Tom’s heart missed a beat or two. Was there a message in her dream? Did he dare to hope? The planking beneath his butt seemed harder than it had a few minutes earlier. He scooted forward, his elbows resting on his knees.
“Anyway, you were saying…?” she prompted, pulling him back from his fantasies.
“Janey came by and invited us for pizza. Ed hates pizza—it’s been their one ongoing argument for the past fifty-three years. I told her you were coming. I didn’t say why you were coming—I didn’t want to embarrass Angel, but Heather blurted it out and Janey was so matter-of-fact about it, Angel seemed to shrug it off, too.” He frowned. “Janey said they’d stop at the store on the way to the pizza place.”
Abby burst out laughing. “Do I feel silly!” She gave the plastic bag a shake. “You should have seen me at Wal-Mart, agonizing over which product was perfect. That’s what took me so long.”
“You’re not offended? Angel was pretty upset when she called you.”
Abby tossed the bag on the top step. “A girl’s first period can be a big deal, but it doesn’t have to be. I’ll be around if she wants to talk.”
Tom dropped the twig he’d rubbed smooth. “Heather was afraid you might want to move back with your folks or…”
Abby’s hoot made Rosie, who seldom left her spot under the rear porch, bark. Blushing, she covered her lips. “I had a great time and I love my parents, but good grief! They eat wooden bread and drink molasses, and they’re on the go all the time. I had to come home to rest, they wore me out.”
Tom studied her. This was a new Abby. She seemed at peace in a way he hadn’t seen before. “You’re healed,” he said, recognizing the truth of his words.
“Almost,” she said softly. She closed the distance between them, moving to the bottom step. Tom caught the scent he could have identified blindfolded.
Tom made room for her between his knees and she took it. Eye-to-eye, he met her look, afraid to blink. His heart stalled, waiting to see if his dreams were about to come true or if his imagination had conjured up a wraith that would disappear before his eyes.
“I missed you,” she said.
He missed her, too. He wanted her more than he could put into words, but he knew he had to be smart this time. There was too much at stake to blow it.
“Abby, I’ve been thinking—even cowboys do it, from time to time,” he said, afraid of appearing too serious since that hadn’t worked the last time. “I…” He hesitated then leaned to one side to extract a piece of paper from his rear pocket. “I did some research while you were gone.”
He handed her the paper and waited while she unfolded it. He watched her expression turn from curiosity to amazement. “Tom, these are Web sites.”
Her shock seemed profound. “Peter gave me a few lessons on the computer and I went on-line. Angel told me I could find anything on the Internet, so I went looking.”
“You did this for me?” she said in a small voice.
“I’d do anything for you, Abby.”
She turned, holding the crumpled paper to the light spilling from the living-room window. As she read, he told her about his many hits and misses on the information superhighway. “It’s not a complete list, of course, but, Abby, it’s amazing how much information there is about new fertility treatments, including fixing up damaged fallopian tubes.”
He saw her surreptitiously bat away a tear. “The last one on the list is an adoption hot-line,” she said in a small voice.
He put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer. The wool was stiff and formal but she wasn’t. “I want whatever makes you happy. If you want a baby, then we’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.” He grinned at her. “We haven’t even tried the old-fashioned way yet. Who knows? We might get lucky.”
Her laugh lifted a load from his heart. “Who could be luckier than me? I love you, Tom Butler.”
Instinct told him to kiss her, but he had a whole speech planned about agendas and patience. He wanted her to know he could wait as long as she wanted. “I love you, too, and I’d like for us to get married, but I won’t push you, Abby. I know your job is important—”
“I got fired today,” she said, interrupting him. “Or, I quit. Depends on whose story you believe.”
“Oh, babe,” he said, pulling her close, offering comfort. “Are you okay?”
He stroked her back, wishing she wouldn’t melt against him quite so provocatively when he was trying to set the record straight about his intentions. Marshaling his restraint, he moved her back far enough to make eye contact. “I know how much of yourself you put into VOCAP, but you said you were interested in going back to school. Maybe this will work out for the best.”
