Winter's Proposal

by Sherryl Woods

He took hat quite literally in hand and went to visit Velma. He needed her help if his plan was to work. Responding to his knock on her door in midafternoon, she regarded him with her usual suspicion.

  “What do you want?” she inquired ungraciously.

  Cody lost patience. “I am not the bad guy here,” he informed her as he stalked past her and stood in the middle of the foyer.

  He could hear Sharon Lynn chattering away in the guest room. It sounded as if she were having a tea party. He longed to go down that corridor and spend some time with her. She was changing in one way or another every day and he hated to miss a single one. Today, though, he was on a mission here and he couldn’t afford to be distracted.

  “I came by to see if you could keep Sharon Lynn here tonight,” he said.

  “Why?” Velma asked bluntly.

  “So that Melissa and I can have an evening together alone.”

  “Seems to me you two have found enough time to be alone without my help in the past. She’s about to have a baby again, isn’t she? She didn’t get that way in public, I suspect.”

  Her sarcasm grated. Cody held back the sharp retort that came to mind. If this was going to work out, it was way past time he made peace with Melissa’s mother. “Exactly what has she told you about our relationship?”

  Velma didn’t give an inch. “She doesn’t have to say a word. I can see plenty for myself.”

  “What do you think you see, then?”

  “That you think your money and your power give you the right to be irresponsible. You’ve used my daughter, left her, then come back here and used her again without ever giving a thought to the consequences.”

  “Are you aware that I have been trying to persuade your mule-headed daughter to marry me since the very first instant I got back into town?”

  Velma blinked, but she didn’t back down. Talk about stubborn pride. Velma had it in spades, which probably explained Melissa’s streak of it.

  “Too little, too late, if you ask me,” she retorted.

  Cody started to tell her he hadn’t asked her, but of course he had. “Look, I don’t blame you for resenting me, but the fact of the matter is that I love your daughter, stubborn as she is, and I want to marry her and be a father to our children. I think she loves me, too, but she thinks she’s a fool for doing it.”

  He saw from the set expression on her face that Velma had probably reinforced that belief. Maybe if he could win over the mother, she’d change her tune with Melissa and give him a fighting chance.

  “You want her to be happy, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do,” she said indignantly. “What makes you think I don’t?”

  “Because I think she’s taking her cue from you. I think if she and I had just a little time alone, we could work this out, preferably before another one of our children is born without my name. Will you give us that chance?”

  Velma spent the next minute or two in an obvious struggle with her conscience. “What is it you want, exactly?”

  “Keep Sharon Lynn here tonight. Don’t interfere with my plans. That’s all.”

  “You think you can convince her in one night, when you haven’t made any progress at all in the past nine months?” Velma inquired with a shake of her head. “You don’t know Melissa half as well as you think you do.”

  She sighed heavily. “Okay, I’ll keep Sharon Lynn for you,” she relented to Cody’s relief. “But it’ll have to be for the whole weekend. If you ask me, it’s going to take you that long, maybe even longer, to turn that girl around. She’s scared spitless she’ll admit she loves you and you’ll turn around and leave again.”

  “I won’t,” he swore. He circled Velma’s waist and spun her around. “Thank you. You’re an angel.”

  She kept her lips in a tight line, resisting him to the bitter end, but Cody thought he detected a spark of amusement in her eyes. “See that you do right by her, young man, or I’ll have your hide.”

  He kissed her cheek. “Not to worry, Velma. This is going to be a weekend to remember.”

  He was already making plans to sweep Melissa away to a quiet, secluded cabin for a romantic weekend by the time he hit the driveway.

  His first stop was her house, where he managed to sneak in without being caught by the sheriff or a neighbor. He rummaged through her drawers and closets to find lingerie and the prettiest, sexiest maternity clothes she owned. He packed them, along with perfume and cosmetics, praying that he got the right ones. He didn’t want her dissolving into tears because she couldn’t find her blush or her mascara. Her hormones had her reacting in the most bizarre ways these days. He figured he ought to get a whole lot of points for just managing to stick by her anyway.

  He’d considered taking her off to someplace fancy, maybe the most expensive suite in Dallas, but then he’d decided that would put her too close to taxis or planes or other means of escape. He wanted her all to himself.

  He fought all of his old past resentments—most of them, as it had turned out, unwarranted—and tracked Brian down in San Antonio, where he was practicing law. He pointed out that his former best friend owed him one for the scam he and Melissa had tried to pull on Cody years before.

  “I’m just grateful that you didn’t come after me with a shotgun,” Brian said. “Anything you want is yours.”

  “Does your family still have that cabin by the lake?”

  “You bet.”

  “Can Melissa and I borrow it for the weekend?”

  “It’s all yours,” Brian said at once.

  He told Cody where to find the key, offered some unsolicited advice on taming the reluctant Melissa, then added seriously, “I’m glad you called, buddy. I’ve missed you.”

  “Same here,” Cody said. “Next time you’re down this way, we’ll have to get together. You do have your own woman now, don’t you?”

  Brian chuckled. “Do I ever. Good luck. You and Melissa should have worked this out long ago. I’d have told you the truth myself, but Melissa swore me to secrecy.”

