction. Obviously Cody had had an incredible impact on his daughter in just one visit. Did he have that effect on all women or just those in her family? She tickled Sharon Lynn until she dissolved into a fit of giggles.

  “Yes, Da,” she told her approvingly. “We’re going to see Da.” And she, for one, was nervous as the dickens about it. Sharon Lynn clearly had no such qualms.

  When Melissa pulled her car to a stop in front of the house at White Pines, she drew in a deep, reassuring breath, trying to calm her jitters. It was going to be just fine, she told herself, even as she fought the overwhelming sense of déjà vu that assailed her.

  How many times had she driven out here, filled with hope, anxious to spend time with the man she loved, only to leave bitterly disappointed by his refusal to commit to anything more than a carefree relationship? Everything had always seemed more intense out here, the air crisper and cleaner, the terrain more rugged, the colors brighter. Similarly, her emotions had always seemed sharper, too—the bitter sorrow as well as the blinding joy.

  Once she had dreamed of this being her home, the place where she and Cody would raise a family. Now with the snap of her fingers and a couple of “I do’s,” her dream could come true. But Cody’s proposal, forced only by the existence of a child for whom he felt responsible, had tarnished the dream. She doubted it could ever recapture its original, innocent glow.

  “Da, Da, Da!” Sharon Lynn screamed excitedly, bouncing in her car seat as Cody strode across the front lawn. He was wearing snug, faded jeans, a T-shirt that hugged his broad chest and worn cowboy boots. He looked sexier and more masculine than any male model ever had in GQ.

  Before Melissa could fight her instinctive reaction just to the sight of him, he had thrown open the door and lifted his daughter high in the air, earning squeals of delight for his effort.

  “Hey, pumpkin, I could hear you all the way inside the house,” he teased the baby. “Your grandpa Harlan said you were loud enough to wake half the county. He’s thinking of getting you geared up for the hog-calling contest at the state fair. What do you think?”

  Melissa noted he reported his father’s reaction with unmistakable pride. He glanced her way just then and the humor in his eyes darkened to something else, something she recognized from times past as powerful, compelling desire. Whatever was behind his proposal of marriage, the one thing she couldn’t doubt was Cody’s passion. He wanted her and he was doing nothing to hide that fact from her.

  “Thank you for coming,” he said, his expression solemn.

  “I told you I would.”

  He shrugged. “You never know, though. Sometimes things come up.”

  Suddenly, for the first time Melissa was able to pinpoint the most devastating problem between them. Neither of them had so much as a shred of trust left for the other.

  She didn’t trust Cody not to leave again. She didn’t trust him not to rip her daughter away from her.

  And worse, to her way of thinking because she knew he had a right to feel as he did, he didn’t trust her to keep her promises. She had kept the secret of his daughter from him. He had to wonder if he could trust her to be honest with him about anything.

  All at once she was unbearably sad. Regrets for the open, honest relationship they had once shared tumbled through her, leaving her shaken.

  Before she realized he’d even moved, Cody was beside her, Sharon Lynn in his arms.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, his expression filled with concern.

  “Of course. Why would you think I wasn’t?”

  “Maybe it has something to do with the tears.”

  She hadn’t even realized she was crying. She brushed impatiently at the telltale traces. “Sorry.”

  “You don’t have to apologize, for heaven’s sake. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

  “An attack of nostalgia,” she said, knowing it was only partially true. “Nothing to worry about.” She plastered a smile on her face. “Come on. Let’s go inside before Harlan falls out of that window he’s peeking through.”

  Almost as if he’d heard the comment, the curtains fell back into place and a shadow moved away from the downstairs window. Cody grinned at her.

  “He can’t wait to meet Sharon Lynn. If you think I’m bad, wait until you see the room he’s fixed up for her visits.”

  The implications of the lighthearted remark sent panic racing through Melissa. If Harlan had fixed up a room, then he clearly intended for Sharon Lynn to be at White Pines a lot. Was this visit just a prelude to the custody battle her mother had warned her about? Cody might not be willing to fight her in court, but Harlan was another matter. With Mary dead and his life stretching out emptily in front of him, who could tell what kind of crazy notion he might get into his head.

  Apparently her fears must have been written on her face, because Cody halted again. “Melissa, you don’t have to worry,” he reassured her. “It’s just a room. You know Harlan. Everything drives him to excess.”

  “You’re sure that’s all it is?”

  “Very sure. You don’t have anything to worry about from Harlan.” That said, he winked at her. “I, however, am another matter entirely. I’ve given up on winning you with diapers and juice and toys.”

  “Oh?”

  “I intend to win you with my sexy, wicked ways.”


  He was up the front steps and in the house before she had a chance to react. When she could finally move again, her legs wobbled and her pulse was scampering crazily.

  Suddenly any threat Harlan might pose dimmed in importance. Cody was the one she needed to worry about. Always had been. Always would be.

  9

  At the precise instant that Cody and Melissa entered the front door at White Pines, Harlan stepped into the foyer. His prompt presence indicated that he had indeed been watching for Melissa’s arrival and was eager for an introduction to his granddaughter.

  Cody studied his father’s face closely as Harlan’s gaze honed in immediately on Sharon Lynn. For the first time since the funeral, there was a spark of animation in his dark eyes. And when he glanced at Melissa that animation included her, only to be quickly replaced by questions, unanswerable questions Cody hoped he wouldn’t get into right off.

  To stave them off, Cody crossed the wide sweep of wood floor and woven Mexican rug to stand in front of his father, Sharon Lynn still perched in his arms.

  “Daddy, meet your granddaughter, Sharon Lynn.”

  The baby responded to the cue as if she’d been coached. A dimpled smile spread across her face as she held out her arms to be transferred to her new grandfather’s embrace. Harlan accepted her with alacrity.

  “You are a mighty fine young lady,” he told her, his expression sober, his eyes unmistakably welling up with rare tears. “I’m very glad to be welcoming you to the family.” His gaze shifted then to encompass Melissa once more. “It’s good to see you again, girl. We’ve missed you around here.”

  Cody saw the sheen of tears spring to Melissa’s eyes and realized more than ever what he had cost them all by running off as he had. His parents had always accepted that Melissa would one day be his wife. They had approved of her spirit, her kindness and her unconditional love for him. Melissa had been present on most family occasions, welcomed as if their relationship had been sealed.