“Maybe,” she said, worrying her bottom lip in the most provocative way. His groin tightened, and he had to stifle a groan.
“Whatever you decide, the girls and I will be here waiting until you’re ready for an instant family.” He swallowed against the knot in his throat. “As long as I know you want us.”
The softening in her eyes was his first clue, the sweet, joyful smile on her lips the second. “Tom, you already are my family.”
Momentarily stunned, he sat there with his mouth open, until she laughed and threw her arms around him. He had no choice but to hold her tight. And kiss her.
ABBY’S HEART never felt fuller. Tom’s arms were warmer, stronger than she remembered. His scent enveloped her, and she couldn’t imagine ever not wanting to feel him beside her.
There were things to resolve. Her college plans. Her idea of setting up a practice with Donna. And, most important, the girls.
“What will we tell Angel and Heather?” she asked, nuzzling the open V afforded by his worn denim shirt. “We can’t let our feelings for each other rush them into something they’re not ready for.”
He pulled back, giving himself room to rise. With a tender smile, he reached for her hand. “Come. I want to show you something.”
A little unnerved by the seriousness of his tone, Abby hesitated just a second then put her hand in his. No limits, no restrictions. She was betting on unconditional love.
At the threshold, he paused, a boyish grin on his face. “This may be rushing things, but…” He bent over and scooped her into his arms.
“Tom. Put me down. You’ll ruin your back.” Despite her protest, Abby’s heart swelled at the romantic gesture. In a way it sealed things more finally than a signature on a marriage license. “I’m not a bride.”
“You’re my bride, and you will be until the day I die.”
Abby blinked back tears, tightening the hold around his neck. “I love you, cowboy.”
He opened the door and marched through the portal. Once inside, he kissed her soundly then lowered her feet to the floor. “Wait here,” he said, dashing toward the staircase. “If I take you upstairs I’ll never let you back down, and the girls will be home any minute.”
Suddenly alone and feeling a bit overwhelmed, Abby looked around. Boxes mingled with familiar furnishings. The house was once Lesley’s, but Abby couldn’t feel any ghosts. Maybe Lesley’s spirit sensed Abby had no desire to diminish her daughters’ memories of their mother; she only hoped to add her own.
She looked up when she heard Tom’s boot steps hurrying down the stairs. In his hand was a piece of paper, which he handed to her like a little boy bringing home a blue ribbon. Abby’s first impression was of crayon markings, bright and crude, obviously the work of a young child. She turned it horizontally and studied the drawing.
Tears filled her eyes, blurring the images. “Oh, Tom.”
“She made it for you,” Tom said, his melodic voice husky with emotion. “It almost made me cry.”
Abby blinked rapidly, relishing each image: a square house with a porch, four windows and a big tree in the corner. Standing in front of the house were four figures, two big, two small. She’d labeled each person, printing with obvious care: Daddy, Angel, me, Abby. Abby’s name, however, had been crossed out and ab
ove it, written in green, was the word Mom.
“She was most concerned about getting your hair color right.”
Abby cupped his jaw with her free hand. How could one so masculine, a hero right out of a country-western song, be so sensitive? “Are you sure they’re ready to let another woman into their lives?” Abby asked, afraid to believe her great good fortune. “It hasn’t been a year.”
He kissed her sweetly. “Christmas is coming,” he said, nibbling a path along her neckline. “They wouldn’t have time to feel sad if they were getting ready for a wedding.”
Dizzy with desire, she clung to him. “Thanksgiving is sooner.”
His warm breath tickled her ear while his teeth playfully nipped. “Too close to Angel’s birthday. I already promised her a big slumber party for all her friends. Not my idea of a honeymoon.”
She had some honeymoon ideas of her own and didn’t necessarily need a wedding to put them into practice.
He pulled back suddenly, leaving her bereft.
“Columbus Day is coming up.”