  “Secrets are her specialty, it appears,” Cody said. “Anyway, thanks again for the cabin.”

  Those arrangements made, Cody loaded groceries, flowers and nonalcoholic champagne into the back of the truck, then swung by Dolan’s. He marched straight to the soda fountain, ignoring the startled gazes of the teens gathered there.

  “Cody? Is everything okay?” Melissa asked as he rounded the corner of the counter and headed toward her.

  “Just dandy,” he confirmed, tucking one arm under her legs and the other behind her waist. He scooped her up, amid a flurry of outraged protests from her and that same pimply faced kid who’d defended her honor once before.

  “It’s okay, son,” Cody assured him. “She wants to go with me.”

  “I do not!” Melissa protested.

  “Eli, call the cops or something,” the boy shouted, his face turning red as he bolted after Cody.

  “Not on your life,” Eli said, and kept right on filling prescriptions. Mabel held the door open, grinning widely.

  Melissa huffed and puffed a little longer, but by the time Cody had driven to the outskirts of town, she’d retreated into a sullen silence.

  “Was that caveman approach entirely necessary?” she inquired eventually.

  “I thought so.”

  “I would have come with you, if you’d asked politely.”

  He shot a skeptical look in her direction.

  “At least, I would have thought about it,” she amended.

  “That’s why I didn’t ask. You’ve been thinking entirely too much.”

  “Are we going to White Pines?”

  “Nope.”

  “Luke and Jessie’s?” she asked hopefully, the first little sign of alarm sparking in her eyes.

  “Nope.”

  “Cody, where the hell are you taking m
e?”

  “Someplace where we can be alone.”

  “Where?” she repeated.

  “Brian’s cabin.”

  Her eyes widened. “You talked to Brian?”

  “I figured drastic measures were called for, and he promised the best and quickest solution.” He glanced over at her. “I was willing to do anything it took to make this happen, sweet pea.”

  “Oh,” she said softly, and settled back to mull that over.

  It wasn’t more than half an hour later when he noticed she seemed to be getting a little restless.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  She turned toward him, her lower lip caught between her teeth as she shook her head. Instantly, Cody’s muscles tensed.

  “Melissa, what’s wrong?” he demanded. “Tell me.”

  “It’s not a problem,” she said. “Not yet, anyway. It’s just that...” Her eyes widened and turned the color of a turbulent sea. She swallowed visibly. “Don’t panic.”

  Cody panicked. “Melissa!”

  “It’s okay, really it is. It’s just that it’s entirely possible that I’m in labor.” She sucked in a ragged breath, then announced, “Cody, I think we’re about to have a baby.”

  16

  Cody found his father already pacing the waiting room when he got Melissa to the hospital. He’d called him on his cellular phone, right after he’d spoken to the doctor. He’d asked Harlan to alert the rest of the family.

  “Even Jordan?” his father had asked cautiously, aware of the friction between them.

  Cody decided then and there it was time to get over the rift between him and his brother. This was a time for healing.

  “Even Jordan,” he’d confirmed.

  He turned now to his father. “Did you reach everyone?”

  “They’ll be here in a bit. How is she?” Harlan de-manded at once as the nurse wheeled Melissa away to prep her for delivery. “Is everything okay?”

  Cody wiped a stream of sweat from his brow. “She says it is, but I don’t know. You had four sons. Is labor supposed to be so painful?”

  “How should I know? Your mama wouldn’t let me anywhere near the delivery room. She said having babies was women’s work.” He glanced at Cody with an unmistakable look of envy. “Wish I’d had a chance to be there just once, though. Seems to me like it must be a flat-out miracle. You going in there with Melissa?”

  “If she’ll let me,” Cody said. “She’s still making up her mind whether to be furious at me for kidnapping her this afternoon.” He moaned. “I must have been out of my mind. I didn’t even think about the fact that she might go into labor.”

  “Cody, you weren’t at the other end of the world,” Harlan reassured him. “You’d barely made it out of town. You got her here in plenty of time. The only way you could have gotten here much faster would have been to park her in a room upstairs for the last month of her pregnancy. Now, settle down.”

  “It’s easy for you. It’s not your baby she’s having.”

  Just then the nurse came out. “Mr. Adams, would you like to step in for a minute? We’re getting ready to take Melissa to the delivery room.”

  Cody shot a helpless look at his father. “It sounds like she’s not going to want me in there.”

  “Maybe it’s time to stop bullying the girl and tell her how much you want to be there,” Harlan advised.

  Cody doubted it would be as simple as that. Indeed, Melissa shot him a look of pure hatred when he walked into her room. Of course, that might have had something to do with the whopper of a contraction she appeared to be in the middle of.

  He accepted a damp cloth from the nurse and instinctively wiped Melissa’s forehead with it.

  “You’re doing great,” he said.

  “How would you know?” she retorted.

  He grinned at the fiery display of temper. “Okay, you got me. I have no idea. No one’s running around the halls panicking, though. That must mean something.”

  “They’re used to this,” she retorted. “I’m not. Besides, they’re just observers. I’m doing all the work.”