“Columbus Day,” she whispered, threading her fingers into his wavy hair, fluffing out the impression of his hat line above his ears. “If it’s okay with the girls, you’ve got a date. Now, kiss me, cowboy.”
And, gentleman that he was, Tom obliged his true love’s request.
“HAVE WE GIVEN them enough time?” Angel asked tensely, squinting toward the little, white house a quarter mile off the road. She and Heather had put a lot of thought into this plan and she didn’t want to blow it.
“Relax, honey,” Janey advised. Janey had helped coordinate the tactical aspect of getting the two girls out of the house once Angel got Abby to come there. For an old person, Janey had proven to be downright romantic. “You’re too young to get an ulcer. Adults have to work themselves into lifelong commitments. They don’t see things so black and white like young people do.”
Angel sighed, hating the truth but recognizing it. “But it’s so obvious, Janey. Dad and Abby are meant for each other. You know what Dad’s been like since she left, and when I called Grace, she told me Abby was positively blue, missing us.”
“Yeah,” Heather said. “Abby’s gotta be my new mom because her mom is my fairy grandmother.”
Angel rolled her eyes. She’d given up trying to break her sister of the habit of labeling people. Angel liked Grace, too—a whole lot better than her real mom’s mother, although she did feel better after taking Donna’s advice and writing Ruby a letter of forgiveness. She could understand how upset Ruby was and how she wanted someone to blame for what happened. But Angel knew from being at Rainbows that sometimes bad things happened for no reason, and you had to go forward with your life. You couldn’t let it hang over you forever. Angel knew her mother would want her to be happy and have a full life. She’d want the same for her father.
A memory came to her. She and her mother were sharing a plate of Thai food at an outdoor bazaar, and Angel asked Lesley why she’d divorced their dad. “You know, honey,” Lesley told her, “your dad is a great guy. One of the best. But he’s an old world kind of guy, and I’m a new world kind of woman. It just wasn’t meant to be. But someday he’ll meet a woman who’s looking for that kind of man and they’ll live happily ever after.”
“Mom would have wanted Dad to be happy,” Angel said, her voice sounding kind of funny.
Janey slowed the car to make the turn. “I know, dear. Let’s just hope Abby feels the same way.”
Nervous, Angel threaded a hunk of hair between her lips and chomped down, but she hastily spit it out, recalling the promise she’d made to her father. He had enough on his mind without worrying about her nervous habits.
Angel glanced at her sister in the back seat. For a little punk, she wasn’t too bad. She’d been a good sport about drawing the picture, even though she thought it was a bit obvious.
“Oh, look,” Janey said.
As the car slowed, Angel heard Heather’s seat belt snap open; her sister plopped over the seat for a better view.
“They’re kissing,” Heather screeched. “Look, Angel, they’re kissing.”
“Right on,” Angel said, trying to keep tears from coming. She wasn’t about to do something as childish as cry.
“They look nice,” Heather said.
Angel looked again. They did. The two people framed in the doorway of the little house looked perfect.
“We’re home, kiddo,” Angel said. And for the first time since she arrived in the valley, she meant it.
EPILOGUE
ABBY’S HEAD was spinning. She couldn’t decide if it was from the excitement or the delicious realization she was now and forevermore Mrs. Tom Butler.
“I’d say this shindig turned out pretty darned fine, Mrs. Butler,” her husband of two hours said as they danced beneath the pink and white streamers suspended from the rafters of the hayloft. An ocean of organdy, miles of pink ribbon and a small tropical island of potted palms had transformed the Standing Arrow H barn into Cinderella’s castle.
“Perfect. Absolutely perfect,” Abby said, savoring the sight of her father waltzing with Angel. No father could have looked more distinguished; no grandfather could have been prouder to welcome two new granddaughters to the clan. “If you’d told me back in September that I’d be dancing in a barn on February fourteenth, I’d have said you were crazy.”
Tom grinned. “Who could have reckoned on the Dynamic Duo?”