  “If you’d let me take those natural childbirth classes with you, I’d be more help about now.”

  She latched onto his hand just then and squeezed. It was either one hell of a contraction or she was trying to punish him by breaking all of his knuckles. As soon as the pain eased, she glared at him again.

  “Go away.”

  “I don’t think so,” he countered just as stubbornly. “I want to share this with you.”

  “You want to see me writhing around in agony,” she snapped.

  “No,” he insisted. “Having a baby is a miracle. I missed out on Sharon Lynn’s birth. I’m going to be with you for this one.”

  “Why?”

  He regarded her blankly. “Don’t you know?”

  “Cody, I don’t know anything except that you’ve been making a pest of yourself ever since you got back into town. What I don’t know is why.”

  Before he could answer, the orderlies came to wheel her down the hall to the delivery room. He could tell by the set of her jaw that she was going into that room without him unless he could find the courage to tell her what was in his heart.

  “Dammit, Melissa, I love you!” he shouted after her, just as they were about to roll her out of sight.

  “Stop!” Melissa bellowed at the orderlies between contractions.

  Cody reached her side in an instant. Even with her face bathed in sweat, her lower lip bitten raw, she looked beautiful to him. She always had, always would.

  “What did you say?” she demanded, then grabbed onto his hand with a grip so fierce he could have sworn that more bones broke.

  He grinned through the pain—hers and his. “I said I love you.”

  A slow, satisfied smile spread across her face. “It’s about time, cowboy.”

  “Haven’t I been saying that for months now?” he asked, vaguely bemused that she hadn’t heard it before.

  “Not the words,” she told him. “How was I supposed to believe it without the words?”

  “Someone once told me that actions speak louder than words. I guess I was putting it to the test. I thought you needed to see that I wasn’t going anywhere.”

  “I also needed to hear why that was so,” she told him, wincing as another pain started and then rolled through her. “I didn’t want you with me out of a sense of obligation.”

  Relief swept through him as he realized he’d risked everything and finally gotten through to her. “Does that mean you’ll marry me?”

  “Whenever you say.”

  Cody turned and motioned to the preacher he’d had Harlan call for him. He’d also had Harlan make a call to a judge to cut through the legal red tape. “Get to it, Reverend. I don’t think this baby’s going to wait much longer.”

  The minister had never talked so fast in his life, quite possibly because he was conducting the ceremony in the doorway of a delivery room. Cody figured as long as they didn’t cross that threshold, the baby would have sense enough not to come until his or her parents were properly married.

  The “I do’s” were punctuated by moans and a couple of screams. And not five minutes later, Harlan Patrick Adams came into the world with an impeccable sense of timing, just as the minister pronounced his mama and daddy man and wife. Melissa was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to be able to hold her own baby. Between Cody and his father, she’d barely gotten a look at him. Cody had finally disappeared a half hour before, but Harlan was still holding the baby with a look of such pride and sadness in his eyes.

  “I wish Mary could have seen him,” he said softly as a tear spilled down his cheek.

  “Wherever she is, I think she knows,” Melissa told him. “And I’ll bet Erik is right beside her, watching out for all of us.”

 
Her father-in-law gave her a watery smile. “I can’t tell you how proud it makes me to have you in this family finally.”

  “I’m glad to be a part of it finally,” she told him. “Though given the way my brand new husband scooted out of here after the ceremony, I’m not so sure I made the right decision. Any idea where he went?”

  There was no mistaking the spark of pure mischief in Harlan’s eyes. “Can’t say that I know for sure,” he said.

  Melissa didn’t believe him for a second. The old scoundrel and Cody were clearly up to their ornery chins in some scheme or another. Before she could try to pry their secret out of him, the door to the room slid open a crack.

  “Everyone awake?” Cody inquired lightly.

  “Come on in, son,” Harlan enthused. “We were just wondering where you’d gone off to.”

  Cody stepped into the room and winked at her. “Should I take that to mean that you suspected I’d run off on you already?”

  “It did cross my mind,” she admitted. “You turned awful pale there in the delivery room. I figured you might be having second thoughts about marriage and fatherhood.”

  “Not me,” Cody retorted indignantly. “I just figured the occasion deserved a celebration. You know how this family likes to party. You up for it?”

  She stared at him as he watched her uneasily. “What if I say no?”

  “Then that’s it. I send everyone away.”

  “Everyone? Who is out there?”

  “Sharon Lynn, first of all. She wants to meet her new baby brother.”

  Melissa grinned. “Bring her in. Of course I want her to see the baby.”

  Cody opened the door and Sharon Lynn barreled in and ran toward the bed. Over the past few months she’d grown increasingly steady on her feet. In the final weeks of her pregnancy Melissa had had a heck of a time waddling after her.

  “Mama! Mama!” Sharon Lynn shouted.

  Cody lifted Sharon Lynn onto the bed beside her. “Harlan, bring the baby over so Sharon Lynn can get a look,” Melissa said.

  As Harlan approached with the baby, her daughter’s eyes grew wide. “Baby?”

  “That’s right, pumpkin. That’s Harlan Patrick, your baby brother.”