That was the code name she and Tom bestowed on Grace and Heather. From the minute Abby and Tom announced their intention to marry, those two joined forces to collaborate on all wedding plans—right down to setting the date. “It has to be Valentine’s Day, Daddy. It has to be,” Heather announced. Until that moment Abby hadn’t realized how intractable the six-year-old could be—a trait shared with her grandmother-to-be.
“Of course it has to be Valentine’s Day,” Grace said when they called her that evening. “You don’t for one minute believe I could plan your wedding by, say, Christmas or Thanksgiving, do you?” Abby and Tom both were too embarrassed to suggest their original plan.
“I really can’t get over this,” Abby said, her heart so full of joy she felt certain she’d either weep or have a heart attack before the party was over. “I swear they made a pact with the devil to get this finished on time.”
Tom brushed his nose against her cheek. “Never doubt the power of friendship,” he said. “Or Janey Hastings. Since the doctors gave her an all-clear, she’s back to being a force to be reckoned with.” Abby looked across the dance floor to the buffet where Janey and Ed were heaping great mounds of barbecued beef and Portuguese beans on guests’ plates.
She sensed his happiness. The madhouse anxiety of the past few weeks would have killed a lesser man. In addition to wedding plans, he had to deal with Angel’s volleyball schedule and hectic social agenda, Abby’s college classes and volunteer work at the Battered Women’s Shelter, as well as the sale of her house and subsequent move. But the outcome was worth it, especially seeing the triumph on the faces of Grace and Heather.
“You know,” Abby said, studying the two who seemed to have forged an unbreakable bond, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they went into business.”
Tom groaned. “That’s all we need—a six-year-old wedding consultant.”
As if to banish the thought, Tom whirled Abby in a circle, making the billowy skirt of her pale pink gown twirl like a princess’s. Grace, Angel and Heather had purchased the gown on a shopping trip to the Bay area. Abby had been horrified by their audacity. “Pink? I’ll look like an upside-down ice-cream cone.” All three found that image hilarious.
“It’s called champagne-pink. It’s the hot new color, Abby. You’ll be rave,” said Angel, who was Abby’s maid of honor. “Besides, it’ll look really neat with our bridesmaid dresses.”
Her mother delivered the most convincing argument. “It was on sale, dear. We saved your father a thousand dollars.” If that didn’t win her over, the dress�
�s beaded pearl bodice and soft organdy skirt did.
“Have I told you that you are the most beautiful bride in the world?” Tom whispered. His voice still had the power to make her toes curl, and she couldn’t wait to start their honeymoon. Since they both felt strongly about maintaining a certain decorum in their relationship in front of the girls, she’d never spent the night at the house, and he’d only stayed with her a half-dozen times when the girls were at slumber parties or with Janey.
“Are you going to tell me now?” Tom asked, kissing her long and suggestively.
Abby blushed. How this matter of a wedding gift had become such a hot topic, she wasn’t sure. Probably her mother’s doing. But she did know positively, her gift to him wouldn’t be revealed until they were alone. “Not yet.”
“Not even a hint?”
Abby pictured the elegantly wrapped box tucked in her suitcase. More symbolic than functional since she’d already used up three just like it, her gift was a home pregnancy testing kit.
“Let’s just say it’s something you’d never guess in a million years,” she said, smiling.
When some odd changes in her body began showing up in late January, Abby attributed them to stress, but her mother had suggested otherwise. “You’re pregnant,” Grace said, hugging her to the point of asphyxiation. Even three litmus tests couldn’t convince Abby, but her doctor confirmed it last week.
Although her first impulse was to call Tom from the doctor’s office, she decided to wait for a private moment. There would be time when they returned from their honeymoon to share the news with the rest of the world.
Abby called it a miracle, but her mother was more pragmatic. “You’re healed, Abby. From the inside out.” That, Abby didn’t doubt. Angel and Heather had helped remove any fear Abby had about being a mother. This baby wasn’t a replacement for the one she lost so many years before. She’d been given a second chance but it came about through the love of one man, and their child was a gift they would treasure together.
“Are you ready, my fairy princess?” Tom asked, breaking into her reverie.
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